bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Application of Text Mining Methodologies to Health Insurance Schedules
Authors: Chung Tsoi Ah , Kim To Phuong , Hagenbuchner Markus
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the application of a number of text mining techniques to discover patterns in the health insurance schedule with an aim to uncover any inconsistency or ambiguity in the schedule. In particular, we will apply first a simple “bag of words” technique to study the text data, and to evaluate the hypothesis: Is there any inconsistency in the text description of the medical procedures used? It is found that the hypothesis is not valid, and hence the investigation is continued on how best to cluster the text. This work would have significance to health insurers to assist them to differentiate descriptions of the medical procedures. Secondly, it would also assist the health insurer to describe medical procedures in an unambiguous manner.
Identifying Optimal Chronic Kidney Disease Patient Education Web Sites
Authors: Nanovic Lisa M.
Published: May 2011

One in nine adults in the United States has chronic kidney disease (CKD). Randomized studies show electronic health (e-health) systems improve health outcomes in chronic disease. This study describes a systematic evaluation of available CKD Web sites. We evaluated Web sites for educating patients with CKD, focusing on three specific design issues: usability, quality, and content. Thirty Web sites were evaluated between April and July 2004. Cohen’s kappa and intraclass correlation of quartile rankings for two independent evaluators were calculated. Mean score for evaluator 1 was 7.293 (standard error 0.511) and for evaluator 2 was 8.189 (0.413). Cohen’s kappa for the 2 evaluators’ total scores for all 30 Web sites is 0.7671, and intraclass correlation is 0.7703. In general, results show that it is possible to identify Web sites more likely to provide a positive educational experience for CKD patients. Further evaluation is needed to investigate the utility of variably ranked Web sites as educational interventions.
Successful Health Information System Implementation
Authors: Häyrinen Kristiina
Published: May 2011

A Standish Group (1994) study showed that only 16% of all information technology projects come in on time and within budget. The situation is not better concerning health information systems. Many health information system implementations are less than completely successful (Berg, 2001; Giuse & Kuhn, 2003; Lorenzi & Riley, 2003). In this article, the health information system means “a system, whether automated or manual, that comprises people, machines and /or methods organized to collect, process, transmit, and disseminate” data that represent user information in healthcare (Kuhn & Giuse, 2001, pp. 275). What is successful implementation and whose success is measured? Successes can be measured in many ways. Delone and McLean have been finding out the success factors of management information system which are also applicable to health information system. The success factors are: system qualities, e.g., the ease of use or time savings, information quality, e.g., completeness or data accuracy, usage, e.g., the frequency of use or the number of entries, user satisfaction, e.g., user-friendliness or overall satisfaction, individual impact, e.g., changed work practices or direct benefits and organizational impact, e.g., communication and collaboration or impact on patient care. Furthermore, user involvement during system development, implementation and organizational culture have been identified as possible factors measuring the success. However, the need for further research to determine which attributes are the most useful ones in measuring success has also been revealed. (van der Meijden, Tange, Troost & Hashman, 2003). The different phases in implementation process are, in general, user needs and requirements analysis (specification), system design, initial system implementation and testing (Ahmad, Teater, Bentley, Kuehn, Kumar, Thomas & Me-khjian, 2002; Schuster, Hall, Couse, Swayngim & Kohatsu, 2003; Souther, 2001). The system requirements analysis includes workflow analysis, and the initial system implementation includes the technical installation of the information system, integration of the information system to other information systems and users’ training. Project management is an important factor in every phase of the implementation project. The purpose of this article is to highlight the health information system implementation process from end-user perspective. Which factors are crucial in the implementation process from the point of view of the end-users? How does project management contribute to the implementation process, what is the role of the end-user in system designing and how does training effect the information system implementation?
Perceived Level of Benefits and Risks of Core Functionalities of an EHR System
Authors: Davis Diane C.
Published: May 2011

The need to adopt an electronic health record (EHR) system in United States (U.S.) hospitals seems to be more and more obvious when evaluating the benefits of improved patient safety, quality of care, and efficiency. The purpose of the study was to identify the status of EHR systems in U.S. hospitals in regard to the core functionalities implemented (as identified by the Institute of Medicine) and to determine if there was a significant relationship between perceived level of benefit and risk with the use of each core functionality, as well as if there was a significant relationship between the status of the EHR system and size of hospital. A national survey of U.S. hospitals was conducted to answer the research questions. The results showed that 37% had some components in all of the core functionalities of an EHR system, while 27% were using at least some functionalities. Health information and data, administrative processes, and results management were the three core functionalities that a majority of hospitals had as a part of their EHR system. A significant positive correlation between perceived benefits and risks was found in all of the eight core functionalities. There was no significant relationship found between status of EHR system and size of hospitals.
Implementation of an Error-Coding Scheme for Teleradiology System
Authors: Rekh Shobha , Rani Subha , Christinal Hepzibah , Selvan Easter
Published: May 2011

