Cognitive fit: an empirical study of recursion and iteration

A laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the basic theory and extensions to the theory for recursive tasks across programming languages. The experiment used 34 LISP and 48 PASCAL computer science students in two repeated measures designs. Findings of the study are reported and analyzed. The results strongly suggest that investigation of programming constructs should take place in the context of specific programming languages. Since a number of languages provide similar kinds of programming constructs, it is difficult for programmers to choose those implementations that best suit their needs. One way of encouraging the use of desirable constructs would be to develop languages adapted to certain types of tasks. Such an approach would inherently lead to cognitive fit and the attendant performance benefits would be realized     

The topology of locales and its effects on position uncertainty

The precision to which the position of a target in a digital image can be estimated may be analyzed by considering the possible digital representations of the target. Such an analysis leads to regions of indistinguishable target position, referred to as locales. By considering the density, distribution, and shape of these locales, the available precision can be estimated. Previously, such analyses have presumed an absence of noise in the digital image. It is shown how the noise tolerance for position estimation is affected by the topological properties of locales, such as locale connectivity, adjacency, and clustering     

Revisiting the two-stage choice model: an empirical study of consumer choice on brand website visits

In consumer choice behaviour literature, a two-stage choice model serves as a base theory where choice behaviour is decomposed into a consideration stage plus a choice stage. Yet, this default model has been increasingly challenged by the ‘limited consumer search’ school of thought because consumers do not necessarily review all products in a choice set before making decisions, but frequently draw on external information as mental short cuts. Methodologically, the choice behaviour in stage 1 has traditionally been latent because data that directly observe how consumers form their consideration sets by eliminating alternatives are lacking. This study continues the ‘limited consumer search’ line of reasoning and proposes an aided non-compensatory process in choice stage 1, where consumers reduce brand website alternatives by using online ratings to arrive at a consideration set. We use observed Web analytics data to unveil the stage 1 choice process and also the transition from stage 1 to stage 2, which is in need of further research based on extant literature. Lastly, we cross-validate our model with two types of websites (i.e. search vs. experience/credence) and find our model is contingent on the type of website content, where consumers’ inclination to use online ratings for decision-making varies.     

Multiparty sensemaking: A technology‐vendor selection case study

Information system (IS) procurement history is replete with poorly executed, multimillion dollar procurement decisions. Yet we barely understand what effective IS procurement should look like. IS procurement is highly challenging, as it requires the client to simultaneously select a technology and vendor. This paper explores the technology‐vendor selection process through the sensemaking perspective. Our study develops a sensemaking model for technology‐vendor selection that connects the multiple rounds of client‐vendor communicative actions with the client's sensemaking process. We show how the client reconciles fragmented and sometimes conflicting cues and information through three intertwined cycles: immediate, retrospective, and decision. Sensebreaking occurs as a separate process (and not a communicative action) when disruptive cues occur persistently and from different vendors over multiple rounds of sensemaking. We derive a set of critical factors, on the basis of the sensemaking perspective, for selecting an appropriate vendor and technical solution. These insights in turn help explain many poorly executed IS procurement decisions.     

Hyperspectral change detection: an experimental comparative study

ABSTRACT

The Earth’s surface is constantly changing due to variations originating from the increasing human population. In the last decade, numerous methods were presented in the literature for change detection using multispectral image data. Owing to the increasing availability of hyperspectral images, these methods are now being applied to hyperspectral images. The main objective of this study is to present different change detection methods in hyperspectral imagery. Numerous algorithms (more than 43 algorithms) have been proposed for change detection in hyperspectral imagery over the last decade. In this work, we provide a comparative review of these algorithms through experimental results. We place the algorithms in five major groups: (1) match-based, (2) transformation-based, (3) direct classification-based, (4) post-classification-based, and (5) hybrid-based. We evaluate and compare the performances of all five groups using two real-world data sets of multi-temporal hyperspectral imagery. This comparative study investigates the advantages and disadvantages of the effects of preprocessing steps in the efficiency of the hyperspectral change detection (HSCD) methods. These preprocessing steps are considered in four scenarios, including: (1) considering only spatial or geometric correction without noise reduction and spectral correction; (2) spatial, atmospheric, and radiometric corrections without noise reduction; (3) spatial correction and noise reduction without atmospheric and radiometric corrections; and (4) spatial, atmospheric, and radiometric correction with noise reduction. The empirical results, followed by a summary of the pros and cons of each algorithm, aim to help researchers select the procedures with the best characteristics for HSCD applications.     

