bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cross-Cultural Challenges for Information Resources Management
Authors: Law Wai K.
Published: May 2011

Western organizations have led the globalization of business operations, especially in the deployment of multi-domestic strategy. The decentralized organizational control and customized operations support the fast penetration of huge global markets. Western management theory considers information the lifeblood of organization. The sharing of information lubricates the interlocking divisions within the organization, promoting the effective achievement of organizational goals with external business partners. However, in many regions of the world, information represents power, and managers often try to accumulate as much of it as they can while denying access to others (Oz, 2002). For others, the disclosure of information is considered a threat to the span of management control (Rocheleau, 1999). In some cases, administrators could be more interested in the scale of the information system and its associated budget, than the capability and functionality of the system (Kalpic & Boyd, 2000). These are examples of conflicting cultural values in a cross-cultural environment. The introduction of Western management approaches conflicts with regional administrative styles, diminishing the effectiveness of information systems (Raman & Watson, 1997; Shea & Lewis, 1996). Sensitivity to cultural differences has been recognized as an important factor in the successful global deployment of information systems. Minor information management issues potentially resolvable through improved communication in the west often manifest as major challenges in a crosscultural environment.
Cultural Issues in the Globalisation of Distance Education
Authors: Walsh Lucas
Published: May 2011

This article discusses ongoing cultural challenges faced by distance education providers seeking to deliver programs of study transnationally. Focusing on a key period of distance education during the late twentieth century, this discussion begins by tracing the impact of global economic and technological developments, such as the growth of megauniversity enrolments, privately owned education providers and the Internet. The 1990s saw intense interest in the use of Internet-based applications for distance learning and the subsequent arrival of important new actors in this marketplace, such as Blackboard and WebCT. The author then examines some of the key cultural challenges arising from this convergence of economic, educational and technological dimensions of globalisation, such as the problematic use of models of independent learning in distance delivery. Turning to future trends, three recent developments in the Internet pose significant challenges to these markets and approaches: open courseware and other initiatives seeking to provide open access to educational resources; the diffusion of user-generated applications, tools and environments; and the fragmentation of online information sources. These trends invite education providers to reflect on the cultural dimensions of distance education. It is argued that while new approaches to e-learning present new opportunities to enhance distance learning, certain key lessons from the 1990s should continue to inform the contemporary development of distance education.
Decision Support Systems in Small Businesses
Authors: Duan Yanqing , Xu Mark
Published: May 2011

Decision support systems (DSSs) are widely used in many organisations (Arslan et al., 2004; Belecheanu et al., 2003; Dey, 2001; Gopalakrishnan et al., 2004; Lau et al., 2001; Puente et al., 2002). However, there is a common tendency to apply experience and techniques gained from large organisations directly to small businesses, without recognising the different decision support needs of the small business. This article aims to address the issues related to the development and the implementation of DSSs in small business firms. Our arguments are based on evidence drawn from a large body of DSS literature and an empirical study conducted by the authors in the UK manufacturing sector.
Decision-Making Support Systems
Authors: Forgionne Guisseppi , Mora Manuel , Gupta Jatinder N.D. , Gelman Ovsei
Published: May 2011

Decision-making support systems (DMSS) are computerbased information systems designed to support some or all phases of the decision-making process (Forgionne, Mora, Cervantes, & Kohli, 2000). There are decision support systems (DSS), executive information systems (EIS), and expert systems/knowledge-based systems (ES/KBS). Individual EIS, DSS, and ES/KBS, or pair-integrated combinations of these systems, have yielded substantial benefits in practice. DMSS evolution has presented unique challenges and opportunities for information system professionals. To gain further insights about the DMSS field, the original version of this article presented expert views regarding achievements, challenges, and opportunities, and examined the implications for research and practice (Forgionne, Mora, Gupta, & Gelman, 2005). This article updates the original version by offering recent research findings on the emerging area of intelligent decision-making support systems (IDMSS). The title has been changed to reflect the new content.
Democratic E-Governance
Authors: Anttiroiko Ari-Veikko
Published: May 2011

The changing role of the state and a managerialist view of the operations of public sector organizations gave rise to the idea of new public governance. Gradually more citizencentered views of governance also emerged, reflecting a need to strengthen the role of citizens and communities in governance processes at different institutional levels. This development, especially since the mid-1990’s, has been affected by new technologies, leading to a kind of coevolution of institutional arrangements and technological solutions that have paved the way for a better understanding of the potentials of democratic e-governance.
Designing Learner-Centered Multimedia Technology
Authors: Scielzo Sandro , Fiore Stephen M. , Cuevas Haydee M.
Published: May 2011

