Understanding individual psychological and behavioral responses during COVID-19: Application of stimulus-organism-response model

To comprehend the nature, implications, risks and consequences of the events of the COVID-19 crisis, individuals largely relied on various online information sources. The features of online information exchange (e.g., conducted on a massive scale, with an abundance of information and unverified sources) led to various behavioral and psychological responses that are not fully understood. This study therefore investigated the relationship between exposure to online information sources and how individuals sought, forwarded, and provided COVID-19 related information. Anchored in the stimulus-organism-response model, cognitive load theory, and the theory of fear appeal, this study examined the link between the online consumption of COVID-19-related information and psychological and behavioral responses. In the theory development process, we hypothesized the moderating role of levels of fear. The research model included six hypotheses and was empirically verified on self-reported data (N = 425), which was collected in early 2021. The results indicate that continuous exposure to online information sources led to perceived information overload, which further heightened the psychological state of cyberchondria. Moreover, the act of seeking and providing COVID-19 information was significantly predicted by perceived cyberchondria. The results also suggest that higher levels of fear led to increased levels of seeking and providing COVID-19-related information. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are presented, along with promising areas for future research.     

User generated content and credibility evaluation of online health information: A meta analytic study

The present study provides a meta-analysis of perceived credibility concerns for user-generated-online-health information. Past work yields inconsistent findings regarding whether high credible versus low credible sources would relate to perceived credibility of online health information. A collection of empirical studies was synthesized to reach an explanation of the conflicting findings. Analysis of 22 effect sizes with 1346 participants indicated that source credibility had no significant overall influence on perceived information credibility (r = 0.03, n.s.). However, the variances across the studies suggest that the platform where the information was posted might be a contingent factor. Specifically, when user-generated health information was posted on a common website, high credible sources were significantly related to high perceived information credibility.     

UTM: A trajectory privacy evaluating model for online health monitoring

A huge amount of sensitive personal data is being collected by various online health monitoring applications. Although the data is anonymous, the personal trajectories (e.g., the chronological access records of small cells) could become the anchor of linkage attacks to re-identify the users. Focusing on trajectory privacy in online health monitoring, we propose the User Trajectory Model (UTM), a generic trajectory re-identification risk predicting model to reveal the underlying relationship between trajectory uniqueness and aggregated data (e.g., number of individuals covered by each small cell), and using the parameter combination of aggregated data to further mathematically derive the statistical characteristics of uniqueness (i.e., the expectation and the variance). Eventually, exhaustive simulations validate the effectiveness of the UTM in privacy risk evaluation, confirm our theoretical deductions and present counter-intuitive insights.     

The effects of social media virality metrics,message framing,and perceived susceptibility on cancer screening intention: The mediating role of fear

Social media platforms are increasingly playing a vital role in the process of dissemination and sharing of health information. The present study investigated whether and how online health information and virality metrics associated with social media platforms jointly shape persuasive outcomes in the context of cancer screening promotion. One important area of research on cancer screening promotion concerns loss-versus-gain message framing, which has highlighted the persuasive advantage of loss framing relative to gain framing. Given this, we examined how social media virality metrics, loss-versus-gain message framing, and perceived susceptibility influence message-evoked fear and intention to perform colonoscopy in the context of colorectal cancer screening. Results from an online experiment showed that loss framing, relative to gain framing, led to greater message-evoked fear when the message was presented with high-virality metrics, and this pattern was particularly pronounced among those with low perceived susceptibility to colorectal cancer. Furthermore, a formal test of moderated mediation showed that the indirect effect of loss framing on colonoscopy intention through message-evoked fear was significantly moderated by perceived susceptibility to colorectal cancer when the message was presented with high-virality metrics. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Predictors of television and online video platform use: A coexistence model of old and new video platforms

Recognizing that new and old media coexist in media markets, the overarching aim of this study is to investigate how the perceived characteristics of online video platforms and consumer-related factors affect consumer intention to use the Internet and television to watch video content. The primary theoretical foundations are the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the technology acceptance model (TAM). By extending TAM and TPB into other constructs, the present study aims to provide richer explanations for consumers’ choice of a video platform in the competitive video marketplace. This study used a survey method to collect data. A total of 1500 adults throughout the US who use the Internet were employed for the sample of the main survey. For the analysis to test hypotheses, 388 responses were used. This study found that the more consumers perceive online video platforms differ from television in satisfying their needs, the more likely they are to use online video platforms. The relative advantage and compatibility of online video platforms decrease the likelihood of using television.     

The interplay of online shopping motivations and experiential factors on personalized e-commerce: A complexity theory approach

The present study aims to examine purchase behavior in personalized online shopping by employing complexity theory, based on customers’ online shopping experience and online shopping motivations. To address its objectives, a conceptual model is proposed along with research propositions. The research propositions are validated through a survey on 401 customers’ experience with online shopping, by using the data analysis tool fsQCA (fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis). The results, indicate nine configurations of online shopping experience and online shopping motivations that lead to high purchase intentions. This study takes a step further the literature of online shopping and the theoretical ground of how customers’ online shopping experience combines with their online shopping motivations in order to predict and explain increased intention to purchase. The findings offer implications for both researchers and online retailers, regarding the development of new theories in personalized e-commerce and the provision of personalized services.     

