To innovate or not to innovate?

In this paper, we analyze the evolution of output decisions of adaptive firms in an environment of oligopolistic competition. The firm might either choose to produce one of several existing product variants or try to establish a new product variant on the market. The demand for each individual product variant is subject to a life cycle, but aggregate demand for product variants is constant over time. Every period each firm has to decide whether to produce the product again, introduce a new product variant itself (which generates an initial advantage on that market), or follow another firm and change to the production of an already established product. Different firms have heterogeneous abilities to develop products and imitate existing designs; therefore, the effects of the decision whether to imitate existing designs or to innovate differ between firms. We examine the evolution of behavior in this market using an agent-based simulation model. The firms are endowed with simple rules to estimate market potentials and market founding potentials of all firms, including themselves, and make their decisions using a stochastic learning rule. Furthermore, the characteristics of the firms change dynamically due to “learning by doing” effects. The main questions discussed are how the success and the optimal strategy of a firm depend on the interplay between characteristics of the industry and properties of the firm     

‘To play or not to play’: A cross-temporal investigation using hedonic and instrumental perspectives to explain user intentions to explore a technology

The present research extends prior work on the relationship between users and technology by examining users’ intention to explore a technology. Drawing on exploration and individual motivation theories, we developed and tested a model examining the effects of hedonic (i.e., personal innovativeness and cognitive absorption) and instrumental (i.e., performance expectancy and image enhancement) factors on individuals’ intentions to explore a technology over time. Based on a study of 94 users exposed to a new technology, with measurements taken at two points in time, we found that both instrumental and hedonic factors affect individuals’ intentions to explore, but their effects change over time such that as time goes by, the effect of personal innovativeness decreases and performance expectancy increases. In addition to our contributions and implications for research on technology acceptance, we present practical implications both for developers and managers, with a view toward helping the development and deployment of technologies that satisfy the evolution of users’ needs over time.     

Collaboration in Multi-Robot Exploration: To Meet or not to Meet?

Work on coordinated multi-robot exploration often assumes that all areas to be explored are freely accessible. This common assumption does not always hold, especially not in search and rescue missions after a disaster. Doors may be closed or paths blocked detaining robots from continuing their exploration beyond these points and possibly requiring multiple robots to clear them. This paper addresses the issue how to coordinate a multi-robot system to clear blocked paths. We define local collaborations that require robots to collaboratively perform a physical action at a common position. A collaborating robot needs to interrupt its current exploration and move to a different location to collaboratively clear a blocked path. We raise the question when to collaborate and whom to collaborate with. We propose four strategies as to when to collaborate. Two obvious strategies are to collaborate immediately or to postpone any collaborations until only blocked paths are left. The other two strategies make use of heuristics based on building patterns. While no single strategy behaves optimal in all scenarios, we show that the heuristics decrease the time required to explore unknown environments considering blocked paths.     

To control or not to control? Parenting behaviours and adolescent online aggression

Non-empirical publications have espoused the importance of monitoring/controlling children’s online and computer activities through monitoring software; however, no empirical research has verified whether this is a viable means for promoting responsible and safe internet use. This study examined the association between parenting behaviours and adolescent online aggression. The sample included 733 adolescents (451 females), between 10 and 18 years, from Western Canada. Participants completed a questionnaire that included questions on internet aggression, and parenting. The parenting questions were modified from Stattin and Kerr’s (2000) questionnaire to better suit the online environment. Results from the univariate least squares factor analysis revealed two distinct factors: (1) Parent Solicitation (parents ask where child is going on the internet), (2) Child Disclosure (child naturally tells parents what they are doing). Hierarchical Linear Regression analysis revealed that having a computer in the bedroom increased the likelihood of engaging in online aggression and that adolescent self-disclosure of online behaviours (and not controlling or monitoring online activities) was negatively associated with online aggression. These findings emphasize the importance of establishing good communication between parents and adolescents rather than investing money on monitoring software and on controlling adolescent internet use.     

