Center Users Research Articles

An Identical Code–Data Based Nonorthogonal Multiple Access

ABSTRACTNonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a promising technique operating with limited resources. NOMA can be executed in both power and code domains. Cyclic interleaved NOMA strategies are debated in recent literature, combining power and code domains. Identical code cyclic shift (ICCS) transmission is viewed to be a bridge between code division access and NOMA. We propose identical code–data cyclic shift NOMA (ICDCS‐NOMA) in which the code and data are cyclically shifted in distinction to simple cyclic interleaved transmission introduced in our earlier work and the ICCS transmission. The cell‐edge user in a NOMA pair engages its signal transmission using ICDCS; in contrast, the cell‐center user prefers simple cyclic interleaved transmission. The spread data stream and its cyclic shifted version are blended in ICDCS, followed by cyclic interleaving. A distinct and extreme fading channel pair is assumed with the same number of paths for the edge and center users. Diversity combining multipath signals is embraced at the edge user terminal, and frequency domain equalization (FDE)/matched filter (MF) receiver is employed at the center user. The simulation indicates the dominance of the proposed ICDCS‐NOMA transmission in terms of the attained diversity gain over the conventional, ICCS, and simple cyclic interleaved transmissions.

The “chanification” of white supremacist extremism

AbstractMuch research has focused on the role of the alt-right in pushing far-right narratives into mainstream discourse. In this work, we focus on the alt-right’s effects on extremist narratives themselves. From 2012 to 2017, we find a rise in alt-right, 4chan-like discourse styles across multiple communication platforms known for white supremacist extremism, such as Stormfront. This discourse style incorporates inflammatory insults, irreverent comments, and talk about memes and online “chan” culture itself. A network analysis of one far-right extremist platform suggests that central users adopt and spread this alt-right style. This analysis has implications for understanding influence and change in online white supremacist extremism, as well as the role of style in white supremacist communications. Warning: This paper contains examples of hateful and offensive language.

How position in the network determines the fate of lexical innovations on Twitter

This study analyzes the diffusion of lexical innovations on Twitter to understand how the social network position of adopters impacts their success. Looking at both successful and failed neologisms, we categorize them into "changes" which become established and "buzzes" which decline over time. Using a corpus of 650 million French tweets, we reconstruct user networks and characterize adopters of innovations during different diffusion phases based on prestige, centrality, clustering, and external ties. In the early innovation phase, change and buzz adopters have similar peripheral profiles. During propagation, changes spread to prestigious, central individuals while buzzes do not, which predicts their eventual success or failure. By the establishment phase, changes reach highly central users with closer external ties. The results align with sociolinguistic theories about weak ties for innovation and strong ties for establishment. Additionally, logistic regression models based on early adopter profiles can predict the fate of innovations. This work sheds light on the diffusion dynamics of online lexical innovations and the crucial role of user network factors.

Effects of Internet Health Information Pursuit of Public Sports Center Users on Health Promotion Behavior

Effects of Internet Health Information Pursuit of Public Sports Center Users on Health Promotion Behavior

You Are Not Alone! Care Professionals‘ Acceptance of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes Comparing Pre- and Post-Implementation Evaluations

A lack of personnel in care institutions and high proportions of older people in need of care pose central challenges for today’s aging society, often resulting in the hospitalization of geriatric patients. In many cases, these hospitalizations are not medically necessary and cause deterioration of health. Applying telemedicine in nursing homes represents one approach aimed at a reduction of unnecessary hospitalizations of geriatric patients and supporting care personnel in medically uncertain situations. For a sustainable and successful implementation of technical innovations such as telemedical consultations, the care personnel’s perspectives and acceptance are especially essential. The Optimal@NRW project implemented telemedical consultations in 24 nursing homes in Germany, investigating medical and economic efficiency and in particular also the social acceptance of digital care in nursing homes. This paper presents quantitative results comparing the acceptance evaluations before (PRE: N = 130) and after (POST: N = 87) the implementation of the telemedical consultations in the nursing homes from the perspective of care professionals. The results showed positive evaluations of the telemedical consultations in both evaluation phases: POST evaluations especially showed a lower evaluation of perceived barriers of using telemedical consultations in nursing homes. This study’s insights enable one to derive guidelines and recommendations regarding the communication and information of telemedical applications considering the needs and wishes of care personnel as a central user group.

