Comparing the Effects of Perceived Enjoyment and Perceived Risk on Hedonic/Utilitarian Smartphone Applications

Despite the widespread adoption of smartphone applications, empirical research that examines the user acceptance on different application types is still scare. This paper empirically compares the effects of perceived enjoyment and perceived risk on hedonic and utilitarian smartphone applications. Our analyses show that perceived enjoyment is a stronger determinant of intention to use a hedonic smartphone application than a utilitarian application. Perceived risk has a significant negative influence on intention to use utilitarian smartphone applications, while it does not have a significant impact on intention to use hedonic applications. Surprisingly, perceived risk has an insignificant effect on perceived usefulness both in utilitarian and hedonic smartphone applications

Few-shot Neural Radiance Fields Under Unconstrained Illumination

In this paper, we introduce a new challenge for synthesizing novel view images in practical environments with limited input multi-view images and varying lighting conditions. Neural radiance fields (NeRF), one of the pioneering works for this task, demand an extensive set of multi-view images taken under constrained illumination, which is often unattainable in real-world settings. While some previous works have managed to synthesize novel views given images with different illumination, their performance still relies on a substantial number of input multi-view images. To address this problem, we suggest ExtremeNeRF, which utilizes multi-view albedo consistency, supported by geometric alignment. Specifically, we extract intrinsic image components that should be illumination-invariant across different views, enabling direct appearance comparison between the input and novel view under unconstrained illumination. We offer thorough experimental results for task evaluation, employing the newly created NeRF Extreme benchmark-the first in-the-wild benchmark for novel view synthesis under multiple viewing directions and varying illuminations.Comment: Project Page: https://seokyeong94.github.io/ExtremeNeRF

MAIR: Multi-view Attention Inverse Rendering with 3D Spatially-Varying Lighting Estimation

We propose a scene-level inverse rendering framework that uses multi-view images to decompose the scene into geometry, a SVBRDF, and 3D spatially-varying lighting. Because multi-view images provide a variety of information about the scene, multi-view images in object-level inverse rendering have been taken for granted. However, owing to the absence of multi-view HDR synthetic dataset, scene-level inverse rendering has mainly been studied using single-view image. We were able to successfully perform scene-level inverse rendering using multi-view images by expanding OpenRooms dataset and designing efficient pipelines to handle multi-view images, and splitting spatially-varying lighting. Our experiments show that the proposed method not only achieves better performance than single-view-based methods, but also achieves robust performance on unseen real-world scene. Also, our sophisticated 3D spatially-varying lighting volume allows for photorealistic object insertion in any 3D location.Comment: Accepted by CVPR 2023; Project Page is https://bring728.github.io/mair.project

Exercise-induced oxidative stress markers (glutathione and oxidized LDL) during and after an hour of aerobic exercise

Exercise puts a stress on the body and results in multiple physiological changes despite the homeostatic mechanisms in place that try to maintain normalized conditions in the body. One of the factors that are transiently elevated with exercise of sufficient intensity and duration is the production of reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (RONS) which act as signal molecules that can influence adaptation. If these RONS accumulate beyond the normal level this is known as oxidative stress (OS). If OS is maintained over time, then homeostasis may be disrupted and adverse responses may occur, leading to dysfunction or disease. Previous studies have reported that most types of exercise (resistance, aerobic, and/or high intensity interval trainings) can induce an acute OS. The literature suggests that sufficient intensity and duration of exercise are needed to increase OS during exercise and is often noted with sample taken immediately after the exercise. Aerobic activities of at least 65-70%VO2max for at least 10 minutes have reported increased OS based on blood and/or muscle markers. Unfortunately, most studies only determined immediate post exercise responses. Only one study has reported a time-course of OS immediately after exercise and the sample period ended 30 minutes after exercise. However, no study has examined the timeline of OS biomarkers during and after an exercise. Additionally, there is limited information dealing with evening exercise. In this study, two OS markers were determined: lipid oxidation marker (oxidized low-density lipoprotein, LDLox) and the antioxidant glutathione and its status (glutathione status; the ratio of oxidized glutathione (GSSG), to total glutathione, TGSH [GSSG/TGSH]. The purposes of this study were 1) to determine the time course accumulation in the blood markers over the 1-hour exercise and 2) to determine the time course of the removal of OS blood markers in the 1 hour after exercise. To accomplish these objectives, 10 subjects participated in two conditions. The exercise condition contained an exercise and recovery period. The exercise period was one hour of aerobic exercise in an environmental chamber, which was set at 30? and 40% humidity. The recovery period was two 30-minute periods (30mins in the chamber and 30mins outside of the chamber). The temperature outside of the chamber was between 20-23? with 30-40% humidity. The control condition was composed of a non-exercise seated position as was the recovery period. The recovery period was the same as the exercise condition, but for the first 30 minutes inside the chamber and the next 30 minutes was outside the chamber. Blood collection started 15mins before exercise and continued every 15mins until the end of the one- hour recovery period (total of 9 blood samples per visit per subject). The exercise condition did not show significantly increased plasma LDLox concentration and whole blood GSSG/TGSH ratio compared to the rested condition in the hot conditions. This appears to be related to the hot condition which showed GSSG/TGSH increased dramatically by 30 minutes in both conditions. Thus, there was only a time significance (p=0.02). The level of OS approached significance for LDLox for condition p=0.054. The time effect also approached significance at p=0.061 and there was no significant interaction effect at a p= 0.074. Although the LDLox appeared elevated there were large interindividual differences between subjects. The pattern for the LDLox over time was fairly stable over the last 30 minutes of the exercise bout. In contrast, GSSG/TGSH ratio fluctuated over the 60-minute time frame in the hot condition. During the recovery period, the level of the two OS markers did not show the anticipated trend toward baseline levels. In fact, GSSG/TGSH showed significant increases at the 120min time point p=0.04 independent of condition. In summary, the data suggests that these oxidative stress markers responded differently over the time course. The GSSG/TGSH ratio fluctuated more than the LDLox. Due to the fact that the intensity of exercise was lowered the OS markers did not obtain a significant change by the exercise compared to the resting condition. The cycling at 70-75% of maximum power initially induced enough stress but when the intensity was lowered to ~ 51% the stress and was not sustained. In addition, the 30?-chamber temperature most likely affected the results as the GSSG/TGSH ratio increased at 30 minutes independent of exercise. It is suggested that future studies examine more neutral environmental control conditions in future studies with a larger sample size. [This abstract may have been edited to remove characters that will not display in this system. Please see the PDF for the full abstract.]]]> 2021 Oxidative stress Aerobic exercises Low density lipoproteins Glutathione English http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/Lee_uncg_0154M_13438.pdf oai:libres.uncg.edu/37072 2022-02-03T12:34:12Z UNCG “That’s not fair!” Black secondary students’ perceptions and experiences with school discipline Leslie, Noelle NC DOCKS at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro <![CDATA[Consistent research over the past 40 years as shed light on racial disparities with school discipline. Black students are overrepresented in office referrals and exclusionary discipline. Today, schools and school districts have focused on improving equity to increase student achievement. Schools have also worked to close the discipline gap between Black and White students. However, despite school districts efforts to close the discipline gap with various solutions, racial disparities and discrimination continue to exist in school discipline. In recent years, researchers have focused more on student perception and amplifying student voice to counter the message that we consistently observe with discipline data. This research aims to add to that research. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gage Black secondary students’ perceptions and experiences with middle school discipline. The research also aimed to identify and make meaning of differences across gender or age through indirect/direct experiences or observation. There is a dearth of research which focuses on middle school perception and this research seeks to add to the discussion. I met with three focus groups each composed of three to four students. Focus groups were utilized because they have the potential to produce a great amount of data because of the face-to-face contact between participants and the interviewer (Parker &amp; Tritter, 2006). The first two focus groups were composed of eighth-grade students who attended a small charter school. The last focus group included high school students who reflected on their middle school experiences at various traditional schools. Due to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, I met with the first two focus groups one time. I met with the third focus group twice. All focus group were conducted virtually using the Zoom platform and lasted 50-60 minutes. After I conducted all three focus groups, the data was transcribed. I analyzed the transcriptions and disaggregated the data into topics or categories discussed. Based on those categories I have identified, I assigned codes in each category and broke down the nature of the student responses. Next, I grouped the codes into emerging categories and identified themes or patterns emerged. Findings from my data reveal students perceive relationships between students and staff as a critical factor to improving equity, closing the discipline gap, and ensuring equitable treatment in the discipline process. Data from student perception also revealed students value teachers who show care and concern for their academic and non-academic affairs. One key implication from the research is the importance of highlighting student voice to transform and improve the school culture for students and staff

