bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Semantic Web Services for Healthcare
Authors: Catley Christina , Frize Monique , Petriu Dorina
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the ongoing efforts to integrate Web services and the Semantic Web for the purposes of sharing knowledge, enabling access to services, and application integration in distributed clinical environments. Combining the Semantic Web and Web services in relation to the healthcare domain, results in Semantic Web services for healthcare, which will enable intelligent interpretation of healthcare data by services such as clinical decision support systems. Critical issues in ontology standardization and security are discussed. The multi-disciplinary problem of service composition is presented with emphasis on the role healthcare experts play in identifying value-added medical services.
Building Distribution Networks Using Cooperating Agents
Authors: Urquhart N.
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the use of emergent computing to optimize solutions to logistics problems. The chapter initially explores the use of agents and evolutionary algorithms to optimise postal distribution networks. The structure of the agent community and the means of interaction between agents is based on social interactions previously used to solve these problems. The techniques developed are then adapted for use in a dynamic environment planning the despatch of goods from a supermarket. These problems are based on real-world data in terms of geography and constraints. The author hopes that this chapter will inform researchers as to the suitability of emergent computing in real-world scenarios and the abilities of agent-based systems to mimic social systems.
Evolving Learning Ecologies
Authors: Dron J.
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the application of self-organising principles to the field of e-learning. It argues that traditional managed approaches to e-learning suffer from deficiencies both in cost and adaptativity that are addressed through the application of nature-inspired processes such as stigmergy and evolution. Such systems, primarily those employing social navigation, are built to generate structure through the dialogue-like interactions of individual learners within them. The result is emergent control of the learning process, adapting dynamically to learner needs, with limited teacher involvement. The chapter describes some example applications and explores some of the remaining challenges in the field, most notably in encouraging pedagogically useful structures to evolve.
DRM Practices in the E-Publication Industry
Authors: Kiau Bong Wee
Published: May 2011

Electronic publishing (e-publishing) is the process of publishing information to be viewed electronically or online and delivered in the form of electronic books (e-books), e-mail newsletters, Web sites, CD-ROM, wireless publishing, and most recently electronic ink (Thomas, 2004). With the recent growth of telecommunication technologies and the Internet, assisted by the development of new technologies such as highbandwidth connections and peer-to-peer networks, digital distribution services in which clients distribute files between themselves without using a central server (Burkhalter, 2001) have vastly improved the way we produce, procure, store, redistribute, and consume digital content. At the same time, these have created several problems like unauthorized copying, modification, and redistribution by a third party. Downloading encoded files has gained acceptance among Internet-savvy users because it provides immediate access to digital content and does not rely on physical media. The ease of processing, obtaining, and transmitting information has made easier both trading in data as well as collecting information from different sources, and has resulted in information about individuals often being collected and sold without their knowledge (Banks, Dickinson, Erickson, Reynolds, & Vora, 2001).
The Ethical Debate Surrounding RFID
Authors: Etter Stephanie , Phillips Patricia G. , Molinero Ashli M.
Published: May 2011

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a generic term that is used to describe a system that transmits the identity of an object or person wirelessly using radio waves (RFID Journal, 2005). It falls under the broad category of automatic identification technologies. RFID tags, in the simplest of terms, are “intelligent chips that can be embedded in or attached to a product to transmit descriptive data” (Gelinas, Sutton, & Fedorowicz, 2004, p. 6). According to the online RFID Journal (2005), there are several methods of identifying objects using RFID, including the most common of storing a serial number that identifies a product on a microchip that is attached to an RFID tag. RFID is not a new technology, but it has only recently been in the spotlight as more businesses are receiving press for putting the technology to work in their supply chains.
Ethical Usability Testing with Children
Authors: Ellis Kirsten
Published: May 2011

Usability testing of children’s software on children is an important part of the software development and evaluation cycle, but the dilemmas of conducting usability testing in an ethical manner need careful consideration in order to protect the participants’ well-being. The main issues in conducting research with children are the protection of the child, informed consent, and voluntary participation. Protection of the child is achieved by careful consideration of the design of the research. Consent is required from the parent and the child depending on the ability of the child to give informed consent. The final issue is voluntary participation, and thus the child’s right to refuse to participate must be respected.
Collaborative Real-Time Information Services via Portals
Authors: Dai Wei
Published: May 2011