The ubiquitous use of information technology (IT) promotes a fast-paced and dynamic training environment with enormous potential for performance increases in a variety of domains. This reality has many important ramifications, including how best to incorporate multimedia IT into computer-based training (CBT). Well-designed CBT offers us tremendous potential to effectively and efficiently train the workforce, foster learning in academic environments, and improve performance over and above what is currently achieved. Following a learner-centered design approach, in this article, we present an in-depth look at the use of multimedia CBT, as it relates to aptitude-treatment interactions; that is, how various CBT designs can differentially interact with individual learner aptitudes, such as spatial and verbal ability, to influence training outcomes. The goal of this article is to emphasize the importance of learner-centered design when developing multimedia computer-based instructional material for the growing needs of many sectors of society.
A Diffusion-Based Investigation into the Use of Lotus Domino Discussion Databases
Authors: Ilie Virginia , Van Slyke Craig , Lou Hao , Day John
Published: May 2011

Some information and communication technologies (ICT) that support groups have become tightly engrained in the fabric of organizational life, but others have not been as widely adopted (Orlikowski, 1993). This is true of both businesses and educational institutions. For example, many professors and students regularly interact through e-mail. In contrast, groupware systems are not as widely used. In this article, we present research that uses diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory (Rogers, 1995) as the lens through which to study factors that impact intentions to use a groupware application in a higher education setting. This research investigates the following research question: Are adopters’ perceptions of the characteristics of groupware technology related to their intentions to use the technology? Organizations are increasingly making use of ICT to enable distance learning for their employees and, in some cases, customers (Dick, Case, Ruhlman, Van Slyke, & Winston, 2006). Furthermore, numerous academic institutions are implementing and supporting collaborative technologies to support student learning. For instance, Cordon, Anaya, Gonzalez, and Pinzon (2007) report on implementation of a virtual learning center to support learning of 4,000 students in Spain. Leung and Li (2006) describe efforts to create an e-learning environment in Hong Kong. High student dropout rates and low student satisfaction with e-learning remain major drawbacks in such implementations. Despite the presence of online discussion boards, sometimes students feel that there is little interaction in Web-based learning (Chatterjea, 2004). Avoiding failure in distance learning efforts requires better understanding of e-learners and their perception of ICT-based learning technologies.
Dynamic Taxonomies for Intelligent Information Access
Authors: Sacco Giovanni M.
Published: May 2011

End-user interactive access to complex information is a key requirement in most applications, from knowledge management, to e-commerce, to portals. Traditionally, only access paradigms based on the retrieval of data on the basis of precise specifications have been supported. Examples include queries on structured databases and information retrieval. There is now a growing perception that this type of paradigm does not model a large number of search tasks, such as product selection in e-commerce sites among many others, that are imprecise and require exploration, weighting of alternatives and information thinning. The recent debate on findability (Morville, 2002) and the widespread feeling that “search does not work” and “information is too hard to find” shows evidence of the crisis of traditional access paradigms. New access paradigms supporting exploration are needed. Because the goal is end-user interactive access, a holistic approach in which modeling, interface and interaction issues are considered together, must be used and will be discussed in the following.
E-Book Technology in Libraries
Authors: Wilkins Linda C. , Chan Elsie S.K.
Published: May 2011

The shift towards electronically mediated texts entails major structural issues for libraries and the publishers and aggregators who supply them. Stakeholders within the digital supply chain are struggling to reconceptualize the book as an artefact (Esposito, 2003). Academic and scholarly libraries are at the forefront of these changes. In this article we review some recent developments in the technology underpinning e-books, introduce some of the key players, and review influences affecting uptake.
E-Business Systems Security in Intelligent Organizations
Authors: Trcek Denis
Published: May 2011

Security as we perceive it today became a topic of research with the introduction of networked information systems, or networked ISs, in the early 1980s. In the mid-1990s the proliferation of the Internet in the business area exposed security as one of the key factors for successful online business, and the majority of efforts to provide it were focused on technology. However, due to lessons learned during this period, the paradigms have since changed, with increasing emphasis on human factors. It is a fact that security of networked ISs is becoming part of the core processes in all e-business environments. While data is clearly one of the key assets and has to be protected accordingly, ISs have to be highly integrated and open. Appropriate treatment of these contradictory issues is not a trivial task for managers of contemporary intelligent organizations. It requires new approaches, especially in light of new technologies.
Education for Library and Information Science Professionals
Authors: Gregory Vicki L.
Published: May 2011