Teleradiology, sending of x-rays, is the most common application of telemedicine in use today. Mobile telemedicine is the latest area of research where the patient can be monitored remotely by a doctor. In this paper, we propose a teleradiology system whereby the communication is established via cellular networks and cell phones. Since the data is sent over a wireless channel, it is more prone to data loss due to the mobile environment. To prevent data from getting lost due to noise in the wireless channel, an error-coding scheme is applied. Turbo code is a powerful error coding technique employed nowadays in communication systems. In this paper we apply turbo codes to an x-ray image and an ECG image and simulate the transmission system by adding Gaussian noise to the image. The performance of Turbo codes, in terms of bit error rate is better than other error coding schemes even in the region where the signal strength is very low. The Quality of the image is retained in the receiving end by proper design of the error-coding scheme. An analysis has been done on various parameters considered in the design of turbo codes. The images obtained after decoding are found to be suitable for recognition and diagnosis by the doctors in their mobile phones. This novel technology will enhance the health care in rural area where the opinion of a specialized doctor is not available.
ICT in Medical Education in Trinidad and Tobago
Authors: Lewis Marilyn
Published: May 2011

Information and communication technology (ICT) allows users to access information without taking geographic position into account. These users are also unconstrained by time, volume, or format of the information. ICT applications have enormous potential as a tool for aiding development in countries such as Trinidad and Tobago. Telemedicine, which can provide medical services to persons in isolated places, in emergencies, to the homebound, or the physically challenged, is but one example. Mansell and Wehn de Montalvo (1998) noted that “ICT applications facilitate telemedicine” (p. 85), and that “economic development can be fostered by tele-working and tele-services in some developing countries” (p. 83). The twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago lies at the southern end of the Caribbean chain of islands, approximately seven miles off the northeast coast of Venezuela. The area covers 1,864 square miles (5,128 sq. km.), with a population of approximately 1.5 million. The economy of this small nation state is based mainly on petroleum and gas-based industries, but there is a growing service sector. PAHO figures (2002a, b) show a highly literate population with an overall adult literacy rate of 98.5% (males at 99.1% and females at 97.9%). Transshipment and telecommunications facilities contribute to this country’s position as the most industrialized in the Caribbean. The country’s technical capacity and access to information have grown enormously in recent years. Telecommunication tools extend to the vast majority of the population. Per capita GDP stands at US$8,500. There is a shortage of medical staff in general, with the ratio of doctors to inhabitants at 7.5 per 10,000. Shortages in primary health care are more acute than in other areas and have resulted in the employment of retired nurses and the recruitment of professional staff from other countries, particularly from Nigeria, India, and more recently, from Cuba. Trinidad and Tobago therefore stands poised to benefit from further development by fully embracing ICT, especially in the areas of education and medicine.
Adoption of Mobile E-Health Service
Authors: Han Shengnan , Mustonen Pekka , Seppänen Matti , Kallio Markku
Published: May 2011

This study investigates physicians’ willingness to adopt a professional medical SMS news service in the Finnish healthcare sector. A concise survey using SMS mobile technology was conducted on March 5, 2003. Two hundred and fifty-nine out of 685 responded within 24 hours, and 90% of these answers were received within 6 hours after the survey was sent out. The response rate was 38%. Findings from this simple SMS survey showed that physicians had positive perceptions of the SMS news service. Nearly 60% of the respondents have used it. Some of the answers included spontaneous feedback about the SMS news service, which revealed valuable comments and suggestions regarding further improvements to it. The SMS survey as a new data collection technique needs academic attention. Implications and future research are briefly discussed.
How to Start or Improve a KM System in a Hospital or Healthcare Organization
Authors: Rubenstein A.H. , Geisler E.
Published: May 2011

One of the key factors that distinguishes enterprises of the 21s t Century is the emphasis on knowledge and information. Knowledge management is an important means by which organizations can better manage information, and more importantly, knowledge. Unlike other techniques, knowledge management is not always easy to define, because it encompasses a range of concepts, management tasks, technologies, and practices, all of which come under the umbrella of the knowledge management. This chapter deals with two aspects of knowledge management systems: (a) why KM systems are needed, and (b) how to get started on designing and rolling out a new or improved KM system. The inferences are drawn from the direct experiences the authors have had during their academic and consulting activities in many health sector organizations.
Gastrointestinal Motility Online Educational Endeavor
Authors: Au Shiu-chung , Gupta Amar
Published: May 2011