The increased use of online services in the commercial world has produced considerable impact on traditional technologies. Traditional information technologies were developed in an era where use of Internet technologies was not widespread. They have a long history and are often based on mature and stable technologies, or practices such as user interface design, artificial intelligence techniques, and so forth. In the era of e-business, business operations are often conducted in conjunction with business alliances and partners through networked activities. Internet (or Web-based) technologies are fulfilling an enabling role to meet the communication and collaboration requirements of e-business. In this article, we share our experiences in how traditional information technologies are coupled with Web-based technologies to gain much-needed leverage in offering e-business solutions. Portals, as the major communication media for Web users, offer opportunities for collaboration using multiple technologies. They also serve as mechanisms for integrating a variety of online services supported by traditional applications. In this article we will discuss the role of portals in application integration for online collaborative service delivery. Particular emphasis will be given to the marrying of the modern roles of portals in e-business with those roles where portals fulfill the traditional roles of front-end technologies. The article demonstrates its vision through a portal-based application integration solution framework associated with a typical application scenario. We demonstrate the effectiveness of using portals in application integration by employing an experimental framework implemented in the PHOENIX research project at Victoria University (http://www.staff. vu.edu.au/PHOENIX/phoenix/index1.htm).
Employee Self-Service Portals
Authors: Lloyd-Walker Beverley
Published: May 2011

This article begins by discussing how the role of human resource management has changed in recent years, and the implications of this for human resource departments. Providing employees with the information they require about their employment relationship is then explored by investigating how information technology can improve the quality of this information flow. The role of employee self-service portals is outlined, covering the range of information they currently provide and the future role of employee self-service portals. Acknowledging that employee acceptance is crucial to the success of employee self-service portals, implementation issues are discussed. Technology acceptance by employees is necessary, and the article ends by discussing this important key to successful employee self-service portal implementation.
Enterprise Portals and Web Services Integration
Authors: Alkhatib Ghazi , Maamar Zakaria
Published: May 2011

Portals went through the following different life cycle stages: desktop organization and personalization; single intranet-based portals such as human resource and Internet product-based or industry-based portals; functional-based portals such as knowledge management and business intelligence; and integrated intranet-based enterprise portal (EP) covering some or all functions of the enterprise (see for example http://www.ebizq.net/topics/eai/features/1650. html on how integrating portals and business process management (BPM) enabled the presentation of an integrated view of diverse back-end databases). Current research and practice efforts are directed toward making portals an open system supporting different platforms and allowing its integration into emerging technologies such as Web services (WS). A WS, on the other hand, is defined as an integrating loosely coupled application that uses three major standards: WSDL (definition of WS), UDDI (registry and discovery of WS), and SOAP (access of a WS). However, strongly coupled applications may also benefit from WS technologies to componentized diverse application platforms (i.e., databases, file-based legacy systems) using WS technologies. The article emphasizes cross-organization integration of business function and processes, rather than simply accessing general purpose WS such as weather forecasts and currency conversion.
Evolution of Portals
Authors: Uden Lorna , Salmenjoki Kimmo
Published: May 2011

The word portal came from the Latin word porta, which is translated to gate. Anything that acts as a gateway to anything else is a portal. The portal server acts as gateway to the enterprise in a network. However, there are many different definitions of the word portal. A search of the word using Google search engine yields many thousands of references. Some consider portal to be a new name for a Web site. A portal is an entry point to the World Wide Web (WWW) and therefore, more than what a Web site does. According to Internet 101 , a portal is a Web site linking to another Web site. Sometimes search engines have been referred to as portals. Access companies, such as Microsoft Network (MSN) and America On-Line (AOL), have often been referred to as portals. Although the definition of the word portal is still evolving, the definition we will use is a gateway, and a Web portal can thus be seen as a gateway to the information and services on the Web, more specifically to services on both the public Internet and on corporate intranets. This article aims to take the historical approach based on the development of the Web and examine the factors that have contributed to the evolution of portals. The origin of portals came about because of the need for information organisation. Users need to be provided with coherent and understandable information.
Impacts and Revenues Models from Brazilian Portals
Authors: Moraes Wellington , de Medeiros Jr. Alberto
Published: May 2011

Tapscott (1996) states that, since the end of the last millennium, the world is witnessing the birth of a new era called the age of networked intelligence, which creates a new economy, new policy and a new society, based on networking of human intelligence through technology. In other words, in this new era, machines do not predominate, but individuals who use networks to combine their intelligence, their knowledge and their creativity to create wealth and social development.
Implementing Portals in Higher Education
Authors: Strijker Allard
Published: May 2011

