Social cohesion among peers profoundly influences decision making during adolescence. Despite this, the current research is very limited concerning the association of social cohesion and intimacy among rural adolescent peers with dietary intake and weight outcomes. This is problematic because social cohesion could be an unknown contributing factor in obesity among rural adolescents. The purpose of this study was to investigate how social cohesion and intimacy among rural adolescents in Kentucky and North Carolina affects the outcomes of a text message intervention aimed at improving fruit, vegetable, fast food and sugar sweetened beverage intake. Additionally, to determine if social cohesion is an independent contributing factor to dietary intakes and weight outcomes among rural adolescents. It was found that the intervention had no effect on fruit and vegetable consumption and purchases and sugar sweetened beverage calories. However, the intervention did have a modest effect on the amount of times fast food was consumed per week.

Text messaging is a new form of writing, brought about by technological development in the last couple of decades. Mobile phone usage has increased rapidly worldwide and texting is now part of many people's everyday communcation. A large number of users send or receive texts which include some abbreviations and shortenings, commonly referred to as textspeak. This novel linguistic phenomenon is perceived by some with indifference and by others with aggravation. The following study examines attitudes towards this linguistic change from a gender and age perspective. The comparison between two groups show that the most conservative and least positive to change are young women. The analysis and discussion around this focuses on power, prestige and patterns.

This study investigates the understanding of emoticons and emojis used in text messages. Theaim of this study is to determine whether there is a universal understanding of emoticons andemojis, which is important considering the number of people using them every day whensending text messages. Many studies have been made of communication via text messagesand the usage of emoticons and emojis, but no study has focused on the interpretation of thesymbols and the importance of the context.For the purposes of this study, a questionnaire was completed in an uppersecondary school (Swedish gymnasium) in Stockholm, during normal school hours inNovember 2014, by 90 16-19 year old students. The result was then analysed through a‘Relevance Theory’ perspective, and in the light of the works of, amongst others, Saussure,Peirce and Thomas.The result revealed that, for the interpreter of a text message, it is important thata textual context is established, in order for the interpreter to be able to understand what theemoticons or emojis used in text messages mean. The result also showed that the emoticonsand emojis do not have a meaning in themselves and that they can have different meaningsdepending on the situation, and the mood or the person for whom the message is intended.

Health care providers face large costs in terms of operating rooms not being utilized due to patients (1) not canceling enough in advance to allow a different patient to be scheduled or (2) not being in a good enough condition to be operated on due to failure to follow preoperative instructions properly. This degree project aims to see if SMS text reminders can be used to lower the number of surgeries canceled in this manner. Patients of the surgical-, urological- and orthodontic clinics at a hospital in Stockholm were placed into one of three groups; (1) a group that did not receive a text message reminder, (2) a group that received a "short" reminder, (3) and a group that received a "long" reminder. A survey was also conducted to determine what the patients thought of the reminders and whether they believed it influenced them or not. The study suggests that reminders do not work as a method to decrease the short notice cancellation rate as it may not be a poor memory that causes the patient to cancel. Instead, anxiety might have a greater impact than expected. Further studies should be conducted in order to confirm this hypothesis. / Sjukvårdsgivare möts av stora kostnader då operationssalar inte används på grund av att patienter (1) inte avbokar i tid för att tillåta att en annan patient tar deras platser eller (2) inte är i tillräckligt bra tillstånd för att bli opererad på grund av ett misslyckande att följa de preoperativa instruktionerna ordentligt. Detta examensarbete har som mål att undersöka om SMS-påminnelser kan användas för att minska antalet operationer som avbokas på detta vis. Patienter från de kirurgiska-, urologiska och ortopediska klinikerna på ett sjukhus i Stockholm placerades i en av tre grupper; (1) en grupp som inte mottog SMS-påminnelser, (2) en grupp som mottog en ”kort påminnelse”, (3) och en grupp som mottog en ”lång” påminnelse. En enkätstudie utfördes för att kunna avgöra om patienter ansåg att påminnelserna påverkade dem eller inte. Studien antyder att påminnelser inte fungerar som ett sätt att minska antalet avbokningar med kort varsel eftersom det avbokningar eventuellt inte beror på minnet. Istället är det möjligt att ångest har en större påverkan än förväntat. Fler studier borde utföras för att kunna bekräfta denna hypotes.

