Exploring the tension between transparency and datification effects of open government IS through the lens of Complex Adaptive Systems

Government agencies worldwide continue their commitment to providing open data in order to increase transparency of education, healthcare and other public services. Focusing on open government information systems (IS) that provide performance-related data, this paper explores the ongoing tension between government’s goal of transparency and the resulting largely opaque datification effects. Our research insights are derived from an empirical longitudinal study of a controversial open government IS called My School, currently providing performance data on almost 10,000 schools in Australia. We investigate the tension between transparency intended with schools’ open performance data and datification effects they create within the education system and a broader society, through the theoretical lens of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). Our study reveals how the tension emerges due to unpredictable use, propagation and reinterpretation of open data by more and more users. Consequently, the original meaning of data gets distorted, as these users continue to reconstruct and reinterpret ‘data’ in their own contexts and adapt their behavior in pursuit of their strategic goals. We also identify and theorize seven datification patterns underlying the tension and the ways they produce various social consequences. Based on these research contributions we discuss important strategic implications for government decision makers and identify new opportunities for future research on open government IS.     

Collaborative negotiation for ontology-driven enterprise businesses

The requirements from a globalised world demand that enterprises not only shift their paradigm from product-centrism to component-centrism on integrated products, potentiating the need for tight interoperability dependencies, but also that the product specifications and concepts are fully understood by customers and providers in a transparent manner that surpasses the barriers of language, culture and technology. This paper presents the NEGOSEIO framework, which enables service-based interoperability between parties, closely integrated with semantics and business understanding via the use of reference ontologies in the quest for achieving a stronger interoperability liaison. The paper's validation and discussion is performed in its application on the ontology negotiation of business environments in the scope of the EU-funded FP7 project TIMBUS for digital preservation of resources and enduring business continuity.     

Effects of Online Comments on Smokers' Perception of Antismoking Public Service Announcements

On YouTube antismoking PSAs are widely viewed and uploaded; they also receive extensive commentary by viewers. This study examined whether such evaluative comments with or without uncivil expressions influence evaluations by subsequent viewers. Results showed PSAs with positive (i.e. antismoking) comments were perceived by smokers as more effective than PSAs with negative (prosmoking) comments. Smokers in the no‐comment condition gave the highest perceived effectiveness score to PSAs. Smokers' readiness to quit smoking moderated the effect of comments on PSA evaluation. Smokers reading negative uncivil comments reported more negative attitude toward quitting and a lower level of perceived risk of smoking than those reading negative civil comments but positive civil and positive uncivil comments did not elicit different responses.     

RT-ROS: A real-time ROS architecture on multi-core processors

ROS, an open-source robot operating system, is widely used and rapidly developed in the robotics community. However, running on Linux, ROS does not provide real-time guarantees, while real-time tasks are required in many robot applications such as robot motion control. This paper for the first time presents a real-time ROS architecture called RT-RTOS on multi-core processors. RT-ROS provides an integrated real-time/non-real-time task execution environment so real-time and non-real-time ROS nodes can be separately run on a real-time OS and Linux, respectively, with different processor cores. In such a way, real-time tasks can be supported by real-time ROS nodes on a real-time OS, while non-real-time ROS nodes on Linux can provide other functions of ROS. Furthermore, high performance is achieved by executing real-time ROS nodes and non-real-time ROS nodes on different processor cores. We have implemented RT-ROS on a dual-core processor and conducted various experiments with real robot applications. The experimental results show that RT-ROS can effectively provide real-time support for the ROS platform with high performance by exploring the multi-core architecture.     

A systems approach to understanding the effect of Facebook use on the quality of interpersonal communication

Social networking platforms such as Facebook have become integrated into the milieu of modern-day social interactions. Facebook, one of the most prominent social networking platforms globally, is widely used as a primary medium for communicating and networking for personal, professional and recreational purposes. To date, studies have focussed on developing an understanding of why people make use of Facebook. Limited studies have explored the effect of Facebook use on interpersonal communication. This paper then investigated the tension between the use of Facebook and the quality of interpersonal communication. From the literature, the need to belong, and the need for self-presentation, were identified as the two main set of complex relations that justifies why people use Facebook. Qualitative system dynamics modelling, specifically causal loop diagrams, was used to gain more insights on the tension between Facebook and the quality of interpersonal communication from the perspective of a potential Facebook user. This tension was represented by the trade-off arising when considering the amount of time spent on Facebook and interpersonal communication. It is argued in this paper that Facebook is not a sufficient substitute to interpersonal communication, as it tends to degrade the quality of interpersonal relationships. Future investigation will require developing a simulation model for a specific case to provide more insights on the extent of this trade-offs and potential intervention measures.     

