No

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared hookah smoking to be a significant public health problem. According to Martinasek et al. the increase in the number of hookah smokers is due to lack of education and public awareness, there is a general impression that hookah is a safe alternative to cigarettes. (Martinasek et al., 2011). On the other hand, hookah is affordable and has appealing flavor. The US Food and Drug Administration does not regulate hookah and there is a lack of regulation in packet labeling (Martinasek et al., 2011). Hookah smoking and cigarette smoking produces the exact same toxic chemicals and carcinogens (Martinasek et al., 2011). The US Environmental Protection Agency claims that hookah smoking releases secondhand smoke which contains cancer causing agents (Martinasek et al., 2011). Overall, hookah smoking is increasing rapidly among youth due to social acceptance, low cost, appealing flavors, lack of regulatory policies and incorrect harm perception. Therefore, I propose a study that will aim to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the socio-demographic characteristics of middle school and high school students who have awareness of hookah? 2) What are the characteristics of middle school and high school students who report hookah is less harmful than cigarettes? 3) Does awareness of hookah, harm perception of hookah, ever user and current user of hookah differ by living with hookah users? 4) How does harm perception of hookah correlate with use of hookah among US youth? I hypothesize that American youth who perceive hookah as less harmful than cigarettes will more likely be users of hookah as compared to youth who perceive these products are more harmful. Methods: The secondary data analysis was conducted using the data from the 2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). The study population was middle and high school students. The independent variables of interest were students who were current users of hookah, had ever used hookah, as well as those aware of hookah smoking. The dependent variable was harm perception of hookah smoking. A weighting factor was adjusted in the survey to get a weighted proportion of students in each grade to match with the national population. The prevalence of current and ever users of hookah, as well as those aware of hookah among middle school and high school students, was examined. The frequency of high school and middle school students who are living with hookah users, and those who were not evaluated. The association of harm perception of hookah among current and ever users, as well as those aware of hookah smoking adjusted by those who are living with hookah users was assessed. Data was analyzed in SAS 9.3 to examine the association between the independent and dependent variables. Frequency, logistic regression and a chi-square tests were used to find the odds ratio and p-value between the dependent and independent variables. Results: Association of harm perception of hookah among current users of hookah, ever users, as well as those aware of hookah smoking, reported that 55.64% of current users of hookah (Adjusted OR = 4.99, CI: 3.78-6.59), 43.80% of ever users of hookah (Adjusted OR = 4.96, CI: 4.02-6.13) and 21.50% of those who were aware of hookah smoking (Adjusted OR = 3.20, CI: 2.82-3.91) believed that hookah smoking is less harmful than cigarette smoking in both middle and high school. Participants who were current users of cigar smoking i.e.26.57% (crude OR = 2.80 CI: 2.45-3.20), Adjusted OR = 1.18, CI: 0.96-1.45)) as well as ever users of cigar smoking i.e. 24.76% (crude OR= 3.18, CI: 2.78-3.65), adjusted OR = 2.24, CI: 1.85-2.71)) believe hookah smoking is less harmful than cigarette smoking compared to individuals who were not current as well as ever users of cigar smoking. There was no significant difference between odds of male and female in believing that hookah smoking is less harmful than cigarette smoking. Discussion: Overall these results suggest that students who were associated with hookah usage believe that hookah smoking is less harmful than cigarette smoking. Moreover, students who were ever users of cigar smoking had 2.24 odds of believing that hookah smoking is less harmful than cigarette smoking compared to individuals who were not ever users of cigar smoking. Conclusion: Therefore, American youth who perceive hookah as less harmful than cigarettes will more likely be users of hookah as compared to youth who perceive these products are more harmful

