Providence University

About: Providence University is a education organization based out in Taichung, Taiwan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & The Internet. The organization has 377 authors who have published 405 publications receiving 8102 citations. The organization is also known as: Providence College & Jìngyí Dàxué.

Personalized Content Recommendation and User Satisfaction: Theoretical Synthesis and Empirical Findings

Abstract: Personalized services are increasingly popular in the Internet world This study identifies theories related to the use of personalized content services and their effect on user satisfaction Three major theories have been identified-information overload, uses and gratifications, and user involvement The information overload theory implies that user satisfaction increases when the recommended content fits user interests (ie, the recommendation accuracy increases) The uses and gratifications theory indicates that motivations for information access affect user satisfaction The user involvement theory implies that users prefer content recommended by a process in which they have explicit involvement In this research, a research model was proposed to integrate these theories and two experiments were conducted to examine the theoretical relationships Our findings indicate that information overload and uses and gratifications are two major theories for explaining user satisfaction with personalized services Personalized services can reduce information overload and, hence, increase user satisfaction, but their effects may be moderated by the motivation for information access The effect is stronger for users whose motivation is in searching for a specific target This implies that content recommendation would be more useful for knowledge management systems, where users are often looking for specific knowledge, rather than for general purpose Web sites, whose customers often come for scanning Explicit user involvement in the personalization process may affect a user's perception of customization, but has no significant effect on overall satisfaction

Chrysophanol induces necrosis through the production of ROS and alteration of ATP levels in J5 human liver cancer cells

Abstract: Anthraquinone compounds have been shown to induce apoptosis in different cancer cell types Effects of chrysophanol, an anthraquinone compound, on cancer cell death have not been well studied The goal of this study was to examine if chrysophanol had cytotoxic effects and if such effects involved apoptosis or necrosis in J5 human liver cancer cells Chrysophanol induced necrosis in J5 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner Non-apoptotic cell death was induced by chrysophanol in J5 cells and was characterized by caspase independence, delayed externalization of phosphatidylserine and plasma membrane disruption Blockage of apoptotic induction by a general caspase inhibitor (z-VAD-fmk) failed to protect cells against chrysophanol-induced cell death The levels of reactive oxygen species production and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsi(m)) were also determined to assess the effects of chrysophanol However, reductions in adenosine triphosphate levels and increases in lactate dehydrogenase activity indicated that chrysophanol stimulated necrotic cell death In summary, human liver cancer cells treated with chrysophanol exhibited a cellular pattern associated with necrosis and not apoptosis