Improving the Adoptability of a Mobile Service: A Case Study

Mobile technologies are penetrating into everyday lives of people and are providing miscellaneous services on the mobile device for users. Most of researches in this area have been done after the introduction of the service to the market. In this tough market, service providers need to know exactly which elements of their services or technologies can be improved before final stage of development and surely before launching the application or service. This article studies intentions to use a service, through a mobile application, for possible improvements in adoptability of the service. The Nysveen et al’s integrated model (2005) has been utilized for conducting the research and data was collected over a survey study. Such insights allow mobile service providers and mobile marketers to create more customized services. This paper concludes with both theoretical and practical implications and limitations of the study results

Preharvest foliar application of methyl jasmonate,salicylic acid and potassium sulfate on improving the quality of pomegranate fruit

To cite th is article / Pou r citer cet articl

Associations of vitamin D binding protein variants with the vitamin D-induced increase in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a global problem that may be improved by vitamin D supplementation; however, the individual's response to the intervention varies. We aimed to investigate possible genetic factors that may modify the impact of environmental exposure on vitamin D status. The candidate gene variant we investigated was the Gc gene-rs4588 polymorphism at the vitamin D receptor (DBP) locus. Methods: A total of 619 healthy adolescent Iranian girls received 50000 IU of vitamin D3 weekly for 9 weeks. Serum 25(OH) D concentrations, metabolic profiles and dietary intake were measured at baseline and after 9 weeks of supplementation. The genotypes of the DBP variant (rs4588) were analyzed using the TaqMan genotyping assay. Results: Our results revealed that the rs4588 polymorphism might be associated with serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D both at baseline (p value=0.03) and after intervention (p value=0.008). It seemed that the outcome of the intervention was gene-related so that the subjects with common AA genotype were a better responder to vitamin D supplementation (Changes (%) 469.5(427.1) in AA carriers vs. 335.8(530) in GG holders), and carriers of the less common GG genotype experienced a rise in blood glucose after 9 weeks (Changes (%) 0 (1.5)). Our findings also showed that the statistical interaction between this variant and supplementation was statistically significant (intervention effect p-value<0.001 and p-value SNP effect=0.03). The regression model also revealed that after adjusted for potential confounders, likelihood of affecting serum 25(OH)D in individuals who were homozygous for the uncommon allele G was less than those homozygous for the more common AA genotype (OR=4.407 (1.82-8.89); p=0.001). Conclusion: Serum vitamin 25(OH) D following vitamin 25(OH) D3 supplementation appears to be modified by genetic background. The Gc genetic variant, rs4588 encoding the vitamin D receptor seems to influence the response to vitamin D supplementation. Key words: Total 25(OH) D, Supplementation, Gc gene, rs4588

Tracing the origin of Oriental beech stands across Western Europe and reporting hybridization with European beech : implications for assisted gene flow

The benefits and risks of human-aided translocation of individuals within the species range, assisted gene flow (AGF), depend on the genetic divergence, on the rate and direction of hybridization, and on the climate transfer distance between the host and donor populations. In this study, we explored the use of Oriental beech (Fagus sylvatica subsp. orientalis), growing from Iran to the Balkans, for AGF into European beech populations (F. sylvatica subsp. sylvatica) that increasingly suffer from climate warming. Using samples from natural populations of Oriental and European beech and microsatellite loci, we identified 5 distinct genetic clusters in Oriental beech with a divergence (FST) of 0.15 to 0.25 from European beech. Using this knowledge, we traced the origin of 11 Oriental beech stands in Western Europe established during the 20th century. In two stands of Greater Caucasus origin, we found evidence for extensive hybridization, with 18% and 41% of the offspring having hybrid status. Climate data revealed higher seasonality with warmer and drier summers across the native Oriental beech sites in comparison to the planting sites in Western Europe. Accordingly, we found that bud burst of Oriental beech occurred four days earlier than in European beech. Overall, our results suggest that AGF of Oriental beech could increase the genetic diversity of European beech stands and may foster introgression of variants adapted to expected future climatic conditions. Our study showcases the evaluation of the benefits and risks of AGF and call for similar studies on other native tree species

A multilevel intervention to increase physical activity and improve healthy eating and physical literacy among young children (ages 3-5) attending early childcare centres: the Healthy Start-Départ Santé cluster randomised controlled trial study protocol

