Toward an mHealth Intervention for Smoking Cessation

The prevalence of tobacco dependence in the United States (US) remains alarming. Invariably, smoke-related health problems are the leading preventable causes of death in the US. Research has shown that a culturally tailored cessation counseling program can help reduce smoking and other tobacco usage. In this paper, we present a mobile health (mHealth) solution that leverages the Short Message Service (SMS) or text messaging feature of mobile devices to motivate behavior change among tobacco users. Our approach implements the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and a phase-based framework. We make contributions to improving previous mHealth intervention approaches by delivering personalized and evidence-based motivational SMS messages to participants. Our proposed solution implements machine learning algorithms that take the participant\u27s demographic profile and previous smoking behavior into account. We discuss our preliminary evaluation of the system against a couple of pseudo-scenarios and our observation of the system\u27s performance

A Survey on Mobile Phone Authentication

In modern days, gadgets are essential part of everyday lives and they enable to access a variety of ubiquitous services. Recently, the availability of these ubiquitous and mobile services has increased due to the different form of access provided by mobile devices, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. In the same trend, the typologies of vulnerabilities exploiting these services and communication channels have boosted as well. Therefore, the presence of malware in mobile platform can seriously impact the end users privacy and security, reducing the end users trust in performing mobile access to its network services. In this, an authentication mechanism is based on screen brightness which prevents and increases security against side channel attacks

Comparative larval biology of three Macrobrachium species under controlled conditions

Three large sized Macrobrachium species-. viz. Macrobrachium rosenbergi;, M malcolmsonii and M gangelicum are available in Indian riverine systems. The study on the seed production and growout of these species are being carried out to develop technologies for commercial application. Hence, the knowledge on comparative larval biology of the three species is extremely important to give a new line for developing hatchery technology for large-scale seed production in different agro-climatic conditions. The present communication deals with comparative study of larval growth and seed production of the three larger species

Reality Versus Grant Application Research “Plans”

This article describes the implementation of the American Indian mHealth Smoking Dependence Study focusing on the differences between what was written in the grant application compared to what happened in reality. The study was designed to evaluate a multicomponent intervention involving 256 participants randomly assigned to one of 15 groups. Participants received either a minimal or an intense level of four intervention components: (1) nicotine replacement therapy, (2) precessation counseling, (3) cessation counseling, and (4) mHealth text messaging. The project team met via biweekly webinars as well as one to two in-person meetings per year throughout the study. The project team openly shared progress and challenges and collaborated to find proactive solutions to address challenges as compared to what was planned in the original grant application. The project team used multiple strategies to overcome unanticipated intervention issues: (1) cell phone challenges, (2) making difficult staffing decisions, (3) survey lessons, (4) nicotine replacement therapy, (5) mHealth text messages, (6) motivational interviewing counseling sessions, and (7) use of e-cigarettes. Smoking cessation studies should be designed based on the grant plans. However, on the ground reality issues needed to be addressed to assure the scientific rigor and innovativeness of this study

Unified Angular Momentum of Dyons

Unified quaternionic angular momentum for the fields of dyons and gravito-dyons has been developed and the commutation relations for dynamical variables are obtained in compact and consistent manner. Demonstrating the quaternion forms of unified fields of dyons (electromagnetic fields) and gravito-dyons (gravito-Heavisidian fields of linear gravity), corresponding quantum equations are reformulated in compact, simpler and manifestly covariant way

Alcohol consumption and leukocyte telomere length.

