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the frontline 16 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine the front line Psychologists at the University of Basel in Switzerland along with international colleagues have observed that brief exer- cises can help quickly improve a smartphone user's mood, according to Fro tiers i Psychology. Participants in an international study felt more alert, calm- er and uplifted after using five-minute video tutorials on their smartphones as a guide. Participants in the study could choose between various established or more modern psycho- therapeutic exercise modules. Some participants, for example, recalled emotional experi- ences during the exercise, while other test subjects repeated short sentences or number sequences in a contemplative man- ner, or played with their facial gestures. Those participants who reported that their mood had immediately improved following the smartphone exercises benefited over the longer term as well. The study lasted two weeks. "These findings demonstrate the viability of smartphone- based micro-interventions for improving mood in concrete, everyday situations," explained Marion Tegethoff, associate professor at the university. The use of modern communication technology to improve psychological health is more commonly known in research circles as "mobile health," or "mHealth." Internet-based therapy programs previously have been studied in depth, with the study of smartphone-aided micro-interventions re- ceiving far less attention. "Now we need to carry out more extensive studies to help us understand the extent to which smartphone-based micro- interventions are responsible for the improvement in mood, and also perform studies on patients with psychological dis- orders" Tegethoff said. She added that such options, which are free and available anytime, anywhere, are steps toward a future of personalized medicine – a healthcare system that would be able to provide exactly the right treatment at the right time and place, though experts say such micro-interventions can't replace treatment by a qualified professional for people suffering from depres- sion or other psychological disorders. The study, funded by the Swiss National Science Founda- tion, was a collaboration between researchers at the Univer- sity of Basel, Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany, Korea University in Seoul and the Catholic University of Korea in Incheon, South Korea, as well as Harvard Medical School. Pocket enthusiasm Need cheering up? Look to your smartphone to brighten your day Making more stuff American manufacturers finished 2016 on a wave of optimism, as a survey of executives hit the highest level in two years, the news site MarketWatch reported. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index climbed to 54.7 percent in December from 53.2 percent. Any number above 50 percent signals expansion. Prime Number