8,493 research outputs found

    The Metaverse: Survey, Trends, Novel Pipeline Ecosystem & Future Directions

    Full text link
    The Metaverse offers a second world beyond reality, where boundaries are non-existent, and possibilities are endless through engagement and immersive experiences using the virtual reality (VR) technology. Many disciplines can benefit from the advancement of the Metaverse when accurately developed, including the fields of technology, gaming, education, art, and culture. Nevertheless, developing the Metaverse environment to its full potential is an ambiguous task that needs proper guidance and directions. Existing surveys on the Metaverse focus only on a specific aspect and discipline of the Metaverse and lack a holistic view of the entire process. To this end, a more holistic, multi-disciplinary, in-depth, and academic and industry-oriented review is required to provide a thorough study of the Metaverse development pipeline. To address these issues, we present in this survey a novel multi-layered pipeline ecosystem composed of (1) the Metaverse computing, networking, communications and hardware infrastructure, (2) environment digitization, and (3) user interactions. For every layer, we discuss the components that detail the steps of its development. Also, for each of these components, we examine the impact of a set of enabling technologies and empowering domains (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Security & Privacy, Blockchain, Business, Ethics, and Social) on its advancement. In addition, we explain the importance of these technologies to support decentralization, interoperability, user experiences, interactions, and monetization. Our presented study highlights the existing challenges for each component, followed by research directions and potential solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this survey is the most comprehensive and allows users, scholars, and entrepreneurs to get an in-depth understanding of the Metaverse ecosystem to find their opportunities and potentials for contribution

    The determinants of value addition: a crtitical analysis of global software engineering industry in Sri Lanka

    Get PDF
    It was evident through the literature that the perceived value delivery of the global software engineering industry is low due to various facts. Therefore, this research concerns global software product companies in Sri Lanka to explore the software engineering methods and practices in increasing the value addition. The overall aim of the study is to identify the key determinants for value addition in the global software engineering industry and critically evaluate the impact of them for the software product companies to help maximise the value addition to ultimately assure the sustainability of the industry. An exploratory research approach was used initially since findings would emerge while the study unfolds. Mixed method was employed as the literature itself was inadequate to investigate the problem effectively to formulate the research framework. Twenty-three face-to-face online interviews were conducted with the subject matter experts covering all the disciplines from the targeted organisations which was combined with the literature findings as well as the outcomes of the market research outcomes conducted by both government and nongovernment institutes. Data from the interviews were analysed using NVivo 12. The findings of the existing literature were verified through the exploratory study and the outcomes were used to formulate the questionnaire for the public survey. 371 responses were considered after cleansing the total responses received for the data analysis through SPSS 21 with alpha level 0.05. Internal consistency test was done before the descriptive analysis. After assuring the reliability of the dataset, the correlation test, multiple regression test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test were carried out to fulfil the requirements of meeting the research objectives. Five determinants for value addition were identified along with the key themes for each area. They are staffing, delivery process, use of tools, governance, and technology infrastructure. The cross-functional and self-organised teams built around the value streams, employing a properly interconnected software delivery process with the right governance in the delivery pipelines, selection of tools and providing the right infrastructure increases the value delivery. Moreover, the constraints for value addition are poor interconnection in the internal processes, rigid functional hierarchies, inaccurate selections and uses of tools, inflexible team arrangements and inadequate focus for the technology infrastructure. The findings add to the existing body of knowledge on increasing the value addition by employing effective processes, practices and tools and the impacts of inaccurate applications the same in the global software engineering industry

    TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF EFFORTFUL FUNDRAISING EXPERIENCES: USING INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN FUNDRAISING RESEARCH

    Get PDF
    Physical-activity oriented community fundraising has experienced an exponential growth in popularity over the past 15 years. The aim of this study was to explore the value of effortful fundraising experiences, from the point of view of participants, and explore the impact that these experiences have on people’s lives. This study used an IPA approach to interview 23 individuals, recognising the role of participants as proxy (nonprofessional) fundraisers for charitable organisations, and the unique organisation donor dynamic that this creates. It also bought together relevant psychological theory related to physical activity fundraising experiences (through a narrative literature review) and used primary interview data to substantiate these. Effortful fundraising experiences are examined in detail to understand their significance to participants, and how such experiences influence their connection with a charity or cause. This was done with an idiographic focus at first, before examining convergences and divergences across the sample. This study found that effortful fundraising experiences can have a profound positive impact upon community fundraisers in both the short and the long term. Additionally, it found that these experiences can be opportunities for charitable organisations to create lasting meaningful relationships with participants, and foster mutually beneficial lifetime relationships with them. Further research is needed to test specific psychological theory in this context, including self-esteem theory, self determination theory, and the martyrdom effect (among others)