Hypocapnia Attenuates, and Nitrous Oxide Disturbs the Cerebral Oximetric Response to the Rapid Introduction of Desflurane

The aim of this study was to develop a nonlinear mixed-effects model for the increase in cerebral oximetry (rSO2) during the rapid introduction of desflurane, and to determine the effect of hypocapnia and N2O on the model. Twelve American Society of Anesthesiologist physical status class 1 and 2 subjects were allocated randomly into an Air and N2O group. After inducing anesthesia, desflurane was then increased abruptly from 4.0 to 12.0%. The PETCO2, PETDESF and rSO2 were recorded at 12 predetermined periods for the following 10 min. The maximum increase in rSO2 reached +24-25% during normocapnia. The increase in rSO2 could be fitted to a four parameter logistic equation as a function of the logarithm of PETDESF. Hypocapnia reduced the maximum response of rSO2, shifted the EC50 to the right, and increased the slope in the Air group. N2O shifted the EC50 to the right, and reduced the slope leaving the maximum rSO2 unchanged. The N2O-effects disappeared during hypocapnia. The cerebrovascular reactivity of rSO2 to CO2 is still preserved during the rapid introduction of desflurane. N2O slows the response of rSO2. Hypocapnia overwhelms all the effects of N2O

Hyperelastic, shape‐memorable, and ultra‐cell‐adhesive degradable polycaprolactone‐polyurethane copolymer for tissue regeneration

Novel polycaprolactone-based polyurethane (PCL-PU) copolymers with hyperelasticity, shape-memory, and ultra-cell-adhesion properties are reported as clinically applicable tissue-regenerative biomaterials. New isosorbide derivatives (propoxylated or ethoxylated ones) were developed to improve mechanical properties by enhanced reactivity in copolymer synthesis compared to the original isosorbide. Optimized PCL-PU with propoxylated isosorbide exhibited notable mechanical performance (50 MPa tensile strength and 1150% elongation with hyperelasticity under cyclic load). The shape-memory effect was also revealed in different forms (film, thread, and 3D scaffold) with 40%–80% recovery in tension or compression mode after plastic deformation. The ultra-cell-adhesive property was proven in various cell types which were reasoned to involve the heat shock protein-mediated integrin (α5 and αV) activation, as analyzed by RNA sequencing and inhibition tests. After the tissue regenerative potential (muscle and bone) was confirmed by the myogenic and osteogenic responses in vitro, biodegradability, compatible in vivo tissue response, and healing capacity were investigated with in vivo shape-memorable behavior. The currently exploited PCL-PU, with its multifunctional (hyperelastic, shape-memorable, ultra-celladhesive, and degradable) nature and biocompatibility, is considered a potential tissue- regenerative biomaterial, especially for minimally invasive surgery that requires small incisions to approach large defects with excellent regeneration capacity