Search results

For aiding computer security experts in their study, log files are a crucial piece of information. Especially the time domain is very important for us because in most cases, timestamps are the only linking points between events caused by attackers, faulty systems or simple errors and their corresponding entries in log files. With the idea of storing and analyzing this log information in graph databases, we need a suitable model to store and connect timestamps and their events. This paper aims to find and evaluate different approaches how to store timestamps in graph databases and their individual benefits and drawbacks.

We analyse three different approaches, how timestamp information can be represented and stored in graph databases. For checking the models, we set up four typical questions that are important for log file analysis and tested them for each of the models. During the evaluation, we used the performance and other properties as metrics, how suitable each of the models is for representing the log files’ timestamp information. In the last part, we try to improve one promising looking model.

We come to the conclusion, that the simplest model with the least graph database-specific concepts in use is also the one yielding the simplest and fastest queries.

Limitations to this research are that only one graph database was studied and also improvements to the query engine might change future results.

In the study, we addressed the issue of storing timestamps in graph databases in a meaningful, practical and efficient way. The results can be used as a pattern for similar scenarios and applications.

The quality of interaction between learners and online content is one of the imperative factors in determining the efficacy of web-based teaching-learning towards the creation and maintenance of sustainable learning communities. Interaction with content is an internal dialogue of reflective thought that occurs between learner and the substance. Interaction is often triggered and supported by events in the learning environment – focusing on how the learner interacts with what is to be learned.

This paper looks at the difference in learners' interaction on the online Learning Management System (LMS) of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Based on a framework developed for investigating learners' interaction with online content in Wawasan Open University, data from the LMS log and activity database was extracted. The data is then analyzed based on the pattern and behavior of learners' interaction with the online content of the courses. Further analysis is done by transcribing the discussions and exchanges of teacher and learners within the online forums, specifically investigating the dimension, depth and category of exchanges that occurred. Based on the findings, several recommendations are made to enhance the design and delivery of web-based content, aiming at maximizing the efficacy of the online learning environment of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in open distance learning (ODL).

The purpose of this study is to design and implement an intelligent online proctoring system (IOPS) by using the advantage of artificial intelligence technology in order to monitor the online exam, which is urgently needed in online learning settings worldwide. As a pilot application, the authors used this system in an authentic university online exam and checked the proctoring result.

The IOPS adopts the B/S (Browser/Server) architecture. The server side is implemented with programming language C and Python and stores the identification data of all examinees and their important behavior change status, including facial expression, eye and mouth movement and speech. The browser side collects and analyzes multimodal data of the examinee writing the online test locally and transfers the examinee’s most important behavior status change data to the server. Real-time face recognition and voice detection are implemented with the support of open-source software.

The system was integrated into a Web-based intelligent tutoring system for school mathematics education. As a pilot application, the system was also used for online proctored exam in an undergraduate seminar in Peking University during the epidemic period in 2020. The recorded log data show that all students concentrated themselves on the exam and did not leave the camera and did not speak.

During the epidemic period of the novel coronavirus outbreak, almost all educational institutions in the world use online learning as the best way to maintain the teaching and learning schedule for all students. However, current online instruction platforms lack the function to prevent the learners from cheating in online exams and cannot guarantee the integrity and equality for all examinees as in traditional classroom exams. The literature review shows that the online proctoring system should become an important component of online exams to tackle the growing online cheating problem. Although such proctoring systems have been developed and put on the market, the practical usage of such systems in authentic exams and its effect have not been reported. Those systems are heavyweight and commercial product and cannot be freely used in education. The light-weight IOPS developed by the authors could meet the need for online exam as a stable and practical approach and could contribute to the growing online learning and distance learning.

This study aims to investigate customers’ churning out of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, one of the most prevalent forms of IT convergence.

Based on the review of current literature, a research model is introduced to depict the effects of select independent variables on customer churning behavior. First of all, the two groups are compared in terms of predictor variables, including switching barriers, voice of customer (VOC), membership period and degree of contents usage. Then, a curvilinear regression was applied to understand the association relationship between the level of IPTV contents usage and variables of switching barriers, VOC and membership period. Third, a logit regression was performed to predict customer churning through the variables of switching barriers, VOC, membership period and level of IPTV contents usage.

Through the empirical analysis, this study analyzed the factors affecting customer churning behavior of IPTV service providers based on switching barriers, VOC and contents usage.

Although several studies on IPTV have been undertaken globally, they have largely depended on self-reporting surveys to examine dynamics between antecedent variables and IPTV performance in terms of customer satisfaction, usage intension and customer retention. This empirical study is performed to understand influential factors of IPTV service defection through the weblog analysis of 3,906 service users, who represented both service defectors and non-defectors during a specific month.

This article examines the links between average city size, fiscal decentralisation, and national economic growth in 33 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

The data in this paper comprise an unbalanced panel dataset which contains economic growth indicators, average city size, fiscal decentralisation indicators and control variables in 33 OECD member countries from 1975 to 2015 in five-year intervals. Fixed-effects (FE) estimators are used for the analysis.

This research finds i) countries with larger weighted average city sizes have higher economic growth, ii) countries with greater fiscal decentralisation have higher economic growth, but iii) countries with larger weighted average city sizes with greater decentralisation have lower rates of economic growth.

The research highlights the importance of agglomerations and decentralised governance and management for economic growth. While the findings are consistent with previous evidence that larger city sizes and fiscal decentralisation are separately associated with higher rates of economic growth, the authors find countries which have larger cities and greater fiscal decentralisation experience lower rates of economic growth highlighting a need for caution on decentralisation agendas in such cases. The implications of this suggest policymakers should proceed with caution on decentralisation agendas in countries with large cities.

This paper aims to empirically verify the impact of the mandatory dividend law on the investment of publicly traded companies.

The sample includes 212,595 observations from publicly traded companies from 47 different countries over the period from 2000 to 2016. The authors estimated a regression model by panel data methods to show the impact of the mandatory dividend on firm’s investment, more specifically in their sensitivities of investment to cash flow and to growth opportunities. In addition, the average treatment effect on the treated was estimated through sample matching.

The results indicate that the mandatory dividend have a direct and indirect impact on corporate investment.

Legislators and economic agents can use the results of the present research to evaluate the continuity or implementation of this legal mechanism (mandatory dividend) to evaluate economic moments favorable to its use or to create different legal rules to smooth the impact of this mechanism on the investment of companies.

This paper analyses the research in Library and Information Science (LIS) and reports on (1) the status of LIS research in 2015 and (2) on the evolution of LIS research longitudinally from 1965 to 2015.

The study employs a quantitative intellectual content analysis of articles published in 30+ scholarly LIS journals, following the design by Tuomaala et al. (2014). In the content analysis, we classify articles along eight dimensions covering topical content and methodology.

The topical findings indicate that the earlier strong LIS emphasis on L&I services has declined notably, while scientific and professional communication has become the most popular topic. Information storage and retrieval has given up its earlier strong position towards the end of the years analyzed. Individuals are increasingly the units of observation. End-user's and developer's viewpoints have strengthened at the cost of intermediaries' viewpoint. LIS research is methodologically increasingly scattered since survey, scientometric methods, experiment, case studies and qualitative studies have all gained in popularity. Consequently, LIS may have become more versatile in the analysis of its research objects during the years analyzed.

Among quantitative intellectual content analyses of LIS research, the study is unique in its scope: length of analysis period (50 years), width (8 dimensions covering topical content and methodology) and depth (the annual batch of 30+ scholarly journals).