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Given the complexities of communication within health systems, we investigated how the implementation of secure messaging in addition to traditional paging would impact hospital communication. This study was implemented at Grady Health System (GHS), a large safety net academic hospital system in metro Atlanta that includes inpatient and ambulatory settings. GHS uses Epic Electronic Health Record (EHR), and secure messaging was performed using Epic Haiku Platform. To assess states of communication, we implemented pre- and post-surveys. The secure messaging data tracked from 2018 to 2022 demonstrated a rise in usage from 9,378 chats per month when it went live in August 2018 to greater than 200,000 monthly messages during the pandemic when social distancing measures were enacted. Monthly usage peaked in March 2022 with 378,932 messages. Pre-and-post survey questions using a Likert scale (1-4) showed increased agreement in the ability to reach all team members through secure chat amongst healthcare workers. Within our unit staff, communication improved by being more rapid and reliable, as the Likert scale means increased from 2.18 pre-survey to 2.63 post survey. Pre-and-post survey analysis indicates improved satisfaction across GHS stakeholders with the implementation of secure chat in addition to the existing direct-paging system. Next steps could include exchanging digital media through secure messaging to facilitate faster diagnosis and treatment of certain medical conditions. Secure messaging integrated within the EHR (including mobile devices) enhances communication between healthcare team members in a HIPAA-compliant way reducing the number of pages and phone calls., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: Objective: In 2012, the Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation (RECOVER) published the first evidence-based small animal CPR guidelines. Even though a RECOVER-based CPR approach has been shown to improve patient outcomes, guideline awareness and compliance is necessary to see such benefits. Our study aimed to characterize Swiss small animal veterinary CPR practices and assess their compliance with RECOVER guidelines. Methods: A nationwide, internet-based survey was conducted, and invitations distributed via Swiss veterinary society mailing lists. Questions covered respondents' demographics, CPR preparedness, Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) techniques, and awareness of RECOVER guidelines. Percentages of group total (95% confidence interval) were calculated. Results: One-hundred and fifty respondents were grouped by level of expertise into board-certified specialists (BCS, n = 19), veterinarians with additional post-graduate training (PGT, n = 27), and general practitioners with (GPE, n = 30), and without emergency duties (GPG, n = 74). Of BCS respondents, 58% (36-77%) were familiar with the RECOVER guidelines, compared to 8% (4-17%) of GPG. Large disparities in preparedness, BLS, and ALS techniques emerged among the levels of expertise. Incompliance with preparedness measures varied from 89% (69-98%) in BCS to 100% (95-100%) in GPG and was predominantly due to failure to attend regular CPR training. BLS compliance ranged from 26% (12-49%) in BCS to 5% (2-13%) in GPG, and incompliance was mostly characterized by targeting lower than recommended chest compression rates. ALS compliance varied from 21% (9-43%) in BCS to 0% (0-5%) in GPG and was compromised by limitations in the resuscitation environment such as lacking access to a defibrillator, monitoring equipment, and rescue drugs. Conclusion: Awareness of RECOVER guidelines in Switzerland is acceptable in specialists, but inadequate among general practitioners and CPR practices are largely not in agreement with RECOVER guidelines. An educational strategy is needed to improve Swiss small animal CPR knowledge and performance.

