An exploration of small business Website optimization: Enablers, influencers and an assessment approach

The literature reveals a need for more integrated research contributions to small business Internet adoption and theoretical development. There is also a need for these developments to relate more closely to effective, or optimized, use of web applications in business processes and growth. To address this, and building upon recent integrated theoretical developments, the aim of this study is to explore the determinants and outcomes relating to small business Website optimization. Five determining variables isolated from recent theoretical developments relate to small business Website adoption outcomes. Utilizing an optimization rating instrument with these variables a methodological approach produced four key findings. From these findings we develop an optimization model and focus important contributions as propositions. These propositions provide a new understanding of the enablers and influencers of small business Website optimization and a basis for research to develop further insights in this area.

Real-time approach to the optical properties of solids and nanostructures: Time-dependent Bethe-Salpeter equation

Many-body effects are known to play a crucial role in the electronic and optical properties of solids and nanostructures. Nevertheless, the majority of theoretical and numerical approaches able to capture the influence of Coulomb correlations are restricted to the linear response regime. In this work, we introduce an approach based on a real-time solution of the electronic dynamics. The proposed approach reduces to the well-known Bethe-Salpeter equation in the linear limit regime and it makes it possible, at the same time, to investigate correlation effects in nonlinear phenomena. We show the flexibility and numerical stability of the proposed approach by calculating the dielectric constants and the effect of a strong pulse excitation in bulk h-BN.

Web Services and Incerta Spiriti: A Game Theoretic Approach to Uncertainty

A web-service is a remote computational facility which is made available for general use by means of the internet. An orchestration is a multi-threaded computation which invokes remote services. In this paper game theory is used to analyse the behaviour of orchestration evaluations when underlying web-services are unreliable. Uncertainty profiles are proposed as a means of defining bounds on the number of service failures that can be expected during an orchestration evaluation. An uncertainty profile describes a strategic situation that can be analyzed using a zero-sum angel-daemon game with two competing players: an angel a whose objective is to minimize damage to an orchestration and a daemon d who acts in a destructive fashion. An uncertainty profile is assessed using the value of its angel daemon game. It is shown that uncertainty profiles form a partial order which is monotonic with respect to assessment.

Using a Systematic Approach To Develop a Chemistry Course Introducing Students to Instrumental Analysis

A systematic approach to develop the teaching of instrumental analytical chemistry is discussed, as well as a conceptual framework for organizing and executing lectures and a laboratory course. Three main components are used in this course: theoretical knowledge developed in the classroom, simulations via a virtual laboratory, and practical training via experimentation. Problem-based learning and cooperative-learning methods are applied in both the classroom and laboratory aspects of the course. In addition, some reflections and best practices are presented on how to encourage students to learn actively. Overall, a student-centered environment is proposed that aims to cultivate students' practical abilities and individual talents.

Improved principal component monitoring using the local approach

This paper shows that current multivariate statistical monitoring technology may not detect incipient changes in the variable covariance structure nor changes in the geometry of the underlying variable decomposition. To overcome these deficiencies, the local approach is incorporated into the multivariate statistical monitoring framework to define two new univariate statistics for fault detection. Fault isolation is achieved by constructing a fault diagnosis chart which reveals changes in the covariance structure resulting from the presence of a fault. A theoretical analysis is presented and the proposed monitoring approach is exemplified using application studies involving recorded data from two complex industrial processes. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Meta-Theoretical Paradigms Underpinning Risk in Child Welfare: Towards a Position of Methodological Pragmatism

The aim of this paper is to explore the ‘natural attitude’ underpinning risk practices in child welfare. This refers to various taken-for-granted approaches to risk that social workers and other human service professionals draw upon in their everyday practice. The approach proceeds by identifying and critically examining three key, meta-theoretical paradigms on risk which typically shape the natural attitude. They are labelled ‘objectivist’, ‘subjectivist’ and ‘critical’. The ontological, epistemological, axiological and methodological premises supporting each paradigm, and how they shape risk practices, are then reviewed leading to a composite, meta-theoretical position on risk termed ‘methodological pragmatism’. This position draws on the strengths of each paradigm and is formulated into ten propositions which consider how risk should be approached in child welfare. Within this corpus of thought salient themes are endorsed such as the need for method triangulation, an examination of ‘deep causality’, and the promotion of emancipatory perspectives. By critically reflecting on meta-theory, the paper contributes to the development of substantive theories of risk assessment and management in child welfare.

