Search results for: user behaviour

Authors: Komal Babbar

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Multiuser Detection is the intelligent estimation/demodulation of transmitted bits in the presence of Multiple Access Interference. The authors have presented the Bit-error rate (BER) achieved by linear multi-user detectors: Matched filter (which treats the MAI as AWGN), Decorrelating and MMSE. In this work, authors investigate the bit error probability analysis for Matched filter, decorrelating, and MMSE. This problem arises in several practical CDMA applications where the receiver may not have full knowledge of the number of active users and their signature sequences. In particular, the behavior of MAI at the output of the Multi-user detectors (MUD) is examined under various asymptotic conditions including large signal to noise ratio; large near-far ratios; and a large number of users. In the last section Authors also shows Matlab Simulation results for Multiuser detection techniques i.e., Matched filter, Decorrelating, MMSE for 2 users and 10 users.

Keywords: code division multiple access, decorrelating, matched filter, minimum mean square detection (MMSE) detection, multiple access interference (MAI), multiuser detection (MUD)

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Authors: Ali Isa Danlami

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This study examined the coaching leadership behaviours preferred by athletes in individual and team sports in Nigeria that may lead to increased satisfaction and performance. Six leadership behaviours were identified; these are democratic, training and instruction, situational consideration, autocratic, social support and positive feedback. The six leadership behaviours relate to the preference of coaches by athletes that leads to increased performance were the focus of this study. The population of this study is comprised of male and female athletes of states sports councils in Nigeria. An ex-post facto research design was employed for this study. Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were used to select the sampled states according to the six geo-political zones of the country. Two states (North Central (FCT, Nasarawa), North East (Bauchi, Gombe), North West (Kaduna, Sokoto), South East (Anambra, Imo), South west (Ogun, Ondo), South South (Delta, and Rivers) were selected from each stratum. A modified questionnaire was used to collect data for this study, and the data collected were subjected to a reliability test using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to analyse the data. A two sample Z-test procedure was used to test the significant differences because of the large number of subjects involved in the different groups. All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha value. The findings of the study concluded that: Athletes in team and individual sports generally preferred coaches who were more disposed towards training and instructions, social support, positive feedback, situational consideration and democratic behaviours. It was also found that athletes in team sports have higher preference for coaches with democratic behaviour. The result revealed that athletes in team and individual sports did not have a preference for coaches disposed towards autocratic behaviour. Based on this, the following recommendations were made: Democratic behaviour by coaches should be encouraged in team and individual sports. Coaches should not be engaged in autocratic behaviours when coaching. These behaviours should be adopted by coaches to increase athletes’ satisfaction and enhancement in performance.

Keywords: leadership behaviour, preference, athletes, individual, team, coaches’

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Authors: Hassan Barau Singhry

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Purpose: Leadership or the absence of it is an important behaviour affecting employees’ job satisfaction. Although, there are many models of leadership, one that stands out in a period of change is the transformational behaviour. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of an organizational justice on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee job satisfaction. The study is based on the assumption that change begins with leaders and leaders should be fair and just. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey through structured questionnaire was employed to collect the data of this study. The population is selected the three tiers of government such as the local, state, and federal governments in Nigeria. The sampling method used in this research is stratified random sampling. 418 middle managers of public organizations respondents to the questionnaire. Multiple regression aided by structural equation modeling was employed to test 4 hypothesized relationships. Finding: The regression results support for the mediating role of organizational justice such as distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justice in the link between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. Originality/value: This study adds to the literature of human resource management by empirically validating and integrating transformational leadership behaviour with the four dimensions of organizational justice theory. The study is expected to be beneficial to the top and middle-level administrators as well as theory building and testing.

Keywords: distributive justice, job satisfaction, organizational justice, procedural justice, transformational leadership

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Authors: J. Branstett, V. Gagneux, A. Leleu, B. Levadoux, J. Pascale

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This paper presents the interface CONDUCTHOME which controls home automation systems with a Leap Motion using ‘invariant gesture protocols’. The function of this interface is to simplify the interaction of the user with its environment. A hardware part allows the Leap Motion to be carried around the house. A software part interacts with the home automation box and displays the useful information for the user. An objective of this work is the development a natural/invariant/simple gesture control interface to help elder people/people with disabilities.

