Creating Hybrid Apps

This paper assesses the regulation of smartphone 'app stores.' At the outset, the adoption of smartphones and apps is noted, alongside the ways in which scholars and journalists have used these markets as the basis for the discussion of legal and economic issues. The importance (commercially and as a study in governance and control) of the iOS App Store (Apple) is highlighted. Part 2 deals with the relationship between Apple and app developers; three themes of Apple’s Guidelines are identified (content, development and payments), and the ways in which control can be challenged (through jailbreaking, ‘web apps’ and regulatory intervention) are scrutinised. Part 3 considers three ways in which apps are already regulated by law: the protection of consumers (particularly through the UK system for 'premium rate services'), user privacy, and (in brief) the regulation of video games and video-on-demand services in Europe. Finally, in Part 4, the tension between comparatively 'open and 'closed' app stores is highlighted; the problems of applying general provisions to emerging formats are emphasised. It is concluded that the emerging status of non-carrier app stores as neither retailer nor platform means that it is not yet possible to identify the form of regulation that is in operation, but that some steps are available to legislators that could shift the balance between closed and open models.This is a pre-print of an article, the final form of which appears in the International Journal of Law and Information Technology (Oxford University Press).

This article examines the concept of Progressive Web Applications (PWA) as an innovative approach to development that combines the advantages of websites and native applications. It explores the technological foundation of PWA, including key components such as Service Workers, Web App Manifest, and HTTPS, which ensure high performance, offline access, and security. The study investigates the impact of PWA on improving user experience, cost efficiency in development, and their potential in various industries, including e-commerce and media. Special attention is given to the prospects of PWA application in the context of digital transformation and the further advancement of web technologies.

Background: In the context of a recovery-oriented approach to mental healthcare, the role of psychotropic medication over extended or indefinite periods is increasingly being called into question. To minimise the risks of withdrawal symptoms and relapse, it is crucial that service users who want to discontinue psychotropic medication are supported throughout the tapering process. However, in the absence of effective interventions and supports, service users are increasingly relying on online resources for guidance and support. To date, the evidence base for mobile phone applications ('apps') and app-based interventions supporting discontinuation of psychotropic use has not been examined. This scoping review aims to examine the content, underpinning evidence base and impact of available mobile phone apps and app-based interventions to support psychotropic tapering. Methods : A scoping review will be conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute guidance and results will be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guideline. Several electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ACM and IEEE Xplore) will be searched from 2008 onwards. Searches of the major app stores will also be conducted, specifically Apple's App Store (iOS) and Google Play Store (Android). Following screening, key information will be extracted from the included studies and apps. Identified apps will be coded using the Behaviour Change Technique (BCT) Taxonomy. The findings will be described using narrative synthesis. Conclusions : This scoping review will provide a broad overview of available apps to support psychotropic tapering, including a summary of their content using the BCT Taxonomy. The review findings will guide future research relating to the development, implementation and evaluation of app-based interventions to support the tapering of psychotropic medication.

The goal of this research is to present a detection algorithm for data interception between a Legitimate Access Point (LAP) and wireless devices employing passive eavesdropping techniques, analyzing the Protocol Data Units (PDUs) header of specific Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocol layers in real-time: segment (transport-layer), packet (network-layer), and frame (data link-layer). The designed algorithm takes advantage of a passive Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) system, avoiding to gather sensitive information of the users connected to the network. The system focuses on requests from web browsers and apps of wireless devices to analyze the online behavior of the users on the Internet utilizing cybersecurity techniques. The research approaches on a small-scale wireless network to implement educational environments based on parental control in educational institutions (primary, secondary and higher education), fomenting Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) security in virtual classrooms. The data acquisition process of the wireless devices uses the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS) services. It also analyzes the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) control flags of the TCP three-way handshake protocol to identify requests from web browsers and apps. Finally, preliminary test results are presented, demonstrating that each wireless device can be characterized using information based on PDUs header, and these individual reports can be presented through an interactive dashboard to the teachers.

