Willingness Of Users Research Articles

Employing Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to Determine the Acceptance of Diagnostic System for Cervical Cancer Screening in Developing Countries

In recent times, contemporary hospitals continue to become smart by automating their administrative processes using up to date equipment and incorporating latest technological principles into their activities. It has been seen over the years that the area of medical diagnosis systems require the use of diagnostic systems as they have been proven to have led to increased diagnostic accuracy and relieve experts from routine tasks. The easiest way to prevent women from suffering and dying from Cancer of the cervix is through early detection of the Human Papilloma Virus hence the recommendation of Visual Inspection with Acetic acid (VIA) to be done in developing countries by the World Health Organization. There is need for systems that can assist health workers in confirmation of results gotten after VIA tests has been done on patients to reduce misdiagnosis and overtreatment but such systems need to be developed by putting users need into consideration. Evaluating users’ acceptance of such systems is one of the most important metrics in ensuring the success of such systems as it helps to predict users’ willingness to accept or reject them. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to evaluate the level of eagerness of users to use such systems and the measuring instrument was analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. A total of 150 respondents participated in this study with a response rate of 86%. From the analysis, it was realized that a total of 80.7% of the sampled population subscribed to the use of diagnostic expert systems, 89.1% believed that the use of such systems will have a positive impact and 87.6% were willing to use it. The results of TAM indicated the willingness of users to use such systems, the need to repeat the study after executing the system in real life was suggested as users intention could change, and also to identify factual usage of the system. The work brought to light the impact of putting users’ needs into consideration first since this increases user acceptability which could eventually lead to the success of such diagnostic systems at large.

The Role of Family Atmosphere in the Relapse Behavior of Iranian Opiate Users: a Qualitative Study.

Introduction Many Iranian opiate users live with family members and family atmosphere can be influential on reducing such social behaviors of opiate users as substance use and relapses. This paper reports the impact of family atmosphere on relapse behavior as a part of the findings of a larger study that explored the relapse process among Iranian opiate users. In this qualitative research, we selected 17 participants (5 women and 12 men). The questions were been asked through semi-structured interviews. The researchers analyzed the verbatim transcripts using content analysis method. "Family atmosphere" with three sub-themes (family and tribes' interaction, family challenges and family structure) was been found as determinants of relapse behavior. The quality of the family atmosphere could be in harmony with or against the willingness or motivation of the opiate user towards the relapse. Conclusion Health care providers should reinforce involvement of the family members in the treatment and rehabilitation of opiate users. The opiate user's family and even relatives may benefit from learning how to manage their own feelings and attitude towards the client and being supportive during interactions.

Understanding social acceptability of arsenic-safe technologies in rural Bangladesh: a user-oriented analysis

Contamination of shallow tube well drinking water by naturally occurring arsenic is a severe societal and human health challenge in Bangladesh. Multiple technological interventions seeking to ameliorate the problem face hurdles in securing social acceptance, i.e. the willingness of users to receive and use a technology. While most papers focus on expert understanding of social acceptability, this paper analyzes how users themselves understand the factors shaping the social acceptability of safe drinking water options in rural Bangladesh. We then deploy such understanding to comparatively assess which factors users see as most important in securing social acceptance for three safe drinking water options in rural Bangladesh: the arsenic removal household (Sono) filter; the deep tube well; and an improved dug well. We draw on focus groups and semi-structured interviews with technology users in six villages across three districts to analyze how users assess the social acceptability of specific arsenic-safe technologies. Our findings highlight that factors such as availability, affordability and compatibility with existing water use practices, as understood by users, are key to securing users' acceptance of a specific arsenic-safe option. In concluding, we point to a future research agenda to analyze user-oriented social acceptability of arsenic-safe technologies in developing country contexts.

Video quality vs. mobile data billing plans

Despite extensive research regarding the user willingness to pay under different billing plans and prices it is still unclear how users choose a preferred video quality under existing mobile data plans. This is especially important as the usage of adaptive video delivery servers that make use of different video quality levels is increasing. This study presents the results of assessing user preferences for video quality under three different mobile data billing plans. The results show that the user choice of different quality of video content depends on the billing plans used. It also shows that in the case when the mobile data plan is capped but the user has the possibility to pay extra for the exceeding quantity, s/he will choose higher video quality compared to the same plan in which the bandwidth is throttled when the bandwidth is exceeded. No correlation was found between the user choices and age or gender.

