Detecting Acoustic Reflectors using a Robot's Ego-noise

International audienceIn this paper, we propose a method to estimate the proximity of an acoustic reflector, e.g., a wall, using ego-noise, i.e., the noise produced by the moving parts of a listening robot. This is achieved by estimating the times of arrival of acoustic echoes reflected from the surface. Simulated experiments show that the proposed nonintrusive approach is capable of accurately estimating the distance of a reflector up to 1 meter and outperforms a previously proposed intrusive approach under loud ego-noise conditions. The proposed method is helped by a probabilistic echo detector that estimates whether or not an acoustic reflector is within a short range of the robotic platform. This preliminary investigation paves the way towards a new kind of collision avoidance system that would purely rely on audio sensors rather than conventional proximity sensors

Daniel Temple : Early 19th century missionary struggle in Smyrna

Ankara : İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent Üniversitesi İktisadi, İdari ve Sosyal Bilimler Fakültesi, Tarih Bölümü, 2017.This work is a student project of the The Department of History, Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University.by Feyzullahoğlu, Burcu

Determinants of intention to use e-government services: An integrated marketing relation view

The E-government development index (2020) for the southern Asian region is below the world average, with Pakistan placing seventh out of eight nations. Although Pakistan's government developed the Electronic Government Directorate (EGD) in 2005, the country's adoption rate of e-government services is extremely low. This research aimed to expand the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB), which is based on the Unified Model of electronic government adoption (UMEGA), to more comprehensively understand the determinants of e-government adoption behaviour among 396 citizens in Pakistan. The extension is implemented by adding the impact of relational bonds (economic, social and structural) on trust. The findings show that the following four factors have a significant effect on citizens intention to adopt e-government services: (a) attitude, (b) subjective norm, (c) perceived behaviour control (d) trust. These four factors are predicted by effort expectancy and performance expectancy, mass media influence and family influence, self-efficacy, economic, structural and social bonds, respectively. Furthermore, this research validates the applicability of the DTPB model and demonstrates that the extended DTPB model, which is based on the UMEGA model, has excellent predictive power in understanding citizens intention to adopt e-government services. Based on these findings, implications for policymakers and recommendations for further future research are offered

Consumer Adoption of Online Food Delivery Ordering (OFDO) Services in Pakistan: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation

Evolving internet technology has brought about changes in consumer lifestyle and increased online shopping. Grounded in the theory of technology readiness (TR), this study aims to examine the effect of factors such as optimism, innovativeness, insecurity, and discomfort that may motivate consumers’ adoption intentions towards online food delivery ordering (OFDO) services. Additionally, this study intends to investigate the moderating role of situational influences (COVID-19) in affecting such an online behavior. By using survey methods, a total of 439 usable responses were gathered through an online survey. Data were analyzed by using Partial least square (PLS) and multigroup analysis (MGA) techniques. The results revealed that optimism and innovativeness have positive influences on adoption intentions while insecurity and discomfort have negative influences on adoption intentions in the use of OFDO services. The results also supported the moderating role of situational influences such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the PLS-MGA results indicate that the effects of optimism and innovativeness are stronger in demographic variables, i.e., young, male, high income, high education, etc. On the contrary, the effects of insecurity and discomfort are stronger for the opposite, i.e., elder, female, low income, low education, etc. Finally, this paper depicts remarkable insights for researchers, practitioners, service providers, and marketers