O objetivo do presente estudo foi rever na literatura qual a definição de usuários frequentes/hiperutilizadores de serviços de urgência e emergência e conhecer as implicações destes usuários no serviço de urgência e emergência. Trata-se de um estudo realizado através Scoping Review, conforme a proposta do Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). Resultados: Identificados 37 estudos e através da leitura do título e resumo, selecionados 27 para leitura na íntegra. Porém após a leitura detalhada foram excluídos 11 estudos que não apresentavam resultados e conclusões diretamente ligados à temática. Assim, a amostra final foi composta por 16 estudos. Entre estes, quatro eram brasileiros e escritos pelo mesmo autor. Não houve 18 consenso entre s autores quanto a definição do termo pesquisado, todavia indicaram como usuário frequente/hiperutilizador o paciente que utiliza o serviço de urgência e emergência mais de 3 vezes por ano. Conclusões: Há lacuna na literatura e não consenso sobre a temática. Há necessidade de mais estudos sobre o assunto para o delineamento de ações que possibilitem a melhora deste quadro / The purpose of this study is to review the definition done by the literature of frequent / hyper-users of immediacy and emergency services and to know the involvement of such users in the immediacy and emergency services. This is a study conducted through Scoping Review (Revisão de Alcance) as proposed by Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). Results: 37 studies were identified and by means of reading the titles and abstracts, 27 were selected as for thorough reading. However after the itemized reading, 11 studies that did not bring forward results and conclusions directly related to the thematic, they were excluded. So the final specimen was consisted of 16 studies. Four amongst these were Brazilian and written by the same author. There was no consensus between the authors regarding definition of the searched word, nevertheless they indicated as frequent / hyper-user the patient who uses the immediacy and emergency services more than thrice a year. Conclusions: There is a vacuity in literature and no agreement on this thematic. There are needs for further studies on the topic for the delineation of actions to make improvements possible for this picture

Thesis (M. INF.) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / The purpose of this research is to investigate the information needs of rural communities in Bushbuckridge. Investing information of communities is vital because information plays an important role in enabling communities to meet their development needs, such as employment, education, health, safety, food security, and leisure. Libraries are therefore instrumental in helping library users to meet these needs. The study utilised triangulated (quantitative) and (qualitative) research methods. Participants in this study included 100 library users, four librarians and one library manager drawn from four local libraries through a combination of random (probability) and purposive (non-probability) sampling. The quantitative part of the study i.e. survey measured the perceptions of users on library services through questionnaires, while unstructured interviews elicited the experiences of librarians in addressing the information needs of library users in the four libraries of Bushbuckridge. Findings from the survey revealed, inter alia, that: most (65%) users had access to library services, although high travelling costs were a major barrier for those living in remote villages; a large number of users (60%) still depended on librarians to help them find information, while a growing number of users (33% had begun using computers and the internet to meet their information needs; the most important reasons for using the library were: assignments, study and careers, and, the majority of users in all four libraries were generally satisfied with the quality of the services rendered, although significant improvements were required in the supply of materials and water. Findings from interviews with librarians demonstrated that significant steps had been taken to address information needs of users across the four libraries. Common examples include: books and materials; computers and internet services; study groups; user training, and outreach programmes – although these were hampered by shortage of staff and vehicles. Cross-cutting problems included delays in purchasing of library materials; shortage of water and low perceptions about the benefits of library services in the community. In light of these results, it was concluded that information needs of library users had been partially met, with greater room for improvement in areas like human resources, information technology, transport and procurement systems and processes. The research findings have demonstrated that if provided well, library information services may help reduce the challenges of illiteracy, poverty and unemployment in this area. In light of these findings, the study recommended, inter alia, that the skills of library staff along with procurement systems and processes be upgraded in order to satisfy the information needs of library users in the study area. The study further recommended that outreach programmes be scaled up to increase awareness in the community about the role and benefits of library services in facilitating community development, particularly in Bushbuckridge where challenges of illiteracy, poverty and unemployment continue unabated.

