Search

The development of new technology leads to the consumption of new equipment which finally becomes hazardous waste and difficult to manage. This is what was observed in the city of Cotonou in the Republic of Benin which motivated the initiative of this study, the main objective of which is to describe the mode of management of these types of waste. The data collected concerns the types of electrical and electronic equipment used by professional users and households, as well as their conditions at acquisition and their lifespans. The data were collected from households, professional users and waste pickers. After the collection, the data were entered in the Microsoft Excel 2013 spreadsheet for the analysis and then the calculations of the means, the frequencies and the production of the graphs were carried out with the SPSS 21 software. It has been revealed that among professional users, universities and administrations are major producers of scrap metal, where respectively 30% and 16% of scrap metal was recovered. According to information gathered from these players, 79% of their equipment purchases took place on the local market. At household level, radios, televisions, telephones and refrigerators are the most widely used equipment. Like other electronic and computer equipment, the households surveyed also use computers, printers, DVD players, video players, landline and portable telephones, electronic gadgets, cameras and refrigerators. At the end of its life, 66% of the households surveyed throw their equipment in the trash cans like household waste. This discarded waste is collected by the waste pickers. Among the scrap metal recovered from the latter, motorcycle and car wrecks, television sets are the most popular with respectively 16%, 15% and 14%. Next are refrigerators for 13%, batteries for 12%, followed by electronic and computer devices.

In recent years, rapid increases in mobile phone ownership and decreases in landline users have led to potential biases in landline phone survey estimations. Mobile-only users have been found to be over-represented in many mobile phone surveys. A dual-frame survey, namely a combination of a landline and mobile phone survey, is proposed to solve this problem. The design of such a survey requires a more complex weighting procedure and thus additional benchmark information on phone status and usages for weighting. There is no consensus on a standard weighting method, but there is a general agreement that it should include: (1) a computation of base weight and (2) a post-stratification adjustment. Various weighting methods for a dual-frame phone survey of political attitudes using empirical data from a study on political attitudes in Hong Kong were investigated in this study. We found that the average estimator and the single-frame estimator methods are the best approaches for computing the base weight for a dual-frame survey, and that they provide similar estimations on political attitudes. No significant difference in estimation on political attitudes was found between using only gender and age for the post-stratification adjustment and including gender, age, education, and working status. Cell weighting and raking provided similar estimations.

PURPOSE Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has revolutionized the landscape of healthcare. From humble beginnings rooted in landline home telephone calls to present-day devices with near instantaneous wireless connectivity, the evolution of technology has ushered in an era of digital medicine and remote care. Presently, a vast array of healthcare data points can be automatically generated, analyzed, and forwarded to providers to supplement clinical decision-making. While RPM originated and was popularized within medicine, its role in orthopedics, and particularly within spine surgery, is evolving. We sought to provide an overview of RPM within orthopedics, with specific attention on spine care, analyzing its origins, present-day form, and prospects. METHODS We reviewed the literature to date as it pertains to RPM within healthcare at large, orthopedics, and spine care. RESULTS We detail the development and clinical use of wearable technology and smart implants, examining the underlying technology and evaluating the spectrum of their present-day and potential applications. CONCLUSIONS Technological advancements are not only reshaping the paradigm of musculoskeletal care but are also redefining the physician-patient relationship as well as reimagining traditional perspectives on healthcare data collection and privacy.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created exceptional health and economic uncertainty for Ohioans in 2020. In the spring of 2020, the state commissioned the Ohio COVID-19 Survey (OCS) to ask residential Ohio adults about how the pandemic was affecting them. The purpose of this research is to provide state leadership with real-time information about the effects of the pandemic and concurrent recession on Ohio households.Methods: The OCS is a special supplement to the Ohio Medicaid Assessment Survey (OMAS), a stratified random digit dial, cell phone and landline telephone survey. This study includes data collected weekly between April 20, 2020, and August 24, 2020. We conducted descriptive time-series analysis of the survey data and provided updates to the state's COVID-19 Response Team throughout the survey period.Results: Preliminary findings from the OCS reflect 3 themes among respondents: 1) elevated levels of concern over health and household economics; 2) disproportionate effects that exacerbate existing inequities; and 3) majority adjustment to "new normal" and acceptance of public health guidelines .Conclusion: Preliminary findings indicate that groups that were struggling before the pandemic have faced the biggest challenges with regard to health and household economics since it began. Data from the OCS enabled us to provide real-time analysis to state leadership regarding Ohioans' experience during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further analysis and integration of additional data will allow us to provide deeper insights as Ohio seeks to move into recovery.

