125 research outputs found
Systemic Circular Economy Solutions for Fiber Reinforced Composites
This open access book provides an overview of the work undertaken within the FiberEUse project, which developed solutions enhancing the profitability of composite recycling and reuse in value-added products, with a cross-sectorial approach. Glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymers, or composites, are increasingly used as structural materials in many manufacturing sectors like transport, constructions and energy due to their better lightweight and corrosion resistance compared to metals. However, composite recycling is still a challenge since no significant added value in the recycling and reprocessing of composites is demonstrated. FiberEUse developed innovative solutions and business models towards sustainable Circular Economy solutions for post-use composite-made products. Three strategies are presented, namely mechanical recycling of short fibers, thermal recycling of long fibers and modular car parts design for sustainable disassembly and remanufacturing. The validation of the FiberEUse approach within eight industrial demonstrators shows the potentials towards new Circular Economy value-chains for composite materials
Fictional Practices of Spirituality I: Interactive Media
"Fictional Practices of Spirituality" provides critical insight into the implementation of belief, mysticism, religion, and spirituality into worlds of fiction, be it interactive or non-interactive. This first volume focuses on interactive, virtual worlds - may that be the digital realms of video games and VR applications or the imaginary spaces of life action role-playing and soul-searching practices. It features analyses of spirituality as gameplay facilitator, sacred spaces and architecture in video game geography, religion in video games and spiritual acts and their dramaturgic function in video games, tabletop, or LARP, among other topics. The contributors offer a first-time ever comprehensive overview of play-rites as spiritual incentives and playful spirituality in various medial incarnations
Effective Natural Language Interfaces for Data Visualization Tools
How many Covid cases and deaths are there in my hometown? How much money was invested into renewable energy projects across states in the last 5 years? How large was the biggest investment in solar energy projects in the previous year? These questions and others are of interest to users and can often be answered by data visualization tools (e.g., COVID-19 dashboards) provided by governmental organizations or other institutions. However, while users in organizations or private life with limited expertise with data visualization tools (hereafter referred to as end users) are also interested in these topics, they do not necessarily have knowledge of how to use these data visualization tools effectively to answer these questions. This challenge is highlighted by previous research that provided evidence suggesting that while business analysts and other experts can effectively use these data visualization tools, end users with limited expertise with data visualization tools are still impeded in their interactions.
One approach to tackle this problem is natural language interfaces (NLIs) that provide end users with a more intuitive way of interacting with these data visualization tools. End users would be enabled to interact with the data visualization tool both by utilizing the graphical user interface (GUI) elements and by just typing or speaking a natural language (NL) input to the data visualization tool. While NLIs for data visualization tools have been regarded as a promising approach to improving the interaction, two design challenges still remain. First, existing NLIs for data visualization tools still target users who are familiar with the technology, such as business analysts. Consequently, the unique design required by end users that address their specific characteristics and that would enable the effective use of data visualization tools by them is not included in existing NLIs for data visualization tools. Second, developers of NLIs for data visualization tools are not able to foresee all NL inputs and tasks that end users want to perform with these NLIs for data visualization tools. Consequently, errors still occur in current NLIs for data visualization tools. End users need to be therefore enabled to continuously improve and personalize the NLI themselves by addressing these errors. However, only limited work exists that focus on enabling end users in teaching NLIs for data visualization tools how to correctly respond to new NL inputs.
This thesis addresses these design challenges and provides insights into the related research questions. Furthermore, this thesis contributes prescriptive knowledge on how to design effective NLIs for data visualization tools. Specifically, this thesis provides insights into how data visualization tools can be extended through NLIs to improve their effective use by end users and how to enable end users to effectively teach NLIs how to respond to new NL inputs.
