Journal of Communication and Computer

Journal of Communication and Computer Volume 11, Number 3, March 2014 (Serial Number 112)

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Publication Information: Journal of Communication and Computer is published monthly in hard copy (ISSN 1548-7709) and online (ISSN 1930-1553) by David Publishing Company located at 240 Nagle Avenue #15C, New York, NY 10034, USA. Aims and Scope: Journal of Communication and Computer, a monthly professional academic journal, covers all sorts of researches on Theoretical Computer Science, Network and Information Technology, Communication and Information Processing, Electronic Engineering as well as other issues. Contributing Editors: YANG Chun-lai, male, Ph.D. of Boston College (1998), Senior System Analyst of Technology Division, Chicago Mercantile Exchange. DUAN Xiao-xia, female, Master of Information and Communications of Tokyo Metropolitan University, Chairman of Phonamic Technology Ltd. (Chengdu, China). Editors: Cecily Z., Lily L., Ken S., Gavin D., Jim Q., Jimmy W., Hiller H., Martina M., Susan H., Jane C., Betty Z., Gloria G., Stella H., Clio Y., Grace P., Caroline L., Alina Y.. Manuscripts and correspondence are invited for publication. You can submit your papers via Web Submission, or E-mail to [email protected]. Submission guidelines and Web Submission system are available at http://www.davidpublishing.org, www.davidpublishing.com. Editorial Office: 240 Nagle Avenue #15C, New York, NY 10034, USA Tel：1-323-984-7526, Fax: 1-323-984-7374 E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Copyright©2014 by David Publishing Company and individual contributors. All rights reserved. David Publishing Company holds the exclusive copyright of all the contents of this journal. In accordance with the international convention, no part of this journal may be reproduced or transmitted by any media or publishing organs (including various websites) without the written permission of the copyright holder. Otherwise, any conduct would be considered as the violation of the copyright. The contents of this journal are available for any citation. However, all the citations should be clearly indicated with the title of this journal, serial number and the name of the author. Abstracted / Indexed in: Database of EBSCO, Massachusetts, USA Chinese Database of CEPS, Airiti Inc. & OCLC Chinese Scientific Journals Database, VIP Corporation, Chongqing, P.R.China CSA Technology Research Database Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory Summon Serials Solutions Subscription Information: Price (per year): Print $520; Online $360; Print and Online $680 David Publishing Company 240 Nagle Avenue #15C, New York, NY 10034, USA Tel：1-323-984-7526, Fax: 1-323-984-7374 E-mail: [email protected] Digital Cooperative Company:www.bookan.com.cn

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David Publishing Company www.davidpublishing.com

Journal of

Communication and Computer Volume 11, Number 3, March 2014 (Serial Number 112)

Contents Computer Theory and Computational Science 217

Correlation between Transport and Occurrence of Dengue Cases in Bahia Hugo Saba Pereira Cardoso, Jose Garcia Vivas Miranda, Eduardo Manuel de Freitas Jorge and Marcelo A. Moret

222

Multimedia Production as an Upgrade of ICT in Elementary Schools Sreco Zakrajsek

229

Development of Higher Order Cognitive Skills in Technology Mediated Learning: Activity Theory and Distance Education at Makerere University in Uganda Walimbwa Michael and Mayende Godfrey

239

The Cerebellum according to the Ouroboros Model, the “Interpolator Hypothesis” Knud Thomsen

Network and Information Technology 255

A Study of Bruneian Corporate Customers’ Uses of Mobile Services: An Application of Value-Based Adoption Model Afzaal H. Seyal, Hamdani Ibrahim and Mohd Noah A. Rahman

266

The Influence of the Color Model on the Performance of a CBIR System Based on Color Moments Mawloud Mosbah and Bachir Boucheham

274

Liver Segmentation Technique for CT Images Based on Statistical Analysis Khaled El-Sayed, Ali Abdel Rahman Elsayed, Sherif A. Sami and Abdallah S. Ahmed

278

LBMBS: A Load-Balanced Moveable Bubble Scheme for Tori Interconnection Networks Miada A. Murad, Mariya M. Kaleemullah and Soha S. Zaghloul

Communications and Electronic Engineering 284

A Compressed Sensing Based DV-Hop Location Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks Bingnan Pei, Hao Zhang, Yidong Zhang and Hongyan Wang

291

Multi-Wavelength vs. Binary Code Pattern Unwrapping in Fringe Projection Method R. Talebi, J. Johnson, A. Abdel-Dayem and M. Saadatseresht

305

Use Case for the Development of a Mobile Learning Application Castillo S. Aris L., Clunie Gisela and Riley Jeanette

312

Random Matrix Theory Based Cognitive Radio Spectrum Sensing Usama Y. Mohamad and Dirk Dahlhaus

323

Flying Platform Tracking for Microwave Air-Bridging in Sky-Net Telecom Signal Relaying Operation Ying-Chi Huang and Chin E. Lin

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Journal of Communication and Computer 11 (2014) 217-221

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Correlation between Transport and Occurrence of Dengue Cases in Bahia Hugo Saba Pereira Cardoso1, Jose Garcia Vivas Miranda2, Eduardo Manuel de Freitas Jorge1, 3 and Marcelo A. Moret3 1. Department of Exact Sciences and Earth, University of the State of Bahia, Salvador 40000-000, Brazil 2. Institute of Physics, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40000-000, Brazil 3. Modelagem Computacional, SENAI Cimatec, Salvador 40000-000, Brazil Received: December 9, 2013 / Accepted: January 6, 2014 / Published: March 31, 2014. Abstract: Dengue is a public health problem that presents complexity in its dissemination. The physical means of spreading and the dynamics of the spread between the municipalities need to be analyzed to guide effective public policies to combat this problem. This study shows a correlation between the exponent of criticality present in SOC (self-organized criticality) and the number of buses per week, identifying municipalities that exert important roles in the spread of dengue in Bahia, confirming transport as a physical means for the diffusion of dengue. Key words: Dengue, correlation, transport, SOC, randomization, Bahia.

1. Introduction Many factors were responsible for the resurgence of epidemic dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever in the last years of the 20th century. Demographic and social changes such as population growth, urbanization and modern transport contribute to the increased incidence and geographic expansion of dengue. The prevalence of this public health problem is greater in tropical areas of Asia and the Americas. The epidemiological situation in Latin America is similar to the reality found in southeast Asia a few years ago, where there is circulation of multiple serotypes, and therefore the increase in the number of cases of classic dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever. In 2002, Latin American countries have reported a number greater than 1 million cases of dengue, with Corresponding author: Hugo Saba Pereira Cardoso, doctor, professor, reseach fields: software engineering and computacional modeling. E-mail: [email protected].

approximately 17,000 of these cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in 225 deaths [1]. Dengue is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the tropics [2]. The history of dengue in Bahia began in 1987 when it was recorded for the serotype DEN-1, in the municipality of Ipupiara, which resulted in a local epidemic [3, 4]. Focusing on isolated urban area in the municipality measures to combat the epidemic has intensified, acting in intense combat Aedes aegypti, being controlled before reaching neighboring municipalities [5]. In 1995, the municipality of Prado, southern Bahia, identified the first case of DEN-2, we starting an epidemic. The same was not contained and has spread to other municipalities in Bahia [3]. The Aedes aegypti is present in 99.5% of the municipalities of Bahia, and has been reported from the four serotypes: DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DEN-4. Preventive actions undertaken to combat epidemic outbreaks were not sufficient to control the dengue epidemic,

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Correlation between Transport and Occurrence of Dengue Cases in Bahia

which gradually spreads throughout the country and even to other countries of Latin America [6, 7]. Bahia with an area of 567,295 km2, its size surpasses countries like France with an area of 543,965 km2 to 504,030 km2 and Spain. Its composition is 417 municipalities that are linked by 22 federal highway (BR) and 11 state highways (BA) [8]. As a network of ground transportation, the main route of migration between these municipalities is also the primary means of spreading of dengue in the state. In order to better understand the dengue transmission dynamics in Bahia, we use the social networking tools. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 demonstrates the methodology applied; Section 3 will comment on the results, and Section 4 will finalize with a conclusion.

2. Methodology The construction methodology of the transport network (Transbahia) was made from the analysis of road maps of Bahia, the lifting of federal highways (BR) and state highways (BA) that connect the municipalities. In the creation of the transportation network in Bahia (Fig. 1), we used the basic principles of graphs, where each of the 417 municipalities was represented by a vertex (node), and 7,368 km of roads that connect the municipalities are represented by an edge connecting these vertices. Based on road maps, the graph was assembled by the program for large network analysis (PAJEK) [9]. Only municipalities were considered, discarding the villages and districts, since, in both instances, the records are held by a municipal health department. In order to make the transport networks, the following steps were made: (1) Four hundred and seventeen municipalities were geographically divided in Bahia; (2) Each node is labeled with the corresponding name of the municipality; (3) Each node received a number, which was used

in the correlation between municipalities; (4) Based on road maps, each direct link between municipalities is represented by an edge in the graph; (5) The distance in km between two counties was represented by the network weight, which is the third element representative; (6) To facilitate visualization, were placed coordinates for the vertical and horizontal axis, allowing the spatial distribution of the network (Fig. 1). According to 2010 national transport company (CNT), surface conditions of these roads are in working condition. By analyzing dengue in Bahia with 417 municipalities, only 45 municipalities (10.79%), according to the Ministry of Health through the NPDC (national dengue control), were prioritized. The deployment priority is defined based on population and epidemiological aspects: capital cities, metropolitan areas, municipalities with a population ≥ 50,000 inhabitants, and cities with high immigration (i.e., borders, ports, tourism core) [10]. The Ministry of Health, in 2013, invested U$6.6 million for actions to combat dengue in Bahia. This investment is aimed at improving measures to combat

Fig. 1

Transport network in Bahia.


dengue in the state, being allocated to all 417 municipalities in the state, according to the State Department of Health (Sesab). However, there are municipalities where the rate of occurrence is larger; they are considered hubs, to be connected with several other municipalities and these should be treated differently. To construct the Bahia transport network attacked (TransBahiaAtac), the cities with degree higher than 5 were deleted from the TransBahia Network (Fig. 2): Bom Jesus da Lapa, Barra, Buritirama, Vitória da Conquista, Jacobina, Santo Antônio de Jesus, Jequié, Brumado, Itaberaba, Santa Inês, Valença, Caetité, Condeúba, Boquira and Sítio do Mato. Without these municipalities, the network was divided in smaller groups, a fact that could facilitate the control of outbreaks. With this procedure, the network becomes disconnected, with 61 connected components, mostly made up of groups below 10 municipalities.

3. Exponent of Criticality Present in SOC The variability of the frequency of occurrence in the number of dengue cases among different municipalities

Fig. 2 Transport network without cities with degree higher than 5.

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is caused by climatic diversity in the state of Bahia, for complex effects of migration and other environmental effects [11]. This suggests the existence of interdependence in the occurrence of dengue among municipalities regarding the cases distribution. To evaluate this possibility, we calculate the curves of the probability occurrence of dengue cases in each county. Fig. 3 shows an example in logarithmic scale of the probability distribution for the Camaçari county. Through the database SINAN data were mined, so that occurrences were grouped by cities and presented with a total daily of reported cases of occurrences per day. For all studied cities, we constructed histograms of occurrences obtained from the dengue epidemiological time series. The frequency of occurrence for each city follows a power law. This behavior is characteristic of systems that obey the so-called SOC (self-organized criticality). Fig. 3 shows the histogram of the city of Camaçari; in red, we present the apparent linear fitting with a power exponent δ = -2,34. SOC is a phenomenon found in systems that reach a critical condition during a process of natural evolution, without any external intervention. During this critical condition, this system can undergo reactions stimulated by unpredictable changes or minimum noise [12].

Fig. 3

Cases of dengue in 2000-2009 in Camaçari.

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Table 1 SOC dengue in the 20 most populous municipalities of Bahia. Municipalities Salvador Feira de Santana Vitória da Conquista Ilhéus Itabuna Juazeiro Camaçari Jequié Barreiras Alagoinhas Lauro de Freitas Teixeira de Freitas Paulo Afonso Porto Seguro Simões Filho Eunápolis Serrinha Valença Sto Antônio de Jesus Candeias

Pop2000 V 13,070,250 2,443,107 480,949 262,494 222,127 196,675 174,567 161,727 147,202 131,849 130,095 113,543 107,486 96,499 95,721 94,066 84,120 83,206 77,509 77,368

R -1.72247 -1.83679 -2.11216 -1.68614 -1.39189 -1.72127 -2.34184 -1.35729 -1.87011 -1.68449 -1.97261 -2.88574 -2.49014 -1.95101 -1.6881 -2.187 -2.69064 -2.2753 -2.17783 -1.88646

-0.9794 -0.9883 -0.9884 -0.9856 -0.9612 -0.9683 -0.9791 -0.9532 -0.9529 -0.9053 -0.9461 -0.9703 -0.9569 -0.9589 -0.9447 -0.9409 -0.9526 -0.9299 -0.9546 -0.9402

In order to understand this behavior, we estimate the power laws exponents for each county of Bahia. Table 1 shows the values of the exponents of the 20 most populated municipalities with dengue cases (we considered the population in 2000, the year that starts the database). It is observed that all coefficients have values less than 3, which represent power laws with long tails (decay slower than exponential). We can also observe that the values of the Pearson correlation coefficient R [13], in Table 1, indicate significant fittings.

4. Conclusions It is also observed that the exponents of criticality in the municipalities are related to the number of intercity buses that circulate per week in the municipalities; the relationship is shown in Fig. 4. In order to evaluate the significance of this correlation, it was applied an randomization analysis for

Spearman

correlation

[14],

with

100,000

randomizations of the data [14, 15]. we found that a probability of only 0.00057 of the original correlation is due to chance, i.e., only 0.057% of the results had correlations greater than or equal to the original correlation [16]. The graph in Fig. 5 shows the comparison between the distribution of the correlation values found to 100,000 randomizations and the correlation of the Fig. 4 Number of intercity buses as function of exponent for all 417 municipalities in Bahia.

original data. Thus, it was observed that there is significant correlation between the exponents of criticality () and the numbers of buses that run weekly in the municipalities in Bahia.

Fig. 5 Distribution of Spearman correlations in randomizations compared with the observed correlation.

The significant correlation between the critical exponent and the number of intercity buses suggests that the hole in outbreaks dynamic is governed by the transport network flux. With this result, we can propose preventive actions directed to the topology of the network. Thus, for example, an action in road hubs changes a possible generalized epidemic in local outbreaks. The elimination of the hubs of the network could represent the concentration of federal resources


to combat dengue in few cities with more simplified treatments.

