bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
E-Mail, Web Service and Cryptography
Authors: Al-Hamdani Wasim A
Published: September 2010

Cryptography is the study and practice of protecting information and has been used since ancient times in many different shapes and forms to protect messages from being intercepted. However, since 1976, when data encryption was selected as an official Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) for the United States, cryptography has gained large attention and a great amount of application and use. Furthermore, cryptography started to be part of protected public communication when e-mail became commonly used by the public. There are many electronic services. Some are based on web interaction and others are used as independent servers, called e-mail hosting services, which is an Internet hosting service that runs e-mail servers. Encrypting e-mail messages as they traverse the Internet is not the only reason to understand or use various cryptographic methods. Every time one checks his/her e-mail, the password is being sent over the wire. Many Internet service providers or corporate environments use no encryption on their mail servers and the passwords used to check mail are submitted to the network in clear text (with no encryption). When a password is put into clear text on a wire, it can easily be intercepted. Encrypting email will keep all but the most dedicated hackers from intercepting and reading a private communications. Using a personal email certificate one can digitally sign an email so that recipients can verify that it’s really from the sender as well as encrypt the messages so that only the intended recipients can view it. Web service is defined as “a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network” and e-mail is “communicate electronically on the computer”. This chapter focus on introduce three topics: E-mail structure and organization, web service types, their organization and cryptography algorithms which integrated in the E-mail and web services to provide high level of security. The main issue in this article is to build the general foundation through Definitions, history, cryptography algorithms symmetric and asymmetric, hash algorithms, digital signature, suite B and general principle to introduce the use of cryptography in the E-mailand web service
Applied Cryptography in E-mail Services and Web Services
Authors: Chen Lei , Hu Wen-Chen , Yang Ming , Zhang Lei
Published: September 2010

E-mail services are the method of sending and receiving electronic messages over communication networks. Web services on the other hand provide a channel of accessing interlinked hypermeida via the World Wide Web. As these two methods of network communications turn into the most popular services over the Internet, applied cryptography and secure authentication protocols become indispensable in securing confidential data over public networks. In this chapter, we first review a number of cryptographic ciphers widely used in secure communication protocols. We then discuss and compare the popular trust system Web of Trust, the certificate standard X.509, and the standard for public key systems Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Two secure e-mail standards, OpenPGP and S/MIME, are examined and compared. The de facto standard cryptographic protocol for e-commerce, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) / Transport Layer Security (TLS), and XML Security Standards for secure web services are also discussed.
Applied Cryptography in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Kar Dulal C. , Ngo Hung L. , Mulkey Clifton J.
Published: September 2010

It is challenging to secure a wireless sensor network (WSN) because of its use of inexpensive sensor nodes of very limited processing capability, memory capacity, and battery life that preclude using traditional security solutions. Due to perceived excessive computational and architectural overhead, public key algorithms are altogether avoided for WSNs. Currently security in WSNs is provided using only symmetric key cryptography, but it requires keys to be embedded in sensor nodes before deployment and the entire network has to go through a key establishment phase after deployment. Accordingly, in this chapter, we summarize, discuss, and evaluate recent results reported in literature on sensor network security protocols such as for key establishment, random key pre-distribution, data confidentiality, and broadcast authentication. In addition, we discuss promising research results in public key cryptography for WSNs, particularly related to elliptic curve cryptography and its application for identity based encryption.
Secure Electronic Voting with Cryptography
Authors: Wang Xunhua , Grove Ralph , Heydari M. Hossain
Published: September 2010

In recent years, computer and network-based voting technologies have been gradually adopted for various elections. However, due to the fragile nature of electronic ballots and voting software, computer voting has posed serious security challenges. This chapter studies the security of computer voting and focuses on a cryptographic solution based on mix-nets. Like traditional voting systems, mix-net-based computer voting provides voter privacy and prevents vote selling/buying and vote coercion. Unlike traditional voting systems, mix-net-based computer voting has several additional advantages: 1) it offers vote verifiability, allowing individual voters to directly verify whether their votes have been counted and counted correctly; 2) it allows voters to check the behavior of potentially malicious computer voting machines and thus does not require voters to blindly trust computer voting machines. In this chapter, we give the full details of the building blocks for the mix-net-based computer voting scheme, including semantically secure encryption, threshold decryption, mix-net, and robust mix-net. Future research directions on secure electronic voting are also discussed.
Biometric Security in the E-World
Authors: Sharma Kunal , Singh A.J.
Published: September 2010

