Background: Tobacco use is one of the key problems that public health has to face. Tobacco smoking is among the main causes of morbidity and preventable mortality that can be effectively avoided. The eHealth approach uses information and communication technologies to improve the quality of health and healthcare. EHealth interventions delivered through technologies and the Internet are an effective therapeutic tool which contributes to behaviour change, including smoking cessation. This paper presents the results of continuous research on fully automated online eHealth intervention for smoking cessation. Aims: The main objective of this study was to identify the effect of the form of reminders (SMS vs. email) in eHealth smoking cessation intervention using the Endre eHealth program in the population of Czech tobacco smokers. Materials and methods: This research consists of two studies. First, a pilot study on user- acceptance of eHealth intervention was performed in a sample involving 30 respondents. This was followed by a randomized two-arm controlled study comparing the effect of a predictor in the form of eHealth intervention reminders for smoking cessation. Adult tobacco smokers were recruited based on advertising through a variety of online channels. 158 respondents were randomised for the...

Malaria significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality rates in Zambia. The currently accepted malaria treatment is artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT); it is more than 97% effective when the regimen is strictly adhered to. However, the mean ACT adherence rate in sub-Saharan Africa is only approximately 38-48%. Poor pharmacoadherence remains a significant barrier to malaria control and elimination. The purpose of this study was to determine if adherence rates to a six-dose ACT antimalarial treatment differ between patients in Zambia who received short message service (SMS) reminders and those who did not. An experimental, randomized, controlled trial was conducted to collect data from a sample of 96 adult patients with malaria who presented to Fisenge Clinic in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. Participants were randomly assigned to a control or intervention group. The intervention group received SMS messages to remind them to take their medication according to the regimen. An electronic pillbox was used to measure pharmacoadherence for both groups, and patients were classified as probably adherent or probably non-adherent. Data were analyzed using Chi-square for association between the SMS intervention and pharmacoadherence, and logistic regression used for predictors of adherence. No significant association was found between SMS reminders and pharmacoadherence among malaria patients being treated with ACT when evaluated with respect to those who received the SMS reminders and those who did not (x2=0.19, df=1, p=0.67). Binary logistic regression indicated that there were no variables associated with adherence (p > 0.05). Findings from this study contribute to the research regarding the use of mobile phones to promote adherence. This is the first study of its kind using SMS directly to the patient for ACT adherence in sub-Saharan Africa known to the author. It is possible that the use of the electronic pillbox and/or the novelty of participating in a research study contributed to higher levels of adherence than previously found in this geographical area. While data suggested that there was no association between SMS and adherence, further research is needed to explore the value of this intervention.

We are somewhat surprised about the extent of the feedback that we received upon our publication [1], in terms of the not entirely new connection between mobile phone radiation, brain activity, and food intake, being previously explored by EEG, association studies, and animal experiments (as outlined in the introduction of our paper). Ten years ago, scientists found “alarming” evidence of a long-term association between mobile phone radiation and obesity in humans [2]. Specifically, we are perplexed by the partly emotional character of the discussion among our readers. However, back to the facts: We thank our scientific colleagues for their detailed analyses and considerations [3] regarding our study and are pleased to explain the open points for more clarity.