Acknowledgments This work received financial support from CNPq (grant numbers 306571/2011-0 and 308785/2011-8) and Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).

[7] [8]

[9]

[10]

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R. Nogueira, H. Schatzmayr, A. Santos, F. Cunha, R. Coelho, Dengue virus type 3, Emerg Infect Dis. 11 (2005) 1376-1381. D.J. Gubler, M. Meltzer, Impact of dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever on the developing world, Adv Virus Res. 53 (1999) 35-70. J.P. Dias, Report on the situation of dengue in the state of Bahia, 1994-1997, Journal of Public Health 22 (1998) 49-67. K.B.F. Marzochi, Dengue in Brazil—Situation, transmission and control: A proposal for ecological control, Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz 89 (1994) 235-245. K. Mota, Dengue in Bahia: Sero-epidemiological study in the population of the city of Ipupiara, Dissertation, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, BA, 1998. G. Kuno, I. Gomez, D.J. Gubler, Detecting artificial antidengue IgM complexes using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, American Journal of Tropical

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Medicine and Hygiene 36 (1987) 153-159. G. Kuno, Review of the factors modulating dengue transmission, Epidemiologic Reviews 17 (1995) 321-335. National Transport Company, Search CNT Road 2011, http://pesquisarodovias.cnt.org.br/Paginas/Edicao-011.as px (accessed June, 2013). W. Nooy, A. Mrvar, V. Batagelj, Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, 2nd ed., CUP Amazon, 2011. Ministry of Health Home Page, http://portal.saude.gov.br/portal/arquivos/pdf/bahia_tudo. pdf (accessed June, 2013). H.L. Vasconcelos, J.M.S. Vilhena, G.J.A. Caliari, Response of ants to selective logging of a central Amazonian forest, Journal of Applied Ecology 37 (2000) 508-514. P.S. Addison, Fractal and Chaos: An Illustrated Course, Institute of Physics Publishing, London, 1997. S. Siegel, Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, McGraw-Hill, New York, USA, 1956. H. Saba, J.G.V. Miranda, M.A. Moret, Self-organized critical phenomenon as a q-exponential decay: Avalanche epidemiology of dengue, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications 413 (2014) 205-211. B.F.J. Manly, Randomization, Bootstrap and Monte Carlo Methods in Biology, Chapman & Hall, Florida, USA, 2006. D.N. Viola, Detection and modeling of spatial pattern in binary and count data, Doctoral Thesis in Agronomic Statistics and Experimentation, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Piracicaba, 2007.

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Multimedia Production as an Upgrade of ICT in Elementary Schools Sreco Zakrajsek IAM, College for Multimedia, Leskoskova 12, Ljubljana SI-1000, Slovenija

Received: January 21, 2014 / Accepted: February 15, 2014 / Published: March 31, 2014. Abstract: Numerous classic multimedia activities already exist in elementary schools, alongside regular classes which are more or less technically supported and offer many possibilities for a sensible introduction of modern ICT (information-communication technology) into schools. By using modern technologies, it is possible to upgrade multimedia activities, enrich and at the same time raise work quality and efficiency in schools, increase knowledge, skills and competences in an unforced way, and increase the competitiveness of teachers and students with modern information communication equipment and technologies. By introducing modern technologies to school work, a modern organisation of school and class activities is enabled, technical culture improves, parents and experts from the environment are more involved as mentors to students and assistants to teachers. Realisation of students’ ideas and projects is enabled on different projects where the students can express various forms of talent, as numerous possibilities for developing entrepreneur thinking will open. Schools acquire multimedia material which can enhance the learning process, archives, activities, school image, and website; they connect to local media and can cooperate in international school web projects, improve their recognition and competitiveness, and increase the chances of acquiring additional resources for their work. Key words: Elementary education, media in education, multimedia production, ICT.

1. Introduction The purpose of this article is to show how multimedia production can be sensibly and rationally, organisationally and contextually included in the work of a school, how it can upgrade classical activities which have already been successfully used in elementary schools and how it can also enrich the work of existing multimedia activity. This increases the school’s appeal, the motivation of students and mentors, and the quality of the educational process. In this way, the work and life of a school can be modernized—by the principle “do not allow new things to destroy the old ones, but rather to upgrade them”. This article attempts to focus on the needs and possibilities modern technology offers to elementary Corresponding author: Sreco Zakrajsek, Dr., lecturer, research fields: education, organization and project work. E-mail: [email protected].

schools in the field of multimedia production, along with the demands and problems which (may) occur. The author wants to encourage principals, who are crucial for the planning and implementation of the vision of the school as well as for the implementation of projects, to set a long-term vision of the school together with parent councils and local communities where multimedia production will be suitably placed. Schools that will implement the multimedia production system with the use and promotion of products will be at least one generation ahead of schools that are just struggling with e-informing and digitalization, and a historic era ahead of schools that lack even that. In 2013, more than 50% of schools in the EU belonged to the latter [1]. More modern approach will surely increase students’ motivation for work and studying, which will enable schools to achieve better learning results. Presented are possible organizational forms and

Multimedia Production as an Upgrade of ICT in Elementary Schools

connections or inclusions of multimedia production in the elementary school education process, with numerous positive changes which can occur in various segments of the life and work of a school. Singhal and Rogers [2] think that education should be more active and that quality educational multimedia products should be provided, unlike the current practice where existing products meet educational needs. More studies investigate how different multimedia materials affect learning performance and the emotions of learners with visual and verbal cognitive styles. Experimental results show that video-based multimedia material generates the best learning performance and most positive emotion for verbalizers. Moreover, dynamic multimedia materials containing video and animation are more appropriate for visualizers than static multimedia materials containing text and image [3].

2. Basic Information about Multimedia Production in Elementary Schools Multimedia production comprises of several material products and services which are based on two or more media elements. An overview of the fields, products and services shows that multimedia products are mostly present and used every day, within the school’s curriculum and work (use of internet, presentations—slides, AV products, animations, demonstrations and simulations of attempts, information panels, animated displays of learning contents, electronic boards, education platform with web classrooms, digital literature, web portals and networks, smart house, etc.), as in many additional activities where mentors and students can work in fields that are of special interest to them, express their talents, show their skills and products, etc.. In Ref. [4], authors have analyzed the situation of and potential for multimedia production in 66 elementary schools in Slovenia, with 26,400 students. Research shows that modern technologies are used more in extracurricular activities than in classes.

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Extracurricular activities which can serve as a basis for multimedia production are photography, cinema, creative writing, art, literature, clay modelling, design, movies, multimedia, music, journalism, programming, computers, drawing, technical and 3D visualization. Students in elementary schools also have the possibility to choose optional subjects, among which some can serve as a basis for multimedia production, namely music and the media, information literacy, art, literary club, multimedia, computer networks, computers—word processing, rhetoric, school journalism, media education—radio and TV [4]. Many activities and products in these subjects are classical multimedia activities (the school newspaper, exhibitions, cultural events, sports events, etc.), and they are often supported with basic information communication and multimedia technology (newspaper and poster design, execution of celebrations and events—sound, lighting, preparing scenes), monitoring and presentation of events (recording, archiving), video conferences. Web newspaper, the school radio and TV, cooperation with local media etc. are also included in these activities [4]. Of course, the youth also spends a lot of time using modern technology outside of school or school related subjects. It is mostly through social media or the very popular vlogging or video blogging [5] that a certain message is sent online (often on YouTube) and responses are desired. It is a so-called participatory activity (a form of participatory culture) which is available to almost anyone [6].

3. The Importance Production

of

Multimedia

Multimedia production, (multi)media literacy and information literacy are closely related and mutually dependent on advanced technology [7, 8]. At the same time different interactions and processes of accepting, denying and use of multimedia technology emerge between users and technology, there are also many

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exclusions and lack of access to modern types of education, etc.. Only active monitoring and critical use of new technologies ensures equal and rational inclusion in the global, competitive, and at the same time cooperative world [9]. Multimedia production also uses modern methods of planning and execution, project and team work, it uses and prepares instructions, demands and at the same time enables technical education and qualification, develops the linguistic and communication skills of students. This issue is discussed in Ref. [10]. The article describes the experience with 14-year old students who were preparing mini-documentaries in their local environment. They learned all the phases, from the idea to the assessment of the final product and analyzed individual phases from different aspects. The findings are as follows: “As seen here, the audio-visual content produced, performed and negotiated by the teenagers can only ever be a partial, though important, element in understanding their relations with the spaces and places of their everyday. Further, while such methods may facilitate a certain amount of self-expression, they also reproduce the dominant discourses of individual and neoliberal agency that often mask, rather than elucidate the power relations at play. Finally, such content is also part of an ongoing negotiation, rather than an ultimate final conclusion, and to mistake it for the latter is not only to misrepresent such data but also to reproduce the problematic correlation of activity with a unique moment of generative agency.” [10]. As multimedia production is based on a good idea and content, mentors have many chances to encourage the youth to be creative and develop linguistic and other skills in various fields and subjects. Examples are upgrading the classic school newspaper with an interactive web newspaper, upgrading school celebrations with visual and sound effects, recording or transmitting via web, preparation of multimedia

interactive seminar papers and materials, school presentation on a mobile device application, etc.. It is very important that students and mentors work on practical and specific examples and projects from school, family and local environment, as this is how most ideas and incentives develop, as a consequence of new desires, demands, needs and possibilities. Educational institutions can be linked into networks and systems on several levels and in several areas, which offers numerous and diverse activities for teachers and students. For sure, the international cooperation of schools on projects for the youth and mentors has to be mentioned here.

4. Positive Effects of Multimedia Production in the Teaching Process and School Organization Preparation of different multimedia products has numerous pedagogic, didactic and practical advantages and values, such as:  Work in this field can start very early and is suitable for all age groups, who are as a rule also connected through multimedia production;  It requires and enables the use of new technologies, team work and project approach;  Moving from browsing, turning pages, writing and playing to search and development of ideas, preparation of project initiatives, preparation and use of technologies and tools for production, etc.;  Most of the ideas can be realized (event, exhibition, film, AV product, website, photo book, animation, e-literature, etc.), it is possible to proceed all phases of production, from the very idea to a publicly publishable product;  Multimedia production develops new field for creative processes, it encourages development and language use (native and foreign), public performance; it requires conceiving and planning, together with knowledge, skills and competences for the preparation of innovative, topical and interesting products and services;


 Implementation of multimedia projects also requires organisational and practical work, as well as preparation of objects, scene, costumes, sketches and drawings, materials. Such products are useful for school work; they can be presented to a wider community and can represent an important information and promotion material for the school. The introduction of multimedia production can bring increase the role of public television with shows that can be used in the education process and a more planned creation of such shows will be possible. Wajcman and Jones [11] have researched the connection between technology and media communication and have found important changes in recent years: convergent ubiquity and mobility are givens in contemporary communications. Similarly prominent is the sense that the boundaries between digital media and everyday life are dissolving. At the same time, with the development of generally accessible ICT (information-communication technology) and equipment, the attitude towards science and technology is also changing. There is a democratization of techno-science, and the field of product and services usability is moving away from technological determinism [12]. Great attention is being paid to schools, teachers and the youth who will not be able to follow the use of modern technologies and work methods because of various reasons, also material ones, and will thus be excluded on a local and even more on a global work and education market. Klein [13] presents an example of a fun TV programme which can have an important social role because of its distinctiveness and can be used to affect different groups, providing them with various contents in a more interesting an accessible manner. The article is particularly focused on examples of shows for immigrants, people with special needs and shows which discuss criminal activities against children. An interesting fact is that there are big differences among schools in the same country or even in the

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same city in terms of the use of modern technologies and consequently in other fields, despite the fact that the basic programme is the same; the influence of the local community, companies, and the interest and investment of parents, however, is very important. It is important for multimedia production that around 70% of elementary schools in Slovenia have at least one of the activities where public appearances, along with the interest and need for technical support, media promotion and monitoring, are common (choirs, drama clubs, musical ensembles, etc.). Three or more activities (as a sort of minimum which classifies a school as having the basics for multimedia production) were determined for 58% schools in Slovenia. Around 20% of schools have photo and video activities (as one of the important basis of this activity); around 10% are very good in this field (with five or more activities), and none of the schools provide all activities from this field [4].

5. Specific Tasks for Schools during the Introduction of Multimedia Production Introducing multimedia production to schools is contingent on certain requirements and tasks. Schools must have:  modern doctrine in relation to their vision, strategy and types of management;  a principal who accepts and upgrades the vision of the school and believes that this is an excellent programme for the school, useful for students and teachers, and a great competitive opportunity in numerous fields;  a team of teachers and experts which is willing to switch to modern work methods with the help of education and additional qualification;  support in the local political and economic community and from parents who must decide on super standard equipment, financing, as well as professional, contextual and organisational assistance to the school. Together with parents and the local authority,

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schools must prepare a doctrine and a strategy, based on their vision, on how to use the introduction of multimedia production in schools to create a modern, international and competitive school within three to five years, which will then be able to adapt to progress and influence it as well, while still preserving traditional and local values. For multimedia activity and production to be successful, the school must provide:  a thorough education and qualification of their teachers so that they become contemporary, e-, digital and multimedia competent teacher, who are capable of guiding the youth through modern knowledge and being mentors for creating specific products and services which can then be used for school work and will enrich the school’s general knowledge and literature groundwork;  a fully equipped multimedia centre with (minor) studios and premises with equipment for preparation, execution, recording and processing materials. A classroom or a hall can also be occasionally transformed into a studio;  an event room at school or at local cultural institutions;  a quality interactive website with links to various portals where designers can publish their work;  intranet with an e-platform and educational materials;  availability of several activities throughout the year which are organized, accompanied by the media that are also presenting the products (important events—beginning and end of the school year, celebrations, exhibitions and other cultural events, sporting events, etc.);  constant professional tech support for execution, setting up and using equipment—a (multi)media production engineer; and mentors for contextual, visual and organisational preparation. They can be teachers from the school or primarily workers from local multimedia and cultural institutions, museums, associations, organisations, etc.