Libraries and information centers today are very different places from those that existed at the beginning of the 20th century, and very different as well from the libraries of only 25 years ago. Education for library and information science has striven to keep pace with all the myriads of changes. Within the last 100 years, fortunately and necessarily in order to retain its relevance, professional library education and practice has evolved from the centrality of teaching and writing the “library hand” to providing modern curricula such as services for distance learners and Web-based instruction using course management systems such as Blackboard, WebCT, and so forth. Along the way, the library profession has often been first not only to accept but also to adopt and apply the technological innovations now common to modern civilization. One of the newest trends involves the “I-Schools” where information is taught as the overarching discipline with librarianship just one of the programs in a larger college offering programs in informatics, information science, information architecture, knowledge management, and so forth. Throughout, library and information science educators have paved the way to the acceptance of innovation in libraries and information centers by instructing students to use and apply new technologies.
Effective Virtual Teams
Authors: Staples D. Sandy , Wong Ian K. , Cameron Ann-Frances
Published: May 2011

Virtual teams are now being used by many organizations to enhance the productivity of their employees and to bring together a diversity of skills and resources (Gignac, 2005; Majchrzak, Malhotra, Stamps, & Lipnack, 2004), and it has been suggested that this will become the normal way of working in teams in the near future (Jones, Oyund, & Pace, 2005). Virtual teams are groups of individuals who work together from different locations (i.e., are geographically dispersed), work at interdependent tasks, share responsibilities for outcomes, and rely on technology for much of their communication (Cohen & Gibson, 2003). While the use of virtual teams is more common in today’s organization, working in these teams is more complex and challenging than working in traditional, collocated teams (Dewar, 2006), and success rates in virtual teams are low (Goodbody, 2005). This article suggests best practices that organizations and virtual team members can follow to help their virtual teams reach their full potential. In this article, virtual team best practices are identified from three perspectives: organizational best practices, team leadership best practices, and team member best practices. Ideas for best practices were identified from three sources: six case studies of actual virtual teams (Staples, Wong, & Cameron, 2004); the existing literature on virtual teams; and the existing literature on traditional (i.e., collocated) teams and telecommuting (i.e., research on virtual work at the individual level).
Electronic Government and Integrated Library Systems
Authors: Inoue Yukiko
Published: May 2011

Twenty First Century Government is enabled by technology— policy is inspired by it, business change is delivered by it, customer and corporate services are dependent on it, and democratic engagement is exploring it. Technology alone does not transform government, but government cannot transform to meet modern citizens’ expectations without it (Cabinet Office, 2005, p. 3). According to the E-Government Readiness Ranking Report (United Nations, 2005), in 2005 the United States was the world leader followed by Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom; and in 2004 the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Estonia, Malta, and Chile were also among the top 25 “e-ready” countries. The Ranking Report further emphasizes that 55 countries, out of 179, which maintained a government Web site, encouraged citizens to participate in discussing key issues of importance, and that most developing country governments around the world are promoting citizen awareness about policies, programs, approaches, and strategies on their Web sites—thus making an effort to engage multi-stakeholders in participatory decision-making. Indeed, one of the significant innovations in information technology (IT) in the digital age has been the creation and ongoing development of the Internet—Internet technology has changed rules about how information is managed, collected, and disseminated in commercial, government, and private domains. Internet technology also increases communication flexibility while reducing cost by permitting the exchange of large amounts of data instantaneously regardless of geographic distance (McNeal, Tolbert, Mossberger, & Dotterweich, 2003). In Hirsch’s (2006) words, “The Internet has finally achieved the convergence dream of the 1970s and everything that can be canned in digital form is traveling the Net” (p.3).
E-Libraries and Distance Learning
Authors: Burke Merilyn
Published: May 2011

With the explosion of distance learning, academic libraries have had to change to meet the needs of their faculty, staff, and students. The ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries) presented guidelines to help librarians manage these changes. The proliferation of articles on this topic points to the rapid acceptance of this form of education. This rapid expansion has offered interesting challenges such as providing equitable services for all students, and greater assistance to faculty in supporting their classes. How libraries respond to these challenges will impact the success or the failures of these programs.
E-Negotiation Support Systems Overview
Authors: Wang Zhen , Lim John , Koh Elizabeth
Published: May 2011