BACKGROUND: The Comprehensive Global Monitoring Framework on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) identifies availability and price of NCD medicines as critical indicators of access to treatment. This dissertation project conducted in eight counties in Kenya studies the: i) availability and prices of NCD medicines in public and non-profit health facilities and private drug outlets; ii) feasibility and validity of data collection on medicine availability and price through telephone interviews compared to in-person; and iii) effects Novartis Access, a NCD medicine pricing scheme, on medicine consumption patterns. METHODS: In 2016 medicine availability and price data were collected in-person through household and facility surveys. Between 2016 and 2018, monthly telephone surveillance data on medicines from health facilities and households were compared with data collected in-person. In-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted with 25 respondents and data collectors to understand their perceptions on both modes of data collection. Sales data on Novartis Access medicines and their generic and therapeutic equivalents were collected from a major wholesaler. The effects of Novartis Access medicines on the consumption generic and therapeutic equivalents and on the consumption of medicines not listed in the national Essential Medicines List (EML) were estimated using segmented regression analysis. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Availability of NCD medicines was low, especially among primary care facilities in the public sector. Prices varied substantially by provider type and level of care, with prices generally lower in the public sector. Telephone interviews were cheaper than in-person interviews; demonstrated high response rates; showed statistically significant level of agreement and correlation with medicine availability and price data respectively from in-person interviews. Most IDI participants mentioned phone interviews were more convenient and yielded good data. Consumption of non-EML medicines was widespread. The introduction of Novartis Access had no statistically significant effect on the overall level and trend of consumption of generic equivalents and non-EML medicines. CONCLUSION: Interventions need to be implemented to address the poor availability of NCD medicines and large variation in prices and to ensure that access initiatives focus on priority medicines. Phone interviews are reliable and valid for collecting data on medicine availability and prices and should be routinely employed. / 2021-02-20T00:00:00Z

Mobile phone use while in the presence of physical conversational partners is a reality in modern day life. Many researchers have investigated how different subgroups use mobile phones and the consequences of such use. The goal of this research was to determine how mobile phones are used in social settings when face-to-face conversations are taking place. The main questions that the research attempted to solve were: (1) If the phone use was related to the conversation at hand, (2) if the intensity of phone use was correlated to how the phone was used, (3) and if phones are used during conversations in different ways depending on the relationships and demographics of the conversational partners. The research was conducted in Malmö, Sweden at bars and cafes´ by administering a semi structured verbal interview on people seen using their cell phones while in face-to-face conversations. Relevant demographic information was recorded as well as five open ended questions. The questions were aimed at understanding how the phone was used, and the phones use in relation to the physical conversation. The research was conducted using the research paradigm of Positivism and the data was analyzed using an Inductive research strategy. Uses and Gratifications theory was the main theory that this research was viewed through. In addition, relevant information was drawn from various psychological theories as well as problematic mobile phone research. The findings show that the majority of phone use is unrelated to the conversations at hand. But often this phone use is re-integrated into the conversation at a later time. It was also found that phone use related to information retrieval was most likely to be related to the face-to-face conversation. Additionally, the data showed that conversational partners that use the phone a lot are highly unlikely to be using the phone in relation to the conversation. The data showed that friends are most likely to not use the phone in relation to the conversation.

In today's information technology-driven world, most criminal acts leave digital evidence. In such cases, cooperation from victims through the handover of digital devices such as the mobile phone isa success factor that enables evidence-seeking through digital forensics. Unfortunately, forensic examination of the victims' devices becomes a potential additional negative consequence for the victim who experiences an invasion of privacy. The privacy invasion can make victims of crime less cooperative and willing to report crimes, leading to a reduced number of criminals held accountable for their actions. To address this problem, 400 Swedish adults were surveyed to identify their hypothetical willingness to report certain crimes. The survey examined the impact a mobile phone handover made on the willingness to report a crime. The findings demonstrated significantly lower willingness to report a crime when a mobile phone was necessary as evidence. However, the data could not support privacy as a common tendency cause. The presented results can be used as a reference for further research on attitudes and behaviours regarding the subject.

With an increase in performance, dependency and ubiquitousness, the necessity for secure mobile device functionality is rapidly increasing. Authentication of an individual's identity is the fundamental component of physical and logical access to secure facilities and information systems. Identity management within the Department of Defense relies on Public Key Infrastructure implemented through the use of X.509 certificates and private keys issued on smartcards called Common Access Cards (CAC). However, use of CAC credentials on smartphones is difficult due to the lack of effective smartcard reader integration with mobile devices. The creation of a mobile phone derived credential, a new X.509 certificate and key pair based off the credentials of the CAC certificates, would eliminate the need for CAC integration with mobile devices This thesis describes four architectures for securely and efficiently generating and delivering a derived credential to a mobile device for secure communications with mobile applications. Two architectures generate credentials through a software cryptographic module providing a LOA-3 credential. The other two architectures provide a LOA-4 credential by utilizing a hardware cryptographic module for the generation of the key pair. In two of the architectures, the Certificate Authority']s (CA) for the new derived credentials is the digital signature certificate from the CAC. The other two architectures utilize a newly created CA, which would reside on the DoD network and be used to approve and sign the derived credentials. Additionally, this thesis demonstrates the prototype implementations of the two software generated derived credential architectures using CAC authentication and outlines the implementation of the hardware cryptographic derived credential. / Master of Science