To index or not to index: Time–space trade-offs for positional ranking functions in search engines

Positional ranking functions, widely used in web search engines and related search systems, improve result quality by exploiting the positions of the query terms within documents. However, it is well known that positional indexes demand large amounts of extra space, typically about three times the space of a basic nonpositional index. Textual data, on the other hand, is needed to produce text snippets. In this paper, we study time–space trade-offs for search engines with positional ranking functions and text snippet generation. We consider both index-based and non-index based alternatives for positional data. We aim to answer the question of whether positional data should be indexed, and how.We show that there is a wide range of practical time–space trade-offs. Moreover, we show that using about 1.30 times the space of positional data, we can store everything needed for efficient query processing, with a minor increase in query time. This yields considerable space savings and outperforms, both in space and time, recent alternatives from literature. We also propose several efficient compressed text representations for snippet generation, which are able to use about half of the space of current state-of-the-art alternatives with little impact in query processing time.     

More questions than answers: an examination of “To drill or not to drill: a synthesis of experts’ judgments”

The original paper by Nezhad and Baharlou (1991) employed the analytic hierarchy process to estimate the volume of recoverable oil available from a reservoir. The method has undoubted strengths, in particular the rapidity with which it may be employed and the limited resources required to perform the calculations. It is argued here that more information could have been obtained from the original calculation. In addition, it is suggested that modifying some factors in the procedure could affect the outcome. Simple approximate algorithms are presented that are helpful in interpreting the final results     

To bee or not to bee—comments on “Discrete optimum design of truss structures using artificial bee colony algorithm”

An Artificial Bee Colony algorithm was presented by Sonmez (Struct Multidisc Optim 43:85–97, 2011) for solving discrete truss design problems. It was numerically tested on four benchmark examples and concluded to be robust and efficient. We compare the Artificial Bee Colony algorithm numerically to three alternative heuristics on the same benchmark examples. The most advanced heuristics presented herein find equally good, or better, designs compared to those presented in Sonmez (Struct Multidisc Optim 43:85–97, 2011). However, for the largest benchmark example, we use four orders of magnitude fewer function evaluations.     

To use or not to use? Social media in higher education in developing countries

This research is a response to the universal use of social media by students for academic-related purposes. It bridges a gap in knowledge in relation to the value and use of social media as effective teaching and learning tool in higher education in developing countries. A pre-tested questionnaire survey was self-administered to faculty members in the eight public Egyptian higher institutions offering tourism and hotel management programs. The results showed that social media have a great value for academic-related purposes, particularly as teaching and learning tool; however, the actual use by faculty was at a minimal level. In-depth interviews were conducted to identify the perils, barriers and concerns for the minimal use. Several barriers were identified with some specific to developing countries' context. Nonetheless, there was consensus by faculty that if these barriers were overcome, social media could be developed as an innovative and effective tool for teaching and learning. Implications for researchers and policy makers are discussed.     

Probabilistic timing covert channels: to close or not to close?

We develop a new notion of security against timing attacks where the attacker is able to simultaneously observe the execution time of a program and the probability of the values of low variables. We then propose an algorithm which computes an estimate of the security of a program with respect to this notion in terms of timing leakage and show how to use this estimate for cost optimisation.     

To text or not to text? The importance of text messaging among college-aged youth

As the availability, affordability, and popularity of mobile phones has increased in the last decade, text messaging has become one of the primary means of communication among adolescent peer groups. As such, it can be speculated that mobile phones and text messaging have become an integral aspect of the culture of young people today. However, little research has of yet identified how people react to an absence of texting behavior. This study attempts to demonstrate the extent to which people have become reliant upon text messaging to maintain daily relationships with peers, as well as their own self-concept. Frequencies and patterns of alternative behaviors, non-compliance, and anxiety are measured during separate restriction periods among a group of high and low text users, ages 18–23. Results indicate that there was a significant difference between individuals identified as ’high’ and ’low’ text users, although regardless of this distinction, texting emerged as the preferred form of contact among peers within this cohort. A high degree of quantitatively and qualitatively reported anxiety during periods of restriction was also noted, suggesting that this behavior has become an integrated element of daily living for this group.     

