Explore the vast range of titles available.

Firm participation in open source software (OSS) development is a noteworthy phenomenon and includes two types of firm-participating OSS projects: community founded (developed from an open project) and spinout (spun out from an information technology firm’s internal project). OSS project leaders implement quality controls to improve the quality of developed products. They may not be aware that their implementation of quality controls produces a side effect—quality controls signal unobservable project quality to volunteers and promote volunteers’ continued participation intentions (VCPI). We focus on two quality controls— accreditation and code acceptance , which, respectively, map to the input and output quality of an OSS project—and compare their respective effects on VCPI in community-founded and spinout projects. We propose that accreditation and code acceptance influence VCPI by signaling unobservable input and output quality to volunteers. As we focus on continued participation, we theorize as to how volunteers’ tenure in OSS projects moderates the relationships between the signaling effects of input and output quality controls and VCPI. Furthermore, we theorize as to how the OSS project type moderates the effects of quality controls on VCPI. We surveyed 304 volunteers from 40 OSS projects and constructed a two-level model of project and developer factors to explain VCPI. Our findings indicate that both accreditation and code acceptance enhance VCPI. The signaling effects on VCPI associated with accreditation decline with volunteer tenure, but those associated with code acceptance do not. Accreditation and code acceptance influence VCPI, with community-founded projects exhibiting weaker direct positive effects and spinout projects exhibiting stronger direct positive effects. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

This chapter contains sections titled: AICPA Professional Code of Conduct Code Principles Criticisms of the Code of Conduct

PurposeDrawing on self-determination theory, this paper compares the effects of QR code payment method (autonomous vs dependent payment) on payment pleasure, its mechanism and the boundary condition in the mobile payment setting.Design/methodology/approachFour studies were conducted to examine the effect of QR code payment method on payment pleasure. In study 1, 108 undergraduate students were asked to recall a recent experience when they made either autonomous payment or dependent payment. Study 2 assigned 74 undergraduate students to either the autonomous or dependent payment. Study 3 replicated study 2, but recruited 75 customers in the field. For study 4, a total of 134 undergraduate students participated in a 2 (payment method: autonomous payment vs dependent payment) × 2 (product involvement: high vs low) between-subjects design.FindingsThe results of these four studies demonstrate that (1) customers derive more payment pleasure from autonomous payment, compared with dependent payments (study 1); (2) the sense of control mediates the effect of the payment method on payment pleasure (study 2 and study 3); and (3) product involvement moderates the mediating effect of the sense of control (study 4).Originality/valueThese findings contribute to the literature on mobile payment and payment experience. These findings also provide insight to merchants when they select an appropriate payment method and manage the customer payment experience.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model based on Push–Pull–Mooring (PPM) framework consisting of direct, indirect and moderating effects, derived from technology acceptance model, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and other extended theory, to address the main factor influencing an individual in adopting mobile payment (MP) in physical stores. The research, therefore, utilized individual switching behavior as an underpinning to explain MP adoption in an offline context.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical model was tested by collecting data from 459 respondents in Indonesia through online self-administered questionnaires.FindingsThe finding indicated consumer innovativeness has the most influential direct effect on MP adoption, followed by deal proneness, perceived convenience and perceived herd behavior. Meanwhile, perceived enjoyment and subjective norms were found to have an indirect effect on the adaptation of MP through mediator convenience. Furthermore, age, gender, occupation and income did not have any moderating effect for all the direct influence of MP adoption.Originality/valuePrevious literature only focused on direct intention. However, this study observed the adoption of MP in a physical store by involving the switching behavior. It specifically puts concern and objective as the factors that influence user intention to switch from their old payment system to the MP system in bricks and mortar store using PPM framework.

Background The Latinx community faces an increasing amount of mental health challenges and disparities in care. While the contributing factors are complex, there are likely potential barriers related to connecting with mental health support and accessing care that can be addressed. Methods To investigate barriers in connecting to mental health care, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of mental health service use and barriers in an urban community with a primarily Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity using a modified random walk approach for door-to-door data collection with a two-cluster sampling frame. Survey included questions on socio-demographic, mental health status, desire and attempt to seek care, and the Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation. Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) identified impactful barriers and demographic characteristics. Our primary outcome was the number of respondents who saw a professional in the past 12 months and the key determinants that enabled their successful connection. Secondary outcomes were people with poor mental health who had wanted or tried to seek any source of mental health support. Results Of the 1004 respondents enrolled, 70.5% were foreign born; 63.4% were women. In the past 12 months, 23.8% of respondents wanted to connect with mental health care; 15.5% tried to connect, and only 11.7% successfully connected to mental health services. The two most cited barriers had the highest SHAP values: concerns about treatments available (65%) and financial costs (62.7%). Additional barriers with high SHAP values: being seen as weak and having no one to help them find care. Of demographic characteristics, age had the highest SHAP values. Conclusion In a community with a high density of Latinx immigrants, just under half of respondents wanting mental health care successfully connected. Perceived informational, financial, and stigma-related barriers impacted the likelihood to connect with mental health care. These factors should be considered when designing programs and interventions to improve mental health care access and services in the Latinx community.

