bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Virtual Teams in Practice
Authors: Feland John M.
Published: May 2011

A growing number of enterprises are building virtual teams to assist in crafting new opportunities in the fuzzy front end of the innovation process. Using the tools of design thinking, these creative virtual teams have different management requirements than virtual teams used in the more routine efforts of product development. This chapter uses examples from industry to examine the challenges of managing customer expectations, explore the membership dynamics of virtual teams, and suggest a new framework for assessing the progress of creative virtual teams, concept maturity. An example from the creative virtual team at Synaptics, the Red Dot Award winning Onyx mobile phone concept, is used to delve deeper into these concepts. Finally, trends for the diffusion of creative virtual teams as well as potential challenges in bringing such teams into your organization are investigated.
A Spatial Environment for Design Dialogue
Authors: Leerberg Thomas
Published: May 2011

This chapter offers a spatial concept of the way virtual design team work. It is concerned with two problems that face creative teams today: (1) that the design process is carried out through a diverse range of digital media, which are not or only poorly integrated and (2) that the digital tools used by virtual teams are not designed for virtual team work but used in a very pragmatic way, which often limits the creative efficiency. The chapter argues that space has a structure and that we can use that structure to navigate and place information in space and thereby create a design space with the virtuality and creativity of an open ‘reflection-in-action.’ Further, it argues that we have to develop concepts of team setting, team solving, substituted process paths, and supplemented process paths to expand our understanding of these issues. This will be demonstrated through two constructions for virtual teams: virtual platform and topos.
Digital Filters for Digital Audio Effects
Authors: Dolecek Gordana Jovanovic , Fernandez-Vazquez Alfonso
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces several digital filters useful for sound generation and transformation as well as for production of audio effects. It also argues that the applications of digital filters give rise to new possibilities in creating sound effects, which would be difficult and almost impossible by analog means. The problem of how to eliminate desired frequencies and noise from speech signal is considered first. Then, the effect of delay and echo is investigated, whereby single and multiple echo filters are considered. Comb filter and its modification useful for obtaining a more natural reverberation effect are also considered. Two filters proposed by Schroeder for a realization of the artificial reverberation are also given. Finally, the filters using variable delays to produce flanging and chorus effect and equalizers are described. The authors hope that this introductory text about digital filters will be useful in further investigation and applications of digital filters in generating digital audio effects.
Spectral-Based Analysis and Synthesis of Audio Signals
Authors: Esquef Paulo A.A. , Biscainho Luiz W.P.
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews audio signal processing techniques related to sound generation via additive synthesis. Particular focus will be put on sinusoidal modeling. Each processing stage involved in obtaining a sinusoidal representation for audio signals is described. Then, synthesis techniques that allow reconstructing an audio signal based on a given parametric representation are presented. Finally, some audio applications where sinusoidal modeling is employed are briefly discussed.
Web Effort Estimation Using Classification and Regression Trees
Authors: Mendes Emilia
Published: May 2011

The use of realistic effort estimates is fundamental to both software and Web project management as they help project managers allocate resources, control costs and schedule, and improve current practices, leading to projects that are finished on time and within budget. Different effort techniques have been used to obtain effort estimates for Web projects. Two—stepwise regression and case-based reasoning—have already been presented in Chapters V and VI respectively. In this chapter we detail a third technique used to obtain effort estimates for Web projects, known as classification and regression trees (CART), that is considered a machine-learning technique. We detail its use by means of a case study where a real effort prediction model based on data from completed industrial Web projects is constructed step by step.
Deployment of E-Government Municipal Services
Authors: Oikonomidis Nikolaos , Tcaciuc Sergiu , Ruland Christoph
Published: May 2011

