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With the rapid adoption of digital transformation, the Saudi government launched several applications to provide many online services for citizens, especially under the circumstances imposed by COVID-19. As those applications were designed to service a wide spectrum of users, it is expected that some groups of users may face challenges regarding the usability of the applications. In particular, elderly users are expected to have difficulties while interacting with m-government applications due to the limitations imposed by the aging process, culture, and familiarity with technology. In the literature, there are some usability guidelines that describe how to design usable mobile applications for the elderly. Still, they rarely address differences in culture, cognitive and psychological abilities of the elderly, and the criticality of context in which a mobile application is used. Hence, in this paper, we propose a set of usability guidelines that are expected to enhance the usability of m-government applications for the elderly. The guidelines, called UsAge, cover three major aspects, which are elderly characteristics, culture, and context, that affect the usability of mobile applications. The guidelines were driven by conducting three usability evaluation methods on an m-government application: usability testing with users, cognitive walkthrough, and heuristics evaluation. In addition, interviews with Saudi elderly individuals were conducted to extract their characteristics and define their limitations in using such applications. These characteristics are utilized to customize existing m-government application guidelines. The guidelines emerging from the two phases were combined and validated by experts, who found them feasible, correct, comprehensive, and understandable. In addition, they found that they are unique and do not overlap with existing guidelines. The outcome of this paper is the UsAge guidelines, which are a set of 28 new guidelines that are incorporated into existing m-government application usability guidelines. © 2022 The Author(s)
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Purpose>This study aims to empirically examine how consumer privacy concerns (CPC) impact smartphone usage for financial transactions. The study also investigates the moderating impact of regulations on this action.Design/methodology/approach>With the inputs from literature and related privacy theories, a theoretical model was developed. The model was later empirically validated using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique with 367 respondents from India.Findings>The study finds that CPC significantly impacts on consumer behavior in using smartphones for financial transactions. The study also highlights that regulation has a moderating impact on consumer usage of smartphones for financial transactions.Research limitations/implications>This study provides valuable inputs to smartphone service providers, practitioners, regulatory authorities and policymakers on appropriate and secure usage of smartphones by consumers, ensuring privacy protection while making financial transactions.Originality/value>This study provides a unique model showing the antecedents of CPC to impact the behavioral reaction of smartphone users mediated through the ingredients of privacy calculus theory. Besides, this study analyzes the moderating effects of regulation on the use of smartphones for financial transactions. This is also a novel approach of this study.
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The digital divide as it pertains to information inequality among disadvantaged student populations in higher education is a pertinent problem, and has been further exacerbated by the increase in online learning due to COVID -19. This study explores Technological Access challenges of students at a small public midwestern university in the US that serves a disproportionately higher number of underserved and underrepresented students. Survey data from 535 undergraduate students indicate that a critical subset (n=61) of the sample who were first generation, low income, and non-white had significantly lower levels of technological access with respect to access to devices and Internet access, when compared to the larger sample. Additionally, nearly half of the sample used smartphones to access courses online. Educational implications on smartphone dependence and consequent digital divide is discussed to bridge the barrier for disadvantaged student groups. As technology induced online learning proliferates, addressing such gaps will be a step toward mitigating those inequities plaguing higher education. Copyright 2022. © by the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics. All rights reserved.
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Due to the exponential growth of the internet, smartphones, and communication technologies during the last two decades, the digital banking sector has enormously advanced in terms of user-friendly, efficient, and fast financial transactions. Digital banking also plays a significant role as an enabler of cashless transactions in the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigates the challenges, technology, and future research agenda of digital banking. The paper follows the manifestation of Kitchenham's SLR protocol. Six databases were used to determine articles that match the criteria. The study considers recent articles, which have been published from 2015 to 2021. Sixty-seven papers have been selected, extracted, and analyzed. The result highlights issues related to technology, organization, people, process, environment, customers, security, and risk, which become challenges in digital banking innovation. This research presents suggestions for future research directions, which will be beneficial to practitioners and scholars around the globe.
