EFunds Corporation is the third largest business process outsourcing (BPO) provider in India. Specializing in the financial services, retail and telecommunications industries, EFunds offers financial services, customer services and transaction intensive applications. In early 2005 EFunds was assessing how it could garner a larger share of the growing offshore BPO market. EFunds management was focusing on honing three distinctive competencies: robust IT support, business process expertise, and its unique customer qualification methodology. But to really grow its business EFunds also needed to help customers recognize how BPO could make them stronger.

Health-shock can be defined as a health event that causes severe hardship to the household because of the financial burden for healthcare payments and the income loss due to inability to work. It is one of the most prevalent shocks faced by the people of underdeveloped and developing countries. In Pakistan especially, policy makers and healthcare sector face an uphill battle in dealing with health-shock due to the lack of a publicly available dataset and an effective data analytics approach. In order to address this problem, this thesis presents a data analytics and visualization framework for health-shock prediction based on a large-scale health informatics dataset. The framework is developed using cloud computing services based on Amazon web services integrated with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to facilitate the capture, storage, indexing and visualization of big data for different stakeholders using smart devices. The data was collected through offline questionnaires and an online mobile based system through Begum Memhooda Welfare Trust (BMWT). All data was coded in the online system for the purpose of analysis and visualization. In order to develop a predictive model for health-shock, a user study was conducted to collect a multidimensional dataset from 1000 households in rural and remotely accessible regions of Pakistan, focusing on their health, access to health care facilities and social welfare, as well as economic and environmental factors. The collected data was used to generate a predictive model using a fuzzy rule summarization technique, which can provide stakeholders with interpretable linguistic rules to explain the causal factors affecting health-shock. The evaluation of the proposed system in terms of the interpretability and accuracy of the generated data models for classifying health-shock shows promising results. The prediction accuracy of the fuzzy model based on a k-fold crossvalidation of the data samples shows above 89% performance in predicting health-shock based on the given factors. Such a framework will not only help the government and policy makers to manage and mitigate health-shock effectively and timely, but will also provide a low-cost, flexible, scalable, and secure architecture for data analytics and visualization. Future work includes extending this study to form Pakistan’s first publicly available health informatics tool to help government and healthcare professionals to form policies and healthcare reforms. This study has implications at a national and international level to facilitate large-scale health data analytics through cloud computing in order to minimize the resource commitments needed to predict and manage health-shock.

The development and use of web-enabled tools for watershed modeling and decision-making have gained popularity lately with the increase in internet speed and accessibility. Most of the web-enabled tools available today address the watershed problems related to a narrow discipline like hydrology, or ecology etc. This thesis presents the work done in the development of a web-enabled integrated system, named WebL2W, which can address watershed problems in a more holistic approach. WebL2W integrates models from hydrology, economics, and biology in a single shell. The integration is performed using GIS as a common platform for database and interface management. A user accesses the system over the web and chooses pre-selected land development patterns to create a 'what if' scenario. The hydrologic model simulates effects of the scenario on annual runoff volume, flood peaks of various return periods, and ground water recharge. The economics model evaluates the changes in land value, tax revenue, and government expenditures as a result of the new land development scenario. The biology model evaluates effects of new land uses to fish habitats in the watershed. The design of the system is based on current software engineering practices such as object oriented programming (OOP) and relational database management system (RDBMS). The implementation uses the Visual Basic programming environment and Active Server Pages. / Master of Science

