Commercial Domain Research Articles

Performance Characters of OLTP in CMP

On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) workload is an important application in commercial service domain. Chip multiprocessor (CMP) is main stream of processor development. Performance characters of OLTP in CMP become a crucial benchmark for design and performance analysis of CMP server system. System level performance characters of OLTP on AMD quad-core system is presented in the paper. According to system level performance, we present a three stages model for OLPT in view of number of clients.

Web Technologies for Commerce and Services Online

Through the last decade, Internet technologies such as electronic commerce have experienced exponential growth, and emerging issues surrounding this phenomenon have necessitated the amassment of research on the cognitive impact of electronic commerce technologies around the world. Web Technologies for Commerce and Services Online delivers a global perspective on the influence of electronic commerce on organizational behavior, development, and management in organizations, discussing issues such as information security; strategic management of electronic commerce; organizational learning; business process management; mediated enterprises; and electronic marketplaces. With the new insights it delivers on this rapidly evolving technological and commercial domain, this incisive reference will prove an essential addition to library collections worldwide.

Source term models for fine particle resuspension from indoor surfaces

Understanding the dispersion of contaminants inside buildings is important for improving indoor air quality (IAQ). Detailed information on the dispersion profile within a room is required to design active protection systems and to develop countermeasure strategies against potential threats from particulate based agents. A number of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes in the public and commercial domain can simulate contaminant dispersion inside a building. One of the critical boundary conditions required by these CFD codes is a resuspension source term model. This paper develops general source term models for particle resuspension from indoor surfaces based on dimensional analysis. First, the physical mechanisms responsible for fine particle resuspension from indoor surfaces are investigated and relevant parameters are identified. Then, three different models are developed using dimensional analysis and published resuspension data in the literature. Finally, the models are evaluated against independent experimental data that were not used to determine the model coefficients.

Foreword—cognitive radio: from equipment to networks

Cognitive radio is a technology that is of growing interest internationally. Currently there is a highly active worldwide community of academic and industrial researchers working in this field. Efforts focus on the many technical questions as well as the economic and political challenges of moving this new technology from research concept to reality. Cognitive radio holds much promise not just in the military domain but increasingly in the civil and commercial domain.

Internationalisation of British fundraising charities: a two‐phase empirical study

Abstract A two‐phase mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) study was undertaken to identify and then to confirm the main dimensions and the principal antecedents of the internationalisation behaviour of a sample of British charities known to engage in foreign operations. Specifically the investigation examined the factors that explained charities' decisions to enter foreign countries, the motivations and practical methods involved and the time periods elapsing between first and subsequent entry. Outcomes were compared against theories of internationalisation developed by previous studies completed in the commercial domain. The approaches to internationalisation adopted by 15 organisations were established, and the generalisability of these approaches tested via a mail survey that elicited 238 responses. Least squares, Cox time and logistic regression analyses were completed to determine the factors that significantly influenced the extents and timings of the sample members' international activities. It emerged that some but not all of the considerations that have been found to affect the internationalisation of commercial firms also impacted on the patterns of internationalisation pursued by many of the sample organisations, especially managerial inclinations and participation in networks. However, psychic distance was seemingly irrelevant to charities' internationalisation decisions. Rather, a construct termed for present purposes as ‘philanthropic imperative’ constituted a crucial determinant of behaviour. The results imply that charities' levels of involvement in networks should be encouraged and that charity support organisations need to develop their institutional networking facilities. Also, charity managers should question whether the most favoured mode of entry to foreign countries (i.e. the ad hoc project partnership (PP)) is necessarily the most effective. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Selected papers from Photon08

