Examining the Role of Privacy Policy on Host Information Disclosure on Accommodation Sharing Platforms

In recent years, more and more people embrace accommodation sharing services via online community marketplaces such as Airbnb, Couchsurfing, Homestay, and Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO). In the meanwhile, consumers’ concerns on the privacy and safety that arise from online transactions and social interactions on participating in accommodation sharing are increasingly growing. The goal of this research is to investigate the impact of privacy policy on hosts’ privacy concern, security concern, perceived benefits, and information disclosure on the accommodation sharing platforms (ASPs).Our study complements the existing privacy literature by demonstrating that hosts’ participation in ASPs depend on extrinsic benefits, perceived risks, and platform features. Therefore, we provide supporting empirical evidence to earlier theoretical developments that emphasize the role of privacy calculus on individual’s self-disclosure behavior. Additionally, this study takes the first step to bridge the gap in the existing literature that has so far ignored the different dimensions of privacy concern. Our research advances this body of knowledge by showing that on ASPs, hosts can have both privacy concern and security concern. The existing privacy policy can effectively reduce hosts’ concern about platform’s privacy invasion but fail to alleviate hosts’ concern that derives from other platform visitors\u27 opportunistic behavior

Understanding Online Health Information Use: The Case of People with Physical Disabilities

In this paper, we study the online health information use behavior of people with physical disabilities. Drawing on rational choice theory and IS success model, we develop a contextualized research model to explain how individuals’ level of physical disability moderates the effects of object- and outcome-based beliefs. We empirically tested the model with survey data from 243 online users with physical disabilities. The results show that perceived benefit enhances, whereas perceived risk reduces, online health information use. Information quality and system quality increase perceived benefit and mitigate perceived risk. In addition, we found that accuracy, completeness, currency, and transparency of online health information predict information quality, whereas accessibility, navigability, and readability of online health information predict system quality. More importantly, we found that physical disability weakens the effect of information quality on perceived risk, strengthens the effect of system quality on perceived risk, and strengthens the effect of perceived benefits on information use. This research contributes to the IS literature by focusing on the minority group of people with physical disabilities and providing an in-depth understanding of their online health information use behavior

Privacy Policy and Hosts’ Concerns on Accommodation Sharing Platforms

Accommodation-sharing services are gaining great popularity via online community platforms in recent years. Meanwhile, users’ privacy concerns over social interactions and online transactions on these platforms are escalating. This study investigates whether and how privacy policy can properly mitigate hosts’ privacy concerns, enhance perceived benefits, and subsequently encourage their information disclosure on the accommodation sharing platforms (ASPs). Through a scenario-based survey and a controlled experiment, we find that the hosts are more concerned about the other users’ misappropriating the private information that the hosts disclose on the platform than the platforms’ privacy invasion behaviors. However, this major concern is not significantly mitigated by the current privacy policy. Moreover, privacy policy engenders two types of perceived benefits, among which the perceived social benefit has a stronger effect than economic benefit on the hosts’ intentions to disclose information on ASPs

What factors influence older people’s intention to enrol in nursing homes? A cross-sectional observational study in Shanghai, China

Objectives Given the increasing need of long-term care and the low occupancy rate of nursing homes in Shanghai, this study attempts to explore what factors influence older people’s intention to enrol in nursing homes. Design A cross-sectional observational study based on the theory of reasoned action was conducted. Survey data were collected from subjects during face-to-face interviews. Structural equation modelling was employed for data analysis. setting This study was conducted in six community health service centres in Shanghai, China. Two service centres were selected in urban, suburban and rural areas, respectively. Participants A total of 641 Shanghai residents aged over 60 were surveyed. results Structural equation modelling analysis showed that the research model fits the data well (χ2/df=2.948, Comparative Fit Index=0.972 and root mean squared error of approximation =0.055). Attitude (β=0.41, p<0.01), subjective norm (β=0.28, p<0.01) and value- added service (β=0.16, p<0.01) were directly associated with enrolment intention, explaining 32% of variance in intention. Attitude was significantly influenced by loneliness (β=−0.08, p<0.05), self-efficacy (β=0.32, p<0.01) and stigma (β=−0.24, p<0.01), while subjective norm was significantly influenced by life satisfaction (β=−0.15, p<0.01) and stigma (β=−0.43, p<0.01). Conclusions This study advances knowledge regarding the influencing factors of older people’s intention to enrol in nursing homes. It suggests that Chinese older persons’ perceived stigma has the strongest indirect effect on their intention to enrol in nursing homes. This is unique to the Chinese context and has practical implications for eldercare in China and other Asian countries with similar sociocultural contexts

Using Gamification and Social Incentives to Increase Physical Activity and Related Social Cognition among Undergraduate Students in Shanghai, China

Gamification and social incentives are promising strategies to increase the effectiveness of web-based physical activity (PA) interventions by improving engagement. In this study, we designed a PA intervention integrating gamification and social incentives based on the most popular social networking service in China, WeChat. A controlled trial involving 52 Chinese undergraduate students was implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Subjects in the intervention group received a 7-week intervention. PA behavior and related social cognitive variables according to the theory of planned behavior were measured at the baseline and after the intervention. Daily physical activity duration was measured during the intervention. The results showed that PA-related subjective norms, perceived behavior control, and intention, as well as self-reported vigorous physical activity and moderate physical activity in the intervention group, were increased after the intervention, compared with the control group (p <0.05). During the intervention, perceived daily physical activity duration in the intervention group was on the rise, while it declined in the control group (p <0.001). The findings indicate that WeChat-based intervention integrating gamification and social incentives could effectively increase subjectively measured PA and related social cognition among Chinese undergraduate students and that it is a promising way to ameliorate the problem of insufficient PA among youths

Electroplating lithium transition metal oxides.

Materials synthesis often provides opportunities for innovation. We demonstrate a general low-temperature (260°C) molten salt electrodeposition approach to directly electroplate the important lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cathode materials LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, and Al-doped LiCoO2. The crystallinities and electrochemical capacities of the electroplated oxides are comparable to those of the powders synthesized at much higher temperatures (700° to 1000°C). This new growth method significantly broadens the scope of battery form factors and functionalities, enabling a variety of highly desirable battery properties, including high energy, high power, and unprecedented electrode flexibility

Geometric Phase Generated Optical Illusion

Abstract An optical illusion, such as “Rubin’s vase”, is caused by the information gathered by the eye, which is processed in the brain to give a perception that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source. Metasurfaces are metamaterials of reduced dimensionality which have opened up new avenues for flat optics. The recent advancement in spin-controlled metasurface holograms has attracted considerate attention, providing a new method to realize optical illusions. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a metasurface device to generate an optical illusion. The metasurface device is designed to display two asymmetrically distributed off-axis images of “Rubin faces” with high fidelity, high efficiency and broadband operation that are interchangeable by controlling the helicity of the incident light. Upon the illumination of a linearly polarized light beam, the optical illusion of a ‘vase’ is perceived. Our result provides an intuitive demonstration of the figure-ground distinction that our brains make during the visual perception. The alliance between geometric metasurface and the optical illusion opens a pathway for new applications related to encryption, optical patterning, and information processing