<p> Many manual tasks such as those in surgical applications require a high degree of motor skills that can only be gained through extensive training. This thesis is concerned with the design and control of collaborative training virtual environments with haptic feedback for skills training. The term "collaborative training" refers to a scheme in which the trainee and the trainer operate in a shared virtual environment. They collaboratively carry out the intended tasks using a shared "virtual tool". In order to enhance the trainee's motor skills, the conventional visual feedback will be augmented by force feedback providing the feel of the task environment as well as active guidance by the expert trainer.</p> <p> First, a set of psychophysics experiments are designed to investigate the usefulness of haptic-enabled collaborative virtual environments for motor skills training. Eighteen volunteers randomly divided between two training and control groups have participated in the experiments. The training group would undergo a number of collaborative training sessions with active help from the trainer whereas the control group would try the task on their own to achieve a set of stated goals. Each of the experiments is designed with specific performance objectives in mind, including trajectory tracking and task completion time. The results of the psychophysics experiments confirm that, when visual feedback is partially impaired, haptic-enabled collaborative training improves learning of a trajectory tracking task. In all the experimental scenarios tested, the results showed improvements in temporal response after receiving training.</p> <p> The second part of the thesis is devoted to the development of a general control framework for the coordination of the users in haptic-enabled collaborative virtual environments. The haptic interface control design is separated from the virtual environment simulation in order to provide more versatility in control strategies for both impedance and admittance-type virtual environments. Adaptive nonlinear controllers are proposed that establish desired linear-time-invariant and/or nonlinear static mappings amongst the users and the virtual task environment positions and forces. These controllers account for the nonlinear model of haptic devices and can handle uncertainties in the haptic devices, the users, and the virtual environment dynamics. First, the tracking behavior of the system is shown via a Lyapunov analysis. Then using a priori known bounds on user and environment parameters, the robust stability of the system is analyzed by employing the Nyquist envelops of interval plants and an off-axis circle criterion. The robust stability analysis provides bounds on the parameter of the linear and nonlinear mappings within which the stability of the system is guaranteed, for all possible system parameters with their a priori given bounds. Experiments carried out with two similar Quanser twin-pantograph haptic devices confirm the effectiveness of the proposed controllers in achieving the performance and stability objectives.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Yes / Peptide-enabled nanoparticle (NP) synthesis routes can create and/or assemble functional nanomaterials under environmentally friendly conditions, with properties dictated by complex interactions at the biotic/abiotic interface. Manipulation of this interface through sequence modification can provide the capability for material properties to be tailored to create enhanced materials for energy, catalysis, and sensing applications. Fully realizing the potential of these materials requires a comprehensive understanding of sequence-dependent structure/function relationships that is presently lacking. In this work, the atomic-scale structures of a series of peptide-capped Au NPs are determined using a combination of atomic pair distribution function analysis of high-energy X-ray diffraction data and advanced molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The Au NPs produced with different peptide sequences exhibit varying degrees of catalytic activity for the exemplar reaction 4-nitrophenol reduction. The experimentally derived atomic-scale NP configurations reveal sequence-dependent differences in structural order at the NP surface. Replica exchange with solute-tempering MD simulations are then used to predict the morphology of the peptide overlayer on these Au NPs and identify factors determining the structure/catalytic properties relationship. We show that the amount of exposed Au surface, the underlying surface structural disorder, and the interaction strength of the peptide with the Au surface all influence catalytic performance. A simplified computational prediction of catalytic performance is developed that can potentially serve as a screening tool for future studies. Our approach provides a platform for broadening the analysis of catalytic peptide-enabled metallic NP systems, potentially allowing for the development of rational design rules for property enhancemen / Air Force Office for Scientific Research (Grant #FA9550-12-1-0226, RRN; AFOSR LRIR) and DOE-BES grant DE-SC0006877, fellowship support from the National Research Council Research Associateship

Yes / The race against ‘Digital Darwinism’ in public sector had caused failures of several high profile large-scale Digitally Enabled Service Transformation (DEST) projects. While technical and managerial issues are often emphasised as the factors underpinning such failures, the vital role of key actors and the interplay between these actors and structures is underplayed when examining the causes of DEST failure. To enable a richer understanding of DEST, this paper proposes an analytical lens combining Institutional Theory (IT) and Structuration Theory (ST) to explore the case of ‘Universal Credit’, a very large and ambitious DEST project in the UK. Analysis reveals that the institutional actors and structures played significant roles in the transformation process. Albeit governing the actors’ actions, institutional structures are shaped through actions that are influenced by knowledge, power and norms. Hence, recognising and addressing these subliminal factors are critical to promote actions that can facilitate DEST success. The contributions of this case study are two-folds. Theoretically, it provides a distinctive conceptual approach to study DEST; and practically, the lessons help in signposting better managerial practices.

No / "Enabling Multichannel Participation through ICT Adaptations for Participatory Budgeting ICT-enabled platform” (EMPATIA) is a multi-channel participatory budgeting (PB) platform that represents a significant social innovation process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, involving citizens within complex public-institution structures. EMPATIA was targeted to deliver socio-economic and political benefits, such as enhancing citizen-government engagement, increasing public value through PB process, promoting ‘inclusiveness’ among the marginalized groups of citizens, and impeding political discontent that underpins distrust and skepticism towards the government. The attainment of these benefits will be driven by the EMPATIA's performance. Hence, a performance measurement tools is needed to enable assessment of EMPATIA, empirically. With an aim to propose an integrated performance evaluation metrics, this study presents a set of assessment criteria for multi-channel digitally enabled PB service platforms – especially EMPATIA. Findings from a qualitative, multi-strategies research approach suggest that the metrics should include five key technical and non-technical performance indicators, to be used as basis for the development of future evaluation instruments. Of major signposts, the metrics would inform key performance aspects to be considered during the PB platform development, and evaluated to indicate the PB platform performance.