Family, state, class and solidarity: re-conceptualising intergenerational solidarity through the grounded theory approach

The relationship between class and intergenerational solidarities in the public and private spheres calls for further conceptual and theoretical development. This article discusses the findings from the first wave of a qualitative longitudinal study entitled Changing Generations, conducted in Ireland in 2011–2012, comprising 100 in-depth interviews with men and women across the age and socioeconomic spectrums. Constructivist grounded theory analysis of the data gives rise to the following postulates: (1) intergenerational solidarity at the family level is strongly contoured by socioeconomic status (SES); (2) intergenerational solidarity evolves as family generations observe each others’ practices and adjust their expectations accordingly; (3) intergenerational solidarity within families is also shaped by the public sphere (the welfare state) that generates varying expectations and levels of solidarity regarding State supports for different age groups, again largely dependent on SES; (4) the liberal welfare state context, especially at a time of economic crisis, enhances the significance of intergenerational solidarity within families. We conclude by calling for research that is attuned to age/generation, gender and class, and how these operate across the family and societal levels.

Nonlinear optics from an ab initio approach by means of the dynamical Berry phase: Application to second- and third-harmonic generation in semiconductors

We present an ab initio real-time-based computational approach to study nonlinear optical properties in condensed matter systems that is especially suitable for crystalline solids and periodic nanostructures. The equations of motion and the coupling of the electrons with the external electric field are derived from the Berry-phase formulation of the dynamical polarization [Souza et al., Phys. Rev. B 69, 085106 (2004)]. Many-body effects are introduced by adding single-particle operators to the independent-particle Hamiltonian. We add a Hartree operator to account for crystal local effects and a scissor operator to correct the independent particle band structure for quasiparticle effects. We also discuss the possibility of accurately treating excitonic effects by adding a screened Hartree-Fock self-energy operator. The approach is validated by calculating the second-harmonic generation of SiC and AlAs bulk semiconductors: an excellent agreement is obtained with existing ab initio calculations from response theory in frequency domain [Luppi et al., Phys. Rev. B 82, 235201 (2010)]. We finally show applications to the second-harmonic generation of CdTe and the third-harmonic generation of Si. 

A Vector Approach for the Analysis and Synthesis of Directional Modulation Transmitters

In order to formalize and extend on previous ad-hoc analysis and synthesis methods a theoretical treatment using vector representations of directional modulation (DM) systems is introduced and used to achieve DM transmitter characteristics. An orthogonal vector approach is proposed which allows the artificial orthogonal noise concept derived from information theory to be brought to bear on DM analysis and synthesis. The orthogonal vector method is validated and discussed via bit error rate (BER) simulations.

The use of an instrumented vehicle in a wavelet based damage detection approach for bridge structures

Periodic monitoring of structures such as bridges is necessary as their condition can deteriorate due to environmental conditions and ageing, causing the bridge to become unsafe. This monitoring - so called Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) - can give an early warning if a bridge becomes unsafe. This paper investigates an alternative wavelet-based approach for the monitoring of bridge structures which consists of the use of a vehicle fitted with accelerometers on its axles. A simplified vehicle-bridge interaction model is used in theoretical simulations to examine the effectiveness of the approach in detecting damage in the bridge. The accelerations of the vehicle are processed using a continuous wavelet transform, allowing a time-frequency analysis to be performed. This enables the identification of both the existence and location of damage from the vehicle response. Based on this analysis, a damage index is established. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of parameters such as the bridge span length, vehicle speed, vehicle mass, damage level, signal noise level and road surface roughness on the accuracy of results. In addition, a laboratory experiment is carried out to validate the results of the theoretical analysis and assess the ability of the approach to detect changes in the bridge response.

