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Background: Breast cancer has a rich history of research over the past 75 years. Many studies have had disruptive influences on the field itself. Our study employs a new, validated measurement to determine the most disruptive publications within the field of breast cancer. Materials and Methods: PubMed® database was queried for articles between 1954-2014 related to breast cancer with in 21 different journals deemed important to the field. Articles were then scored for disruption and citation count. The top 100 most disruptive and cited publications were compiled and analyzed. Results: Disruption score was a distinct measurement from citation count and had low level of correlation. Disruptive publications tended to skew older with the median year of publication in 1977. The score identified a variety of study designs and publication types within multiple journals. Conclusions: Measurement of the disruptive quality of a publication is a new way to describe academic impact of a publication and is distinct from citation count. Used in conjunction with citation count in may give a more descriptive bibliometric assessment of the literature. Further exploration within the field of oncology is warranted.

In order to maintain productivity and career advancement, Black and Brown individuals often find themselves downplaying persistent elements of bias and racism experienced in predominantly white fields. These elements are commonly reinforced by institutional and departmental policies that hinder the creation of an equitable and inclusive environment for all. In this manuscript, we outline specific challenges faced by Black and Brown trainees and faculty that are perpetuated by such policies. The challenges are followed by specific recommendations for change as they may apply to faculty, staff and trainees. The outlined recommendations or "action items" may be enacted by any residency program or department based on perceived timeliness and should serve as a foundation for change-one that is intently created through a lens of anti-racism. The risk of speaking up for racial equity is outweighed by the potential rewards of building an environment that is diverse, inclusive and better for everyone.

This study aims to explore the psychosocial factors and challenges affecting the lives of those who wear an ocular prosthesis following a traumatic eye injury. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with eight individuals resulted in five themes: emotional devastation in the aftermath; moving forward; fear of negative social evaluation; keeping it normal - protecting self and close others; and threat of injury & blindness. Enucleation or evisceration of an eye causes significant emotional stress. Despite successful prosthetic restoration, many individuals continue to experience ongoing psychosocial challenges, as a consequence of their experiences of visible difference and visual impairment.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the mobile shopping (m-shopping) acceptance literature to bring international marketing and consumer research attention to m-shopping acceptance factors and limitations in current understandings to propose recommendations for further academic and retailing attention. Design/methodology/approach Keyword searches identified the consumer-focused literature across mobile commerce, m-shopping, mobile browsing and mobile purchasing, published in English language journals. A classification framework is created and a time frame is established to provide a more focused direction for research. Findings Despite the growing popularity of consumers adopting m-shopping activities and the increasing academic attention, consumer m-shopping utilisation remains low and research into its causes remains in its infancy. This paper has subsequently identified a variety of recommendations for further research, including further insights into perceived risk, user vs non-user behaviours, the multi-stage shopping process, incorporation of time considerations and theoretical development. Originality/value There has yet been a review of the m-shopping literature collaborating literary findings and limitations in the consumer m-shopping environment. Three major themes arise in this paper. First, there are a variety of factors affecting consumer willingness to accept m-shopping which are often incorporated in existing theory in a sporadic manner. Second, factors can create positive and/or negative consumer perceptions, requiring further insight. Finally, research limitations predominantly surround theoretical and methodological constraints, prompting for wider geographical and more longitudinal approaches to research.

This study investigates the factors influencing customers’ intention and adoption of telebanking in Jordan. The proposed model integrated perceived risk with the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. The results show that behavioral intention is significantly influenced by performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, price value, and perceived risk. Implications for practitioners, research limitations, and future directions are also discussed further in this article.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose and examine a conceptual model that best explains the key factors influencing Jordanian customers ' intention to adopt mobile banking (MB). Design/methodology/approach – The proposed conceptual model was based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This was extended by adding perceived risk and self-efficacy as an external factors. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted to analyse the data collected from the field survey questionnaires administered to a convenience sample of Jordanian banking customers. Findings – The results showed that behavioural intention is significantly influenced by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived risk. Research limitations/implications – Practical and theoretical implications for both Jordanian banks and researchers in the MB context are also discussed in the concluding section. Originality/value – MB-related issues are yet to be examined empirically in the Jordanian context. This submission has attempted to fill this gap by empirically examining some of the important factors influencing the adoption of MB from the Jordanian customers’ perspective.