Volunteered Geographic Information, data contributed by community scientists, is an increasingly popular tool to collect scientific data, involve the community in scientific research, and provide information and education about a prominent issue. Johnson City, Tennnessee, USA has a long history of downtown flooding, and recent redevelopment of two land parcels has created new city parks that mitigate flooding through floodwater storage, additional channel capacity, and reduced impervious surfaces. At Founders Park, a project to collect stage data using text messages from community scientists has collected 1479 stage measurements from 597 participants from May 2017 through July 2021. Text messages were parsed to extract the stage and merged with local precipitation data to assess the stream’s response to precipitation. Of 1479 observations, 96.7% were correctly parsed. Only 3% of observations were false positives (parser extracted incorrect stage value) or false negatives (parser unable to extract correct value but usable data were reported). Less than 2% of observations were received between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., creating an overnight data gap, and fewer than 7% of observations were made during or immediately following precipitation. Regression models for stage using antecedent precipitation explained 21.6% of the variability in stream stage. Increased participation and development of an automated system to record stage data at regular intervals will provide data to validate community observations and develop more robust rainfall–runoff models.

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Background: Nearly 45 million adults in the United States live with a mental health disorder and only 43% of them seek treatment. One of the major barriers to seeking treatment is accessibility and can be addressed through telepsychology, or providing services with technology. With technological improvements in written communication, using computer-mediated communication (CMC; e.g. text messaging) has become more regularly used and examined in healthcare. To date, little research has focused on the use of practitioner language in telepsychology. Method: Two samples (university sample and national sample) totaling 396 participants were asked to rate a therapist on attractiveness (i.e. likability and sociability), expertness, and trustworthiness after reading one of four text-message introductions. The messages varied in the language used: Jargon, jargon with layman explanations, layman only, and text speak. Analysis: The participants’ ratings of the therapist were analyzed using analysis of variance to examine differences between the rating means. Results: University participants rated a therapist higher in attractiveness when the text-message used layman language only compared to jargon, jargon with layman, and text speak. Both samples rated the therapist lower in attractiveness, expertness, and likelihood to use services of therapist when the text-message contained text speak.

Le début du XXIe siècle se caractérise par l'explosion des échanges via Internet et par la multiplication des objets connectés, au premier rang desquels le Smartphone (apparu en 2007). Autant d'appareils qui permettent de recevoir et d'envoyer des informations sous des formes diverses (messages vocaux, images, vidéos, textes, etc.). Les modes de communication et les usages qui en découlent se sont multipliés et propagés. C'est désormais en milliards que se comptent les utilisateurs de Smartphones. Celte adoption en masse du Smartphone a radicalement transformé les habitudes de tout un chacun, sans distinction de génération, de sexe, de catégorie socioprofessionnelle, de culture, d'appartenance géographique, etc. Envahissant la planète et pénétrant, dans le même élan, la sphère artistique, l'appareil a su se faire adopter par les créateurs, auprès desquels il joue désormais un rôle particulier, voire plusieurs: d'abord sujet de réflexion, Je Smartphone, à la technologie complexe et aux nombreuses fonctionnalités, est devenu à la fois outil de création, lieu d'expérimentation et d'exposition, moyen de transmission et de diffusion ... Connecté et tactile, il a créé une proximité et une relation nouvelles entre les artistes et le public. Bien qu'extrêmement diverses, les pratiques artistiques et les œuvres qu'il engendre n'en forment pas moins un corpus cohérent dont les ressorts communs diffèrent de ce qui caractérise habituellement une œuvre d'art. La force du Mobile An réside dans sa capacité d'adaptation et de métamorphose. Avec lui, l'imagination déborde sans cesse la technologie pour se mettre à la portée de tous. Il est un art démocratique, désacralisé et populaire. / The outburst of exchanges via Internet and the multiplication of connected devices -number one being the Smartphone which arrived in 2007 -characterize the beginning of the XXIst century. Ali these devices enable us to receive or send different forms of information (voice messages, images, videos, texts, and so on). These new ways of communicating and their new uses have been greatly developed and diversified ever since. There are now billions of Smartphone users around the world. This massive use of the Smartphone utterly transformed everyone's habits, whatever the generation, the gender, the socio-professional category, the cultural background, the geographical area ... After flooding the plane! and then ente1ing the artistic sphere, this device has been adopted by artists and is now playing a very special part in their creative process: first mere food for thought, the Smartphone characterised by a complex technology and a lot of functions has become a tool as well as a space for experimenting and exhibiting, a means to transmit and to spread any idea, information or creative work ... It is connected, tactile and responsible for a new kind of proximity and relationship between artists and their public. The artistic practices and artworks in which the Smartphone is used, though highly diverse, nevertheless belong to a consistent corpus, the underlying motivations of which being different from what generally characterises an artwork. The power of Mobile Art lays in its ability to adapt and to transform itself. Imagination is able to continuously extend beyond technology to bring itself within everyone's reach. It is a democratic, desacralized and popular art.

