Complementary Resources and the Exploitation of Technological Innovations

Technological innovation often results when the resources of a small firm are combined with those of a large one. This is because small and large firms characteristically possess complementary resources whose combination can facilitate innovation success. The possession of complementary innovation-producing resources by small and large firms helps explain patterns of interaction among firms in dynamic, technology-based industries. Propositions are developed that outline how typical resources of small and large firms can be used to explain industry-level phenomena surrounding technological change

A study to determine why hospitals hesitate to accept fathers in labor rooms

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Presence metadata in the Internet of Things challenges and opportunities

The Internet of Things is an emerging computing paradigm that promises to revolutionise society. The widespread capture and aggregation of data from sensors and smart devices combined with processing using machine learning in cloud computing platforms provides unrivalled insights into our environment. In addition to the numerous benefits (smart healthcare, cities, transportation, etc.) such insights potentially jeopardise the privacy of individuals, organisations, and society as whole. This is despite UK and EU regulations attempting to mitigate the risk of individuals’ data exposure and the impact of it on their security. To demonstrate the exploitation of metadata and its threat to privacy, this paper presents Meta-Blue, a Bluetooth Low Energy metadata capture, analysis, and visualisation tool. The results of a case study are combined with an overview of literature on IoT privacy to provide a holistic overview of the challenges and opportunities presented by IoT metadata

Detection of advanced persistent threat using machine-learning correlation analysis

As one of the most serious types of cyber attack, Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) have caused major concerns on a global scale. APT refers to a persistent, multi-stage attack with the intention to compromise the system and gain information from the targeted system, which has the potential to cause significant damage and substantial financial loss. The accurate detection and prediction of APT is an ongoing challenge. This work proposes a novel machine learning-based system entitled MLAPT, which can accurately and rapidly detect and predict APT attacks in a systematic way. The MLAPT runs through three main phases: (1) Threat detection, in which eight methods have been developed to detect different techniques used during the various APT steps. The implementation and validation of these methods with real traffic is a significant contribution to the current body of research; (2) Alert correlation, in which a correlation framework is designed to link the outputs of the detection methods, aims to identify alerts that could be related and belong to a single APT scenario; and (3) Attack prediction, in which a machine learning-based prediction module is proposed based on the correlation framework output, to be used by the network security team to determine the probability of the early alerts to develop a complete APT attack. MLAPT is experimentally evaluated and the presented sy

Some experiments in the use of the touch tutor with severely subnormal children

The purpose of the present work is to examine critically some of the factors involved in the use of a matching to sample teaching machine (the 'Touch Tutor') in the everyday teaching of severely mentally subnormal (S.S.N.) children. Two factors prompted this evaluation. Firstly, it was felt that too little attention had previously been paid to the possible benefits which could accrue from the use of teaching machines with these children. When, however, this machine appeared commercially and began to be purchased by some authorities for use in Special Schools, it was felt that the widespread adoption of such a technique was over-hasty. The second factor was, therefore, that too little was known about how valuable such a machine could be for its purchase to be warranted. The evaluation is begun by examining the results of studies with machines of similar design with young normal and mentally handicapped children and. with adult, aphasic patients. These studies suggest the broad applicability of a machine such as the Touch Tutor to the S.S.N. child but contain little detail with which to judge the full extent of this likely applicability. Thus, it is hard to tell for how many such children the machine would be attractive, how many children would be able to operate the machine correctly, whether teachers would be ace to incorporate such a machine into their everyday teaching and what range of skills the machine could be used to teach. Since all of these factors would appear to represent important pre-conditions of use for such a machine, the evaluation proceeds by reporting the responses of two groups of S.S.N. children in residential care to the Touch Tutor. Preliminary observations suggest that the majority of children find the Touch Tutor attractive but that a much smaller number are able to operate it correctly in the early stages of its use. In addition, children who do not respond to it correctly engage in a number of complex patterns of responding which defy explanation. More systematic study of the responses of children to the Touch Tutor enables a more accurate picture to be gained of the responsiveness of children to the machine and study is then directed to the use of the Touch Tutor in a school classroom. This suggests that one of the major drawbacks to the machine's use is the paucity of programme material available for it, which prompts the consideration of the problems of developing further such material for the machine. On the basis of this evaluation, it seems that the Touch Tutor could be a reasonable proposition for a Special School in terms of the numbers of children who would want and be able to use it but that a major drawback to its use would be the narrow range of programme material likely to be available for it, this being not only a function of the present lack of teaching programmes but also of the difficulty of envisaging subject matter which the machine could teach, as well as the difficulty and expense involved in the physical manufacture of programme material. Because, however, it is felt that the use of a teaching machine could offer something valuable to S.S.N. children (even 'though no specific attempt to evaluate this has been made in the present work) the possibility of using a similar but cheaper machine, for which programmes might be easier to devise and produce, is considered. The work ends with the belief that further work upon the educational merit of different aspects of classroom apparatus and methods could prove a valuable first step to the possibility logical development of the present work - that of attempting to compare the effectiveness of such a device as the Touch Tutor to methods at present in use

A Process Mineralogy Approach to Gravity Concentration of Tantalum Bearing Minerals

This is the final version of the article. Available from MDPI via the DOI in this record.The historic Penouta mine in northwest Spain is the focus of efforts to extract tantalum from tin mining waste. This paper describes the characterisation of the tantalum mineralogy of waste material from the deposit. Characterisation was realised using quantitative mineralogy and geochemistry. This paper further identifies other phases of interest and investigates the potential for extraction using gravity separation techniques. The gravity concentrate obtained through these tests was analysed using quantitative mineralogy and electron probe microanalysis. Following characterisation of the sample material to identify the key Ta-bearing mineral phases and assess liberation, a series of gravity separation trials were conducted using Heavy Liquid Separation (HLS), Mozley table, Knelson concentrator separation and shaking table. The laboratory shaking table used to conduct a rougher test and a rougher/cleaner test to simulate a spiral-table circuit using the Penouta material. Mass balance calculations were carried out to calculate the contained metal content of the feed material and concentrate products in order to assess recovery rates for Ta, Sn and Nb across a range of grains sizes. Ta was found to be present predominantly in the solid-solution columbite-group mineral, along with minor Ta present as microlite and as impurities within cassiterite. It was found that over 70% of the Ta is contained within the −125 μm fraction, with the Ta-bearing minerals tantalite and microlite being closely associated with quartz. Mozley table separation resulted in recoveries of 89% Ta and 85% Nb for the −125 μm fraction. The Knelson Concentrator trial was carried out on the −625 μm size fraction, thereby eliminating low grade material found in the coarsest fractions. Size analysis of the recovery rate for each product, shows that the Knelson concentrator is most efficient for recovery of −125 μm particles.This work is part of the OptimOre project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 642201. Authors are thankful from the Strategic Minerals enterprise for their help in sampling, visit and information provided

Flight performance of a navigation, guidance, and control system concept for automatic approach and landing of space shuttle orbiter

Unpowered automatic approaches and landings were conducted to study navigation, guidance, and control problems associated with terminal area approach and landing for the space shuttle vehicle. The flight tests were performed in a Convair 990 aircraft equipped with a digital flight control computer connected to the aircraft control system and displays. The tests were designed to evaluate the performance of a navigation and guidance concept that utilized blended radio/inertial navigation with VOR, DME, and ILS as the ground navigation aids. Results from 36 automatic approaches and landings from 11,300 m (37,000 ft) to touchdown are presented. Preliminary results indicate that this concept may provide sufficient accuracy to accomplish automatic landing of the shuttle orbiter without air-breathing engines