Consumer ethnocentrism is found to be an important factor in making consumers adversely evaluate foreign products. This study is an attempt to improve understanding of consumer ethnocentrism and its influence on consumer attitude and purchase intention toward foreign products in an emergent market. It was also hypothesized that cultural similarity moderates the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and purchase intention in which domestic products are not available. All but one of the hypotheses were accepted. Consumer ethnocentrism is found to have a strong influence on consumer attitude but does not significantly affect consumer purchase intention toward foreign products. Cultural similarity was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and purchase intention. This suggests that cultural similarity plays an important role for ethnocentric consumers in the evaluation of foreign products. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

This chapter contains a case study of an interaction between two faculty members related to social norms and gender roles.

Despite mobile device usage being at an all-time high, their utilisation for mobile shopping activities is inherently low. The study, first, identifies prominent areas of academic concern and examines areas requiring further insight. A theoretical model is developed to examine multi-faceted risk and trust effects on consumer adoption intention. Empirical results demonstrate several trust and risk perceptions as having varying effects on consumers’ m-shopping intention. Inclusion of age and gender reveals discrepancies among positive and negative influencers of intention. Results contribute to theoretical and practical understandings surrounding deterrents of intention and potential risk-reduction mechanisms for future considerations.

Mobile payments (MPs) are predicted to be one of the future's most successful mobile services but have achieved limited acceptance in developed countries to date. PCs are still the preferred technology for online shopping in the United Kingdom but the continued growth of mobile commerce (MC) is highly correlated with the success of remote MPs (RMPs). Currently MP research has largely ignored the variations between different MP solutions, and existing MP adoption studies have predominantly utilized Davis’ (1989) Technology Acceptance Model, which has been criticized for having a deterministic approach without much consideration for users’ individual characteristics. Therefore, this study applied the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), extended with more consumer-related constructs, to explore the factors affecting nonusers’ intentions to adopt RMP in the United Kingdom. Quantitative data were collected (n = 268) and structural equation modeling was undertaken. The findings revealed that performance expectancy, social influence, innovativeness, and perceived risk significantly influenced nonusers’ intentions to adopt RMP, whereas effort expectancy did not. Inclusion of MP knowledge as a moderating variable revealed that there was a significant difference in the effect of trust on behavioral intention for those who knew about MP than for those who did not. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications, particularly for the development and marketing of RMP, which will support the long-term success of MC.

A great number of studies (Abrantes et al. 2013; Cheung and Lee 2012; Gheorghe and Liao 2012; Mardhiyah et al. 2013; Musallam and Magalhaes 2012; Wang et al. 2013) address the question of why consumers engage in eWOM. By identifying underlying motivations for people to engage in eWOM, researchers are able to understand, and influence, individual online information assimilation which can affect consumer purchase decisions, customer loyalty, and consumer commitment to the community. The objective of this chapter is to provide a review of the existing literature on antecedents and motivations to engage in eWOM communications from the perspective of senders of eWOM (people who give eWOM) and receivers of eWOM (people who seek eWOM). Knowing these motivations to engage in eWOM can help marketers to encourage people to post more and as a result have an impact on sales.

Consumers use eWOM as one of the most important information sources to make buying decisions (Tsao and Hsieh 2015). Persuasiveness of eWOM communications is linked with the credibility and helpfulness of the content. Studies show that eWOM is perceived as more credible and relevant to customers than market created sources of information on the Internet (Gruen et al. 2006). Many studies prove the link between credibility and helpfulness of eWOM and information adoption, which can influence consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions and, hence, sales (Cheung 2014; Cheung et al. 2009; Lis 2013; Teng et al. 2014). Thus, it is important to understand how consumers evaluate persuasiveness of eWOM (O’Reilly and Marx 2011).

Part 4: Information Sharing on Social Media; International audience; Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) plays an important part in consumer purchase decision. The way consumers perceive the persuasiveness of eWOM message can affect their attitude, and purchase intention, and hence sales. Thus, the topic of persuasiveness of eWOM communications has received much attention from scholars. The objective of this paper is to provide a brief review of the existing literature related to the effectiveness of eWOM communications and offer an overview of the determinants of eWOM persuasiveness. This paper contributes to the existing eWOM literature by reviewing the existing studies on eWOM communications, identifying gaps in the current research and providing directions for future research.

Purpose – This paper seeks to describe a deep investigation of the phenomenon of internet engagement amongst older people. The likelihood of internet engagement has been shown in previous work to rapidly decrease with age, and patterns of disengagement are most pronounced amongst older people. Design/methodology/approach – The study comprises a qualitative investigation consisting of observation and interviews conducted within a programme of internet literacy workshops funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. Findings – The reflection of previous research with data collected has led to the development of a model of older people's internet engagement. This model helps us better understand the context for patterns of engagement and disengagement with the internet. Practical implications – The model of internet engagement is used to highlight a number of strategies that should be considered in future policy intervention in the area of digital inclusion. Originality/value – The model described offers a more sophisticated instrument for understanding the issue of the digital divide amongst this excluded group and potentially may be applied more generally in understanding the complex nature of this issue.

