Role of situational context in use continuance after critical exergaming incidents

Use continuance is crucial in terms of information systems (IS) success. Previous research has shown that situational context can be central for IS use continuance but has paid limited attention to its specific characteristics. Furthermore, the link between situational context and use continuance has remained unexplored in the novel area of “exergames,” which are defined as digital games requiring physical effort from the player that determines the outcome of the game. Studying exergames is deemed important due to their potential in providing health benefits for users, revenues for providers, and well‐being for societies. However, their potential remains unreached because users tend to discontinue usage after their initial experiences. To address these gaps, we investigate the relationships between specific situational characteristics and use continuance after critical exergaming incidents, in which the user has an exceptionally positive or negative experience. To do this, we quantitatively and qualitatively examined 461 actual critical exergaming incidents. Our findings provide a greater understanding of IS use continuance by revealing new knowledge about the relationships between specific situational characteristics (ie, purpose of use, type of gaming platform, social setting, place, and exertion level) and use continuance. We also offer explanations for these relationships, thus providing a first understanding of the previously unmapped area of how users behave situation‐dependently after critical exergaming incidents. Thus, we contribute both to the general IS continuance literature as well as to the specific area of exergaming. The context specificity of our study matches the calls for heavily contextualised IS research.     

DNA computing, sticker systems, and universality

We introduce the sticker systems, a computability model, which is an abstraction of the computations using the Watson-Crick complementarity as in Adleman's DNA computing experiment, [1]. Several types of sticker systems are shown to characterize (modulo a weak coding) the regular languages, hence the power of finite automata. One variant is proven to be equivalent to Turing machines. Another one is found to have a strictly intermediate power. Received: 10 October 1996 / 16 April 1997     

Everyday technologies for extraordinary circumstances: Possibilities for enhancing disaster communication.

Researchers have found that disasters often devastate key community infrastructures leading to obstructions in communication (e.g., Bostian et al., 2002). Although Rebmann, Carrico, and English (2008) found that communication is vital to successful disaster preparedness and response, they noted that maintaining communication prior to, during, and after times of disaster is extremely difficult. However, it appears that disaster communication may be enhanced through novel uses of new and existing technology resources. The purpose of this article is to highlight how commonly used personal technology tools have been or might be utilized in novel ways to enhance disaster communication. Furthermore, it is hoped that the novel applications discussed may be used to help buffer against the short-term and long-term traumatic effects of disasters related to obstructions in communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pyrolysis of Softwood Carbohydrates in a Fluidized Bed Reactor

In the present work pyrolysis of pure pine wood and softwood carbohydrates, namely cellulose and galactoglucomannan (the major hemicellulose in coniferous wood), was conducted in a batch mode operated fluidized bed reactor. Temperature ramping (5 °C/min) was applied to the heating until a reactor temperature of 460 °C was reached. Thereafter the temperature was kept until the release of non-condensable gases stopped. The different raw materials gave significantly different bio-oils. Levoglucosan was the dominant product in the cellulose pyrolysis oil. Acetic acid was found in the highest concentrations in both the galactoglucomannan and in the pine wood pyrolysis oils. Acetic acid is most likely formed by removal of O-acetyl groups from mannose units present in GGM structure.     

Social cues influence foraging in dwarf hamsters (Phodopus campbelli).

In 2 experiments, dwarf hamsters (Phodopus campbelli) were trained to find palatable foods in an open field. The location of each food patch remained the same throughout each experiment, and only 1 food was available per day. Once subjects had been trained to find each food in its unique location, they progressed to a testing phase in which subjects’ mates were allowed to eat and hoard the food that was available in the open field each day. The foods that subjects’ mates brought back to the home cages then served as discriminative stimuli signaling which food could be obtained in the open field. Subjects generally approached the patch containing the food hoarded by their mates, suggesting that dwarf hamster burrows could function as information centers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

University counseling center consultation: Developing a faculty outreach program.

A faculty outreach program created by a university counseling center had the goals of strengthening the working relationship between staff of the center and academic faculty, informing faculty of the center's services and their relationship to the academic mission, providing coordination of academic departments' requests for outreach and consultation services, and increasing center staff involvement in outreach services to faculty. In its first year this program reached 53 departments and programs and 370 faculty and staff. The program design, results, and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

低压空气开关电弧现代测试技术的研究综述

空气开关电弧是以空气为灭弧和绝缘介质的低压电器中最为复杂的物理现象.针对电弧运动过程特别是电弧背后击穿现象、电弧温度、电弧组分及其浓度等方面,综述了CCD和光纤阵列、光谱诊断技术及磁测试技术等低压空气开关电弧的现代测试技术的特点及其应用,并指出了空气开关电弧实验研究中所面临的几个问题.     

Method for measuring the losses and loading of a quartz crystal microbalance

A novel, experimentally simple, and highly sensitive method for measuring the loading of a quartz crystal resonator was developed. The method is based on the use of double-sideband suppressed-carrier modulated high-frequency signal, which is swept through the resonance range of the resonator. Induced current in the resonator is passed through a capacitor, and the voltage over the capacitor is demodulated on an analog multiplier. The phase and amplitude information is carried to the frequency-doubled modulation signal and measured on a conventional low-frequency two-phase lock-in amplifier. A complex dimensionless loading parameter is obtained from the experimental data by nonlinear model fitting. The real and complex parts of this loading parameter have a simple relationship with other parameters commonly used for characterizing the resonator loading. The performance of the method was demonstrated by measuring a series of different glycerol-water mixtures ranging from 0 up to 100% glycerol. The results were close to the shear acoustic impedance of these mixtures measured and calculated from their viscosities and densities.