Photon08 was the fifth in a biennial series of events that began in 2000 and has grown to become the largest optics research meeting in the UK. Two of the co-located constituent conferences of Photon08 were generated by the Institute of Physics. These were the Optics and Photonics Division conference plus QEP-18 organised by the Quantum Electronics and Photonics Group. In addition, Photon08 contained a major exhibition and an Industry Technology Programme. Photon08 was organised by the UK Consortium for Photonics and Optics (UKCPO), whose members comprise all organisations that represent the UK optics community, whether learned societies, professional institutions, trade associations, or regional special interest groups. In hosting the Photon series, it is the objective of the UKCPO to provide a single forum for UK optics. Photon08 was held at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, 26–29 August 2008, and was attended by around 500 people. The international representation was very impressive and the range of topics was mapped onto a wide audience, which embraced every aspect of photonics from quantum information processing to biomedical imaging and technology transfer into the commercial domain. The purpose of this special issue is to present a characteristic selection of the research reported at Photon08. On behalf of the conference, we are very grateful to the editors of Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics for the opportunity to provide this archival record. The majority of the papers in this special issue follow the theme of measurement and instrumentation. This reflects one of the traditional strengths of the UK community that spans the interests of the Optical Group, the Optics and Photonics Division and the Instrument Science and Technology Group of the Institute of Physics, and the Fringe Analysis Special Interest Group. The other papers illustrate other UK strengths in quantum processing and nonlinear optics. There can be few areas of physics so diverse in application, and of such immediate value in the wider world, as photonics and this is evident from the content of this issue. It is a fascinating example of what Photon08 had to offer. As well as its intrinsic interest, we hope that it will inspire readers to attend Photon10, which will be held in Southampton at the end of August 2010.

Quasi-distributed refractometer using tilted Bragg gratings and time domain reflectometry

Tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) have been demonstrated to be accurate refractometers as they couple light from the fiber core to the cladding. Because they require spectral measurements on several tens of nanometers, demodulation techniques reported so far are not suited for quasi-distributed refractive index sensing using TFBGs cascaded along a single optical fiber. We demonstrate here that a commercial Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) can be used to multiplex identical TFBGs refractometers written in the same optical fiber. Our solution is simple, relatively fast, cost-effective and is particularly interesting for the monitoring of long structures.

YOUNG WOMEN AND CONSUMER CULTURE

This article is presented as an intervention in the field of feminist media and cultural studies with particular reference to consumer culture. It is concerned with the seeming evasion of critique which can be detected in a number of recent feminist responses to the way in which modalities of ‘popular feminism’ have found themselves incorporated into women's genres of television, such as, in particular, the US series Sex in the City. This usage or instrumentalization of feminism (in its most conventionally liberal feminist guise) also provides corporate culture with the means of presenting itself to young women as their ally and even champion of ‘girls’ while at the same time earning seeming approval for adopting the mantle of social responsibility, which makes the concept of popular feminism more problematic than it first appeared. Such appropriation of popular feminist discourse by the commercial domain prompts a self-critique on the part of the author alongside an analysis of recent approaches toward consumer culture in cultural studies. The article continues by presenting a schematic account of how the commercial domain increasingly supplants state and public sector institutions in the intensity and dedication of its address to girls and young women. Whilst some may argue that the intersection of youthful femininity and the commercial sphere is not a new phenomenon, what is being explored here is the connection between this intensification of attention and the logic of current neo-liberal economic rationalities. The argument is, therefore, that it is by these means including the instrumentalization of a specific modality of ‘feminism’ that there emerges into existence a neo-liberal culture, with global aspirations, which has as its ideal subject the category of ‘girl’.

Autonomic QoS control in enterprise Grid environments using online simulation

As Grid Computing increasingly enters the commercial domain, performance and quality of service (QoS) issues are becoming a major concern. The inherent complexity, heterogeneity and dynamics of Grid computing environments pose some challenges in managing their capacity to ensure that QoS requirements are continuously met. In this paper, a comprehensive framework for autonomic QoS control in enterprise Grid environments using online simulation is proposed. This paper presents a novel methodology for designing autonomic QoS-aware resource managers that have the capability to predict the performance of the Grid components they manage and allocate resources in such a way that service level agreements are honored. Support for advanced features such as autonomic workload characterization on-the-fly, dynamic deployment of Grid servers on demand, as well as dynamic system reconfiguration after a server failure is provided. The goal is to make the Grid middleware self-configurable and adaptable to changes in the system environment and workload. The approach is subjected to an extensive experimental evaluation in the context of a real-world Grid environment and its effectiveness, practicality and performance are demonstrated.

