Vision implants: An electrical device will bring light to the blind

Cochlear implant has been successfully applied in clinic. Recent research indicates vision implants may be the potential way to restore sight for the blind. Here, principle and common structure of vision implants are introduced. Main vision approaches of retinal, optic nerve, and cortical prosthesis are reviewed. In our progress, electrical response at visual cortex is recorded, when penetrating electrodes stimulate rabbit optic nerve, vision implants based on optic nerve stimulator chip （ONSC） and Chipcon radio frequency （RF） chip are under developing. Despite several obstacles to overcome, promising results in animal and human experiments give scientists confidence that artificial vision implants will bring light to the blind in the near future.     

The adoption of artificial intelligence and robotics in the hotel industry: prospects and challenges

Electronic Markets - The growth of technology has resulted in the use of state-of-the-art systems such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robot-based applications and services in the hotel...     

Designing collaborative knowledge building environments accessible to all learners: Impacts and design challenges

The present study attempted to investigate whether young learners who were new to knowledge building approaches could work towards advancing both individual and collective knowledge, and whether knowledge building could be beneficial to both high-achieving and low-achieving students. Findings reported in this paper are from one and a half-year design research for science learning in one primary school in Singapore. In this study, we closely examined the design and enactment of the Knowledge Building Community model in one class with high-achieving students and two classes with mixed-ability students. The research consists of two phases: Phase I Cultivating a collaborative knowledge building culture and Phase II Progressive Knowledge Building using Knowledge Forum. Data were collected from multiple sources, including knowledge assessment, conceptual understanding tasks, and the content analysis of Knowledge Forum postings. The results in Phase I show that while it is critical for students to monitor and build knowledge for their own understanding, they had difficulties developing such skills. In both phases, we found positive impacts on academic achievements showing improvement of student understanding in the course of reflective thinking and progressive inquiry. Overall, quantitative data suggest that the collaborative knowledge building environment was beneficial for both high-achieving and low-achieving students. We conclude by discussing some of challenges and issues in designing collaborative knowledge building environments for young learners with diverse abilities.     

Trust Is The Key To Security: Until governments and businesses establish trust,knowledge sharing will be poor and terrorists and hackers will continue to have the upper hand

“Shameful! Absolutely shameful! The CIA, NSA, FBI, and others failed miserably. The terrorists handed information superiority to us on a silver platter. We write papers and make PowerPoint briefings about it, but they showed us how to do it.”     

A critical appraisal of current knowledge and future directions of ergophthalmology: consensus document of the ICOH Committee on 'Work and Vision'

In the past, occupational health gave scant attention to the visual apparatus. Studies on issues relating to 'work and vision' have predominantly addressed industrial accidents and the toxic effects of exposure to chemical and physical agents, with secondary prevention being more common than primary prevention. In recent years, the huge transformations implemented in workplaces, mainly due to computer-based technologies, demand a progressively higher efficiency of the eye and the related nervous system components that co-ordinate eye movements and accommodation. At the moment these aspects are managed by medical, psychosocial and a variety of technical disciplines, without any shared criteria, terminology and method. Objectives of the Committee are: to investigate holistically the many possible hazards associated to the occupational visual performance; to come to a consensus on terminology, risk assessment and health surveillance procedures. The present status of research and practice in ergophthalmology does not allow for clear-cut decision about health risk and nor is there a clear direction on the prevention of work-related ocular and visual disturbances and disorders. Specifically, at least three determinants must be objectively considered, namely: (a) visual effort; (b) environmental agents; (c) individual characteristics. Although criteria exist for the evaluation of some of these determinants, a greater refinement is necessary 'for a good working life' of the visual apparatus. The ICOH Scientific Committee on 'Work and Vision' is seeking to systematically develop this matter, yielding a more rational and complete approach to the relationship between work and vision.     

A critical appraisal of current knowledge and future directions of ergophthalmology: consensus document of the ICOH Committee on 'Work and Vision'

In the past, occupational health gave scant attention to the visual apparatus. Studies on issues relating to ‘work and vision’ have predominantly addressed industrial accidents and the toxic effects of exposure to chemical and physical agents, with secondary prevention being more common than primary prevention. In recent years, the huge transformations implemented in workplaces, mainly due to computer-based technologies, demand a progressively higher efficiency of the eye and the related nervous system components that co-ordinate eye movements and accommodation. At the moment these aspects are managed by medical, psychosocial and a variety of technical disciplines, without any shared criteria, terminology and method. Objectives of the Committee are: to investigate holistically the many possible hazards associated to the occupational visual performance; to come to a consensus on terminology, risk assessment and health surveillance procedures. The present status of research and practice in ergophthalmology does not allow for clear-cut decision about health risk and nor is there a clear direction on the prevention of work-related ocular and visual disturbances and disorders. Specifically, at least three determinants must be objectively considered, namely: (a) visual effort; (b) environmental agents; (c) individual characteristics. Although criteria exist for the evaluation of some of these determinants, a greater refinement is necessary ‘for a good working life’ of the visual apparatus. The ICOH Scientific Committee on ‘Work and Vision’ is seeking to systematically develop this matter, yielding a more rational and complete approach to the relationship between work and vision.     

