When human subjects become cybersubjects: A call for collaborative consent

This essay treats the proliferation of online collaboration as a rationale for rethinking human subjects ethics in composition. Specifically, I argue that the Conference on College Composition and Communication's research guidelines for the ethical treatment of students and student writing are grounded in an individualist ethos that is an inadequate frame for researching contemporary writing pedagogy. As a result, teacher-researchers who seek students’ informed consent for participation in a research study may inadvertently encourage students to view their writing as individual property, a vision of authorship not representative of the field's discursive values. As a corrective, I propose that composition scholars develop a guideline for soliciting students’ collaborative consent. In addition to addressing a practical concern regarding the study of collaborative production in virtual and print contexts, collaborative consent has the potential to do important ideological work by sanctioning collaboration and validating students’ extracurricular digital literacies.     

Online QoS Optimization Using Service Classes in Surveillance Radar Systems

Many application level qualities are functions of available computation resources. Recent studies have handled the computation resource allocation problem to maximize the overall application quality. However, such QoS problems are fundamentally multi-dimensional optimization problems that require extensive computation. Therefore, online usage of optimization procedures may significantly reduce the computation resource available for applications. This raises the question of how to best use the optimization procedures for dynamic real-time task sets. In dynamic real-time systems, it is important to improve the performance by re-allocating the resources adapting to dynamic situations. However, the overhead of changing task parameters (i.e., algorithms and frequencies) for resource re-allocation is non-negligible in many applications. Thus, too frequent change of resource allocation may not be desirable. This paper proposes a method called service classes configuration to address the QoS problem with dynamic arrival and departure of tasks. The method avoids online usage of optimization procedures by offline designing templates (called service classes) of resource allocation, which will be adaptively used depending on online situations. The service classes are designed by best trading-off the accuracy of dynamic adaptation against the overhead of resource re-allocation. A simplified radar application is used as an illustrative example.     

An empirical development of critical value factors (CVF) of online learning activities: An application of activity theory and cognitive value theory

According to activity theory, activities are at the center of human behavior. Extensive attention has been given in literature to the success and effectiveness of online learning programs. Value theory suggests that human perceived value is a critical construct in investigating what is important to individuals. However, very limited attention has been given in literature to the role of users’ perceived value of learning activities in educational settings. Scholars suggest that additional studies on learning activities are needed in order to progress the current knowledge of the use of information systems in education. Therefore, this study investigated issues related to learners’ perceived value by uncovering the critical value factors (CVFs) of online learning activities. Participants in this study included 209 graduate students attending an online learning program. This study extended the first phase done in a prior research to uncover the CVFs of online learning activities. Results of this research study produced five reliable CVFs: (a) collaborative, social, and passive learning activities; (b) formal communication activities; (c) formal learning activities; (d) logistic activities; and (e) printing activities.     

Procedures in complex systems: the airline cockpit

In complex human-machine systems, successful operations depend on an elaborate set of procedures which are specified by the operational management of the organization. These procedures indicate to the human operator (in this case the pilot) the manner in which operational management intends to have various tasks done. The intent is to provide guidance to the pilots and to ensure a safe, logical, efficient, and predictable (standardized) means of carrying out the objectives of the job. However, procedures can become a hodge-podge. Inconsistent or illogical procedures may lead to noncompliance by operators. Based on a field study with three major airlines, the authors propose a model for procedure development called the “Four P's”: philosophy, policies, procedures, and practices. Using this model as a framework, the authors discuss the intricate issue of designing flight-deck procedures, and propose a conceptual approach for designing any set of procedures. The various factors, both external and internal to the cockpit, that must be considered for procedure design are presented. In particular, the paper addresses the development of procedures for automated cockpits-a decade-long, and highly controversial issue in commercial aviation. Although this paper is based on airline operations, we assume that the principles discussed here are also applicable to other high-risk supervisory control systems, such as space flight, manufacturing process control, nuclear power production, and military operations     

An empirical development of critical value factors (CVF) of online learning activities: An application of activity theory and cognitive value theory

