How virtual are we? Measuring virtuality and understanding its impact in a global organization

Abstract.  Employees in global corporations are increasingly involved in 'virtual teams' on a regular basis. Conflicting definitions of virtuality make it hard to measure such things as how much virtual teaming occurs and how virtual teaming affects performance. As a consequence, it is hard to allocate funding and to design infrastructures and software to support this specific mode of working. Using the concept of discontinuities, or changes in expected conditions, we propose a virtuality index to assess how 'virtual' a given setting is. The discontinuities used include geography, time zone, organization, national culture, work practices, and technology. The index separately measures these aspects of virtuality and their effect on perceived team performance. Data collected at a large multinational corporation clustered into three overarching discontinuities: team distribution, workplace mobility, and variety of work practices. The study revealed that being distributed in and of itself had no impact on self-assessed team performance. Work practice predictability and sociability mitigated effects of working in discontinuous environments, while variety of practices (cultural and work process diversity) and employee mobility negatively impacted performance.     

基于数据增强设计的城市街道空间品质评价与更新对策研究 ——以杭州市上城区为例

围绕高质量发展的国家战略,聚集城 市更新的重要问题,发展了数据增强设计方法 并将之应用于城市街道空间品质评价与更新的 实践研究。以杭州市上城区为实证,设计了“品 质评价——空间分类——规划指引——更新 时序”的城市街道空间品质提升更新的技术框 架。基于多源数据的应用,建立了主观感知出发 的街道空间品质评价和客观街道空间形态分类 相结合的现状认知方法;设计了以“街段单元” 为更新改造对象的针对性更新规划指引;提出 了基于街道重要性的更新改造实施时序。充分 发挥了多源数据在城市街道空间现状评估、更 新规划和管理实施中的增强作用,为我国城市 的更新规划与品质提升提供了技术方法支撑和 实践借鉴。     

Modeling of Step Voltage Regulators in Multiphase Load Flow Solution of Distribution Systems Using Newton's Method and Augmented Nodal Analysis

The increasing complexity of distribution systems requires general, efficient, and large-scale capable methods. This paper proposes a new technique to find the tap positions of step voltage regulators in multiphase load flow solvers in a direct and efficient manner. This is achieved by applying Newton method to the system of equations obtained by using the concept of augmented matrix formulation and adding the constraint equations. This approach allows employing the regulator equations directly. The regulators are modeled by taking into account the line drop compensator circuit with its settings, i.e., the desired voltage level, bandwidth, and R′ and X′ settings, which represent the scaled impedance parameters of the distribution feeder between the regulator and the load center at which the voltage is controlled. The limits of the regulators such as minimum and maximum tap positions are also accounted for. The proposed technique represents a voltage regulator with transformer equations using an augmented matrix formulation. The mismatch equations are developed using the desired voltage setting in constraint equations with transformation ratio of the transformer being the unknown variable. The Jacobian matrix, which is constructed using the augmented matrix formulation, is expanded to hold the constraint equations of voltage regulators. The proposed new method is tested on a variety of test circuits including the large-scale IEEE 8500 Node Test Feeder, and the minimum number of iterations reported in the literature is achieved as presented in this paper.     

Novel Hybrid Content Synchronization Scheme for Augmented Broadcasting Services

As a new hybrid broadcasting service, augmented broadcasting shows enhanced broadcasting content on a large TV screen, while augmented reality (AR) on a mobile device augments additional graphical content onto an input image from the device's own camera to provide useful and convenient information for users. A one‐sided broadcasting service using AR has already been attempted in virtual advertisements during sport broadcasts. However, because its augmentation is preprocessed before the video image is transmitted, the viewer at home may have no influence on this formation; and no interaction for the user is possible unless the viewer has a direct connection to the content provider. Augmented broadcasting technology enables viewers to watch mixed broadcasting content only when they want such service and to watch original broadcasting content when they do not. To realize an augmented broadcasting service, the most important issue is to resolve the hybrid content synchronization over heterogeneous broadcast and broadband networks. This paper proposes a novel hybrid content synchronization scheme for an augmented broadcasting service and presents its implementation and results in a terrestrial DTV environment.     

Toward a real-time model-based training system

This article describes the development of a real-time model-based training system that provides adaptive “over-the-shoulder” (OTS) instructions to trainees as they learn to perform an Anti-Air Warfare Coordinator (AAWC) task. The long-term goal is to develop a system that will provide real-time instructional materials based on learners’ actions, so that eventually the initial set of instructions on a task can be strengthened, complemented, or overridden at different stages of training. The training system is based on the ACT-R architecture, which serves as the theoretical background for the cognitive model that monitors the learning process of the trainee. An experiment was designed to study the impact of OTS instructions on learning. Results showed that while OTS instructions facilitated short-term learning, (a) they took time away from the processing of current information, (b) their effects tended to decay rapidly in initial stages of training, and (c) their effects on training diminished when the OTS instructions were proceduralized in later stages of training. A cognitive model that learned from both the upfront and OTS instructions was created and provided good fits to the learning and performance data collected from human participants. Our results suggest that to fully capture the symbiotic performance between humans and intelligent training systems, it is important to closely monitor the learning process of the trainee so that instructional interventions can be delivered effectively at different stages of training. We proposed that such a flexible system can be developed based on an adaptive cognitive model that provides real-time predictions on learning and performance.     

HUHU: The Hebrew University Hebrew Understander

This paper describes a system of morphological and syntactic parsing of the Hebrew language. It contains an extensive morphological analyzer and an augmented transition network-based syntactic parser. The system has been written in the YLISP dialect of Lisp. A parallel effort for English (different grammars that use the same parsing software) has also been developed.     

基于增强现实技术的BGA芯片辅助定位

提出了一种基于增强现实技术的BGA芯片的辅助定位方法。该方法通过图像处理,将定位过程中的待焊芯片用一个重构的透明芯片的图像代替,使操作者在监视屏上可同时看见电路板上的焊盘和BGA芯片底部的焊球,定位操作的直观性和准确性都有了很大的提高。采用VC＋＋与HALCON相结合的方法实现了该系统,实验表明该方法达到了预期的效果。     

A fast flow control algorithm for real-time emergency evacuation in large indoor areas

Evacuation in an emergency is always an important issue for shopping malls, subway stations and other populous indoor places. The purpose of evacuation is to evacuate people from the danger zone through exits within the shortest possible time. To help evacuation missions to be carried out efficiently and effectively by rescuers, a fast evacuation approach is needed.     

The visual impact of augmented reality during an assembly task

Many studies have shown the benefits of augmented reality (AR) to improve manufacturing and control processes in industry. However, the presentation of AR content through optical see-through head-mounted displays may induce unnatural viewing conditions, which consequences on the user’s visual system have not been investigated yet. This study aimed at assessing whether using AR instructions to guide a manual task, i.e., conditions where the user is forced to repeatedly look at and accommodate in different planes to extract information from both real and virtual environments, could potentially impact the visual system of operators. A before/after design study was carried out, asking 26 participants to perform Lego assemblies for 30 min with either paper or AR instructions. The effects of using AR compared to paper instructions were evaluated both on binocular vision, with classical optometric measurements, and on visual fatigue, with the Virtual Reality Symptoms Questionnaire. No clinically significant differences in optometric measurements (far/near visual acuity, stereoacuity, phoria, convergence, fusional amplitude, accommodation amplitude, accommodative convergence) have been found between AR and paper instructions, and only negligible fatigue symptoms have been seen specifically for AR. Results from both objective and subjective measurements suggest that there is no impact of AR on the oculomotor system and that, in this specific case of use, AR can be safely used for production operators.