As mobile phone connections approach two billion worldwide and become steadily more available and affordable, demands for scientific studies on the effect of such EMFs on human functioning similarly increase. The current thesis systematically investigated the effects of acute mobile phone exposure on human brain activity and performance using an in-vivo approach. The research question comprised the following parts: First, is human neural function sensitive to acute mobile phone exposure? Second, if so, what processes are affected? Third, if so, do these neural changes affect gross measures of performance or behaviour? A review of the previous literature found that there was some, but not conclusive evidence that mobile phone exposure affects neural function and some aspects of human performance, and that the studies in question required replication with reliable and realistic dosimetry, double-blinding and additional technical tests to ensure that the experimental set-up was free of artefact contamination. A pilot study was conducted to provide an indication of possible future results, assist in the formation of hypotheses for the main study, and highlight what technical issues required attention before the main study could begin. Results of the pilot study indicated that EMFs emitted by GSM900 mobile phones may alter human brain activity during an auditory task, particularly in proximity to the phone. Both early sensory and later more cognitive ERP components were significantly altered during active compared to sham exposure. Results also suggested that mobile phone exposure may hinder human performance, with longer RTs during the active exposure relative to the sham exposure. However, due to the small sample size of the pilot investigation and questions remaining as to possible technical limitations of the study, these results were treated with caution and used primarily in the formation of future hypotheses for the larger experimental study. Subsequent technical tests provided improvement and validation of the experimental set-up and exposure delivery system, and ensured that future research would be free from such technical limitations. These tests included the characterisation of spectral emissions by the test phone; ensuring that EMFs emitted by the test phones would not interfere with, nor distort, data from the response pad or that processed by the electrode leads; determining whether electrode leads cause an increase or decrease in SAR; and examining the issue of experimenter interference. These tests enabled the conclusion that a positive finding from the large experimental trial would be due to the active exposure of the mobile phone, or in the case of a null finding, would not be due to insufficient or unreliable exposure. Applying the knowledge gained from these technical tests, the main study aimed to provide results of a definitive nature by employing a sample size of 120 sufficient statistical power to detect relatively subtle effects, and a stringent methodological design to account for past limitations. The main study also increased the scope of investigation beyond that achieved in previous research by including endpoints related to sensory processing (auditory and visual tasks), higher cognitive processing (cardsorting task), performance (reaction time and accuracy) and cortical activation (EEG alpha power). To increase this scope even further, within these tasks, the study used data from each scalp electrode and offered insights into the effect of laterality (ipsi- versus contralateral in relation to the exposure source), psychological arousal, perception of transmission, and between-subject factors such as age, gender, previous mobile phone use and hemisphere exposed (right versus left hemisphere exposure). The results of the main study suggested that acute exposure to GSM900 mobile phone significantly reduced levels of psychological arousal, particularly in relation to selfratings of Energy. Results also indicated that only minutes of active exposure can lead to enhanced alpha EEG activity during active exposure relative to sham exposure. Interestingly, this effect was found to be transient, decreasing below sham levels after ten minutes of active exposure and up until ten minutes after exposure cessation. These exposure-induced changes in EEG alpha power were here interpreted as representing an overall reduction in integrative brain function, possibly caused by the physiological response to neural interference or altered synaptic transmission. Acute exposure did not alter human brain activity in the form of the early sensory or later cognitive ERP responses during an auditory or visual task, or EEG synchronisation during a higher cognitive task. The findings also suggested that resultant behaviour, as indexed by RT and accuracy, is unaffected by exposure. Conversely, exploration into specific groups within the sample resulted in some interesting interactions, which raised the possibility that active mobile phone exposure may affect individuals differently as a function of age, gender and which hemisphere is exposed. Specifically, the auditory processing of older individuals was particularly vulnerable to the detrimental effects of mobile phone exposure compared to their younger counterparts. Results of the visual task suggested that the performance of females may also be particularly vulnerable to the detrimental effects of active exposure, compared to males. Overall, the present study has confirmed that there are mobile phone-related bioeffects at the low levels that mobile phones are permitted to operate at. Although various effects have been observed, there is no indication from the present results that cumulative effects or any health consequences exist as this was not the focus of the research. It is argued that future investigation into mobile phone-related bioeffects should apply more sophisticated methodologies to the investigation of acute exposure on EEG alpha power and higher cognitive functioning, as well as larger sample sizes and fewer carefully planned comparisons in order to detect small effects. Further investigation into exposure-induced effects on different groups according to age, gender and which hemisphere is exposed should also be a priority.