6. Programmes and Projects for the Introduction of Modern Technologies to Schools (Multi)media literacy and the related use and production of multimedia products is a very important part of local and European policies, and is a part of numerous directives and recommendations; it will also be supported in the 2014 to 2020 financing programmes. The most important of these are the Commission Recommendation on media literacy in the digital environment [14], Horizon 2020 [15] or media and information literacy of UNESCO [8]. The problems of multimedia production are mentioned in the AVMS—audivovisual media services directive which is a leading regulatory body, followed by programmes, iniciatives and projects on the EU level, such as media programme—media literacy, digital agenda for Europe—A Europe 2020 initiative, safer internet programmes, etc.. In 2013, the European Commission presented the action plan Open Education Europa [16] for increasing the number of innovations and digital skills in schools since digital skills will soon be required in every workplace. There will be opportunities for innovation in school within this programme, especially for spreading the use of free-accessible learning sources and for improving the ICT structure. School managements will have to become acquainted with these programmes and help provided with their introduction to schools. Activities related to the action plan Open Education will be financed with the support of the new EU Erasmus+ program [17], and the EU structural funds.

7. Conclusion The article displays the possibilities and the importance of introducing multimedia production to elementary schools, particularly from the aspect of increasing appeal, modernity and consequently competitiveness of the school and its students. The introduction of modern technologies and different


work methods requires changes on all levels of the school’s operation, and mostly the possibility of following and sensibly, rationally introducing the novelties and requirements within the environment. The challenges and opportunities, offered by the introduction of modern multimedia production in the educational system, are also shown. Multimedia production is present in the everyday work and life of students in several forms, but it is not being used to its full potential as an excellent means of increasing the appeal and efficiency of classes, as well as acquiring knowledge, skills and specific competences of teachers and students. Researches show that almost all participants want this type of work in schools and that some of the schools are very successful in some of the segments, mostly where they can enlist the help of qualified and motivated mentors and the local environment. The lack of mentors who are qualified for modern technologies is a big problem, as they were not trained in these technologies during their studies. The youth are motivated to work with modern technologies and want to show their work and compare it to others. Many activities enable students to work creatively and satisfy their interests in different fields, and the mentors to provide quality guidance to youth. Authors [4] have also determined that most schools have certain elements of multimedia production, but less than 10% are satisfactorily equipped, and none of the schools is optimally prepared for multimedia production. It is important for the development of the field that the present programme of elementary schools already has the necessary setting for building a modern school of which multimedia production is an important integral part, as the enrolment in optional subjects can be increased, extracurricular activities can be added, and schools can join different projects, contests and competitions. The appropriate vision and a modern concept of school operation are crucial for the development of

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multimedia production in a school; the education and qualification of teachers and external mentors is a prerequisite, along with the regular cooperation of a technical expert who is crucial for the operation of the elementary school multimedia centre. Engineers of (multi)media production have been qualified in the past years, and there are additional programmes and certificates for teachers and for all those who want to obtain additional skills for successful work in multimedia production in schools. An inclusion of external mentors as part-time employees of the school is of essence, since schoolteachers limit the school to specific subjects which are already a part of the regular programme. The equipment and media for product presentation are generally universally accessible, and this enables, even requires, schools to provide different activities and tasks which will guarantee modern, educated and qualified citizens. Aspirations, visions, desires and determination are crucial, followed by studying, qualifications, and hard work.

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T. McGonagle, Media Literacy, No longer the shrinking violet of European audiovisual media regulation?, European Audiovisual Observatory, Strasbourg, France, 2011, http://www.gmcs.pt/ficheiros/pt/media-literacy.pdf. [8] V. Rideout, J.F. Victoria, G. Ulla, R.F. Donald, Generation M2-media in the lives of 8-18 years old—A Kaiser family foundation study [Online], 2010, http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2010/0 1/mh012010presentl.pdf. [9] S. Moeller, A. Joseph, L. Jesus, T. Carbo, Towards Media and Information Literacy Indicators, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organisation, Paris, France, 2011, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-infor mation/resources/publications-and-communication-materi als/publications/full-list/towards-information-literacy-indi cators/. [10] C.A. Myers, H. Thornham, Youthful “fictions”, creative “journeys” and potential strategies of resistance, Media, Culture & Society 34 (2012) 228-237. [11] J. Wajcman, P.K. Jones, Border communication: Media sociology and STS, Media, Culture & Society 34 (2012)

673-690. [12] S. Sismondo, Science and technology studies and an engaged program, in: O. Amsterdamska, E.J. Hackett, M. Lynch, J. Wajcman (Eds.), The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 2008, pp. 13-31. [13] B. Klein, Entertaining ideas: Social issues in entertainment television, Media, Culture & Society 33 (2011) 905-921. [14] Commission Recommendation on media literacy in the digital environment for a more competitive audiovisual and content industry and an inclusive knowledge society, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, Aug. 20, 2009, http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/information_socie ty/strategies/am0004_en.htm. [15] Horizon 2020 Home Page, http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/. [16] Open Education Europa Home Page, http://openeducationeuropa.eu/en/news/unesco-publicatio ns-now-freely-available-through-new-open-access-reposit ory (accessed 2013). [17] European Commission Home Page, Erasmus +, http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm.

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DAVID

PUBLISHING

Development of Higher Order Cognitive Skills in Technology Mediated Learning: Activity Theory and Distance Education at Makerere University in Uganda Walimbwa Michael1 and Mayende Godfrey2 1. Department of Foundations and Curriculum Studies, College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University, Kampala 7062, Uganda 2. Department of Open and Distance Learning, College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University, Kampala 7062, Uganda

Received: January 8, 2014 / Accepted: February 16, 2014 / Published: March 31, 2014. Abstract: Makerere University, having been in existence since 1926, is one of the most reputable institutions in Africa located in East Africa. Makerere provides educational environment to many students and therefore some courses are delivered through distance education mode. This mode calls for intensive use of technologies for instruction and learning. Technological advancements in this same university have gone through a number of progressive stages: use of traditional chalkboard technologies to blending technologies including the use of ICT (information and communication technology). In order to provide a distance education learning environment that enables the development of higher order cognitive skills, innovations like technology mediated learning need to be clearly understood. This paper provides the theoretical view of distance education and technology mediated learning through the activity theory. The paper concludes with some recommendations of how technology mediated learning can lead to the development of higher order cognitive skills in distance learning. Key words: Technology mediated, cognitive skills, activity theory, contradictions and distance education.

1. Introduction In higher education, questions related to technology and instruction have shifted from how various technologies are used to how learning happens in an environment where the technologies are used for instruction and learning. Whereas there is an increasing recognition of the place of technologies ineffective teaching and learning practices, there is a clear lack of pedagogical knowledge most especially regarding how learning exactly happens leading to the development of higher order cognitive skills. Bloom identifies three types of learning that relate to 

Corresponding author: Walimbwa Michael, assistant lecturer, research field: educational technologies. E-mail: [email protected].

knowledge, skills and attitudes. This paper will limit itself to the knowledge domain. This paper begins with an introduction. It goes ahead to discuss issues of knowledge, technology and distance education. The paper then introduces activity theory and contradictions that bring about development of higher order cognitive skills. Tasks, actions and operations are discussed and the paper ends on discussing the implications of activity theory on distance learning programs.

2. Knowledge, Technology and Distance Education The knowledge (cognitive) domain involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills [1]. This includes the recall or recognition of specific

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Development of Higher Order Cognitive Skills in Technology Mediated Learning: Activity Theory and Distance Education at Makerere University in Uganda

facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills. There are six major categories, which are listed in order, starting from the simplest behavior to the most complex. The categories are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The categories can be thought of as degrees of difficulties. That is, the first ones must normally be mastered before the next ones can take place. This is generally the approach to teaching, from simple to complex. There has been a revised version of this taxonomy where they are arranged as more active form of thinking: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating [2]. However, the lack of understanding of how these skills are attained in distance education involving technology probably explains why technology enhanced instruction is not a venture of many educators. In the competitive world of tertiary education, the playing field has shifted to allow technology mediated learning and instruction to enhance distance education. Teaching methods are being reorganized to leverage new learning media as ushered in by technology [3] to ensure quality education and development of higher order cognitive skills. Recent advances in ICT (information and communication technology) have affected learning in higher institutions as exhibited by the numerous online courses world-wide. The numerous online programs, take a web-based format in presentation and approach, digitally recording traditional, classroom-based courses and making them available online [4]. Media presentations can be viewed on or off a Web browser with integrated media players like QuickTime, Windows Media Player, etc. . be it with or without the physical presence of an instructor is what is referred to as technology mediated learning in distance learning. Technologies are increasingly being used in education for teaching, learning and research. Among the technologies used in distance education are web based applications, distributed applications, online

applications, learning management systems, etc..There is no doubt that technologies have become inevitable higher educational environment. Technologies are no longer only basic; they have turned out to be very essential in day to day instructional activities. Study [5] show that a significant pedagogical approach gaining credibility through research and classroom practice is students’ collaborative engagement with problem-solving, technology-based tasks for more effective learning. The organization and delivery of technology based activities requires careful consideration of the mediational role of the technology [6] if they have to deliver higher order cognitive skills. The use of technology mediated learning is an emphasis to such a varied model of teaching and learning. The models of delivering information through technology are socially shaped differently, which conforms to present learner characteristics. This usually causes educators and learners in higher education in different social contexts to think about learning differently. Learning involves change and the varying socio-cultural backgrounds expose students on distance education programs to a completely new environment in which they must learn effectively. Technology mediated learning activities introduce different things in an instructional environment that may require varied responses. Students may respond basing on the various socio-cultural contexts depending on their past experiences or origins [7]. Technology mediated learning also rhymes with the nature and character of present day learners, who are comfortable with using technologies. Present learners in educational institutions can use technologies for research, typing course works and also access content and this does not apply to a majority of the learners a decade ago. In this case, a technology is deemed to have mediated learning, however the level of cognitive skill attained depends on the design of the task and the tools learners use. Simulation tools for instance, most likely develop higher skills compared to web-quests. Higher order cognitive functions that are an indicator


of quality products. The development of higher order cognitive functions is never approached directly even in face-to-face interactions; it is mediated through guided assistance [8]. It is presupposed that learners accomplish more with technology guidance than without it [9]. It is technology-mediated learning that is assumed to play a mediational role to bring about higher order cognitive development; most especially when appropriate technological tools are used.

3. Technology Mediated Learning In defining technology mediated learning, themes like web-based learning, distributed learning, electronic learning, online learning are evident. Technology mediated learning in distance education refers to an environment where the instructor and the learners are not necessarily together in both time and space, and instruction is delivered through specifically computing technologies. This is always the scenario in distance education where learners and instructors majorly operate from separate geographical locations. For such learners to engage in learning activities that bring out higher order thinking and learning there is need for them to have autonomy over the learning process. The technological tools should be able to accord learners this autonomy. Worth noting is that technology mediated learning that brings about higher order cognitive skills is not learning from technologies as has been the traditional assumption. It is what students learn from thinking in meaningful ways while using a technology. Thinking is engaged by the different learning activities embedded in the task and technology application being used [10]. However, when incompatible technology tools are used to mediate learning in distance education they do not engage learners in such a way that they develop higher order cognitive skills. Yet still, measurement and assessment of higher order cognitive skills may be an uphill task because technology mediated learning is a fairly new phenomenon. Many times, measurement of learning or assessment is done after learning and

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measurement of skilled products is the aspect of high order cognitive function. The focus is not on the formative evaluation of distance education learners but the skills and attributes they exhibit on graduation. Researchers have made an attempt to get the impact of technology on learning nonetheless, in many incidences they have looked at technology as an independent variable. When the technologies enter the learning environments, they cease to be independent and become part of the complex social and pedagogical interaction [11]. Therefore, appropriate analysis of technology mediated learning and development of higher order cognitive skills in distance education requires one to consider AT (activity theory). AT considers technology as part of the social complexities of a learning environment and suggests in understanding technology mediated learning and its role in the development of higher order cognitive skills, the entire environment should be considered and analyzed. Technology and learning form the complex social and pedagogical interaction that requires the actors to be active and play their distinct roles. There is a focus on a group of people (learners on distance education programs) sharing a common object (learning) and motive over time and a varied range of tools (technologies) to realize a motive—this is called activity system [12]. Many researchers have found out a diverse effect of technologies in learning, but what comes out clearly from them is that, technology would have a very great impact on learning, but the design of the materials is still poor [13]. In this case, if the materials are not designed well, the development of higher order cognitive skills is not attained. Nonetheless, technology is making an impact on the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning that produces higher order cognitive skills in some cases.

4. Activity Theory Learning involves change and learners bring different socio-cultural backgrounds and meet completely new environments in which they have to

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operate for effective learning. In distance learning programs, some learners are exposed to completely new and strange learning environments, which results into a contradiction in the way they are used to operate. The resultant contradiction provides a basis for transformation as learners must work hard to meet the new requirements for qualification [14]. Many times learners on distance education programs find themselves making very structural adjustments in their lives. In activity system, there is a focus on technological tools and how they mediate the learning process. Activity theory focuses on learning as an interactive activity and interaction of human activity and consciousness within an environmental context relevant to it. Since conscious learning is a human activity, there are activity structures, tools and sign systems, socio-cultural rules and community expectations that learners must accommodate while learning [15]. Technology mediated learning cannot be understood from without the context in which it is happening. Researchers have found out that the concept of activity is a very fundamental one when it comes to understanding activity theory [16]. This is because learning is assumed to be activity packed. Analysis of technology mediated learning as a human activity, does not only examine the kinds of activities that people engage in but also who is engaging in that activity, what their goals and intentions are, what objects or products result from the activity, the rules and norms that demarcate that activity, and the larger community in which the activity occurs [17]. According to activity theory [18], an activity is a way of action of a person, or group of persons addressed to an object in order to achieve a goal. In distance education, the mutual relationship between the activity, subject and object is always mediated by tools used to perform the activity. Subject interactions with the environment are not direct but instead mediated by use of technological tools (blended with face-to-face). Furthermore, the fact that human activity tends to take

place in a social and cultural context introduces the idea of considering the collaborative nature of human activity. The expanded meditational model incorporates the community and other mediators like rules and division of effort. In distance education, the community is composed of all subjects involved in the shared object. Rules are both implicitly and explicitly established by social conventions and relation. Division of effort is devoted to the organization of the work. The illustration in Fig. 1 brings a pictorial form. The top of the Activity theory triangle model represents the insertion of new tools of work i.e., computing technologies used to mediate learning and it represents the fact that human activity is always mediated by artifacts. The middle of the triangle shows the subject acting on the object; in this case, the subject represents students on distance education programs acting on the object (learning), maybe learning an idea or experiment. The subject (students) and the object (learning) are directly opposite each other and there is the arrow showing the anticipated outcome of their activity that is higher order cognitive skills. However, all these depend on the technological tools used to mediate the learning activities. Development of higher order cognitive skills takes place within the framework of the zone of proximal development and in an iterative process of interchange between internalization and externalization [19]. The bottom of the triangle shows Technologies as tools Students on distance programs as subjects

Learning activities as object Higher order cognitive skill

Rules

Community

Division of effort

Fig. 1 Activity system diagram-adopted and modified form (Scanlon & Issrof, 2005).


the activity theory identified contextual characteristics of a distance education learning environment where learners use technology to operationalize learning [20]. There are rules like ensuring a coursework is done and passed. There are also rules against plagiarism that ensures that learners are guided towards being honest with referencing for instance. In this way, they can create their own original works. The community refers to the actors in a distance education learning environment including lecturers, technology laboratory technicians, and cleaners among them. These support technology mediated learning in various ways. In the division of effort, it may be noticed that actors in a distance education learning environment engage in different activities: learning technologists, lecturers, custodians, registrars, etc.. There is a community of actors interacting with distance learning students to deliver effective higher order cognitive skills to students by offering quality control measures.