Keywords: automation, ergonomics, gesture recognition, interoperability

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Authors: Yana Gorina, Olga Lopatina, Elina Tsigeman, Larisa Mararitsa

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The ability to act in concert with others, the so-called sensorimotor synchronisation, is a fundamental human ability that underlies successful interpersonal coordination. The manifestation of accuracy and plasticity in synchronisation is an adaptive aspect of interaction with the environment, as well as the ability to predict upcoming actions and behaviour of others. The ability to temporarily coordinate one’s actions with a predictable external event is manifested in such types of social behaviour as a synchronised group dance to music played live by an orchestra, group sports (rowing, swimming, etc.), synchronised actions of surgeons during an operation, applause from an admiring audience, walking rhythms, etc. Both our body and mind are involved in achieving the synchronisation during social interactions. However, it has not yet been well described how the brain determine the external rhythm and what neuropeptides coordinate and synchronise actions. Over the past few decades, there has been an increased interest among neuroscientists and neurophysiologists regarding the neuropeptide oxytocin in the context of its complex, diverse and sometimes polar effects manifested in the emotional and social aspects of behaviour (attachment, trust, empathy, emotion recognition, stress response, anxiety and depression, etc.). Presumable, oxytocin might also be involved in social synchronisation processes. The aim of our study is to test the hypothesis that oxytocin is linked to interpersonal synchronisation in a pair of strangers.

Keywords: behavior, movement, oxytocin, synchronization

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Authors: Jiri F. Urbanek, Jiri Barta, Oldrich Svoboda, Jiri J. Urbanek

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The organizations of European and Czech critical infrastructure have specific position, mission, characteristics and behaviour in European Union and Czech state/ business environments, regarding specific requirements for regional and global security environments. They must respect policy of national security and global rules, requirements and standards in all their inherent and outer processes of supply-customer chains and networks. A controlling is generalized capability to have control over situational policy. This paper aims and purposes are to introduce the controlling as quite new necessary process attribute providing for critical infrastructure is environment the capability and profit to achieve its commitment regarding to the effectiveness of the quality management system in meeting customer/ user requirements and also the continual improvement of critical infrastructure organization’s processes overall performance and efficiency, as well as its societal security via continual planning improvement via DYVELOP modelling.

Keywords: added value, DYVELOP, controlling, environments, process approach

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Authors: C. L. Huang, J. J. Sia

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The interest-based social networks, also known as social bookmark sharing systems, are useful platforms for people to conveniently read and collect internet resources. These platforms also providing function of social networks, and users can share and explore internet resources from the social networks. Providing personalized internet resources to users is an important issue on these platforms. This study uses two types of relationship on the social networks—following and follower and proposes a collaborative recommender system, consisting of two main steps. First, this study calculates the relationship strength between the target user and the target user's followings and followers to find top-N similar neighbors. Second, from the top-N similar neighbors, the articles (internet resources) that may interest the target user are recommended to the target user. In this system, users can efficiently obtain recent, related and diverse internet resources (knowledge) from the interest-based social network. This study collected the experimental dataset from Diigo, which is a famous bookmark sharing system. The experimental results show that the proposed recommendation model is more accurate than two traditional baseline recommendation models but slightly lower than the cosine model in accuracy. However, in the metrics of the diversity and executing time, our proposed model outperforms the cosine model.

Keywords: recommender systems, social networks, tagging, bookmark sharing systems, collaborative recommender systems, knowledge management

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Authors: Ade Oyedijo

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This paper reports the findings of a study on the strategic and organizational antecedents and effects of two opposing pay patterns used by some manufacturing companies in Lagos Nigeria with particular reference to the behavioural correlates of the pay strategies considered. The assumed relationship between pay strategies and some organizational correlates such as business and corporate strategies and firm size was considered problematic in view of their likely implications for employee motivation and citizenship behaviour and firm performance. The survey research method was used for the study. Structured, close ended questions were used to collect primary data from the respondents. A multipart Likert scale was used to measure the pay orientations of the respondent firms and the job and organizational involvement of the respondent employees. Utilizing hierarchical linear regression method and "t-test" to analyze the data obtained from 48 manufacturing companies of various sizes and strategies, it was found that the dominant pattern of employee compensation in the sampled manufacturing companies. The study also revealed that the choice of a pay strategy was strongly influenced by organizational size as well as the type of business and corporate level strategies adopted by afirm. Firms pursuing a strategy of related and unrelated diversification are more likely to adopt the algorithmic compensation system than single product firms because of their relatively larger size and scope. However; firms that pursue a competitive advantage through a business level strategy of cost efficiency are more likely to use the experiential, variable pay strategy. The study found that an algorithmic compensation strategy is as effective as experiential compensation strategy in the promotion of organizational citizenship behaviour and motivation of employees.

