An experimental study of UWB device-free person detection and ranging

Passive person detection and localization is an emerging area in UWB localization systems, whereby people are not required to carry any UWB ranging device. Based on experimental data, we propose a novel method to detect static persons in the absence of template waveforms, and to compute distances to these persons. Our method makes very little assumptions on the environment and can achieve ranging performances on the order of 50 cm, using off-the-shelf UWB devices. © 2013 IEEE.

First-order characteristics of the person-to-vehicle channel at 5.8 GHz

In this paper we investigate the first order characteristics of the radio channel between a moving vehicle and a stationary person positioned by the side of a road at 5.8 GHz. The experiments considered a transmitter positioned at different locations on both the body and receivers positioned on the vehicle. The transmitter was alternated between positions on the central chest region, back and the wrist (facing the roadside) of the body, with the receivers placed on the outside roof, the outside rear window and the inside dashboard of the vehicle. The Rice fading model was applied to the measurement data to assess its suitability for characterizing this emerging type of wireless channel. The Ricean K factors calculated from the data suggest that a significant dominant component existed in the majority of the channels considered in this study.

Robust bimodal person identification using face and speech with limited training data and corruption of both modalities

This paper presents a novel method of audio-visual fusion for person identification where both the speech and facial modalities may be corrupted, and there is a lack of prior knowledge about the corruption. Furthermore, we assume there is a limited amount of training data for each modality (e.g., a short training speech segment and a single training facial image for each person). A new representation and a modified cosine similarity are introduced for combining and comparing bimodal features with limited training data as well as vastly differing data rates and feature sizes. Optimal feature selection and multicondition training are used to reduce the mismatch between training and testing, thereby making the system robust to unknown bimodal corruption. Experiments have been carried out on a bimodal data set created from the SPIDRE and AR databases with variable noise corruption of speech and occlusion in the face images. The new method has demonstrated improved recognition accuracy.

Autism in the air: using Point of View Video Priming and Natural Environment Teaching to help children with autism travel by plane

This paper describes a study that used video materials and visits to an airport to prepare children on the autism spectrum for travel by plane. Twenty parents and carers took part in the study with children aged from 3 to 16 years. The authors explain that the methods they used were based on Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) research; a video modeling technique called Point-Of-View Video-priming and during visits to an airport they used procedures known as Natural Environment Teaching. The findings suggest that using video and preparing children by taking them through what is likely to happen in the real environment when they travel by plane is effective and the authors suggest these strategies could be used to support children with autism with other experiences they need or would like to engage in such as visits to the dentist or hairdressers and access to leisure centres and other public spaces.

Perceptions of high involvement work practices, person-organization fit and burnout: a time lagged study of health care employees

Previous research demonstrates that high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) may be associated with burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization); however, to date, the process through which HIWPs influence burnout is not clear. This article examined the impact of HIWPs on long-term burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) by considering the mediating role of person-organization fit (P-O fit) in this relationship. The study used a time-lagged design and was conducted in a Canadian general hospital among health care personnel. Findings from structural equation modeling (N = 185) revealed that perceived HIWPs were positively associated with P-O fit. There was no direct effect of HIWPs on burnout; rather, P-O fit fully mediated the relationship between employee perceptions of HIWPs and burnout. This study fills a void in the HR and burnout literature by demonstrating the role that P-O fit has in explaining how HIWPs alleviate emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Determinants of online travel purchase intentions: a holistic approach

Online travel shopping has attracted researchers due to its significant growth and there is a growing body of literature in this field. However, research on what drives consumers to purchase travel online has typically been fragmented. In fact, existing studies have largely concentrated on examining consumers’ online travel purchases either grounded on Davis’s Technology Acceptance Model, on the Theory of Reasoned Action and its extension, the Theory of Planned Behaviour or on Roger’s model of perceived innovation attributes, the Innovation Diffusion Theory. A thorough literature review has revealed that there is a lack of studies that integrate all theories to better understand online travel shopping. Therefore, based on relevant literature in tourism and consumer behaviour, this study proposes and tests an integrated model to explore which factors affect intentions to purchase travel online. Furthermore, it proposes a new construct, termed social media involvement, defined as a person’s level of interest or emotional attachment with social media, and examines its relationship with intentions to purchase travel online. To test the 18 hypotheses, a quantitative approach was followed by first collecting data through an online survey. With a sample of 1,532 Worldwide Internet users, Partial Least Squares analysis was than conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the data and empirically test the hypothesized relationships between the constructs. The results indicate that intentions to purchase travel online is mostly determined by attitude towards online shopping, which is influenced by perceived relative advantages of online travel shopping and trust in online travel shopping. In addition, the findings indicate that the second most important predictor of intentions to purchase travel online is compatibility, an attribute from the Innovation Diffusion Theory. Furthermore, even though online shopping is nowadays a common practice, perceived risk continues to negatively affect intentions to purchase travel online. The most surprising finding of this study was that Internet users more involved with social media for travel purposes did not have higher intentions to purchase travel online. The theoretical contributions of this study and the practical implications are discussed and future research directions are detailed.