Background: After alcohol and tobacco, cannabis is the most widely used psychoactive substance in many countries worldwide. Although approximately one in ten users develops serious problems of dependency, only a minority attend outpatient addiction counseling centers. A Web-based intervention could potentially reach those users who hesitate to approach such treatment centers., Objective: To test the efficacy of a Web-based self-help intervention with and without chat counseling-Can Reduce-in reducing the cannabis use of problematic cannabis users as an alternative to outpatient treatment services., Methods: Altogether, 436 participants were recruited by various online and offline media for the Web-based trial. A total of 308 of these were eligible for study participation and were randomly allocated in an unblinded manner to either self-help with chat (n=114), self-help without chat (n=101), or a waiting list control group (n=93). The fully automated self-help intervention consisted of eight modules designed to reduce cannabis use, and was based on the principles of motivational interviewing, self-control practices, and methods of cognitive behavioral therapy. Additional individual chat counseling sessions were based on the same therapeutic principles. The sessions were conducted by trained counselors and addressed participants' personal problems. The main outcomes were the frequency (number of days) and quantity of cannabis use (number of standardized joints) per week, as entered into the consumption diary at baseline and at the 3-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes included self-reported symptoms of cannabis use disorder, severity of cannabis dependence, risky alcohol use, and mental health symptoms. Intervention participation and retention were extracted from the user progress data and the consumption diary, respectively., Results: Can Reduce participants were older (U=2.296, P=.02) and reported a greater number of cannabis use days at baseline than patients who entered outpatient treatment with cannabis as their main problem substance (data from the Swiss treatment demand monitoring statistics were used; chi-square [df 2]=4.0, P=.046). Participants in the self-help with chat study arm completed a mean of 3.2 modules and 27 out of 114 (23.7%) of the participants received at least one chat session. Participants in the self-help without chat study arm completed similar numbers of self-help modules. A total of 117 of 308 participants (38.0%) completed the 3-month follow-up assessment. The change in the mean number of cannabis use days per week at 3 months differed between self-help without chat (mean change 0.7, SD -0.2) and self-help with chat (mean change 1.4, SD -0.5; beta=-0.75, SE=0.32, t=-2.39, P=.02, d=0.34, 95% CI 0.07-0.61), as well as between self-help with chat and waiting list (mean change 1.0, SD -0.8; beta=0.70, SE=0.32, t=2.16, P=.03, d=0.20, 95% CI -0.07 to 0.47). However, there were no differences between self-help without chat and waiting list (beta=-0.05, SE=0.33, t=-0.16, P=.87, d=-0.14, 95% CI -0.43 to 0.14). Self-reported abstinence was significantly different in the self-help without chat study arm (2.0%) than in the self-help with chat study arm (8.8%; beta=-1.56, SE=0.79, P=.05, odds ratio [OR]=0.21, 95% CI 0.02-2.33). There were no significant differences between the study arms with respect to the secondary outcomes., Conclusions: Web-based self-help interventions supplemented by brief chat counseling are an effective alternative to face-to-face treatment and can reach a group of cannabis users who differ in their use and sociodemographic characteristics from those who enter outpatient addiction treatment., Trial Registration: International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 59948178; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN59948178 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6bt01gfIr).

In anonymous online text-based counselling provided by social services, counsellors face specific communicative and professional challenges. Among other things, they need to ensure that they have understood the chat users correctly in order to provide relevant information and advice. The paper studies how counsellors check their understanding of users' situations by using formulations, namely, summarising and rephrasing users' initial problem descriptions. The data consists of chat logs from 56 web-based counselling sessions provided by social services in Sweden. Conversational analysis is used to examine the functions of chat counsellors' formulations. Analyses show that counsellors reformulate users' initial requests to establish a joint understanding of the users' situations and help requested. Three distinct functions of the initial formulations are identified: recasting requests in the institutional terms of social services, clarifying ambiguity in the user's initial posts and affiliating with the user. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the issue of electronic texts in the context of everyday written comunication as well as the modern usage of these texts in the communication process. In the introduction the general view on electronic texts with enumeration of their types are presented. In the first part, the attention is focused on the traditional approach to electronic texts confirming the author's position by illustrative examples. In the next part, there discussed the problem of style in the electronic texts. In the third part, there are presented some descriptions of electronic texts genres, such as an e-mail, SMS text message, chat and blog exemplified. In conclusion there is a summary of investigated problems and some drift of events to the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Aunque la interactividad no es algo nuevo en radio, la llegada de Internet ha venido a multiplicar las posibilidades con las que cuentan hoy los oyentes para dirigirse al medio. De esta forma, la participación que primero se produjo a través de las cartas y luego mediante el teléfono, el contestador automático o el vox pop, ha encontrado hoy nuevas oportunidades tecnológicas gracias a Internet. En concreto, las fórmulas que están siendo más empleadas por los programadores son: los correos electrónicos, los chats, los sms, los foros, las áreas de charla, las encuestas o los blogs. Estas posibilidades -que se prevé se consoliden en un futuro cercano- ofrecen ventajas tanto para los oyentes como para los profesionales. En consecuencia, esto podría favorecer un acto comunicativo más completo que redunda en el logro de una radio más eficaz.

