A Proposed Theoretical Model of Discontinuous Usage of Voice-Activated Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs)

Based on the contradictory phenomenon of rapid development of Voice-Activated Intelligent Personal Assistants (Voice-Activated IPAs) and discontinuous usage of it, this paper investigates the antecedents of discontinuous usage of Voice-Activated IPAs. We first analyze the topic of Siri usage discussion from Zhihu\u27s Q&A website, and then propose a theoretical model which hypothesized that discontinuous usage of Voice-Activated IPAs are affected by perceived ambiguity, cognitive overload, privacy concern, social embarrassment and lack of integration. It is hypothesized that perceived ambiguity will exert nonlinear impacts on discontinuous usage. Meanwhile, perceived ambiguity is also affected by level of personification in a nonlinear way. Scale development and data collection would be conducted for the future work. It is expected that the results our research could provide theoretical and practical implications for the design of Voice-Activated IPAs

Get Tired of Socializing as Social Animal? An Empirical Explanation on Discontinuous Usage Behavior in Social Network Services

This research aims to explain users’ discontinuous usage behavior in social network context. With system features increasing, information flooding and personal network expanding of SNSs, users begin to emerge social network fatigue, and ultimately induce discontinuous usage intention. To explain this phenomenon, we develop a research model based on a cognition-affection-conation framework. This study examines the role of perceived overload (in terms of system feature overload, information overload and social overload) in influencing users’ negative affections of SNSs including social network fatigue and dissatisfaction, and the effects of such emotions on users’ discontinuous intention, which are validated through an empirical survey. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the relationship among perceived overload, social network fatigue and users’ discontinuous usage behavior, and give some implications to SNSs providers to improve this situation

Colpitts Chaotic Oscillator Coupling with a Generalized Memristor

By introducing a generalized memristor into a fourth-order Colpitts chaotic oscillator, a new memristive Colpitts chaotic oscillator is proposed in this paper. The generalized memristor is equivalent to a diode bridge cascaded with a first-order parallel RC filter. Chaotic attractors of the oscillator are numerically revealed from the mathematical model and experimentally captured from the physical circuit. The dynamics of the memristive Colpitts chaotic oscillator is investigated both theoretically and numerically, from which it can be found that the oscillator has a unique equilibrium point and displays complex nonlinear phenomena

Knockdown of TIGAR by RNA interference induces apoptosis and autophagy in HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells

AbstractApoptosis and autophagy are crucial mechanisms regulating cell death, and the relationship between apoptosis and autophagy in the liver has yet to be thoroughly explored. TIGAR (TP53-induced glycolysis and apoptosis regulator), which is a p53-inducible gene, functions in the suppression of ROS (reactive oxygen species) and protects U2OS cells from undergoing cell death. In this study, silencing TIGAR by RNAi (RNA interference) in HepG2 cells down-regulated both TIGAR mRNA (∼75%) and protein levels (∼80%) and led to the inhibition of cell growth (P<0.01) by apoptosis (P<0.001) and autophagy. We demonstrated that TIGAR can increase ROS levels in HepG2 cells. The down-regulation of TIGAR led to the induction of LC-3 II (specific autophagic marker), the formation of the autophagosome, and increased Beclin-1 expression. 3-MA (3-Methyladenine), an inhibitor of autophagic sequestration blocker, inhibited TIGAR siRNA-enhanced autophagy, as indicated by the decrease in LC-3 II levels. Consequently, these data provide the first evidence that targeted silencing of TIGAR induces apoptotic and autophagic cell death in HepG2 cells, and our data raise hope for the future successful application of TIGAR siRNA in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

Discrimination and classification of tobacco wastes by identification and quantification of polyphenols with LC–MS/MS

The chemical composition of polyphenols in tobacco waste was identified by HPLC-PDA–ESI/MS/MS and the contents of chlorogenic acids and rutin in 10 varieties of tobacco wastes were determined by HPLC–UV. The relationships between the contents of active polyphenols and the varieties of tobacco wastes were interpreted by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). The results showed that 15 polyphenols were identified in a methanolic extract of dried tobacco waste. The tobacco wastes were characterized by high levels of chlorogenic acids (3-CQA, 5-CQA, and 4-CQA) and rutin; their ranges in the 10 tobacco varieties were 0.116–0.196, 0.686–1.781, 0.094–0.192, and 0.413–0.998 %, respectively. According to multivariate statistics models, two active compound variables can be considered important for the discrimination of the varieties of tobacco wastes: chlorogenic acids and rutin. Consequently, samples of 10 tobacco varieties were characterized into three groups by HCA based on the PCA pattern. In conclusion, tobacco waste could be used as a new pharmaceutical material for the production of natural chlorogenic acids and rutin in the ethnopharmacological industry