ARTYCUL: A Privacy-Preserving ML-Driven Framework to Determine the Popularity of a Cultural Exhibit on Display.

We present ARTYCUL (ARTifact popularitY for CULtural heritage), a machine learning(ML)-based framework that graphically represents the footfall around an artifact on display at a museum or a heritage site. The driving factor of this framework was the fact that the presence of security cameras has become universal, including at sites of cultural heritage. ARTYCUL used the video streams of closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) cameras installed in such premises to detect human figures, and their coordinates with respect to the camera frames were used to visualize the density of visitors around the specific display items. Such a framework that can display the popularity of artifacts would aid the curators towards a more optimal organization. Moreover, it could also help to gauge if a certain display item were neglected due to incorrect placement. While items of similar interest can be placed in vicinity of each other, an online recommendation system may also use the reputation of an artifact to catch the eye of the visitors. Artificial intelligence-based solutions are well suited for analysis of internet of things (IoT) traffic due to the inherent veracity and volatile nature of the transmissions. The work done for the development of ARTYCUL provided a deeper insight into the avenues for applications of IoT technology to the cultural heritage domain, and suitability of ML to process real-time data at a fast pace. While we also observed common issues that hinder the utilization of IoT in the cultural domain, the proposed framework was designed keeping in mind the same obstacles and a preference for backward compatibility

Impact of Facebook usage on firm’s performances among Malaysian Chinese retailers

Social media including Facebook has been acknowledged to play a vital role in firms achieving superior performance. Malaysia is a multicultural country in which the Malaysian Chinese are considered to be the most successful entrepreneurs. There is, however, a lack of research regarding the influence of Facebook usage on firm performance among Malaysian Chinese retailers. As such, this study had two aims. Firstly, the study investigated the influence of compatibility, cost effectiveness, trust, and interactivity on Facebook usage among Malaysian Chinese retailers. Secondly, the study assessed the impact of these retailers’ Facebook usage on their perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors under the moderating impact of market turbulence. This study developed a conceptual model based on the Strategic Contingency Theory (SCT) and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory, and used a structured survey instrument to gather data. Using non-probability sampling techniques, 129 Malaysian Chinese retailers from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were recruited for the study. Data was analysed using PLS-SEM techniques. The results showed that only compatibility, cost effectiveness, and interactivity have a statistically significant positive influence on Facebook usage, which in turn has a statistically significant positive influence on the retailers’ perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors. Moreover, market turbulence was only found to be a moderator that improves the impact of Facebook usage on perceived financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors, but not perceived non-financial performance. These findings contribute to current literature and provide insights into the role and importance of Facebook usage on firm performance among Malaysian Chinese retailers, possibly encouraging more retailers to deploy social media in their business processe

Loneliness, friendship, and facebook intrusion. A study in Poland, Slovakia, Syria, Malaysia, and Ecuador

With the increasing popularity of Facebook, a new social phenomenon connected with its extensive use has appeared: namely, Facebook intrusion. The main aim of the study was to examine the mediating role of loneliness in the relation between friendships and Facebook intrusion. We analyzed data from five countries: Poland (N = 399), Slovakia (N = 266), Syria (N = 475), Ecuador (N = 327), and Malaysia (N = 241). The total sample consisted of 1731 participants who had Facebook accounts; 61% of the participants were women. We administered the Facebook Intrusion Scale, the Loneliness Scale, and the Friendship Scale. The results indicated differences in the role of loneliness and friendship in Facebook intrusion, depending on the country. Among young Polish people, friendship decreases loneliness and loneliness decreases Facebook intrusion. Whereas among Ecuadorians friendship decreases loneliness, while loneliness increases Facebook intrusion

Email is Evil! Behavioural Responses towards Permission-based Direct Email Marketing and Gender Differences

Purpose This study aims to assess consumers’ beliefs in three Middle Eastern Arab countries regarding attitudinal and behavioural responses towards permission-based direct email marketing (hereafter DEM) and the moderating role of gender in the hypothesised path model. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised path model by using data collected from 829 respondents. Findings The findings show that attitude was found to fully mediate the relationship between beliefs and behavioural responses towards permission-based DEM. Gender moderates the relationship between beliefs and attitudes and responses to permission-based DEM. Notably, female respondents were found to react more actively when exposed to permission-based DEM. Research limitations/implications Further qualitative research is needed to learn more about how and why individuals develop behavioural intentions in certain ways towards opt-in DEM. In addition, neuropsychology approaches such as eye-tracking are endorsed for future research to gain more insights and conquer biases associated with self-reporting procedures in countries where such technologies are deemed as legal and ethical to be used with human subjects. Practical implications Advertisers promoting products and services in the Middle Eastern Arab context should take further steps to enhance the quality of information (including cultural sensitiveness) and the perceived entertainment value that could be delivered to consumers through permission-based DEM, especially for female internet users. Additionally, this study highly recommends the double opt-in approach to permission-based DEM. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to address the gender role as a moderator of the path depicting the effectiveness of permission-based DEM approach in the Middle East (Arab counties) from beliefs to behavioural responses via attitudes