In this fast moving global working environment, negotiators are benefiting from the pervasive application of computers and networks in the workplace. There is an increasing usage of E-negotiation Support Systems (ENS) in both internal and external negotiations. ENS are computer systems that help negotiators achieve better agreements by enhancing their information processing capabilities and communication with other parties. Recent empirical research on ENS has shown that the employment of ENS facilitates the improvement of the negotiation process and outcome (e.g., Delaney, Foroughi, & Perkins, 1997; Goh, Teo, Wu, &Wei, 2000; Rangaswamy & Shell, 1997). This article identifies the key areas of ENS research, the corresponding constructs, findings and challenges. Finally, it proposes an integrative framework of ENS research for future research.
Establishing the Credibility of Social Web Applications
Authors: Kamthan Pankaj
Published: May 2011

In recent years, there has been a steady shift in the nature of Web applications. The vehicle of this transition of Web applications is us, the people. The ability to post photographs or videos, exchange music snippets with peers, and annotate a piece of information, are but a few exemplars of this phenomenon. Indeed, the pseudonym Web 2.0 (O’Reilly, 2005) has been used to describe the apparent “socialization” of the Web. In spite of the significant prospects offered by humancentric Web applications, the mere fact that virtually anyone can set up such applications claiming to sell products and services or upload/post unscrutinized information on a topic as being “definitive,” raises the issues of credibility from a consumers’ viewpoint. Therefore, establishing credibility is essential for an organization’s reputation and for building consumers’ trust. The rest of the article is organized as follows. We first provide the background necessary for later discussion. This is followed by the introduction of a framework within which different types of credibility in the context of human-centric Web applications can be systematically addressed and thereby improved. Next, challenges and directions for future research are outlined. Finally, concluding remarks are given.
Evaluating Computer-Supported Learning Initiatives
Authors: Nash John B. , Richter Christoph , Allert Heidrun
Published: May 2011

The call for the integration of program evaluation into the development of computer-supported learning environments is ever increasing. Pushed not only by demands from policy makers and grant givers for more accountability within lean times, this trend is due also to the fact that outcomes of computer- supported learning environment projects often fall short of the expectations held by the project teams. The discrepancy between the targets set by the project staff and the outcomes achieved suggests there is a need for formative evaluation approaches (versus summative approaches) that facilitate the elicitation of information that can be used to improve a program while it is in its development stage (c.p., Worthen, Sanders & Fitzpatrick, 1997). While the call for formative evaluation as an integral part of projects that aim to develop complex socio-technical systems is widely accepted, we note a lack of theoretical frameworks that reflect the particularities of these kind of systems and the ways they evolve (c.p., Keil-Slawik, 1999). This is of crucial importance, as formative evaluation will only be an accepted and effective part of a project if it provides information useful for the project staff. Below we outline the obstacles evaluation faces with regard to projects that design computer-supported learning environments, and discuss two promising approaches that can be used in complimentary fashion.
Exploiting the Strategic Potential of Data Mining
Authors: Amaravadi Chandra S.
Published: May 2011

Data mining is a new and exciting technology to emerge in the last decade. It uses techniques from artificial intelligence and statistics to detect interesting and useful patterns in historical data. Thus traditional techniques such as regression, Bayesian analysis, discriminant analysis, and clustering have been combined with newer techniques such as association, neural nets, machine learning, and classification (Jackson, 2002). Applications of data mining have ranged from predicting ingredient usage in fast food restaurants (Liu, Bhattacharyya, Sclove, Chen, & Lattyak, 2001) to predicting the length of stay for hospital patients (Hogl, Muller, Stoyan & Stuhlinger 2001). See Table 1 for other representative examples. Some of the important findings are: (1) corporate bankruptcies can be predicted from variables such as the “ratio of cash flow to total assets” and “return on assets,” (2) gas station transactions in the U.K. average £20 with a tendency for customers to round the purchase to the nearest £5 (Hand & Blunt, 2001), (3) 69% of dissatisfied airline customers did not contact the airline about their problem, (4) sales in fast food restaurants are seasonal and tend to peak during holidays and special events (Liu et al., 2001), (5) patients in the age group over 75 are 100% likely to exceed the standard upper limit for hospital stays (Hogl et al., 2001). In recent years, data mining has been extended to mine temporal, text, and video data as well. The study reported by Back, Toivonen, Vanharanta, and Visa (2001) analyzed the textual and quantitative content of annual reports and found that there is a difference between them and that poor organizational performance is often couched in positive terms such as “improving,” “strong demand,” and so forth. Both applications and algorithms are rapidly expanding. The technology is very promising for decision support in organizations. However, extracting knowledge from a warehouse is still considered somewhat of an art. This article is concerned with identifying issues relating to this problem.
Factors for Global Diffusion of the Internet
Authors: Nath Ravi , Murthy Vasudeva N.R.
Published: May 2011

