Phone Use Research Articles

The histological investigation of the effects of electromagnetic radiation on rat ovaries.

People are now exposed to higher levels of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) due to the widespread use of mobile phones in recent years. The possible effects of this exposure on human health are related to EMR. It has been suggested that exposure to EMR has serious effects on reproduction. The study aimed to investigate the impact of exposure to EMR (4.5GB; 2600MHz) emitted by mobile phones on rat ovaries. 18 adult female Wistar albino rats were used in the study, and the animals were divided into three groups (n = 6): control, stand-by, and dialing. For 8weeks, the experimental groups were subjected to 4.5GB EMR at 2600MHz while on standby and making 10-min calls every hour. The rats in the control group received no exposure. Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining of ovarian tissues was performed for histomorphological examinations. Additionally, immunoexpression of autophagy-related protein Beclin-1, apoptosis marker Caspase-3, ovarian reserve marker FSH, and oxidative stress marker iNOS were investigated in the rat ovaries. Microscopic examinations showed follicular degeneration in the ovaries of the rats in the stand-by and dialing groups. The immunoexpression of Beclin-1, Caspase-3, FSH, and iNOS was detected in granulosa cells and the corpus luteum in ovarian tissues obtained from the two EMR-exposed groups. There was a significant increase in the immunoexpression of Beclin-1 and Caspase-3 in the dialing group compared to the other two groups. Additionally, the iNOS and FSH expressions were increased in both EMR exposure groups compared to the control. Our results suggest that EMR exposure harms the ovaries, and autophagy and apoptosis are involved in this process.

Bacterial and fungal contamination of healthcare workers’ mobile phones in a provincial hospital in Centre-West of Morocco

ABSTRACT The widespread use of mobile phones by healthcare workers makes them a breeding ground for microorganisms. The aim of this study is to investigate microbial contamination on cell phones of healthcare workers and evaluate their antibiotic susceptibility. The study was conducted at Provincial Hospital Hassan II in Settat. Swabs were collected from 72 mobile phones of healthcare workers, samples were rolled over the phone screens and cultured in suitable media. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested using the disk diffusion method on Mueller–Hinton agar. Of the 72 mobile phones, 68 showed microbial growth. Among these 55 were Gram-positive bacteria and 13 were Gram-negative bacilli. One Staphylococcus aureus strain was Methicillin-Resistant, and one Klebsiella pneumoniae strain produced Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase. Four samples were contaminated with Candida albicans, Imipenem and Amikacin were active against all Gram-negative bacilli. Only 21 out of 72 phones were occasionally cleaned. Regular decontamination and emphasis on hygiene measures are recommended.

Equity-Focused Interventions Improve Interpreter Use in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Federal guidelines and equitable care mandate that patients who use a language other than English receive interpretation in their preferred language. Substantial variability exists in interpreter use in intensive care settings. We aimed to increase the rate of interpretations in our pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) through a series of targeted interventions. A multidisciplinary team developed a key driver diagram to identify areas for focused intervention. Each plan-do-study-act cycle informed the next cycle of interventions, targeting increasing interpreter (video, phone, and in-person) use. Interventions included standardizing technology, standardizing placement of interpretation devices in patient rooms, provider education, and creating accountability systems of interpreter use by care providers. We reviewed data from PICU encounters between January 2018 and January 2022 and used summary statistics and statistical process control methods to measure the impact of our interventions. We analyzed 882 patient encounters over the 4-year study period. Demographic characteristics were similar in the preintervention and postintervention periods. The total interpretation rate increased to 2.7 interpretations per patient per day from a baseline rate of 1.4. Each individual interpretation modality demonstrated increases in use. Average time spent interpreting via phone increased from 8 to 10.5 minutes per patient per day, and average time spent interpreting via video went from 9.5 to 22 minutes per patient per day. Iterative quality improvement methodology effectively identified barriers to equitable care, guided development of focused interventions, and improved interpreter use among pediatric patients who were critically ill.

