Search

Metaverse is envisioned to be a shared, immersive, and persistent 3D virtual place where humans can experience life as they do in the physical world and much beyond. This alternate “virtual world” is one key aspect of the metaverse, yet an often neglected factor while considering what might prompt the users from switching from a real to a virtual world. In this work, we investigate such switching intentions to the metaverse from a novel theoretical perspective involving three models: Push–Pull–Mooring (PPM) theory, Place Attachment theory, and Intergroup Threat theory. We focus on the educational usage of the metaverse by collecting data through an online survey using Google Forms from 621 students across 2 Asian countries (India and Thailand). In general, the participants exhibited high level of metaverse-related threats (realistic and symbolic) ranging from general privacy concerns to threats related to the existence of human identity. However, virtual place attachment was found to be the strongest predictor of switching intentions and a moderation effect of virtual place usage was also observed. Prolonged exposure to virtual places creates stronger attachments that helps to nullify the negative concerns related to the threat aspects. The push factors of dissatisfaction and perceived boredom with traditional face-to-face learning also favor the switching decision. Overall, the results provide a better understanding and insights to the students’ motivations and willingness to transfer some of their learning activities to the virtual world of the metaverse and how the bonds with virtual places translate into favorable switching intentions toward metaverse technology. The current findings go beyond those proposed by the traditional acceptance models like the Technology Acceptance Model or the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and show the importance of virtual places and the immersive time spent in this virtual world together with the realistic and symbolic threats that future metaverse designers should keep in their mind.

Amidst the present healthcare issues, diabetes is unique as an emerging class of affliction with chronicity in a majority of the population. To check and control its effects, there have been huge turnover and constant development of management strategies, and though a bigger part of the health care area is involved in achieving its control and the related issues such as the effect of diabetes on wound healing and care and many of the works have reached certain successful outcomes, still there is a huge lack in managing it, with maximum effect yet to be attained. Studying pathophysiology and involvement of various treatment options, such as tissue engineering, application of hydrogels, drug delivery methods, and enhancing angiogenesis, are at constantly developing stages either direct or indirect. In this review, we have gathered a wide field of information and different new therapeutic methods and targets for the scientific community, paving the way toward more settled ideas and research advances to cure diabetic wounds and manage their outcomes.

Although there has been a growing interest for conversational AI (CAI) agents in the consumer electronics (CE) community, how these agents are personified by humans has been an unexplored area. Creating personality traits for CAI agents is important as it will enable providing more personalized services. Accordingly, we propose a multidimensional approach involving two distinct phases and three different experiments for generating the CAI personality by integrating concepts from human, brand, and website personality frameworks. We identify eight unique personality types, three of which are proposed for the first time. Accordingly, the research implications are discussed.

With the growing popularity of the consumer Internet of Things devices in the society, there is an urgent need to understand the associated security and privacy risks. Currently, the consumer electronics (CE) community largely ignore the humans in the loop, while framing cybersecurity solutions in the IoT context. In this work, we stress on the need toward a human-centric approach to cybersecurity by shifting focus from “humans as a problem” to “humans as a solution.” We propose a Security & Privacy Preserving framework for illustrating how a human-centric approach can be initiated, what are its important components, and how security and privacy can be preserved with a human focus. We hope that the findings will help the CE community to realize the importance of a human-centric approach.

Online shopping is an emerging trend throughout the world. Likewise, it is used in China among Chinese consumers, but not all foreigners use it frequently due to several factors. This study discussed those factors which cause hindrance for foreigners to use online shopping and their behavior towards it. To do so, the authors have proposed the model by extending the technology acceptance model (TAM). The data were collected from the international students in China through a survey questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS to draw the results of the proposed relationships. The findings show that the online shopping behavior of international students in China is negatively related to financial risk and positively related to trust and ease of use. Moreover, purchase intention mediates these relationships. The results will be useful for consumers and online sellers to retain existing consumers and attract more foreigners studying in China. Moreover, the paper mentioned the implications and future directions of the study.

The use of commercially available voice assistants (VA) that enable personal data collection on a large scale is on the rise. However, knowledge discovery on such data can lead to the violation of various privacy issues. This article presents the various stakeholders who are a part of this privacy regime, along with a detailed taxonomy of the various privacy issues existing currently in the VA world. This is supplemented by a privacy preserving trust model that discusses the various antecedents of the privacy issues identified, which will enable the end-users to have a greater level of trust in using the VA.