Persons who are elderly, visually impaired, and primary caregivers for ailing or disabled spouses or significant others are a unique population that has not been studied previously. By definition, informal caregivers are family members or friends who provide unpaid day-to-day assistance with activities of daily living and are familiar with the medical and social states of the recipients of care (Ankri, Andrieu, Beaufils, Grand, & Henrard, 2005). Traditionally, persons with visual impairments have been thought of as recipients of care. However, as the U.S. population ages, many persons who are elderly and visually impaired may be providing care for others. Decreased visual acuity reduces the ability of individuals to care for themselves and others (Stevenson, Hart, Montgomery, McCulloch, & Chakravarthy, 2004). Approximately 3.4 million Americans have some type of visual impairment, and 1 in 28 Americans aged 40 and older is affected by low vision (Gohdes, Balamurugan, Larsen, & Maylahn, 2005). That number is expected to increase significantly as the U.S. population ages because the prevalence of ocular diseases that cause visual impairment increases significantly with age (Gohdes et al., 2005). About 125 million persons in the United States were living with chronic health conditions in 2000, a number that is expected to increase to about 157 million by 2020 (Anderson & Knickman, 2001; Rundall et al., 2002). Pandya (2005) estimated that approximately 44.4 million persons provided informal care to adult family members with chronic illnesses or physical disabilities during a one-year period. These caregivers help their family members remain at home by providing assistance with such things as bathing, preparing food, eating, managing money and medication, traveling for medical appointments and other activities, and safely transferring their family members from a bed to a chair or wheelchair. Although informal caregivers are unpaid, the value of informal caregiving has been estimated to be upward of $257 billion annually (Arno, 2002). Persons who are visually impaired experience a decreased ability to observe visual information and may have a reduced quality of life and limitations in functional activities (Chakravarthy & Stevenson, 2005; Hassell, Lamoureux, & Keeffe, 2006; Knudtson, Klein, Klein, Cruickshanks, & Lee, 2005; Lamoureux et al., 2007). Common functional problems that are associated with vision loss include significant difficulty reading small print and reading and writing checks; decreased facial recognition; a decreased ability to gather, store, and retrieve information; a decreased ability to administer medications; decreased mobility; a greater risk of injury resulting from falls; the inability to drive; and problems with shopping, cleaning, grooming, and other tasks that are dependent on vision (Bailey, 1988; Bullimore, Bailey, & Wacker, 1991; Cahill, Banks, Stinnett, & Toth, 2005; Klein, Moss, Klein, Lee, & Cruickshanks, 2003; Park, 1999). Numerous studies have shown that caregivers have high levels of stress and physical and psychological morbidity (Beach, 2005; Buck et al., 2000; Hirst, 2005; Mafullul & Morriss, 2000; Navaie-Waliser et al., 2002; Navaie-Waliser, Spriggs, & Feldman, 2002; Pinquart & Sorensen, 2006; Yakubu, 2000). Caregivers may be at an increased risk for illness, poor immune function, infection, and depression (Kiecolt-Glaser, Dura, Speicher, Trask, & Glaser, 1991; Vitaliano, Zhang, & Scanlan, 2003; Wu et al., 1999). At least one study suggested that caregivers with compromised mental and physical health may provide lower-quality care to the recipients of care (Beach, 2005). Caregivers who are visually impaired may have a variety of unique concerns because of their difficulties with vision loss and the exceptional burdens and strains of providing care for a family member who is chronically ill or disabled. …

Project work (PW) provides one of the pathways for students’ self-inquiry learning and collaboration in Singapore schools. In this context, PW teachers function as facilitators. This study investigated quantitatively how a group of 270 secondary-school students (aged 14 years) perceived their seven PW teacher-facilitators’ face-to-face interactions with students based on the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), and whether their perceptions of teacher–student interaction during PW classrooms were related with their attitudes towards PW learning as a whole. Seven out of eight QTI scales were associated with Enjoyment of Project Work Lessons and two QTI scales were associated with Attitude to Inquiry in Project Work. The findings are discussed in terms of how teachers who function as facilitators can translate their interpersonal behaviours into effective teaching strategies for communicating with students and facilitating students’ learning in PW classrooms.