Keywords: compensation, corporate strategy, business strategy, motivation, citizenship behaviour, algorithmic, experiential, organizational commitment, work environment

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Authors: Francisca Onaolapo Oladipo, Peter Afam Ugwu

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Records of user activities which are valuable for forensic investigation purposes are provided by web browsers -these records in most cases are not in visual formats that are easily understood, thereby requiring some extra processes. This paper describes the implementation of a software tool for client-side web history visualization providing suitable forensic evidence for investigative purposes. Visual C#, Perl and gnuplot were deployed on Windows Operating System (OS) environment to implement the system and the resulting tool parses and transforms a web browser history into a visual format that enables an investigator to quickly and efficiently explore, understand, and interpret the user online activities in the context of a specific investigation. The system was tested using two forensic cases: the client-side web history files generated by Mozilla Firefox browser was extracted using MozillaHistoryView utility, then parsed and visualized using bar and stacked column charts. From the visual representation, results of user web activities across various productive and non-productive websites were obtained.

Keywords: history, forensics, visualization, web activities

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Authors: Mohamad Saberi, Arash Sohrabi

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Tuned liquid damper is one the passive structural control ways which has been used since mid-1980 decade for seismic control in civil engineering. This system is made of one or many tanks filled with fluid, mostly water that installed on top of the high raised structure and used to prevent structure vibration. In this article, we will show how to make seismic table contain TLD system and analysis the result of using this system in our structure. Results imply that when frequency ratio approaches 1 this system can perform its best in both dissipate energy and increasing structural damping. And also results of these serial experiments are proved compatible with Hunzer linear theory behaviour.

Keywords: TLD, seismic table, structural system, Hunzer linear behaviour

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Authors: Aria Teimourzadeh, Marc Favier, Samaneh Kakavand

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The emergence of social networks has revolutionized the exchange of information. Every behavior on these platforms contributes to the generation of data known as social network data that are processed, stored and published by the social network service providers. Hence, it is vital to investigate the role of these platforms in user data by considering the privacy measures, especially when we observe the increased number of individuals and organizations engaging with the current virtual platforms without being aware that the data related to their positioning, connections and behavior is uncovered and used by third parties. Performing analytics on social network datasets may result in the disclosure of confidential information about the individuals or organizations which are the members of these virtual environments. Analyzing separate datasets can reveal private information about relationships, interests and more, especially when the datasets are analyzed jointly. Intentional breaches of privacy is the result of such analysis. Addressing these privacy concerns requires an understanding of the nature of data being accumulated and relevant data privacy regulations, as well as motivations for disclosure of personal information on social network platforms. Some significant points about how user's online information is controlled by the influence of social factors and to what extent the users are concerned about future use of their personal information by the organizations, are highlighted in this paper. Firstly, this research presents a short literature review about the structure of a network and concept of privacy in Online Social Networks. Secondly, the factors of user behavior related to privacy protection and self-disclosure on these virtual communities are presented. In other words, we seek to demonstrates the impact of identified variables on user information disclosure that could be taken into account to explain the privacy preservation of individuals on social networking platforms. Thirdly, a few research directions are discussed to address this topic for new researchers.

Keywords: information disclosure, privacy measures, privacy preservation, social network analysis, user experience

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Authors: Andre Peres Ramos, Franklin Cesar Flores

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Colorization is the process of add colors to a monochromatic image or video. Usually, the process involves to segment the image in regions of interest and then apply colors to each one, for videos, this process is repeated for each frame, which makes it a tedious and time-consuming job. We propose a new assisted method for video colorization; the user only has to colorize one frame, and then the colors are propagated to following frames. The user can intervene at any time to correct eventual errors in color assignment. The method consists of to extract intensity and texture descriptors from the frames and then perform a feature matching to determine the best color for each segment. To reduce computation time and give a better spatial coherence we narrow the area of search and give weights for each feature to emphasize texture descriptors. To give a more natural result, we use an optimization algorithm to make the color propagation. Experimental results in several image sequences, compared to others existing methods, demonstrates that the proposed method perform a better colorization with less time and user interference.

