An integrated mobile content recommendation system

Many features have been added to mobile devices to assist the user's information consumption. However, there are limitations due to information overload on the devices, hardware usability and capacity. As a result, content filtering in a mobile recommendation system plays a vital role in the solution to this problem. A system that utilises content filtering can recommend content which matches a user's needs based on user preferences with a higher accuracy rate. However, mobile content recommendation systems have problems and limitations related to cold start and sparsity. The problems can be viewed as first time connection and first content rating for non-interactive recommendation systems where information is insufficient to predict mobile content which will match with a user's needs. In addition, how to find relevant items for the content recommendation system which are related to a user's profile is also a concern. An integrated model that combines the user group identification and mobile content filtering for mobile content recommendation was proposed in this study in order to address the current limitations of the mobile content recommendation system. The model enhances the system by finding the relevant content items that match with a user's needs based on the user's profile. A prototype of the client-side user profile modelling is also developed to demonstrate the concept. The integrated model applies clustering techniques to determine groups of users. The content filtering implemented classification techniques to predict the top content items. After that, an adaptive association rules technique was performed to find relevant content items. These approaches can help to build the integrated model. Experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed integrated model performs better than the comparable techniques such as association rules and collaborative filtering. These techniques have been used in several recommendation systems. The integrated model performed better in terms of finding relevant content items which obtained higher accuracy rate of content prediction and predicted successful recommended relevant content measured by recommendation metrics. The model also performed better in terms of rules generation and content recommendation generation. Verification of the proposed model was based on real world practical data. A prototype mobile content recommendation system with client-side user profile has been developed to handle the revisiting user issue. In addition, context information, such as time-of-day and time-of-week, could also be used to enhance the system by recommending the related content to users during different time periods. Finally, it was shown that the proposed method implemented fewer rules to generate recommendation for mobile content users and it took less processing time. This seems to overcome the problems of first time connection and first content rating for non-interactive recommendation systems

How to effectively design and create a concept mobile application to aid in the management of type 1 diabetes in adolescents

Diabetes is one of the eight most prevalent chronic health conditions in the World; therefore there is a wide range of diabetes-related mobile applications available to the public to aid in glycaemic control and self-management. Statistically, adherence to medication is extremely low in adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM), therefore it is crucial that adolescents adhere to their medication from a young age and adopt good medication regimes. This paper focuses on the research and design of an interactive and educational concept mobile application aimed at adolescents, aged 11 to 16 years old, to aid in their understanding of T1DM. As visual elements are an essential part to the design of a mobile application, this research outlines how the visual components of the application were designed specifically for the target audience of adolescents with T1DM

A case study of MMO2's Madic: A framework for creating mobile internet systems

Mobile Internet applications on ubiquitous mobile networks allows real-time, anywhere, anytime connectivity to services. Due to its scalability and potential cost savings, mobile communication is being increasingly applied in the business and consumer communities to create innovative data and voice application, which run over the Internet infrastructure. This paper reports on a case study at an organisation that created an innovative approach to developing mobile applications developed by third party independent developers. A conceptual wireless reference model is presented that was used to define the various system components required to create effective mobile applications

Influences on the Uptake of and Engagement With Health and Well-Being Smartphone Apps: Systematic Review

Background: The public health impact of health and well-being digital interventions is dependent upon sufficient real-world uptake and engagement. Uptake is currently largely dependent on popularity indicators (eg, ranking and user ratings on app stores), which may not correspond with effectiveness, and rapid disengagement is common. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify factors that influence uptake and engagement with health and well-being apps to inform new approaches that promote the effective use of such tools. Objective: This review aimed to understand what is known about influences on the uptake of and engagement with health and well-being smartphone apps among adults. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies. Studies conducted on adults were included if they focused on health and well-being smartphone apps reporting on uptake and engagement behavior. Studies identified through a systematic search in Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, or MEDLARS Online (MEDLINE), EMBASE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsychINFO, Scopus, Cochrane library databases, DataBase systems and Logic Programming (DBLP), and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital library were screened, with a proportion screened independently by 2 authors. Data synthesis and interpretation were undertaken using a deductive iterative process. External validity checking was undertaken by an independent researcher. A narrative synthesis of the findings was structured around the components of the capability, opportunity, motivation, behavior change model and the theoretical domains framework (TDF). Results: Of the 7640 identified studies, 41 were included in the review. Factors related to uptake (U), engagement (E), or both (B) were identified. Under capability, the main factors identified were app literacy skills (B), app awareness (U), available user guidance (B), health information (E), statistical information on progress (E), well-designed reminders (E), features to reduce cognitive load (E), and self-monitoring features (E). Availability at low cost (U), positive tone, and personalization (E) were identified as physical opportunity factors, whereas recommendations for health and well-being apps (U), embedded health professional support (E), and social networking (E) possibilities were social opportunity factors. Finally, the motivation factors included positive feedback (E), available rewards (E), goal setting (E), and the perceived utility of the app (E). Conclusions: Across a wide range of populations and behaviors, 26 factors relating to capability, opportunity, and motivation appear to influence the uptake of and engagement with health and well-being smartphone apps. Our recommendations may help app developers, health app portal developers, and policy makers in the optimization of health and well-being apps

Investigating the extent to which children use mobile phone application stores

This paper reports the results of a short survey aimed at examining the extent to which children use mobile phone application stores. Aspects investigated included whether children used application stores on their own or parents’ devices, how children use application stores and whether they think app stores could be improved. The key contribution of this paper is the provision of evidence that children are prolific users of smart phone application stores, children are using both their parents phones and their own phones to access app stores and over half the children who download games do so at a rate of 1-2 per week. The paper also looks at how children choose the games they do on the app store and their view on how easy it is to find their chosen game. Over half the children who download games do so either having played the game before or on the recommendation of a friend. The findings raise issues about the design of app store interfaces / information architectures and whether or not children should be considered in the design of future app store interfaces

Quality delivery of mobile video: In-depth understanding of user requirements

The increase of powerful mobile devices has accelerated the demand for mobile videos. Previous studies in mobile video have focused on understanding of mobile video usage, improvement of video quality, and user interface design in video browsing. However, research focusing on a deep understanding of users’ needs for a pleasing quality delivery of mobile video is lacking. In particular, what quality-delivery mode users prefer and what information relevant to video quality they need requires attention. This paper presents a qualitative interview study with 38 participants to gain an insight into three aspects: influencing factors of user-desired video quality, user-preferred quality-delivery modes, and user-required interaction information of mobile video. The results show that user requirements for video quality are related to personal preference, technology background and video viewing experience, and the preferred quality-delivery mode and interactive mode are diverse. These complex user requirements call for flexible and personalised quality delivery and interaction of mobile video

Health Phones: A Potential Game Changer in Health Information Management

Health education has to be one of the most effective ways to reduce morbidity and mortality in developing countries. We need to deliver vital messages and information to people at the lower quarter of the society to use changing behaviour and practices which can save and protect their lives. It is in this context, use of mobile phones in delivering vital health information is of significance. This article reviews few projects which successfully use mobile phones for health information delivery