5. Contradictions and Development of Higher Order Cognitive Skills Technology mediated learning can be broken down into actions, which are further subdivided into operations. Using these categories provides an understanding of the steps necessary for students on distance programs as users of technologies carry out learning tasks and develops higher order cognitive skills. In activity system outcomes, in this case high order cognitive thinking results from interrogating objects by means of tools as technological artifacts [21]. Students on distance programs as subjects are usually active entities responsible for performing the learning activity. Technologies as tools mediate interactions through the activity context that includes community, division of effort and associated rules. Studies indicate that the division of effort within an activity system creates contradictions. It is contradiction, which forces one to engage in learning by causing an imbalance. Internal contradictions create instability and drive the development of and change in the system.

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Contradictions are contextualized and change over time. The choice of a technology to mediate a given learning task determines the level of thinking skill required and eventually attained. A central notion within the activity theory is that the driving force of development and change storms from contradictions within and between the components of the learning activities. Contradictions and resolution of the same are the principle of the activity’s self-movement and development. This is coherent with the research that shows that learning (change) should be caused by internal motivation in order to cause a robust, lasting process [22]. The subject must feel imbalanced being confronted with problems without an immediate solution. The imbalance in this case should be substantial enough to arouse a higher order cognitive skill in the learner. Objects, as cultural units, are the key unit of analysis within an activity system. They symbolize communal social practices that transform and further develop during human activity and in combination with the purpose; they give the system consistency. The object (learning) should not be confused with the subject (students on a distance program) as the object is not necessarily a “thing” as it may not be visible to the naked eye. Learning as an activity is what students on distance programs are collectively or individually working on and leads to development of skills as an outcome. Objects are mind tools that the learner manipulates through interaction using technology as tools. This is what makes AT different in its approach to learning as it treats learning as interwoven with interaction, not after interaction as many other theories emphasize. Socially created tools are inseparable from the associated activity and are part of the purpose, relevance and value given by the subject, and may become objects, or outcomes, of the activity. The implication here is that in distance education, learning and development of skills can take place in a fairly stable environment, created by the institution as a community. However, socially created tools involved in cognitive mediation may not be

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ideologically neutral. This is a reason for carefulness in the choice of technological tools to mediate learning in distance education, because it may bring with it unintended ideologies that may impede learning and development of higher order cognitive skills, instead emphasizing technology and other ideologies. The community involves the social environment in which learning as an activity is performed. In a distance education program, it may refer to other learners and instructors not directly involved in the activity. These subjects may need to perform activities related to the activities of other actors. For example, when a student on a distance education program has to perform a simulation in a technology mediated learning environment, an instructor must guide and evaluate such action. Relating to the subject, the community also establishes relations among members of the group of participants. The instructor having control over actions is intended to direct the learners to attainment of a higher order cognitive skill [23]. Simulations are of course some of the best tools as they let learners manipulate and maneuver objects in the course of learning. Recent development in AT suggests that the unit of analysis is to be seen as minimum to interacting activity systems. This addition makes sense in that technology mediated learning can be conceived as an environment where learners are potentially sharing the object of the activity, which requires skills like synthesis, application and analysis. When analyzing the development of higher order cognitive skills in technology mediated learning as a conscious human activity in distance learning, analysis is not only the kinds of learning that the learner are engaging in, but also the learners themselves, the reasons for learning, the products that come out of their intensions, the rules and norms that govern learning, the tool used and the larger community in which the learning is taking place. Studies indicate that education should be responsive to the needs of the learners and the world in which they belong, the reason for technology mediated learning in distance education is not only to create a workforce that

is technology literate, but to also get workers skilled with higher cognitive skills for the highly digitized environment. Technologies have opened up a new zone of proximal development in the way learners learn at all levels of education. Defined by Vygotsky [24], a zone of proximal development is the difference in development between what one can do without mediation as determined by the ability to solve problems and what one does with mediation. This indicates that distance education learners are capable of learning certain concepts because at that level it is possible, nonetheless, they can maximize their learning higher order cognitive skills if rightful technologies mediate learning within an individual’s zone of proximal development. The central concepts of mediation within the zone of proximal development bring about understanding of technology mediated learning. Research has also discovered that the technology is a superior other, in mediation, so the notion of learning as mediated by a culturally more competent superior is used to understand how technologies assist students in a learning environment to develop higher order cognition skills.

6. Tasks, Actions and Operations Learning as an activity consists of a goal directed hierarchy of actions that are used to accomplish the object tasks, actions and operations that transform the object. Technology mediated learning is the performance of conscious actions and consists of chains of actions such as switching on the technology, looking for where the program one wants to interact with, manipulating the program, etc.. All operations are actions at the beginning because of their requirement of conscious actions to be performed. The tasks are designed by the instructor who needs to have the objectives of what skill a learner should attain. In many incidences, with practice and internalization, activities crease into actions and eventually into operations, as they become more automatic, requiring less conscious


effort. The reverse dynamic is also possible: operations can be disrupted and become actions (Fig. 2). So the relationships among activities, actions, and operations are dynamic, as indicated by the bi-directional arrows. So, activity theory looks at an individual learning in a distance learning community. This dynamism requires a learner to make decisions and synthesize a number of issues. Learning capability of an individual ranges from what a learner can do by themselves without help, and what they can do with help. Whenever a learner in distance education indicates that they have not understood, instructors as more knowledgeable others will always model the process and allow learners to try again through the technologies. This is also true in a technology mediated learning environment, where a technology can present the materials to be learnt over and over again for drill purpose. Vygotsky’s assertions that teachers are able to assist learners build structures into which to fit new information-scaffolding may work well here [25]. This is very much comparable in technology mediated learning, where there are tutorials, drills and simulations for learners. Eventually, learning develops from guidance from another to self-guidance, either way; it needs a sufficient background for development of higher order cognitive skills. Social systems are dynamic and changing. It is only knowledge that serves the purpose of effecting changes that should be mediated by technologies to enable higher order cognitive skills development. There is the need by every actor in the distance education to create knowledge for the future. Bruner discussed the very

Fig. 2 Nature of activities, actions and operations (Jonassen & Rohrer Murphy, 1999).

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vital elements of the structure of a discipline as embedded in knowledge. Even if Bruner’s concept of scientific knowledge is vague, a concept that comes out clearly is the fact that scientific knowledge can be taught to learners at any stage of development. The conclusion is that learners on distance education programs are capable of developing higher order skills provided the appropriate technological tools are identified and used to mediate learning tasks.

7. Implications of Activity Theory on Distance Learning Programs In distance education program, technology mediated learning activities, there is a move from paper to screen. There is also a heavy presence of images and animated activities as tasks that arouse learner’s ability to critical thinking and evaluation. The contribution of such materials to learning may be very different from what is presented and static on the paperwork. This is what presents the contradiction necessary for learning higher order skills like synthesis and evaluation. Interesting to note however that learning is presupposes a very specific nature and those who learn usually learn the things around them. Nonetheless, such activities are action packed and many times they are hinged on the concepts that the learners are familiar with going all the way to higher order cognitive skills. It is the cognitive system of the learner that acquires and manipulates what has been learnt so that it can be used in a context. Instructors may not have sufficient skills to design such multimedia activities and thus the implication is that institutions should be able to employ multimedia specialists who can work with instructors. Instructors need a good grounding in using technology for instruction. Understanding the human cognitive mechanism underpins many aspects of learning. The compatibility of the learning environment with the learners is pertinent to effective learning of higher order cognitive skills; because it is through it that one understand the constraints of a cognitive system [26]. This is why it is of essential

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importance to ensure that a distance education environment in which the learner involves in technology mediated learning is compatible with their cognitive development level. Researches in distance education have sometimes shown that appropriate technologies if put together with other rightful activities may facilitate the development of higher order cognitive development [27]. However, some studies have found out that though this may be true, it is not automatic, thus the need for instructors to continuously update their skill in facilitating on a distance learning program using technologies. An example is the research experiment by Jewitt on the learning language. It was found out that the technologies used provided learners with a number of tools to think. The learners in that environment were supported to learn about character although it is not an issue of personal growth; it requires learners to be analytical a higher order skill. Technology mediated learning in distance education provides an opportunity for students to question what has always been taken for granted, an engagement that leads to transformation and change and higher order cognitive skills [28]. Some of these questions relate to the manner in which particular tasks are done way beyond applicability skill. Learners are able to question if they are working in multiple perspectives. Working in multiple perspectives requires knowledge of and respect for contested views, and recognition that these are valuable sources of intercultural dialogue and learning — an aspect of higher order cognitive development. If such a dialogue is effective, it uncovers contradictions, facilitate learning and innovation and foster system change. By this happening, new knowledge is produced, learning would have taken place and a new identity of such knowledge would have been formed. In the terms of Engestrom, this is called expansive learning—which involves a level of high order cognitive development. This is how learning in distance education should occur. However, contradictions may not be fully resolved, but

may be accommodated through consensus leading to continuity of society. Scholars believe that practitioners in learning communities facilitate this process and contribute to innovations that may bring about sustainability of systems. Research also supports the view that there are other sophisticated cognitive ways of using technology mediated learning to achieve some higher order cognitive skills outcome, such as making the information more meaningful, cognitively engaging, involving deeper cognitive processing, and making it “pop-out” [29]. But all these involve very careful design of each and every activity in the process that is aimed at getting an output. It is already stated that the motive of the learner is of great use in the design. It relates well to the fact that activity theory identifies the way that objects interact with the learners to bring about the outputs as listed here.

8. Conclusions In order for learners to develop higher order cognitive skill using technology mediated learning in distance education programs, it is better to look at what technologies bring to collaborative learning. First, it has already been stated that learning is a social event and technology mediated learning occurs when the instructional use of the technology is combined with the cooperative group or individual. As students concentrate on content that the technology offers the group dynamics may develop a more objective tone. Technologies are very important in supplying this information in many ways. Each of the many ways is an activity. The many ways include information blanks like hypertexts and hypermedia, simulations, micro-worlds, games, virtual environments, etc.. ICT applications provide new tools to improved access to information and knowledge sharing in higher educational institutions. In learning in such a sophisticated environment, learners develop a number of skills including higher order cognition. Technology mediated learning is a recent innovation


in distance education. It serves well for any of the actors in distance education to seek to understand it well and how it happens, who is involved and how they can take advantage of it. Vygotsky’s view of mediation in the zone of proximal development is theorized as a biological process in a human being that enables their transformation into higher cognitive functions through cultural artifacts. Much as learning begins from outside, it eventually forms part of one’s personality and self-regulation. This depicts the fact that learning, even at higher institutions of education is a social event. Building on the works of Vygotsky [30], Engestrom projected the AT which explains technology mediated learning. Educational institutions have innovations like technology mediated learning intended to deliver quality learning and higher order cognitive skills. A number of researches confirm that technology mediated learning helps learners engage in active learning in a distance education environment. Activity theory helps us to explain technology mediated learning by defining learning as an activity full of so many activities. Those activities are full of actions and those actions become artifacts society comes to use as mediating tools to leaning. The value of activity theory as a model is that it provides a credible, rich and ample framework for use in exploring technology mediated learning and the development of higher order cognitive skills.

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D


DAVID

PUBLISHING

The Cerebellum according to the Ouroboros Model, the “Interpolator Hypothesis” Knud Thomsen Research with Neutrons and Muons, Paul ScherrerInstitut, Villigen PSI CH-5232, Switzerland

Received: February 22, 2014 / Accepted: March 12, 2014 / Published: March 31, 2014. Abstract: The Ouroboros Model offers a novel cognitive architecture with an algorithmic backbone of iterative and self-referential processing. All memory content is organized into meaningful pieces of data, i.e.,chunks and schemata, which are laid down as a kind of snapshots of all activations at a relevant point in time. This entails a grainy structure of memory content. Whereas a core process of “consumption” analysis can naturally be defined taking advantage of this parcellation, it necessitates interpolation for fine nuances, especially for the representation of intermediate values during transients. It is argued that, in the vertebrate brain, essential interpolation functionality is provided by the cerebellum. Findings concerning movement control and perception as well as the involvement of the cerebellum in more abstract, cognitive, tasks can be interpreted as reflecting a function of the cerebellum as a co-processor, i.e., a general-purpose interpolator. The cerebellum is thus boosting representations in cerebral cortex areas, which are reciprocally connected with cerebellar cortex areas. In this paper, it is sketched how the new “interpolator hypothesis” can explain manifold observations, effectively subsuming previous theories of the function of the cerebellum. Directly relating to the BICA challenge, a general-purpose interpolator is postulated as an efficient device providing fine-grained resolution for the representation of diverse content, potentially useful in any cognitive architecture. Keywords:Schemata, grainy memory structure, interpolation, timing, extrapolation.

1. Introduction Strikingly conflicting proposals have been made concerning the function of the cerebellum, and, so far, no full consensus has been reached. Here, a novel functional account is presented, which addresses a general need for interpolation and which allows reconciling many of the previous conceptualizations. The paper is structured as follows. After a summary of key tenets of the Ouroboros Model, the motivation for an interpolation function and the “interpolator hypothesis” are introduced. In terms of implementation, evidence from actual brains is presented, and the relation to existing accounts is clarified.Particular examples supporting the interpolator hypothesis relating to motor control are described, and special cases are discussed demonstrating wide-reaching 

Corresponding author:Knud Thomsen,Ph.D., research field: spallation neutron sources. E-mail:[email protected].

implications. Conclusions, in particular pertaining to the usefulness of a general interpolator function beyond theOuroboros Model, end the paper. An early version has been presented before [1]. The aim of this short paper is not to present a full-fledged theoretical model with quantitative details but rather to outline a new overarching perspective suggesting a fresh comprehensive understanding of cerebellar function, which is considered relevant to the BICA challenge, i.e., developing a computational equivalent to the human mind [2].