MotivationMolecular docking is a computational technique for predicting how a small molecule might bind a macromolecular target. Among docking programs, AutoDock Vina is particularly popular. Like many docking programs, Vina requires users to download/install an executable file and to run that file from a command-line interface. Choosing proper configuration parameters and analyzing Vina output is also sometimes challenging. These issues are particularly problematic for students and novice researchers.ResultsWe created Webina, a new version of Vina, to address these challenges. Webina runs Vina entirely in a web browser, so users need only visit a Webina-enabled webpage. The docking calculations take place on the user’s own computer rather than a remote server.Availability and implementationA working version of the open-source Webina app can be accessed free of charge from http://durrantlab.com/webina.Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

RBApp: Creation and Patterns of Use of an Educational Mobile Application for Radiobiology Calculations in Radiation Therapy

This chapter will discuss ways in which the iPhone/iPod Touch can be used for language learning. The built-in functions of the iPhone/iPod Touch, along with the various Web Apps and Apps that can be used to enhance these functions, provide a wide variety of ways in which the iPhone/iPod Touch can be used in language learning. Some of these include built-in recording functions, cameras, handwriting recognition capabilities, as well as a huge array of helpful web-based applications and independent applications. Because this chapter could not possibly cover all the options that are available, it will briefly introduce some of these functions and applications and explore how they can be beneficial to language learners. In addition to this, this paper will ways in which applications useful for language learning or teaching can be searched for via Google Apps or the Apps store itself.

TOURinSTONES: a Free Mobile Application for Promoting Geological Heritage in the City of Torino (NW Italy)

OpenLitterMap rewards users with Littercoin for producing open data on litter. Open data on the geospatial characteristics of litter provide means of invoking and evaluating responses to plastic pollution. OpenLitterMap currently works as a web app on all devices with native mobile apps in development. The stack includes the integration of the Laravel PHP Framework on the backend; Vue for frontend reactivity; NativeScript-Vue for mobile apps; Bulma for CSS; Leaflet for web-mapping; Turf.js for geospatial analysis; the Ethereum Blockchain for tokenization; Stripe; ChartJS; AWS; and more. Anywhere from a single cigarette butt to the contents of an entire beach or street clean can be logged in a single geotagged photo. Alternatively, a simple index may be used if litter is incalculable. The open data includes an increasing 100+ pre-defined types of litter; 20+ corporate brands; verification status; coordinates; timestamp; phone model; the latest OpenStreetMap address at each location; and the litter presence as a Boolean. To date, 100% of all submitted data (~ 8200 photos, ~ 28,000 litter from over 150 contributors) has been manually verified which is being used to develop machine learning algorithms.

With the growing proliferation of mobile devices, the interest in mobile learning environments increases. While many of them are provided as web apps, with limited effort they can be converted to Progressive Web Apps, providing user experience more resembling native mobile apps. In this work, we investigate, using the case of an open-source gamified programming learning environment FGPE PLE, how the user experience of its PWA version accessed on a mobile device compares to the user experience of the same learning environment yet accessed via a desktop browser.

The Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences (DI4A) at the University of Udine, in collaboration with Friuli Venezia Giulia regional authorities, within northeastern Italy, set up a wildlife monitoring and surveillance regional network, named InfoFaunaFVG. Here we describe the development and application of this data repository system based on a novel progressive web application, and report the data gathered in the first two and a half years of its use. InfoFaunaFVG is made of a Web Database and an integrated WebGIS system. In particular, the following open source softwares are used: Apache HTTP Server, Oracle MySQL, Symfony, Apache Tomcat, GeoServer, OpenLayers. The web app can be accessed from any web browser or by installing the progressive web application in the desktop or mobile devices. In short, operating from November 2019, InfoFaunaFVG currently (April 2022) contains a total of 40,175 records, from 300 different users, from 16 institutions. Among all species recorded, mammals were 40% (16,018) of the total, whereas avian species represented 59% (23,741), and others (reptiles and amphibians) 1% (416), respectively. Two hundred twenty-six different species (175 avian and 51 mammals) were recorded. Details about causes of death and live animal rescue were reported. To date, InfoFaunaFVG has proven to be a successful wildlife data repository system providing high quality consistent, accurate and traceable data. These had a considerable impact on regional wildlife governance. In the authors’ knowledge, InfoFaunaFVG is the first example described in literature of such a progressive web application, coordinated on an institutional level, and not based on voluntary-citizen observations. InfoFaunaFVG has the potential to become the largest wildlife monitoring and surveillance data repository system on a national level.

