Adoption of Cloud Computing in E-Government: A Systematic Literature Review

Cloud computing in governments has become an attraction to help enhance service delivery. Improving service delivery, productivity, transparency, and reducing costs necessitates governments to use cloud services. Since the publication of a review paper on cloud adoption elements in e-governments in 2015, cloud computing in governments has evolved into discussions of cloud service adoption factors. This paper concentrates on the adoption of cloud computing in governments, the benefits, models, and methodologies utilized, and the analysis techniques. Studies from 2010 up to 2020 have been investigated for this paper. This study has critically peer-reviewed articles that concentrate on cloud computing for electronic governments (e-Governments). It exhibits a systematic evaluation of the empirical studies focusing on cloud adoption studies in e-governments. This review work further categorizes the articles and exhibits novel research opportunities from the themes and unexhausted areas of these articles. From the reviewed articles, it has been observed that most of the articles have employed the quantitative approach, with few utilizing qualitative and mixed-method approaches. The results reveal that cloud computing adoption could help solve problems in learning, such as infrastructure issues, cost issues, and improve service delivery and transparency. This review gives more information on the future directions and areas that need attention, like the trust of cloud computing in e-governments.

A polygenic score for educational attainment partially predicts voter turnout

Twin and adoption studies have shown that individual differences in political participation can be explained, in part, by genetic variation. However, these research designs cannot identify which genes are related to voting or the pathways through which they exert influence, and their conclusions rely on possibly restrictive assumptions. In this study, we use three different US samples and a Swedish sample to test whether genes that have been identified as associated with educational attainment, one of the strongest correlates of political participation, predict self-reported and validated voter turnout. We find that a polygenic score capturing individuals’ genetic propensity to acquire education is significantly related to turnout. The strongest associations we observe are in second-order midterm elections in the United States and European Parliament elections in Sweden, which tend to be viewed as less important by voters, parties, and the media and thus present a more information-poor electoral environment for citizens to navigate. A within-family analysis suggests that individuals’ education-linked genes directly affect their voting behavior, but, for second-order elections, it also reveals evidence of genetic nurture. Finally, a mediation analysis suggests that educational attainment and cognitive ability combine to account for between 41% and 63% of the relationship between the genetic propensity to acquire education and voter turnout.

Development and validation of ester impregnated pH strips for locating nasogastric feeding tubes in the stomach—a multicentre prospective diagnostic performance study

Background NG (nasogastric) tubes are used worldwide as a means to provide enteral nutrition. Testing the pH of tube aspirates prior to feeding is commonly used to verify tube location before feeding or medication. A pH at or lower than 5.5 was taken as evidence for stomach intubation. However, the existing standard pH strips lack sensitivity, especially in patients receiving feeding and antacids medication. We developed and validated a first-generation ester-impregnated pH strip test to improve the accuracy towards gastric placements in adult population receiving routine NG-tube feeding. The sensitivity was improved by its augmentation with the action of human gastric lipase (HGL), an enzyme specific to the stomach. Methods We carried out a multi-centred, prospective, two-gate diagnostic accuracy study on patients who require routine NG-tube feeding in 10 NHS hospitals comparing the sensitivity of the novel pH strip to the standard pH test, using either chest X-rays or, in its absence, clinical observation of the absence of adverse events as the reference standard. We also tested the novel pH strips in lung aspirates from patients undergoing oesophageal cancer surgeries using visual inspection as the reference standard. We simulated health economics using a decision analytic model and carried out adoption studies to understand its route to commercialisation. The primary end point is the sensitivity of novel and standard pH tests at the recommended pH cut-off of 5.5. Results A total of 6400 ester-impregnated pH strips were prepared based on an ISO13485 quality management system. A total of 376 gastric samples were collected from adult patients in 10 NHS hospitals who were receiving routine NG-tube feeding. The sensitivities of the standard and novel pH tests were respectively 49.2% (95% CI 44.1‑54.3%) and 70.2% (95% CI 65.6‑74.8%) under pH cut-off of 5.5 and the novel test has a lung specificity of 89.5% (95% CI 79.6%, 99.4%). Our simulation showed that using the novel test can potentially save 132 unnecessary chest X-rays per check per every 1000 eligible patients, or direct savings of £4034 to the NHS. Conclusions The novel pH test correctly identified significantly more patients with tubes located inside the stomach compared to the standard pH test used widely by the NHS. Trial registration http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN11170249, Registered 21 June 2017—retrospectively registered

Citizen adoption in e-Government systems A meta-analysis

Electronic Government (e-Government) refers to a system of information, communication and interaction between government and its citizens. E-Government adoption has been studied for more than a decade with several meta-analytic studies being produced in that time. This study is differentiated from prior meta-analyses as it splits the empirical studies into pre-adoption and post-adoption studies to allow a clearer model of e-Government. We found different determinants and distinct models for pre- and post-adoption of e-Government. In the two models (pre-adoption and post-adoption) trust is only related to pre-adoption studies. Originally, 98 studies were coded but with the focus on pre-adoption and post-adoption, 53 were used in the final models as they contained the attributes of interest.