There is overwhelming evidence that the use of the Internetenabled applications and solutions provide unprecedented economic growth opportunities. However, the Internet diffusion rates remain low in many countries. According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in 2004, less than 3% of the Africans used the Internet, whereas the average Internet subscription rate for G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US) is about 50%. Also, in nearly 30 countries the Internet penetration rates still remain below 1% (ITU, 2006). So, what are the key factors that explain this wide variation in Internet subscription rates in countries around the world? An understanding of these factors will be highly useful for policy makers, economic developmental agencies and political leaders in establishing and implementing suitable national developmental strategies and policies.
Fuzzy and Probabilistic Object-Oriented Databases
Authors: Cao Tru H.
Published: May 2011

For modeling real-world problems and constructing intelligent systems, integration of different methodologies and techniques has been the quest and focus of significant interdisciplinary research effort. The advantages of such a hybrid system are that the strengths of its partners are combined and complementary to each other’s weakness. In particular, object orientation provides a hierarchical data abstraction scheme and a mechanism for information hiding and inheritance. However, the classical object-oriented data model cannot deal with uncertainty and imprecision pervasive in real world problems. Meanwhile, probability theory and fuzzy logic provide measures and rules for representing and reasoning with uncertainty and imprecision. That has led to intensive research and development of fuzzy and probabilistic object-oriented databases, as collectively reported in De Caluwe (1997), Ma (2005), and Marín & Vila (2007).
Highly Available Database Management Systems
Authors: Zhao Wenbing
Published: May 2011

In the Internet age, real-time Web-based services are becoming more pervasive every day. They span virtually all business and government sectors, and typically have a large number of users. Many such services require continuous operation, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Any extended disruption in services, including both planned and unplanned downtime, can result in significant financial loss and negative social effects. Consequently, the systems providing these services must be made highly available. A Web-based service is typically powered by a multi-tier system, consisting of Web servers, application servers, and database management systems, running in a server farm environment. The Web servers handle direct Web traffic and pass requests that need further processing to the application servers. The application servers process the requests according to the predefined business logic. The database management systems store and manage all mission-critical data and application states so that the Web servers and application servers can be programmed as stateless servers. (Some application servers may cache information, or keep session state. However, the loss of such state may reduce performance temporarily or may be slightly annoying to the affected user, but not critical.) This design is driven by the demand for high scalability (to support a large number of users) and high availability (to provide services all the time). If the number of users has increased, more Web servers and application servers can be added dynamically. If a Web server or an application server fails, the next request can be routed to another server for processing. Inevitably, this design increases the burden and importance of the database management systems. However, this is not done without good reason. Web applications often need to access and generate a huge amount of data on requests from a large number of users. A database management system can store and manage the data in a well-organized and structured way (often using the relational model). It also provides highly efficient concurrency control on accesses to shared data. While it is relatively straightforward to ensure high availability for Web servers and application servers by simply running multiple copies in the stateless design, it is not so for a database management system, which in general has abundant state. The subject of highly available database systems has been studied for more than two decades, and there exist many alternative solutions (Agrawal, El Abbadi, & Steinke, 1997; Kemme, & Alonso, 2000; Patino-Martinez, Jimenez- Peris, Kemme, & Alonso, 2005). In this article, we provide an overview of two of the most popular database high availability strategies, namely database replication and database clustering. The emphasis is given to those that have been adopted and implemented by major database management systems (Davies & Fisk, 2006; Ault & Tumma, 2003).
Historical Overview of Decision Support Systems (DSS)
Authors: Averweg Udo Richard
Published: May 2011

During the late 1970s the term “decision support systems” was first coined by P. G. W. Keen, a British Academic then working in the United States of America. In 1978, Keen and Scott Morton published a book entitled, Decision Support Systems: An Organizational Perspective (Keen & Scott Morton, 1978), wherein they defined the subject title as computer systems having an impact on decisions where computer and analytical aids can be of value but where the manager’s judgment is essential. Information systems (IS) researchers and technologists have developed and investigated decision support systems (DSS) for more than 35 years (Power, 2003b). The structure of this article is as follows: The background to DSS will be given. Some DSS definitions, a discussion of DSS evolution, development of the DSS field and frameworks are then presented. Some future trends for DSS are then suggested.
History of Simulation
Authors: Abu-Taieh Evon M. O. , Rahman El Sheikh Asim Abdel , Abu-Tayeh Jeihan M.O. , Abdallat Hussam Al
Published: May 2011