A novel approach to improve the planning of adaptive and interactive sessions for the treatment of Major Depression

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a research field which aims to improve the relationship between users and interactive computer systems. A main objective of this research area is to make the user experience more pleasant and efficient, minimizing the barrier between the users׳ cognition of what they want to accomplish and the computer׳s understanding of the user׳s tasks, by means of user-friendly, useful and usable designs. A bad HCI design is one of the main reasons behind user rejection of computer-based applications, which in turn produces loss of productivity and economy in industrial environments.In the eHealth domain, user rejection of computer-based systems is a major barrier to exploiting the maximum benefit from those applications developed to support the treatment of diseases, and in the worst cases a poor design in these systems may cause deterioration in the clinical condition of the patient. Thus, a high level of personalisation of the system according to users׳ needs is extremely important, making it easy to use and contributing to the system׳s efficacy, which in turn facilitates the empowerment of the target users. Ideally, the content offered through the interactive sessions in these applications should be continuously assessed and adapted to the changing condition of the patient. A good HCI design and development can improve the acceptance of these applications and contribute to promoting better adherence levels to the treatment, preventing the patient from further relapses.In this work, we present a mechanism to provide personalised and adaptive daily interactive sessions focused on the treatment of patients with Major Depression. These sessions are able to automatically adapt the content and length of the sessions to obtain personalised and varied sessions in order to encourage the continuous and long-term use of the system. The tailored adaptation of session content is supported by decision-making processes based on: (i) clinical requirements; (ii) the patient’s historical data; and (iii) current responses from the patient. We have evaluated our system through two different methodologies: the first one performing a set of simulations producing different sessions from changing input conditions, in order to assess different levels of adaptability and variability of the session content offered by the system. The second evaluation process involved a set of patients who used the system for 14–28 days and answered a questionnaire to provide feedback about the perceived level of adaptability and variability produced by the system. The obtained results in both evaluations indicated good levels of adaptability and variability in the content of the sessions according to the input conditions.     

Designing energy efficient commercial buildings—A systems framework

This paper provides a means for improving the effectiveness of energy related decision-making during the design phase of a building. A review of the literature and discussions with experts revealed that several approaches for an Integrated Design Process for energy efficient buildings exist. However, most of these approaches are relatively abstract and philosophical in nature, and do not prescribe procedures that enable energy efficient design.This paper attempts to address this gap by proposing a comprehensive design process titled the ‘Integrated Energy-Efficient Building Design Process’ (IEBDP). This process provides a framework based on systems theory that facilitates the integration of various facets of the energy-efficient alternatives selection process. In addition, the proposed framework seeks to integrate state-of-the-art analysis tools and methods, to aid designers in performing holistic building design. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi-attribute decision-making technique is used to resolve conflicts amongst diverging design goals.The proposed IEBDP framework was then used to design an office building, taken as a case study, in the composite climate of New Delhi, India. It was found that considerable energy savings could be achieved by following the IEBDP process. The benefits of this framework vis-a-vis traditional energy efficient design approaches were evaluated by comparing the design done through the IEBDP process with designs submitted by a group of practicing architects. The various designs were evaluated in terms of strategies adopted, the level of exploration as well as design integration, in order to validate the applicability and use of the IEBDP framework.     

车路互联网的底层协议-802．11p标准

详细地描述了车路互联网系统的底层协议-802．11p标准。将802．11p与传统无线局域网技术进行对比,分析了802．11p在媒体接入控制层（MAC）与物理层（PHY）所做的修改,并从物理层参数、PP—DU帧结构,以及接人优先级等多方面指出了802．11p能在高速移动环境下建立稳定通信链路的原因。其次,还对802．11p所采用的频段、信道、发射功率以及频谱掩模进行分析;最后提出了802．11p在仿真方面所面临的挑战,并且在Simulink上建立了一套动态仿真系统,对标准进行仿真验证。