Com base em uma concepção heterogênea de escrita, este artigo tem como objetivo analisar as “quebras de linhas” em enunciados de bate-papo virtual destinado a escreventes entre 8 e 12 anos de idade. A hipótese é de que a segmentação de um enunciado em linhas diferentes, em um curto espaço de tempo, caracteriza a escrita na internet de maneira não convencional e a relaciona com a prosódia e o ritmo da língua, irrestritos à dimensão fônica ou gráfica da linguagem verbal.

La comunicación por Internet ha aumentado mucho en los últimos años. Sin embargo, principalmente en las charlas informales (salas de chat), se constatan cambios en la ortografía de varias palabras. Para este estudio, se recogieron textos de salas de chat en español durante cuatro meses y se analizaron los cambios ortográficos intencionales. Las modificaciones encontradas ocurren principalmente por dos motivos: creatividad de los usuarios y necesidad de rápida comunicación. La consecuencia es básicamente el uso de grafías iguales para un mismo fonema y la abreviación o simplificación de palabras. Así, esas nuevas formas usadas en la escrita informal por Internet pueden resultar confusas, de ahí que sea importante enseñarles a los estudiantes de Español como Lengua Extranjera algunas características de esa nueva escritura, para que tengan condiciones de comunicarse en las charlas informales con mayor efectividad.Internet communication has increased massively in the last few years. Mainly in informal chats several spelling changes can be observed. For this study, protocols of internet chats were collected during four months and intentional spelling changes were analyzed. These changes occur due to two main factors: language users' creativity and the need for a fast-paced communication. The basic consequence is the use of one single grapheme for a given phoneme and the abbreviation or simplification of words. These newly created Internet written words can be confusing at times, hence the importance of teaching learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language the characteristics of this form of written language, so they can communicate more efficiently in informal conversations.

This article is the report of research conducted to answer two main questions; first, to what extent and under which forms using internet as entertainment is prevalent among users aged between 24 to 40 years in Tehran? And second has this kind of usage changed with passage of time (since the beginning of usage until the time of research? The research was designed and conducted with descriptive and qualitative method and the relevant data were gathered by using the techniques of deep interview with a sample (15 persons) of the statistical population of users (the first generation of internet users in Tehran). The findings show that using internet as entertainment among the sample is usual usages which include chatting, blogging, music downloading, browsing the webs containing pornographic materials and Orcat in terms of leaning order. The responses of interviewees show that after the passage of ten years, using internet as entertainment has significantly declined. Chatting, browsing the webs containing pornographic material and cybernetic searching in terms of learning order have been mentioned the usual forms in early periods of internet usage.

Este estudo teve como finalidade contribuir para o entendimento de uma nova modalidade de relacionamento - o virtual. Dele participaram 50 usuários brasileiros da Internet, que responderam a um questionário contendo 31 questões sobre opiniões e comportamentos relacionados a afetividade e relacionamento virtual. A amostra foi composta, em sua maior parte, por homens, adultos jovens, solteiros, sem filhos, dos níveis socioeconômicos médio e alto. Verificou-se que os sujeitos acreditam na possibilidade de relacionamentos virtuais em uma fase inicial, no entanto relataram necessidade do contato face a face para sua continuidade. Observou-se também alta freqüência de usuários de chats de conversação considerados viciados na Internet. A partir dos resultados obtidos, concluiu-se que não houve mudanças comportamentais e afetivas radicais com essa nova forma de relacionamento, mas os dados sugerem a importância de mais pesquisas para esclarecer as conseqüências do relacionamento virtual e do uso exagerado da Internet como forma de comunicação social.Este estudio tenía el objetivo de contribuir para el entendimiento de una nueva forma de relaciones - el virtual. Cincuenta usuarios de Internet brasileños contestaron un cuestionario que contiene 31 preguntas sobre opiniones y comportamientos relacionados con la relación afectiva y virtual. La muestra fue formada por una mayoría de hombres, adultos jóvenes, solos, sin niños, y perteneciendo al nivel socioeconómico medio o alto. Fue verificado que los sujetos creen que podrían haber relaciones virtuales como una fase inicial. Sin embargo, ellos relataron la necesidad de un contato cara a cara, de modo que la relación pudiera durar. También ha sido encontrado una frecuencia alta de sujetos identificados como adictos de Internet. A partir de estos resultados, se puede concluir que no hay cambios comportamentales y afectivos significativos con aquella nueva clase de relación. Por lo tanto, los datos sugieren la importancia de planear más investigaciones para elucidar las consecuencias de relaciones virtuales y el abuso del Internet como una forma de la comunicación social.Current analysis contributes towards a new way of relationships, or rather, virtual relationship. Fifty Brazilian Internet users answered a questionnaire containing 31 questions about opinions and behaviors related to affective and virtual relationship. Sample comprised males, or rather, young adults, single, with no children, middle or high socioeconomic level. Subjects believed that there might be virtual relationships at an initial phase. However, they reported the need of face-to-face contact so that the relationship could last. Further, a relatively high number of subjects considered themselves to be Internet-addicted. Results show that there were no significant behavioral and affectionate changes in this new type of relationship. Data suggest the importance of planning more researches to elucidate the consequences of virtual relationships and the abuse of Internet as a way of social communication.