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With COVID-19, the advancement of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops, tablets) has brought a welcoming change to education: digital learning. This study addresses the relationship between mobile device use and academic performance through three different models by controlling demographic data, technological infrastructure conditions, and daily total multi-tasking time. The first model emphasized the daily total mobile device use time. The second model divided the daily total mobile device use time into academic and non-academic oriented uses. The final model divided the overall mobile device use into seven specific usage types. The study found that an increase in the daily total mobile device use time negatively affected GPA;only non-academic purpose use time had a negative significance toward GPA;none of the seven usage types were significant in predicting GPA. Based on the findings, suggestions on improvements for the future digital learning policy were proposed.
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Peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SpO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula>) is an essential indicator of respiratory functionality and received increasing attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical findings show that COVID-19 patients can have significantly low SpO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> before any obvious symptoms. Measuring an individual's SpO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> without having to come into contact with the person can lower the risk of cross contamination and blood circulation problems. The prevalence of smartphones has motivated researchers to investigate methods for monitoring SpO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> using smartphone cameras. Most prior schemes involving smartphones are contact-based: They require using a fingertip to cover the phone's camera and the nearby light source to capture reemitted light from the illuminated tissue. In this paper, we propose the first convolutional neural network based noncontact SpO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> estimation scheme using smartphone cameras. The scheme analyzes the videos of an individual's hand for physiological sensing, which is convenient and comfortable for users and can protect their privacy and allow for keeping face masks on. We design explainable neural network architectures inspired by the optophysiological models for SpO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> measurement and demonstrate the explainability by visualizing the weights for channel combination. Our proposed models outperform the state-of-the-art model that is designed for contact-based SpO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> measurement, showing the potential of the proposed method to contribute to public health. We also analyze the impact of skin type and the side of a hand on SpO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> estimation performance. Author
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Mobile messaging apps are currently a popular method in Malaysia for communicating while on the go, owing to its convenience, reliability, and contact-free feature of mobile application. Fueled by mobile internet and smartphone growth, mobile messaging apps have become a strong force in the mobile app sector, offering users an alternative to SMS-based texting paired with social media elements and enhanced features, such as group chats and photo sharing. The study was anchored using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 theory. A survey with 150 respondents and PLS analysis is used to determine the antecedents of mobile application continuance usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that there is an influence in the usage of mobile messaging apps among the younger generation in Malaysian public university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main implication shows that mobile application among young generations in public universities has become popular. The convenience usage of the internet has turned the world into a global village.
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Currently, the global situation of COVID-19 is aggravating, pressingly calling for efficient control and prevention measures. Understanding the spreading pattern of COVID-19 has been widely recognized as a vital step for implementing non-pharmaceutical measures. Previous studies explained the differences in contagion rates due to the urban socio-political measures, while fine-grained geographic urban spreading pattern still remains an open issue. Here, we fill this gap by leveraging the trajectory data of 197,808 smartphone users (including 17,808 anonymous confirmed cases) in nine cities in China. We find a general spreading pattern in all cities: the spatial distribution of confirmed cases follows a power-law-like model and the spreading centroid human mobility is time-invariant. Moreover, we reveal that long average traveling distance results in a high growth rate of spreading radius and wide spatial diffusion of confirmed cases in the fine-grained geographic model. With such insight, we adopt the Kendall model to simulate the urban spreading of COVID-19 which can well fit the real spreading process. Our results unveil the underlying mechanism behind the spatial-temporal urban evolution of COVID-19, and can be used to evaluate the performance of mobility restriction policies implemented by many governments and to estimate the evolving spreading situation of COVID-19.
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With the widespread use of applications and services supporting audiovisual calls via smartphones, both in business and leisure contexts, a key challenge for service providers is meeting end user Quality of Experience (QoE) expectations and requirements. To successfully meet this challenge, there is a need to identify and analyze the key system-related factors impacting user perceived quality. In this paper, we contribute beyond state-of-the-art by conducting a large scale web-based questionnaire survey to investigate the system-related factors that subjects identify as most influential in contributing to their overall experience and quality perception. We focus in particular on leisure audiovisual calls, established via mobile devices. Our initial survey (Phase 1) was conducted in Feb. 2020, just prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (272 participants). To investigate if the importance of factors has changed due to increased usage of the service caused by the pandemic among the general population, we conducted a second survey (Phase 2) in October 2021 with 249 participants. Based on obtained results, we identify key system-related QoE influence factors belonging to three categories: media quality, functional support, and usability and service design. We observe no significant differences in user opinions and expectations prior to and during the period of increased service usage, despite different participant demographics and study time frames, thus contributing to generalizability of obtained results. Study results contribute to providing insights for designing future user studies investigating QoE, in terms of key factors that should be considered.
