The influence of national culture on the performance expectancy of e-parliament adoption

E-parliament has gone global but the national culture may affect the adoption behaviour of legislators and citizens to it. Technology adoption literature is limited on the influence of national culture on e-parliament adoption and use. The study assessed the factors of national culture and their influence on adoption of e-parliament by legislators and citizens in Nigeria. The study investigated the correlations between national culture and the attribute of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, performance expectancy in regard to e-parliament adoption. The methods of data collection included a survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews conducted on 346 federal legislators in Nigeria and 5 members of the public, respectively. The results showed that the dimensions of national culture such as masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and Confucian dynamics (‘face saving’) had moderate effects on the relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and intention to adopt e-parliaments by legislators and members of the public in Nigeria. The other dimensions of culture and cultural contexts such as individualism, power distance, cultural diversity, multiculturality, power (in the context of culture), hermeneutics and dialogue had no significant effect on performance expectancy of e-parliament adoption in the context of Nigeria.     

Emerging Advancements in Polypyrrole MXene Hybrid Nanoarchitectonics for Capacitive Energy Storage Applications

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - Recent advancement in nanotechnology has brought about the discovery of various nanomaterials such as graphene (GN),...     

Direct sampling of organisms from the field and knowledge of their phenotype: key recommendations for environmental metabolomics

Critical questions must be addressed to evaluate the potential of metabolomics for studying free-living wildlife. First, can metabolomics identify stress-induced phenotypes in animals experiencing a highly variable environment or must animals be stabilized in a controlled laboratory prior to sampling? Second, is knowledge of species and phenotype (gender and age) required to interpret metabolomics data? To address these questions, we characterized the metabolic variability of the mussel and determined if inherent variability masked the metabolic response to an environmental stressor, hypoxia. Specifically, we compared metabolic fingerprints of adductor muscle and mantle from four groups of Mytilus galloprovincialis: animals sampled directly from the field with and without hypoxia and those stabilized in a laboratory for 60 h, also with and without hypoxia. Contrary to expectation, laboratory stabilization increased metabolic variability in adductor muscle, thereby completely masking the response to hypoxia. The principal source of metabolic variability in mantle was shown to be gender-based, highlighting the importance of phenotypic anchoring of samples to known life history traits. We conclude that direct field sampling is recommended for environmental metabolomics since it minimizes metabolic variability and enables stress-induced phenotypic changes to be observed. Furthermore, we recommend that species and phenotype of the study organism must be known for meaningful interpretation of metabolomics data.     

Packet scheduling in MIMO satellite long term evolution networks

This paper deals with the performance evaluation of different packet scheduling schemes for Long Term Evolution mobile satellite systems based on the adoption of a multi‐user MIMO technique. The major breakthrough of MIMO technology in terrestrial networks has motivated the interest here for the adoption of MIMO in mobile satellite systems as well. In particular, a land mobile dual‐polarized GEO satellite system has been considered in this work. The aim of this paper is to propose new cross‐layer packet scheduling schemes that achieve a good trade‐off among throughput, QoS and fairness and to conduct performance comparisons with other scheduling schemes in the literature. This is the reason why this paper also proposes a new performance index that can be used to evaluate the overall performance of each scheduler. The work shows that the new cross‐layer scheduler, called channel‐based queue sensitive scheduler, attains the best performance in terms of the new comprehensive performance index, thus representing an interesting solution for future mobile satellite systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nanocomposites of PEDOT:PSS with Graphene and its Derivatives for Flexible Electronic Applications: A Review

Rapid technological advancements in flexible nanoelectronics have fueled the need for high-performance materials with advanced structural architectures and superior properties. In this regard, conducting polymer nanocomposites are at the forefront of current innovative research owing to their excellent properties. Among these sets of unique materials, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) nanocomposites continue to pave the way in several applications including those entailing thermoelectricity, transparent electrodes, photovoltaics, technical coatings, lighting, sensing, bioelectronics, hole transport layers, interconnectors, electroactive layers, and motion-sensing conductors. The versatility and intriguing properties of these composites, particularly with 2D nanomaterials, have garnered significant attention from academia as well as industry. Therefore, in this review, the latest developments in PEDOT:PSS nanocomposites with graphene and its derivatives are focused on. First, the synthesis and fabrication of PEDOT:PSS nanocomposites with emphasis on recent techniques developed to overcome the challenges associated with direct production is discussed. Thereafter, the characterization and thermoelectric properties of the materials are explained. This provides detailed insights into the characteristic features of various nanocomposites and the influence of individual nanoparticles in the PEDOT:PSS matrix. Then, a conclusion, including a critical summary of the extensive applications of the PEDOT:PSS/graphene nanocomposites for electrochemical, electrostatic, optoelectronic, and thermoelectric devices, is provided.     

Response surface optimization and finite element homogenization study of the effective elastic modulus and electrical conductivity of MXene-polypyrrole hybrid nanocomposite as electrode material for electronic energy storage devices

Electrical energy storage devices are crucial for energy storage and distribution purposes. MXene (MX), a 2D material, and conductive organic polymers, such as polypyrrole (PPy), have been widely used as electrode material in electronic energy storage devices. This work calculated the elastic modulus and the electrical conductivity of a MX/PPy nanocomposite electrode using a finite element model. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the electrical conductivity and elastic modulus response variables based on the finite element (FE) simulation findings. By assigning appropriate weights to these response factors in the optimization technique, the impacts of mass fraction and aspect ratio (AR) of MX inclusion on the electrical conductivity values and elastic modulus of the electrode were analyzed. When compared to the experimental findings, the results demonstrated that the suggested finite element model could provide a satisfactory estimate of the electrical conductivity and elastic modulus of the electrodes made of MX and PPy. However, these response variables might be optimized by using the response surface approach. Therefore, when RSM was employed, both electrical conductivity and Youngs modulus could be adjusted to close to their respective maximum optimal values, with a predicted electrical conductivity of 474.33 S/m and an elastic modulus of 3.24 GPa, at 50% mass fraction of the MX and the AR of 0.2. Based on these results, if a MX/PPy nanocomposite electrode could be built to achieve this modulus and electrical conductivity, such electrode would be a viable material for metal-ion batteries.