Medical information has been traditionally maintained in books, journals, and specialty periodicals. A growing subset of patients and caregivers are now turning to diverse sources on the internet to retrieve healthcare related information. The next area of growth will be sites that serve specialty fields of medicine, characterized by high quality of data culled from scholarly publications and operated by eminent domain specialists. One such site being developed for the field of Gastrointestinal Motility provides authoritative and current information to a diverse user base that includes patients and student doctors. Gastrointestinal Motility Online leverages the strengths of online textbooks, which have a high degree of organization, in conjunction with the strengths of online journal collections, which are more comprehensive and focused. Gastrointestinal Motility Online also utilizes existing Web technologies such as Wiki-editing and Amazon-style commenting, to automatically assemble information from heterogeneous data sources.
Modelling Context-Aware Security for Electronic Health Records
Authors: Shetty Pravin , Loke Seng
Published: May 2011

The Internet has proven to be the most convenient and demanding facility for various types of businesses and transactions for the past few years. In recent years, business information systems have expanded into networks, encompassing partners, suppliers, and customers. There has been a global availability (Anderson, 2001; BSI Global, 2003) of resources over the Internet to satisfy different needs in various fields. The availability factor has called for various security challenges in fields where information is very valuable and not meant for all. Potential threats to information and system security come from a variety of sources. These threats may result in violations to confidentiality, interruptions in information integrity, and possible disruption in the delivery of services. So it is essential to manage the flow of information over the network with the required level of security. There are many security technologies and models that have been introduced which are capable of realizing the functions and objectives of information system security. This article first gives a brief overview of what we term basic security policies of an integrated security model. Then it suggests context-based security policies for a health organization scenario using contextual graphs augmented with details about specific security actions, which relate to the security policies enumerated in the integrated security model. The plan of the article is as follows. We first overview the three concepts in detail and briefly describe the concept of contextual (meta-policy) graphs. We then develop a context-based security meta-policy for securing patient records based on the security policies overviewed and discuss related work, before concluding the paper.
E-Health Dot-Coms' Critical Success Factors
Authors: O’Buyonge Abrams A.
Published: May 2011

The increasing use of the Internet by consumers gave rise to an information boom to health-care consumers. Not only could the Internet be used as a communication tool to provide information that would allow patients to make informed decisions, but it could also be used to generate revenue for investors. The dot-com boom of the late 1990s exploited this opportunity, targeting the healthcare system, a $1.7 trillion market in the United States alone. Overall, the health-care system is wasteful and costly (Itagaki, Berlin, & Schatz, 2002), and as a result, health-care IT was touted as the magic pill for cutting costs. The Internet boom of the late 1990s saw the emergence of e-health: the delivery of health services and health information through the Internet and Internet-related technologies (Eysenbach, 2001). Leading the many entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who stepped in to seize a piece of the health-care industry cake were WebMD Corp., an online provider of medical information for doctors and consumers in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, and DrKoop.com, an Austin, Texas-born company that later moved to Santa Monica, California, and began doing business as Dr. Koop LifeCare Corp. Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. surgeon general, had spent over 6 decades in the medical profession. He envisioned the Internet as an opportunity to change the health-care delivery system in order to empower individuals to take charge of their own health care (Musselwhite, 2002). With this vision and his reputation as an advocate for health-care reform, along with the help of two budding entrepreneurs, Don Hackett and John Zacarro, the trio opened a businessto- consumer Internet portal: DrKoop.com. The portal was designed to provide health information to consumers in areas such as chronic illness, food and nutrition, fitness, and medical break- throughs. At the beginning, the Web site was an overwhelming success, receiving a million hits per month after 2 years of operation, and about 4 million unique visitors per month at its peak. The portal included a personal medical-records system that facilitated the cross-referencing of medications for interactions, as well as the storage of medical reports that could then be accessed by both patients and physicians.
E-Health and Ensuring Quality
Authors: Chhanabhai Prajesh
Published: May 2011

The Internet is one of the most utilized resources for obtaining information, learning, communication, and as a source of advice. The most sought after advice and information are related with health matters. In the United States, for example, over 16 million people per year visit WebMD (http:// my.webmd.com/webmd_today/home/default), an online portal dedicated to providing health information and services (Sass, 2003). Health information on the Internet has grown exponentially, with up to 88 million adults predicted to access medical information online in 2005 (Ansani et al., 2005). This merging of medical knowledge and information knowledge has given birth to e-health. Despite the growth and application of information and communications technology (ICT) in health care over the last 15 years, e-health is a relatively new concept, with the term being introduced in the year 2000 (Pagliari et al., 2005). Its use has grown exponentially, and as Pagliari et al. (2005) reported, there are over 320,000 publications addressing e-health listed in MEDLINE alone. However, there is still no clear definition of e-health. There have been two international calls, in 2001 and 2004, for a clear and concise definition of e-health, but both failed to produce an internationally acceptable definition. In the same paper, Pagliari et al. (2005) found 24 different definitions, highlighting the fact that this is a gray area. Hence, without a clear and standardized definition, the opportunities to conduct unethical behavior are made easier.
Checking Female Foeticide in the Information Age
Authors: Sharma Chetan
Published: May 2011

