Networked devices such as locks and thermostats are now cheaply available, which is accelerating the adoption of home automation. But unintended behaviors of programs that control automated homes can pose severe problems, including security risks (e.g., accidental disarming of alarms). We facilitate predictable control of automated homes by letting users “fast forward” their program and observe...

Background We aimed to identify and characterize the food environments from which young people obtain food and to explore associations between the type of food environment and food intakes. Methods Young people (n = 86, mean age 17 years; combined data of two sequential pilot studies (collected in 2008-09) and a study conducted in 2011-12) recorded in 4-day self-complete food diaries what foo...

Plastic surgeons routinely see patients with complex or chronic wounds of all etiology. In a previous study, we found that up to 1 in 4 of these patients is at risk for malnutrition, which may be influencing their ability to heal. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a universal screening protocol that would be fast and accurate and allow for effective intervention and optimizatio...

AIM To report a multi-phase modified Delphi study conducted with carers and professionals to identify the priority areas for inclusion in an alert screening tool for carers providing support to someone dying at home. BACKGROUND Internationally, there is a growing emphasis on increasing choice for patients who wish to die at home which relies heavily on care provided by the unpaid family carer...

We present two ongoing studies that are part of a larger multi-disciplinary research project which aims to design, develop, and implement a web-based computerized screening test for cognitive impairment, called Cognitive Testing on a Computer. A laboratory study is conducted to investigate the impact of interruptions on task performance among three different age groups. A qualitative field stud...

As the success of the Web increasingly brings us towards a fully connected world, home networking systems that connect and manage home appliances become the natural next step to complete the connectivity. Although there has been fast-growing interest in the design of smart appliances and environments, there has been little study on the dependability issues, which is essential to making home net...

OBJECTIVE Foods prepared outside of the home have been linked to less-than-ideal nutrient profiles for health. We examine whether the locations where meals are prepared and consumed are associated with socio-economic predictors among women. DESIGN A cross-sectional study using self-reported data. We examined multiple locations where meals are prepared and consumed: (i) at home; (ii) fast food...

Home environment influences child health, but the impact varies as children move into adolescence. The Family Nutrition and Physical Activity (FNPA) screening tool has been used to evaluate home environments, but studies have not compared the utility of the tool in different age groups. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the FNPA tool in first and tenth grade samples. Pare...

BACKGROUND Home-based sampling is a strategy to enhance uptake of sexually transmissible infection (STI) screening. This review aimed to compare the screening uptake levels of home-based self-sampling and clinic-based specimen collection for STIs (chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis), gonorrhoea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae) and trichomoniasis) in females aged 14-50 years. Acceptability and effect on sp...