598,592 research outputs found
A model of customer e-loyalty in the online banking
With the rapid growth of online banking, it has been reinforced that companies need to build and maintain loyal customers. This study models e-loyalty as the endogenous variable that includes three exogenous variables (website quality, corporate image and perceived social presence) and two mediating variables (satisfaction and trust). The model was empirically tested using data collected from an online survey of Internet forums based in Indonesia. Using structural equation modeling, the results of statistical analysis show that the model is an adequate fit to the data. All the causal relationships in this model were found to be significant. We discuss some interesting results and provide several implications for those banks which want to enhance loyalty of e-banking customers.
Maximizing Friend-Making Likelihood for Social Activity Organization
The social presence theory in social psychology suggests that
computer-mediated online interactions are inferior to face-to-face, in-person
interactions. In this paper, we consider the scenarios of organizing in person
friend-making social activities via online social networks (OSNs) and formulate
a new research problem, namely, Hop-bounded Maximum Group Friending (HMGF), by
modeling both existing friendships and the likelihood of new friend making. To
find a set of attendees for socialization activities, HMGF is unique and
challenging due to the interplay of the group size, the constraint on existing
friendships and the objective function on the likelihood of friend making. We
prove that HMGF is NP-Hard, and no approximation algorithm exists unless P =
NP. We then propose an error-bounded approximation algorithm to efficiently
obtain the solutions very close to the optimal solutions. We conduct a user
study to validate our problem formulation and per- form extensive experiments
on real datasets to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our
proposed algorithm
Online Social Presence: A Study of Score Validity of the Computer-Mediated Communication Questionnaire
The purpose of this study was to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis of the Computer-Mediated Communication Questionnaire scores, using structural equation modeling, to assess the consistency between the empirical data and the hypothesized factor structure of the CMCQ in the proposed models, which is stipulated by the theoretical framework and previous research. Online social presence is a vital affective learning factor that influences online interaction. In this study, online social presence was defined as the degree of feeling, perception, reaction, and trustworthiness of being connected by computer-mediated communication to another intellectual entity through electronic media. Currently, valid instruments to determine the degree of social presence felt and exhibited by online learners are wanting. The results of this study indicated that online social presence was multidimensional, and composed of 4 factors as hypothesized in the theoretical framework: social context, online communication, interactivity, and privacy, although revision of some test items was also suggested by the results
An Analysis of Presence in an Asynchronous Online Undergraduate Mastery Course Using Structural Equation Modeling
This study examined students’ perceptions of teaching, social, and cognitive presence in an online, asynchronous mastery course as they related to interaction and student course satisfaction. The study design used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships. Data was collected from 166 students who were enrolled in an asynchronous online mastery course, which covered information technology literacy skills. The study was conducted over three years using a questionnaire built upon three previously validated instruments: The Community of Inquiry (CoI) Survey (Arbaugh, Cleveland-Innes, Diaz, Garrison, Ice, Richardson, & Swan, 2008), The Noel-Levitz Priorities Survey for Online Learners (Ruffalo Noel-Levitz, 2016) and the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (Walker & Fraser, 2005). The results of the study included a confirmatory factor analysis and a structural equation model. Results showed that students’ perception of teaching presence had the strongest positive direct effect on student course satisfaction, while cognitive presence was not a significant predictor of course satisfaction. Cognitive presence was a significant positive predictor of interaction. Social presence had a positive effect on interaction, however interaction was not a significant predictor of course satisfaction. In addition, results showed that as students’ perception of social presence increased, their reported course satisfaction decreased. The results of this research enhance the understanding of how the interdependent relationships between teaching, social, and cognitive presence affect one another. This study adds to the literature on asynchronous online learning, mastery-type courses, can serve as a model for analyzing and improving online course design and implementation, and may be used for future research and development in similar contexts
Impact of atrial fibrillation on the cardiovascular system through a lumped-parameter approach
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia affecting millions of
people in the Western countries and, due to the widespread impact on the
population and its medical relevance, is largely investigated in both clinical
and bioengineering sciences. However, some important feedback mechanisms are
still not clearly established. The present study aims at understanding the
global response of the cardiovascular system during paroxysmal AF through a
lumped-parameter approach, which is here performed paying particular attention
to the stochastic modeling of the irregular heartbeats and the reduced
contractility of the heart. AF can be here analyzed by means of a wide number
of hemodynamic parameters and avoiding the presence of other pathologies, which
usually accompany AF. Reduced cardiac output with correlated drop of ejection
fraction and decreased amount of energy converted to work by the heart during
blood pumping, as well as higher left atrial volumes and pressures are some of
the most representative results aligned with the existing clinical literature
and here emerging during acute AF. The present modeling, providing new insights
on cardiovascular variables which are difficult to measure and rarely reported
in literature, turns out to be an efficient and powerful tool for a deeper
comprehension and prediction of the arrythmia impact on the whole
cardiovascular system.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, Medical & Biological Engineering &
Computing, 2014, Print ISSN: 0140-0118, Online ISSN: 1741-044
Evaluation of the online presence of family firms: A comparative analysis between Ibero-America and the US
Digital marketing strategies are an intermediary between marketing channels and communication of information. With the emergence of web 2.0, corporate websites’ have become the epicentre of digital marketing strategies. This study aims to fill a gap in the family business literature related to online presence and their differences between regions. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), the websites of the largest Ibero-American and American family businesses in the world (which were included in the Family Business Global Index (FBGI)) were examined by evaluating their content, form and function, as well as their presence in social networks. A multigroup analysis was used to compare the results in Ibero-America and America. One of the main results is that there is a negative relationship between website quality and a company’s turnover and a positive relationship between social networks and a company’s turnover. Regarding multigroup analysis, there are no significant differences among the family firms of the two regions with respect to the online presence. This study has relevant practical implications because it highlights the importance of a global strategy of online presence since it influences the company’s turnover
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