The application of artificial intelligence in auditing: Looking back to the future

ICT-based decision aids are currently making waves in the modern business world simultaneously with increased pressure on auditors to play a more effective role in the governance and control of corporate entities. This paper aims to review the main research efforts and current debates on auditors’ use of artificial intelligent systems, with a view to predicting future directions of research and software development in the area. The paper maps the development process of artificial intelligent systems in auditing in the light of their identified benefits and drawbacks. It also reviews previous research efforts on the use of expert systems and neural networks in auditing and the implications thereof. The synthesis of these previous studies revealed certain research vacuum which future studies in the area could fill. Such areas include matching the benefits of adopting these intelligent agents with their costs, assessing the impact of artificial intelligence on internal control systems’ design and monitoring as well as audit committees’ effectiveness, and implications of using such systems for small and medium audit firms’ operations and survival, audit education, public sector organisations’ audit, auditor independence and audit expectations-performance gap.     

The impact of goods-classification and landmarks for spatial knowledge and goods-finding in the elderly within a 3D virtual store

Online shopping has become quite popular since its first arrival on the internet. Although numerous studies have been performed to investigate various issues related to the internet store, some research issues relating to the spatial cognition of the elderly (the fastest growing internet group) when exploring a 3D virtual store still await further empirical investigation. The objective of this study was to examine how elderly users acquire spatial knowledge in an on-screen virtual store. Specifically, the impact of different types of landmarks on the acquisition of spatial knowledge was examined. In addition, in this study, goods-classification was seen as an implicit landmark associated with the acquisition of spatial knowledge. Therefore, it is worth observing the impact during the location of the goods and examining the combined effect with landmarks. The experimental results indicated that landmarks are important for the elderly as they attempt to locate goods within a 3D virtual store, no matter what types are used. However, landmarks are not the only resources for constructing spatial knowledge in a 3D virtual store; the classification of goods is also a good resource and may be more important than landmarks. In addition, the combined effect of goods-classification and landmarks in a 2D image would be best for the elderly in terms of acquired spatial cognition and the location of goods within a 3D virtual store.     

Using serious games to manage knowledge and competencies: The seven-step development process

This article explores how serious games improve knowledge and competencies management in the context of human resources management. The exploratory research, based on the conceptual framework of the SECI model from Nonaka, analyzes the performances of three serious games developed in 3 different financial companies, from France, USA and India. These three case studies will help to define a 7-step development process of a knowledge and competencies management serious game. The banking sector has interesting characteristics for this study, some of the associated knowledge being both very standardized and also highly heterogeneous. It will be shown that serious games contribute significantly to improve “socialization”, “externalization”, “combination”, and “internalization” of knowledge and that they promote benchmarking throughout the company.     

The example of the Unicorn: A knowledge-based approach to scientific creativity and the growth of knowledge

In the course of researching the question ‘What does it mean for knowledge to grow?’, the author has developed a large and unique compendium of components, some of which are knowledge systems that serve as research and creativity support systems. The self-modifying, self-effecting creative process and the results of developing and working with these systems, using novel methods and drawing on eclectic sources, is discussed.     

Artificial intelligence and the evidentiary process: The challenges of formalism and computation

The tension between rule and judgment is well known with respect to the meaning of substantive legal commands. The same conflict is present in fact finding. The law penetrates to virtually all aspects of human affairs; irtually any interaction can generate a legal conflict. Accurate fact finding about such disputes is a necessary condition for the appropriate application of substantive legal commands. Without accuracy in fact finding, the law is unpredictable, and thus individuals cannot efficiently accommodate their affairs to its commands. The need for accuracy and predictability in legal fact finding has generated a search for formal tools to apply to the task. Among the tools that have been examined are Bayes' Theorem and expected utility theory (Bayesian or statistical decision theory). These tools do not map well onto trials, which in turn has generated an examination of alternative approaches, in particular the story model and the relative plausibility theory. This paper discusses these issues in turn. It elaborates the basic structure of trials in the American tradition; examines the uneasy relationship between trials and such formalisms as Bayes' Theorem and expected utility theory; and introduces the relative plausibility theory as an explanation of the nature of juridical proof.     