Because of the increasing use of digital information within educational organizations, users encounter problems with finding and selecting the right information. Therefore, the request for personalized information becomes an important issue. Portals are seen as a solution because they can combine various information channels in a personalized way. This was also the conclusion of recent research in which several portals were compared with each other (Keller, 2004) to identify why portals are necessary.
Portals for Integrated Competence Management
Authors: Berio Giuseppe , Harzallah Mounira
Published: May 2011

Human resource portals are often dedicated to e-recruitment (e.g., Monster, Jobpilot). Their main goal is to facilitate, accelerate, and widen the area of recruitment. Portal technology can also be used inside companies to directly update job offers and to publish them, to store skills of current employees, their careers and so on. These portals are based on database technology (usually relational) for storing, organizing, and searching relevant information.
Portals in Consumer Search Behavior and Product Customization
Authors: Michael Ian
Published: May 2011

A portal is defined as an entrance point to online content. The portal concept has evolved across a number of markets and applications. Customer portals focus on individual customer and offer a one-stop Internet access. By providing a number of services, such as searches, shopping, e-mail, and games, portals allow individuals to avoid browsing the Web but to in-fact rely and stay at one Web site like a one-stop shop. Accordingly, portals drive eyeballs, and hence create and drive advertising revenue and alliances. The concept of a single public port to given content on the Internet is used as a means of pulling in a large number of users. As an example, America Online (AOL) acts as a portal site to general Web content. It is a specialized portal created by AOL and also has content from partners such as Time Warner (Kleindl, 2003). This article reviews the role of portals in
Security Threats in Web-Powered Databases and Web Portals
Authors: Evdoridis Theodoros
Published: May 2011

It is a strongly held view that the scientific branch of computer security that deals with Web-powered databases (Rahayu & Taniar, 2002) than can be accessed through Web portals (Tatnall, 2005) is both complex and challenging. This is mainly due to the fact that there are numerous avenues available for a potential intruder to follow in order to break into the Web portal and compromise its assets and functionality. This is of vital importance when the assets that might be jeopardized belong to a legally sensitive Web database such as that of an enterprise or government portal, containing sensitive and confidential information. It is obvious that the aim of not only protecting against, but mostly preventing from potential malicious or accidental activity that could set a Web portal’s asset in danger, requires an attentive examination of all possible threats that may endanger the Web-based system.
Usability, Sociability, and Accessibility of Web Portals
Authors: Ntoa S. , Margetis G.
Published: May 2011

The evaluation of a Web portal may apparently seem to increase the complexity of its design and development. However, an appropriately planned and systematically applied evaluation procedure can reduce the resources required in time and effort, and ensure user acceptance. This article discusses the systematic evaluation of a Web portal through various iterations, namely expert evaluation, user-based evaluation, online satisfaction questionnaires, and remote evaluation.
Adaptive Transmission of Multimedia Data over the Internet
Authors: Bouras Christos , Gkamas Apostolos , Primpas Dimitris , Stamos Kostas
Published: May 2011

In this article, we concentrate on the architecture of an adaptive real time application that has the capability to transmit multimedia data over heterogeneous networks and adapt the transmission of the multimedia data to the network changes. Moreover in this article, we concentrate to the unicast transmission of multimedia data.
Content-Aware Caching for Cooperative Transcoding Proxies
Authors: Kim Kyungbaek , Kim Byungjip , Park Daeyeon
Published: May 2011

In recent years, the technologies of the network and the computer have developed enormously and the diverse devices such as PDAs, mobile phones, TVs and etc which are connected to the network with various ways such as wired or wireless interfaces. These diverse devices have been able to use the web contents, but some clients can not use the web contents directly because their capabilities differ from those of the web content provider’s expectation. For these clients, the content adaptation, called the transcoding, is needed. This transcoding transforms the size, quality, presentation style, and etc of the web resources to meet the capabilities of the clients. The main features of the transcoding can be summarized with two. First is that multiple versions exist for the same web content due to the diverse client demand. Second is that the transcoding is a very computational task. These two features of the transcoding bring many issues to design a transcoding system.
E-Collaboration Concepts, Systems, and Applications
Authors: Bouras Christos , Giannaka Eri , Tsiatsos Thrasyvoulos
Published: May 2011

E-Collaboration is an important research topic, with a great number of researchers contributing on many aspects. The main reason for this major research activity is the broad topic’s scope, which involves not only technological but also social and psychological issues. As a result there are multiple interpretations about what e-collaboration is. More specifically we definitely can say that e-collaboration has been defined in many ways in the past, and the number of definitions has grown recently. The next section present the main terms in this area.
Optical Burst Switching
Authors: Vlachos Kyriakos
Published: May 2011