The rising number of networked computers and the evolution of the WWW have witnessed the emergence of an E-World where the users are often referred to as e-people. In the new e-world, the evolution of WWW and Internet applications has become a focal point to the question of sustainable competitive advantage (Brennan & Johnson,2001).The increase in information access terminals along with the growing use of information sensitive applications such as e-commerce, e-learning, e-banking and e-healthcare have generated a real requirement of reliable, easy to use, and generally acceptable control methods for confidential and vital information. On the other hand, the necessity for privacy must be balanced with security requirements for the advantage of the general public. Current global events have shown the significance to provide the police, airport area, and other exposed area, new reliable component security tools such as biometrics. Access to systems that need security from unauthorized access is generally restricted by requesting the user to confirm her identity and to authenticate. Payment systems are undergoing radical changes stirred largely by technical advancement such as distributed network technology, real-time processing and online consumers’ inclination to use e-banking interfaces making the study of biometrics even more important in this new E-World.
Design Principles for E-Government Architectures
Authors: Sandoz Alain
Published: September 2010

This chapter describes a holistic approach for the design of e-government platforms. It defines principles for architecting a system which must sustain the entire e-government activity of a mid-level public authority (Geneva). The four principles are: Legality, Responsibility, Transparency, and Symmetry. The principles speak to policymakers and to users. They also lead to usable and coherent architectural representations at all levels of responsibility of a project, i.e. the client, the designer and the builder. The approach resulted in deploying multipartite, distributed public services, including legal delegation of roles and the outsourcing of non mandatory tasks through PPP on an e-Government platform that will support a threefold increase in services yearly until 2012. In this sense, as well as in its daily operation, the system is a success.
Building a Mutual Assistance Community for Elderly People
Authors: Sun Hong , De Florio Vincenzo , Gui Ning , Blondia Chris
Published: September 2010

Efficient and cost-effective solutions are needed to meet the demands for services required by an ever increasing number of users. We discuss the characteristics of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) as a new approach that promises to address the needs of elderly people. We propose combining social aspects with technology to build a community of mutual care which, among other things, can serve as a platform to effectively organize the social resources, promote social connection, and introduce intergenerational activities. Our research analyzes the characteristics of a mutual assistance community to help elderly people age well. The needed technologies are investigated, challenges of building such a community are reviewed, and the design of some prototypic solutions and preliminary research on organizing services inside the community are discussed.
Telenursing in Aged-Care
Authors: Edirippulige Sisira , Marasinghe Rohana
Published: September 2010

The rapidly growing aged population is challenging conventional methods of care provision. Global ageing, combined with other challenges, has compelled health systems to explore new methods for providing health care. Telenursing, providing nursing care at a distance using new technologies, is identified as one alternative. The lack of evidence for the effectiveness of telenursing in aged care is a drawback for its wider use. The aim of this chapter is to review the evidence of randomised controlled trials (RCT) in geriatric telenursing practices. We performed a systematic literature review using the Ovid Medline and Pubmed databases on telenursing. A total of 62 articles were retrieved and 18 studies were selected for comprehensive analysis. The review found that the RCTs were conducted in different areas of geriatric telenursing and various information and communication technologies (ICT) were used in the interventions. Although robust evidence, based on RCTs in aged care telenursing is yet to emerge, the majority of current studies suggest that telenursing is an effective tool.
Health Insurance Systems as Models for Managing the Increasing Elderly Populations of Japan and Korea
Authors: Jeong Seungwon , Inoue Yusuke
Published: September 2010

This chapter looks into the systems and institutions for the elderly population covered by long-term care insurance in Japan and the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea). It shall discuss the historical changes in policies in these two nations. The Health Care and Welfare Complex elements that make up a single business model for the Health Care and Social Services of the aged in Japan and Korea will also be discussed in this paper. The management environment for medical facilities greatly changed with adjustments in the population structure and the social environment, and this resulted in serious competition between medical facilities for patients. Medical facilities in Japan and Korea showed a rapid increase in comprehensive medical and welfare management. Consequently, there were provisions in both health care and social services through affiliation, chain affiliation and multiplication, before and after the enforcement of long-term care insurance.
Assistive Technologies as Aids to Family Caregivers in Taiwan
Authors: Wang Szu-Yao (Zoe)
Published: September 2010

