KSNet-Approach to Knowledge Fusion from Distributed Sources

The rapidity of the decision making process is an important factor in different branches of the human life (business, healthcare, industry, military applications etc.). Since responsible persons make decisions using available knowledge, it is important for knowledge management systems to deliver necessary and timely information. Knowledge logistics is a new direction in the knowledge management addressing this. Technology of knowledge fusion, based on the synergistic use of knowledge from multiple distributed sources, is a basis for these activities. The paper presents an overview of a Knowledge Source Network configuration approach (KSNet-approach) to knowledge fusion, multi-agent architecture and research prototype of the KSNet knowledge fusion system based on this approach

An examination of the implementation of Ireland’s new higher education system performance framework in a sample of higher education institutions

An Examination of the Implementation of Ireland’s New Higher Education System Performance Framework in a Sample of Higher Education Institutions. Seamus O Shea, B.Sc., M.Eng. This research study seeks to examine the implementation of Ireland’s new higher education system performance framework (HESPF), through its first 2014-2016 three-year strategic compact cycle, in a sample of higher education institutions (HEIs). In particular, the study explores the extent to which the framework aids or inhibits institutional planning; whether institutional goals are being aligned with the national agenda; if the national performance indicators for the higher education sector are incentivising behaviour; and institutional capacity to support the national policy objectives. An exploratory case study design frame is used to address the research question, with cases drawn from small, medium sized, and large institutions in the Southern regional cluster. A concurrent triangulation design strategy is deployed with qualitative data drawn from 24 key informants and strategic compacts, and quantitative data elicited from 92 questionnaires. Oliver’s strategic response framework (Oliver 1991) was adapted for qualitative data analysis and factor analysis combined with ANOVA was utilised to investigate patterns and associations in quantitative data. The HESPF is generally considered a good concept that has resulted in improved accountability through a process of constructive dialogue between the HEA and HEIs. Strategic planning capacity building, self- reflection and institutional learning are regarded as strengths of the process. However, the process is regarded as not being conducted at a sufficiently strategic level, not enabled by funding, a bureaucratic overload, potentially open to deceptive tactics and there are mixed views on the extent to which it improves visibility on performance. The level of realism in the national KPIs was found to be questionable in the current funding environment and the KPIs are regarded as not impacting behaviour in any significant way. The results of this study shed light on key implementation issues in a strategic compact process that is generally aligned with the common characteristics of such performance agreements internationally (De Boer et al. 2015)

An accounting appraisal of the privatisation decision : a case study of Indonesia's telecommunications industry

The recent development of accounting in Indonesia has been quite substantial. The change of accounting orientation, appointment of more accountants as CEO, the start of a litigation era and more blame for accounting work are simple examples of changes in the accounting function in Indonesia. The increased of appreciation for accountants has, however, not been accompanied by development of accounting system in Indonesia, which has been characterised by dependence on other systems and international standards.This study explores the link between government policy, specifically privatisation, and the accounting role, from the perspective of public policy, which is discussed in terms of public administration and economy. The purpose of this chapter is to indicate the background of the study and to connect this with the process of study. In other words, it will introduce the relationship among the chapters of this thesis

Public interest standard characteristics in hybrid digital multicasts of noncommercial educational radio

Radio broadcasting implements digital multicasting in the United States with the adoption of HD Radio from iBiquity. Hybrid digital radio multicasts can upgrade either AM or FM facilities, and stations adopt the technology without loosing traditional analogue broadcasts. Broadcasting with digital technology creates additional channels of information, extending limitations of the electromagnetic spectrum. Scholarly research about hybrid digital technology considers motivations for adoption by stations but has not focused on content of existing multicasts. This study examines noncommercial educational radio multicasts for characteristics of service in the public interest. Discourse characteristics find a mix of sounds that include both speech and music. There are generally multiple voices participating within 15 minutes of multicast content. The mix within a segment offers more than one kind of material, this and offering multiple voices in a segment are markers for public service. The mix of female, male, and other voices present in the sample advances demographic diversity. Two diversity characteristics, social role and language, indicate areas where content is usual presented by an adult speaking English. Demographic diversity scarcity offers areas of potential development for multicast service. Normative information about a society can improve understanding of how individuals participate in the public sphere during a period of current converged, mobile, and digital media use. This study incorporates concepts of ritual media use that James W. Carey introduces in Communication as Culture. The exploration of public interest standards with the ritual media use model allows for discussion about created communities not bound by physical and geographic limitations. This examines radio’s hybrid digital multicasts as part of the public airwaves legislated through the 1934 Communications Act (1934, 1952, 1996) to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Four perspectives clarify the meaning of public interest standards in the United States. These perspectives are democratic discourse, legislative history, administrative law, and judicial review. Informed with normative theory and a ritual media model, this content analysis of hybrid digital multicasts contributes to our understanding of media environments, transitions in media, public discourse, and democratic governance in the United States

Open development: a new theory for ICT4D

This special issue explores “openness” in IT systems, policy, and development sectors. From access to use, and from content to creation, some form of openness is a component of much ICT4D research, including open participation in use, open licensing to provide services, open content, open source, and open government. Open development refers to an emerging set of possibilities to catalyze positive change through “open” information-networked activities in international development

Leveraging virtualization technologies for resource partitioning in mixed criticality systems

Multi- and many-core processors are becoming increasingly popular in embedded systems. Many of these processors now feature hardware virtualization capabilities, such as the ARM Cortex A15, and x86 processors with Intel VT-x or AMD-V support. Hardware virtualization offers opportunities to partition physical resources, including processor cores, memory and I/O devices amongst guest virtual machines. Mixed criticality systems and services can then co-exist on the same platform in separate virtual machines. However, traditional virtual machine systems are too expensive because of the costs of trapping into hypervisors to multiplex and manage machine physical resources on behalf of separate guests. For example, hypervisors are needed to schedule separate VMs on physical processor cores. Additionally, traditional hypervisors have memory footprints that are often too large for many embedded computing systems. This dissertation presents the design of the Quest-V separation kernel, which partitions services of different criticality levels across separate virtual machines, or sandboxes. Each sandbox encapsulates a subset of machine physical resources that it manages without requiring intervention of a hypervisor. In Quest-V, a hypervisor is not needed for normal operation, except to bootstrap the system and establish communication channels between sandboxes. This approach not only reduces the memory footprint of the most privileged protection domain, it removes it from the control path during normal system operation, thereby heightening security

A Curriculum Framework for Technology Education Living in a Technological Society

A Curriculum Framework for Technology Education Living in a Technological Societ

Development and analysis of the Software Implemented Fault-Tolerance (SIFT) computer

SIFT (Software Implemented Fault Tolerance) is an experimental, fault-tolerant computer system designed to meet the extreme reliability requirements for safety-critical functions in advanced aircraft. Errors are masked by performing a majority voting operation over the results of identical computations, and faulty processors are removed from service by reassigning computations to the nonfaulty processors. This scheme has been implemented in a special architecture using a set of standard Bendix BDX930 processors, augmented by a special asynchronous-broadcast communication interface that provides direct, processor to processor communication among all processors. Fault isolation is accomplished in hardware; all other fault-tolerance functions, together with scheduling and synchronization are implemented exclusively by executive system software. The system reliability is predicted by a Markov model. Mathematical consistency of the system software with respect to the reliability model has been partially verified, using recently developed tools for machine-aided proof of program correctness

Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Software Engineering Workshop

The Software Engineering Laboratory, software tools, software errors and cost estimation are addressed