bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nursing Students’ Attitudes Toward Video Games and Related New Media Technologies
Authors: Lynch-Sauer Judith , VandenBosch Terry M. , Kron Frederick , Gjerde Craig Livingston , Arato Nora , Sen Ananda , Fetters Michael D.
Published: May 2011

Little is known about Millennial nursing students’ attitudes toward computer games and new media in nursing education and whether these attitudes differ between undergraduates and graduates. This study elicited nursing students’ experience with computer games and new media, their attitudes toward various instructional styles and methods, and the role of computer games and new media technologies in nursing education. We e-mailed all nursing students enrolled in two universities to invite their participation in an anonymous cross-sectional online survey. The survey collected demographic data and participants’ experience with and attitudes toward video gaming and multi-player online health care simulations. We used descriptive statistics and logistic regression to compare the differences between undergraduates and graduates. Two hundred eighteen nursing students participated. Many of the nursing students support using new media technologies in nursing education. Nurse educators should identify areas suitable for new media integration and further evaluate the effectiveness of these technologies.
Desgaste lubricado de recubrimientos NiCrBSi refundidos parcialmente con láser
Authors: Vijande R. , Cuetos J. M. , Cortizo J. L. , Rodríguez E. , Noriega Á.
Published: May 2011

Los recubrimientos base níquel proyectados por plasma son ampliamente utilizados en la industria debido a su buen comportamiento a desgaste. La refusión por láser de estos recubrimientos elimina o disminuye fuertemente su porosidad, aumenta su microdureza y adherencia con el substrato. En este trabajo se define el “mallado láser” como la refusión parcial de la superficie de una capa y se aplica, para lograr unos mejores resultados antidesgaste a un recubrimiento NiCrBSi, combinando las ventajas de la proyección por plasma y de la refusión por láser. Los resultados se verifican experimentalmente y se cuantifican atendiendo a las variables porcentaje de superficie refundida y ángulo del “cordón de mallado” (huella de refusión de los sucesivos barridos paralelos del haz del láser). El proceso experimental se desarrolla siguiendo la metodología de diseño de experimentos, para optimizar tanto el proceso de ensayos como la función objetivo de mínimo desgaste en contacto lubricado.
Caracterización de aceros dual-phase obtenidos por laminación en caliente
Authors: Monsalve G. A. , Artigas A. A. , Castro C. F. , Colás R. , Houbaert Y.
Published: May 2011

Se tomaron muestras de acero al C-Mn-Si disponible en el mercado y mediante un proceso de laminación en caliente y bobinado, se obtuvo acero Dual Phase con microestructura y propiedades mecánicas dentro del rango teórico esperado de este material. El proceso termomecánico consistió en producir una fuerte reducción a temperaturas mayores a Ar3, mediante pasadas de laminación sucesivas, para posteriormente enfriar el acero durante aproximadamente 5 s, (a una velocidad de 20 °C/s) en el rango de equilibrio α+γ. La temperatura Ar3, medida mediante calorimetría diferencial de barrido, fue de 890 °C. A continuación se realizó un temple en el rango de temperaturas de bobinado (550-675 °C), enfriando posteriormente las muestras de acuerdo a una curva pre establecida, que corresponde a la curva de enfriamiento real de una bobina. La caracterización microestructural de las muestras obtenidas, se realizó mediante microscopía óptica, microscopía electrónica de barrido y microscopía de fuerza atómica. Adicionalmente se realizó una medición de texturas mediante difracción de rayos X, para el estudio de las orientaciones resultantes, producto de la variación de la temperatura de término de laminación (TTL) y la temperatura de bobinado (TB), determinándose cómo afectan estas variables a las distintas componentes de texturas. Se complementó la información microestructural con los valores de los índices de anisotropía normal y planar, medidos de acuerdo a la norma ASTM E-517. Se correlacionaron las intensidades de las componentes de texturas encontradas con los valores de los índices de anisotropía, encontrándose que sólo es posible producir leves mejoras en el índice de anisotropía normal, a través de una combinación apropiada de las temperaturas de término de laminación y de bobinado.
Biosorción de iones cobre con biomasa de algas y orujos deshidratados
Authors: Tapia P. , Santander M. , Pávez O. , Valderrama L. , Guzmán D. , Romero L.
Published: May 2011