The social structure in Taiwan has changed dramatically in the last twenty years. An increasing population of people aged over 65, a decreasing birth rate and rising numbers of women entering the workforce have led to the need for more aged care services. Research has demonstrated that nursing home placement of older adults in need of advanced care is the most cost effective option for family caregivers. However, filial piety, which entails looking after older parents at home, is one of the core tenets of Chinese society. Placing older parents into nursing homes can lead to conflicts that are detrimental to adult children psychologically. Moreover, the burden of caregiving does not necessarily end for the family once they have placed their parent(s) into nursing homes. It can continue to evoke deep emotional responses in some former family caregivers. This chapter draws on findings from two case studies to illustrate the dilemmas facing Taiwanese families who must cope with changing social conditions and customary filial expectations. The use of assistive technologies as solutions to these dilemmas is outlined. These technologies are argued to be a cost effective way to assist adult caregivers, their charges, and staff in nursing homes. Their use may apply to other Asian countries with similar cultural beliefs and values.
A Component-Based 3D Geographic Simulation Framework and its Integration with a Legacy GIS
Authors: Guo Zhen-Sheng , Tanaka Yuzuru
Published: September 2010

There is an increasing demand for 3D geographic simulation systems. Most systems currently available are closed and based on fixed architectures. Some systems allow us to develop and customize a 3D geographic simulation system, but this usually requires the writing of extensive program code. Especially in 3D geo-disaster simulations, for example, we need to dynamically integrate 2D legacy GIS with 3D geographic simulation systems in order to investigate the details about the damaged areas and the consequences of the disasters. The authors propose a component-based application framework for 3D geographic simulation that can integrate a legacy 2D GIS with geographic simulation systems in a 3D visual environment. Their framework provides a set of 3D visual components required for the development of a new interactive 3D visual geographic simulation. In their framework, component integrators can construct 3D geographic simulation systems by composing the 3D visual components. Moreover, the authors’ integration framework provides two fundamental integration mechanisms, view integration and query integration mechanisms, to integrate it with legacy 2D systems. The view integration function maps the 2D rendering of a legacy 2D GIS onto the surface of the 3D geography used in a 3D visual geographical simulator, and then dispatches every event on the geographic surface to the original 2D GIS. The query integration automatically converts each 3D simulation result that is shown as a set of highlighted regions on the surface of the geography to the corresponding regional query to the 2D GIS. The proposed framework is based on their 3D meme media architecture in which components are represented as meme media objects, and their interoperation is defined by slot connections between them. As a result, their framework enables users to compose 3D geographic simulation systems and to integrate a legacy 2D GIS with a 3D geographic simulation system simply by composing display objects in a 3D visual environment.
Enhancing Video Viewing Experience
Authors: Takashima Akio
Published: September 2010

In this study, the authors have considered video viewing style to be a type of knowledge medium. Video viewing styles, which are considered to be habitual behaviors during video viewing, are used to externalize one’s viewing skills or know-how about video viewing; they allow users to experience videos through these skills. In order to allow users to experience videos in various viewing styles, the authors have developed a system called the video viewing experience reproducer (VVER), which determines the user’s viewing styles and reuses them. To determine these styles, the system extracts associations between the user’s manipulation of videos and the low-level features of these videos. In this chapter, the authors describe the notion of reusing the video viewing styles and composing them. After discussing examples of utilizing this concept, preliminary user studies have been reported.
Software Agents for Human Interaction in Social Networks
Authors: Erfurth Christian , Schau Volkmar
Published: September 2010

Social networks like Facebook or MySpace have become very popular in recent years. The number of users visiting these networks on a regular basis is already very high and still increasing. The integration of users into such networks is typically achieved via web interfaces. In addition, modern mobile devices have been developed to support the “reachable everywhere” mentality. They feature up-to-date communication and web interfaces, offering the capacities of small computer systems. By combining these capacities with so-called mobile software agents, a seamless integration of users in on-line communities can be reached. This chapter highlights the potential of software agents for sophisticated interaction in ubiquitous, mobile applications by utilizing the example of social networks as a practical scenario.
You Had to be There
Authors: O’Neill Kevin , Guloy Sheryl
Published: September 2010