The bio-enabled syntheses of functional nano-structured metal oxide thin films is of importance for a range of applications, in photonics, electronics, sensing, cell engineering, and biochemical devices. This type of novel syntheses method can overcome problems common in conventional oxide processing. In general, conventional oxide processes often require thermal treatment, caustic chemicals, and mechanical processing when producing shape-controlled inorganic materials. In contrast, biological processes are usually carried out under mild conditions (low temperature, neutral pH, and atmospheric pressure) and are therefore promising for the development of benign processes. Functional materials synthesized at room temperature using biomolecules are promising due to their expediency. During recent years, significant discoveries and progress have been made in discovering, and finding new applications for such biomimetic oxide-based minerals. However, much of the research has focused on SiO- and TiO-bearing organic-inorganic hybrid materials, of which a significant limitation is that, there are relatively few water-soluble inorganic oxide precursors commercially available for such biological syntheses. Two common compounds that are used in the biomimetic syntheses of SiO₂ and TiO₂ are tetramethoxisilane (TMOS) and Ti(IV) -bis(ammonium lactato) dihydroxide ( TiBALDH ). As a result, approaches to synthesize new water-soluble transitional metal complexes for use as precursors in the biomineralization of the corresponding functional metal oxide thin films were explored in this work, in order to expand the range of functional oxide chemistries formed via bio-enabled methods. A Ti-containing compound was synthesized to compare the behavior of commercially-available and as-synthesized TiBALDH. Another titanium-containing complex with citrate ligands, instead of lactate, was also synthesized to investigate the influence of the ligand type on the deposition behavior of the precursors. Zirconium- and hafnium-containing complexes were also synthesized to demonstrate the feasibility and versatility of the idea of applying bio-enabled syntheses to the fabrication of functional mineral oxides other than the reported SiO₂ and TiO₂. The second part of this thesis focuses on developing a novel way to fabricate porous functional mineral oxide thin films with controlled pore size, which can be used in a variety of applications, such as dye loading for optical, photochemical, or electrochemical purposes. Commercially-available, carboxyl-group-terminated polystyrene spheres of different sizes were utilized as pore-size controllers in the bio-enabled syntheses of TiO₂ by protamine. This approach has been found to be an effective means of creating uniform pores in inorganic mineral oxide coatings. The accomplishments of this work have the potential to be integrated so as to expand the boundaries of biomineralization in materials science and engineering fields.

Information technology (IT) is empowering consumers, service providers, and inventor teams with superior services. Various IT innovations are enabling diverse groups of people to search, exchange, and learn from information. In healthcare services, the context of the three essays of this dissertation, information resources are often not equally accessible to consumers, not transparent between patients and physicians, and hard to locate across technological domains that may be relevant to the development of breakthrough innovations. Focusing on empowering roles of IT in healthcare services, I develop a three-essay dissertation to study how IT can enable information access to (i) address health inequalities in developing regions of the world, (ii) strengthen the physician-patient relationship where patient trust in the physician has atrophied, and (iii) energize inventor teams in the development of medical device innovations. Essay 1 examines consumers’ awareness and use of mobile health that can empower consumers to access health advice information. Essay 2 investigates how online health consultation communities can empower physicians to build trust with patients, and gain social and economic advantages in competitive healthcare services. Essay 3 studies the role of digital capabilities to empower inventor teams in medical device companies by converting expertise of inventor teams into broad and deep knowledge capital and expanding knowledge production regarding medical device innovations. I adopt a pluralistic approach to collect data (surveys administered in multiple languages for Essay 1, scraping web data from online communities for Essay 2, and constructing a multisource archival panel dataset for Essay 3) and analyze data (multivariate analysis for Essay 1, multilevel modeling and econometrics for Essay 2 and Essay 3). The essays contribute to our understanding about the acceptance of empowering IT innovations, the empowering role of user-generated content in online communities for providers of credence services, and the empowering role of IT for inventor teams of healthcare innovations.

Commercial composite aerospace structure is required to be designed and managed under the damage tolerant principle. Airworthiness is maintained through a process of regulated inspections and if required maintenance. Currently inspections use visual and assisted visual (non-destructive inspection - NDI) techniques. Damage tolerant operation is therefore reliant on inspectability. Unlike metal structure composite and adhesively bonded structure may show few if any recognisable indicators prior to rapid failure, either visually or using NDI. Although stringent manufacturing processes are demanded to best ensure components are fit for service strategies such as reducing stresses by oversizing components or in the case of bonded features additional mechanical fasteners may be included to allow operation with this potential structural uncertainty. Structural Heath Monitoring (SHM) uses data from in-situ sensors to assess the condition of the structure. If via SHM any uncertainty associated with difficult to inspect components could be eliminated less reliance would be required of additional structure or features allowing lighter and more efficient structure to be viable with no impact on current airworthiness demands. Despite much previous research no SHM system is in use with in-service composite or bonded aerospace components. When operating a structure under Damage-tolerance operational requirements damage must be positively identified to allow repairs to be made whist ensuring appropriate airworthiness demands are maintained. Such demands must also be met by structure inspected using SHM. Unlike previous studies this research combines the process of structural design and in-situ monitoring to address the issues identified. Termed SHM enabled design this approach allows the implementation of monitoring technology and the potential for benefits including the reduced reliance on inefficient additional structure to be viably included in actual structure ... [cont.].