MD2K publishes novel ways to monitor conversation and TV watching

Researchers at the Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to-Knowledge (MD2K) recently published two papers that showcase new capabilities of wearable sensors to automatically monitor conversation and TV watching. Both of these are frequent daily behaviors that have a major impact on social well-being and physical and mental health.

rConverse: Moment by Moment Conversation Detection Using a Mobile Respiration Sensor (citation below) presented a new way for researchers to passively monitor speaking and listening states in a conversation by analyzing breathing patterns captured by a wearable respiration sensor. Researchers showed that they can detect conversation with a similar accuracy as that from widely used audio recordings.

Submissions open for Remote Pregnancy Monitoring Challenge

The Remote Pregnancy Monitoring Challenge will award $375,000 in prizes to support the creation of ways to help prenatal care providers remotely monitor the health and wellbeing of pregnant women. Submissions are due by 5 p.m. ET on November 27, 2018. The challenge is sponsored by the Maternal and Child Health  Bureau of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

Many low-income women in both rural and urban areas have difficulty accessing prenatal care, and these barriers can continue after childbirth. A variety of issues can make it difficult for pregnant women to attend prenatal and postpart care appointments. 

March 2019 workshop will train educators on use of AIs, SMARTs

Applications are open for a four-day workshop on "Getting SMART about Adaptive Interventions in Education," planned for March 11-14, 2019 at the Institute for Social Research at the University of MIchigan in Ann Arbor. 

The workshop will train educational researchers in the use of Adaptive Interventions (AI) and Sequential Multiple-Assignment Randomized Trials (SMART). Doctoral-level education researchers interested in learning about AIS in education and the use of SMARTs to build high-quality AIs should apply. The application deadline is December 16, 2018. 

Penn State Methodology Center has opening for researcher

The Methodology Center in the College of Health and Human Development at The Pennsylvania State University seeks a qualified candidate for a non-tenure-track research faculty position. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of investigators in the Center to carry out methodologically innovative research related to drug abuse, and to disseminate this research broadly in the social, behavioral, and health sciences.

Candidates at either the assistant or associate level will be considered. This position involves, but is not limited to, conducting research focused on technical demonstrations and empirical studies using mixture models and time-varying coefficient models applied to data on substance use and comorbid risky behaviors.

UC at Irvine, San Diego seek postdoc in digital mental health and implementation science

Applications are being taken for a postdoctoral position housed at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Department of Medicine, School of Medicine with cross-site training activities at the University of California, Irvine, Department of Psychological Science and the University of California San Diego (UCSD), Department of Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Services Research Center (CASRC).

According to a job posting, the position is for a full-time postdoctoral fellow with a strong interest in implementation science and digital mental health. The postdoctoral fellow will primarily work with Drs. Stephen Schueller (UCI, Psychological Science), Nicole Stadnick (UCSD/CASRC), and colleagues on a California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA) funded formative evaluation for the Innovation Technology Suite Project (INN Tech Suite Project).