Enabling customers engagement and collaboration for small and medium-sized enterprises in ubiquitous multi-channel ecosystems

Over the last few years, we have encountered an exponential growth in online communication opportunities. Organizations have more and more ways to connect and engage with their current or future customers. The existence of more opportunities in connecting to people can be both an enabler and a burden. Being present at a multitude of different channels requires the effective management of a very large number of adapted contents, formats, and interaction patterns fulfilling the communication and cooperation needs of distributed target groups. In this respect, we integrate existing fragmented communication and monitoring approaches into a full-fledged communication model as a basis for an adequate engagement approach. We describe applications of our approach in both the eTourism and manufacturing domain. In this paper, we introduce an approach that will enable communication, collaboration and value exchange of users through a multitude of online interaction possibilities based on the use of semantic technology. Finally, we also compare our approach with existing solutions with respect to the identified challenges in this subject.     

Gaming Social Capital: Exploring Civic Value in Multiplayer Video Games

Recent research suggests that social interactions in video games may lead to the development of community bonding and prosocial attitudes. Building on this line of research, a national survey of U.S. adults finds that gamers who develop ties with a community of fellow gamers possess gaming social capital, a new gaming‐related community construct that is shown to be a positive antecedent in predicting both face‐to‐face social capital and civic participation.     

Product features and task effects on experienced richness, control and engagement in voicemail browsing

A recent focus is on creating engaging user experiences with digital products and services such as voicemail. This study aims to design towards increased levels of engagement in voicemail browsing by using the ‘Richness, Control and Engagement’ (RC & E) framework. This framework explains the levels of engagement in terms of the levels of richness and control that are shaped by the features of a product and the user’s expertise. A product was developed that utilized gestures and sound to access digital voicemail contents. An experiment was conducted in which 28 participants interacted with the product while varying (1) the number of features of the user interface, (2) the amount of voicemail content and (3) the type of task. Results showed that the levels of engagement could be predicted according to the levels of richness and control experienced when a task-term was added to the framework. Implications of the refined RC & E framework for interaction design practice are discussed.     

Force and tactile feedback in preloaded cantilever snap-fits under manual assembly

The purpose of this study was to investigate the tactile feedback of snap-fit fasteners when used in manual assembly. An important aspect of this assembly process is the assembler’s ability to perceive the snap-fit’s engagement. This sensing of engagement yields a high level of confidence that assembly is both complete and secure. Force and tactile feedback are critical elements in this process. Many snap-fits are used in conjunction with sealing elements that produce a constant force that remains in effect after snap-fit assembly is completed. The effect of sealing element preload magnitude and stiffness was studied using a test station, force deflection measurements, and jury pool data. A low value of preload with low stiffness was determined to be most favorable in terms of force and tactile feedback, with no preload only slightly less favorable. In order to sense the engagement signal of the catch, some resistance to assembly was found to be beneficial. A dimensionless term called “engagement signal-to-hold-force ratio” is proposed as an additional way of rating the effect of assembly forces for snap-fits. It was found that higher signal-to-hold-force ratio, as well as higher values of engagement signal, corresponded to higher confidence of assembly among experimental subjects.

Relevance to Industry

In the automotive industry, force and tactile feedback are essential for sensing the full engagement of snap-fit parts during the assembly of critical components, such as electrical and fuel system interconnects. Both the design of the snap-fit and the presence or absence of preload will affect force and tactile feedback. Many of these applications require the compression of an elastic gasket with a preload needed for air, fuel, or electrical isolation. Preload and preload stiffness factors are examined in this paper with the aim of achieving a better understanding of these effects so that snap-fit confidence of assembly and assembly robustness can be enhanced in industrial settings.     

