An Adaptive Application Framework with Customizable Quality Metrics

Many embedded environments require applications to produce outcomes under different, potentially changing, resource constraints. Relaxing application semantics through approximations enables trading off resource usage for outcome quality. Although quality is a highly subjective notion, previous work assumes given, fixed low-level quality metrics that often lack a strong correlation to a user’s higher-level quality experience. Users may also change their minds with respect to their quality expectations depending on the resource budgets they are willing to dedicate to an execution. This motivates the need for an adaptive application framework where users provide execution budgets and a customized quality notion. This article presents a novel adaptive program graph representation that enables user-level, customizable quality based on basic quality aspects defined by application developers. Developers also define application configuration spaces, with possible customization to eliminate undesirable configurations. At runtime, the graph enables the dynamic selection of the configuration with maximal customized quality within the user-provided resource budget. An adaptive application framework based on our novel graph representation has been implemented on Android and Linux platforms and evaluated on eight benchmark programs, four with fully customizable quality. Using custom quality instead of the default quality, users may improve their subjective quality experience value by up to 3.59×, with 1.76× on average under different resource constraints. Developers are able to exploit their application structure knowledge to define configuration spaces that are on average 68.7% smaller as compared to existing, structure-oblivious approaches. The overhead of dynamic reconfiguration averages less than 1.84% of the overall application execution time.

Green Consumerism in Brunei Darussalam

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the relationship of the demographic and socio-psychological determinants on consumers' green purchase behaviours in Brunei Darussalam, with the application framework of the affect-behaviour-cognition (ABC) model. A total of 119 consumers from different backgrounds participated in this study, whereby 113 respondents participated in the online questionnaire, and the other six respondents were interviewed. It is discovered that consumers who are more environmentally conscious are not necessarily likely to purchase green products, but are actually involved in green behaviours. However, in the environmental aspects of awareness, concern, and knowledge, the other factors, monthly income and educational level, did not possess major significance. The product attributes such as price and availability of the green products played a significant role in consumer buying decisions which will lead to the value-action gap phenomenon. Moreover, this study discovered the government is needed to promote and encourage green purchase behaviours in Brunei Darussalam.

EFFECTIVE DECISION SUPPORT IN THE BIG DATA ERA

This study conducts a review and synthesis of the Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A) evolution, applications, frameworks and emerging trends with the aim to provide a summary of core concepts, a succinct but valuable description of main applications and frameworks, and an account of main recommendations for addressing the Big Data challenges and opportunities. It develops an integrated and organized view on the BI&A evolution process and presents an integrated BI&A application framework to help organizations adopt or develop the appropriate BI&A solutions to derive the desired impact in the Big Data era. This paper also elicits a set of practical recommendations to executives and leaders in organizations worldwide for interpreting the BI&A literature and applying the rich body of knowledge for IT practitioners. It traces the BI&A evolution to data-driven discovery and highly proactive and creative decision-making utilizing advanced analytical techniques with unstructured and massive data sources to cope with a highly dynamic global business environment in the Big Data era.

Analysis and Development of KEBI 1.0 Checker Framework as an Application of Indonesian Spelling Error Detection

At educational institutions, especially at University, writing scientific papers is a skill that must be possessed by academics such as educators and students. However, writing scientific papers is not easy, there are many provisions and rules that need to be fulfilled. Several studies show that there are still many academics who make mistakes in writing their scientific papers. Some of the mistakes made include punctuation errors, typographic writing errors and the use of non-standard words in Indonesian. Researchers in Indonesia have developed various spelling error detection applications in Indonesian-language scientific papers. This study tries to analyze the development of an application framework for detecting Indonesian spelling errors from various assessment indicators. This study tries to compare the application framework for detecting spelling errors between other studies with proposed application that named KEBI 1.0 Checker. KEBI 1.0 Checker as a spelling error detection application has 3 main features, namely detecting errors in the use of punctuation marks, writing typography, and using non-standard words in accordance with the standards of the Big Indonesian Dictionary and the General Guidelines for Indonesian Spelling. In addition, this study tries to objectively examine the complexity of the features, advantages and disadvantages, methods and the level of accuracy of each application. The results of the analysis show that KEBI 1.0 Checker has the completeness of features, fast computation time, easy application access, and an attractive user interface. However, it is still necessary to improve the precision in correcting spelling errors in typographic words.

Can Gamification Increase Employee Engagement in a New Zealand Context?