Keywords: colorization, feature matching, texture descriptors, video segmentation

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Authors: Sandeep Kaur, Jenny Vuong, Marcel Julliard, Sean O'Donoghue

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Time-series data are useful for modelling as they can enable model-evaluation. However, when reconstructing models from phosphoproteomic data, often non-exact methods are utilised, as the knowledge regarding the network structure, such as, which kinases and phosphatases lead to the observed phosphorylation state, is incomplete. Thus, such reactions are often hypothesised, which gives rise to uncertainty. Here, we propose a framework, implemented via a web-based tool (as an extension to Minardo), which given time-series phosphoproteomic datasets, can generate κ models. The incompleteness and uncertainty in the generated model and reactions are clearly presented to the user via the visual method. Furthermore, we demonstrate, via a toy EGF signalling model, the use of algorithmic verification to verify κ models. Manually formulated requirements were evaluated with regards to the model, leading to the highlighting of the nodes causing unsatisfiability (i.e. error causing nodes). We aim to integrate such methods into our web-based tool and demonstrate how the identified erroneous nodes can be presented to the user via the visual method. Thus, in this research we present a framework, to enable a user to explore phosphorylation proteomic time-series data in the context of models. The observer can visualise which reactions in the model are highly uncertain, and which nodes cause incorrect simulation outputs. A tool such as this enables an end-user to determine the empirical analysis to perform, to reduce uncertainty in the presented model - thus enabling a better understanding of the underlying system.

Keywords: κ-models, model verification, time-series phosphoproteomic datasets, uncertainty and error visualisation

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Authors: Floriane Shala, Evangeline Wagner, Yichun Zhao

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Background: Proper educational training and support are proven to be major components of EHR (Electronic Health Record) implementation and use. However, the majority of health providers are not sufficiently trained in EHR use, leading to adverse events, errors, and decreased quality of care. In response to this, students studying Health Information Science, Public Health, Nursing, and Medicine should all gain a thorough understanding of EHR use at different levels for different purposes. The design of a usable and safe EHR system that accommodates the needs and workflows of different users, user groups, and disciplines is required for EHR learning to be efficient and effective. Objectives: This project builds several artifacts which seek to address both the educational and usability aspects of an educational EHR. The artifacts proposed are models for and examples of such an EHR with a configurable UI to be learned by students who need a background in EHR use during their degrees. Methods: Review literature and gather professional opinions from domain experts on usability, the use of workflow patterns, UI configurability and design, and the educational aspect of EHR use. Conduct interviews in a semi-casual virtual setting with open discussion in order to gain a deeper understanding of the principal aspects of EHR use in educational settings. Select a specific task and user group to illustrate how the proposed solution will function based on the current research. Develop three artifacts based on the available research, professional opinions, and prior knowledge of the topic. The artifacts capture the user task and user’s interactions with the EHR for learning. The first generic model provides a general understanding of the EHR system process. The second model is a specific example of performing the task of MRI ordering with a configurable UI. The third artifact includes UI mock-ups showcasing the models in a practical and visual way. Significance: Due to the lack of educational EHRs, medical professionals do not receive sufficient EHR training. Implementing an educational EHR with a usable and configurable interface to suit the needs of different user groups and disciplines will help facilitate EHR learning and training and ultimately improve the quality of patient care.

Keywords: education, EHR, usability, configurable

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Authors: Aticha Kwaengsopha

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The purpose of this research was to study the behaviour and related factors that tourists utilized for making decisions to choose their accommodations at a tourist destination, Bangkontee district, Samut Songkhran Province, Thailand. The independent variables included gender, age, income, occupation, and region, while the three important dependent variables included selection behaviour, factors related selection process, and satisfaction of the accommodation service. A total of 400 Thai and international tourists were interviewed at tourist destination of Bangkontee. A questionnaire was used as the tool for collecting data. Descriptive statistics in this research included percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents were single, female, and with the age between 23-30 years old. Most of the international tourists were from Asia and planned to stay in Thailand about 1-6 days. In addition, the majority of tourists preferred to travel in small groups of 3 persons. The majority of respondents used internet and word of mouth as the main tool to search for information. The majority of respondents spent most of their budget on food & drink, accommodation, and travelling. Even though the majority of tourists were satisfied with the quality of accommodation, the price range of accommodation, and the image of accommodation and the facilities of the accommodation, they indicated that they were not likely to re-visit Thailand in the near future.