Adults with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) have significantly more health risks than do sighted adults because of a number of factors, including the lower mineral density of their femoral neck bones, which is indicative of reduced weight-bearing exercise; their lesser maximal strength; and their higher rates of stroke, osteoporosis, depression, hypertension, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and falls (Crews & Campbell, 2001; Uusi-Rasi, Sievanen, Rinne, Oja, & Vuori, 2001). A contributing factor is that individuals who are visually impaired are less physically active than are sighted individuals (Crews & Campbell, 2001). These factors play a significant role in the quality of life of persons who are visually impaired and can affect their independent movement. The physiological changes in addition to the loss of vision to preview the environment can result in decreased movement and increased restrictions on movement. During the aging process, balance and overall mobility are affected as people lose some of their ability to use vision, proprioception, and vestibular information (Lusardi, Pellecchia, & Schulman, 2003). However, the movement of individuals who are visually impaired may diminish much earlier because of changes in behavior (the adoption of a more sedentary lifestyle); if these changes in behavior are not reversed, they could lead to a reduced quality of life as the individuals continue to age and experience a greater incidence of falls or frailty late in life. The relationship or impact of the visual, somatosensory (proprioceptive), and vestibular systems on mobility for these individuals has not been sufficiently addressed. The purpose of this investigation was to investigate the movement of adults with visual impairments using two common clinical measures to gain a better understanding of the impact of vision loss on movement and health in adults who are visually impaired. Documentation of this information is an important step in understanding the functional limitations resulting from vision loss and the eventual development of interventions and rehabilitation programs to remediate those limitations. METHOD Participants The 15 participants with visual impairments aged 20-58 were matched with 15 sighted adults by age and gender. Their visual acuity equaled or exceeded the U.S. definition of legal blindness. The participants demonstrated variability in the degree, etiology, and age of onset of their vision loss. As a group, they were active-that is, independent (all were able to travel independently with long canes) and proficient in their ability to move within their environment. The participants' visual status was divided into low, medium, and high on the basis of their level of visual functioning, which is consistent with the classification used for athletes who are blind (United States Association of Blind Athletes, 2006). The four participants in the B1 category had no light perception, the nine participants in the B2 category had the ability to see light and shapes and an acuity of up to 20/600 and a visual field of less than 5 degrees, and the two participants in the B3 category were able to recognize hand movements up to and including 20/200 acuity and had a visual field of up to 20 degrees. Demographic profiles of the participants are presented in Table 1, and data on the individual participants are presented in Table 2. Procedures Prior to testing, all the procedures were explained to and practiced with the participants, so they had a clear understanding of the requirements of the tasks and had the best opportunity to complete the trials successfully. Consent was obtained from each participant, and the protocol used was approved by the University of Georgia institutional review board. The timed up-and-go and 30-second sit-to-stand protocols were used for this study. The timed up-and-go test, which was performed to assess functional balance, mobility, and strength, is often used by clinicians because it is easy to administer, low in cost, and functionally relevant. …

Part 2: Adoption; International audience; This study aims to examine the factors that affect consumer adoption of social commerce technologies in the context of Saudi Arabia. The factors descriptively explored in this research include: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, habit, trust, consumer innovativeness, information quality and behavioural intention. The survey data utilised in this research was collected through a self-administered questionnaire within a convenience sample. The results obtained through a descriptive analysis confirmed that Saudi consumers perceive the abovementioned factors as important and they have strong behavioural intention to use social commerce technologies.

Part 2: Adoption; International audience; Utilising Mobile Internet (M-Internet) services would increase socio-economic benefits. Hence, it is necessary to consider the factors that may increase the adoption of M-Internet services within the context of Saudi Arabia. This research aims to examine potential users’ intentions towards different variables that may be significant for supporting higher usage of M-Internet services in the domain of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study embraces the following variables: perceived risk, innovativeness; performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, perceived value, hedonic motivation and behavioural intention. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire on a convenience sample that consisted of 600 subjects with a response rate of 69.5 %. The findings gathered from a descriptive analysis suggested that the related variables are perceived as significant by participants and they have strong behavioural intention to use M-Internet services.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the success (by measuring intention to use and user satisfaction) of the online public grievance redressal system (OPGRS) from the perspective of the citizens of India. The success of this e-government system is examined using an integrated IS success model. The model developed includes the constructs such as system quality, information quality, service quality, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived satisfaction, perceived risk, and behavioral intention. The proposed integrated research model of IS was validated using the response taken from 419 citizens from different cities of India. The empirical outcomes provided the positive significant connections between all 12 hypothesised relationships between eight constructs. The empirical evidence and discussion presented in the study can help the government to improve upon and fully utilise the potential of the OPGRS as a useful tool toward a transparent and corruption free country.