Background HIV self-testing (HIVST) can improve HIV testing uptake by offering convenience and privacy. Yet HIVST accessibility and uptake remain limited in Lake Victoria beach communities where HIVST holds promise to address many barriers highly mobile populations of men in fishing communities face. We assessed HIVST knowledge and acceptability among highly mobile fishermen, a high priority population for HIV prevention and treatment, participating in a social network-based study (“Owete”; NCT04772469) to promote HIV testing, prevention, and treatment in Kenya. Methods Sixty-five in-depth baseline interviews (IDIs) and two focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted at study baseline from December 2021 to June 2022 with fishermen, including 30 who were social network-central men recruited as HIVST “promoters” from three fishing communities along Lake Victoria, Kenya. Fishermen were purposively-sampled based on study arm, community, and age (18–34 and 35+) for interviews exploring HIVST knowledge, perceived benefits, and concerns. IDIs and FGDs were audio-recorded, translated/transcribed into English and inductively-coded and analyzed by six researchers using a framework approach. Results Nearly all participants had heard about HIVST and expressed willingness to self-test. Almost half reported learning about HIVST for the first time through the Owete study. Perceived benefits of self-testing included privacy, convenience, and being able to learn one’s status with the freedom to choose when and where to test, which minimized stigma and work interruptions. Few participants had used HIVST prior to joining Owete, all of whom reported ease of use. Potential barriers to HIVST included fear of HIV-seropositive results, feeling unsure about how to use HIVSTs, and fear of stigma if a HIVST was discovered. Nearly all Owete promoters indicated willingness to distribute HIVST to help their peers know their status. Promoters stressed the importance of approaching HIVST discussions strategically and thoughtfully to garner trust and engagement, and felt they needed training to answer HIVST questions. Conclusion While few fishermen had ever used HIVST, this study found high awareness, positive perceptions, and substantial willingness to use and distribute HIVST to other men. The “promoter” model, with known peers engaged in disseminating HIVST information and test kits, shows promise for engaging men in testing.

The objective of this research was to examine QR code payment acceptance during the COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand. A comprehensive research model answering QR code payment users’ intentional behavior was insufficient to some extent. Moreover, the recent pandemic crisis has increased the perceived susceptibility to COVID-19. To explore the behavioral intention during the unprecedented time more thoroughly, the technology acceptance model was extended with the subjective norm, facilitating conditions, personal innovativeness, perceived susceptibility, and perceived security. The data were collected from 384 QR payment users and the final sample was 377. The IBM SPSS Statistics and Amos programs version 28 have been utilized for data analysis. Besides, the structural equation modeling was applied to test the structural relationship and hypotheses. The results confirmed that perceived usefulness, facilitating conditions, personal innovativeness, and perceived security have a significant influence on the behavioral intention to use QR code payment. Notwithstanding, perceived ease of use, subjective norm, and perceived susceptibility had an insignificant impact on behavioral intention. The influence of perceived susceptibility on behavioral intention was rejected due to the users had a high familiarity and previous experience before the epidemic. This research paper practically contributed to the retail businesses, online applications and platforms, commercial banks and digital payment application providers, digital payment methods, and the Thailand government. Additionally, this study theoretically contributed to a saturated TAM theory with the essential determinants.

Error correction coding for optical communication and storage requires high rate codes that enable high data throughput and low residual errors. Recently, different concatenated coding schemes were proposed that are based on binary BCH codes with low error correcting capabilities. In this work, low‐complexity hard‐ and soft‐input decoding methods for such codes are investigated. We propose three concepts to reduce the complexity of the decoder. For the algebraic decoding we demonstrate that Peterson's algorithm can be more efficient than the Berlekamp–Massey algorithm for single, double, and triple error correcting BCH codes. We propose an inversion‐less version of Peterson's algorithm and a corresponding decoding architecture. Furthermore, we propose a decoding approach that combines algebraic hard‐input decoding with soft‐input bit‐flipping decoding. An acceptance criterion is utilised to determine the reliability of the estimated codewords. For many received codewords the stopping criterion indicates that the hard‐decoding result is sufficiently reliable, and the costly soft‐input decoding can be omitted. To reduce the memory size for the soft‐values, we propose a bit‐flipping decoder that stores only the positions and soft values of a small number of code symbols. This method significantly reduces the memory requirements and has little adverse effect on the decoding performance.

