scholarly journals Coarticulation and speech synchronization in MPEG-4 based facial animation

Kybernetes ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 1165-1182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Leandro Parreira Duarte ◽  
Abdennour El Rhalibi ◽  
Madjid Merabti

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a novel coarticulation and speech synchronization framework compliant with MPEG-4 facial animation (FA). Design/methodology/approach – The system the authors have developed uses MPEG-4 FA standard and other development to enable the creation, editing and playback of high-resolution 3D models; MPEG-4 animation streams; and is compatible with well-known related systems such as Greta and Xface. It supports text-to-speech for dynamic speech synchronization. The framework enables real-time model simplification using quadric-based surfaces. Findings – The preliminary experiments show that the coarticulation technique the authors have developed gives overall good and promising results when compared to related techniques. Originality/value – The coarticulation approach provides realistic and high performance lip-sync animation, based on Cohen-Massaro's model of coarticulation adapted to MPEG-4 FA specification.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarit Laiho ◽  
Essi Saru ◽  
Hannele Seeck

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay between human resource management (HRM) and emergent factors in constructing a strong HRM climate. Specifically, the paper aims to shed light on how employee perceptions of the HRM process and emergent factors together construct a strong HRM climate, i.e. employees' shared perceptions of HRM.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses qualitative interview data (managers and employees) from two organisations operating in Finland. The data are analysed based on a systematic data analysis and gives an illustration of the interplay between high-performance work system and the emergent factors.FindingsThe findings illustrate the three types of interplay between HPWS and emergent factors – supplementation, substitution and suffocation – that construct employee experience.Originality/valueThe paper extends earlier discussions on the relationship between HRM and employee experience by empirically examining how the HRM process – together with emergent factors – constructs a strong HRM climate. The present study contributes to further theorising and increasing our understanding of the creation of employee experience.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladyslav Biloshapka ◽  
Oleksiy Osiyevskyy

Purpose Defines clear steps for growth planning that support answers to the crucial question: How and where are you planning to scale up the business and what talent do you need to implement this? Design/methodology/approach As the “Business model value matrix” shows, having ‘happy customers’ is only one determinant of a business model’s success. The other essential block of diagnostic questions deals with the current state and prospects of the firm’s growth. Findings We found that companies that have found ways to keep their business models in a winner’s state can provide clear, evidence-based answers to questions about growth opportunities and risks, while their less successful peers have difficulty addressing the issues. Continuous collecting and analyzing of this information allows successful companies to embrace the strategy-as-learning model of development, built around active learning and proactive adjustment to evolving environment. Practical implications To develop a strategy for moving to and sustaining the Winner state, managers must clearly articulate and test a set of hypotheses about the mechanisms of their company’s growth. The first step on this path is related to obtaining a clear view on the factors that underpin the current financial performance. Originality/value High-performance cultures make sure that each manager has the clear answers to the questions of value, growth and digitization in order to learn, experiment and implement the company business model agenda. The unproductive cultures, on the other hand, are sustained by managerial teams that usually do not have the answers to these crucial questions, but are very good at political games.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
André de Waal ◽  
Béatrice van der Heijden

Purpose One of the most important characteristics of high-performance organizations is that these organizations always aim at servicing their customers as best as possible. In practice, this means that the employees of these organizations have to behave toward customers in such a way that these customers are not only fully satisfied but also become loyal to the organization. The purpose of this paper is to look at the concrete behaviors that are needed to create this customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach From a literature review the items that potentially are of influence on creating customer loyalty and customer intimacy were identified, based on a previous validated questionnaire while adding additional items. These items were subsequently validated in practice with a questionnaire distributed among people who are in daily life regular customers of organizations. Findings The research results show that there are eight behavioral factors of importance to create customer loyalty and customer intimacy: first, service quality delivered by employees; second, capability of employees to deliver high quality; third, empathy of employees toward customers’ wishes and needs; fourth, understanding of employees of customers’ needs; fifth, responsiveness of employees toward the needs of customers; sixth, courtesy of employees toward customers; seventh, service manner of employees; and finally, trust customers place in employees. Research limitations/implications The implication of this research is that, now that the behavioral factors are known, an organization can make sure its employees focus on displaying these behaviors toward customers consistently over time, in order to make sure customers will experience the organization as a high-performance organization and will feel loyalty toward the organization. Originality/value The research described in this paper adds to the literature in the sense that it encompasses previous research into once item list and specifically looks at behaviors that create excellent service and thereby customer loyalty and customer intimacy, both concepts that go beyond the much researched topic of customer satisfaction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aayush Singha Roy ◽  
Dipankar Bose ◽  
U.K. Bera

PurposeIn this article, we identify various foodservice-related attributes that are important for undergraduate students residing in hostels and avail service from specific foodservice providers. We also investigate the performance of attributes to determine areas where the foodservice providers should maintain a high performance or where improvement is required.Design/methodology/approachWe apply the Kano methodology to design the questionnaire for 24 different attributes. For each attribute, we construct three questions; namely, functional type, dysfunctional type, and performance of the hostel foodservice. We collect a total of 317 responses. We use multiple methods to determine the dominant category. Finally, combining the values of these methods, we study relative positions of the attributes in the importance–performance grid.FindingsBased on the Kano categorization, quality-related attributes are most important, followed by hygiene, comfort, availability, variety, and time, in the descending order. The gender of the respondent plays an important role in categorization of some attributes. Using the importance–performance analysis, we identify the attributes where the foodservice provider should maintain a high performance or where improvement is required. Improvements in some attributes are difficult due to foodservice provider's self-assessment of high performance or high difficulty for improvement.Originality/valueIn this study, we examine the importance of various foodservice attributes among undergraduate residential students. We combine multiple methods of Kano categorization to compute importance values of the attributes. We also investigate the reasons behind the gap between student's and foodservice manager's perception of the performance of these attributes.