Academic and commercial efforts in Wear Debris Analysis Automation (WDAA)

Academic and commercial domain researchers have introduced many state-of-the-art techniques to perform wear debris analysis. However, due to lack of automation, debris analysis still remains a difficult technique to implement and practise. The research world commenced debris analysis automation efforts in the late 70s, but up until now both academic as well as commercial researchers have not utilised the full potential of wear debris for machine diagnostics. In this regard a comprehensive review is presented here. This review covers the automation efforts made in academic and commercial sectors for the last 28 years. In the review of academic efforts, special emphasis is made regarding techniques such as image processing, artificial intelligence, mathematical tools, statistical analysis tools and sensing methodologies. The review of commercial aspects is explained according to the debris inspection mode in the machine lubricant system. One aspect of debris analysis automation research, which is still missing in current available literature, is also mentioned at the end.

Efficient Implementation Techniques for Topological Predicates on Complex Spatial Objects

Topological relationships like overlap, inside, meet, and disjoint uniquely characterize the relative position between objects in space. For a long time, they have been a focus of interdisciplinary research as in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, linguistics, robotics, and spatial reasoning. Especially as predicates, they support the design of suitable query languages for spatial data retrieval and analysis in spatial database systems and geographical information systems. While, to a large extent, conceptual aspects of topological predicates (like their definition and reasoning with them) as well as strategies for avoiding unnecessary or repetitive predicate executions (like predicate migration and spatial index structures) have been emphasized, the development of robust and efficient implementation techniques for them has been largely neglected. Especially the recent design of topological predicates for all combinations of complex spatial data types has resulted in a large increase of their numbers and stressed the importance of their efficient implementation. The goal of this article is to develop correct and efficient implementation techniques of topological predicates for all combinations of complex spatial data types including two-dimensional point, line, and region objects, as they have been specified by different authors and in different commercial and public domain software packages. Our solution consists of two phases. In the exploration phase, for a given scene of two spatial objects, all topological events like intersection and meeting situations are summarized in two precisely defined topological feature vectors (one for each argument object of a topological predicate) whose specifications are characteristic and unique for each combination of spatial data types. These vectors serve as input for the evaluation phase which analyzes the topological events and determines the Boolean result of a topological predicate (predicate verification) or the kind of topological predicate (predicate determination) by a formally defined method called nine-intersection matrix characterization. Besides this general evaluation method, the article presents an optimized method for predicate verification, called matrix thinning, and an optimized method for predicate determination, called minimum cost decision tree. The methods presented in this article are applicable to all known complete collections of mutually exclusive topological predicates that are formally based on the well known nine-intersection model.

From Service to Experience: Understanding and Defining the Hospitality Business

Failure adequately to define or understand hospitality as a commercial phenomenon has created a fragmented academic environment and a schizophrenia in the industry that has the potential to limit its development as a global industry. This article suggests that, by redefining hospitality as behaviour and experience, a new perspective emerges that has exciting implications for the management of hospitality businesses. A framework to describe hospitality in the commercial domain is proposed. This framework suggests a focus on the host–guest relationship, generosity, theatre and performance, ‘lots of little surprises’, and the security of strangers – a focus that provides guests with experiences that are personal, memorable and add value to their lives.

