Search results for: user or customer satisfaction

Authors: Firdaous Zair, Zoubir Elfelsoufi, Mohammed Fourka

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The allocation of resources is an issue that is needed on the tactical and operational strategic plan. This work considers the allocation of resources in the case of pure players, manufacturers and Click & Mortars that have launched online sales. The aim is to improve the level of customer satisfaction and maintaining the benefits of e-retailer and of its cooperators and reducing costs and risks. Our contribution is a decision support system and tool for improving the allocation of resources in logistics chains e-commerce B2C context. We first modeled the B2C chain with all operations that integrates and possible scenarios since online retailers offer a wide selection of personalized service. The personalized services that online shopping companies offer to the clients can be embodied in many aspects, such as the customizations of payment, the distribution methods, and after-sales service choices. In addition, every aspect of customized service has several modes. At that time, we analyzed the optimization problems of supply chain resource allocation in customized online shopping service mode, which is different from the supply chain resource allocation under traditional manufacturing or service circumstances. Then we realized an optimization model and algorithm for the development based on the analysis of the allocation of the B2C supply chain resources. It is a multi-objective optimization that considers the collaboration of resources in operations, time and costs but also the risks and the quality of services as well as dynamic and uncertain characters related to the request.

Keywords: e-commerce, supply chain, B2C, optimisation, resource allocation

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Authors: Ramanjaneyulu Mogili, G.V.R.K. Acharyulu

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Indian organized retail sector is growing at a faster pace and gaining popularity. Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) reveals that the current market size of Indian retail industry is about US$ 520 billion with for growth rate 14 to 15 percent annually by 2018 the Indian retail sector is likely to grow at a CAGR of 13% to reach a size of US$ 950 billion. Developments in Information Technology have enabled online Retail sector that empowers customers to order products, conduct transactions without the need to interact physically with the retailers. In recent years, the online shopping industry has gained popularity to the point where certain categories of customers would consider buying electronic products online rather than visiting the stores. Conventionally the physical location of a store is seen as a source of competitive advantage. Online Retailing service sites provide virtual shopping space to the customers. Online Retail services are gaining momentum in India, with internet penetration improving in the country and smartphones becoming affordable along with changing lifestyles and preferences of customers. Although online shoppers prefer the convenience and choice available in online shopping, certain issues raised due to the occurrence of service failure. The proposed study attempts to measure the service recovery and failure process of electronic goods in Indian retail channels.

Keywords: service recovery, customer satisfaction, e-shopping, service failure

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Authors: Abdulaziz Fageeh

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This study investigates the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) within the landscape of language learning and teaching, exploring its potential benefits and challenges. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research draws upon a comprehensive literature review, case studies, user reviews, and in-depth interviews with educators and students. Findings demonstrate that AI tools, including language learning apps and writing assistants, can enhance personalization, improve writing skills, and increase accessibility to language learning resources. However, the study also highlights concerns regarding over-reliance on AI, potential accuracy and reliability issues, and ethical implications such as data privacy and potential bias. User and educator perspectives emphasize the importance of balancing AI with traditional teaching methods, fostering critical thinking skills, and addressing potential misuse. The study concludes by underscoring the need for ongoing research and development to ensure responsible AI integration in language learning, focusing on pedagogical strategies, ethical frameworks, and the long-term impact of AI on learning outcomes.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, language learning, education, technology, ethical considerations, user perceptions

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Authors: Andrew T. Hendrickson, Liven De Marez, Marijn Martens, Gytha Muller, Tudor Paisa, Koen Ponnet, Catherine Schweizer, Megan Van Meer, Mariek Vanden Abeele

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Quantifying and understanding the myriad ways people use their phones and how that impacts their relationships, cognitive abilities, mental health, and well-being is increasingly important in our phone-centric society. However, most studies on the patterns of phone use have focused on theory-driven tests of specific usage hypotheses using self-report questionnaires or analyses of smaller datasets. In this work we present a series of analyses from a large corpus of over 3000 users that combine data-driven and theory-driven analyses to identify reliable smartphone usage patterns and clusters of similar users. Furthermore, we compare the stability of user clusters across user- and system-initiated sessions, as well as during the hypothesized ritualized behavior times directly before and after sleeping. Our results indicate support for some hypothesized usage patterns but present a more complete and nuanced view of how people use smartphones.

Keywords: data mining, experience sampling, smartphone usage, health and well being