2. The Ouroboros Model in Short In a series of recent papers, the Ouroboros Model has been introduced as a novel attempt at explaining a wide range of findings pertaining to cognition and consciousness of natural and also for artificial agents [3-9]. It has been described how, within a single

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The Ouroboros Model and the Cerebellum, the “Interpolator Hypothesis”

approach centered around a principal algorithmic process on a suitably structured memory, one can explain human cognitive performance and also formulate prescriptions of how to achieve comparable capabilities with artificial agents implemented in hardware or software, all iteratively and recursively following a similar self-steered evolutionary program. Minds are seen as primarily data processing entities; an iterative and self-referential universal algorithmic layout on the basis of suitably stored data structures is held as essential [3,5,9]. 2.1Action and Memory Structure The Ouroboros Model takes memory entries as effectively organized into (non-strict) hierarchies of schemata. Such schematic structures have been described by Immanuel Kant [10], elaborated byOtto Selz[11,12] and also Frederic Bartlett [13]. Memory is made up of meaningful chunks, i.e., combinations of features and concepts belonging together[4]. In living brains, neural assemblies are permanently linked together when once co-activated in the right manner. Later re-activation of any one of the linked features excites an entire schema. In particular, also currently missing features are biased and thus expectations of some type are triggered. 2.2Principal Algorithmic Backbone At the core of the Ouroboros Model lies, a self-referential recursive process with alternating phases of data-acquisition and data-evaluation. A monitor process termed “consumption analysis” is checking how well expectations, which are triggered at one point in time, fit with successive activations; these principal stages are identified:  anticipation,  Action/perception,  Evaluation,  Anticipation. These steps are concatenated into a full repeating circle, and the activity continues at its former end, like

the old alchemists’ tail-devouring serpent called the Ouroboros. Most importantly, there is no detrimental circularity involved if the succession of the processing steps in time is well taken into account: teeth and tail of the name-giving snake belong to well distinct points in time. The outputs of one iteration cycle lay the basis for the next. Although connections are marked “excitatory” and “inhibitory”, no direct correspondence to nervous structures is intended in this case; “excitatory” simply stands for a link activating the following, receiving entity, and “inhibitory” means that arriving activation dampens or prohibits activity of the recipient. Reprinted withpermission from Ref. [3]. The Ouroboros Model can be seen as an extension of the perceptual cycle as originally proposed by UlricNeisser[14]. The main addition consists in the tight interweaving of a foundation of already existing schemata with perception, triggered by the input at a point in time and the subsequent unfolding of action according to a simple general algorithm with “consumption analysis”at its core. Fig. 1 gives an outline of the processing steps; a more detailed account specifying the genesis and possible extensions of the basic scheme can be found elsewhere [3]. The Ouroboros Model certainly is not the only conceptualization of mental processes, which comprises some processing loop. As distinguishing feature, the emphasis of the crucial importance of components and constituents of concepts, “schemata”, can be seen, as well as the clearly specified core of the processing, i.e., consumption analysis, in which anticipations are set in relation to actually available data. It has been sketched how the Ouroboros Model can be conceptualized as an implementation of Bayesian processing [5,15]; in this view, priors are contributed by the previously established concepts, and hypotheses are generated in this context relating to newly arriving data. Cognitive architectures, which rely on productions, are understood as focusing on one facet of the use of schemata, in this sense employing a


Fig. 1

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Basic loop with mechanisms for flexible schema selection and the recording of likely useful new memories.

special case of processing contained in the Ouroboros Model [9,16-18]. Any partly activated schema with an open slot acts exactly like a production rule with preconditions specified and conclusion still open. In nice resemblance with processing in the Ouroboros Model, where unity of action (and consciousness) stems from tying all concurrent activity regularly together for consumption analysis, in ACT-R (Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational) only one single production rule is active at any given point in time [19]. From a wider perspective, the “OODA loop”, which comprises the stations: Observe-Orient-Decide-Act, can also be seen as a related theory [20]. It is held that by comparison the Ouroboros Model in terms of consumption analysis does offer an algorithmically much clearer account than merely referring to “feedback”. The cycles of constant quality-control and quality-improvement, “PDCA cycles”, which consists

of the stages: Plan-Do-Check-Act, fit into the same mold [21]. Repeated refinement and continuous improvement (“kaizen”) match perfectly with the iterations of the Ouroboros Model in periods or settings without major resets. The results achieved in the frameworks of the OODA-loop and the PDCA-loop for competitive settings nicely complement currently ongoing work on (collaborative) communication [22]. Successful dynamic action in all contexts relies on shared grounding and (conceptual) building blocks as well as on taking everything relevant, in particular, the opponents/partners, fully into account. A difference in sign depends on whether the goal of the involved agents is the establishing or the disruption of cycles of mutual anticipation, overall agreement, understanding and consistency. It could be claimed that already Otto Selz[11,23] has outlined the principles, which are illustrated in Fig. 1. He was probably among the first to note that a

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complete schema can be activated already by a part of its constituents with anticipations pointing to some missing constituents. Schemata are stacked and nested, i.e., structures at one level can function as components for a next higher organizational unit. Anticipations are at the core of the orderly problem solving process; errors occur in cases when only part of the relevant information is effectively used. A most important points is that the basic principles of memory organization as well as processing stay the same, independent of the content of the linked attributes, which can also stem from very different spheres, e.g., varying in their grounding. Any activation can be incorporated into new entities and contexts; the resulting hierarchy of concepts will not be a strict one, and still, rather well distinct building blocks will be accrued. In particular, self-monitoring does not require any completely different ingredients for meta-cognition: the very same processing steps working with just another set of concepts added, i.e., referring self-reflectively to the actor, do the trick [6]. The claimed benefits of a meta-cognitive loop, “MCL”, for the robustness of intelligent systems are taken to stay the same [24]. A repeated sequence of “Note-Assess-Guide” is a practical shortcut describing what the Ouroboros Model all the time does; powerful general-purpose anomaly-handling strategies are nothing but particular schemata, easy learnable (as abstractions) from experience or instruction. 2.3Consumption Analysis As an activation occurs, such as triggered by a sensory precept, associated schemata are excited. Schemata are searched in parallel; the one with the strongest bottom up activation sharing similar features is activated first; see Fig. 1. Other schemata, which possibly are also applicable, are inhibited and their activation is suppressed. With the excitation of a schema, all its constitutive components and linked features are marked; expectations for not yet available attributes are thus triggered. Taking the first selected

schema and ensuing anticipations, which are active at that time as reference and basis, consumption analysis checks how successive activations fit into this activated frame structure, i.e., how well lower level input data are “consumed” by the chosen schema. Features are assigned, attributes are “explained away” and inhibited for immediate reuse [25]. In order to avoid preterm fixation and getting bogged down in detail prematurely, it is wise to check first for plausibility on a coarse scale and to start from different venture points, at least for important issues, and when time allows. The very same strategies guard against inappropriate closure and satisficing. If inputs and expectations fit perfectly, the process comes to a momentary partly standstill and then continues with new input data. If discrepancies surface, they have a strong impact on the elicited actions [5]. In case of severe mismatch, the first schema is altogether discarded and another, new, conceptual frame is tried. The actual appropriateness of a schema can vary over a wide range. In any case, consumption analysis delivers a gradual measure for the goodness of fit between expectations derived from experience and actual inputs. In addition to the immediate feedback on the quality of fit between expectations and available data provided by the consumption analysis directly, (meta-) information can be obtained by monitoring the general flow of action through the cycle. Such self-monitoring is employed for self-steering according to the Ouroboros Model; the flow of activity and the outcome of the different processing stages exert sequential mutual modulations[3]. In this iterative process, the basis for subsequent steps and action at later occasions are laid. As to the neural implementation of this central comparison-function, one area in the human brain is the obvious candidate substrate: anterior cingulate cortex, ACC. An influential proposal sees “conflict monitoring” as the main task performed there [26]. At the same time, there is also ample evidence for


response selection [27]. Taken together, the experimental findings can be understood as different facets and perfectly fitting with one consistency checking process of consumption analysis. Whereas a detailed account goes beyond the scope of this paper, for a comparison of expectations with available support in first approximation it suffices to subtract the respective activations in an aligned superposition, which directly highlights their differences, i.e.,unassigned and discordant components. Some type of system non-linearity further enhances the contrast, effectively implementing a global winner-take-all behavior, i.e., attention is directed towards discrepancies and, on a more global level, a selected (part of a) schema blocks possible alternatives (Fig. 1). Practice leads to dramatic changes in processing speed, accuracy and required effort, and is accompanied by reductions of activation, similar in cingulate areas and the cerebellum [28]. This is in the focus of work in progress.

3. Concept Formation Two special types of occasions are specifically marked in the Ouroboros Model as immediately interesting by the outcome of the consumption analysis process, and attention is triggered, which leads to higher than baseline excitement and to stronger activations; preferentially for these cases, new entries are laid down quickly in (episodic) memory[4]:  Events, when everything fits perfectly; i.e., associated neural representations are stored as kind of “snapshots” of all concurrent activity, making them available for guidance in the future as they have proved useful once;  Constellations, which led to an impasse or problem, are worthwhile remembering, too; in this case, for future timely avoidance;  Associations and categorizations are gradually distilled from the statistics of co-occurrences. Novel categories and concepts can also be assembled on the spot by combining (parts of) existing

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memory entries following an external trigger[5]. As probably successful and useful repetitionswill be pursuedmore often than futile ones, the third option can be seen as rather similar to the first. Basically these effects,how schemata and novelty and also repeated co-activation can lead to effective storage in long-term memory have been reported as the results of experiments, and they have been taken as basis for a similar model with respect to memory formation [29]. The Ouroboros Model thus can explain how in an evolutionary and self-promoting manner the very memory structures are established such that they naturally serve as the suitable basis for the efficient working of the involved structure-generating processes. In all cases, the described form of pattern completion enables an agent to advantageously act in anticipation: a few features trigger relevant recollections, and this allows steering subsequent activity to better survive and reach whatever goals. With the improved integration of schemata, a smaller fraction of the components can already trigger the whole gestalt and optimized action can begin faster. As also more and richer schemata will be accrued with experience over time, i.e., concepts with vaster domains and, at the same time, built from more and finer distinguished features, there is a (delicate) balance, which prevents unjustified generalizations from too firmly entrenched action dispositions. The quality of schemata and their optimum interplay in the effective and systematic execution of the processing steps,in particular, self-referential consumption analysis, determine what can be done or thought of efficiently [30]. Coming back to error-handling and repair: no matter how good the respective strategies and procedures are, better it is to avoid mistakes to start with; this is exactly, what according to the Ouroboros Model expectations and anticipations, at least in areas, where an agent knows a little, offer. Just the same as old memories, new concepts are laid down in the form of cohesive packages, immediately


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effective again as schemata, frames or scripts. Building blocks include the total of whatever representations are active at the time when such a snapshot is taken, including sensory signals, abstractions, previously laid down concepts encompassing features relating to probable transients and causal structure, and also prevalent emotions and longer lasting moods. They might, in some cases, but need not, correspond to direct representation-units like words. At subsequent occasions, they serve for controlling behavior, by guiding attention and action towards or away from the marked tracks, depending on the sign of the associated emotion value (which is originally itself distilled from consumption analysis)[5].

4. Need for Interpolation Some structure and parcellation of all memory content into well separated schemata most probably is dictated quite generally by the need to keep the total amount of stored data manageable. This holds true for quite different levels of abstraction, starting from percepts and extending to abstract theoretical concepts of

the

highestaccessible

complexity.

Effective

categorization is also a consequence of the generation of many entries as snapshots and ad-hoc assemblies as seen from the Ouroboros Model’s perspective. Even in cases when a schematic relation, e.g., representing a movement,

is

distilled

from

repeated

similar

activations, it is most probably laid down economically as distinct (end)points, and the complete transient in

4.1 Various Time Scales The transition between distinct and separated stepping stones, decisive for the overall coherence of activity according to the Ouroboros Model, is affected by diverse processes at different timescales and levels of detail. Starting from extended timescales, personal features, emotions and moods ensure some coherence and continuity of perceptions as well as for the actions of an agent [5,6]. Over short to medium durations in the order of minutes or seconds, the flow of action according to the Ouroboros Model is mediated by shared constituents, i.e., common attributes and features, of thus concatenated, otherwise distinct and schemata. Closer to the short-term limit of action, both for bodily movements and also for more abstract cognitive processes, it is hypothesized that representations pertaining to intermediate values are calculated from more directly accessible neighboring reference points by means of some type of averaging and interpolation. Remarkable, at the other end of the timescale again, given the intrinsic dynamic characteristics of neural action, generating some truly constant level is not completely trivial and appears to mandatorily require some form of integration and averaging. All timescales are addressed in the Ouroboros Model by schemata including explicitly dynamic features, which code for changes and transients. Their effective resolution will be enhanced by interpolation in turn.

between is not stored in arbitrary detail. While

perfectly

suited

for

a

process

like

consumption analysis, a coarse-grained structure of memories poses a challenge when details finer than available in the form of actual local recordings are needed, and in particular, when smooth transients in time are demanded for whatever actions. Especially with a focus on time, it seems obvious that interpolation can significantly enhance cortical representation capabilities over what is possible with only unitary activity.

4.2 The Interpolator Hypothesis of the Cerebellum The cerebellum provides fine-grained values for features in between well established, separately and distinctly represented reference points, i.e., interpolations between cerebral activations, which specify directly available values in a coarser or fragmentary manner. The cerebellum is thus seen as a dedicated co-processor working in close interplay with the cerebral cortex, greatly expanding the total effective


achievable resolution of representations in living brains.

