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Information hiding techniques, specifically steganography, have been extensively researched for over two decades. However, steganography on smartphones over cellular carrier networks is yet to be fully explored. Today, smartphones which are at the epitome of ubiquitous and pervasive computing, make steganography an easily accessible covert communication channel. In this paper, we propose AndroidStego -a framework for steganography employing smartphones. Android-Stego has been evaluated and confirmed to achieve covert communication over real world cellular service providers' communication networks such as Verizon and Sprint. A key contribution of our research presented in this paper is the benchmark results we have provided by analyzing real world cellular carriers' network restrictions on MMS message size. We have also analyzed the actions the carriers take -such as compression and/or format conversion -on MMS messages that fall outside the established MMS communication norm, which varies for each service provider. Finally, we have used these benchmark results in implementing Android-Stego such that it is sensitive to carrier restrictions and robust to message loss.

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Purpose: We investigated the feasibility of using a virtual clinician (VC) to promote functional communication abilities of persons with aphasia (PWAs). We aimed to determine whether the quantity and quality of verbal output in dialogues with a VC would be the same or greater than those with a human clinician (HC). Method: Four PWAs practiced dialogues for 2 sessions each with a HC and VC. Dialogues from before and after practice were transcribed and analyzed for content. We compared measures taken before and after practice in the VC and HC conditions. Results: Results were mixed. Participants either produced more verbal output with the VC or showed no difference on this measure between the VC and HC conditions. Participants also showed some improvement in postpractice narratives. Conclusion: Results provide support for the feasibility and applicability of virtual technology to real-life communication contexts to improve functional communication in PWAs.