The great philosopher Aristotle said, “If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.” Therefore, understanding simulation requires observing its history. Accordingly, simulation can be understood in many ways: “Simulation is the use of a model to represent over time essential characteristics of a system under study” (El Sheikh, 1987). Another definition is “Simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time” (Banks, 1999). Simulation was known long before computers. According to Araten et al. (1992), “The first econometrics model of the United States economy was constructed by J. Tinbergen in 1939.” Later, as computers developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a spawn of computer simulation methodologies and approaches came to life. Computer simulation, like any industry, both affected and was affected by the development of different programming languages and computer capabilities and advances. This article will first give a background about simulation in general, then it will discuss the classical simulation methodologies. We will address the current trends in simulation by presenting currently used Java-based simulation languages. In this regard, the classical simulation methodologies discussed in this article include the three-phase approach, activity scan, process interaction, event scheduling, transaction flow approach, Petri nets, and Monte Carlo. The languages discussed are simjava, DEVSJAVA, JSIM, JavaSim (J-Sim), JavaGPSS, Silk, WSE (Web-enabled simulation environment), SLX, and SRML (simulation reference markup language). As such, this article will tackle the history of the approaches and methodologies while shedding light on the genealogy of the simulation languages.
How Teachers Use Instructional Design in Real Classrooms
Authors: Rogers Patricia L.
Published: May 2011

“I’ve learned how to use the [insert new instructional technology here], so now how do I use it in class?” From filmstrips and mimeographs, to computer-based simulations and virtual reality, technology seems to dominate teachers’ lives as they master the new instructional media for use in their classrooms. Good teaching and learning practices tend to take a back seat while the focus on mastery of the technology reduces teaching into basic presentations and lectures, a format most easily controlled by the instructor. While most pre-K-12 and post-secondary instructors do develop effective courses in which students learn, many would be hard pressed to describe how they arrive at certain goals and teaching strategies.
Information Fusion of Multi-Sensor Images
Authors: Zhang Yu-Jin
Published: May 2011

The human perception to the outside world is the results of action among brain and many organs. For example, the intelligent robots that people currently investigate can have many sensors for sense of vision, sense of hearing, sense of taste, sense of smell, sense of touch, sense of pain, sense of heat, sense of force, sense of slide, sense of approach (Luo, 2002). All these sensors provide different profile information of scene in same environment. To use suitable techniques for assorting with various sensors and combining their obtained information, the theories and methods of multi-sensor fusion are required. Multi-sensor information fusion is a basic ability of human beings. Single sensor can only provide incomplete, un-accurate, vague, uncertainty information. Sometimes, information obtained by different sensors can even be contradictory. Human beings have the ability to combine the information obtained by different organs and then make estimation and decision for environment and events. Using computer to perform multi-sensor information fusion can be considered as a simulation of the function of human brain for treating complex problems. Multi-sensor information fusion consists of operating on the information data come from various sensors and obtaining more comprehensive, accurate, and robust results than that obtained from single sensor. Fusion can be defined as the process of combined treating of data acquired from multiple sensors, as well as assorting, optimizing and conforming of these data to increase the ability of extracting information and improving the decision capability. Fusion can extend the coverage for space and time information, reducing the fuzziness, increasing the reliability of making decision, and the robustness of systems. Image fusion is a particular type of multi-sensor fusion, which takes images as operating objects. In a more general sense of image engineering (Zhang, 2006), the combination of multi-resolution images also can be counted as a fusion process. In this article, however, the emphasis is put on the information fusion of multi-sensor images.
Information Project Assessment by the ANDA Method
Authors: Tugui Alexandru
Published: May 2011

