The COVID-19 is a highly contagious infection which is already had a catastrophic effect on the most serious diseases, including death, around the world. Blockchain-based healthcare systems are being ...introduced to help simplify mobile and telehealth services, reducing patient stress and the cost of critical clinical services. shared the advantages of blockchain for building a cutting-edge authentication infrastructure and detecting COVID-19 suspicious cases. The authors presented a blockchain-based design for developing a real-time cellular health monitoring system for COVID-19 patients in this paper. This study identifies clinical problems and electronic diagnoses for people with COVID-19 infectious diseases and provides a framework for them. Any mobile application can be configured on digital devices such as smartphones. COVID-19 patients may benefit from such applications. Smartphone apps are designed to save time and money while increasing the efficiency of infectious patients. IoT and Blockchain strategies are presented in the four-layer structure.
Mobile apps are effective tools for administering health interventions and changing user behaviors in key lifestyle areas, such as physical activity, but the attrition rates of fitness app users are ...high. To understand how to increase user retention rates, the present study draws from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and investigates the role of exercise self-efficacy, in addition to the original TAM constructs, namely, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment, in predicting current users’ intention to continue using the apps. Moreover, this study extends TAM from a human-technology interaction perspective by elucidating the antecedents of perceived usefulness in terms of specific functions provided by fitness mobile apps. Samples were drawn from a large online Chinese subject pool to test the hypotheses via a survey (N = 449). The results showed that four technological functions—instruction provision, self-monitoring, self-regulation, and goal attainment—had an indirect effect on continuance intention through perceived usefulness, and this indirect effect was moderated by exercise self-efficacy such that the association between perceived usefulness and continuance intention was stronger for those with low exercise self-efficacy.
•Four technological functions had an indirect effect on continuance intention through perceived usefulness.•This indirect effect was moderated by exercise self-efficacy.•Perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment also predicted continuance intention.
Issue addressed: Smartphone apps have emerged as a mode for provision of information to women during pregnancy. More apps are available for pregnancy than for any other medical topic. This review ...aimed to assess the quality of Android pregnancy apps, including pregnancy-specific nutrition information.
Methods: A keyword search was conducted in the Google Play Store followed by the screening of app title, app store description and the downloaded app. To be included, apps needed to be free, in English, aimed at pregnant women and contain nutrition information. App quality was assessed using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) and the presence of nutrition topics was reported.
Results: A total of 76 apps were included in the analysis. Mean overall MARS quality score was 3.52 (max 5; SD: 0.58) ("1" = inadequate and "5" = excellent). The functionality subscale scored the highest (mean 4.06) and information scored the lowest (mean 3.23). The median number of pregnancy-specific nutrition topics per app was four (range: 0-6), with the most common related to caffeine consumption (n = 55, 72% of apps) and fish intake (n = 53, 69%), although the quality and quantity of nutrition information varied greatly between apps.
Conclusions: Although there are a large number of pregnancy apps available, few are of high quality and most contain only a small number of pregnancy-focused nutrition topics. It is important to be aware of the limitations of current apps in providing dietary advice during this key life stage.
So what? The current review does not support the use of freely available android apps currently on the market as an appropriate nutrition resource for pregnant women.
•Local offline retail density has a negative impact on consumers’ shopping app usage.•Such negative impact is weaker for consumers with higher mobility.•Such negative impact is weaker for shopping ...apps that sell technically complex products.
Consumers residing in different areas have varying levels of access to local retail stores. In contrast, with the prevalence of mobile internet, consumers have gained widespread access to mobile shopping. This research examines the impact of local offline retail density on consumers’ mobile shopping app usage and heterogeneity across consumer segments and different types of shopping apps. We use a unique dataset of individual-level mobile app usage with real-time location information across 1622 counties in China and employ the control function approach to address the endogenous retail density. Overall, the findings show that local offline retail density has a negative effect on mobile shopping app usage frequency and duration, indicating that consumers in areas with lower offline retail density engage more in mobile shopping app usage. This negative effect is weaker for consumers with higher mobility. Also, we find that this negative effect is weaker for shopping apps selling more technically complex products such as electronics than for those selling less technically complex products such as clothing and cosmetics. These results offer managerial implications for online retailers to launch targeting strategies to enhance consumer engagement with their shopping apps.
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Mobile Traffic Classification (TC) has become nowadays the enabler for valuable profiling information, other than being the workhorse for service differentiation or blocking. Nonetheless, a main ...hindrance in the design of accurate classifiers is the adoption of encrypted protocols, compromising the effectiveness of deep packet inspection. Also, the evolving nature of mobile network traffic makes solutions with Machine Learning (ML), based on manually- and expert-originated features, unable to keep its pace. These limitations clear the way to Deep Learning (DL) as a viable strategy to design traffic classifiers based on automatically-extracted features, reflecting the complex patterns distilled from the multifaceted traffic nature, implicitly carrying information in “multimodal” fashion. Multi-modality in TC allows to inspect the traffic from complementary views, thus providing an effective solution to the mobile scenario. Accordingly, a novel multimodal DL framework for encrypted TC is proposed, named MIMETIC, able to capitalize traffic data heterogeneity (by learning both intra- and inter-modality dependences), overcome performance limitations of existing (myopic) single-modality DL-based TC proposals, and support the challenging mobile scenario. Using three (human-generated) datasets of mobile encrypted traffic, we demonstrate performance improvement of MIMETIC over (a) single-modality DL-based counterparts, (b) state-of-the-art ML-based (mobile) traffic classifiers, and (c) classifier fusion techniques.