Se realizaron experimentos de biosorción batch y en continuo para remover cobre desde soluciones acuosas usando como adsorbentes algas verdes y residuos de aceituna en condiciones vírgenes y activadas químicamente. Los resultados de la biosorción a escala batch indican que las algas presentan mayor capacidad de eliminación que los orujos, alcanzándose captaciones de cobre del orden de 96 % con algas activadas con disoluciones de Na2SO4 bajo condiciones óptimas de las variables estudiadas. Los resultados de los ensayos en columna muestran que las algas vírgenes captan más iones cobre que las activadas con Na2SO4, con eficacias de eliminación del 98 % durante los primeros 20 min, con un tiempo de ruptura de 240 min y una saturación a los 600 min. Al ser sometidas a un segundo ciclo de biosorción, las algas regeneradas muestran un mejor rendimiento lo que indica que pueden ser usadas en otro ciclo de eliminación.
Influencia de la técnica de soldadura multipasada y de los tratamientos térmicos de precalentamiento y post-soldadura en el comportamiento de uniones GMAW de un aceromicroaleado HARDOX 400
Authors: Martínez A. , Miguel V. , Coello J. , Navarro A. , Calatayud A. , Manjabacas M. C.
Published: May 2011

Los aceros microaleados pueden suministrarse endurecidos. En estos casos, aunque el acero sea soldable, puede dar lugar a índices de soldabilidad que pueden ser mejorables con tratamientos térmicos de precalentamiento y/o tratamientos post-soldeo. En el presente trabajo se analiza el efecto del precalentamiento, soldeo multipasada y postcalentamiento en uniones GMAW del acero HARDOX 400. Se realizan análisis macro y microestructurales de las zonas características de la unión y del comportamiento mecánico de la misma en función de las variables indicadas. Los resultados obtenidos indican el efecto beneficioso del precalentamiento debido al alejamiento de la zona de menor dureza en la ZAT respecto al borde del cordón. También se demuestra que el precalentamiento aumenta el índice de heterogeneidad de la unión, lo que mejora su comportamiento a fatiga, tal y como demuestran algunos autores. El tratamiento térmico postsoldeo también presenta un efecto beneficioso ya que refuerza ligeramente la zona de menor dureza de la ZAT y favorece la plasticidad en la rotura. El efecto beneficioso del tratamiento postsoldeo es mayor en uniones soldadas con precalentamiento. La soldadura multipasada no presenta ninguna mejora destacable frente al soldeo en pasada única.
Unraveling the Taste Fabric of Social Networks
Authors: Liu Hugo
Published: May 2011

Popular online social networks such as Friendster and MySpace do more than simply reveal the superficial structure of social connectedness — the rich meanings bottled within social network profiles themselves imply deeper patterns of culture and taste. If these latent semantic fabrics of taste could be harvested formally, the resultant resource would afford completely novel ways for representing and reasoning about web users and people in general. This paper narrates the theory and technique of such a feat — the natural language text of 100,000 social network profiles were captured, mapped into a diverse ontology of music, books, films, foods, etc., and machine learning was applied to infer a semantic fabric of taste. Taste fabrics bring us closer to improvisational manipulations of meaning, and afford us at least three semantic functions — the creation of semantically flexible user representations, cross-domain taste-based recommendation, and the computation of taste-similarity between people — whose use cases are demonstrated within the context of three applications — the InterestMap, Ambient Semantics, and IdentityMirror. Finally, we evaluate the quality of the taste fabrics, and distill from this research reusable methodologies and techniques of consequence to the semantic mining and Semantic Web communities.
Collaboration Challenges in Community Telecommunication Networks
Authors: Albert Sylvie
Published: May 2011

This article reviews the literature on networks and, more specifically, on the development of community telecommunication networks. It strives to understand the collaboration needed for innovative projects such as intelligent networks. Guided by a change management framework, collaboration within a community network is explored in terms of the formation and performance phases of its development. The context, content, and process of each phase is analyzed, as well as the interaction of the two phases. User involvement and technology appropriation are discussed. Collaboration challenges are identified and linked to the sustainability of the community network. Policy makers are presented with a model that gives some insight into planning and managing a community network over time.
Toward Improved Community-Supporting Systems Design
Authors: Geib Malte
Published: May 2011

In this article, we analyze the design factors of community systems in two real-world professional communities — a learning network and an expert network — that employ a mix of communication modes, that is, face-to-face communication and computer-mediated communication. Our objectives are to determine which design factors influence community activity and therefore community output. We furthermore intend to make recommendations to improve the design of community systems that support professional communities using a mix of communication modes. Our study is exploratory and based on action research given the lack of studies on the design of community-supporting systems in professional communities that employ a mix of communication modes. To illustrate similarities and to enhance the generalizability of our findings, we analyzed two real-world professional communities in-depth, namely, a learning network and an interorganizational expert network. Our study shows that face-to-face communication is the primary mode of communication in these communities; the community systems that they employ only have a supporting function. This leads us to a few design guidelines for the systems that support such communities. Generally, community systems have to support professional communities’ work processes and relationship development. Important functions for work-process support are those that support face-to-face meetings (for the preparation and wrap-up of meetings) and that explicitly support specific work processes. Important functions for relationship development are functions that enable or facilitate face-to-face meetings, for example, member profiles
Segmentation Practices of e-Dating
Authors: Coleman Linda Jane
Published: May 2011