Centrally-chosen versus user-selected swaps: How the selection of swapping stations impacts standby battery inventories

Swapping depleted batteries of electric vehicles promises much better driving-to-total-travel-time ratios than plug-in charging. Nonetheless, large-scale battery swapping systems have not successfully established yet. One obstacle, on top of the high infrastructure cost, is certainly the additional invest into extra standby batteries that await their swaps at stations. Existing research is focused on systems in which users decide individually where they want to swap batteries. This system requires significant standby battery inventories to protect against uncertain swapping demand. This paper evaluates another system where users must register their trips on a central platform, so that battery swaps can be coordinated based on central optimization results. To benchmark central optimization and user choice regarding their impact on standby battery inventories, we formulate the min-battery swapping problem: For a given set of vehicle trips, this optimization problem minimizes the number of standby batteries, distributes them in a given station network, and derives detailed swapping plans to feasibly power all trips. First, we present a thorough analysis of computational complexity. Then, we provide an efficient mixed-integer programming formulation that is adaptable to different swapping policies and (when fed into a default solver) solves instances with up to 200 trips to proven optimality in just a few seconds. Our computational study reveals that central optimization promises a significant reduction of standby battery inventories. This potential is shown to increase if swaps of not yet fully-charged batteries are allowed and swaps are pooled at a reduced number of swapping stations.

Quality of the digital gp visits and characteristics of the users: retrospective observational study

Objectives This study compares the demographics, diagnoses, re-admission rates, sick leaves, and prescribed medications of patients accessing digital general practitioner (GP) visits with those of patients opting for traditional face-to-face appointments in a primary health care setting. Design The study adopted a retrospective analysis of patient record data collected in 2019, comparing visits to a digital primary health center with traditional health center visits. Setting Primary health care. Participants The data encompassed patients who utilized the digital clinic and those who visited public health centers for primary health care services. Main Outcome Measures The study assessed demographics, health diagnoses, prescribed medications, sick leave recommendations, re-admission rates, and differences in costs between digital clinic and face-to-face visits. Secondary outcomes included a comparative analysis of medication categories, resolution rates for health problems, and potential impacts on health care utilization. Results Digital clinic users were typically younger, more educated, and predominantly female compared with health centre users. Digital visits were well-suited for uncomplicated infections, while health centre appointments were associated with a higher prevalence of chronic conditions. Medication patterns differed between the two modalities, with digital clinic users receiving generic over-the-counter drugs and antibiotics, whereas health centre visits commonly involved cardiac and antihypertensive medications. Sick leave recommendations were slightly higher in the digital clinic, but the difference was not significant. Approximately 70% of health problems addressed in the digital clinic were successfully resolved, and the cost of digital visits was about 50,3% of face-to-face appointments. Conclusion Digital health care services offer a cost-efficient alternative for specific health problems, appealing to younger, educated individuals, when compared to the users of public health center, and may enable improvement of cost-effectiveness combined with acceptable demand management and patient segmentation practices. The results highlight the potential benefits of digital clinics, particularly for uncomplicated cases, while also emphasizing the importance of suitable referral mechanisms for in-person consultations.