Call of (civic) duty: Action games and civic behavior in a large sample of youth

The positive and negative influences of violent/action games, henceforth called “action games”, remains controversial in the scholarly literature. Although debate continues whether action games influence aggressive behavior, little research has examined the influence of action games on civic engagement. The current study addresses this gap by examining the correlation between exposure to action games on civic engagement and on-line prosocial behavior in a sample of 873 teenagers. Results indicated that girls as well as teens who had parents who were more technologically savvy tended to engage in more civic behaviors. Exposure to action games predicted more prosocial behavior on-line, but did not predict civic engagement either positively or negatively. However, exposure to action games and parental involvement interacted to promote youth civic engagement. Action-game-playing-youth whose parents were involved in game play and supervision were most civically involved, compared to youth who did not play action games, or whose parents were less involved. These results indicated little support for the belief that exposure to violence in video games decreases prosocial behavior and/or civic engagement. Conversely some support was found for the possibility that playing action games is associated with small increased prosocial behavior and civic engagement in the real world, possibly due to the team-oriented multiplayer options in many of these games.     

An accuracy algorithm for chip thickness modeling in 5-axis ball-end finish milling

Chip thickness in milling is one of the most fundamental parameters, which can significantly affect cutting force, cutting heat, cutting stability and machined surface topography for computer-aided process planning. In this paper, a combination of a three-dimensional trochoidal tooth trajectory model (3D3T) and engagement-boundary chip model is developed to determine instantaneous chip thickness in 5-axis ball-end finish milling. In comparison with the chip volume measured in a commercial software package (Unigraphics) the accuracy of the proposed model has been numerically validated with various process parameters including cutting depth, tool–workpiece inclination and cutter runout. The differences in time-varying delay and dynamic chip thickness as well as stability are compared with different models to show the impact of using 3D3T mechanism for chip thickness modeling in 5-axis ball-end finish.     

作战方案评估专家系统的设计与实现

文章叙述了作者研究的作战方案评估专家系统的设计思路以及实现的部分细节。文中首先给出了该专家系统的框架结构,对该系统的几个主要部分进行了描述。接着提出了根据层次划分来获取军事知识的方法。文章的最后描述了该专家系统中知识库和推理机的实现方法。     

Challenging games help students learn: An empirical study on engagement,flow and immersion in game-based learning

In this paper, we investigate the impact of flow (operationalized as heightened challenge and skill), engagement, and immersion on learning in game-based learning environments. The data was gathered through a survey from players (N = 173) of two learning games (Quantum Spectre: N = 134 and Spumone: N = 40). The results show that engagement in the game has a clear positive effect on learning, however, we did not find a significant effect between immersion in the game and learning. Challenge of the game had a positive effect on learning both directly and via the increased engagement. Being skilled in the game did not affect learning directly but by increasing engagement in the game. Both the challenge of the game and being skilled in the game had a positive effect on both being engaged and immersed in the game. The challenge in the game was an especially strong predictor of learning outcomes. For the design of educational games, the results suggest that the challenge of the game should be able to keep up with the learners growing abilities and learning in order to endorse continued learning in game-based learning environments.     

How heterogeneous community engage newcomers? The effect of community diversity on newcomers’ perception of inclusion: An empirical study in social media service

Online communities that provide social media services need to engage newcomers so as to not lose them to competitors. This study examines the role of community diversity (in terms of perceived visible dissimilarity, perceived informational dissimilarity and perceived value dissimilarity) in influencing perceived inclusion of newcomers in the online community and the influence of such perception on newcomers’ engagement intention. The theoretical background on perceived inclusion is obtained from the optimal distinctiveness theory, which comprises of two dimensions, namely, social identification and perceived uniqueness. The results support the multiple roles of community diversity on a newcomer’s perceived inclusion. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the effect of community diversity on newcomers’ engagement behavior, and provide recommendations on designing a personalized community diversity environment.     

Mindful navigation for pedestrians: Improving engagement with augmented reality

Navigation systems are often followed mindlessly, as users may focus the attention on the device and not on the path. The risk of errors and bias related to the mindless adherence of the instruction is high.We suggested that a mindful walking navigation system could reduce the errors and improve the overall exploration experience. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis with an Augmented Reality system, with information directly projected on the path, in comparison with a standard device. Moreover, we tested the hypothesis that when users feel they are in control of their path, both performance and overall experience would improve. We found that both conditions increased the navigation performance and experience, decreased travel time, errors, and confusion and it increased the number of landmarks noticed.