Trata-se de um ensaio clínico pragmático, com o objetivo de verificar a efetividade das intervenções de suporte telefônico e do envio de carta com resultados de exames laboratoriais no controle metabólico de pessoas com diabetes mellitus atendidas no Distrito Oeste de Saúde do município de Ribeirão Preto-SP, em 2014. A amostra foi constituída por 63 pessoas que foram alocados em dois grupos, intitulados G1 e G2. O G1, composto por 36 pessoas receberam uma ligação semanal durante os quatro meses de sua participação no estudo, totalizando 16 ligações com conteúdo direcionado através de um manual de intervenção previamente construído pela pesquisadora. O G2, composto por 27 pessoas, além do cuidado usual receberam uma carta com os seus resultados dos exames laboratoriais. Para a coleta de dados foram utilizados dois questionários. O primeiro questionário continha 10 questões para classificação de sexo, idade, estado civil, religião, escolaridade, renda familiar, ocupação, tempo de diagnóstico de diabetes mellitus, tratamento utilizado para controle do diabetes mellitus e co-morbidades. O segundo com 13 itens que correspondiam as medidas de altura, peso, índice de massa corpórea, pressão arterial sistólica e diastólica, circunferência abdominal, glicemia de jejum, lipoproteína de baixa densidade, lipoproteína de alta densidade, triglicerídeo, colesterol total, hemoglobina glicada e creatinina plasmática. Os dados foram coletados no início (P0) e após 4 meses de intervenção (P4) em ambos os grupos. Para análise, utilizou-se estatística descritiva, teste t-Student e o modelo de efeitos mistos. Os resultados mostraram que em ambos os grupos houve o predomínio da participação de mulheres, idade média de 63 anos, casados, aposentados, 7 anos de escolaridade e com renda familiar entre 1 e 3 salários mínimos. Para G1, o tempo de diagnóstico do diabetes predominante foi de 11 a 20 anos e em G2 de 6 a 10 anos. Em relação às co-morbidades, ambos em sua maioria referiram ser hipertensos e optar pelo tratamento medicamentoso, através do uso de antidiabéticos orais e insulina. No que se refere às variáveis clínicas relacionadas ao controle metabólico, o G1 apresentou redução dos valores do índice de massa corpórea, pressão arterial sistólica e diastólica, glicemia de jejum, colesterol total, triglicerídeo e hemoglobina glicada. Para as variáveis pressão arterial sistólica, pressão arterial diastólica e glicemia de jejum, obtiveram-se reduções estatisticamente significantes (p<0,05). No G2 observou-se redução nos valores do índice de massa corpórea, pressão arterial sistólica e diastólica, glicemia de jejum, lipoproteína de baixa densidade, colesterol total e triglicerídeo. Porém, nenhum resultado apresentou evidências estatísticas significativas. O uso do suporte telefônico como estratégia de intervenção mostrou-se uma ferramenta importante para o incremento na atenção a pessoas em condições crônicas, em especial para o controle metabólico de pessoas com diabetes mellitus. / A pragmatic clinical trial was undertaken to verify the efficacy of telephone support interventions and the sending of a letter with laboratory results on the metabolic control of diabetes mellitus patients attended in the Western Health District of the city of Ribeirão Preto-SP, in 2014. Among the 1298 persons who receive insulin and were registered in the Farmanet system, 63 persons were invited by telephone and participated in the study. They were allocated in two groups, called G1 and G2. G1 included 36 persons who received a weekly call during the four months of their participation in the study, totaling 16 calls whose content was directed by an intervention manual the researcher has elaborated in advance. G2, with 27 persons, besides the usual care received a letter with their laboratory test results. To collect the data, between April and December 2013, two questionnaires were used. The first questionnaire contained 10 questions to classify sociodemographic variables. The second contained 13 items that corresponded to the clinical variables. The data were collected at the start (P0) and after 4 months of intervention (P4) in both groups. For the analysis, descriptive statistics were used, as well as Student\'s t-test and the fixed effects model. The results showed that, in both groups, the participants were predominantly women, with a mean age of 63 years, married, retired, 7 years of education and with a family income between 1 and 3 minimum wages. For G1, the predominant length of the diabetes diagnosis was between 11 and 20 years and in G2 between 6 and 10 years. As regards the comorbidities, both groups mostly indicated being hypertensive and choosing medication treatment, through oral anti- diabetics and insulin. Concerning the clinical variables related to the metabolic control, G1 showed a reduction in the body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides and glycated hemoglobin. For the variables systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and fasting glucose, statistically significant reductions were obtained (p<0.05). In G2, a reduction was observed in the body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol and triglycerides. None of the results was statistically significant though. For the two groups, an effect was obtained on the metabolic control, which was higher in the group that received telephone support than in the group that only received the letter with laboratory results. Thus, the telephone support showed to be an Important tool to enhance care delivery to chronic disease patients, especially for the metabolic control of diabetes mellitus patients

