Use of interactive messaging to reduce pre-diagnosis loss to follow-up for TB care

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the uptake and usage of a WhatsApp-based interactive communication strategy to avert pre-diagnosis loss to follow-up (LTFU) from TB care in a high-incidence setting.METHODS: We enrolled adults (≥18 years) who underwent routine sputum TB testing in two primary healthcare clinics in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. The intervention consisted of structured WhatsApp-based reminders (prompts) sent prior to a routine clinic appointment scheduled 2–3 days after the diagnostic visit. Pre-diagnosis LTFU was defined as failure to return for the scheduled appointment and within 10 days.RESULTS: We approached 332 adults with presumptive TB, of whom 103 (31%) were successfully enrolled; 213 (64%) did not own a WhatsApp-compatible phone. Of 103 participants, 74 (72%) actively responded to WhatsApp prompts; 69 (67%) opted to include a close contact in group communication to co-receive reminders. Pre-diagnosis LTFU was low overall (n = 7, 6.8%) and was not associated with failure to respond to WhatsApp prompts.CONCLUSION: In this high-incidence setting, enrolment in a WhatsApp-based communication intervention among adults with presumptive TB was low, mainly due to low availability of WhatsApp-compatible phones. Among participants, we observed high message response rates and low LTFU, suggesting potential for interactive messaging services to support pre-diagnosis TB care.

Environmental Movements and Rise of Indigenous Communication Strategies during CHIPKO

Use and control over natural resources was the main agenda behind ecological movements in India. Environmental movements brought environmental sensitivity. Uttarakhand has had been a beautiful state but the region remained isolated and unsung for a longer period of time. However, the local organizations and protests linked the region with the rest of the country. The central motivation of the study is to trace out the tactics adopted when hardly any tech-based communication existed to set Chipko as the mass movement. The study is exploratory in nature and data has been gathered using Schedule which has been analyzed via percent analysis. Results of the study approves that Chipko validated nonviolent resistance and brought out unique strategies to sustain the Chipko as the movement. Chipko was a continuation of the old peasant struggle where the population mainly stressed on the group communication.

Pengalaman Komunikasi Kelompok KLa Project dan Eksistensinya Selama 32 Tahun

The 1990s are considered a major force on fashion, music and screens. At that time, in Indonesia various bands were born, developed and reached a golden age. One of them is the KLa Project, which is still surviving until the age of 32. This study aims to determine the experience of group communication in the KLa Project band in an effort to maintain their existence for 32 years in the Indonesian Music scene. The method used is qualitative with a phenomenological approach. The research subjects consisted of the main research subjects, namely KLa Project personnel, namely Ignatius Bagaskoro Katon, Romulo Radjadin, Adi Adrian and Ahmad Ari Suharto. Supporting research subjects were also taken in this study, namely the crew and management of the KLa Project, as well as several other fellow musicians who are related to the KLa Project. The results show that communication between personnel in the KLa Project music group or band is the most important and fundamental thing. The group communication is also dynamic and there is a change in communication patterns during the early formation and journey of the KLa Project, namely from 1986-1987 to 2000, with the communication situation between personnel in 2001.

Fine-Grained Frequencies Meet Synchronous Transmission

<div>Fine-grained frequencies have been used in several recent works to enhance network throughput as well as combat Cross Technology Interference (CTI) issues in licence free ISM bands. We observe that synchronous communication based strategies, due to the scope of inter-frequency capture-effect, are inherently more capable of supporting in-parallel communication over multiple channels even when the Center Frequency Distance (CFD) of the channels are very low (<5 MHz). In this work, we pursue an in-depth study of how fine-grained frequencies can be used in conjunction with synchronous communication to extract the maximum benefit from a very narrow band of available frequencies (e.g., 2- 5 MHz) for in-parallel intra-group communication. In this direction, we propose a simple and efficient group formation strategy to automatically define groups in a given WSN/IoT network to boost up in-parallel intra-group communication efficiency. Through extensive experimental evaluations in existing WSN/IoT testbeds, we show that in-parallel one-to-all dissemination in the groups formed through the proposed strategy can execute with upto 73% higher reliability while consuming upto 41% lower energy as compared to the same running among the groups formed through naive strategy with only 4 consecutive frequencies separated by 1 MHz and upto 20 groups.</div>

Fine-Grained Frequencies Meet Synchronous Transmission

<div>Fine-grained frequencies have been used in several recent works to enhance network throughput as well as combat Cross Technology Interference (CTI) issues in licence free ISM bands. We observe that synchronous communication based strategies, due to the scope of inter-frequency capture-effect, are inherently more capable of supporting in-parallel communication over multiple channels even when the Center Frequency Distance (CFD) of the channels are very low (<5 MHz). In this work, we pursue an in-depth study of how fine-grained frequencies can be used in conjunction with synchronous communication to extract the maximum benefit from a very narrow band of available frequencies (e.g., 2- 5 MHz) for in-parallel intra-group communication. In this direction, we propose a simple and efficient group formation strategy to automatically define groups in a given WSN/IoT network to boost up in-parallel intra-group communication efficiency. Through extensive experimental evaluations in existing WSN/IoT testbeds, we show that in-parallel one-to-all dissemination in the groups formed through the proposed strategy can execute with upto 73% higher reliability while consuming upto 41% lower energy as compared to the same running among the groups formed through naive strategy with only 4 consecutive frequencies separated by 1 MHz and upto 20 groups.</div>

Fine-Grained Frequencies Meet Synchronous Transmission

<div>Fine-grained frequencies have been used in several recent works to enhance network throughput as well as combat Cross Technology Interference (CTI) issues in licence free ISM bands. We observe that synchronous communication based strategies, due to the scope of inter-frequency capture-effect, are inherently more capable of supporting in-parallel communication over multiple channels even when the Center Frequency Distance (CFD) of the channels are very low (<5 MHz). In this work, we pursue an in-depth study of how fine-grained frequencies can be used in conjunction with synchronous communication to extract the maximum benefit from a very narrow band of available frequencies (e.g., 2- 5 MHz) for in-parallel intra-group communication. In this direction, we propose a simple and efficient group formation strategy to automatically define groups in a given WSN/IoT network to boost up in-parallel intra-group communication efficiency. Through extensive experimental evaluations in existing WSN/IoT testbeds, we show that in-parallel one-to-all dissemination in the groups formed through the proposed strategy can execute with upto 73% higher reliability while consuming upto 41% lower energy as compared to the same running among the groups formed through naive strategy with only 4 consecutive frequencies separated by 1 MHz and upto 20 groups.</div>

Bringing research back home: exploring Indigenous Melanesian tok stori as ontology

Indigenous knowledge is generally understood to be knowledge developed by a particular group in their specific environment over an extended period of time. In academia generally, bodies of knowledge of differing origins are not often understood. This article employs ontology as a ground for developing relational clarity in the academy by considering two oral traditions—talanoa (a Polynesian conversational form) as represented in research and Melanesian tok stori (a Melanesian form of discursive group communication) understood through an Indigenous Solomon Islands ontology. The discussion of tok stori offers a window into the complex ontological thinking required of the academy when seeking to learn from the knowledge of Mala’ita Solomon Islands specifically, and from Indigenous groups generally. The value to the wider research community suggests that bringing research back home through approaches constructed on the way people act can capitalise on the logic of aligning ontology and practice in research.