Keywords: behaviour, decision factors, tourists, media engineering

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Authors: S. Mogili, J. S. Kuang, N. Zhang

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Knee joints, the beam column connections found at the roof level of a moment resisting frame buildings, are inherently different from conventional interior and exterior beam column connections in the way that forces from adjoining members are transferred into joint and then resisted by the joint. A knee connection has two distinct load resisting mechanisms, each for closing and opening actions acting simultaneously under reversed cyclic loading. In spite of many distinct differences in the behaviour of shear resistance in knee joints, there are no special design provisions in the major design codes available across the world due to lack of in-depth research on the knee connections. To understand the relative importance of opening and closing actions in design, it is imperative to study knee joints under varying shear stresses, especially at higher opening-to-closing shear stress ratios. Three knee joint specimens, under different input shear stresses, were designed to produce a varying ratio of input opening to closing shear stresses. The design was carried out in such a way that the ratio of flexural strength of beams with consideration of axial forces in opening to closing actions are maintained at 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0, thereby resulting in the required variation of opening to closing joint shear stress ratios among the specimens. The behaviour of these specimens was then carefully studied in terms of closing and opening capacities, hysteretic behaviour, and envelope curves to understand the differences in joint performance based on which an attempt to suggest design guidelines for knee joints is made emphasizing the relative importance of opening and closing actions. Specimens with relatively higher opening stresses were observed to be more vulnerable under the action of seismic loading.

Keywords: Knee-joints, large-scale testing, opening and closing shear stresses, seismic performance

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Authors: Ralph Gruber, Martina Hafner, Theresia Greunz, Christian Reisecker, David Stifter

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The application of dry lubricant on aluminium for automotive industry is indispensable for a high-quality forming behaviour. To provide a short production time those forming aids will not be removed during the joining step. The aim of this study was the characterization of the influence of dry lubricants on the bond strength and the corrosion resistance of an 6xxx aluminium alloy for automotive applications. For this purpose, samples with a well-defined surface were lubricated with 1 g/m² dry lubricant and joined with a commercial thermosetting 1K-epoxy structural adhesive. The bond strength was characterized by means of lap shear test. To evaluate the corrosion resistance of the adhered aluminium samples an immersion test in 5 w% NaCl-solution was used. Based on fracture pattern analysis, the corrosion behaviour could be described. Dissolved corrosion products were examined using ICP-MS and NMR. By means of SEM/EDX the elementary composition of precipitated solids was determined. The results showed a dry lubricant independent bond strength for standard testing conditions. However, a significant effect of the forming aid, regarding the corrosion resistance of adhered aluminium samples against corrosive infiltration of the metal-adhesive-interface, was observed

Keywords: aluminium alloys, dry film lubricants, automotive industry, adhesive bonding, corrosion

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Authors: Rebecca M. Dagger, Katy Hadgraft, Matthew Teggart, Peter Angell

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Background: There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the association between sedentary behaviour, cardiometabolic risk and all-cause mortality. Since full time working adults spend approximately 8 hours per day in the workplace, interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour at work may alleviate some of the negative health outcomes associated with sedentary behaviour. The aims of this pilot study were to assess the impacts of using a Sit-Stand workstation on markers of cardiometabolic health in a cohort of desk workers. Methods: Twenty eight participants were recruited and randomly assigned to a control (n=5 males, 9 females, mean age 37 years ± 9.4 years) or intervention group (n= 5 males, 9 females, mean age 42 years ± 12.7 years). All participants attended the labs on 2 occasion’s pre and post intervention, following baseline measurements the intervention participants had the Sit Stand Workstations (Ergotron, USA) installed for a 10 week intervention period. The Sit Stand workstations allow participants to stand or sit at their usual workstation and participants were encouraged to the use the desk in a standing position at regular intervals throughout the working day. Cardiometabolic risk markers assessed were body mass, body composition (using bio impedance analysis; Tanita, Tokyo), fasting blood Total Cholesterol (TC), lipid profiles (HDL-C, LDL-C, TC: HDL-C ratio), triglycerides and fasting glucose (Cholestech LDX), resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure and resting heart rate. ANCOVA controlling for baseline values was used to assess the group difference in changes in risk markers between pre and post intervention. Results: The 10 week intervention was associated with significant reductions in some cardiometabolic risk factors. There were significant group effects on change in body mass (F (1,25)=5.915, p<0.05), total body fat percentage (F(1,25)=12.615, p<0.01), total fat mass (F (1,25)=6.954, p<0.05), and systolic blood pressure (F (1,25)=5.012, p<0.05). There were no other significant group effects on changes in other cardiometabolic risk markers. Conclusion: This pilot study highlights the importance of reducing sedentary behaviour in the workplace for reduction in cardiometabolic risk markers. Further research is required to support these findings.

