Individual Perception of Telehealth: Validation of a German Translation of the Telemedicine Perception Questionnaire and a Derived Short Version

Telehealth is a growing domain with particular relevance for remote patient monitoring. With respect to the biopsychosocial model of health, it is important to evaluate perception and satisfaction with new methods in telehealth as part of an integrative approach. The Telemedicine Perception Questionnaire (TMPQ) is a 17-item questionnaire measuring patients’ perception of and satisfaction with telecare. We translated this survey into German and determined its validity and reliability in 32 adolescents and adults. Furthermore, we derived a short version of the TMPQ, named Patient and Physician Satisfaction with Monitoring (PPSM), which is a 5-item questionnaire that can be administered to both patients and physicians. Validity and reliability were tested in 32 patients and 32 physicians. Crohnbach’s α for the translated TMPQ was 0.76, and the German version yielded high validity (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.995). We tested the PPSM in both patients and physicians and found acceptable values for Crohnbach’s α (0.72 and 0.78) with excellent validity (ICC 0.965). We therefore concluded from this small study that both German versions of the TMPQ and PPSM can be used to investigate the acceptance of telehealth applications.

Individual differences in mental imagery in different modalities and levels of intentionality

Mental imagery is a highly common component of everyday cognitive functioning. While substantial progress is being made in clarifying this fundamental human function, much is still unclear or unknown. A more comprehensive account of mental imagery aspects would be gained by examining individual differences in age, sex, and background experience in an activity and their association with imagery in different modalities and intentionality levels. The current online study combined multiple imagery self-report measures in a sample (n = 279) with a substantial age range (18–65 years), aiming to identify whether age, sex, or background experience in sports, music, or video games were associated with aspects of imagery in the visual, auditory, or motor stimulus modality and voluntary or involuntary intentionality level. The findings show weak positive associations between age and increased vividness of voluntary auditory imagery and decreased involuntary musical imagery frequency, weak associations between being female and more vivid visual imagery, and relations of greater music and video game experience with higher involuntary musical imagery frequency. Moreover, all imagery stimulus modalities were associated with each other, for both intentionality levels, except involuntary musical imagery frequency, which was only related to higher voluntary auditory imagery vividness. These results replicate previous research but also contribute new insights, showing that individual differences in age, sex, and background experience are associated with various aspects of imagery such as modality, intentionality, vividness, and frequency. The study’s findings can inform the growing domain of applications of mental imagery to clinical and pedagogical settings.

Use of ultrasound in the antenatal space

The first practical medical ultrasound machine was pioneered in the antenatal practice. Next, the rapid progress in the antenatal care and research demanded/propelled major advances in ultrasound technology and vice versa. Today, ultrasonography has become a part of pregnancy journey, emotional experience and bonding. Affordable pocket-sized ultrasound scanners and remote image transmission technology hold a new promise in rural areas. Point-of-care ultrasound by midwives for fetal growth and wellbeing is a growing domain. This article discusses current challenges and potential developments pertaining to the role of ultrasound in the first, second and third trimesters of pregnancy in different resource settings.

A DECADES-OLD DREAM: TOWARDS BRANDING THE UN-NAMED CITY OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATIVE CAPITAL IN EGYPT

In confronting the intensified globalization in today’s world. Cities, the economic engines and cultural hearts of nations are in quest for creating positive images that allow them to achieve multi-dimensional uprising that will help them get their portions of the world’s tourists, talents, businesses, investment, funds, reputation, respect and attention. Therefore, city branding has become a vital need; as it attempts to give each city its distinctive image and identity. Nowadays, The New Administrative Capital (NAC) is reshaping Egypt’s future thoroughly. Nevertheless, research on its branding is lacking. Building on qualitative research, this paper aims at developing a brand for the NAC based on examining how specific target group perceive its image, and how to benefit from their perception in the branding of the NAC. The results highlight the importance of mega urban projects in creating the city image, the key role of social media in delivering that image, and suggests a positioning statements and a message that can be employed in the communication materials through which the brand identity would be communicated. This study contributes to the rapidly growing domain of city branding by exploring the perception of architects, urban planners in the context of branding new cities. And since similar studies do not exist in literature, this study fills an important research gap.

