Flight from the Fight? Civil War and its Effects on Refugees

Civil war dominates conflict in the modern era. An effect of this is a large number of refugees, who flee from war-torn countries in favor of lands where they can live in safety. This paper examines the extent to which the number of these refugees is affected by the number of civil wars a country has had in a year. Previous literature suggests that civil wars increase destruction in a state and threaten people’s lives, which encourages migration out of a warring country. Based on this, this paper hypothesizes that increasing the number of civil wars in a country will likewise increase the number of refugees leaving that country. However, this explanation is not supported by this paper’s OLS model, with respect for human rights and type of government being shown as more important factors than the number of civil conflicts. A possible reason for this finding is the destruction of critical transportation infrastructure resulting from civil war. The results of this study warrant further investigation into what exactly motivates refugee behavior, especially during civil wars

Organic Cation Transporter 3: A Cellular Mechanism Underlying Rapid, Non-Genomic Glucocorticoid Regulation of Monoaminergic Neurotransmission, Physiology, and Behavior

Corticosteroid hormones act at intracellular glucocorticoid receptors (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) to alter gene expression, leading to diverse physiological and behavioral responses. In addition to these classical genomic effects, corticosteroid hormones also exert rapid actions on physiology and behavior through a variety of non-genomic mechanisms, some of which involve GR or MR, and others of which are independent of these receptors. One such GR-independent mechanism involves corticosteroid-induced inhibition of monoamine transport mediated by “uptake2” transporters, including organic cation transporter 3 (OCT3), a low-affinity, high-capacity transporter for norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, serotonin and histamine. Corticosterone directly and acutely inhibits OCT3-mediated transport. This review describes the studies that initially characterized uptake2 processes in peripheral tissues, and outlines studies that demonstrated OCT3 expression and corticosterone-sensitive monoamine transport in the brain. Evidence is presented supporting the hypothesis that corticosterone can exert rapid, GR-independent actions on neuronal physiology and behavior by inhibiting OCT3-mediated monoamine clearance. Implications of this mechanism for glucocorticoid-monoamine interactions in the context-dependent regulation of behavior are discussed

Toward a Taxonomy of Service-Oriented Chatbots

As applications of chatbots evolve, they become an appealing technology for service-oriented businesses in hospitality and tourism (HT). Indeed, the research about chatbots in HT context is growing rapidly covering a range of perspectives from users to experts. Nevertheless, chatbots research in HT field remains new with a wide ranging variability of challenges. Hence, the purpose of this study is to develop a taxonomy for chatbots in HT guided by a phenetic approach. The taxonomy focuses on two dimensions: the type of information and the level of interaction. Four categories of chatbots were identified, respectively informer, facilitator, planner, and performer. We utilize this taxonomy to advance the discussion of research gaps about chatbots in HT, as well as indicate the future research opportunities. The findings of the study help to understand the potential for chatbot applications in HT

Seeking Middle-Range Theories in Information Systems Research

The information systems (IS) research community continues to raise questions about the characteristics and role of theory in IS. Some suggest the preeminence and misplaced emphasis on theory distorts and limits IS research, while others suggest the manner in which theory is borrowed and adapted impedes creative and innovative theorizing. This essay describes an established mode of theorizing that produces middle-range theories, abstract enough to allow for generalizations and useful conclusions, but close enough to observed data to be empirically validated. Theorizing in this manner holds the potential to produce novel and exciting theories, far removed from the formulaic, endless rearrangement of variables that are typically derived from grand theories. After elaborating on the differences between grand theories and middle-range theories, this essay suggests several guidelines on how to build middle-range theories

DESIGNING QUANTIFIED-SELF 2.0 RUNNING PLATFORM TO ENSURE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MAINTENANCE: THE ROLE OF ACHIEVEMENT GOALS AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATIONAL AFFORDANCE

With the rapid development of wearable technologies, people can nowadays easily track and record their health-related information—particularly their athletic performance. The quantified-self 2.0 (QS 2.0) movement encourages running website or mobile application users to share their athletic information with other online community members to ensure the sustainable use of the technology and the maintenance of physical activity. However, the health literature claims that health behavior maintenance is difficult because it is easy for people to give up on the regular physical exercise during the maintenance stage, considering the unforeseen barriers and temptations that may occur in the long term. Drawing upon a motivational affordance perspective and the achievement goal theory (AGT), this theory-based manuscript provides design principles for QS 2.0 running platforms, with the purpose to increase users’ physical activity maintenance (PAM). Additionally, we propose a conceptual model explaining the underlying mechanism in terms of how these affordance design principles serve as the sources of two kinds of achievement goals, namely mastery goals and performance goals, which has distinct roles in determining users’ longitudinal exercise performances