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Authors: Madhura Yadav

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Urban redevelopment planning initiatives in developing countries have been largely criticised due to top-down planning approach and lack of involvement of the targeted beneficiaries which have led to a challenging situation which is contrary to the perceived needs of beneficiaries. Urban renewal projects improve the lives of people and meaningful participation of community plays a pivotal role. Public perceptions on satisfaction and participation have been given less priority in the investigation, which hinders effective planning and implementation of urban renewal projects. Moreover, challenges of community participation in urban renewal projects are less documented, particularly in relation to public participation and satisfaction. There is a need for new paradigm shift focusing on community participatory approach in urban renewal projects. The over 125-year-old Bhendi Bazar in Mumbai, India is the country’s first ever cluster redevelopment project, popularly known as Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment and it will be one of the largest projects for urban rejuvenation of one of Mumbai’s oldest and dying inner city areas. The project is led by the community trust, inputs were taken from various stakeholders, including residents, commercial tenants and expert consultants to shape the master plan and design of the project. The project started in 2016 but there is a significant delay in implementing the project. The study aimed at studying and assessing public perceptions on satisfaction and the relationship between community participation and community satisfaction in Bhendi Bazaar of Mumbai, India. Furthermore, the study will outline the challenges and problems of community participation in urban renewal projects and it suggests recommendations for the future. The qualitative and quantitative methods such as reconnaissance survey, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, walking interviews, a narrative inquiry is used for analysis of data. Preliminary findings revealed that all tenants are satisfied for the redevelopment of an area but the willingness of residential tenants to move in transit accommodation has made the projects successful and reductant of some residential and commercial tenants, regulatory provisions rising to face challenges in implementation. Experiences from the case study can help to understand dynamics behind public participation and government. At the same time, they serve as an inspiration and learning opportunity for future projects to ensure that they are sustainable not only from an economic standpoint but also, a social perspective.

Keywords: urban renewal, Bhendi Bazaar, community participation, satisfaction, social perspective

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Authors: Yu Zhang, Pedro Desouza

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Since big data has become substantially more accessible and manageable due to the development of powerful tools for dealing with unstructured data, people are eager to mine information from social media resources that could not be handled in the past. Sentiment analysis, as a novel branch of text mining, has in the last decade become increasingly important in marketing analysis, customer risk prediction and other fields. Scientists and researchers have undertaken significant work in creating and improving their sentiment models. In this paper, we present a concept of selecting appropriate classifiers based on the features and qualities of data sources by comparing the performances of five classifiers with three popular social media data sources: Twitter, Amazon Customer Reviews, and Movie Reviews. We introduced a couple of innovative models that outperform traditional sentiment classifiers for these data sources, and provide insights on how to further improve the predictive power of sentiment analysis. The modelling and testing work was done in R and Greenplum in-database analytic tools.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, social media, Twitter, Amazon, data mining, machine learning, text mining

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Authors: Keunhong Chae, Seokho Yoon

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We propose a code acquisition scheme called improved multiple-shift (IMS) for optical code division multiple access systems, where the optical orthogonal code is used instead of the pseudo noise code. Although the IMS algorithm has a similar process to that of the conventional MS algorithm, it has a better code acquisition performance than the conventional MS algorithm. We analyze the code acquisition performance of the IMS algorithm and compare the code acquisition performances of the MS and the IMS algorithms in single-user and multi-user environments.

Keywords: code acquisition, optical CDMA, optical orthogonal code, serial algorithm

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Authors: Pooja Sanathkumar, Srinidhi Murali, Sethuraman TV, Saravanan M, Paventhan Arumugam, Ashwin Ashok

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The last decade has witnessed a significant interest in visible light communication (VLC) technology, as VLC can potentially achieve high data rate links and secure communication channels. However, the use of VLC under mobile settings is fundamentally limited as its a line-of-sight (LOS) technology and there has been limited breakthroughs in realizing VLC for mobile settings. In this regard, this work targets to study the VLC channel under mobility. Through a use-case study analysis with experiment data traces this paper presents an empirical VLC channel study considering the application of VLC for smart lighting in an indoor room environment. This paper contributes a calibration study of a prototype VLC smart lighting system in an indoor environment and through the inferences gained from the calibration, and considering a user is carrying a mobile device fit with a VLC receiver, this work presents recommendations for user's position adjustments, with the goal to ensure maximum connectivity across the room.

Keywords: visible light communication, mobility, empirical study, channel characterization

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Authors: Ramlan Jantan, Norfadilah Kamaruddin, Shahriman Zainal Abidin

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In this era of technology, the co-creation method has become a new development trend. In this light, most design businesses have currently transformed their development strategy from being goods-dominant into service-dominant where more attention is given to the end-users and their roles in the development process. As a result, the conventional development process has been replaced with a more cooperative one. Consequently, numerous studies have been conducted to explore the extension of co-creation method in the design development process and most studies have focused on issues found during the production process. In the meantime, this study aims to investigate potential values established during the pre-production process, which is also known as the ‘circumstances value creation’. User involvement is questioned and crucially debate at the entry level of pre-production process in value in-exchange jointly spheres; thus user experiences took place. Thus, this paper proposed a potential framework of the co-creation method for Malaysian interactive product development. The framework is formulated from both parties involved: the users and designers. The framework will clearly give an explanation of the value of the co-creation method, and it could assist relevant design industries/companies in developing a blueprint for the design process. This paper further contributes to the literature on the co-creation of value and digital ecosystems.