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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic focused attention on city parks as important public resources. However, monitoring park use over time poses practical challenges. Thus, pandemic-related trends are unknown. Methods: We analyzed monthly mobility data from a large panel of smartphone devices, to assess park visits from January 2018 to November 2020 in the 50 largest U.S. cities. Results: In our sample of 11,890 city parks, visits declined by 36.0 % (95 % CI [27.3, 43.6], p < 0.001) from March through November 2020, compared to prior levels and trends. When we segmented the COVID-19 period into widespread closures (March-April) and reopenings (May-November), we estimated a small rebound in visits during reopenings. In park service areas where a greater proportion of residents were White and highincome, this rebound effect was larger. Conclusions: Smartphone data can address an important gap for monitoring park visits. Park visits declined substantially in 2020 and disparities appeared to increase.
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To find a parking space, valet parking drivers have to travel a lot, which leads to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In order to reduce these emissions, it is essential to understand a user's needs and criteria when searching for a parking space. Several selection criteria are considered when allocating a parking space. Recent research on parking space management mentions several parameters that have an impact on the choice of a parking space: namely, the traffic situation, the availability of each parking lot in question, and the cost of parking, etc. In this article, we discuss a new criterion: the physical condition of the driver in the management of parking spaces;the identification of the driver's bodily fragility. We also propose MCDM as a parking space allocation model that best meets the cost–benefit convention. This reflection leads us to evaluate MCDM methods in the field of intelligent parking management. Therefore, we conducted a comparison between the most recent multi-criteria decision making methods used by researchers, namely, CODA, EDAS, TOPSIS, and WASPAS. The CRITIC method was used in this paper to objectively determine the weight of each criterion. A new approach is proposed to evaluate and select the best MCDM method. Indeed, we propose a method that computes the "average inter-item correlation SW”, a combination of the "average inter-item correlation” and the SW coefficient. This approach allows us to efficiently compute the correlation between a method and the set of methods while favoring the cells with the best ranking. A case study is presented to illustrate the MCDM approach to parking space allocation and evaluation. The proposed system provides drivers with services such as intelligent parking decisions, taking into account the human aspect while reducing energy consumption, driving time, and traffic congestion caused by searching for available parking spaces.
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BACKGROUND: Historically, people aged 65 years or older have been slower to adopt new technology. However, technology use in this demographic continues to increase. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to understand how patients with cancer who are aged 65 years or older engage with technology and whether patient behavior related to technology use has changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this study evaluated whether respondents' understanding of technology was associated with increased likelihood of adoption and perceived utility of the ONS On-Call™ cancer treatment symptom assessment tool. METHODS: A U.S. population-based anonymous online survey was conducted between May 17 and May 31, 2021, with 103 patients with cancer aged at least 65 years. FINDINGS: The majority of respondents used technology regularly as part of their daily lives. Activities included shopping online, reading the news, or engaging with a healthcare platform. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most respondents reported an increased use of digital activities, particularly the use of healthcare technology. Respondents reported they would be likely to use ONS On-Call, particularly if it is recommended by a healthcare provider.
