Multi‐objective particle swarm optimisation of complex product change plan considering service performance

Design change is an inevitable part of the product development process.This study proposes an improved binary multi‐objective PSO algorithm guided by problem char-acteristics(P‐BMOPSO)to solve the optimisation problem of complex product change plan considering service performance.Firstly,a complex product multi‐layer network with service performance is established for the first time to reveal the impact of change effect propagation on the product service performance.Secondly,the concept of service performance impact(SPI)is defined by decoupling the impact of strongly associated nodes on the service performance in the process of change affect propagation.Then,a triple‐objective selection model of change nodes is established,which includes the three indicators:SPI degree,change cost,and change time.Furthermore,an integer multi‐objective particle swarm optimisation algorithm guided by problem characteristics is developed to solve the model above.Experimental results on the design change problem of a certain type of Skyworth TV verify the effectiveness of the established optimisation model and the proposed P‐BMOPSO algorithm.

A Hybrid Machine Learning Approach for Improvised QoE in Video Services over 5G Wireless Networks

Video streaming applications have grown considerably in recent years.As a result,this becomes one of the most significant contributors to global internet traffic.According to recent studies,the telecommunications industry loses millions of dollars due to poor video Quality of Experience(QoE)for users.Among the standard proposals for standardizing the quality of video streaming over internet service providers(ISPs)is the Mean Opinion Score(MOS).However,the accurate finding of QoE by MOS is subjective and laborious,and it varies depending on the user.A fully automated data analytics framework is required to reduce the inter-operator variability characteristic in QoE assessment.This work addresses this concern by suggesting a novel hybrid XGBStackQoE analytical model using a two-level layering technique.Level one combines multiple Machine Learning(ML)models via a layer one Hybrid XGBStackQoE-model.Individual ML models at level one are trained using the entire training data set.The level two Hybrid XGBStackQoE-Model is fitted using the outputs(meta-features)of the layer one ML models.The proposed model outperformed the conventional models,with an accuracy improvement of 4 to 5 percent,which is still higher than the current traditional models.The proposed framework could significantly improve video QoE accuracy.

Performance Optimization of Fujian Digital Design and Manufacture Service Platform Based on AJAX

In this paper,the problem on the service platform,which existed on the traditional WEB application mode,are analyzed in detail.It shows that application of the AJAX technology can optimize the service platform.And the AJAX technology can supply the wonderful solution for the development of the high-performance WEB application by means of the WEB performance testing tool to test the network performance of the service platform.

Association of post-traumatic stress disorder and work performance: A survey from an emergency medical service, Karachi, Pakistan

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study was to explore the association between posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) and work performance of emergency medical services personnel in Karachi, Pakistan.METHODS: Emergency medical service personnel were screened for potential PTSD using Impact of Event Scale-Revised(IES-R). Work performance was assessed on the basis of fi ve variables: number of late arrivals to work, number of days absent, number of days sick, adherence to protocol, and patient satisfaction over a period of 3 months. In order to model outcomes like the number of late arrivals to work, days absent and days late, negative binomial regression was applied, whereas logistic regression was applied for adherence to protocol and linear for patient satisfaction scores.RESULTS: Mean scores of PTSD were 24.0±12.2. No association was found between PTSD and work performance measures: number of late arrivals to work(RRadj 0.99; 0.98–1.00), days absent(RRadj 0.98; 0.96–0.99), days sick(RRadj 0.99; 0.98–1.00), adherence to protocol(ORadj 1.01; 0.99–1.04) and patient satisfaction(β 0.001%–0.03%) after adjusting for years of formal schooling, living status, coping mechanism, social support, working hours, years of experience and anxiety or depression.CONCLUSION: No statistically significant association was found between PTSD and work performance amongst EMS personnel in Karachi, Pakistan.

Enterprise Service Bus: A Performance Evaluation

The flexibility offered by an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) in enabling various applications to exchange data makes it a very important middleware layer that is responsible for transporting data in a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). The popularity of the ESB has given rise to a number of commercial off the shelf (COTS) products as well as open source ESBs. In this study, we evaluated three open source ESBs and compared them both qualitatively and quantitatively. The empirical results were statistically tested to determine the statistical significance of the results.