To M-Pay or not to M-Pay—Realising the potential of smart phones: conceptual modeling and empirical validation

The variety of products and services available through Smart Phones is predicted to increase significantly over the coming years as the commercial potential of Smart Phones for M-Commerce is widely acknowledged. In fact, it is predicted that M-Commerce will achieve in the next three to four years, what E-Commerce has achieved in the last fifteen years. However, while Smart Phones present significant opportunities for organisations, the M-Commerce channel is entirely contingent on consumers?? willingness to not only use these devices to engage in transactional tasks such as bookings, ticketing, and accessing information on products and services, but rather to actually make an M-Payment using the Smart Phone, and as such complete the M-Commerce transactional loop. Hence, M-Payments are a critical enabler of the true commercial value of the Smart Phone. Thus, gaining an understanding of consumers?? perceptions of using Smart Phones to make M-Payments is essential for theoretical explorations of the M-Payment phenomena, and in the practical implementation of M-Commerce services. This paper makes a number of contributions which are relevant to both academics and practitioners. The paper develops and empirically validates a conceptual model for exploring the impact of Vendor and Mechanism Trust on consumers?? willingness to use Smart Phones to make M-Payments for both Push and Pull based products. The empirical findings of the developed Partial Least Squares model illustrate that a pull-based model (where consumers have high levels of control over the transaction process) is the model consumers are most likely to adopt, and most likely to use to make M-Payments. To realise the M-Payments vision, vendors need to clearly communicate to consumers how their data is secured and privacy protected. Furthermore, the findings illustrate the critical importance of ensuring that adequate legislation is in place pertaining to the protection of consumers, and that such legislation is communicated to consumers to maximise their willingness to make M-Payments.     

To var or not to var: how do C# developers use and misuse implicit and explicit typing?

When implicit typing with the “var” keyword was introduced into C#, it prompted contradictory opinions among developers. This paper starts by explaining the difference between implicit and explicit typing and then provides an overview of developers’ opinions and guidelines that are available online. This paper then reports on the results of a study that investigated how C# developers use and misuse implicit and explicit typing. This study involved analyzing the source code of 10 different open-source software projects including more than 16,500,000 lines of code and more than 930,000 variables. This study investigated to what extent developers use a form of typing that affects the readability of a variable’s type and the length of its declaration. It also investigated whether or not there is an adoption of a consistent set of guidelines in general and across each software project. A tool called “Code Analysis and Refactoring Engine for C#” (Care#) was developed and used to conduct the code analysis for this study.

     

Panning for EBMT gold, or “Remembering not to forget”

A very useful service to the example-based machine translation (EBMT) community was provided by Harold Somers in his summary article which appeared in 1999, and was extended in our 2003 book Recent advances in example-based machine translation. As well as providing a comprehensive review of the paradigm, Somers gives a categorisation of the different instantiations of the basic model. In this paper, we provide a complementary view to that of Somers. Today’s EBMT systems learn by analogy. Perhaps even more so than statistical models of translation, one might view these systems as being incapable of forgetting. We researchers and system developers, on the other hand, often forget or are ignorant of techniques and models presented in prior research. The primary aim of this paper is to try to ensure that golden nuggets from past (now quite distantly so) EBMT research papers are gathered together and presented here for a new generation of researchers keen to operate in the paradigm, especially given the spate of recent open-source releases of EBMT systems. We revisit the findings of the previous main research papers, relate them to some of the major research efforts which have taken place since then, and examine especially the prophecies given in the older pieces of work to see the extent to which they have been borne out in the newer research. Given the strong convergence between the leading corpus-based approaches to MT, especially since the introduction of phrase-based statistical MT, a further hope is that these findings may also prove useful to researchers and developers in other areas of MT.     

Correction to: Where do university graduates live? – a computer vision approach using satellite images

Applied Intelligence - A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10489-021-02433-z     

Optimal Cache Memory Exploitation for Continuous Media: To Cache or to Prefetch?