The computer-supported Project Work classroom learning environment discussed in this paper represents a paradigm shift from teacher-centered to student-centered teaching and learning in Singapore schools. Besides the face-to-face weekly lessons in existing Project Work classrooms, the students engaged in computer-supported online forum discussions. Two hundred and sixty students and 26 teachers from seven high schools participated in this study. Their perceptions of this new learning environment were assessed using a modified version of the Web-based Learning Environment Instrument (WEBLEI). In addition, the instrument was also validated. The WEBLEI exhibited satisfactory internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity. Comparing the actual and preferred perceptions of the students and teachers revealed that there were differences between the actual and preferred perceptions for both students and teachers. With these in mind, the implications for using technology to support the face-to-...

The purpose of this study is to explore learner engagement and motivation related toFlow particularly in WBI settings. In theFlow state people are absorbed in their activities while irrelevant thoughts and perceptions are screened out. In this article, we attempted to identify some of the critical elements of learner feelings and WBI features which relate to the experience ofFlow. Survey data were collected from 266 Korean cyber-university students and the data were subject to factor analyses and multiple regression to determine the best predictors ofFlow in WBI environments. As a result, six factors, including G-factor for flow, were found. Based on these findings, a theoretical model for Learner Flow within WBI was proposed

This article reports on a self-report measure of functional independence that is being used to measure outcomes of blind rehabilitation programs in the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). Analyses of the data have resulted in the clinical protocol that is currently in use nationally by the DVA Blind Rehabilitation Service.

Although motivation is an important aspect in instructional design, few studies have examined the effect of motivation in Web site design. Most of the existing Web site evaluation checklists evaluate for content accuracy but not the motivational quality of Web sites. For this study, we developed the Motivation Analysis Rating Kit (M@RK) to address motivational design elements and to assess children’s perception of Web design elements and the Web features they most prefer in “cool” Web sites. The research employed a repeated measures design on a single sample (N = 71) with two within-subjects factors (Web sites and motivational elements). Paired-sample t-tests were used to compare student ratings among the various motivational elements. Findings show that children are able to and do select Web sites critically. They seem to be most motivated by Web sites that are rated high for both content and design elements.

Purpose – Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory typically concerns attributes that steer the process of inducing new ideas through various communication channels, which essentially diffuse different types of innovations into different systems. After Rogers, Tornatzky, and Klein presented 30 such attributes (five of which were Rogers’) that steered the process of innovation diffusion. The purpose of this paper is to use a systematic approach in reviewing the literature pertaining to these 30 attributes, followed by the meta-analysis of the articles collated in relevance to these attributes. Design/methodology/approach – Publications in the time frame of 1996-mid 2011 in this field of literature have been shortlisted for this review. A total of 223 innovation articles are studied in detail to collate the relevant data needed to reflect on the various informative trends exhibited by the shortlisted innovation attributes. Findings – An analysis of these trends will be carried out across three different categories – first, subjective analysis; second, seven features of an ideal innovation attribute study (approach, dependent variable, study type, instrument, measure, number of attributes, number of innovations, adopting unit); and third, antecedents and descendants of the innovation attributes, which altogether will be used deduce findings, limitations, and suggestions for future research from this review. Originality/value – No recent study has analysed existing research on less explored innovation adoption attributes. Therefore, analysis and findings presented in this research is original and will make adequate contribution to the existing research on this topic. Findings presented in this submission would be helpful for researchers, authors, reviewers, and editors.

This study assessed the accuracy of the "screen" versus "metric" portions of eight subtests of the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE). As part of a routine hospital assessment, 95 male patients were administered both portions of the instrument regardless of outcome on the screen. Results indicate that the screen items of some of the NCSE subtests produced a relatively high false negative rate, where the screen was passed, but the metric was failed. It is recommended that all items of the subtests be administered to more fully assess each domain and, therefore, reduce the probability of overlooking significant deficits.

A successful transition to adult society requires attention to four major goals: (a) have a safe and supportive place to live; (b) participate in meaningful activities; (c) maintain access to needed services; and (d) develop friendships and intimate relationships. For young adults with complex communication needs (CCN), access to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) plays a critical role in the achievement of these valued outcomes. This article discusses what is known about the use of AAC to support communication by young adults with CCN, and identifies areas for future research and development in AAC technology.