In India, the practice of sex-selective abortion or female foeticide (in which an unborn baby is aborted or killed before birth simply because it is not a boy) is only the latest manifestation of a long history of gender bias, evident in the historically low and declining population ratio of women to men. Moreover, the medical fraternity in India has been quick to see entrepreneurial opportunities in catering to insatiable demands for a male child. Until recently, the technology was prohibitively expensive. The three chief pre-natal diagnostic tests being used to determine the sex of a foetus (sexing) are amniocentesis, chronic villi biopsy (CVB) and ultrasonography. Amniocentesis is meant to be used in high-risk pregnancies, in women older than 35 years. CVB is meant to diagnose inherited diseases like thalassaemia, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. Ultrasonography is the most commonly used technique. It is non-invasive and can identify up to 50% of abnormalities related to the central nervous system of the foetus. But sexing has become its preferred application. A ban on the government departments at the center and in the states, making use of prenatal sex determination for the purpose of abortion a penal offence, led to the commercialization of the technology; private clinics providing sex determination tests through amniocentesis multiplied rapidly and widely. These tests are made available in areas that do not even have potable water, with marginal farmers willing to take loans at 25% interest to have the test. Advertisements appear blatantly encouraging people to abort their female foetuses to save the future cost of dowry. The portable ultrasound machine has allowed doctors to go from house to house in towns and villages. In a democracy, it is difficult to restrict rights to business and livelihood if the usual parameters are fulfilled. An argument by Rathee (2001) brings to light the fact that the recent technological developments in medical practice combined with a vigorous pursuit of growth of the private health sector have led to the mushrooming of a variety of sex-selective services. This has happened not only in urban areas, but deep within rural countryside, also—areas where the other dimensions of healthcare and development are yet to penetrate. Indeed, the indications are that given these lethal combinations, the phenomenon of sex-selective abortions is growing nationwide. Furthermore, these discriminatory services are being provided and projected in the name of “democratic choice” as a measure of “upliftment” of women, since they are being saved from dowry deaths, burning and other forms of torture and violence they would have undergone once they were born. This pure greed for money is also equated by a large section of doctors to “people’s demand.”
Retrieving Medical Records Using Bayesian Networks
Authors: De Campos Luis M.
Published: May 2011

Bayesian networks (Jensen, 2001) are powerful tools for dealing with uncertainty. They have been successfully applied in a wide range of domains where this property is an important feature, as in the case of information retrieval (IR) (Turtle & Croft, 1991). This field (Baeza-Yates & Ribeiro- Neto, 1999) is concerned with the representation, storage, organization, and accessing of information items (the textual representation of any kind of object). Uncertainty is also present in this field, and, consequently, several approaches based on these probabilistic graphical models have been designed in an attempt to represent documents and their contents (expressed by means of indexed terms), and the relationships between them, so as to retrieve as many relevant documents as possible, given a query submitted by a user. Classic IR has evolved from flat documents (i.e., texts that do not have any kind of structure relating their contents) with all the indexing terms directly assigned to the document itself toward structured information retrieval (SIR) (Chiaramella, 2001), where the structure or the hierarchy of contents of a document is taken into account. For instance, a book can be divided into chapters, each chapter into sections, each section into paragraphs, and so on. Terms could be assigned to any of the parts where they occur. New standards, such as SGML or XML, have been developed to represent this type of document. Bayesian network models also have been extended to deal with this new kind of document. In this article, a structured information retrieval application in the domain of a pathological anatomy service is presented. All the medical records that this service stores are represented in XML, and our contribution involves retrieving records that are relevant for a given query that could be formulated by a Boolean expression on some fields, as well as using a text-free query on other different fields. The search engine that answers this second type of query is based on Bayesian networks.
E-Health Systems
Authors: Nykänen Pirkko
Published: May 2011

