Testing the Task-Media Fit: The Effects of Task Equivocality on Social Presence of Mobile Video-Mediated Communication

Since social presence theory was introduced, many researchers have tried to apply it to various technology-mediated communication media, including E-Mail, videoconferencing, and instant messengers. Yet few researches have investigated the influence of mobile video-mediated communication (VMC) on the social presence despite prevalence in business practices. In this paper, a research model is developed to test the relationship between the mobile VMC (video telephony and video chatting) and the level of social presence. And the task equivocality, whether it’s an intellective task or a negotiation task, is also considered as moderating variables, based on the task-media fit proposition. Hence, mobile video chatting could be suggested as an alternative media of mobile video telephony for less equivocal informative tasks according to this study

Personal Information Breach as a Service Failure: Examining Relationships among Recovery Efforts, Justice, and Customer Responses

Information service users are required to provide personal information to service providers. Accordingly, Personal Information Breach (PIB) and side-effects have recently emerged. This study will seek answers to the following research questions: (1) In a PIB context, which types of PI are regarded as sensitive, and which recovery efforts are important?, (2) What effects do the company’s recovery efforts have on perceived justice, and how do these relationships vary according to the type of PIB?, and (3) What are the relationships between justice and customers’ responses? This study is significant since it views PIB as a type of service failure, and suggests a research model based on service failure/recovery processes and justice theory, and will empirically be tested. This study aims at strengthening its validity by employing a multi-method approach combining a survey and an experiment. Thus, the research findings will provide theoretical and practical contributions to information privacy areas

Removal of Chromium (III) from Aqueous Solution by Coconut Husk and Rice Straw

Coconut husk fibre and rice straw were found to be able to remove significant amount of Cr (III) ions from aqueous solutions. Its removal is a function of pH and concentration. The optimum pH range for maximum uptake is between 4 and 6 for both substrates. The adsorption capacity was found to be 0.55 and 0.30 millimole Cr (III) / g substrate for coconut husk and rice straw respectively. The adsorption kinetic studies show that the removal process follows a first order rate expression. The breakthrough curves and adsorption efficiency of various columns containing mixed media of coconut husk/rice straw, soil and sand have been obtained. The results demonstrate that these agricultural residues could be used as barriers in a landfill to maximize immobilization of toxic metal ions such as Cr (III) in leachates

An Empirical Study on the factors influencing the utilization and the effectiveness of Enterprise Instant Messenger

Communication technology has been recognized to play an important role in boosting organization’s competitiveness and viability by facilitating efficient communication and information sharing. Lately, many organizations began to actively adopt the self-developed Enterprise Instant Messenger (EIM) as a common organizational communication medium after experiencing security problem with public messengers like MSN. Its utilization and tangible benefits of EIM, however, vary. There’s an urgent need to understand how each organization embraces EIM and to empirically evaluate whether active use of EIM can result in a better communication, eventually leading into better business productivity. In this research we try to investigate those antecedents which may have affected the high use of EIM and a better decision making efficiency. Theoretical justification of research variables and causal relationships of our research model are mainly based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), media selection theory, and social influence model. Through a survey data analysis of 171 EIM users, it was found that perceived usefulness, social influence, the externally-orientated organizational culture had a significant effect on the high use of EIM. In addition, the use of EIM was found to have a significant effect on the efficiency in the decision-making process

Market Segmentation of Information Systems Academic Programs

Past Information Systems (IS) curriculum studies recognize the importance of the practitioner’s perspective and attempt to incorporate “real world” IS skill requirements within recommended IS model curriculum guidelines. While recent IS curriculum recommendations move towards a greater customer orientation, many practitioners still feel IS education programs are not producing the types of IS professionals needed on their job sites. This raises an important question: Given the significant role that practitioners have played in recommending new curriculum designs, why are IS practitioners not satisfied with the quality and skill training of IS graduates? While many reasons, such as poor curriculum implementation and the rapid change of technology, may contribute to this problem, a significant contributor may be that blanket adoption of national IS model curriculum fails to recognize the basic marketing concept of segmentation. We posit that understanding the customers of IS academic programs in segmented markets should lead to better designed curriculum and accordingly, deliver students that better meet specific market demands. Rather than simply ranking IS employer skill preferences on a national basis, this study relies on the marketing reference discipline for guidance in introducing a market segmentation model and an implementation approach to help bridge the gap between academia and practitioners

