Search Results (1,816)

Digital connectivity depends not only on infrastructure, but also on the material devices used to access networks. This study examines electronic devices’ availability and prices in Saint-Louis, a mid-sized Senegalese city, to address the lack of empirical research on African digital markets. With data on material connectivity being scarce, this paper provides a baseline description as grounds for future research. Using a participatory mapping approach over three weeks in September 2024, the research assessed the range, condition, and distribution of smartphones across central and neighborhood markets. Descriptive statistics and spatial analysis illustrate key trends. Results show a market heavily structured around second-hand smartphones, where device quality and prices adjust to economic power. Imported second-hand devices are often high-end, with prices above many new items of cheaper brands, while locally used items have much depreciated prices compared to either new or imported second-hand ones. Market locations are widespread for common items and clustered for specialized devices, consistent with central place theory. By documenting the material foundations of digital communication, this study provides new empirical evidence on African urban device markets and highlights the need to consider material access alongside infrastructure in digital connectivity debates. Full article

Many policy recommendations state that children aged 2 to 5 should not spend more than an hour per day in front of a screen; however, these recommendations are challenged as technology use becomes more mobile and accessible to young children. Background/Objectives: The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between children’s and parents’ mobile media use (i.e., smartphones and tablets) and children’s developmental milestones, including their fine motor, gross motor, and personal social skills. Methods: Data for this study comes from two child development centers in the southwestern United States, one serving predominantly middle class families and another serving low-income families (N = 63). Parents completed online surveys regarding their own and their children’s social media use by uploading screenshots of their own and their children’s mobile media device (if applicable) over the last 24 h. Parents identified how many minutes they spent using social media, how many minutes their child spent using social media, and how many minutes their child spent watching television. To capture children’s developmental milestones, parents completed the ages and stages questionnaire (ASQ3), which measures children’s fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and social skills. Results: Correlation and regression analyses revealed that parent mobile media use was positively associated with children’s gross motor and personal social skills (B = 0.38 and 0.32, respectively, p < 0.05; R² = 0.09–0.19) and children’s television viewing was negatively associated with children’s gross motor skills (B = −0.30, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Children’s mobile media may have different consequences for children’s developmental milestones compared to television, and parents’ mobile media use may be more associated with children’s developmental milestones than children’s own use of these devices. Full article

This umbrella review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the available evidence on the relationship between digital device use and adolescent sleep. It summarizes results from systematic reviews and meta-analyses, presenting the magnitude and direction of observed associations. A total of seven systematic reviews, including five qualitative reviews and two meta-analyses, were included, comprising 127 primary studies with a combined sample of 867,003 participants. The findings suggest a negative impact of digital device use on various sleep parameters, including sleep duration, bedtime procrastination, and sleep quality. Devices such as smartphones and computers were found to have a greater adverse effect, while television use showed a weaker association. The most significant disruptions were observed in relation to social media and internet use, with problematic usage leading to delayed bedtimes, shorter sleep duration, and increased sleep onset latency. The review also highlights the role of timing and duration of device use, with late-night use particularly contributing to sleep disturbances. Biological, psychological, and social mechanisms are proposed as potential pathways underlying these effects. Despite moderate evidence supporting the negative impact of digital media on sleep, there is considerable heterogeneity across studies, and many relied on self-reported data, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. Future research should aim to standardize exposure and outcome measures, incorporate objective data collection methods, and explore causal relationships through longitudinal studies. This umbrella review underscores the importance of developing targeted public health strategies, parental guidance, and clinical awareness to mitigate the potential adverse effects of digital device use on adolescent sleep and mental health. Full article

Multisensory behavioral research is increasingly aiming to move beyond traditional laboratories and into real-world settings. Smartphones offer a promising platform for this purpose, but their use in psychophysical experiments requires rigorous validation of their ability to precisely present multisensory stimuli and record reaction times (RTs). To date, no study has systematically assessed the feasibility of conducting RT-based multisensory paradigms on smartphones. In this study, we developed a reproducible validation method to quantify smartphones’ temporal precision in synchronized auditory–tactile stimulus delivery and RT logging. Applying this method to five Android devices, we identified two with sufficient precision. We also introduced a technique to enhance RT measurement by combining touchscreen and accelerometer data, effectively doubling the measure resolution—from 8.33 ms (limited by a 120 Hz refresh rate) to 4 ms. Using a top-performing device identified through our validation, we conducted an audio–tactile RT experiment with 20 healthy participants. Looming sounds were presented through headphones during a tactile detection task. Results showed that looming sounds reduced tactile RTs by 20–25 ms compared to static sounds, replicating a well-established multisensory effect linked to peripersonal space. These findings present a robust method for validating smartphones for cognitive research and demonstrate that high-precision audio–tactile paradigms can be reliably implemented on mobile devices. This work lays the groundwork for rigorous, scalable, and ecologically valid multisensory behavioral studies in naturalistic environments, expanding participant reach and enhancing the relevance of multisensory research. Full article