A 3 month nutrition and exercise program improved hallux strength among senior daycare center users in Korea: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

With a growing aging population, the focus on the health and well-being of older adults, especially in preventing falls, becomes crucial. This 3 month study, initiated in July 2022, aimed to assess the impact of a nutrition and exercise program in senior daycare centers in Chuncheon, South Korea. A 3 month study, beginning in July 2022, included 204 older adults from 10 senior daycare centers in Chuncheon, South Korea. Randomly assigned to intervention or control groups, the intervention involved nutrition, daily toe exercises, or both. Control centers received interventions post-measurements. Pre- and post-intervention analyses used paired t-tests and multiple linear regression, assessing metrics like toe grip strength for significance. While 204 were initially enrolled, the analysis included 151 participants due to dropouts. Participants, with a mean age of 83.3 years (43.1% aged ≥ 85 years), exhibited mild to moderate cognitive impairment and multiple chronic illnesses. Health data indicated that 37.3% were obese, and the average BMI was 24.0 kg/m2. Both the intervention and control groups showed significant improvements in toe grip strength post-intervention. Specifically, the exercise-only and combined exercise-nutrition groups demonstrated significant differences in hallux strength compared to the control group after adjusting for age and gender. The study showed that a basic nutrition and exercise program increased toe strength in older adults with chronic diseases, including mild cognitive impairments. This intervention holds potential to prevent muscle strength decline and reduce fall risks in older individuals. As the first of its kind in Korean senior daycare centers, it emphasizes the need for future research and standardized programs for senior daycare users.

THE RISE OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES AND THEIR POTENTIAL TO DISRUPT TRADITIONAL FINANCIAL SYSTEMS

This research investigates the impacts of cryptocurrencies on traditional financial systems and how their introduction has influenced modern financial policies. The paper employs a qualitative analysis of published research, including historical cryptocurrency data, macroeconomic policy data, and the inflationary and deflationary effects of cryptocurrencies. Additionally, it examines the impacts on central banking policies, user experiences, and overall cash flow within the economy. The findings provide a comprehensive overview and deeper understanding of how cryptocurrencies are reshaping contemporary financial systems.

Factors Associated With Continuous Use of a Cancer Education Metaverse Platform: Mixed Methods Study.

Early detection of cancer and provision of appropriate treatment can increase the cancer cure rate and reduce cancer-related deaths. Early detection requires improving the cancer screening quality of each medical institution and enhancing the capabilities of health professionals through tailored education in each field. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, regional disparities in educational infrastructure emerged, and educational accessibility was restricted. The demand for remote cancer education services to address these issues has increased, and in this study, we considered medical metaverses as a potential means of meeting these needs. In 2022, we used Metaverse Educational Center, developed for the virtual training of health professionals, to train radiologic technologists remotely in mammography positioning. This study aims to investigate the user experience of the Metaverse Educational Center subplatform and the factors associated with the intention for continuous use by focusing on cases of using the subplatform in a remote mammography positioning training project. We conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional survey between July and December 2022. We performed a descriptive analysis to examine the Metaverse Educational Center user experience and a logistic regression analysis to clarify factors closely related to the intention to use the subplatform continuously. In addition, a supplementary open-ended question was used to obtain feedback from users to improve Metaverse Educational Center. Responses from 192 Korean participants (male participants: n=16, 8.3%; female participants: n=176, 91.7%) were analyzed. Most participants were satisfied with Metaverse Educational Center (178/192, 92.7%) and wanted to continue using the subplatform in the future (157/192, 81.8%). Less than half of the participants (85/192, 44.3%) had no difficulty in wearing the device. Logistic regression analysis results showed that intention for continuous use was associated with satisfaction (adjusted odds ratio 3.542, 95% CI 1.037-12.097; P=.04), immersion (adjusted odds ratio 2.803, 95% CI 1.201-6.539; P=.02), and no difficulty in wearing the device (adjusted odds ratio 2.020, 95% CI 1.004-4.062; P=.049). However, intention for continuous use was not associated with interest (adjusted odds ratio 0.736, 95% CI 0.303-1.789; P=.50) or perceived ease of use (adjusted odds ratio 1.284, 95% CI 0.614-2.685; P=.51). According to the qualitative feedback, Metaverse Educational Center was useful in cancer education, but the experience of wearing the device and the types and qualities of the content still need to be improved. Our results demonstrate the positive user experience of Metaverse Educational Center by focusing on cases of using the subplatform in a remote mammography positioning training project. Our results also suggest that improving users' satisfaction and immersion and ensuring the lack of difficulty in wearing the device may enhance their intention for continuous use of the subplatform.