This chapter investigates the current practices and strategies used by marketers of electronic dating services. This chapter does not develop or test a model, but rather is centered round an analysis of secondary data sources. Specific focus is placed on documenting the various demographic and psychographic segmentation basis and niche targeting strategies utilized by providers. An enormous ground swell is occurring of consumers participating in meeting a “significant other” through e-dating Web sites. People are increasingly relying on such services to meet people via the Internet: older, younger, black, white, pet lovers, religious, spiritual, and gay or straight individuals seeking partners for fun, companionship, commitment or conversation. This trend continues to grow. This chapter will cite a variety of networks that have blossomed over the years indicative of the interest and ideas related to this phenomenon. It also provides details of the nuances in the marketing and consumption of electronicbased personal relationships.
How E-Daters Behave Online
Authors: Romm-Livermore Celia , Somers Toni
Published: May 2011

Following a review of the literature on e-dating, this chapter introduces the e-dating development model and discusses a number of hypotheses that can be derived from it. Also presented in the chapter are some findings from a preliminary empirical research that explored the hypotheses. The findings supported all the hypotheses, indicating that: (1) male and female e-daters follow different stages in their e-dating evolvement; (2) the behaviors that males and females exhibit as e-daters are different; and (3) the feedback that male and female e-daters receive from the environment is different too. The chapter is concluded with a discussion of the implications from this research to e-dating theory development and empirical research.
A Trination Analysis of Social Exchange Relationships in E-Dating
Authors: Kale Sudhir H.
Published: May 2011

More than half a billion users across the globe have availed themselves of e-dating services. This chapter looks at the marketing and cross-cultural aspects of mate-seeking behavior in e-dating. We content analyzed 238 advertisements from online matrimonial sites in three countries: India (n=79), Hong Kong (n=80), and Australia (n=79). Frequencies of mention of the following ten attribute categories in the advertiser’s self-description were established using post hoc quantitative analysis: love, physical status, educational status, intellectual status, occupational status, entertainment services, money, demographic information, ethnic information, and personality traits. Past research on mate selection using personal ads and the three countries’ positions on Hofstede’s dimensions of culture were used in hypotheses generation. The results support several culture-based differences in people’s self-description in online personal ads; however, some anticipated differences were not realized, suggesting that some cultural differences may not be as strong as Hofstede (2001) suggests.
Online Matrimonial Sites and the Transformation of Arranged Marriage in India
Authors: Seth Nainika
Published: May 2011

Online personals have been a remarkably successful in the Western World and have been emulated in other cultural contexts. The introduction of the Internet can have vastly different implications on traditional societies and practices such as arranged marriages in India. This chapter seeks to investigate using an ethnographic approach the role of matrimonial Web sites in the process of arranging marriages in India. It seeks to explore how these Web sites have been appropriated by key stakeholders in arranging marriage and how such appropriation is changing the process and traditions associated with arranged marriage. The key contributions of this study are in that it is an investigation of complex social processes in a societal context different from traditional western research contexts and an exploration of how modern technologies confront societal traditions and long standing ways of doing things. Our investigation suggests that the use of matrimonial Web sites have implications for family disintermediation, cultural convergence, continuous information flows, ease of disengagement, virtual dating and reduced stigma in arranged marriages in India.
Innovation and Citizen-Centric Local E-Government
Authors: King Stephen
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes a journey through e-enabled local public services. We start with the familiar local government Web site and contact centre channels to the citizen. We then move on to stage 2; how leading local governments are now mining the flow of data through these channels to develop “insight” into citizens’ service use and future needs. Next, we explore stage 3 and the role of performance measurement systems and virtual online communities in raising the citizen’s voice. Finally, stage 4 combines the parallel journeys of e-government and e-citizen and describes a co-produced future that may at last put the citizen centre-stage in the design and delivery of local public services. We use innovation theory to identify characteristics of an innovative local government and identify a need to extend this theory to accommodate the key themes of citizen-centric e-government: transparency, trust, rights, and obligations.
Assessing Local Readiness for City E-Governance in Europe
Authors: Paskaleva-Shapira Krassimira
Published: May 2011