According to activity theory, activities are at the center of human behavior. Extensive attention has been given in literature to the success and effectiveness of online learning programs. Value theory suggests that human perceived value is a critical construct in investigating what is important to individuals. However, very limited attention has been given in literature to the role of users’ perceived value of learning activities in educational settings. Scholars suggest that additional studies on learning activities are needed in order to progress the current knowledge of the use of information systems in education. Therefore, this study investigated issues related to learners’ perceived value by uncovering the critical value factors (CVFs) of online learning activities. Participants in this study included 209 graduate students attending an online learning program. This study extended the first phase done in a prior research to uncover the CVFs of online learning activities. Results of this research study produced five reliable CVFs: (a) collaborative, social, and passive learning activities; (b) formal communication activities; (c) formal learning activities; (d) logistic activities; and (e) printing activities.     

Understanding online behavioural advertising: User knowledge,privacy concerns and online coping behaviour in Europe

Online behavioural advertising (OBA) is a special form of targeted advertising. For OBA, it is necessary to collect data about online surfing behaviour, which is usually undertaken by installing ‘cookies’. The use of cookies is heavily debated by policy makers in the US and Europe. Central to this discussion is whether users should provide informed consent prior to the installation of cookies. However, to provide informed consent, it is vital that website users understand the mechanisms of OBA and cookies. This study investigates whether the existing knowledge is sufficient, whether website users are concerned about their privacy, and how they cope with OBA, cookies and the requested informed consent. An online questionnaire (N = 2022) was fielded briefly after new European cookie regulations were enacted. The results confirmed that the knowledge is still insufficient to obtain good understanding of this new advertising technique. In addition, the results showed that groups of Internet users did not differ in terms of knowledge, although they did differ in terms of privacy concerns. A comparison of privacy-concerned groups showed that a dual approach is needed in communicating about OBA, not only to inform but also to reduce worries, especially in older and less-educated groups.     

Nuclear Reactor Control Room Simulators: Human Factors Research and Development

Simulator studies are powerful means for understanding, designing and managing the complexity of nuclear reactor control if, along with their scenarios, they are correctly designed for that purpose. This contribution to an international state of the art of the use of nuclear reactor control room simulators in human factors research and development summarises the trends and novelties in the theories and methodologies (the reduction of the ambitions of cognitive simulation and the renewal of process-tracing methods, the eclectic search for theoretical and methodological complementarity, the conquests of situation awareness and their limitations, the study of cooperation), in the use of the results (with stress on probabilistic human reliability analysis and design of procedures) and in the construction of simulated situations (with stress on part task simulations and on relations between testing practical and empirical hypotheses and testing theoretical ones).     

Visualizing E-Brand Personality: Exploratory Studies on Visual Attributes and E-Brand Personalities in Korea

The brand personality of an online product and service, usually represented by a Web site, is known as its e-brand personality. In the competitive conditions of online markets, e-brand personality is agreed to be an important factor in securing distinctive identity; however, few studies have suggested how to establish e-brand personality through the visual design of Web sites. This study explores the feasibility of constructing target e-brand personalities for online services by using visual attributes. It consists of 3 consecutive studies. The 1st study identified four major dimensions of e-brand personality on diverse Web sites. The 2nd study used 52 experimental home pages to identify key visual attributes associated with those 4 personality dimensions. The 3rd study explored whether those findings from the 2nd study can be applied in constructing Web sites for online services. The results showed that 2 visual attributes-simplicity and cohesion-are closely related to a bold personality. Three attributes-contrast, density, and regularity-can be used to create a Web site that has an analytical personality. Contrast, cohesion, density, and regularity are closely related to a Web site that is perceived to have a friendly personality. Regularity and balance were expected to be related to the sophisticated personality dimension, but no such relation was identified in the 3rd study. The article concludes with a discussion of implications, limitations, and future research directions.     

