PURPOSE Handheld computers have potential to improve HIV/AIDS programs in healthcare settings in low-resource countries, by improving the speed and accuracy of collecting data. However, the acceptability of the technology (i.e., user attitude and reaction) is critical for its successful implementation. Acceptability is particularly critical for HIV/AIDS behavioral data, as it depends on respond...

This paper considers the potential for the use of learner models to promote reflection in combined desktop PC / mobile intelligent learning environments. This is illustrated with reference to two such environments. The first is an adaptive tutoring system that has two versions (for the desktop PC and handheld computer), each of which has the same interaction options. In the second, the main tut...

PURPOSE To develop a portable computerised communication aid for aphasic people to support communication in everyday life. METHOD A multidisciplinary team of aphasiologists, augmentative and alternative communication specialists, speech and language therapists and technicians developed a portable, modular system, PCAD (portable communication assistant for people with dysphasia), running on a ...

Advances in handheld computer technology are making data collection faster, easier, and more accurate. In this article, the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) to collect data for a study on elder neglect is described and evaluated. Methods for integrating this technology into a research study are discussed as are suggestions for increasing the performance of data collectors using these d...

BACKGROUND In a prospective study to explore connections between clinical information delivery and information retrieval, 41 Canadian family physicians searched an electronic knowledge resource (EKR) as needed for practice. Research software, called the Information Assessment Method (IAM), prompted family physicians to report on the situational relevance, perceived cognitive impact and applicat...

For motorcyclists mobile opportunistic meetings are at the heart of their practice since they make biking more enjoyable. They use the meetings either to display their identity or to look at others. The bikers' opportunities to make such meetings possible and to make full use of them are constrained by high mobility. Therefore, we have invented the Hocman, which possesses the ability to supply ...

BACKGROUND Sleep deprivation may slow reaction time, cloud judgment, and impair the ability to think. Our purpose was to study the cognitive and psychomotor performances of orthopaedic trauma surgeons on the basis of the amount of sleep that they obtained. METHODS We prospectively studied the performances of thirty-two orthopaedic trauma surgeons (residents, fellows, and attending surgeons) o...

This paper introduces the Hocman prototype, which supports mobile interaction among motorcyclists. The design is based on findings from an ethnographic field study. Motorcyclists are a community with a strong social commitment. They use their bikes together, which allows for visual interaction. However, their extreme mobility creates problems in coming together. Recently the group studied have ...

A systematic approach advocated by the World Health Organization can help minimize poor-quality and erroneous prescribing. This six-step approach to prescribing suggests that the physician should (1) evaluate and dearly define the patient's problem; (2) specify the therapeutic objective; (3) select the appropriate drug therapy; (4) initiate therapy with appropriate details and consider nonpharm...

Based on fieldwork carried out over the last five years, this article presents the case for communities being permitted to make their own forest carbon inventories for the purposes of monitoring under national REDD+ programmes, following brief training. Modern technology, particularly PDAs (small, handheld computers), can provide the platform both for mapping and for storing data, and can easil...