Working with fathers to improve children's well-being: Results of a survey exploring service provision and intervention approach in the UK

Interventions for fathers are a recent growth area in family services. Although some specific approaches are beginning to be evaluated, there is little known about what kinds of interventions are more generally being used in practice. A web-based survey of practitioners was conducted in the UK, with contact being made via local authority service managers. Two hundred and twenty-one responses were received from 53% of local authorities. Both interventions specifically for fathers and services for both parents were targeted in the survey. Results are reported on organisational location; targeting of services; type of intervention; numbers and percentages of men attending services, recruitment of fathers; evaluation strategies; and ideological and theoretical approaches. Numbers of fathers engaged are relatively low - e.g. the median annual number of fathers attending structured parenting courses was eight and in courses for both parents, 21% of those attending were men. Responses on ideological and theoretical approaches suggest that overt gender politics play only a small part, but that the dominant views of practitioners are in line with mainstream approaches to parenting support. Cognitive and behavioral approaches were the most popular.

Managing grid computations: An ORC-based approach

In this paper a model of grid computation that supports both heterogeneity and dynamicity is presented. The model presupposes that user sites contain software components awaiting execution on the grid. User sites and grid sites interact by means of managers which control dynamic behaviour. The orchestration language ORC [9,10] offers an abstract means of specifying operations for resource acquisition and execution monitoring while allowing for the possibility of non-responsive hardware. It is demonstrated that ORC is sufficiently expressive to model typical kinds of grid interactions.

Ranking Spatial and Temporal Hotspots for Road Safety Interventions Using a Nonlinear Aggregation Approach

In recent years, the concept of a composite performance index, brought from economic and business statistics, has gained popularity in the field of road safety. The construction of the Composite Safety Performance Index (CSPI) involves the following key steps: the selection of the most appropriate indicators to be aggregated and the method used to aggregate them.

Over the last decade, various aggregation methods for estimating the CSPI have been suggested in the literature. However, recent studies indicates that most of these methods suffer from many deficiencies at both the theoretical and operational level; these include the correlation and compensability between indicators, as well as their high “degree of freedom” which enables one to readily manipulate them to produce desired outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to introduce an alternative aggregation method for the estimation of the CSPI, which is free from the aforementioned deficiencies. In contrast with the current aggregation methods, which generally use linear combinations of road safety indicators to estimate a CSPI, the approach advocated in this study is based on non-linear combinations of indicators and can be summarized into the following two main steps: the pairwise comparison of road safety indicators and the development of marginal and composite road safety performance functions. The introduced method has been successfully applied to identify and rank temporal and spatial hotspots for Northern Ireland, using road traffic collision data recorded in the UK STATs19 database. The obtained results highlight the promising features of the proposed approach including its stability and consistency, which enables significantly reduced deficiencies associated with the current aggregation methods. Progressively, the introduced method could evolve into an intelligent support system for road safety assessment.

An integrated approach for real-time model-based state-of-charge estimation of lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion batteries have been widely adopted in electric vehicles (EVs), and accurate state of charge (SOC) estimation is of paramount importance for the EV battery management system. Though a number of methods have been proposed, the SOC estimation for Lithium-ion batteries, such as LiFePo4 battery, however, faces two key challenges: the flat open circuit voltage (OCV) vs SOC relationship for some SOC ranges and the hysteresis effect. To address these problems, an integrated approach for real-time model-based SOC estimation of Lithium-ion batteries is proposed in this paper. Firstly, an auto-regression model is adopted to reproduce the battery terminal behaviour, combined with a non-linear complementary model to capture the hysteresis effect. The model parameters, including linear parameters and non-linear parameters, are optimized off-line using a hybrid optimization method that combines a meta-heuristic method (i.e., the teaching learning based optimization method) and the least square method. Secondly, using the trained model, two real-time model-based SOC estimation methods are presented, one based on the real-time battery OCV regression model achieved through weighted recursive least square method, and the other based on the state estimation using the extended Kalman filter method (EKF). To tackle the problem caused by the flat OCV-vs-SOC segments when the OCV-based SOC estimation method is adopted, a method combining the coulombic counting and the OCV-based method is proposed. Finally, modelling results and SOC estimation results are presented and analysed using the data collected from LiFePo4 battery cell. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed approach, in particular the joint-EKF method.