Heart failure (HF) is the leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and health care utilization inCanada. Much of the cost for HF is related to hospitalization, strategies to decrease cost need tofocus on avoiding unnecessary readmissions to the hospital. Interactive voice response (IVR) is anautomated telephony system that leverages existing telephone lines to monitor patients post-discharge from a hospital, for early intervention. Limited evidence exists on the pattern of use andsuccess of IVR technology among patients with heart failure and how IVR impacts theircompliance. This study explores the pattern of IVR use by HF patients in the IVR program at theUniversity of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), describes their characteristics and IVR patterns ofuse in relation to occurrence of symptoms, compliance behavior (e.g., weighing themselves,medication compliance) and service utilization (i.e., hospital readmission). The system is based onan algorithm that triggers automated telephone calls to patients at a predetermined time for 3months after discharge. A total of 902 HF patients were considered with a mean age of 70 years(59.4% male). Over the 12 weeks, results showed an overall increase in medication adherence anda decrease in symptom occurrence, weight gain and readmission rates. The highest compliancerate in this study was found in medication adherence and the lowest was found in the variableassociated with exercise. The risk of readmission for patients who completed the IVR call,answered all the questions and listened to the educational prompts was lower than the patients whowere called back by nurses. These results suggest that IVR calls do have a positive impact on HFpatients. The increased use of IVR in remote patient monitoring will allow for a cheaper and moreaccessible form of at home monitoring. Leveraging IVR technology to support other conditions,especially during a pandemic, may be beneficial for patients to avoid unnecessary visits to thehospital and complications due to delay in seeking care.

Currently, there is a lack of usable, remote, and accessible voting technologies that must be addressed. An interactive voice response (IVR) system is one potential solution to this problem, due to its capability of remote use and its audio interface, which is very beneficial for those who are visually impaired. An IVR voting system developed by Holmes and Kortum (2011) was fitted with a synthetic voice and an audio speed adjustment feature for increased accessibility and usability, especially for blind voters (Piner, 2011). This system was tested on the three ISO 9241-11 usability metrics (ISO 9241-11, 1998), efficiency (time to complete a ballot), effectiveness (accuracy), and satisfaction (subjective usability) and compared with the usability of other voting methods in an attempt to determine its viability as a voting method. The usage of the accessibility feature was also examined. Results showed that the IVR voting system is comparable with other voting methods in terms of usability. Results also showed a noticeable portion of non-visually impaired participants utilized the accessibility feature.

Electronic data capture technologies, such as interactive voice response (IVR) systems, are emerging as important alternatives for collecting self-reported data. The purpose of this research was to assess the measurement equivalence between the original paper-based versions and the adapted interactive voice response (IVR) versions of the EQ-5D and the QLQ-C30. Furthermore, we examined the test-retest reliability of two consecutive administrations of the IVR versions of the EQ-5D and the QLQ-C30. The comparison of the paper and IVR versions of the EQ-5D was conducted utilizing a crossover design with subjects randomly assigned to one of two assessment orders: 1) paper then IVR or 2) IVR then paper. A convenience sample of in-treatment outpatient cancer clinic patients (n=139) were asked to complete each assessment two days apart. For the test-retest component, outpatient cancer clinic patients (n=127) were asked to complete the IVR-based EQ-5D twice, two days apart. The analyses tested for mean differences (paired t-test) and test-retest reliability (ICC).In the crossover analysis, ten of the fifteen mean differences analyzed for the scales and items of the QLQ-C30 were within the equivalence interval set a priori. The ICCs for the scales and items of the QLQ-C30 ranged from 0.698 to 0.899. Two of the items, insomnia and appetite loss, did not meet our threshold of being statistically different from an ICC of 0.70. The EQ-5D index score means were equivalent between paper and IVR, however the EQ VAS score differences were not wholly contained in the equivalence interval. The ICCs were above 0.890 for the index and the EQ VAS. In the test-retest analysis, the ICCs for the nine multi-item scales for the QLQ-C30 were all above 0.69, ranging from 0.698 to 0.891. Ten of the fifteen mean differences analyzed were within the equivalence interval set a priori. For the EQ-5D, the mean differences were wholly contained within the equivalence intervals for both the index and the EQ VAS and the ICCs were significantly different from 0.70. Overall, the IVR version of the questionnaires provided psychometrically equivalent results to those obtained on the original paper version and showed good stability over time.