This chapter makes the case that to fully realize the potential of telementoring for supporting student learning in P-12 schools, teachers and program developers should invest effort in a practice that they traditionally have not – routine observations of how telementoring programs play out in classrooms. Using observational data from a pilot program for secondary social studies called “Compassionate Canada?” we illustrate how classroom observations can enable program designers to ask better questions about how a program is working, and why. We also discuss contributions that classroom observations may enable teacher to make to program refinement and professional development.
The Transformative Capacity of Telementoring on Self-efficacy Beliefs
Authors: Scigliano Deborah A.
Published: September 2010

This chapter focuses on the intentional design of telementoring projects to enhance self-efficacy beliefs. The emphasis is on a pragmatic approach to design. Self-efficacy is defined and its importance is detailed. Intentional design which focuses upon addressing the four influences on efficacy of mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological state is advocated. A design-based drama telementoring research study which employed the best practices of self-efficacy and telementoring research is examined. Capacity, illustrative vignettes, and design implications for each of the four influences on self-efficacy are discussed.
Telementoring in Teacher Education
Authors: Watson Sandy White
Published: September 2010

This research study involved the telementoring of pre-service teachers by practicing teachers in the fall semester of 2005 and arose out of a need expressed by education students for more contact with practicing teachers that would not require large time and financial commitments. Twelve pre-service education students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) and 17 practicing K-12 teachers from four states participated. Pre- and post- reflections completed by student participants, email dialogues between pre- and in-service teacher participants, and pre-service student participant email reflections following each dialogue exchange were analyzed to gather project effectiveness data. Results revealed highly positive experiences that provided student participants a unique and practical glimpse of the daily lives of teachers and what teaching is “really like.”
Virtual Mentoring
Authors: Peters Thomas T. , Dew Terrie R.
Published: September 2010

In this chapter mentoring is defined as a sustained relationship between reflective practitioners. The purpose of this relationship is to build capacity to manage the complex classroom environment in ways that bring about instructional improvements. Where there is a difference in experience between these practitioners, what matters for the mentor’s effectiveness is expertise with applying reflective practices. Reflective practices within a virtual (distance) mentoring setting are identified and explored. Developing trust from a distance and understanding representational preferences are essential virtual mentoring practices. These practices were developed as ways to provide ongoing support to field-based instructional coaches charged with improving mathematics and science instruction in South Carolina middle schools. They are applicable in any P-12 classroom mentoring setting.
Support Interoperability and Reusability of Emerging Forms of Assessment Using IMS LD and IMS QTI
Authors: Miao Yongwu , Boon Jo , van der Klink Marcel , Sloep Peter , Koper Rob
Published: September 2010

Emerging forms of assessment (e.g., self-/peer assessment and 360 degree assessment) involve multiple phases and multiple roles/persons, which are process-oriented assessment. IMS Question and Test Interoperability (QTI) is an open technical specification for task-oriented assessment, which has insufficient expressiveness to specify emerging forms of assessment. Meanwhile, existing software tools supporting emerging forms of assessment lack interoperability and reusability. In this chapter, the authors claim that a combined use of QTI and IMS Learning Design (LD) is able to support interoperability and reusability of emerging forms of assessment. In order to support this claim, they analyze the characteristics of four emerging forms of assessment from the perspective of process technologies and present the method to specify emerging assessment forms using QTI and LD. Furthermore, the authors present the difficulties and problems that they encountered when modeling emerging assessment forms and propose possible solutions to solve the problems.
Interoperable Assessment Based on Competency Modelling
Authors: Sitthisak Onjira , Gilbert Lester
Published: September 2010

The aim of this chapter is to illustrate some affordances of machine-processable competency statements. Such competency statements are supported by ontologies and taxonomies of competency. Machine processing can offer interoperable and reusable resources and applications that are pedagogically effective for e-learning and assessment. A competency statement which can be read, processed, and interpreted by machine contributes to the automatic generation of questions and offers a semantic structure using the Web Ontology Language (OWL) to express competencies for further processing. The generated questions are expressed in the IMS Question and Test Interoperability specification (IMS QTI) to enable interoperability.
Implementing Distributed Architecture of Online Assessment Tools Based on IMS QTI ver.2
Authors: Tomberg Vladimir , Laanpere Mart
Published: September 2010

This chapter addresses the decade of development and state of the art in the domain of online testing of learning outcomes. The authors focus on the changes and implementation scenarios of the latest versions of IMS QTI – the major technical specification that has became the de facto standard in the domain. Standardization of content and applications used for online testing is partly driven by the paradigm shifts that are taking place in the fields of pedagogy and Web technology. This chapter pays a special attention to the increasing trend of using Web 2.0 technology in education, especially Mash-up Personal Learning Environments and their impact on the architectural decisions while developing the next generation online assessment tools.
Interoperability Issues for Systems Managing Competency Information
Authors: Blandin Bernard , Frank Geoffrey , Laughton Simone , Hirata Kenji
Published: September 2010

