Contribution to the knowledge of the Cu–Sn–Zn system for compositions close to brass alloys

The effect of tin content in the equilibrium phases of the Cu–Zn-based alloys, within the range of chemical compositions with interest to brass producers is described. For this purpose, ternary alloys with copper contents between 55.4 and 67.5 wt.% and tin contents up to 5.30 wt.% have been studied. The chemical composition of each alloy has been determined by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). Isothermal homogenization, followed by rapid cooling, has been employed to determine the equilibrium phases at different temperatures. The homogenized alloys have been observed by scanning electron microscopy and the respective chemical analysis of the phases determined by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The statistical analysis of the obtained results enable to correlate the chemical composition of equilibrium phases with temperature. The chemical composition of the three-phase field, for the studied temperatures, has also been determined

User Needs in the Development of a Health App Ecosystem for Self-Management of Cystic Fibrosis: User-Centered Development Approach

Background: Digital self-management in cystic fibrosis (CF) is foreseen as a means toward better understanding of the disease and its treatment and better adherence to the treatment. Mobile apps hold the potential to provide access to information, motivate, and strengthen compliance. However, to deliver high-quality apps, the development should be based on thorough knowledge about user needs. Empirical research on the user-centered development of mobile apps for health care is, however, still limited. Objective: The aim of this research is to develop and evaluate an app ecosystem for self-management in CF. It targets not only those directly affected by CF but also parents and health care professionals involved in the treatment. This paper covers the first step of the design process that aims to analyze the context and the user requirements. The primary research question is as follows: what digital support has the potential to usefully support persons with CF and their caregivers in the CF care? To answer this question, we address two preliminary questions: what important factors in everyday life affect the care of persons with CF? and how is the CF care delivered today and what are the limitations of CF care services? Methods: The overall research adopts a user-centered design approach in which future users are involved in the development process from the very beginning to ensure that the apps developed best suit the potential users. The research presented in the paper follows an interpretative case study research strategy seeking to understand the concerns and needs of persons with CF and their caregivers. Data were collected through semistructured qualitative interviews involving 74 participants in seven European countries and from internet forums. Results: The results of the analysis phase show a strong need for individuality of the digital support, as well as for its adaptability to different contexts. The paper presents the concerns and needs of the participants in the study and extracts a set of relevant features for a self-management app ecosystem. Education, enzyme dosage calculation, nutrition management, treatment organization, health diary, treatment follow-up, practical guidelines for treatment, communication with doctors, and communication with peers are foreseen as useful features. Conclusions: The results indicate the readiness for self-management in the CF care even in countries that provide well-functioning health care services for CF care. The large diversity of user requirements identified reflects the crucial role user integration plays in developing apps for a chronic condition such as CF. The need for personalization stemming from the individuality of the patients and the need for communication with health care professionals support the idea of an app ecosystem for the self-management of CF.User Needs in the Development of a Health App Ecosystem for Self-Management of Cystic Fibrosis: User-Centered Development ApproachpublishedVersio

Users' Experiences of a Mobile Health Self-Management Approach for the Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis: Mixed Methods Study