5.2.0 Panel 5.2.0: Tailoring to Transit: Case Studies Applying SE to the Rail/Transit Domain

AbstractWhen an industry with 100‐year history of silo‐based operational domains introduces widespread technological advancements, generating exponential numbers of new interfaces that cross organizational boundaries – how does it respond to this new risk? For the rail/transit industry, the answer has been to adopt a systems engineering approach to manage the risk!Tailoring an SE approach for application to a new commercial domain has had its challenges. These case studies contrast and compare applications of SE across rail/transit projects to evaluate risk reduction and other benefits realized. Explore results across projects differing in scale, goals and asset type as well as in SE management strategies applied. Can the transit industry reach consensus and establish common systems engineering best practices, process and approaches? What tactics are being employed to facilitate shift in the cultural mindset to manage new interfaces and integration demands?

High-fidelity C/C++ code transformation

As software systems become increasingly massive, the advantages of automated transformation tools are clearly evident. These tools allow the machine to both reason about and manipulate high-level source code. They enable off-loading of mundane and laborious programming tasks from human developer to machine, thereby reducing cost and development time frames. Although there has been much work in software transformation, there still exist many hurdles in realizing this technology in a commercial domain. From our own experience, there are two significant problems that must be addressed before transformation technology can be usefully applied in a commercial setting. These are: (1) Avoiding disruption of the style (i.e., layout and commenting) of source code and the introduction of any undesired modifications that can occur as a side effect of the transformation process. (2) Correct automated handling of C preprocessing and the presentation of a semantically correct view of the program during transformation. Many existing automated transformation tools require source to be manually modified so that preprocessing constructs can be parsed. The real semantic of the program remains obscured resulting in the need for complicated analysis during transformation. Many systems also resort to pretty printing to generate transformed programs, which inherently disrupts coding style. In this paper we describe our own C/C++ transformation system, Proteus, that addresses both these issues. It has been tested on millions of lines of commercial C/C++ code and has been shown to meet the stringent criteria laid out by Lucent’s own software developers.

3.3.1 Network Centric Operation Implementations in Several Domains

AbstractA current focus in building military systems is the use of network based approaches. This is exemplified in the concepts of Network Centric Operations (NCO), Network Enabled Capabilities (NEC) or Network Based Defense (NBD). These concepts are, in part, inspired and motivated by the network based approaches that have revolutionized conducting business and operations in commercial domains across a wide spectrum of activities.Network centric systems in the commercial domain display a number of interesting capabilities. These included the means to integrate extremely large groups of users into effective systems‐of‐systems with time constants measured on the order of hours/days. The basic network centric enablers used in these systems fall into several major categories.This paper examines several high level architectures used in network centric operations for a number of non‐military network based systems; a ‘bricks and mortar’ retailer, on‐line ‘eCommerce’ businesses, and in software development. This examination is done by means of a literature survey and focuses on the interaction patterns that the systems must support, important capabilities the systems provide and important architectural enablers.

Pair formation within multi-agent populations

We present a simple model for the formation of pairs in multi-agent populations of type A and B which move freely on a spatial network. Each agent of population A (and B) is labeled as A i (and B j ) with i = 1 ,..., N A (and j = 1 ,..., N B ) and carries its own individual list of characteristics or ‘phenotype’. When agents from opposite populations encounter one another on the network, they can form a relationship if not already engaged in one. The length of time for which any given pair stays together depends on the compatibility of the two constituent agents. Possible applications include the human dating scenario, and the commercial domain where two types of businesses A and B have members of each type looking for a business partner, i.e., A i + B j → R ij . The pair R ij then survives for some finite time before dissociating R ij → A i + B j . There are many possible generalizations of this basic setup. Here, we content ourselves with some initial numerical results for the simplest of network topologies, together with some accompanying analytic analysis.

