Parental views on informational counselling provided by audiologists for children with permanent childhood hearing loss

Background: The absence of best practice guidelines on informational counselling, has caused lack of clarity regarding the information audiologists should provide to parents and caregivers following the diagnosis of a hearing loss. Research shows that informational counselling provided by audiologists is limited and often biased, with little evidence of how parents experience this service.Objectives: To explore the nature and practice of informational counselling by audiologists.Method: This study was descriptive in nature and adopted a survey design to obtain information on the current practices of informational counselling from the perspective of parents and primary caregivers. Ninety-seven face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted across KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis using Nvivo software were conducted.Results: The majority of the parents reported receiving some form of informational counselling. However, the information provided by audiologists was considered to be biased as it included a favoured communication option, school and rehabilitative technology. There was a lack of information related to aural rehabilitation and family-centred intervention. The provision of all communication options, school options and rehabilitative technology were identified as gaps that contribute to an unfavourable decision-making process.Conclusion: There are inefficiencies experienced by families of deaf and hard of hearing children during informational counselling. However, this understanding, together with the identified gaps by parents, can help address the professional response to caring for families with deaf and hard of hearing children.

As RP em rede e o envolvimento dialógico em plataformas feministas (“A Coletiva” e “INMUNE”)

Feminist movements are currently asserting themselves by the capacity of involvement and aggregation of activists and the public identified with the feminist cause, who have in common both the struggle for women's rights and the spaces where they create existence and attribute dimension to that struggle: digital social networks. The purpose of this article is to understand the communication strategies, supported by dialogue, that underlie this aggregation and sharing of meaning when it comes to feminism and its close connection with the fight for gender equality, the end of gender violence or the eradication of racism. Based on the theoretical review on networked PR (Grunig, 2009; Kent, 2017), networked dialogue (Theunissen & Wan Noordin, 2011; Smith & Taylor, 2017; and networked feminism (Fullagar, Parry and Johnson, 2019; Keller, Mendes & Ringrose, 2018; Araüna, Willem & Tortajada, 2019; Yang, Uysal & Taylor, 2017), we applied content analysis (Bardin, 2006) to publications and digital interactions on two Portuguese feminist platforms. Thus, in an adaptation of the model proposed by Lane and Kent (2018) - Dialogic Engagement Interaction - this exploratory study analyzes the dialogical involvement of Coletiva and INMUNE - Instituto da Mulher Negra de Portugal. The analysis results, however, shows a low level of dialogical involvement between organizations and their audiences and, consequently, a reduced collective force to stop online hate clusters with increasing protagonism and with highly technological and effective modus operandi. Thus, the outcomes indicate that the two platforms analyzed do not apply communication strategies through dialogue, limiting exchanges between the organization and the public to the classic top-down communication option, summarizing the practice of dialogical involvement in social digital media to the publication unidirectional content and openness to comments and other reactions. As for the hypotheses raised, only one of them was validated, taking into account that 1) there was no significant dialogical involvement in the content analysis of the two feminist platforms, and 2) although we were unable to verify in the content analysis of the two feminist platforms, the theoretical review validated the idea that online anti-feminist and hate clusters can be fought by online anti-feminist and anti-hate clusters with the same effectiveness in spreading messages as the former. And here, the networked PR must take the strategic and tactical leadership of the action. This work also proposes a model for the analysis of dialogical involvement in digital social networks based on the broader initial proposal of Lane and Kent (2018). The model we propose comprises six categories: 1) existence of comment(s), sharing(s) and / or emoji(s); 2) existence of comment(s) and answer(s); 3) existence of dialogue (with the five dialogical principles: mutuality, propinquity, empathy, risk and commitment; see in Kent, 2017).; 4) existence of freedom to choose the theme and the dialogical flow (when both parts – public and organization – are given freedom to choose the topic and flow of dialogue); 5) without agenda or manipulation (when there is no intention to put issues on the agenda, essentially, those that indicate manipulation); and 6) rhetorical (when a persuasion strategy is applied by both parts participating in the dialogue).

ANALYSIS OF CONNECTION METHODS OF TELEGRAM ROBOTS WITH SERVER PART

The paper analyzes the methods of interaction of robotic applications with Telegram servers. A comparison was made between the standard polling method (Long Polling) and Webhook, both from the speed of application interaction with the end user and the complexity of the installation from the point of view of the developer. The interaction mechanism of telegrams-bot with Webhook-enabled telegram servers, which significantly improves the performance of the program as a whole, saving the user’s query execution time and increasing fault tolerance.The purpose of the study is to compare the methods of interaction between the application-work Telegrams written in Python, as well as the implementation of these methods in practice, in order to identify the complexity of writing both solutions.The Webhook method is a way to deliver real-time data to applications. Unlike traditional APIs, where you need to specify data more often to get information in real time, Webhook sends data immediately.It is proposed to consider the two most common communication options work and the Telegram server. The most common option is to periodically poll the Telegram servers for new information. All this is done through Long Polling, that is, the use opens for a short time and all updates immediately arrive bot.In the work, an alternative communication option was proposed for the application to work with Telegram servers using Webhook. During the work on changing the data exchange method from standard polling (Long Polling) to Webhook, its indisputable advantage in loaded applications, namely on the number of incoming requests over a thousand, was proved (Long Polling).

