Elections 2024 – political tribalism likely to trump the economy

For this New Year’s post, no year in review, no specific predictions and no nominations for best or worst of 2023. How often can you conclude that the effects of Brexit have been terrible and are likely to be even worse in the years to come? Well, OK then, weirdest Brexit news of the past month: the Tory government is reintroducing the pint of wine as an official measure in the UK, with the boast that this is made possible by Brexit. That’s telling those continentals: instead of a measly 500 ml, (sparkling) wine can now also come in pint bottles, that’s 568 ml. If, for some unfathomable reason, this will make a difference to wine sales, it seems to me that it’s ultimately the EU’s French, Italian and Spanish producers who’re going to benefit. So, ta for that

Hands-free Multi-Type Character Text Entry in Virtual Reality

Multi-type characters, including uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers, are essential in text entry activities. Although multi-type characters are used in passwords, instant messages, and document composition, there has been limited exploration of multi-character text entry for virtual reality head-mounted displays (VR HMDs). Typically, multi-type character entry requires four kinds of keyboards between which users need to switch. In this research, we explore hands-free approaches for rapid multi-type character entry. Our work explores two efficient and usable hands-free approaches for character selection: eye blinks and dwell. To enable quick switching between keyboards, we leverage the usability and efficiency of continuous head motions in the form of cross-based activation. In a pilot study, we explored the usability and efficiency of four locations of the switch keys, the two hands-free selection mechanisms, and crossing-based switching. In the main experiment, we evaluated four user-inspired layouts designed according to the findings from the pilot study. Results show that both blinking and dwell can work well with crossing-based switching and could lead to a relatively fast text entry rate (5.64 words-per-minute (WPM) with blinking and 5.42 WPM with dwell) with low errors (lower than 3% not corrected error rate (NCER)) for complex 8-digit passwords with upper/lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. For sentences derived from the Brown Corpus, participants can reach 8.48 WPM with blinking and 7.78 WPM with dwell. Overall, as a first exploration, our results show that it is usable and efficient to perform hands-free text entry in VR using either eye blinks or dwell for character selection and crossing for mode switching

Revamping established project procurement approaches to support BIM implementation

Purpose Previous studies have established to a great extent that regulatory frameworks and, in particular, procurement approaches – that are common in a particular context – have a major impact on the success of building information modelling (BIM) implementation in construction projects. Despite the close links between these two concepts, research on the effect of procurement approaches on BIM implementation is scarce. To address this gap, this paper aims to investigate the barriers that affect BIM implementation through the lens of procurement approaches. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-method approach was adopted using a questionnaire survey (n = 116) and interviews with key stakeholders (n = 12) in Jordan. The outcomes of the quantitative parts were augmented with findings from interviews. Findings It was revealed that the deployment of unfavourable construction procurement approaches represents a major hurdle towards BIM implementation. Though essential for enhancing BIM implementation, it is revealed that a fundamental change from the common design-bid-build (DBB) to more collaborative procurement approaches remains infeasible in view of the realities that govern the construction industry. Research limitations/implications It was revealed the deployment of unfavourable construction procurement approaches represents a major hurdle towards BIM implementation. Though essential for enhancing BIM implementation, it is revealed that a fundamental change from the common DBB to more collaborative procurement approaches remains infeasible given the realities that govern the construction industry. Originality/value As the first of its kind, a set of recommendations for establishing supportive, workable procurement that does not deviate significantly from common procedures and practices is presented. Rather than advocating a shift to procurement approaches that are aligned with BIM, the findings offer novel insight into the necessity of developing a framework within the boundaries of the current and widely adopted procurement approaches to address the identified construction procurement issues and facilitate BIM implementation

Cybersecurity Challenges and Implications for the Adoption of Cloud Computing and IoT: DDoS Attacks as an Example

Cloud computing and Internet of Things have expanded rapidly and dramatically all over the world. Cloud computing has emerged as a new paradigm for enabling broad access to distributed shared IT resources. Although, sharing IT resources is an essential cloud computing characteristic, it has brought many security challenges for both users and service providers. Security is one of the main issues why many users and enterprises are reluctant to migrate to cloud computing. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are one of such critical threats which are growing in the cloud space. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of potential cloud computing security threats caused by DDoS attacks. Additionally, we discuss DDoS risks to cloud computing caused by Internet of Things devices, highlight the reasons behind these threats and analyse why this is overlooked by common security standards and frameworks. We also review cloud architectures and introduce a number of scenarios to enable researchers to better understand and mitigate DDoS attacks on enterprises. Finally, some further research directions addressing current security issues in cloud computing are outlined

Raw data for Contemporary Educational and Behaviour Change Strategies Improve Dietary Practices Around a Match in Professional Soccer Players