Comprehensive Comparative Analysis of Mobile Apps Development Approaches

Growing use of the cell phones and tablets over the computer for humans’ daily life has increased the development of mobile apps. Different paradigms have been introduced to develop a mobile app. Up till now, the major paradigms have been introduced are native apps, hybrid apps, web app and the new trend namely progressive web app (PWA). Each methodology has its pros and cons. This paper discusses about native development issues and how web app aimed to solve these problems. The hybrid apps will be discussed as a solution of cross-platform development problem of native apps. In addition, problems of web apps and the gap between web app and native apps will be introduced. PWA is supposed to bridge the gap between native apps and web apps. The main technologies –service worker- will also be discussed.

Frequent absent mindedness and the neural mechanism trapped by mobile phone addiction

IntroductionWith the increased availability and sophistication of digital devices in the last decade, young people have become mainstream mobile phone users. Heavy mobile phone dependence causes affective problems (depression, anxiety) and loss of attention on current activities, leading to more cluttered thoughts. Problematic mobile phone use has been found to increase the occurrence of mind wandering, but the neural mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. MethodThe current study aimed to investigate the neural mechanism between mobile phone use and mind wandering. 459 university students (averaged age, 19.26 years) from datasets (ongoing research project named Gene-Brain-Behavior project, GBB) completed psychological assessments of mobile phone addiction and mind wandering and underwent resting-state functional connectivity (FC) scanning. FC matrix was constructed to further conduct correlation and mediation analyses. ResultsStudents with high mobile phone addiction scores were more likely to have high mind wandering scores. Functional connectivity among the default mode, motor, frontoparietal, basal ganglia, limbic, medial frontal, visual association, and cerebellar networks formed the neural basis of mind wandering. Functional connectivity between the frontoparietal and motor networks, between the default mode network and cerebellar network, and within the cerebellar network mediated the relationship between mobile phone addiction and mind wandering. ConclusionThe findings of this study confirm that mobile phone addiction is a risk factor for increased mind wandering and reveal that FC in several brain networks underlies this relationship. They contribute to research on behavioral addiction, education, and mental health among young adults.

Determining The Effect of Graphic Elements of Eight New Traffic Signs on Conveying The Message “Prohibition of Using Mobile Phones While Driving”

Introduction: The design of traffic signs should consider human cognitive abilities to enhance drivers’ understanding of the signs. Cognitive features, as one of the crucial principles of ergonomics, are among the influential factors in the design of signs. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of graphic elements of eight new sign designs based on cognitive features on conveying the message “prohibition of using mobile phones.” Material and Methods: This study was conducted in six driving schools in Tehran in 2013. One hundred seventy-four participants, with an average age of 23.5 and a standard deviation of six years, participated in this study. Participants were then presented with the designed signs through a colored questionnaire. They were instructed to evaluate the signs’ cognitive features including simplicity, concreteness, meaningfulness, and semantic closeness—using a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 100. Results: The results revealed that the average score of the cognitive features of the designed signs is higher than other traffic, industrial and pharmaceutical signs. In this study, “semantic closeness” was the best cognitive feature for predicting the message of the signs. The sign with the “hands-free” element had the best performance in transferring the message. Conclusion: This research aimed to identify the most effective of eight proposed signs for banning mobile phone use while driving. Participants rated the sign featuring a button phone with a hands-free symbol as the top choice. Although most of the mobile phones in the market are of the touch screen type and the use of button phones has decreased a lot, the symbol of these phones as the dominant symbol still effectively conveys messages

Filipino attitude and perception on Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card Registration Act

The SIM Card Registration Act, a legislative initiative in the Philippines, mandates the registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards to enhance security, monitor mobile phone usage, and curb crimes such as fraud, terrorism, and phishing. This phenomenological study explores the attitude and perceptions of individuals on the implementation of the Act, with a focus on how it impacts their sense of security, privacy, and everyday mobile phone use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants, aged 16 to 64, from the different barangays in San Pablo City, Laguna, Philippines. Data were analysed thematically, capturing participants' unique perspectives on the benefits and risks associated with the Act. The findings reveal that while participants acknowledged the Act's potential to prevent crimes and phishing, concerns about personal data security and the possibility of identity theft were prevalent. Participants’ attitudes toward the Act were shaped by their experiences with mobile phone technology and privacy concerns, with older respondents expressing heightened sensitivity to data privacy. These insights underscore the need for more robust security measures in the registration process to enhance public trust. The study concludes with recommendations to improve user experience and safeguard personal information, offering a foundation for policy refinements and further research.