This chapter shares experience on aspects related to the methodology and modeling of a framework of City E-Governance Readiness. We discuss Europe’s progress in this domain using an “e-readiness” assessment methodology: the Integrated City E-Governance Policy Model of the IntelCities Research Project (2004-2007). Practices and trends in 12 European cities are analyzed, drawing on the results of a comprehensive digital city governance survey. A set of propositions are explored about the future of city e-governance. This chapter suggests that urban governments need to refine their most relevant definition of “e-governance readiness” and the underlying goals and assumptions which shape e-governance outcomes. Cities also need to adapt their approaches strategically and in the light of the increasing demand for “good governance” in an increasingly complex and networked urban knowledge society.
Towards Digital Governance in UK Local Public Services?
Authors: McLoughlin Ian
Published: May 2011

In the United Kingdom, major investments have been made in e-government in order to modernize government and improve the efficiency and quality of public services. It has been claimed that these changes herald a “new era of digital governance”. The management of the vast majority of public services in the United Kingdom takes place at local and regional levels and provision at this level has a key role in “joining-up services” through greater information sharing and multi-agency working. This chapter examines these developments with reference to a study of the procurement of a software system by a city council, an experiment in multi-agency working to provide services to children, and the introduction of a regional smart card. It is argued that if such innovations are to have outcomes consistent with the claims of the digital governance thesis, then the relationship between technological and organizational change will need to be re-thought.
Institutional E-Government Development
Authors: Reece Bryan , Andreasson Kim
Published: May 2011

There has been considerable attention given to the issue of unrepresentative access; however, research to date has focused on individual level influences including cultural, social, generational, and economic factors that impact behavior with respect to online engagement. This chapter takes an institutional approach. Derived from a quantitative assessment of the 238 largest cities in the United States, we use multivariate modeling of variables to illuminate what factors affect institutional e-government development efforts at the local level. We find that the concentration of oft cited digital divide populations has no relation to the quality of e-government in U.S. municipalities. This is true for race and ethnicity variables as well as income and age variables when measured against any index developed for this analysis. The only hypothesis that holds significance is the education variable. Cities with lower education levels are more likely to have lower quality e-government.
E-Government and Accountability in EU Local Governments
Authors: Torres Lourdes , Pina Vicente , Acerete Basilio , Royo Sonia
Published: May 2011

This work tries to assess to what extent e-government enables transparency, openness and, hence, accountability in public administrations. For this purpose, local European Union (EU) administrations are analysed, encompassing all the different types of public administration styles of Western countries. Although almost all governments have opened a Web site and reports from multilateral organizations highlight the benefits of e-government initiatives for transforming the relationship between administration and citizens; the results of our analyses show that these benefits are far from being achieved because the e-government projects are still in their early stages. Even though the capacity of the Internet for the dissemination of information improves accountability and makes benchmarking easier, our research results also show that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) do not promote financial accountability beyond legal requirements. In conclusion, ICTs have not had a dramatic impact on public accountability in practice, even in countries that are at the forefront of digital technologies.
Sociological Factors Influencing Internet Voting
Authors: Stuart Janita , Hooper Val
Published: May 2011

The uptake of Internet voting for local government elections is still in its infancy worldwide. While it holds many potential benefits, there are various factors which can influence its uptake. This chapter explores the sociological factors which affect voter participation in Internet voting. It identifies 5 main influential factors, or groups of factors: trust; apathy; features of the Internet; access; and socio-technical aspects. Each is explored and ways in which each can be addressed in order to ensure optimal participation are discussed. A model conceptualizing the relative influence of these sociological factors is proposed and, finally, suggestions are made for future research.
Electronic Democracy and Citizen Influence in Government
Authors: Jensen Michael J.
Published: May 2011

This chapter analyzes the “impact” of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on local government officials’ policy decision-making. Specifically, this chapter answers to what extent they use the Internet to communicate and obtain information and to what extent do their online interactions with “citizens” influence their policy decisions. A national sample of elected local government officials from the United States were surveyed regarding their ICT use and their interactions with stakeholders. The principal findings of the chapter are that, while officials are making extensive use of ICTs to communicate with actors and obtain information, citizens have more influence on policy decisions via offline media.
E-Government for Current and Future Senior Citizens
Authors: Chen Yu-Che , Dorsey Ashley
Published: May 2011

To meet the current and future senior citizens’ demand for e-government, local governments will need to have a better understanding of their needs. This study is one of the first empirical investigations to improve our understanding in this area. It draws from e-government and gerontology literatures to develop a list of factors affecting the demand for e-government among current and future seniors. This study examines all such factors in the context of a local government in the United States. The results confirm the existence of a strong and significant future demand for e-government services among future senior citizens—baby boomers. Interestingly, mobility and preference for human contact do not register as significant factors determining use of e-government. This chapter also provides specific policy recommendations for meeting senior citizens’ e-government needs.
City Managers and E-Government Development
Authors: Streib Greg , Navarro Ignacio
Published: May 2011