Applying Negative Soft Power? Examining Hungary’s Digital Criticism of the European Union

This study examines how Hungary’s criticism of the European Union (EU) is reflected in its digital diplomacy efforts. It proposes that systematic criticism of the bloc can be seen as a deliberate use of negative soft power, a tactic that involves portraying others in an unfavourable context. To address the research objective, the study examines the Twitter (now known as X) diplomacy of 40 Hungarian government officials in 2021–2022 and identifies EU-related content and criticism through a semi-automatic content analysis. The results show that while a few central government users systematically and explicitly criticise the EU, other actors balance condemnation with neutral and positive posts. The findings, therefore, indicate that Hungary’s systemic weakness limits the pure export of national discourses and forces soft power strategies to mix critical commentary with neutral and positive representation.

Social media sensors as early signals of influenza outbreaks at scale

Detecting early signals of an outbreak in a viral process is challenging due to its exponential nature, yet crucial given the benefits to public health it can provide. If available, the network structure where infection happens can provide rich information about the very early stages of viral outbreaks. For example, more central nodes have been used as social network sensors in biological or informational diffusion processes to detect early contagious outbreaks. We aim to combine both approaches to detect early signals of a biological viral process (influenza-like illness, ILI), using its informational epidemic coverage in public social media. We use a large social media dataset covering three years in a country. We demonstrate that it is possible to use highly central users on social media, more precisely high out-degree users from Twitter, as sensors to detect the early signals of ILI outbreaks in the physical world without monitoring the whole population. We also investigate other behavioral and content features that distinguish those early sensors in social media beyond centrality. While high centrality on Twitter is the most distinctive feature of sensors, they are more likely to talk about local news, language, politics, or government than the rest of the users. Our new approach could detect a better and smaller set of social sensors for epidemic outbreaks and is more operationally efficient and privacy respectful than previous ones, not requiring the collection of vast amounts of data.

MOREM: An evolutionary multitasking optimization algorithm for multi-objective recommendations

Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) have been successfully applied in recommender systems, where the recommendation is modeled as a multi-objective optimization problem by considering both accuracy and non-accuracy metrics. However, to recommend to all users, the population individuals in most of the exiting MOEA-based recommendation algorithms are usually encoded in the form of matrix encoding, and with the increased number of users and items, it will lead to a large search space. To this end, in this paper, we propose a novel evolutionary multitasking algorithm MOREM to tackle the challenge of multi-objective recommendations, where a related auxiliary task is constructed by both user and item reduction to help solving the complex original task by knowledge transfer. Specifically, a task generation strategy for creating auxiliary task is firstly proposed to cluster users by user-rating information (i.e., user reduction), where only a part of important items (i.e., item reduction) are recommended for the central user within each cluster with the aim to greatly reduce the size of the matrix encoding. In addition, a novel knowledge transfer mechanism is proposed, which can effectively achieve knowledge migration between the two tasks. Experimental results on real-world datasets show that MOREM outperforms several state-of-the-art algorithms for multi-objective recommendations.