Keywords: sedentary behaviour, caridometabolic risk, evidence, risk makers

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Authors: Yuanhong Zhao, Qingping Yang, Andrew Fox, Tao Zhang

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Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is a systematic approach to assess the actual building performance after the building has been occupied for some time. In this paper, a structured POE assessment was conducted using the building use survey (BUS) methodology in two higher educational buildings in the United Kingdom. This study aims to help close the building performance gap, provide optimized building operation suggestions, and to improve occupants’ satisfaction level. In this research, the questionnaire survey investigated the influences of environmental factors on user satisfaction from the main aspects of building overall design, thermal comfort, perceived control, indoor environment quality for noise, lighting, ventilation, and other non-environmental factors, such as the background information about age, sex, time in buildings, workgroup size, and so on. The results indicate that the occupant satisfaction level with the main aspects of building overall design, indoor environment quality, and thermal comfort in summer and winter on both two buildings, which is lower than the benchmark data. The feedback of this POE assessment has been reported to the building management team to allow managers to develop high-performance building operation plans. Finally, this research provided improvement suggestions to the building operation system to narrow down the performance gap and improve the user work experience satisfaction and productivity level.

Keywords: building performance assessment systems, higher educational buildings, post-occupancy evaluation, user satisfaction

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Authors: Ala Hanetite

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The purpose of this article is to present, by means of a model, the determinants of organisational culture which influence creativity and innovation. A literature study showed that a model, based on the open systems theory and the work of Schein, can offer a holistic approach in describing organisational culture. The relationship between creativity, innovation and culture is discussed in this context. Against the background of this model, the determinants of organisational culture were identified. The determinants are strategy, structure, support mechanisms, behaviour that encourages innovation, and open communication. The influence of each determinant on creativity and innovation is discussed. Values, norms and beliefs that play a role in creativity and innovation can either support or inhibit creativity and innovation depending on how they influence individual and group behaviour. This is also explained in the article.

Keywords: attitudes, creativity, innovation, organisational culture

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Authors: Tawfig Eltaif, Hesham A. Bakarman, N. Alsowaidi, M. R. Mokhtar, Malek Harbawi

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In Commonly, it is primary problem that there is multiple user interference (MUI) noise resulting from the overlapping among the users in optical code-division multiple access (OCDMA) system. In this article, we aim to mitigate this problem by studying an interference cancellation scheme called successive interference cancellation (SIC) scheme. This scheme will be tested on two different detection schemes, spectral amplitude coding (SAC) and direct detection systems (DS), using partial modified prime (PMP) as the signature codes. It was found that SIC scheme based on both SAC and DS methods had a potential to suppress the intensity noise, that is to say, it can mitigate MUI noise. Furthermore, SIC/DS scheme showed much lower bit error rate (BER) performance relative to SIC/SAC scheme for different magnitude of effective power. Hence, many more users can be supported by SIC/DS receiver system.

Keywords: optical code-division multiple access (OCDMA), successive interference cancellation (SIC), multiple user interference (MUI), spectral amplitude coding (SAC), partial modified prime code (PMP)

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Authors: K. C. Wong

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This paper demonstrates a number of examples in the hope to shed some light on the possibility of designing future operating systems in a more adaptation-based manner. A modern operating system, we conceive, should possess the capability of 'learning' in such a way that it can dynamically adjust its services and behavior according to the current status of the environment in which it operates. In other words, a modern operating system should play a more proactive role during the session of providing system services to users. As such, a modern operating system is expected to create a computing environment, in which its users are provided with system services more matching their dynamically changing needs. The examples demonstrated in this paper show that user's resource access patterns 'learned' and determined during a session can be utilized to improve system performance and hence to provide users with a better and more effective computing environment. The paper also discusses how to use the frequency, the continuity, and the duration of resource accesses in a session to quantitatively measure and determine user's resource access patterns for the examples shown in the paper.

Keywords: adaptation-based systems, operating systems, resource access patterns, system performance

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Authors: Enver Kucukkulahli, Pakize Erdogmus, Kemal Polat

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The 2D image segmentation is a significant process in finding a suitable region in medical images such as MRI, PET, CT etc. In this study, we have focused on 2D MRI images for image segmentation process. We have designed a GUI (graphical user interface) written in MATLABTM for 2D MRI images. In this program, there are two different interfaces including data pre-processing and image clustering or segmentation. In the data pre-processing section, there are median filter, average filter, unsharp mask filter, Wiener filter, and custom filter (a filter that is designed by user in MATLAB). As for the image clustering, there are seven different image segmentations for 2D MR images. These image segmentation algorithms are as follows: PSO (particle swarm optimization), GA (genetic algorithm), Lloyds algorithm, k-means, the combination of Lloyds and k-means, mean shift clustering, and finally BBO (Biogeography Based Optimization). To find the suitable cluster number in 2D MRI, we have designed the histogram based cluster estimation method and then applied to these numbers to image segmentation algorithms to cluster an image automatically. Also, we have selected the best hybrid method for each 2D MR images thanks to this GUI software.