Keywords: co-creation method, co-creation framework, co-creation, co-production

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Authors: Naira Ghambaryan, Gagik Hakobyan

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Purpose:The study was to evaluate the survival rate of short implants (5-6 mm) functionalized with UV radiation placed in the posterior segments of the atrophied maxilla. Materials and Methods:The study included 47 patients with unilateral/bilateral missing teeth and vertical atrophy of the posterior maxillary area. A total of 64 short UV-functionalized implants and 62 standard implants over 10 mm in length were placed in patients. The clinical indices included the following parameters: ISQБ MBL, OHIP-G scale. Results: For short implants, the median ISQ at placement was 62.2 for primary stability, and the median ISQ at 5 months was 69.6 ISQ. For standart implant, the mean ISQ at placement was 64.3 ISQ, and ISQ after 5 months was 71.6 ISQ. Аfter 6 months mean MBL short implants 0.87 mm, after 1 year, 1.13 mm, after 5 year was 1.48 mm. Аfter 6 months, mean MBL standard implants 0.84 mm, after 1 year, 1.24 mm, after 5 year was 1.58 mm. Mean OHIP-G scores -patients satisfaction with the implant at 4.8 ± 0.3, satisfaction with the operation 4.6 ± 0.4; satisfaction with prosthetics 4.7 ± 0.5. Cumulative 5-year short implants rates was 96.7%, standard implants was 97.4%, and prosthesis cumulative survival rate was 97.2%. Conclusions: Short implants with ultraviolet functionalization for prosthetic rehabilitation of the posterior resorbed maxilla region is a reliable, reasonable alternative to sinus lift, demonstrating fewer complications, satisfactory survival of a 5-year follow-up period, and reducing the number of additional surgical interventions and postoperative complications.

Keywords: short implant, ultraviolet functionalization, atrophic posterior maxilla, prosthodontic rehabilitation

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Authors: James Skon, Irina Beshentseva, Michelle Polak

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Wifi solutions come in two major classes. Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) WiFi, characterized by inexpensive WiFi routers, with one or two service set identifiers (SSIDs), and a single shared passphrase. These access points provide no significant user management or monitoring, and no aggregation of monitoring and control for multiple routers. The other solution class is managed enterprise WiFi solutions, which involve expensive Access Points (APs), along with (also costly) local or cloud based management components. These solutions typically provide portal based login, per user virtual local area networks (VLANs), and sophisticated monitoring and control across a large group of APs. The cost for deploying and managing such managed enterprise solutions is typically about 10 fold that of inexpensive consumer APs. Low revenue organizations, such as schools, non-profits, non-government organizations (NGO's), small businesses, and even homes cannot easily afford quality enterprise WiFi solutions, though they may need to provide quality WiFi access to their population. Using available lower cost Wifi solutions can significantly reduce their ability to provide reliable, secure network access. This project explored and created a new approach for providing secured managed enterprise WiFi based on low cost hardware combined with both new and existing (but modified) open source software. The solution provides a cloud based management interface which allows organizations to aggregate the configuration and management of small, medium and large WiFi solutions. It utilizes a novel approach for user management, giving each user a unique passphrase. It provides unlimited SSID's across an unlimited number of WiFI zones, and the ability to place each user (and all their devices) on their own VLAN. With proper configuration it can even provide user local services. It also allows for users' usage and quality of service to be monitored, and for users to be added, enabled, and disabled at will. As inferred above, the ultimate goal is to free organizations with limited resources from the expense of a commercial enterprise WiFi, while providing them with most of the qualities of such a more expensive managed solution at a fraction of the cost.

Keywords: wifi, enterprise, cloud, managed

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Authors: Chrysoula Karathanasi, Senad Karavdic, Angela Odero, Michèle Baumann

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It is not only the economic determinants that impact on life conditions, but maintaining a good level of life satisfaction (LS) may also be an important challenge currently. In Luxembourg, university students receive financial aid from the government. They are then registered at the Centre for Documentation and Information on Higher Education (CEDIES). Luxembourg is built on migration with almost half its population consisting of foreigners. It is upon this basis that our research aims to analyze the associations with mental health factors (health satisfaction, psychological quality of life, worry), perceived financial situation, career attitudes (adaptability, optimism, knowledge, planning) and LS, for non-Luxembourgish and native postgraduate students. Between 2012 and 2013, postgraduates registered at CEDIES were contacted by post and asked to participate in an online survey with either the option of English or French. The study population comprised of 644 respondents. Our statistical analysis excluded: those born abroad who had Luxembourgish citizenship, or those born in Luxembourg who did not have citizenship. Two groups were formed one consisting 147 non-Luxembourgish and the other 284 natives. A single item measured LS (1=not at all satisfied to 10=very satisfied). Bivariate tests, correlations and multiple linear regression models were used in which only significant relationships (p<0.05) were integrated. Among the two groups no differences were found between LS indicators (7.8/10 non-Luxembourgish; 8.0/10 natives) as both were higher than the European indicator of 7.2/10 (for 25-34 years). In the case of non-Luxembourgish students, they were older than natives (29.3 years vs. 26.3 years) perceived their financial situation as more difficult, and a higher percentage of their parents had an education level higher than a Bachelor's degree (father 59.2% vs 44.6% for natives; mother 51.4% vs 33.7% for natives). In addition, the father’s education was related to the LS of postgraduates and the higher was the score, the greater was the contribution to LS. Whereas for native students, when their scores of health satisfaction and career optimism were higher, their LS’ score was higher. For both groups their LS was linked to mental health-related factors, perception of their financial situation, career optimism, adaptability and planning. The higher the psychological quality of life score was, the greater the LS of postgraduates’ was. Good health and positive attitudes related to the job market enhanced their LS indicator.

