A Software-Defined-Radio Platform for Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output Over-The-Air Measurement

This paper presents a 2 × 2 multiple-inputmultiple-output over-the-air (MIMO OTA) measurement system with user-programmable, reconfigurable and real-time signal processing field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)-based software-defined radio (SDR) capability. Signal generation and analysis as well as channel emulation are all implemented using vector signal transceivers (VSTs). As a demonstration, we performed the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) two-stage MIMO OTA conducted test using a downlink time division long-term evolution (TD-LTE) duplex scheme. The channel emulation was operated in a stochastic mode. Some preliminary results of the system verification are shown

On Lightweight Privacy-Preserving Collaborative Learning for IoT Objects

The Internet of Things (IoT) will be a main data generation infrastructure for achieving better system intelligence. This paper considers the design and implementation of a practical privacy-preserving collaborative learning scheme, in which a curious learning coordinator trains a better machine learning model based on the data samples contributed by a number of IoT objects, while the confidentiality of the raw forms of the training data is protected against the coordinator. Existing distributed machine learning and data encryption approaches incur significant computation and communication overhead, rendering them ill-suited for resource-constrained IoT objects. We study an approach that applies independent Gaussian random projection at each IoT object to obfuscate data and trains a deep neural network at the coordinator based on the projected data from the IoT objects. This approach introduces light computation overhead to the IoT objects and moves most workload to the coordinator that can have sufficient computing resources. Although the independent projections performed by the IoT objects address the potential collusion between the curious coordinator and some compromised IoT objects, they significantly increase the complexity of the projected data. In this paper, we leverage the superior learning capability of deep learning in capturing sophisticated patterns to maintain good learning performance. Extensive comparative evaluation shows that this approach outperforms other lightweight approaches that apply additive noisification for differential privacy and/or support vector machines for learning in the applications with light data pattern complexities.Comment: 12 pages,IOTDI 201

Analysing Cultural Impacts of Compouter-Mediated Communication in Organisations

In our research in progress, we study how CMC affects culture in office life. By culture we mean here our way of life in general and thus our way of working in work places. We will investigate impacts of CMC on the way we work in offices. In the next section we will explain the meaning of culture used in this research in detail and present evaluation framing (Stamper, 1988) as a conceptual framework

Comparing inductive and deductive methodologies for design patterns identification and articulation

Design patterns offer a valuable format to communicate knowledge of successful design solutions to recurring problems. However, there is a lack of research into design patterns that differentiate the applicability of the proposed design solutions across different nations. This paper discusses inductive and deductive methodologies for analyzing qualitative data in order to identify and articulate design patterns for cross-cultural computer-supported collaborative design learning. It proposes a methodology how patterns for facilitating intercultural design education can be identified and articulated. Within this research, an inductive, deductive and comparative methodology for identifying and articulating design patterns was developed. Therein, eleven patterns for intercultural computer-supported collaboration were identified and written. This paper introduces the proposed methodology taking the design pattern “MOOD OF THE MOMENT” for example

Proposition of a PLM tool to support textile design: A case study applied to the definition of the early stages of design requirements

The current climate of economic competition forces businesses to adapt more than ever to the expectations of their customers. Faced with new challenges, practices in textile design have evolved in order to be able to manage projects in new work environments. After presenting a state of the art overview of collaborative tools used in product design and making functional comparison between PLM solutions, our paper proposes a case study for the development and testing of a collaborative platform in the textile industry, focusing on the definition of early stages of design needs. The scientific contributions presented in this paper are a state of the art of current PLM solutions and their application in the field of textile design; and a case study where we will present, define, and test the mock-up of a collaborative tool to assist the early stages, based on identified intermediary representations

An Evaluation of the BBC News School Report Project in Initial Teacher Education for the Training and Development Agency (TDA) 2010

Executive summary Overall, the project greatly enhanced trainees’ experiences of initial teacher education, in terms of collecting robust evidence for particular standards and enhancing employability. The project provided opportunities for accelerated professional development of trainees in terms of enhancing leadership and enabled trainees to be graded 1 in Ofsted criteria. The evaluation indicated the following: • Taking part in the project offers new models of partnership in terms of consortia and rhythms of placement. • The project resulted in enhancement of trainees’ subject knowledge and technical skills, providing evidence for standard Q14. • The project exposed trainees to working in cross-curricular and extracurricular contexts, providing evidence for standards Q17 and Q23. • Trainees engagement in the project led to greater independence of learning (and concomitant personalisation) than in other forms of coursework due to their ownership of tasks. This provided evidence for standard Q31. • The professional profile of trainees was enhanced, as was that of the school. The former led to increased perception of employability. • Trainees were given more freedoms, encouraged to take risks and to engage with authentic tasks. This provided evidence for standards Q8, Q10 and Q30. • The project led to richer reflections on practice than other teaching the trainees had undertaken. • The project accelerated the trainees’ confidence and professional development as evidenced for standard Q7 and led to different relationships between trainees and other school staff

Benchmarking and viability assessment of optical packet switching for metro networks

Optical packet switching (OPS) has been proposed as a strong candidate for future metro networks. This paper assesses the viability of an OPS-based ring architecture as proposed within the research project DAVID (Data And Voice Integration on DWDM), funded by the European Commission through the Information Society Technologies (IST) framework. Its feasibility is discussed from a physical-layer point of view, and its limitations in size are explored. Through dimensioning studies, we show that the proposed OPS architecture is competitive with respect to alternative metropolitan area network (MAN) approaches, including synchronous digital hierarchy, resilient packet rings (RPR), and star-based Ethernet. Finally, the proposed OPS architectures are discussed from a logical performance point of view, and a high-quality scheduling algorithm to control the packet-switching operations in the rings is explained

Towards a better understanding of the e-health user: comparing USE IT and Requirements study for an Electronic Patient Record.

This paper compares a traditional requirements study with 22 interviews for the design of an electronic patient record (EPR) and a USE IT analysis with 17 interviews trying to understand the end- user of an EPR. Developing, implementing and using information technology in organizations is a complex social activity. It is often characterized by ill-defined problems or vague goals, conflicts and disruptions that result from organizational change. Successfully implementing information systems in healthcare organizations appears to be a difficult task. Information Technology is regarded as an enabler of change in healthcare organizations but (information) technology adoption decisions in healthcare are complex, because of the uncertainty of benefits and the rate of change of technology. (Job) Relevance is recognized as an important determinant for IS success but still does not find its way into a systems design process

Courseware in academic library user education: A literature review from the GAELS Joint Electronic Library Project

The use of courseware for information skills teaching in academic libraries has been growing for a number of years. In order to create effective courseware packages to support joint electronic library activity at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, the GAELS project conducted a literature review of the subject. This review discovered a range of factors common to successful library courseware implementations, such as the need for practitioners to feel a sense of ownership of the medium, a need for courseware customization to local information environments, and an emphasis on training packages for large bodies of undergraduates. However, we also noted underdeveloped aspects worthy of further attention, such as treatment of pedagogic issues in library computer‐aided learning (CAL) implementations and use of hypertextual learning materials for more advanced information skills training. We describe how these findings shaped the packages produced by the project and suggest ways forward for similar types of implementation