With the development of embedded electronic devices, energy consumption has become a significant design issue in modern systems-on-a-chip. Conventional SRAMs cannot maintain data after powering turned off, limiting their use in applications such as battery-powered smartphone devices that require non-volatility and no leakage current. RRAM devices are recently used extensively in applications such as self-charging wireless sensor networks and storage elements, owing to their intrinsic non-volatility and multi-bit capabilities, making them a potential candidate for mitigating the von Neumann bottleneck. We propose a new RRAM-based hybrid memristor model incorporated with a permanent magnet. The proposed design (1T2R) was simulated in Cadence Virtuoso with a 1.5 V power supply, and the finite-element approach was adopted to simulate magnetization. This model can retain the data after the power is off and provides fast power on/off transitions. It is possible to charge a smartphone battery without an external power source by utilizing a portable charger that uses magnetic induction to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. In an embedded smartphone self-charging device this addresses eco-friendly concerns and lowers environmental effects. It would lead to the development of magnetic field-assisted embedded portable electronic devices and open the door to new types of energy harvesting for RRAM devices. Our proposed design and simulation results reveal that, under usual conditions, the magnet-based device provide a high voltage to charge a smartphone battery. Full article

Efficient control measures for respiratory diseases in humans and farm animals require accurate, specific, and rapid diagnostics. Traditional PCR-based molecular diagnostics are restricted to centralized laboratories, which results in significant, potentially catastrophic delays in test results. A case in point is the recent avian flu outbreak, which has culled more than 280 million poultry birds worldwide (over 157 million in the USA alone) since 2022; has spread to other farm animals, such as cattle; has further heightened the risk of a human pandemic; and threatens food security. To enable molecular diagnosis of bird respiratory diseases at the point of need, we employ loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) in two platforms: (A) portable devices linked to a smartphone and (B) an inexpensive, disposable, electricity-free, instrument-free device with closed-tube, colorimetric detection that can be produced with minimal resources. Smartphone integration offers an unexplored opportunity for spatiotemporal disease mapping, equipping policymakers with critical data for outbreak control. Our assays demonstrated 100% sensitivity and specificity compared to the gold standard, lab-based, quantitative PCR (qPCR). We tested contrived samples of the avian flu H5N1 virus, laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV), and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) spiked into clinical samples, achieving a detection sensitivity adequate for early infection diagnosis in under 45 min. The test is simple, requires minimal training, and can be performed without refrigeration, making it well-suited for resource-limited settings. Full article

Background: This study presents a real-time mobile system for identifying mixed and partly covered foreign coins and banknotes using the You Only Look Once version 11 (YOLOv11) deep learning framework. The proposed system addresses practical challenges faced by travelers and visually impaired individuals when handling multiple currencies. Methods: The system introduces three novel aspects: (i) simultaneous recognition of both coins and banknotes from multiple currencies within a single image, even when items are overlapping or occluded; (ii) a hybrid inference strategy that integrates an embedded TensorFlow Lite (TFLite) model for on-device detection with an optional server-assisted mode for higher accuracy; and (iii) an integrated currency conversion module that provides real-time value translation based on current exchange rates. A purpose-build dataset containing 46 denominations classes across four major currencies: US Dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), Chinese Yuan (CNY), and Korean Won (KRW), was used for training, including challenging cases of overlap, folding, and partial coverage. Results: Experimental evaluation demonstrated robust performance under diverse real-world conditions. The system achieved high detection accuracy and low latency, confirming its suitability for practical deployment on consumer-grade smartphones. Conclusions: These findings confirm that the proposed approach achieves an effective balance between portability, robustness, and detection accuracy, making it a viable solution for real-time mixed currency recognition in everyday scenarios. Full article

Smart Mobile Devices (SMD)—including hardware devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and wearables; the software systems that animate them; and the data-communication infrastructure that connects them—pose increasing sustainability challenges due to their short lifespans, high resource demands, and growing e-waste. While Sustainable Product–Service Systems (S.PSS) have been applied in various sectors to support environmental goals, limited research has addressed their application in the context of SMD. This study aims to explore how S.PSS can be tailored to support sustainability in the SMD sector. For that, it combines a literature review with a multiple-case analysis of seventeen commercial offerings to develop a conceptual framework refined through six expert interviews. Cases were coded using the classical PSS typology and other sector-specific criteria and subsequently clustered in a polarity diagram to identify designable patterns, underpinning the conceptual framework. The study contributes an S.PSS-SMD framework comprising a sector-tailored classification and sixteen archetypal models, operationalized in an archetypal map with potential opportunities. Theoretically, the study offers a sector-grounded operationalization that extends S.PSS design theory to digital product–service ecosystems. It provides a strategic decision aid for designing business models, service bundles, stakeholder roles, and lifecycle responsibilities to pursue win–win environmental and economic sustainability. Full article

