User Satisfaction with Tablet PC Features

Previous studies of tablet personal computers have concentrated on their use in education and healthcare. The current study focused instead on personal usage, investigating how satisfied users are with their own tablets after having used them in their daily lives. The objective was to identify the major features for tablets and to investigate how form factors affect the preference of functions by performing a comparison of iPad1 and Galaxy Tab. Also, gender and ethnicity were analyzed to determine whether they influence satisfaction with the devices. For e‐mail and web browsing functions, users’ ratings showed more satisfaction with the iPad1 since it has a larger display; for the e‐book reader function, users indicated higher satisfaction with the Galaxy Tab. Male users evaluated their devices by the function itself, whereas female users were mainly concerned with aesthetic aspects. Koreans indicated that they were less satisfied with their tablets than were other ethnic groups.     

Smart‐Home Interface Design: Layout Organization Adapted to Americans' and Koreans' Cognitive Styles

Increases in the number of household appliances and devices with RFID tags have created a need for efficient organization of smart‐home interfaces in consideration of residents. Previous studies of information‐grouping and cultural‐differences in cognitive style on performance have yielded mixed results. Gender has not typically been considered, nor have subjective preferences been measured. We tested four participant groups (American and Korean males and females) and two interface groupings (functional and spatial). Participants performed tasks that required locating controls for specific devices/functions, after which they rated the interfaces on several scales. American males preferred the functional organization, but Koreans and American females tended to prefer the spatial organization. The results are consistent with Koreans' preference for thematic‐structure and the view that men's and women's cognitive styles differ in masculine/individualistic cultures (U.S.) but not in feminine/collectivistic cultures (Korea). Potential applications include physical (e.g., power and wall‐mounted switches) and virtual interactions (e.g., remote controls, GUI/Web/Phone). © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Amblyomma variegatum (Acari: Ixodidae): mechanism and control of arbovirus secretion in tick saliva

Saliva is considered to be the conduit by which pathogens are transmitted from blood-sucking arthropod vectors to their vertebrate hosts, but supporting evidence for this is fragmentary. To determine if Thogoto (THO) virus, a tick-borne member of the influenza virus family, is transmitted via tick saliva, and whether virus replication is a prerequisite for such transmission, two experimental conditions were compared: (1) "biological transmission" and (2) "mechanical transmission." In (1), THO virus was allowed to infect and replicate in a natural vector, Amblyomma variegatum: virus was detected in saliva collected from 3/22 (14%) ticks. In (2), virus was inoculated directly into the hemocoel with the drug used to induce salivation and saliva was collected immediately to preclude the possibility of virus replication: virus was detected in saliva collected from 31/170 (18%) ticks. The results demonstrate that THO virus is secreted in tick saliva and that virus can pass from the hemolymph to the salivary glands independently of viral replication within the tick. The comparatively low numbers of ticks that yielded virus-positive saliva samples together with the results from assays of serial saliva samples suggested that virus secretion may not be a continuous process during salivation. Ticks in which THO virus had established an infection showed an impaired secretory response compared with uninfected ticks and ticks used for mechanical transmission.     

Content information desired by Chinese users for effective use of information appliances

Many studies have been conducted to determine how to present information on mobile phones in such a way as to enhance usability, but those studies have not considered what information users need for effective decision making. To investigate what users want from mobile phones, we carried out a content preparation study. A questionnaire was constructed based on prior results from website content research, traditional usability studies on consumer electronics, and extensive study on various types of mobile phones; it was completed by 375 Chinese industrial participants. The statistical results revealed nine major factors of mobile phone content: information relating to input/search, functions, operation, multimedia functions, stored files, phone calls, help/service, accessory functions, and messages. Also, users of different ages and genders evidenced different requirements for mobile phone content, especially concerning accessory and multimedia functions. This study suggests guidelines for mobile phone designers targeted at the Chinese market and provides a base for content study of other information appliances.     

Information retention from PowerPoint and traditional lectures

The benefit of PowerPoint^™ is continuously debated, but both supporters and detractors have insufficient empirical evidence. Its use in university lectures has influenced investigations of PowerPoint’s effects on student performance (e.g., overall quiz/exam scores) in comparison to lectures based on overhead projectors, traditional lectures (e.g., “chalk-and-talk”), and online lectures. Thus far, comparisons of overall exam scores have yielded mixed results. The present study decomposes overall quiz scores into auditory, graphic, and alphanumeric scores to reveal new insights into effects of PowerPoint presentations on student performance. Analyses considered retention of lecture information presented to students without the presence of PowerPoint (i.e., traditional lecture), auditory information in the presence of PowerPoint, and visual (i.e., graphic and alphanumeric) information displayed on PowerPoint slides. Data were collected from 62 students via quiz and questionnaire. Students retained 15% less information delivered verbally by the lecturer during PowerPoint presentations, but they preferred PowerPoint presentations over traditional presentations.     