It is well known that the decision to invest is preceded by (pre-)feasibility analysis and studies, which should show that the investment is necessary, opportune, and ef- ficient. As concerns the information field, we consider this feasibility study practice as partially adequate, as there is no full financial assessment of the necessity and opportunity of the information project by taking into account its advantages/disadvantages, the studies presenting only a list of these advantages/disadvantages. Moreover, given the impossibility of determining the contribution of each information function to the economic efficiency indicators of the organization (turnover, profit, etc.), the final result is also a partial assessment of the efficiency of the information project, which may lead to bad influences on the managerial team when making the decision of investing or not in that project. This is why we proposed in this study a new method of financial assessment of the necessity and opportunity of the information project, namely the annual net discounted advantages method or, more simply, the ANDA method). This chapter also includes, besides theoretical aspects, a case study with a concrete application of the ANDA method to an information project. We mention that the ANDA method may be applied to the assessment of the efficiency and of the opportunity of any investment project of modernization in any business area.
Information Systems Research Relevance
Authors: Srivastava Shirish C. , Teo Thompson S.H.
Published: May 2011

Though there have been extended deliberations for making information systems (IS) research more relevant1 and useful for IS executives, to our knowledge, there has been no empirical study which examines the extent of relevance in the current IS research. In this chapter, we analyze the topical relevance of 388 published academic articles in the three top IS journals: MIS Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR), and Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS), for a 5 year period from 2000-2004. We do this by examining their fit with the key issues for information technology (IT) executives identified by the latest Society for Information Management (SIM) survey. Based on our results, we make recommendations for making IS research more meaningful for practitioners.
Information Technology Outsourcing
Authors: Rouse Anne C.
Published: May 2011

Organizations have used external vendors to supply information technology (IT) functions since the first commercial implementations. In the sixties, the use of facilities management, contract programmers, and contract project management were common, but during the 70s, many organizations relied increasingly on internal delivery of IT services. The term “outsourcing” arose in the late 80s. Since that time industry has seen a fundamental change in the way information technology (IT) services are organized and delivered, with increasing reliance on external, outsourced providers. Managing outsourced IT service delivery has now become a core competence for organizations.
Inheritance in Programming Languages
Authors: Thirunarayan Krishnaprasad
Published: May 2011

Inheritance is a powerful concept employed in computer science, especially in artificial intelligence (AI), object-oriented programming (OOP), and object-oriented databases (OODB). In the field of AI, inheritance has been primarily used as a concise and effective means of representing and reasoning with common-sense knowledge (Thirunarayan, 1995). In programming languages and databases, inheritance has been used for the purpose of sharing data and methods, and for enabling modularity of software (re)use and maintenance (Lakshmanan & Thirunarayan, 1998). In this chapter, we present various design choices for incorporating inheritance into programming languages from an application programmer’s perspective. In contrast with the language of mathematics, which is mature and well-understood, the embodiment of object-oriented concepts and constructs in a concrete programming language is neither fixed nor universally accepted. We exhibit programs with similar syntax in different languages that have very different semantics, and different looking programs that are equivalent. We compare and contrast method inheritance, interaction of type system with method binding, constructs for method redefinition, and their implementation in widely used languages such as C++ (Stroustrup, 1997), Java (Arnold, Gosling, & Holmes, 2005), and C# (Hejlsberg, Wiltamuth, & Golde, 2006), to illustrate subtle issues of interest to programmers. Finally, we discuss multiple inheritance briefly.
Integration of MES and ERP
Authors: Modrák Vladimír
Published: May 2011

In the present manufacturing paradigm, manufacturing execution systems (MESs) play a significant role in effective manufacturing management. Offered software solutions simultaneously close the gap between Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and production equipment control or SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) applications. Current ERP systems usually contain modules for material management, accounting, human resource management and all other functions that support business operations. In the past years, the role of ERP has been extended to cross-organizational coordination. Nowadays, as optimization of production activities is increasingly topical, a cooperation of ERP and MES becomes a serious concern of manufacturing managers.
Intelligent Technologies for Tourism
Authors: Kanellopoulos Dimitris
Published: May 2011

Nowadays, the tourism industry is a consumer of a diverse range of information (Buhalis & O’Connor, 2005). Information communication technologies (ICTs) play a critical role for the competitiveness of tourism organizations and destinations. According to Staab and Werthner (2002), ICTs are having the effect of changing: • The ways in which tourism companies contact their business; reservations and information management systems; • The ways tourism companies communicate; how customers look for information on, and purchase travel goods and services. In the tourism industry, the supply and demand sides form a worldwide network in which tourism product’s generation and distribution are closely worked together. Most tourism products (e.g., hotel rooms or flight tickets) are time constrained and nonstockable. Generally, the tourism product is both “perishable” and “complex,” and itself is a bundle of basic products aggregated by intermediaries. Consequently, basic products must have well-defined interfaces with respect to consumer needs, prices, or distribution channels. In addition, a tourism product cannot be tested and controlled in advance. During decision-making, only an abstract model of the product (e.g., its description) is available. Besides, the tourism industry has a heterogeneous nature, and a strong small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) base. Undoubtedly, intelligent technologies are increasingly changing the nature of, and processes in, the tourism industry. This chapter reviews, in brief, such technologies applied to the e-tourism domain.
International Digital Studies Approach for Examining International Online Interactions
Authors: St. Amant Kirk
Published: May 2011