Objetivos: Estudar as possibilidades de uso de cadastros de linhas telefônicas residenciais para implementação de inquéritos por amostragem. Descrever presença de vícios potenciais, associados às taxas de coberturas de LTR, nas principais variáveis que usualmente compõem o núcleo de informações de inquéritos epidemiológicos. Métodos: Com base nos dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) no período de 1998 a 2003, exceto 2000, foram estimadas por intervalo de confiança de 95%, as médias e proporções. Nas análises dos dados considerou-se o plano de amostragem complexa. Resultados: No Brasil, houve um crescimento de 50% dos domicílios atendidos por LTR, no período. No entanto, essa evolução não ocorreu de forma uniforme no Brasil. Foram identificados diferentes perfis de usuários de LTR, sendo as principais características relacionadas com a escolaridade, a raça, a posse de um plano de saúde e a localização geográfica. Nas regiões com baixa cobertura de LTR podem ocorrer vícios nas estimativas de prevalências de doenças crônicas. Conclusão: O uso das linhas telefônicas residencias para a realização das entrevistas em inquéritos epidemiológicos mostrou-se viável para as unidades de federação com taxas de cobertura de LTR acima de 70%. / Objectives: To study the possibilities to use sampling frame of telephone interview the implementation of survey sampling. To describe the presence of potential biases associated to with coverage rates of telephone surveys in the main variables that usually compose the information core of epidemiological investigations. Methods: From database of the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) in the period between 1998 and 2003, except for 2000, the averages and proportions were estimated by a 95% confidence interval. In the statistics analysis , the complex sampling plan was considered. Results: In Brazil, it has been there was a 50% increase in the households served by telephone, during the studied period. However, this evolution did not occur in a uniform way. Different profiles of telephone users were identified, and the main characteristics were related to education, race, the health plans and the geographic location. The regions with low telephone coverage may introduce bias on the estimates of prevalence of chronic diseases. Conclusion: The use of telephone survey for the conduction of interviews during epidemiologic investigations could be suitable to be feasible for the federal units with coverage rates above 70%.

This thesis focuses on the social organisation of advice, as it unfolds in interactions between mothers and their young adult daughters on the telephone. The analysis is based on a corpus of 51 telephone calls from 5 different families. Advice giving is studied here using the methods of conversation analysis and discursive psychology. The main interest has been to consider the dimensions that are relevant to the potentially tricky action of advice giving, building on the dimensions of normativity and knowledge asymmetry that have already been identified in the literature. The less strictly institutionalised context studied here provides a relatively new arena for considering the array of issues that are relevant to advice giving. Indeed, this has provided a broad scope for specifying how recipiency is brought off in advice giving sequences and how the position of advice recipient is managed. The analysis begins by considering the different forms of advice that were found in the data and their affordances in terms of the recipient s next turn. Contingency is identified as an important dimension in advice giving and a range of resources are identified which build contingency into the advice in various ways and which provide the recipient with different degrees of optionality when responding to advice. The thesis then goes on to consider how recipients respond to advice and the sorts of issues that make relevant one response type over another. The analysis identifies the importance of affiliation and alignment when considering different types of advice response. Furthermore, it is shown that morality, activity type, and alignment to the recipient s position, are important features of why a particular response type is chosen over another. The final analytic chapter then considers how the potentially tricky action of advice giving is made relevant in the first place. It is shown that the choice between different forms of advice is related to local issues of entitlement and contingency. In considering these different components to advice giving, the analysis explicates an array of important issues in advice giving sequences including: knowledge asymmetry, normativity, entitlement, contingency, affiliation, alignment and morality as well as considering evidence to suggest that advice is a dispreferred action. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for studying advice and promoting advice acceptance, as well as considering how we can begin to see relationality being constituted.

In the wake of the 2016 election, the polling industry has no shortage of critics. While these are difficult times for the industry as a whole, there are exciting innovations happening that will serve to benefit and revitalize the industry for years. One of these exciting innovations is Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) sampling. I will elaborate on what PPS sampling is and provide a mathematical foundation for its use in polling. I also discuss what some of the myriad of issues plaguing the polling industry are and then show how PPS sampling can be used to remedy many of these ills. Finally, I look at a real-world application of PPS sampling. The Mia Love internal polling team, Y2 Analytics, granted me access to their PPS data. I use it to show that we can accurately model the electorate using PPS samples and that polls conducted by this method are at least as accurate as other polls using simple random samples.

