Search results

There has been a lack of meaningful information systems architecture, which comprehensively conceptualise the essential components and functionality of an information system for fire emergency response addressing needs of different job roles. The purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive information systems architecture which would best support four of the key firefighter job roles.

The study has built on the outcomes of two previous preliminary studies on information and human-computer interaction needs of core firefighter job roles. Scenario-based action research was conducted with firefighters in a range of roles, to evaluate human-computer interaction needs while using various technology platforms.

Several key themes were identified and led us to propose several layers of an integrated architecture, their composition and interactions.

The selected fire scenarios may not represent every type of fire expected in high-risk built environments.

The current paper represents a shared discussion between end users, system architects and designers, to understand and improve essential components. It therefore provides a reference point for the development of information system architecture for fire emergency response.

The proposed information system architecture is novel because it outlines specific architectural elements required to meet the specific situation awareness needs of different firefighters job roles.

This study aims to fabricate and manipulate ensemble spin of negative nitrogen-vacancy (NV⁻) centres optimally for future solid atomic magnetometers/gyroscope. Parameters for sample preparation most related to magnetometers/gyroscope are, in particular, the concentration and homogeneity of the NV⁻ centres, the parameters’ microwave antenna of resonance frequency and the strength of the microwave on NV⁻ centres. Besides, the abundance of other impurities such as neutral NV centres (NV⁰) and substitutional nitrogen in the lattice also plays a critical role in magnetic sensing.

The authors succeeded in fabricating the assembly of NV centres in diamond and they determined its concentration of (2-3) × 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ with irradiation followed by annealing under a high temperature condition. They explored a novel magnetic resonance approach to detect the weak magnetic fields that takes advantage of the solid-state electron ensemble spin of NV⁻ centres in diamond. In particular, the authors set up a magnetic sensor on the basis of the assembly of NV centres. They succeeded in fabricating the assembly of NV centres in diamond and determined its concentration. They also clarified the magnetic field intensity measured at different positions along the antenna with different lengths, and they found the optimal position where the signal of the magnetic field reaches the maximum.

The authors mainly reported preparation, initialization, manipulation and measurement of the ensemble spin of the NV centres in diamond using optical excitation and microwave radiation methods with variation of the external magnetic field. They determined the optimal parameters of irradiation and annealing to generate the ensemble NV centres, and a concentration of NV⁻ centres as high as 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ in diamond was obtained. In addition, they found that sensitivity of the magnetometer using this method can reach as low as 5.22 µT/Hz currently.

This research can shed light on the development of an atomic magnetometer and a gyroscope on the basis of the ensemble spin of NV centres in diamond.

High concentration spin of NV⁻ in diamond is one of the advantages compared with that of the atomic vapor cells, because it can obtain a higher concentration. When increasing the spin concentration, the spin signal is easy to detect, and macro-atomic spin magnetometer become possible. This research is the first step for solid atomic magnetometers with high spin density and high sensitivity potentially with further optimization. It has a wide range of applications from fundamental physics tests, sensor applications and navigation to detection of NMR signals.

As has been pointed out, in this research, the authors mainly worked on fabricating NV⁻ centres with high concentration (10¹⁵-10¹⁶ cm⁻³) in diamond by using optimal irradiation and annealing processes, and they quantitatively defined the NV⁻ concentration, which is important for the design of higher concentration processes in the magnetometer and gyroscope. Until now, few groups can directly define the NV⁻ concentration. Besides, the authors optimized the microwave antenna parameters experimentally and explored the dependence between the splitting of the magnetic resonance and the magnetic fields, which dictated the minimum detectable magnetic field.

The main subject of the research is to study the internet banking quality dimensions that affect customer satisfaction from the consumer and provider perspectives. This bridges the gap between theory and practice which is part from contributing to the body of knowledge, thus improve the service quality dimensions to attain better quality of life. The aim of this study is to investigate how do users perceive e-banking quality dimensions in terms of their importance; how do decision makers in banks perceive and provide e-banking quality dimensions; whether each quality dimension directly affect users satisfaction of the service.