Em um cenário de expansão democrática da América Latina, os olhares se voltam para iniciativas que impulsionam o aprimoramento da democracia. No eixo da participação surgem projetos para aproximar os cidadãos da esfera pública, entre os quais aqueles relacionados ao uso da Internet nas práticas democráticas em parlamentos. Esta pesquisa examina uma das dimensões dos mecanismos digitais de interação e participação política oferecidas por parlamentos para a sociedade, a gestão da informação. Primeiramente, mapeamos as formas de participação política empregadas nos portais legislativos da América Latina, com o objetivo de conhecer as informações que cercam as iniciativas e contextualizar o estudo de caso da Câmara dos Deputados do Brasil. Em seguida, procuramos entender como a Câmara dos Deputados do Brasil realiza a coleta, a organização, a distribuição, o armazenamento e o uso da informação concernente aos mecanismos de interação e participação política, de caráter multilateral, empregados em seu Portal. Concluímos que os parlamentos latino-americanos colocam à disposição da sociedade dezenas de canais digitais de interação e participação, como uma tendência irreversível das democracias modernas, mas a gestão da informação inerente às experiências ainda é um desafio a ser alcançado.

Background: Depending on the definitions used, between 5 and 20 % of all Swedish children grow up with at least one parent suffering from alcohol problems, while 6 % have at least one parent who has received inpatient psychiatric care, conditions that may affect the children negatively. Nine out of ten Swedish municipalities therefore provide support resources, but less than 2 % of these children are reached by such support. Delivering intervention programs via the Internet is a promising strategy. However, web-based programs targeting this at-risk group of children are scarce. We have previously developed a 1.5-h-long web-based self-help program, Alcohol & Coping, which appears to be effective with regards to adolescents' own alcohol consumption. However, there is a need for a more intense program, and therefore we adapted Kopstoring, a comprehensive Dutch web-based psycho-educative prevention program, to fit the Swedish context. The purpose of the program, which in Swedish has been called Grubbel, is to strengthen protective factors, such as coping skills and psychological well-being, prevent the development of psychological disorders, and reduce alcohol consumption. Methods/design: The aimof the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Grubbel, which targets 15-25-year-olds whose parents have substance use problems and/or mental illness. Specific research questions relate to the participants' own coping strategies, mental health status and substance use. The study was initiated in the spring of 2016 and uses a two-armed RCT design. Participants will be recruited via social media and also through existing agencies that provide support to this target group. The assessment will consist of a baseline measurement (t0) and three follow-ups after six (t1), 12 (t2), and 24months (t3).Measures include YSR, CES-DC, Ladder of Life, Brief COPE, AUDIT-C, andWHOQOL-BREF. Discussion: Studies have revealed that the majority of children whose parents have substance use or mental health problems are not reached by the existing support. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop, implement, and evaluate novel intervention programs and disseminate successful programs to a broader audience. This study, investigating the effects of a web-based intervention, therefore makes an important contribution to this field of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Na escola, a criança usa um código abreviado, sincopado, em sua escrita inicial, para construir seu discurso, porque ainda não tem domínio do sistema de escritura; também, na internet, os adolescentes usam, nos chats informais, abreviações, síncopes, alongamentos, caixa alta - semelhantes à forma escrita escolar inicial. A partir dessas observações, este artigo descreve e analisa os fenômenos apontados acima, tentando explicar as possíveis semelhanças e diferenças dos dados coletados em circunstâncias e espaços enunciativos diversos, o que poderia contribuir com a compreensão dos processos cognitivos de apropriação e produção da escrita por crianças e adolescentes, destacando-se as possíveis similaridades e divergências desses fenômenos e processos.At school, children build their initial written discourse by using an abbreviated, syncopated code because they do not master the written system yet; on the internet, in their informal chats, teenagers' use of abbreviations, syncopes, expansions, upper case also remind us of the initial school writing form. This article describes and analyses the phenomena mentioned above by trying to explain the possible similarities and differences in the data collected in varied circumstances and enunciatory environments in an attempt to contribute to the understanding of the cognitive processes of appropriation and production of writing by children and adolescents. Special emphasis will be given to the similarities and differences of those phenomena and processes.

