The effects of extrinsic reward that affect a user's continuous intention to use a fitness application.

Fitness application service providers are offering rewards, such as points to users as incentives for service use. However, it is questionable whether this reward offering is an effective measure for persuading consumers to use fitness applications continuously. This study examines how reward affects continued use of fitness applications. An online survey was conducted on 268 people who actually used the fitness application. Respondents were divided into two groups at random, an extrinsic reward group and a non-extrinsic reward group, to check the effects of the rewards. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Factors influencing a user's continuous intention to use fitness applications will vary depending on whether rewards are provided. For the extrinsic reward group, perceived enjoyment and perceived privacy protection were significant variables to continue use of a fitness application. However, for the non-extrinsic reward group, monetary value was a significant variable. For continuous use of a fitness application, if rewards are provided, it is necessary to emphasize intrinsic factors such as fun rather than extrinsic factors such as savings and cost. On the other hand, without rewards, it is necessary to highlight extrinsic factors rather than intrinsic factors.

Histological Evaluation of the Healing Process of Various Bone Graft Materials after Engraftment into the Human Body.

The purpose of this study was to measure the level of new bone formation induced by various bone graft materials to provide clinicians with more choices. The samples were divided into three groups: group 1 (n = 9: allograft + xenograft, DBX®, San Francisco, CA, USA + Bio-Oss®, Princeton, NJ, USA), group 2 (n = 10: xenograft, Bio-Oss®), and group 3 (n = 8: autogenous tooth bone graft, AutoBT®, Korea Tooth Bank, Seoul, Korea). The average duration of evaluation was 9.56, 2.50, and 3.38 months, respectively. A tissue sample was taken from 27 patients during the second implant surgery. New bone formation was measured via histomorphometry, using a charge-coupled device camera, adaptor, and image analysis software. Total bone area, total area, and ((total bone area/total area) × 100) was measured to determine the extent of new bone formation. The mean value of the total bone area was 152,232.63 μm²; the mean value of the total area was 1,153,696.46 μm²; and the mean total bone area/total area ratio was 13.50%. In each comparison, there was no significant difference among the groups; no inflammation or complications were found in any of the groups. AutoBT®, an autogenous tooth bone graft, resulted in a level of bone formation similar to that using allografts and xenografts.

Development of Cassette PAMPA for Permeability Screening.

The parallel artificial membrane permeability assay (PAMPA) is widely used in early-stage drug discovery to discriminate compounds by intestinal permeability. The purpose of the current study was to establish a cassette (n-in-1) PAMPA to enable permeability screening of lipophilic compounds. A double-sink PAMPA consisting of a pH gradient (i.e., pH 6.5 and 7.4 for the donor and receiver compartments, respectively) and a lipophilic sink (i.e., a surfactant in the receiver solution) was utilized with cassette incubation of 10 reference compounds. Sample analysis was conducted using selected reaction monitoring (SRM) with a triple quadrupole LC-MS/MS system. Correlation between PAMPA permeability and human intestinal absorption (HIA) of the reference compounds yielded two false negatives, namely propranolol (PPN) and verapamil (VER); these two compounds showed a substantially lower recovery (ca. 10%) than other reference compounds (>69%). This cassette PAMPA was repeated subsequently with polysorbate 80 added to the donor compartments, which resulted in a significant increase in both the recovery and the permeability of the false negatives. Accordingly, the permeability class of all reference compounds could be unambiguously differentiated using this cassette PAMPA. Also, a strong linear correlation (r=0.9845) was observed between the cassette and discrete permeability of all reference compounds.

Consumer choice of on-demand mHealth app services: Context and contents values using structural equation modeling.

OBJECTIVE: As smartphone penetration increases and the technology advances, various mobile services have reached the market. mHealth Applications are specifically highlighted for phenomena such as global aging & well-being, but the technology-driven mHealth services have not been successful in the market because consumer needs have not been reflected in the services properly. This study developed a research model consisting of context/contents values to explain the intention of consumers over the age of 40 in using mHealth Applications. METHOD: To carry out this research, an online survey was conducted of mHealth Application users and recognizers in South Korea who are over 40 years old. 313 respondents gave usable data; those data were analyzed via a structural equation model. RESULTS: Context values (health stress, epistemic) produce an effect on contents values and contents values (convenience, usefulness), excepting reassurance and enjoyment, positively affect the intention to use mHealth Applications. The findings indicate that people who are stressed out about their health and are interested in new ways to control their health think that mHealth Applications are very convenient and useful because people can manage their health at home or at the office, even when they cannot go to a hospital. However, they feel that the current level of service does not provide reassurance. The level of service is behind people's expectations. Hence, a market-oriented approach that can determine user needs, specifically in terms of the reassurance value in the mHealth service field, is needed to develop mHealth Applications.

Structures and properties of poly(3-alkylthiophene) thin-films fabricated though vapor-phase polymerization.

Organic semiconducting polymer thin-films of 3-hexylthiophene, 3-octylthiophene, 3-decylthiophene, containing highly oriented crystal were fabricated by gas-phase polymerization using the CVD technique. These poly(3-alkylthiophene) films had a crystallinity up to 80%, and possessed a Hall mobility up to 10 cm2/Vs. The degree of crystalinity and the mobility values increased as the alkyl chain length increased. The crystal structure of the polymers was composed of stacked layers constructed by a side-by-side arrangement of alkyl chains and in-plane pi-pi stacking. These thin films are capable of being applied to organic electronics as the active materials used in thin-film transistors and organic photovoltaic cells.