Marijuana Use and Its Association with Participation, Navigation, and Enrollment in Health Research among African Americans

This analysis examined the association between marijuana (Mj) use, willingness to participate, navigation and enrollment in health research among African Americans. Data from HealthStreet, a community-engagement model implemented in North Central Florida that reduces health disparities by engaging and linking community members to medical and social services and health research opportunities, were analyzed to determine willingness of African American Mj users to participate, be navigated to and enroll in health research studies. Among 1,496 African American community members, 8.0% were current Mj users, 30.3% were past Mj users and 61.7% reported never using Mj. Current and past Mj users were more willing to volunteer for a research study that only involved the use of medical records, required an overnight stay in a hospital or clinic, or might require use of medical equipment compared to those who never used Mj. Current Mj users were significantly less likely to be navigated (95% CI: 0.21–0.58) to health research studies while past Mj users (95% CI: 1.05–2.64) were significantly more likely to be enrolled in health research studies. Navigating and enrolling Mj users into health research studies could help decrease health disparities and increase health equity for the entire community since study findings would undoubtedly be more representative of the entire community rather than a select few.

What can people risk attitude tell us about people preference for multimedia quality?

Purpose– Multimedia content that is accessible through mobile devices has a larger size than other types of content (e.g. text, images). This may lead to higher prices for accessing the content via mobile devices, as mobile operators are capping mobile data billing plans in an effort to increase their revenues and prevent congestion. This poses problems for the users that are not willing/do not afford to pay the required price but still want to use multimedia content through the mobile networks. A price reduction for the user, as well as minimising bandwidth consumption can be obtained as a trade-off in multimedia quality. However, as previous research shows, not all people are willing to trade-off quality for a lower price; therefore, there is no straightforward approach to this problem. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to present a model of user willingness to pay for multimedia content quality as a function of the user risk attitude with the aim to provide personalised content depending on the user willingness to trade-off price for multimedia content quality.Design/methodology/approach– A user model was proposed based on a literature review and an existing data set. A stereotypical approach was used where users are divided in two groups: risk averse and risk seekers. An experimental study involving six scenarios was used to validate the findings.Findings– The results of the evaluation show that for the proposed user risk model, risk seekers preferred to pay for multimedia quality, whereas risk adverse users preferred to switch to a lower multimedia quality when monetary cost is involved. However, when the mobile data billing plan had the bandwidth limited, rather than a higher price to be paid when the bundle quantity was exceeded, the risk averse people’s preference for a lower quality still holds, but it does not show that most of the risk seekers prefer to pay for the multimedia quality.Research limitations/implications– This paper adds to the state of the art by providing a novel way to model the user preferences for multimedia quality based on their attitude towards risk, age, and gender.Practical implications– Mobile data users, content providers (application service providers, over-the-top providers), mobile network operators (MNOs) and internet service providers (ISPs) could benefit from the results of this research. For mobile data users, the outcome of this research could be beneficial, as they can obtain personalised content based on their needs. From the content providers’ point of view, providing personalised content can lead to more satisfied users. It could also reduce the bandwidth consumption and the traffic to the server and/or proxy. Reducing the bandwidth consumption could lead to the possibility to acquire more customers and hence increase the revenues.Originality/value– This is among the first studies to assess how the user preference towards multimedia quality if affected by the user attitude towards risk.

Electric vehicles in multi-vehicle households

The suitability of an electric vehicle of a given range to serve in place of a given conventional vehicle is not limited by the daily travel over distances within that that range, but rather by the occasional inconvenience of finding alternative transport for longer trips. While the frequency of this inconvenience can be computed from usage data, the willingness of individual users to accept that replacement depends on details of available transportation alternatives and their willingness to use them. The latter can be difficult to assess. Fortunately, 65% of US households have access to the most convenient alternative possible: a second car. In this paper we describe an analysis of prospective EV acceptance and travel electrification in two-car households in the Puget Sound region. We find that EVs with 60miles of useful range could be acceptable (i.e. incur inconvenience no more than three days each year) to nearly 90% of two-car households and electrify nearly 55% of travel in those households (32% of all travel). This compares to 120miles range required to achieve the same fraction of electrified travel via one-for-one replacement of individual vehicles. Even though only one third of personal vehicles in the US may be replaced in this paradigm, the ‘EV as a second-car’ concept is attractive in that a significant fraction of travel can be electrified by vehicles with modest electric range and virtually no dependence on public charging infrastructure.