Background: Web-based self-help interventions that aim to reduce problematic substance use are able to reach "hidden" consumer groups in the general population who often fear stigmatization and thus avoid institutional addiction treatment. In Western European countries, including Switzerland, cocaine is the most widely used psychoactive substance after alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. Although approximately one in six users develop serious problems of dependency, only a minority seeks help from psychiatrists or in outpatient counseling centers or psychiatric hospitals. Offering web-based therapy treatment may potentially reach users who hesitate to approach institutional treatment services and help them reduce their cocaine use before they get into more serious trouble. Methods/design: The study will use a three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to test the efficacy of a web-based self-help intervention with or without guided chat counseling compared with that of a waiting list control condition in reducing or stopping cocaine use. The primary outcome measure will be the weekly quantity of cocaine used. Secondary outcome measures will include the number of cocaine use days in the past 30 days, the severity of cocaine dependence, the use of alcohol, tobacco, and/or other illicit drugs, changes in mental health symptoms, and treatment retention. The self-help intervention will consist of eight modules that are designed to reduce cocaine use and depression symptoms. These modules are based on the principles of Motivational Enhancement Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, such as Behavioral Self-Management. The three individual chat therapy sessions will be based on the same therapy approaches and will be tailored to participants' self-help data and aim to assist the reinstatement of social rewards and the improvement of social support and relationships. Discussion: This study will be the first RCT to test the effectiveness of a web-based self-help intervention in combination with or without chat counseling in reducing cocaine use. The expected findings will contribute substantial knowledge that may help design effective guided and unguided web-based treatment for cocaine users. Moreover, the study will elucidate to what extent a therapeutic alliance with cocaine users can be established in a guided Internetdelivered setting. Additionally, the present study will investigate changes in social support with specific guided therapy interventions that aim to ameliorate social support and social perceptions and compare these changes with those in an unguided self-help intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meetings and classrooms demand the presence of the person in the room if he wants to participate. A tool widely used in such places is a whiteboard. A whiteboard has limited creativity and interactivity options and hence it needs to be replaced with better tools. In this paper we develop a web application to increase collaboration without restricting him to any location, operating system platform or device. Our application allows users to interact and share information via drawings, images, chat, audio and video. They can create individual rooms and share the room id with only certain people. Users only need access to web browsers and internet to make use of the application. There is no limit on the number of users allowed to participate and no plug-in needs to be downloaded. We have implemented this system by using HTML5, Node.js and WebSocket. WebSocket support concurrency in real-time transmission of information. All the users can simultaneously interact with the system. The experimental results demonstrate the high scalability of our system. As evident from the experiments, the response delay is extremely low, the system is fast and provides real-time experience to the users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Immediate interventions for a range of health concerns are increasingly being delivered online due to their ease of access and potential to attract new treatment cohorts. This paper describes the development and implementation of a national Australian real time chat and email service for problem gambling. Between September 2009 and September 2011, over 85,000 people visited Gambling Help Online. In addition, 1,722 people engaged in real time chat with trained gambling counsellors, while 299 accessed the email support program. Almost 70 % of people accessing these programs