Abstract: Background: Childhood obesity is a growing concern for public health. Given a majority of children in many countries spend approximately 30 h per week in early childcare centers, this environment represents a promising setting for implementing strategies to foster healthy behaviours for preventing and controlling childhood obesity. Healthy Start-Départ Santé was designed to promote physical activity, physical literacy, and healthy eating among preschoolers. The objectives of this study are to assess the effectiveness of the Healthy Start-Départ Santé intervention in improving physical activity levels, physical literacy, and healthy eating among preschoolers attending early childcare centers. Methods/Design: This study follows a cluster randomized controlled trial design in which the childcare centers are randomly assigned to receive the intervention or serve as usual care controls. The Healthy Start-Départ Santé intervention is comprised of interlinked components aiming to enable families and educators to integrate physical activity and healthy eating in the daily lives of young children by influencing factors at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, community, physical environment and policy levels. The intervention period, spanning 6-8 months, is preceded and followed by data collections. Participants are recruited from 61 childcare centers in two Canadian provinces, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. Centers eligible for this study have to prepare and provide meals for lunch and have at least 20 children between the ages of 3 and 5. Centers are excluded if they have previously received a physical activity or nutrition promoting intervention. Eligible centers are stratified by province, geographical location (urban or rural) and language (English or French), then recruited and randomized using a one to one protocol for each stratum. Data collection is ongoing. The primary study outcomes are assessed using accelerometers (physical activity levels), the Test of Gross Motor Development-II (physical literacy), and digital photography-assisted weighted plate waste (food intake). Discussion: The multifaceted approach of Healthy Start-Départ Santé positions it well to improve the physical literacy and both dietary and physical activity behaviors of children attending early childcare centers. The results of this study will be of relevance given the overwhelming prevalence of overweight and obesity in children worldwide. Trial registration: NCT02375490 (ClinicalTrials.gov registry)

Low urine pH and acid excretion do not predict bone fractures or the loss of bone mineral density: a prospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The acid-ash hypothesis, the alkaline diet, and related products are marketed to the general public. Websites, lay literature, and direct mail marketing encourage people to measure their urine pH to assess their health status and their risk of osteoporosis.</p> <p>The objectives of this study were to determine whether 1) low urine pH, or 2) acid excretion in urine [sulfate + chloride + 1.8x phosphate + organic acids] minus [sodium + potassium + 2x calcium + 2x magnesium mEq] in fasting morning urine predict: a) fragility fractures; and b) five-year change of bone mineral density (BMD) in adults.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Design: Cohort study: the prospective population-based Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine associations between acid excretion (urine pH and urine acid excretion) in fasting morning with the incidence of fractures (6804 person years). Multiple linear regression was used to examine associations between acid excretion with changes in BMD over 5-years at three sites: lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip (n = 651). Potential confounders controlled included: age, gender, family history of osteoporosis, physical activity, smoking, calcium intake, vitamin D status, estrogen status, medications, renal function, urine creatinine, body mass index, and change of body mass index.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were no associations between either urine pH or acid excretion and either the incidence of fractures or change of BMD after adjustment for confounders.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Urine pH and urine acid excretion do not predict osteoporosis risk.</p

Aplicabilidade do indice adiposidade corporal na estimativa do percentual de gordura de jovens mulheres brasileiras

INTRODUÇÃO: A estimativa da composição corporal é um campo de estudo importante no prognóstico e diagnóstico de enfermidades degenerativas. OBJETIVO: Analisar a aplicabilidade do Índice de adiposidade corporal (IAC) e o método de dobras cutâneas. MÉTODOS: A amostra foi constituída por 19 adultas jovens com média de idade 24,53 ± 2,65 anos, submetidas à avaliação antropométrica (circunferências e dobras cutâneas) e absorsiometria por dupla emissão de raio X (DXA). Os valores estimados foram comparados ao valor de referência por meio do teste t pareado e pela análise do nível de associação entre os métodos pela correlação de Pearson; o nível de significância foi p 0,05) com nível de associação forte (r = 0,879). CONCLUSÃO: Embora o IAC não apresente diferença para os valores estimados, fica evidente a necessidade de mais estudos sobre a aplicabilidade do método na população brasileira

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Association between Grain Intake, Nutrient Intake, and Diet Quality of Canadians: Evidence from the Canadian Community Health Survey–Nutrition 2015

The new Canada&rsquo;s Food Guide (CFG) recommends whole grains foods as the primary choice of grain products in the daily diet. This study examined whether higher shares of whole-grain consumption, beyond the recommended levels (i.e., above half) of the daily grain intake, are linked with optimal diet quality and intakes of some key nutrients, for both children and adolescents and adults in Canada. To meet the objective of this study, we used the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)&ndash;Nutrition 2015, which is a nationally representative data. We employed the propensity score matching (PSM) method in this study. PSM estimates the exposure effect when a set of individuals are exposed to a specific treatment (food group intake in this study) in a non-experimental setting. The results of our analyses implied that a high consumption of whole grains is associated with a good diet quality. However, after a certain level of whole-grain consumption, no significant differences can be observed in diet quality scores of children and adolescents and adults. Moreover, it was observed that the proportion of obese and overweight individuals was significantly lower among adults that had balanced intakes of whole and non-whole grains. The results of logistic regression analyses also showed the probability of being obese and overweight is significantly lower in the case of adults with balanced intakes of grains. However, no significant differences were observed in the prevalence of obesity and overweight across whole grains consumption patterns for children and adolescents