Influential Factors on Korean Casino Visitor’s Gambling Intention: An Application of the Model of Goal-directed Behavior

By examining the perception of responsible gambling strategy this study developed an extended model of goal-directed behavior (EMGB) in the casino visitor’s decision-making process. This study also aimed to compare EMGB with theory of planned behavior (TPB). The results of the EMGB using structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate that “desire” had the strongest relationship with casino visitors’ intention to play casino gambling. The perception of responsible gambling strategy was also found significant (direct) predictor of both desire and behavioral intention as casino visitors had positive image for casino that implemented responsible gambling strategies. Casino managers should consider responsible gambling strategy as one of the important long-term business activities to increase casino visitor’s intention to play casino gambling

What Determines Actual Use of Mobile Web Browsing Services? A Contextual Study in Korea

The use of mobile Web browsing services is a worldwide phenomenon. The intent of this research is to produce a testable model of Web browsing services use that both identifies unique national market differences and yet is theoretically parsimonious enough to permit future cross-national studies. Specifically, our model examines which factors determine the use of mobile Web browsing services in South Korea. We show that content quality, hardware quality, ubiquity, cost, and relational factors are important predictors of actual use of mobile Web browsing services. However, counter to our model’s predictions, network quality and security did not appear to be significant factors in Korea at this point of market maturity. Future empirical examination of the proposed model in different markets worldwide should provide multinational IT vendors with better understanding of the similarities and differences in the global smart phone business

Optimized routing of unmanned aerial systems to address informational gaps in counterinsurgency

Thesis (S.M. in Transportation)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-132).Recent military conflicts reveal that the ability to assess and improve the health of a society contributes more to a successful counterinsurgency (COIN) than direct military engagement. In COIN, a military commander requires maximum situational awareness not only with regard to the enemy but also to the status of logistical support concerning civil security operations, governance, essential services, economic development, and the host nation's security forces. Although current Brigade level Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) can provide critical unadulterated views of progress with respect to these Logistical Lines of Operation (LLO), the majority of units continue to employ UASs for strictly conventional combat support missions. By incorporating these LLO targets into the mission planning cycle with a collective UAS effort, commanders can gain a decisive advantage in COIN. Based on the type of LLO, some of these targets might require more than a single observation to provide the maximum benefit. This thesis explores an integer programming and metaheuristic approach to solve the Collective UAS Planning Problem (CUPP). The solution to this problem provides optimal plans for multiple sortie routes for heterogeneous UAS assets that collectively visit these diverse secondary LLO targets while in transition to or from primary mission targets. By exploiting the modularity of the Raven UAS asset, we observe clear advantages, with respect to the total number of targets observed and the total mission time, from an exchange of Raven UASs and from collective sharing of targets between adjacent units. Comparing with the status quo of decentralized operations, we show that the results of this new concept demonstrate significant improvements in target coverage. Furthermore, the use of metaheuristics with a Repeated Local Search algorithm facilitates the fast generation of solutions, each within 1.72% of optimality for problems with up to 5 UASs and 25 nodes. By adopting this new paradigm of collective Raven UAS operations and LLO integration, Brigade level commanders can maximize the use of organic UAS assets to address the complex information requirements characteristic of COIN. Future work for the CUPP to reflect a more realistic model could include the effects of random service times and high priority pop-up targets during mission execution.by Andrew C. Lee.S.M.in Transportatio