Performance Evaluation of Java Web Services: A Developer’s Perspective

As the population of the Internet grows rapidly the development of web technologies becomes extremely important. For the evolvement of Web 2.0, web services are essential. Web services are programs that allow computers of different platforms on the web to interactively communicate without the need of extra data for human reading interfaces and formats such as web page structures. Since web service is a future trend for the growth of internet, the tools that are used for development is also important. Although there are many choices of web service frameworks to choose from, developers should choose the framework that fits best to their application based on performance, time and effort for the framework. In this project, we chose four common frameworks to compare them in both qualitative and quantitative metrics. After running the tests, the results are statistically analyzed by SAS.

Research and Implementation of Architecture for Distributed Service Performance Management

An architecture for online discovery quantitative models system of service performance management is proposed. The system is capable of constructing the quantitative models without prior knowledge of the managed elements. The model can be updated continuously in response to the changes made in provider configurations and the evolution of business demands. Due to the existence of strong correlation between the distributed service metrics and response times, linear and hyper-linear quantitative models are constructed, which respectively, use stepwise multiple linear regression algorithm. The simulation results show the effectiveness of a quantitative model constructing system and model constructing algorithms.

Self-Organizing Mechanism for Cloud Services and Performance Analysis

To improve the performance and robustness in service discovery, a self-organizing mechanism for service alliances of Service Providers (SPs) is proposed in this paper. According to the similarity of service content, an SP publishes its services in a partition of SPs to construct connections between highly similar SPs. These SPs constitute a self-organized distributed environment. A self-organizing protocol is designed to ensure the correctness of the construction of the alliances. The protocol consists of four stages - initiating stage, developing stage, developed stage and degradation stage. The experimental results demonstrate that this protocol ensures the self-property. The visualization of alliance developing stages illustrates that sub-alliances are sp lit in balance and self-connected. Compared with the Random Walker algorithm, the time cost and the number of forwarded messages in alliance-based mechanism is lower in service discovery. On three typical topologies (Grid, Random-Graph, Power-Law), the success rate of service discovery is much higher, which shows that self-organized alliances are helpful to enhance the discovery performance.

Optimizing QoS performance of service requests in grid

Workload of each service class varies dynamically in the grid environment, making the static service pool size allocation scheme unable to guarantee the QoS requirement of each service class. In this paper, we link the issue of dynamical service pool size allocation scheme with QoS requirement under the varying workload, and formulate the QoS performance of service requests in the grid environment by queue theory. Combined Lagrangian optimization with a bisearch approach, the problem of optimally allocating service pool size scheme is resolved. Simulation results show efficiency of the optimal service pool size allocation scheme.

The Relationship between Size and Performance of Palestinian Water Service Providers

Studies investigating the relationship between size and performance of water service providers are abundant. Yet, this relationship has not been fully addressed in Palestinian water sector, particularly, after the issuance of water law 2014 which calls for merging water providers into large regional utilities. This research evaluates the significant effect of the size of Palestinian water service providers on non-revenue water, staff productivity, collection efficiency, average consumption, average price, operating and maintenance cost, working ratio, and gross profit. The multivariate analysis shows that there are significant differences in working ratio, non-revenue water, staff productivity, average price, and gross profit based on the size. On the other side, no significant differences have been found in average daily consumption, operating and maintenance cost per unit, and collection efficiency based on those providers’ size. The small service providers perform better in non-revenue water, staff productivity, and collection efficiency;wherein, large service providers are more profitable than small service providers. Implications of these findings by conducting further studies will add the value for better merging of the Palestinian water providers and the reforming process.