    A Case Study Examining Japanese University Students' Digital Literacy and Perceptions of Digital Tools for Academic English learning

    Get PDF
    Current Japanese youth are constantly connected to the Internet and using digital devices, but predominantly for social media and entertainment. According to literature on the Japanese digital native, tertiary students do not—and cannot—use technology with any reasonable fluency, but the likely reasons are rarely addressed. To fill the gap in the literature, this study, by employing a case study methodology, explores students’ experience with technology for English learning through the introduction of digital tools. First-year Japanese university students in an Academic English Program (AEP) were introduced to a variety of easily available digital tools. The instruction was administered online, and each tool was accompanied by a task directly related to classwork. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in the form of a pre-course Computer Literacy Survey, a post-course open-ended Reflection Activity survey, and interviews. The qualitative data was reviewed drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and its educational variants as an analytical framework. Educational, social, and cultural factors were also examined to help identify underlying factors that would influence students’ perceptions. The results suggest that the subjects’ lack of awareness of, and experience with, the use of technology for learning are the fundamental causes of their perceptions of initial difficulty. Based on these findings, this study proposes a possible technology integration model that enhances digital literacy for more effective language learning in the context of Japanese education

    From wallet to mobile: exploring how mobile payments create customer value in the service experience

    Get PDF
    This study explores how mobile proximity payments (MPP) (e.g., Apple Pay) create customer value in the service experience compared to traditional payment methods (e.g. cash and card). The main objectives were firstly to understand how customer value manifests as an outcome in the MPP service experience, and secondly to understand how the customer activities in the process of using MPP create customer value. To achieve these objectives a conceptual framework is built upon the Grönroos-Voima Value Model (Grönroos and Voima, 2013), and uses the Theory of Consumption Value (Sheth et al., 1991) to determine the customer value constructs for MPP, which is complimented with Script theory (Abelson, 1981) to determine the value creating activities the consumer does in the process of paying with MPP. The study uses a sequential exploratory mixed methods design, wherein the first qualitative stage uses two methods, self-observations (n=200) and semi-structured interviews (n=18). The subsequent second quantitative stage uses an online survey (n=441) and Structural Equation Modelling analysis to further examine the relationships and effect between the value creating activities and customer value constructs identified in stage one. The academic contributions include the development of a model of mobile payment services value creation in the service experience, introducing the concept of in-use barriers which occur after adoption and constrains the consumers existing use of MPP, and revealing the importance of the mobile in-hand momentary condition as an antecedent state. Additionally, the customer value perspective of this thesis demonstrates an alternative to the dominant Information Technology approaches to researching mobile payments and broadens the view of technology from purely an object a user interacts with to an object that is immersed in consumers’ daily life

    Investigating and mitigating the role of neutralisation techniques on information security policies violation in healthcare organisations

