Abstract: The Malaysian government had consistently revived
its campaign for “Buy Malaysian Goods” from time to time. The
purpose of the campaign is to remind consumers to be ethnocentric
and patriotic when purchasing product and services. This is necessary
to ensure high demand for local products and services compared to
foreign products. However, the decline of domestic investment in
2012 has triggered concern for the Malaysian economy. Hence, this
study attempts to determine the drivers of actual purchasing behavior,
intention to purchase domestic products and ethnocentrism. The
study employs the cross-sectional primary data, self-administered on
household, selected using stratified random sampling in four
Malaysian regions. A nine factor driver of actual domestic purchasing
behavior (culture openness, conservatism, collectivism, patriotism,
control belief, interest in foreign travel, attitude, ethnocentrism and
intention) were measured utilizing 60 items, using 7-point Likertscale.
From 1000 questionnaires distributed, a sample of 486 were
returned representing 48.6 percent response rate. From the fit
generated structural model (SEM analysis), it was found that the
drivers of actual purchase behavior are collectivism, cultural
openness and patriotism; the drivers of intention to purchase
domestic product are attitude, control belief, collectivism and
conservatism; and drivers of ethnocentrism are cultural openness,
control belief, foreign travel and patriotism. It also shows that
Malaysian consumers scored high in ethnocentrism and patriotism.
The findings are discussed in the perspective of its implication to
Malaysian National Agenda.
Abstract: Meeting the growth in demand for digital services
such as social media, telecommunications, and business and cloud
services requires large scale data centres, which has led to an increase
in their end use energy demand. Generally, over 30% of data centre
power is consumed by the necessary cooling overhead. Thus energy
can be reduced by improving the cooling efficiency. Air and liquid
can both be used as cooling media for the data centre. Traditional
data centre cooling systems use air, however liquid is recognised as a
promising method that can handle the more densely packed data
centres. Liquid cooling can be classified into three methods; rack heat
exchanger, on-chip heat exchanger and full immersion of the
microelectronics. This study quantifies the improvements of heat
transfer specifically for the case of immersed microelectronics by
varying the CPU and heat sink location. Immersion of the server is
achieved by filling the gap between the microelectronics and a water
jacket with a dielectric liquid which convects the heat from the CPU
to the water jacket on the opposite side. Heat transfer is governed by
two physical mechanisms, which is natural convection for the fixed
enclosure filled with dielectric liquid and forced convection for the
water that is pumped through the water jacket. The model in this
study is validated with published numerical and experimental work
and shows good agreement with previous work. The results show that
the heat transfer performance and Nusselt number (Nu) is improved
by 89% by placing the CPU and heat sink on the bottom of the
microelectronics enclosure.
Abstract: MSMEs are regarded as the sunrise sector of the
Indian economy in view of its large potential for growth and likely
socio economic impact specifically on employment and income
generation. In today’s competitive business environment, global
competition forces companies to continuously seek ways of
improving their products and services. The pressure on organizations
to adapt to new technologies and external threats requires
resourcefulness, creativity and innovation. Market has become more
open, competitive and customers more demanding. Without
continuous technology innovation, no organization can ever remain
competitive. Innovations reflect a critical way in which organizations
respond to either technological or market challenges. The need of the
market is to deliver high quality products through continuous
changing in features in product, improve existing products, reduce
their cost, and improve employee skills, training, technology
infrastructure and financial policies. Therefore, the key factor of
organization’s ability to change is innovation. The study presents a
detailed review of literature on the role of technology innovation in
improving manufacturing performance of industries.
Abstract: Presently, it is necessary to ensure the sustainable
development of passenger and freight transport. Increasing
performance of road freight has had a negative impact to environment
and society. It is therefore necessary to increase the competitiveness
of intermodal transport, which is more environmentally friendly. The
study describes the effectiveness of logistical centers realization for
companies and society and research how the partial internalization of
external costs reflected in the efficient use of these centers and
increase the competitiveness of intermodal transport to road freight.
In our research, we use the method of comparative analysis and
market research to describe the advantages of logistic centers for their
users as well as for society as a whole. Method normal costing is used
for calculation infrastructure and total costs, method of conversion
costing for determine the external costs. We modelled total society
costs for road freight transport and inter modal transport chain (we
assumed that most of the traffic is carried by rail) with different
loading schemes for condition in the Slovak Republic. Our research
has shown that higher utilization of inter modal transport chain do
good not only for society, but for companies providing freight
services too. Increase in use of inter modal transport chain can bring
many benefits to society that do not bring direct immediate financial
return. They often bring the multiplier effects, such as greater use of
environmentally friendly transport mode and reduce the total society
costs.