The development of e-government has attracted considerable scholarly interest in recent years, but relatively little has been written about the capacity to develop and provide new e-government services. This chapter seeks to add to our knowledge in this area by assessing the ability of city managers in the United States, to effectively champion e-government development. We present an analysis of scores on the technology practice of the ICMA Applied Knowledge Assessment demonstrating that city managers possess relevant knowledge, but we also find some interesting generational variations in technology literacy and knowledge about managing technology. We also examine the ability of city managers to provide leadership for e-government development and identify some important challenges. We conclude that there are limits to capacity that could delay e-government developments in the future and offer some recommendations on how to limit their impact.
Goals Measurement and Evaluation of E-Gov Projects
Authors: Freeman Raoul J.
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews various strategic frameworks for e-government which include goals and objectives. Among typical goals are the following: efficiency for the government agency, convenience for using public, and involvement for the citizen. Measurement dimensions for projects that contribute to these goals are defined (e.g., dollar value of savings) for the efficiency goal. From an efficiency standpoint, it is contended that projects can be viewed as providing “cashable” benefits for the government agency in terms of continuing revenue streams. Empirical evidence is cited showing the existence of various highyield e-government projects, as evinced by payback periods which average less than one year. Such high potential returns provide justification for further development of e-government services. If government entities underwrite the development costs of such projects, then they could not only recover their costs, but also derive the wherewithal to fund future e-government projects that can serve a variety of goals.
Open Source Software Use in Local Governments
Authors: Bossinger Sean M.
Published: May 2011

Free, libre, or open source software (FLOSS) offers the promise of cost-free, modifiable, high-quality software, for a multitude of tasks (e.g. desktop operating systems, office suite applications, graphics manipulation packages, etc.). Given that this software is free in terms of cost and ability to modify, we should see its widespread use throughout public administrations whose limited budgets generally give rise to the need to find ways to cut costs wherever possible, while simultaneously providing ever expanding ranges of services to their constituencies. However, we find open source software’s use at the desktop and application level rather sparse. We look at 3 specific cases of open source software use: one for provision of local e-government services, a case where a small municipality has applied open source software within a desktop environment, and a case where a large city government has embarked on the wholesale replacement of the operating system and office application suite of an entire city’s implementation of desktop workstations.
Municipal Efforts to Promote Residential Broadband
Authors: Cole Roland J. , Cole Isabel A. , Kurtz Jennifer A.
Published: May 2011

The key reason for including this chapter in this book is that the development of more advanced forms of e-government requires that residences have high-speed broadband. Without such connectivity, the advanced forms of service provision and exchange are simply not feasible. The potential benefit of delivering e-government services to entities outside government–in particular, individuals, households, or small organizations–is at least equal to the benefits that can be realized by performing governmentto- government processes electronically. Meeting citizen and small business expectations for efficiently performing electronic transactions over the Internet, however, depends on the design of the e-government application (which government can control), as well as the speed and throughput capacity of the digital communications connection (which government may influence but does not control). This chapter discusses issues surrounding municipal promotion of residential broadband, and the authors’ proposed resolution of such issues, along with suggestions for further research.
The Role of Public Participation GIS in Local Service Delivery
Authors: Viitanen Jenni , Kingston Richard
Published: May 2011

This chapter will discuss the implications of the network society paradigm for e-government and the role of ICTs in the regeneration of urban neighbourhoods. The authors argue that the overriding catalyst for local e-government developments appears to have been the adoption of ICTs for competitive advantage and increased efficiency. The authors make the case for a more engaging approach using the example of online interactive mapping with a specific focus on how citizens can participate in the delivery and management of everyday services in their neighbourhood. Particular emphasis will be placed on how PPGIS can be used to facilitate the regeneration of inner city neighbourhoods through more integrated approaches to spatial data management. The chapter will demonstrate how improvements in local communities could be delivered through the integration of GIS with a range of public services.
GIS
Authors: Murphy Terry
Published: May 2011

Geographical Information System (GIS) technology applications for use in the field of economic development are relatively new. Local economic development (LED) agencies utilizing GIS programs have noted very favorable results. The realities of a global economy and heightened expectations in the information age have motivated LED agencies to provide a wide range of spatial economic data on the Internet. This chapter reviews emerging GIS economic development applications, and encourages the adaptation of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) by local governments to further enhance the value of such programs.
Public Libraries and Local E-Government
Authors: Jaeger Paul T.
Published: May 2011