The use of mobile phones is continually increasing throughout the world, with recent figures showing that there are currently more than 2 billion mobile phone users worldwide. However, despite the recognised benefits of the introduction and widespread use of mobile phone technologies, concerns regarding the potential health effects of exposure to the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phone handsets have similarly increased, leading to an increase in demand for scientific research to investigate the possibility of health effects related to the use of mobile phones. An increasing amount of radiofrequency bioeffects research related to mobile phone use has focussed on the possible effects of mobile phone exposure on human brain activity and function, particularly as the absorption of energy in the head and brain region is much higher than in other body regions, which is a direct result from the close proximity of the mobile phone to the head when in normal use. In particular, the use of sleep research has become a more widely used technique for assessing the possible effects of mobile phones on human health and wellbeing, and is particularly useful for providing important information in the establishment of possible radiofrequency bioeffects, especially in the investigation of potential changes in sleep architecture resulting from mobile phone use. A review of the previous literature showed that a number of studies have reported an increase in the electroencephalogram spectral power within the 8 � 14 Hz frequency range in both awake and sleep states following radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure. In regards to sleep, the enhancements reported have not been entirely consistent, with some early studies failing to find an effect, while more recent studies have reported that the effect differs in terms of particular frequency range. However, in general the previous literature suggests that there is an effect of mobile phone emissions on the sleep electroencephalogram, particularly in the frequency range of sleep spindle activity. In addition to changes in spectral power, changes in other conventional sleep parameters and the production and secretion of melatonin have also been investigated, however, there has been little or no consistency in the findings of previous studies, with the majority of recent studies concluding that there is no influence of mobile phone radiofrequency fields on these parameters of sleep or melatonin. Following a detailed review of the previous research, the current study was developed with the aim to improve on previous methodological and statistical limitations, whilst also being the largest study to investigate mobile phone radiofrequency bioeffects on human sleep. The principle aims were thus to test for the immediate effects of mobile phone radiofrequency electromagnetic fields on human sleep architecture and the secretion of the pineal hormone, melatonin. The experiment included 50 participants who were randomly exposed to active and sham mobile phone exposure conditions (one week apart) for 30 minutes prior to a full night-time sleep episode. The experimental nights employed a randomised exposure schedule using a double-blind crossover design. Standard polysomnography was used to measure subsequent sleep, and in addition, participants were required to provide urine samples immediately following exposure and upon waking in the morning. A full dosimetric assessment of the exposure system was also performed in order to provide sufficient details of the exposure set-up used in the current thesis and to account for the lack of detailed dosimetric data provided in the majority of previous studies. The results of the current study suggest that acute exposure to a mobile phone prior to sleep significantly enhances electroencephalogram spectral power in the sleep spindle frequency range compared to the sham exposure condition. The current results also suggest that this mobile phone-induced enhancement in spectral power is largely transitory and does not linger throughout the night. Furthermore, a reduction in rapid eye movement sleep latency following mobile phone exposure was also found compared to the sham exposure, although interestingly, neither this change in rapid eye movement sleep latency or the enhancement in spectral power following mobile phone exposure, led to changes in the overall quality of sleep. Finally, the results regarding melatonin suggested that, overall, overnight melatonin secretion is unaffected by acute exposure to a mobile phone prior to sleep. In conclusion, the current study has confirmed that a short exposure to the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields emitted by a mobile phone handset immediately prior to sleep is sufficient to induce changes in brain activity in the initial part of sleep. The consequences or functional significance of this effect are currently unknown and it would be premature to draw conclusions about possible health consequences based on the findings of the current study.

<p>This essay presents a survey that was conducted on 52 college students regarding their opinions on advertisement received to the mobile phone. The questionnaire survey focused on what college students think of advertising to the mobile phone and what attitude they have towards it. The thoughts behind this study are that advertisement to the mobile phones is something that is getting more popular when the mobile phone is getting more advanced. The result of the study showed that college students are not that interested in receiving advertisement to their mobile phones. Several of the college students that participated in the study already get advertisement to their mobile phones, advertisement that they don't want because it doesn't reflect their interests. The study showed that if the advertisement sent to the respondents was to get more customized to their personal interest they might consider receiving it.</p>

In recent years mobile phones have become very popular in India, even among the poorer parts of the population. Our aim was to study how this has affected the small businesses. During the fall of 2007 we made 44 interviews with various businessmen in two states in northern India, Rajasthan and Orissa. During the study we found that the access to mobile phones had had altered the way business is handeled on many levels. The businessmen had gotten more customers, more time on their hands and they had changed they way they handeled supplies and suppliers. The ultimate effect of this was an increase in personal income.

This essay presents a survey that was conducted on 52 college students regarding their opinions on advertisement received to the mobile phone. The questionnaire survey focused on what college students think of advertising to the mobile phone and what attitude they have towards it. The thoughts behind this study are that advertisement to the mobile phones is something that is getting more popular when the mobile phone is getting more advanced. The result of the study showed that college students are not that interested in receiving advertisement to their mobile phones. Several of the college students that participated in the study already get advertisement to their mobile phones, advertisement that they don't want because it doesn't reflect their interests. The study showed that if the advertisement sent to the respondents was to get more customized to their personal interest they might consider receiving it.

