Systematic review of communication technologies to promote access and engagement of young people with diabetes into healthcare

Background: Research has investigated whether communication technologies (e.g. mobile telephony, forums, email) can be used to transfer digital information between healthcare professionals and young people who live with diabetes. The systematic review evaluates the effectiveness and impact of these technologies on communication. Methods: Nine electronic databases were searched. Technologies were described and a narrative synthesis of all studies was undertaken. Results: Of 20,925 publications identified, 19 met the inclusion criteria, with 18 technologies assessed. Five categories of communication technologies were identified: video-and tele-conferencing (n = 2); mobile telephony (n = 3); telephone support (n = 3); novel electronic communication devices for transferring clinical information (n = 10); and web-based discussion boards (n = 1). Ten studies showed a positive improvement in HbA1c following the intervention with four studies reporting detrimental increases in HbA1c levels. In fifteen studies communication technologies increased the frequency of contact between patient and healthcare professional. Findings were inconsistent of an association between improvements in HbA1c and increased contact. Limited evidence was available concerning behavioural and care coordination outcomes, although improvement in quality of life, patientcaregiver interaction, self-care and metabolic transmission were reported for some communication technologies. Conclusions: The breadth of study design and types of technologies reported make the magnitude of benefit and their effects on health difficult to determine. While communication technologies may increase the frequency of contact between patient and health care professional, it remains unclear whether this results in improved outcomes and is often the basis of the intervention itself. Further research is needed to explore the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of increasing the use of communication technologies between young people and healthcare professionals

Bringing Citizens Back In: Renewing Public Service Regulation

This essay concerns the ways in which public services – particularly household services such as communications, energy, water and transportation – have been regulated and deregulated, and analyses what consequences this has for users and citizens. Much of the deregulation of public services from the 1980s – liberalization, privatization and New Public Management – was justified by claims that reform would provide users with more choice, whilst they would receive cheaper and better quality services. Little account was taken of the fact that users are highly heterogeneous, that socio-economic differences might be important in determining their consumption of public services, and that this may not lead to socially optimum outcomes. By examining consumption patterns in two large European countries, Spain and the UK, through an analysis of revealed and declared preferences, this paper sheds light on how socio-economic differences among households help determine public service consumption. The main findings are that the supposed benefits of public service deregulation are not evenly spread across populations, and that specifically targeted “bottom-up” regulation from the demand-side could usefully address these issues, thus improving social welfare.Regulation, Privatization, Public Services, Telecommunications, Electricity, Gas and water

Lead Markets: Drivers of the Global Diffusion of Innovations

Multinational corporations are often faced with regionally varying market conditions, local environments and demand preferences. This paper presents the lead markets concept of developing global innovation that takes advantage of the lead market phenomenon. A lead market is a regional market that is first to adopt global innovation designs. A system of five lead factors explains the lead role of a market: a demand advantage, a price advantage, an export advantage, a transfer advantage and a market structure advantage. The system of lead market factors is then evaluated in a detailed case study of the cellular mobile telephone industry. It is suggested that companies can harness lead markets for the development of global innovations. By developing and refining innovations in close interaction with the local environment of a lead market, a company can focus on a narrow range of preferences and feedback, lowering the risk of being locked into idiosyncratic environments, and generate true global innovations.International diffusion of innovation, R&D internationalisation, Market entry strategy

Optimal Income Tax Policy and Wage Subsidy

We show that in an imperfectly competitive economy, if the government cannot use wage subsidy, in a steady state and in the initial period the optimal labour income tax rate is zero. In an imperfectly competitive economy, since investment is primarily triggered by the motive to earn higher profits, over accumulation of capital induces suboptimal level of working hours. We argue that if the government is restricted to subsidize wage, the optimal policy should set zero tax on labour income which will encourage workers to increase working hours back to the optimal level.

