Search

Acquiring proficiency in conveying information through short text messages is clearly connected with the changes that have taken places in the world around us. It should, therefore, find its reflection in the teaching of foreign languages, especially in language studies. It is worth noting that SMS messages, as a means of communication, can be an interesting and useful topic for students who can no longer (or perhaps do not want to) function without a smartphone. The considerations presented here are rooted in educational practice and provide a description of a project aimed at developing proficiency in understanding and creating text messages in practical German language classes. Features included writing with correct spelling, the style of SMS messages, the choice of linguistic elements and the use of abbreviations, both in German and English. The paper also includes examples of exercises and discusses the impact of SMS messages on the progress and quality of German language classes. The project presented aims to demonstrate the relevance of introducing such texts and their didactic value in foreign language teaching. It offers sample solutions that can be employed in the process of developing writing skills in a foreign language and suggests how SMS messages can be used as a communication tool in foreign language classes to broaden and reinforce vocabulary related to mobile phones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intensive care nurses play an important role in the management of critically ill patients including identification of cardiac arrhythmias. Interventions to improve arrhythmia identification can be expensive, time‐consuming, and are not always successful. Aims: This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of using short message service (SMS) messaging to improve intensive care nurses' cardiac arrhythmia interpretation skills. Design: This study was a prospective, two‐group, assessor‐blinded, randomized controlled trial with a pretest‐posttest experimental design. Methods: The study was conducted from February 2020 to February 2021 for the intervention as well as the control group, in a teaching hospital in northwest Turkey. The intervention group was sent the one‐way SMS messages on cardiac arrhythmias via WhatsApp during an 8‐week period, whereas the control group did not receive any intervention. The Cardiac arrhythmias assessment questionnaire (CAAQ) was used to measure outcomes. The data were analysed using ANCOVA and an independent t‐test. Results: A total of 66 intensive care nurses were randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group. The ANCOVA analysis indicated that ICU nurses who received SMS messages about cardiac arrhythmias two times a week had significantly increased CAAQ scores (P < 0.001) with a large effect size (partial eta‐squared = 0.588). Conclusion: This study concluded that using SMS messages as a training tool has a positive influence on cardiac arrhythmias interpretation skills among ICU nurses. Relevance to clinical practice: Using SMS messages could be an alternative, effective, and innovative approach to improve nurses' clinical practice skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These days, homes include a variety of electrical devices that are important to families for accomplishing daily tasks. These devices are powered by electricity and in some cases, require a lot of power consumption. Home users must control these devices manually by switching them ON/OFF; this exposes them to potential electric shock and can give rise to other dangerous situations. This paper presents a new approach for creating an electrical system that makes it easy to control household domestic appliances via short message service from a smartphone device. In this manner, users can be provided with a relaxed and safe approach to using electrical devices. The result of this work, users can access to the home devices easily and interact with them without any problem of electrical shock and personal effort.

Copyright of Tikrit Journal of Engineering Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With the popularity of mobile phones with Android platform, Android platform-based individual privacy information protection has been paid more attention to. In consideration of individual privacy information problem after mobile phones are lost, this paper tried to use SMS for remote control of mobile phones and providing comprehensive individual information protection method for users and completed a mobile terminal system with self-protection characteristics. This system is free from the support of the server and it can provide individual information protection for users by the most basic SMS function, which is an innovation of the system. Moreover, the protection mechanism of the redundancy process, trusted number mechanism and SIM card detection mechanism are the innovations of this system. Through functional tests and performance tests, the system could satisfy user functional and non-functional requirements, with stable operation and high task execution efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest HIV burden. Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in the age range of 15 to 24 years are twice as likely as their male peers to be infected, making females in sub-Saharan Africa the most at-risk group for HIV infection. It is therefore critical to prioritize access to HIV testing, prevention, and treatment for this vulnerable population. Objective: Using an implementation science framework, the purpose of this research protocol was to describe the approaches we propose to optimize engagement of AGYW in both the HIV prevention and care continuum and to determine the recruitment and testing strategies that identify the highest proportion of previously undiagnosed HIV infections. Methods: We will compare two seek recruitment strategies, three test strategies, and pilot adaptive linkage to care interventions (sequential multiple assignment randomized trial [SMART] design) among AGYW in the age range of 15 to 24 years in Homa Bay County, western Kenya. AGYW will be recruited in the home or community-based setting and offered three testing options: oral fluid HIV self-testing, staff-aided rapid HIV testing, or referral to a health care facility for standard HIV testing services. Newly diagnosed AGYW with HIV will be enrolled in the SMART trial pilot to determine the most effective way to support initial linkage to care after a positive diagnosis. They will be randomized to standard referral (counseling and a referral note) or standard referral plus SMS text message (short message service, SMS); those not linked to care within 2 weeks will be rerandomized to receive an additional SMS text message or a one-time financial incentive (approximately US $4). We will also evaluate a primary prevention messaging intervention to support identified high-risk HIV-negative AGYW to reduce their HIV risk and adhere to HIV retesting recommendations. We will also conduct analyses to determine the incremental cost-effectiveness of the seek, testing and linkage interventions. Results: We expect to enroll 1200 participants overall, with a random selection of 100 high-risk HIV-negative AGYW for the SMS prevention intervention (HIV-negative cohort) and approximately 108 AGYW who are living with HIV for the SMART design pilot of adaptive linkage to care interventions (HIV-positive cohort). We anticipate that the linkage to care interventions will be feasible and acceptable to implement. Lastly, the use of SMS text messages to engage participants will provide pilot data to the Kenyan government currently exploring a national platform to track and support linkage, adherence to treatment, retention, and prevention interventions for improved outcomes. Conclusions: Lessons learned will inform best approaches to identify new HIV diagnoses to increase AGYW's uptake of HIV prevention, testing, and linkage to care services in a high HIV-burden African setting. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02735642; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02735642 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6vgLLHLC9) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest HIV burden. Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in the age range of 15 to 24 years are twice as likely as their male peers to be infected, making females in sub-Saharan Africa the most at-risk group for HIV infection. It is therefore critical to prioritize access to HIV testing, prevention, and treatment for this vulnerable population., Objective: Using an implementation science framework, the purpose of this research protocol was to describe the approaches we propose to optimize engagement of AGYW in both the HIV prevention and care continuum and to determine the recruitment and testing strategies that identify the highest proportion of previously undiagnosed HIV infections., Methods: We will compare two seek recruitment strategies, three test strategies, and pilot adaptive linkage to care interventions (sequential multiple assignment randomized trial [SMART] design) among AGYW in the age range of 15 to 24 years in Homa Bay County, western Kenya. AGYW will be recruited in the home or community-based setting and offered three testing options: oral fluid HIV self-testing, staff-aided rapid HIV testing, or referral to a health care facility for standard HIV testing services. Newly diagnosed AGYW with HIV will be enrolled in the SMART trial pilot to determine the most effective way to support initial linkage to care after a positive diagnosis. They will be randomized to standard referral (counseling and a referral note) or standard referral plus SMS text message (short message service, SMS); those not linked to care within 2 weeks will be rerandomized to receive an additional SMS text message or a one-time financial incentive (approximately US $4). We will also evaluate a primary prevention messaging intervention to support identified high-risk HIV-negative AGYW to reduce their HIV risk and adhere to HIV retesting recommendations. We will also conduct analyses to determine the incremental cost-effectiveness of the seek, testing and linkage interventions., Results: We expect to enroll 1200 participants overall, with a random selection of 100 high-risk HIV-negative AGYW for the SMS prevention intervention (HIV-negative cohort) and approximately 108 AGYW who are living with HIV for the SMART design pilot of adaptive linkage to care interventions (HIV-positive cohort). We anticipate that the linkage to care interventions will be feasible and acceptable to implement. Lastly, the use of SMS text messages to engage participants will provide pilot data to the Kenyan government currently exploring a national platform to track and support linkage, adherence to treatment, retention, and prevention interventions for improved outcomes., Conclusions: Lessons learned will inform best approaches to identify new HIV diagnoses to increase AGYW's uptake of HIV prevention, testing, and linkage to care services in a high HIV-burden African setting., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02735642; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02735642 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6vgLLHLC9)., (©Irene Inwani, Nok Chhun, Kawango Agot, Charles M Cleland, Jasmine Buttolph, Harsha Thirumurthy, Ann E Kurth. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 13.12.2017.)