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Despite the increasing popularity and interest in remote pointing devices such as Wii remote controllers, there have been few studies that find and evaluate the users' psychological aspects of technology acceptance. This study uses the technology acceptance model (TAM) framework with the two external variables of perceived mobility and control.

The authors conducted an experiment with 409 participants to test the research model and employed structural equation modelling as the analysis method.

The results show that perceived mobility and control were significant determinants of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Moreover, perceived usefulness is significantly influenced by perceived ease of use and, further, perceived usefulness and ease of use played a significant role in affecting the attitude towards the technology. Finally, the results also reveal that attitude and perceived usefulness positively influence the intention to use the remote pointing device.

This paper is of value to researchers, engineers and designers designing and developing remote pointing technologies and their devices for use in our society.

The working hypothesis of this research is that specifics of activities of university that provides remote education does not allow using the same evaluation criteria for assessment of its competitiveness that allow assessing competitiveness of university that provides traditional education. The purpose of this paper is to verify the offered hypothesis, study the modern Russian experience of evaluating the competitiveness of university that provides remote education and develop methodological recommendations for improving this process.

The authors use the existing scientific approaches to determining competitiveness of a company, including university, for complex and comprehensive study of the set problem. The information and analytical basis of this research is formed of methodological materials of the ranking of best universities of Russia for 2017 according to independent analytical agency “RaExpert” and “Announcement of open competition for state support for leading universities of the Russian Federation for the purpose of raising their competitiveness among the leading global scientific and educational centers of the Ministry of Education and Science of the RF.”

The offered hypothesis was proved. It is concluded that modern Russia uses the same (common) criteria for evaluating competitiveness of universities, regardless of the form of provided educational services. This is incorrect from the scientific and methodological point of view, as the work shows that most criteria are characterized by different applicability as to the university that provides traditional education and the university that provides remote education.

Methodological provision of evaluating the university’s competitiveness that provides remote education is elaborated by the authors by development of additional criteria. It is recommended to assign weight coefficients to all criteria depending on the level of applicability (importance) as to the university that provides remote education.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how accountants interpret verbal uncertainty expressions with a focus on numeric‐to‐verbal translation.

Accounting for loss contingencies (SFAS 5) were chosen as a setting to study this research question. The approach used was a behavioral experiment where participants choose probability phrases for 11 numeric probabilities for two default conditions.

The results indicate a clear pattern, where thresholds for accrual and disclosure decisions can be easily identified in the numeric‐to‐verbal translation. Also, the base rate appears to affect the assessment of the uncertainty related to potential default, but does not affect mapping of numeric values to verbal terms.

The use of 11 probabilities does not cover all regions of the [0, 1] probability line and may leave regions of the probability interval not mapping to any SFAS 5 phrase. Also, this study uses upper‐level undergraduate accounting students, whose judgments are similar to novice auditors but may differ from experienced auditors.

The evidence suggests that unlike verbal‐to‐numeric translation, which is unstable and context dependent, numeric‐to‐verbal translation is quite consistent among individuals, and is unlikely to be affected by the contextual information. The results complement prior findings in auditors' judgment, and suggest that interpreting uncertainty expressions can be improved if auditors are encouraged to use numeric‐to‐verbal translation when they apply accounting and auditing standards in forming an opinion on the financial report.

This is the first paper to examine the mapping of numeric probabilities to verbal probability terms.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an simple and efficient stiffness model for line contact under elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) and to investigate the gear meshing stiffness by the proposed model.

The method combines the surface contact stiffness and film stiffness as EHL contact stiffness. The EHL contact stiffness can be calculated by the external load and displacement of the load action point. The displacement is the sum of deformation of the film and contact surface and is equal to the distance of the mutual approach of two contact bodies.

The conclusion is drawn that the contact stiffness calculated by the proposed model is smaller than that by the minimum film model and larger than that by the mean film model. It is also concluded that the gear meshing stiffness under EHL is slightly smaller than that under dry contact.