BACKGROUND: Although vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the most desired solution to end the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, there are growing concerns that vaccine hesitancy would undermine its potential. We examined the intention to receive vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 and the associated factors in a representative sample of Chinese adults in Hong Kong. METHODS: We did a dual-frame (landline and mobile) cross-sectional survey of a random sample of 1501 Hong Kong residents aged 18 years or older (53.6% females) in April 2020. We collected data on the intention to receive SARS-CoV-2 vaccine when it becomes available (yes/ no/ undecided), knowledge and perceptions of COVID-19, smoking, alcohol drinking, and sociodemographic factors. Prevalence estimates were weighted by the sex, age, and education of the general population of Hong Kong. RESULTS: Overall, 45.3% (95% CI: 42.3-48.4%) of the participants had intentions to vaccinate against SARS-CoV-2 when it becomes available, 29.2% (26.5-32.1%) were undecided, and 25.5% (22.9-28.2%) had no intention. The most common reason for vaccine hesitancy (undecided or no intention) was safety concerns (56.5%). Multivariable partial proportional odds model showed higher vaccine hesitancy in males, younger adults, those with no chronic disease, current smokers, and non-alcohol drinkers. After adjusting for sociodemographic and other factors, inadequate knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 transmission (adjusted ORs ranged from 1.27 to 2.63; P

Information and communication technology is a set of tools or technology which in terminology includes all technical tools for processing and also disclosing informationInformation and communication technology, including media technology, has been growing in the era of globalization. The development of this technology has an impact on changes in people's behavior in the use of mass media and in the end also changes the pattern of effective community development in the digital era as it is today. The development of information and communication technology has brought many changes to human life in the world. Humans are able to penetrate time and space by using technology based on information and communication technology. This study uses secondary data obtained from the World Bank Indocator and the International Telecommunication Union. The method used is a quantitative method with panel data regression from 2010-2019 in eight Southeast Asian countries namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The variables used in this study are Economic Growth, ICT Trade Export, ICT Trade Import, Landline Telephone, Mobile Phone, Internet Users, Internet Secure Servers, Fixed Broadband, and Foreign Direct Investment. This study forms three models, namely model 1 for research on Trade Export of ICT, model 2 for research on Trade Import of ICT and model 3 for research on Economic Growth and ICT. The results showed that model 1 found only Fixed Broadband which had a significant influence on ICT exports. In model 2 there are Mobile Phone and Fixed Boradband which have a significant influence on the import of ICT. While in model 3 only Foreign Direct Investment has a significant influence on economic growth.

This document proposes a model of the process of atmospheric discharge of overhead lines followed by an electric arc. The intensity of atmospheric discharges, followed by electric arc and destruction, is determined by the difference in potential and current. Such a structure and form of discharge make it difficult to analyze the transient process and obtain adequate solutions. That is why the model of the transient process in the electric arc of the switch under the conditions of interruption of the AC circuit is specially analyzed. Simple equivalent schemes for the analysis of phenomena with given values of linear parameters are presented, which are very simple to apply. All influential parameters by which the overvoltage values in the model can be estimated were also taken into account. The evaluation of the proposed model was performed using the adapted MATLAB program psbsurlightcuurent for atmospheric electrical discharge, which contains a high frequency current source. The verified simulation method was used to verify the results as part of a method derived from artificial intelligence algorithms. The process simulation program, the obtained voltage and current diagrams confirm the application of the simulation algorithm model.

In India upto 1995 landline telephones are using by people of India. The connection of telephone is very limited to the general public and many times user approaches to the M.P., M.L.A. for himself to write a letter in favour for them to get the permission for the telephone connection. In August 1995, then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu made the first mobile phone call in India to then Union Telecom Minister Sukhram. Sixteen years later 4G services were launched in Kolkata in 2012. When the mobile network launches in India there are two companies who work separately in the field named Usha & Essar.

