Model and performance of a no-reference quality assessment metric for video streaming

Video streaming via Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) networks has become a popular and highly demanded service, but its quality assessment in both objective and subjective terms has not been properly addressed. In this paper, based on statistical analysis a full analytic model of a no-reference objective metric, namely pause intensity (PI), for video quality assessment is presented. The model characterizes the video playout buffer behavior in connection with the network performance (throughput) and the video playout rate. This allows for instant quality measurement and control without requiring a reference video. PI specifically addresses the need for assessing the quality issue in terms of the continuity in the playout of TCP streaming videos, which cannot be properly measured by other objective metrics such as peak signal-to-noise-ratio, structural similarity, and buffer underrun or pause frequency. The performance of the analytical model is rigidly verified by simulation results and subjective tests using a range of video clips. It is demonstrated that PI is closely correlated with viewers' opinion scores regardless of the vastly different composition of individual elements, such as pause duration and pause frequency which jointly constitute this new quality metric. It is also shown that the correlation performance of PI is consistent and content independent. © 2013 IEEE.

The role of government research establishments : a study of the concept of public patronage for applied research and development

This thesis follows the argument that, to fully understand the current position of national research laboratories in Great Britain one needs to study the historical development of the government research establishment as a specific social institution. A particular model is outlined in which it is argued that institutional characteristics evolve through the continual interplay between internal development and environmental factors within a changing political and economic context, and that the continuous development of an institution depends on its ability to adapt to changes in its operational environment. Within this framework important historical precedents for formal government institutional support for applied research are identified. and the transition from private to public patronage documented. The emergence and consolidation of government research laboratories in Britain is described in detail. The subsequent relative decline of public laboratories is interpreted in terms of the undermining of a traditional role resulting in legitimation crisis. It is concluded that it is no longer feasible to consider the public research laboratory as a coherent institutional form, and that the future of each individual laboratory can only be considered in relation to the institutional needs of its own sphere of operation. Nevertheless the laboratories have been forced into decline in an essentially unplanned way which may have serious consequences for the maintenance of the scientific and technical infrastructures, necessary for material progress in the national context.

Political leadership:character and performance. A comparative analysis of British political leadership, 1997-2010.

Classical and contemporary scholarship on leadership has referred to political performance and the ability of political actors to deploy the self to political purpose. Literature on contemporary British politics (Hennessy, 2001; Marquand, 2008, King, 2009) has highlighted the qualitative shift in political leadership from the mid-1990s towards a focus upon the image, style, celebrity and performance of political leaders, and the shift towards the presidentialisation or semi-presidentialisation of the prime minister (Foley, 2001). However, the literature has lacked a focus upon political performance and a methodology for assessing leadership performance within cultural and institutional contexts. This thesis assesses British political leadership performance from 1997-2010 through the proposal of a framework of political performance to suit comparative purpose. The framework consisting of culture, institutions and performance is used to assess the performance of the case studies (Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, and Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the televised Leaders’ Debates of 2010). The application of the framework to the case studies will allow us to a) analyse political performance within given cultural and institutional contexts; b) establish the character traits and other aspects of a politician’s political persona; and c) appraise the role and effects of performance and persona upon the political process.

HRM systems, internal marketing and performance in Indian call centres:full research report ESRC end of award report, RES-000-22-1876

Considering the rapid growth of call centres (CCs) in India, its implications for businesses in the UK and a scarcity of research on human resource management (HRM) related issues in Indian CCs, this research has two main aims. First, to highlight the nature of HRM systems relevant to Indian call centres. Second, to understand the significance of internal marketing (IM) in influencing the frontline employees’ job-related attitudes and performance. Rewards being an important component of IM, the relationships between different types of rewards as part of an IM strategy, attitudes and performance of employees in Indian CCs will also be examined. Further, the research will investigate which type of commitment mediates the link between rewards and performance and why. The data collection will be via two phases. The first phase would involve a series of in-depth interviews with both the managers and employees to understand the functioning of CCs, and development of suitable HRM systems for the Indian context. The second phase would involve data collection through questionnaires distributed to the frontline employees and supervisors to examine the relationships among IM, employee attitudes and performance. Such an investigation is expected to contribute to development of better theory and practice.

