A Discrepancy between Objective and Perceived Privacy Risks? Understanding Messaging Service’s Discontinuance Usage

The number of users discontinuing messaging services due to perceived privacy risks has grown rapidly in recent months. Still, research on privacy risks in this context has not received much attention. We aim to examine the impact of objective and perceived privacy risks on discontinuance usage. To determine the level of objective privacy risks, we analyze the privacy policy of the messaging service WhatsApp. So far, we identify aggregation, secondary use, identification, and increased accessibility to be the most prevalent objective risks. We propose a longitudinal design to capture individuals’ perceived privacy risks and test the influence of both risk dimensions on the discontinued use of messaging services. We contribute to literature by disentangling the interplay of objective and perceived privacy risks on discontinuance

The distribution of ABO blood groups in a sample of hospital patients receiving blood transfusions

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37462/1/1330150314_ftp.pd

Paracellular Absorption: A Bat Breaks the Mammal Paradigm

Bats tend to have less intestinal tissue than comparably sized nonflying mammals. The corresponding reduction in intestinal volume and hence mass of digesta carried is advantageous because the costs of flight increase with load carried and because take-off and maneuverability are diminished at heavier masses. Water soluble compounds, such as glucose and amino acids, are absorbed in the small intestine mainly via two pathways, the transporter-mediated transcellular and the passive, paracellular pathways. Using the microchiropteran bat Artibeus literatus (mean mass 80.6±3.7 g), we tested the predictions that absorption of water-soluble compounds that are not actively transported would be extensive as a compensatory mechanism for relatively less intestinal tissue, and would decline with increasing molecular mass in accord with sieve-like paracellular absorption. Using a standard pharmacokinetic technique, we fed, or injected intraperitonealy the metabolically inert carbohydrates L-rhamnose (molecular mass = 164 Da) and cellobiose (molecular mass = 342 Da) which are absorbed only by paracellular transport, and 3-O-methyl-D-glucose (3OMD-glucose) which is absorbed via both mediated (active) and paracellular transport. As predicted, the bioavailability of paracellular probes declined with increasing molecular mass (rhamnose, 90±11%; cellobiose, 10±3%, n = 8) and was significantly higher in bats than has been reported for laboratory rats and other mammals. In addition, absorption of 3OMD-glucose was high (96±11%). We estimated that the bats rely on passive, paracellular absorption for more than 70% of their total glucose absorption, much more than in non-flying mammals. Although possibly compensating for less intestinal tissue, a high intestinal permeability that permits passive absorption might be less selective than a carrier-mediated system for nutrient absorption and might permit toxins to be absorbed from plant and animal material in the intestinal lumen