Social Sensitivity Effect to Public Service Competence and Its Impact on the Head of Sub-district Performance in West Java Province

Existing literature has documented relationships between public service competence and performance as well as some of the mechanisms underlying these links.However,the pathways by which competence are associated with performance during performing the job in the government official circumstances require further investigation.This study examined a model of the roles of public service competence in performance with a focus on social sensitivity as mediators in the putative chain of events linking the competence with performance.The sample comprised 155 camat(sub-district head)in West Java,Indonesia.A cross-sectional design was used with measures of all variables that administered.In structural equations analyses,competence was associated with greater social sensitivity and greater job performance.Furthermore,public service competence was indirectly associated with performance via the social sensitivity.The findings of this study replicate existing theory concerning the direct and indirect relationships of competence and performance,and extend these theory by elucidating the pathways through which predictor is linked with outcome during a typically sensitivity condition.

Can Financial Shared Services Improve Business Performance?Evidence from Chinese A-share Listed Corporations

Taking Chinese A-share listed corporations as sample,this paper studies whether the implementation of financial shared service center,an IT-based financial management practice,can significantly improve the business performance.We conduct Wilcoxon rank sum test and OLS regression model.The results show that there is a significant difference in business performance between the corporations without financial shared service center and the matching samples which have implemented financial shared service.In addition,the positive effect of financial shared services on business performance has a time-lag.As the corporations become adept on financial shared services,their business performance such as profitability,operating ability and growth could be improved steadily.Our study provides suggestions on whether corporations’might upgrade their financial system and how to evaluate the implementation results.

Various Perspectives on Performance Appraisals in the Health Service

Background: The health services are facing many new challenges, including a growing number of elderly patients, and an increasing use of technology in the work place. These challenges might require flexible and reflective conversations with the employees. Aim: This study examines whether some performance appraisals (PAs) are more efficient and more effective than others. The study also shows how some performance appraisals are more suitable for home care and nursing homes in municipal health services. Methods: Two datasets are used: 1) a questionnaire was distributed to a representative sample of 600 health personnel in Norway;and 2) a questionnaire was distributed to a representative sample of 60 employees (test-group: 10 groups;control-group: 30 employees), in pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2. SPSS. Findings: Managers are the only ones who receive training in PA techniques (factory perspective). Nurses versus auxiliary nurses experience more frequent dyadic relationships and exchanges in PAs (family perspective). PAs for employees from nursing homes are fairer than those administered to home care employees (jungle perspective). In organizations closest to carnival perspectives, employees participating in group-PAs are more active in the conversations than employees who have individual conversations in PAs. Conclusions: Health personnel involved in PAs experience different effects of the conversational, and employees working as a member of a team in the organization need to experience a high quality of relationships (family), justice (jungle), and participation in group-conversation (carnival) during performance appraisals.

Analysis of the Unit Performance Degradation for Top Heater Out-of-service Operation Condition

To analyze the unit performance degradation for top heater out-of-service operation condition, two calculation methods were introduced, that was the model based calculation method and the simplified variable operation condition analysis method. A 600MW sub-critical steam turbine unit with air cooled condenser was analyzed using the two introduced methods. It is shown that calculation data got can reflect the redistribution effect on steam flows of the turbine extractions and turbine internals due to the top heater out-of-service, and similar and close calculation results were got from the two methods, and both results were lower than result calculated using the commonly used equivalent enthalpy drop method.

Customization and Performance of Service-Oriented Manufacturing Information System: The Mediating Effect of Information System Flexibility

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence for the validity of the relationship between service-oriented manufacturing information system (SMIS) customization and performance from three aspects: data flexibility, process flexibility and system flexibility. We select some questionnaires from the third round of High-performance manufacturing (HPM) data to construct the construct, verify the reliability and validity of the construct, extract principal components, and analyze the mediating effect by using multiple chain linear regression and structural equation model. The results show that SMIS customization has a significant impact on its performance, and this effect works through its flexibility. More specifically, it is the multiple chain mediation effect composed of data flexibility, process flexibility and system flexibility. The importance of SMIS customization and flexibility to the organization is made clear, which helps practitioners understand the internal mechanism that affects SMIS performance, so as to use limited resources to improve system performance.