Covert channels enable hidden communication that poses significant security risks, particularly when smartphones are used as transmitters. This paper presents the first end-to-end implementation and evaluation of an electromagnetic (EM) covert channel on modern Samsung Galaxy S21, S22, and S23 smartphones (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Suwon, Republic of Korea). We first demonstrate that a previously proposed method relying on zero-volume playback is no longer effective on these devices. Through a detailed analysis of EM emissions in the 0.1–2.5 MHz range, we discovered that consistent, volume-independent signals can be generated by exploiting the hardware’s recovery delay after silent audio playback. Based on these findings, we developed a complete system comprising a stealthy Android application for transmission, a time-based modulation scheme, and a demodulation technique designed around the characteristics of the generated signals to ensure reliable reception. The channel’s reliability and robustness were validated through evaluations of modulation time, probe distance, and message length. Experimental results show that the maximum error-free bit rate (bits per second, bps) reached 0.558 bps on Galaxy S21 and 0.772 bps on Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S23. Reliable communication was feasible up to 0.5 cm with a near-field probe, and a low alignment-aware bit error rate (BER) was maintained even for 100-byte messages. This work establishes a practical threat, and we conclude by proposing countermeasures to mitigate this vulnerability. Full article

Background: Prolonged sedentary behavior and associated obesity are recognized risk factors for poor health across the lifespan. Globally, data show that many children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 significantly increased their sedentary behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, failing to meet recommended physical activity levels and reporting increased smartphone use. While mobile devices and video games have been traditionally linked to physical inactivity, formats like exergaming, which combine gameplay with gross motor activity, offer potential to promote physical activity. However, many digital health tools for children are developed without incorporating feedback from key stakeholders and end-users (e.g., children, teachers, and guardians). Therefore, this paper, within the Walk around the Earth (E-Walk) project, describes a prospective study that aims (1) to identify the most influential factors or characteristics affecting engagement with and usability of a mobile application promoting physical activity among primary school students; (2) to develop a mobile application for children based on the identified factors and characteristics. Methods: This project will use a group concept mapping approach to identify the most influential features/factors/characteristics affecting engagement with and usability of an app. By involving primary stakeholders (e.g., children, teachers, guardians, and physical activity experts), the project seeks to align the app’s features with primary end-user needs and motivations. Following the app’s development, its effectiveness in increasing physical activity levels and reducing sedentary behaviors will be evaluated through a mixed-method design, incorporating anthropometric data, validated physical activity questionnaires (Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)), and engagement metrics. Conclusions: The E-Walk project integrates participatory design with educational content and activity-based challenges, representing a multidimensional strategy for promoting health and learning in primary school students. Ultimately, this study contributes to the development of user-informed digital interventions that support sustainable behavioral changes, in line with broader goals of child well-being and digital health promotion. Full article

Smartphone-based strain monitoring of structural components is an emerging approach to structural health monitoring. However, the existing techniques suffer from limited accuracy and poor cross-device adaptability. This study aims to optimize the smartphone-based Micro Image Strain Sensing (MISS) method by replacing the traditional Connected Component Labeling (CCL) algorithm with the arc-support line segments (ASLS) algorithm, thereby significantly enhancing the stability and adaptability of circle detection in micro-images captured by diverse smartphones. Additionally, this study evaluates the impact of lighting conditions and lens distortion on the optimized MISS method. The experimental results demonstrate that the ASLS algorithm outperforms CCL in terms of recognition accuracy (maximum error of 0.94%) and cross-device adaptability, exhibiting greater robustness against color temperature and focal length variations. Under fluctuating lighting conditions, the strain measurement noise remains within ±0.5 με and with a maximum error of 7.0 με compared to LVDT measurements, indicating the strong adaptability of the optimized MISS method to external light changes. Barrel distortion in microscopic images induces a maximum pixel error of 5.66%, yet the final optimized MISS method achieves highly accurate strain measurements. The optimized MISS method significantly improves measurement stability and engineering applicability, enabling effective large-scale implementation for strain monitoring of civil infrastructure. Full article

Healthcare professionals (namely, occupational therapists) face ergonomic risk factors that may lead to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD). Ergonomic assessments are crucial to mitigate this occupational issue. Wearable devices are a potential solution for such assessments, providing continuous measurement of biomechanical and physiological parameters. Ergo4workers (E4W) is a mobile application designed to integrate data from independent wearable sensors—motion capture system, surface electromyography, force platform, and smartwatch—to provide an overview of the posture and workload of occupational therapists. It can help identify poor work practices and raise awareness about ergonomic risk factors. This paper describes the development of E4W by following a User-Centred Design (UCD) approach. The initial stage focused on specifying the context of use in collaboration with six occupational therapists. Then the app was implemented using WordPress. Three iterations of the UCD cycle were performed. The usability test of prototype 1 was carried out in a laboratory environment, while the others were tested in a real healthcare work environment. The Cognitive Walkthrough was applied in the usability tests of prototypes 1 and 2. The System Usability Scale evaluated prototype 3. Results evidenced positive feedback, reflecting an easy-to-use and intuitive smartphone app that does not interfere with daily work activities. Full article