were seeking treatment for the first time, with email contacts significantly more likely to be new treatment seekers (78.0 %) compared with chat clients (68.1 %). Chat clients were more likely to be male than female and aged under 40 years, while email clients, while still highly accessed by young males, were more often female and aged over 40 years. These initial findings suggest that online counselling provides an important alternate mode of service delivery, which is attractive to new treatment seekers. Further research is required to determine the efficacy and impact of this service type on long-term gambling outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Romanica Cracoviensia is the property of Jagiellonian University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: In European countries, including Switzerland, as well as in many states worldwide, cannabis is the most widely used psychoactive substance after alcohol and tobacco. Although approximately one in ten users develop serious problems of dependency, only a minority attends outpatient addiction counseling centers. The offer of a combined web-based self-help and chat counseling treatment could potentially also reach those users who hesitate to approach such treatment centers and help them to reduce their cannabis use. Methods/design: This paper presents the protocol for a three-armed randomized controlled trial that will test the effectiveness of a web-based self-help intervention in combination with, or independent of, tailored chat counseling compared to a waiting list in reducing or enabling the abstention from cannabis use in problematic users. The primary outcome will be the weekly quantity of cannabis used. Secondary outcome measures will include the number of days per week on which cannabis is used, the severity of cannabis use disorder, the severity of cannabis dependence, cannabis withdrawal symptoms, cannabis craving, the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other non-cannabis illicit drugs, changes in mental health symptoms, and treatment retention. The self-help intervention will consist of 8 modules designed to reduce cannabis use based on the principles of motivational interviewing, self-control practices, and methods of cognitive behavioral therapy. The two additional individual chat-counseling sessions in the additional chat condition will be based on the same therapy approaches and tailored to participants' self-help information data and personal problems. The predictive validity of participants' baseline characteristics on treatment retention and outcomes will be explored. Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of online self-help therapy in combination or without chat counseling in reducing or enabling the abstention from cannabis use. It will also investigate predictors of outcome and retention for these interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DOI: 10.5294/pacla.2012.15.1.5 En la actualidad, muchos encuentros y conversaciones tienen lugar a través de redes sociales. Badoo.com es una de las más conocidas, con 102 millones de usuarios en el 2010. Este artículo se centra en la comunicación llevada a cabo a través del chat, dentro la red social Badoo, entre 150 hombres y la autora. Este estudio analiza las principales características lingüísticas en las conversaciones analizadas (ortografía, uso de mayúsculas, emoticonos, estrategias de cortesía y descortesía). El análisis pone de manifiesto que las conversaciones tienen características del discurso oral. Además, la autora preparó cinco preguntas a modo de encuesta con el fin de observar qué esperaban los hombres encuestados de Badoo, cuáles son sus valores y aficiones, si les gustaría casarse y qué características valoran en las mujeres. DOI: 10.5294/pacla.2012.15.1.5

Although French is a Romance language descendant ffrom the Latin, there is of course some influence of other languages on it. English is perhaps the most important source of loan-words for the present French language. Our article is focused on new forms of written communication, mainly computer-mediated communication (CMC). The main aim of this article is to analyze the loan-words, especially the anglicisms that are used by chatters in various French chats. After examining the motivations of loan, the article studies the frequency of anglicisms in three chats and observes their grammatical adaptation in the context of CMC. A huge richness of anglicisms is illustrated by concrete examples taken from our corpus.