Risk-Aware Resource Management in Public Safety Networks

Modern Public Safety Networks (PSNs) are assisted by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to provide a resilient communication paradigm during catastrophic events. In this context, we propose a distributed user-centric risk-aware resource management framework in UAV-assisted PSNs supported by both a static UAV and a mobile UAV. The mobile UAV is entitled to a larger portion of the available spectrum due to its capability and flexibility to re-position itself, and therefore establish better communication channel conditions to the users, compared to the static UAV. However, the potential over-exploitation of the mobile UAV-based communication by the users may lead to the mobile UAV’s failure to serve the users due to the increased levels of interference, consequently introducing risk in the user decisions. To capture this uncertainty, we follow the principles of Prospect Theory and design a user’s prospect-theoretic utility function that reflects user’s risk-aware behavior regarding its transmission power investment to the static and/or mobile UAV-based communication option. A non-cooperative game among the users is formulated, where each user determines its power investment strategy to the two available communication choices in order to maximize its expected prospect-theoretic utility. The existence and uniqueness of a Pure Nash Equilibrium (PNE) is proven and the convergence of the users’ strategies to it is shown. An iterative distributed and low-complexity algorithm is introduced to determine the PNE. The performance of the proposed user-centric risk-aware resource management framework in terms of users’ achievable data rate and spectrum utilization, is achieved via modeling and simulation. Furthermore, its superiority and benefits are demonstrated, by comparing its performance against other existing approaches with regards to UAV selection and spectrum utilization.

Promoting Corporate Philanthropic Efforts through Social Media

Corporations face the challenge of creating awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts while avoiding the appearance of being overly self-congratulatory or self-serving. The low cost and less obtrusive format of social media may make it a useful communication option for creating awareness of philanthropic activities. Content analysis was used to examine how three types of social media (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) were used to provide information on corporate philanthropic activities. Forty corporations from the Fortune 100 were sampled to address three research questions. The first two research questions pertained to the availability of social media tools and the specific locations of access to those tools. Results revealed 82.5% of the 40 corporations provided links to at least one social media platform and 22 provided at least one type of link to at least one type of philanthropic activity. The third research question examined how social media platforms were used to report the eight types of philanthropy identified by Kotler and Lee (2005). In all, 140 philanthropic activities were reported. The most frequently reported types of philanthropic activity included donating cash (n = 72, 51.40%), donating products (n = 27, 19.30%), donating services (n = 15, 10.71%), offering grants (n = 13, 9.29%), and awarding scholarships (n = 5, 5.71%). Other types of philanthropy were infrequent. Results suggest these social media platforms offer a viable option for brief reports of philanthropic activities.

The added value of an electronic monitoring and alerting system in the management of medication-overuse headache: A controlled multicentre study

Background Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a chronic disabling condition associated with a high rate of relapse. Methods We evaluated whether the adoption of electronic-assisted monitoring, advice and communication would improve the outcome over a follow-up of 6 months in a controlled, multicentre, multinational study conducted in six headache centres located in Europe and Latin America. A total of 663 MOH subjects were enrolled and divided into two groups: the Comoestas group was monitored with an electronic diary associated with an alert system and a facilitated communication option, and the Classic group with a paper headache diary. Results We observed a significantly higher percentage of overuse-free subjects in the Comoestas group compared with the Classic group: 73.1 vs 64.1% (odds ratio 1.45, 95% confidence interval 1.07–2.09, p = 0.046). The Comoestas group performed better also regarding the number of days/month with intake of acute drugs and the level of disability [Migraine Disability Assessment Score: Comoestas group – 42.5 ± 53.6 (35.5–49.3) and Classic group – 27.5 ± 56.1 (20.6–34.3) ( p < 0.003)]. Conclusion The adoption of the electronic tool improved the outcome of patients suffering from MOH after withdrawal from overused drugs. Information and communication technology represents a valid aid for optimizing the management of chronic conditions at risk of worsening or of relapsing. Trial registration The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (no. NCT02435056).

Social Media Communication in the Artisan Economy

Social media is a viable marketing and communication option for small businesses as it is cost-effective and easy to use. This study explores how small business owners in the artisan economy utilize social media to communicate with their customers. Artisan small businesses share similarities with small firms in other sectors, but they face unique challenges. Five artisan owners in the United States participated in semistructured interviews answering questions relating to marketing and communication. Artisan owners work in home-based businesses and rarely interact with customers in-person. Social media is a primary communication tool. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are sites artisan owners utilize to connect with existing and previous customers. Social media is helpful in maintaining customer relationships as well as reaching out to potential clients. When customers interact with artisan owners on social media such as liking and sharing posts, word-of-mouth marketing is created. Social media might help artisan owners increase customer loyalty and sales.

“In the Office”

Using Smarthinking, Inc. as a case study, effective instant messaging is explored as a viable communication option for organizations, specifically virtual organizations, to decrease the feelings of isolation that telecommuters experience. Instant messaging is used to create a virtual team, thereby allowing its members to develop feelings of camaraderie and maintain and/or increase productivity while creating a virtual-organizational culture. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of instant messaging are addressed from the perspective of the employees and the organization. Finally, the logistics of incorporating instant messaging into a virtual organization, from developing instant messaging guidelines and policies to encouraging effective synchronous communications, are examined.