Consumer-centric factors for the implementation of smart meters in South Africa

Smart meter implementation is still in its infancy in many African countries, including South Africa. This is evident from the fact that most research studies are either Eurocentric or American-centric. Hence, this research aimed to identify consumer-centric factors for planning considerations in implementation of smart meters in South Africa. We used various behavioural theoretical models found in literature to identify potential factors relevant to this study. Based on quantitatively gathered data (n = 705), a structural equation model (SEM) was used to evaluate the identified factors. This study found that only ten consumer-centric factors were significant to smart meter consumers. These factors include behavioural intention, attitude, trust in technology, social norms, facilitating conditions, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, privacy risk, monetary cost, and perceived value. In conclusion, the study shows that not all factors suggested within the European and American context are relevant for smart meter implementation within the South African context. Hence, results of this study hold some practical implications in assisting utility companies in identifying consumer-centric factors that are relevant to the South African population. Finally, consumer-centric factors can be used by policy makers and energy regulators as baseline factors for future pervasive technology acceptance studies.

Design of Socioenactive Systems Based on Physiological Sensors and Robot Behavior in Educational Environments

Computational systems based on ubiquitous and pervasive technology present several challenges related to the interaction of people with scenarios constituted by sensors and actuators, changing the mindset of what we used to understand as interaction with a computer. This also has influence in the ways of considering the design of systems based on contemporary technology for the educational context. To cope with the challenges of ubiquitous computing, the concept of socioenactive system is being constructed as a system in which human and technological aspects are coupled together in a cycle of perceptually guided actions of people interacting with elements of the physical environment and with other people in the same scenario. In this work we address the design of a socioenactive system as an evolution of two previous systems designed and experimented with 5-year-old children in an educational context. The contribution of this paper is twofold: 1. We present an analysis of two different systems tested in educational scenarios, pointing out the lack of elements that should be present in a complete cycle of socioenactive systems, suggesting requirements for a third system; 2. We present an architecture for the third system and a simulation of its usage. Results of the third system and its simulation inform the next activities of bringing it to real life in a practice proposed for the same audience and context as the previous systems.

The Influence of Trust and Knowledge Sharing on Virtual Team Effectiveness

<p>Virtual teams are a growing response to increased de-centralisation and globalization, and the need for organizations to adapt to an ever changing and complex work environment. Their growing prevalence reflects many different factors, including the increased global reach of many organizations, changing workforce demographics, and heightened competitive pressures requiring greater organizational flexibility and responsiveness. This phenomenon has grown rapidly in recent years through advancements and greater access to technologies for communication and collaboration. Organizations however are being challenged with understanding what makes these virtual teams effective and how to measure the achievement of such effectiveness. Combined with the convergence of telephony and data technologies this has enabled voice and video to be delivered ‘on demand’ at a far more affordable price to the end consumer. With the added dynamic of ‘mobile’ becoming such a pervasive technology, this is providing the fuel driving the establishment of greater numbers of virtual teams. We now live in an increasingly “connected world” and with the blurring of work and leisure time, for many, virtual teams have already or are becoming a natural extension of the workplace. Individuals are demanding personal flexibility in the management of their time and space and this is matched by organizations seeking flexibility to scale resources in meeting changing demand. Virtual teams may also be seen as a response to satisfying changing social and organizational aspirations. A range of factors are seen as contributing to the effectiveness of virtual teams and these include technology, trust, sharing of knowledge, empowerment and leadership. This study focuses on trust as a primary factor in achieving virtual team effectiveness, and assesses the significance of trust and the sharing of knowledge amongst team members. Trust determines how people work together, listen to one another, and build effective relationships. When people believe that they are working for trustworthy organizations, they are willing to invest their time and talents in making a difference in an organization. People who feel more connected will invest more of themselves in their work. High trust levels lead to a greater sense of self responsibility, greater interpersonal insight, and more collective action toward achieving common goals. However, with a lack of face-to-face contact, trust based on performance substitutes for trust based on social interaction. Trust is a cornerstone to achieving virtual team effectiveness and from an organizational perspective this highlights the need for regular communication with team members to reinforce the culture and values of the organization. In the age of the knowledge economy, knowledge is seen as a critical resource for competitive advantage. The willingness of team members to share knowledge with others on the team can be attributed to the strength of the trust relationship and this further enhances virtual team effectiveness. The challenges for organizations are to understand what level of trust exists across the team, how this impacts on team effectiveness and to be able to apply interventions when seeking to increase team effectiveness. Active and regular communications programmes, internal marketing campaigns and short surveys are approaches for developing and enhancing the trust relationship. Organizations that are unwilling or unable to use virtual teams may find themselves losing out in an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing global economic and social environment. The technology and communication advances are clear, yet enabling effective participation and team collaboration is a more complex problem.</p>