Highlights: [•] We compared attitude moderation following online and offline conversations. [•] Participants were matched to agreeing or disagreeing conversation partners. [•] Dyads were compared using the actor–partner interdependence model. [•] Face-to-face dyad members grew closer in attitudes following conversation. [•] Online dyad members did not alter attitudes following conversation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Romanica Olomucensia is the property of Palacky University in Olomouc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although French is a Romance language descendant of the Latin, there is of course some influence of other languages on it. English is maybe the most important source of loan-words for the present French language. Our article is focused on new forms of written communication, mainly computer-mediated communication (CMC). The main aim of this article is to analyze the loan-words, especially the anglicisms that are used by chatters in various French chats. After examining the motivations of loan, the article studies the frequency of anglicisms in three chats and observes their grammatical adaptation in the context of CMC. A huge richness of anglicisms is illustrated by concrete examples taken from our corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many encounters and conversations now take place through social net- works. Badoo.com is one of the more popular ones, with 102 million users in 2010. his article focuses on communication within Badoo, via chat, between 150 men and the author. he study looks the chief linguistic features of the conversations analyzed (spelling, use of capital leters, emoticons and strategies to convey courtesy or discourtesy). In doing so, it shows the chats are characteristic of oral discourse. The author also drated ive questions in the form of a survey to discover what the male respondents expected of Badoo, their values and interests, if they would like to marry, and what features they value in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to investigate the abbreviations used on chats by web-surfers between 15 and 20 years old. The material consists of two virtual "conversations" of about 60 minutes each. We believe that this linguistic process occurs due to the physical distance that separates affectively the web-surfers by modifying already said utterances in written practices characterized by short time of interaction. This abbreviation process, known as a characteristic of the so called "internetês", is not considered as a simple attempt to "cut the words", but as a resource that presents linguistics' regularity. Therefore, the theory of phonological syllable is used as a tool in order to verify the process that forms possible abbreviations used on chats. It is believed that, based on the study of the syllable structure, the choice of the graphemes abbreviation may be assessed based on the writing heterogeneity, since the writer might not only use oral/spoken practices but also literate/written ones so as to produce utterances that emerge in the contemporaneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feasibility and efficacy of Internet treatment programs for overweight and obese people have been demonstrated in a series of randomized trials. Initial studies examined various approaches to Internet behavioral treatment. Other studies have examined delivery of group behavioral counseling using Internet chat rooms, using the Internet for long-term maintenance of weight loss, and enhancing motivation in Internet programs. These interventions have produced weight losses of 4-7 kg over 6 months to 1 year when support via e-mail, automated messages, or chat rooms is provided. Outcomes and lessons learned with application to the treatment of substance use and misuse are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Nowadays, using the Internet in various areas is increasing and the outcomes of using this communicative tool have drawn the attention of researchers in psychology and sociology fields. In this respect, the object of this research is to study the relation of family factors in the amount and ways of the Internet usage. Method: In this descriptive-correlation research, 4155 high school students were chosen country-wide in a multi-stage cluster sampling. Data collecting was done via a questionnaire which includes demography, family status and the amount and ways of Internet usage. Results: The amount of using the Internet for befriending, downloading pictures and films, chatting, music, games and sexual clips in order of appearance are: 37/8, 40, 31, 42, 31 and 31 percent. Also the rate of family members' acquaintance with the Internet, the relationship between the family members and the family's monitoring in respect of the amount of chatting, the amount of befriending websites' usage, secretive chat, downloading music, using the Internet secretly, seeing pictures secretly and Internet befriending is statistically significant. Conclusion: Due to the possibility of causing trauma for teenagers because of abusing the Internet and the relation between Internet usage with family factors and variables, it is required to pay attention to immunizing family especially in a monitoring aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents the results of a postgraduate thesis on communication, particularly the use of language. Messenger is one of the most popular ways for communicating by signs and symbols. This study was carried out on junior high school students in state education. This research explores the possible impact on junior high school students' written work due to their use of Messenger. To address this question, the referential communication model with the qualitative approach was used in order to carry out a comparative study. Data were gathered from 16 junior high school students between 15 and 17 years of age who were paired into two groups for each part of the investigation. The research showed that it was possible to categorize the students into three groups: those who constantly use Internet, those who do not constantly use Internet and the rest who do not use it. The end results reveal that there is little relationship between the use of signs and symbols on Messenger and the quality of written work presented by junior high school students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of adolescents' online identity experiments on their social competence and self-concept unity. An online survey was conducted among 1,158 Dutch adolescents between 10 and 17 years of age. Using structural equation modeling, the authors investigated the validity of four opposing effects hypotheses in an integrative antecedents-and-effects model. Adolescents who more often experimented with their identity on the Internet more often communicated online with people of different ages and cultural backgrounds. This communication, in turn, had a positive effect on