Author(s):  
Kirsteen Grant ◽  
Gillian A. Maxwell

Purpose This paper aims to theoretically proffer and empirically evidence five inter-related high performance working (HPW) groupings of value to practitioners interested in developing HPW in their organizations. Design/methodology/approach The empirical research is based on three UK-based qualitative case studies. Data are drawn from nine in-depth interviews with managers (three from each case) and three subsequent focus groups (one in each case). Focus groups comprised six, eight, and four employee (non-manager) interviewees. Findings The empirical findings validate the theoretical importance of the five identified HPW groupings. More, they imply a number of relationships within and between the five groupings, confirming the need to view the groupings collectively and dynamically. Originality/value The five HPW groupings provide a foundation for further research to closely evaluate the dynamism within and across the groupings. They also offer practical types of human resource interventions and actions for practitioners to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of HPW in their organizations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 764-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Seymour Gould-Williams

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain how approaches to human resource management may contribute to the development of public service motivation (PSM). Three different approaches to managing people are outlined, namely, the “high performance”, “high commitment” and “high involvement”. Relevant theories are then used to predict the outcomes and relevance of the different approaches when promoting PSM in public sector organisations. Design/methodology/approach – This is a theoretical paper. Findings – This paper provides the first theoretical explanations for the relationships between human resource (HR) practices and PSM in public sector organisations. Originality/value – This paper explains how the same HR practices may have different employee outcomes depending on managers’ motivations for implementing them.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 227-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
André de Waal

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of the employee in the high performance organization. One of the management techniques which has gained much popularity the past 15 years is the employee satisfaction survey. Many organizations, both profit and non-profit, use a yearly questionnaire, which measures the satisfaction of employees with all sorts of things in the organization. Yet recently, dissenting opinions can be heard that are critical of what they call “the yearly employee survey ritual”. The criticism focuses on the results of the survey which are not dealt with adequately so that the employee survey gradually has become a dissatisfier for employees. Another phenomenon is that organizations that are considering to conduct a high performance organization (HPO) diagnosis renounce this using the justification that “we are already doing an employee survey.” Design/methodology/approach – In this article the purpose of the employee survey, its advantages, its problems in practice and its relation with the HPO Framework are discussed. Findings – It is shown how the employee survey can be improved. In addition, its is shown that the employee survey and the HPO Framework are two different but complementary techniques that can and should be used in conjunction with each other. Originality/value – This article is one of the first to discuss the relation between two important management improvement techniques: the employee survey and the HPO framework.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Lyons

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present some of the foundational characteristics of the effective delegation of authority. Taken from a broad array of research and opinion, the fundamental aspects are given clear exposition. Design/methodology/approach Addressed in this paper are several areas that establish the basis for effective delegation to include the psychology of delegation, potential benefits, delegation and high performance human resource management practices, and fears of actually delegating authority. Findings Findings are grounded on actual practices which have been researched. There is a “science” to manager delegation of authority, and the critical information about how to delegate is presented. Originality/value This work gives shape to the actions that help to create effective delegation. There are many benefits that accrue from effective delegation, and these benefits are often under-represented.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 63-69
Author(s):  
David Ball

Purpose – This paper is a thought experiment that investigates the possibilities of moving from the typical “just-in-case” model of managing legacy collections of printed monographs to a centralised “just-in-time” model. Design/methodology/approach – Reliable published statistical data have been used; the core of these are the annual library statistics for UK research libraries collected by SCONUL. From these and other sources, the costs of monograph storage across UK research libraries have been determined. Findings – Establishing a centralised collective collection would bring a large return on investment. Research limitations/implications – This is not an empirical study. Originality/value – The value of this study is high.


2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-142
Author(s):  
Maria Jose Tonelli ◽  
Jussara Pereira ◽  
Vanessa Cepellos ◽  
João Lins

Purpose This paper aims to show which factors influence the perception of human resources professionals about managers over 50 years old and which factors guide the age management practices adopted in the surveyed companies. Design/methodology/approach To this end, a survey was conducted with 140 companies accessed from a database of a human resources association. Through the answers obtained through the online questionnaire, an exploratory factor analysis was made with the aid of Software R. Findings Thus, it was possible to identify four factors that explain the work posture of professionals 50 years of age and older (company expectations, performance, morality and knowledge and professionalism) and three factors that guide the adoption of age management practices in organizations (recruitment & selection and integration, retention and continuity in the company, adaptation to the needs). Originality/value The results suggest that, even considering the high performance of older managers, perceived by HR professionals, the adoption of age management practices is still insufficient, making it difficult for these professionals to enter and remain in organizations. Moreover, it can be inferred that such posture indicates biases of discrimination and age stereotypes.


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