IntroductionHealth information about COVID-19 has been circulating in social networking sites, including unproven claims that smoking and alcohol drinking could protect against COVID-19. We examined if exposure to such claims was associated with changes in tobacco and alcohol consumption.MethodsWe conducted a population-based, landline and mobile phone survey of 1501 randomly sampled adults aged 18 years or older (47.5% male) in Hong Kong in April 2020. Respondents reported if they had ever seen claims that ‘smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19’ from popular social networking platforms. Current tobacco and alcohol users reported if they had increased or reduced their consumption since the outbreak. Prevalence data were weighted by sex, age and education of the general adult population.Results19.0% (95% CI 16.8% to 21.4%) of all respondents reported having seen claims that ‘smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19’ from social networking sites. Multinomial logistic regression showed that exposure to the claims was significantly associated with increased tobacco use (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.08 to 5.20) in current tobacco users (N=280) and increased alcohol use (OR 4.16, 95% CI 2.00 to 8.67) in current drinkers (N=722), adjusting for sex, age, education level, alcohol/tobacco use status, home isolation, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and survey method.ConclusionOur results first showed that exposure to health misinformation that smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19 was associated with self-reported increases in tobacco and alcohol consumption in Chinese during the pandemic.

Aims There is new interest in measuring alcohol consumption during risky drinking events, but there is little guidance on how to best ask such questions. In this study, we contrast two different types of questions on peak consumption over a single heavy drinking occasion. We used a general question that ask respondents to recall the total amount consumed (total consumption question), and location-specific questions that ask respondents to recall consumption in each drinking location (location-specific peak consumption, LSPC). Methods Heavy drinkers (≥11 Australian Standard Drinks (ASD) per occasion for males, ≥8 for females) from the second wave of a prospective cohort study were recruited via landline random digit dial from Melbourne in 2012. Respondents were randomly assigned to surveys of different question order, and either first received total consumption (n = 127) or LSPC questions (n = 147). T-tests compared peak consumption between categories stratified by sex and consumption tercile. Results Mean peak consumption was 12.5 ASD. Irrespective of question order, consumption amounts for total consumption and LSPC questions were not significantly different for both sexes. However, drinkers in the highest tercile asked LSPC questions first provided significantly higher consumption estimates in response to the total consumption question than in response to the LSPC questions. Conclusion At a population level, LSPC and total consumption questions produce similar estimates of peak consumption for risky drinking events. Except for heavy drinkers, general consumption questions may be sufficient when asking about these drinking events in consumption surveys, without the greater response burden of longer LSPC questions.

The landline sample frame has been the method for recruiting participants for household travel surveys for many years. However, more recently, the representativeness of populations has declined wit...

Problem considered Civil registration is, only way to track all births and deaths. Globally, 2/3 of annual deaths, are not registered. Despite existence of Registration of Birth and Death Act (1969), Civil Registration System (CRS) in India registers only 68.3% births and 63.2% deaths. Aim A rapid assessment of civil registration system for birth and death registration in Assam. Methods Cross-sectional descriptive study using mixed method was undertaken. Predesigned, pretested questionnaires were used for quantitative study. For qualitative study key informant interview of service providers and Focus group discussion of beneficiaries was conducted in each District. Results Only 8.5% (27) service providers, trained to operate a computer. Designated office were present in 62.5% (198) facilities, while only 15.5% (49), 7.9% (25), 25.6% (81) and 12.6% (40) of the facilities have landline telephone, cellular phone, functional computer and internet connectivity, respectively. Electricity connection present in 97.2% (308). Facilities are open for 8 h in 86.1% (273) cases. Reason for poor utilization includes difficult communication, lack of awareness, inefficient system. Conclusion Tremendous scope of improvement in birth and death registration department with adequate investment to improve the infrastructure, manpower and IT equipment's.

Background The global Covid-19 pandemic response depends heavily on non-pharmaceutical interventions to protect population health. This aim of this study was to provide insights into levels and determinants of adherence to travel restrictions and wearing of face coverings during the early phase of the pandemic response in Ireland. Methods A series of four cross-sectional surveys were administered through random digit dialling of mobile and landline numbers during May-June 2020. Questions were asked about compliance with local travel restrictions and where relevant, the reasons for travel. A question on mask use was added to the final wave of data collection. Results Overall, across the four waves, 73.4% reported adhering to the travel restrictions and these levels were maintained over time (wave 1: 72.1%, wave 2: 73.7%, wave 3: 67.3%, wave 4: 79.7%) and were broadly similar across different socioeconomic groups. Higher proportions reported travelling for non-exempt reasons over time particularly in the final wave of data collection including exercise (from 3% in wave 1, 5% in wave 2 up to 8% in waves 3 and 4) and recreational or social activities (2% in waves 1 and 2, 4% in wave 3, up to 15% by wave 4). Overall, over two-thirds of respondents reported use of masks in the final wave, (72% of women, 65% of men) with shops or supermarkets the most common place of use. Among primary respondents, older age (Age 70+ vs. 18k-44, OR 3.2 [2.4-4.3]), attending higher education (attending vs. completed third level OR 2.2 [ 1.6-3.0]) and female gender (OR 1.2 [1.1-1.4]) were independently associated with compliance with travel restrictions. Conclusions The findings demonstrate high levels of adherence to travel restrictions during the early stages of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, albeit with a modest trend towards reduced compliance over time. There was a high uptake of mask use in advance of relevant national guidance.

