This study presents two extensions to the two‐stage expectation‐confirmation theory of information systems (IS) continuance. First, we expand the belief set from perceived usefulness in the original IS continuance model to include three additional predictors identified in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, namely effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions. Second, we ground the IS continuance model in the context of transactional systems that involve transmission of personal and sensitive information and include trust as a key contextual belief in the model. To test the expanded IS continuance model, we conducted a longitudinal field study of 3159 Hong Kong citizens across two electronic government (e‐government) technologies that enable citizens' access to government services. In general, the results support the expanded model that provides a rich understanding of the changes in the pre‐usage beliefs and attitudes through the emergent constructs of disconfirmation and satisfaction, ultimately influencing IS continuance intention. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the expanded model.
Abstract Technology is the science that studies processes, methods and operations run or applied onto raw materials, matters or data, in order to obtain a certain product. Information is the material signal able to launch a material reaction of a dynamic auto-tuning system for which the system is conditioned and finalized. Information Technology is the technology needed for handling (procuring, processing, storing converting and transmitting) information, in particular, with the use of computers [Longley, D. & Shain, M. (1985), p. 164]. The importance of IT in the economic growth and development is widely known, taking into account the impact that technology can have on the success and survival, or the failure of the economic activity of enterprises/organizations, IT offering various management information systems (MIS), executive and feedback segments, which all have important and beneficial implications in management and control.
Weather classification is an indispensable preprocessing step in photovoltaic (PV) power prediction. A new two-modal weather classification methods based on PV power clustering was proposed to finely depict the uncertainty of PV power output. Both PV power data and meteorological data were considered for weather classification, providing a novel and effective path for PV power prediction. In addition, data fusion technology was used to extract relevant information from both numeric weather prediction (NWP) data and measured meteorological data to help for weather classification. This approach reduces the model’s reliance on the accuracy of forecasted meteorological indicators and improve the robustness of the model. Experiments based on data from a PV power station in Jilin demonstrated the rationality of the proposed weather classification method. Combining the PV power probability prediction with the proposed weather classifier resulted in prediction interval coverage probabilities closer to the preassigned confidence level and narrower mean prediction interval width.
Applications of electric power, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
A surge in the amount of information comes with the rapid development of the technology industry.Across all industries, there is a need to collect and utilize vast amounts of data.While this big data holds immense value, it also poses unprecedented challenges to the field of data security.As relational databases serve as a fundamental storage medium for data, they often contain large-scale data rich in content and privacy.In the event of a data leak, significant losses may occur, highlighting the pressing need to safeguard database ownership and verify data ownership.However, existing database watermarking technologies face an inherent tradeoff between improving watermark embedding capacity and reducing data distortion.To address this issue and enhance watermark robustness, a novel robust database watermarking algorithm based on dynamic difference expansion was introduced.The QR code was employed as the watermark, the SVD decomposition of the low frequency part of the image was utilized after Haar wavelet transform.By extracting specific feature values and using residual feature values as the watermark sequence, it was ensured that the same-length watermark sequence contains more information and the embedded watermark length can be reduced.Furthermore, by combining the adaptive differential evolution algorithm and the minimum difference algorithm, the optimal embedding attribute bits were selected to alleviate the problems of low computational efficiency, high data distortion and poor robustness of traditional difference expansion techniques in embedding watermarks, and to improve the embedding capacity of watermarks while reducing the distortion of data.Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves a high watermark embedding rate with low data distortion.It is resilient against multiple attacks, exhibiting excellent robustness and strong traceability.Compared to existing algorithms, it offers distinct advantages and holds great potential for broad application in the field of data security.
Abdulrazak Mohammed, Jamila Yusuf, Mustapha Adeshina Ahmed
This study looked at the ICT manipulative competencies that OTM lecturers require for effective instructional delivery in public tertiary institutions in Niger State. One research question and a research hypothesis were formulated for the study. The study used a descriptive survey and included 36 OTM lecturers from three government-owned tertiary institutions in Niger State, Nigeria (Federal and State Polytechnics and Federal and State Colleges of Education). Due to the small population, the study has no sampling, but it was ultimately based on the 35 questionnaires that were retrieved after administration. The research instrument was validated by two research experts from Kwara State University, Malete. For reliability of the instrument, the research instrument was pilot tested at Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, and Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, and the data obtained was analyzed using Cronbach Alpha and the result gave 0.86. Data were gathered through the use of a questionnaire called “ICT Competencies Required (ICTCR)”. The research question was answered using the descriptive statistics Mean and Standard Deviation, and the inferential statistics t-test was used to test the hypotheses at a significance level of 0.05. The findings revealed a non-significant difference in the mean ratings of OTM lecturers on the ICT manipulative competencies required for effective instructional delivery in public tertiary institutions in Niger State, Nigeria, in the 21st century. This led to the conclusion that OTM requires a number of ICT manipulative competencies for effective instructional delivery in public tertiary institutions in Niger States, Nigeria, in the 21st century. Therefore, it was recommended, among other things, that, OTM lecturers should receive on-the-job training, particularly on how to operate information and communication technologies and how to use them for effective classroom instruction in the 21st century. In addition, the relevant regulatory bodies (NCCE, NBTE, and NUC) should add more ICT manipulative activities to the OTM curriculum to keep up with current ICT trends and prepare students for active roles in the 21st-century office.