Switching in core optical networks is currently being performed using high-speed electronic or all-optical circuit switches. Switching with high-speed electronics requires optical-to-electronic (O/E) conversion of the data stream, making the switch a potential bottleneck of the network: any effort (including parallelization) for electronics to approach the optical speeds seems to be already reaching its practical limits. Furthermore, the store-and-forward approach of packet-switching does not seem suitable for all-optical implementation due to the lack of practical optical Random-Access-Memories to buffer and resolve contentions. Circuit switching on the other hand, involves a pre-transmission delay for call setup and requires the aggregation of microflows into circuits, sacrificing the granularity and the control over individual flows, and is inefficient for bursty traffic. Optical burst switching (OBS) has been proposed by Qiao, C., ?[1] to combine the advantages of both packet and circuit switching and is considered a promising technology for the next generation optical internet.
Quality of Service and Service Level Agreements
Authors: Bouras Christos , Gkamas Apostolos , Primpas Dimitris , Stamos Kostas
Published: May 2011

In order for advanced applications in modern computer networks to function satisfactorily, there is often the need for a guaranteed network performance and guaranteed values for several network parameters. When the provisioning and usage of network services is agreed, relevant specifications for the level of the services are also defined.
Quality of Service Routing
Authors: Curado Marília
Published: May 2011

Traditionally, Internet routing is achieved through shortest path protocols that base their decision on the number of hops or administrative metrics. The path computation algorithms belong either to the distance vector or link state families. Distance vector protocols have been widely used on the Internet since the ARPANET and remain in use today. The protocols of the Distance Vector family are used by routers to exchange routing information with their neighbours and to select the shortest paths to all destinations within the network using the Bellman-Ford algorithm, such as in the routing information protocol (RIP) (Malkin, 1998).
Definition, Antecedents, and Outcomes of Successful Virtual Communities
Authors: Blanchard Anita L.
Published: May 2011

Howard Rheingold’s (1993) book The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier was the first to bring virtual communities to the attention of researchers and practitioners. Although virtual groups have been examined previously, Rheingold’s descriptions of participating in the WELL, an Internet-based bulletin board, vividly portrayed the potential of online social groupings. Rheingold told stories of people who had never met face-to-face providing socio-emotional and even financial support to each other through times of crisis and celebration.
E-Collaboration and the Financial Auditor
Authors: Shea Vincent J.
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this article is to address how accounting firms can adopt e-collaboration within their organizations. Examples of current e-collaboration adoption by accounting firms are examined. This article will also suggest how e-collaboration could benefit the audit function by making it more efficient and effective. A discussion of how e-collaboration research can be applied to audit research is explored as well as how audit research can help e-collaboration research.
Multilingual Collaboration in Electronic Meetings
Authors: Aiken Milam
Published: May 2011

Groups in which participants do not speak the same language frequently find communication difficult. Yet, multilingual meetings are common as a form of collaboration. To overcome this language barrier, banks, government agencies, hospitals, the courts, and many other institutions have relied upon human translators to enable meeting participants to exchange ideas and opinions. For example, the United Nations General Assembly’s discussions, conferences within the European Union, multinational corporations’ business negotiations, and many other meetings are conducted almost daily, requiring large amounts of interpreters’ scarce expertise and time.
Definitions, Key Characteristics, and Generations of Mobile Games
Authors: Jeong E. , Kim D.
Published: May 2011

This article is designed to contribute insights into these barriers in three ways. Firstly, the article provides narrow and broad definitions of mobile games. Secondly, key characteristics, platforms, and service types of mobile games are discussed. Finally, following the broad definition of mobile games, this article classifies mobile games as one to fourth generations and one pre-generation. Characteristics and examples of each generation are also presented.
Distributed Computing in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Huang H.
Published: May 2011

This article is organized as follows. We first describe WSN infrastructures required to support distributed computing, followed by a description of typical, important distributed computing applications in WSN; we the conclude the article.
Man-Machine Interface with Applications in Mobile Robotic Systems
Authors: Kvasnica M.
Published: May 2011

This article focuses on the current state-of-the-art assistive technologies in man-machine interface and its applications in robotics. This work presents the assistive technologies developed specifically for disabled people.
Monitoring and Tracking Moving Objects in Mobile Environments
Authors: Stojanovic D. , Djordjevic-Kajan S. , Papadopoulos A. , Alexandros Nanopoulos A.
Published: May 2011