Complex-Network based model for SMS spam filtering

With the advancement of technology and the widespread use of mobile phones and wireless communication, SMS has become the most popular texting method due to its high response rate, affordability, and no internet connection requirement. A survey found that 3.5 billion users, or 80% of active users worldwide, use SMS for communication. SMS, however, has also attracted spammers, resulting in an explosion in spam messages, especially in Asia. Users are annoyed, lose money, and waste their time by receiving spam messages intended to serve various purposes, such as advertising, adult content, smishing, and fraud. Spam messages are a problem for users and providers, which calls for a mechanism to identify and filter them out. With supervised machine learning techniques, we propose a novel approach to classify spam and ham messages based on complex network theory. The proposed approach integrates complex network based features with statistical TF-IDF and grammatical rules features. Also, an under-sampling method has been employed in order to cope with the imbalanced data issue. We evaluated the performance of several supervised learners in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and AUC. In our experiments, Random Forest successfully classified spam messages more accurate than statistical methods that only extracted TF-IDF features.

Exploring smartphone use and its applicability in academic training of medical students in Latin America: a multicenter cross-sectional study

BackgroundMobile phones are essential tools worldwide, including for the academic training of medical students. However, their role in Latin America (LATAM) remains underexplored. This study aimed to evaluate cell phone use and its applicability in the academic training of medical students in LATAM.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was conducted among undergraduate medical students from seven Latin American countries between December 2023 and February 2024. The study assessed academic smartphone use across five types of applications: medical apps, knowledge updating apps, academic podcast apps, video streaming apps, and social media apps.ResultsA total of 1,590 medical students participated, with 63.6% being women, 21.2% third-year students, and 55.0% from private universities. Nearly all participants (98.4%) owned a mobile phone, and 88.2% used them for academic purposes. The most common academic use was for viewing academic content videos (82.9%). A significant association was found between academic cell phone use and progression through medical studies, with fifth-year students being the most likely to use their phones for academic purposes (OR = 4.517, 95% CI = 1.843–11.075). Students in the clinical stage of education were also more likely to rely on smart phones for academic purposes (OR = 2.090, 95% CI = 1.500–2.911). Conversely, public university students were less likely to use their phones for academic purposes compared to private university students (OR = 0.714, 95% CI = 0.522–0.977). Additionally, students who perceived that their academic preparation would be more difficult without a cell phone were more likely to use it for academic purposes (OR = 2.157, 95% CI = 1.463–3.181).ConclusionsThese results suggest the importance of incorporating smartphones into the educational frameworks of medical schools and universities in Latin America, with a particular emphasis on academic video content applications, which already capture the attention and preference of medical students.

18. SLEEP QUALITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS AGED 15-17 IN DA NANG, 2024: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objective: (1) To determine the prevalence of sleep disorders among adolescents aged 15 to 17 years; (2) To analyze factors associated with sleep quality in adolescents aged 15 to 17 years. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Among Adolescents aged 15-17 years old at Hoa Vang High School we collected 737 eligible participants for the study. Main Outcome Measures: Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Associations between Sleep quality were evaluated with multivariable conditional logistic regression controlling for gender, exercise habits, sleep hygiene habits, pressure and expectations about academic performance (parental expectations, pressure for achievement, completing homework, extra classes). Results: The sleep quality of adolescents aged 15-17 at Hòa Vang High School is alarmingly low, with PSQI scores averaging 5.5±3.3 for 10th-grade students (15 years old), 6.1±3.3 for 11th grade (16 years old), and 6.4±3.5 for 12th grade (17 years old). The findings show that 47.5% of students have poor sleep quality, with a trend of worsening sleep quality with age. Additionally, most study participants go to bed relatively late. Factors associated with poor sleep quality include being female, excessive phone use before bed, academic pressure, homework load, and hours spent on daily extra classes. Addressing this issue requires appropriate sleep education and awareness for both students and parents. Conclusion: This study indicates an alarmingly low level of sleep quality among students at Hoa Vang High School, with a significant proportion experiencing poor sleep quality, and highlights several associated factors.