Current guidelines recommend pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) after hospitalization for a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation, but little is known about its adoption or factors associated with participation. To evaluate receipt of PR after a hospitalization for COPD exacerbation among Medicare beneficiaries and identify individual- and hospital-level predictors of PR receipt and adherence. We identified individuals hospitalized for COPD during 2012 and recorded receipt, timing, and number of PR visits. We used generalized estimating equation models to identify factors associated with initiation of PR within 6 months of discharge and examined factors associated with number of PR sessions completed. Of 223,832 individuals hospitalized for COPD, 4,225 (1.9%) received PR within 6 months of their index hospitalization, and 6,111 (2.7%) did so within 12 months. Median time from discharge until first PR session was 95 days (interquartile range, 44-190 d), and median number of sessions completed was 16 (interquartile range, 6-25). The strongest factor associated with initiating PR within 6 months was prior home oxygen use (odds ratio [OR], 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39-1.59). Individuals aged 75-84 years and those aged 85 years and older (respectively, OR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.66-0.75; and OR, 0.25; 95% CI 0.22-0.28), those living over 10 miles from a PR facility (OR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.39-0.46), and those with lower socioeconomic status (OR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.38-0.46) were less likely to receive PR. Two years after Medicare began providing coverage for PR, participation rates after hospitalization were extremely low. This highlights the need for strategies to increase participation.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed unprecedented strain on patients and health care professionals and institutions, but the association of the pandemic with use of preventive, elective, and nonelective care, as well as potential disparities in use of health care, remain unknown. To examine changes in health care use during the first 2 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April of 2020 relative to March and April of 2019 and 2018, and to examine whether changes in use differ by patient's zip code-level race/ethnicity or income. This cross-sectional study analyzed health insurance claims for patients from all 50 US states who receive health insurance through their employers. Changes in use of preventive services, nonelective care, elective procedures, prescription drugs, in-person office visits, and telemedicine visits were examined during the first 2 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 relative to existing trends in 2019 and 2018. Disparities in the association of the pandemic with health care use based on patient's zip code-level race and income were also examined. Data from 5.6, 6.4, and 6.8 million US individuals with employer-sponsored insurance in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively, were analyzed. Patient demographics were similar in all 3 years (mean [SD] age, 34.3 [18.6] years in 2018, 34.3 [18.5] years in 2019, and 34.5 [18.5] years in 2020); 50.0% women in 2018, 49.5% women in 2019, and 49.5% women in 2020). In March and April 2020, regression-adjusted use rate per 10 000 persons changed by -28.2 (95% CI, -30.5 to -25.9) and -64.5 (95% CI, -66.8 to -62.2) for colonoscopies; -149.1 (95% CI, -162.0 to -16.2) and -342.1 (95% CI, -355.0 to -329.2) for mammograms; -60.0 (95% CI, -63.3 to -54.7) and -118.1 (95% CI, -112.4 to -113.9) for hemoglobin A1c tests; -300.5 (95% CI, -346.5 to -254.5) and -369.0 (95% CI, -414.7 to -323.4) for child vaccines; -4.6 (95% CI, -5.3 to -3.9) and -10.9 (95% CI, -11.6 to -10.2) for musculoskeletal surgery; -1.1 (95% CI, -1.4 to -0.7) and -3.4 (95% CI, -3.8 to -3.0) for cataract surgery; -13.4 (95% CI, -14.6 to -12.2) and -31.4 (95% CI, -32.6 to -30.2) for magnetic resonance imaging; and -581.1 (95% CI, -612.9 to -549.3) and -1465 (95% CI, -1496 to -1433) for in-person office visits. Use of telemedicine services increased by 227.9 (95% CI, 221.7 to 234.1) per 10 000 persons and 641.6 (95% CI, 635.5 to 647.8) per 10 000 persons. Patients living in zip codes with lower-income or majority racial/ethnic minority populations experienced smaller reductions in in-person visits (≥80% racial/ethnic minority zip code: 200.0 per 10 000 [95% CI, 128.9-270.1]; 79%-21% racial/ethnic minority zip code: 54.2 per 10 000 [95% CI, 33.6-74.9]) but also had lower rates of adoption of telemedicine (≥80% racial/ethnic minority zip code: -71.6 per 10 000 [95% CI, -87.6 to -55.5]; 79%-21% racial/ethnic minority zip code: -15.1 per 10 000 [95% CI, -19.8 to -10.4]). In this cross-sectional study of a large US population with employer-sponsored insurance, the first 2 months of the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with dramatic reductions in the use of preventive and elective care. Use of telemedicine increased rapidly but not enough to account for reductions in in-person primary care visits. Race and income disparities at the zip code level exist in use of telemedicine.