Monitoring and tracking LBS applications require data-base and application support to model and manage moving objects in both database and application domains. Such services must also provide efficient processing of continuous queries over moving objects. In contrast to regular queries that are evaluated only once, a continuous query remains active over a period of time.
Using Mobile Devices to Manage Traffic Infractions
Authors: Marques S. , Souto Sabrina , Queiroga Miguel , Almeida Hyggo , Perkusich Angelo
Published: May 2011

In this article we describe the SM-FIT system that makes it possible for transit law enforcement officials to perform online queries about potential infractions of a driver of a vehicle by using a mobile device. Queries are performed based on a unique identifier: the driver’s license number.
Computer Storage and Networking Found in Optimal KM/WM Systems
Authors: Thierauf Robert , Hoctor James
Published: May 2011

• To explore future computer technology that will assist in the development of optimal KM/WM systems • To look at business process management for connecting “points of wisdom” and information lifecycle management to oversee computer storage growth • To examine computer storage that is conducive to developing and maintaining an effective optimal KM/WM system • To explore the world of wired and wireless computer networking that is tied-in with the development and growth of this newer operating mode
Current Cyber Attack Methods
Authors: Colarik Andrew
Published: May 2011

Understand that cyber attacks are not random but instead are executed with deliberate intent and specific purpose. Ö Identify many of the internal penetration approaches to achieve security breaches. Ö Discover the most common external penetration tactics directed against systems. Ö Come to realize the part that people play in the breach of systems. Ö Recognize that there are many components that are vulnerable to attacks that are outside an individual’s or organization’s zone of control.
A Complex Support Vector Machine Approach to OFDM Coherent Demodulation
Authors: Fernández-Getino García M. Julia , Rojo-Álvarez José Luis , Gil-Jiménez Víctor P. , Alonso-Atienza Felipe , García-Armada Ana
Published: May 2011

Most of the approaches to digital communication applications using support vector machines (SVMs) rely on the conventional classification and regression SVM algorithms. However, the introduction of complex algebra in the SVM formulation can provide us with a more flexible and natural framework when dealing with complex constellations and symbols. In this chapter, an SVM algorithm for coherent robust demodulation in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is studied. We present a complex regression SVM formulation specifically adapted to a pilot-based OFDM signal, which provides us with a simpler scheme than an SVM multiclassification method. The feasibility of this approach is substantiated by computer simulation results obtained for Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 broadband fixed wireless channel models. These experiments allow us to scrutinize the performance of the OFDM-SVM system and the suitability of the e-Huber cost function in the presence of non-Gaussian impulse noise interfering with OFDM pilot symbols.
Semantic Web Service Discovery in the WSMO Framework
Authors: Keller U. , Lara R. , Lausen H. , Fensel D.
Published: May 2011

The Web service modeling ontology (WSMO) provides a conceptual framework for semantically describing Web services and their specific properties. In this chapter we discuss how WSMO can be applied for service discovery. We provide a proper conceptual grounding by strictly distinguishing between service and Web service discovery and then present different techniques for realizing Web service discovery. In order to cover the complete range of scenarios that can appear in practical applications, several approaches to achieve the automation of Web service discovery are presented and discussed. They require different levels of semantics in the description of Web services and requests, and have different complexity and precision.
Reconciling Information Privacy and Information Access in a Globalized Technology Society
Authors: Duncan George T. , Roehrig Stephen F.
Published: May 2011

Government agencies collect and disseminate data that bear on the most important issues of public interest. Advances in information technology, particularly the Internet, have created a globalized technology society and multiplied the tension between demands for ever more comprehensive databases and demands for the shelter of privacy. In reconciling information privacy and information access, agencies must address a host of difficult problems. These include providing access to information while protecting confidentiality, coping with health information databases, and ensuring consistency with international standards. The policies of agencies are determined by what is right for them to do, what works for them, and what they are required to do by law. They must interpret and respect the ethical imperatives of democratic accountability, constitutional empowerment, individual autonomy, and information justice. In managing confidentiality and data-access functions, agencies have two basic tools: techniques for disclosure limitation through restricted data and administrative procedures through restricted access.
Poverty Reduction through Community-Compatible ICTs
Authors: Lekoko Rebecca , Morolong Bantu
Published: May 2011

