Tomaž Turk

A Conceptual Model for the Development of Broadband and E-Government

The paper discusses the interconnection of the adoption and diffusion of broadband (‘BB’), e-government (‘EG’) and e-commerce (‘EC’) services. It provides a structured literature review and proposes a conceptual framework for studying the interconnection of the development and adoption of BB, EG and EC. The interconnections of various concepts are shown along with several hypotheses that are thoroughly theoretically grounded. The role of different technology acceptance models is discussed, while the importance of including various aspects in policy preparation analyses is emphasized.

Building scenarios of digital television adoption: a pilot study

This study applies a multidisciplinary approach to build scenarios on both digital television (DTV) adoption and use of T-government services by citizens. Usability and socio-economic aspects were investigated earlier by an Italian pilot study. Dataset derived from this study was later analysed using the UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) model in order to identify those factors affecting the usage as statistically reliable variables for the next step. In fact, a micro-simulation model on the diffusion of DTV and T-government services was built in order to better understand the user behaviour at various stages in the adoption course of this new digital technology. Microsimulation is also capable of predicting the consequences of certain policies at different levels (i.e. business and governmental). The model shows how some DTV and T-government scenarios on the adoption by the citizens can be influenced by different policy strategies: switch-off date, public communication campaigns, taxes reduction.

The impact of color combinations on the legibility of text presented on LCDs

The paper investigates the impact of text and background color combinations on the legibility of text presented on LCDs. The legibility of 56 elementary color combinations was tested by 308 participants. The first task required the participants to identify 21 uppercase alphabetic characters selected and presented in conformance with a Snellen chart in various color combinations. For each color combination, the number of correctly identified characters was recorded as a visual performance measure. In the second task, participants subjectively rated the legibility of color combinations on a ten-point Likert scale. The results show that neither the Le Courier legibility table nor the CRT legibility table is appropriate for LCDs. A new legibility table is proposed for LCDs where the highest ranked are contrastive color combinations with positive polarity whereas for CRT displays, the highest ranked are contrastive color combinations with negative polarity. The findings of this study can be used to determine the best possible color combinations when developing content displayed on LCDs.

Characteristics of the number of odontoblasts in human dental pulp post-mortem

Estimation of the time since death is important in forensic medicine, and so far not much is known in employing dental pulp for such purposes. The tooth organ is the hardest organ in the human body, with a loose connective tissue of dental pulp situated within a rigid encasement of mineralized surrounding tissues. Human material was obtained from 31 corpses of people who died in car and train accidents and had healthy oral statuses. Samples were divided into two groups at different environmental temperatures. During the autopsy, the jaws were resected to keep teeth in situ, and every day one tooth was extracted. After decalcification, serial thin sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin were cut. Odontoblasts in the dental pulp were counted and data analysed. Statistical analysis showed that the number of odontoblasts drops during the time after death, and no odontoblasts remain in the pulp after 5 days.

Households technology adoption and use patterns: the case of digital terrestrial television in six Italian regions

ABSTRACT The paper explores the technology adoption and use patterns of households. Many theories are focusing on the adoption; however, some studies show that the adoption mechanisms in households are still unknown. Before any sound theoretical proposals could be made, additional exploratory studies in this field are necessary to discover the relations between use behaviour and adoption determinants. To demonstrate this, our exploratory study uses the case of digital terrestrial television (DTT) introduction in Italy. The study incorporates exploratory factor analysis to identify dimensions of DTT adoption and use. These dimensions were further investigated through their relations with demographic variables of primary decision-makers in households. We found that DTT adoption and use relate to household characteristics in a relatively complex way, but clear systematic use patterns are evident. These patterns can serve as an empirical evidence to further develop theories in this field.

System dynamics simulation of computer networks: Price-controlled QoS framework

The dynamics of computer networks was until recently modelled mostly with discrete-event simulations and queuing systems. Modern computer networks are becoming large and complex, and discrete-event simulation schemes are too slow to successfully model their behavior. Researchers and engineers are switching to more novel approaches, like fluid simulation schemes, where network elements are described as fluid servers which process workload continuously, yet the traffic source can be of arbitrary type, including discrete-event source and fluid source. We are developing this idea further and propose even simpler schema, using the systems dynamics simulation approach in our schema, the network topology and routing information is represented by relatively simple matrix algebra. The schema can be used to model computer systems for various purposes, from the topology and capacity design and optimization in every day practice, to more theoretical work like testing new technology and policy approaches. Besides the formal description of the proposed schema, the paper also gives an example of its adaptation to model the behavior of a price-controlled end-to-end QoS provision in computer networks.

Factors Affecting Reading Speed Measurements of Coloured Web Pages

Factors Affecting Reading Speed Measurements of Coloured Web Pages Most of web-based systems use a fashion-driven graphical user interface design which does not necessarily provide the readers with high reading performance of colour variations of text and background. Many studies addressed this problem but none of them succeeded in offering complete and conclusive results in form of reading performance table which could be used in practice. The aim of this paper is to find reasons for these incomplete results. In our research, we firstly analyzed different experiment designs described in the literature and proposals for further research. Consequently, we tried to find an improved design and carried out an experiment involving 270 students who tested 30 web-safe colour combinations. However, our experiment also did not reveal statistically significant differences in reading speed. Therefore the multidimensional scaling (MDS) method was performed to show that the speed of reading cannot be described as a one-dimensional problem.