This chapter has four sections. The first one describes how the needs for interoperability in exchanging competency information have been addressed so far. The second part adopts a “Digital Services Supply Chain” approach and discusses the issues related to the exchange of competency information across systems regarding this approach. The third part is the core part of this chapter. It describes the 4 levels of the proposed approach: the Conceptual Reference Model (CRM), the Semantic Model, the Information Model and the Data Model. The final section presents the research directions currently envisaged, and the research programme needed to make the proposed approach operational.
A Standard-Based Framework to Support Personalisation, Adaptation, and Interoperability in Inclusive Learning Scenarios
Authors: Santos O.C. , Boticario J.G. , Raffenne E. , Granado J. , Rodriguez-Ascaso A. , Gutierrez y Restrepo E.
Published: September 2010

This chapter introduces a standards-based and adaptive framework whose main objective is to adapt user interfaces, content and learning environment to learners’ needs, including their functional diversity issues (i.e., disabilities). The framework is intended to be general (e.g., two different learning management systems and two large pilot sites are being considered) and to that end it is implemented in terms of an open architecture, which aims at providing services for Accessible Lifelong Learning. The chapter focuses on accessibility and adaptation issues, and their interoperability requirements. The covered topics are the required standards, interoperability requirements of the architecture, user model, recommender system, and their application to the end-user services that are being implemented at UNED University, one of the large pilot sites of the EU4ALL European project. Some of the challenges and solutions provided are discussed as well as the future work of related research areas.
E-Learning Standards
Authors: Marshall Stephen
Published: September 2010

Over the past decade e-learning standards have attracted substantial and growing attention from practitioners, institutions and governments. Millions of dollars are being invested in a process of standardization that, while aimed at supporting e-learning, seems to have neglected pedagogy and the need to engage with practitioners who are not technology specialists. In parallel, a culture of quality assurance has developed internationally within higher education resulting in quality frameworks that are driven by external compliance agendas rather than directly influencing the quality of the student and teacher experience of education. The e-learning Maturity Model provides a standard that guides professionals and organizations in assessing their e-learning capability, but also complements this with quality enhancement and feasibility elements that support reflection, prioritization of resources and guide personal and organizational development of e-learning.
Enhancing Digital Repositories with Learning Object Metadata
Authors: Alexopoulos Andreas D. , Solomou Georgia D. , Koutsomitropoulos Dimitrios A. , Papatheodorou Theodore
Published: September 2010

In this chapter the authors present the basic characteristics about some existing educational metadata schemata and application profiles. They focus on the widely adopted IEEE LOM standard and give a brief analysis of its structure. Having in mind the utilization of educational metadata schemata by digital repositories preserving educational and research resources, they concentrate on a considerably popular system for this reason, DSpace. The authors want to show how the IEEE LOM metadata set can be incorporated in the default DSpace’s qualified Dublin Core metadata schema, introducing enhancements to the existing University of Patras live installation. For this reason, they document a potential LOM to Dublin Core metadata mapping and reveal possible gains from such an attempt. Further, they propose an ontological model for the repository’s metadata that takes also into account the educational characteristics of resources. In this way, they show how a semantic level of interoperability between educational applications can be achieved.
Localising E-Learning Websites in the Semantic Web Era
Authors: Kanellopoulos Dimitris
Published: September 2010

Recently, ontologies have been applied for localisation of e-learning content in order to promote existing learning services to semantic-aware and intelligent localisation services. This chapter presents a localisation-aware semantic e-learning approach to integrate multilingual content provision, learning process and learner personality in an integrated semantic e-learning framework. The author proposes an architecture for supporting localisation of e-learning content and describes a basis for further development of automatic localisation services that will be able to reason on top of such an explicit infrastructure.
Semantic Mapping between LOM – SCORM Content Package and MPEG-7 Concepts
Authors: Vagiati Varvara
Published: September 2010