Rigid vs compliant contact: an experimental study on biped walking

Multibody System Dynamics - Contact modeling plays a central role in motion planning, simulation and control of legged robots, as legged locomotion is realized through contact. The two prevailing...     

Reputation,framing strategies and user's choice of content on the Web: an empirical study

Current trends on the Internet indicate an increasing supply of content from anonymous users (e.g. blogs), which may become popular among website visitors. Motivated by these Internet trends, the present study explores the tradeoffs between the source's reputation and the way content is displayed or offered on the web page as well as the effects of both on the Internet user's choice of information services. The study builds upon behavioral economics and focuses on the interaction between background and local context effects on the individual's choice. In particular, the study investigates the tradeoffs between the source's reputation, representing the background context and the provision of enriched content (e.g. source bundled with a picture or a video) representing local context. The research involved a set of experiments based on hypothetical choice or matching tasks. The main findings indicate that there are significant interaction effects between reputation and enriched content, in the form of content related pictures, video and users' recommendations, which affect the user's choice of information services. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of temperature on service employees' customer orientation: an experimental approach

Numerous studies have demonstrated how temperature can affect perceptual, cognitive and psychomotor performance (e.g. Hancock, P.A., Ross, J., and Szalma, J., 2007. A meta-analysis of performance response under thermal stressors. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 49 (5), 851-877). We extend this research to interpersonal aspects of performance, namely service employees' and salespeople's customer orientation. We combine ergonomics with recent research on social cognition linking physical with interpersonal warmth/coldness. In Experiment 1, a scenario study in the lab, we demonstrate that student participants in rooms with a low temperature showed more customer-oriented behaviour and gave higher customer discounts than participants in rooms with a high temperature - even in zones of thermal comfort. In Experiment 2, we show the existence of alternative possibilities to evoke positive temperature effects on customer orientation in a sample of 126 service and sales employees using a semantic priming procedure. Overall, our results confirm the existence of temperature effects on customer orientation. Furthermore, important implications for services, retail and other settings of interpersonal interactions are discussed. Practitioner Summary: Temperature effects on performance have emerged as a vital research topic. Owing to services' increasing economic importance, we transferred this research to the construct of customer orientation, focusing on performance in service and retail settings. The demonstrated temperature effects are transferable to services, retail and other settings of interpersonal interactions.     

Determinants of software quality in offshore development - An empirical study of an Indian vendor

Context

Cost advantage has been one of the primary drivers of successful offshoring engagements of Indian software and services companies. However, the emphasis has shifted to the ability of the vendors to provide high quality over cost advantage in delivering software products and services. Meeting high quality requirements of the clients is a challenge due to the very nature of development and delivery of software through offshoring.

Objective

The objective of this research paper is to identify and evaluate the key determinants of quality in the case of software projects delivered through offshoring model.

Method

A detailed survey was conducted among project managers/project leaders (leads) of a leading midsize Indian IT services company to evaluate the relationship of the determinants on the attributes of quality.

Results

Out of six determinants, our research reveals requirements uncertainty has significant association with all the attributes of quality. While process maturity and trained personnel have moderate association, communication and control, knowledge transfer and integration and technical infrastructure have relatively low association on software quality attributes in the case of offshoring.

Conclusion

It is concluded that the complexities in offshoring necessitates proper capturing of requirements. In addition high level of process maturity and availability of trained personnel to the project will help vendors to achieve software quality. The paper provides a set of implications for practice and directions for further research.     

Consumer adoption of group-buying auctions: an experimental study

Internet-based group-buying auctions enable consumers to obtain volume discounts, but they face risk and trust issues that are not present in other e-retailing formats, which affects their adoption by consumers. Bidders experience uncertainty about the final auction price, and the risk of whether the auction will be completed. We evaluate textual comments and the number of bids made in an auction as drivers of a consumer’s perceived financial and psychological risks toward the group-buying auction mechanism and trust in the auction initiator. We use an Internet-based experimental test bed for online group-buying auctions and will report on one experiment that we conducted. Our results indicate that textual comments made by the participants about sellers in past auctions and existing bids affected a consumer’s perceived trust in the auction initiator and the financial risk of the mechanism. Positive textual comments and more bids appear to enhance perceived trust in the auction initiator and reduce financial risk, and other consumers are more willing to make bids as a result. Consumers continued to express concerns about the uncertainty of the final group-buying auction price though.     