Furthermore, this thesis provides high-level guidance that developers and providers of data visualization tools can utilize as a blueprint for developing data visualization tools with NLIs for end users and outlines future research opportunities that are of interest in supporting end users to effectively use data visualization tools
Analyzing Small Business Strategies to Prevent External Cybersecurity Threats
Some small businesses’ cybersecurity analysts lack strategies to prevent their organizations from compromising personally identifiable information (PII) via external cybersecurity threats. Small business leaders are concerned, as they are the most targeted critical infrastructures in the United States and are a vital part of the economic system as data breaches threaten the viability of these organizations. Grounded in routine activity theory, the purpose of this pragmatic qualitative inquiry was to explore strategies small business organizations utilize to prevent external cybersecurity threats. The participants were nine cybersecurity analysts who utilized strategies to defend small businesses from external threats. Data were collected via online semistructured interviews and the National Institute of Standards and Technology documentation as well as analyzed thematically. Six major themes emerged: (a) applying standards regarding external threats, (b) evaluation of cybersecurity strategies and effectiveness, (c) consistent awareness of the external threat landscape, (d) assessing threat security posture, (e) measuring the ability to address risk and prevent attacks related to external threats, and (f) centralizing communication across departments to provide a holistic perspective on threats. A key recommendation for cybersecurity analysts is to employ moving the target defenses to prevent external cybersecurity threats. The implications for positive social change include the potential to provide small business cybersecurity analysts with additional strategies to effectively mitigate the compromise of customer PII, creating more resilient economic infrastructures while strengthening communities
Analyzing Small Business Strategies to Prevent External Cybersecurity Threats
Some small businesses’ cybersecurity analysts lack strategies to prevent their organizations from compromising personally identifiable information (PII) via external cybersecurity threats. Small business leaders are concerned, as they are the most targeted critical infrastructures in the United States and are a vital part of the economic system as data breaches threaten the viability of these organizations. Grounded in routine activity theory, the purpose of this pragmatic qualitative inquiry was to explore strategies small business organizations utilize to prevent external cybersecurity threats. The participants were nine cybersecurity analysts who utilized strategies to defend small businesses from external threats. Data were collected via online semistructured interviews and the National Institute of Standards and Technology documentation as well as analyzed thematically. Six major themes emerged: (a) applying standards regarding external threats, (b) evaluation of cybersecurity strategies and effectiveness, (c) consistent awareness of the external threat landscape, (d) assessing threat security posture, (e) measuring the ability to address risk and prevent attacks related to external threats, and (f) centralizing communication across departments to provide a holistic perspective on threats. A key recommendation for cybersecurity analysts is to employ moving the target defenses to prevent external cybersecurity threats. The implications for positive social change include the potential to provide small business cybersecurity analysts with additional strategies to effectively mitigate the compromise of customer PII, creating more resilient economic infrastructures while strengthening communities
PROCEEDINGS 5th PLATE Conference
The 5th international PLATE conference (Product Lifetimes and the Environment) addressed product lifetimes in the context of sustainability. The PLATE conference, which has been running since 2015, has successfully been able to establish a solid network of researchers around its core theme. The topic has come to the forefront of current (political, scientific & societal) debates due to its interconnectedness with a number of recent prominent movements, such as the circular economy, eco-design and collaborative consumption. For the 2023 edition of the conference, we encouraged researchers to propose how to extend, widen or critically re-construct thematic sessions for the PLATE conference, and the paper call was constructed based on these proposals. In this 5th PLATE conference, we had 171 paper presentations and 238 participants from 14 different countries. Beside of paper sessions we organized workshops and REPAIR exhibitions
The impact of open-plan office spatial components on the perceived human behaviour and level of collaboration: The United Arab Emirates
The concept of workplace collaboration has been extensively studied over the past years. The evaluation of employee perceptions and workplace behaviours dates back more than 70 years and serves as the topic's basis. The majority of these studies ignored the office layout environment in favour of focusing on job satisfaction. In contrast, studies that analysed the indoor office environment only considered thermal and acoustic comfort, lighting, and indoor air quality in relation to employees' job satisfaction. A limited focus in organizational studies has been done on individuals' communication and collaboration patterns in various layouts, and contradictions are common in the ongoing debate about the benefits and drawbacks of open-plan versus cellular office spaces.
The reduced concern for perceived effective collaboration has been observed locally in the United Arab Emirates, where offices are increasingly embracing the concept of employee engagement in the workplace. Therefore, this research aims to address the association between individual-group tasks perceived collaboration and office layouts.
In order to explore further into the topic of workplace perceived collaboration, there are three primary objectives of this study that might help in achieving the research aim: First, establish a conceptual framework for collaborative workplaces in interior design utilizing a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. This study relied on four investigation tools to gather the data it needed: two qualitative approaches were used: "observations" and "design analysis"; and two quantitative: "interview questionnaires" and "space syntax". The qualitative data relevant to the field observation indicating the occupant’s movement, interactions and visual co-presence will be translated to quantitative data. The second objective is to demonstrate the appropriateness of the conceptual framework to the selected multiple offices in the UAE. The third purpose is to provide design guidelines for the selected case studies for any potential future improvement and for the benefit of other similar examples both locally and globally.
These examinations enable this study to address the primary research question of: " How should existing open-office spaces been designed to encourage a collaborative working environment?"
It is anticipated that the outcomes of the study will inform and help interior designers, architects, and company directors in better understanding employees' perceptions of collaboration in different selected office layouts. Consideration of these factors early in the workplace design process is envisioned to yield significant long-term benefits, as well as increase workers' productivity and engagement
Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming
This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2022, which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 2022. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a unique forum where agile researchers, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers get together to present and discuss their most recent innovations, research results, experiences, concerns, challenges, and trends.  XP conferences provide an informal environment to learn and trigger discussions and welcome both people new to agile and seasoned agile practitioners. This year’s conference was held with the theme “Agile in the Era of Hybrid Work”. The 13 full papers and 1 short paper presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 40 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: agile practices; agile processes; and agile in the large
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