Aim: Spanish-only speaking residents in the United States face barriers to receiving potentially life-saving 911 interventions such as Telephone-cardiopulmonary resuscitation (TCPR) instructions. Since 2015, 911 dispatchers have placed an increased emphasis on rapid identification of potential cardiac arrest. The purpose of this study was to describe the utilization and timing of the 911 system during suspected out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) by Spanish-speaking callers in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. Methods: The dataset consisted of suspected OHCA from 911 centers from October 10, 2010 through December 31, 2013. Review of audio TCPR process data included whether the need for CPR was recognized by telecommunicators, whether CPR instructions were provided, and the time elements from call receipt to initiation of compressions. Results: A total of 3398 calls were made to 911 for suspected OHCA where CPR was indicated. A total of 39 (1.2%) were determined to have a Spanish language barrier. This averages to 18 calls per year with a Spanish language barrier during the study period, compared with 286 OHCAs expected per year among this population. The average time until telecommunicators recognized CPR need was 87.4 s for the no language barrier group compared to 160.6 s for the Spanish-language barrier group (p < 0.001). Time to CPR instructions started was significantly different between these groups (144.4 s vs 231.3 s, respectively) (p < 0.001), as was time to first compression, (174.4 s vs. 290.9 s, respectively) (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our study suggests that Hispanic callers under-utilize the 911 system, and when they do call 911, there are significant delays in initiating CPR. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

M.Sc. / The technique known as "Rapid Prototyping" constitutes a technology that is already saving large corporations time and money in respect of prototyping. Currently, Rapid Prototyping machines are, however, still expensive to purchase and maintain. In order to allow more people to make use of Rapid Prototyping machines, certain businesses are specialising in rendering a Rapid Prototyping service. Rapid Prototyping service bureaux render such service by selling machine time. To allow people to make use of the service, designs are submitted across a distance by means of telemanufacturing. To enable a wide variety of users to avail themselves of this service, certain checks and balances must, however, be put into place. These checks and balances must test whether or not a valid job has been submitted, and if so, the submitter has to be assisted in deciding upon settings. In order to submit a job from anywhere in the world, the Internet is harnassed for telemanufacturing. Once remote submission has been made safe and convenient, more businesses and individuals could derive benefit from Rapid Prototyping. This dissertation has, therefore, been undertaken to identify the prerequisites for Rapid Prototyping. Once a job has been submitted, it has to be checked for errors and the user has to be advised on building types and recommendations. For this, an agent is used. In this way, problems are prevented, should faulty jobs be sent to a Rapid Prototyping machine. Once a job has been submitted, it is scheduled by a queue manager in order to maximise machine usage. Rapid Prototyping has the potential in future to become as commonplace as printers. In terms of this technology, a design would, therefore, be printed in three dimensions for instant verification by the user. The very advantage of being able to hold a new product in one's hands is self-evident. The technology that is being developed today will, therefore, be successfully used in future scenarios.

This dissertation details the implementation of a real-time, speaker-independent telephone auto attendant from first principles on limited quality speech data. An auto attendant is a computerized agent that answers the phone and switches the caller through to the desired person's extension after conducting a limited dialogue to determine the wishes of the caller, through the use of speech recognition technology. The platform is a computer with a telephone interface card. The speech recognition engine uses whole word hidden Markov modelling, with limited vocabulary and constrained (finite state) grammar. The feature set used is based on Mel frequency spaced cepstral coefficients. The Viterbi search is used together with the level building algorithm to recognise speech within the utterances. Word-spotting techniques including a "garbage" model, are used. Various techniques compensating for noise and a varying channel transfer function are employed to improve the recognition rate. An Afrikaans conversational interface prompts the caller for information. Detailed experiments illustrate the dependence and sensitivity of the system on its parameters, and show the influence of several techniques aimed at improving the recognition rate. / Dissertation (MEng (Computer Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Contact centres are the first point of contact between a company and a customer after the purchase of a product or service. These centres make use of contact centre agents to service customer queries. In the past contact centres hired as many agents as they could in order to service customers, which have led to an increase in personnel costs causing contact centres to become costly to run. Automation techniques were introduced to decrease personnel costs and one such technique is the Interactive Voice Response (IVR). The usability of IVR systems is, however, dismal. Customers would rather speak to a contact centre agent than navigate through the menu structure found in these systems. The menu structure has come under scrutiny because it is difficult to use and navigate, is often not aligned to caller usage patterns, and the menu options are long and vague. This research investigated whether a Natural Language Interface (NLI) could alleviate the problems inherent to IVR. NLIs, however, come with their own disadvantages of which the main ones are ambiguity and the loss of context of a conversation. Two prototypes were implemented, one of which resembled an IVR and the other an NLI (using ALICE concepts). An evaluation of two prototypes confirmed the advantages and disadvantages of these concepts in accordance to theory. A Hybrid prototype was proposed with the aid of two models. The model which proposed an NLI using a rule base was chosen for implementation. The Hybrid prototype was then evaluated against the NLI and IVR prototypes to deduce which prototype was the most effective, efficient and satisfying. The evaluation through the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics showed that the Hybrid prototype was the most usable prototype. The evaluation of the Hybrid prototype confirmed that a Hybrid approach could limit the shortcomings of IVR through the elimination of the menu structure found in these systems, thereby allowing users to state their queries in natural language. The incorporated rule base provided the Hybrid system with long term memory, eliminating one of the main disadvantages of NLIs.