Detection of Morphological Abnormalities in Schizophrenia: An Important Step to Identify Associated Genetic Disorders or Etiologic Subtypes

Current research suggests that alterations in neurodevelopmental processes, involving gene X environment interactions during key stages of brain development (prenatal period and adolescence), are a major risk for schizophrenia. First, epidemiological studies supporting a genetic contribution to schizophrenia are presented in this article, including family, twin, and adoption studies. Then, an extensive literature review on genetic disorders associated with schizophrenia is reviewed. These epidemiological findings and clinical observations led researchers to conduct studies on genetic associations in schizophrenia, and more specifically on genomics (CNV: copy-number variant, and SNP: single nucleotide polymorphism). The main structural (CNV) and sequence (SNP) variants found in individuals with schizophrenia are reported here. Evidence of genetic contributions to schizophrenia and current knowledge on genetic syndromes associated with this psychiatric disorder highlight the importance of a clinical genetic examination to detect minor physical anomalies in individuals with ultra-high risk of schizophrenia. Several dysmorphic features have been described in schizophrenia, especially in early onset schizophrenia, and can be viewed as neurodevelopmental markers of vulnerability. Early detection of individuals with neurodevelopmental abnormalities is a fundamental issue to develop prevention and diagnostic strategies, therapeutic intervention and follow-up, and to ascertain better the underlying mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

Disclosing customers' intentions to use social media for purchase-related decisions

PurposeThe present study intends to shed light on behaviour of customers towards usage of social media for purchasing decisions. The study proposes an extension to technology acceptance model (TAM) to analyse the significance of monetary benefits and information reliability on customers' intention to use social media.Design/methodology/approachThe sample was drawn from social media users of north-western region of India (n = 622). The proposed model was tested using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.FindingsResults indicate that monetary benefits and perceived ease of use have significant influence on customers' intention to use social media, while information reliability and monetary benefits significantly influence only through perceived usefulness.Practical implicationsThe findings are valuable to marketers to acknowledge the potential of social media to reach to masses by providing timely and reliable information. The study also reveals that website/app developers should implement a user-friendly interface and reliable content to influence customers' usage behaviour.Originality/valueThe study is a unique attempt to examine the effect of monetary benefits and information reliability with TAM's key constructs in the context of social media adoption. Studies undertaken aforementioned dimensions are mainly concerned with examining direct contribution of social media and its effect on purchase decisions.

Using Farmers’ Risk Tolerance to Explain Variations in Adoption of Improved Rice Varieties in Nepal

Rice is the leading cereal crop in Nepal and an important source of calories and plant protein. Despite the importance of rice, there are reports of widespread cultivation of older varieties with considerably large adoption lags. This warrants further investigation into the factors that influence rice farmers’ adoption decisions. Risk attitude is reported to be an important determinant of farmers’ decisions. However, in Nepal, evidence of the effect of risk attitude on the adoption of improved crop varieties is limited because this important factor is not considered in adoption studies. This article, therefore, connects field experiment, theoretical understanding of farmers’ risk attitudes and empirical models with the aim of investigating determinants of farmers adoption of improved rice varieties in Nepal. The results show that majority of farmers currently grow old varieties. The top four varieties—Sona Mahsuri, Sarju-52, Samba Mahsuri and Radha-4—have an average varietal release age of 27 years. By estimating a binary response regression model, this article shows that risk attitude is a significant determinant of rice farmers’ adoption decision. Specifically, the results show that risk-tolerant farmers have the lowest propensity to adopt new improved rice varieties. This article, therefore, highlights the importance of promoting holistic benefits over making risk-reducing attributes salient when new crop varieties are developed and disseminated to farmers.

Joint adoption of rice technologies among Bolivian farmers

Bolivia has disseminated several improved technologies in the rice sector, but the average rice productivity in the country is far below the average trend in Latin America in recent years. Although the economic literature has highlighted the role of agricultural technology adoption in increasing agricultural productivity, gaps remain in understanding how rice growers are deciding to adopt and benefit from available improved rice technologies. Most previous adoption studies have evaluated the uptake of individual technologies without paying attention to the complementarities that alternative improved rice technologies may offer to farmers who face multiple marketing and production needs. This study uses data from a nationally representative sample of Bolivian rice growers to analyze farmers' joint decisions in adopting complementary agricultural technologies controlling for potential correlations across these decisions, as well as the extent of adoption of these practices. Evidence suggests that the decisions on multiple technology adoption are closely related, with common factors affecting both adoption and the extent of adoption. Furthermore, there is a need to better target resource-poor farmers, improve information-diffusion channels on agricultural practices, and better use existing farmers' organizations to enhance rice technology adoption.