A Motivational Framework For Understanding IS Use And Decision Performance

Despite the considerable resources that have been devoted to the study of information systems (IS) use and decision performance, much remains unknown about variables that provide valuable insight into these two important constructs.  We propose a comprehensive research framework for understanding IS use and decision performance.  In particular, we focus on the significant role of the motivation factor in explaining IS use and decision performance.  We develop our research framework based on a review of motivation, systems, decision performance, information processing, and auditing literatures.  A new stream of research is presented based on our motivational framework

An Exploratory Study On Systems Security And Hacker Hiring

We conducted an exploratory study to enhance understanding on systems security and hacker hiring.  Increased understanding on these issues will assist firms in developing effective guidelines for mitigating problems associated with potential attacks and in designing recruitment procedures for hiring hackers.  Specifically, we examine the impact of corporate security policies on perceived systems security; the impact of internal (external) systems security audits on perceived systems security; and the willingness of firms in hiring hackers.

An Empirical Investigation Of Hacking Behavior

Currently, very limited research is available to help researchers and firms understand the behavior of hackers.  As a result, misconceptions about hackers are formed based on lack of understanding about technology and failure in recognizing the differences among hackers.  We use addiction, intrinsic motivation (state), and self-monitoring (trait) theories to explain hacking.   We obtained 62 usable responses from hackers who completed our online research instrument.  Our findings showed that intrinsically motivated hackers were less discouraged by the possibility of being discovered and the rules imposed by regulatory authorities; however, no significant result was reported for rules imposed by the profession.  Individuals with high motivation to hack were found to be less discouraged by all three deterrence measures.  Participants who perceived hacking to be more consistent with their internal cues were less discouraged by the possibility of being discovered and the rules imposed by regulatory authorities; however, no significant difference was found for rules imposed by the profession.  Finally, contrary to our expectation, low self-monitors were more discouraged by all three deterrence measures than high self-monitors.  Additional research is needed to provide insight into this finding

THE ROLES OF INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION AND PERCEIVED COMPETENCE IN ENHANCING SYSTEM USE AND PERFORMANCE

This study builds on the extant literature on motivation and information systems by examining the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between system type and system use, the moderating role of perceived usefulness in the effect of intrinsic motivation on system use, and the moderating role of perceived competence in the impact of system use on performance. This study manipulates three system types; that is, PATH (Principles Aren’t That Hard), Blackboard, and the traditional paper medium, and measures the participant’s intrinsic motivation, perceived usefulness, perceived competence, system use, and performance. PATH incorporates interest-enhancing features, Blackboard has limited interest-enhancing features, and the traditional paper medium does not have these attributes. A total of 173 undergraduate students enrolled in the introductory financial accounting course participated in this study. The structural equation model results provide support for the hypotheses in the research model. An important contribution of this study is development of an educational computer game, PATH, and inclusion of Blackboard and the traditional paper medium to facilitate comparison of the level of intrinsic motivation associated with each system type. Another contribution is administration of the treatment variable (i.e., system type), measurements of the key constructs, and direct assessment of the participants’ performance in the same experimental setting

Energy- and exergy-based working fluid selection and performance analysis of a high-temperature PEMFC-based micro combined cooling heating and power system

A combined cooling heating and power (CCHP) system based on high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is proposed. This CCHP system consists of a PEMFC subsystem, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) subsystem and a vapor compression cycle (VCC) subsystem. The electric power of the CCHP system is 8 kW under normal operating conditions, the domestic hot water power is approximately 18 kW, and the cooling and heating capacities are 12.5 kW and 20 kW, respectively. Energy and exergy performance of the CCHP system are thoroughly analyzed for six organic working fluids using Matlab coupled with REFPROP. R601 is chosen as the working fluid for ORC subsystem based on energy and exergy analysis. The results show that the average coefficient of performance (COP) of the CCHP system is 1.19 in summer and 1.42 in winter, and the average exergy efficiencies are 46% and 47% under normal operating conditions. It can also be concluded that both the current density and operating temperature have significant effects on the energy performance of the CCHP system, while only the current density affects the exergy performance noticeably. The ambient temperature can affect both the energy and exergy performance of the CCHP system. This system has the advantages of high facility availability, high efficiency, high stability, low noise and low emission; it has a good prospect for residential applications