[EN] Background: Despite a large number of clinical trials aiming at evaluating the digital self-management of chronic diseases, there is little discussion about users¿ experiences with digital approaches. However, a good user experience is a critical factor for technology adoption. Understanding users¿ experiences can inform the design of approaches toward increased motivation for digital self-management. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the self-management of cystic fibrosis (CF) with a focus on gastrointestinal concerns and the care of young patients. Following a user-centered design approach, we developed a self-management app for patients and parents and a web tool for health care professionals (HCPs). To evaluate the proposed solutions, a 6-month clinical trial was conducted in 6 European CF competence centers. This paper analyzes the user acceptance of the technology and the benefits and disadvantages perceived by the trial participants. Methods: A mixed methods approach was applied. Data were collected through 41 semistructured qualitative interviews of patients, parents, and HCPs involved in the clinical trial. In addition, data were collected through questionnaires embedded in the self-management app. Results: Support for enzyme dose calculation and nutrition management was found to be particularly useful. Patients and parents rapidly strengthened their knowledge about the treatment and increased their self-efficacy. Reported benefits include reduced occurrence of symptoms and enhanced quality of life. Patients and parents had different skills, requiring follow-up by HCPs in an introductory phase. HCPs valued obtaining precise information about the patients, allowing for more personalized advice. However, the tight follow-up of several patients led to an increased workload. Over time, as patient self-efficacy increased, patient motivation for using the app decreased and the quality of the reported data was reduced. Conclusions: Self-management enfolds a collaboration between patients and HCPs. To be successful, a self-management approach should be accepted by both parties. Through understanding behaviors and experiences, this study defines recommendations for a complex case¿the demanding treatment of CF. We identify target patient groups and situations for which the app is most beneficial and suggest focusing on these rather than motivating for regular app usage over a long time. We also advise the personalized supervision of patients during the introduction of the approach. Finally, we propose to develop guidance for HCPs to facilitate changes in practice. As personalization and technology literacy are factors found to influence the acceptance of digital self-management of other chronic diseases, it is relevant to consider the proposed recommendations beyond the case of CF.The authors of this paper, on behalf of the MyCyFAPP consortium, acknowledge the European Union and the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme for funding the project (ref. 643806). The authors would like to thank all project partners for their collaboration during participant recruitment and project management. Without the dedication of participants in terms of time, effort, and valuable input, this publication would not have been possible. The authors would like to thank all the participants who contributed to this work.Floch, J.; Vilarinho, T.; Zettl, A.; Ibáñez Sánchez, G.; Calvo-Lerma, J.; Stav, E.; Halland Haro, P.... (2020). Users' Experiences of a Mobile Health Self-Management Approach for the Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis: Mixed Methods Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth. 8(7):1-19. https://doi.org/10.2196/15896S11987Webb, T. L., Joseph, J., Yardley, L., & Michie, S. (2010). Using the Internet to Promote Health Behavior Change: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Impact of Theoretical Basis, Use of Behavior Change Techniques, and Mode of Delivery on Efficacy. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 12(1), e4. doi:10.2196/jmir.1376Free, C., Phillips, G., Galli, L., Watson, L., Felix, L., Edwards, P., … Haines, A. (2013). The Effectiveness of Mobile-Health Technology-Based Health Behaviour Change or Disease Management Interventions for Health Care Consumers: A Systematic Review. PLoS Medicine, 10(1), e1001362. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001362Marcolino, M. S., Oliveira, J. A. Q., D’Agostino, M., Ribeiro, A. L., Alkmim, M. B. M., & Novillo-Ortiz, D. (2018). 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The Relative Contribution of Food Groups to Macronutrient Intake in Children with Cystic Fibrosis: A European Multicenter Assessment. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 119(8), 1305-1319. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2019.01.003Turck, D., Braegger, C. P., Colombo, C., Declercq, D., Morton, A., Pancheva, R., … Wilschanski, M. (2016). ESPEN-ESPGHAN-ECFS guidelines on nutrition care for infants, children, and adults with cystic fibrosis. Clinical Nutrition, 35(3), 557-577. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2016.03.004Vo, V., Auroy, L., & Sarradon-Eck, A. (2019). Patients’ Perceptions of mHealth Apps: Meta-Ethnographic Review of Qualitative Studies. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 7(7), e13817. doi:10.2196/13817Anderson, K., Burford, O., & Emmerton, L. (2016). Mobile Health Apps to Facilitate Self-Care: A Qualitative Study of User Experiences. PLOS ONE, 11(5), e0156164. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156164Boon, M., Calvo-Lerma, J., Claes, I., Havermans, T., Asseiceira, I., Bulfamante, A., … Ribes-Koninckx, C. (2020). Use of a mobile application for self-management of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy is associated with improved gastro-intestinal related quality of life in children with Cystic Fibrosis. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, 19(4), 562-568. doi:10.1016/j.jcf.2020.04.001Hevner, March, Park, & Ram. (2004). Design Science in Information Systems Research. MIS Quarterly, 28(1), 75. doi:10.2307/25148625-ISO 9241-210:2010 Ergonomics of Human-System Interaction — Part 210: Human-Centred Design for Interactive SystemsInternational Organization for Standardization20102020-06-05https://www.iso.org/standard/52075.htmlVilarinho, T., Floch, J., & Stav, E. (2017). Co-designing a mHealth Application for Self-management of Cystic Fibrosis. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 3-22. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-67687-6_1Kristensen, G. K., & Ravn, M. N. (2015). The voices heard and the voices silenced: recruitment processes in qualitative interview studies. Qualitative Research, 15(6), 722-737. doi:10.1177/1468794114567496Etikan, I. (2016). Comparison of Convenience Sampling and Purposive Sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1. doi:10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11Bryman, A. (2006). Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: how is it done? Qualitative Research, 6(1), 97-113. doi:10.1177/1468794106058877Klein, H. K., & Myers, M. D. (1999). A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems. MIS Quarterly, 23(1), 67. doi:10.2307/249410Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oaLee, Y., Kozar, K. A., & Larsen, K. R. T. (2003). The Technology Acceptance Model: Past, Present, and Future. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 12. doi:10.17705/1cais.01250Calvo-Lerma, J., Hulst, J. M., Asseiceira, I., Claes, I., Garriga, M., Colombo, C., … Ribes-Koninckx, C. (2017). Nutritional status, nutrient intake and use of enzyme supplements in paediatric patients with Cystic Fibrosis; a European multicentre study with reference to current guidelines. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, 16(4), 510-518. doi:10.1016/j.jcf.2017.03.005Johnson, K. B., Patterson, B. L., Ho, Y.-X., Chen, Q., Nian, H., Davison, C. L., … Mulvaney, S. A. (2015). The feasibility of text reminders to improve medication adherence in adolescents with asthma. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 23(3), 449-455. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocv158Granger, D., Vandelanotte, C., Duncan, M. J., Alley, S., Schoeppe, S., Short, C., & Rebar, A. (2016). Is preference for mHealth intervention delivery platform associated with delivery platform familiarity? BMC Public Health, 16(1). doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3316-2Cook, K. A., Modena, B. D., & Simon, R. A. (2016). Improvement in Asthma Control Using a Minimally Burdensome and Proactive Smartphone Application. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 4(4), 730-737.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jaip.2016.03.005Cafazzo, J. A., Casselman, M., Hamming, N., Katzman, D. K., & Palmert, M. R. (2012). Design of an mHealth App for the Self-management of Adolescent Type 1 Diabetes: A Pilot Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 14(3), e70. doi:10.2196/jmir.2058Riis, A., Hjelmager, D. M., Vinther, L. D., Rathleff, M. S., Hartvigsen, J., & Jensen, M. B. (2018). Preferences for Web-Based Information Material for Low Back Pain: Qualitative Interview Study on People Consulting a General Practitioner. JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies, 5(1), e7. doi:10.2196/rehab.8841Goetz, M., Müller, M., Matthies, L. M., Hansen, J., Doster, A., Szabo, A., … Wallwiener, S. (2017). Perceptions of Patient Engagement Applications During Pregnancy: A Qualitative Assessment of the Patient’s Perspective. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 5(5), e73. doi:10.2196/mhealth.7040Giunti, G., Kool, J., Rivera Romero, O., & Dorronzoro Zubiete, E. (2018). Exploring the Specific Needs of Persons with Multiple Sclerosis for mHealth Solutions for Physical Activity: Mixed-Methods Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 6(2), e37. doi:10.2196/mhealth.8996Aujoulat, I., d’ Hoore, W., & Deccache, A. (2007). Patient empowerment in theory and practice: Polysemy or cacophony? Patient Education and Counseling, 66(1), 13-20. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2006.09.008Waite-Jones, J. M., Majeed-Ariss, R., Smith, J., Stones, S. R., Van Rooyen, V., & Swallow, V. (2018). Young People’s, Parents’, and Professionals’ Views on Required Components of Mobile Apps to Support Self-Management of Juvenile Arthritis: Qualitative Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 6(1), e25. doi:10.2196/mhealth.9179Lubberding, S., van Uden-Kraan, C. 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Charge-tagging liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry methodology targeting oxysterol diastereoisomers