Part 4: Customer and User Integration; International audience; The originating article of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) has been cited by a large number of studies. However, a detailed examination of such citations revealed that only small proportion (43 articles) of these citations actually utilized the theory or its constructs in their empirical research for examining IS/IT related issues. In order to examine whether the theory is performing consistently well across various studies, this research aims to undertake a statistical meta-analysis of findings reported in 43 published studies that have actually utilized UTAUT or its constructs in their empirical research. Findings reveal the underperformance of theory in subsequent studies in comparison to the performance of UTAUT reported in the originating article. The limitations experienced while conducting the meta-analysis, recommendations, and the future scope for the further research in this area have also been briefly explained in concluding section.

The effects of studying alone or in cooperative learning groups on high- and average-ability students were investigated. Also examined were the effects of completing computer-based instruction using either a learner- or program-control version of a lesson. A total of 175 fourth-grade students were classified as being of high or average ability and randomly assigned to paired or individual treatments stratified by ability. Students completed training to enhance small-group interaction before completing a computer-based tutorial and a posttest. Following cooperative learning, students demonstrated increased achievement and efficiency as well as better attitudes toward both the computer lesson and grouping. Students completed more practice items and examples in program-control treatments than in learner-control treatments. However, the form of lesson control did not affect students' achievement or attitudes.

The purpose of this investigation was to assess movement capabilities of adults with visual impairments in comparison to sighted peers. Thirty participants (n = 15 visually impaired; n = 15 without vision loss) were age and gender matched and assesed on three functional movement measures. A Walk Across, Forward Lunge, and Sit to Stand were completed on a long force plate and analyzed using Group MANOVAs. Individuals with visual impairment were more cautious and conservative in their movement as evident by signifigantly reduced performance on both the Walk Across assessment and the Forward Lunge task. Performance between groups was similar on the Sit to Stand manuver. It was concluded that individuals with visual impairments are more cautious and have more difficulty performing tasks when their center of gravity is outside of their base of support.

Background With the aging of the population, more persons who are severely visually impaired are now caring for a spouse or significant other. The purpose of this qualitative study is to learn more about this previously unreported, yet vulnerable, population of visually impaired caregivers. Methods Focus groups and 1-on-1 interviews were conducted with legally blind U.S. English-speaking adults who served as informal caregivers of adults. Visually impaired caregivers discussed the challenges of caregiving and how their visual impairment affected their caregiving responsibilities. Interview transcripts were analyzed using grounded theory. Standardized questionnaires captured demographic and social characteristics. Results Fourteen adults participated. Seven major themes emerged from the interviews: (1) impact of lack of transportation, (2) concern over care recipient's quality of life, (3) utilization of support, (4) all encompassing demand, (5) cyclical adaptations, (6) anxieties of the caregivers, and (7) positive aspects of caregiving. Conclusions Although visually impaired caregivers experience challenges similar to other caregivers, they differ in their report of added burden because of visual impairment, with extraordinary difficulty in transportation issues and the necessity of cyclical adaptations as their vision worsens. This is, to our knowledge, the first qualitative study of visually impaired caregivers and brings to light the unique problems faced by this special cohort of caregivers.

The purpose of this study is to explore the theoretical development of e-government adoption research. A total of 448 relevant articles were identified and collated from different sources. Filtering those articles that examined the individual adoption, we reached to the usable number of such articles to 62. The findings indicated that the most frequently used models including the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) were evenly balanced across citizens and professionals. We analysed 58 independent variables occurred two or more times and 12 dependent variables occurring four or more times. These variables were analysed further toward corresponding relationships and their degree of significance between them. A list of 36 most frequent relationships with three or more occurrences was chosen for weight analysis and a model was presented with appropriate weight for each relation. The study also acknowledges its limitations and suggests the further research directions.

This study investigates the role of attributes from the technology acceptance model in influencing the behavioural intention and adoption of the Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) in the Indian context. The TAM model is empirically tested against the accumulated data from both, the users and prospective users of this technology. For analysis purposes, the SPSS tool is used to test the data reliability, along with the linear and logistic regressions. Whilst, a positive relationship between relative advantage and intention, and ease of use and intention is established, ease of use is also found to positively impact relative advantage. Furthermore, behavioural intention also displays a significant impact on the actual use of IMPS. The findings are discussed, limitations identified, and research implications and future directions from this study are then finally highlighted.