At this time of pandemic in which society is immersed, the abandonment of presentiality and the educational transition to the digital environment have been the main line of action followed in educational institutions in Higher Education. In this transition, the evaluation must be regarded as a guarantee for the quality, continuity, effectiveness and efficiency of educational systems and their eLearning teachings. This research proposes a mapping of the literature with the aim of discovering the conditions of research on evaluation in eLearning during the pandemic in Higher Education. For this purpose, it is based on objective criteria for selecting publications, and the phases followed throughout all the process. The results show the growing trend in research and the necessary continuity in the study, and the opening of new lines that place evaluation at the centre of this new educational reality.

Purpose Rural preventable cancer disparities are often attributed in part to lower screening rates secondary to compromised health care access. When considering higher cervical cancer incidence and mortality, existing analyses primarily consider differences in Pap testing rather than the preferred method of HPV testing, which is more sensitive in identifying severe cases of cervical dysplasia. Methods Logistic regression using data from the 2016 and 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System was used to examine urban and rural rates of cervical cancer screening according to national guidelines. Propensity score weighting was used to account for baseline sociodemographic differences between rural and urban populations in the 2016 landline sample. Findings In 2016 and 2018, rural women were less likely than urban women to have current cervical cancer screening. This disparity was explained by sociodemographic variables in 2016. Among women with current cervical cancer screening, rural women were significantly less likely than urban women to undergo HPV testing in both 2016 and 2018. Conclusion Rural women with current cervical cancer screening were significantly less likely than their urban counterparts to have HPV testing. It is possible that updates to preventive care guidelines may be slower to reach rural providers, rural patients may be unaware that HPV testing was completed, or rural practice configuration may complicate the integration of HPV testing into clinical practice. Failure to undergo HPV testing may lead to delayed cervical dysplasia diagnosis, missed opportunities for early intervention, and contribute to rural/urban disparities in cervical cancer incidence and mortality.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) continue to play a vital role in many domains, such as agriculture, service delivery, photo shooting, disaster management, telecommunication, and other spheres of life. It can also be employed as aerial base stations to serve low wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) signal strength in inaccessible areas such as mountainous areas, valleys, and forests, challenging to install landline communication infrastructure. This paper considers UAVs as base stations to serve numerous users in an accessible region based on the Hata - Okumura (231model) in open space to study the path loss. Employing the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm simulation results, it was clear that the appropriate number of UAVs required in a given open area could be easily determined based on the antenna range of each UAV. Eight 200m range UAVs were able to provide coverage of 26%. Similar sets of 400m range UAVs provided 69% and with the 500m range covering 87% of the entire field. It is noted that the coverage could be increased by increasing the number of UAVs or adopting a higher antenna range of UAVs.

Using information communication technologies as information sources of COVID-19 was associated with psychological problems, but mechanisms remain uncertain. We examined associations of COVID-19 information sources and information overload with psychological distress symptoms and explored the mediating effect of information overload in Hong Kong. A random sample of Chinese adults (N = 1501; 52.6% females; 55.0% aged 30–59) from dual landline and online surveys in April 2020 reported frequency of using traditional media, internet websites, social networking sites, instant messaging, and online discussion forums as COVID-19 information sources. Psychological distress symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire 4-item ([PHQ-4]; 0–12). Information overload defined as a perception of being overwhelmed was measured (1–6). Linear regressions were performed to analyze the associations, and the mediating effect of information overload was examined. Greater PHQ-4 score was observed for frequent use of internet websites (adjusted b = 0.58, 95% CI 0.29, 0.87, adjusted β = 0.12) and online discussion forums (adjusted b = 0.39, 95% CI 0.08, 0.70, adjusted β = 0.08) and information overload (adjusted b = 0.54, 95% CI 0.44, 0.63, adjusted β = 0.28). Information overload mediated 44.9% and 36.9% of associations of frequent use of internet websites and online discussion forums with PHQ-4 score, respectively. Frequent use of social networking sites was associated with lower PHQ-4 score (adjusted b = −0.37, 95% CI −0.69, −0.04, adjusted β = −0.07) partially through lower information overload (37.5%). Psychological distress symptoms were associated with frequent use of internet websites and online discussion forums as COVID-19 information sources, which were mediated through information overload.