    Get PDF
    Healthcare organisations today rely heavily on Electronic Medical Records systems (EMRs), which have become highly crucial IT assets that require significant security efforts to safeguard patients’ information. Individuals who have legitimate access to an organisation’s assets to perform their day-to-day duties but intentionally or unintentionally violate information security policies can jeopardise their organisation’s information security efforts and cause significant legal and financial losses. In the information security (InfoSec) literature, several studies emphasised the necessity to understand why employees behave in ways that contradict information security requirements but have offered widely different solutions. In an effort to respond to this situation, this thesis addressed the gap in the information security academic research by providing a deep understanding of the problem of medical practitioners’ behavioural justifications to violate information security policies and then determining proper solutions to reduce this undesirable behaviour. Neutralisation theory was used as the theoretical basis for the research. This thesis adopted a mixed-method research approach that comprises four consecutive phases, and each phase represents a research study that was conducted in light of the results from the preceding phase. The first phase of the thesis started by investigating the relationship between medical practitioners’ neutralisation techniques and their intention to violate information security policies that protect a patient’s privacy. A quantitative study was conducted to extend the work of Siponen and Vance [1] through a study of the Saudi Arabia healthcare industry. The data was collected via an online questionnaire from 66 Medical Interns (MIs) working in four academic hospitals. The study found that six neutralisation techniques—(1) appeal to higher loyalties, (2) defence of necessity, (3) the metaphor of ledger, (4) denial of responsibility, (5) denial of injury, and (6) condemnation of condemners—significantly contribute to the justifications of the MIs in hypothetically violating information security policies. The second phase of this research used a series of semi-structured interviews with IT security professionals in one of the largest academic hospitals in Saudi Arabia to explore the environmental factors that motivated the medical practitioners to evoke various neutralisation techniques. The results revealed that social, organisational, and emotional factors all stimulated the behavioural justifications to breach information security policies. During these interviews, it became clear that the IT department needed to ensure that security policies fit the daily tasks of the medical practitioners by providing alternative solutions to ensure the effectiveness of those policies. Based on these interviews, the objective of the following two phases was to improve the effectiveness of InfoSec policies against the use of behavioural justification by engaging the end users in the modification of existing policies via a collaborative writing process. Those two phases were conducted in the UK and Saudi Arabia to determine whether the collaborative writing process could produce a more effective security policy that balanced the security requirements with daily business needs, thus leading to a reduction in the use of neutralisation techniques to violate security policies. The overall result confirmed that the involvement of the end users via a collaborative writing process positively improved the effectiveness of the security policy to mitigate the individual behavioural justifications, showing that the process is a promising one to enhance security compliance

    Synthesis and Characterisation of Low-cost Biopolymeric/mineral Composite Systems and Evaluation of their Potential Application for Heavy Metal Removal

    Get PDF
    Heavy metal pollution and waste management are two major environmental problems faced in the world today. Anthropogenic sources of heavy metals, especially effluent from industries, are serious environmental and health concerns by polluting surface and ground waters. Similarly, on a global scale, thousands of tonnes of industrial and agricultural waste are discarded into the environment annually. There are several conventional methods to treat industrial effluents, including reverse osmosis, oxidation, filtration, flotation, chemical precipitation, ion exchange resins and adsorption. Among them, adsorption and ion exchange are known to be effective mechanisms for removing heavy metal pollution, especially if low-cost materials can be used. This thesis was a study into materials that can be used to remove heavy metals from water using low-cost feedstock materials. The synthesis of low-cost composite matrices from agricultural and industrial by-products and low-cost organic and mineral sources was carried out. The feedstock materials being considered include chitosan (generated from industrial seafood waste), coir fibre (an agricultural by-product), spent coffee grounds (a by-product from coffee machines), hydroxyapatite (from bovine bone), and naturally sourced aluminosilicate minerals such as zeolite. The novel composite adsorbents were prepared using commercially sourced HAp and bovine sourced HAp, with two types of adsorbents being synthesized, including two- and three-component composites. Standard synthetic methods such as precipitation were developed to synthesize these materials, followed by characterization of their structural, physical, and chemical properties (by using FTIR, TGA, SEM, EDX and XRD). The synthesized materials were then evaluated for their ability to remove metal ions from solutions of heavy metals using single-metal ion type and two-metal ion type solution systems, using the model ion solutions, with quantification of their removal efficiency. It was followed by experimentation using the synthesized adsorbents for metal ion removal in complex systems such as an industrial input stream solution system obtained from a local timber treatment company. Two-component composites were considered as control composites to compare the removal efficiency of the three-component composites against. The heavy metal removal experiments were conducted under a range of experimental conditions (e.g., pH, sorbent dose, initial metal ion concentration, time of contact). Of the four metal ion systems considered in this study (Cd2+, Pb2+, Cu2+ and Cr as chromate ions), Pb2+ ion removal by the composites was found to be the highest in single-metal and two-metal ion type solution systems, while chromate ion removal was found to be the lowest. The bovine bone-based hydroxyapatite (bHAp) composites were more efficient at removing the metal cations than composites formed from a commercially sourced hydroxyapatite (cHAp). In industrial input stream solution systems (containing Cu, Cr and As), the Cu2+ ion removal was the highest, which aligned with the observations recorded in the single and two-metal ion type solution systems. Arsenate ion was removed to a higher extent than chromate ion using the three-component composites, while the removal of chromate ion was found to be higher than arsenate ion when using the two-component composites (i.e., the control system). The project also aimed to elucidate the removal mechanisms of these synthesized composite materials by using appropriate adsorption and kinetic models. The adsorption of metal ions exhibited a range of adsorption behaviours as both the models (Langmuir and Freundlich) were found to fit most of the data recorded in different adsorption systems studied. The pseudo-second-order model was found to be the best fitted to describe the kinetics of heavy metal ion adsorption in all the composite adsorbent systems studied, in single-metal ion type and two-metal ion type solution systems. The ion-exchange mechanism was considered as one of the dominant mechanisms for the removal of cations (in single-metal and two-metal ion type solution systems) and arsenate ions (in industrial input stream solution systems) along with other adsorption mechanisms. In contrast, electrostatic attractions were considered to be the dominant mechanism of removal for chromate ions