Using network science in the language sciences and clinic

A number of variables—word frequency, word length—have long been known to influence language processing. We briefly review the effects in speech perception and production of two more recently examined variables: phonotactic probability and neighborhood density. We then describe a new approach to study language, network science, which is an interdisciplinary field drawing from mathematics, computer science, physics, and other disciplines. In this approach, nodes represent individual entities in a system (i.e., phonological word-forms in the lexicon), links between nodes represent relationships between nodes (i.e., phonological neighbors), and various measures enable researchers to assess the micro-level (i.e., the individual word), the macro-level (i.e., characteristics about the whole system), and the meso-level (i.e., how an individual fits into smaller sub-groups in the larger system). Although research on individual lexical characteristics such as word-frequency has increased our understanding of language processing, these measures only assess the “micro-level.” Using network science, researchers can examine words at various levels in the system, and how each word relates to the many other words stored in the lexicon. Several new findings using the network science approach are summarized to illustrate how this approach can be used to advance basic research as well as clinical practice

Validation of the diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia (DHL) knowledge instrument in Malaysia

BACKGROUND: Patient's knowledge on diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia and its medications can be used as one of the outcome measures to assess the effectiveness of educational intervention. To date, no such instrument has been validated in Malaysia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Diabetes, Hypertension and Hyperlipidemia (DHL) knowledge instrument for assessing the knowledge of patients with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia. METHODS: A 28-item instrument which comprised of 5 domains: diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, medications and general issues was designed and tested. One point was given for every correct answer, whilst zero was given for incorrect answers. Scores ranged from 0 to 28, which were then converted into percentage. This was administered to 77 patients with type 2 diabetes in a tertiary hospital, who were on medication(s) for diabetes and who could understand English (patient group), and to 40 pharmacists (professional group). The DHL knowledge instrument was administered again to the patient group after one month. Excluded were patients less than 18 years old. RESULTS: Flesch reading ease was 60, which is satisfactory, while the mean difficulty factor(SD) was 0.74(0.21), indicating that DHL knowledge instrument was moderately easy. Internal consistency of the instrument was good, with Cronbach's alpha = 0.791. The test-retest scores showed no significant difference for 26 out of the 28 items, indicating that the questionnaire has achieved stable reliability. The overall mean(SD) knowledge scores was significantly different between the patient and professional groups 74.35(14.88) versus 93.84(6.47), p < 0.001. This means that the DHL knowledge instrument could differentiate the knowledge levels of participants. The DHL knowledge instrument shows similar psychometric properties as other validated questionnaires. CONCLUSIONS: The DHL knowledge instrument shows good promise to be adopted as an instrument for assessing diabetic patients' knowledge concerning their disease conditions and medications in Malaysia

Sentinel surveillance for human enterovirus 71 in Sarawak, Malaysia: lessons from the first 7 years

BACKGROUND: A major outbreak of human enterovirus 71-associated hand, foot and mouth disease in Sarawak in 1997 marked the beginning of a series of outbreaks in the Asia Pacific region. Some of these outbreaks had unusually high numbers of fatalities and this generated much fear and anxiety in the region. METHODS: We established a sentinel surveillance programme for hand, foot and mouth disease in Sarawak, Malaysia, in March 1998, and the observations of the first 7 years are described here. Virus isolation, serotyping and genotyping were performed on throat, rectal, vesicle and other swabs. RESULTS: During this period Sarawak had two outbreaks of human enterovirus 71, in 2000 and 2003. The predominant strains circulating in the outbreaks of 1997, 2000 and 2003 were all from genogroup B, but the strains isolated during each outbreak were genetically distinct from each other. Human enterovirus 71 outbreaks occurred in a cyclical pattern every three years and Coxsackievirus A16 co-circulated with human enterovirus 71. Although vesicles were most likely to yield an isolate, this sample was not generally available from most cases and obtaining throat swabs was thus found to be the most efficient way to obtain virological information. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of the epidemiology of human enterovirus 71 transmission will allow public health personnel to predict when outbreaks might occur and to plan interventions in an effective manner in order to reduce the burden of disease