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Improved stereo instrumental track recovery using median nearest-neighbour inpainting
Get PDFSeveral algorithms have been proposed for vocal removal which operate by finding the position of the vocals in the stereo field and removing the time-frequency bins associated with that position. However, in many cases, there will be other instruments such as drums and bass guitar present in the same position. These instruments will be removed along with the vocals and so adversely affect the sound quality of the recovered instrumental track. We present a method for estimating the missing information in the removed time-frequency bins, while still suppressing vocals, allowing recovery of an improved stereo instrumental track
Prototype test insertion co-processor for agile development in multi-threaded embedded environments
Get PDFAgile methodologies have been shown useful in constructing Enterprise applications with a reduced level of defects in the released product. Movement of Agile processes into the embedded world is hindered by the lack of suitable tool support. For example, software instrumented test insertion methods to detect race condition in multithreaded programs have the potential to increase code size beyond the limited embedded system memory, and degrade performance to an extent that would impair the real-time characteristics of the system. We propose a FPGA-based, hardware assisted, test insertion co-processor for embedded systems which introduces low additional system overhead and incurs minimal code size increase. In this preliminary study, we compare the ideal characteristics of a FPGA-based test insertion co-processor with our initial prototype and other proposed hardware assisted test insertion approaches
IEEE 802.15.4a UWB-IR ranging with bilateral transmitter power control methodology for multipath effects mitigation
Get PDFIEEE 802.15.4a Ultra Wideband Impulse Radio (UWB-IR) measures the distance using the time-of-arrival (TOA) of the leading path signal. Multipath propagation in indoor environments can adversely affect the signal to noise ratio (SNR) resulting errors in leading path detection. In this paper, the multipath effects mitigation is in focus and method for bilateral transmitter power control. Measurements for SNR status of the 802.15.4a UWB-IR propagation in indoor buildings are reported. Relevant aspects of power control are discussed on practical issues, using an automatic control framework, which is integrated into the symmetric double-sided two-way (SDS-TW) ranging protocol. We evaluate the resulting performance and compare with existing non-power control techniques in Line-of-Sight (LOS) condition. Experimental results show that, with power control, ranging error below sub 10cm occurs in more than 90% of the 4800 measurements from 2.5m to 30m; without power control, ranging error below sub 10cm occurs in less than 20%. The use of transmitter power controlled ranging method is capable of mitigating the uncertain multipath effects, improving the ranging accuracy and stability in indoor multipath environments
Experimental evaluation of mobile phone sensors
Get PDFSmart phone has become an important part of people's daily life. Most of current smart phone are equipped with a rich set of built-in sensors. The mobile applications such as geo-location based video annotation and indoor positioning require precise measurements from sensors. In addition, understanding the sensing performance of a smart phone device is helpful for implementing a mobile application that needs sensor data. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of key sensors in a state of the art smart phone - Google Nexus 4. The sensors chosen in the paper are accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer and GPS. Substantial tests have been executed to evaluate the sensors' accuracy, precision, maximum sampling frequency, sampling period jitter, energy consumption
The impact of greenwashing on green marketing in Ireland
No full textConcern for the environment is on the increase and businesses today are now facing\ud
greater demands from consumers in relation to their environmental impact and\ud
sustainability practices. Consumers are now engaging in ‘ethical living’, adapting their\ud
lifestyles and shopping habits in line with environmental impacts (Clark, 2006). Given the\ud
increasing market for eco-friendly products and services, this has given rise to the\ud
practice of green marketing in many industries (Chen & Chai, 2011). Companies have\ud
begun to use green marketing in the hope of incentivising consumers to purchase their\ud
products and services. Lee (2008) notes that through green marketing practices, marketers\ud
hoped to increase goodwill, market share, and sales. Additionally, government regulation\ud
regarding the environment has forced many companies to adopt greener practices.\ud
However, research has shown that, in an effort to gain market share, many companies\ud
have engaged in claims of environmental friendliness that are false or misleading,\ud
otherwise known as greenwashing. Dahl (2010) states that the term “greenwashing” can\ud
be used to describe the ads and labels that promise more environmental benefit than they\ud
deliver. It refers to the practice of making unwarranted and inflated claims of\ud
environmental friendliness and sustainability in order to gain market share. The purpose\ud
of this dissertation is to investigate whether or not consumers in Ireland have experienced\ud
greenwashing across selected industries and if so, what impact, if any, this has on their\ud
perceptions of green marketing.\ud
While much research has been conducted in the area of green marketing and how it\ud
relates to both consumer perception and purchasing power, this has largely been confined\ud
to Asia, the Americas, and Southern Europe. Therefore generalisations made for one\ud
culture and geographic demographic may often be considered meaningless if applied to\ud
another (Rahbar & Wahid, 2011). If marketers are to understand their consumers in\ud
Ireland, further research is needed to discover how these consumers perceive green\ud
marketing and how this impacts on their green purchase behaviour. Furthermore, no study\ud
has examined consumer perceptions of green marketing across the three industries\ud
included in this study and in particular, with a focus on the act of greenwashing.\ud
This study used both secondary and primary research in an effort to gain an in-depth\ud
analysis into this area. A review of the current literature was conducted to identify current\ud
theories and key concepts related to the area of marketing ethics and more specifically,\ud
green marketing. These key concepts included the attitude-behaviour gap present in green\ud
purchase behaviour and the negative impact of greenwashing on consumer scepticism of\ud
environmental claims. Following this primary research was conducted in three forms:\ud
surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews with marketers in each of the industries\ud