Keywords: image segmentation, clustering, GUI, 2D MRI

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Authors: Ayubi Wirara, Ardya Suryadinata

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Improper application of the RSA algorithm scheme can cause vulnerability to attacks. The attack utilizes the relationship between broadcast messages sent to the user with some fixed polynomial functions that belong to each user. Scheme attacks carried out by applying the Chinese Remainder Theorem to obtain a general polynomial equation with the same modulus. The formation of the general polynomial becomes a first step to get back the original message. Furthermore, to solve these equations can use Coppersmith's theorem.

Keywords: RSA algorithm, broadcast message, Chinese Remainder Theorem, Coppersmith’s theorem

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Authors: Dimitrios Karanatsis

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Non-crimp fabrics (NCFs) allow for high mechanical performance of a manufacture composite component by maintaining the fibre reinforcements parallel to each other. The handling of NCFs is enabled by the stitching of the tows. Although the stitching material has negligible influence to the performance of the manufactured part, it can affect the ability of the structural fabric to shear and drape over the part’s geometry. High resistance to shearing is attributed to the high tensile strain of the stitching yarn and can cause defects in the fabric. In the current study, a correlation based on the stitch tension and shear behaviour is examined. The purpose of the research is to investigate the upper and lower limits of non-crimp fabrics manufacture and how these affect the shear behaviour of the fabrics. Experimental observations show that shear behaviour of the fabrics is significantly affected by the stitch tension, and there is a linear effect to the degree of shear they experience. It was found that the lowest possible stitch tension on the manufacturing line settings produces an NCF that exhibits very low tensile strain on it’s yarns and that has shear properties similar to a woven fabric. Moreover, the highest allowable stitch tension results in reduced formability of the fabric, as the stitch thread rearranges the fibre filaments where these become packed in a tight formation with constricted movement.

Keywords: carbon fibres, composite manufacture, shear testing, textiles

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Authors: Umar D. M., Aminu A. M., Izaddeen K. Y.

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Deployments of mini macrocell base stations also referred to as femtocells, improve the quality of service of indoor and outdoor users. Nevertheless, mobility management remains a key issue with regards to their deployment. This paper is leaned towards this issue, with an in-depth focus on the most important aspect of mobility management -handover. In handover management, making a handover decision in the LTE two-tier macrocell femtocell network is a crucial research area. Decision algorithms in this research are classified and comparatively analyzed according to received signal strength, user equipment speed, cost function, and interference. However, it was observed that most of the discussed decision algorithms fail to consider cell selection with hybrid access policy in a single macrocell multiple femtocell scenario, another observation was a majority of these algorithms lack the incorporation of user equipment residence parameter. Not including this parameter boosts the number of unnecessary handover occurrence. To deal with these issues, a sophisticated handover decision algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm considers the user’s velocity, received signal strength, residence time, as well as the femtocell base station’s access policy. Simulation results have shown that the proposed algorithm reduces the number of unnecessary handovers when compared to conventional received signal strength-based handover decision algorithm.

Keywords: user-equipment, radio signal service, long term evolution, mobility management, handoff

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Authors: Jesse D. Cano, Marlon J. Remedios

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Cuban tourism has developed so much in the last 30 years to the point of becoming one of the engines of the Cuban economy. With such a development, Cuban companies opting for e-tourism as a way to publicize their products and attract customers has also grown. Despite this fact, the majority of Cuban tourism-themed websites simply provide information on the different products and services they offer which results in many cases, in the user getting overwhelmed with the amount of information available which results in the user abandoning the search before he can find a product that fits his needs. Customization has been recognized as a critical factor for successful electronic tourism business and the use of recommender systems is the best approach to address the problem of personalization. This paper aims to outline a preliminary technique to obtain predictions about which products a particular user would give a better evaluation; these products would be those which the website would show in the first place. To achieve this, the theoretical elements of the Cuban tourism environment are discussed; recommendation systems and geographic information systems as tools for information representation are also discussed. Finally, for each structural component identified, we define a set of rules that allows obtaining an electronic tourism system that handles the personalization of the service provided effectively.

