Effects of user experience on user resistance to change to the voice user interface of an in‑vehicle infotainment system: Implications for platform and standards competition

This study examines the effects of user experience on user resistance to change—particularly, on the relationship between user resistance to change and its antecedents (i.e. switching costs and perceived value) in the context of the voice user interface of an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system. This research offers several salient findings. First, it shows that user experience positively moderates the relationship between uncertainty costs (one type of switching cost) and user resistance. It also negatively moderates the association between perceived value and user resistance. Second, the research test results demonstrate that users with a high degree of prior experience with the voice user interface of other smart devices exhibit low user resistance to change to the voice user interface in an IVI system. Third, we show that three types of switching costs (transition costs, in particular) may directly influence users to resist a change to the voice user interface. Fourth, our test results empirically demonstrate that both switching costs and perceived value affect user resistance to change in the context of an IVI system, which differs from the traditional IS research setting (i.e. enterprise systems). These findings may guide not only platform leaders in designing user interfaces, user experiences, and marketing strategies, but also firms that want to defend themselves from platform envelopment while devising defensive strategies in platform and standards competition

Standards as a driving force that influences emerging technological trajectories in the converging world of the Internet and things: An investigation of the M2M/IoT patent network

While standards are said to create windows of opportunity in facilitation of technological convergence, it is not clear how they affect technological trajectories and strategic choices of firms in the face of convergence and in the process of catch-up. There is little research on the relationship between standards and technological trajectories, particularly in the age of convergence. This paper investigates how standards shape the emerging M2M/IoT technological trajectory and influence convergence in terms of technological importance and diversity. We, firstly, found that standards are a driving force of technological convergence. The second finding is that 3GPP standards assume a crucial role in setting the boundary conditions of the M2M/IoT technological systems. Third, we identified strategic groups and strategic patents that centered around the M2M/IoT trajectory. Forth, standards serve as an important factor in the process of creating a new path for catch-up firms (e.g. Huawei). These findings make contributions to innovation and standards studies by empirically examining the relationship between technological trajectories and standards. Furthermore, they clearly cast light on ongoing cooperation and competition along the M2M/IoT trajectory, and offer practical implications for catch-up strategies

Comparison of WiBro and TD-LTE deployment networks: implications for standards competition

It has been an enigma for the communities of practice and academia in the field of standards as to why, when the capabilities of a technology are not much different or even superior to those of their competitors, only some standards lead to commercial success. Previous literature indicates that a standard needs organisational support and legitimacy amongst audiences, including distributors, influenced by network connectivity and configuration. Using a social network analysis, this paper visualises and compares the networks of wireless broadband and time domain-long-term evolution deployment in the global market. The results show that the presence of a few key sponsors with financial resources and a large installed base is more important than the size of the network. Consequently, we draw some implications for sustainable deployment of future standards

Efficient mutation screening for cervical cancers from circulating tumor DNA in blood

Background Early diagnosis and continuous monitoring are necessary for an efficient management of cervical cancers (CC). Liquid biopsy, such as detecting circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from blood, is a simple, non-invasive method for testing and monitoring cancer markers. However, tumor-specific alterations in ctDNA have not been extensively investigated or compared to other circulating biomarkers in the diagnosis and monitoring of the CC. Therfore, Next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis with blood samples can be a new approach for highly accurate diagnosis and monitoring of the CC. Method Using a bioinformatics approach, we designed a panel of 24 genes associated with CC to detect and characterize patterns of somatic single-nucleotide variations, indels, and copy number variations. Our NGS CC panel covers most of the genes in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) as well as additional cancer driver and tumor suppressor genes. We profiled the variants in ctDNA from 24 CC patients who were being treated with systemic chemotherapy and local radiotherapy at the Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Korea. Result Eighteen out of 24 genes in our NGS CC panel had mutations across the 24 CC patients, including somatic alterations of mutated genes (ZFHX3-83%,KMT2C-79%, KMT2D-79%, NSD1-67%,ATM-38% andRNF213-27%). We demonstrated that theRNF213mutation could be used potentially used as a monitoring marker for response to chemo- and radiotherapy. Conclusion We developed our NGS CC panel and demostrated that our NGS panel can be useful for the diagnosis and monitoring of the CC, since the panel detected the common somatic variations in CC patients and we observed how these genetic variations change according to the treatment pattern of the patient

Preserving the Royalty-Free Standards Ecosystem

It has long been recognized in Europe and elsewhere that standards-development organizations (SDOs) may adopt policies that require their participants to license patents essential to the SDO’s standards (standards-essential patents or SEPs) to manufacturers of standardized products (“implementers”) on a royalty-free (RF) basis.1 This requirement contrasts with SDO policies that permit SEP holders to charge implementers monetary patent royalties, sometimes on terms that are specified as “fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory” (FRAND). As demonstrated by two decades of intensive litigation around the world, FRAND royalties have given rise to intractable disputes regarding the manner in which such royalties should be calculated and adjudicated. In contrast, standards distributed on an RF basis are comparatively free from litigation and the attendant transaction costs.2 Accordingly, numerous SDOs around the world have adopted RF licensing policies and many widely adopted standards, including Bluetooth, USB, IPv6, HTTP, HTML and XML, are distributed on an RF basis. This note briefly discusses the commercial considerations surrounding RF standards, the relationship between RF standards and open source software (OSS) and the SDO policy mechanisms – including “universal reciprocity” -- that enable RF licensing to succeed in the marketplace

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Effects of catch-up and incumbent firms’ SEP strategic manoeuvres

This paper investigates the effects of standard-essential patents (SEPs) to identify strategic differences between firms in advanced countries and those in latecomer countries. By comparing the SEP data-sets of incumbent and catch-up groups of the top 10 SEP firms, this paper has discovered the following four main findings. First, SEP strategic manoeuvres work as an effective way of expanding the sphere of catch-up firms’ influence. Particularly after passing a certain threshold, catch-up firms’ technological influence increases in an exponential manner. Second, for incumbent firms, SEP strategic manoeuvres serve as a catalyst to deepen the development of self-reliant trajectories embodied in the history and future of standards. Third, catch-up firms have specialised in short cycle technologies for self-reinforcing capability. Fourth, the effects of SEP strategic manoeuvres and international protection size on the likelihood of SEP litigation are greater for catch-up firms than for incumbent firms. These findings highlight the dual role of standards-setting organisations (SSOs) for catch-up firms (i.e., knowledge-learning and knowledge-diffusion spaces). For incumbent firms, these findings stress the importance of establishing reinforcing mechanisms to align long-standing self-reliant knowledge paths with the direction of anticipatory standardisation. This discovery provides strategic insights within the context of post catch-up strategy

Huawei’s IoT standardisation strategy

No abstract available