Many residents and local communities rely on public libraries for access to and training to use e-government. Many local governments direct citizens to the public library for help in using e-government, while citizens seek help from the public library in using local e-government when they have no other means of connecting or when they want help using e-government. As a result, public libraries now serve not only as instrumentalities of local government, but as a primary location for access to local e-government and a very successful link between citizens to e-government. As residents, communities, and governments rely on public libraries as a main access point to e-government, it essential to better understand the connection and education roles of public libraries to improve the delivery of local e-government.
Investigating Enterprise Application Integration Adoption in the Local Government Authorities
Authors: Kamal Muhammad Mustafa , Themistocleous M.
Published: May 2011

Literature indicates that Local Government Authorities (LGAs) have problems in meeting citizens’ demands. This may be attributed to the limitations of LGAs Information Technology (IT) infrastructures that are not integrated and do not deliver end-to-end integrated services. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) has emerged to support organizations to integrate their IT infrastructures and deliver a high quality of services. Despite the fact that many other private and public (healthcare) organizations have adopted EAI, its application in LGAs is limited. For this reason, LGAs need to realise the importance of EAI and speed up their decision-making process to adopt it. Thus, further research is required to support the decision-making process in LGAs for EAI adoption. The applicability and validity of the existing EAI adoption models in LGAs is arguable and under research, as these models were proposed to support the decision-making process in other sectors and not in LGAs. The reason is that there are differences indicating that the factors that influence the decision-making process for EAI adoption differ from one type of organization to the other, depending among others on the nature, and the size (e.g. one set of factors is used to support EAI adoption in SMEs and another in large organizations). Therefore, the authors demonstrate that it is of high importance to investigate this area within LGAs and result in research that contributes towards successful EAI adoption in LGAs.
Enterprise Application Integration; Healthcare Organizations; Information Technology ; Large Organizations; Local Government Authorities
Authors: Roy Jeffrey
Published: May 2011

This chapter will compare the emergence of e-government in Denmark and Canada with a particular emphasis on the municipal and inter-governmental dimensions to the digital adaptation of the public sector. Denmark and Canada share many general traits in terms of the emergence of e-government in both countries. Internet and telecommunications infrastructures are well developed, widely accessible, and (on a relative basis) affordably priced; both countries enjoy high standards of living. Local governments differ greatly, however, in terms of political responsibility and autonomy, financing capacities, and degrees of influence over more senior order government levels. These differences are particularly evident in the field of healthcare, but they are also more generalized and the implications for e-government will be considered in terms of likely future trajectories of public sector reform and democratic legitimacy in each country. In particular, an important lesson derived from this chapter is that Canada faces greater challenges than Denmark in collaborating across jurisdictional boundaries and that weaker municipal capacity within the Canadian context is central to this concern.
Implementing ActiveStrategy in Miami-Dade County
Authors: Frank Howard A.
Published: May 2011

ActiveStrategy’s performance management application deploys the widely utilized Balanced Scorecard framework in a dashboard platform designed to align strategy and operational outcomes through all organizational levels. For nearly 5 years, Miami-Dade County has been deploying ActiveStrategy within the broader context of its results-oriented budgeting initiatives. While the county has a long history with output-oriented budgeting, this case study suggests that ActiveStrategy’s successful implementation requires significant time and effort as well as a change of organizational culture. Moreover, consistent with experience in the private sector, the county’s effort may have had relatively unclear expectations for implementation, and the “true cost” of rollout, including the time and labor of county employees, has not been calculated. While this does not diminish the value of implementation, it suggests that return on investment may be primarily intangible—ascertaining if county programs are consistent with the strategic aims of the citizens and elected officials.
The Örebro City Citizen-Oriented E-Government Strategy
Authors: Ask Andreas , Hatakka Mathias , Grönlund Åke
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses practices, opportunities, and challenges in local e-government project management by means of a case study involving interviews, document studies, and an element of action research, over eight months. The analysis against e-government success factors finds seven “critical issues”; political timing, resource allocation, political mandate, distinction between administrative and political responsibilities, coordination of departments, dependence on providers, and use of standards. We found these issues open for local choice, influences of strong individuals and groups, and chance. This is a consequence of the prevailing strategic model for the public sector, New Public Management, which leaves these issues to be filled by negotiations among many actors with different roles, goals, and action space. The general lesson is that there is a need for practical ways of acting strategically to reduce the risk level and increase the ability to implement policy.
Toward E-Government Sustainability
Authors: Chung Ik Jae
Published: May 2011