The conventional cancer therapeutic modalities include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Although immunotherapy and targeted therapy are also widely used in cancer treatment, chemotherapy remains the cornerstone of tumor treatment. With the rapid development of nanotechnology, nanomedicine is believed to be an emerging field to further improve the efficacy of chemotherapy. Until now, there are more than 17 kinds of nanomedicine for cancer therapy approved globally. Thereinto, conjugated nanomedicine, as an important type of nanomedicine, can not only possess the targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics with great precision but also achieve controlled drug release to avoid adverse effects. Meanwhile, conjugated nanomedicine provides the platform for combining several different therapeutic approaches (chemotherapy, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, thermodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, etc.) with the purpose of achieving synergistic effects during cancer treatment. Therefore, this review focuses on conjugated nanomedicine and its various applications in synergistic chemotherapy. Additionally, the further perspectives and challenges of the conjugated nanomedicine are also addressed, which clarifies the design direction of a new generation of conjugated nanomedicine and facilitates the translation of them from the bench to the bedside.
Stephanie Dramburg, Serena Perna, Marco Di Fraia
et al.
BackgroundMobile health technologies enable allergists to monitor disease trends by collecting daily patient-reported outcomes of allergic rhinitis. To this end, patients with allergies are usually required to enter their symptoms and medication repetitively over long time periods, which may present a risk to data completeness and quality in the case of insufficient effort reporting. Completeness of patient’s recording is easily measured. In contrast, the intrinsic quality and accuracy of the data entered by the patients are more elusive.
ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore the association of adherence to digital symptom recording with a predefined set of parameters of the patient-generated symptom and medication scores and to identify parameters that may serve as proxy measure of the quality and reliability of the information recorded by the patient.
MethodsThe @IT.2020 project investigates the diagnostic synergy of mobile health and molecular allergology in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis. In its pilot phase, 101 children with seasonal allergic rhinitis were recruited in Rome and instructed to record their symptoms, medication intake, and general conditions daily via a mobile app (AllergyMonitor) during the relevant pollen season. We measured adherence to daily recording as the percentage of days with data recording in the observation period. We examined the patient’s trajectories of 3 disease indices (Rhinoconjunctivitis Total Symptom Score [RTSS], Combined Symptom and Medication Score [CSMS], and Visual Analogue Scale [VAS]) as putative proxies of data quality with the following 4 parameters: (1) intravariation index, (2) percentage of zero values, (3) coefficient of variation, and (4) percentage of changes in trend. Lastly, we examined the relationship between adherence to recording and each of the 4 proxy measures.
ResultsAdherence to recording ranged from 20% (11/56) to 100% (56/56), with 64.4% (65/101) and 35.6% (36/101) of the patients’ values above (highly adherent patients) or below (low adherent patients) the threshold of 80%, respectively. The percentage of zero values, the coefficient of variation, and the intravariation index did not significantly change with the adherence to recording. By contrast, the proportion of changes in trend was significantly higher among highly adherent patients, independently from the analyzed score (RTSS, CSMS, and VAS).
ConclusionsThe percentage of changes in the trend of RTSS, CSMS, and VAS is a valuable candidate to validate the quality and accuracy of the data recorded by patients with allergic rhinitis during the pollen season. The performance of this parameter must be further investigated in real-life conditions before it can be recommended for routine use in apps and electronic diaries devoted to the management of patients with allergic rhinitis.
Information technology, Public aspects of medicine
In rural China, treatment adherence of patients with hypertension remains a challenge. Although early research on patient adherence has confirmed the importance of trust in doctors, the relative contribution and influence of the two-dimensional structure of trust on adherence has not been explored. Thus, this study examined the effects of patient trust in primary care physicians' (PCPs) benevolence and ability on medication adherence, dietary management, and physical activity. The data were derived from 2,533 patients at 54 primary health institutions in China (village level) from February 2017 to May 2018. Participants were assessed using the Chinese version of the Wake Forest Physician Trust Scale and the Therapeutic Adherence Subscale for Hypertensive Patients. Other information included region, gender, age, and self-rated health status. The results of multiple linear regression and structural equation modeling confirmed that patient trust in PCPs' benevolence was positively correlated with patient adherence to medication, diet management, and physical activity. Patient trust in PCPs' ability was negatively correlated with adherence to dietary management and physical activity. We concluded that interventions aimed at increasing PCP benevolence have the greatest potential to improve patient adherence to hypertension treatment. Under the country's policy of advocating to improve PCPs' diagnoses and treatment technology, it may be important to cultivate doctors' communication skills, medical ethics, and other benevolent qualities to improve patients' adherence with drug and Non-drug treatments.