ICTs are an integral part of both scientific and lay cultures. However, scientific know-how, whose significant features are high expertise and highly trained personnel, is dominant while traditional cultures are gradually receding. The use of ICTs shows great potential for creating access boundaries between the rich and poor. Out of this awareness, this chapter invites readers to rethink basic questions: What are ICTs? What have been their benefits for the rich and poor? While these questions cannot be answered in detail here, few important points are presented emphasizing that ICTs do not function in a societal vacuum. The type of access to ICTs that the poor need is not that which only enables them to be like others in using ICTs. They, much more than other sectors of society, have an increasing need to effectively manage their lives, and community-compatible ICTs can be employed for this purpose.
Knowledge Management
Authors: Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

Knowledge is an important organizational resource. Unlike other inert organizational resources, the application of existing knowledge has the potential to generate new knowledge. Not only can knowledge be replenished in use, it can also be combined and recombined to generate new knowledge. Once created, knowledge can be articulated, shared, stored and re-contextualized to yield options for the future. For all of these reasons, knowledge has the potential to be applied across time and space to yield increasing returns (Garud & Kumaraswamy, 2005). The strategic management of organizational knowledge is a key factor that can help organizations to sustain competitive advantage in volatile environments. Organizations are turning to knowledge management initiatives and technologies to leverage their knowledge resources. Knowledge management can be defined as a systemic and organizationally specified process for acquiring, organizing, and communicating knowledge of employees so that other employees may make use of it to be more effective and productive in their work (Kankanhalli et al., 2005). Knowledge management is also important in inter-organizational relationships. Inter-organizational relationships have been recognized to provide two distinct potential benefits: short-term operational efficiency and longer-term new knowledge creation. For example, the need for continual value innovation is driving supply chains to evolve from a pure transactional focus to leveraging inter-organizational partnerships for sharing information and, ultimately, market knowledge creation. Supply chain partners are engaging in interlinked processes that enable rich (broad-ranging, high quality, and privileged) information sharing, and building information technology infrastructures that allow them to process information obtained from their partners to create new knowledge (Malhotra et al., 2005).
A theory of Semantics Based on Old Arabic
Authors: Adi Tom
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we show how we derived a universal theory of semantics. Then we discuss the discovery’s impact on automated learning and text analysis. Using induction, we derive general principles from some observations on word meanings in Old Arabic passages called muhkam. Muhkam means that the meaning is made perfectly clear. We find that the 32 sounds of Arabic are signs that refer to abstract objects generated from two symmetry pairs and a three-element set. We show that word roots are structured signs referring to structured abstract objects. Arabic roots and their interpretations and reinterpretations form an abstract set of concepts that can be used as cognitive tools over which any language can render reality. We realized this in a software system we called Readware which performs automated text exploration and analysis in English, German and French, on and off the internet.
Vision Based 3D Tracking and Pose Estimation for Mixed Reality
Authors: Fua Pascal , Lepetit Vincent
Published: May 2011

Mixed Reality applications require accurate knowledge of the relative positions of the camera and the scene. When either of them moves, this means keeping track in real-time of all six degrees of freedom that define the camera position and orientation relative to the scene, or, equivalently, the 3D displacement of an object relative to the camera. Many technologies have been tried to achieve this goal. However, Computer Vision is the only one that has the potential to yield non-invasive, accurate and low-cost solutions to this problem, provided that one is willing to invest the effort required to develop sufficiently robust algorithms. In this chapter, we therefore discuss some of the most promising approaches, their strengths, and their weaknesses.
Representing and Processing Screen Space in Augmented Reality
Authors: Bell Blaine , Feiner Steven
Published: May 2011

View management involves computing what a user sees within a 3D environment when it is projected onto a display screen. Doing this interactively to create effectively laid out user interfaces for augmented reality, virtual reality, or any other kind of 3D user interface, requires representing and processing screen space. In this chapter, we describe how to compute a 2D screen-space representation that corresponds to the visible portions of the projections of 3D objects on the screen. We describe in detail two visible-surface–determination algorithms that are used to generate these representations: one based on a Binary-Space Partitioning tree, and one based on a hardware accelerated z-buffer and object buffer. We compare the performance and accuracy tradeoffs of these algorithms, and present examples of how to use our representation to satisfy visibility constraints that avoid unwanted occlusions, making it possible to label and annotate objects in 3D environments.
Exploring Intellectual Capital Concept in Strategic Management Research
Authors: Carlucci D.
Published: May 2011

