Barriers and paradoxical recommendation behaviour in online to offline (O2O) services. A convergent mixed-method study

Mobile apps offering online to offline (O2O) services act as aggregators providing interface for delivery of required products and services at a preferred location. Despite offering multiple affordances, many O2O services have not diffused as anticipated, indicating the existence of consumer resistance towards them. One such example is that of food delivery apps (FDAs), which are experiencing resistance at both the pre-adoption and post-adoption stage. However, there are scarce empirical findings explicating the pre-and post-adoption barriers perceived to be associated with FDAs. The present study addresses this gap by utilising the Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT) and a convergent mixed-method study design to examine the barriers that existing FDA users face and how these impinge on their trust and valence of recommendation behaviour (positive and negative word of mouth). The study not only extends the classic IRT barriers to the FDA-context by identifying three key barriers (economic, efficiency, and experience) but also offers empirical evidence to support the negative association of barriers with trust and paradoxical recommendation behaviour by analysing data collected from 303 FDA users through Prolific. The findings also support the mediation effect of trust and the moderation effect of advertisement overload on the identified associations, making interesting theoretical and practical contributions. publishedVersio

Feature Extraction and Classification of Welding Defects using Artificial Neural Network

The detection and classification of the defects in the welded components are very important in order to ensure the structural integrity of the fabricated components of the test blanket module (TBM). RAFM steel is used as structural material for the TBM, therefore ultrasonic based technique are the most suitable for high sensitive defect detection. In this work ultrasonic pulse echo technique is used to perform the experiment and the ANNs (artificial neural networks) technique is used to detection and classification of the defects in the welded region. For this study, artificial defect (Side drilled hole, notch and flat bottom hole) are fabricated in the welded region. In this paper this data acquisition from different type of defects and extraction of feature from these signal are discussed. Artificial neural network will be used for the classification of the defects

Is it Difficult to Treat Asthma in Children?

Asthma, the commonest chronic lung disease in childhood, is managed effectively with inhaled medications in most of the cases. But a subset of pediatric asthma patients continues to experience substantial morbidity even after higher doses of medications; they are referred to as problematic severe asthma. In many such cases, the apparent resistance to therapy is actually due to a number of remediable factors. These cases are called ‘difficult to treat asthma’. The physician dealing with a child with problematic severe asthma needs to follow a systematic step- wise approach to find any possible underlying causes of poor response to therapy. The evaluation starts with revisiting the diagnosis of asthma and goes through a checking the prescription, patient compliance, assessment for co-morbidities, environmental triggers and psychological factors. Only in a very small number of cases where no such remediable factors are identified, a diagnosis of severe therapy-resistant asthma is made and the child should be referred to a pediatric pulmonologist for further evaluation and therapy

Probiotics for Diarrhea in Children

Diarrhea remains the second leading cause of death in children below 5 years of age; in addition it is also the reason for a considerable morbidity in children of all ages throughout the globe. Apart from oral rehydration solution, continued feeding, oral zinc and antibiotics for diarrhea of bacterial etiology, there have been no other proven measures for diarrheal illnesses in children. Probiotics are non-pathogenic live microorganisms. When ingested, probiotics can survive passage through the stomach and small bowel. Probiotics are supposed to have preventive as well as curative effects on several types of diarrhea of different etiologies

From subjective reputation to verifiable experiences - augmenting peer-control mechanisms for open service ecosystems

Peer reviewe

Underpinnings of User Participation in Innovation on Online Communication Platforms

The aim of this dissertation is to advance the understanding of the motivational and behavioral factors affecting user participation in innovation on online communication platforms. In particular, social networking service (SNS)-based brand communities (such as Facebook) have been recognized as effective platforms for practicing user innovation, and they are very popular among small, medium and large organizations. However, these platforms suffer from two major challenges, user retention and continuous user participation. Prior literature has paid little attention to understanding these important issues of user participation in the innovation process. Therefore, this dissertation aims to fill these gaps by investigating different factors that affect user participation and retention in innovation on SNS-based brand communities.                              The research questions of the dissertation are addressed using quantitative research methods and psychometrics. This dissertation utilized several theoretical frameworks, including the flow theory, consumption value theory, uses and gratification theory, social cognitive theory, the theory of reasoned action, and developmental psychology to explain different aspects of user participation in innovation on online communication platforms. A total of five empirical research articles were undertaken to address the different aspects of the phenomenon. The present thesis developed an instrument for measuring users' flow experience during SNS and SNS-based brand communities' use. It examined users' online regret experience in SNS from the perspective of their demographic characteristics and flow experience. The thesis also investigated users' participation from the perspective of the participation facilitating functionalities (i.e., commenting). Finally, the present thesis aimed at understanding the reasons that motivate users to continue participating in SNS-based brand communities. The main results of the dissertation are: First, a valid and reliable flow experience instrument for addressing the different dimensions of users' flow experience was developed. Second, it was found that online regret was experienced by older adolescents and those spending more time on SNS-based brand communities, and was positively correlated to playfulness and focused attention. Third, the elements of self-efficacy, social influence, reciprocal benefit and hedonic motivation were found to influence users' attitudes towards the usage of the commenting in SNS-based brand communities. Fourth, playfulness and social enhancement were found to predict users' intention to continue using SNS-based brand communities. Fifth, a valid and reliable instrument measuring users' flow experience during the usage of SNS-based brand communities was developed

User interface for trust decision making in inter-enterprise collaborations

Best paper award.Peer reviewe

On Developing an Automatic Speech Recognition System for Commonly used English Words in Indian English

Speech is one of the easiest and the fastest way to communicate. Recognition of speech by computer for various languages is a challenging task. The accuracy of Automatic speech recognition system (ASR) remains one of the key challenges, even after years of research. Accuracy varies due to speaker and language variability, vocabulary size and noise. Also, due to the design of speech recognition that is based on issues like- speech database, feature extraction techniques and performance evaluation. This paper aims to describe the development of a speaker-independent isolated automatic speech recognition system for Indian English language. The acoustic model is build using Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Sphinx tools. The corpus used is based on Most Commonly used English words in everyday life. Speech database includes the recordings of 76 Punjabi Speakers (north-west Indian English accent). After testing, the system obtained an accuracy of 85.20 %, when trained using 128 GMMs (Gaussian Mixture Models)

The Effect of Joint Alignment After a Wrist Injury on Joint Mechanics and Osteoarthritis Development

Wrist injuries are common and can lead to the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. For example, one major complication after a wrist fracture, is when the fractured bone heals in a mal-aligned position, called malunion. It has been assumed that a malunion after wrist fractures alters joint congruency and mechanics leading to the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis and poor functional outcomes. It is unclear whether anatomical restoration is a key component for the management of wrist injuries and to limit the progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. However, the mechanistic pathways between joint structure (and mal-alignment) and patient outcomes, such as the development of osteoarthritis and joint function, are not clearly understood due to the limitations in current techniques. The present work advances our understanding of the relationship between joint structure (and mal-alignment) and joint contact mechanics using image-based 3D measurement tools. The purpose of the present work was to employ CT imaging and inter-bone distance mapping to determine the 3D implications of a wrist fracture on 3D joint space area (a measure of joint congruency). This image-based tool was then extended to 4DCT (3DCT and time) to examine the dynamic effects of wrist movement on joint contact mechanics, in the presence of a wrist injury. This research is an important step in the quest to determine a causal relationship between joint structure and patient function