E-health refers to use of information and communication technologies to improve or enable health and healthcare. E-health broadens the scope of healthcare delivery; citizens are in the center of services and services are offered by information systems often via the Internet. In this chapter ehealth systems are classified on the basis of their use and their functionality and the use is discussed from the viewpoints of citizens and health professionals. Citizens are increasingly using Internet and e-health systems to search for medicine or health-related information, and they become better informed and may take more responsibility of their own health. Health professionals are more reluctant to use the Internet and e-health systems in physician-patient communication due to the power and responsibility problems of decisions. In the future the sociotechnical nature of e-health should be considered and future systems developed for real use and user environment with user acceptable technology.
Healthcare Organizations and the Internet's Virtual Space
Authors: Baraldi Stefano
Published: May 2011

For some years now, the opportunity of innovating business models has basically been linked to continual progress in ICT. Healthcare is no exception; information and communication technologies are generally considered the most effective driver for changing organizations, improving quality, optimizing resources, and so forth, at least in theory. In practice, it is not clear which and how many of these opportunities are really exploited by organizations operating in healthcare. This chapter presents the results of a research project aimed at understanding to what degree and how Italian healthcare organizations make use of the virtual space made available to them by the Internet.
Evidence-Based Medicine
Authors: Wickramasinghe Nilmini , Sharma Sushil K. , Reddy Harsha P.
Published: May 2011

The ongoing tension between certainty over uncertainty is the main force that is driving the evidence-based medicine movement. The central philosophy of this practice lies in the idea that one can never take for granted one’s own practice, but by using a structured, problem-based approach, practitioners can logically manoeuvre their way through the obstacle course of clinical decisionmaking. Attending postgraduate educational events and reading various science journals are no longer sufficient to keep healthcare practitioners aware of all the new developments in practice. To gain this knowledge they need to accept that there are questions they have to ask about their practice. Having posed a number of questions, answers should be found to the most important, practitioners should appraise the quality of the resulting evidence and, if appropriate, practitioners should implement change in response to that new knowledge.
A Prehospital Database System For Emergency Medical Services
Authors: Hashmi Nada , Gaynor Mark , Pepe Marissa , Welsh Matt , Tollefsen William W. , Moulton Steven
Published: May 2011

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are not only responsible for providing prompt and efficient medical care to many different types emergencies, but also for fully documenting each and every event. Unfortunately, the vast majority of EMS events are still documented by hand. The documents are then further processed and entered manually into various billing, research, and other databases. Hence, such a process is expensive, labor intensive, and error prone. There is a dire need for more research in this area and for faster, efficient solutions. We present a solution for this problem: Prehospital Patient Care Record (PCR) for emergency medical field usage with a system called iRevive that functions as a mobile database application. iRevive is a mobile database application that is designed to facilitate the collection and management of prehospital data. It allows point-of-care data capture in an electronic format and is equipped with individual patient sensors to automatically capture vital sign data. Patient information from the field is wirelessly transmitted to a back-end server, which uses Web service standards to promote interoperability with disparate hospital information systems, various billing agencies, and a wide variety of research applications. In this chapter, we describe the current state of EMS, the iRevive application, a mini-trial deploying iRevive in real scenarios, the results, and a future direction for our solution.
Mobile Computing and Commerce Framework
Authors: Teufel Stephanie , Merten Patrick S. , Steinert Martin
Published: May 2011

This encyclopedia on mobile computing and commerce spans the entire nexus from mobile technology over commerce to applications and end devices. Due to the complexity of the topic, this chapter provides a structured approach to understand the interrelationship in-between the mobile computing and commerce environment. A framework will be introduced; the approach is based on the Fribourg ICT Management Framework, elaborated at our institute with input from academics and practitioners, which has been tried and tested in papers, books, and lectures on ICT management methods. For published examples, please consult Teufel (2001, 2004), Steinert and Teufel (2002, 2004), or Teufel, Götte, and Steinert (2004).
Mobile Portals for Knowledge Management
Authors: Lehmann Hans , Remus Ulrich , Berger Stefan
Published: May 2011

