An examination of applicability of face recognition sensors in public facilities

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the usability and applicability of face recognition sensors in public spaces to collect customer footfall data, which could then be analysed and evaluated for facility design and planning Methodology: Nine OMRON sensors were provided for the project and installed at five locations in a public facility for three months. The project was carried out by a local consortium with the cooperation of local technology-based Small Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), business organisations, and a local university. Collected data was analysed using data-mining software to develop a result report with diagrams, and reveal issues and potential for practical application in the future. Findings: It has been found that this technology could be applied for further consumer behavioural analysis, for example, analysing the relationship between product displays and purchasing behaviour, or looking at the link between consumers’ attributes and their buying behaviour. Moreover, the collected data can be further studied to develop a more detailed analysis of the relationships between the data collected from different points of installation. A critical issue found was about how to protect the privacy of the people whose data the sensors collected (i.e., image rights, and other privacy-related issues), which suggests the need for guidelines on ethical data collection and raises questions on how to get agreement from potential participants in the experiment. Implication and limitation: Although it was acknowledged that this project remained at pilot level and would need to expand before more robust implications and recommendations could be developed, the experimental outcome suggests that face recognition sensors have the potential for commercial use. Collecting and analysing customers’ behavioural data can contribute to marketing strategy and planning. The study also discusses the necessity of enhancing business opportunities through open innovation, in this case based on a consortium inviting local technology-oriented SMEs, universities, and other stakeholders to support the local economy. The implications of this study could inspire others to start new businesses and to support the local economy and small enterprises

Is Gamification a Magic Tool?: Illusion, Remedy, and Future Opportunities in Enhancing Learning Outcomes during and beyond the COVID-19

Gamification in education has been discussed with potential for further implementation at universities; however, practical suggestions concerning which key issues educators need to consider has far not been shared in academia. This study applied a qualitative approach using interview data with 24 students who participated in the business class with games as learning measures. It has found that most of them believed that gamification could be useful in reinforcing key themes and topics after having learnt them through traditional means: They appreciated the games as a supportive measure to ‘glue’ key knowledge to their learning. A significant drawback that they emphasised was that taking notes is not easy while they are involved in games, which made them unconfident and uncertain about the learning outcome. As a result, a conceptual framework for pedagogy stakeholders was proposed for further discussion of how to design a gamification-based curriculum effectively

CRUDE OIL FOULING IN A PILOT-SCALE PARALLEL TUBE APPARATUS

Maya crude oil fouling reveals a seemingly straightforward dependency of initial fouling rate on surface temperature but a maximum is found in the initial fouling rate – velocity relationship which mirrors that found in a model chemical system of styrene polymerization. The linear dependency of the logarithm of the pre-exponential factor on apparent activation energy for the crude oil is also found in the styrene system. The apparent activation energy for the crude oil ranged from 26.4 kJ/mol at 1.0 m/s to 245 kJ/mol at 4.0 m/s. Such strong dependencies of apparent activation energy on velocity, even at high velocity, are consistent with Epstein’s mass transfer-reaction-attachment model. Surface temperatures at which the fouling rate becomes velocity-independent are 274°C and 77°C for Maya crude oil and styrene, respectively. For surface temperatures in excess of this isokinetic temperature, an increase in velocity would lead to an increase in the rate of fouling

Entrepreneurship education at universities: Challenges and future perspectives on online game implementation

The study explored the challenges and potential of online gamification to develop actionable recommendations for entrepreneurship pedagogy in the phase of ‘New Normal’. This study applied an experimental game which the authors developed, and a mixed method was applied to the datasets collected from the students: an open-ended survey of 91 students and in-depth interviews with 23 students. It has been found that the students perceive activities with gamifications are good learning stimuli in entrepreneurial classrooms as a first step, then they found it effective to learn and deepen their understanding of theories and models as a second step after the gaming activities: which is a reverse approach from a traditional business education approach. Gamification enables students to think critically on game scenarios via participation in gamifications, which can be strengthened and embedded in their mind by theoretical learning which follows the gaming activities. The findings of the study provide a practical guidance for entrepreneurship pedagogists with ‘activities first’ which will be followed by theoretical learning

Fast Purcell-enhanced single photon source in 1,550-nm telecom band from a resonant quantum dot-cavity coupling

High-bit-rate nanocavity-based single photon sources in the 1,550-nm telecom band are challenges facing the development of fibre-based long-haul quantum communication networks. Here we report a very fast single photon source in the 1,550-nm telecom band, which is achieved by a large Purcell enhancement that results from the coupling of a single InAs quantum dot and an InP photonic crystal nanocavity. At a resonance, the spontaneous emission rate was enhanced by a factor of 5 resulting a record fast emission lifetime of 0.2 ns at 1,550 nm. We also demonstrate that this emission exhibits an enhanced anti-bunching dip. This is the first realization of nanocavity-enhanced single photon emitters in the 1,550-nm telecom band. This coupled quantum dot cavity system in the telecom band thus provides a bright high-bit-rate non-classical single photon source that offers appealing novel opportunities for the development of a long-haul quantum telecommunication system via optical fibres.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Open Innovation Post-Covid: A study of Japanese SMEs

Open innovation has mainly been examined on large firms heavily R&D based MNEs, with SMEs receiving little systematic attention from academic researcher. In a period where the pandemic has crippled economies and negatively impacted organisations, a more open and collaborative mode of innovation is required. This study examines the extend to which Japanese SMEs are adopting open innovation strategies and the difficulties within their organisational context. The results of the study support the potential and adoption of open innovation in SMEs and show that expertise is an important factor, especially in situations favouring industry-academia collaboration. However, they are also confident in the technological capabilities that are an inherent source of competitive advantage in their companies and mention the importance of prior arrangements for equitable distribution of results after industry-academia collaboration, highlighting the importance of a stable institutional design

Sustainable Relationships within Organisations in an Age of Transition of Economy: Focus on Employees’ Trust in Organisations.

This exploratory research aims to provide an overview of employees’ current views regarding their organisations, with a focus on evaluating their trust in their workplace. A quantitative approach was applied to a dataset collected from Japanese businesspeople. From the analysis, it was found that the respondents’ perspectives differed depending on three demographic variables: gender, education, and annual income. Descriptive analysis results indicate that males express more positivity and support for the organisational directions in the new lifestyle phase resulting from the COVID-19 impact, that more highly educated respondents are more positive than other cohorts, and that higher-income respondents are more positive than others. These findings imply that organisations need to design different communicative approaches with different employee groups if they are to establish sustainable relationships with employers and cope with the disruptive environment

Parasitos intestinais de Sorubim lima (Block & Shneider, 1801) e Hemisorubim platyrhynchos (Valenciennes, 1840) (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae) oriundos do Rio Solimões, Amazônia, Brasil.

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Prospects for the Search for a Standard Model Higgs Boson in ATLAS using Vector Boson Fusion

The potential for the discovery of a Standard Model Higgs boson in the mass range m_H < 2 m_Z in the vector boson fusion mode has been studied for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The characteristic signatures of additional jets in the forward regions of the detector and of low jet activity in the central region allow for an efficient background rejection. Analyses for the H -> WW and H -> tau tau decay modes have been performed using a realistic simulation of the expected detector performance. The results obtained demonstrate the large discovery potential in the H -> WW decay channel and the sensitivity to Higgs boson decays into tau-pairs in the low-mass region around 120 GeV.Comment: 20 pages, 13 ps figures, uses EPJ style fil