HRM systems, internal marketing and performance in Indian call centres:non-technical summary (Research summary) ESRC end of award report, RES-000-22-1876. Swindon: ESRC

Considering the rapid growth of call centres (CCs) in India, its implications for businesses in the UK and a scarcity of research on human resource management (HRM) related issues in Indian CCs, this research has two main aims. First, to highlight the nature of HRM systems relevant to Indian call centres. Second, to understand the significance of internal marketing (IM) in influencing the frontline employees’ job-related attitudes and performance. Rewards being an important component of IM, the relationships between different types of rewards as part of an IM strategy, attitudes and performance of employees in Indian CCs will also be examined. Further, the research will investigate which type of commitment mediates the link between rewards and performance and why. The data collection will be via two phases. The first phase would involve a series of in-depth interviews with both the managers and employees to understand the functioning of CCs, and development of suitable HRM systems for the Indian context. The second phase would involve data collection through questionnaires distributed to the frontline employees and supervisors to examine the relationships among IM, employee attitudes and performance. Such an investigation is expected to contribute to development of better theory and practice.

Process and performance in international collaborative research

Motivated by policy goals to develop international research capability and our experiences of collaborative research, we wanted to learn more about the factors that influence success in collaborative research. This article presents a review of the academic literature on collaborative research, focusing on multinational teams doing international comparative research. We address the question ‘what accounts for variation in process and performance of collaborative research projects?’, through 11 themes: context; vision; reward and commitment; leadership; structure; contract; task capability; sociability; communication; finance; rhythm and pace. We then propose an agenda for future research with an analytic framework and, finally, our conclusions.

Effects of government regulations, market orientation and ownership structure on corporate social responsibility in China:an empirical study

Previous research on corporate social responsibility mainly focuses on its nature and impact on business performance. This paper reports on a study that contributes to our understanding of the determinants of corporate social responsibility by focusing specifically on the role played by three strategically important variables, namely government regulation, ownership structure and market orientation. Results of a survey of 586 general managers of hotels in China suggest that the market orientation is the most significant predicator of corporate social responsibility followed by government regulation. In contrast, the ownership structure is found to have little effect. The implications of the findings for managers in China are discussed.

Developing a market orientation in a transitional economy:the role of government regulation and ownership structure

In this article, the authors report the findings of an exploratory study that examines the challenges of developing a market orientation in China, the world’s largest transitional economy. The findings suggest that though managerial actions are relevant, in transitional economies, environmental factors—most notably, government policies—are a major influence on firms’ aspirations to be market oriented.

Functionalisation of polymers: reactive processing, structure and performance characteristics

The main aim of this work was to study the effect of two comonomers, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIS) and divinylbenzene (DVB) on the nature and efficiency of grafting of two different monomers, glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and maleic anhydride (MA) on polypropylene (P) and on natural rubber (NR) using reactive processing methods. Four different peroxides, benzoyl peroxide (BPO), dicumyl peroxide (DCP), 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-bis-(tert-butyl peroxy) hexane (t-101), and 1,1-di(tert-butylperoxy)-3,3,5-trimethyl cyclohexene (T-29B90) were examined as free radical initiators. An appropriate methodology was established and chemical composition and reactive processing parameters were examined and optimised. It was found that in the absence of the coagents DVB and TRIS, the grafting degree of GMA and MA increased with increasing peroxide concentration, but the level of grafting was low and the homopolymerisaton of GMA and the crosslinking of NR or chain scission of PP were identified as the main side reactions that competed with the desired grafting reaction in the polymers. At high concentrations of the peroxide T-101 (>0.02 mr) cross linking of NR and chain scission of PP became dominant and unacceptable. An attempt to add a reactive coagent, e.g. TRIS during grafting of GMA on natural rubber resulted in excessive crosslinking because of the very high reactivity of this comonomer with the C=C of the rubber. Therefore, the use of any multifunctional and highly reactive coagent such as TRIS, could not be applied in the grafting of GAM onto natural rubber. In the case of PP, however, the use of TRIS and DVB was shown to greatly enhance the grafting degree and reduce the chain scission with very little extent of monomer homopolymerisation taking place. The results showed that the grafting degree was increased with increasing GMA and MA concentrations. It was also found that T-101 was a suitable peroxide to initiate the grafting reaction of these monomers on NR and PP and the optimum temperature for this peroxide was =160°C. A very preliminary work was also conducted on the use of the functionalised-PP (f-PP) in the absence and presence of the two comonomers (f-PP-DVB or f-PP-TRIS) for the purpose of compatibilising PP-PBT blends through reactive blending. Examination of the morphology of the blends suggested that an effective compatibilisation has been achieved when using f-PP-DVB and f-PP-TRIS, however more work is required in this area.