Addiction in the Digital Age: Exploring Problematic Mobile Phone Use.

Abstract:- Aim: The main aim of this study was to examine patterns of recreational mobile phone use across different age groups and evaluate the possibility of mobile phone addiction, known as Problematic Mobile Phone Use (PMPU) (chatgpt). Methods: The study was conducted as an online survey, with the help of google forms. It consisted of 106 participants aged 13 to 59+. Of these, the majority (61.3%) were females. Data was collected on the time participants spent on their phones, the most frequently used apps, and when the participants received their first mobile phone. Results: The largest group of participants (50.9%) were from 23-29 age category, with (67.9%) reporting spending more time on their phones than intended. Social media apps (83%) and YouTube (60.4%) were the most commonly used apps, with an average of 3-4 hours per day. Despite excessive use, (53.8%) of participants reported not taking any steps to reduce their screen time. Conclusion: This study reveals that many participants do not recognize the signs of problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) and highlights the need to spread more awareness regarding it among the general population.

The Influence of Commonly-Encountered Participant Behaviors on Cardiovascular Indices during Testing.

During laboratory testing, participants rest quietly in a supine posture with little movement. However, it is rather common for participants to display various behaviors. The extent to which these common encounters influence cardiovascular measures is unknown. Fifty-five adults (36±15 years) were studied during the following seven randomized conditions in the supine position: 1) quiet stationary rest (control), 2) while drowsy, 3) while and 4) after talking to investigators, 5) while and 6) after cell phone use for texting, and 7) lying on the side. Heart rate was greater when the participants were talking to investigators (+4 mmHg) and texting on cell phones (+5 mmHg) compared with quiet rest. Systolic blood pressure (BP) increased by 4 mmHg and diastolic BP by 3 mmHg while talking to investigators. Systolic BP was 6 mmHg and diastolic BP was 5 mmHg lower in the 'side lying' position compared with quiet rest. In the side-lying condition, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) was not able to be measured in 38% (n=16) of the participants while brachial-ankle PWV was not affected. Brachial-ankle PWV was greater while (+65cm/s) and after (+29cm/s) the participants were talking to investigators whereas carotid-femoral PWV was not able to be measured during talking. The drowsy behavior did not influence any of the BP and PWV measures. Talking during the testing period significantly increases all the cardiovascular measures but cell phone use prior to the measures does not appear to influence them.

Google Classroom and Students' Performance in Reading Comprehension in Ondo State, Nigeria

Reading is significant for learning; however, many Nigerian secondary students struggle. In developed nations, teachers engage their students via different online learning apps to complement classroom instruction and improve this skill. However, the same cannot be said for Nigeria, as no established online learning Apps exist. This study, therefore, investigated the effects of Google Classroom on secondary school students' reading comprehension in Ondo State, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental and descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The study population was eighty Senior Secondary School students who were purposefully selected from two secondary schools in Ondo State. The research instruments were the 2022 English Language WAEC questions and the Students' Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) r = 0.85. Two research questions were raised, and two research hypotheses were tested. The study's findings revealed that students taught reading comprehension using Google Classroom performed better (`X̅ = 29.98) than those taught using the conventional method (`X̅ =18.88). Similarly, the study's findings revealed that students held a positive attitude toward using Google Classroom for reading comprehension. On the basis of these findings, among others, the study recommended that English language teachers should explore the affordances of Google Classroom to teach reading. Furthermore, schools should allow the controlled use of phones, while the government should organize training for teachers on how to use Google Classroom effectively.

