Perceptions and effectiveness of episodic future thinking as digital micro-interventions based on mobile health technology.

Objective: Delay discounting denotes the tendency for humans to favor short-term immediate benefits over long-term future benefits. Episodic future thinking (EFT) is an intervention that addresses this tendency by having a person mentally "pre-experience" a future event to increase the perceived value of future benefits. This study explores the feasibility of using mobile health (mHealth) technology to deliver EFT micro-interventions. Micro-interventions are small, focused interventions aiming to achieve goals while matching users' often limited willingness or capacity to engage with interventions. We aim to explore whether EFT delivered as digital micro-interventions can reduce delay discounting, the users' perceptions, and if there are differences between regular EFT and goal-oriented EFT (gEFT), a variant where goals are embedded into future events. Method: A randomized study was conducted with 208 participants allocated to either gEFT, EFT, or a control group for a 21-day study. Results: Results indicate intervention groups when combined achieved a significant reduction of Δlogk=-.80 in delay discounting (p=.017) compared to the control. When split into gEFT and EFT separately only the reduction of Δlogk=.96 in EFT delay discounting was significant (p=.045). We further explore and discuss thematic user perceptions. Conclusions: Overall, user perceptions indicate gEFT may be slightly better for use in micro-interventions. However, perceptions also indicate that audio-based EFT micro-interventions were not always preferable to users, with findings suggesting that future EFT micro-interventions should be delivered using different forms of multimedia based on user preference and context and supported by other micro-interventions to maintain interest.

Exploring Patient Needs and Designing Concepts for Digitally Supported Health Solutions in Managing Type 2 Diabetes: Cocreation Study.

BACKGROUND: Self-management of the progressive disease type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) becomes part of the daily life of patients starting from the time of diagnosis. However, despite the availability of technical innovations, the uptake of digital solutions remains low. One reason that has been reported is that digital solutions often focus purely on clinical factors that may not align with the patient's perspective. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop digital solutions that address the needs of patients with T2DM, designed from the user's perspective. The goal was to address the patients' expressed real-world needs by having the users themselves choose the scope and format of the solutions. METHODS: Using participatory methods, we conducted 3 cocreation workshops in collaboration with the Danish Diabetes Association, with 20 persons with T2DM and 11 stakeholders across workshops: user experience designers, researchers, and diabetes experts including a diabetes nurse. The overall structure of the 3 workshops was aligned with the 4 phases of the double diamond: initially discovering and mapping out key experienced issues, followed by a workshop on thematic mapping and definition of key concepts, and succeeded by an exploration and development of 2 prototypes. Subsequently, high-fidelity interactive prototypes were refined as part of the delivery phase, in which 7 formative usability tests were conducted. RESULTS: The workshops mapped experiential topics over time from prediagnosis to the current state, resulting in a detailed exploration and understanding of 6 themes related to and based on the experiences of patients with T2DM: diabetes care, diabetes knowledge, glucose monitoring, diet, physical activity, and social aspects of diabetes. Two prototypes were developed by the participants to address some of their expressed needs over time related to the 6 themes: an activity-based continuous glucose monitoring app and a web-based guide to diabetes. Both prototypes emphasize periods of structured self-measurements of blood glucose to support evolving needs for self-exploration through distinct phases of learning, active use, and supporting use. Periods of low or intermittent use may thus not reflect a failure of design in a traditional sense but rather be a sign of evolving needs over time. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the needs of patients with T2DM differ between individuals and change over time. As a result, the suggested digitally supported empowering health prototypes can be personalized to support self-exploration, individual preference in long-term management, and changing needs over time. Despite individuals experiencing different journeys with diabetes, users perceive the self-measurement of blood glucose as a universally useful tool to empower everyday decision-making.

Mechanistic Model with Empirical Pitting Onset Approach for Detailed and Efficient Virtual Analysis of Atmospheric Bimetallic Corrosion.

A mechanistic model of atmospheric bimetallic corrosion with a simplified empirical approach to the onset of localized corrosion attacks is presented. The model was built for a typical bimetallic sample containing aluminum alloy 1050 and stainless steel 316L sheets. A strategy was developed that allowed the model to be calibrated against the measured galvanic current, geometrical corrosion attack properties, and corrosion products. The pitting-onset simplification sets all pits to be formed at a position near the nobler metal and treated all pits as being of the same shape and size. The position was based on the location of the highest pitting events and the pit attributes on an average of the deepest pits. For 5 h exposure at controlled RH (85%, 91%, and 97%) and salt load (86 µg NaCl/cm2), the model was shown to be promising: both for analysis of local bimetallic corrosion chemistry, such as pH and corrosion products, and for efficient assessment of pitting damage by computing a single largest pit depth. Parametric studies indicated that the pitting-onset approximation deviated the most at the beginning of exposure and when RH was below 91%.

Depth-Resolved FTIR-ATR Imaging Studies of Coating Degradation during Accelerated and Natural Weathering-Influence of Biobased Reactive Diluents in Polyester Melamine Coil Coating.

Improved methods to assess the degradation of coil coatings to approximate lifetime have been an area of academic and industrial interest for decades. This work aims to elucidate the differences in the degradation behavior of two coil coating systems: one standard commercial formulation and one formulation with a significant addition of biorenewable reactive diluents. Depth-resolved degradation behavior of samples exposed to accelerated and natural field weathering is assessed. Focal plane array attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to acquire high-resolution chemical data from a sloping cross section. The results agreed with conventional photoacoustic spectroscopy. Degradation profiles for the two coatings were significantly different, with the biobased samples showing a more durable behavior. This study provides a method for detailed assessment of coating degradation, giving a good estimation of its durability. This is both a way to compare the performance of coating systems and to improve the understanding of the impact of exposure conditions, paving the way for the development of more sustainable coil coatings.

In situ investigations of Fe3+ induced complexation of adsorbed Mefp-1 protein film on iron substrate.

A range of in situ analytical techniques and theoretical calculations were applied to gain insights into the formation and properties of the Mefp-1 film on iron substrate, as well as the protein complexation with Fe(3+) ions. Adsorption kinetics of Mefp-1 and the complexation were investigated using QCM-D. The results suggest an initially fast adsorption, with the molecules oriented preferentially parallel to the surface, followed by a structural change within the film leading to molecules extending toward solution. Exposure to a diluted FeCl3 solution results in enhanced complexation within the adsorbed protein film, leading to water removal and film compaction. In situ Peak Force Tapping AFM was employed for determining morphology and nano-mechanical properties of the surface layer. The results, in agreement with the QCM-D observations, demonstrate that addition of Fe(3+) induces a transition from an extended and soft protein layer to a denser and stiffer one. Further, in situ ATR-FTIR and Confocal Raman Micro-spectroscopy (CRM) techniques were utilized to monitor compositional/structural changes in the surface layer due to addition of Fe(3+) ions. The spectroscopic analyses assisted by DFT calculations provide evidence for formation of tri-Fe(3+)/catechol complexes in the surface film, which is enhanced by Fe(3+) addition.