Technology-Based Service Encounters Using Self-Service Technologies in the Healthcare Industry

Although there have been studies discussing the influence of technology-based services on the overall service efficiency and quality of organizations in various industries, very little effort has been devoted to investigating this issue in the healthcare industry. Hospital image is considered to be a crucial factor influencing patients' choice of hospitals, but few studies specifically examine its association with technology-based services. By consulting the model of the European Customer Satisfaction Index, a research model for evaluating the impact of the use of technology-based services on hospital image, patient satisfaction, and patient loyalty in the healthcare industry is developed and examined in this study using survey data collected from 738 patients at two medical centers with an online appointment system. The research results confirm the importance of providing quality, technology-based services in enhancing hospital image, patient satisfaction, and patient loyalty. The implications of this research and suggestions for future work are also discussed.     

Designing an exergaming system for exercise bikes using kinect sensors and Google Earth

This paper proposes an Exergaming system for exercise bikes. With the assistance of a Kinect device and the proposed body-movement-detection algorithm, exercise bike users are required to perform correct neck and shoulder movements to control the airplane trajectory in Google Earth. They can take a flying tour in the virtual reality provided by Google Earth while riding an exercise bike. According to the experimental results, 95 % of the users in the experiment considered the proposed Exergaming system to be very entertaining; more than 85 % of the users affirmed that the assigned neck and shoulder movements effectively help stretch the muscles in these body parts; the detection rate of the proposed body-movement algorithm was over 90 %. Therefore, the proposed Exergaming system is a good assisting system for exercise bikes.     

Sharing multiple secrets in visual cryptography

The secret sharing schemes in conventional visual cryptography are characterized by encoding one shared secret into a set of random transparencies which reveal the secret to the human visual system when they are superimposed. In this paper, we propose a visual secret sharing scheme that encodes a set of x 2 secrets into two circle shares such that none of any single share leaks the secrets and the x secrets can be obtained one by one by stacking the first share and the rotated second shares with x different rotation angles. This is the first true result that discusses the sharing ability in visual cryptography up to any general number of multiple secrets in two circle shares.     

Performance Analysis of Proxy Caching for VOD Services With Heterogeneous Clients

Proxy-caching strategies, especially prefix caching and interval caching, are commonly used in video-on-demand (VOD) systems to improve both the system performance and the playback experience of users. However, because these caching strategies are designed for homogeneous clients, they do not perform well in the real world where clients are heterogeneous (i.e., different available network bandwidths and different sizes of client-side buffers). This paper investigates the problems caused by heterogeneous client-side buffers. We analyze the theoretical performance of these caching strategies, and then, derive cost functions to measure the corresponding performance gains. Based on these analytical results, we develop a caching strategy that employs both prefix caching and interval caching to minimize the input bandwidth of a proxy. The simulation results demonstrate that the bandwidth requirements of a proxy implementing our caching strategy are significantly lower compared to adopting prefix caching or interval caching alone.     

Chinese document layout analysis using an adaptive regrouping strategy

In document layout analysis, the defining conditions for textlines and text regions involve certain numerical parameters (e.g. inter-character spacing and inter-textline spacing) whose values can only be estimated when textlines and text regions have already been formed. This seemingly chicken-and-egg problem can be solved through an adaptive regrouping strategy, which consists of three operations. First, we group basic ingredients into preliminary textlines and text regions according to crude parametric values. Second, we refine our estimate of the parametric values based on the groups thus formed. Third, we form new groups by splitting and merging existing groups based on the newly estimated values. This paper applies the above strategy to Chinese documents whose complexity derives from the coexistence of horizontal and vertical textlines. Successful results are obtained using this approach. The accuracy rates for identifying text regions and textlines are above 98% in a test database consisting of over one thousand document samples and various layout structures.     

Preparation of poly(acrylic)/SiO2/EuL3 x 2H2O, hybrid thin films from monodispersed colloidal silica

In this study, poly(acrylic)/SiO2/EuL3 x 2H2O hybrid thin films were prepared from various acrylic monomers (MMA and EDMA/TMPTA), lanthanide metal complexes (EuL3 x 2H2O, L = pyridine carboxylic acid), and monodispersed colloidal silica with a coupling agent, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (MSMA). It is a combination of the sol-gel reaction, thermal polymerization, and spin coating. The silica content in the hybrid thin films is fixed at 20 wt%, and the EuL3 x 2H2O content is varied from 0.01 g to 0.07 g. FTIR and EA analysis confirms the chemical structure of the prepared EuL3 x 2H2O and poly(acrylic)/SiO2/EuL3 x 2H2O hybrid thin films. UV-Vis spectra and n&k analysis shows that the hybrid thin film has good transparency in visible light. The refractive index of hybrid thin films can be effectively controlled through the EuL3 x 2H2O content. The PL spectra shows that the strongest emission peak occurs at 615 nm and the emission intensity increases to the peak maximum at an EuL3 x 2H2O content of 0.05 g. Both TGA and PL analysis show that the prepared hybrid thin films from the crosslinked acrylic polymer moiety have much better film uniformity, thermal stability, and fluorescence properties. The TEM diagram shows that the MSMA/SiO2/EuL3 x 2H2O particles with a size 15-20 nm are well dispersed in the reaction solution. The SEM diagram shows that the particle distribution in the prepared hybrid thin films is uniform and no phase separation is observed. Finally, AFM analysis indicates that the prepared hybrid thin films have an excellent surface planarity.     