Online university students' satisfaction and persistence: Examining perceived level of presence, usefulness and ease of use as predictors in a structural model

Learners’ satisfaction and persistence are considered critical success factors in online universities where all of the teaching and learning activities are carried out online. This study aims to investigate the structural relationships among perceived level of presence, perceived usefulness and ease of use of the online learning tools, learner satisfaction and persistence in an online university located in South Korea. The specific predictors were teaching presence, social presence, cognitive presence, and perceived usefulness and ease of use. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to provide cause-and-effect inferences. The study participants were 709 learners who enrolled in a Korean online university in 2009 and responded to online surveys. The results indicated that teaching presence, cognitive presence, and perceived usefulness and ease of use were significant predictors of learner satisfaction, which was found to be a significant mediator of predictors and persistence. The findings provided substantial implications for designing and implementing teaching and learning strategies in online university environments.     

E-recruiting and fairness: the applicant’s point of view

More and more companies currently recruit online, partly because of cost savings and competitive pressure, and partly because it is the best way to reach their target group of applicants. In our study, applicants’ perceptions of procedural fairness were examined in e-recruiting contexts. Using an adapted form of the Social Process Questionnaire on Selection, we found that 1,373 participants’ expectations regarding fairness were mediocre and always lower than the perceived importance of five procedural fairness aspects. Based on an experimental manipulation, we showed that feedback was particularly important in online application procedures, whereas participation had smaller effects. Furthermore, participants tend to rate procedural fairness for offline application procedures as fairer than for online procedures although they reported generally positive experiences with online applications in the past. Based on our results, we discuss practical implications and limitations.     

The State of Authorship Attribution Studies: Some Problems and Solutions

The statement, ’’Results of most non-traditional authorship attribution studies are not universally accepted as definitive,' is explicated. A variety of problems in these studies are listed and discussed: studies governed by expediency; a lack of competent research; flawed statistical techniques; corrupted primary data; lack of expertise in allied fields; a dilettantish approach; inadequate treatment of errors. Various solutions are suggested: construct a correct and complete experimental design; educate the practitioners; study style in its totality; identify and educate the gatekeepers; develop a complete theoretical framework; form an association of practitioners. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Sex differences in purchasing textbooks online

In a series of studies, female students at an urban university tended to demonstrate fewer computer/Internet skills than male students, and their level of skill was a more consistent predictor of purchasing textbooks online. These results were not replicated at a rural state college with less computer-skilled students.     

Applying human and system reliability analysis to the design and analysis of written procedures in high-risk industries

The importance and prevalence of written work procedures in industries, especially high-risk industries, has resulted in a renewed interest in the design of these procedures. Most of the concern has focused on the formatting, organization, and readability of the procedures. Although these are important issues, it is also important that advantage be taken of the richness in detail and knowledge contained in many of these procedures. Without an understanding of the relationship between the work context, which is largely reflected in written procedures, and behavioral tendencies, a fundamental problem related to the design of written procedures remains unresolved. Specifically, this problem concerns how written procedures can contribute to human error, procedural violations, and ultimately adverse system outcomes. In this article, a contextual modeling perspective to human and system reliability analysis is presented. The application of this approach directly to the process of designing and analyzing written procedures is discussed. In particular, this article discusses how applying this perspective can benefit designers and writers of procedures by increasing their ability to anticipate how written procedures could contribute to human error and adverse outcomes. Examples illustrating these ideas are presented throughout. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

基于面向对象的BPMS软件的设计与实现

主要介绍ＢＰＭＳ的设计与实现过程,对ＢＰＭＳ的功能需求、总体框架。类库实现和仿真模型进行了详细的模述和说明。     

A longitudinal study of the effects of ecological interface design on deep knowledge