Recent years have seen a huge increase in the amount of data collected from multiple sources: mobile phones are ubiquitous, social networks are widely used, cities are more and more connected and the mobility of people and goods has risen to a global scale. The Big Data Era has opened the doors to new kinds of studies that were unthinkable with previous qualitative methods: human behavior can now be analyzed with a fine-grained resolution, patterns of mobility and behavior can be extracted from the incredible amount of data collected every day. Modern large cities are becoming more and more interconnected and this phenomenon leads to an increasing communication and activities’ synchronization. Due to the amount of data available or for anonymization reasons, it is often necessary to aggregate data spatially and temporally. A natural representation of clustered mobility data is the temporal network representation. In this thesis we focus on these two aspects of spatial distance in human mobility: (i) we study the synchronization of 76 Italian cities, using mobile phone data, showing that both distance between cities and city size determine the synchronization in communication rhythms. Moreover, we show that the effect of the distance in synchronization decreases when the size of the city increases; (ii) we investigate how clustering continuous spatio-temporal data affects spatio-temporal network measures for real-life and synthetic datasets and analyze how spatio-temporal networks’ measures vary at different aggregation levels.

The willingness of victims to report crimes is declining, which leads to an increase in the dark figure and undermines effective crime control. Nowadays, a mobile phone holds vast amounts of information that may be valuable for police forensic experts, showing that victims’ phones could be critical in crime investigations. This interview study has determined the factors that influence Swedish citizens’ willingness to report crimes when reporting involves surrendering their own mobile phones for forensic analysis. The study also uncovered factors that increase their willingness to report crimes under the same circumstances. The gathered data was subjected to a qualitative analysis and thematic coding, resulting in four distinct themes with 12 categories distributed among them. The analysis reveals that the primary factors affecting Swedish citizens’ willingness to report crimes are privacy concerns, with participants feeling uneasy about others accessing their private data, and anxiety over being separated from their mobile phones. Furthermore, the study indicates that the most significant factors for increasing the willingness to report crimes are enhanced information and transparency from the police, with participants suggesting that better understanding of the process and increased openness would increase their willingness to report.

Smartmobilens användande har successivt ökat och blivit en central del i vår vardag. I och med detta har antalet olika applikationer ökat och numera finns det en mängd olika typer av applikationer som tillfredsställer användarens behov. I den här studien har vi därför försökt ta reda på om träningsapplikationer har förmågan att motivera användaren vid träning. Vi har observerat fem kvinnor och tre män, med varierande erfarenheter av träningsapplikationer, som har deltagit i en fyra veckor lång studie bestående av två faser. Under Fas 1 har respondenterna laddat ned två valfria träningsapplikationer som de testat och under Fas 2 har de använt en specifik applikation. Under användandet har varje respondent antecknat sina tankar och erfarenheter, som senare använts vid en kombinerad observation och intervju. Resultatet visar att träningsapplikationers förmåga att motivera varierar beroende på användare och att det finns ett intresse för att ta del av statistik och förbättringar. / The smart phone’s (mobile) usage has gradually increased and is now an important part of our daily life. Due to this, the amount of applications that can be downloaded keeps on growing. This includes features that will satisfy your every need. In this study, we have tried to find out if training applications have the ability to motivate the user during exercise. Our study contained five women and three men, with varying experiences of training applications. The participants completed a four-week study consisting of two phases. During Phase 1 they got to choose two different training applications they wanted to try while in Phase 2 the participants were given one specific application. While using the applications, every participant took notes of their thoughts and experiences. These notes were later used in a combined observation and interview session. The result showed that the applications ability to motivate varies by user and that there is an interest in taking part of the statistical analysis and improvements.