42 research outputs found
A Prediction Model for Initial Trust Formation in B2C eCommerce
This study investigates initial trust formation with an unknown online company. Based on data collected from 628 respondents, the results indicate significant direct effects for trust in the Internet infrastructure, susceptibility to the social influence of media, and the presence of influential site characteristics, on user willingness to provide personal information to unknown Internet firms. This study extends the research on trust in e-commerce by providing a prediction model that is demonstrated to calculate the probability of user willingness to provide information. The utility of the model for identifying the relative importance of factors and predicting outcomes lends insight into important issues in online trust formation
TOI-3785 b: A Low-Density Neptune Orbiting an M2-Dwarf Star
Using both ground-based transit photometry and high-precision radial velocity
(RV) spectroscopy, we confirm the planetary nature of TOI-3785 b. This
transiting Neptune orbits an M2-Dwarf star with a period of ~4.67 days, a
planetary radius of 5.14 +/- 0.16 Earth Radii, a mass of 14.95 +4.10, -3.92
Earth Masses, and a density of 0.61 +0.18, -0.17 g/cm^3. TOI-3785 b belongs to
a rare population of Neptunes (4 Earth Radii < Rp < 7 Earth Radii) orbiting
cooler, smaller M-dwarf host stars, of which only ~10 have been confirmed. By
increasing the number of confirmed planets, TOI-3785 b offers an opportunity to
compare similar planets across varying planetary and stellar parameter spaces.
Moreover, with a high transmission spectroscopy metric (TSM) of ~150 combined
with a relatively cool equilibrium temperature of 582 +/- 16 K and an inactive
host star, TOI-3785 b is one of the more promising low-density M-dwarf Neptune
targets for atmospheric follow-up. Future investigation into atmospheric mass
loss rates of TOI-3785 b may yield new insights into the atmospheric evolution
of these low-mass gas planets around M-dwarfs.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables, Submitted to A
Evidence for energy conservation during pubertal growth. A 10-year longitudinal study (EarlyBird 71)
BACKGROUND: Diabetes is closely linked to obesity, and obesity rates climb during adolescence for reasons that are not clear. Energy efficiency is important to obesity, and we describe a temporary but substantial fall in absolute energy expenditure, compatible with improved energy efficiency, during the rapid growth phase of puberty. METHODS: In a longitudinal cohort study lasting 10 years, we measured voluntary energy expenditure as physical activity (PA) by accelerometry, involuntary energy expenditure as resting energy expenditure (REE) by oxygen consumption, body mass index (BMI) and body composition by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry annually on 10 occasions from 7 to 16 years in the 347 children of the EarlyBird study. We used mixed effects modelling to analyse the trends in REE and their relationship to BMI, lean mass (LM), fat mass (FM), age, PA and pubertal stage. RESULTS: Relative REE and total PA fell during puberty, as previously described, but the longitudinal data and narrow age-range of the cohort (s.d.±4m) revealed for the first time a substantial fall in absolute REE during the period of maximum growth. The fall became clearer still when adjusted for FM and LM. The fall could not be explained by fasting insulin, adiponectin, leptin, luteinising hormone or follicle stimulating hormone. CONCLUSIONS: There appears to be a temporary but substantial reduction in energy expenditure during puberty, which is unrelated to changes in body composition. If it means higher energy efficiency, the fall in REE could be advantageous in an evolutionary context to delivering the extra energy needed for pubertal growth, but unfavourable to weight gain in a contemporary environment.International Journal of Obesity advance online publication, 4 October 2016; doi:10.1038/ijo.2016.158.We are grateful to the Bright futures trust, Fountain Foundation, BUPA Foundation, EarlyBird Diabetes Trust and countless individual donors who made this study possible
Enhancing organisational competitiveness via social media - a strategy as practice perspective
The affordances, popularity and pervasive use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have made these platforms attractive to organisations for enhancing their competitiveness and creating business value. Despite this apparent significance of social media for businesses, they are struggling with the development of a social media strategy as well as understanding the implications of social media on practice within their organisations. This paper explores how social media has become a tool for competitiveness and its influence on organisational strategy and practice. Using the 'strategy as practice' lens and guided by the interpretivist philosophy, this paper uses the empirical case of a telecom organisation in Tanzania. The findings show that social media is influencing competitiveness through imitation and product development. Also, the findings indicate how social media affects the practices within an organisation, consequently making the social media strategy an emergent phenomenon
TOI-2015b: A Warm Neptune with Transit Timing Variations Orbiting an Active mid M Dwarf
We report the discovery of a close-in () warm Neptune with clear transit timing variations (TTVs)
orbiting the nearby () active M4 star, TOI-2015. We
characterize the planet's properties using TESS photometry, precise
near-infrared radial velocities (RV) with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HP)
Spectrograph, ground-based photometry, and high-contrast imaging. A joint
photometry and RV fit yields a radius , mass , and
density for TOI-2015b,
suggesting a likely volatile-rich planet. The young, active host star has a
rotation period of and
associated rotation-based age estimate of . Though
no other transiting planets are seen in the TESS data, the system shows clear
TTVs of super period and
amplitude . After considering multiple likely
period ratio models, we show an outer planet candidate near a 2:1 resonance can
explain the observed TTVs while offering a dynamically stable solution.
However, other possible two-planet solutions -- including 3:2 and 4:3 resonance
-- cannot be conclusively excluded without further observations. Assuming a 2:1
resonance in the joint TTV-RV modeling suggests a mass of
for TOI-2015b and
for the outer candidate.
Additional transit and RV observations will be beneficial to explicitly
identify the resonance and further characterize the properties of the system.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables. As submitted to AAS Journal
Uncovering a Massive z~7.65 Galaxy Hosting a Heavily Obscured Radio-Loud QSO Candidate in COSMOS-Web
In this letter, we report the discovery of the highest redshift, heavily
obscured, radio-loud QSO candidate selected using JWST NIRCam/MIRI, mid-IR,
sub-mm, and radio imaging in the COSMOS-Web field. Using multi-frequency radio
observations and mid-IR photometry, we identify a powerful, radio-loud (RL),
growing supermassive black hole (SMBH) with significant spectral steepening of
the radio SED ( mJy, ,
, ). In conjunction
with ALMA, deep ground-based observations, ancillary space-based data, and the
unprecedented resolution and sensitivity of JWST, we find no evidence of QSO
contribution to the UV/optical/NIR data and thus infer heavy amounts of
obscuration (N cm). Using the wealth of deep UV
to sub-mm photometric data, we report a singular solution photo-z of
= 7.65 and estimate an extremely massive
host-galaxy (). This
source represents the furthest known obscured RL QSO candidate, and its level
of obscuration aligns with the most representative but observationally scarce
population of QSOs at these epochs.Comment: Submitted to ApJL, Comments welcom
Subjectivity, affect and place: Thinking with Deleuze and Guattari’s body without organs to explore a young teen girl’s becomings in a post-industrial locale.
This article explores how subjectivities are affectively tied to the histories of space, place and time through ethnographic research on young people’s everyday lives in a semi-rural post-industrial locale. Drawing on a longitudinal case study of one teenage girl’s inventive practices, we capture moments in time that we arrange as ‘enunciating assemblages’ (Guattari, 2006) to explore how conscious and unconscious affective relations repeat and rupture sedimented gendered histories of place. We experiment with Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the full and empty Body without Organs to trace the ‘ontological intensities’ of how, when and where newness and change become possible. We argue that making visible young people’s nascent becomings by focusing on what young people already do and imagine, we can potentially support young people pursuing new horizons without losing the very sense of place that makes them feel both safe and alive