5. Implementation inVertebrate Brains As a theory of human cognition, the Ouroboros Model at some point needs to demonstrate the correspondence of the proposed structures and processes with actual facts as observed in real brains. This is work in progress; first proposals have been presented, e.g., by identifying the hippocampal structures as providing an efficient and rapidly established index to extensive and detailed memory entries, laid down in cerebral cortex[8]. Strengthening the general case for the Ouroboros Model, recent and ongoing experiments yield results concerning the impact of ad-hoc assembled schemata in naive subjects when observing figurative or abstract works of art fully in accord with the predictions [31]. 5.1 Selected Hints from Anatomy and Established Findings First, looking only at a very coarse level, the cerebellum grew in tight lockstep with the cerebral cortex in its evolutionary trajectory in mammals, probably generally in vertebrates[32,33]. Over eons, the cerebellum did not change in its comparatively simple and very regular internal cytoarchitectonic structure in rather diverse vertebrate animals after it once had acquired additional functionality compared to cerebellum-like structures in cartilaginous fish [34]. As the most prominent distinction, cerebellum-like structures do not have climbing fibers. They are clearly sensory, and they act as adaptive filters, which cancel self-generated noise in electrosensory and lateral line systems. While in humans the majority of the cerebellum is functionally coupled to cerebral association areas, primary visual and auditory cortices, which are largely concerned with feature extraction, appear to be not represented in the cerebellum [35]. A very uniform layout lead early to the suspicion

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that the cerebellum does one and the same operation to all input arriving there. Some gross correspondence between different areas in cortex and sectors of the cerebellum is observed but the detailed organization into areas is well distinct from what is found in cerebral cortex[36,37]. Input routes and the output tracts establish links in separated closed loops between delimited patches of cerebellar cortex and distinct areas of cerebral cortex; in particular, parts of the body are not represented continuously over an extended area of the cerebellar cortex. Instead, representations are fractured into small discontinuous patches in an apparently uncorrelated manner with diverse sensory and motor areas arranged in close neighborhood[36,38]. Signals carried by relatively small numbers of input and also output fibers are in between expanded enormously with GCs being by far the most numerous neurons in the brain. They are the origin of very many parallel fibers. It has been argued earlier that this stark contrast in numbers allows for (internal) very fine-grained encoding and pattern separation[39]. There is considerable evidence that mossy fiber input codes are preserved in synaptic responses of GCs; this “similar coding principle” is claimed to work as an ideal noise-reducing filter allowing the transmission of weak sensory inputs in a graded fashion[40]. A second input path to the cerebellum runs via the IO (inferior olive), which has been assigned diverse roles in timing by different models; the IO is the sole origin of climbing fibers [41]. Mossy fiber and climbing fiber input pathways from one and the same source, e.g., a point on the skin of an animal,have been shown to converge on the level of single Purkinje cells[42]. Purkinje cells thus receive input via two principal ways, either by a vast number of inputs from parallel fibers piercing their extended dendritic trees (eliciting simple spikes), or, by a single climbing fiber (sparking complex spikes) (Fig. 2). The response of synapses on Purkinje cells to input from parallel fibers is reduced if

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Fig. 2


Schematic lay-out of cerebellar circuitry.

this parallel fiber activation “predicts” climbing fiber activity for this cell, i.e., if the latter arrives 50-200 ms later,which actually appears to be a rather long and unspecific interval if one believes in exact timing being the main function of this circuitry [43]. Persistent long term depression of the involved connections ensues after repeated pairings[44]. As shown in Fig. 2, excitatory synapses are denoted by (+) and inhibitory synapses by (-), input involving gap junctions is denoted by arrows. MF: mossy fibers; DCN: deep cerebellar nuclei; CF: climbing fiber; CFC: climbing fiber collateral; GC: granule cell; PF: parallel fiber; PC: Purkinje cell;GgC: golgi cell; SC: stellate cell; BC: basket cell. Effective constant fraction detection is implemented by the dual action of the IO on the DCNplotted as overlay with curved arrows in light blue and green; figure adapted from Wikipedia. 5.2Effecting Interpolation Interpolation in the cerebellum is hypothesized as being performed between reference points, i.e., between somehow distinct representations in the

cerebral cortex. As a prototypical example benefitting from interpolation, one can take a reaching movement including a start and an end point as a spatial goal (Fig. 3). It is hypothesized that interpolation is performed in a feed forward manner by determining a shortest trajectory between supporting points in a high-dimensional space defined by the activated feature representations in cerebral cortex and also involving direct sensory input signals. The interpolated values are then relayed back to the (same) concerned cortex areas. The simplest case would be the determination of a representation for some finely distinguished nuances between the endpoints of a scale for a single (dynamic) variable. When many feature dimensions are considered, derived intermediate values lie in the corresponding hyper plane. According to the interpolator hypothesis, in the example of a straight movement, all effected activations for startingpoint and end point, required muscles, expected sensory feedback as well as usual


247

Fig. 3 Sketch of principle findings contrasting healthy subjects (traces (a) and (c)) with ones suffering from cerebellar damage (traces (b) and (d)).

duration are taken into account; dimensions specifying an abstract goal for actually performing the movement come in addition. All implicated feature dimensions are contributing with some allocated and adjustableweight. In any case, the resulting trajectory in this high dimensional space will be derived according to a suitably implemented principle of least action. That such computations can in principle be performed by brain circuits have been shown repeatedly; Karl Friston[45] has proposed somewhat related ideas under the name of free-energy minimization. There exist uniquely outstanding points, i.e., when a given (multidimensional) reference-value and the action-result based on the associated interpolation are exactly equal; the obvious case would be a correctly reached intermediate or end point of a trajectory.

6. Relations to Prevalent Conceptualizations While not directly following any of the numerous existing proposals concerning the computational

functions of the cerebellum (to the best knowledge of the author), it is claimed that the above advanced “interpolator hypothesis” fits rather well with observations and can advantageously incorporate some ideas of all the prevailing models of cerebellar function [39,44,46]. Very sketchy still, a core proposal of the interpolator hypothesis is that the vast number of GCs effectively leads to an only very smoothly changing excitatory input to the still numerous contacted PCs, each influenced by a huge number of very finely graded and reliably coded dimensions. Based on this input, PCs can deliver sustained high action-potential firing rates, which are probably effective as rather constant values in the further processing.PCs provide the calculated interpolated values via DCN to the same cortex areas, which first prompted the interpolation operation. Special action, as expected for the exact coincidence between any preset value and an interpolation result, in turn, is postulated to be signaled by CFinput to PCs. This triggers the PC (complex spike) and shuts it off for

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some time interval immediately afterwards when no addition or correction is required. The timing of the process fits nicely if suitable anticipated values were effective at the outset. CFactivation would thus be foremost a confirmation signal rather than an error signal. As has been pointed out before, “error” and “learning” do not make immediate sense if connections between identical features are affected [42]. In case of strong deviations from expectation, of course, interpolation needs to be stopped, too, and reset [47]. This might explain why CF excitation has been observed in such conditions and identified with a primary error signal. Learning is held to be different in different phases; for system “set-up” during maturation, or, after a massive change, pronounced long term adaptations can be expected; multiple synergetic processes are thought to be involved. In contrast, during “normal operations” no large persistent modifications in the cerebellum are required or helpful. This matches with the experimental fact that genetically engineered mice exhibit normal motor learning in the absence of long term depression, LTD, at the parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse [48]. Consequently, learning, which takes place involving cerebellar activation, might mainly be implemented in the connected cerebral cortex areas [49,50]. To this it also fits that the effects of practice on the functional anatomy of task performance include amongst others a shift of activity away from cerebellum to cortex in rather different tasks [51,28]. For body movements, also when only imagined, distinct postures are separated by a time interval, dictated by basic physics[52]; it is ,therefore, clear that a failure to follow a smooth path between them would appear and can be interpreted as a timing problem. Although a definite consensus has not yet been reached, timing has been postulated as a main function of the cerebellum[53-55]. The here presented view of timing errors as only a sequel of disturbed interpolation and resultant faulty coordination does not preclude that proper representations for time intervals appear to be

also among the features, which are similarly as any other elaborated (i.e., interpolated) by the cerebellum [56,57]. Serial processing has been postulated to underlie human movement production with temporal segmentation and a series of postures under intermittent control [58-60]. Essential tremor and intention tremor have been linked to cerebellar dysfunction [61]. Interpolation, in any case, will smoothen all effected activitys. Disturbances in postural tone and smooth movement were historically among the first deficiencies associated with cerebellar dysfunction [62]. Complex movements have been described as being broken down into components. Fig.3above depicts a comparison between healthy control subjects (traces (a) and (c)) and patients with cerebellar damage (traces (b) and (d)). When asked to move a finger from one point in space (A) to a prescribed goal (B), a healthy subject draws a straight line, whereas patients with a lesioned cerebellum produce wiggly trajectories (A’ to B’), bearing witness to struggling for control and fine tuning. Comparing traces (c) and (d), latency after a go-signal in one and the same patient is higher for the impaired limb, in which the onset of action is reported as coincident with the reaching of the first hold point for the faultless movement. Here, especially the second hint is interesting; this illustration, based on Claude Ghez[62,63], can be interpreted as an action with the impaired limb only starting at the instant when consumption analysis detects a discrepancy, i.e., a deviation from a set goal or reference. The figure is based on the work of Gordon Holmes in the 1920s, and it would be very interesting to scrutinize these old findings[62,63]. Enhanced cerebellar activity is most probably linked to conditions in which wider and more daring interpolations are needed and thus there is a higher risk to make an error. According to the Ouroboros Model, for any deviation between feedback and expectation


consumption analysis triggers attention and also delivers some affective signal (based on computations in the cingulate cortex areas). If the cerebellum is involved in calculating required intermediate values it is no wonder that it is also activated at times when deviations are detected. Interpolation canalso be understood as one facet of predictive coding with activity resulting from a feed forward model [45,64]. With prediction, here, no anticipation of an unknown future is meant but rather the outlining and following of a track in well-charted territory between established reference points. Recently, it has been shown that perception is disturbed in cerebellar patients compared to healthy subjects when proprioception during active movement is demanded, and the performance of healthy controls falls to the level of patients as soon as unpredictable disturbances are applied[65]. Exact timing is persistently being attributed to the cerebellum as one of its main functions. In this respect, it is very enlightening that a part of the detailed circuitry of the cerebellum input tracts can be seen as implementation of a constant fraction detector as used in experimental particle physics for obtaining precise and reproducible trigger signals even in the case of a variable input signal strength [66] (Fig. 2). The IO contacts the DCN via two routes: directly exciting and with a short delay and inversion via CFs andPCs (Fig. 2). This circuitry looks like a classic example of a constant fraction detector, which triggers DCN output at exactly reproducible times even when there are strong variations in the strength of the arriving signal. Suitable values for the delay duration must be short compared the rise-time or pulse-width of the interesting signal, and they depend on the employed amplification in the enhanced path. CF activation provides the most powerful triggering observed in the vertebrate brain, which dovetails nicely with the demand for fast action under the general conditions of neural circuits. The very high intrinsic specificity of the cerebellar

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circuitry can be efficiently modulated [43,67]. Bidirectional, reversible, transient and fast electrotonic coupling between IO neurons via gap junctions in glomeruli effectively widens or shrinks the receptive window for synchronized climbing fiber excitation. It is hypothesized that the ensuing relaxing of coincidence conditions works in accord with greater baseline activity during speed-accuracy tradeoff; both mechanisms in a complementary manner result in faster but less accurate action [68]. The other input path to the cerebellum arriving via mossy fibers from precerebellar nuclei has been discussed for decades, too; it has been shown that under realistic conditions parallel fibers do not generate “beams” of activated PCs but are modulating and balanced by inhibition from interneurons [47] (Fig. 2). In this branch, powerful control modulates summation of parallel fiber input to PCs, proposed to result in effective high pass filtering and allowing spike bursts produced by GCs to preferentially evoke PC single spike output [69]. Filter properties of SCs have been claimed to enhance the contrast of Purkinje cell responses to sparse as compared to clustered synaptic activation from parallel fibers and GCs [70]. Without pretending to already fully understand the exact way in which interpolation is actually performed it can be stated, that the above listed tesserae intuitively seem to fit with a delicately balanced and modulated integration of widely dispersed inputs and the effect relayed back to the connected cortical areas. Quite generally, failures to provide fitting interpolations would certainly provoke errors. In the realm of abstract cognition, the corresponding errors have been claimed to manifest as “dysmetria of thought” [71]. Cerebellar lesions produce amongst others selective deficits in verbal working memory [72]. In cerebellar patients, working memory, executive tasks and verbal fluency are impaired, and some presumed compensatory recruitment of subcortical brain structures and remote cerebral cortical regions has been observed [73]. Involvement of the cerebellum in

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transient and sustained responses in long-term as well as prospective memory has also been reported [74,75]. Following practice, direct cerebral associations and schemata, which are better tailored to the task in question, will diminish the need for interpolation in skilled performance [28,51]. Two special cases can shed more light on the function of the cerebellum.

could thus just the same be seen as extrapolation in cases with rather complete (forward) models. Both, interpolation proper and extrapolation, are naturally performed by us in a linear manner, e.g., problems with thermal radiation governed by a law involving the forth power of temperatures can fool the intuition of experts after decades of working in this field[78].

6.1 Coding of a Constant Value

7. Conclusions and Future Work

It has been found repeatedly that during the retention interval together with cerebral activation as well as the cerebellum is active in short term memory tasks[73]. Inclusion of a delay period before recall is especially detrimental to cerebellar patients [72]. The cerebellum is concerned with transients and this can help also with arbitrary successions. Maybe more important, the persistent coding of constant values, i.e., of singular items and the arbitrary combinations of features, e.g., for a mental rehearsal loop to come back to, is very likely supported by tonic cerebellar activations. The latter can naturally be conceptualized as “interpolation” between identical (recurring) reference points. Independent support for the involvement of the cerebellum in working memory comes from the observation that the same gen set, which links neuronal excitability to psychiatric disease, implicates parietal cortex together with the cerebellum [76].

In a self-reflective and self-relational consistent way the Ouroboros Model holds that cognition generally progresses in an interplay of top-down “frame-setting” and bottom-up “filling-in of slots”. Accordingly, emphasis lies on first sketching an overall conceptual frame of reference before digging into intricate subtleties.It is claimed that conceptual work and progress is a mandatory prerequisite for successful and efficient detailed investigation and modelling to follow thereafter. A case in point here is the diversity of extant models of cerebellar function [39,44,46,54]. Formalized and rather specific, they allow modeling of selected findings and yet, these best that we have to date make some diametrically opposed (quantitative) predictions leaving us in the unhappy situation that we obviously do not yet fully understand what the numerical majority of the neurons in a human brain are good for. No doubt, concrete and quantitative formulations and also working implementationsare required at some point in time, and extensive detailed work is still needed. In particular, formalization and numerical simulations are necessary to illuminate details concerning timing and how in a biologically plausible mannerinterpolation is actually implemented, most probably following a principle of least action, with the neural networks found in the cerebellum. Collaborations to formalize the Ouroboros Model in general and the interpolation function, in particular,and to tackle these issues by simulations would be most welcome.