Keywords: geographic information system, technique, tourism products, recommendation

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Authors: Haris Karnezi, Kevin Tierney

Abstract:

Cognitive Behaviour Drama is a research-based intervention model that brought together the science of psychology with the art form of drama to create an unobtrusive and exciting approach that would provide children on the higher end of the autism spectrum the motivation to explore the rules of social interaction and develop competencies associated with communicative success. The method involves engaging the participants in exciting fictional scenarios and encouraging them to seek various solutions on a number of problems that will lead them to an understanding of causal relationships and how a different course of action may lead to a different outcome. The sessions are structured to offer opportunities to the participants to practice target behaviours and understand the functions they serve. The study involved six separate interventions and employed both single case and group designs. Overall 8 children aged between 6 to 13 years, diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. Outcomes were measured using theory of mind tests, executive functioning tests, behavioural observations, pre and post intervention standardised social competence questionnaires for parents and teachers. Collectively, the results indicated positive changes in the self esteem and behaviour of all eight participants. In particular, improvements in the ability to solve theory of mind tasks were noted in the younger group; and qualitative improvements in social communication, in terms of verbal (content) and non verbal expression (body posture, vocal expression, fluency, eye contact, reduction of ritualistic mannerisms) were noted in the older group. The need for reliable impact measures to assess the effectiveness of the model in generating global changes in the participants’ behaviour outside the therapeutic context was identified.

Keywords: autism, drama, intervention, social skills

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Authors: O. O. Oguntoye

Abstract:

Product consumption constitutes an important consideration for sustainable development. Seeing how product consumption could be highly unsustainable, coupled with how existing policies on corporate responsibility do not particularly address the consumption aspect of product lifecycle, conducting this research became necessary. The research makes an attempt to provide a framework by which to gauge corporate responsibility of product suppliers in terms of their commitment towards the sustainable consumption of their products. Through an exploration of relevant literature, independently established ideas with which to assess a given product supplier were galvanised into a four-criterion framework. The criteria are: (1) Embeddedness of consumption as a factor in corporate sustainability policy, (2) Level of understanding of consumption behaviour, (3) Breadth of behaviour-influencing strategies adopted, and (4) Inclusiveness for all main dimensions of sustainability. This resulting framework was then applied in a case study involving a UK-based furniture supplier where interviews and content analysis of corporate documents were used as the mode for primary data collection. From the case study, it was found that the supplier had performed to different levels across the four themes of the assessment. Two major areas for improvement were however identified – one is for the furniture supplier to focus more proactively on understanding consumption behaviour and, two is for it to widen the scope of its current strategies for enhancing sustainable consumption of supplied furniture. As a generalisation, the framework presented here makes it possible for companies to reflect with a sense of guidance, how they have demonstrated commitment towards sustainable consumption through their values, culture, and operations. It also provides a foundation for developing standardized assessment which the current widely used frameworks such as the GRI, the Global Compact, and others do not cover. While these popularly used frameworks mainly focus on sustainability of companies within the production and supply chain management contexts (i.e. mostly ‘upstream’), the framework here provides an extension by bringing the ‘downstream’ or consumer bit into light.

Keywords: corporate sustainability, design for sustainable consumption, extended producer responsibility, sustainable consumer behaviour

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Authors: Christianah Oyelekan Oyewole, Adeniyi Temitope Adetunji

Abstract:

Earlier researchers acknowledge the significance of knowledge sharing among employees in improving their responsiveness when dealing with unpredicted situations. Effective leadership styles have been known to impact employee knowledge-sharing behavior within an organisation positively. The role of influential leaders in knowledge sharing is accomplished through enhanced social networks and technology. However, preliminary research pointed to a lack of clear conclusions from recently published studies on the impact of effective leadership styles on knowledge-sharing behaviour among employees. The present study addressed this problem through a structured literature review. The review demonstrated that knowledge managers incorporate incentives and reward systems with their leadership styles to influence knowledge-sharing behaviour among employees positively. There was ample evidence that rational, innovative, stable and participatory organisational cultures combined with supportive and command leadership enhance employee intention for knowledge sharing in the organisation. The analysis revealed that transformational, transactional, and mentor leadership styles enhance employees’ knowledge-sharing behavior. Overall, it was resolved that the relationship between knowledge-sharing behavior among employees and leadership styles is mediated by the ability of the organisation to prioritize employee development.

Keywords: leadership styles, knowledge sharing, transactional leadership, transformational leadership, mentor leadership, team performance, team productivity, motivation, and creativity

Procedia PDF Downloads 53