Keywords: career attributes, father's education level, life satisfaction, mental health

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Authors: Chiharu Miyata, Hidenori Arai

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Background: The quality of care in geriatric intermediate facilities (GIFs) in Japan is not in a satisfied level. To improve it, it is crucial to reconsider nurses’ professionalism. Our goal is to create an organizational system that allows nurses to succeed professionally. To do this, we must first discuss the relationship between nurses’ characteristics and the organization. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the extent to which demographic and work-related factors are related to organizational commitment among nurses in GIFs. Method: A quantitative, cross-sectional method was adopted, using a self-completion questionnaire survey. The questionnaires consisted of 49 items for job satisfaction, the three-dimensional commitment model of organizational commitment and the background information of respondents. Results: A total of 1,189 nurses participated. Of those, 91% (n=1084) were women, and mean age was 48.2 years. Most participants were staff nurses (n=791; 66%). Significant differences in 'affective commitment' (AC) scores were found for age (p < .001), overall work experience (p < .001), and work status (p < .001). For work experience in the current facility, significant differences were found in all organizational commitment scores (p < .001). The group with high job satisfaction scored significantly higher in all types of organizational commitment (p < 0.001). Conclusions: These results led to a conclusion that understanding the expectations of nurses at the workplace to adapt with the organization, and creating a work environment that clarifies contents of tasks, especially allowing for nurses to feel significance and achievement with tasks, would increase AC.

Keywords: geriatric intermediate care facilities, geriatric nursing, job satisfaction, organizational commitment

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Authors: Jason Salim, Zhouyang Lu

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Private sector involvement in Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects may raise public suspicion, as PPP is often mistaken as merely a partnership between private and government agencies without consideration for greater “public” (community). This public marginalization is crucial to be dealt with because undermining opinion of majority may cause problems such as protests and/ or low demand. Game theory approach applied in this paper shows that probability of public acceptance towards a project is affected by overall public’s perception on Private sectors’ possible profit accumulation from the project. On the contrary, goodwill of the government and private coalition alone is not enough to minimize the probability of public opposition towards a PPP project. Additionally, the threat of loss or damage raised from public opposition does not affect the profit-maximization behavior of Private sectors.

Keywords: community satisfaction, game theory, non-cooperative, PPP, public policy

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Authors: Yoshinori Wakatake

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Many defects after the release of software packages are caused due to omissions of sufficient test items in test specifications. Poor test specifications are detected by manual review, which imposes a high human load. The prevention of omissions depends on the end-user awareness of test specification writers. If test specifications were written while envisioning the behavior of end-users, the number of omissions in test items would be greatly reduced. The paper pays attention to the point that writers who can achieve it differ from those who cannot in not only the description richness but also their gaze information. It proposes a method to estimate the degree of user-awareness of writers through the analysis of their gaze information when writing test specifications. We conduct an experiment to obtain the gaze information of a writer of the test specifications. Test specifications are automatically classified using gaze information. In this method, a Random Forest model is constructed for the classification. The classification is highly accurate. By looking at the explanatory variables which turn out to be important variables, we know behavioral features to distinguish test specifications of high quality from others. It is confirmed they are pupil diameter size and the number and the duration of blinks. The paper also investigates test specifications automatically classified with gaze information to discuss features in their writing ways in each quality level. The proposed method enables us to automatically classify test specifications. It also prevents test item omissions, because it reveals writing features that test specifications of high quality should satisfy.

Keywords: blink, eye tracking, gaze information, pupil diameter, quality improvement, specification document, user-awareness

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Authors: Kinneret Segal

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The work of a midwife is emotionally challenging, both positively and negatively. Midwives share moments of joy when a baby is welcomed into the world, and also attend difficult events of loss and trauma. The relationship that develops with the maternity is the essence of the midwife's care, and it is a fundamental source of motivation and professional satisfaction. This close relationship with the maternity may be used as a double-edged sword in cases of exposure to traumatic events at birth. Birth problems, exposure to emergencies and traumatic events, and loss can affect the professional quality of life and the Compassion satisfaction of the midwife. It seems that the issue of traumatic experiences in the work of midwives, has not been sufficiently explored. The present study examined the associations between exposure to traumatic events, personal resilience and post-traumatic symptoms, professional quality of life and organizational commitment among midwifery nurses in Israeli hospitals. 131 midwives from three hospitals in the country's center in Israel participated in this study. The data were collected during 2021 using a self-report questionnaire that examined sociodemographic characteristics, the degree of exposure to traumatic events in the delivery room, personal resilience, post-traumatic symptoms, professional quality of life, and organizational commitment. The three most difficult traumatic events for the midwives were death or fear of death of a newborn, death or fear of the death of a mother and a quiet birth. The higher the frequency of exposure to traumatic events, the more numerous and intense the onset of post-trauma symptoms. The more numerous and powerful the post-trauma symptoms, the higher the level of professional burnout and/or compassion fatigue, and the lower the level of compassion satisfaction. High levels of compassion satisfaction and/or low professional burnout were expressed in a heightened sense of organizational commitment. Personal resilience, country of birth, traumatic symptoms and organizational commitment, predicted satisfaction from compassion. Midwives are exposed to traumatic events associated with dissatisfaction and impairment of the professional quality of life that accompanies burnout and compassion fatigue. Exposure to traumatic events leads to the appearance of traumatic symptoms, a decrease in organizational commitment, and psychological and mental well-being. The issue needs to be addressed by implementing training programs, organizational support, and policies to improving well-being and quality of care among midwives.