Secure sensors data acquisition and communication protection in eHealthcare: Review on the state of the art

Recent advances in hardware technology have led to the development of low cost, power efficient and more feature rich devices that are amongst the most critical parts of communication networks. These devices or sensors can now sense data with more accuracy, process it by themselves and send it to the neighboring node or the sink node. However, robust and reliable security mechanisms are not yet properly implemented on these sensors due to their limited energy and computation power. Sensors also play a very important role in eHealthcare systems where ubiquitous patient monitoring is performed. As data is generated from the sensor nodes, reliable, secure and attack-resistant data acquisition and transmission is important for an efficient eHealthcare systems. This survey focuses on security issues of sensors data acquisition and transmission protocols, describing their main security features and comparing them in the context of a secure eHealthcare system. A taxonomy of open issues and future challenges is also discussed with respect to specific security metrics described in the paper.     

A study of laser emission wavelength variations in 1.5 μmInGaAsP/InP BRS laser diodes: theoretical model and experiment

This is a study of the dependence of the emission wavelength on the cavity length observed in laser diodes with InGaAsP/InP buried ridge stripe (BRS) structure. Theoretical calculations were made taking into account the variation of the threshold gain due to the influence of the cavity length on the total optical loss and, therefore, on the level of the carrier density at the threshold. This density affects the spectral position of the gain peak thus creating the regular dependence of the emission wavelength on the cavity length. The band-shrinkage effect and the free carrier absorption effect are also considered. In samples covering the spectral range of 1.46-1.53 μm, the calculated and experimental results agree satisfactorily     

Towards atomic-scale design: A theoretical investigation of magnetic nanoparticles and ultrathin films

This paper reports recent theoretical work on nanostructured materials including magnetic alloyed CoRh nanoparticles that are good candidates to combine both a large magnetic moment and a high magnetic anisotropy, and nanoscale Mn films adsorbed on W substrates as an example of artificial magnetic material. It illustrates how modern atomistic modeling and simulation can fruitfully supplement the experiments performed in the laboratory by helping to resolve and understand the experimental information, by predicting new phenomena and providing useful hints to guide the development of innovative materials with original, specifically tailored properties.     

A split and swaying approach to building information society: The case of Internet cafes in China

This paper examines China’s approach to building an information society by using Internet cafes as a point of study. The central theme of this research is to explore the unique socio-political role of Internet cafes in China’s informatization efforts, the impact of the Internet and Internet cafes on the country’s democratization, and the authorities’ dilemma between promoting informatization and resisting democratization. Four related issues are discussed: (1) the swift development of Internet cafes; (2) the unique socio-political importance of Internet cafes in China; (3) the government’s split policy on the Internet and Internet cafes; and (4) the conflict between the public’s concern and the authorities’ concern with the impact of the Internet and Internet cafes. This study primarily relies on first hand data and research materials obtained through field research in China, including archive research of government documents, survey results, and interviews of relevant government officials, Internet cafe owners, communication scholars, and Internet and Internet cafe users.     

The role of transformational leadership as a mediating variable in DeLone and McLean information system success model: The context of online learning usage in Yemen

Governments and higher education institutions around the world are placing online learning in their respective visions and policies as it has already transformed the way in which individuals learn, socialise and do business. Leadership is therefore increasingly playing a major role in the implementation and success of online learning goals. Although researchers have investigated adoption and usage of online learning in different settings, the mediation role of transformational leadership is yet to be examined using the Delone and Mclean IS success model. Data collected from 448 students in nine Yemeni public universities and the subsequent analysis employing structural equation modelling (SEM) via SmartPLS 3.0, revealed five main results: first, overall quality (system, information, and service quality) has a positive impact on transformational leadership; second, transformational leadership has a positive impact on actual usage; third, overall quality has an indirect positive effect on actual usage via transformational leadership; fourth, actual usage significantly affects user satisfaction and performance impact; and fifth, user satisfaction has a positive impact on student performance. The proposed model explains 61% of the variance in performance impact, and theoretical and practical implications are provided as well.     

Health care service delivery based on the Internet of things: A systematic and comprehensive study

Today, the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes a heterogeneous and highly distributed structure which can respond to the daily needs of people and different organizations. With the fast development of IT‐based technologies such as IoT and cloud computing, low‐cost health services and their support, efficient supervision of the centralized management, and monitoring of public health can be realized. Therefore, there has been increasing attention in the integration of IoT and health care both in academic and the business world. However, while the health care service industry fully holds the welfares of information systems for its personnel and patients, there is a need for an improved understanding of the issues and opportunities related to IoT‐based health care systems. But, as far as we know, the detailed review and deep discussion in this field are very rare. Hence, in this paper, we presented a literature review on the IoT‐based health care services from papers published until 2018. Moreover, the drawbacks and benefits of the reviewed mechanisms have been discussed, and the main challenges of these mechanisms are highlighted for developing more efficient IoT techniques over health care services in the future. The results of this paper will be valuable for both practitioners and academicians, and it can provide visions into future research areas in this domain. By providing comparative information and analyzing the current developments in this area, this paper will directly support academics and working professionals for better knowing the progress in IoT mechanisms. As a general result, we found that IoT could help the governments to improve health services in society and commercial interactions.     

Petri net model of protocol conversion for CTF service: its universal coupling criteria and property analysis

Protocol conversion is a critical issue requiring much research attention. In this paper, the protocol conversion methodology proposed originally by Green is extended with the Petri nets theory to study application layer protocol conversion among more than two interfaces. The click‐to‐fax (CTF) service based on the Internet intelligent network (IIN) model is taken as an example to illustrate the extended part. A two‐step Petri net modelling method is proposed, which is easier compared to constructing the overall model directly in just one step. Universal coupling criteria of Petri net model of protocol conversion (PNPC) are abstracted. The PNPC of CTF service is analysed using analytical techniques of Petri nets, which are proved to be effective in finding and eliminating potential bugs. The necessity of the concept of service layer is also emphasized. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.