This paper introduces the concept of Phone of Things (PoT), a novel approach to extend the connectivity options for IoT systems through the pervasive telephone network infrastructure. This is a paradigm shift that integrates traditional telephones to monitor and control IoT-enabled devices via VoIP protocols and public switched telephone network (PSTN). This integration democratizes IoT through the promotion of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) IoT system that takes advantage of the freedom the comes with open-source technologies and leverages the emerging cloud-hosted services to build customized IoT solutions while accentuating affordability, accessibility, performance, ease of use, and security. Nevertheless, the proposed system inhibits a modular design philosophy that allows the system to be tailored and scaled according to the application needs with minimum hardware and software modification requirements. The proposed paradigm provides an arbitrarily shared data space between IoT systems which would coalesce into a social network of things (SNT) and support assistive services in public sensing.

We are witness today to a democratic country violating multiple rights of an entire state of its own citizens. Starting from August 5, 2019, it is now over two months that the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been under a lockdown, and there was also a communication blockade. Initially all modes of communication - landline telephones, cellphones and the internet were blocked, and there were severe physical restrictions on the movement of civilians, with concertina wire barricades manned by soldiers every few metres. The Central Government put these measures in place along with thousands of additional troops brought into the state, in addition to the troops already deployed there, as it abrogated Article 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, and downgraded the state into two union territories.

The landline phone was for over 100 years a significant everyday medium that is now coming to the end of its life. There are less and less landline phones available, and new user generations do not even know how to use landline phone anymore. The physical appearances cease to exist as old copper wires are not replaced anymore, and the old phones are discarded. However, turning obsolete does not always signify death. Old medium can find its way to new purposes. It reminds us of its past existence by showing up in news or at flea markets as curios with imaginative potentials. At the same time, it begins to show to have a meaningful history. This overview discusses the history and the current situation of landline in Finland, and the possible new meanings and purposes it may encounter.

We discuss alternative estimators of the population total given a dual-frame random-digit-dial (RDD) telephone survey in which samples are selected from landline and cell phone sampling frames. The estimators are subject to sampling and nonsampling errors. To reduce sampling variability when an optimum balance of landline and cell phone samples is not feasible, we develop an application of shrinkage estimation. We demonstrate the implications for survey weighting of a differential nonresponse mechanism by telephone status. We illustrate these ideas using data from the National Immunization Survey-Child, a large dual-frame RDD telephone survey sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and conducted to measure the vaccination status of American children aged 19 to 35 months.

The geographic accuracy provided in cellphone samples has been an issue of particular concern for telephone surveys. Surveyors use this information for geographic sample stratification and analysis; however, the location generated using random digit dialing (RDD) methods is typically the rate center in which the phone was activated and not the owner’s current residence. Researchers have found the location is fairly accurate at the regional (census region) level. However, the error rate increases when moving to the state and local levels. Cellphone error rates are higher among ‘cell-only’ (cellphone users who do not have a landline telephone) respondents than for ‘dual-users’ (cellphone users who have a cellphone and landline telephone). Among respondents sampled from the landline frame, the error rate (difference between location on the sample file and current location of residence) is smaller. Past research estimates the state error rate is about 1% for a landline sample and 12% for the ‘cell-only’ group (Skalland and Khare 2013). This paper builds upon previous research by providing state level estimates of inaccuracy for both ‘cell-only’ and ‘dual-users.’ It also examines the trend of state-level inaccuracy estimates over 18 months using data from the Gallup Daily Tracking survey. Finally, we examine the characteristics of ‘cell-only’ and ‘dual-users’ and implications of geographic inaccuracy of cellphone samples on the state level dual-frame RDD estimates.