Of late, there has been a steep rise in the smart-wearable market. To continue this growth, it is necessary to maintain a certain level of quality of experience (QoE) as perceived by the end-users. This article attempts to create a QoE model based upon the end-user perception of using smartwatches and fitness-trackers. The QoE is evaluated from a dual perspective of the quality of data (QoD) and the quality of information (QoI) collected from these smart-wearables. QoD gives a measure of the data accuracy and precision, while QoI is representative of the information quality obtained after doing analytics on the collected data. A total of 20 participants are involved in a subjective experiment, which uses five different types of wearables for the purpose of QoE evaluation.

Achieving rapid clotting and clot stability are important unmet goals of clinical management of noncompressible hemorrhage. This study reports the development of a spatiotemporally controlled release system of an antihemorrhagic drug, etamsylate, in the management of internal hemorrhage. Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (GRGDS) peptide-functionalized chitosan nanoparticles, with high affinity to bind with the GPIIa/IIIb receptor of activated platelets, were loaded with the drug etamsylate (etamsylate-loaded GRGDS peptide-functionalized chitosan nanoparticles; EGCSNP). Peptide conjugation was confirmed by LCMS, and the delivery system was characterized by DLS, SEM, XRD, and FTIR. In vitro study exhibited 90% drug release till 48 h fitting into the Weibull model. Plasma recalcification time and prothrombin time tests of GRGDS-functionalized nanoparticles proved that clot formation was 1.5 times faster than nonfunctionalized chitosan nanoparticles. The whole blood clotting time was increased by 2.5 times over clot formed under nonfunctionalized chitosan nanoparticles. Furthermore, the application of rheometric analysis revealed a 1.2 times stiffer clot over chitosan nanoparticles. In an in vivo liver laceration rabbit model, EGCSNP spatially localized at the internal injury site within 5 min of intravenous administration, and no rebleeding was recorded up to 3 h. The animals survived for 3 weeks after the injury, indicating the strong potential of the system for the management of noncompressible hemorrhage.

Severe burn injuries are one of the major challenging health issues and pertain to significant morbidity and mortality due to their extensive traumatic and physiological damage to the organs. For decades, crucial steps and procedures have been considered to comprehend burn management. Early debridement and graft application are common practices that have improved the conditions and outcomes of burn patients physically and cosmetically. However, many drawbacks are still arising while managing burn treatment. Delayed healing, scarring, infection, and pain are among the reasons. Moreover, it is necessary to overstep to bring up new techniques and medications for improved healing quality. In this present article, we review and discuss the latest treatment of burn wound management and treatment. This review aims to provide a comprehensive discussion of the use of antibiotics and metallic ions for local delivery at wound sites and also provides a thorough briefing of the mechanism of action of these therapeutic agents. Furthermore, this article also provides an overall scenario of burn wound management, different regulations, and the advancement of nanotherapeutics for burn wound management and novel strategies developed in the past decades. Overall, this review article primarily targets to provide the scientific community with some settler ideas and research advancements, that improve and uplift burn wound care with a focus on infections, scarring, drug deliveries, nanomaterial, growth factors, bioactive proteins, and tissue engineering.

Voice assistants (VA) are an emerging technology that have become an essential tool of the twenty-first century. The VA ease of access and use has resulted in high usability curiosity in voice assistants. Usability is an essential aspect of any emerging technology, with every technology having a standardized usability measure. Despite the high acceptance rate on the use of VA, to the best of our knowledge, not many studies were carried out on voice assistants’ usability. We reviewed studies that used voice assistants for various tasks in this context. Our study highlighted the usability measures currently used for voice assistants. Moreover, our study also highlighted the independent variables used and their context of use. We employed the ISO 9241-11 framework as the measuring tool in our study. We highlighted voice assistant’s usability measures currently used; both within the ISO 9241-11 framework, as well as outside of it to provide a comprehensive view. A range of diverse independent variables are identified that were used to measure usability. We also specified that the independent variables still not used to measure some usability experience. We currently concluded what was carried out on voice assistant usability measurement and what research gaps were present. We also examined if the ISO 9241-11 framework can be used as a standard measurement tool for voice assistants.

The problem of discrete-time stochastic model reduction (approximation) is considered. Using the canonical correlation analysis approach of Akaike (1975), a new order-reduction algorithm is developed. Furthermore, it is shown that the inverse of the reduced-order realization is asymptotically stable. Next, an explicit relationship between canonical variables and the linear least-squares estimate of the state vector is established. Using this, a more direct approach for order reduction is presented, and also a new design for reduced-order Kalman filters is developed. Finally, the uniqueness and symmetry properties for the new realization - the balanced stochastic realization - along with a simulation result, are presented.