Privacy Issues in the Development of a Virtual Mental Health Clinic for University Students: A Qualitative Study.

BackgroundThere is a growing need to develop online services for university students with the capacity to complement existing services and efficiently address student mental health problems. Previous research examining the development and acceptability of online interventions has revealed that issues such as privacy critically impact user willingness to engage with these services.ObjectiveTo explore university student perspectives on privacy issues related to using an online mental health service within the context of the development of an online, university-based virtual mental health clinic.MethodsThere were two stages of data collection. The first stage consisted of four 1.5-hour focus groups conducted with university students (n=19; 10 female, 9 male, mean age = 21.6 years) to determine their ideas about the virtual clinic including privacy issues. The second stage comprised three 1-hour prototype testing sessions conducted with university students (n=6; 3 male, 3 female, mean age = 21.2 years) using participatory design methods to develop and refine a service model for the virtual clinic and determine student views on privacy within this context.ResultsThe students raised a number of issues related to privacy in relation to the development of the university virtual clinic. Major topics included the types of personal information they would be willing to provide (minimal information and optional mental health data), concern about potential access to their personal data by the university, the perceived stigma associated with registering for the service, and privacy and anonymity concerns related to online forums contained within the virtual clinic.ConclusionsStudents would be more comfortable providing personal information and engaging with the virtual clinic if they trust the privacy and security of the service. Implications of this study include building the clinic in a flexible way to accommodate user preferences.

A discussion on the user intention of golfers toward golf GPS navigation

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the user’s willingness of golfers toward the use of GPS navigation based on the technology readiness and acceptance models. Design/methodology/approach – This study developed the research structure based on the theory of the technology acceptance and readiness model to address the relationship between technology readiness, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, user’s attitude and behavioral intention. A purposive sampling questionnaire was used in this study to investigate golf participants in Central Taiwan. In all, 245 copies of the questionnaire were issued. About 240 copies were returned and after removing the invalid copies, there were 230 valid questionnaires for a valid response rate of 95.8 per cent. Findings – The research results indicated that technology readiness has a significant influence on perceived usefulness, technology readiness has a significant influence on perceived ease of use, perceived ease of use has a significant influence on perceived usefulness, perceived usefulness has no significant influence on user’s attitude, perceived ease of use has a significant influence on user’s attitude, user’s attitude has no significant influence on behavioral intention and perceived usefulness has a significant influence on behavioral intention. Originality/value – The technology acceptance model has been widely used to examine user's acceptance and willingness toward computer technology or an information product. This study, hence, is based on this model to investigate the user's willingness of golfers toward golf GPS and shall serve as a reference for future golf sports promotion and device R&D.

Willingness to adopt e-procurement to reduce corruption

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to report on research that evaluates the perceived willingness of potential bidders to adopt public e-procurement for the supply of goods and services to the government of Nepal. The authors have identified anti-corruption attributes through an extensive literature review and developed a theoretical model representing the impact of four latent variables, monopoly of power, information asymmetry, trust and transparency and accountability on the dependent variable, the intent-to-adopt e-procurement (ITA).Design/methodology/approach– Data for this research were obtained by the use of a questionnaire survey of bidders who were officially registered with the Government of Nepal. As part of the fieldwork for this research, the first author collected the perceptions of 220 bidders regarding the potential of public e-procurement to reduce corruption in public procurement processes.Findings– The findings suggest that a high level of the ITA has a positive and significant relationship with the independent variables that might inform the developed and emerging countries to make a decision to adoption of e-procurement to combat corruption in public procurement.Research limitations/implications– This study has some limitations that should be taken into consideration. The evaluation of anti-corruption factors, as they affect the willingness of users to adopt e-procurement on the bidder’s perception research model is relatively new to e-procurement research. A limitation of the research was that it gathered and analyzed data from a single country with a limited number of respondents. More research is needed to identify the anti-corruption factors of e-procurement in reducing corruption, and also need strong empirical test to valid the factors that influence the adoption of e-procurement.Originality/value– This study aimed to contribute to the academic scholar, government agencies and public procurement practitioner in enhancing their understanding of the perceived anti-corruption factors of public e-procurement to reduce corruption.