Abstract: This paper describes the problem of building secure
computational services for encrypted information in the Cloud
Computing without decrypting the encrypted data; therefore, it meets
the yearning of computational encryption algorithmic aspiration
model that could enhance the security of big data for privacy,
confidentiality, availability of the users. The cryptographic model
applied for the computational process of the encrypted data is the
Fully Homomorphic Encryption Scheme. We contribute a theoretical
presentations in a high-level computational processes that are based
on number theory and algebra that can easily be integrated and
leveraged in the Cloud computing with detail theoretic mathematical
concepts to the fully homomorphic encryption models. This
contribution enhances the full implementation of big data analytics
based cryptographic security algorithm.
Abstract: The paper deals with behaviour of the segment 50+ in
the financial market in the Czech Republic. This segment could be
said as the strong market power and it can be a crucial business
potential for financial business units. The main defined objective of
this paper is analysis of the customers´ behaviour of the segment 50-
60 years in the financial market in the Czech Republic and proposal
making of the suitable marketing approach to satisfy their demands in
the area of product, price, distribution and marketing communication
policy. This paper is based on data from one part of primary
marketing research. Paper determinates the basic problem areas as
well as definition of financial services marketing, defining the
primary research problem, hypothesis and primary research
methodology. Finally suitable marketing approach to selected sub
segment at age of 50-60 years is proposed according to marketing
research findings.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to build ‘Ubi-Net’, a
decision-making support system for systematic establishment in
U-City planning. We have experienced various urban problems caused
by high-density development and population concentrations in
established urban areas. To address these problems, a U-Service
contributes to the alleviation of urban problems by providing real-time
information to citizens through network connections and related
information. However, technology, devices, and information for
consumers are required for systematic U-Service planning in towns
and cities where there are many difficulties in this regard, and a lack of
reference systems.
Thus, this study suggests methods to support the establishment of
sustainable planning by providing comprehensive information
including IT technology, devices, news, and social networking
services (SNS) to U-City planners through intelligent searches. In this
study, we targeted Smart U-Parking Planning to solve parking
problems in an ‘old’ city. Through this study, we sought to contribute
to supporting advances in U-Space and the alleviation of urban
problems.
Abstract: This research aimed to study about motivation for
students of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University to follow and happily
live according to Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. Having collected
394 questionnaires, the result showed that most students had great
motivation to follow this philosophy at a high level, especially in
terms of righteousness in profession; besides, students’ determination
and intention to apply this philosophy in everyday lives was
impressive though the students’ families were not completely ready.
Each of students, in fact, consulted their families for plans of any
activities without tiredness and discouragement based on the saying,
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” On the part of universities life,
students interacted with society and created projects that supported
income to the community including exercises, sports, recreational
activities, and community services.
Abstract: Governments collect and produce large amounts of
data. Increasingly, governments worldwide have started to implement
open data initiatives and also launch open data portals to enable the
release of these data in open and reusable formats. Therefore, a large
number of open data repositories, catalogues and portals have been
emerging in the world. The greater availability of interoperable and
linkable open government data catalyzes secondary use of such data,
so they can be used for building useful applications which leverage
their value, allow insight, provide access to government services, and
support transparency. The efficient development of successful open
data portals makes it necessary to evaluate them systematic, in order
to understand them better and assess the various types of value they
generate, and identify the required improvements for increasing this
value. Thus, the attention of this paper is directed particularly to the
field of open data portals. The main aim of this paper is to compare
the selected open data portals on the national level using content
analysis and propose a new evaluation framework, which further
improves the quality of these portals. It also establishes a set of
considerations for involving businesses and citizens to create eservices
and applications that leverage on the datasets available from
these portals.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose an automatic verification
technology of software patches for user virtual environments on IaaS
Cloud to decrease verification costs of patches. In these days, IaaS
services have been spread and many users can customize virtual
machines on IaaS Cloud like their own private servers. Regarding to
software patches of OS or middleware installed on virtual machines,
users need to adopt and verify these patches by themselves. This task
increases operation costs of users. Our proposed method replicates
user virtual environments, extracts verification test cases for user
virtual environments from test case DB, distributes patches to virtual
machines on replicated environments and conducts those test cases
automatically on replicated environments. We have implemented the
proposed method on OpenStack using Jenkins and confirmed the
feasibility. Using the implementation, we confirmed the effectiveness
of test case creation efforts by our proposed idea of 2-tier abstraction
of software functions and test cases. We also evaluated the automatic
verification performance of environment replications, test cases
extractions and test cases conductions.