Network continuous-media applications are emerging with a great pace. Cache memories have long been recognized as a key resource (along with network bandwidth) whose intelligent exploitation can ensure high performance for such applications. Cache memories exist at the continuous-media servers and their proxy servers in the network. Within a server, cache memories exist in a hierarchy (at the host, the storage-devices, and at intermediate multi-device controllers). Our research is concerned with how to best exploit these resources in the context of continuous media servers and in particular, how to best exploit the available cache memories at the drive, the disk array controller, and the host levels. Our results determine under which circumstances and system configurations it is preferable to devote the available memory to traditional caching (a.k.a. data sharing) techniques as opposed to prefetching techniques. In addition, we show how to configure the available memory for optimal performance and optimal cost. Our results show that prefetching techniques are preferable for small-size caches (such as those expected at the drive level). For very large caches (such as those employed at the host level) caching techniques are preferable. For intermediate cache sizes (such as those at multi-device controllers) a combination of both strategies should be employed.     

Partial Similarity of Objects,or How to Compare a Centaur to a Horse

Similarity is one of the most important abstract concepts in human perception of the world. In computer vision, numerous applications deal with comparing objects observed in a scene with some a priori known patterns. Often, it happens that while two objects are not similar, they have large similar parts, that is, they are partially similar. Here, we present a novel approach to quantify partial similarity using the notion of Pareto optimality. We exemplify our approach on the problems of recognizing non-rigid geometric objects, images, and analyzing text sequences.     

Botnets: To what extent are they a threat to information security?

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The purpose of this article is to examine to what extent botnets pose a threat to information security. In Chapter 1 the terms in the title are defined, and a comprehensive overview of botnets is provided in order to equip the reader with an understanding of the context for the remaining chapters. The motives for using botnets and the methods in which they are used are outlined. The methods of botnet attack are then analysed in terms of their potential impact on information security and a conclusion is drawn that botnets are indeed a threat to information security in general terms.Chapter 2 then goes on to examine the extent of the threat from the three different perspectives of governments, corporate and the general public. The threats from each perspective and their impacts are identified, and each threat type for each perspective is then categorised in terms of probability and potential impact. The extent of the threat of each botnet-related attack from each perspective is then assessed using a model recommended by ISO/IEC 27005:2008, and the conclusion is drawn that the extent of the threat that botnets pose to governments, corporates and the general public is High.In Chapter 3, we look at how law enforcement agencies investigate botnets and the criminals behind them, and establish the challenges they face in doing so. It is clear that law enforcement face an uphill struggle due to technical tricks employed by the botherders to remain untraceable, lack of resources with the necessary skillset, the legal complexity of working with multiple jurisdictions, and procedural delays working with foreign law enforcement agencies. The conclusion is drawn that botnets are here to stay and that for the time being the botherders will have the upper hand.     

To simplify or not? Facilitating English L2 users' comprehension and processing of open educational resources in English using text simplification

Open Educational Resources (OER) aim to provide equal access to education. Yet, as the language level used in OER presents a barrier to many learners, there is a need to make these resources more comprehensible. This study combined eye-tracking methodology and comprehension assessment to explore the effect of text simplification on English second language (L2) users, while also accounting for text organizational structure and individual predispositions. A total of 37 adult English L2 users took part in the study. They had to read either an authentic narrative, authentic expository OER or their linguistically simplified versions. The analysis showed that simplification led to better text comprehension, and text narrativity facilitated text recall, particularly at lower English proficiency levels. Eye-tracking measures revealed that text simplification led to an increase in processing time during the initial reading of the text and a decrease in processing time during text re-inspection. These findings have strong practical applications for online teaching with OER.     

To connect or promote?: An exploratory examination of Facebook pages dedicated to moms

Mothers are increasingly using Facebook for a variety of communication functions. As an initial step toward understanding how mothers use Facebook, this exploratory study examines the types of messages mothers receive from Facebook pages solely designated for them. Using a content analysis, twelve Facebook pages and 526 administrators’ posts were analyzed. The majority of pages identified purpose as conversational/ discussion starter, while the majority of administrators’ posts were coded as informational/promotional. The discrepancies between the pages’ and posts’ purpose are considered. Directions for extending the research examining mothers and social networking sites are also suggested.