Exploring goal-setting, rewards, selfmonitoring, and sharing to motivate physical activity

Abstract—Many people have turned to technological tools to help them be physically active. To better understand how goal-setting, rewards, self-monitoring, and sharing can encourage physical activity, we designed a mobile phone application and deployed it in a four-week field study (n=23). Participants found it beneficial to have secondary and primary weekly goals and to receive nonjudgmental reminders. However, participants had problems with some features that are commonly used in practice and suggested in the literature. For example, trophies and ribbons failed to motivate most participants, which raises questions about how such rewards should be designed. A feature to post updates to a subset of their Facebook NewsFeed created some benefits, but barriers remained for most participants. Keywords-Exercise; mobile applications; goal-setting; reminders; rewards; sharing; social networks; persuasive technology I

altVerto: using intervention and community to promote alternative transportation

This paper was submitted to the CHI 2007 Conference as a student design competition project, winning the design competition.We seek to motivate drivers who regularly use web-based local and mapping services and have access to viable alternative transit methods — such as public transportation, carpooling, walking or bicycling — to use these alternatives instead of driving alone. altVerto works with users’ existing habits to intervene during trip planning, and then sustains long-term positive behavior through progress tracking and community-building around alternatives to driving. Our study investigates how computer-mediated intervention at decision making moments and online transit-related community motivates and sustains the use of alternative transit methods.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78393/1/altVerto_2007_GukeisenHutchfulKleymeerMunson.pd

Observational cohort study of the safety of digoxin use in women with heart failure

Objectives: This study aims to assess whether digoxin has a different effect on mortality risk for women than it does for men in patients with heart failure (HF). Design This study uses the UK-based The Health Information Network population database in a cohort study of the impact of digoxin exposure on mortality for men and women who carry the diagnosis of HF. Digoxin exposure was assessed based on prescribing data. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess whether there was an interaction between sex and digoxin affecting mortality hazard. Setting The setting was primary care outpatient practices. Participants The study cohort consisted of 17 707 men and 19 227 women with the diagnosis of HF who contributed only time without digoxin exposure and 9487 men and 10 808 women with the diagnosis of HF who contributed time with digoxin exposure. Main outcome measures The main outcome measure was all-cause mortality. Results: The primary outcome of this study was the absence of a large interaction between digoxin use and sex affecting mortality. For men, digoxin use was associated with a HR for mortality of 1.00, while for women, the HR was also 1.00 (p value for interaction 0.65). The results of sensitivity analyses were consistent with those of the primary analysis. Conclusion: Observational data do not support the concern that there is a substantial increased risk of mortality due to the use of digoxin in women. This finding is consistent with previous observational studies but discordant with results from a post hoc analysis of a randomised controlled trial of digoxin versus placebo

From Ancient Contemplative Practice to the App Store: Designing a Digital Container for Mindfulness

Hundreds of popular mobile apps today market their ties to mindfulness. What activities do these apps support and what benefits do they claim? How do mindfulness teachers, as domain experts, view these apps? We first conduct an exploratory review of 370 mindfulness-related apps on Google Play, finding that mindfulness is presented primarily as a tool for relaxation and stress reduction. We then interviewed 15 U.S. mindfulness teachers from the therapeutic, Buddhist, and Yogic traditions about their perspectives on these apps. Teachers expressed concern that apps that introduce mindfulness only as a tool for relaxation neglect its full potential. We draw upon the experiences of these teachers to suggest design implications for linking mindfulness with further contemplative practices like the cultivation of compassion. Our findings speak to the importance of coherence in design: that the metaphors and mechanisms of a technology align with the underlying principles it follows.Comment: 10 pages (excluding references), 4 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of DIS '20: Designing Interactive Systems Conference 202

