8 research outputs found

    Perceptions Measurement of Professional Certifications to Augment Buffalo State College Baccalaureate Technology Programs, as a Representative American Postsecondary Educational Institution

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    The purpose of this study was to assess, measure, and analyze whether voluntary, nationally-recognized professional certification credentials were important to augment technology programs at Buffalo State College (BSC), as a representative postsecondary baccalaureate degree-granting institution offering technology curricula. Six BSC undergraduate technology programs were evaluated within the scope of this study: 1.) Computer Information Systems; 2.) Electrical Engineering, Electronics; 3.) Electrical Engineering, Smart Grid; 4.) Industrial Technology; 5.) Mechanical Engineering; and 6.) Technology Education. This study considered the following three aspects of the problem: a.) postsecondary technology program enrollment and graduation trends; b.) the value/awareness of professional certifications to employers and students; and c.) professional certification relevancy and postsecondary curricula integration. The study was conducted through surveys and interviews with four technology-related purposive sample groups: 1.) BSC program alumni; 2.) BSC and non-BSC technology program faculty; 3.) hiring managers/industry leaders; and 4.) non-BSC alumni and certification holders. In addition, this study included an analysis of relevant professional certification organizations and student enrollment data from the six technology programs within scope. Research methods included both quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques. This study concluded undergraduate technology students benefitted from a greater awareness of relevant professional certifications and their perceived value. This study also found the academic community may be well served to acknowledge the increasing trend of professional certification integration into postsecondary technology programs

    A context-aware model to improve usability of information presented on mobile devices

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    Online information access on mobile devices is increasing as a result of the growth in the use of Internet-enabled handheld (or pocket-size) devices. The combined influence of recent enabling technologies such as Web 2.0, mobile app stores and improved wireless networks have driven the increase in online applications that allow users to access various types of information on mobile devices regardless of time and location. Examples of such applications (usually shortened to app) include: social media, such as FacebookTM App and TwitterTM App, banking applications such as (Standard Bank South Africa)TM Mobile Banking App and First National Bank (FNB) BankingTM App, and news application such as news 24TM App and BBCTM News App. Online businesses involved in buying, selling and business transaction processing activities via the Internet have exploited the opportunity to extend electronic commerce (e-commerce) initiatives into mobile commerce (m-commerce). Online businesses that interact with end user customers implement business to consumer (B2C) m-commerce applications that enable customers to access and browse product catalogue information on mobile devices, anytime, anywhere. Customers accessing electronic product catalogue information on a mobile device face a number of challenges such as a long list of products presented on a small screen and a longer information download time. These challenges mainly originate from the limiting and dynamic nature of the mobile apps operating environment, for example, dynamic location, bandwidth fluctuations and, diverse and limited device features, collectively referred to as context. The goal of this research was to design and implement a context-aware model that can be incorporated into an m-commerce application in order to improve the presentation of product catalogue information on m-commerce storefronts. The motivation for selecting product catalogue is prompted by literature which indicates that improved presentation of information in m-commerce (and e-commerce) applications has a positive impact on usability of the websites. Usable m-commerce (and e-commerce) websites improve efficiency in consumer behaviour that impacts sales, profits and business growth. The context-aware model aimed at collecting context information within the user environment and utilising it to determine optimal retrieval and presentation of product catalogue in m-commerce. An integrated logical context sensor and Mathematical algorithms were implemented in the context-aware model. The integrated logical context sensor was responsible for the collection of different types of predetermined context information such as device specification or capabilities, connection bandwidth, location and time of the day as well as the user profile. The algorithms transformed the collected context information into usable formats and enabled optimal retrieval and presentation of product catalogue data on a specific mobile device. Open-source implementation tools were utilised to implement components of the model including: HTML5, PhP, JavaScript and MySQL database. The context-aware model was incorporated into an existing m-commerce application. Two user evaluation studies were conducted during the course of the research. The first evaluation was to evaluate the accuracy of information collected by the context sensor component of the model. This survey was conducted with a sample of 30 users from different countries across the world. In-between the context sensor and main evaluation surveys, a pilot study was conducted with a sample of 19 users with great experience in mobile application development and use from SAP Next Business and Technology, Africa. Finally an overall user evaluation study was conducted with a sample of 30 users from a remote area called Kgautswane in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The results obtained indicate that the context-aware model was able to determine accurate context information in real-time and effectively determine how much product information should be retrieved and how the information should be presented on a mobile device interface. Two main contributions emerged from the research, first the research contributed to the field of mobile Human Computer Interaction. During the research, techniques of evaluating and improving usability of mobile applications were demonstrated. Secondly, the research made a significant contribution to the upcoming field of context-aware computing. The research brought clarity with regard to context-aware computing which is lacking in existing, current research despite the field’s proven impact of improving usability of applications. Researchers can utilise contributions made in this research to develop further techniques and usable context-aware solutions