This chapter analyses the concept of intellectual capital in strategic management research. It offers a comprehensive view of the key pillar concepts formulated, in the last twenty years, in the strategic management literature grounding intellectual capital (IC) construct and related components. In the last years, IC has emerged as a key concept for the identification and assessment of company’s intangible assets and knowledge resources. In this chapter it is argued that IC is an umbrella concept for understanding and integrating four fundamental categories of firm’s resources: human capital, social capital, structural capital, and stakeholder capital. The authors believe that a clear understanding of the IC concept provides benefits for both theoretical and practical purposes. In order to develop a theory and/or theoretical implications about the role and the relevance of IC, it is necessary a clear understanding of the concept, which represents the fundamental unit and share of analysis.
The GALILEI Platform
Authors: Francq Pascal
Published: May 2011

For a few years, social software has appeared on the Internet to challenge the problem of handling the mass of information available. In this chapter, we present the GALILEI platform using social browsing to build communities of interests where relevant information and expertise are shared. The users are described in terms of profiles, with each profile corresponding to one specific area of interest. While browsing, users’ profiles are computed on the basis of both the content of the consulted documents and the relevance assessments from the profiles. These profiles are then grouped into communities, which allows documents of interest to be shared among members of a same community and experts to be identified.
Making Government Policies for Education Possible by Means of Open Source Technology
Authors: Castilho Marcos , Sunye Marcos S. , Weingaerter Daniel , de Bona Luis C.E. , Silva Fabiano. , Direne Alexandre , García Laura
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we describe the products and services offered by the Department of Computer Science of the Federal University of Paraná within the scope of the Paraná Digital project. The department has designed laboratories with Internet access for 2,100 public schools of the state, with innovative technology through an environment entirely based upon free software tools, centralized management as well as continuous maintenance, and betterment of the services offered. We place special emphasis on our strategies, aiming at contributing to the adoption of such strategies in contexts relatively similar to ours, with which a parallel may be drawn concerning the hypothesis situation of the present project.
The Role of Gender in E-Commerce Adoption
Authors: MacGregor Robert , Vrazalic Lejla
Published: May 2011

The key aim of the study presented in this book is to determine how SMEs located in regional areas are going about e-commerce adoption. The study was undertaken over a period of three years in three highly developed nations all belonging to the OECD and with comparable per capita GDPs and levels of Internet penetration. These included Sweden, Australia, and the USA. In each country, one regional area was surveyed—Varmland (Sweden), Illawarra (Australia), and Salt Lake City (USA).
Towards Secure E-Government
Authors: Mitrakas Andreas , Hengeveld Pim , Polemi Despina , Gamper Johann
Published: May 2011

Secure eGovernment has emerged as a critical goal for public administrations across the world. While eGovernment services bring the promise of efficient on line services, closer to its intended beneficiaries, being citizens, organizations and other public administration units, new challenges pose potential threats. This book presents the views of academics and layman from EU, USA and China on pertinent eGovernment issues. The emphasis is on the evolution of web services and security technologies as a plausible technology upon which eGovernment services can be based. The chapters of this book represent concepts that have been presented in the framework of the eMayor project. This chapter addresses some of the basic concepts and objectives of this book and introduces the reader in the secure eGovernment web services.
Building Innovative, Secure, and Interoperable E-Government Services
Authors: Kaliontzoglou A. , Karantjias T. , Polemi D.
Published: May 2011

Research into initiatives worldwide shows that although some of the legal and organizational barriers for the adoption of new technologies in e-government have been lifted, there are still not many implementations of actual e-government services that have been designed based on a common and systematic approach. The most prevailing requirements for e-government services, interoperability and security, pose major challenges to e-government architects and it is now being slowly understood that Web Services in combination with Public Key Infrastructures may provide the necessary solutions. In this context, this paper presents three innovative e-government services based on these technologies, fo-cusing on their security and interoperability aspects. The goal of the paper is to demonstrate the services’ specifications and use cases so that they may act as ex-amples for further research and development.
A Bayesian Belief Network Approach for Modeling Complex Domains
Authors: Daniel Ben K. , Zapata-Rivera Juan-Diego , McCalla Gordon I.
Published: May 2011