Some researchers have argued that providing operators with externalized, graphic representations can lead to a trade-off whereby deep knowledge is sacrificed for cognitive economy and performance. This article provides an initial empirical investigation of this hypothesis by presenting a longitudinal study of the effect of ecological interface design (EID), a framework for designing interfaces for complex industrial systems, on subjects' deep knowledge. The experiment continuously observed the quasi-daily performance of the subjects' over a period of six months. The research was conducted in the context of DURESS II, a real-time, interactive thermal-hydraulic process control simulation that was designed to be representative of industrial systems. The performance of two interfaces was compared, an EID interface based on physical and functional (P+F) system representations and a more traditional interface based solely on a physical (P) representation. Subjects were required to perform several control tasks, including startup, tuning, shutdown and fault management. Occasionally, a set of knowledge elicitation tests was administered to assess the evolution of subjects' deep knowledge of DURESS II. The results suggest that EID can lead to a functionally organized knowledge base as well as superior performance, but only if subjects actively reflect on the feedback they get from the interface. In contrast, if subjects adopt a surface approach to learning, then EID can lead to a shallow knowledge base and poor performance, although no worse than that observed with a traditional interface.     

Sustaining a Community Computing Infrastructure for Online Teacher Professional Development: A Case Study of Designing Tapped In

Community computing has recently grown to become a major research area in human–computer interaction. One of the objectives of community computing is to support computer supported cooperative work among distributed collaborators working toward shared professional goals in online communities of practice. A core issue in designing and developing community computing infrastructures – the underlying socio-technical layer that supports communitarian activities – is sustainability. Many community computing initiatives fail because the underlying infrastructure does not meet end user requirements; the community is unable to maintain a critical mass of users consistently over time; it generates insufficient social capital to support significant contributions by members of the community; or, as typically happens with funded initiatives, financial and human capital resource become unavailable to further maintain the infrastructure. Based on more than nine years of design experience with Tapped In – an online community of practice for education professionals – we present a case study that discusses four design interventions that have sustained the Tapped In infrastructure and its community to date. These interventions represent broader design strategies for developing online environments for professional communities of practice.     

可重定目标嵌入式集成开发环境设计的关键技术

为了实现对多种系列MCU的在线编辑、编译和下载,采用软件架构和可移植性的方法设计一套适用于系列MCU的通用集成开发环境SdIDE。重点阐述SdlDE的设计思路。并深入研究SdIDE可重定目标的技术要点,对整个开发环境中的相关技术难点进行较详细的分析和阐明。在软件设计上实现对系列MCU的通用编程,该SdIDE具有通用性和使用便捷性,是一种具有良好扩充性的MCU在线开发工具。     

Can Machines Read our Minds?

We explore the question of whether machines can infer information about our psychological traits or mental states by observing samples of our behaviour gathered from our online activities. Ongoing technical advances across a range of research communities indicate that machines are now able to access this information, but the extent to which this is possible and the consequent implications have not been well explored. We begin by highlighting the urgency of asking this question, and then explore its conceptual underpinnings, in order to help emphasise the relevant issues. To answer the question, we review a large number of empirical studies, in which samples of behaviour are used to automatically infer a range of psychological constructs, including affect and emotions, aptitudes and skills, attitudes and orientations (e.g. values and sexual orientation), personality, and disorders and conditions (e.g. depression and addiction). We also present a general perspective that can bring these disparate studies together and allow us to think clearly about their philosophical and ethical implications, such as issues related to consent, privacy, and the use of persuasive technologies for controlling human behaviour.

     

Self-adaptive and dynamic clustering for online anomaly detection

As recent Internet threats are evolving more rapidly than ever before, one of the major challenges in designing an intrusion detection system is to provide early and accurate detection of emerging threats. In this study, a novel framework is developed for fully unsupervised training and online anomaly detection. The framework is designed so that an initial model is constructed and then it gradually evolves according to the current state of online data without any human intervention. In the framework, a self-organizing map (SOM) that is seamlessly combined with K-means clustering is transformed into an adaptive and dynamic algorithm suitable for real-time processing. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated through experiments using the well-known KDD Cup 1999 data set and further experiments using the honeypot data recently collected from Kyoto University. It is shown that the proposed approach can significantly increase the detection rate while the false alarm rate remains low. In particular, it is capable of detecting new types of attacks at the earliest possible time.