Keywords: traumatic experirnces, midwives, quality of life, burnout, organizational commitment, personal resilience

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Authors: Dalvin D. Hill, Hector M. Castro Garcia

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A growing number of individuals utilize wearable devices on a daily basis. The usage and functionality of these wearable devices vary from user to user. One popular usage of said devices is to track health-related activities that are typically stored on a device’s memory or uploaded to an account in the cloud; based on the current trend, the data accumulated from the wearable device are stored in a standalone location. In many of these cases, this health related datum is not a factor when considering the holistic view of a user’s health lifestyle or record. This health-related data generated from wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) devices can serve as empirical information to a medical provider, as the standalone data can add value to the holistic health record of a patient. This paper proposes a solution to incorporate the data gathered from these wearable and IoT devices, with that a patient’s Personal Health Record (PHR) stored within the confines of a Health Information Exchange (HIE).

Keywords: electronic health record, health information exchanges, internet of things, personal health records, wearable devices, wearables

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Authors: Jamaiah H. Yahaya, Aziz Deraman, Abdul Razak Hamdan, Yusmadi Yah Jusoh

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One of the most essential issues in software products is to maintain it relevancy to the dynamics of the user’s requirements and expectation. Many studies have been carried out in quality aspect of software products to overcome these problems. Previous software quality assessment models and metrics have been introduced with strengths and limitations. In order to enhance the assurance and buoyancy of the software products, certification models have been introduced and developed. From our previous experiences in certification exercises and case studies collaborating with several agencies in Malaysia, the requirements for user based software certification approach is identified and demanded. The emergence of social network applications, the new development approach such as agile method and other varieties of software in the market have led to the domination of users over the software. As software become more accessible to the public through internet applications, users are becoming more critical in the quality of the services provided by the software. There are several categories of users in web-based systems with different interests and perspectives. The classifications and metrics are identified through brain storming approach with includes researchers, users and experts in this area. The new paradigm in software quality assessment is the main focus in our research. This paper discusses the classifications of users in web-based software system assessment and their associated factors and metrics for quality measurement. The quality model is derived based on IEEE structure and FCM model. The developments are beneficial and valuable to overcome the constraints and improve the application of software certification model in future.

Keywords: software certification model, user centric approach, software quality factors, metrics and measurements, web-based system

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Authors: Wang Chung-Kwei, Lo Kuo Ying

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This study is aimed to examine main and moderation effect of Chinese traditional social wisdom ‘Ren-qing Shi-kuo’ on the adjustment of insurance workers. Rationale: Ren-qing Shi-ku as a social wisdom has been emphasized and practiced by collective-oriented Chinese for thousand years. The concept of‘Ren-qing Shi-ku’includes values, beliefs and behavior rituals, which helps Chinese to cope with interpersonal conflicts in a sophisticated and closely tied collective society. Based on interview and literature review, we found out Chinese still emphasized the importance of ‘Ren-qing Shi-ku’. The concepts contains five factors, including ‘proper emotion display’, ‘social ritual abiding’, ‘ make empathetic concession’, ‘harmonious and proper behavior’ and ‘tolerance for the interest of the whole’. We developed an indigenous ‘Ren-qing Shi-ku’scale based on interview data and a survey on social worker students. Research methods: We conduct a dyad survey between 294 insurance worker and their supervisors. Insurance workers’ response on ‘Ren-qing Shi-ku,emotion labor, emotional exhaustion, work stress and load, work satisfaction and well-being were collected. We also ask their supervisors to rate these workers ‘empathy, social rule abiding, work performance, and Ren-qing Shi-ku performance. Results: Students’self-ratings on Ren-qing Shi-ku scale are positively correlated with rating from their supervisors on all above indexes. Workers who have higher Ren-qing Shi-ku score also have lower work stress and emotion exhaustion, higher work satisfaction and well-being, more emotion deep acting. They also have higher work performance, social rule abiding, and Ren-qing Shi-ku performance rating from their supervisor. The finding of this study suggested Ren-qing Shi-ku is an effective indicator on insurance workers ‘adjustment. Since Ren-qing Shi-ku is trainable, we suggested that Ren-qing Shi-ku training might be beneficial to service industry in a collective-oriented culture.

Keywords: work stress, Ren-qing Shi-ku, emotional exhaustion, work satisfaction, well-being

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Authors: Maryam Alimardani, Kazuo Hiraki

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This study presents a framework for development of a new generation of therapy robots that can interact with users by monitoring their physiological and mental states. Here, we focused on one of the controversial methods of therapy, hypnotherapy. Hypnosis has shown to be useful in treatment of many clinical conditions. But, even for healthy people, it can be used as an effective technique for relaxation or enhancement of memory and concentration. Our aim is to develop a robot that collects information about user’s mental and physical states using electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) signals and performs costeffective hypnosis at the comfort of user’s house. The presented framework consists of three main steps: (1) Find the EEG-correlates of mind state before, during, and after hypnosis and establish a cognitive model for state changes, (2) Develop a system that can track the changes in EEG and EMG activities in real time and determines if the user is ready for suggestion, and (3) Implement our system in a humanoid robot that will talk and conduct hypnosis on users based on their mental states. This paper presents a pilot study in regard to the first stage, detection of EEG and EMG features during hypnosis.