Bayesian belief networks (BBNs) are increasingly used for understanding and simulating computational models in many domains. Though BBN techniques are elegant ways of capturing uncertainties, knowledge engineering effort required to create and initialize the network has prevented many researchers from using them. Even though the structure of the network and its conditional & initial probabilities could be learned from data, data is not always available or it is too costly to obtain. In addition, current algorithms that can be used to learn relationships among variables, initial and conditional probabilities from data are often complex and cumbersome to employ. Qualitative-based approaches applied to the creation of graphical models can be used to create initial computational models that can help researchers analyze complex problems and provide guidance and support for decision-making. Initial BBN models can be refined once appropriate data is obtained. This chapter extends the use of BBNs to help experts make sense of complex social systems (e.g., social capital in virtual learning communities) using a Bayesian model as an interactive simulation tool. Scenarios are used to find out whether the model is consistent with the expert’s beliefs. The sensitivity analysis was conducted to help explain how the model reacted to different sets of evidence. Currently, we are in the process of refining the initial probability values presented in the model using empirical data and developing more authentic scenarios to further validate the model.
The Transformation of the Distribution Process in the Airline Industry Empowered by Information and Communication Technology
Authors: Merten Patrick S.
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews the historical evolution of the airline market and its first-generation airline reservation and distribution systems. The development and diffusion of computer reservation systems (CRS) and global distribution systems (GDS) is discussed extensively in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of business in the 2000s. Based on this evaluation, the influence of modern information and communication technology (ICT) on the airline distribution system environment is discussed. The traditional distribution chain has been transformed into an electronic multi-channel distribution environment. This (r)evolution of the airline market is analysed for the different market participant groups, as the competitive and cooperative situation increases in this cross-influence network industry.
Repairing the Broken Information Technology Department
Authors: Trommels Glenn
Published: May 2011

After 13 years of IT experience in private enterprise, taking over the City of Rockford’s IT Department proved to be a shocking experience. The state of the city’s IT organization, processes, technology, network security practices, customer service practices, and organizational relationships were all examples of industry “worst practices”. This case study documents the initial state of the IT Department as the author found it and the steps taken to turn it into a responsive, value-adding organization. The study examines all aspects of the process including:• Communication and relationship building with other city departments;• Taking ownership and responsibility for IT strategy and decision making;• Centralizing IT purchases;• Establishing hardware and software standards;• Establishing a centralized help desk;• Technology assessment and improvements; and• IT process improvements.
Three-Point Service-Oriented Design and Modeling Methodology for Web Services Composition
Authors: Gao Xiang , Chung Jen-Yao
Published: May 2011

In this chapter we present a three-point service-oriented conceptual design and modeling methodology for Web-service composition based on the object-oriented research results in model driven, existence dependency relation, object-oriented development (MERODE) method. Thus, on the concept level, we first clarify the research issue on the semantic consistency of Web-services composition, and on the logic level, we precisely define and demonstrate the semantic consistency of Webservices composition using some standard schemes of an order-handling system. Afterward, we establish a service model using formal techniques, and define the formal semantics of services interactions and formal historical semantic conformances within Web-services interactions and composition on the conceptual system level. These aspects of research results can effectively and significantly tackle one big inhibitor of Web-services adoption: the lack of semantic consistency in business processes within Web-services interactions and composition.
Conceptual Model Driven Software Development (CMDSD) as a Catalyst Methodology for Building Sound Semantic Web Frameworks
Authors: Biskup Thomas , Heyer Nils , Gómez Jorge Marx
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces Hyperservices as a unified application model for Semantic Web frameworks, and proposes Conceptual Model-Driven Software Development as a means of easy adoption to them. Hyperservices are based on agent societies, provided with structured information by the Semantic Web, and using Web services as a collaboration and communication interface. Afterwards, the WASP model is proposed as a framework for implementing Hyperservices, also adding personalization rules to modify the agents’ perception as well as the HIVE Architecture as Semantic Information Server infrastructure within the WASP framework. For easier adoption of these new models, Conceptual Model-Driven Software Development is proposed. It separates the conceptual aspects from the technical details by automatically generating executable code from models while the implementation details are hidden to the end user, the service developer.
Enhancing E-Business on the Semantic Web through Automatic Multimedia Representation
Authors: Rege Manjeet , Dong Ming , Fotouhi Farshad
Published: May 2011

With the evolution of the next generation Web—the Semantic Web—e-business can be expected to grow into a more collaborative effort in which businesses compete with each other by collaborating to provide the best product to a customer. Electronic collaboration involves data interchange with multimedia data being one of them. Digital multimedia data in various formats have increased tremendously in recent years on the Internet. An automated process that can represent multimedia data in a meaningful way for the Semantic Web is highly desired. In this chapter, we propose an automatic multimedia representation system for the Semantic Web. The proposed system learns a statistical model based on the domain specific training data and performs automatic semantic annotation of multimedia data using eXtensible Markup Language (XML) techniques. We demonstrate the advantage of annotating multimedia data using XML over the traditional keyword based approaches and discuss how it can help e-business.