Expression of the Flp proteins by Haemophilus ducreyi is necessary for virulence in human volunteers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Haemophilus ducreyi</it>, the causative agent of the sexually transmitted disease chancroid, contains a <it>flp </it>(fimbria like protein) operon that encodes proteins predicted to contribute to adherence and pathogenesis. <it>H. ducreyi </it>mutants that lack expression of Flp1 and Flp2 or TadA, which has homology to NTPases of type IV secretion systems, have decreased abilities to attach to and form microcolonies on human foreskin fibroblasts (HFF). A <it>tadA </it>mutant is attenuated in its ability to cause disease in human volunteers and in the temperature dependent rabbit model, but a <it>flp1flp2 </it>mutant is virulent in rabbits. Whether a <it>flp </it>deletion mutant would cause disease in humans is not clear.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We constructed 35000HPΔ<it>flp1-3</it>, a deletion mutant that lacks expression of all three Flp proteins but has an intact <it>tad </it>secretion system. 35000HPΔ<it>flp1-3 </it>was impaired in its ability to form microcolonies and to attach to HFF in vitro when compared to its parent (35000HP). Complementation of the mutant with <it>flp1-3 </it>in trans restored the parental phenotype. To test whether expression of Flp1-3 was necessary for virulence in humans, ten healthy adult volunteers were experimentally infected with a fixed dose of 35000HP (ranging from 54 to 67 CFU) on one arm and three doses of 35000HPΔ<it>flp1-3 </it>(ranging from 63 to 961 CFU) on the other arm. The overall papule formation rate for the parent was 80% (95% confidence interval, CI, 55.2%-99.9%) and for the mutant was 70.0% (95% CI, 50.5%-89.5%) (<it>P </it>= 0.52). Mutant papules were significantly smaller (mean, 11.2 mm²) than were parent papules (21.8 mm²) 24 h after inoculation (<it>P </it>= 0.018). The overall pustule formation rates were 46.7% (95% CI 23.7-69.7%) at 30 parent sites and 6.7% (95% CI, 0.1-19.1%) at 30 mutant sites (<it>P </it>= 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest that production and secretion of the Flp proteins contributes to microcolony formation and attachment to HFF cells in vitro. Expression of <it>flp1-3 </it>is also necessary for <it>H. ducreyi </it>to initiate disease and progress to pustule formation in humans. Future studies will focus on how Flp proteins contribute to microcolony formation and attachment in vivo.</p

Balancing diversity to counter-measure geographical centralization in microblogging platforms

We study whether geographical centralization is reflected in the virtual population of microblogging platforms. A consequence of centralization is the decreased visibility and findability of content from less central locations. We propose to counteract geographical centralization in microblogging timelines by promoting geographical diversity through: 1) a characterization of imbalance in location interaction centralization over a graph of geographical interactions from user generated content; 2) geolocation of microposts using imbalance-aware content features in text classifiers, and evaluation of those classifiers according to their diversity and accuracy; 3) definition of a two-step information filtering algorithm to ensure diversity in summary timelines of events. We study our proposal through an analysis of a datase

Broadening Exposure to Socio-Political Opinions via a Pushy Smart Home Device

Motivated by the effects of the filter bubble and echo chamber phenomena on social media, we developed a smart home device, Spkr, that unpredictably “pushes” socio-political discussion topics into the home. The device utilised trending Twitter discussions, categorised by their socio-political alignment, to present people with a purposefully assorted range of viewpoints. We deployed Spkr in 10 homes for 28 days with a diverse range of participants and interviewed them about their experiences. Our results show that Spkr presents a novel means of combating selective exposure to socio-political issues, providing participants with identifiably diverse viewpoints. Moreover, Spkr acted as a conversational prompt for discussion within the home, initiating collective processes and engaging those who would not often be involved in political discussions. We demonstrate how smart home assistants can be used as a catalyst for provocation by altering and pluralising political discussions within households

Co-developed implementation guidelines to maximize acceptability, feasibility, and usability of mobile phone supervision in Kenya

Opportunities exist to leverage mobile phones to replace or supplement in-person supervision of lay counselors. However, contextual variables, such as network connectivity and provider preferences, must be considered. Using an iterative and mixed methods approach, we co-developed implementation guidelines to support the implementation of mobile phone supervision with lay counselors and supervisors delivering a culturally adapted trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in Western Kenya. Guidelines were shared and discussed with lay counselors in educational outreach visits led by supervisors. We evaluated the impact of guidelines and outreach on the acceptability, feasibility, and usability of mobile phone supervision. Guidelines were associated with significant improvements in acceptability and usability of mobile phone supervision. There was no evidence of a significant difference in feasibility. Qualitative interviews with lay counselors and supervisors contextualized how guidelines impacted acceptability and feasibility – by setting expectations for mobile phone supervision, emphasizing importance, increasing comfort, and sharing strategies to improve mobile phone supervision. Introducing and discussing co-developed implementation guidelines significantly improved the acceptability and usability of mobile phone supervision. This approach may provide a flexible and scalable model to address challenges with implementing evidence-based practices and implementation strategies in lower-resourced areas