As global access to the Internet increases, so does the potential for miscommunication in international online interactions (IOIs). Unfortunately, many models for examining cross-cultural communication focus on conventional (offline) interactions or settings. As a result, researchers lack a mechanism for examining how cultural factors could affect online discourse. This article presents an approach—international digital studies—for examining how cultural factors could affect IOIs. The purpose of this approach is to identify points of contention or areas where online media can create conflicts in cultural expectations associated with credibility. Once identified, these points of contention can serve as the subject of future research related to culture and communication.
Interoperability between Distributed Systems and Web-Services Composition
Authors: Nicolle Christophe
Published: May 2011

An information system is a multi-axis system characterized by a “data” axis, a “behavioral” axis, and a “communication” axis. The data axis corresponds to the structural and schematic technologies used to store data into the system. The behavioral axis represents management and production processes carried out by the system and corresponding technologies. The processes can interact with the data to extract, generate, and store data. The communication axis relates to the network used to exchange data and activate processes between geographically distant users or machines. Nowadays, technologies required for interoperability are extended to deal with the semantic aspect of the information systems. The aim of the semantic axis is to take into account new aspects of the sharing of the data and the processes, such as the understanding of the data and the processes, the access security, and owner rights (OWL Services Coalition, 2006). Information system interoperation has emerged as a central design issue in Web-based information systems to allow data and service sharing among heterogeneous systems. Data heterogeneity stemming from the diversity of data formats or models used to represent and store information in the Web is a major obstacle to information systems interoperability. These data models range from the structured data models (network, relational, OO) found in traditional databases to flat files and emerging Web oriented semi-structured models. Information system interoperability aims at supporting the amalgamation autonomous heterogeneous systems to create integrated virtual environments or architectures in which information from multiple disparate sources can be accessed in a transparent and efficient manner. As an example of such integrated virtual systems, consider an airline reservation system based on the integration of a group of airlines reservation and ticket sale information systems. The specific airline systems provide various types of fares and special discount trips. That can be searched and compared to respond to user queries for finding the best available prices for specified flights.
Knowledge Management Technology in Local Government
Authors: Handzic Meliha , Lagumdzija Amila , Celjo Amer
Published: May 2011

Increased interaction, interdependency and volatility on a global scale are rapidly changing local governments’ external environment, their community characteristics, and their organisational orientation. In circumstances of high uncertainty and ambiguity, the success of local governments depends to a greater extent on how well they utilise knowledge resources in adjusting to contextual changes. This requires special attention to knowledge management (KM). The major challenge for KM in local government is to foster the development of an enriched knowledge base that will enable local actors to better deal with adjustment and development issues of importance to their communities (Anttiroico, 2006). The purpose of this article is to address technical issues in organisational KM. Referring to the theoretical work by Handzic (2004), the article considers the role of various information and communication technologies (ICT) in facilitating the processes in which knowledge is created, transferred and utilised in local governments. Findings reported in the article are part of an ongoing research project into the adoption of KM principles and practices in public sector organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The role of ICT in local government KM solutions addressed in this article is only one of several aspects covered by the research project. Further project details can be obtained elsewhere (Handzic, Lagumdzija, & Celjo, 2007).
Managing Organizational Knowledge in the Age of Social Computing
Authors: Kochikar V. P.
Published: May 2011

Technology, since the days of the Industrial Revolution, has been used by large corporations, such as factories and the railways, to great advantage. Starting around the end of the 19th century, technology began to be used directly by the consumer, but remained essentially a means of satisfying a personal need, such as lighting or listening to music. In the past decade, as technologies such as e-mail, Web, Weblogs (blogs), Wikis, and instant messaging have become pervasive, the way technology is used by individuals has changed—it has increasingly been put to use to meet social needs, such as interaction, sharing, and networking. This new paradigm of technology use, and the technologies that have enabled it, may be termed social computing. By its very nature, social computing facilitates the sharing and leveraging of knowledge residing within a community of people. In this article, we discuss how social computing can act as the primary mechanism that enables the management of knowledge within an organization.