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Introduction: The educational landscape has been expanded to disadvantaged and distant areas through online courses. These online courses have gained extensive interest yet there are limited studies available in the literature. The emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has allowed sustainability educators to glimpse the light. Online education is gaining popularity and, with the introduction of MOOCs, would be beneficial for knowledge building and sharing, and the development of learned society. Objective: This study investigated the mediating (indirect) effects of media richness and user-based use motives on the extended UTAUT model, use behavior (UB), and actual use (AU) of MOOCs on health informatics and administration sustainability education among educators and students in Saudi higher learning institutions (HLIs). A theoretical model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Channel Expansion Theory (CET) was used to investigate the factors that affect the adoption of MOOCs in health informatics and administration education. Methodology: A survey design approach was applied. Cross-sectional data were collected from health informatics educators and students from HLIs in Saudi Arabia. A non-probability convenience sampling technique was used for sampling. Data were collected online using Google Forms. A total of 145 completed questionnaires were used in the analysis. PLS-SEM(Version 4.1.1.2) was used for statistical analysis. To investigate the reliability and validity, a measurement model was developed and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted. To test the hypotheses, a structural model was run using bootstrapping, coefficients, standard errors (SE) t-values, p values, and lower and upper-level confidence intervals. Results/Findings: The findings were that system quality and user satisfaction is an important factor in the UTAUT model and the inclusion of media richness and user-based use motives significantly mediated between the expanded UTAUT model and the UB and AU of MOOCs. Moreover, media richness and user-based use motives were found to be dominant factors in the overall study model to predict use behavior and actual use of health informaticians in Saudi Arabia. Conclusions: The combination of these two theories i.e., the UTAUT and CET, can effectively enhance the adoption, use behavior, and actual use of MOOCs in the emerging field of health informatics in Saudi Arabia. Full article

Hard ticks are blood-sucking ectoparasites infesting all types of domestic ruminants throughout the world and serve as vectors in the dissemination of a wide variety of pathogens. Sheep and goat farming is a vital economic source for resource-poor farming communities in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan. Aim: The aim of present study is to study the epidemiological profile of ticks in various agro-climatic zones of KPK. Materials and Methods: A total of 1500 (882 sheep and 618 goats) of all age groups and sexes were examined for the presence of ticks belonging to six districts in four agro-climatic zones of KPK province, Pakistan. Non-probability sampling was undertaken based on animal hosts’ selection, collection of hard ticks, and epidemiological parameters. Ticks collected from sheep and goats were identified phenotypically using standard keys. Results: The results revealed that Rhipicephalus microplus (36.2%) was the predominant tick species followed by Hyalomma anatolicum (25.2%), Hyalomma trancatum (18.1%), Hyalomma aegyptium (11.3%), Hyalomma asiaticum (6.9%), and Haemephysalis bispinosa (2.4%). Different epidemiological parameters showed that weather, humidity, and host age negatively affect (p < 0.05) tick load while temperatures (Minimum and Maximum), sunshine (hrs), and precipitation positively affected (p < 0.05) tick load. Host sex only showed a positive association with tick load (p > 0.05). The highest value of tick diversity index (H) 0.36748 was noted for Hyalomma anatolicum as this tick species was commonly distributed in three agro-climatic zones except in the Suleiman Piedmont zone, while Haemaphysalis bispinosa has the lowest diversity index (0.0334) as it was only found in the Central Valley Plains zone of KPK. The Shannon diversity index of tick diversity was highest at Barikot while the lowest index value was at Kabal (2.407). Similarly, a higher Simpson’s diversity index was at Barikot (0.9554) and the lowest hard index was noted at Takht bai (2.874). The dominance index showed that the tick species were more dominant at Takht bai (0.1251), while the lowest dominance was at Barikot (0.04465). Conclusions: It has been concluded that tick diversity and distribution, abundance, reproduction, development, and survival depend on prevailing climatic conditions. The present study would not only help to identify the tick species but also facilitate in devising effective control measures to minimize the transmission pathogens in sheep and goats being reared in the various agro-climatic zones of KPK province, Pakistan. Full article

We show that the recent results on the Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing and the super-hedging theorem in the context of model uncertainty can be extended to the case in which the options available for static hedging (hedging options) are quoted with bid-ask spreads. In this set-up, we need to work with the notion of robust no-arbitrage which turns out to be equivalent to no-arbitrage under the additional assumption that hedging options with non-zero spread are non-redundant. A key result is the closedness of the set of attainable claims, which requires a new proof in our setting. Full article