Understanding public knowledge and awareness on e-waste in an urban setting in India

Purpose – Despite legislation in place, there is still a gap in knowledge and awareness of the communities on the issues of e-waste handling and management. It is important to understand the knowledge and awareness levels of the consumers of electronic products who ultimately become the generators of e-waste in a community. The current study is based on a survey conducted in an urban setting to understand people's perception about the genesis of issues related to e-waste and its management. The purpose of this paper is to study the findings that could help in designing customized awareness programmes for addressing this concern more effectively. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted in Delhi to understand public knowledge and awareness related to e-waste management in the city and country. A limited random survey was conducted with a sample size of 400 individuals in Delhi from middle class belonging to different educational backgrounds and professions. Personal interview method was used to collect in-depth information related to the issues of e-waste and its management. A questionnaire was developed and pilot tested before actual start of the survey. The questionnaire consisted of two sections – first about baseline information related to their age, family size, family income and educational background and second on their knowledge and awareness regarding e-waste and its management. Also, the practices they followed regarding e-waste at their household level were enquired. The questionnaire consisted of both open-ended and close-ended questions. Most of the questions had multiple-choice options, which made it easy for the respondents to answer them appropriately. The open-ended question gave the respondents ample time and space to express their views. The open-ended questions besides strengthening the close-ended questions provided a lot of qualitative information and made the study interesting. Apart from just interviewing, informal interactions were also used as a tool for data collection. During the course of the study, informal interactions were done with respondents to familiarize them with the objectives of the present study, their role and benefits to them from the study. Findings – The present study aimed to gauge the awareness levels and practices of people regarding e-waste management. The survey conducted in Delhi revealed that significant fraction of middle-class population is still unaware of the issue; however, on getting the information they were able to link the impacts of improper management of e-waste with detrimental health outcomes. For those who knew about it, the main sources of information to them were found to be internet, and print media. However, despite some awareness about the issue, most respondents were totally unaware about correct ways of its recycling and management. An important finding of the study was that 12-26 per cent people replace their major electronic goods like refrigerators, food processors, personal computers and music systems within the first three years of purchase. Discarding products within their periods of useful lives leads to enhanced generation of e-wastes. Along with e-waste generation, this also puts additional stress over the resources used for manufacturing of these products. On management of e-waste, most of the respondents opined of need of having efficient recycling units and effective mass awareness programmes. The survey also revealed the willingness of users to pay extra cost for proper management of e-waste provided that there is proper cost sharing between consumers and producers. This also raises an important aspect of extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR puts additional responsibility and onus on the manufacturer of the product to not only produce durable quality of products but also take back the obsolete products and manage the e-waste. This also means that the manufacturers will have to use recyclable material in manufacturing of new products for economic management of e-waste at the later stage. Although, in Indian context it would be a challenge to implement the concept of EPR, especially with the active informal sector. The respondents quite adequately put equal responsibilities on the government, consumers and producers for effective e-waste management. The study clearly highlights the issues perceived by the middle-class population of Delhi and can be replicated in other major cities for re-authentication of the facts. The study could prove to be important in designing awareness programme related to the issue. Originality/value – This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey-based study that was employed to understand the perception of a sample of respondents. Analysis of the data reveals that the knowledge on the issue of e-waste is minimal and requires massive awareness drives for senitization.

RFID-based intelligent shopping environment: a comprehensive evaluation framework with neural computing approach

This research proposes a radio frequency identification (RFID)-based intelligent shopping environment and its distributed reading capability to raise quality of service through improving the automation of product presentation, inventory monitor, billing procedures, manpower logistics, and customer lifetime value prediction. This research also uses RFID to successfully create a smart-shelf-enabled system as an advanced decision-making mechanism for managers. A case study based on a well-known fashion retailing company is used to demonstrate how the proposed system can significantly improve daily business operations. In addition, this research also used artificial neural network to predict the VIP member classification and customer retention rate. The experimental results figure out that the artificial intelligence approach would be outperformed the statistical and decision tree methods. Finally, a questionnaire was administered to 120 customers and investigated their degree of RFID usage willingness and purchase intention based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model. The empirical results of our study present the easy-to-use and social influence factors that would be most influenced the customers' usage willing and purchase intention with RFID technology.