The introduction of a hydroxy group to the cholesterol skeleton introduces not only the possibility for positional isomers but also diastereoisomers, where two or more isomers have different configurations at one or more of the stereocentres but are not mirror images. The differentiation of diastereoisomers is important as differing isomers can have differing biochemical properties and are formed via different biochemical pathways. Separation of diasterioisomers is not always easy by chromatographic methods. Here we demonstrate, by application of charge-tagging and derivatisation with the Girard P reagent, the separation and detection of biologically relevant diastereoisomers using liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry with multistage fragmentation

Which Mobile Health Toolkit Should a Service Provider Choose? A Comparative Evaluation of Apple HealthKit, Google Fit, and Samsung Digital Health Platform

Mobile health applications are proliferating. Platform vendors have recently created programming toolkits to support developers. In many healthcare scenarios, mobile health applications are only the end-point of a larger supervised service involving many stakeholders. We want to know how these toolkits support the delivery of such services. Using a case study approach, we study three cases of such platforms and toolkits, i.e. Apple HealthKit, Google Fit and Samsung Digital Health. We collected and analyzed data from blogs, online developer forums, toolkit documentations, and from our own programming of an example health application. We use the boundary resource model to analyze our data. Our findings show that each of the toolkits imposes, through its boundary resources, the business model of its vendor on service providers. This can have important strategic implications for health service providers who want to base their services on each of the three toolkits.acceptedVersio