Structured questionnaires were randomly distributed over 300 bank clients, 133 valid questionnaires were returned. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS. Two key decision makers at the were interviewed to get the broader picture, where data were interpretively analyzed.

Results were integrated allowing authors to show that service quality has significant effect on customer satisfaction. bank could be considered a success story that provides a guide line for decision makers in banks that are less fortunate in providing high service quality, thus help them better address their customers’ needs.

The main limitation of this paper is that the research was conducted at one bank and thus a more comprehensive study, involving other banks in the industry could enable research generalize results.

This paper provides a valuable stakeholder analysis regarding e-banking service quality dimensions as viewed and ranked by service providers and users.

This paper aims to solve the facility location problem of mobility industry call centers comprehensively, considering both investment efficiency and long-term development efficiency.

In this paper, a two-phase decision-making approach within a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework has been proposed to help select optimal locations among various alternate locations. Both quantitative and qualitative information is collected and processed based on fuzzy set theory and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. Then the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution method is incorporated in the framework to assess the overall feasibility of all alternates.

A real case of a mobility giant in China is applied to verify the effectiveness of the proposed framework. Sensitivity analysis also proves the robustness of the framework.

This two-phase MCDM framework allows the mobility industry call center location to be selected considering economic, human resource and sustainability elements comprehensively. The framework proposed in this paper might be applicable to other companies in the mobility industry when deciding optimal locations of call centers.

This paper explores how the student movement in Taiwan transformed after the abolition of martial law. After democratization, there were three large-scale student protests, in 1990, 2008 and 2014. This paper explores the development through this period of student movement organizations, issues and interrelations between organizations and individuals.

The study of the process of transformation and development is based on an analysis of newspaper and magazine articles and books about the student movement. To provide an insider's view, magazines, statements and meeting memos written by activists are also included.

As a legacy of the student movement in the 1980s, the 1990 Wild Lily protest advocated democratization and organized a cross-school alliance. This pattern declined, however, because it proved hard to recruit participants after democratization. Instead, student activists returned to education-related issues, and the scale of student organizations remained small. The 2008 Wild Strawberry protest was carried out by autonomous, self-organized groups, which reflected the emergence of individuals as activists. Afterward, student movement organizations attempted to create multiple networks consisted of various issues and participants. These groups built solidarity by cooperating on education and political issues and became the base for the 2014 Sunflower protest.

This paper explores the rarely described historical context for the student movement between large-scale student protests in Taiwan and provides a more comprehensive understanding of the interrelation of organizations and individuals in contemporary social movements.

Based on the survey data of 1,152 households in three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia on the Loess Plateau, this paper aims to empirically analyze the impact of aging and off-farm employment on farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology. This paper analyzes the moderating effect of social network and the mediating effect of technological cognition in this impact relationship.

Based on the above analysis, the second part of this paper is based on relevant theories and constructs a theoretical model of the relationship of aging, off-farm employment, social network, technology cognition and farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology. The third part introduces research methods, variable selection and descriptive statistics analysis of variables. The fourth part, based on the data of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces in the Loess Plateau in 2016, empirically analyzes the impact of aging, off-farm employment and social network on the farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology. This paper further examines the moderating effect of social network and the mediating effect of technology cognition in this influence relationship. Finally, based on the findings of the empirical study, this paper puts forward countermeasures and suggestions.

First, aging and off-farm employment have a significant negative impact on farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology, while social network has a significant positive effect. Second, social network has alleviated the effect of aging and off-farm employment on restraining farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology. Third, aging and off-farm employment have restrained farmers’ cognition of soil and water conservation technology. Social network has promoted farmers’ cognition of soil and water conservation technology. Social network plays a moderating role in the impact of aging and off-farm employment on farmers’ cognition of soil and water conservation technology. Technology cognition plays a mediating role in the impact of social network on farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology.