Impedance cardiography used to assess patterns of cardiovascular response to behavioral stressors

This paper presents two examples of how impedance cardiography may be used to interpret the hemodynamic influences on blood pressures measured during behavioral stress. In Study 1, blood pressure changes which were similar during two tasks were shown to have important differences in their cardiac output and vascular resistance components. During work on a reaction time task having aversive incentives compared with a neutral task, the blood pressure changes were seen to be associated with lowered vascular resistance and raised cardiac activity, a "fight-flight" pattern. In Study 2, blood pressure response differences between two subject groups working on an identical task were found to have blood pressure changes differing in their underlying cardiac and vascular components as measured by impedance. Such uses impedance cardiography have widespread potential application in psychophysiological research with humans.     

Histopathologic spectrum of vaginal adenosis and related changes in stilbestrol-exposed females

A total of 98 colposcopically directed biopsies were obtained from the vagina, cervix, and cervicovaginal ridge (hood) of 80 young women believed to have had intrauterine exposure to stilbestrol (DES). Specific investigation of the patient's medical records corroborated the history of maternal stilbestrol administration in 36 patients (45%), while in the remainder the drug history was regarded as presumptive since medical records were unavailable for review. The findings did not differ significantly in those biopsies taken from patients with confirmed or presumptive drug histories. Histologic evidence of vaginal adenosis was detected in vaginal biopsies from 43 patients. In 30 cases (70%) benign Müllerian-type glandular epithelium was in the superficial vaginal wall, residing on the mucosal surface and/or in the lamina propria. The glandular epithelium predominantly was of endocervical type, but in six instances it resembled endometrial or fallopian tubal epithelium. The glands were accompanied by varying degrees of squamous metaplasia in 22 cases. When extensive the metaplasia produced transformation zones similar to those seen in the normal cervix. Vaginal biopsies of adenosis from the other 13 patients (30%) revealed squamous metaplasia without demonstrable glands due to complete transformation of all antecedent glandular epithelium by squamous metaplasia. Our studies indicate that squamous metaplasia is a component of major importance in the natural history of adenosis and that the concept of adenosis should be broadened to include those examples comprised exclusively of metaplastic epithelium. In such examples metaplasia is identified by the immaturity and poor glycogenation of the squamous cells and their accompanying squamous pegs which often contain residual gland openings or squamous "eddies." Similar findings were present in biopsies of seven cervicovaginal ridges and in cervical biopsies from 37 patients, except for the absence of endometrial or tubal type glands in the latter site. Although no adenocarcinomas were detected, six patients had squamous dysplasia of the vagina and/or cervix. In no case were premalignant or dysplastic changes of glandular cells found. Our findings support the thesis that stilbestrol-associated adenosis represents anomalous embryologic localization of the original squamocolumnar junction in the vagina rather than in the cervix. It is closely related to so-called cervical "erosions." The development of squamous metaplasia accounts for modifications in the clinical and histologic appearances by producing transformation zones which then may be subject to the same oncogenic stimuli for squamous neoplasia as are their counterparts in the cervix.     

A Simon Effect in Pigeons.

Pigeons pecked left versus right keys contingent upon the color presented at 1 of those locations. Spatial-response latencies were shorter when the color appeared at the same location as the required response than at the opposite location. This Simon effect occurred when the stimulus on the alternative key was constant, varied from trial to trial, or changed when the color cue appeared and when the reinforcement probability for correct responses was the same on corresponding as on noncorresponding trials. Humans performing the same task by touching the keys also showed the Simon effect. These findings demonstrate that for pigeons, too, a relevant symbolic cue activates a spatial code that produces faster responses at the location corresponding with the activated code. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of national e‐health implementation in the United States and South Korea

With the development of the health care industry, there has been growing recognition that e‐health implementation is needed to improve the efficiency, quality, and safety of care. In addition, a review of previous studies suggests that much can be learned by investigating the difference in national e‐health implementation in the United States and in South Korea. To this end, the main objective of this article is to compare the national e‐health implementation in the case of the United States and South Korea. The results show that in the United States a decentralized e‐health implementation is being followed by individual‐level e‐health. South Korea is pursuing ubiquitous health (u‐health) after a hospital information system and electronic health were implemented. The United States still lags behind many other countries in the implementation of e‐health, possibly due to its low uncertainty avoidance culture. South Korea has been among the frontrunner groups in e‐health implementation as a consequence of its highly developed telecommunication infrastructures and high uncertainty avoidance culture. On the basis of these results, we recommend that establishing health care policies be done on a national scale that takes into account the countries’ cultures.