Keywords: hypnosis, EEG, robotherapy, brain-computer interface (BCI)

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Authors: Asma A. Alsufyani, Maram A. Alharthi, Maha J. Althobaiti, Manal S. Alharthi, Huda Rizq

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Twitter is one of the most popular microblogging sites that allows users to publish short text messages called 'tweets'. Increasing the number of accounts to follow (followings) increases the number of tweets that will be displayed from different topics in an unclassified manner in the timeline of the user. Therefore, it can be a vital solution for many Twitter users to have their tweets in a timeline classified into general categories to save the user’s time and to provide easy and quick access to tweets based on topics. In this paper, we developed a classifier for timeline tweets trained on a dataset consisting of 3600 tweets in total, which were collected from Saudi Twitter and annotated manually. We experimented with the well-known Bag-of-Words approach to text classification, and we used support vector machines (SVM) in the training process. The trained classifier performed well on a test dataset, with an average F1-measure equal to 92.3%. The classifier has been integrated into an application, which practically proved the classifier’s ability to classify timeline tweets of the user.

Keywords: corpus creation, feature extraction, machine learning, short text classification, social media, support vector machine, Twitter

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Authors: I. Mentziou, C. Delezos, A. Nestoridou, G. Boskou

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Introduction: The system of production and distribution of meals can have a significant impact on the food intake of hospital patients who are likely to develop malnutrition. In hospitals, the consequences of food borne infections can range from annoying to life-threatening for a patient, since they can lead up to death in vulnerable groups. Aim: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the satisfaction of the patients from the food services in Greek hospitals. Methods: Eleven hospitals of the Attica region were chosen. The sample derived from 637 adult patients who were hospitalized in those hospitals, during the period September 2009 - April 2010. Tailor made questionnaires were used to interview patients upon their satisfaction from the current food service system as well as from the total quality management system of the hospital. The number of completed questionnaires was proportional to the hospital capacity. Results: The majority of the patients seem to be pleased from the quality and the variety of the meals; they judged positively the behaviour of the food service personnel and the hygiene of serving conditions. Patients made suggestions for more frequent meals, larger variety of choices and better presented meals served under proper hygiene conditions by the personnel. Conclusions: The results indicate that the patients are satisfied in regards to the meal choices and the serving methods. However, factors like temperature and hygiene conditions are not always perceived to be in a way that fulfills the necessary prerequisite requirements. A total quality management system as a driver for better patient satisfaction is Indispensable.

Keywords: evaluation, food service, HACCP, hospital, patients

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Authors: Alessandro Evangelista, Vito M. Manghisi, Michele Gattullo, Enricoandrea Laviola

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In this work, we propose a custom visualization technique for Out-Of-View-Objects in Virtual and Augmented Reality applications using Head Mounted Displays. In the last two decades, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies experienced a remarkable growth of applications for navigation, interaction, and collaboration in different types of environments, real or virtual. Both environments can be potentially very complex, as they can include many virtual objects located in different places. Given the natural limitation of the human Field of View (about 210° horizontal and 150° vertical), humans cannot perceive objects outside this angular range. Moreover, despite recent technological advances in AR e VR Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs), these devices still suffer from a limited Field of View, especially regarding Optical See-Through displays, thus greatly amplifying the challenge of visualizing out-of-view objects. This problem is not negligible when the user needs to be aware of the number and the position of the out-of-view objects in the environment. For instance, during a maintenance operation on a construction site where virtual objects serve to improve the dangers' awareness. Providing such information can enhance the comprehension of the scene, enable fast navigation and focused search, and improve users' safety. In our research, we investigated how to represent out-of-view-objects in HMD User Interfaces (UI). Inspired by commercial video games such as Call of Duty Modern Warfare, we designed a customized Compass. By exploiting the Unity 3D graphics engine, we implemented our custom solution that can be used both in AR and VR environments. The Compass Bar consists of a graduated bar (in degrees) at the top center of the UI. The values of the bar range from -180 (far left) to +180 (far right), the zero is placed in front of the user. Two vertical lines on the bar show the amplitude of the user's field of view. Every virtual object within the scene is represented onto the compass bar as a specific color-coded proxy icon (a circular ring with a colored dot at its center). To provide the user with information about the distance, we implemented a specific algorithm that increases the size of the inner dot as the user approaches the virtual object (i.e., when the user reaches the object, the dot fills the ring). This visualization technique for out-of-view objects has some advantages. It allows users to be quickly aware of the number and the position of the virtual objects in the environment. For instance, if the compass bar displays the proxy icon at about +90, users will immediately know that the virtual object is to their right and so on. Furthermore, by having qualitative information about the distance, users can optimize their speed, thus gaining effectiveness in their work. Given the small size and position of the Compass Bar, our solution also helps lessening the occlusion problem thus increasing user acceptance and engagement. As soon as the lockdown measures will allow, we will carry out user-tests comparing this solution with other state-of-the-art existing ones such as 3D Radar, SidebARs and EyeSee360.