adolescents' social competence but did not affect their self-concept unity. In particular, lonely adolescents used the Internet to experiment with their identity. The social competence of lonely adolescents benefited significantly from these online identity experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language is historically subject to changes. At the present time the principle of alteration postulated one hundred years ago by Ferdinand de Saussure, father of modern linguistics, is easily observed in new mass media such as those generated by computer science (chat, msn, forums, etc.) and the mobile phones (sms). Although this principle guarantees the continuity of languages, it is not taken into account when debating, when voices arise in favour and against the new codes of communication arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As increasing amounts of complex health information become available via the Internet, providers frequently advise that it is important for health consumers to carefully consider the source of lay information, as well as discuss the clinical information they find with their healthcare provider. Beyond clinical indicators and standards, however, there exist few evaluative frameworks for assessing health information, especially within peer-to-peer networks. Traditional methods of analyzing online discussion content, such as keyword examination or network structure analysis, have proven largely unsatisfactory for unstructured health data analysis. Using a disease-specific illustration, this study proposes a theoretical framework that is broad enough to encompass a variety of poorly understood healthcare domains, and provides one example of an often misunderstood and ambiguous disease that lends itself to online patient-centered discussion, which can serve to supplement traditional clinical information exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Respectus Philologicus is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Informacao & Sociedade: Estudos is the property of Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Centro de Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

More than we realize it, knowledge is often constructed through interactions among people in small groups. The Internet, by allowing people to communicate globally in limitless combinations, has opened enormous opportunities for the creation of knowledge and understanding. A major barrier today is the poverty of adequate groupware. To design more powerful software that can facilitate the building of collaborative knowledge, we need to better understand the nature of group cognition — the processes whereby ideas are developed by small groups. We need to analyze interaction at both the individual and the group unit of analysis in order to understand the variety of processes that groupware should be supporting. This paper will look closely at an empirical example of an online group problem-solving experience and suggest implications for groupware design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to investigate how often adolescents engage in internet-based identity experiments, with what motives they engage in such experiments and which self-presentational strategies they use while experimenting with their identity Six hundred nine to 1 8-year-olds completed a questionnaire in their classroom. Of the adolescents who used the internet for chat or Instant Messaging, 50 percent indicated that they had engaged in internet-based identity experiments. The most important motive for such experiments was self-exploration (to investigate how others react), followed by social compensation (to overcome shyness) and social facilitation (to facilitate relationship formation). Age, gender and introversion were significant predictors of the frequency with which adolescents engaged in internet-based identity experiments, their motives for such experiments, and their self-presentational strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropologist Victor Turner suggested that all social worlds are composed of two parallel, yet seemingly contrasting models: society as social structure and society as communitas. The relationships between these two basic elements of human social and cultural life are mediated by ephemeral experiences of liminality. Other major theoretical traditions also recognize these relationships, representing a distinct conceptual framework of direct significance to advancing understandings of the internet. The internet is a natural environment for liminality and ekstasis, a place where self and society must be made to exist in a process where both are translated into the conventions of the medium. Some people actively toy with these representations while others do not. However, in the final analysis these communicative dynamics are rooted in the liminal characteristics of the medium - not the motivations and intents of internet users themselves. Approaching the internet in this way stands in stark contrast to other latent conceptual orientations that are largely concerned with moral dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chat reference is fast becoming a standard offering in the suite of reference services academic libraries provide. But much still needs to be learned about the motivations users have for choosing chat services, and what sorts of research they are doing online at the moment that they choose to go to chat reference for help. This study analyzes the results of a user survey that asks what users are doing before they choose chat, why they decided to choose chat, and their overall satisfaction with the service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of constructing messages and giving them logical senses in the context of the virtuality and electronic media requires, at least, an initial theoretical reflection. Cybermedia became, in a very short time, novel alternatives with enough appealing power to fulfill the imagination and the informative desires of a new generation of people, whose basic characteristics are the level of response and their pressure on the traditional mass media. To act consequently and to preserve the professionalism of the communication in new cybermedia environments are the task proposed in this document. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Los habitantes del siglo XXI, tenemos una plataforma llamada Internet que contribuye al acceso a todos los medios de comunicación e información. Sin embargo, en el menú de esta tecnología hay uno del cual se han apropiado los jovenes: el chat, objeto de estudio novedoso para los investigadores de la comunicación y un reto metodológico debido al anonimato del emisor/receptor, por lo cual se usaron y adaptaron instrumentos para el análisis propiamente del lenguaje, así como otras herramientas tendientes a obtener información de los sujetos participantes en el proceso. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]