Impact of green training on environmental performance through mediating role of competencies and motivation

This work aims to examine the impact of green training on green environmental performance through the mediating role of green competencies and motivation on the adoption of green human resource management. The convenience sampling technique was employed to collect data through an online survey undertaken at public and private universities in Malaysia. The analyses were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) v.25 and Smart PLS v.3 software, with the aim of testing the predefined hypotheses. It was revealed that green training has a significant impact on green environmental performance, and all six dimensions of green competencies, namely, skills, abilities, knowledge, behavior, attitude and awareness, were also green motivations. Both green competencies and motivations positively and significantly mediated the relationship between green training and environmental performance

Impact of green training on environmental performance through mediating role of competencies and motivation

This work aims to examine the impact of green training on green environmental performance through the mediating role of green competencies and motivation on the adoption of green human resource management. The convenience sampling technique was employed to collect data through an online survey undertaken at public and private universities in Malaysia. The analyses were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) v.25 and Smart PLS v.3 software, with the aim of testing the predefined hypotheses. It was revealed that green training has a significant impact on green environmental performance, and all six dimensions of green competencies, namely, skills, abilities, knowledge, behavior, attitude and awareness, were also green motivations. Both green competencies and motivations positively and significantly mediated the relationship between green training and environmental performance

The Best, the Worst, and the Hardest to Find: How People, Mobiles, and Social Media Connect Migrants In(to) Europe

For displaced people, migrating into Europe has highly complex information needs about the journey and destination. Each new need presents problems of where to seek information, how to trust or distrust information, and financial and other costs. The outcomes of receiving poor or false information can cause bodily harm or death, loss of family, or financial ruin. We aim to make two major contributions: First, provide rich insights into digital literacy, information needs, and strategies among Syrian and Iraqi refugees who entered Europe in 2015, a topic rarely dealt with in the literature. Second, we seek to change the dominant perspective on migrants and refugees as passive victims of international events and policies by showing their capacities and skills to navigate the complex landscape of information and border regimes en route to Europe. Building on research at Za’atari refugee camp (Jordan), we surveyed 83 Arab refugees in two centers in Berlin. Analyses address refugees’ temporal information worlds, focusing on the importance and difficulty in finding specific information, how migrants identify mis- and disinformation, and the roles of information and technology mediaries. Findings illustrate the digital capacities refugees employ during and after their journey to Europe; they show social support via social media and highlight the need for a radical shift in thinking about and researching migration in the digital age

Investigating Master-Slave Architecture for Underwater Wireless Sensor Network.

A significant increase has been observed in the use of Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) over the last few decades. However, there exist several associated challenges with UWSNs, mainly due to the nodes' mobility, increased propagation delay, limited bandwidth, packet duplication, void holes, and Doppler/multi-path effects. To address these challenges, we propose a protocol named "An Efficient Routing Protocol based on Master-Slave Architecture for Underwater Wireless Sensor Network (ERPMSA-UWSN)" that significantly contributes to optimizing energy consumption and data packet's long-term survival. We adopt an innovative approach based on the master-slave architecture, which results in limiting the forwarders of the data packet by restricting the transmission through master nodes only. In this protocol, we suppress nodes from data packet reception except the master nodes. We perform extensive simulation and demonstrate that our proposed protocol is delay-tolerant and energy-efficient. We achieve an improvement of 13% on energy tax and 4.8% on Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), over the state-of-the-art protocol

A Systematic Review of Human-Computer Interaction and Explainable Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare with Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the emerging technologies. In recent decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has gained widespread acceptance in a variety of fields, including virtual support, healthcare, and security. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a field that has been combining AI and human-computer engagement over the past several years in order to create an interactive intelligent system for user interaction. AI, in conjunction with HCI, is being used in a variety of fields by employing various algorithms and employing HCI to provide transparency to the user, allowing them to trust the machine. The comprehensive examination of both the areas of AI and HCI, as well as their subfields, has been explored in this work. The main goal of this article was to discover a point of intersection between the two fields. The understanding of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI), which is a linking point of HCI and XAI, was gained through a literature review conducted in this research. The literature survey encompassed themes identified in the literature (such as XAI and its areas, major XAI aims, and XAI problems and challenges). The study's other major focus was on the use of AI, HCI, and XAI in healthcare. The poll also addressed the shortcomings in XAI in healthcare, as well as the field's future potential. As a result, the literature indicates that XAI in healthcare is still a novel subject that has to be explored more in the future

Total Quality Management Boosters and Blockers in a Humanitarian Setting: An Exploratory Investigation

Utilizing qualitative techniques, this research is aimed at investigating total quality management (TQM) implementation practices within a humanitarian setting. The extensive survey instrument of professionals working for the United Nations (UN) organizations operating in the Middle East is used to reveal TQM use within international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) that provide humanitarian relief. With the goal of helping organizations to address anticipated difficulties in implementing TQM practices that improve performance of humanitarian interventions, this study identifies and examines the boosters and blockers of successful implementation of the TQM practices. The most prominent themes that were identified relate to availability of funding, management commitment to quality, partnerships and communication channels, and knowledge sharing