    Trust, quality, and the network collection experience: a tale of two studies on the Democratic Republic of the Congo

    Get PDF
    Data collection in social network research has advanced to include online questionnaires, digital metadata mining of internet sites, and the use of remote-sensing technologies. Some scholars however call for more attention to nuanced understandings of ties and contexts in studies of social structure and relationships, evoking practices that characterise the field’s foundational works. This article’s two studies reference these earlier efforts, drawing on ethnography and primary data collection. Both were undertaken in conflict-affected eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and broadly aimed to refine understandings of public authority and governance. Such research strives to inform humanitarian interventions to support social structures and actors which benefit their communities – however unexpected and unconventional. The first study (2016) employed a novel link-tracing design to examine personal support networks entwining purportedly hostile sub-populations, from combatants to unaffiliated civilians. The second (2018−20) focussed on access to essential social services across different governance arrangements, areas dominated by tenuous alliances of domestic or foreign militias and other actors. Leveraging an egocentric network design, it yielded multilevel relational network chain data. Each study was rife with obstacles related to accessing participants, sampling, reliability, and validity. We reflect on this network collection experience, foregrounding the interdependence between trust and data quality brought into stark relief by the setting’s instability and insecurity. This interdependency impacts all social network research, especially when it involves precarious contexts or sensitive topics

    The geographies of care and training in the development of assistance dog partnerships

    Get PDF
    Human-assistance-dog partnerships form a significant phenomena that have been overlooked in both animal geographies and disability geographies. By focusing on one Assistance Dogs UK (ADUK) charity, ‘Dog A.I.D’., a charity that helps physically disabled and chronically ill people to train their own pets to be assistance dogs, I detail the intimate entangled lifeworlds that humans and dogs occupy. In doing so, I also dialogue between the sub-disciplinary fields of animal geographies and disability geographies, by exploring two broad thematic areas – embodiment and care. As such, this thesis examines the geographies of assistance dog partnership, the care and training practices involved, the benefits and challenges of sharing a lifeworld with a different species, and the changing relationship from a human-pet bond to a human-assistance-dog partnership. Drawing on lived experience and representations of assistance dog partnerships gathered through qualitative (and quantitative) research methods, including a survey, semi-structured interviews (face-to-face, online, and telephone), video ethnography, and magazine analysis, I contribute to research on the assistance dog partnerships and growing debates around the more-than-human nature of care. The ethnomethodological approach to exploring how training occurs between disabled human and assistance dog is also noteworthy as it centres the lively experiences of practice at work between species. The thesis is organised around interconnected themes: the intimate worlds of assistance dog partnerships, working bodies, and caring relations. These thematics allow for a geographical interpretation into the governance, spatial organisation, and representations of dog assistance partnerships. I also explore the training cultures of Dog A.I.D. whilst also spotlighting the lived experiences of training through the early stages of ‘socialisation’, ‘familiarisation’, ‘life skills training’, through to ‘task work’. Finally, the thesis focuses on the practices of care that characterise the assistance dog partnership, showing how care is provided and received by both human and nonhuman. I pay attention to the complex potentiality of the partnership, illustrating how dogs are trained to assist, but also how dogs appear to embody lively, agentic, moments of care. The thesis contributes original work which speaks to animal and disability geographies and attends to the multiple geographies of care-full cross-species lives
    • 

    corecore