External knowledge acquisition and innovation output: an analysis of the moderating effect of internal knowledge transfer

Numerous studies highlight the advantages of accessing knowledge from outside the firm as a means of enhancing the firm's innovation efforts. However, access to external knowledge is not without organisational problems, including rejection of external knowledge by firm members or difficulties in applying such knowledge to the firm's operations. Based on the knowledge management literature, this paper analyses the conditions within the firm that favour external knowledge acquisition, and focuses on internal transfer as a key variable for the successful integration of external knowledge in the innovation process. Our results demonstrate that internal knowledge transfer intensifies the influence of external knowledge acquisition on innovation output. Specifically, achieving an environment within the firm that favours knowledge integration into the innovation process depends to a large extent on the willingness of knowledge users to share and assimilate knowledge, and on the existence of formal mechanisms such as coordination and communication.

Are personal innovativeness and social influence critical to continue with mobile commerce?

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to report a study investigating the impact of personal innovativeness in information technology (PIIT) and social influence on user continuance intention toward mobile commerce (m-commerce) in the USA.Design/methodology/approach– A survey was conducted among undergraduate and graduate mobile users in a regional university. Structural equation modeling procedures were deployed to analyse 323 valid data points.Findings– The study found that among well-educated m-commerce users, user personal innovativeness as measured by PIIT and perceived usefulness, the determinants of initial adoption, remain as strong determinants of user continuance intention. PIIT also remains as the antecedent of perceived ease of use. Social influence has changed the pattern of influence on continuance intention.Research limitations/implications– This study is unable to investigate m-commerce user expectations and satisfaction levels. The small and convenient sample does not offer guarantee of the findings.Practical implications– M-commerce providers should pay adequate attention to personal innovativeness, since it affects mobile user willingness and capability to welcome and adapt to new services and features. They should always utilize social channels to gather feedback, to distribute new changes or features, and to exert positive influence.Originality/value– This study is one of the few examining the effect of PIIT in a post-adoption context and confirms its long-term psychological influence on continuance intention toward m-commerce. This study is also one of the initial to use discursive power perspective to study social influence on continuance intention in the mobile context.

Exploring the Usefulness of e-Resources for Engineering College Teachers and Scholars for their Academic and Research Activities - A Study

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), an apex body of controlling technical education in India, has made mandatory subscription of e-Resources to all its Engineering College Libraries. This policy has directly helped the teaching community, research scholars, and student's paternity, which has benefits for their teaching, research activities, and curriculum, respectively. This study emphasizes the usefulness of e-Resources among the teachers and scholars of engineering colleges in the Bangalore region under Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belgaum, Karnataka. Survey methodology has been used as the basic research tool for data collection with the help of questionnaires. 866 teaching faculties in VTU were selected randomly on the basis of willingness of users who access the e-Resources for their academic and research activities in the survey. The survey results were tabulated and analyzed with descriptive statistics methods using the SPSS 20 software package. The findings reveal that e-resources are useful for engineering college teachers and scholars for their academic and research activities.

Economic valuation of ecosystem services in protected areas: A case study from Nepal

The research examines the value of ecosystem services in Baghmara Buffer Zone Community Forest of Nepal determining willingness of local users and tourists for sustainable management and conservation of natural resources as well as recreational and aesthetic services, during September of 2010. The contingent valuation survey was administered to 95 users and 100 tourists. For users, the distance to forest, family size, nature of residence, gender and size of land holding seem to be the prominent factors that affected upon their willingness to pay. The projected average willingness to pay by all users for recreational and aesthetic services was NRs. 33,347 (about US$ 460) per year. The tourists were divided into domestic and international to elicit willingness to pay for ecosystem services. The responses were found varied according to the nature of tourists. For domestic tourists, income was only factor that affected their willingness to pay, but for international tourists along with income, gender, travel group and education were major determinants of willingness to pay. The average projected willingness to pay by all tourists was US$ 3,806,468 per year.The research highlights that the conservation area systems in Nepal has a high potential to generate additional resources against ecosystem services provided additional services to the tourists and a mechanism to tap such contribution. Banko Janakari, Vol. 23, No. 1, Page 42-50 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/banko.v23i1.9466

The Maximising STI Control (MSTIC) webtool: a new approach to facilitate the planning of services for sexually transmitted infections to maximise public health benefit