The Influence of Trust and Knowledge Sharing on Virtual Team Effectiveness

<p>Virtual teams are a growing response to increased de-centralisation and globalization, and the need for organizations to adapt to an ever changing and complex work environment. Their growing prevalence reflects many different factors, including the increased global reach of many organizations, changing workforce demographics, and heightened competitive pressures requiring greater organizational flexibility and responsiveness. This phenomenon has grown rapidly in recent years through advancements and greater access to technologies for communication and collaboration. Organizations however are being challenged with understanding what makes these virtual teams effective and how to measure the achievement of such effectiveness. Combined with the convergence of telephony and data technologies this has enabled voice and video to be delivered ‘on demand’ at a far more affordable price to the end consumer. With the added dynamic of ‘mobile’ becoming such a pervasive technology, this is providing the fuel driving the establishment of greater numbers of virtual teams. We now live in an increasingly “connected world” and with the blurring of work and leisure time, for many, virtual teams have already or are becoming a natural extension of the workplace. Individuals are demanding personal flexibility in the management of their time and space and this is matched by organizations seeking flexibility to scale resources in meeting changing demand. Virtual teams may also be seen as a response to satisfying changing social and organizational aspirations. A range of factors are seen as contributing to the effectiveness of virtual teams and these include technology, trust, sharing of knowledge, empowerment and leadership. This study focuses on trust as a primary factor in achieving virtual team effectiveness, and assesses the significance of trust and the sharing of knowledge amongst team members. Trust determines how people work together, listen to one another, and build effective relationships. When people believe that they are working for trustworthy organizations, they are willing to invest their time and talents in making a difference in an organization. People who feel more connected will invest more of themselves in their work. High trust levels lead to a greater sense of self responsibility, greater interpersonal insight, and more collective action toward achieving common goals. However, with a lack of face-to-face contact, trust based on performance substitutes for trust based on social interaction. Trust is a cornerstone to achieving virtual team effectiveness and from an organizational perspective this highlights the need for regular communication with team members to reinforce the culture and values of the organization. In the age of the knowledge economy, knowledge is seen as a critical resource for competitive advantage. The willingness of team members to share knowledge with others on the team can be attributed to the strength of the trust relationship and this further enhances virtual team effectiveness. The challenges for organizations are to understand what level of trust exists across the team, how this impacts on team effectiveness and to be able to apply interventions when seeking to increase team effectiveness. Active and regular communications programmes, internal marketing campaigns and short surveys are approaches for developing and enhancing the trust relationship. Organizations that are unwilling or unable to use virtual teams may find themselves losing out in an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing global economic and social environment. The technology and communication advances are clear, yet enabling effective participation and team collaboration is a more complex problem.</p>

The teaching of computer ethics on computer science and related degree programmes. a European survey

Within the Computer Science community, many ethical issues have emerged as significant and critical concerns. Computer ethics is an academic field in its own right and there are unique ethical issues associated with information technology. It encompasses a range of issues and concerns including privacy and agency around personal information, Artificial Intelligence and pervasive technology, the Internet of Things and surveillance applications. As computing technology impacts society at an ever growing pace, there are growing calls for more computer ethics content to be included in Computer Science curricula. In this paper we present the results of a survey that polled faculty from Computer Science and related disciplines about teaching practices for computer ethics at their institutions. The survey was completed by respondents from 61 universities across 23 European countries. Participants were surveyed on whether or not computer ethics is taught to Computer Science students at each institution, the reasons why computer ethics is or is not taught, how computer ethics is taught, the background of staff who teach computer ethics and the scope of computer ethics curricula. This paper presents and discusses the results of the survey.

