Challenges and Lessons Learned From a Mobile Health, Web-Based Human Papillomavirus Intervention for Female Korean American College Students: Feasibility Experimental Study

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) and Web-based research methods are becoming more commonplace for researchers. However, there is a lack of mHealth and Web-based human papillomavirus (HPV) prevention experimental studies that discuss potential issues that may arise. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the feasibility of research procedures and discuss the challenges and lessons learned from an mHealth and Web-based HPV prevention experimental study targeting female Korean American college students in the United States. METHODS: A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in an mHealth and Web-based platform with 104 female Korean American college students aged 18-26 years between September 2016 and December 2016. Participants were randomized to either the experimental group (a storytelling video intervention) or the comparison group (a nonnarrative, information-based intervention). Outcomes included the feasibility of research procedures (recruitment, eligibility, randomization, and retention). RESULTS: From September 2016 to October 2016, we recorded 225 entries in our initial eligibility survey. The eligibility rate was 54.2% (122/225). This study demonstrated a high recruitment rate (95.6%, 111/122) and retention rate (83.7%, 87/104) at the 2-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study demonstrated sufficient feasibility in terms of research procedures to justify a full-scale RCT. Given the increased possibility of invalid or misrepresentative entries in mHealth and Web-based studies, strategies for detection and prevention are critical. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN12175285; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN12175285

Determination of Radiative Transport Properties of Particle Suspensions by a Single-Scattering Experiment

A light-scattering experiment on particles was performed to determine radiative transport properties of the suspension. Extinction coefficient, scattering coefficient, and phase function are the important properties. A generalized light-scattering experimental setup was designed and constructed to perform systematic research on light scattering by particles. By measuring the transmitted energy and angular scattered-energy distribution around a particle suspension, complete information on radiative transport properties could be obtained. This study focused on the performance of the experimental setup with purely scattering particle suspensions. Transparent polymer monospheres with diameters of 0.091, 0.546, 1.001, and 7.04 Frn were used in separate suspensions of water for this study. The radiative transport properties obtained experimentally are compared with results from Mie theory. The single-scattering condition was examined and maintained during this experiment. The number concentrations of all but the smallest particles were independently measured using an optical liquid-borne particle counter

Micro-Operating Mechanism Approach for Regulatory Sandbox Policy Focused on Fintech

To determine the micro-operating mechanism(MoM) of enterprises participating in the regulatory sandbox policy in fintech, this study analyzes the structure of enterprise innovation competencies and derives relevant implications. The results reveal that large, middle-standing, and small and medium-sized enterprises focus on security, infrastructure, and user-related technology development, respectively, to enhance their innovation competencies. The security-related issues considered by large enterprises entail relatively high costs in initial technology development and are closely related to infrastructure building. Large enterprises are focused on developing overall security-related technologies, whereas middle-standing enterprises are striving to develop infrastructure-related technologies, with particular emphasis on elementary technologies. Small and medium-sized enterprises are also making efforts to develop user-centered technologies that can directly be used in fintech. As a method to implement regulatory sandboxes tailored to the needs of participating enterprises in South Korea, this study will help to determine the MoM of such participants and establish strategies to support them sustainably in terms of evidence-based policy

Treatment of irregular geometries using a cartesian coordinates finite-volume radiation heat transfer procedure

This article presents a blocked-off-region procedure to model radiative transfer in irregular geometries using a Cartesian coordinates finite-volume method (FVM). Straight-edged, inclined and curved boundaries can be treated. It is capable of handling participating or transparent media enclosed by black or reflecting walls. With this procedure, irregular geometries can be specified through the problem specification portion of the program. Four test problems are used to show that the procedure is capable of reproducing available results for inclined and curved walls, transparent, nonscattering, and anisotropically scattering media

Ethnicity, Social, and Clinical Risk Factors to Tooth Loss among Older Adults in the U.S., NHANES 2011–2018

Background. Many older adults suffer from poor oral health, including tooth loss, and disparities among racial/ethnic and socially disadvantaged populations continue to exist. Methods. Data were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey among the adult population in the U.S. The prevalence of edentulism and multiple regression models were conducted on 15,821 adults, including Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Whites, and others to assess the relationships between tooth loss and their predictors. Results. The prevalence of complete tooth loss increased with age from 0.7% for ages 20–44 to 20.2% for ages 65 and over. There are disparities in complete tooth loss regarding race/ethnicity, with the highest percentages (9%) among Whites and Blacks and the lowest percentages among Asians (3%) and Hispanics (4%). After adjusting for predictors, their impact on tooth loss was not consistent within racial/ethnic groups, as Asians had more tooth loss from Model 1 (β = −1.974, p < 0.0001) to Model 5 (β = −1.1705, p < 0.0001). Conclusion. Tooth loss was significantly higher among older adults and racial/ethnic groups even after controlling for other predictors among a nationally representative sample. The findings point to the fact that subgroup-tailored preventions are necessary