2023 Family Life Survey of National Family Center Users

The purpose of this study was to describe the family life and relationships of national family center users in 2023. A sample of 1,086 adults was recruited from 48 family centers across South Korea. Participants, both online and offline, reported on various aspects of family life, including satisfaction, gender equality, workhome- life balance, family leisure, and internet usage for family and household purposes. Additionally, family relationships were explored in terms of dynamics with a spouse, children, and adult children. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t -tests. In the family life domain, center users reported a high level of satisfaction, with women exhibiting greater awareness of gender equality and higher engagement in household chores than men. Furthermore, although a moderate balance among work, home, and life was reported, time emerged as a significant challenge for family leisure. Regarding technology, center users frequently utilized the internet for family communication, leisure, shopping, and household management. In the family relationships domain, men were more satisfied with spousal relationships than women. Center users reported high satisfaction with parentchild relationships. Parents of school-aged children perceived economic burdens, while those with adult children frequently provided psychological and instrumental support. These findings suggest the need for program modification and the development of new initiatives within national family centers to better support the diverse needs of families in terms of life satisfaction and relationship dynamics.

The effects of resilience and basic personality traits on subjective well-being in elderly

The aim of this research was to examine the prediction of aspects of subjective well-being based on resilience and seven basic personality traits in users of gerontological centers, and the incremental contribution of basic personality traits in explaining adaptation to old age, beyond the variance explained by resilience. The sample consisted of 151 participants (54.3% female) with an average age of 80 years. Satisfaction with life, as cognitive indicator, and emotional distress (anxiety, depression, and stress) were used as indicators of subjective well-being. The results showed that resilience, neuroticism (in the negative direction) and positive valence predicted life satisfaction in the elderly. In predicting emotional distress, neuroticism stood out as a key predictor, while the significant contribution of resilience is dimnished by introducing personality traits into the model. The results provide a more complete picture of the relationships between resilience, personality traiits, and subjective well-being in a sample of the elderly in Serbia, and confirm the importance of studying these relationships from a developmental perspective.

Association between the utilization of senior centers and participation in health check-ups

The global older adult population is increasing. Early detection and intervention through health check-ups are crucial for successful aging, as they play a significant role in identifying and addressing diseases. This study explored the relationship between the utilization of senior centers and the promotion of health check-ups. It utilized data from 10,097 individuals aged 65 years and above, sourced from the 2020 Elderly Survey in South Korea. The primary variable of interest was classified into two groups: those who utilized senior centers and those who did not. Subgroups were further categorized based on the frequency of usage and the presence of family members among senior centers users. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between the utilization of senior centers and participation in health check-ups. Both men and women utilizing senior centers demonstrated a higher likelihood of participating in health check-ups compared with those who did not use senior centers. Participants visiting senior centers in a week exhibited a progressively higher likelihood of engaging in health check-ups compared with those who visited such senior centers zero times a week. Senior centers can serve as effective intervention methods to enhance health check-ups among older adults. Furthermore, this can contribute to fostering successful aging among older adults.

Nutritional Challenges in Nursing Homes: Pilot Study on Macronutrient Intake and Status of Vitamins D and B12.

Older adults living in nursing homes (NH) are considered a population group that could be at risk in terms of nutrition, even more so than their community-dwelling peers. Evidence on the nutritional status of NH residents is scarce, as they are commonly excluded from population-based dietary studies. This is also the case in Slovenia. In the presented pilot study, we assessed the intake of macronutrients as well as the intake and status of vitamin D and vitamin B12 on a sample of NH and NH daycare center users to explore the need for a larger representative study. The pilot study included 37 participants from three Slovenian NH (20 participants) and their daycare centers (17 participants). Daycare centers offer daytime care services for older adults, where users are also provided with major meals during their stay. Intakes of energy and nutrients were estimated by three 24 h dietary records. Fasting blood samples were collected for the assessment of vitamin D and vitamin B12 status. Over 90% of the participants had daily energy and protein intakes below recommendations (reference values: energy intake: males 2100 kcal and females 1700 kcal; protein intake > 1 g/kg body mass). The males' median daily intakes of vitamin D were 1.7 µg (1.5 µg females), and 2.3 µg for vitamin B12 (2.0 µg females). None of the participants had adequate vitamin D intake (>20 µg), and 92.3% males and 87.5% females had inadequate vitamin B12 intake (<4 µg). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-OH-D conc. < 30 nmol/L) was 100% among NH residents and 53% among NH daycare center users. The prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency was found in 20% of NH residents. The study results highlighted that certain nutrients might be critical in this population, especially among NH residents; however, a more thorough investigation with the inclusion of other important markers of nutritional status should be performed on a larger, representative sample to support the development and implementation of appropriate public health interventions.

