A comparative study on surveillance and privacy regulations (the UAE vs. the USA and the EU)

Surveillance is becoming the norm in today’s life, especially with the pandemic of COVID-19. Surveillance of public crowds and activity is a controversial issue that can contradict the privacy of individuals (Federal Decree-Law No. (5) of 2012). This paper presents a comparative study of surveillance and privacy regulations and law in the UAE compared to the USA and the EU. The objective of this comparison is to highlight the amendments that have been adopted to improve laws and regulations, the need for further improvement, and the strengths and weaknesses in each of these countries. A discussion of different acts adopted in these countries and comparing them can help security experts to cooperate with legislators in order to rectify shortcomings and improve the acts adopted in their respective countries. Furthermore, we think that such a comparison can help system developers to find an easier way to accommodate the differences in security measures that they have to tackle and incorporate when they are serving customers in these countries and especially in the UAE. A legal framework has been proposed in order to define the maturity level of regulations adopted by a government in regard to surveillance and privacy laws and acts.

Effective User Assistant for Online Help System

With the beginning of the internet’s web services, user have facilitated for using help system and become more familiar to getting online information that has very useful when user cannot understand any process or any task that is major part that user can easily interact with computerand solved their problem, many specialists have found the lake of distinction between user and online help system due to the interface this study conducted to find the most effective and interactive online help system by the adopted user to use research selected online help system and take research survey for to identify the most interactive and feasible OHS (Online Help System), the aim of this study to highlight the features of an online help system for user interaction, that provide the online environment platform for user support via online help system technology, study have selected three different web pages and embrace the online help system into the web pages, these OHWS (Online Help Web Systems) are designed using front-end designing languages that focused on the user interface for user communication to find the user experience that is based on reliability, learnability and user satisfaction after practically user accessed different web page’s OHS that have navigated with different type of features user have hand out the research questionnaire survey that questions are targeted to cover the user experience reliability, learnability and user satisfaction, after the evaluation of all results it has been found that “Online Help System Interface1” is thebest user experience by 70% of reliability, 75% learnability and with the 85% user satisfaction with the interaction for the OHS

Simple Housing Solution Project: (Re) Building in Critical Situations

One of the significant challenges of recovery in critical situations (post-disaster, post-conflict, refugee settlement, among others) is the prompt and adequate housing (re)construction with scarce resources, and the affected population’s involvement. The Simple Housing Solution (SHS) project consists of a proposal for a methodology for (re)construction of homes and other small buildings (schools, health clinics), using low-cost construction technologies and community labour (mutual help system). The SHS project’s body of knowledge was organised in the form of a course with video lessons on YouTube and a website translated into different languages. The idea is to provide material that may help affected populations to work towards their recovery, with the support of qualified professionals (engineers and architects). The purpose of this chapter is to present the SHS Methodology and its main outputs.

Meaningful gamification for psychological empowerment: exploring user affective experience mirroring in a psychological self-help system

PurposeInspired by the dynamic changes in our daily lives enabled via quantified-self technologies and the urgent need for more studies on the human-computer interaction design mechanisms adopted by these applications, this study explores the value of user affective experience mirroring and examines the empowerment effect of meaningful gamification in a psychological self-help system (PSS) that aids people in work stress relief.Design/methodology/approachBased on an analysis of the existing systems and theories in relevant fields, we conducted mixed-method research, involving semi-structured interviews, experience sampling experiments and user bio data triangulations, to identify the benefits of user affective experience mirroring and examine the impact of visual impact metaphor–based (VIM) meaningful gamification on PSS users.FindingsFor a gamified PSS, users generally perceive VIM as arousing more feelings of enjoyment, empathy, trust and usefulness, empowering them to gain more mastery and control over their emotional well-beings, especially with relieving their occupational stress and upbringing their level of perceived happiness. Overtime, VIM-based meaningful gamification further boosts such value of a PSS.Research limitations/implicationsWeaving together meaningful gamification and psychological empowerment theories, the results emphasized that successful empowerment of user through gamification in PSSs relies heavily on whether a deeper and meaningful affective connection can be established with the users, in short, “meaningful gamification for psychological empowerment”. Such an understanding, as demonstrated in our research framework, also sheds light on the design theories for persuasive technology and human influence tactics during human computer interactions.Practical implicationsThe results of the study demonstrate to practitioners how to make the best use of gamification strategies to deeply relate to and resonate with users. Even without complicated game-play design, meaningful gamification mechanisms, such as VIM facilitate the empowerment of users while gaining their appreciation, establishing a deeper connection with them and eventually generating persuasive effects on intended future behavioural outcomes.Social implicationsThe effective management of work-related stress with handy tools such as a VIM-based PSS can be beneficial for many organizations and, to a large extent, the society.Originality/valueThis study proposed and empirically demonstrated the empowerment effect of meaningful gamification for PSS users. In this cross-disciplinary study, theories from different research domains were synthesized to develop a more thorough and multi-faceted understanding of the optimal design strategies for emerging information systems like this VIM-based PSS.

Automated Mobile Phone–Based Mental Health Resource for Homeless Youth: Pilot Study Assessing Feasibility and Acceptability

Background Youth experiencing housing instability have higher rates of mental health problems than their housed peers. Few studies have evaluated technological resources for homeless youth to determine how to effectively engage and reach them. Objective The primary aims of this pilot study were to establish the feasibility (as measured by phone retention rates) and acceptability (ie, participant ratings of resources) of delivering automated mental health resources via smartphone technology. Methods Youth aged 16 to 25 years (N=100) were recruited through homeless shelter agencies in the Chicago metropolitan area. Eligible participants completed a baseline assessment and received a smartphone with a 3-month data plan. The phone was preloaded with several apps designed to promote mental health wellness and provide real-time resources. One app specifically designed for this study, Pocket Helper 2.0, sent participants daily surveys and tips via push notification. The tips focused on coping and motivation, and the surveys assessed mood. This app also included an automated self-help system with brief cognitive behavioral interventions (5-10 min) and access to several interactive mobile tools, including a crisis text line, a telephone hotline, a crowd-based emotional support tool, and an app providing up-to-date information on social service and mental health resources for homeless youth in Chicago. Participants completed assessments at 3 and 6 months. Results Some individuals (23%, 23/100) experienced problems with the phones (eg, theft, loss, and technological issues) throughout the study. Participant retention at the midpoint was moderate, with 48% (48/100) of youth responding to the 3-month surveys. At 6 months, only 19% (19/100) of the total sample responded to the end point survey. Overall, 63% (30/48) to 68% (13/19) of respondents at both time points reported benefiting from the intervention; however, participant usage and satisfaction varied with the different features. At both time points, participants reported receiving the most benefit from the daily tips and daily surveys. Daily tips that were most preferred by participants involved motivational tips related to overcoming struggles and making progress in life. Aside from the tips and surveys, the most used features were the app providing up-to-date resources and the automated self-help system. Interactive features, including the telephone hotline and crowd-based emotional support tool, were the least used features and were rated as the least beneficial. Conclusions Automated mental health interventions seem to be an acceptable way to engage homeless youth in mental health support. The participants preferred fully automated features and brief interventions over features requiring interaction with others or more engagement. Future research should explore ways to retain homeless youth in interventions and evaluate the clinical impact of automated technology-based interventions for improving mental health. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03776422; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03776422