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This paper reports on a practice-centered study focusing on pilgrimage to explore mobile and digital media dis/connectivity in the context of a particular configuration of personal mobility. Pilgrimage is a practice bringing together people motivated by religion, tourism, leisure, or self-development, in what have been termed "post-secular" forms of pilgrimage and tourism. In 2020 and 2021, restrictions on individual mobility were imposed to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This exploratory study consisted of interviews with 13 pilgrims in Portugal, who went on pilgrimage to Fatima or Santiago de Compostela in 2021. We argue that dis/connection by pilgrims is evidence of a post-digital moment. Our analysis shows how pilgrims maintain an ambivalent relationship with mobile media in light of this experience which limits their access to habitual devices, people, and digital services, while opening up for the use of others that facilitate the mobility and the spiritual, affective, and sensorial experience as a pilgrim. However, digital and mobile media are deeply entangled in pilgrims' relationships with space, time, and others-and thus disconnection is partial and transitional. Moreover, dis/connection is embodied in pilgriming-for example, in how they choose the mobile media considering the weight and energy, and place it on the body, at the same time that mobile media can also afford disembodiment to the experience of pilgrimage-by alleviating the physical pain of walking, for example. Pilgrims also use the media in ways that blur the distinctions between digital and non-digital in the ways they invest meanings in their practices.
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Telemedicine systems that involve the use of video conferencing technologies have been available for more than three decades. Yet, they have primarily been used for specialist appointments or within health care facilities. We are now seeing a shift with the proliferation of commercial technologies, such as smartphone apps that allow people to have appointments with a general practitioner from nearly any location for various reasons. Telemedicine has also seen an uptake due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about how doctors and patients perceive smartphone-based telemedicine systems, what types of medical ailments are best suited for these systems, what sociotechnical challenges might emerge through their usage, and how systems should be designed to best meet the needs of both doctors and patients. Thus, we applied a scenario-based design method by presenting a set of medical situations to both general practitioners and patients, and conducted contextual interviews with them to investigate their thoughts on video-based appointments for a range of medical situations. Results show that video consultations using smartphone apps could raise challenges in delivering appropriate care and utilization, conducting camera work to assist different types of examinations, supporting doctor-patient relationship creation and maintenance, allowing doctors to maintain control over the appointment, as well as protecting patients' and doctors' privacy. This suggests the need to create designs that can support particular workflows, relationship building, safety and privacy protection, and camera work for varying contexts. © 2022 Association for Computing Machinery.
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Cognitive Distortion, defined as erroneous and in-accurate thoughts [4] can cause fatal mental impairment. Identifying the presence of cognitive distortions is the fundamental initiative to treat mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. As a consequence of COVID-19 and the other changes in social aspects, there is an escalation in the number of patients with mental illness. Although there are abundant effective psychotherapy strategies available, a substantial number of people avoid them due to misconceptions and stigma. Serious games can be a feasible solution to purvey mental healthcare to a significant percentage of people. The availability of smartphones unveils the opportunity to provide therapeutic facilities via digital gaming. Technology like Augmented Reality with its interactive features, has unlocked numerous opportunities in the mental health domain. In this paper, we have remodeled our previously proposed game, ARCoD, accessible on smartphones to measure Cognitive Distortions. We hypothesized that, through this game, it is possible to assess the level of 5 different Cognitive Distortions (Arbitrary Inference, Catastrophizing, Black and White Thinking, Emotional Reasoning, and Labeling) in an individual playing the game. The experimental outcome demonstrates that the level of Cognitive Distortions assessed from the game is exceedingly similar to the measurement accumulated from an established scale-Cognitive Distortion Scale (CDS). © 2022 IEEE.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected hundreds of millions of people in countries around the world. The number of new cases has reached 100,000 per day since the last wave of COVID-19 in Vietnam. It has become very apparent that the front-line employees are overworked. There are not enough PCR tests to keep up with the rate of the virus spreading in our community. In addition, the PCR test is expensive for the government, highly invasive, and time-consuming for patients, which discourages individuals from visiting the clinic for testing. Therefore, it is very necessary to have a quicker and simpler way of prescreening patients. This is the reason why the paper will introduce a new artificial intelligence application, named COVCOUGH, to early detect COVID-19 patients using cough sounds recorded by smartphones. During the recent peak of the epidemic in Vietnam, the COVCOUGH has been deployed and has more than 10,000 users. © 2022 IEEE.