BackgroundIn the UK, national guidelines have sought to improve access to sexual health care, in part by expanding community-based provision of sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, diagnosis, and care. Although useful data sources exist, there is little evidence for or guidance on the effect of different combinations of sexual health services on STI control locally. With finite resources, service planners need to identify the most effective combinations of STI services for their population. We sought to develop an evidence-based webtool aimed at supporting local service planning by synthesising the key data to show the relative consequences of different service configurations for different types of population. MethodsWe used a decision analytic model (DAM) to identify and model the effects of the characteristics of STI service provision, demography, and sexual behaviour that are likely to have the greatest effect on the incidence of common STIs. The DAM synthesised data from a range of sources, including census, surveillance systems, and probability sample surveys. We validated the DAM using data obtained from a standardised survey of people attending health services in four geographically and sociodemographically contrasting populations across England. The results of the model were presented as a webtool, requiring users to enter routinely available demographic data for their population along with characteristics and outcomes data for existing, proposed, or both health services providing care for STIs locally. The results are processed to estimate the effect on incidence of chlamydia and gonorrhoea locally. We consulted intended users attending a national sexual health conference to gain feedback on our webtool by giving them the opportunity to try the instrument for themselves, as well as ask questions of the designer and the mathematical modeller, for example, regarding the assumptions underlying the webtool. FindingsThe DAM identified the following demographic and service-level characteristics as key for estimating likely STI incidence in a locality: population type (urban, suburban, or semi-rural, taking account of assumptions about the area's ethnic mix and the proportion of men who have sex with men); size of the population aged 16–44 years, stratified by sex; type or types and capacity of services offering STI testing; level of partner notification achieved by these services; and mean delay between STI test and result. Consultation and usability testing revealed that commissioners and service planners were keen to explore the relative effect on disease control of varying assumptions about the type or types and capacity of services. However, clinicians were concerned about its reductionism and absence of individual patient perspective, although interested in the potential for exploring population outcomes for their services using an interactive decision-making instrument. We addressed these concerns by revising the accompanying user guide to ensure that we clearly explained the assumptions and limitations of our webtool, as well as including a technical appendix that provided details of the mathematical model. InterpretationOur evidence-based webtool allows service planning stakeholders to exploit routine data to inform rational STI service planning for their local population, showing how a one-size-fits-all approach does not apply to STI service planning. However, a willingness of users to engage with new approaches to service planning cannot be assumed. To achieve the buy-in necessary for the deployment of such instruments, user involvement has proven vital, resulting in improved communication and clarification of its assumptions and limitations. Evidence-based service planning needs to be promoted to ensure that STI services benefit both individual and public health. FundingMRC/DH Sexual Health and HIV Research Strategy Committee (grant G0601685).

Case study describing the pillars, personnel, and process of developing the TARDIS:REFLUX smartphone app

BackgroundRegulations governing data protection for NHS patients and limited expertise within the health-care professions restrict development of smartphone applications (apps) as clinical and research adjuncts. Our aim was to show the feasibility of, and define the roadmap for, developing apps as clinical and research instruments within an NHS environment. We focused on gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR) in children, because this is a common disorder. Symptoms occur daily yet are reviewed infrequently by clinicians, often at 3-month intervals. When questionnaires are used, they are applied retrospectively, need interval recall, and are delivered on paper. Epidemiological understanding of GOR is limited by the paucity of symptom data. To address this challenge we developed an iPhone app to Track Activity in Relation to reflux DISease (TARDIS:REFLUX). MethodsWe developed a questionnaire for parents of children with GOR to prospectively capture symptom frequency and key events. A project proposal describing data collection requirements and security arrangements drove project specification. Funding, ethics, and institutional Caldicott Guardian approvals were obtained. After tender, app developers were identified and the app built. A software application was designed to transfer data from users' phones to a central, secure database. A web interface for review of transmitted data was designed. FindingsThe four pillars of this app are a data collector, a data transfer protocol, a central database, and a data viewer. The roadmap for health-care app development in an NHS environment is characterised as follows. Data specification: clinical data collection requirements defined (task duration 2 weeks). Wire-framing the data collector: mock-up diagrams used to translate the data collection questionnaire into app views (2 weeks). User interface design: data collector and native data store coded (4 months). User management: user registration, login protocols, and level of access coded (1 month). Data security and ethics approval: systems-level security protocol and Intergrated Research Approval System application to obtain NHS Research Ethics Committee approval (NREC 12/NW/0837; 4 months). Data management, transfer, and storage: an application program interface to provide data transfer from users' iPhones to the central database (3 months). Data viewer: online dashboard enabling secure access and review of data in central database. The app was subjected to beta-testing through a two-step iterative process involving app target users (3 months). A randomised crossover study, in which users compare a paper questionnaire against the TARDIS:REFLUX app, is ongoing. A focus group (n=8) was convened to test usability. Seven participants successfully downloaded the app with no crashes during the session. Users needed a mean of 6·8 s (SD 2·8) to login and 6·9 s (3·0) to record a symptom. The app received a good mean usability rating of 84 out of 100 (systems usability scale). InterpretationThe TARDIS:REFLUX app shows feasibility and provides a roadmap for development of apps as clinical and research adjuncts. It allows real-time remote tracking of GOR symptoms in children to enhance clinical care. The data architecture is robust and secure and meets NHS data protection standards. Development of software for use on patient-held smartphones reduces the cost of development and allows large-scale use. The willingness of smartphone users to share data can be used to collect patient-level epidemiological data. To enable the development of efficacious and secure apps, the technical guidance given to both researchers and ethics committee members must be updated. Specifically, frameworks for secure storage, encryption, and transfer of data from smartphone devices to NHS data stores need development and dissemination. FundingUCL Grand Challenges Small Grants Fund. The funding source had no role in study design; data collection, analysis, or interpretation; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit for publication.