Predicting customers’ intention to purchase products online is an important issue. This thesis aims to understand how online shopping decision is determined by individual’s intention to buy via Internet and his/her attitude toward e-purchase. This study by integrating the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), attempts to understand how website usefulness and ease of use, as well as customers’ attitude toward online shopping, influence purchase intention influence the online purchase. Those two models adopted in an online environment were used to analyze the outcome of the survey among Polish e-shoppers. By adopting the idea of regular and heavy Internet users, this study tries to differentiate the online shopping behavior in those two groups. The findings of the thesis have been found to be partially consistent with both models. However the difference between heavy and regular Internet users in frequency of buying online has not been confirmed.

Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) provide a solution for the spectrum scarcity problem facing the wireless communications community. However, due to the infancy of CRNs, further research is needed before we can truly benefit from CRNs. The basic concept of CRNs relies on utilizing the unused spectrum of a primary network, without interfering with the activity of primary users (PUs). In order to successfully achieve that, users in a CRN has to perform spectrum sensing, spectrum management, spectrum mobility, and spectrum sharing. The latter, which is the focus of our research, deals with how secondary users (SUs) share the unused spectrum. Furthermore, to be able to utilize CRNs in practical applications, a certain level of quality-of-service (QoS) should be guaranteed to SUs in such networks. QoS requirements vary according to the application. Interested in voice communications, we propose a packet scheduling scheme that orders the SUs' transmissions according to the packet dropping rate and the number of packets queued waiting for transmission. Two medium access control (MAC) layer protocols, based on the mentioned scheduling scheme, are proposed for a centralized CRN. In addition, the scheduling scheme is adapted for a distributed CRN, by introducing a feature that allows SUs to organize access to the available spectrum without the need for a central unit. Finally, extensive simulation based experiments are carried out to evaluate the proposed protocols and compare their performance with that of other MAC protocols designed for CRNs. These results reflect the effectiveness of our proposed protocols to guarantee the required QoS for voice packet transmission, while maintaining fairness among SUs in a CRN.

Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) provide a solution for the spectrum scarcity problem facing the wireless communications community. However, due to the infancy of CRNs, further research is needed before we can truly benefit from CRNs. The basic concept of CRNs relies on utilizing the unused spectrum of a primary network, without interfering with the activity of primary users (PUs). In order to successfully achieve that, users in a CRN has to perform spectrum sensing, spectrum management, spectrum mobility, and spectrum sharing. The latter, which is the focus of our research, deals with how secondary users (SUs) share the unused spectrum. Furthermore, to be able to utilize CRNs in practical applications, a certain level of quality-of-service (QoS) should be guaranteed to SUs in such networks. QoS requirements vary according to the application. Interested in voice communications, we propose a packet scheduling scheme that orders the SUs' transmissions according to the packet dropping rate and the number of packets queued waiting for transmission. Two medium access control (MAC) layer protocols, based on the mentioned scheduling scheme, are proposed for a centralized CRN. In addition, the scheduling scheme is adapted for a distributed CRN, by introducing a feature that allows SUs to organize access to the available spectrum without the need for a central unit. Finally, extensive simulation based experiments are carried out to evaluate the proposed protocols and compare their performance with that of other MAC protocols designed for CRNs. These results reflect the effectiveness of our proposed protocols to guarantee the required QoS for voice packet transmission, while maintaining fairness among SUs in a CRN.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-135). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-47).

This paper aims to examine whether there are any substantial differences between a generation of users born during the 1960’s and younger generation born during the 1990’s regarding the use of digital technologies connected to the Internet. Based on Marc Prensky’s theories on people born before and after 1980 saying those born before are not as natural when it comes to using digital technologies. We used diaries as a qualitative method to gather data from 16 respondents. The results show that there is a small percentage that differs in total use of digital technology in favor for the younger generation but not substantial enough to be ruled as a generation better fitted for Internet usage and digital technologies. The results also show that smartphones were the most used technology and surfing the web was the most performed activity.