Orientador: Gilda Figueiredo Portugal Gouvêa / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T11:17:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ribeiro_Barbara_D.pdf: 1293978 bytes, checksum: c591ec7ecfcac0359b86704ee5fa6132 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Saltam aos olhos a mudança que a amizade e as formas de interação social que a envolvem sofreram ao longo do tempo. Considerando-se a sociedade contemporânea, nota-se que a amizade é influenciada pelas novas tecnologias, como o telefone celular e a Internet, e suas ferramentas (correio eletrônico, redes sociais e programas de mensagens instantâneas). O estudo apresentado nesta tese busca trazer uma abordagem sociológica sobre tal tema, pois a amizade representa um campo relativamente novo de pesquisa na Sociologia. Nesse contexto, é fundamental que se compreendam os impactos das novas tecnologias da informação sobre as relações de amizade, e a função social da amizade na sociedade atual. Devido à importância de se considerar não só as consequências previstas e manifestadas pelo indivíduo, mas também aquelas não expressas, tomou-se como referencial teórico para o estudo da função social da amizade na sociedade contemporânea os conceitos de "função social manifesta" e "função social latente", pensados pelo sociólogo norte-americano Robert K. Merton. Tais funções sociais da amizade na sociedade contemporânea foram investigadas com base em 37 entrevistas, realizadas com homens e mulheres jovens adultos, moradores da metrópole paulistana, sendo a maioria natural da cidade de São Paulo. Também se buscou compreender as principais formas de manutenção social da amizade duradoura, para analisar a importância, ou não, do encontro presencial para a sua conservação / Abstract: It is evident the change that friendship and the forms of social interaction that involve this type of social relationship suffered beyond the time. And, considering contemporary society, the friendship is influenced by new technologies, as mobile telephone, Internet, and its products (email, social networks and instant messenger programs). The study presented in this thesis aims to show a sociological approach about this theme, as friendship represents a relatively new field of research in Sociology. In this context, it is very important to understand the impacts of new technologies on friendship relations, and the social function of friendship in this society. It is important considering not only the manifested consequences but also the unpredictable of social function by the person. That's why we took as the theoretical reference for the study of social function of friendship in contemporary society the concepts of "manifest functions" and "latent functions" of the American sociologist Robert K. Merton. These social functions of friendship in contemporary society were investigated with 37 interviews, done with young adults, men and women, citizens of paulistana' metropolis, most of them born in São Paulo. Also it was aimed to understood the principal forms of social maintenance of lasting friendship to analyze the importance, or not, of the existence of the physical encounter to its maintenance / Doutorado / Sociologia / Doutora em Sociologia

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Huge amounts of data are being collected as a result of the increased use of mobile telecommunications. Insight into information and knowledge derived from these databases can give operators a competitive edge in terms of customer care and retention, marketing and fraud detection. One of the strategies for fraud detection checks for signs of questionable changes in user behavior. Although the intentions of the mobile phone users cannot be observed, their intentions are reflected in the call data which define usage patterns. Over a period of time, an individual phone generates a large pattern of use. While call data are recorded for subscribers for billing purposes, we are making no prior assumptions about the data indicative of fraudulent call patterns, i.e. the calls made for billing purpose are unlabeled. Further analysis is thus, required to be able to isolate fraudulent usage. An unsupervised learning algorithm can analyse and cluster call patterns for each subscriber in order to facilitate the fraud detection process. This research investigates the unsupervised learning potentials of two neural networks for the profiling of calls made by users over a period of time in a mobile telecommunication network. Our study provides a comparative analysis and application of Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks algorithms to user call data records in order to conduct a descriptive data mining on users call patterns. Our investigation shows the learning ability of both techniques to discriminate user call patterns; the LSTM recurrent neural network algorithm providing a better discrimination than the SOM algorithm in terms of long time series modelling. LSTM discriminates different types of temporal sequences and groups them according to a variety of features. The ordered features can later be interpreted and labeled according to specific requirements of the mobile service provider. Thus, suspicious call behaviours are isolated within the mobile telecommunication network and can be used to to identify fraudulent call patterns. We give results using masked call data from a real mobile telecommunication network. / South Africa