Predicting risky driving behavior with classification algorithms: results from a large-scale field-trial and simulator experiment

Road safety is a subject of significant concern and substantially affects individuals across the globe. Thus, real-time, and post-trip interventions have gained significant importance in the past few years. This study aimed to analyze different classification techniques and examine their ability to identify dangerous driving behavior based on a dual-approach study. The analysis was based on the investigation of important risk factors such as average speed, harsh acceleration, harsh braking, headway, overtaking, distraction (i.e., mobile phone use), and fatigue. In order to achieve the objective of this study, data were collected through a driving simulator as well as a naturalistic driving study. To that end, four classification algorithms, namely support vector machines, random forest (RFs), AdaBoost, and multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks were implemented and compared. In the simulator experiment, RFs and MLPs emerged as the top-performing models with an accuracy of 84% and 82%, respectively, demonstrating its ability to accurately classify driving behavior in a controlled environment. In the naturalistic driving study, RF and AdaBoost maintained robust performance, with high accuracy (i.e., 75% and 76.76% respectively) and balanced precision and recall. The outcomes of this study could provide essential guidance for practitioners and researchers on choosing models for driving behavior classification tasks.

States Enact Policies Restricting Cell Phone Use in Schools

States Enact Policies Restricting Cell Phone Use in Schools

The interaction between plasma polymetals and lifestyle on cognitive dysfunction in occupational aluminum exposed workers: A cross-sectional study in China

ObjectiveTo investigate the interaction between plasma polymetallic exposure and lifestyle factors on cognitive function abnormalities in occupational aluminum workers. The aim is to develop a new occupational health management model that integrates lifestyle behaviors with occupational activities to comprehensively protect the health of these workers. Method476 Participants were recruited from an aluminum factory in Shanxi, China. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA). Plasma polymetallic levels were measured using ICP-MS. Logistic regression analyzed the relationship between nine plasma metals, lifestyle factors, and cognitive abnormalities. A 3D model validated the interaction between metals and analyzed the combined effects of plasma metals and lifestyle on MoCA scores. The Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) decision tree was used to identify factors influencing cognitive dysfunction. ResultsHigh blood aluminum concentration (>47.85 μg/L), high blood lithium concentration(>3.15 μg/L), as well as sleep time(≤7 h and > 8 h), smoking, alcohol consumption, and length of mobile phone use(≥2 h) were risk factors for abnormal cognitive functioning. In addition aluminum and lithium have a multiplicative interaction on cognitive function(OR=1.86,95 %CI:1.14,3.050). There was an interaction between high plasma levels of aluminum and lithium and smoking on cognitive function in workers, and an interaction between high plasma levels of aluminum and lithium and sleep duration ≤7 or >8 h on cognitive function in workers. ConclusionThe levels of blood metal elements aluminum and lithium, as well as sleep time, smoking, drinking, and length of mobile phone use, are risk factors for cognitive dysfunction in occupational aluminum workers. There are the synergetic effect to increase the risk of cognitive dysfunction between blood aluminum concentration ≥50.59μg/L and blood lithium concentration ≥3.44μg/L, sleep duration ≤7h& >8 h, smoking, drinking, mobile phone use ≥2 h.

SMART PHONE IN THE CLASSROOM: EUREKA OR FOUL?

The use of mobile phones in the classroom is a topic that has generated a lot of controversy in recent years. On the one hand, some argue that mobile devices can be a useful tool for learning, allowing access to relevant information in real time and encouraging interaction between students. On the other hand, there are also those who point out that excessive use of mobile phones in class can distract students from the subject, affect their academic performance and create an unhealthy dependency dynamic. In this research, a documentary approach was maintained, for which different bibliographic sources were consulted on the benefi ts and disadvantages of the use of mobile phones in face-to-face classes, with the aim of better understanding how this device can infl uence the teaching and learning process, becoming one of the most widely used resources worldwide.