The TF-IDF measure and analysis of links between words within N-grams in the formation of knowledge units for open tests

A method is proposed for searching in a text corpus for phrases that are the most similar to an original one in a described knowledge fragment (including linguistic forms of expression) based on a numerical evaluation of the coupling strength between the related words from the original phrase that occur in them. In this regard, the links themselves expand from traditional bigrams to three or more elements and are distinguished according to the results of dividing the words of the original phrase into classes according to the value of the TF-IDF measure as an alternative to syntactic dependences.     

Back to the future: from knowledge management to the management of information and data

This paper argues for a return to fundamentals and for a balanced assessment of the contribution that Information Technology can make as we enter the new millennium. It argues that the field of Information Systems should no longer be distracted from its natural locus of concern and competence, or claim more than it can actually achieve. More specifically, and as a case in point, we eschew IT-enabled Knowledge Management, both in theory and in practice. We view Knowledge Management as the most recent in a long line of fads and fashions embraced by the Information Systems community that have little to offer. Rather, we argue for a refocusing of our attention back on the management ofdata, since IT processes data-notinformation and certainly notknowledge. In so doing, we develop a model that provides a tentative means of distinguishing between the terms. This model also forms the basis for on-going empirical research designed to test the efficacy of our argument in a number of case companies currently implementing ERP and Knowledge Management Systems.     

Adding value to design and test through education: What are the challenges?

THE 6TH IEEE Latin American Test Workshop (LATW 05), took place from 30 March to 2 April 2005 in Salvador, Brazil. The workshop included a panel discussion on the challenges for modern design and test education, which attracted much attention from the audience.     

The information and communication society: how people will live and work in the new millennium

This paper analyses information and communication technology (ICT) and its relation to work organizations, human communication, stress, allocation issues, knowledge transfer and global villages. An interdisciplinary research programme on ‘Computer technology and work life’ was initiated and led by the author at Stockholm University in 1974, followed by many programmes in Sweden in the field. A theoretical framework was developed including two theoretical models, one more general, the other where the concepts and their interrelationships were specified. The models were tested empirically in three large work organizations in Sweden, representing three main historical periods of computer technology. It was also used as a model in discussing what might be desirable goals in the information society. The present fourth period, the ‘Network period’, is characterized by a convergence of three main technologies: computer, telecommunication and media. ICT is used in almost every activity and is embedded in many things. The author proposes a superimposed theoretical model reflecting ‘ICT and the psychosocial life environment’, a revised model of her initial models. Finally, future research is discussed with reference to theoretical models revised, and conclusions address major psychosocial processes, psychosocial life environments and a call for synthesis.     

The information and communication society: how people will live and work in the new millennium

This paper analyses information and communication technology (ICT) and its relation to work organizations, human communication, stress, allocation issues, knowledge transfer and global villages. An interdisciplinary research programme on 'Computer technology and work life' was initiated and led by the author at Stockholm University in 1974, followed by many programmes in Sweden in the field. A theoretical framework was developed including two theoretical models, one more general, the other where the concepts and their interrelationships were specified. The models were tested empirically in three large work organizations in Sweden, representing three main historical periods of computer technology. It was also used as a model in discussing what might be desirable goals in the information society. The present fourth period, the 'Network period', is characterized by a convergence of three main technologies: computer, telecommunication and media. ICT is used in almost every activity and is embedded in many things. The author proposes a superimposed theoretical model reflecting 'ICT and the psychosocial life environment', a revised model of her initial models. Finally, future research is discussed with reference to theoretical models revised, and conclusions address major psychosocial processes, psychosocial life environments and a call for synthesis.     

Leveraging the Strengths of your Extended Enterprise to Continue Operations during an Information Warfare Attack?: “The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare.” Thane Yost

What is the purpose of a business? To go forth and do great and wondrous things (after all, that’s in the business plan and annual statement to shareholders), but above all else, to make money for its owners.     

Correction to: Deep learning approaches for speech emotion recognition: state of the art and research challenges

Multimedia Tools and Applications -     

Exploring the challenges and benefits for scaling agile project management to large projects: a review

Requirements Engineering - Organizations have increasingly applied agile project management; however, they face challenges in scaling up this approach to large projects. Thus, this study...