Optimizing Midwives’ Uptake of a Provincial Perinatal Data System: Lines of Thinking

In Quebec, the perinatal data available is fragmentary, comes from a number of different databases that are not well integrated, and offers little information regarding the quality of care and services provided by midwives. In 2012, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) asked midwives to contribute to the information system on users of local community services centers (I-CLSC). The I-CLSC system is, above all, an administrative monitoring tool; however, it makes it possible to document certain aspects of midwifery practice. Using literature from the fields of knowledge transfer and modification of clinical practices, this article aims to explore under which conditions and to what extent the I-CLSC system could help document midwifery practice. Given the context and the nature of the I-CLSC tool, the success of its uptake by midwives involves the simultaneous reinforcement of its acceptance by midwives, and the provision of support while they use it, so that the data collected is reliable and solid. Training and feedback activities constitute promising avenues in terms of attaining these goals. Literature suggests that, without adequate support, there is a high risk that data fed into the I-CLSC system by midwives will be unreliable. If that is the case, the individual time and effort invested in this system by midwives are unlikely to be cost-effective for either the midwives themselves or midwifery in general.

Application of task processing system based on wireless sensor network in English writing intelligent assistance platform

With the widespread use of 32-bit embedded task processing systems, embedded systems are used in various fields. Traditional software development is gradually being replaced by development methods based on embedded operating systems. The built-in processing system inherits the entire operating system and retains its core components, including thread synchronization and exclusive access to individual resources. However, embedded system resources are relatively limited, and operating requirements are more complex and flexible, which makes the development of embedded operating systems more complicated and difficult than general PC systems. The corpus as the basic intelligent corpus is the research capital used by scientists to study language, and it is also an important part of English writing teaching. In fact, after European linguists represented by Jeffrey Ritchie proposed the application of smart corpus to the teaching of English writing, smart corpus entered the field of view of scientists. This means that smart corpus will become an indispensable part of linguistics. This research method expands the research method of English writing, covering two main aspects: speech output and language error analysis. The application of this research method to the teaching system of English writing is mainly reflected in “language error analysis”. This article discusses corpus-based English writing. In addition, in order to enrich the application influence of the English teaching management system, the system discussed in this article aims at the optimization of the teaching system and has designed more useful functions (such as English broadcasting, personal center users, system settings, etc.), so that students can learn more. It is easy to record their English learning status and enrich the content of English courses.

Autonomous integration of TSN-unaware applications with QoS requirements in TSN networks

Modern industrial networks transport both best-effort and real-time traffic. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) was introduced by the IEEE TSN Task Group as an enhancement to Ethernet to provide high quality of service (QoS) for real-time traffic. In a TSN network, applications signal their QoS requirements to the network before transmitting data. The network then allocates resources to meet these requirements. However, TSN-unaware applications can neither perform this registration process nor profit from TSN’s QoS benefits.The contributions of this paper are twofold. First, we introduce a novel network architecture in which an additional device acts as a central user configuration (CUC) for TSN-unaware applications and autonomously signals their QoS requirements to the network. Second, we propose a processing method to detect real-time streams in a network and extract the necessary information for the TSN stream signaling. It leverages a Deep Recurrent Neural Network (DRNN) to detect periodic traffic, extracts an accurate traffic description, and uses traffic classification to determine the source application. As a result, our proposal allows TSN-unaware applications to benefit from TSNs QoS guarantees. Our evaluations underline the effectiveness of the proposed architecture and processing method.