As a nationwide e-government project in South Korea, the Information Network Village project was launched in 2001. It was designed to increase accessibility to e-government services by reducing the digital divide in rural areas and to improve the income level of local residents by boosting regional economy through e-commerce. As of 2007, more than 300 villages are working on- and off-line. Information centers, networked to high-speed Internet, were built in each village. Personal computers were distributed to most households and a website of each village was created to facilitate e-commerce activities. Government reports and evaluation research highlight the performance of the six-year-old project. This chapter revisits, not the performance, but the governance structure, the implementation process, managerial capability, and the administrative value of the project for the purpose of further strengthening its enabler-role in reducing the digital divide and expediting regional development. Policy lessons are summarized to foster the sustainability of e-government projects with consideration of diverse perspectives.
The Level and Impact of Web Based E-Government Adoption
Authors: Sarosa Samiaji , Lestari Jenjang Sri
Published: May 2011

This chapter examined the state of Jogjakarta’s local governments Web sites (i.e, Bantul, Sleman, Kulon Progo, City of Jogjakarta and The Special Province of Jogjakarta provincial government). There are few tools available to assess e-government Web sites. We used the framework developed by Stanton, UNPAN, Indonesian Government, and CIPSODA proposed by Heeks. Stanton’s frameworks emphasized the use of ICT by local government for better interaction with the citizen. This framework is inline with the UN framework that aimed at building a people-centred and inclusive information society. Stanton identified 4 e-government sub spaces (i.e. publish, interact, transact, and transform). Indonesian government rules were leaning toward Web-based e-government. We used those tools to evaluate and observe the impact of e-government and also observed the state of ICT infrastructure in Indonesia that might be hindering the adoption of Web-based e-government and suggested an alternative.
From Conception to Demise
Authors: Lubbe Sam , Singh Shawren
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the issues of the interface between Information Systems (IS) and society. We investigate IS and users of these systems at a local parastatal educational institution in South Africa. Local governments have had many IS developed and implemented for the use of customers. The problem is that the impact of IS on social communities have not been taken into account, especially in e-governance in the South African context, when systems are being designed or implemented; as a result may lead to IS failures. Details regarding certain social aspects of IS are discussed. This chapter finally proposes a set of guidelines to help ensure that the social aspects of local government IS are taken into account in the design and implementation of these systems, thereby increasing the chance of success of those systems.
Local E-Government in Brazil
Authors: Filho José Rodrigues , dos Santos Junior João Rodrigues
Published: May 2011

E-government has the potential to enhance democracy and transparency, increasing opportunities for citizen interaction. Literature has given many examples of successes and failures in its implementation, especially at the national level. Now, there are claims that the greatest opportunities for e-government are at the local level, because local governments have more contact with citizens. However, little attention has been paid to the highly bureaucratic and paternalistic government structures at local levels, and to how information and communication technologies (ICTs) may affect interaction and participation. Most of the literature fails to cover this relationship, and most of the time tries to emphasize just the technical obstacles instead of obstacles of a non-technical nature, such as political and bureaucratic barriers. In this study, an attempt is made to show that ICTs in municipal government in Brazil are designed in such a way that they resemble the traditional political structures, maintaining politics as usual and avoiding new forms of interaction and participation.
Indian Police E-Government System
Authors: Mitra R. K. , Gupta M. P. , Sahu G. P.
Published: May 2011

While Information Technology (IT) is being embraced by various wings of the government, the police in India have however, been slow to adopt IT. The age-old colonial image of police, lack of transparency in its operations, a general sense of ‘awe’ surrounding police, and so forth, all contributed to its remaining ‘distant’ from the main civil administration. The broad objective of this chapter is to discuss about E-Governance initiative in a Provincial Police administration in India with particular reference to local police in order to gain an insight into what it takes to deal with the most complex, socially sensitive and demanding administrative work at local level.
Joint Service Development with the Local Authorities
Authors: Juntunen Arla
Published: May 2011

There are still only few studies of the cooperation and collaboration of the governmental agencies and local authorities. This chapter presents a study of a joint e-service development from the viewpoint of a single actor, the Finnish Police. It also describes the challenges and benefits of the joint service point - “a one stop service” - development, and how the joint service development can change the customer contacts. It is argued in this chapter that the value creation potential depends on the effective management of the different actors and the definition of the roles of each party taking part in the joint service development.
Automatic Detection of Emotion in Music
Authors: Laurier Cyril , Herrera Perfecto
Published: May 2011