In recent years, the UK's emergency call and response has shown elements of great strain as of today. The strain on emergency call systems estimated by a 9 million calls (including both landline and mobile) made in 2014 alone. Coupled with an increasing population and cuts in government funding, this has resulted in lower percentages of emergency response vehicles at hand and longer response times. In this paper, we highlight the main challenges of emergency services and overview of previous solutions. In addition, we propose a new system call Smart Hospital Emergency System (SHES). The main aim of SHES is to save lives through improving communications between patient and emergency services. Utilising the latest of technologies and algorithms within SHES is aiming to increase emergency communication throughput, while reducing emergency call systems issues and making the process of emergency response more efficient. Utilising health data held within a personal smartphone, and internal tracked data (GPU, Accelerometer, Gyroscope etc.), SHES aims to process the mentioned data efficiently, and securely, through automatic communications with emergency services, ultimately reducing communication bottlenecks. Live video-streaming through real-time video communication protocols is also a focus of SHES to improve initial communi- cations between emergency services and patients. A prototype of this system has been developed. The system has been evaluated by a preliminary usability, reliability, and communication performance study.

Dual-frame, random-digit-dialing (DFRDD) surveys, using a frame of landline telephone numbers and a frame of cell phone numbers, have become the norm for telephone surveys. Two alternative frame co...

Numerous within-household selection methods have been tested in general population surveys since the advent of telephone interviewing. However, very few selection studies, if any, have been conducted with a dual frame (landline and cell phone) sample. Landline and cell phone frames are known to represent demographically different groups of respondents, and selection methods that may result in more representative demographics in a landline frame may actually skew the results when combined with the cell phone frame. This study tested 11 different within-household selection methods with approximately 11,000 landline respondents. A parallel cell phone sample was also collected with 1,000 respondents, and the frames were combined for analysis. The selection methods tested included one probability-based method, four quasi-probability methods and six nonprobability methods. The methods were evaluated on four criteria: response rates, accuracy, demographic representation and substantive results. The demographic representativeness of each method was examined for the landline frame only and for the dual (landline and cell phone) frame combination. The probability method had the lowest response rate, while the nonprobability at-home methods had the highest. Accuracy rates were lowest for the quasi-probability birthday methods. There were few demographic differences between selection methods, and no substantive differences, when combined with the cell phone sample.

COVID-19 has revealed many unrecognised problems. I have become aware that medical surveys are becoming less scientific. This perhaps always has been the case with non-medical surveys, notably illustrated by contradictory partisan pre-election polls in the USA, some of which used landline phone calls (landline users do not reflect the general population). Electronic, mostly social media–based, surveys are often worthless. Survey purposes should be explicit, the target population should be explicit, the sampling procedures should be explicit and robust, the questions should be ruthlessly focused, the follow-up procedures should be explicit and appropriate, the results should be capable of …

Objective:There are numerous health effects associated with excess sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption. Interventions aimed at reducing population-level consumption require understanding of the relevant barriers and facilitators. This study aimed to identify the variables with the strongest relationship with intentions to reduce SSB consumption from a suite of variables derived from the literature.Design:Random-digit dialling of landline and mobile phones was used to survey adults using computer-assisted telephone interviews. The outcome variable was ‘likelihood of reducing SSB consumption in next 6 months’, and the predictor variables were demographics, SSB attitudes and behaviour, health risk perceptions and social/environmental exposure.Setting:Australia.Participants:A subsample of 1630 regular SSB consumers from a nationally representative sample of 3430 Australian adults (38 % female, 51 % aged 18–45 years, 56 % overweight or obese).Results:Respondents indicated that they were ‘not at all’ (30·1 %), ‘somewhat’ (43·9 %) and ‘very likely’ (25·3 %) to reduce SSB consumption. Multivariate nominal logistic regressions showed that perceiving future health to be ‘very much’ at risk was the strongest predictor of intention to reduce SSB consumption (OR = 8·1, 95 % CI 1·8, 37·0, P < 0·01). Other significant predictors (P < 0·01) included self-perceptions about too much consumption, habitual consumption, difficulty reducing consumption and likelihood of benefitting from reduced consumption.Conclusions:Health risk perceptions had the strongest relationship with intentions to reduce consumption. Age and consumption perceptions were also predictors in the multivariate models, whereas social/environmental exposure variables were not. Interventions may seek to incorporate strategies to denormalise consumption practices and increase knowledge about perceived susceptibility to health risks.