    The Adoption, Use and Diffusion of Smartphones among Adults over Fifty in the UK

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    Smartphones are innovations that currently provide immense benefits and convenience to users in society. However, not all the users of society are accepting and using smart phones, more specifically, for this research study older adults (50+) are a demographic group displaying such an attitude. Currently, there is minimal knowledge of the reasons that older adults adopt and use smartphones. Bearing this in mind, this research study aimed to identify, examine and explain the adoption and usage of smartphones in the UK within the 50 years old and above population. For this purpose, a conceptual framework, a Model of Smartphone Adoption (MOSA) was formed drawing factors from the theories of Unified theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the Diffusion of Innovations theory (DoI) and Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3). Seven variables from the theories were brought to consideration, which were Observability, Social influence, Compatibility, Effort expectancy, Facilitation conditions, Performance expectancy and Perceived enjoyment. For the research method, a quantitative approach was selected to examine and apply MOSA that involved the data collection method of an online questionnaire survey that resulted in 204 completed replies during the pilot phase of this research and 984 in the final phase. The collected data was analysed using SEM-PLS where the results found that six of the eight formed hypotheses were supported, and the factors of Compatibility, Effort expectancy, Facilitation condition, Performance expectancy and Perceived enjoyment were important for the adoption of smartphones. From these results, it was understood that older adults used smartphones because they have enough knowledge, time and money to use. They also think that smartphones are easy to use, provide benefits including enjoyment and are compatible with their lifestyles. In terms of usage, older adults frequently used the basic features of smartphones such as making a phone call, SMS, email, and browsing. Older adults are also likely to use their devices for seeking information about their health and for appointments with their doctors; however, from this research it was found that more than half of the 50 years old and above adults did not use smartphones for health and well-being purposes. The contributions of this research are viewed to be the identification and understanding of the factors that encourage or inhibit smartphones use within the older adult population. Secondly, this research can inform smartphone manufacturers and developers of factors pertinent for the design of computing devices and applications specific to silver surfers. Finally, this research can enlighten policy makers when forming decisions that encourage the adoption and use of smartphones within the older adult population. Regarding limitations, these existed in the form of finance and time. To overcome the limitations, this research recommends further studies that apply qualitative research and/or to provide a comparison between western and eastern countries

    The UX of things: exploring UX principles to inform security and privacy design in the smart home