This paper integrates the aging, off-farm employment and social network into the same analytical framework and reveals their impact on farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology and its action mechanism, which enriches the impact of human capital and social network on farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology. Then taking the social network as a moderator variable, the paper verifies its moderating effect on the relationship of aging, off-farm employment and farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology. Farmers’ technology cognition should be included in the analysis framework to examine the impact of aging, off-farm employment and social network on farmers’ cognition of soil and water conservation technology. Taking the technology cognition as a mediator variable, the paper verifies its mediating effect on the relationship of aging, off-farm employment and farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology.

This paper aims to explore the influence of social support and the repatriation intention of expatriates in international constructions in the postpandemic era of COVID-19. Furthermore, test the mediation effect of team climate and individual resilience in this relationship.

A survey of 347 expatriates in international construction projects was conducted. A cross-level chain mediation model was employed to test the moderating effect of social support and repatriation intention. Then, statistical analysis with a bootstrap sample was used to test the mediation effect of the model.

The empirical results support that team climate, individual resilience and the chain mediating effect of team climate to individual resilience is significant among the influences of social support on repatriation intention. Social support can enhance the team climate of construction expatriates, promoting their resilience to reduce the repatriation intention further.

This study provides guidelines for international construction enterprises and managers to decide when and which expatriates should return home and formulate a series of policies to support expatriates and maintain a good team climate.

This study contributes to expatriate management literature by establishing the relationship between social support and repatriation intention. It provides a better understanding of how team-level factors impact individual thought. It takes team climate as one of the protective factors affecting individual psychological resilience. Also it takes social support as the antecedents of team atmosphere in case of emergencies.

The purpose of this study is to investigate Koreans' preferences for FCDM versus SDM and explored the influence of Asian cultural values on decision-making in the context of managing chronic illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Shared decision-making (SDM) emphasizes collaboration between providers and service recipients to decide on the best treatment options. However, it may not fully account for the role of families in managing chronic illness, particularly for people from Eastern cultural backgrounds who value active participation from their families in decisions. In response, family-centered decision-making (FCDM) has been proposed as an alternative approach. Using a vignette experiment design, data (n = 316) were collected from Koreans in the US and in Korea who were randomly presented with either SDM or FCDM processes for reaching T2DM treatment decisions. In addition to demographic information, participants reported on three dimensions of their decision-making experience: satisfaction, perceived effectiveness, and perspective-taking. They also rated their Asian cultural values and familiarity with T2DM. Results show better satisfaction, perceived effectiveness, and perspective taking for FCDM compared to SDM when examined in context of treatment types and perceived illness severity. Moderation effects were found for familiarity of illness, with familiarity effects varying by perceived severity. Study findings provided some evidence in favor of FCDM in Asian communities addressing the disabilities and chronic illness of a family member. Although the current study investigated treatment decisions for T2DM during doctor's visits, FCDM has shown potential to be applied in other service settings.

This paper aims to investigate adolescent English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ digitally mediated multimodal compositions across different genres of writing.

Three Korean high school students participated in the study and created multiple multimodal texts over the course of one academic semester. These texts and other materials were the basis for this study’s qualitative case studies. Multiple sources of data (e.g. class observations, demographic surveys, interviews, field notes and students’ artifacts) were collected. Drawing upon the inductive approach, a coding-oriented analysis was used for the collected data. In addition, a multimodal text analysis was conducted for the students’ multimodal texts and their storyboards.

The study participants’ perceptions of multimodal composing practices seemed to be positively reshaped as a result of them creating multimodal texts. Some participants created multimodal products in phases (e.g. selecting or changing a topic, constructing a storyboard and editing). Especially, although the students’ creative processes had a similarly fixed and linear flow from print-based writing to other modalities, their creative processes proved to be flexible, recursive and/or circular.

This study contributes to the understanding of adolescent English language learners’ multimodal composing practices in the EFL context, which has been underexplored in the literature. It also presents the students’ perspectives on these practices. In short, it provides theoretical and methodological grounds for future L2 literacy researchers to conduct empirical studies on multimodal composing practices.