Abstract
Objective
Many countries have implemented quarantine rules during the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Understanding how hospitals can continue providing services in ...an effective manner under these circumstances is thus important. In this study, we investigate how information technology (IT) helped hospitals in mainland China better respond to the outbreak of the pandemic.
Materials and Methods
We conducted a content analysis of pages published on the websites of the top 50 hospitals in mainland China between January 22 and February 21, 2020. In total, we analyzed 368 pages that the hospitals published during the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose was to identify common themes related to the utilization of IT by these hospitals in response to the pandemic’s outbreak.
Results
We identified 5 focal themes across the webpages published by the hospitals during our study period, including (1) popular medical science education, (2) digitalized hospital processes, (3) knowledge management for medical professionals, (4) telemedicine, and (5) new IT initiatives for healthcare services. Our analysis revealed that Chinese hospitals spent greater effort in promoting popular medical science education in the initial stages of our study period and more on telemedicine in the latter stages.
Discussion
We propose a configurational approach for hospitals to design response strategies to pandemic outbreaks based on their available resources.
Conclusions
Our study provides rich insights for hospitals to better utilize their IT resources and some recommendations for policymaker to better support hospitals in the future.
An enormous amount of information has been produced about the IT outsourcing phenomenon over the last 20 years, but one has to look to the academic literature for consistent, objective, and reliable ...research approaches and analyses. Our review finds that, In practice, the academic literature on IT outsourcing has very much honored both rigor and relevance In the ways In which research has been conducted. Our central purpose In the review was to answer two research questions: What has the empirical academic literature found about information technology outsourcing (ITO) decisions and outcomes? What are the gaps In knowledge to consider In future ITO research? To answer these questions, we examined 164 empirical ITO articles published between 1992 and 2010 In 50 journals. Adapting a method used by Jeyaraj et al. (2006), we encapsulated this vast empirical literature on ITO In a way that was concise, meaningful, and helpful to researchers. We coded 36 dependent variables, 138 independent variables, and 741 relationships between Independent and dependent variables. By extracting the best evidence, we developed two models of outsourcing: one model addressed ITO decisions and one model addressed ITO outcomes. The model of ITO decisions includes Independent variables associated with motives to outsource, transaction attributes, client firm characteristics, and influence sources. The model of ITO outcomes includes Independent variables associated with client and supplier capabilities, relationship characteristics, contractual governance, decision characteristics, and transaction attributes. We also examined the interactions among broad categories of variables and the learning curve effects resulting from feedback loops. Overall, ITO researchers have a broad and deep understanding of ITO. However, the field continues to evolve as clients and suppliers on every inhabited continent participate actively in the global sourcing community. There is still much research yet to be done. We reviewed recent studies that have identified gaps in current knowledge and proposed future paths of research pertaining to strategic motivations, environmental influences, dynamic interactions, configurational and portfolio approaches, global destinations, emerging models, reference theory extension, and grounded theory development.
The endophytic microbial community reassembles to participate in plant immune balance when the host plants are stressed by pathogens. However, it remains unclear whether this assembly is ...pathogen-specific and how regulatory pathways are coordinated in multi-pathogens. In order to investigate the effects of infection with
(Cg treatment) and
(Fp treatment) on walnut leaf endophytic microbiome in their assembly, co-occurrence pattern, and on comprehensive chemical function of the internal environment of leaf, an interaction system of the walnut-pathogenic fungi was constructed using seed embryo tissue culture technology. The study showed differences in the assembly of endophytic microbial communities in walnut trees across three groups (control group, Ck; Cg; Fp) after Cg and Fp treatments. Despite changes in relative abundances, the dominant communities in phyla and genera remained comparable during the infection of the two pathogens. Endophyte fungi were more sensitive to the pathogen challenge than endophyte bacteria. Both promoted the enrichment of beneficial bacteria such as
and
, changed the modularity of the community, and reduced the stability and complexity of the endophyte community. Pathogenic fungi infection mainly affects the metabolism of porphyrin and chlorophyll, purine metabolism, phenylpropane metabolism, and amino acid metabolism. However, there was no significant difference in the secondary metabolites for the different susceptible plants. By screening endogenous antagonistic bacteria, we further verified that
and
had inhibitory effects on the two pathogenic fungi and participated in the interaction between the leaves and pathogenic fungi. The antibacterial substances may be 1-methylnaphthalene, 1,3-butadiene, 2,3-butanediol, and toluene aldehyde.
Organizations are increasingly sourcing their business processes through external service providers, a practice known as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Worldwide, the current BPO market could be ...as much as $279 billion and is predicted to continue growing at 25% annually. Academic researchers have been studying this market for about 15 years and have produced findings relevant to practice. The entire body of BPO research has never been reviewed, and this paper fills that gap. We filtered the total studies and reviewed 87 empirically robust BPO articles published between 1996 and 2011 in 67 journals to answer three research questions: What has the empirical academic literature found about BPO decisions and outcomes? How do BPO findings compare with Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) empirical research? What are the gaps in knowledge to consider in future BPO research? Employing a proven method that Lacity et al. (2010) used to review the empirical ITO literature, we encapsulated this empirical literature on BPO in a way that is concise, meaningful, and helpful to researchers. We coded 43 dependent variables, 152 independent variables, and 615 relationships between independent and dependent variables. By extracting the best evidence, we developed two models of BPO: one model addresses BPO decisions and one model addresses BPO outcomes. The model of BPO decisions includes independent variables associated with motives to outsource, transaction attributes, and client firm characteristics. The model of BPO outcomes includes independent variables associated with contractual and relational governance, country characteristics, and client and supplier capabilities. Overall, BPO researchers have a broad and deep understanding of BPO. However, the field continues to evolve as clients and suppliers on every inhabited continent participate actively in the global sourcing community. There is still much research yet to be done. We propose nine future paths of research pertaining to innovation effects, retained capabilities, environmental influences, global destinations, supplier capabilities, pricing models, business analytics, emerging models, and grounded theory development.