Melanogenesis Inhibition by Homoisoflavavone Sappanone A from Caesalpinia sappan

Homoisoflavanone, sappanone A, was isolated from Caesalpinia sappan and proven to dose-dependently inhibit both melanogenesis and cellular tyrosinase activity via repressing tyrosinase gene expression in mouse B16 melanoma cells. To our knowledge, sappanone A is the first homoisoflavanone to be discovered with melanogenesis inhibitory activity. Our results give a new impetus to the future search for other homoisoflavanone melanogenesis inhibitors.     

Preparation and optical properties of organic/inorganic nanocomposite materials by UV curing process

In this study, photo-polymerized poly(acrylic)/silica hybrid thin films were prepared from various acrylic monomers and monodispersed colloidal silica with the coupling agent, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (MSMA). The silica content in the hybrid thin films varied from 0 to 50 wt.%. The experimental results show that the particle size of silica in hybrid films could be effectively controlled at 15–20 nm as the weight ratio of MSMA to colloidal silica is higher than 0.68 and 0.60 for the poly(methyl methacrylate)/silica (US) and poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate-trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate)/silica (UDT) hybrid materials, respectively. The polymerization conversion for US and UDT hybrid materials could reach to 100% and 94.5%, respectively. The comparison of surface roughness with the film thickness is less than 0.10%, indicating the excellent surface planarity of the prepared hybrid thin films. Besides, the prepared hybrid films from the crosslinked acrylic polymer moiety show much better film uniformity, thermal stability and mechanical properties than those obtained from poly(methyl methacrylate). The refractive index decreases with increasing the silica content in the hybrid films. Excellent optical transparency is obtained in the prepared hybrid films. These results show that the prepared hybrid thin films have potential applications as passive films for optical devices.     

Emission factors and characteristics of criteria pollutants and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a freeway tunnel study

Carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NO(x)), hydrocarbon (HC), sulfur oxide (SO(2)), particulate matter <10 microm (PM(10)), and 57 VOC species of emissions were confirmed in a freeway tunnel in southern Taiwan. Emission factors were 1.89 (CO), 0.73 (NO(x)), 0.46 (HC), 0.02 (SO2) and 0.06 (PM(10)) g/km-vehicle for all vehicle fleets. Heavy-duty truck and trailer vehicles contributed 20% of the emissions on workdays and 9.5% on weekends in this study. Paraffins and aromatics were the main VOC groups in the tunnel. Isopentane, toluene, n-pentane, isoprene, 2,3-dimethylbutane, acetone, 2-methylpentane, 1-hexene, 1,2,4-trimethybenzene, 1-butene and propene emissions were the major VOC species. Their emission factors were over 10 mg/km-vehicle. Rainfall and high humidity in the tunnel could have reduced the VOC concentrations and increased the portion of aromatics. In addition to paraffins, olefins, and aromatic compounds, oxygenated compounds (i.e., acetone) were found. The pollutant ratios between the inside center and the outside of the tunnel were about 2-3 for CO, SO2, and PM(10) and 42 for NO(x). In addition, the emission factors of the vehicles could reflect real-world vehicle emissions on the highway and be used as baseline information for development of a vehicle control strategy.     

Classified variable-block-size motion estimation algorithm for image sequence coding

In recent years, the variable-block-size (VBS) motion estimation technique has been widely employed to improve the performance of the block-matching algorithm (BMA). In VBS, the block size is varied according to the type of motion. The VBS is known to be very efficient for areas containing complex motions. However, it requires a large number of computations. In this article, a new VBS motion estimation algorithm, called the classified variable block size (CVBS), is proposed to overcome this problem. The algorithm classifies the input blocks into three categories: background, shade motion and edge motion. According to the characteristics of the classified blocks, various motion estimation techniques are then used to improve the coding performance. The performance of VBS and CVBS based on the coding efficiency is investigated. It is shown that the CVBS algorithm requires about one fifth to one seventh of the computations needed by the conventional VBS algorithm. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.