Solution for Interference in Hotspot Scenarios Applying Q-Learning on FFR-Based ICIC Techniques

This work explores interference coordination techniques (inter-cell interference coordination, ICIC) based on fractional frequency reuse (FFR) as a solution for a multi-cellular scenario with user concentration varying over time. Initially, we present the problem of high user concentration along with their consequences. Next, the use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and small cells are discussed as classic solutions to the problem, leading to the introduction of fractional frequency reuse and existing ICIC techniques that use FFR. An exploratory analysis is presented in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of ICIC techniques in reducing co-channel interference, as well as to compare different techniques. A statistical study was conducted using one of the techniques from the first analysis in order to identify which of its parameters are relevant to the system performance. Additionally, another study is presented to highlight the impact of high user concentration in the proposed scenario. Because of the dynamic aspect of the system, this work proposes a solution based on machine learning. It consists of changing the ICIC parameters automatically to maintain the best possible signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) in a scenario with hotspots appearing over time. All investigations are based on ns-3 simulator prototyping. The results show that the proposed Q-Learning algorithm increases the average SINR from all users and hotspot users when compared with a scenario without Q-Learning. The SINR from hotspot users is increased by 11.2% in the worst case scenario and by 180% in the best case.

Effect of Smartphone Distractions on Cognitive Performance in Adolescents: An Electroencephalography Approach

Introduction: The dependence on smartphones has become widespread among all age groups in every realm of daily life. There has been increased concern about the adverse effects of problematic smartphone use and media multitasking among adolescents. Recent studies used various performance measures like questionnaire surveys to examine the association between smartphone addiction and learning performance, and such studies have yielded mixed findings. The current study investigates the effects of media multitasking on cognitive performance using Electroencephalography (EEG) features and a self-report questionnaire survey. Methods: The patterns of smartphone use among adolescents in South India were investigated in this study, using a questionnaire survey. Further, the impact of smartphone usage on cognitive task performance was examined using EEG features. For this, EEGs of twenty-two healthy subjects were recorded during learning tasks before and after using a social networking site on smartphones. Subsequently, various EEG features were extracted, including ratios of wavelet decomposed EEG bands, attention index, and Sample entropy. Finally, these cognitive performance indices were evaluated and compared with a control group. Results: A total of 600 healthy individuals (341 males, 259 females) participated in the survey among whom, 310 (50.91%) belonged to the high-user group. Performance degradation (p=0.005), sleep problems (p=0.040) and mental stress (p=0.049) were more prevalent among the high-user group. A significant decline in EEG-based cognitive performance indices was also observed in the phone-use group compared to the control group. Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight the importance of controlling phone use when engaged in cognitive tasks. The study also offers an insight to develop neurofeedback techniques that enhance cognitive skills.

A mobile swabbing booth to address Singapore GPs’ concerns about swabber protection: human-centred design during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Health asked Singapore’s private general practitioners (GPs) to perform swab testing in their clinics, but some GPs had concerns about swabber protection. Our aim was to develop a swabbing booth to address these concerns. Methods We developed a prototype with potential GP users using a human-centred design approach and piloted it with 10 GP clinics. The pilot was then extended to 170 GP clinics around Singapore. These GPs were then surveyed on user satisfaction. Results Ninety-three GPs (54%) responded. The majority (75%) practiced in public residential estates in small practices (mean 1.95 doctors). 86% requested the booth to enhance swabber protection. 74% “would recommend” or “would strongly recommend” the booth to colleagues. 79% continue to use the booth to conduct swab tests. 92% liked that it offered swabber protection. 71% liked that the booth created a separate space for swabbing and 64% liked its ease of disinfection. 47% started swabbing only after receiving the booth and 58% said the booth was “important” or “very important” to their decision to participate in swab testing. However, 34% disliked that it took up too much space and the most frequently critiqued area was the gloves. Conclusion The human-centred design approach generated a product that had high user satisfaction, addressed GPs’ concerns of swabber protection and increased GPs’ participation in swab testing. The booth may be useful where GPs are concerned about swabber protection and space is limited.