Early warning systems in disasters are crucial for life preservation and loss mitigation, endorsed globally by various UN agencies, governments, and disaster researchers. However, the social aspects ...pose significant challenges to the success of early warning. Using survey data from Sanya, a coastal city in China, our study explores the relationship between early warning services and community engagement. The primary warning channels are social media (SMS and WeChat), the Internet, and TV. These mediums, along with traditional and mass media, foster higher community engagement, like volunteer service and disaster risk reduction efforts. Satisfaction with warning service mediates these connections. Interestingly, families with chronic disease members are more likely to engage in community activities and utilize the Internet and social media for warnings. Notably, different patterns emerge when comparing families with and without chronic disease members, especially regarding Internet and social media usage. This study enhances our understanding of public adaptation to disaster warnings and provides insight for early warning services in the face of increasing climate change impacts and meteorological disasters.
The purpose of this study is to determine the tear and serum protein levels of interleukin-33 (IL-33) and its correlation with Th cytokines and disease severity in dry eye (DE) syndrome.
Tear and ...serum samples were collected from 30 healthy volunteers, 30 DE patients with non-Sjogren's syndrome DE (NSSDE) and 30 DE patients with primary SSDE. The eight most frequent symptoms of DE were scored. All patients underwent corneal and conjunctival staining, tear film breakup time (TBUT), and Schirmer I test. The serum and tear levels of IL-33 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The levels of IL-33 expression and its correlation with Th cytokines and disease severity were also analyzed.
We found that symptom scores and corneal staining grade were significantly higher in SSDE group compared with NSSDE and control group, whereas the results of TBUT and Schirmer I test were significantly lower in SSDE group compared with NSSDE and control group. The tear levels of IL-33 were significantly increased in tears of SSDE patients compared with those of controls and NSSDE patients (P < 0.05). Moreover, the elevated tear levels of IL-33 were positively correlated with symptom scores but negatively correlated with tear film breakup time and Schirmer I test in both NSSDE and SSDE patients (P < 0.05). The tear levels of IL-33 of both NSSDE and SSDE patients were also positively correlated with tear levels of IL-4 and IL-5 (P < 0.05). Correlation between the serum levels of IL-33 with Th1/17/Treg cytokines was not found.
Elevated tear levels of IL-33 were associated with the Th2 cytokines and disease severity of DE. Therefore, IL-33 may have important roles in the immunopathogenesis of the DE.
Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHEs) are considered an excellent alternative for the main cryogenic heat exchanger of Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facilities due to their compact ...structure and strong heat transfer performance. However, it is unclear how to configure the geometry of the PCHE channels to achieve its optimal performance in the trans-critical liquefaction process of natural gas (NG), which is critical for the main heat exchanger. In this paper, we numerically studied the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of PCHEs with different channel types under the specified condition. The results elucidate that all channels have an enhancement of heat transfer near the pseudo-critical point of NG. All the wavy channels could improve the heat transfer performance of PCHEs, where the trapezoidal channel achieves the largest promotion. Compared with the straight channel, the local heat transfer coefficient could be increased by up to 53% in the trapezoidal channel. Additionally, vortex appeared at the bends of the wavy channels, which greatly increase the local friction loss. Among several channels, the total pressure drop of zigzag, fillet and the sinusoidal channel was almost the same, while that of the trapezoidal channel was the largest. Furthermore, we compared the comprehensive performance of different types of channels and found that the benefit of heat transfer enhancement could not offset the penalty of flow deterioration. Our work provides important guidance for the design of PCHEs employed in FLNG.
▶ Self-efficacy, usefulness and intention to use are likely to be dynamic, and increase with time. ▶ The rate of change in self-efficacy influences the rate of change in usefulness. ▶ The rate of ...change in usefulness affects the rate of change in intention to use.
Research has identified numerous factors that influence initial technology adoption decisions. However, extant studies consider beliefs to be static rather than dynamic over the adoption time-span. Various models have been employed to identify adoption behavior, pre- and post-adoption, however, there is little research on the dynamics of users’ belief structures over time and the inter-relationships among them. This study aims to investigate the dynamic nature of users’ beliefs and the relationships among their dynamics, i.e., rates of change. We test our research model based on data obtained at three time-windows using a parallel-growth process model. The results reveal that self-efficacy, usefulness and intention to use are likely to be dynamic, and increase with time. The rate of change in self-efficacy influences the rate of change in usefulness, which in turn affects the rate of change in intention to use. This study theoretically contributes to expanding the extant cross-sectional TAM research to include time-phased TAM studies, and highlights the role of self-efficacy as an important determinant of the dynamics.
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