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    Smart homes are under attack. Threats can harm both the security of these homes and the privacy of their inhabitants. As a result, in addition to delivering pleasant and aesthetic experiences, smart devices need to protect households from vulnerabilities and attacks. Further, the need for user-centered security and privacy design is particularly important for such an environment, given that inhabitants are demographically-diverse (e.g., age, gender, educational level) and have different skills and (dis)abilities. Prior work has explored different usable security and privacy solutions for smart homes; however, the applicability of user eXperience (UX) principles to security and privacy design is under-explored. This research project aims to address the on-going challenge of security and privacy in the smart home through the lens of UX design. The objective of this thesis is two-fold. First, to investigate how UX factors and principles affect the security and privacy of smart home users. Secondly, to inform product design through the development of an empirically-tested framework for UX design of security and privacy in smart home products. In the first step, we explored the relationship between UX, security, and privacy in smart homes from user and designer perspectives: through (i) conducting a qualitative interview study with smart home users (n=13) and (ii) analyzing an ethnomethodologically informed study of six UK households living in smart homes (n=6); and, we then explored the role of UX in the design of security, privacy and data protection in smart homes through qualitative semi-structured interviews with smart home users, designers and business leaders through two rounds of interviews (n=20, n=20). In the second step, using conceptual framework analysis, we systematically analyzed our previously collected data and the literature to construct a framework of design heuristics for consent and permission in smart homes. We applied these heuristics in four participatory co-design workshops and reported on their use. We further analyzed the use of the heuristics through thematic analysis highlighting how the heuristics were used, their purpose, and their effectiveness. By bringing UX design to the smart home security and privacy table, we believe that this research project will have a significant impact on academia, industry, and government organizations. Our thesis will improve design practices for security and privacy in domestic smart devices while addressing wider challenges, opportunities, and future work

    A strategic theoretical framework to safeguard business value for information systems

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    The phenomenon of business value dissipation in mature organisations as an unintended by-product of the adoption and use of information systems has been a highly debated topic in the corporate boardroom awakening the interest of practitioners and academics alike. Much of the discourse tends to focus on the inability of organisations to unlock and realise the intended benefits to be harvested through large information systems investments. While the business case for investing in large technology programmes has been thoroughly investigated, the human agent that causes value erosion through his interaction with information systems (IS), has not received the studied attention it deserves. This study examines the use of technology in organisations by considering the dichotomy inherent in IS where its introduction for the purposes of creating new or sustaining existing business value subsequently also inadvertently dissipates value. The study proceeds to investigate the root people-induced causes resulting in the unintentional dissipation of value and presents an empirically validated model suggesting that human agents do not only create value for organisations through their use of IS, but at the same time, deliberately or inadvertently, dissipate value. The root people-induced causes resulting in the unintentional dissipation of value is delineated within a Theoretical Technology Value Framework that is constructed from a review of the extant literature, and delineates the overall unintentional value destroying causes and effects of IS on organisations. The Theoretical Technology Value Framework is forthwith applied as a basis for the development of a set of questions to support both qualitative and quantitative investigations from which an Archetypical Technology Value Model was derived. Finally, an Archetypical Technology Value Model is presented as a benchmark and basis to identify, investigate, mitigate and minimise or eliminate the unintentional value destroying effects of IS on Information Technology driven organisations. The study concludes with implications for both theory and practice and suggestions on how value erosion through the activities of the human agent may be identified, modeled and mitigated. Ultimately, recommendations are offered towards the crafting of more effective IS.School of ComputingPh. D. (Information Systems

    Using MapReduce Streaming for Distributed Life Simulation on the Cloud

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    Distributed software simulations are indispensable in the study of large-scale life models but often require the use of technically complex lower-level distributed computing frameworks, such as MPI. We propose to overcome the complexity challenge by applying the emerging MapReduce (MR) model to distributed life simulations and by running such simulations on the cloud. Technically, we design optimized MR streaming algorithms for discrete and continuous versions of Conway’s life according to a general MR streaming pattern. We chose life because it is simple enough as a testbed for MR’s applicability to a-life simulations and general enough to make our results applicable to various lattice-based a-life models. We implement and empirically evaluate our algorithms’ performance on Amazon’s Elastic MR cloud. Our experiments demonstrate that a single MR optimization technique called strip partitioning can reduce the execution time of continuous life simulations by 64%. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to propose and evaluate MR streaming algorithms for lattice-based simulations. Our algorithms can serve as prototypes in the development of novel MR simulation algorithms for large-scale lattice-based a-life models.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/scs_books/1014/thumbnail.jp
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