An examination of mobile learning adoption in higher education: Research trends in twenty years

Mobile learning presents many benefits to lecturers, students, and universities. It provides the opportunity for all to access information anytime and anywhere and also promotes learning autonomy and mobility. This paper aims to systematically analyze publications on mobile learning in higher education conducted over twenty years by providing knowledge to help researchers in this area. The data were obtained from the Scopus database. A total of 587 peer-reviewed publications were analyzed. The results show that the number of articles increased significantly after 2016, and there was an upward trend after 2018. Our results regarding prolific journals show that many articles in this field were published in several prominent journals. Our results revealed that 91 countries contributed to research worldwide, and the most productive institutions are from different continents. In addition, results indicated that recently published countries on the topic are India, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Germany. Regarding research trends, our results yielded three research clusters. The first cluster focused on building a learning environment for students, while the second cluster included research on mobile learning in medical education. In addition, the third cluster investigated young adults’ use and perceptions of mobile phones in learning through surveys and questionnaires. Moreover, the results we obtained demonstrated that recent studies also focused on academic performance and augmented reality was a trending topic before academic performance.

NOMOPHOBIA AS A MODERN AGE PHOBIA: CHALLENGE TO THE DIGITAL ERA

Nomophobia is defi ned as the fear of being unable to use smartphones and is seen as a specifi c phobia in situations of smartphone unavailability, loss of connectivity, or access to information. It implies a pathological fear of a person not being able to connect with new technologies. People with pronounced levels of nomophobia frequently use mobile phones and experience feelings of anxiety when they cannot access them. The main goal of the research was to examine the relationship between nomophobia, emotional loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress in young people. On a sample of  students with an average age of  years, the following measurement instruments were applied: Nomophobia Questionnaire, Scales of depression, anxiety and stress, Scale of social and emotional loneliness. The results have shown a connection between nomophobia and depression, anxiety, and stress. Individuals who spend more time on social networks report higher levels of nomophobia as well as more intense symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Females and younger respondents experience more intense symptoms of nomophobia. Females compared to males experience a higher level of anxiety when their mobile phone is not within reach or when it is turned off. Furthermore, those individuals who have owned a smartphone from an earlier age experience higher levels of nomophobia as well as individuals who use the smartphone more and spend more time on social networks, send more messages, check notifi cations more frequently, and those who spend more time on the smartphone before bedtime, report more intense symptoms of nomophobia. Loneliness in romantic and family relationships is a signifi cant predictor of social network use. In conclusion, problematic use of mobile phones, undoubtedly, affects the mental health of young people, and is particularly associated with the severity of depressive and anxious symptomatology, self-confi dence, perceived social support, and emotional dysregulation.

Use of Mobile Phones and Radiofrequency-Emitting Devices in the COSMOS-France Cohort.

A total of 39,284 Constances volunteers were invited to participate in the COSMOS-France study during the pilot (2017) and main recruitment phase (2019). Participants were asked to complete detailed questionnaires on their mobile phone use, health conditions, and personal characteristics. We examined the association between mobile phone use, including usage for calls and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), cordless phone use, and Wi-Fi usage with age, sex, education, smoking status, body mass index (BMI), and handedness. The participation rate was 48.4%, resulting in 18,502 questionnaires in the analyzed dataset. Mobile phone use was reported by 96.1% (N = 17,782). Users reported typically calling 5-29 min per week (37.1%, N = 6600), making one to four calls per day (52.9%, N = 9408), using one phone (83.9%, N = 14,921) and not sharing it (80.4% N = 14,295), mostly using the phone on the side of the head of their dominant hand (59.1%, N = 10,300), not using loudspeakers or hands-free kits, and not using VoIP (84.9% N = 15,088). Individuals' age and sex modified this picture, sometimes markedly. Education and smoking status were associated with ever use and call duration, but neither BMI nor handedness was. Cordless phone use was reported by 66.0% of the population, and Wi-Fi use was reported by 88.4%. In this cross-sectional presentation of contemporary mobile phone usage in France, age and sex were important determinants of use patterns.