<p>Gamification is the application of game principals in non-game contexts (i.e. the workplace). With unsatisfactory employee engagement in New Zealand, gamification is proposed as a possible solution in this thesis. Theoretically, gamification is linked to self-determination theory which recognises that individuals have innate psychological needs (i.e. relatedness, autonomy, competence). The rewards, status, progress through gamification, potentially provides a pathway to satisfying psychological needs, which when fulfilled can foster engagement. Two research questions in relation to gamification were formulated to structure this thesis: How does gamification impact employee engagement in New Zealand? How can gamification be successfully managed within New Zealand workplaces? Considering that gamification is a relatively new concept within workplaces, the literature gained from an applied search methodology was satisfactory. Four themes and additional content were identified and communicated in relation to gamification and employee engagement. The information extracted from the review was ultimately used to validate and inform an empirical study. Methods to ensure valid research included bracketing, creating an interview schedule, a recruitment plan, and template analysis. In total, twelve in-depth qualitative interviews with employees who had some form of experience with gamification, were conducted for data collection. To ensure high levels of employee engagement there needed to be a managerial ability to eliminate gamesmanship, clarify gamified rules and purpose, and to promote employee input, otherwise engagement levels would suffer. A framework created within this thesis, the “Gamified Perception Framework”, aimed to link managerial actions which equate to both high and low levels of engagement. Employee engagement was also dependent on gamification applications pertaining to employees’ psychological needs. To have high levels of engagement there needed to be applications which satisfied specific psychological needs. If gamification applications could not cater to employees’ psychological needs, it correlated with lower engagement levels. To communicate the utility of gamified applications a framework was created. The “Gamification Application Framework” attempts to illustrate the impact of the four primary applications utilised within workplace gamification. In addition to the discovery of the two variables, a way to commonly assist in gamification structure was deemed unsatisfactory, an alternative way to generate structure was formulated, and gamified engagement was found to not be generation (age) or industry specific. The primary implication of findings was the formulation of a “Five Step Guide to Installing Gamification in New Zealand Workplaces”, aiming to assist managers with workplace gamification. The guide provides a method to answer the second research question within this thesis. The guide’s multi-step nature is a metaphor for the high amount of devotion needed to manage workplace gamification. Complex in the sense of needing to constantly assess, communicate, and implement gamification when necessary. Based on findings, gamification can both increase and decrease employee engagement within New Zealand. However, increased employee engagement would require a lot of dedication entailing a high level of professional commitment. Gamification, with serious devotion, can improve the state of employee engagement within New Zealand.</p>

Can Gamification Increase Employee Engagement in a New Zealand Context?

<p>Gamification is the application of game principals in non-game contexts (i.e. the workplace). With unsatisfactory employee engagement in New Zealand, gamification is proposed as a possible solution in this thesis. Theoretically, gamification is linked to self-determination theory which recognises that individuals have innate psychological needs (i.e. relatedness, autonomy, competence). The rewards, status, progress through gamification, potentially provides a pathway to satisfying psychological needs, which when fulfilled can foster engagement. Two research questions in relation to gamification were formulated to structure this thesis: How does gamification impact employee engagement in New Zealand? How can gamification be successfully managed within New Zealand workplaces? Considering that gamification is a relatively new concept within workplaces, the literature gained from an applied search methodology was satisfactory. Four themes and additional content were identified and communicated in relation to gamification and employee engagement. The information extracted from the review was ultimately used to validate and inform an empirical study. Methods to ensure valid research included bracketing, creating an interview schedule, a recruitment plan, and template analysis. In total, twelve in-depth qualitative interviews with employees who had some form of experience with gamification, were conducted for data collection. To ensure high levels of employee engagement there needed to be a managerial ability to eliminate gamesmanship, clarify gamified rules and purpose, and to promote employee input, otherwise engagement levels would suffer. A framework created within this thesis, the “Gamified Perception Framework”, aimed to link managerial actions which equate to both high and low levels of engagement. Employee engagement was also dependent on gamification applications pertaining to employees’ psychological needs. To have high levels of engagement there needed to be applications which satisfied specific psychological needs. If gamification applications could not cater to employees’ psychological needs, it correlated with lower engagement levels. To communicate the utility of gamified applications a framework was created. The “Gamification Application Framework” attempts to illustrate the impact of the four primary applications utilised within workplace gamification. In addition to the discovery of the two variables, a way to commonly assist in gamification structure was deemed unsatisfactory, an alternative way to generate structure was formulated, and gamified engagement was found to not be generation (age) or industry specific. The primary implication of findings was the formulation of a “Five Step Guide to Installing Gamification in New Zealand Workplaces”, aiming to assist managers with workplace gamification. The guide provides a method to answer the second research question within this thesis. The guide’s multi-step nature is a metaphor for the high amount of devotion needed to manage workplace gamification. Complex in the sense of needing to constantly assess, communicate, and implement gamification when necessary. Based on findings, gamification can both increase and decrease employee engagement within New Zealand. However, increased employee engagement would require a lot of dedication entailing a high level of professional commitment. Gamification, with serious devotion, can improve the state of employee engagement within New Zealand.</p>

Evaluating the GO Programming Language with Design Patterns

<p>GO is a new object-oriented programming language developed at Google by Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, and others. GO has the potential to become a major programming language. GO deserves an evaluation. Design patterns document reoccurring problems and their solutions. The problems presented are programming language independent. Their solutions, however, are dependent on features programming languages provide. In this thesis we use design patterns to evaluate GO. We discuss GO features that help or hinder implementing design patterns, and present a pattern catalogue of all 23 Gang-of-Four design patterns with GO specific solutions. Furthermore, we present GoHotDraw, a GO port of the pattern dense drawing application framework JHotDraw. We discuss design and implementation differences between the two frameworks with regards to GO.</p>

Evaluating the GO Programming Language with Design Patterns

<p>GO is a new object-oriented programming language developed at Google by Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, and others. GO has the potential to become a major programming language. GO deserves an evaluation. Design patterns document reoccurring problems and their solutions. The problems presented are programming language independent. Their solutions, however, are dependent on features programming languages provide. In this thesis we use design patterns to evaluate GO. We discuss GO features that help or hinder implementing design patterns, and present a pattern catalogue of all 23 Gang-of-Four design patterns with GO specific solutions. Furthermore, we present GoHotDraw, a GO port of the pattern dense drawing application framework JHotDraw. We discuss design and implementation differences between the two frameworks with regards to GO.</p>