Acceptance of mobile services - insights from the Swedish market for mobile telephony

The main purpose of the paper is to investigate young peoples’ perspectives on mobile services in order to shed light on the acceptance of mobile services. The knowledge of and interest in mobile services of individuals using such services is analyzed. A second objective is to investigate the reasons for using/not using mobile services. In-depth focus group interviews and secondary empirical data provide the main data. Concerning the youth’s general knowledge of and interest in mobile services, the results point to six things: young people show a low demand for many mobile services, there is a demand for extended, established mobile services, like SMS, the interest in the new services vary, there is low interest in active information search, there is little knowledge of the enabling technology, and the understanding of the pricing is generally low. As concerns reasons for and against usage of mobile services, results point to four central aspects: many individuals could present clearly defined needs for certain services, many indicated an interest in "community usage" of mobile services, they experienced the prices of mobile services to be a hinder for usage, and technology placed limitations on the usage. The paper discusses practical implications on the acceptance of mobile services.Mobile services; mobility; focus groups; telecommunications; wireless; knowledge

The Mobile Generation: Global Transformations at the Cellular Level

Every year we see a new dimension of the ongoing Digital Revolution, which is enabling an abundance of information to move faster, cheaper, in more intelligible forms, in more directions, and across borders of every kind. The exciting new dimension on which the Aspen Institute focused its 2006 Roundtable on Information Technology was mobility, which is making the Digital Revolution ubiquitous. As of this writing, there are over two billion wireless subscribers worldwide and that number is growing rapidly. People are constantly innovating in the use of mobile technologies to allow them to be more interconnected. Almost a half century ago, Ralph Lee Smith conjured up "The Wired Nation," foretelling a world of interactive communication to and from the home that seems commonplace in developed countries today. Now we have a "Wireless World" of communications potentially connecting two billion people to each other with interactive personal communications devices. Widespead adoption of wireless handsets, the increasing use of wireless internet, and the new, on-the-go content that characterizes the new generation of users are changing behaviors in social, political and economic spheres. The devices are easy to use, pervasive and personal. The affordable cell phone has the potential to break down the barriers of poverty and accessibility previously posed by other communications devices. An entire generation that is dependant on ubiquitous mobile technologies is changing the way it works, plays and thinks. Businesses, governments, educational institutions, religious and other organizations in turn are adapting to reach out to this mobile generation via wireless technologies -- from SMS-enabled vending machines in Finland to tech-savvy priests in India willing to conduct prayers transmitted via cell phones. Cellular devices are providing developing economies with opportunities unlike any others previously available. By opening the lines of communication, previously disenfranchised groups can have access to information relating to markets, economic opportunities, jobs, and weather to name just a few. When poor village farmers from Bangladesh can auction their crops on a craigslist-type service over the mobile phone, or government officials gain instantaneous information on contagious diseases via text message, the miracles of mobile connectivity move us from luxury to necessity. And we are only in the early stages of what the mobile electronic communications will mean for mankind. We are now "The Mobile Generation." Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology. To explore the implications of these phenomena, the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program convened 27 leaders from business, academia, government and the non-profit sector to engage in three days of dialogue on related topics. Some are experts in information and communications technologies, others are leaders in the broader society affected by these innovations. Together, they examined the profound changes ahead as a result of the convergence of wireless technologies and the Internet. In the following report of the Roundtable meeting held August 1-4, 2006, J. D. Lasica, author of Darknet and co-founder of Ourmedia.org, deftly sets up, contextualizes, and captures the dialogue on the impact of the new mobility on economic models for businesses and governments, social services, economic development, and personal identity

Economic Development Potential through IP Telephony for Namibia

IP telephony, economic growth, telecommunications, ICT, Granger causality, Namibia

Underdeveloped ICT areas in Sub-Saharan Africa

As universal service in terms of ICTs provision cannot be achieved in the times agreed for several international bilateral and multilateral aid organizations. It is important to create mechanisms to reduce the lack of use of ICTs in sub-Saharan African countries. This paper specifically analyses the different ICT underdeveloped areas in the sub-Saharan African countries and the factors explain such status. At the same time, the paper proposes a set of policy guidelines that might help improving the current situation in several areas such as investment, employment, infrastructure and technology in order that some countries may overcome unfavourable ICT development. The main research question is: is there any chance that sub-Saharan African countries can overcome the critical situation in which they currently are? And if so, what are the key components and processes to develop and to do changes. In this way, a proposed framework is provided for the examination of policy makers, investors, and other stakeholders in the ICT field in these countries.sub-Saharan Africa, ICT, development