The digital divide: Patterns, policy and scenarios for connecting the ‘final few’ in rural communities across Great Britain

The Internet can bestow significant benefits upon those who use it. The prima facie case for an urban-rural digital divide is widely acknowledged, but detailed accounts of the spatial patterns of digital communications infrastructure are rarely reported. In this paper we present original analysis of data published by the UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, and identify and reflect on the entrenched nature of the urban-rural digital divide in Great Britain. Drawing upon illustrative case vignettes we demonstrate the implications of digital exclusion for personal and business lives in rural, and in particular remote rural, areas. The ability of the current UK policy context to effectively address the urban-rural digital divide is reviewed and scenarios for improving digital connectivity amongst the ‘final few’, including community-led broadband, satellite broadband and mobile broadband, are considered. A call is made for digital future proofing in telecommunications policy, without which the already faster urban areas will get ‘faster, fastest’ leaving rural areas behind and an increasingly entrenched urban-rural divide

Impact of a mobile phone and web program on symptom and functional outcomes for people with mild-to-moderate depression, anxiety and stress: a randomised controlled trial.

Background Mobile phone-based psychological interventions enable real time self-monitoring and self-management, and large-scale dissemination. However, few studies have focused on mild-to-moderate symptoms where public health need is greatest, and none have targeted work and social functioning. This study reports outcomes of a CONSORT-compliant randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of myCompass, a self-guided psychological treatment delivered via mobile phone and computer, designed to reduce mild-to-moderate depression, anxiety and stress, and improve work and social functioning. Method Community-based volunteers with mild-to-moderate depression, anxiety and/or stress (N= 720) were randomly assigned to the myCompass program, an attention control intervention, or to a waitlist condition for seven weeks. The interventions were fully automated, without any human input or guidance. Participants’ symptoms and functioning were assessed at baseline, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up, using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale. Results Retention rates at post-intervention and follow-up for the study sample were 72.1% (n= 449) and 48.6% (n= 350) respectively. The myCompass group showed significantly greater improvement in symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress and in work and social functioning relative to both control conditions at the end of the 7-week intervention phase (between-group effect sizes ranged from d= .22 to d= .55 based on the observed means). Symptom scores remained at near normal levels at 3-month follow-up. Participants in the attention control condition showed gradual symptom improvement during the post-intervention phase and their scores did not differ from the myCompass group at 3-month follow-up. Conclusions The myCompass program is an effective public health program, facilitating rapid improvements in symptoms and in work and social functioning for individuals with mild-to-moderate mental health problems

University of Alabama Theatre posters, programs, etc., MSS.2398

Abstract: University of Alabama theater posters and programs as well as educational television programming guides for the third quarter of the twentieth century.Scope and Content Note: The collection contains posters and programs for University of Alabama theater productions as well as educational television programming guides for the state's educational television network.Biographical/Historical Note: Educational television is the use of television programming in the field of distance education, generally it is in the form of individual programs or specialty channel

Evaluation of short-term effectiveness of the disease management program “Di.Pro.Di.” on continuity of care of patients with congestive heart failure

This paper aimed to assess the early effectiveness of a disease management program (DMP), called “Dimissione Protetta Difficile” (Di.Pro.Di) conducted by personnel from the intensive care unit (ICU) of Public Hospital S. Paolo, Naples, Italy. Di.Pro.Di significantly reduces the number and risk of rehospitalizations and total hospital length of stay

Energy-efficient Execution of Mobile Services using Flexible Cloud Platforms

Two recent trends are major motivators for service compo- nent migration: the upcoming use of cloud-based services and the increasing number of mobile users accessing the Internet-based services via wireless networks. While cloud- based services target the vision of Software as a Service, where services are ubiquitously available, mobile use of such services impairs the battery life of the device caused by ad- ditional network communication between the cloud and the mobile device. This paper investigates service component migration between the mobile client - as part of the cloud - and the infrastructure-based cloud as a means to save energy of the mobile device. Hereby, migration decisions are control- led by policies. A Markov modelling approach to calculate optimised policies with respect to energy consumption at the client is introduced and applied to an example scenario

THE CORRELATION AND EXTREMAL ANALYSIS IN THE FORMATE OF DELTA-MODULATION OF THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL ACCIDENT SIGNALS

The object of investigation; the digital processing of signals for the communication system. The statistic approaches to finding the parameters of delta-modulation of a single-dimensional and two-dimensional and two-dimensional signals in the real time. The principles of the economic correlation analog in the real time have been developed on the base of the different types of the delta-modulation and thinning out the differences of the correlation function; the adaptive algorithms of the correlation analysis (CA) and external analysis (EA) in the real time with delta-modulation; the new corresponding structures of the effective special processes have been developed. The results of the work have been introduced in the enterprises of the Communication Ministry of the Poland. Besides the digital communication, the obtained results can be used in the control systems, cosmic investigations, information-measuring systems.Available from VNTIC / VNTIC - Scientific & Technical Information Centre of RussiaSIGLERURussian Federatio