Explaining IS continuance in environments where usage is mandatory

Several research efforts over the last decade have attempted to explain user acceptance in mandated environments. This research is an attempt in the same direction. It addresses users’ satisfaction in mandated environments to further contribute to our understanding of how we can manage mandated use of information systems (IS) effectively beyond initial adoption. To better explain users’ IS continuance a revised post-acceptance model is proposed and empirically tested using the structural equation modelling technique. The results demonstrate the reliability and validity of the proposed measurement model and further demonstrate that confirmed expectations and ease of use perceptions explain 61% of the users’ satisfaction in this setting. Our findings have important implications for the management of users in mandated environments as well as for further research in the area of mandated use. To that end, we offer directions for future research.     

我的随身电脑——华硕Eee PC 1000HE上网本使用体会

瘦客户机 瘦客户机对于目前的医疗保健、金融、教育及其它行业来说．是一项良好的解决方案。不但经济实惠,也更便于IT管理人员进行管理。我们评测的是实达WT-8040瘦客户机。     

Immunoglobulin 1 (IgG1) Fc-glycosylation profiling of anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies from human serum

In several autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), autoantibodies are thought to be the driving force of pathogenicity. Glycosylation of the Fc-part of human Igs is known to modulate biological activity. Hitherto, glycosylation of human IgG-Fc has been analyzed predominantly at the level of total serum IgG, revealing reduced galactosylation in RA. Given the pathogenic relevance of autoantibodies in RA, we wished, in the present study, to address the question whether distinct Fc-glycosylation features are observable at the level of antigen-specific IgG subpopulations. For this purpose, we have developed a method for the microscale purification and Fc-glycosylation analysis of anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA). ACPA represent a group of autoantibodies that occur with unique specificity in RA patients. Their presence is associated with increased inflammatory disease activity and rapid joint destruction. Results indicate that ACPA of the IgG1 subclass vary considerably from total serum IgG1 with respect to Fc-galactosylation, with galactosylation being higher on ACPA than on serum IgG1 for some patients, while other patients show higher galactosylation on serum IgG1 than on ACPA. Using this method, studies can be performed on the biological and clinical relevance of ACPA glycosylation within RA patient cohorts.     

Motion estimation of skeletonized angiographic images using elastic registration

An approach for estimating the motion of arteries in digital angiographic image sequences is proposed. Binary skeleton images are registered using an elastic registration algorithm in order to estimate the motion of the corresponding arteries. This algorithm operates recursively on the skeleton images by considering an autoregressive (AR) model of the deformation in conjunction with a dynamic programming (DP) algorithm. The AR model is used at the pixel level and provides a suitable cost function to DP through the innovation process. In addition, a moving average (MA) model for the motion of the entire skeleton is used in combination with the local AR model for improved registration results. The performance of this motion estimation method is demonstrated on simulated and real digital angiographic image sequences. It is shown that motion estimation using elastic registration of skeletons is very successful especially with low contrast and noisy angiographic images.     

Hoare's logic and VDM

A relational framework which unifies Hoare's logic and VDM is presented. Within this framework a partial correctness version of VDM is defined. It is argued that this partial correctness version of VDM is intuitive and consistent with the original total correctness version. Furthermore it is shown how both partial and total correctness formulae and specifications can be translated from Hoare's logic into VDM and vice versa. VDM's satisfiability requirement is briefly discussed, and a similar condition for Hoare's logic is defined.:Supported by NWO/SION project 612-316-103: Fault Tolerance: Paradigms, Models, Logics, Construction.     

The Multimeter at the Nanoscale

A multi‐tip scanning tunneling microscope (STM) specifically designed for charge transport measurements at the nanoscale is described. Complementing the instrument with a versatile measurement electronics creates a powerful tool to give insight into fundamental transport properties at the nanoscale. We demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument by measuring resistance profiles along freestanding GaAs nanowires, by the acquisition of nanoscale potential maps, and by the identification of an anisotropy in the surface conductivity at a silicon surface.     

Taxonomy,technology and applications of smart objects

Deployment of embedded technologies is increasingly being examined in industrial supply chains as a means for improving efficiency through greater control over purchase orders, inventory and product related information. Central to this development has been the advent of technologies such as bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, and wireless sensors which when attached to a product, form part of the product’s embedded systems infrastructure. The increasing integration of these technologies dramatically contributes to the evolving notion of a “smart product”, a product which is capable of incorporating itself into both physical and information environments. The future of this revolution in objects equipped with smart embedded technologies is one in which objects can not only identify themselves, but can also sense and store their condition, communicate with other objects and distributed infrastructures, and take decisions related to managing their life cycle. The object can essentially “plug” itself into a compatible systems infrastructure owned by different partners in a supply chain. However, as in any development process that will involve more than one end user, the establishment of a common foundation and understanding is essential for interoperability, efficient communication among involved parties and for developing novel applications. In this paper, we contribute to creating that common ground by providing a characterization to aid the specification and construction of “smart objects” and their underlying technologies. Furthermore, our work provides an extensive set of examples and potential applications of different categories of smart objects.     

Left-forbidding cooperating distributed grammar systems

A left-forbidding grammar, introduced in this paper, is a context-free grammar, where a set of nonterminal symbols is attached to each context-free production. Such a production can rewrite a nonterminal provided that no symbol from the attached set occurs to the left of the rewritten nonterminal in the current sentential form. The present paper discusses cooperating distributed grammar systems with left-forbidding grammars as components and gives some new characterizations of language families of the Chomsky hierarchy. In addition, it also proves that twelve nonterminals are enough for cooperating distributed grammar systems working in the terminal derivation mode with two left-forbidding components (including erasing productions) to characterize the family of recursively enumerable languages.     

An adaptive, real-time, traffic monitoring system

In this paper we describe a computer vision-based traffic monitoring system able to detect individual vehicles in real-time. Our fully integrated system first obtains the main traffic variables: counting, speed and category; and then computes a complete set of statistical variables. The objective is to investigate some of the difficulties impeding existing traffic systems to achieve balanced accuracy in every condition; i.e. day and night transitions, shadows, heavy vehicles, occlusions, slow traffic and congestions. The system we present is autonomous, works for long periods of time without human intervention and adapts automatically to the changing environmental conditions. Several innovations, designed to deal with the above circumstances, are proposed in the paper: an integrated calibration and image rectification step, differentiated methods for day and night, an adaptive segmentation algorithm, a multistage shadow detection method and special considerations for heavy vehicle identification and treatment of slow traffic. A specific methodology has been developed to benchmark the accuracy of the different methods proposed.