Σχεδίαση και Υλοποίηση εφαρμογής για έξυπνα κινητά τηλέφωνα με χρήση τεχνολογιών διαδικτύου HTML5 και διερεύνηση σχετικων εργαλείων και τεχνολογιων. / Designing and development of a mobile application using HTML5 web technologies and further research of corresponding tools and frameworks.

Over the last decade the use of mobile phones has increased dramatically everywhere by people from different cultural backgrounds. However, while such technological adoption move on at an ever increasing pace all over the world, the key problem for designers and developers of mobile phones is how to develop mobile phone services that effectively support the dynamic and flexible communication needs of such diverse groups of users. To counter this problem, this thesis focused on establishing how people from different cultural backgrounds use mobile phones to achieve their communicative, social and informational goals. Questionnaires and interviews were undertaken and analysed to achieve this. The findings from the analysis led to the development of two prototypes missed call services; the icon-based missed call service (IBMCS) and the personalised icon-based missed call service. Several key findings emerged from this research. For example, mobile phone users in the Sudan and the UK differed in the way they used their mobile phones especially in the public places. British participants were more comfortable using their mobile phones in public sphere. British and Sudanese stated that they would like to use an IBMCS to support their communication needs. However, Sudanese users were more keen than the British participants on personalising the developed missed call service to aid the management of their communication needs and to better coordinate their activities. The evaluation of the personalised IBMCS highlighted an important redesign implication, such as allowing the receiver to manipulate the receipt of missed calls in public settings.

Nowadays, large quantities of waste mobile phones are generated each year due to the large consumption and fast updating speed of this electronic product. This has become a rapidly growing pollution problem as mobile phones contain many harmful substances and these substances will be released to the environment if waste mobile phones are treated improperly. Therefore, it is necessary to develop risk assessment methods to determine the contamination degree of this waste to the environment and then take effective measures to reduce the pollution. Considering the complexity of risk assessment procedure, an indicator system for waste mobile phones is here established instead, consisting of totally 30 indicators. The system is developed as a hierarchy structure and has four layers including object layer, factor layer, indicator layer and sub-indicator layer.

This research thesis presents a study of mobile-enhanced accessibility evaluation. In the first phase we have identified the evaluation methods that enable evaluation of mobile-enhanced accessibility. In the second phase we have performed evaluation of a specific mobile-enhanced accessibility prototype named “Augment” based on some selected evaluation methods that enables evaluation of mobile-enhanced accessibility. Finding methodologies for accessibility evaluation is just as important as early assessment. Therefore, in the last step on the basis of the evaluation results and literature review findings, we have presented an efficient and usable evaluation method that would enable valid and reliable evaluation of mobile-enhanced accessibility. The name of the presented evaluation method is “AccessEva” that is a diary method supported by a software application, which will run on a smart phone with the mobile-based accessibility software. This enables the testers to survey user attitudes, and experiences about the mobile-enhanced accessibility. At the end of this diary method period we suggest that a group discussion will be introduced and conducted together with the participants under the supervision of evaluators. / Cell No: +4670044884

This thesis explores the use of the cell phone among US teens. The research was conducted in a rural east Texas town, with two student groups, 13-14 year-olds (middle school) and 18-20 year-olds (university), between 2007 and 2008, at a time when 2G cell phones were the norm. The analysis adopts and applies the domestication framework developed by Silverstone and Hirsch (1992) within work on the social shaping of technology (Haddon, 2004; Berker, 2006; Selwyn, 2012), and points to some limitations and areas for further development within this approach. The thesis explores the extent to which teens use of the cell phone serves as a vehicle for self-expression and collective identity. It considers their emotional investment and connection with the cell phone as an extension of the self ; as well as its role as a focus for, and a means of, regulation of young people both by adults and by peers. The analysis suggests that, far from being a matter of free choice and autonomy, teens use of cell phones may be restricted by cost (of texting, calling plan), features (of particular phones), and by parental or institutional rules about how, where and when cell phones may be used. Use may also be regulated by peers in terms of when and with whom to talk or text, enabling peer groups to exclude others. Through the lens of the domestication framework this thesis concludes that teens in this context are not an homogenous group: the ways they incorporate the cell phone into their everyday lives may differ to a degree, not least as a result of parental and institutional regulation. The research does, however, identify broad areas of consensus among teens, partly linked to the geographical and socio-economic context of the participants, which provides a useful comparison with research undertaken on teens elsewhere in the world.