6.2 Interpolation Extrapolation

When

Input

Is

Incomplete,

More often than not, reference values for the hypothesized interpolation in the cerebellum will not be completely specified by the actually available neural signals. The cerebellum has been hypothesized to predict time in perceptual events [77]. Here, it is claimed that any dimension can be predicted, i.e., extrapolated, employing the same basic mechanisms as for interpolation. The only difference lies in the availability and completeness of suitable reference values. Depending on the perspective, interpolation


As one example, for functional activation studies, predictions can be made concerning differences and similarities of cerebellar contributions to movements, e.g., comparing the drawing of a complex figure either by hand and with a pencil or with a big brush and using wide arm movements: timing and also the involvement of the body would differ vastly but in the proper reference frame the abstract specifications for supporting points and their smooth interpolation, i.e., transients, should be rather similar. Pertaining to abstract cognition, it can be predicted that cerebellar patients are particularly deficient when asked for estimates, extrapolations beyond known details and/or interpolations between known (and little related) facts. The interpolator hypothesis presents a new, overarching and presently coarse-grained picture. Preliminary evidence is presented here that the cerebellum serves useful and deemed necessary functions as an interpolator for deriving fine-grained representations and smooth transitions from distinct supporting points defined by activations in cerebral cortex and effectively referring to different points in time.

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better understanding of healthy and impeded human cognition and thus strengthening the basis for addressing the BICA challenge [2]. A centralized dedicated interpolator function might be widely useful in many diverse cognitive architectures in a similar vein as has been claimed for meta-cognition and self-monitoring [6,24,30]. A partial implementation of the Ouroboros Model in a safety installation is working in principle; interpolation has not yet been fully included due to unrelated problems; continued work is in progress [79]. Fully in accord with the spirit of the Ouroboros Model, one can also make the point that the interpolator hypothesis is an example of “turning the wheel another round”, i.e., a biological inspired model of cognition draws attention to specific questions and subsequently leads to testable predictions concerning the function of the numerical majority of the neurons in a human brain.

Acknowledgements A number of insightful comments, hints and very helpful suggestions for improvements by severalcolleagues are gratefully acknowledged.

Although the idea and motivation comes from a specific cognitive architecture, the “Ouroboros Model”, the proposal is not really dependent on this basis. The

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D


DAVID

PUBLISHING

A Study of Bruneian Corporate Customers’ Uses of Mobile Services: An Application of Value-Based Adoption Model Afzaal H. Seyal, Hamdani Ibrahim and Mohd Noah A. Rahman Computing & Information Systems, Faculty of Business & Computing, Institut Teknologi Brunei, Brunei Darussalama Received: February 12, 2014 / Accepted: March 18, 2014 / Published: March 31, 2014. Abstract: This pioneering study investigates the seventy Bruneian corporate customers’ adoption intentions towards using the mobile services. The study uses and validates the VAM (value-based adoption model) for investigating mobile service in different geographical setting contrary to the original study for Mobile Internet. The study combines four external variables such as perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, technicality and perceived fee with perceived value in predicting the adoption intentions of using mobile services. The study results indicate that only perceived usefulness is significant predictor of perceived values which are significant indicator of adoption intentions of using mobile services. Based on the results, some recommendations are made for the managerial implications. Key words: Perceived usefulness, adoption intentions, mobile services, Brunei Darussalam.

1. Introduction The rapid diffusion of the Internet technologies in general and mobile technologies in particular have changed the mobile consumers from passive to active customers of using mobile devices with 3G technologies. The consumers’ dynamic use prevails both in the developed as well as the developing countries where consumers find new ways to use the mobile phones in more productive way and one of it is for mobile commerce. The same is true in South-East Asian context. The world-wide statistics have shown the rising trend in the users’ responses to 3G services. Surprisingly, by June 2007, the 200 million 3G subscribers had been connected. This was only 6.7% of the 3 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide. In countries where 3G had been launched, Japan and Korea are the first ones where 3G penetration of over Corresponding author: Afzaal H. Seyal, Ph.D., senior lecturer, research fields: technology adoption, information systems. E-mail: [email protected].

70% (www.plus8star.com). The first pre-commercial 3G network was launched by NTT-DOCOMO in Japan in 1988. The global statistics indicated that from 1990 to 2011 the worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 6 billion corresponding to global penetration of 86.1%. This growth was driven by developing countries that accounted for more than 80%. In mobile broadband, by the ending of 2011, there were more than 1 billion mobile broad-band subscriptions worldwide. Mobile broadband has become the single most dynamic ICT service reaching a 40% annual subscription growth in 2011. Although developing countries are catching up in term of 3G coverage, huge disparity remains between mobile-broadband penetration in developing countries (8%) and developed countries (51%). However, by 2011, there were more mobile broadband subscriptions than inhabitants in Korea, Singapore, Japan and Sweden where active mobile penetration surpassed 90% by 2011

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A Study of Bruneian Corporate Customers’ Uses of Mobile Services: An Application of Value-Based Adoption Model

(www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICT../2011%20statistical%20hig hlights_June_2012.pdf). Mobile phones are spreading faster than any other information technology features. Experts have viewed that this can improve the livelihoods of the poorest people in the developing countries (www.reutersreprints.com). These developments in the 3G have brought intensive applications of the mobile services. Mobile services are content services that are accessed via mobile handheld devices (PDAs, mobile, cellular or Smartphone, GPS etc.) and are delivered in interaction between an organization and a customer. In this paper, we have used the current business-to-customer mobile services which include logos, ringtones, chat, search services, ticket payments and banking services. With so much global developments and tremendous impact in the world, we will look into the small market in Brunei Darussalam—a small sultanate with oil-rich economy. It is located in Borneo between East and West Malaysia. It has a roughly total population of 400,000 (www.goldpages.com). We have found the potential growth that was confirmed by the world indicators. They suggest that mobile, especially the 3G market is growing with the two main service providers: DST communications and B-Mobile. ITU database figure shows that Brunei has 61.4% active mobile broad band subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (www.itu.int/ict). DST Communication was the first mobile service providers established in 1995. In September 2005, B-Mobile Communication Sdn Bhd became the second service provider and it is the Brunei’s first 3G mobile service provider. In March 2008, B-Mobile made history for being the first in Brunei to commercially launched 3.5G technology high lightening the premium technology of mobile broadband better known as Zoom (www.wili.smu.edu.sg/digitalmediaasia/Digital_Medi a_in_Brunei). The use of the mobile services among the masses has been continuously studied by the researchers across the globe as how the technology is adopted and

used by the individuals [1, 2]. While reviewing the literature on the adoption and use of technologies, we then identified some of the very famous theoretical frameworks that includes Roger’s [3] DOI (diffusion of innovations), Ajzen and Fishbein’s [4] TRA (theory of reasoned action) to Ajzen’s [5] TPB (theory of planned behaviour), and TAM (technology acceptance model) [6]. No doubt, the TAM by Davis [6], explains the technology adoption and use by the individuals. Based upon the TRA by Ajzen and Fishbein [4], TAM is a parsimonious model asserting that all influences of external variables such as system design feature on behaviour are mediated by two major components: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. TAM [6] was originally developed to explain individual’s adoption of traditional technology (e.g., spreadsheet, email and software development tools) in an organizational setting. These models have some limitations, especially the robust model like TAM which has its limitation in explaining the adoption of new ICT such as mobile services. Nevertheless, most adopters and users of traditional technologies are employees in an organizational setting where they use technology for work purposes and the cost of this mandatory adoption is borne by the organization. In contrast, there are users who are individuals and who play a main responsibility of using new ICT for personal purpose. That means that there are other factors that help individuals to use ICT for their personal use, so the fundamental question that remains crucial as why does individuals buy products or use services. To answer this we have to look beyond standard ICT theories of adoption and usage. We also look into the domain of marketing and consumers’ behaviour. To answer this, we look in other disciplines that highlight as to why the customers buy /use or not to buy/ use the product or services. That is where the concept of perceived value emerged that has its underpinning in psychology, economics and marketing discipline. Detailed discussion on the relative importance of perceived value is given in


Section 2.1 below.

257

Singapore and Brunei are economically rich countries

Pura and Gummerus [2] defined the perceived

with the one of the highest GDP per capita income

values as: the value which is perceived by the

especially among ASEAN countries (Singapore =

customer based on his/her experiences with the

USD33,988.51 and Brunei = USD24,947.10)1. Both

knowledge of an object, which usually results in an

these countries have excellent telecommunication

evaluation of the desirability of the object or outcome

infrastructure and mobile phone penetration so these

and this equally apply within the context of mobile

similarities have been used for this study. Based on these theoretical underpinning, this pioneering study was conducted in Brunei Darussalam in December 2013 with the following objectives: To validate the model to the different set of population with new information technology features within different geographical setting; To analyze the relationship between various external variables in predicting perceived values and adoption intentions in using the mobile services.

services. Customers’ value is customer’s perceived preferences for evaluation of these products attributes performances and consequences arising from use that facilitate (or block) achieving the customers’ goals and purposes in use situation [7]. In addition, this value has originally been observed mainly from the prospective of the expected or delivered benefits and commercial product values to customers [8]. The current research basically deals with the mobile services usage as a new ICT perspective not for the technology users perspective but from consumers’ perspective [9]. As such, customers always evaluate the product or services especially on perceived benefits before they decide to purchase a particular product or to use a particular service. They also include cost of usage, the lost opportunity to use other offering and potential switching cost. In a nutshell, a consumer always values these added benefits while making a purchase/use decision. The basic motive for this study has emerged from the literature itself and in fact it is in two-folds. Firstly, the majority of the empirical research on customers’ perceived value is based on traditional services [10, 11]. Secondly, there is a lack of empirical research that considers the perceived values to the 3G mobile services. We agree with Pura [12] that more research should be carried out in the customer-oriented development of mobile services to further bring the perceived services with other variables like loyalty, satisfaction and repurchase intentions to increase the relationship marketing. Secondly, the study has used the same VAM (value-based adoption model) that was used in Singaporean-based study of mobile Internet adoption [9] with the basic assumption where both

2. Review of Literature From the study test on the VAM developed by Kim et al. [9] in Singapore, we therefore have used the same set of contextual variables that were used in the original study. The model mediates the perceived value construct between independent variables categorized into two domains of benefits such as usefulness and enjoyment, and sacrifice such as perceive fee and technicality. So, initially we started by reviewing the literature on the important variable perceived value. 2.1 Research on Perceived Value & Other Contextual Variables Used The term “value” is most commonly used in the field of economics, marketing, accounting and finance. However, it is also the roots in the field of psychology and social psychological. Within the context of mobile services, the customer interacts with the service provider and evaluates the service based on previous experiences and underlying values. Therefore, this evaluation would decide on the use of the mobile services offered by particular service provider. 1

HSBC 2012 country report (www.hsbc.org).

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Gronroos [13] had emphasized that perceived value was not assessed singly rather the benefits and sacrifices in the whole evaluation process and relationship contribute to perceived value. In psychology, the term value is defined as conceptions of desirable ways of behaving or desirable end-states such as friendship, and respect for tradition, living healthy, and ambition [14]. Values were characterized as relatively stable individual preferences that reflect socialization and might be conceived as a type of personality disposition [15]. Nevertheless, the “value” in marketing science stemmed from the perspective of expected or delivered benefits and commercial product value to customer [8]. Therefore, the customer perceived is the difference between the prospective customer’s evaluation of all the benefits and all the costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives [8]. Several other authors have also defined the perceived value. The most widely accepted definition is provided by Zeithaml’s [16], that is “the overall assessment on the product (or service) utility determines by customer’s perceptions of what is received and what is given”. Choi et al. [17] stated that it involves the comparison of what one is getting (benefits) and what has to be given up (sacrifices) in order to receive the service. Zeithaml’s definition focuses on what is received and what is given. Logically, it emphasizes on the comparison of a customers’ choice as what one is getting (benefits) and what one has to be given up (sacrifices) in order to receive the services [17]. Therefore, it is further understood that perceived value of mobile services in this study means the customers’ overall perception of its benefits and the sacrifices needed to use it. Komulainen et al. [18] pointed out that these benefits and sacrifices are sometimes not equal. The difference could be positive or negative. Thus the positive difference will lead to perceived value and the negative result will lead to perceived worthlessness. Zeithaml [16] further explained that benefits include the value desired by the customers while sacrifices

would include monetary and non-monetary consideration. These monetary sacrifices of course, include price of the products/services or fees charged to the customers for using the services. Kim et al. [9] in their study of supporting VAM used the following benefits and sacrifices such as perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment as benefits whereas sacrifices included technicality and perceived fee. Perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment: customers normally evaluate the products and services on the basis of the benefits which they receive. In other words, they value the services or products when it adds to their life before making the decision to adopt it. Perceived usefulness remain a major component of TAM of Davis [6] and focused on the belief that using the technology will likely improve one’s job performance. Deci [19] in his famous theory of cognitive evaluation theory pointed out the motivation instead of benefits to use the technology. He classified into extrinsic and intrinsic subscales. Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity to achieve a specific goal (rewards). While intrinsic motivation refers to performance of an activity for no apparent reinforcement other than internal feelings. Rogers [3] stressed that both extrinsic and intrinsic factors have been found to influence perceived value and behavioural intentions. Moore and Benbasat [20] pointed out that these were applicable to the IS (information systems). The usefulness construct has been used extensively in research and has strong empirical support as an important factor of technology adoption. Researchers found a support in their studies of M-Internet services. [21-23]. Kim et al. [9] also found support in their study of M-Internet in Singapore. Based on the above discussion, we agree to the Dube-Rionx [24] suggestions that customer’s evaluation of a product includes both cognitive and affective elements. Similarly, perceived enjoyment was seemed to be relevant by researchers of technology adoption [6]. Enjoyment referred to the extent to which the activity


of using a product was perceived to be enjoyable within its limit apart from any performance consequences that might be anticipated [25]. Sweeney and Soutar [26] related the enjoyment to the emotional value as the utility derived from feelings or effective states that a product had been generated. Seth et al. [27] proposed a framework that products were purchased for their utilitarian and hedonic benefits. This was modified further to fit the mobile services market [28]. Based upon its relevant important it was added in VAM and found to be significant predictor of an adoption. Both technicality and perceived fee are classified into perceived sacrifices. Perceived sacrifices include both monetary and non-monetary sacrifices. Monetary sacrifices include the cost of product and services including switching other hidden costs. Non-monetary sacrifices include time efforts and other unsatisfactory spending for the purchase and consumption of services [9]. Several studies have identified technical factor and price as the most significant barrier to mobile Internet [29, 30, 9]. Technicality is the degree to which services or products which is perceived as being technically superior. However, in IS research, this variable is interchangeably and is used in connotation with ease of use (system is free of physical, mental and learning effort [6]). However, in their Singapore-based study, Kim et al. [9] modified this construct with items that were included from DeLone and McLean [31] and were added to have system reliability, response time and connectivity. Other studies have been reported that there were inversed relationship between the technicality and adoption [32, 3]. The more complex one was the technology from the users’ perspective which was less likely to be adopted. Kim et al. [9] had used this in their study with the notion that technicality of the system was a combination of all non-monetary costs. Similarly, prices or perceived fees for products and services were found to be an important variable. Lichtenstein et al. [33] defined prices as the amount of

259

economic outlays that a person had to give up in exchange for goods or services. Several other studies have found that perceived fees had directly influenced perceived value [34, 35, 16]. Whereas, Chang et al. [34] and Kim et al. [9] found that perceived monetary prices and perceived values were negatively related. Finally, the relationship between perceived value and adoption intention as proposed in the VAM was studied. These studies had provided strong empirical support that perceived value affects perceptual intention to use [36, 9]. Based upon the above mentioned assertion, we therefore propose the five hypotheses: H1: perceived usefulness is positively related to perceived value; H2: perceived enjoyment is positively related to perceived value; H3: technicality is negatively related to perceived value; H4: perceived fee is negatively related to perceived value; H5: perceived value is positively related to adoption intention.