Co-designing a mHealth Application for Self-management of Cystic Fibrosis

Self-management has the potential to improve patient care and decrease healthcare costs. It is especially beneficial for patients suffering from chronic diseases that require continuous therapy and follow-up such as cystic fibrosis (CF). Mobile phones have become pervasive and, therefore, are perfectly suited for self-management. However, due to the large amount of time CF patients spend in their treatment, usability and usefulness are critical factors for the adoption of an assistive mobile application (App). In our work, we applied co-design in the development of high fidelity mockups for a CF Self-management App. The co-design was conducted as a series of workshops involving CF patients, theirs parents, as well as health professionals, from multiple countries in Europe. The results include design concepts and User Interface elements that conciliate the different perspectives between the stakeholders. This paper describes the co-design process, the resulting design and further considerations which emerged along the process.acceptedVersio

From Episodes to Continuity of Care: a Study of a Call Center for Supporting Independent Living

Call centers are a central coordination hub for remote health services and telemedicine. Recently, also telecare providers use call centers to support the remote care of seniors living independently. Although we know that the quality of the interaction between caregiver and senior care recipient is important, there is a gap in our knowledge as to how ICT solutions can support this interaction through a call center model. In this paper, we describe a case study of a modern call center designed to provide services for independent living, primarily for seniors. The case study gives us new insight into how service providers envision ICT support for independent living in the future. We discuss our findings from interviews, observations and design workshops in light of relevant literature about independent living and call centers. We conclude with a set of directions for future ICT for call centers to support independent living of seniors. These tools should: 1) support continuity of care instead of episodes of care, 2) support caregiving activities in addition to medical triage activities, 3) support “technical caregiving” i.e. remote use, testing and maintenance of technology at home, and 4) support call center operators in leading ad hoc and emergent coordination in distributed teams.acceptedVersio

Trusted secure service design : Enhancing trust with the future sim-cards

The SIM cards are going through several new enhancements both in the underlying hardware and its capabilities. They are becoming secure wireless networked devices containing embedded sensors. This thesis assess how this new SIM capabilities together with its pervasiveness and security can support the development and design of trust-based applications. It reviews the new trust possibilities based on the identity factor, connectivity and context-awareness sensors on the SIM. Moreover, we present a specific use-case around a seamless trust builder for social networks, which makes use of sensed inputs towards building hard contextual evidences to trust relations. We conclude with the description of the challenges of building this evidence based trust-builder and the necessary steps to going from the prototype we developed to a real application which may accurately describe trust relations

Oil-Soluble Dyes for Marking \u3ci\u3eSpodoptera frugiperda\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Although various biological aspects of Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) have been examined, adult movement and dispersal of this insect pest is not well understood. Release-recapture techniques by using marked insects is a useful approach for dispersal studies; however, the marking technique should not significantly affect insect biology or behavior. Therefore, the effect of different concentrations of oil-soluble dyes (Solvent Blue 35 [C.I. 61554], Sudan Red 7B [C.I. 26050], Sudan Black B [26150], Sudan Orange G [C.I. 11920], and Sudan I 103624 [C.I. 12055]) on development, mortality, and fecundity of S. frugiperda was evaluated. Dyes were added to artificial diet used to feed larvae. Larval and pupal development and mortality, adult longevity, and female fecundity were evaluated. High concentrations (400 and 600 ppm) of all dyes led to longer larval and pupal stages. Adult life span and number of eggs were not affected by the dyes. Sudan Red 7B marked both adults and eggs very well. Solvent Blue 35 marked both adults and eggs, but the blue-marked eggs could not be distinguished from some bluish eggs laid by nonlabeled females. Adults and eggs were not adequately marked by the Sudan Black B, Sudan Orange G, and Sudan I 103624 (a yellow dye)

Developing a Social Innovation Methodology in the Web 2.0 Era

The world is facing a growing number of societal challenges such as inequality rise, political upheaval, ageing population, etc. Governments are struggling to keep up to theirs existing service offers, making it difficult for tackling overarching social challenges alone. The active involvement of citizens in partaking social innovations is seen as potential solution to those wider challenges. However, the majority of the population lacks an understanding of social innovation and on how to contribute. In this work, we present a social innovation methodology catering citizens without previous social innovation experience and accessible via an ICT platform. We describe the designing process of the methodology, the core aspects of the resulting methodology and its validation.acceptedVersio