What Drives IoT-Based Smart Pet Appliances Usage Intention? The Perspective of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model

The advancement of IOT (Internet of Things) has facilitated the development of smart pet appliances, and the market for these products has growing rapidly, this study seeks to identify key factors for pet owner adoption of “smart” pet appliances. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) a wellestablished model in the field of IOT research is used as the main framework, integrating brand trust, perceived value and perceived enjoyment as the basis for hypothesis formulation and testing based on data collected through questionnaires distributed through online social platforms. Reliability analysis, validity analysis and structural equation model analysis were carried out through confirmatory factor analysis to test the variables and research hypotheses. Results for the UTAUT indicate that effort expectancy has a direct impact on performance expectancy, while performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating condition all have a positive impact on intention. While social influence does not directly or significantly affect use intention, it can indirectly affect intention through perceived value and perceived enjoyment. Brand trust does not have a significant impact on use intention, but can indirectly affect use intention through perceived value. This study further compares user age and number of smart pet home appliances owned to better understand the impact of demographic factors. Findings indicate that, for users under the age of 30, effort expectancy has no significant impact on use intention, while brand trust has no significant impact on perceived value among users over 30. Among the research results based on age as a basis, the impact of hardships in the ethnic group in the age of 30 is not significant, nor do facilitating conditions or perceived value have significant impact on use intention. For users with one smart pet device at home, neither favorable conditions not perceived value have significant impact on use intention, while for users with two smart pet devices, perceived enjoyment does not significantly impact use intention. These finding have potential reference value for future related research in the IOT or smart pet home appliance research field

On Steinerberger Curvature and Graph Distance Matrices

Steinerberger proposed a notion of curvature on graphs (J. Graph Theory, 2023). We show that nonnegative curvature is almost preserved under three graph operations. We characterize the distance matrix and its null space after adding an edge between two graphs. Let $D$ be a graph distance matrix and $\mathbf{1}$ be the all-one vector. We provide a way to construct graphs so that the linear system $Dx = \mathbf{1}$ does not have a solution. Let $\eta$ be the Perron eigenvector of $D.$ We provide a lower bound to $\langle\eta,\mathbf{1}\rangle$ when the graph is a tree.Comment: 3 figure

Microwave-assisted extraction of pectin from jackfruit rinds using different power levels

Pectin is a heterogeneous branched polysaccharide with complex structure. Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) is more efficient in extracting pectin compared to conventional method. The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of microwave-assisted pectin extraction against conventional extraction method. This study was also to investigate the effect of power level on yield and quality of extracted pectin from jackfruit rinds. Water-based extraction method was performed with the extraction duration for conventional extraction and MAE were 1 h and 10 min, respectively. The temperature of conventional extraction was set at 90°C and the power levels of MAE were 450 W, 600 W and 800 W. High yield of pectin was obtained from conventional extraction (14.59%) and MAE (16.72-17.63%). All quality characteristics determined were found to be insignificant different for pectin extracted from both conventional extraction and MAE except moisture and ash content. Increase in microwave power did not affect yield and quality characteristics of pectin from jackfruit rinds significantly. In conclusion, MAE requires shorter time than conventional extraction in extracting comparable amount and quality of pectin from jackfruit rinds. Microwave-assisted extraction at 450 W was the most effective and economic extraction condition among the different power levels tested

N,N′-Bis(6-methyl-2-pyrid­yl)oxamide

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C14H14N4O2, the mol­ecules are almost planar (mean deviation 0.028 Å) and a weak intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond between the H atom bound to an oxamide N atom and a carbonyl O atom is found. The asymmetric unit consits of one half-mol­ecule which is located on a centre of inversion

Poly[bis­(μ2-4,4′-bipyridine)bis­(3-nitro­benzoato)cobalt(II)]

The hydro­thermal reaction of cobalt nitrate with 4,4′-bipyridine and 3-nitro­benzoic acid lead to the formation of the title complex, [Co(C7H4NO4)2(C10H8N2)2]n. In the crystal structure, the CoII atoms are coordinated by two terminal carboxyl­ate anions and four 4,4′-bipyridine ligands within slightly distorted octa­hedra. The CoII atom and one of the two independent 4,4′-bipyridine ligands are located on a twofold rotation axis, while the second independent 4,4′-bipyridine mol­ecule is located on a centre of inversion. One of the two rings of one 4,4′-bipyridine ligand is disordered over two orientations and was refined using a split model [occupancy ratio 0.68 (2):0.32 (2)]. The CoII atoms are connected by the 4,4′-bipyridine ligands into layers, which are located parallel to the ab plane

Applying Sequential Pattern Mining to Generate Block for Scheduling Problems

The main idea in this paper is using sequential pattern mining to find the information which is helpful for finding high performance solutions. By combining this information, it is defined as blocks. Using the blocks to generate artificial chromosomes (ACs) could improve the structure of solutions. Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs) is adapted to solve the combinatorial problems. Nevertheless many of these approaches are advantageous for this application, but only some of them are used to enhance the efficiency of application. Generating ACs uses patterns and EDAs could increase the diversity. According to the experimental result, the algorithm which we proposed has a better performance to solve the permutation flow-shop problems

Applying Sequential Pattern Mining to Generate Block for Scheduling Problems

The main idea in this paper is using sequential pattern mining to find the information which is helpful for finding high performance solutions. By combining this information, it is defined as blocks. Using the blocks to generate artificial chromosomes (ACs) could improve the structure of solutions. Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs) is adapted to solve the combinatorial problems. Nevertheless many of these approaches are advantageous for this application, but only some of them are used to enhance the efficiency of application. Generating ACs uses patterns and EDAs could increase the diversity. According to the experimental result, the algorithm which we proposed has a better performance to solve the permutation flow-shop problems