that is under examination in this study. There were a number of key findings as a result of\ud
this research, among which included the high levels of price sensitivity among consumers\ud
in Ireland, regardless of income or environmental values; the impact of age, income, and\ud
environmental values on attitudes and behaviours; the lack of experience with\ud
greenwashing among consumers resident in Ireland; and the negative impact that would\ud
be incurred if consumers were to experience greenwashing. Interestingly, this negative\ud
impact was not confined solely to the company engaging in greenwashing practices, but\ud
could also have an impact on companies within the same sector and potentially across\ud
sectors (although not to the same extent).\ud
Ultimately, the aim of this dissertation is to provide marketers in industry with a\ud
knowledge of the attitudes and behaviours of consumers in Ireland in relation to green\ud
marketing and to apply the knowledge gained to make recommendations for Irish\ud
marketers in their use of green marketing
Reliable system design with a high degree of diagnostic procedures for embedded systems
Get PDFMaintenance starts with reliable diagnostics. Programming Logic Controllers (PLCs) are often equipped with a high degree of diagnostic procedures in order to ensure that the processing unit is functioning correctly. It is vital to verify that the system with its programme is still within a 'healthy' state, otherwise a safety function is called and the system is brought into a safe state, or if possible, defect and malfunctioning components are exchanged during operation and the process can continue without shutting down the system. However, when it comes to smaller devices such as intelligent sensors, embedded controller devices with the functionality of an e.g. PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative), predictive controller, filter or analytical algorithm, which is embedded into a FPGA or micro-controller then diagnostics and verification methods are often not considered in the way they should be. For example, if an intelligent sensor system is not able to diagnose that the sensor-head is malfunctioning, but the sensor-head still provides some data, then the smart algorithm bases its calculation on wrong data, which can cause a dangerous situation. This paper investigates and shows recent results to combine diagnostic methods for small scale devices. Several safety-related structures are considered with a high degree of diagnostic coverage. The paper presents relevant procedures and structures to increase the reliability of small devices without utilising a full scale microcontroller system
The management of technological innovation in the hotel industry: a critical literature review.
Get PDFThis paper takes the form of a critical review of literature on technological innovation in the hotel industry. It aims to develop fuller understanding of the nature of the managerial capabilities which underpin effective implementation and development of technological innovation in the industry context. The review undertaken has been informed by key national and international tourism and enterprise development strategy documents (The Bacon Report, 2009; The National Development Plan, 2007; Failte Ireland, 2005; Tourism Policy Review Group, 2003). Collectively, these reports show that existing CRM capability knowledge is substantially inadequate, leading to a negative impact on business performance and a short-fall in the availability of appropriately crafted solutions to meet the industry’s future challenges. This study’s focus is on the customer-relating capability of key stakeholders which has been identified in the literature as a key business success driver (Day, 2003)
Modeling user behaviour in response to cyberthreats
Get PDFConsiderable challenges exist for the average computer user, organizations and indeed governmental agencies with the advent and evolution of threats directed against the computer user today. Combating cyberthreats has not only become a highly politicized issue but also a lucrative one as is evidenced from the growth in information security workforce. In conjunction with the nebulous existence of threats there is also an implied sense of calculability, even predictability, as often proclaimed by many security industry experts and academics. The end user must still make an independent decision on whether to react to these threats or not. To attempt to understand end user motivations when faced with threats, attitude-behaviour models are sometimes used. The theory of planned behaviour has been adapted to understand the impact of factors which may trigger behaviours in end users to deal with a cyberthreat. The model suggests that end users' intentions are not significantly mediated by their attitudes, perceived abilities to prevent threats or perceptions of their peer group. (7 pages
Phase noise analysis of Colpitts and Hartley CMOS oscillators
Get PDFThis paper reports comparative analyses of the phase noise predictions through Cadence simulations for two LC oscillator topologies: Colpitts and Hartley oscillators. The oscillators have been designed and phase noise performance have been derived by means of both direct Cadence-SpectreRF simulations and the Impulse Sensitivity Function (ISF). All the simulation steps for deriving the ISF have been discussed in detail. The ISF has been evaluated for a wide range of amplitudes of the injected current pulse and compared with simulation results obtained directly by Cadence-SpectreRF simulations. The comparative analyses carried out for a set of different injected pulse amplitudes show that the ISF provides accurate predictions across the entire amplitude range and that the phase noise performance of Colpitts are superior to Hartley oscillator
Symbolic interactionism and the cell information board: challenging the wisdom of systems
Get PDFClaudio Ciborra in “The Labyrinths of Information: Challenging the Wisdom of Systems” argues that\ud
the position of information and communications technology (ICT) in organizations requires a shift\ud
from the present focus on the “scientific paradigm” to an “alternative centre of gravity: human\ud
existence in everyday life”. This paper takes up Ciborra’s challenge by examining the focal point of\ud
social interaction during a longitudinal study of engaged scholarship in an Irish multinational\ud
subsidiary. During this study there was a gradual realization that the main locus of interaction was\ud
the cell information board. It was here that people gathered to assimilate digital information sources\ud
and transform these into “acts” including workpractice improvements. The paper seeks to answer the\ud
following question: how does symbolic interactionism enable the conceptualization of an information\ud
system as a sign-action system? The work makes a contribution by examining a supply chain\ud
information system as a form of symbolic action. The study challenges us to view information systems\ud
as not primarily being the IT artifact but pertaining first and foremost to human activity as its very core