An examination of dating app culture in China, across user demographics—straight women, straight men, queer women, and queer men. In this exploration of dating app culture in China, Lik Sam Chan ...argues that these popular mobile apps are not merely a platform for personal relationships but also an emerging arena for gender and queer politics. Chan examines the opportunities dating apps present for women's empowerment and men's performances of masculinity, and he links experiences of queer dating app users with their vulnerable position as sexual minorities. He finds that dating apps are both portals to an exciting virtual world of relational possibilities and sites of power dynamics that reflect the heteronormativity and patriarchy of Chinese society. Drawing on in-depth interviews with urban users of such dating apps as Momo, Tantan, Blued, Aloha, Rela, and Lesdo, Chan proposes “networked sexual publics” as a unifying concept to capture the dynamics of dating app culture. Devoting a chapter to each of four publics—straight women, straight men, queer men, and queer women—Chan documents how relationships are shaped and transfigured by this emerging technology. He considers whether dating apps can be a feminist tool; explores straight men's self-presentation on the apps and their interactions with women they meet there; discusses the constant cycle of deleting and installing the same apps seen among queer men; and examines how popular lesbian dating apps may connect queer women to their communities. Finally, Chan maps possible paths for future intersectional, queer, and feminist scholarship on emerging communication technologies.
•Mobile technology identity affects patients’ intention to adopt mHealth apps.•Self-efficacy affects patients’ intention to adopt mHealth apps.•Prior experience affects patients’ intention to adopt ...mHealth apps.•Education negatively affects patients’ intention to adopt mHealth apps.•Prior experience affects Mobile technology identity and self-efficacy.
Despite smartphone applications (apps) being key enablers of telemedicine, telehealth, and self-monitoring, adoption issues persist for mobile healthcare (mHealth) apps. This study diverged from the traditional adoption approach and drew on more innovative theories to predict the intentions of patients for adopting apps supported by clinics. More specifically, technology identity literature was explored to make this prediction and the study surveyed 292 patients who were seated in the waiting room of a local clinic. The results suggested that perceived mobile technology identity (MTI), perceived related IT experience, and perceived self-efficacy positively influences patients’ perceived intentions to adopt mHealth apps provided by clinics or hospitals. Furthermore, the results suggested that perceived related IT experience positively influences users perceived self-efficacy and perceived MTI. However, education was found to negatively influence patients’ perceived intentions to use mHealth apps. This study contributes to the growing literature on the use of these apps in trying to elevate the quality of patients’ lives. Moreover, there are implications for mHealth-app designers who are trying to make healthcare services accessible via smartphones.
Online-to-offline service platform (O2OSP) channels offer innovative means for customers to order local, daily services online (via apps) and have them delivered almost instantly offline. By ...comparing the business models underlying O2OSP, traditional online and offline, and platform-based e-commerce channels, this article aims to identify the short- and long-term impacts of adding an O2OSP channel on firms' offline and total sales and profits. The analysis focuses primarily on a recent set of daily data gathered from a Chinese fast-food restaurant chain with 35 physical stores that also participates in four food delivery O2OSP channels. The panel data regressions with fixed effects reveal that adding O2OSP channels hurts offline and total profits in the short run but improves offline and total sales and profits in the long run. Specifically, offline and total sales increase by 23.28% and 33.94%, respectively. Thus, the O2OSP channel can serve as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, the offline channel. These results challenge previous research on the sales effects of adding (pure) online or offline channels and highlight the attractiveness of O2OSP channels for improving sales and profits. However, negative interaction effects among different O2OSP channels also signal that adding more O2OSP channels does not necessarily lead to profitable growth.
•Adding O2OSP channels hurts offline and total profits in the short run.•Adding O2OSP channels improves offline and total sales and profits in the long run.•Offline and total sales increase by 23.28% and 33.94%, respectively.•Because O2OSP channels compete, adding more O2OSP channels does not necessarily lead to more growth in sales or profits.•The conceptual comparison of business models includes O2OSP, traditional online and offline, and e-commerce channels.
We advance literature by developing a conceptual framework and cross-culturally validates it in US and Chinese cultural settings. Specifically, we extend unified theory of acceptance and use of ...technology (UTAUT) by incorporating user experience (UX) and perceived distrust into original UTAUT framework. The Schwartz's four higher-order value domains are employed as cultural moderators. We test our developed framework in US (n = 522) and China (n = 439) among online travelers. Overall, the framework holds true for both samples. The findings reveal that travelers in two countries show significant cultural differences while using travel reservation apps. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. Finally, we identify areas for future academic contributions.
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•We extended UTAUT with incorporation of perceived distrust and user experience constructs.•Schwartz's higher-order personal value domains are used as cultural moderators.•The developed framework applies in a cross-cultural context (US vs. China).•The framework holds true in both countries and significant cross-cultural differences are observed.
Personality Change Through Digital-Coaching Interventions Allemand, Mathias; Flückiger, Christoph
Current directions in psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society,
02/2022, Volume:
31, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
A highly relevant but provocative research question is whether and how one can intentionally change personality traits through psychological interventions, given that traits are relatively stable by ...definition. Recently, research has begun to investigate personality change through intervention in nonclinical populations. One attractive and innovative interventional avenue may lie in using digital applications to guide and support people in their desire to change their personality and trigger change processes. This article provides a rationale for nonclinical personality-change interventions and discusses motivations to change, the potential of using digital applications for intervention efforts, key studies that illustrate this emerging field of research, and future directions.
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