This thesis investigates drivers willingness to engage with a mobile phone while driving. Many studies have looked into the effects on driving performance that can result from phone usage, but few studies have directly considered what can encourage or inhibit phone engagement behaviours in the first place. An initial exploratory study (Study 1) was conducted, for which a photo elicitation interview (N=20) was designed and implemented. This aimed to find the extent to which factors influencing phone use transferred from out of the car to the driving environment. In particular, the study aimed to explore whether the driving environment could be considered unique. The results indicated that the high demands placed on the driver by the road environment clearly distinguished it from the other environments and the reported propensity to use a phone seemed to reflect this. Only factors which either changed the level of attention required by the task, such as a change in task demand as a result of changes in the traffic environment, had any substantial influence on willingness to engage. Driving may not be unique in terms of the overall factors influencing phone use but it is unique in the extent to which this particular factor seems to have such a strong bearing on interaction. Building on findings from Study 1, that the demand and attention required seemed to influence willingness to engage, it was noted that Fuller s (2005) Task Capability Interface model would serve as a useful framework for the remainder of the thesis. This model suggests that driver behaviour is dictated by the level of task difficulty perceived; an interaction between task demand and capability. Therefore, the effects these two elements might have on willingness to engage with mobile phones while driving were tested separately in the two remaining studies. Previous research suggested that task demand should comprise a combination of roadway demand and the intended phoning task. Study 2, therefore, experimentally tested the extent to which road demand and phone function intended to be used influenced drivers decisions to engage with their phone. Participants (N=20) viewed video clips of real road environments of varying demand. Rating scales were used by participants to rate their willingness to engage with various phone functions according to the scenario they had just viewed. It was found both roadway demand and phone functionality affected willingness to engage with a mobile phone whilst driving. There was a higher propensity to engage in phone use in road environments perceived to have a lower demand and lower propensity to engage in phone use in the highest demand scenarios. Answering a call was the most likely function to be engaged with by the participants and sending a text message was the least likely. The final study investigated how capability (comprising both phone and driving capability) influenced willingness to engage. Participants (N=40) were required to drive in a simulator under two conditions, simulated low and high road demand. Their willingness to interact with their phones, when faced with a number of phone tasks, was then observed. It was found that driving capability had an effect on willingness to engage in high demand scenarios with the less capable, novice, drivers having a higher propensity to engage with placing a call, sending a text message and reading a text message than the more experienced drivers. Novice drivers were willing to engage with some functions on their phone at possibly inappropriate times. It was further found that, in the simulated low demand road environment, phone capability influenced willingness to engage, with those who were more capable at placing a call and sending a text message found to be more willing to engage with these functions. The research reported in this thesis represents the first attempt in the literature to study, in depth, the factors which can influence phone engagement behaviour while driving. Novel contributions include investigating if factors influencing phone use transferred from out of the car to the driving environment. Further novel contributions included whether the phone function and road demand interact to influence willingness to engage and whether capability can affect phone engagement behaviour while driving. Extending the model developed by Fuller, the thesis offers an original model that describes the factors affecting phone engagement behaviour while driving. Suggestions are proposed for how the findings presented in this thesis can effectively be used and how future work should build on these initial foundations.