The Effects of Language Difference on Operational Performance and Satisfaction with B2B E-Marketplace Interface

This study integrated the user interface and information content of the business-to-business (B2B) electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) with language to analyze whether language differences affect the definition of good interface design and the information content that should be provided via an e-marketplace. An experimental design was adopted for collecting data from tasks, and then the Questionnaire for User Interface Satisfaction (QUIS) was used to ascertain how satisfied subjects were with regard to using the B2B e-marketplace interfaces. Study results showed that the language, the e-marketplace interface the subject used, and a combination of the two predict a person’s operational performance and satisfaction with a B2B e-marketplace. This study’s results provide a better understanding of whether B2B e-marketplace service providers should develop interfaces based on specific languages

Privacy Preserving Utility Mining: A Survey

In big data era, the collected data usually contains rich information and hidden knowledge. Utility-oriented pattern mining and analytics have shown a powerful ability to explore these ubiquitous data, which may be collected from various fields and applications, such as market basket analysis, retail, click-stream analysis, medical analysis, and bioinformatics. However, analysis of these data with sensitive private information raises privacy concerns. To achieve better trade-off between utility maximizing and privacy preserving, Privacy-Preserving Utility Mining (PPUM) has become a critical issue in recent years. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of PPUM. We first present the background of utility mining, privacy-preserving data mining and PPUM, then introduce the related preliminaries and problem formulation of PPUM, as well as some key evaluation criteria for PPUM. In particular, we present and discuss the current state-of-the-art PPUM algorithms, as well as their advantages and deficiencies in detail. Finally, we highlight and discuss some technical challenges and open directions for future research on PPUM.Comment: 2018 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, 10 page

Noninvasive technique for measurement of heartbeat regularity in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Zebrafish (<it>Danio rerio</it>), due to its optical accessibility and similarity to human, has emerged as model organism for cardiac research. Although various methods have been developed to assess cardiac functions in zebrafish embryos, there lacks a method to assess heartbeat regularity in blood vessels. Heartbeat regularity is an important parameter for cardiac function and is associated with cardiotoxicity in human being. Using stereomicroscope and digital video camera, we have developed a simple, noninvasive method to measure the heart rate and heartbeat regularity in peripheral blood vessels. Anesthetized embryos were mounted laterally in agarose on a slide and the caudal blood circulation of zebrafish embryo was video-recorded under stereomicroscope and the data was analyzed by custom-made software. The heart rate was determined by digital motion analysis and power spectral analysis through extraction of frequency characteristics of the cardiac rhythm. The heartbeat regularity, defined as the rhythmicity index, was determined by short-time Fourier Transform analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The heart rate measured by this noninvasive method in zebrafish embryos at 52 hour post-fertilization was similar to that determined by direct visual counting of ventricle beating (<it>p </it>> 0.05). In addition, the method was validated by a known cardiotoxic drug, terfenadine, which affects heartbeat regularity in humans and induces bradycardia and atrioventricular blockage in zebrafish. A significant decrease in heart rate was found by our method in treated embryos (<it>p </it>< 0.01). Moreover, there was a significant increase of the rhythmicity index (p < 0.01), which was supported by an increase in beat-to-beat interval variability (<it>p </it>< 0.01) of treated embryos as shown by Poincare plot.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The data support and validate this rapid, simple, noninvasive method, which includes video image analysis and frequency analysis. This method is capable of measuring the heart rate and heartbeat regularity simultaneously via the analysis of caudal blood flow in zebrafish embryos. With the advantages of rapid sample preparation procedures, automatic image analysis and data analysis, this method can potentially be applied to cardiotoxicity screening assay.</p