This chapter presents the current status of the efforts to harmonize MPEG-7 and SCORM Content Package (including the LOM description metadata, part of SCORM). In particular a model for the interoperability between these standards is developed. The MPEG-7 provides a standardized set of technologies for describing multimedia content, while SCORM is a collection of specifications for developing, organizing and delivering instructional content.The proposed model concerns the semantic mapping between the different elements of these standards, which are created to satisfy the specific needs of different communities. The followed approach is based on the main principles and procedures for metadata interoperability, such as on the crosswalking and mapping techniques. Moreover some empirical remarks conclude the mapping process.
Interoperability of Web-Based Education Systems
Authors: Hughson Natalia I.
Published: September 2010

The global society is becoming a reality. Inevitably this leads onto questions around the generation and exploitation of knowledge. Education systems grow to be more complex and interdependent. The Web makes a large number of learning resources within reach of anyone with Internet access. However, many valuable resources are difficult to use due to the lack of interoperability among various education systems. In this chapter, the fundamental principles of interoperability of complex and dynamic global education system are presented. The contemporary approaches to systems theory, entropy and autopoietic theory, social system theory, sociocybernetics, the strengths and limitations of these approaches, and their potential applications in education are examined. The nature of educational systems can be linked to biological concepts. When education principles and cybernetics are combined, the resulting theory turns on scientific principles instead of philosophical speculations. Proper utilization of such principles provides methodology that increases the effectiveness of web-based education systems.
Learner Management Systems and Environments, Implications for Pedagogy and Applications to Resource Poor Environments
Authors: Ekúndayò Olúgbémiga T. , Tuluri Francis
Published: September 2010

Knowledge management is essential for realizing that knowledge is power, and power is explored by the learner for meeting existing demands and challenges. Advances in technology, education and learning are therefore linked to using technology. Education is the pathway to productivity, thus the learner is the agent and technology the medium. Among others, e-Learning will play a dominant role in shaping learner management systems and associated learning environments. This chapter addresses the learner and learning management describing some of its implications for pedagogy. It then describes and proposes some implications of the application of these systems for development in resource poor environments. It is divided into three main sections. The first section describes contemporary definitions of LMS and its concepts. It proposes a comprehensive definition of LMS and describes possible future directions of these definitions as a concept in change. The second section describes various tools and classifies them according to current applications in the industry. It describes in principle, the current cutting edge technologies that are being used in the area and how these were developed. It then proposes a Model Structure for Learner Management Systems. It describes and compares classical, e-based and blended learning pedagogy, A third section discusses some current concepts and methodologies in research, pedagogy and LMS, proposing some defining questions for the three areas as a group. The third section first defines and describes resource poor environments. It then highlights and discusses some need areas in resource poor settings. Further, it describes and discusses some of the implications of LMS technology and applications to resource poor settings, with a focus on it’s relevance and validity for specific resource poor environments. Following this discussion, the section describes some applications and limitations of LMS approaches and blended learning in resource poor environments. Finally, it describes some applications and limitations of LMS and blended learning technology in resource poor environments.
Intra-Class Threshold Selection in Face Space Using Set Estimation Technique
Authors: Datta Madhura , Murthy C. A.
Published: September 2010

Most of the conventional face recognition algorithms are dissimilarity based, and for the sake of open and closed set classification one needs to put a proper threshold on the dissimilarity value. On the basis of the decision threshold, a biometric recognition system should be in a position to accept the query image as client or reject him as imposter. However, the selection of proper threshold of a given class in a dataset is an open question, as it is related to the difficulty levels dictated in face recognition problems. In this chapter, the authors have introduced a novel thresholding technique for a real life scenario where the query face image may not be present in the training database, i.e. often referred by the biometric researchers as the open test identification. The theoretical basis of the thresholding technique and its corresponding verification on several datasets has been successfully demonstrated in the article. The proposed threshold selection is based on statistical method of set estimation and is guided by minimal spanning tree. It has been found that the proposed technique performs better than the ROC curve based threshold selection mechanism.
DNA Computing
Authors: Song Tao , Wang Xun , Wang Shudong , Jiang Yun
Published: September 2010

DNA computing is widely accepted as a new computing framework all over the world. In this chapter, the background of DNA computing is firstly introduced by solving a Hamilton Path problem. Then three research directions are proposed according to the current development of it, including the theoretical framework, practical DNA computing models and DNA encoding. In each part of the three research directions, many recent results are involved. In the theoretical framework, DNA computing is proved to be computationally universal by four formal DNA computing models. In practical DNA computing models, DNA computing is shown to solve NP-complete problems and work well in other fields, such as medical science. In DNA encoding, some DNA codes and encoding methods are introduced to avoid the false positive phenomenon. And they have a final purpose in common: constructing a universal Biomolecular computing model, which is also called as biomolecular computer, to solve intractable problems for electrical computers. Finally, some further research directions are shown in each part for the design of biomolecular computer.
Kansei Database and AR*-Tree for Speeding up the Retrieval
Authors: Feng Yaokai
Published: September 2010