Usability Testing of a Technology-Based Bystander Bullying Intervention for Middle School Students in Rural, Low-Income Communities: A Mixed-Methods Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Students who are targets of bullying and who witnessing bullying as bystanders are at high risk for negative mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Bystander training is essential to reduce both bullying and the negative associated consequences for targets and bystanders. Resources necessary for program delivery, however, pose significant implementation barriers to schools, particularly those in rural, low-income communities. Technology-based programs can reduce health disparities for student in these communities through a cost-effective, easy to disseminate programming. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to conduct usability testing of a prototype of a bystander bullying web app (STAC-T) as an initial step in the development of a the full-scale STAC-T intervention. Objectives included assessing the usability and acceptability of the STAC-T prototype; understanding school needs and barriers to program implementation, and assessing differences in usability between school personnel and students. METHODS A sample of 16 participants including school personnel and students recruited from three middle schools in rural, low-income communities completed usability testing followed by a qualitative interview. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, and consensual qualitative research (CQR) were used to assess usability and program satisfaction and to extract themes related to acceptability, feasibility, needs, barriers, and feedback for intervention development. RESULTS Usability testing indicated the app was easy to use, acceptable, and feasible. Both school personnel (M = 89.6, SD = 5.1) and students (M = 91.8, SD = 7.0) rated the app well above the standard cutoff score for above average usability (i.e., 68.0) and both school personnel (M = 5.83, SD = 0.41) and students (M = 6.10, SD = 0.57) gave the app high user-friendliness ratings (0-7 scale, with 7 high user-friendliness). Overall ratings also suggested school personnel and students were satisfied with the program. Among school personnel, 100% said they would recommend the program to others and 16.7%, 66.7%, and 16.7% rated the program as 3, 4, and 5 stars, respectively. Among students, 80% said they would recommend the program to others and 60% and 40% rated the program as 4 stars and 5 stars, respectively. Qualitative data revealed that both school personnel and students found the STAC-T app was useful, user-friendly, and relevant, while providing feedback related to the importance of virtual interaction. Data from school personnel also indicated positive perceptions regarding program feasibility and probability of program adoption, with the most significant barrier being cost, suggesting the importance of considering the financial resources available to schools in rural, low-income communities when setting the price point for the full-scale STAC-T intervention. CONCLUSIONS This study provides support for the development of the full-scale development of the STAC-T app and provides key information for revision to enhance used engagement. CLINICALTRIAL This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier NCT04681495).

COVID RADAR app: Description and validation of population surveillance of symptoms and behavior in relation to COVID-19

Background Monitoring of symptoms and behavior may enable prediction of emerging COVID-19 hotspots. The COVID Radar smartphone app, active in the Netherlands, allows users to self-report symptoms, social distancing behaviors, and COVID-19 status daily. The objective of this study is to describe the validation of the COVID Radar. Methods COVID Radar users are asked to complete a daily questionnaire consisting of 20 questions assessing their symptoms, social distancing behavior, and COVID-19 status. We describe the internal and external validation of symptoms, behavior, and both user-reported COVID-19 status and state-reported COVID-19 case numbers. Results Since April 2nd, 2020, over 6 million observations from over 250,000 users have been collected using the COVID Radar app. Almost 2,000 users reported having tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Amongst users testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, the proportion of observations reporting symptoms was higher than that of the cohort as a whole in the week prior to a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. Likewise, users who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 showed above average risk social-distancing behavior. Per-capita user-reported SARS-CoV-2 positive tests closely matched government-reported per-capita case counts in provinces with high user engagement. Discussion The COVID Radar app allows voluntarily self-reporting of COVID-19 related symptoms and social distancing behaviors. Symptoms and risk behavior increase prior to a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, and user-reported case counts match closely with nationally-reported case counts in regions with high user engagement. These results suggest the COVID Radar may be a valid instrument for future surveillance and potential predictive analytics to identify emerging hotspots.