Keywords: augmented reality, situation awareness, virtual reality, visualization design

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Authors: Diana Coyl-Shepherd, Lisa Newland

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Research and theory suggest that parenting and parent-child attachment influence emotional development and well-being. Studies indicate that adolescents often describe differences in relationships with each parent and may form different types of attachment to mothers and fathers. During adolescence and young adulthood, romantic partners may also become attachment figures, influencing well being, and providing a relational context for emotion skill development. Mothers, however, tend to be remain the primary attachment figure; fathers and romantic partners are more likely to be secondary attachment figures. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) participants would rate mothers as more accepting and less rejecting than fathers, 2) participants would rate secure attachment to mothers higher and insecure attachment lower compared to father and romantic partner, 3) parental rejection and insecure attachment would be negatively related to life satisfaction and emotional intelligence, and 4) secure attachment and parental acceptance would be positively related life satisfaction and emotional intelligence. After IRB and informed consent, one hundred fifty adolescents and young adults (ages 11-28, M = 19.64; 71% female) completed an online survey. Measures included parental acceptance, rejection, attachment (i.e., secure, dismissing, and preoccupied), emotional intelligence (i.e., seeking and providing comfort, use, and understanding of self emotions, expressing warmth, understanding and responding to others’ emotional needs), and well-being (i.e., self-confidence and life satisfaction). As hypothesized, compared to fathers’, mothers’ acceptance was significantly higher t (190) = 3.98, p = .000 and rejection significantly lower t (190) = - 4.40, p = .000. Group differences in secure attachment were significant, f (2, 389) = 40.24, p = .000; post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences between mothers and fathers and between mothers and romantic partners; mothers had the highest mean score. Group differences in preoccupied attachment were significant, f (2, 388) = 13.37, p = .000; post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences between mothers and romantic partners, and between fathers and romantic partners; mothers have the lowest mean score. However, group differences in dismissing attachment were not significant, f (2, 389) = 1.21, p = .30; scores for mothers and romantic partners were similar; father means score was highest. For hypotheses 3 and 4 significant negative correlations were found between life satisfaction and dismissing parent, and romantic attachment, preoccupied father and romantic attachment, and mother and father rejection variables; secure attachment variables and parental acceptance were positively correlated with life satisfaction. Self-confidence was correlated only with mother acceptance. For emotional intelligence, seeking and providing comfort were negatively correlated with parent dismissing and mother rejection; secure mother and romantic attachment and mother acceptance were positively correlated with these variables. Use and understanding of self-emotions were negatively correlated with parent and partner dismissing attachment, and parent rejection; romantic secure attachment and parent acceptance were positively correlated. Expressing warmth was negatively correlated with dismissing attachment variables, romantic preoccupied attachment, and parent rejection; whereas attachment secure variables were positively associated. Understanding and responding to others’ emotional needs were correlated with parent dismissing and preoccupied attachment variables and mother rejection; only secure father attachment was positively correlated.

Keywords: adolescent emotional intelligence, life satisfaction, parent and romantic attachment, parental rejection and acceptance

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Authors: Reza Moslemi, Sebastien Perrier

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Water infrastructure deterioration can result in increased operational costs owing to increased repair needs and non-revenue water and consequently cause a reduced level of service and customer service satisfaction. Various water main condition assessment technologies have been introduced to the market in order to evaluate the level of pipe deterioration and to develop appropriate asset management and pipe renewal plans. One of the challenges for any condition assessment and inspection program is to determine the percentage of the water network and the combination of pipe segments to be inspected in order to obtain a meaningful representation of the status of the entire water network with a desirable level of accuracy. Traditionally, condition assessment has been conducted by selecting pipes based on age or location. However, this may not necessarily offer the best approach, and it is believed that by using a smart sampling methodology, a better and more reliable estimate of the condition of a water network can be achieved. This research investigates three different sampling methodologies, including random, stratified, and systematic. It is demonstrated that selecting pipes based on the proposed clustering and sampling scheme can considerably improve the ability of the inspected subset to represent the condition of a wider network. With a smart sampling methodology, a smaller data sample can provide the same insight as a larger sample. This methodology offers increased efficiency and cost savings for condition assessment processes and projects.

Keywords: condition assessment, pipe degradation, sampling, water main

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Authors: Taimaz Larimian

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During recent years, sustainable development has increasingly influenced urban policy, housing and planning in cities all over the world. Debates about sustainability no longer consider it solely as an environmental concern, but also incorporate social and economic dimensions. However, while a social dimension of sustainability is extensively accepted, the exact definition of the concept is still vague and unclear. This study is addressing this lack of specificity through a detailed exploration of social sustainability as the least studied pillar of sustainable development and sheds light on the debate over the definition of social sustainability through developing a measurement model of the constitutive dimensions of the concept. With this aim, a conceptual framework is developed based on the existing literature, determining seven main dimensions of the social sustainability concept namely: social interaction, safety and security, social equity, social participation, neighborhood satisfaction, housing satisfaction and sense of place. The validity and reliability of the model is then tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. In order to do so, five case study neighborhoods from Dunedin city with a range of urban forms and characters are investigated, to define social sustainability concept and its consisting dimensions from people’s perspective. The findings of this study present a clear definition of social sustainability at neighborhood scale and highlight all different dimensions of the concept in the context of New Zealand cities. According to the results, among the investigated dimensions, neighborhood satisfaction and safety and security had the most influence on people’s feeling of social sustainability in their neighborhood.