3. Methodology 3.1 Design of Instrument The questionnaire consists of two parts: Part A asks questions about the demographical and other users’ characteristics questions. However, multiple scales were

used

to

capture

the

information

from

dichotomous to ranking one. Part B of the questionnaire captures the data about the specific questions on the five basic constructs used in this study. Perceived value mediates with adoption intention that remained as dependent variable. The definition and items measuring dependent variables were adapted and modified after Davis [6] that regarded intention of using mobile services starting with 1 for “strongly disagree” to the 5 for “strongly agree”.

260


3.2 Sampling Data for the study was collected in December 2013 using questionnaire. This questionnaire captured the respondent’s demographic profile: gender, age, job category, type of business, types of service providers, various types of mobile services used, namely, the brand of the 3G and finally the billing options whether it was pre-paid or post-paid. The behaviour perceptual items were measured by five-point scales representing a range from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. This questionnaire survey was conducted among 110 corporate customers from various business sectors, and then every effort was made to ensure an effective response rate. The methods were used to make phone calls, and sending them covering letter. Seventy out of 110 responses were received and that were retained for this study thus making a response rate of 64%. 3.3 Instrument Reliability and Validity Several other techniques were used to assess the reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s ) [37] and to assess face, construct and convergent validity. In order to ascertain face validity, an initial questionnaire was passed through the routine editing after it was given to the panel of experts (academics and business leaders). They were asked to respond to the questionnaire, however, very few comments in fact were received so that some minor changes were done to enhance the clarity. Table 3 shows the reliability coefficients and convergent validity for the various constructs. In general, validity refers to the degree to which Table 1

instrument truly measure the constructs for what it is intended to measure. There are several types of validity measures that include the face validity and constructs validity. Campbell and Fiske [38] propose two types of validity: convergent and discriminating validity. Convergent validity is measured by average variance extracted for each construct during the reliability analysis that should be 0.5 or 50% or better [39]. Table 1 shows the reliability values for the various constructs with variance extracted. Cronbach’s α for the constructs ranging from 0.58 to 0.90 to indicate a sufficient level of reliability and convergent validity of all constructs which exclude perceived fee which is slightly below the cut-off value of 60%. Therefore caution should be taken to interpreting the constructs. After filtering and further analyzing for convergent and discriminating validity, five constructs were used for the principal component method with varimax rotation to assess the variance explained. Then the testing discriminant validity was required to check the cross loading of items on multiple factors. All items were loaded high on their associated constructs but not with other factor loadings, thus fulfilling the Hair et al. [40] criteria for adequate discriminant validity. In general, the results have shown that both validities are satisfied. However, the results for factor analysis are not provided in order to avoid unnecessary length. In addition, CR (composite reliability) was calculated for the value as shown in the Table 1. It shows that CR values are between 0.71 to 0.95 and are above the suggested minimum value of 0.70 [40] except the perceived fee

Reliability & Validity Analysis.

Constructs Perceived usefulness Perceived enjoyment Technicality Perceived fee Perceived value Behavioral intention Total

No. of original items 4 4 5 3 4 3 23

No. of item retained 4 4 4 2 3 3 20

Alpha value (.60 and above) .90 .87 .74 .60 .93 .96

Mean 3.79 3.86 3.42 3.14 3.63 4.31

Variance explained 0 and there is no congestion, try sending the packet p along i till ∆xi = 0. Move critical buffer if necessary; (12) If successful then decrement MisNum and exit; (13) Otherwise, wait for one of the channelsin the shortest dimension set to be idle; (14) If the timeout is reached, deliver the packet p to the local node as a deadlocked packet; (15) Exit. In an attempt to evaluate LBMBS, Table 1 compares it with other algorithms in the literature.

Fig. 2 Flowchart of the proposed algorithm LBMBS. Table 1 Comparison of LBMBS against other algorithms. Local awareness Global awareness Load-balancing feature

Bubble flow control Yes No No

Critical bubble scheme Yes Yes No

Moveable bubble scheme Yes Yes No

LBMBS Yes Yes Yes

LBMBS: A Load-Balanced Moveable Bubble Scheme for Tori Interconnection Networks

4. Conclusions and Future Work Globally-aware flow control in interconnection networks has potential advantages over locally-aware flow control concerning the maximization of resource utilization. MBS (moveable bubble scheme) provides a way to correctly and efficiently implement globally-aware flow control mechanisms which is applied on multi-dimensional topology. However, it does not guarantee the load balancing feature. This paper integrates the ideas of a load-balanced routing algorithm (rHALB) and MBS to provide LBMBS. The load-balancedadaptive moveable bubble scheme improves the performance over MBS, considers the state of the links of the local node as well as the surrounding nodes. It sends the false packet to appropriate links only. Therefore, better resource utilization is provided entailing better latency and better throughput. On the other hand, LBMBS uses the link state vector and direction weight vector which increase the complexity and the cost. In the future, the proposed idea is to be simulated and analyzed quantitatively.

References [1]

[2]

[3]

J. Duato, S. Yalamanchili, L. Ni, Interconnection Networks: An Engineering Approach, IEEE Computer Society Press, USA, 1997. B. Raahemi, A load-balancing adaptive routing algorithm in k-ary n-cube interconnection networks,in:IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering,Canada, May 4-7, 2003, pp. 725-728. Y.Q.Wang, M.X. Zhang,Q.C. Fu,Z.B.Pang, Adaptive bubble scheme with minimal buffers in torus networks, in:2012 IEEE 14th International Conference on High Performance Computing and Communication & 2012 IEEE 9th International Conference on Embedded Software and Systems, Liverpool,June 25-27, 2012, pp. 914-919.

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7] [8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

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L.Z. Chen，R.S. Wang, T.M.Pinkston, Critical bubble scheme: An efficient implementation of globally aware network flow control, in: 2011 IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium,Anchorage, Alaska,May 16-20, 2011, pp. 592-603. J. Al-Sadi, The load balancing problem in extended OTIS-n-cube interconnection networks, in: IEEE 11th International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications,Liverpool,June 25-27, 2012. B.Z. Li, Y.A. Zhu, J.H. Duan, Z. Zhao, LDGR: An efficient load-balancing inter dimension group-routing selection strategy in on-chip networks,in: IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Automation Engineering, Zhangjiajie, China,May 25-27, 2012. A. Singh, Load balanced routing in interconnection networks,Ph.D. Thesis, Stanford University, 2005. W. Dally, B. Towles, Principles and Practices of Interconnetion Networks, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, USA,2004. H.X. Gu, J. Zhang, K. Wang,C.S. Wang, rHALB: A new load-balanced routing algorithm for k-ary n-cube networks, in:M. Xu, Y.W. Zhan, J.N. Cao, Y.J. Liu (Eds.),Advanced Parallel Processing Technologies, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, 2007, pp. 392-401. W.J. Dally, Performance analysis of k-ary n-cube interconnection networks,IEEE Transactions on Computers (1990) 775-785. P.T. Gaughan, S. Yalamanchili, Adaptive routing protocols for hypercube interconnection networks,Computer26 (1993)12-23. A. Lagman, W.A. Najjar, S. Sur, P.K. Srimani, Evaluation of idealized adaptive routing on k-ary n-cubes, in:Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Processing, Dallas, USA, 1993, pp. 166-169. Y. Aydogan, C.B. Stunkel, C. Aykanat, B. Abali, Adaptive source routing in multistage interconnection networks, in:The 10th International Parallel Processing Symposium, Honolulu, USA, 1996, pp. 258-267. A. Singh, W.J. Dally, B. Towles, A.K. Gupta, Globally adaptiveload-balanced routing on tori,Computer Architecture Letters3 (2004) 1-2.

D


DAVID

PUBLISHING

A Compressed Sensing Based DV-Hop Location Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks Bingnan Pei, Hao Zhang, Yidong Zhang and Hongyan Wang Information Engineering College, Dalian University, Dalian 116021, China Received: January 28, 2014/ Accepted: March 8, 2014 / Published: March 31, 2014. Abstract: A compressed sensing based DV-hop location algorithm is presented to improve the performance of the conventional DV-hop location algorithm in WSNs (wireless sensor networks). The sensor network can be divided into multiple grids. Compared with the grid number, the number of targets in the network is generally sparse. Therefore, the localization of the targets in the network can be transformed into a sparse signal reconstruction issue. Theoretical analysis and experimental results on the proposed algorithm show that it is able to greatly reduce the amount of data flow in the network, balance the load of communication, prolong the lifetime of the WSNs, and improve the target location accuracy, compared to the DV-hop location ones. Key words: Wireless sensor network, DV-hop location algorithm, compressed sensing. 

1. Introduction

The localization algorithms for WSNs (wireless sensor networks) can be classified into range-based location algorithms and range-free connectivity-based location ones according to whether the process of positioning needs measure the distance between nodes [1]. In the two categories, the range-based ones only use point-to-point distance or angle information to get the location of neighboring sensors. Several ranging techniques are possible for range measurement, such as AOA (angle-of-arrival) [2], RSSI (received signal strength indicator) [3], TOA (time-of-arrival) [4] or TDOA (time-difference-of-arrival) [5]. Because of the hardware limitations of WSNs devices, range-free localization approaches have advantages over the range-based ones [6]. The range-free ones estimate the position by using the network connectivity of the nodes. Many localization methods based on range-free for sensor networks have been proposed, such as the DV-hop algorithm [7], the centroid algorithm [8], the Corresponding author: Hao Zhang, postgraduate, research fields: wireless sensor networks, localization algorithm. E-mail: [email protected].

APIT algorithm [9], and so on. Among these, the DV-hop algorithm is a very typical means of WSNs without need of ranging. In order to improve the positioning accuracy of the range-free-based location technology, many researchers and engineers applied the sparse transform and CS (compressed sensing) [10] to the WSNs location problem in recent years. The CS was introduced to the positioning of WSNs in Ref. [11], in which the location question of WSNs was transformed into compressed sensing problem, but each node needed the design of a positioning dictionary. The proposed method in Ref. [12] transformed the multi-objective problem of WSNs into k N-dimensional vectors, which is of 1-sparse, but the data needed to be transferred is not been greatest compressed. In order to improve the location accuracy, this paper proposes a CS DV-hop (CS based DV-hop) location algorithm. This algorithm replaces the LS positioning calculation in DV-hop with the compressed sensing reconstruction algorithm. The analysis in the paper shows that this method can

A Compressed Sensing Based DV-Hop Location Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks

greatly reduce the system’s communication overload and the energy consumption of nodes. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the ALE (average location error). The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the derivation of the proposed CS DV-Hop algorithm. In Section 3, simulation results are shown and localization performances are discussed. Finally, the conclusions are given in Section 4.

2. CS DV-Hop Localization Algorithm The conventional DV-hop localization algorithm uses the position information available of a small set of sensors called beacon or anchor nodes to estimate the unknown positions of non anchor or ordinary sensor nodes. This algorithm has three main components: information broadcasting, distance calculation, and LS positioning calculation. Its basic idea is to use the network average hop distance and the hop-counts to estimate the distance between anchor and non anchor nodes. On the contrary, the proposed localization algorithm here replaces the LS algorithm with the CS algorithm for position estimation. 2.1 Information Broadcasting Anchor nodes broadcast their location information to the neighbors, the information is recorded as {id i , x i , y i , Hops i } , where id i is the index of the i-th anchor node, ( xi , yi ) is the coordinates of the i-th anchor node, Hopsi is the hop-count information. Hopsi is initialized to 0. The receiving nodes record the minimum number of hops with anchor nodes, discard the packet with larger ones from the same anchor nodes, and then broadcast Hopsi + 1 to new neighbors. 2.2 Distance Calculation After the information broadcast, according to the

285

recorded position information and the hop-counts away from the anchor nodes, each anchor node can estimate the average hop distance by: 

Di 

j i

( xi  x j ) 2  ( yi  y j ) 2

(1)

 hj

j i

where, ( xi , y i ) is the coordinates of the i-th anchor node, h j is the number of hops between anchor nodes. Then each non anchor can calculate their distance with anchor nodes, that is d  Hops  D . i i i 2.3 Compressed Sensing Positioning Algorithm Proposed CS theory [10], which is based on measuring a signal which can be sparse representation through a sensing matrix, can realize the signal projection from the high-dimensional to low-dimensional with a small cost of loss. Sparse representation of the signal means that it can be expressed in a certain domain with its nonzero coefficients number far less than the total number of the coefficients. Every measured value is a combined function of each sample signal under the traditional theory, that is, a measured value already contains a small amount of information of all the samples. Then for blind source separation inverse thinking, the CS theory uses the existing reconstruction methods in signal sparse decomposition to realize a precise reconstruction or reconstruction with a certain error in the sense of probability, which is shown as:

yΜ 1  ΦM  N xN 1 （M

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