Recently, the development of smartphone apps has resulted in a wide range of services being offered related to wood supply chain management, supporting decision-making and narrowing the digital divide in this business. This study examined the performance of Tree Scanner (TS)—a LiDAR-based smartphone app prototype integrating advanced algorithms—in estimating and providing instant data on log volume through direct digital measurement. Digital log measurements were conducted by two researchers, who each performed two repetitions; in addition to accuracy, measurement-time efficiency was also considered in this study. The results indicate strong agreement between the standard (manual) and digital measurement estimates, with an R² > 0.98 and a low RMSE (0.0668 m³), as well as intra- and inter-user consistency. Moreover, the app showed significant potential for productivity improvement (38%), with digital measurements taking a median time of 21 s per log compared to 29 s per log with manual measurements. Its ease of use and integration of several key functionalities—such as Bluetooth transfer, remote server services, automatic species identification, the provision of instant volume estimates, compatibility with RFID tags and wood anatomy checking devices, and the ability to document the geographic location of measurements—make the Tree Scanner app a useful tool for integration into wood traceability systems. Full article

Background/Objectives: Pokémon GO has had a substantial global impact, emerging as one of the most prominent smartphone game releases of the 21st century. Beyond its entertainment value, this game has the potential to encourage physical activity alongside recreational engagement. Consequently, it may facilitate the integration of augmented reality into daily routines within the context of advancing mobile device technology. This study aimed to assess the impact of Pokémon GO on users’ physical activity levels, as well as to identify other implicit health outcomes and potential risks. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-long form) and a custom-designed survey (including demographic characteristics) administered to a cohort of 243 Pokémon GO players (112 females and 131 males, mean age 27 ± 7 years). Results: According to IPAQ-long form data, 68% of Pokémon GO users demonstrated high physical activity levels, 29% moderate, and 2.5% insufficient activity. More than 80% of participants reported increased walking distances, and 39% indicated that playing the game had improved their overall mood, while 13% reported enhanced social interactions. However, some findings are concerning, with 27% of respondents admitting to sacrificing sleep, 20% considering themselves addicted, and more than half exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) screen time guidelines based solely on the time spent playing Pokémon GO. Conclusions: Pokémon GO has a positive impact on users’ physical activity levels, particularly in terms of low-intensity physical activities such as walking. This observational study suggests that the application may be associated with a healthy lifestyle and enhanced interpersonal contact. Prudent and safe usage is advised, as the game has the potential to be addictive and may pose risks when misused. Full article

Background: Prolonged use of electronic devices in virtual classrooms can influence posture, neck angle, and body discomfort. Recent evidence suggests that not only “incorrect” postures but also sustained static positions, regardless of being ergonomically correct, contribute to musculoskeletal strain. However, limited studies have directly compared posture and discomfort across different types of devices in a virtual classroom setting. Objective: To evaluate differences in posture, neck angle, and body discomfort among female university students during the use of three electronic devices (smartphone, tablet, notebook) in a virtual classroom for 20 min. Methods: Twenty-four healthy female participants (aged 18–23 years) completed three randomized sessions using a smartphone, tablet, or notebook in a virtual classroom task. Posture was assessed using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), neck angle was measured via motion analysis, and body discomfort was rated with a standardized visual analog scale. Statistical analyses were performed using repeated-measures ANOVA with Bonferroni correction, with effect sizes reported. Results: Significant differences were observed in posture (RULA scores: smartphone 5.12 ± 1.26; tablet 4.62 ± 1.35; notebook 4.21 ± 1.32, p < 0.05), neck angle (smartphone 32.48 ± 11.81 and tablet 36.93 ± 7.97, p > 0.05; notebook 39.30 ± 7.82, p > 0.05), and body discomfort of all regions (VAS: smartphone 1.08 ± 1.69; tablet 1.06 ± 1.75; notebook 1.01 ± 1.66, p < 0.05). Although all devices induced discomfort after 20 min of sustained posture, the smartphone condition showed the greatest neck flexion and discomfort. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that sustained posture during virtual classroom activities leads to increased neck angle deviation and body discomfort, with device type influencing the magnitude of these effects. These findings highlight the importance of postural variability and active breaks, rather than relying solely on maintaining a “correct” posture, to reduce musculoskeletal strain in technology-based learning environments. Full article