Abstract: Currently, there is excessively growing information
about places on Facebook, which is the largest social network but
such information is not explicitly organized and ranked. Therefore
users cannot exploit such data to recommend places conveniently and
quickly. This paper proposes a Facebook application and an Android
application that recommend places based on the number of check-ins
of those places, the distance of those places from the current location,
the number of people who like Facebook page of those places, and
the number of talking about of those places. Related Facebook data is
gathered via Facebook API requests. The experimental results of the
developed applications show that the applications can recommend
places and rank interesting places from the most to the least. We have
found that the average satisfied score of the proposed Facebook
application is 4.8 out of 5. The users’ satisfaction can increase by
adding the app features that support personalization in terms of
interests and preferences.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to forecast the influences
of information and communication technology (ICT) on the structural
changes of Japanese economies. In this study, input-output (IO) and
statistical approaches are used as analysis instruments. More
specifically, this study employs Leontief IO coefficients and
constrained multivariate regression (CMR) model in order to achieve
the purpose. The periods of initial and forecast in this study are 2005
and 2015, respectively. In this study, ICT is represented by ICT capital
stocks. This study conducts two levels of analysis, namely macro and
micro. The results of macro level analysis show that the dynamics of
Japanese economies on the forecast period, relative to the initial period,
are not so high. We focus on (1) commerce, (2) business services and
office supplies, and (3) personal services sectors when conducting the
analysis of the micro level. Further, we analyze its specific IO
coefficients when doing this analysis. The results of the analysis
explain that ICT gives a strong influence on the changes of these
coefficients from initial to forecast periods.
Abstract: Different tools and technologies were implemented
for Crisis Response and Management (CRM) which is generally
using available network infrastructure for information exchange.
Depending on type of disaster or crisis, network infrastructure could
be affected and it could not be able to provide reliable connectivity.
Thus any tool or technology that depends on the connectivity could
not be able to fulfill its functionalities. As a solution, a new message
exchange framework has been developed. Framework provides
offline/online information exchange platform for CRM Information
Systems (CRMIS) and it uses XML compression and packet
prioritization algorithms and is based on open source web
technologies. By introducing offline capabilities to the web
technologies, framework will be able to perform message exchange
on unreliable networks. The experiments done on the simulation
environment provide promising results on low bandwidth networks
(56kbps and 28.8 kbps) with up to 50% packet loss and the solution is
to successfully transfer all the information on these low quality
networks where the traditional 2 and 3 tier applications failed.
Abstract: The study of organisations’ information security
cultures has attracted scholars as well as healthcare services industry
to research the topic and find appropriate tools and approaches to
develop a positive culture. The vast majority of studies in Saudi
national health services are on the use of technology to protect and
secure health services information. On the other hand, there is a lack
of research on the role and impact of an organisation’s cultural
dimensions on information security. This research investigated and
analysed the role and impact of cultural dimensions on information
security in Saudi Arabia health service. Hypotheses were tested and
two surveys were carried out in order to collect data and information
from three major hospitals in Saudi Arabia (SA). The first survey
identified the main cultural-dimension problems in SA health
services and developed an initial information security culture
framework model. The second survey evaluated and tested the
developed framework model to test its usefulness, reliability and
applicability. The model is based on human behaviour theory, where
the individual’s attitude is the key element of the individual’s
intention to behave as well as of his or her actual behaviour. The
research identified a set of cultural and sub-cultural dimensions in SA
health information security and services.
Abstract: In Brazil, neonatal mortality rate is considered
incompatible with the country development conditions, and has been
a Public Health concern. Reduction in infant mortality rates has also
been part of the Millennium Development Goals, a commitment
made by countries, members of the Organization of United Nations
(OUN), including Brazil. Fetal mortality rate is considered a highly
sensitive indicator of health care quality. Suitable actions, such as
good quality and access to health services may contribute positively
towards reduction in these fetal and neonatal rates. With appropriate
antenatal follow-up and health care during gestation and delivery,
some death causes could be reduced or even prevented by means of
early diagnosis and intervention, as well as changes in risk factors
and interventions. Objectives: To study the quality of maternal and
infant health care based on fetal and neonatal mortality, as well as the
possible actions to prevent those deaths in Botucatu (Brazil).
Methods: Classification of prevention according to the International
Classification of Diseases and the modified Wigglesworth´s
classification. In order to evaluate adequacy, indicators of quality of
antenatal and delivery care were established by the authors. Results:
Considering fetal deaths, 56.7% of them occurred before delivery,
which reveals possible shortcomings in antenatal care, and 38.2% of
them were a result of intra- labor changes, which could be prevented
or reduced by adequate obstetric management. These findings were
different from those in the group of early neonatal deaths which were
also studied. Adequacy of health services showed that antenatal and
childbirth care was appropriate for 24% and 33.3% of pregnant
women, respectively, which corroborates the results of prevention.