“Smart Home Sweet Smart Home”

Technology acceptance in private spaces has not received much attention, although users' behaviour may be different due to the space in which usage takes place. To address this gap, the present study proposed a model exploring individuals' values, users' perception of technology performance and attitudinal beliefs in relation to use behaviour and satisfaction when using smart technologies in their homes. The study employed a sample of 422 participants in the USA. Structural equation modelling was utilised to test the proposed hypotheses. The model provided robust results explaining factors underpinning the use of pervasive technology in private settings. Specifically, the study showed that hedonic and utilitarian beliefs are critical for the perception of task fit, whereas privacy and financial factors were found to be not significant. The fit between tasks and technology demonstrated a significant role in predicting perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, use behaviour, and satisfaction. Lastly, use behaviour showed a positive correlation with satisfaction.

Evolution of existing software to mobile computing platforms: Framework support and case study

Mobile computing as ubiquitous and pervasive technology supports portable and context-aware computation. To date, there exist a significant number of traditional computing systems–running on the web and/or workstation-based platforms–that lack features of mobile computing, including but not limited to ubiquity, context-sensing, and high interactivity. Software that executes on these traditional computing systems is referred to as legacy software that can be upgraded to exploit the features of mobile technologies. However, legacy software may contain critical data, logic, and processes that cannot be easily replaced. One of the solutions is to evolve legacy software systems by (a) upgrading their functionality while (b) preserving their data and logic. Recently research and development efforts are focused on modernizing the legacy systems as per the needs of service and cloud-based platforms. However, there does not exist any research that supports a systematic modernization of legacy software as per the requirements of the mobile platforms. We propose a framework named Legacy-to-Mobile as a solution that supports an incremental and process-driven evolution of the legacy software to mobile computing software. The proposed Legacy-to-Mobile framework unifies the concepts of software reverse engineering (recovering software artifacts) and software change (upgrading software artifacts) to support the legacy evolution. The framework follows an incremental approach with four processes that include (i) evolution planning, (ii) architecture modeling, (iii) architecture change, and (iv) software validation of mobile computing software. The framework provides the foundation (as part of futuristic research) to develop a tool prototype that supports automation and user decision support for incremental and process-driven evolution of legacy software to mobile computing platforms.

Introduction to Machine Learning for Chemists: An Undergraduate Course Using Python Notebooks for Visualization, Data Processing, Data Analysis, and Data Modeling

Machine Learning, a subdomain of Artificial intelligence, is a pervasive technology that would mold how chemists interact with data. Therefore, it is a relevant skill to incorporate into the toolbox of any chemistry student. This work presents a course that introduces machine learning for chemistry students based on a set of Python Notebooks and assignments. Python language, one of the most popular programming languages, allows for free software and resources, which ensures availability. The course is constructed for students without previous experience in programming, leading to an incremental progression in depth and complexity that covers both programming and machine learning concepts. The examples used are related to real data from physicochemical characterizations of wines, producing an attractive material that captures the interest of students. Topics included are Introduction to Python, Basic Statistics, Data Visualization and Dimension Reduction, Classification, and Regression.

Introduction to Machine Learning for Chemists: An Undergraduate Course Using Python Notebooks for Visualization, Data Processing, Data Analysis, and Data Modeling

Machine Learning, a subdomain of Artificial intelligence, is a pervasive technology that would mold how chemists interact with data. Therefore, it is a relevant skill to incorporate into the toolbox of any chemistry student. This work presents a course that introduces machine learning for chemistry students based on a set of Python Notebooks and assignments. Python language, one of the most popular programming languages, allows for free software and resources, which ensures availability. The course is constructed for students without previous experience in programming, leading to an incremental progression in depth and complexity that covers both programming and machine learning concepts. The examples used are related to real data from physicochemical characterizations of wines, producing an attractive material that captures the interest of students. Topics included are Introduction to Python, Basic Statistics, Data Visualization and Dimension Reduction, Classification, and Regression.