This study aims to investigate factors affecting consumer adoption of mobile commerce in an Indian context through development of a conceptual model. The developed conceptual model was an extension of the technology acceptance model (TAM) with additional factors such as perceived enjoyment, trust, perceived cost and perceived self-efficacy along with perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as the predicators of consumer’s actual usage through behavioural intention. The proposed model was then empirically tested through the data collected from 186 respondents of mobile commerce located in Mumbai, India. The findings of the study suggest that perceived enjoyment was found to be the most important significant predicator in determining consumer behavioural intention towards adoption of mobile commerce applications. Other significant determinants were perceived usefulness and perceived self-efficacy. The implications of this study on various players in the mobile commerce ecosystem along with some suggestions for future research related to this topic are also discussed.

This paper describes an investigation into the diffusion of information systems development methods (ISDMs). We portray method diffusion as an instance of technological diffusion. Technological diffusion is normally portrayed within the IS industry as an overtly rational process. In this paper, we postulate that the external diffusion process of ISDMs has many features in common with broader social movements and test a model of knowledge-based diffusion. We use the case of the recent history of the dynamic systems development method (DSDM), a public domain standard methodology for rapid application development (RAD), to illustrate some of the key features of method diffusion processes within a UK context.

This paper works toward analysing the employee's perspective of e-government adoption literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of current literature pertaining to electronic government research in order to observe basic trends and highlight promising lines of inquiry. Of an initial search resulting in 448 articles published in between 2000-2011, 134 were found to discuss adoption of e-government services from an employee's perspective and included in our study. Of these 134 articles, 77 reported qualitative research, 52 quantitative, and five reported activity belonging to both categories. The findings suggest that there is currently a relative lack of theoretical development and rigor in the area, and although many aspects such as job relevance, security, perceived benefits, anxiety, and perceived quality are clearly significant as far as employee's adoption is concerned, they have not been investigated to their potential, and there remains much opportunity for researchers to shape and develop the field. Restricting our analysis to theoretical constructs and their frequency may not provide a full picture of the relevance of the constructs.

A persistent issue confronting research on problem drinking (PD) and heavy drinking (HD) among college-age adults is the lack of a consistent, valid definition and criteria for either of the two conditions. This article presents a review and analysis of the criteria used in a selected group of studies on college students' PD and HD from 1974 to 1993. All studies within the time period that employed a random sample of students were analyzed for variations in criteria used to define either PD or HD. Sample characteristics, the specific criteria used, and data on prevalence rates found with those criteria are described. Areas of uniformity and inconsistency were identified and effects of criterion variations were described for the 23 studies reviewed. Of particular note was the lack of differential criteria for gender.

This article reviews the instrument development process and synthesizes current research findings for three low-vision and blind rehabilitation outcomes measures developed in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The examined measures include the Blind Rehabilitation Service Functional Outcomes Survey, the Functional Assessment of Self-Reliance on Tasks, and the VA Low Vision Visual Functioning Questionnaire. We examined vision rehabilitation literature using two fundamental measurement criteria to compare and contrast the instrument development process and research findings for the three measures. Our findings suggest the three measures need refinement to meet the two criteria and proposed measurement standards for instruments in this field. Advanced development goals for the instruments are identified. Measures that meet the specified and proposed measurement criteria will help establish an evidence-based system and guide practice at the VA and in the field. Key words: aging, blind rehabilitation outcomes, clinician ratings, low-vision outcomes, measurement, outcomes assessment, psychometrics, Rasch model, self-report ratings, visual impairment. INTRODUCTION This article reviews the instrument development process and synthesizes current research findings for three low-vision and blind rehabilitation outcomes measures developed in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). A recent article by Robert Massof discusses the measurement of visual disability over the past 20 years [1], but this article reports on the state of vision rehabilitation outcomes measurement as it pertains to efforts supported by the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D) Service and the VA Blind Rehabilitation Service (BRS). This review provides a historical overview of the impetus for developing the outcomes measures, an examination of the instrument development process, and a synthesis of the research findings based on a contemporary psychometric analytic approach. METHODS We examined low-vision and blind rehabilitation literature, VA RR&D Service project reports, and related conference abstracts and presentations to assemble a historical synopsis of instrument development efforts. From the synopsis, we identified three VA low-vision and blind rehabilitation outcomes measures and examined them for differences and similarities in the following areas: purpose of the instrument, content prioritization, content selection and item generation, item responses, field testing, and administration time and approach. We then evaluated research findings for the three instruments. Our efforts to synthesize the findings were somewhat restricted by the lack of designated standards for evaluating an instrument in this field. We therefore chose to apply the following two fundamental measurement criteria that most psychometricians believe outcomes instruments should satisfy to ensure optimal measurement properties [2]: 1. A low-vision and blind rehabilitation outcomes measure must reliably discriminate between the different levels of functional ability imposed by visual impairment. This criterion mandates that outcomes measures capture functional ability across the broadest array of functional domains. Instruments that meet this criterion will be able to measure patients' visual functioning across the continuum of services provided by the VA BRS. 2. A low-vision and blind rehabilitation outcomes measure must be sensitive to or able to reliably detect change across time for all levels of visual functioning. These criteria merely reiterate two measurement properties--an instrument must discriminate both between and within veterans and do so accurately over time [2]. RESULTS Department of Veterans Affairs Blind Rehabilitation Program For more than five decades, the leadership, programs, and principles established within the VA BRS have contributed significantly to raising the level of quality services for severely visually impaired veterans in the United States and abroad. …

