Factors influencing consumers’ adoption and use of wearable technologies

Inactivity and increase in chronic health conditions caused by sedentary behavior have become a growing concern in many countries. In the past years, many health and wellbeing technologies have been launched to promote healthy behavior and help people to better monitor and track their activity level and performance throughout the day. The main goal of this thesis was to take a closer look at factors influencing consumers’ adoption and use of wearable technologies. For this purpose, a theoretical framework was built, highlighting key factors influencing perceived benefits, perceived risks and abandonment of wearable devices. The theoretical framework was tested by conducting an empirical study using netnography. Focus of the empirical study was narrowed down to the consumer market and activity trackers. Data of this study was collected from top rated reviews (N=60) in Amazon for three products: Fitbit Charge 2, Garmin Vivosmart HR+ and Polar A370. Sixty customer reviews were collected and analyzed using Atlas.ti. Results of this study showed that usefulness is the most influential factor on consumers’ perceived benefits of a wearable device. Perceived risks are mainly affected by financial and performance risks. Finally, data inaccuracy, build quality, synchronization, poor UI & UX design and system malfunction are the most impactful factors for dissatisfaction and device abandonment

Fully Functional Mock-ups in Constructing Value Propositions

Developing products based on customers’ needs is one of the key success factors for companies in today’s global market. As a result, in recent years, the involvement of customers during the product development process has increased significantly. Companies are trying to gather customer feedback as early as possible in the development process in order to understand customer value. However, reliable customer value can only be gathered once customers have gained experience in using the product. There-fore, companies usually need to wait until the late stages of the product development process after already determining product design and committing most of the costs. The objective of this thesis is to introduce the concept of a fully functional mock-up, and to explain the role of these mock-ups in assisting companies to construct value propositions for their products in the early stages of product development. In this way, companies can share the whole product concept with the customers very early in the development process and enable them to experience using the product. This allows companies to not only receive customer feedback based on real user experience, but also to analyze customer value before committing most of the costs. This study shows that fully functional mock-ups were effective communication tools both internally among development team members and externally with customers. Furthermore, they provided the possibility for a real customer experience and offered enough information to build convincing, accurate value propositions in the early stages of the product development process. In addition, fully functional mock-ups enable companies to modify their product design based on customers’ real needs, thus preventing or at least diminishing possible financial losses in the future. This study is limited to cost-reducing innovations at a low level of technical complexity

Fully Functional Mock-ups in Constructing Value Propositions

Developing products based on customers’ needs is one of the key success factors for companies in today’s global market. As a result, in recent years, the involvement of customers during the product development process has increased significantly. Companies are trying to gather customer feedback as early as possible in the development process in order to understand customer value. However, reliable customer value can only be gathered once customers have gained experience in using the product. There-fore, companies usually need to wait until the late stages of the product development process after already determining product design and committing most of the costs. The objective of this thesis is to introduce the concept of a fully functional mock-up, and to explain the role of these mock-ups in assisting companies to construct value propositions for their products in the early stages of product development. In this way, companies can share the whole product concept with the customers very early in the development process and enable them to experience using the product. This allows companies to not only receive customer feedback based on real user experience, but also to analyze customer value before committing most of the costs. This study shows that fully functional mock-ups were effective communication tools both internally among development team members and externally with customers. Furthermore, they provided the possibility for a real customer experience and offered enough information to build convincing, accurate value propositions in the early stages of the product development process. In addition, fully functional mock-ups enable companies to modify their product design based on customers’ real needs, thus preventing or at least diminishing possible financial losses in the future. This study is limited to cost-reducing innovations at a low level of technical complexity

Insulin Modulates Intracellular Apolipoprotein B mRNA Traffic into RNA Granules/Cytoplasmic P Bodies: Implications in Translational Control

Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) synthesis is partially regulated at the translational level; however, the molecular mechanisms that govern translational control of apoB mRNA remains largely unknown. We imaged intracellular apoB mRNA traffic and determined whether insulin silences apoB mRNA translation by trafficking into translationally-silenced cytoplasmic RNA granules called Processing Bodies (PBS). ApoB mRNA was visualized by using a strong interaction between the bacteriophage MS2 protein and a specific phage RNA sequence that binds MS2 protein. We observed a statistically significant increase in the localization of apoB mRNA into PBs, 4h, 8h, and 16h after insulin treatment. Conversely, acute insulin treatment (1h) did not show any significant effect. Insulin was also found to reduce polysomal association of apoB mRNA 4h and 16h post treatment in HepG2 cells. Overall, our data suggest that chronic insulin treatment silences apoB translation in HepG2 cells by localizing apoB mRNA into PBs and reducing translationally-competent mRNA pools.MAS

A New Method of Earlier Kick Assessment Using ANFIS

The late detection of the kick (the entrance of underground fluids into oil wells) leads to oil well blowouts. It causes human life loss and imposes a great deal of expenses on the petroleum industry. This paper presents the application of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system designed for an earlier kick detection using measurable drilling parameters. In order to generate the initial fuzzy inference system, subtractive clustering is utilized. The training set contains 50 data samples and there are 362 data samples for testing the proposed method. Also, ANFIS structure is examined at different radii (the parameter of subtractive clustering). Different conformations are tested to get the earliest detection and the lowest false alarms while facing kick. Eventually, ANFIS verifies the danger exposure depth of about 28.6 meters before the depth that the kick was sensed by crew. Such an assessment gives the rig crew enough time to prepare for the danger and stop the operation before being exposed to high pressure zones

Impact of Viral Inflammation on the Expression of Renal Drug Transporters in Pregnant Rats

Inflammation impacts the expression and function of drug transporters at term-gestation; however, the impact of inflammation on the expression of drug transporters at mid-gestation is largely unknown. Since renal drug transporters play a key role in the clearance of many drugs prescribed during pregnancy, our objective was to study the impact of the viral mimetic poly I:C on the expression of renal transporters in pregnant rats at mid-gestation. Poly I:C (10 mg/kg) or saline was administered intraperitoneally to pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats on gestational day 14. Expression of renal transporters was measured at 6, 24, and 48 h by qRT-PCR and Western blot. The mRNA levels of Mdr1a, Mrp4, Oct2, Octn1, Octn2, Mate1, Oat1-3, Urat1, Oatp4c1, Ent1, and Pept2 were significantly lower in the poly I:C group at 6 h. At 24 h, only the mRNA levels of Oct2, Oatp4c1, and Ent1 were decreased compared to saline. Poly I:C significantly decreased protein expression of Urat1 at 24 h, and P-gp, Oct2, Mate1, Oat1, Oat3 at 48 h,. Poly I:C imposed significant reductions in the expression of several key renal transporters at mid-gestation in pregnant rats. Thus, viral infection may impact renal excretion of drug transporter substrates, potentially leading to drug–disease interactions