Along with Kansei information being successfully introduced to information retrieval systems, particularly multimedia retrieval systems, many Kansei retrieval systems have been implemented in the past two decades. And, it has become clear that the traditional multimedia retrieval systems using key-words or/and other text information are not enough in many applications, because that they can not deal with sensitive words reflecting user’s subjectivity. In this chapter, Kansei retrieval systems efficiently taking user’s subjectivity into account will be discussed in detail. Like many traditional retrieval systems, Kansei retrieval systems are also based on databases system, which are called Kansei databases. After roughly introducing some existing Kansei retrieval systems is a general flow for designing Kansei retrieval systems. Also, we will discuss how to speed up the Kansei retrieval systems by using multidimensional indexing technologies and you will learn that our proposed multidimensional index structure, Adaptive R*-tree (AR*-tree for short), is more suitable to Kansei retrieval systems than the traditional multidimensional indexing technologies.
Fuzzy Logic for Non-smooth Dynamical Systems
Authors: Mehran Kamyar , Zahawi Bashar , Giaouris Damian
Published: September 2010

Dynamical system theory has proved to be a powerful tool in the analysis and comprehension of a diverse range of problems. Over the past decade, a significant proportion of these systems have been found to contain terms that are non-smooth functions of their arguments. These problems arise in a number of practical systems ranging from electrical circuits to biological systems and even financial markets. It has also been demonstrated that Fuzzy engineering can be effectively employed to identify or even predict an array of uncertainties and chaotic phenomena caused by discontinuities typical of this class of system. This chapter presents a review of the most recent developments concerned with the confluence of these two fields through real-life examples and current advances in research.
Analyses of People’s Perceptions on Sidewalk Environments Combining Factor Analysis and Rough Sets Approach
Authors: Wang Weijie , Wang Wei , Namgung Moon
Published: September 2010

This study investigates the relationship between people’s perceptions of sidewalk environments and their component elements. Participants are asked to judge the selected twenty sidewalk photographs with the rating scales through a psychological survey. Two perception factors including harmoniousness and openness are specified through semantic differential technique by using factor analysis. In the meantime the physical components of sidewalk environments are surveyed in the field survey. Then the rough sets approach is applied to link people’s perception factors and physical components of sidewalk environment. The application of the rough sets approach outputs the most important attributes to people’s perceptions, minimal attribute sets without redundancy, and a series of decision rules that represent the relationships between perceptions and physical components of sidewalk environments. The analytical approach helps to better understand people’s perceptions to sidewalk environments in a small city and then establish a useful and constructive ground of discussion for walking environment design and management.
Kansei’s Physiological Measurement and Its application (1)
Authors: Nomura Shusaku
Published: September 2010

Recent behavioral medicine studies have revealed that various human secretory substances change according to mental states. These substances, the hormones and immune substances show transient increase against mental stress. Therefore it is frequently introduced as an objective index (biomarker) of mental stress. Especially the biomarker which is detectable by human saliva is expected to be a new and practical stress measurement as it can be sampled in less stressful and noninvasive manner unlike blood and urine. In this chapter, the biomarker research, its background, methodology, experiment, and numerical simulation approaches are introduced. Also in the end, it is stated as a possible approach towards a measurement of Kansei.
Kansei’s Physiological Measurement and Its Application (2)
Authors: Handri Santoso , Nomura Shusaku
Published: September 2010

Physiological signals or biosignals are electrical, chemical, or mechanical signals that created by biological events such as a beating heart or a contracting muscle producing signals that can be measured and analyzed. These signals are generated from the metabolic activities of human internal organs. Therefore, in certain conditions, physiological signals have different pattern between healthy and unhealthy individuals. Based on this information, generally, physicians take some action and treat their patients. However, utilizing physiological signals is a new approach in Kansei engineering research fields for coping with human sensitivity. This study focuses on the possibility of physiological signal application in Kansei engineering.
Virtual Worlds
Authors: Oyarzun David , Carretero María del Puy , Ortiz Amalia , García-Alonso Alex
Published: September 2010