High Reliability Collaborations: Theorizing Interorganizational Reliability as Constituted through Translation

High reliability organizations (HROs) need to collaborate to address risks that transcend organizational boundaries. HRO literature has yet to examine the challenge of creating interorganizational reliability, while collaboration literature can further explore how stakeholder priorities become dominant in collaborations. This study joins these bodies of literature to identify the growing domain of High Reliability Collaborations (HRCs). Drawing from 2 years of ethnographic research within a community emergency collaboration, the study theorizes that communicative translations constitute HRCs and serve to make sense of HROs and non-HROs as belonging to a shared collaborative framework. These translations are necessary to create reliability but also establish a negotiated order among collaborative stakeholders. This study finds that containing and controlling stakeholders can be an incentive to collaborate and that collaborative decision-making is influenced by stakeholder claims to urgency.

Mechanical System Control by RGB-D Device

Computer vision for control is a growing domain of research and it is widespread in industry and the autonomous vehicle field. A further step is the employment of low-cost cameras to perform these applications. To apply such an approach, the development of proper algorithms to interpret vision data is mandatory. Here, we firstly propose the development of an algorithm to measure the displacement of a mechanical system in contactless mode. Afterwards, we show two procedures that use a 3D camera as a feedback in control strategies. The first one aims to track a moving object. In the second one, the information gained from vision data acquisition allows the mechanical system control to ensure the equilibrium of a ball placed on a moving slide.

Expanding Navigation Systems by Integrating It with Advanced Technologies

Navigation systems provide the optimized route from one location to another. It is mainly assisted by external technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite-based radio navigation systems. GPS has many advantages such as high accuracy, available anywhere, reliable, and self-calibrated. However, GPS is limited to outdoor operations. The practice of combining different sources of data to improve the overall outcome is commonly used in various domains. GIS is already integrated with GPS to provide the visualization and realization aspects of a given location. Internet of things (IoT) is a growing domain, where embedded sensors are connected to the Internet and so IoT improves existing navigation systems and expands its capabilities. This chapter proposes a framework based on the integration of GPS, GIS, IoT, and mobile communications to provide a comprehensive and accurate navigation solution. In the next section, we outline the limitations of GPS, and then we describe the integration of GIS, smartphones, and GPS to enable its use in mobile applications. For the rest of this chapter, we introduce various navigation implementations using alternate technologies integrated with GPS or operated as standalone devices.

Data-driven innovation processes within federated networks

PurposeWithin digital innovation, there are two significant consequences of the pervasiveness of digital technology: (1) the increasing connectivity is enabling a wider reach and scope of innovation structures, such as innovation networks and (2) the unprecedented availability of digital data is creating new opportunities for innovation. Accordingly, there is a growing domain for studying data-driven innovation (DDI), especially in contemporary contexts of innovation networks. The purpose of this study is to explore how DDI processes take form in a specific type of innovation networks, namely federated networks.Design/methodology/approachA multiple case study design is applied in this paper. We draw our analysis from data collected over six months from four cases of DDI. The within-analysis is aimed at constructing the DDI process instance in each case, while the crosscase analysis focuses on pattern matching and cross-case synthesis of common and unique characteristics in the constructed processes.FindingsEvidence from the crosscase analysis suggests that the widely accepted four-phase digital innovation process (including discovery, development, diffusion and post-diffusion) does not account for the explorative nature of data analytics and DDI. We propose an extended process comprising an explicit exploration phase before development, where refinement of the innovation concept and exploring social relationships are essential. Our analysis also suggests two modes of DDI: (1) asynchronous, i.e. data acquired before development and (2) synchronous, i.e. data acquired after (or during) development. We discuss the implications of these modes on the DDI process and the participants in the innovation network.Originality/valueThe paper proposes an extended version of the digital innovation process that is more specifically suited for DDI. We also provide an early explanation to the variation in DDI process complexities by highlighting the different modes of DDI processes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation of DDI following the process from early stages of discovery till postdiffusion.