The telephone has played a key role in shaping modern life. While most scholars focus on the early use of landline telephones, this article follows the subsequent social history of landline telephones in the late twentieth century as an equally significant phase of innovation, when telephone practices changed radically as a result of transformations in national and household infrastructures. In this article, we identify a new generation of "landline natives" emerging around 1968; for them, the telephone was a natural form of communication and part of their home environments. Our case study of how telephone use became taken for granted serves as a prehistory for scholars studying cellphone and smartphone practices as well as media scholars seeking to understand audience participation in television and radio.

Forecasting is a very important task not only for any business but also in other fields. There are numerous categories to forecast in business, but determining the future revenue (revenue forecast) is one of most crucial task so that leader can propose appropriate policies, decisions to optimize production and business activities. Revenue forecasting is a complex problem and requires the use of many different methods and techniques to achieve the highest accuracy. This study mainly analyzes approaches to select neural network models, processes, highlights the necessary steps and leverages advancements in deep learning for revenue forecast on a set of revenue data generated in the monthly, quarterly period from 2013 to June 2019 of 9 regions in Tra Vinh province. The considered telecommunication services groups including Internet services, MyTV service, landline phone service and postpaid mobile service are taken into account for revenue forecast tasks with the deep learning techniques. The proposed method achieves promising results and is already deployed in the practical cases at VNPT Tra Vinh.

Objective: To analyze the temporal trend of the prevalence of alcohol abuse among adults in Brazilian capitals, between 2006 and 2019. Methods: Time series study, based on data from the Surveillance System for Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey (Vigitel), between 2006 and 2019. The population consisted of adults (≥ 18 years old) with landline telephone residing in Brazilian capitals. The trend analysis was performed by linear regression. Results: Between 2006 and 2019 there was a significant increase (p = 0.03) in the abusive consumption of alcoholic beverages in the total adult population, from 15.6 to 18.8%. Among men, there was a stability trend (p = 0.96), and among women, there was an increase from 7.7 to 13.3% (p < 0.001; β = 0.295). In the male gender stratified by capitals, from 2006 to 2019 there was a reduction in Belém, Fortaleza, João Pessoa, Macapá, Manaus, Natal, Recife, São Luis, and Teresina. On the other hand, there was growth in the Federal District. Among women, the trend was upward in: Aracaju, Belo Horizonte, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Goiânia, Palmas, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo, Vitória, and the Federal District. Conclusion: The results indicate that more adult women are currently drinking in excess compared to previous years, suggesting an increased risk of alcohol-related harm in this portion of the population in Brazilian capitals, bringing about a convergence effect with the prevalence among men and women.

The popular press and academic literature show that the urban-rural divide persists with regard to recent telecommunications technologies, such as broadband and wireless service. As was the case for landline telephony, this lack of deployment in rural areas is rooted in cost differentials and lack of agglomeration economies. This paper provides historical insights on this divide, using 1990 data on voice communications in a region located in the northeastern United States, and investigates (1) whether there are differences in telecommunications usage between urban and rural firms, (2) whether advanced telecommunications technologies provide an economic advantage to rural firms, and (3) what are the factors encouraging and inhibiting the provision of these technologies in rural areas. Exchange-level data on telephone usage by eleven economic sectors are first linked, through regression analysis, to data characterizing the exchange employment, rural character, availability of advanced technology, and geography. Rural activities turn out to use telecommunications less than urban ones in the absence of advanced technologies, but the latter tend to significantly increase usage. Next, a logit model is estimated to link the deployment of one advanced technology&mdash, digital switching&mdash, to market and geographical variables. The results tend to support the idea that an advanced telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas may be important to attract activities that make heavy use of telecommunications, but also that its provision is inhibited by the traditional rural barriers of distance and low population density.

Research has shown that Violence Against Women is a pervasive problem which has been increasing. Until a few years ago, it took place both in public and private spaces, but it has now broken into Digital Space, adopting more symbolic expressions. There has been some important related work from Data Science approaches. Mainly about cyberbullying, detection of language patterns through supervised algorithms, a few works on unsupervised learning, and some on violence against women. This article is part of a larger investigation related to the Violence Against Women in Digital Space phenomena in Mexico from Spanish-language interactions in microblogging social network, Twitter. We present the framework to address these phenomena from a Data Science perspective and go through some first stage results. The goal is to give Data Science perspectives and insights related to the understanding of Digital Violence Against Women, with the purpose of generating awareness about this problem by, modifying manners and implementing public policies that could counteract this social problem.