The relationship between alcohol consumption and mortality generally exhibits a U-shaped curve. The longevity observed with moderate alcohol consumption may be explained by other confounding factors, and, if such a relationship is present, the mechanism is not well understood. Indeed, the optimal amount of alcohol consumption for health has yet to be determined. Leukocyte telomere length is an emerging quantifiable marker of biological age and health, and a shorter telomere length is a predictor of increased mortality. Because leukocyte telomere length is a quantifiable and objectively measurable biomarker of aging, we sought to identify the amount of alcohol consumption associated with the longest telomere length and least telomere length attrition. Among over 2,000 participants from two distinct cohort studies, we found no pattern of alcohol consumption that was associated with longer telomere length or less telomere length attrition over time. Binge drinking may reduce telomere length. Using telomere length as a marker of age and health, these data fail to demonstrate any benefits of alcohol consumption, even when consumed in moderation

Quaternion Gravi-Electromagnetism

Defining the generalized charge, potential, current and generalized fields as complex quantities where real and imaginary parts represent gravitation and electromagnetism respectively, corresponding field equation, equation of motion and other quantum equations are derived in manifestly covariant manner. It has been shown that the field equations are invariant under Lorentz as well as duality transformations. It has been shown that the quaternionic formulation presented here remains invariant under quaternion transformations.Comment: Key Words: Quaternion, dyons, gravito-dyons, gravi-electromagnetism. PACS No.: 04.90. +e ; 14.80. H

Crystallization of Ge2Sb2Te5 films by amplified femtosecond optical pulses

Copyright © 2012 American Institute of PhysicsThe phase transition between the amorphous and crystalline states of Ge2Sb2Te5 has been studied by exposure of thin films to series of 60 femtosecond (fs) amplified laser pulses. The analysis of microscope images of marks of tens of microns in size provide an opportunity to examine the effect of a continuous range of optical fluence. For a fixed number of pulses, the dependence of the area of the crystalline mark upon the fluence is well described by simple algebraic results that provide strong evidence that thermal transport within the sample is one-dimensional (vertical). The crystalline mark area was thus defined by the incident fs laser beam profile rather than by lateral heat diffusion, with a sharp transition between the crystalline and amorphous materials as confirmed from line scans of the microscope images. A simplified, one-dimensional model that accounts for optical absorption, thermal transport and thermally activated crystallization provides values of the optical reflectivity and mark area that are in very good quantitative agreement with the experimental data, further justifying the one-dimensional heat flow assumption. Typically, for fluences below the damage threshold, the crystalline mark has annular shape, with the fluence at the centre of the irradiated mark being sufficient to induce melting. The fluence at the centre of the mark was correlated with the melt depth from the thermal model to correctly predict the observed melt fluence thresholds and to explain the closure and persistence of the annular crystalline marks as functions of laser fluence and pulse number. A solid elliptical mark may be obtained for smaller fluences. The analysis of marks made by amplified fs pulses present a new and effective means of observing the crystallization dynamics of phase-change material at elevated temperatures near the melting point, which provided estimates of the growth velocity in the range 7-9 m/s. Furthermore, finer control over the crystallization process in phase-change media can be obtained by controlling the number of pulses which, along with the laser fluence, can be tailored to any medium stack with relaxed restrictions on the thermal properties of the layers in the stack

GROWTH & CHARACTEIZATION OF INORGANIC POTTASSIUM PENTA BORATE TETRA HYDRATE ( PPBTH) SINGLE CRYSTAL

Single crystal of pottassium penta borate tetra hydrate an organic material: have been grown byslow evaporation technique at room temperature .The crystalline nature of grown crystal wasconfirmed by power x ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The structure of LKS consists of Li+ andlying on threefold axes and K+ ion has a tetrahedral coordination with Li-O distances 1.909 -1.923 Ǻ. The UV- Vis study was performed to know optical behaviour of the grown crystals

GROWTH AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PURE THOURIA DOPPED WITH SODIUM CHLORIDE CRYSTAL

Poly crystals of pure thiourea an organic material: have been grown by slowevaporation technique at room temperature .The crystalline nature of grown crystalwas confirmed by functional group of the grown crystals was found by FTIR analysis.The spectral bands have been compared with similar thiourea complexes using FTIRspectrum in the range 1000- 3500 cm-1 .The UV- Vis study was performed to knowoptical behaviour of the grown crystals