Using administrative data to explore potentially aberrant provision of virtual care during COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study of Ontario provincial data (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid increase in virtual care utilization across the globe. Many healthcare systems have responded, by creating virtual care billing codes that allow physicians to see their patients over telephone or video. This rapid liberalization of billing requirements, both in Canada and other countries, has led to concerns about potential abuse, but empirical data are limited. OBJECTIVE The objectives of this study were to examine whether there were substantial changes in physicians’ ambulatory visit volumes coinciding with the liberalization of virtual care billing rules and to describe the characteristics of physicians who significantly increased their ambulatory visit volumes during this period. We also sought to describe the relationship between visit volume changes in 2020 and the volumes of virtual care use in individual physicians and across specialties. METHODS We conducted a population-based, retrospective cohort study using health administrative data from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), which was linked to the ICES Physician Database (IPDB). We identified a unique cohort of providers based on physicians’ billings and calculated the ratio of total ambulatory visits (in-person and virtual) over January-June, 2020 (virtual predominating) relative to that over January-June, 2019 (in-person predominating) for each physician. Based on these ratios, we then stratified physicians into four groups: low, same, high and very high use physicians. We then calculated various demographic and practice characteristics of physicians in each group. RESULTS Among 28,383 eligible physicians in 2020, the mean ratio of ambulatory visits in January-June 2020: 2019 was 0.99, SD=2.53 (median 0.81; IQR 0.59-1.0). Only 2,672 physicians (9.4% of all physicians) fell into the high user group and only 291 (1.0% of physicians) fell into the very high users group. High user physicians were younger, more recent graduates, more likely female, and less likely to be international graduates. They also had on average lower volume practices. There was a significant positive correlation between percent virtual care and the 2020:2019 ratio only in the group of physicians who maintained their practice (R=0.35, p<.001). There was also a significant positive correlation between the 2020:2019 ratio and the percent virtual care per specialty (R=0.59, p<.01). CONCLUSIONS During the early stages of the pandemic, the introduction of virtual care did not lead to significant increases in visit volume. Our results provide reassuring evidence that relaxation of billing requirements early in the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario were not associated with widespread and aberrant billing behaviors. Furthermore, the strong relationship between the ability to maintain practice volumes and the use of virtual care suggest that the introduction of virtual care allowed continued access to care for patients.

Digital content creation: an emerging role for librarians

Purpose The increasing importance of digital content creation in relation to content marketing and promotion of library and information services in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has attracted global attention. Thus, the purpose of this study is to theoretically examine librarians’ role in the creation of digital content in the 4IR. Design/methodology/approach This study used the review method to theoretically examine the nexus between digital content creation and librarians’ role in the 4IR. Findings This study showed that librarians are well positioned to become professional digital content creation, as they already possess the basic skills needed to create effective content for high user engagement. Originality/value This study seeks to pioneer a new area of focus by linking librarians’ skills to digital content creation skills and making a case for librarians as the perfect digital content creator.

Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis for evaluating the effectiveness of relationship marketing and innovation in 3D printing medical market

This study aims to explore the configurations of potential relevant antecedents in 3D printing medical Market for achieving high user satisfaction from both the suppliers’ and users’ perspectives. The important antecedents in this study include relationship marketing, innovation, 3D printing perceived values, and 3D printing perceived risk. Firstly, this study investigates the relationships among potential relevant antecedents and user satisfaction. Furthermore, to explore the gap between users’ evaluation and innovation suppliers’ perception, this study addresses this issue based on both perspectives of suppliers and buyers. To assess the applicability of the proposed model, we employed questionnaires survey and collected primary data from 3D printing suppliers and their customers. Moreover, the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach has been applied for evaluating the effectiveness of relationship marketing and innovation in 3D printing medical market. Finally, the numerical results indicate that there is one causal configuration (i.e., 1A) found to be sufficient for high user satisfaction for the perspectives of 3D printing suppliers and three configurations for the perspectives of 3D printing customers. In the perspectives of 3D printing suppliers, the combination of relationship marketing, innovation, and 3D printing perceived value is sufficient conditions causing high user satisfaction. However, there are three causal configurations (i.e., 1B, 2B, and 3B) found to be sufficient for high user satisfaction for the perspectives of 3D printing customers.

A Mobile Swabbing Booth to Address Singapore GPs’ Concerns About Swabber Protection: Human-Centred Design during the COVID-19 Pandemic

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Health asked Singapore’s private general practitioners (GPs) to perform swab testing in their clinics, but some GPs had concerns about swabber protection. Our aim was to develop a swabbing booth to address these concerns.MethodsWe developed a prototype with potential GP users using a human-centred design approach and piloted it with 10 GP clinics. The pilot was then extended to 170 GP clinics around Singapore. These GPs were then surveyed on user satisfaction.Results93 GPs (54%) responded. The majority (75%) practiced in public residential estates in small practices (mean 1.93 doctors). 86% requested the booth to enhance swabber protection. 74% “would recommend” or “would strongly recommend” the booth to colleagues. 79% continue to use the booth to conduct swab tests. 92% liked that it offered swabber protection. 71% liked that the booth created a separate space for swabbing and 64% liked its ease of disinfection. 47% started swabbing only after receiving the booth and 58% said the booth was “important” or “very important” to their decision to participate in swab testing. However, 34% disliked that it took up too much space and the most frequently critiqued area was the gloves.ConclusionThe human-centred design approach generated a product that had high user satisfaction, addressed GPs’ concerns of swabber protection and increased GPs’ participation in swab testing. The booth may be useful where GPs are concerned about swabber protection and space is limited.