More and more people leave their fixed working environment in order to perform their knowledgeintensive tasks at changing locations or while they are on the move. Mobile knowledge workers are often separated from their colleagues, and they have no access to up-to-date knowledge they would have in their offices. Instead, they rely on faxes and messenger services to receive materials from their home bases (Schulte, 1999). In case of time-critical data, this way of communication with their home office is insufficient. Mobile knowledge management (KM) has been introduced to overcome some of the problems knowledge workers are faced when handling knowledge in a mobile work environment (e.g., Berger, 2004; Grimm, Tazari, & Balfanz, 2002,). The main goal of mKM is to provide mobile access to knowledge management systems (KMS) and other information resources, to generate awareness between mobile and stationary workers by linking them to each other, and to realize mobile KM services that support knowledge workers in dealing with their tasks (see chapter, “A Mobile Portal for Academe: The Example of a German University” in the same book). So far, most of the off-the-shelf KMS are intended for the use on stationary desktop PCs or laptops with stable network access, and provide just simple access from mobile devices. As KMS are generally handling a huge amount of information (e.g., documents in various formats, multimedia content, etc.) the limitations of (mobile) information and communication technologies (ICTs), like mobile devices such as PDAs and mobile phones, becomes even more crucial (Hansmann, Merk, Niklous, & Stober, 2001). Mobile devices are usually not equipped with the amount of memory and computational power found in desktop computers; they often provide small displays and limited input capabilities, in comparison to wired networks, wireless networks generally have a lower bandwidth restricting the transfer of large data volumes and due to fading, lost radio coverage, or deficient capacity, wireless networks are often inaccessible for periods of time. Today, many KMS are implemented as knowledge portals, providing a single point of access to many different information and knowledge sources on the desktop together with a bundle of KM services. In order to realize mobile access to knowledge portals, portal components have to be implemented as mobile portlets. That means that they have to be adapted according to technical restrictions of mobile devices and the user’s context. This contribution identifies requirements for mobile knowledge portals. In particular, it reviews the main characteristics of mobile knowledge portals, which are considered to be the main ICT to support mobile KM. In addition, it outlines an important future issue in mobile knowledge portals: The consideration of location-based information in mobile knowledge portals.
Dynamic Pricing Based on Net Cost for Mobile Content Services
Authors: Srikhutkhao Nopparat , Kitisin Sukumal
Published: May 2011

In the past few years, the mobile phone’s performance has increased rapidly. According to IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone 2004-2008 Forecast and Analysis, sales of 2.5G mobile phones will drive market growth for the next several years, with sales of 3G mobile phones finally surpassing the 100 million annual unit mark in 2007. Future mobile phones can support more than 20,000 colors. With the advancements in functionality and performance of mobile phones, users will use them for all sorts of activities, and that will increase mobile content service requests. Currently, the pricing of mobile content service is up to each provider; typically they implement a fixed price called a market price because the providers do not have a formula to estimate the price according to the actual cost of their services. This article proposes a dynamic pricing model based on net cost for mobile content services.
Robust Algorithms for DOA Estimation and Adaptive Beamforming in Wireless Mobile Communications
Authors: Shubair R.M. , AlMidfa K.O. , Al-Marri A. , Al-Nuaimi M.
Published: May 2011

This paper presents a tool for the modelling, analysis and simulation of direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation and adaptive beamforming needed in the design of smart antenna arrays for wireless mobile communications. The developed tool implements the Minimum Variance Distortionless Response (MVDR) algorithm for DOA estimation and the Least Mean Squares (LMS) algorithm for adaptive beamforming. Performance of each algorithm is investigated with respect to the variation of a number of parameters that related to the signal environment and sensor array. Results of numerical simulation are useful for the design of smart antennas systems with optimal performance. Hence, the developed simulation tool can be used to improve and accelerate the design of wireless networks. It can also be used for computeraided learning of modern communication systems utilizing smart antenna arrays.
Mobile Information Filtering
Authors: Abramowicz Witold , Banaskiewicz Krzysztof , Wieloch Karol , Zebrowski Pawel
Published: May 2011

Information filtering techniques have been continuously developed to meet challenges arisen from new requirements of Information Society. These techniques gain even much more on importance in the facet of greater mobility of people. One of the most dynamic and compelling areas is the environment of wireless and mobile devices. Just recently, information filtering and retrieval have begun to take into consideration circumstances in which they are being used. As information needs of mobile users are highly dynamic, this points out the necessity of considering additional set of attributes describing user situation—context. This article presents an information filtering system for mobile users (mobileIF) being developed in the Department of Management Information Systems at The Pozna University of Economics. Architecture of the mobileIF is a result of research done in the field of contexts, their taxonomies and influence on information relevance in dynamic user’s environment. The paper shows our approach to contexts, discusses time perspective on filtering systems and finally, describes mobileIF architecture and basic data flow within it. At last, we present our current research in fields related to the mobileIF system.
A Framework for Information Systems Integration in Mobile Working Environments
Authors: García-Guzmán Javier , Sánchez-Segura María-Isabel , de Amescua-Seco Antonio , Navarro Mariano
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces a framework for designing, distributing, and managing mobile applications that uses and updates information coming from different data sources (databases and systems from different organizations) for helping mobile workers to perform their job. A summary of the state of the art in relation to mobile applications integration is presented. Then, the authors describe the appropriate organizational context for applying the integration framework proposed. Next, the framework components and how the framework is use are explained. Finally, the trials performed for testing the mobile applications architecture are discussed, presenting the main conclusions and future work. Furthermore, the authors hope that understanding the concepts related to the integration of mobile applications through the presentation of an integration framework will not only inform researchers of a better design for mobile application architectures, but also assist in the understanding of intricate relationships between the types of functionality required by this kind of systems.
Mobile Portal Technologies and Business Models
Authors: Parsons David
Published: May 2011