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Purpose>The meddling of foreign players into the Indian hotel industry has triggered fervent competitiveness, and therefore, consumers' attitude, intention and behavior have been the epicenter of all activities. This study endeavors to explicate enablers of online hotel booking intention (OHBI) in the Indian hospitality industry.Design/methodology/approach>The study examined OHBI of 560 travelers during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India using structural equation modeling and an extended technology acceptance model. Direct and indirect associations were explored using mediation and moderation.Findings>The results manifest that hotel website credibility, perceived website interactivity and perceived ease of use (PEU) aggrandize perceived usefulness (PU), which, in turn, considerably magnifies travelers' OHBI. PEU and PU partially mediate the relationship in the model. Into the bargain, service affordability reinforces the relationship, while perceived pandemic risk enfeebles the relationship between PU and OHBI.Research limitations/implications>The study unfurls pressing determinants of PEU, PU and OHBI that may facilitate hoteliers to lure travelers and enhance profitability.Originality/value>There is a paucity of literature on "hotel website credibility” and "perceived pandemic risk” in the hospitality industry. Hence, the study enriches literature by assimilating underlying constructs through an epigrammatic conceptual model. The study is distinctive because it unearths the possibilities of mediation and moderation amongst the aforementioned constructs and posits the calamitous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and hospitality sector.
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Personal technology use can significantly impact wellness. The transition to widespread remote learning, working, and socializing during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated society's reliance on technology. This article presents a case study of how the authors applied their privacy scholarship to offer a responsive learning experience for students concerning the social implications of the pandemic. The article also explores the authors' unique approach to digital wellness, which seeks to align wellness goals and habits regarding technology while placing a special emphasis on privacy, particularly information asymmetries, attention engineering, and the hidden harms of invasive data collection.
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Barriers to mental health care, including stigma, costs, and mental health professional shortages, have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Smartphone apps have the potential to increase scalability and improve access to mental health information, support, and interventions. However, evaluating these apps and selecting ones for use in care remain challenging, especially as apps are often updating and changing. Recommending apps requires knowledge of how stable apps are as the experience of one user several months ago may or may not be the same. A sample of 347 apps of the 650 apps on the M-health Index and Navigation Database (MIND) https://mindapps.org were reviewed between September 1, 2021, and January 5, 2022. Apps were selected by time since their last review, with updates occurring on average approximately 4 months from the last review. Eleven trained app evaluators reviewed apps across 105 evaluation criteria in 9 categories. Results were compared to initial ratings, identifying the changes that occurred. The average app updates every 433 days, though 19% were updated in the last 3 months and some nearly weekly. Changes in privacy and features made up the highest percentage of changes, both at 38%. The most frequently observed privacy-related change was increased privacy policy reading level. Functionality parameters changed in 28% of apps. The most common functionality change was the removal of an accessibility feature. Clinical foundations changed in 18% of apps and 9% added supporting studies. Cost structure changed in 17% of apps, with 10% adding a fee for use of the app. Engagement features changed in 17% of the apps, with additions and removals of validated assessments or screeners most common. The dynamic nature of the app stores is reflected in app privacy, features, and functionality. These changes, reflected by the increased reading levels required to understand privacy policies, the decrease in accessibility features, and the additions of fees to access mobile apps, reflect the need to constantly review apps and understand how they are evolving. Patient and clinicians should use the most recent and updated possible when evaluating apps.
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The current study used device-logged screen-time records to measure week-to-week within-person associations between stress and smartphone use in undergraduate students (N = 187;mean age = 20.1 years). The study was conducted during fall 2020 and focused on differences across types of app used and whether accumulated screen use each week predicted end-of-week mood states. Participants uploaded weekly screenshots from their iPhone "Screen Time” settings display and completed surveys measuring stress, mood, and COVID-19 experiences. Results of multilevel models showed no week-to-week change in smartphone hours of use or device pickups. Higher stress levels were not concurrently associated with heavier smartphone use, either overall or by type of app. Heavier smartphone use in a given week did not predict end-of-week mood states, but students who tended to spend more time on their phones in general reported slightly worse moods—a between-persons effect potentially reflecting deficits in well-being that are present in students' off-line lives as well. Our findings contribute to a growing scholarly consensus that time spent on smartphones tells us little about young people's well-being. © The Author(s) 2023.