Competitive environment, market orientation, and the use of relational approaches to the marketing of charity beneficiary services

PurposeThis empirical investigation aims to examine the approaches to “beneficiary marketing” adopted by a sample of charities in sectors such as homelessness, eating disorders, domestic violence, addiction, etc., and the possible antecedents and consequences of particular marketing styles.Design/methodology/approachA mail questionnaire was sent to the heads of 618 charities or their regional offices in the UK's 20 largest cities, resulting in 172 replies. It was hypothesised that a charity's competitive market situation influenced its level of market orientation and hence its adoption of relationship marketing vis‐à‐vis beneficiaries. The impacts on marketing behaviour of an organisation's “strategic intent” and the existence of innately competitive instincts among its senior managers were explored. Possible connections between, on the one hand, market orientation and relationship marketing in relation to beneficiaries and, on the other, the same tendencies in respect of a charity's financial supporters were examined.FindingsThe results suggested that certain competitive factors known to drive conduct in the commercial domain also affected the behaviour of many of the sample charities. Organisations in the sample that were market‐orientated in relation to fundraising were also market‐orientated when they marketed their services to beneficiaries. Equally, charities that practised relationship marketing vis‐à‐vis donors also applied relationship marketing to their beneficiary marketing activities.Originality/valueThe paper adds value to pre‐existing literature concerning the alleged existence of a significant link between market orientation and performance. Additionally the research discovered a powerful connection between relationship marketing and charity client satisfaction, implying the need for charity managers to develop effective beneficiary relationship‐marketing strategy.

High-Fidelity C/C++ Code Transformation

As software systems become increasingly massive, the advantages of automated transformation tools are clearly evident. These tools allow the machine to both reason about and manipulate high-level source code. They enable off-loading of mundane and laborious programming tasks from human developer to machine, thereby reducing cost and development timeframes.Although there has been much academic work in software transformation, there still exists many hurdles in realising this technology in a commercial domain. From our own experience, there are two significant problems that must be addressed before transformation technology can be usefully applied in a commercial setting. These are: 1.) avoiding disruption of style (i.e. layout and commenting) and the introduction of any undesired modifications which occur as a side effect of the transformation process. 2.) correct handling of C preprocessing and the presentation of a semantically correct view of the program during transformation. Many existing automated transformation tools inherently disrupt style through the use of pretty printing and the need to perform preprocessing before any transformation. Some also require source to be modified so that it conforms to a subset of the grammar. In this paper we describe our own C/C++ transformation system, Proteus, that is able to meet the stringent criteria laid out by Lucent's own software developers.

The Biometric State: The Promise and Peril of Digital Government in the New South Africa

In the political aftershocks of September 11, powerful interests in the United States and Britain have proposed the development of national systems of biometric identification and registration. For much of the last century, South Africans have lived with such a biometric order, and in recent years the democratic state has begun to invest in a massive scheme of digital biometrics for the delivery of benefits and the elimination of fraud. This HANIS system has been preceded by a massive project of digital biometric grant delivery that affects millions of people throughout the country. These systems are changing the nature of the state, and the relationship between private individuals and the commercial domain. For the countries considering a move from the decentralised order of paper-based identification to the new world of digital biometrics, there is much to be learned from a close study of contemporary South Africa.

Internet-Based Distance Education Materials: Does Writing Style Matter?

How can distance educators format materials so that they maximize usability and optimize learning? Several web-writing characteristics have been identified that address these questions. “Objective” writing, most analogous to educational text, presents information without exaggerations or boasting. “Concise” and “scannable” writing omit superfluous information and support visual scanning by highlighting key features, respectively. “Combined” writing aggregates characteristics from the objective, concise, and scannable styles. Previous research suggests that, in contrast to results from the commercial domain, these writing styles do not influence memory of distance education materials. This discrepancy is possibly due to measurement differences. To address this issue, the present study employed recognition (i.e., multiple-choice) and guided recall (i.e., fill-in-the-blank) tasks in order to assess the efficacy of the writing styles in a distance education context. The results, however, confirmed the earlier findings, i.e., regardless of the material's writing format, memory for web site content was unaffected.