These results revealed that shortcomings in obstetric and antenatal
care could be the causes of deaths in the study. Early and late
neonatal deaths have similar characteristics: 76% could be prevented
or reduced mainly by adequate newborn care (52.9%) and adequate
health care for gestational women (11.7%). When adequacy of care
was evaluated, childbirth and newborn care was adequate in 25.8%
and antenatal care was adequate in 16.1%. In conclusion, direct
relationship was found between adequacy and quality of care
rendered to pregnant women and newborns, and fetal and infant
mortality. Moreover, our findings highlight that deaths could be
prevented by an adequate obstetric and neonatal management.
Abstract: It is widely believed that mobile device is a promising technology for lending the opportunity for the third wave of electronic commerce. Mobile devices have changed the way companies do business. Many applications are under development or being incorporated into business processes. In this day, mobile applications are a vital component of any industry strategy.One of the greatest benefits of selling merchandise and providing services on a mobile application is that it widens a company’s customer base significantly.Mobile applications are accessible to interested customers across regional and international borders in different electronic business (e-business) area. But there is a dark side to this success story. The security risks associated with mobile devices and applications are very significant. This paper introduces a broad risk analysis for the various threats, vulnerabilities, and risks in mobile e-business applications and presents some important risk mitigation approaches. It reviews and compares two different frameworks for security assurance in mobile e-business applications. Based on the comparison, the paper suggests some recommendations for applications developers and business owners in mobile e-business application development process.
Abstract: Vertical Handover(VHO) among different
communication technologies ensuring uninterruption and service
continuity is one of the most important performance parameter in
Heterogenous networks environment. In an integrated Universal
Mobile Telecommunicatin System(UMTS) and Wireless Local
Area Network(WLAN), WLAN is given an inherent priority over
UMTS because of its high data rates with low cost. Therefore
mobile users want to be associated with WLAN maximum of the
time while roaming, to enjoy best possible services with low cost.
That encourages reduction of number of VHO. In this work the
reduction of number of VHO with respect to varying number of
WLAN Access Points(APs) in an integrated UMTS and WLAN
network is investigated through simulation to provide best possible
cost effective service to the users. The simulation has been carried
out for an area (7800 × 9006)m2 where COST-231 Hata model
and 3GPP (TR 101 112 V 3.1.0) specified models are used for
WLAN and UMTS path loss models respectively. The handover
decision is triggered based on the received signal level as compared
to the fade margin. Fade margin gives a probabilistic measure of
the reliability of the communication link. A relationship between
number of WLAN APs and the number of VHO is also established
in this work.
Abstract: Cloud computing (CC) has already gained overall
appreciation in research and practice. Whereas the willingness to
integrate cloud services in various IT environments is still unbroken,
the previous CC procurement processes run mostly in an unorganized
and non-standardized way. In practice, a sufficiently specific, yet
applicable business process for the important acquisition phase is
often lacking. And research does not appropriately remedy this
deficiency yet. Therefore, this paper introduces a field-tested
approach for CC procurement. Based on an extensive literature
review and augmented by expert interviews, we designed a model
that is validated and further refined through an in-depth real-life case
study. For the detailed process description, we apply the event-driven
process chain notation (EPC). The gained valuable insights into the
case study may help CC research to shift to a more socio-technical
area. For practice, next to giving useful organizational instructions
we will provide extended checklists and lessons learned.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the possible
link between employee and customer satisfaction. The service
provided by employees, help to build a good relationship with
customers and can help at increasing their loyalty. Published data for
job satisfaction and indicators of customer services of banks were
gathered from relevant published works which included data from
five different countries. The scores of customers and employees
satisfaction of the different published works were transformed and
normalized to the scale of 1 to 100. The data were analyzed and a
regression analysis of the two parameters was used to describe the
link between employee’s satisfaction and customer’s satisfaction.
Assuming that employee satisfaction has a significant influence on
customer’s service and the resulting customer satisfaction, the
reviewed data indicate that employee’s satisfaction contributes
significantly on the level of customer satisfaction in the Banking
sector. There was a significant correlation between the two
parameters (Pearson correlation R2=0.52 P
Abstract: This paper identifies limitations of existing two e-
Governance services viz. railway ticket booking and passport service
in India. The comparison has been made as to how in the past these
two citizen services were operating manually and how these services
are taken online via e-Governance. Different e-Governance projects,
investment aspects, and role of corporate are discussed. For Indian
Railway online ticketing a comparison has been made between state
run booking website and popular private firm run booking websites.
For passport service, observations through personal visit to passport
center is described. Suggestions are made to improve these services
further to improve citizen service experiences.