Statistical models like Transition State Theory (TST) and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) Theory have generally been successful in predicting the rates and selectivities of chemical reactions. However, these statistical models can fail to explain experimental results of ordinary organic reactions. For these reactions, consideration of nonstatistical dynamic effects or the detailed motion and momenta of the atoms is necessary to account for the experimental observations. Dynamic effects have been found to be important in a growing number of reactions and the nature of these effects can be varied. One of the most interesting reactions investigated is the ozonolysis of vinyl ethers. Ozonolysis of a homologous series of vinyl ethers in solution exhibit experimental product ratios wherein the selectivity among cleavage pathways increases with the size of the alkyl group to an extent that is far less than RRKM theory would predict. Trajectory studies account for the observed selectivities and support a mechanism involving a competition between cleavage of the primary ozonide and intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution. A recent theoretical study from our group predicted that a highly asynchronous organocatalytic Diels-Alder (DA) reaction, which is concerted in the potential energy surface, is stepwise in the free energy surface. Kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) were measured for three DA reactions. We envision that the entropic barrier may have several experimental consequences such as unusual isotope effects due to extensive recrossing. Preliminary results for the organocatalytic reaction show an intramolecular KIE close to unity that cannot be reconciled with statistical theories. This is in contrast with Lewis-acid catalyzed and thermal DA reactions, which exhibit substantial "normal" intramolecular KIEs that are in accord with TST predictions. Finally, the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of cylohexanone in water was investigated. KIEs were measured for the oxidation of cyclohexanone with peracetic acid and trifluoroperacetic acid. When using peracetic acid as the oxidant, the alkyl migration was determined to be the rate-determining step based on significant intermolecular KIEs on the carbonyl and alpha-methylene carbons. A change in the rate-determining step is seen when trifluoroperacetic acid is used. Only the carbonyl carbon exhibits a significant isotope effect. Theoretical predictions provide an experimental picture of the transition states and qualitatively support these conclusions.

This work describes a development of system for network compilation for speech recognition based on Speech Recognition Grammar Specification (SRGS) grammar defined by W3C consortium. Together with the new module, the recognizer was integrated to the FreeSwitch software phone switch using a combination of MRCPv2/SIP/RTP networks protokols and tested.

This diploma thesis focuses on development of graphical user interface for managing IVR applications. The work is more software oriented, it analyzes current state of the iPBX product belonging to the IPEX a.s. company, describes used technologies and introduces new concept of interactive user interface for generating IVR diagrams together with Asterisk dial plan generator.

Many researchers and speech user interface practitioners assert that interactive voice response (IVR) menus must be relatively short due to constraints of the human memory system. These individuals commonly cite Miller's (1956) paper to support their claims. The current paper argues that these authors commonly misuse the information provided in Miller's paper and that hypotheses drawn from modern theories of working memory (e.g., Baddeley and Hitch, 1974) would lead to the opposite conclusion – that reducing menu length by creating a greater number of menus and a deeper structure will actually be more demanding on users' working memories and will lead to poorer performance and poorer user satisfaction. The primary purpose of this series of experiments was to gain a greater understanding of the role of working memory in speech-enabled IVR use. The experiments also sought to determine whether theories of visual search and signal detection theory (SDT) could be used to predict auditory search behavior. Results of this experiment indicate that creating a deeper structure with shorter menus is detrimental to performance and satisfaction and more demanding of working memory resource. Further the experiment provides support for arguments developed from Macgregor, Lee, and Lam's dual criterion decision model and is a first step toward applying SDT to the IVR domain.

No description available.

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has shown us that there may be situations where the applied technology will not be able to successfully cool the reactor core. These situations may occur when more elements such as supply of energy to power the pumps and diesel generators are destroyed for example by tsunami or earthquake, or other not expected natural disasters. The inability of the residual heat removal leads to the melting of core, relocation to the bottom of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and failure of RPV. Result of this accident may be containment failure and leakage of fission products into the environment. One way to prevent this scenario may be a passive system called IVR (In-Vessel Retention) by using external cooling of RPV that retains melted core in. This system counts with flooding of RPV´s shaft by water. After natural circulation of water provides the heat transfers from the wall of RPV. The applicability of IVR for VVER 1000 reactors is still in the course of research. However it´s already clear that the submersion of RPV shaft by water will not sufficient. Other elements as suitable insulation and RPV coating which provides a more intensive heat transfer from the walls of RPV will be needed.

My thesis deals with the design of an experimental emergency cooling device of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). It consists of two parts, the theoretical one and practical one. Different molten corium cooling methods in terms of their efficiency and comparison are introduced in the theoretical part. The design of an experimental emergency cooling device, which incorporates a model channel past the reactor pressure vessel , is presented in the practical part. The cooling device consists of a model channel past the reactor pressure vessel, condensator, which takes away the heat generated by the reactor pressure vessel and the pump of a secondary loop. Next, thermal and hydraulic calculations are given in this section. The conclusion is devoted to the evaluation of particular cooling technologies and their comparison in terms of nuclear and technical safety.