This chapter presents an introductory overview of virtual worlds. Its purpose is to give the reader a basic knowledge about what a virtual world is. It also discusses some open issues that, from the author’s point of view, should be taken into account when new virtual worlds, or new applications running over existing virtual worlds, are designed. The chapter provides a general definition of a virtual world, presents a historic review of these systems and describes the main features and elements that they are composed of. The chapter aims to be useful to the non-technical readers in that it shall provide a clearer concept of virtual worlds. In the case of technical readers, it attempts to be a reference for further research.
From E-Commerce to V-Commerce
Authors: Jones Susan
Published: September 2010

This introductory chapter provides an overview of e-commerce marketing focused on history, trends and future predictions for the field – leading into the development and application of virtual worlds and v-commerce. It begins with a discussion of the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. Next is a survey of developments in marketing convergence, as businesses integrate their customer-centric online/offline marketing efforts and databases. The chapter continues with an overview of business-to-business Internet marketing, including the profit strategies businesses employ in the online world. A commentary on the evolution of browsers, portals and search engines is followed by a discussion of social networking’s movement toward a money-making model. To set the stage for the chapters to come, the piece concludes with a preview of what is on the horizon for “v-commerce” – with opportunities and applications that are capturing the imagination of consumers and marketers alike.
Virtual Worlds and the Military
Authors: Ciaramitaro Barbara L. , Jones James
Published: September 2010

The combined military forces of the United States are over 3 million strong; currently command a defense budget of $540 billion with an additional allocation of $306 billion for the Global War on Terror; and has spending power of nearly $14 billion. In addition to the impact this strong military presence has on our country and the world, these numbers underscore the influence the military has on technology trends, tools, and vendor offerings through its acquisition of various technology software and hardware components. One particular area of interest to this publication is the $8 billion that the military spends on virtual training. Additionally, the military spends $4 billion on recruitment efforts which include an increased emphasis on the use of virtual worlds to interest potential new recruits to join one of the military forces. Team Orlando, a joint military branch project that collaborates on training and development efforts, is also focused on finding new and better ways to train its soldiers through virtual worlds and simulation. An idea of Team Orlando’s influence on the virtual world industry is reflected in the $17.5 billion in contracts awarded to vendors in 2009 alone. Intelligence agencies and Homeland Security have also demonstrated an increased interest in, and use of, virtual worlds evident through various requests for research and development proposals issued recently requesting ideas on ways to use virtual worlds for internal training and collaboration. The Intelligence community is also interested in exploring behavior of virtual world inhabitants and relating them to their real world counterparts. Even the CIA has a presence on Second Life®, albeit not for general public use. In total, the influence that the military, intelligence and homeland security agencies have on the virtual world industry is significant and extends the reach of virtual worlds beyond its commercial uses.
Culture-Sensitive Virtual E-Commerce Design with Reference to Female Consumers in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Rambo Khulood , Liu Kecheng
Published: September 2010

Virtual E-Commerce can deliver product information that is similar to the information obtained from direct product examination. Both, interactivity and customer involvement can enhance the entertainment value of the online shopping experience. However, if virtual E-Commerce aims to become a truly global platform for collaboration, then it is vital to keep in mind that consumers’ behaviour is bound by their cultures. This chapter study the factors that demonstrate the positive effect of designers on people’s lives; virtual E-Commerce can contribute to world peace, economic growth is driven by female consumers, and Saudi female e-consumers reluctance to adopt E-Commerce compared to Saudi male e-consumers in spite of the facts that they are both the most financial and shopping savvy in the world. This chapter provides a semiotic diagnosis of the six socio-cultural dimensions that should be considered in the design of virtual E-Commerce targeting the Saudi Arabian female market.
Application of Two-Stage Adaptive Decision Making System Based on Takagi-Sugeno Model for Scenario Selection in Rehabilitation Process
Authors: Brzostowski Krzysztof , Drapala Jaroslaw , Swiatek Jerzy
Published: September 2010

This chapter focuses on selected problems of complex systems identification. The first part of the chapter is devoted to identification problems in general. The tasks of determination of the plant parameters and choice of the best model are given. Then, authors describe problems of complex systems, i.e.: identification with use of limited measurements, global identification and two-stage identification. The last one is presented in details. In order to illustrate proposed methods, an adaptive system with two-stage identification and its application to biomedical problem is presented.