This study assessed the impact of targeted nutritional education and behaviour change interventions on dietary intake in professional football players. Twenty players from the professional development phase in an English Premier League club (age: 18.4 ± 1.0 years; body mass: 76.1 ± 6.0 kg; stature: 1.80 ± 0.07 m) were randomly assigned to an ‘Intervention’ (INT) group (n = 10), who received numerous nutritional education and behaviour change interventions, or a ‘Control’ (CON) group (n = 10), who received no nutrition support. Dietary intake was assessed daily throughout the match-week (Match Day (MD)-2, MD-1, MD, MD+1, and MD+2). Mean energy (3393 ± 852 vs. 2572 ± 577 kcal·day−1) and CHO (5.36 ± 1.9 vs. 3.47 ± 1.1 g·kg−1 BW·day−1) intake was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the INT vs. CON group. Furthermore, the INT group implemented nutrition periodisation practices as CHO intake was significantly increased on MD-1 (7.0 ± 1.7 g·kg−1 BM·day−1), MD (7.1 ± 1.4 g·kg−1 BM·day−1) and MD+1 (5.1 ± 0.8 g·kg−1 BM·day−1). However, the CON group did not periodise their CHO intake and failed to meet CHO recommendations on MD-1, MD and MD+1 (< 4 g·kg−1 BM·day−1). The implementation of targeted nutritional education and behaviour change interventions resulted in improved dietary practices in professional football players and enabled better adherence to recommended guidelines

Meta-knowledge guided Bayesian optimization framework for robust crop yield estimation

Accurate pre-harvest crop yield estimation is vital for agricultural sustainability and economic stability. The existing yield estimating models exhibit deficiencies in insufficient examination of hyperparameters, lack of robustness, restricted transferability of meta-models, and uncertain generalizability when applied to agricultural data. This study presents a novel meta-knowledge-guided framework that leverages three diverse agricultural datasets and explores meta-knowledge transfer in frequent hyperparameter optimization scenarios. The framework’s approach involves base tasks using LightGBM and Bayesian Optimization, which automates hyperparameter optimization by eliminating the need for manual adjustments. Conducted rigorous experiments to analyze the meta-knowledge transformation of RGPE, SGPR, and TransBO algorithms, achieving impressive R2 values (0.8415, 0.9865, 0.9708) using rgpe_prf meta-knowledge transfer on diverse datasets. Furthermore, the framework yielded excellent results for mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), scaled MSE, and scaled MAE. These results emphasize the method’s significance, offering valuable insights for crop yield estimation, benefiting farmers and the agricultural sector

Can hybrid working survive a rise in unemployment in 2024?

2024 is upon us and talks of an early election are intensifying. For many working people, what will happen to the economy is crucial- we have seen cuts in banking staff, not just the high level investment bankers but also in other more lowly paid staff with the closure of some 1,100 bank branches since May 2022 and more planned for next year. Other sectors are also being affected. And despite a large number of vacancies still advertised, the overall vacancy numbers are gradually declining . Surveys from Chambers of Commerce, though still reporting staff shortages in many areas, show a consistent weakening in private firms’ recruitment intentions

Counter-Radicalisation in UK Higher Education: A Vernacular Analysis of ‘Vulnerability' and the Prevent Duty

The UK Government defines vulnerability to radicalisation as, ‘the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and extremist ideologies associated with terrorist groups’. Given this relationship between radicalisation and terrorism, in 2015 the UK Government passed legislation to enhance the national capacity to pre-emptively identify vulnerable people by co opting public sector workers. This responsibility (‘the Prevent duty’) has mandated the monitoring of citizen’s behaviours based on a relationship between vulnerability, radicalisation, and terrorism that is far from concrete. Despite this, the duty is presented as a clear and actionable framework designed to support frontline workers identify vulnerability and report cases of concern. It is within this context that our paper adopts a vernacular approach to present findings from focus groups and interviews with university students and staff about their comprehension, experiences, and evaluations of vulnerability and the duty. We approach these insights as valuable (but oft neglected) instances of ‘everyday’ security knowledge and argue that they are particularly valuable in the context of a duty that co opts those within Higher Education as counter-radicalisation practitioners and subjects. Our paper argues that conceptual, operational, and normative disconnects between Government policy and vernacular insights ‘on the ground’ mean that the duty assumes an uncertain position within UKHE to the detriment to of its stated objectives

Family Witnessed Resuscitation in the Emergency Department in a Low-Income Country

Cardiac arrest is often a sudden and traumatic event. Family witnessed resuscitation was first recommended by the American Heart Association over two decades ago, since then several global professional bodies have identified a range of potential benefits for relatives, however, it remains contentious. For nurses working in Emergency Departments (ED) in low-income countries, the evidence and experience of family witnessed resuscitation is limited. This article critically appraises the literature relating to the perceptions of medical professionals and critically ill patients with their families about communication, family presence and their involvement during resuscitation in the ED. Three themes relating to family witnessed resuscitation in the ED were identified by a focused literature search, these were: leadership and communication, limitation of policies and guidelines and relatives’ views. The recommendations from this review will be used to develop emergency and trauma nursing practice guidelines in Zambia, a low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa