<p>This study examined how three different manipulations of a single policing stance affected the quality scores and matching performance in a biometric facial recognition system; it was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, the researcher collected qualitative survey data from active, sworn law enforcement officers in 15 states. In the second phase, the researcher collected quantitative data using a single facial recognition subject and a static body-worn camera mounted to an adjustable tripod. In the third phase, the researcher collected quantitative data from body-worn camera-equipped law enforcement officers who filmed a stationary target as they executed a series of specified movements from the interview stance. The second phase tested two different body-worn cameras: one that is popular among law enforcement agencies in the United States, the Axon Body 2; and one that is inexpensive and available to the general public via a popular internet commerce website. The third phase tested only the Axon Body 2. Results of the study showed that matching results are poor in a biometric system where the test body-worn camera was the sensor, with error rates as high as 100% when the body-worn camera wearer was in motion. The general conclusion of this study is that a body-worn camera is not a suitable sensor for a biometric facial recognition system at this time, though advances in camera technology and biometric systems may close the gap in the future. </p>

Universities in the new millennium find themselves in a knowledge-driven economy that is challenging them to produce a qualified and adaptable work force if they are to contribute to societal development. Owing to the structural change in the economy, entrepreneurs require high level scientists, professionals and technicians who not only have the capability to create and support innovations by adapting knowledge to local use but also people with managerial and lifelong learning skills. Such are they who can accelerate changes and make organizations more productive and efficient in the services they render. Consequently, universities in Sub-Saharan Africa are challenged to transform learning so as to produce graduates who have both knowledge and competencies. Such a system will create a balance between university education and the changing labour market. Satisfying these new educational demands are only possible through research and unhindered access to global information resources. Paradoxically, some private university libraries, because of limited funding, find themselves fiscally constrained in the provision of unhindered access to global stores of information particularly at a time of exponential growth both in number and cost of information resources. This had led libraries to re-examine resource sharing as a viable option to meeting the new demands placed on universities. It is for the reasons above that this study examines the practice, problems and prospects of resource-sharing in selected Seventh-day Adventist university libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It examines scientifically the causes of poor sharing practices that are unique to each library, the situational and environmental factors that can enhance resource sharing. It provides also research-based information that will help to determine the best ways by which each library can have greater access to information resources. There are proposals for resolving the problems, and there are recommendations for dealing with the matter on a more permanent basis. The study advances resource-sharing model called Consortium of Adventist University Libraries in Africa (CAULA) as a resource sharing network for Seventh-day Adventist libraries in Africa. The organizational structure for CAULA are outlined and discussed. The proposed cooperation is not only sustainable but also structured to provide efficiency and greater regional cooperation of SDA libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa. / Information Science / DLITT ET PHIL (INF SCIENCE)

The inquiry documented in this thesis is located at the nexus of technological innovation and traditional schooling. As we enter the second decade of a new century, few would argue against the increasingly urgent need to integrate digital literacies with traditional academic knowledge. Yet, despite substantial investments from governments and businesses, the adoption and diffusion of contemporary digital tools in formal schooling remain sluggish. To date, research on technology adoption in schools tends to take a deficit perspective of schools and teachers, with the lack of resources and teacher ‘technophobia’ most commonly cited as barriers to digital uptake. Corresponding interventions that focus on increasing funding and upskilling teachers, however, have made little difference to adoption trends in the last decade. Empirical evidence that explicates the cultural and pedagogical complexities of innovation diffusion within long-established conventions of mainstream schooling, particularly from the standpoint of students, is wanting. To address this knowledge gap, this thesis inquires into how students evaluate and account for the constraints and affordances of contemporary digital tools when they engage with them as part of their conventional schooling. It documents the attempted integration of a student-led Web 2.0 learning initiative, known as the Student Media Centre (SMC), into the schooling practices of a long-established, high-performing independent senior boys’ school in urban Australia. The study employed an ‘explanatory’ two-phase research design (Creswell, 2003) that combined complementary quantitative and qualitative methods to achieve both breadth of measurement and richness of characterisation. In the initial quantitative phase, a self-reported questionnaire was administered to the senior school student population to determine adoption trends and predictors of SMC usage (N=481). Measurement constructs included individual learning dispositions (learning and performance goals, cognitive playfulness and personal innovativeness), as well as social and technological variables (peer support, perceived usefulness and ease of use). Incremental predictive models of SMC usage were conducted using Classification and Regression Tree (CART) modelling: (i) individual-level predictors, (ii) individual and social predictors, and (iii) individual, social and technological predictors. Peer support emerged as the best predictor of SMC usage. Other salient predictors include perceived ease of use and usefulness, cognitive playfulness and learning goals. On the whole, an overwhelming proportion of students reported low usage levels, low perceived usefulness and a lack of peer support for engaging with the digital learning initiative. The small minority of frequent users reported having high levels of peer support and robust learning goal orientations, rather than being predominantly driven by performance goals. These findings indicate that tensions around social validation, digital learning and academic performance pressures influence students’ engagement with the Web 2.0 learning initiative. The qualitative phase that followed provided insights into these tensions by shifting the analytics from individual attitudes and behaviours to shared social and cultural reasoning practices that explain students’ engagement with the innovation. Six indepth focus groups, comprising 60 students with different levels of SMC usage, were conducted, audio-recorded and transcribed. Textual data were analysed using Membership Categorisation Analysis. Students’ accounts converged around a key proposition. The Web 2.0 learning initiative was useful-in-principle but useless-in-practice. While students endorsed the usefulness of the SMC for enhancing multimodal engagement, extending peer-topeer networks and acquiring real-world skills, they also called attention to a number of constraints that obfuscated the realisation of these design affordances in practice. These constraints were cast in terms of three binary formulations of social and cultural imperatives at play within the school: (i) ‘cool/uncool’, (ii) ‘dominant staff/compliant student’, and (iii) ‘digital learning/academic performance’. The first formulation foregrounds the social stigma of the SMC among peers and its resultant lack of positive network benefits. The second relates to students’ perception of the school culture as authoritarian and punitive with adverse effects on the very student agency required to drive the innovation. The third points to academic performance pressures in a crowded curriculum with tight timelines. Taken together, findings from both phases of the study provide the following key insights. First, students endorsed the learning affordances of contemporary digital tools such as the SMC for enhancing their current schooling practices. For the majority of students, however, these learning affordances were overshadowed by the performative demands of schooling, both social and academic. The student participants saw engagement with the SMC in-school as distinct from, even oppositional to, the conventional social and academic performance indicators of schooling, namely (i) being ‘cool’ (or at least ‘not uncool’), (ii) sufficiently ‘compliant’, and (iii) achieving good academic grades. Their reasoned response therefore, was simply to resist engagement with the digital learning innovation. Second, a small minority of students seemed dispositionally inclined to negotiate the learning affordances and performance constraints of digital learning and traditional schooling more effectively than others. These students were able to engage more frequently and meaningfully with the SMC in school. Their ability to adapt and traverse seemingly incommensurate social and institutional identities and norms is theorised as cultural agility – a dispositional construct that comprises personal innovativeness, cognitive playfulness and learning goals orientation. The logic then is ‘both and’ rather than ‘either or’ for these individuals with a capacity to accommodate both learning and performance in school, whether in terms of digital engagement and academic excellence, or successful brokerage across multiple social identities and institutional affiliations within the school. In sum, this study takes us beyond the familiar terrain of deficit discourses that tend to blame institutional conservatism, lack of resourcing and teacher resistance for low uptake of digital technologies in schools. It does so by providing an empirical base for the development of a ‘third way’ of theorising technological and pedagogical innovation in schools, one which is more informed by students as critical stakeholders and thus more relevant to the lived culture within the school, and its complex relationship to students’ lives outside of school. It is in this relationship that we find an explanation for how these individuals can, at the one time, be digital kids and analogue students.

The intent of the thesis is to ascertain whether mitigation of political risk to the IT industry in Panama can be of value to the country by improving the economy and standard of living.

Universities in the new millennium find themselves in a knowledge-driven economy that is challenging them to produce a qualified and adaptable work force if they are to contribute to societal development. Owing to the structural change in the economy, entrepreneurs require high level scientists, professionals and technicians who not only have the capability to create and support innovations by adapting knowledge to local use but also people with managerial and lifelong learning skills. Such are they who can accelerate changes and make organizations more productive and efficient in the services they render. Consequently, universities in Sub-Saharan Africa are challenged to transform learning so as to produce graduates who have both knowledge and competencies. Such a system will create a balance between university education and the changing labour market. Satisfying these new educational demands are only possible through research and unhindered access to global information resources. Paradoxically, some private university libraries, because of limited funding, find themselves fiscally constrained in the provision of unhindered access to global stores of information particularly at a time of exponential growth both in number and cost of information resources. This had led libraries to re-examine resource sharing as a viable option to meeting the new demands placed on universities. It is for the reasons above that this study examines the practice, problems and prospects of resource-sharing in selected Seventh-day Adventist university libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It examines scientifically the causes of poor sharing practices that are unique to each library, the situational and environmental factors that can enhance resource sharing. It provides also research-based information that will help to determine the best ways by which each library can have greater access to information resources. There are proposals for resolving the problems, and there are recommendations for dealing with the matter on a more permanent basis. The study advances resource-sharing model called Consortium of Adventist University Libraries in Africa (CAULA) as a resource sharing network for Seventh-day Adventist libraries in Africa. The organizational structure for CAULA are outlined and discussed. The proposed cooperation is not only sustainable but also structured to provide efficiency and greater regional cooperation of SDA libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa. / Information Science / DLITT ET PHIL (INF SCIENCE)

Holographic communications technologies are a new digital technology being currently  developed by companies to be available to the public in the near future. Through holographic  communications technologies, the image of one user located in one place can be captured with  special equipment from different angles, so that its three-dimensional depiction is created  realistically. The 3D depiction is then transmitted in high-quality to another user located in some  other remote place, creating a whole new experience of unconventional data communication. This  new digital technology is planned to be deployed in several fields, such as marketing, education,  medicine, business and entertainment. However, like any new technological tool that is  introduced, also in the case of holographic communication technologies there are ethical and/or  legal challenges that could emerge from its misuse and set in danger fundamental human rights.  Hence, research was conducted as an interpretive qualitative study to explore the potential ethical  and/or legal challenges of holographic communications technologies by considering the  knowledge, opinions, experiences, and perspectives of legal experts, as well as experts on ethical  issues. The empirical data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews from the  selected participants, and from the review of mainly confidential documents, before being  subjected to a thematic analysis. The analysis of the data gave prominence to five themes which  were reviewed in the context of the research question and the proposed theoretical framework  with the help of Ethical Technology Assessment (ETA). The discussion of the findings revealed  that the most prominent challenges that could arise from the use of holographic communications  technologies are privacy and data protection issues. It was further shown that existing digital  technologies with similar features and the ethical and/or legal challenges confronted in the past  about them can be of help to approach the ones regarding holographic communications  technologies. The research indicated that the designing phase of a new digital technology, and  accordingly holographic communication technologies, is important as decisions are being made  about the technical features of it, as well as the capabilities it will offer to the end users. Hence, it  plays a vital role to whether the use of the digital technology will be according to ethics and laws  later on. It was also shown that the participation of end users in this phase is important to reflect  their concerns and desires with the creators before the new digital technology is introduced, but  it is still a challenge to decide who will be included and on what criteria they will be selected.   The research showed that existing ethical and legal frameworks are important to form a  corresponding framework for holographic communications technologies and can be built upon.  However, this is also a challenge, as, according to the research, any new framework that will be  constructed with regard to holographic communications technologies cannot possibly be  unanimous as different norms and societal beliefs apply to different territories or domains, but  should rather be “personalized” according to the targeted audience.

[ES] Cerca de 3.000 millones de personas en todo el mundo no pueden aprovechar ni siquiera los servicios de conectividad más básicos, ya que la mayoría de ellas viven en zonas rurales o países en vías de desarrollo. Incluso los servicios de mensajería más simples serian de gran ayuda, por ejemplo, para los agricultores que desean conocer el precio de las mercancías que les interesa vender o comprar antes de decidir si se emprende un viaje posiblemente largo, caro y agotador. La tecnología LoRa permite realizar enlaces de larga distancia con un consumo reducido de energía a bajo coste, siendo su principal limitación el escaso ancho de banda que ofrece. Con LoRa, los lugares remotos, como las zonas rurales, pueden beneficiarse de servicios basados en la conectividad que, de otro modo, serían imposibles. Nuestra propuesta entra en la categoría de redes comunitarias, en las que los usuarios construyen su propia red cuando no hay infraestructura comercial disponible. Además de la simple aplicación de mensajería, LoRa puede utilizarse para distribuir información de sensores a las comunidades o para proporcionar alertas de desastres o datos meteorológicos. Presentamos un protocolo flexible basado en la tecnología LoRa que permite la transferencia de "contenido" denominado LoRaCTP, el cual proporciona los mecanismos necesarios para que LoRa sea fiable, introduciendo una configuración de conexión ligera. Hemos diseñado este protocolo también como soporte de comunicación para las soluciones IoT basadas en edge computing, dada su estabilidad, el bajo consumo de energía y la posibilidad de cubrir largas distancias. Integramos una arquitectura que permite la recolección de datos de fuentes externas genéricas. Especialmente las fuentes de audio, apuntando a dos servicios básicos: un sistema de mensajería de voz que permite a los usuarios que no saben leer o escribir, realizar notas de voz, y un servicio de compresión de audio para extraer las principales características de la entrada de audio y utilizarla para desarrollar análisis de audio inteligente basado en Machine Learning. Combinamos IoT y Edge computing en un enfoque de innovación frugal, para proponer una solución "ingeniosa", en términos de utilización mínima de recursos y sostenibilidad, para construir un soporte básico para un sistema IoT en áreas rurales. Incluimos un proxy MQTT para integrar dispositivos de bajo coste y bajo consumo en un sistema de mensajería basado en LoRa. A través de una interfaz REST, mostramos cómo se puede usar nuestra plataforma para distribuir información de sensores de las comunidades rurales. Además, MQTT permite que estos datos se proporcionen a "lagos de datos" externos para que puedan usarse para tareas tales como informes, visualización, análisis avanzado y aprendizaje automático. Describimos una arquitectura genérica de edge/fog, utilizando microservicios, un sistema basado en MQTT que puede recopilar datos de ingreso, manejar su persistencia y coordinar la integración de datos con la nube utilizando un servicio específico llamado agregador. Las estaciones edge tienen un canal dedicado con el agregador que se basa en LoRa para permitir transmisiones de largo alcance con bajo consumo de energía. / [CA] Prop de 3.000 milions de persones a tot el món no poden aprofitar ni tan sols els serveis de connectivitat més bàsics, ja que la majoria d'elles viuen en zones rurals o països en vies de desenvolupament. Fins i tot els serveis de missatgeria més simples serien de gran ajuda, per exemple, per als agricultors que desitgen conèixer el preu de les mercaderies que els interessa vendre o comprar abans de decidir si s'emprèn un viatge possiblement llarg, car i esgotador. La tecnologia LoRa permet realitzar enllaços de llarga distància amb un consum reduït d'energia a baix cost, sent la seua principal limitació l'escassa amplada de banda que ofereix. Amb LoRa, els llocs remots, com les zones rurals, poden beneficiar-se de serveis basats en la connectivitat que, d'una altra manera, serien impossibles. La nostra proposta entra en la categoria de xarxes comunitàries, en les quals els usuaris construeixen la seua pròpia xarxa quan no hi ha infraestructura comercial disponible. A més de la simple aplicació de missatgeria, LoRa pot utilitzarse per a distribuir informació de sensors a les comunitats o per a proporcionar alertes de desastres o dades meteorològiques. Presentem un protocol flexible basat en la tecnologia LoRa que permet la transferència de "contingut" denominat LoRaCTP, el qual proporciona els mecanismes necessaris perquè LoRa siga fiable, introduint una configuració de connexió lleugera. Hem dissenyat aquest protocol també com a suport de comunicació per a les solucions IoT basades en edge computing, donada la seua estabilitat, el baix consum d'energia i la possibilitat de cobrir llargues distàncies. Integrem una arquitectura que permet la recol·lecció de dades de fonts externes genèriques. Especialment, les fonts d'àudio, apuntant a dos serveis bàsics: un sistema de missatgeria de veu que permet als usuaris que no saben llegir o escriure realitzar notes de veu, i un servei de compressió d'àudio per a extraure les principals característiques de l'entrada d'àudio i utilitzar-la per a desenvolupar anàlisi d'àudio intel·ligent basat en Machine Learning. Combinem IoT i Edge computing en un enfocament d'innovació frugal, per a proposar una solució "enginyosa", en termes d'utilització mínima de recursos i sostenibilitat, per a construir un suport bàsic per a un sistema IoT en àrees rurals. Incloem un proxy MQTT per a integrar dispositius de baix cost i baix consum en un sistema de missatgeria basat en LoRa. A través d'una interfície REST, vam mostrar com es pot usar la nostra plataforma per a distribuir informació de sensors de les comunitats rurals. A més, MQTT permet que aquestes dades es proporcionen a "llacs de dades" externes perquè puguen usar-se per a tasques com ara informes, visualització, anàlisi avançada i aprenentatge automàtic. Descrivim una arquitectura genèrica de edge/fog, utilitzant microserveis, un sistema basat en MQTT que pot recopilar dades d'ingrés, manejar la seua persistència i coordinar la integració de dades amb el núvol utilitzant un servei específic anomenat agregador. Les estacions edge tenen un canal dedicat amb el agregador que es basa en LoRa per a permetre transmissions de llarg abast amb baix consum d'energia. / [EN] Nearly 3 billion people around the world are unable to take advantage of even the most basic connectivity services, as most of them live in rural areas or developing countries. Even the simplest messaging services would be of great help, for example, to farmers who want to know the price of goods they are interested in selling or buying before deciding whether to embark on a possibly long, expensive and exhausting journey. LoRa technology enables long-distance links with reduced power consumption at low cost, its main limitation being the low bandwidth it offers. With LoRa, remote locations, such as rural areas, can benefit from connectivity-based services that would otherwise be impossible. Our proposal falls into the category of community networks, where users build their own network when commercial infrastructure is not available. In addition to a simple messaging application, LoRa can be used to distribute sensor information to communities or to provide disaster alerts or weather data. We present a flexible protocol based on LoRa technology that enables the transfer of "content" called LoRaCTP, which provides the necessary mechanisms for LoRa to be reliable, introducing a lightweight connection setup. We have designed this protocol also as a communication support for IoT solutions based on edge computing, given its stability, low power consumption and the possibility of covering long distances. Likewise, we integrated an architecture that allows data collection from generic external sources. Especially audio sources, targeting two basic services: a voice messaging system that allows users who cannot read or write to make voice notes, and an audio compression service to extract the main features of the audio input and use it to develop intelligent audio analytics based on Machine Learning. We combine IoT and Edge computing in a frugal innovation approach, to propose an "ingenious" solution, in terms of minimum resource utilization and sustainability, to build a basic support for an IoT system in rural areas. We include an MQTT proxy to integrate low-cost and low-power devices into a LoRa-based messaging system. Through a REST interface, we show how our platform can be used to distribute sensor information from rural communities. In addition, MQTT allows this data to be provided to external "data lakes" so that it can be used for tasks such as reporting, visualization, advanced analytics, and machine learning. We describe a generic edge/fog architecture, using microservices, an MQTT-based system that can collect ingress data, manage its persistence, and coordinate data integration with the cloud using a specific service called an aggregator. The edge stations have a dedicated channel with the aggregator that is based on LoRa to enable long-range transmissions with low power consumption. / Agradezco al Gobierno de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos a través del Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) y al Gobierno de Chiapas mediante el Consejo de Ciencia y Tecnología del Estado de Chiapas (COCYTECH) por brindarme la oportunidad de mejoramiento profesional y académico por medio del programa de becas “CONACYT - Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas” en la convocatoria del 2017. / Nakamura Pinto, MK. (2022). Diseño de un sistema de mensajería instantánea para redes comunitarias [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/188948

<p>This dissertation examines the impact of active shooters upon patrons attending large outdoor events. There has been a spike in shooters targeting densely populated spaces in recent years, to include open-air venues. The 2019 Gilroy Garlic Festival was selected for modeling replication using AnyLogic software to test various experiments designed to reduce casualties in the event of an active shooter situation. Through achievement of validation to produce identical outcomes of the real-world Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, the researcher established a reliable foundational model for experimental purposes. This active shooter research project identifies the need for rapid response efforts to neutralize the shooter(s) as quickly as possible to minimize casualties. Key findings include the importance of armed officers patrolling event grounds to reduce response time, the need for adequate exits during emergency evacuations, incorporation of modern technology to identify the shooter’s location, and applicability of a 1:548 police to patron ratio.</p>