25 research outputs found
Selective Exposure to Berita Harian Online and Utusan Malaysia Online: The Roles of Surveillance Motivation, Website Usability and Website Attractiveness
News media allows audiences to be selective in determining both their news sources
and type of news stories they read. This study examined factors influencing selective
exposure to the online editions of two mainstream Malaysian newspapers, Berita
Harian and Utusan Malaysia. Using selective exposure theory as the theoretical
lens, this study compared both newspapers in terms of their audiences’ level of
surveillance motivation, and how audiences rate the newspapers’ websites with respect
to usability and attractiveness. This study used a within-subject experimental research
design that exposed 51 subjects to both Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia online
newspapers. The results of the experiment indicate that Berita Harian and Utusan
Malaysia online were significantly different in terms of website usability; however,
no significant differences were found in terms of surveillance motivation or website
attractiveness between the two newspapers. Further analysis indicate that the only
significant predictor of selective exposure was website usability. This study highlights
the importance of website usability for online newspapers wanting to harness audience
selectivity
Bioinspired fog capture and channel mechanism based on the arid climate plant Salsola crassa
Salsola crassa plant hairs collect fog in their natural arid climate habitat through the capture and growth of water droplets. These then, either drip onto the ground below due to gravity, or coalesce into larger attached water droplets, whilst concurrently rolling downwards along the curvature of the Salsola crassa leaf (fog collection and water channelling mechanism). Non-woven and cotton fibrous materials are shown to mimic the fog harvesting behaviour of Salsola crassa hairs, where the overall mist collection efficiency can be enhanced by over 300 percent through the incorporation of multiple length scale (hierarchical) channel structures in conjunction with hydrophobic surface functionalisation