Hierarchical control and performance regimes in local government

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider hierarchical control as a mode of governance, and analyses the extent of control exhibited by central government over local government through the best value (BV) and comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) performance regimes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilises Ouchi's framework and, specifically, his articulation of bureaucratic or hierarchical control in the move towards achievement of organisational objectives. Hierarchical control may be inferred from the extent of “command and control” by Central Government, use of rewards and sanctions, and alignment to government priorities and discrimination of performance. Findings – CPA represents a more sophisticated performance regime than BV in the governance of local authorities by central government. In comparison to BV, CPA involved less scope for dialogue with local government prior to introduction, closer inspection of and direction of support toward poorer performing authorities, and more alignment to government priorities in the weightings attached to service blocks. Originality/value - The paper focuses upon the hierarchic/bureaucratic mode of governance as articulated by Ouchi and expands on this mode in order to analyse shifts in performance regimes in the public sector.

The impact of board independence and ownership structure on the timeliness of corporate internet reporting of Irish-listed companies

Purpose – This study seeks to provide valuable new insight into the timeliness of corporate internet reporting (TCIR) by a sample of Irish-listed companies. Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply an updated version of Abdelsalam et al. TCIR index to assess the timeliness of corporate internet reporting. The index encompasses 13 criteria that are used to measure the TCIR for a sample of Irish-listed companies. In addition, the authors assess the timeliness of posting companies’ annual and interim reports to their web sites. Furthermore, the study examines the influence of board independence and ownership structure on the TCIR behaviour. Board composition is measured by the percentage of independent directors, chairman’s dual role and average tenure of directors. Ownership structure is represented by managerial ownership and blockholder ownership. Findings – It is found that Irish-listed companies, on average, satisfy only 46 per cent of the timeliness criteria assessed by the timeliness index. After controlling for size, audit fees and firm performance, evidence that TCIR is positively associated with board of director’s independence and chief executive officer (CEO) ownership is provided. Furthermore, it is found that large companies are faster in posting their annual reports to their web sites. The findings suggest that board composition and ownership structure influence a firm’s TCIR behaviour, presumably in response to the information asymmetry between management and investors and the resulting agency costs. Practical implications – The findings highlight the need for improvement in TCIR by Irish-listed companies in many areas, especially in regard to the regular updates of information provided on their web sites. Originality/value – This study represents one of the first comprehensive examinations of the important dimension of the TCIR in Irish-listed companies.

A comparison of the economic performance of different micro-states, and between micro-states and larger countries

The economic performance of micro-states and those sub-national regions enjoying a high degree of autonomy is a generally under-researched area. This paper builds on earlier research (Armstrong and Read, 1995) by employing quantitative techniques to test: 1. (a) the extent to which the economic performance of micro-states differs, by comparing their GNP per capita with that of the region in which they are located and with the countries to which they are adjacent; 2. (b) whether some micro-states perform better than others as a result of differences in their economic structure; and 3. (c) whether the rates of growth of micro-states have been faster or slower than those of larger countries. Considerable diversity among micro-states is revealed, although most exhibit strong economic performance.

An assessment of factors affecting performance and growth of new technology based firms in the UK

New Technology Based Firms (NTBF) are considered to be important for the economic development of a country in regards to both employment growth and innovative activity. The latter is believed to contribute significantly to the increase in productivity and therefore the competitiveness of UK’s economy. This study contributes to the above literature by investigating two of the factors believed to limit the growth of such firms in the UK. The first concerns the existence of a ‘knowledge gap’ while the second the existence of a ‘financial gap’. These themes are developed along three main research lines. Firstly, based upon the human capital theory initially proposed by Backer (1964) new evidence is provided on the human capital characteristics (experience and education) of the current UK NTBF entrepreneurs. Secondly, the causal relationship between general and specific human capital (as well as their interactions) upon the company performance and growth is investigated via its traditional direct effect as well as via its indirect effect upon the access to external finance. Finally, more light is shed on the financial structure and the type of financial constraints that high-tech firms face at start-up. In particular, whether a financial gap exists is explored by distinguishing between the demand and the supply of external finance as well as by type of external source of financing. The empirical testing of the various research hypotheses has been obtained by carrying out an original survey of new technology based firms defined as independent companies, established in the past 25 years in R&D intensive sectors. The resulting dataset contains information for 412 companies on a number of general company characteristics and the characteristics of their entrepreneurs in 2004. Policy and practical implications for future and current entrepreneurs and also providers of external finance are provided.