Mobile portals have become a common entry point to the mobile Internet, and take a number of forms. They may be service provider portals, such as Vodafone’s Live! portal (Vodafone, 2006), offering access to both in-house and brokered external services. Alternatively, they may be public pure play sites that provide some kind of managed access to resources using a yellowpages approach. Good examples of this kind of mobile portal are WordDial (WordDial, 2006) and graBBit (Grabbit, 2006), though they have very different approaches to the way that they provide targeted access to resources, with WordDial using a keyword approach and graBBit modeled on more traditional search engines. As well as mobile and pure play operators, mobile portals are also provided by device manufacturers (e.g., Palm (Palm, 2006)), software companies (e.g., MSN (Microsoft, 2006)) existing Web portal providers (e.g., Yahoo (Yahoo, 2006)), mass media companies (e.g., AOL (AOL, 2006)) and transaction providers (m-commerce sites).
Enhancing Learning Through Mobile Computing
Authors: Berry Marsha , Hamilton Margaret , Herzog Naomi , Padgham Lin , Van Schyndel Ron
Published: May 2011

The mission of this chapter is to explore ways in which mobile computing via the employment of Tablet PCs can assist the human computer interaction in the design and project development process and thereby enhance learning. We follow the process of ethnographic action research and report on the learning, observations, and communications of students in a multimedia program who were given the use of a Tablet PC for their second year of their degree. We discuss the educational design and customized agent software developed for this project and draw conclusions for wireless networks, and benefits and issues involved in enabling mobile computing and encouraging group dynamics among students.
Handheld Computing and J2ME Programming for Mobile Handheld Devices
Authors: Hu Wen-Chen , Yeh Jyh-haw , Kao I-Lung , Zhong Yapin
Published: May 2011

Mobile commerce or m-commerce is defined as the exchange or buying and selling of commodities, services, or information on the Internet through the use of Internet-enabled mobile handheld devices (Hu, Lee, & Yeh, 2004). It is expected to be the next milestone after electronic commerce blossoming in the late-1990s. Internet-enabled mobile handheld devices are one of the core components of a mobile commerce system, making it possible for mobile users to directly interact with mobile commerce applications. Much of a mobile user’s first impression of the application will be formed by his or her interaction with the device, therefore the success of mobile commerce applications is greatly dependent on how easy they are to use. However, programming for handheld devices is never an easy task not only because the programming languages and environments are significantly different from the traditional ones, but also because various languages and operating systems are used by handheld devices and none of them dominates. This article gives a study of handheld computing, especially J2ME (Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition) programming, for mobile commerce. Various environments/languages are available for client-side handheld programming. Five of the most popular are (1) BREW, (2) J2ME, (3) Palm OS, (4) Symbian OS, and (v) Windows Mobile. They apply different approaches to accomplishing the development of mobile applications. Three themes of this article are: 1. Introduction of handheld computing, which includes server- and client- side computing. 2. Brief introductions of four kinds of client-side computing. 3. Detailed discussion of J2ME and J2ME programming. Other important issues such as a handheld computing development cycle will also be discussed.
Content Personalization for Mobile Interfaces
Authors: Koukia Spiridoula , Rigou Maria , Sirmakessis Spiros
Published: May 2011

The contribution of context information to content management is of great importance. The increase of storage capacity in mobile devices gives users the possibility to maintain large amounts of content to their phones. As a result, this amount of content is increasing at a high rate. Users are able to store a huge variety of content such as contacts, text messages, ring tones, logos, calendar events, and textual notes. Furthermore, the development of novel applications has created new types of content, which include images, videos, MMS (multi-media messaging), e-mail, music, play lists, audio clips, bookmarks, news and weather, chat, niche information services, travel and entertainment information, driving instructions, banking, and shopping (Schilit & Theimer, 1994; Schilit, Adams, & Want, 1994; Brown, 1996; Brown, Bovey, & Chen, 1997). The fact that users should be able to store the content on their mobile phone and find the content they need without much effort results in the requirement of managing the content by organizing and annotating it. The purpose of information management is to aid users by offering a safe and easy way of retrieving the relevant content automatically, to minimize their effort and maximize their benefit (Sorvari et al., 2004). The increasing amount of stored content in mobile devices and the limitations of physical mobile phone user interfaces introduce a usability challenge in content management. The physical mobile phone user interface will not change considerably. The physical display sizes will not increase since in the mobile devices the display already covers a large part of the surface area. Text input speed will not change much, as keyboard-based text input methods have been the most efficient way to reduce slowness. While information is necessary for many applications, the human brain is limited in terms of how much information it can process at one time. The problem of information management is more complex in mobile environments (Campbell & Tarasewich, 2004).
The Design of Mobile Television in Europe
Authors: Ballon Pieter , Braet Olivier
Published: May 2011