The EHL contact stiffness can be obtained by the increment of external load and mutual approach directly. The calculation of oil film stiffness and surface contact stiffness separately is avoided.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-11-2019-0465

One of the most recent and significant changes in the business environment has been the growing demand for mobility. This means that customers, partners and employees should be able to access the information resources and services of a company wherever they are and whenever they want. In response to this demand, the wireless application protocol (WAP) was developed. In 1997 and 1998 WAP was being discussed as a possibility. Standards were set up and development was under way, and in 1999 a variety of WAP enabled products were released, making this a reality. By 2001, WAP v. 2.0 was available, and along with improved handsets advanced mobile services can now be made available, making mobile application delivery a reality. Users can make a call, check their calendars, schedule appointments, book tickets and send confirmation e‐mail, all using a mobile phone. This is just one of numerous examples of what this technology has made available. WAP has been slow to take off with consumers, but with continuous improvements and improved bandwidth the number of users is steadily increasing. Businesses have also been slow with making applications available that will appeal to the mass market, but with WAP 2.0 perhaps this will start to speed up. This paper looks at the development of WAP, how it works and what the major advantages and disadvantage

Asks the scientist′s standard questions about the weathertightness of buildings – what are the problems, where and when do they occur, why do they occur, and how and when can they be overcome. Applies the same theoretical considerations to remedial measures as to original design. Factors such as the nature of weather, weathertightness design principles of the different joint types and their modes of failure, and limitations of materials are discussed, together with the benefits of planned maintenance schedules. Concludes with a bibliography of useful reading. Armed with this information, professionals will be able to make more cost effective decisions on the choice of remedial measures. Will be followed by further investigation and diagnosis of weather‐tightness problems, and the selection of appropriate remedial measures.

This study was conducted to investigate the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in special libraries in Kerala, India.

The following methods were used to collect data for the study: questionnaire survey of librarians and library users, semi‐structured interviews with librarians, and observational visits in the libraries. This study was confined only to the automated special libraries in Kerala.

The analyses revealed that though the libraries had hardware, software, and communication facilities to some extent, ICT‐based resources and services were not reaching the users to the expected extent. Library automation in special libraries in Kerala was largely commenced during the period 1990‐2000. CDS/ISIS was used more in the libraries than any other software. The library catalogue found to be the most popular area for automation. The ICT‐based resource used by the largest percentage of the users was the e‐mail. Most of the libraries were hampered by lack of funds, lack of infrastructure, and lack of skilled professionals to embark on automation of all library management activities and application of ICT. A good number of the library users were not satisfied with the application of ICT in their libraries and indicated “inadequate ICT infrastructure” as their major reason for dissatisfaction. They proposed a variety of measures of formal orientation and training on ICT to become more effective users.

The study provides recommendations to enhance library automation and effective and efficient application of ICT.

This paper aims to present a novel feature design that is able to precisely describe salient objects in images. With the development of space survey, sensor and information acquisition technologies, more complex objects appear in high-resolution remote sensing images. Traditional visual features are no longer precise enough to describe the images.

A novel remote sensing image retrieval method based on VSP (visual salient point) features is proposed in this paper. A key point detector and descriptor are used to extract the critical features and their descriptors in remote sensing images. A visual attention model is adopted to calculate the saliency map of the images, separating the salient regions from the background in the images. The key points in the salient regions are then extracted and defined as VSPs. The VSP features can then be constructed. The similarity between images is measured using the VSP features.

According to the experiment results, compared with traditional visual features, VSP features are more precise and stable in representing diverse remote sensing images. The proposed method performs better than the traditional methods in image retrieval precision.

This paper presents a novel remote sensing image retrieval method based on VSP features.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether remote work moderates the mediated relationship between leadership behavior (transformational leadership and leader incivility), followers' self-control, and work-life balance.

The authors conducted a three-wave, time lagged study of 338 followers. Drawing on social information processing theory, a moderated mediation model was proposed: it was hypothesized that remote work strengthens the relationship between leadership behavior (transformational leadership and leader incivility), follower self-control, and subsequent work-life balance (moderated mediation). The theoretical model was tested using OLS regression in SPSS.

The results show that working remotely strengthens the mediated relationships between leadership behavior, self-control, and work-life balance.

Organizations need to consider the interaction between remote work and leadership. Leader behaviors have a stronger relationship with follower self-control and work-life balance when the frequency of remote work is higher, so it is important to increase transformational leadership and reduce leader incivility in remote contexts. Leadership training programs and respectful workplace initiatives should be considered.

This study demonstrates the importance of leader behaviors for followers' self-control and work-life balance in relation to remote work. This study is the first to examine the boundary condition of remote work in relation to leadership behavior, follower self-control, and work-life balance.