Purpose Social media, especially microblog, has become one of the most popular platforms for public opinion dissemination. However, so far few studies have been conducted to explore information dissemination under the mobile environment. This paper aims to introduce the approach to analyze the public opinion information dissemination in mobile social networks. Design/methodology/approach This paper chooses “network attack” as the research topic and extracts 23,567 relevant messages from Sina Microblogs to study the structure of nodes for public opinion dissemination and the characteristics of propagation paths on mobile internet. Public opinion dissemination is compared on both mobile and non-mobile terminals. Findings The results reveal the characteristics of public opinion dissemination in mobile environment and identify three patterns of information propagation path. This study concludes that public opinion on mobile internet propagates more widely and efficiently and generates more impact than that on the non-mobile internet. Social implications The methods used in this study can be useful for the government and other organizations to analyze and identify problems in online information dissemination. Originality/value This paper explores the mechanism of public opinion dissemination on mobile internet in China and further investigates how to improve public opinion management through a case study related to “network attack.”

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Colloidal Ru nanoparticles and nanorods stabilized by poly (Nvinyl-2-pyrrolidone) were prepared in n-butanol by solvothermal and microwave-assisted alcohol reduction method, respectively. Both colloidal Ru with different morphology were used to catalytic alcoholysis of ammonia borane (H 3 NBH 3 , AB) at room temperature, and their catalytic activities were evaluated by analyzing the H 2 generation from the alcoholysis of AB. The results indicated that the catalytic activity of PVP-Ru nanoparticles was almost two times of PVP-Ru nanorods for the alcoholysis of AB at room temperature. The kinetic study demonstrated that the alcoholysis reaction was 0.9 in terms of PVP-Ru nanoparticles concentration, while 1.6 orders in terms of PVP-Ru nanorods concentration. The apparent activation energies of AB alcoholysis catalyzed by PVPRu nanoparticles and PVP-Ru nanorods were 15.6 ± 1 kJ/mol and 32.8 ± 1 kJ/mol, respectively. The effects of the morphology on the catalytic performance of PVP-Ru nanoparticles and PVP-Ru nanorods in AB alcoholysis were also discussed.

Many couples experience long-distance relationships (LDRs), and "couple technologies" have been designed to influence certain relational practices or maintain them in challenging situations. Chatbots show great potential in mediating people's interactions. However, little is known about whether and how chatbots can be desirable and effective for mediating LDRs. In this paper, we conducted a two-phase study to design and evaluate a chatbot, PocketBot, that aims to provide effective interventions for LDRs. In Phase I, we adopted an iterative design process through conducting need-finding interviews to formulate design ideas and piloted the implemented PocketBot with 11 participants. In Phase II, we evaluated PocketBot with eighteen participants (nine LDR couples)in a week-long field trial followed by exit interviews, which yielded empirical understandings of the feasibility, effectiveness, and potential pitfalls of using PocketBot. First, a knock-on-the-door feature allowed couples to know when to resume an interaction after evading a conflict; this feature was preferred by certain participants (e.g., participants with stoic personalities). Second, a humor feature was introduced to spice up couples' conversations. This feature was favored by all participants, although some couples' perceptions of the feature varied due to their different cultural or language backgrounds. Third, a deep talk feature enabled couples at different relational stages to conduct opportunistic conversations about sensitive topics for exploring unknowns about each other, which resulted in surprising discoveries between couples who have been in relationships for years. Our findings provide inspiration for future conversational-based couple technologies that support emotional communication.

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