Toward an Adaptive Threshold on Cooperative Bandwidth Management Based on Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning

With the increase in Internet of Things (IoT) devices and network communications, but with less bandwidth growth, the resulting constraints must be overcome. Due to the network complexity and uncertainty of emergency distribution parameters in smart environments, using predetermined rules seems illogical. Reinforcement learning (RL), as a powerful machine learning approach, can handle such smart environments without a trainer or supervisor. Recently, we worked on bandwidth management in a smart environment with several fog fragments using limited shared bandwidth, where IoT devices may experience uncertain emergencies in terms of the time and sequence needed for more bandwidth for further higher-level communication. We introduced fog fragment cooperation using an RL approach under a predefined fixed threshold constraint. In this study, we promote this approach by removing the fixed level of restriction of the threshold through hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) and completing the cooperation qualification. At the first learning hierarchy level of the proposed approach, the best threshold level is learned over time, and the final results are used by the second learning hierarchy level, where the fog node learns the best device for helping an emergency device by temporarily lending the bandwidth. Although equipping the method to the adaptive threshold and restricting fog fragment cooperation make the learning procedure more difficult, the HRL approach increases the method’s efficiency in terms of time and performance.

Managers are Less Burned-Out at the Top: the Roles of Sense of Power and Self-Efficacy at Different Hierarchy Levels

While managers generally seem to enjoy better mental health than regular employees, there are also plenty of reports about them suffering from burnout. The present study explores this relationship between hierarchy level and burnout in more detail. In doing so, we not only investigate what impact managerial rank may have on burnout, but we also contrast two different theoretically meaningful mediators for the relationship: sense of power (feeling in control over people) and work-related self-efficacy (feeling in control over tasks). The results of two surveys—the first with 580 managers (single-source) and the second with 154 managers matched with ratings from close others (multi-source)—show a negative relationship between managers’ hierarchy level and burnout that is explained by both mediators independently. Additional analyses reveal that high sense of power and high self-efficacy are both necessary conditions for low levels of burnout. Such fine-grained analyses allow us to understand why managers at the top are less threatened by burnout, in contrast to what some media reports suggest.

An Approach to the Formation of Test Sequences Based on the Graph Model of the Cache Memory Hierarchy

The verification of the cache memory hierarchy in modern SoC due to the large state space requires a huge number of complex tests. This becomes the main problem for functional verification. To cover the entire state space, a graph model of the cache memory hierarchy as well as the methods of generating the formation of the test sequences based on this model have been proposed. The graph model vertices are a set of states (tags, values, etc.) of each hierarchy level, and the edges are a set of transitions between states (instructions for reading, records). The graph model, describing all states of the cache-memory hierarchy states, has been developed. Each edge in the graph is a separate check sequence. In case of the non-deterministic situations, such as the choice of a channel (port) for multichannel cache memory, it will not be possible to resolve them at the level of the graph model, since the choice of the channel depends on many factors not considered within the model framework. It has been proposed to create a separate instance of a subgraph for each channel. The described approach has revealed, in verification of the multiport cache-memory hierarchy of the developed core with the new vector architecture VLIW DSP, a few architectural and functional errors. This approach can be used to test other processor cores and their blocks

“Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Intellectual Space” as a Manifestation of Intercultural Communications (on the Basis of the Ukrainian Hierarchs’ Epistolary Legacy)

Based upon the Ukrainian hierarchs’ epistolary legacy, the article analyzes characteristic features of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy intellectual space, which was created by Academy alumni of different generations and various hierarchy levels. The author establishes that the closest relations were between correspondents belonging to the same or almost same hierarchy level and who were bonded together by the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy educational system and school comradeship, eventually obtained high positions in the hierarchy. Communication within the boundaries of individual centers (the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, collegiums in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Pereiaslav, seats of Ukrainian bishops in Russia, etc.) depended on specificity of the environment. Predominant themes encountered in the letters of the Ukrainian bishops included needs of the alma mater, the Kyiv Academy, and the collegiums. The correspondence addressed issues of their legal status, academic staff, financial support, as well as the literary work and publishing activities of the hierarchs. KAGAMLYK, Svitlana. “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Intellectual Space” as a Manifestation of Intercultural Communications (on the Basis of the Ukrainian Hierarchs’ Epistolary Legacy). Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal, n. 5, p. 61-82, 2018. ISSN 2313-4895. Available at: . doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.18523/kmhj150388.2018-5.61-82.

Interpersonal Trust in Organizations

Interpersonal trust refers to confidence in another person (or between two persons) and a willingness to be vulnerable to him or her (or to each other). In contemporary organizational science, research conducted within organizations has extensively investigated personal, dyadic, and contextual factors that motivate interpersonal trust (i.e., trust between two persons) and the consequence of interpersonal trust for the trustor and the trustee. This line of work distinguishes between two orientations that researchers have taken when conceptualizing interpersonal trust: unidirectional trust and bidirectional trust. Unidirectional trust refers to a focus on one person’s trust in another without regard to the reciprocation of that trust. Unidirectional trust research investigates trust in another party at a higher hierarchy level (e.g., followers’ trust in the leader), a lower hierarchy level (e.g., the leader’s trust in followers), or at the same hierarchy level (e.g., employees’ trust in coworkers). Bidirectional trust focuses on the shared trust in a dyad. Research on bidirectional trust helps to provide insights about the complex pattern and evolution of interpersonal trust over time. However, research investigating bidirectional trust is relatively limited compared to unidirectional trust. Besides research on interpersonal trust within the same work unit, there is also a recent trend toward investigating interpersonal trust across work unit and organizational boundaries. Another important line of literature regarding interpersonal trust is the investigation of the causes and consequences of interpersonal trust violations and the effectiveness of remedies (e.g., apologies) for these violations.