Ensembles of ARTMAP-based neural networks: an experimental study

ARTMAP-based models are neural networks which use a match-based learning procedure. The main advantage of ARTMAP-based models over error-based models, such as Multi-Layer Perceptron, is the learning time, which is considered as significantly fast. This feature is extremely important in complex systems that require the use of several models, such as ensembles or committees, since they produce robust and fast classifiers. Subsequently, some extensions of the ARTMAP model have been proposed, such as: ARTMAP-IC, RePART, among others. Aiming to add an extra contribution to ARTMAP context, this paper presents an analysis of ARTMAP-based models in ensemble systems. As a result of this analysis, two main goals are aimed, which are: to analyze the influence of the RePART model in ensemble systems and to detect any relation between diversity and accuracy in ensemble systems in order to use this relation in the design of these systems.     

D-star Lite算法及其动态路径规划实验研究

车辆导航系统的核心是路径规划算法,路径规划算法分静态路径规划(Static Path Planning,SPP)算法和动态路径规划(Dynamic Path Planning,DPP)算法,SPP的不足是不能对实时变化交通信息做出快速响应,而DPP则可以利用路网中实时更新的交通信息及时地为驾驶者提供更佳的导航路线。本文在研究了静态路径规划中用到的一些算法后,如A*算法,继而分析动态路径规划的一些思想,在此基础上分析D*Lite算法可以改进的地方,并给出优化后的算法程序。利用10×10、50×50、100×100三种规模的模拟路网做对比实验,实验表明优化后的D*Lite算法在速度上有了较大提高。     

Comparative dynamics in an overlapping-generations model: the effects of quasi-rational discrete choice on finding and maintaining Nash equilibrium

Many models of Nash Equilibrium are complex enough that it becomes difficult to ascertain if and under what conditions the economic players can find and maintain this equilibrium. Using an analytical overlapping- generations model of goods, labor, and banking markets and quasi-rational discrete choice decision making, we find through agent-based simulations that Nash Equilibrium in goods market prices is stable when firms are sufficiently sensitive to changes in profits. In addition to verifying the analytical Nash outcome, the simulations verify that their economic agents, decision rules, and other protocols correspond to and maintain consistency with the analytical theory and identify important bounds of the analytical model.      

Virtual reality in training: an experimental study with firefighters

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Training with Virtual Reality (VR) can bring several benefits, such as the reduction of costs and risks. We present an experimental study that aims to evaluate...     

Geometric preprocessing of noisy point sets: an experimental study

Point based graphics avoids the generation of a polygonal approximation of sampled geometry and uses algorithms that directly work with the point set. Basic ingredients of point based methods are algorithms to compute nearest neighbors, to estimate surface properties as, e.g. normals and to smooth the point set. In this paper we report on the results of an experimental study that compared different methods for the mentioned subtasks.     

Effect of blended learning environment on transfer of learning: an experimental study

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of the blended learning and face‐to‐face learning on students' academic achievements and transfer of learning. The first aim of the study is to analyse the students' academic achievements to determine the change of theoretical knowledge in terms of the instructional method applied in this study. However, students' performances during the learning process are not always a good indicator. Therefore, the second aim of the study is to examine transferring students' theoretical knowledge to their educational multimedia projects. For this purpose, 14 weeks of pre‐ and post‐test experimental study is designed. The study is administered through an educational technology course in which students learn how to develop educational multimedia materials. The participants are undergraduate pre‐service teachers; they are assigned randomly to the experimental and control group. While the experimental group has both online and classroom sessions, the control group has only face‐to‐face classroom sessions. Although there is no significant difference between the groups in terms of academic achievement, the students in the blended group are more successful in transferring their knowledge to their projects than the ones in the face‐to‐face group. In conclusion, the results show that the blended learning approach has a positive effect on the transfer of learning.     

Integrating textual and pictorial information via pop-up windows: an experimental study

Following previous research in cognitive psychology, this paper deals with the effect of the spatial display of textpicture information on the user's cognitive processes. Two experiments were carried out to compare three displays on a computer screen: 'split' display (text and picture information displayed in separate areas on the screen), 'integrated' display (text information close to the part of the picture to which it refers), and 'pop-up' display (text information integrated in pop-up fields which appeared only via the user's action). In both experiments, the results showed that the integrated display and to a greater extent the pop-up display led to higher performances for an equal or lower learning time. Thus, these experiments reinforce the hypothesis that material where text and picture are integrated improves learning, especially if text information appears in pop-up fields. Results are discussed from a theoretical and a practical point of view.