Increasing the Capacity of Primary Care Through Enabling Technology.

Primary care is the foundation of effective and high-quality health care. The role of primary care clinicians has expanded to encompass coordination of care across multiple providers and management of more patients with complex conditions. Enabling technology has the potential to expand the capacity for primary care clinicians to provide integrated, accessible care that channels expertise to the patient and brings specialty consultations into the primary care clinic. Furthermore, technology offers opportunities to engage patients in advancing their health through improved communication and enhanced self-management of chronic conditions. This paper describes enabling technologies in four domains (the body, the home, the community, and the primary care clinic) that can support the critical role primary care clinicians play in the health care system. It also identifies challenges to incorporating these technologies into primary care clinics, care processes, and workflow

MIMS: Mobile Interruption Management System

Mobile devices are increasing in an astronomical rate throughout the world. While it is bringing a lot of comfort to the users it is not coming without any hazards. Now a user is susceptible to mobile call interruptions wherever he is, whether he is in the middle of a very important discussion or in a very important task like performing a complicated emergency operation in a hospital. As a result researchers have been studying to find ways to minimize cost of mobile interruptions. In this thesis we have proposed a mobile interruption management system in which callers have been grouped and time intervals of a day have been classified to ascertain whether a call should be allowed to ring, go silent or vibrate. We have also included presence of Bluetooth devices and applications the mobile user is using to decide if the user needs to be interrupted. We have undertaken a survey of mobile users to compare various models and select appropriate default parameter values like caller groups, time intervals, and inclusion of special days/events. We have proposed a matrix containing default values of cost of mobile interruption, which will be adjusted according to contexts the user is in and then this cost is compared with the threshold value. If the cost of receiving the call is less than the threshold value, then device sound profile is set to ring or vibrate otherwise it is set to silent. We have also evaluated our model with existing models and found the system performing well

Smartphone mediated behavioral change towards sustainable lifestyle

El objetivo de esta tesis es apoyar a individuos particulares en su búsqueda de un estilo de vida más sostenible a través de la creación de un producto con la capacidad de cambiar los comportamientos y hábitos de los usuarios en su vida cotidiana. Así, el producto diseñado está basado en el diseño de cambio de comportamiento y está personalizado a las actuales aspiraciones del usuario hacia un estilo de vida sostenible. El producto está canalizado a través de la mundialmente utilizada tecnología del smartphone en forma de una aplicación llamada OURS, teniendo una lógica que prioriza el servicio desde su núcleo, mediando el acceso a diversos servicios e información en una escala de vecindario. Para conseguir este objetivo, esta tesis sintetiza las más recientes narrativas con fundamento científico que explican qué determina los estilos de vida sostenibles y cómo pueden ser alcanzados por un individuo particular. Además, identifica los desafíos actuales y las oportunidades relacionadas con la crisis mundial provocada por la COVID-19, siguiendo un enfoque desde la base para el cambio y la Platform Economy.The goal of this thesis is to support individuals in pursuing a sustainable lifestyle by creating a product, capable of changing users’ behaviors and habits in their everyday life. Thus, the designed product is based on behavioral change design tailored to the existing user’s aspirations towards a sustainable lifestyle. The product is channeled via globally used smartphone technology as mobile application called OURS, having service-dominant logic in its core, mediating access to various services and information in a scale of a neighborhood. To achieve this goal this thesis synthesizes recent science-based narratives on what determines sustainable lifestyles and how they could be embraced by an individual. Moreover, it identifies current challenges and opportunities regarding the COVID-19 world-wide crises, bottom-up approach for change and the Platform Economy

Smart Grid Communications: Overview of Research Challenges, Solutions, and Standardization Activities

Optimization of energy consumption in future intelligent energy networks (or Smart Grids) will be based on grid-integrated near-real-time communications between various grid elements in generation, transmission, distribution and loads. This paper discusses some of the challenges and opportunities of communications research in the areas of smart grid and smart metering. In particular, we focus on some of the key communications challenges for realizing interoperable and future-proof smart grid/metering networks, smart grid security and privacy, and how some of the existing networking technologies can be applied to energy management. Finally, we also discuss the coordinated standardization efforts in Europe to harmonize communications standards and protocols.Comment: To be published in IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorial

Exploring Current Trends and Challenges in Cybersecurity: A Comprehensive Survey

Cyber security is the process of preventing unauthorized access, theft, damage, and interruption to computers, servers, networks, and data. It entails putting policies into place to guarantee the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of information and information systems. Cyber security seeks to protect against a variety of dangers, including as hacking, data breaches, malware infections, and other nefarious actions.  Cyber security has grown to be a major worry as a result of the quick development of digital technology and the growing interconnection of our contemporary society. In order to gain insight into the constantly changing world of digital threats and the countermeasures put in place to address them, this survey seeks to study current trends and issues in the area of cyber security. The study includes responses from end users, business executives, IT administrators, and experts across a wide variety of businesses and sectors. The survey gives insight on important problems such the sorts of cyber threats encountered, the efficacy of current security solutions, future technology influencing cyber security, and the human elements leading to vulnerabilities via a thorough analysis of the replies. The most important conclusions include an evaluation of the most common cyber dangers, such as malware, phishing scams, ransom ware, and data breaches, as well as an investigation of the methods and tools used to counter these threats. The survey explores the significance of staff education and awareness in bolstering cyber security defenses and pinpoints opportunities for development in this area. The survey also sheds insight on how cutting-edge technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are affecting cyber security practices. It analyses the advantages and disadvantages of using these technologies while taking into account issues like data privacy, infrastructure security, and the need for specialized skills. The survey also looks at the compliance environment, assessing how industry norms and regulatory frameworks affect cyber security procedures. The survey studies the obstacles organizations encounter in attaining compliance and assesses the degree of knowledge and commitment to these requirements. The results of this cyber security survey help to better understand the current status of cyber security and provide organizations and individual’s useful information for creating effective policies to protect digital assets. This study seeks to promote a proactive approach to cyber security, allowing stakeholders to stay ahead of threats and build a safe digital environment by identifying relevant trends and concerns