With the rapid development and popularization of network technology, online education has been flourishing. More and more teachers began to explore and try to use online teaching to make up for the lack of classroom teaching. Blended teaching which can effectively integrate online and offline resources, give full play to the respective advantages of online teaching and classroom teaching has attracted more and more attention. This paper aiming at the problems existing in present teaching, takes students as the main body, demand as the driving force, and ability training as the main line, and takes the course “Web Design and Website Construction” as an example, proposes a demand-driven O2O & BIA blended interactive teaching model which can comprehensively improve the quality of talent cultivation.

The issue of typhoon and natural disaster is the sudden wide-scale breakdown or interruption of communications infrastructure. When public communication network fails, the impact can be widely felt and has the ability to wipe out access to standard mobile or landline telecommunication even internet access for emergency communication devices. The researchers intend to aid the communication when a large breakdown or interruption happen by a prototype consist of a simple walkie-talkie operating at a frequency of 144MHz bands and a personal computer. This research also adopts the concept of SSTV which exchanges pictures from one Amateur radio to another. Amateur radio is a scientific activity also known as “Ham Radio”. With this we can operate on a two-way communication using radio transmitter, receivers, antennae that can be either through the use of messaging with text and images that needs to be sent during disaster response. Both prototypes had clear outputs and was received and transmitted easily. Prototype 2 however, showed better image quality and less interference than prototype 1. The PC application makes the system much easier to use because the application was designed to be user-friendly and helped the user to understand the technical aspects of the system.

Telecom operators need to continuously assess and update their networks to meet ever increasing demand of traffic. Crucial segment of access network in landline operations not only defines the quality of services by promising a certain access bandwidth but also a budget consuming segment in case of its upgradation Therefore FTTX operators need a segmentation of their service landscape and efficient estimation to keep their investments plans productive. In this paper we have proposed a model for forecasting household traffic generation for five social segments of Pakistan. In this work, average communication devices in each household has been assess and their growth in terms of numbers and their traffic has been forecasted. Finally average household required bandwidth over a span of five years for different social segments has been computed.

MySQL is one of the well-known open source databases under Oracle. It is trusted by customers around the world due to its high performance, low cost, and good reliability. This study adopts the internal personnel file electronic program of the organization, quantifies the huge human resource data over the years, uses MYSQL database management, and analyzes the talent introduction and loss of Cunjin College in recent years through data extraction and visual analysis, and find out the reasons., Finally, from the perspective of strategic development, measures for talent team building are proposed.

This paper presents a novel, accurate, inexpensive, and scalable method for estimating some of the socio-economic features like electricity availability, treated water, electronics like television, radio, communication mediums like mobile phone, landline phone and vehicle like 2/3/4 wheeler from high-resolution daytime and nighttime satellite imagery. Our approach is a novel method, which helps to track and target poverty and development in India and other developing countries.

Next-Generation 911 (NG911) infrastructure will replace analog systems designed to support voice services for landline 911 callers with digital, IP-based systems that will allow smartphone users to “call” 911 via voice, text, image, and streaming video. This brief paper reports findings from a workshop conducted at the 2019 911 Early Adopters’ Summit, during which local 911 professionals from across the United States reflected on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the adoption of NG911 infrastructure and, in particular, multimedia 911 services. Workshop participants pointed to long-standing issues NG911 stands to exacerbate, including high non-emergency call volumes, poor staff retention, and inadequate psychological support which the influx of multimedia 911 calls, including those with graphic imagery, may worsen. At the same time, participants looked to local, existing resources to mitigate these issues and exploit new opportunities afforded through NG911 infrastructure. Using these findings, preliminary recommendations are offered to improve information resources available to local 911 professionals adopting NG911 systems for effective and efficient multimedia 911 services.

In Low & Middle Income Countries (LMICs), hospitals often face serious communication issues that threaten to paralyze the process of healthcare provision. The Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali (CHUK) is located in the middle of a vibrant city of Kigali, and is often overwhelmed by a high number of referred patients from its catchment area, and those brought in by emergency evacuation ambulance system (SAMU). The facility has no interdepartmental landline communication network, which would be ideal to connect the inpatient services to the emergency room in order to fasten the care process. Using WhatsApp-based Group Chat for sharing the real-time caseloads, the number of patients boarding the emergency room has significantly improved (dropping from 38.1 +-7.1 to 28 +-6.5, p