Cost-Oriented Adaptive Multimedia Delivery

Mobile Internet and mobile services that make use of mobile data are increasingly popular. However, the cost of content delivery, in particular, multimedia type content over cellular networks is still high and poses a challenge for some users who are not necessarily willing or cannot afford to pay too much for it. The problem is further exacerbated when video content is used, as this type of content is heavier and can lead to higher bills. In this context, this paper presents a novel cost-oriented adaptive multimedia delivery (COMEDY) mechanism that considers the user's willingness to pay for a certain video quality and user's mobile device characteristics to deliver adaptive multimedia content over wireless connection. The goal of the mechanism is to reduce the cost of multimedia delivery for users that are not willing to pay that much. The mechanism is evaluated both through objective and subjective studies. The evaluation shows that the proposed mechanism provides a reduction in the price paid for accessing multimedia content, and the user's perceived quality is not negatively affected.

Information and knowledge management in online rich presence services

Nowadays many information technology services are moving towards online via ubiquitous networks, computing and information at unlimited speed anytime and anywhere with different kinds of technical platforms, especially in Web 2.0. In general, presence information expresses user willingness and ability to communicate with other users across a set of services for real-time communications. Web 2.0 uses the Web as a platform for embracing the interconnectivity and interactivity of Web-delivered content among different online users and communities, which have recently been assumed by the technology of services computing such as Web services. Web services are based on a set of XML standards such as Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI), Web Services Description Language (WSDL), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS), and etc. The rapid development of Web 2.0 for massive social network collaboration facilitates the “rich presence services” to expose information and knowledge gathered through online social networks which assists intelligent decision making and analysis. Rich presence is described as an enhanced form of presence awareness in which a service can observe other online service/user attributes, such as personal identifiable information, location, time, behavior, movement, type-of-software, type-of-device, and type-of-network. The use of Web 2.0 technologies may generate both user-generated content as well as contextual information about users, for example, their current location and availability. Rich presence also refers to the aggregation of this information that makes presence attributed to consenting services available for use by other services/users. This result generates a consolidation of virtual, physical, and online services into a single richpresence platform based on content-based publish/subscribe services for efficient filtering and dissemination of presence information. Online rich presence services divulge only the availability of other services. In this context, knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an online rich presence service to create, manage, coordinate, distribute, and enable adoption of information. Such information comprises knowledge, either embedded in services or embedded in business processes, focuses on organizational quality of services (QoS) objectives such as performance, and competitiveness. Therefore, this special issue aims to examine the information and knowledge management model in this emerging context for the next generation applications. All the 8 papers in this issue will have deep research results to report the advance of online rich presence services such as information discovery, knowledge management, recommendation and collaborative filtering, services compositions, supply chain management, trust framework, grid and cloud computing. In the first paper “Feasilibility and A Case Study on Content Optimization Services on Cloud” (Wong 2013), Wong focuses on content optimization services that modify and reorganize content to reduce the size of content and enhance the performance of processing on the content. Wong presents the economics related to these services with practical considerations when these services are implemented on a cloud, which is typically perceived to be a more economical and scalable option compared to traditional dedicated servers. C. K. Fung Boeing Research and Technology, Seattle, WA, USA e-mail: casey.k.fung@boeing.com