Mobile television is potentially the most anticipated mass-market mobile application across Europe. This chapter examines the business model design of mobile TV by the various stakeholders currently piloting mobile broadcasting in the European national markets. It adapts a generic business model framework to systematically compare five recent pilots of the two mobile broadcasting technologies that are currently trialled most intensively in Europe, that is, digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) and digital audio broadcasting-Internet protocol (DAB-IP). The article illustrates the cross-impact of cooperation agreements between the various stakeholders with technological, service- related, and financial design choices. It also provides insights as to the likely business models in the upcoming commercialisation phase of mobile broadcasting in Europe.
Enabling the Glass Pipeline
Authors: Ruhi Umar , Turel Ofir
Published: May 2011

In recent years, the prospect of information exchange independent of time and place has been a compelling driver for organizations worldwide to adopt mobile technology applications in their various business practices. In particular, the application of mobile technology in Supply Chain Management has drawn widespread attention from researchers and practitioners who endorse adaptive and agile supply chain processes. This chapter discusses the applications of mobile technologies in various areas of supply chain management and the potential benefits of those technologies along the dimensions of reduced replenishment time and transactions and billing cycles. Among other discussions, the role of mobile procurement, inventory management, product identification, package tracking, sales force, and field service automation technologies is highlighted. To substantiate the basis for adopting mobile technologies for supply chain management, different market drivers for mobile applications are exemplified and applied to the three macro-level processes of supplier relationship management, internal supply chain management, and customer relationship management; a resulting typology of mobile supply chain management applications is presented.
Mobile Computing
Authors: Rao N. Raghavendra
Published: May 2011

Information and telecommunication technologies are the major stimulus for changes in trade and commerce. Recent convergence of the above technologies has become possible due to the rapid advancements made in the respective technology. This convergence is termed as information and communication technology (ICT) and considered as a new discipline. The new discipline has made cross border commerce in the present globalization scenario a reality. This chapter talks about a model for financial services sector in international market under the new discipline. The model explains the creation of knowledge based financial services system incorporating the sophisticated concepts of information technology. Further, it provides an access to the system with devices which can be used under wireless communication environment, across the globe.
Payment Mechanism of Mobile Agent-Based Restaurant Ordering System
Authors: Quah Jon T.S. , Leow Winnie C.H. , Ong Chee Chye
Published: May 2011

The Internet, especially the World Wide Web, is moving from a free, academic domain to a profitable commercial world. This underscores the importance of a digitally secure means of electronic payment for an electronic commerce application. The payment is usually an important part of an electronic commerce transaction, and it deals with the transfer of trust, either as cryptographically signed promises, or as digital cash, between the customer, the merchant, and the payment service provider. Due to the explosive growth of e-commerce transactions, many electronic modes of payment are devised to address a diverse set of Internet user requirements (Guida, Stahl, Bunt et al., 2004; Tsiakis & Sthephanides, 2005; Garfinkel, 2003; Usher, 2003; Polk, Hastings, & Malpani, 2003; Evans & Yen, 2005; Marchesini, Smith, & Zhao, 2005; Lancaster, Yen, & Huang, 2003; Lekkas, 2003; Medvinsky & Neuman, 1995; Schoenmakers, 1997; Levi & Koc, 2001; Mahony, Peirce, & Tewari, 2001; DigiCash Press, 1994; Neuman & Tso, 1994; Vivtek, 2000). The background of this article is that we have developed a mobile agent-based restaurant reservation and ordering system whereby users are able to search for restaurants that fulfill a list of user-entered parameters (e.g., type of cuisines, ambiance, specialties such as steaks, etc.) (Quah & Leow, 2003). The system is built on the IBM Aglet mobile agent platform. (A mobile agent is a small executable code/program that can migrate itself to remote hosts and execute predefined instructions— e.g., information retrieval, and return the processed information to its originating host system) (Lanage & Oshima, 1998). Due to the uniqueness of our system, we find the existing e-commerce payment methods inadequate to fit our system’s need. As such, we studied several existing methods and adapted one into our system operation structure. The use of mobile agent to implement the payment system adds robustness and scalability to the system.