Ninety college juniors were randomly assigned to one of three treatments differentiated by access to feedback. In each treatment, subjects completed a computer-based tutorial that presented the five coordinate concepts defined as intellectual skills (Gagne, 1977). In the Early Adaptive Control treatment subjects were required to select from four types of available feedback, varying in amount of information, after responding to each of the first five practice items. The type of feedback to be displayed continued to be under the control of the learner for the remaining items if the learner’s performance score was at or above 70%. If learner performance dropped below criterion the most elaborative feedback was displayed until criterion was reached again. The Late Adaptive Control treatment used a similar strategy except that it began “adapting” feedback control after the tenth item. Subjects in the third treatment, Program Control, automatically received the most elaborated feedback after each respon...

One hundred fourteen sixth graders participated in a study designed to test the effects of a learner-control strategy involving choice of elaborative material in a computer-based tutorial. An Options treatment in which children were allowed to choose a variety of types of elaborative material was contrasted with two program-control treatments, including one in which all the elaborative material from the Options treatment was mandatory (Full treatment) and the other in which students saw only a core presentation but no elaborative material (Lean treatment). A second variable in the study was level of task persistence. Four levels of task persistence were created based on initial task behavior. Students within each of these four task persistence groups were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups. A multivariate repeated measures analysis of covariance (using reading ability as the covariate) was conducted on immediate and retention posttests. Results showed that under both program-control treatments, persistence was curvilinearly related to performance; that is, extremely high and low persistence groups performed more poorly than did medium persistence groups. Under the learner-control treatment, however, the highest task persistence groups performed best. Additionally, when amount of material seen was controlled for, the learner-control treatment group outperformed the program-control groups.

Thirty-seven sixth graders were assigned to one of two computer-based treatments to learn about the propaganda coordinate concepts of bandwagon, transfer, testimonial, and repetition. In both treatments, students were allowed to choose to see additional instruction in the form of paraphrased definitions, additional expository and practice instances, and analytical feedback. In one treatment, general statements of encouragement to select options were included. In the second treatment, no such encouragement was included. Scores on the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test and the Internal Achievement Rating Survey were collected for all students. Students who were shown encouragement statements did elect to see more options than did those without encouragement statements. No differences were found on the posttest scores for the two groups. Consistent with findings from earlier studies, students who chose to see one type of option also chose to see other types.

Notetaking is a universal activity in college lecture courses, but little research has been done to examine students' perceptions of this study strategy as it relates to their overall study routine. In the current study, students in a large lecture course in introductory macroeconomics were asked to complete the Notetaking Perceptions Survey (NPS), an instrument that assesses students' perceptions of the worth or value of notetaking, their perceived level of notetaking activity, and their degree of confidence about their own notetaking skill. Additionally, students' learning style, as assessed by the Learning Style Inventory (Smith and Kolb, 1986), gender, high school rank, and year of high school graduation were included as predictor variables within a multiple regression analysis to predict scores on the there notetaking perception factors. Notetaking perceptions were predicted by one of the learning style dimensions and by gender. The relationships of final course grades with the three notetaking factors from the NPS and the other learner characteristics were also determined. Grades were predicted by one of the notetaking perception factors and by high school rank.

Although the e-reader marketplace has become increasingly significant in recent years, the current lack of understanding of factors that drive consumers' intention to use e-readers suggests there is much to be learned in this area. This study develops and tests a variation on the Technology Acceptance Model in order to investigate factors influencing consumers' intention to use e-readers. A survey of 234 consumers revealed that perceived usefulness and subjective norm positively influence intention to use, whereas there was little evidence to support the significance of image, cost, or ease of use. Findings have both theoretical and practical implications. Results provide empirical support for some existing TAM relationships, and a basis from which to examine additional factors in order to further develop knowledge affecting intention to use e-readers. Confirmation of the influence of perceived usefulness and subjective norm has implications for practitioners, particularly in terms of product design and m...