Creating emotionally sensitive machines will significantly enhance the interaction between humans and machines. In this chapter we focus on enabling this ability for music. Music is extremely powerful to induce emotions. If machines can somehow apprehend emotions in music, it gives them a relevant competence to communicate with humans. In this chapter we review the theories of music and emotions. We detail different representations of musical emotions from the literature, together with related musical features. Then, we focus on techniques to detect the emotion in music from audio content. As a proof of concept, we detail a machine learning method to build such a system. We also review the current state of the art results, provide evaluations and give some insights into the possible applications and future trends of these techniques.
Multirobot Team Work with Benevolent Characters
Authors: Banik Sajal Chandra , Watanabe Keigo , Habib Maki K. , Izumi Kiyotaka
Published: May 2011

Multi-robot team work is necessary for complex tasks which cannot be performed by a single robot. To get the required performance and reliability, it is necessary to develop a proper cooperative task. The robots need to be intelligent enough to adjust with dynamic workload and environment. Benefits can be amplified from a team if benevolence combines with cooperation. The benevolence behaviors among the team members are extra benefits to the society. There is a flexible relation among intelligence, benevolence and emotions. We describe an emotion model to be used for each of the members of a multi-robot team. In respect of some drawbacks with the existing approaches, we present an emotion based multi-robot cooperation with some benevolent characters.
Robots React, but Can They Feel?
Authors: MacLennan Bruce J.
Published: May 2011

This chapter addresses the “Hard Problem” of consciousness in the context of robot emotions. The Hard Problem, as defined by Chalmers, refers to the task of explaining the relation between conscious experience and the physical processes associated with it. For example, a robot can act afraid, but could it feel fear? Using protophenomenal analysis, which reduces conscious experience to its smallest units and investigates their physical correlates, we consider whether robots could feel their emotions, and the conditions under which they might do so. We find that the conclusion depends on unanswered but empirical questions in the neuropsychology of human consciousness. However, we do conclude that conscious emotional experience will require a robot to have a rich representation of its body and the physical state of its internal processes, which is important even in the absence of conscious experience.
An Emotional Perspective for Agent-Based Computational Economics
Authors: Cipresso Pietro , Dembele Jean-Marie , Villamira Marco
Published: May 2011

In this work, we present an analytical model of hyper-inflated economies and develop a computational model that permits us to consider expectations of the levels of future prices following emotional rules and strategies. We take into account communications among agents by adding a feedback rule. To consider emotions in agents, we use the Plutchik psycho-evolutionary theory of emotions to design an agent-based emotional architecture based on the attack-escape strategy. The computational model is based on a Barabàsi-Albert Network and considers the diffusion of information and the diffusion of emotions among agents.
Unfolding Commitments Management
Authors: Aubé Michel
Published: May 2011

The Commitment Theory of Emotions is issued from a careful scrutiny of emotional behavior in humans and animals, as reported in the literature on Evolutionary Biology, Neurosciences and the Psychology of emotions. Emotions are viewed as a special layer of processes, wired upon needs and instincts, and dealing mainly with nurturance, social bonding and cooperative behavior, especially between kin and relatives. As every other motivational system, they operate so as to manage resources critical for survival and reproduction. The peculiar resources emotions do manage are commitments, understood as the predispositions of a given individual to help others and collaborate with them in a reciprocal manner. This view clarifies considerably the interactions emotions entertain with a variety of modules involved in their operation, from the detection of antecedents in perceptual or memory systems, to the elicitation of the appropriate emotion, to the execution of the corresponding script, to the expression of emotions as the typical outcome of emotional episodes. The flow of processing is continuously modulated by affective states of the organisms and by other motivational systems. The chapter expounds the operation of each module as well as their interactions with each other. It concludes that successful implementation of emotions in artificial systems will have to rest upon the specifications of complex and realistic models of the kind presented.
A Cognitive Appraisal Based Approach for Emotional Representation
Authors: Rodríguez Sigerist J. , Herrero Pilar , Rodríguez Olinto J.
Published: May 2011

Today, realism and coherence are highly searched qualities in agent’s behavior; but these qualities cannot be achieved completely without incorporation of emotions. This chapter shows a model for emotional representations in intelligent agents. The model is based on the cognitive appraisal theory of emotions; this theory affirms that stimuli are processed by a cognitive mechanism that determines what emotion to feel. It is also based on the Aaron Sloman’s research where positively and negatively affective states are exposed, as well as, on the theory of basic emotions. The model tries to define an emotional representation data structure for intelligent agents. It also defines the emotional behavior mechanisms when a stimulus is processed, as well as, emotional interaction mechanisms. This chapter is presented in five sections: Introduction, where the topic is presented. State-of-the-Art, where it is introduced a review of emotional studies in psychological areas, as well as, computing areas. The Model Definition section, where a detailed model structure and mechanism are introduced. A fourth section describing the future trends and researches and finally the chapter conclusions.