Keywords: social sustainability, factor analysis, neighborhood level, New Zealand cities

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Authors: Sadia Idrees, Gianpaolo Vignali, Simeon Gill

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The study aims to establish the virtual size and fit technology features to enhance fashion online retailing platforms, utilising digital human measurements to provide customised style and function to consumers. A few firms in the UK have launched advanced interactive fashion shopping domains for personalised shopping globally, aided by the latest internet technology. Virtual size and fit interfaces have a great potential to provide a personalised better-fitted garment to promote mass customisation globally. Made-to-measure clothing, consuming unstitched fabric is a common practice offered by fashion brands in Pakistan. This product is regarded as economical and sustainable to be utilised by consumers in Pakistan. Although the manual sizing system is practiced to sell garments online, virtual size and fit visualisation and recommendation technologies are uncommon in Pakistani fashion interfaces. A comparative assessment of Pakistani fashion brand websites and UK technology-driven fashion interfaces was conducted to highlight the vast potential of the virtual size and fit technology. The results indicated that web 2.0 technology adopted by Pakistani apparel brands has limited features, whereas companies practicing web 3.0 technology provide interactive online real-store shopping experience leading to enhanced customer satisfaction and globalisation of brands.

Keywords: e-commerce, mass customization, virtual size and fit, web 3.0 technology

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Authors: Mairaj Salim, Asma Zaheer

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Oman has accomplished as much or more than its fellow Gulf monarchies, despite starting from scratch considerably later, having less oil income to utilize, dealing with a larger and more rugged geography, and resolving a bitter civil war along the way. Of course, Oman's progress in the past 30-plus years has not been without problems and missteps, but the balance is squarely on the positive side of the ledger. Oil has been the driving force of the Omani economy since Oman began commercial production in 1967. The oil industry supports the country’s high standard of living and is primarily responsible for its modern and expansive infrastructure, including electrical utilities, telephone services, roads, public education and medical services. In addition to extensive oil reserves, Oman also has substantial natural gas reserves, which are expected to play a leading role in the Omani economy in the Twenty-first Century. To reduce the country’s dependence on oil revenues, the government is restructuring the economy by directing investment to non-oil activities. Since the 21st century IT has changed the performing tasks. To manage the affairs for the benefits of organizations and economy, the Omani government has adopted E-Business technologies for the development. E-Business is important because it allows • Transformation of old economy relationships (vertical/linear relationships) to new economy relationships characterized by end-to-end relationship management solutions (integrated or extended relationships) • Facilitation and organization of networks, small firms depend on ‘partner’ firms for supplies and product distribution to meet customer demands • SMEs to outsource back-end process or cost centers enabling the SME to focus on their core competence • ICT to connect, manage and integrate processes internally and externally • SMEs to join networks and enter new markets, through shortened supply chains to increase market share, customers and suppliers • SMEs to take up the benefits of e-business to reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, improve client referral and attract quality partners • New business models of collaboration for SMEs to increase their skill base • SMEs to enter virtual trading arena and increase their market reach A national strategy for the advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) has been worked out, mainly to introduce e-government, e-commerce, and a digital society. An information technology complex KOM (Knowledge Oasis Muscat) had been established, consisting of section for information technology, incubator services, a shopping center of technology software and hardware, ICT colleges, E-Government services and other relevant services. So, all these efforts play a vital role in the development of Oman economy.

Keywords: ICT, ITA, CRM, SCM, ERP, KOM, SMEs, e-commerce and e-business

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Shuen-Tai Wang, Ying-Chuan Chen, Hsi-Ya Chang

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Cloud computing is a paradigm of computing that shifts the way computing has been done in the past. The users can use cloud resources such as application software or storage space from the cloud without needing to own them. This paper is focused on solutions that are anticipated to introduce IaaS idea to build cloud base services and enable the individual remote user's applications in cloud environments, which appear as if they are running on the end user's local computer. The available features of application delivery solution have been developed based on our previous research on the virtualization technology to offer applications independent of location so that the users can work online, offline, anywhere, with appropriate device and at any time. This proposed effort has the potential to positively provide an efficient, resilience and elastic environment for cloud service. Users no longer need to burden the system managers and drastically reduces the overall cost of hardware and software licenses. Moreover, this flexible remote application virtualization service represents the next significant step to the mobile workplace, and it lets users access their applications remotely through cloud services anywhere. This is also made possible by the low administrative costs as well as relatively inexpensive end-user terminals and reduced energy expenses.

Keywords: cloud computing, IaaS, virtualization, application delivery

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Mokoena Oratilwe Penwell, Seeletse Solly Matshonisa

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The demand for quality products is a vital factor determining the success of a producing company, and the reality of this demand influences customer satisfaction. In Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU), concerns over the quality of food being sold have been raised by mostly students and staff who are primary consumers of food being sold by the cafeteria. Suspicions of food poisoning and the occurrence of diarrhea-related to food from the cafeteria, amongst others, have been raised. However, minimal measures have been taken to resolve the issue of food quality. New service providers have been appointed, and still, the same trends are being observed, the quality of food seems to depreciate continuously. This paper uses multi-attribute failure mode analysis (MAFMA) for failure detection and minimization on the machines used for food production by SMU catering company before being sold to both staff, and students so as to improve production plant reliability, and performance. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) will be used for the severity ranking of the weight criterions and development of the hierarchical structure for the cafeteria company. Amongst other potential issues detected, maintenance of the machines and equipment used for food preparations was of concern. Also, the staff lacked sufficient hospitality skills, supervision, and management in the cafeteria needed greater attention to mitigate some of the failures occurring in the food production plant.

Keywords: MAFMA, food quality, maintenance, supervision

Procedia PDF Downloads 133