BackgroundIn the app stores of mobile platforms, consumers are confronted with an enormous number of mobile apps. Over the past few years, considerable research has been undertaken into to identifying, characterizing, and evaluating apps, be it in health-related or other contexts. However, many of these projects are restricted to specific areas of application and offer little flexibility in adapting the applied criteria.ObjectiveThis paper presents an adaptable method for selecting and characterizing mobile apps listed in a mobile App Store (the Apple App Store). The method is based on filtering processes using predefined criteria, through a semiautomated retrospective App Store analysis (SARASA).MethodsTo illustrate the SARASA process, keyword-based filtering and metadata-based description, review, and ranking steps were applied to a dataset, more specifically, an April 2018 readout of the Medical category of the German App Store, with the aim of obtaining a list of cardiology-related apps.ResultsFrom the original list of 39,427 apps within the “Medical” category of the App Store on April 14, 2018, 34,382 apps with store descriptions in languages other than German were removed. For the remaining 5045 apps, keywords related to cardiology were applied to filter the output, obtaining a final total of 335 subject-specific apps for further analysis and description.ConclusionsSARASA provides an easy to use method for applying filtering processes to identify apps matching predefined, formal criteria from app stores. The criteria can be well adapted to the needs of users. Automatic and manual analyses are easily combined when using SARASA. In the future, additional features, such as algorithmic topic analyses, may supplement the process. Although the area of application is currently limited to Apple’s App Store, expansion to other stores is planned. The method stands or falls with the transparency of the app store providers and the manufacturers to make relevant meta-information available. It is up to them to liberalize information and restrict censorship to provide clients, customers, and users truly fair circumstances finding their way around the app market.

CardioResyncApp: Un aplicativo móvil para recolectar datos de investigación en Cardiología

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed life in the United States, as the country has recorded over 23 million cases and 383,000 deaths to date. In the leadup to widespread vaccine deployment, testing and surveillance are critical for detecting and stopping possible routes of transmission. Contact tracing has become an important surveillance measure to control COVID-19 in the United States, and mobile health interventions have found increased prominence in this space.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the use and usability of MyCOVIDKey, a mobile-based web app to assist COVID-19 contact tracing efforts, during the 6-week pilot period.MethodsA 6-week study was conducted on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tennessee. The study participants, consisting primarily of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty in the Chemistry Department at Vanderbilt University, were asked to use the MyCOVIDKey web app during the course of the study period. Paradata were collected as users engaged with the MyCOVIDKey web app. At the end of the study, all participants were asked to report on their user experience in a survey, and the results were analyzed in the context of the user paradata.ResultsDuring the pilot period, 45 users enrolled in MyCOVIDKey. An analysis of their enrollment suggests that initial recruiting efforts were effective; however, participant recruitment and engagement efforts at the midpoint of the study were less effective. App use paralleled the number of users, indicating that incentives were useful for recruiting new users to sign up but did not result in users attempting to artificially inflate their use as a result of prize offers. Times to completion of key tasks were low, indicating that the main features of the app could be used quickly. Of the 45 users, 30 provided feedback through a postpilot survey, with 26 (58%) completing it in its entirety. The MyCOVIDKey app as a whole was rated 70.0 on the System Usability Scale, indicating that it performed above the accepted threshold for usability. When the key-in and self-assessment features were examined on their own, it was found that they individually crossed the same thresholds for acceptable usability but that the key-in feature had a higher margin for improvement.ConclusionsThe MyCOVIDKey app was found overall to be a useful tool for COVID-19 contact tracing in a university setting. Most users suggested simple-to-implement improvements, such as replacing the web app framework with a native app format or changing the placement of the scanner within the app workflow. After these updates, this tool could be readily deployed and easily adapted to other settings across the country. The need for digital contact tracing tools is becoming increasingly apparent, particularly as COVID-19 case numbers continue to increase while more businesses begin to reopen.

This paper studies the availability of apps and app stores across countries. Our research finds that users in specific countries do not have access to popular app stores due to local laws, financial reasons, or because countries are on a sanctions list that prohibit foreign businesses to operate within its jurisdiction. Furthermore, this paper presents a novel methodology for querying the public search engines and APIs of major app stores (Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Tencent MyApp Store) that is cross-verified by network measurements. This allows us to investigate which apps are available in which country. We primarily focused on the availability of VPN apps in Russia and China. Our results show that despite both countries having restrictive VPN laws, there are still many VPN apps available in Russia and only a handful in China. In addition, we have included findings of a global search for the availability of privacy-enhancing and other apps that are known to be censored. Finally, we observe that it is difficult to find out which apps have been removed or are unavailable on the examined app stores. As a consequence, we urge all app store providers to introduce app store transparency reports, which would include when apps were removed and for what reasons.