This paper presents the research results on reliable enforcement of security policies for electronic services deployment in small and medium sized governmental organizations (SMGOs). Motivation for this research has been the fact that SMGOs interact frequently with citizens and/or businesses, to offer paper-based and electronic services which utilize a limited number of resources, such as employees and funds. SMGOs interact also with each other, in local or cross-border transactions, exchanging information on behalf of citizens, businesses or the organization itself. There is an obvious need for a secure, interoperable and cost-effective eGovernment platform that addresses the requirements of SMGOs, improves the quality of the citizens’ involvement and strengthens the fundamental structure of these organizations.
Bayesian Network Modeling of Transcription Factor Binding Sites
Authors: Narang Vipin , Chowdhary Rajesh , Mittal Ankush , Sung Wing-Kin
Published: May 2011

A predicament that engineers who wish to employ Bayesian networks to solve practical problems often face is the depth of study required in order to obtain a workable understanding of this tool. This chapter is intended as a tutorial material to assist the reader in efficiently understanding the fundamental concepts involved in Bayesian network applications. It presents a complete step by step solution of a bioinformatics problem using Bayesian network models, with detailed illustration of modeling, parameter estimation, and inference mechanisms. Considerations in determining an appropriate Bayesian network model representation of a physical problem are also discussed.
MPEG Symbolic Music Representation
Authors: Bellini Pierfrancesco , Nesi Paolo , Zioa Giorgio
Published: May 2011

The evolution of digital communication devices and formats has recently produced fundamental changes in the practical approach to music representation and notation, transforming them from a simple visual coding model for sheet music into a composite tool for modelling music in computer and multimedia applications in general. As a consequence, a multi-layer model of music representation is needed for several purposes in addition to sheet music production or visual display, such as audio rendering, entertainment, music analysis, database query, music performance coding, music distance learning, etc. The Symbolic Music Representation is a standard for modelling music notations, proposed inside the MPEG multimedia framework. Symbolic music representation generalizes the main music notation concepts to model the visual aspects of a music score, and audio information or annotations related to the music piece, allowing integration with other audiovisual elements by multimedia references. The Symbolic Music Representation standard overcomes the limitations of a widely accepted format like MIDI, which is in line with its main purpose to model music events whereas it reveals important limitations in producing audio and visual representations with satisfactory results.
Driving Sound Synthesis with a Live Audio Signal
Authors: Poepel Cornelius
Published: May 2011

An overview on problems and methods to map performers’ actions to a synthesized sound is presented. Approaches incorporating the audio signal are described and a synthesis method called “Audio Signal Driven Sound Synthesis” is introduced. It uses the raw audio signal of a traditional instrument to drive a synthesis algorithm. The system tries to support musicians with satisfying instrument-specific playability. In contrast to common methods that try to increase openness for the player’s input, openness of the system is achieved here by leaving essential playing parameters non-formalized as far as possible. Three implementations of the method and one application are described. An empirical study and experiences with users testing the system implemented for a bowed string instrument are presented. This implementation represents a specific case of a broader range of approaches to the treatment of user input, which have applications in a wide variety of contexts involving human-computer interaction.
Challenges in Implementation of E-Procurement in the Indian Government
Authors: Somasundaram Ramanathan
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, the concept of e-government procurement (e-GP), as it is being implemented in India, is explained. Furthermore, a set of six challenges encountered during implementation of e-procurement is discussed in depth. The six challenges discussed in the chapter are: lack of skilled personnel; multi-departmental implementation; inadequate IT and networking infrastructure; challenges in implementation of state-wide system; the need to regulate e-procurement market; and replicating best practices in federal state setup. A practitioner’s perspective is adopted to write this chapter. While this chapter deals specifically with e-GP in India, certain aspects of it can be generalized to e-GP implementations elsewhere in the world. Such generalization is possible since government procurement is driven by the same set of principles such as efficiency and transparency.
Analyzing E-Procurement Adoption Efforts
Authors: Agrahari Amit
Published: May 2011

This case study looks into the evolution of various e-procurement systems at an Indian steel manufacturer, Tata Steel. This chapter argues that rather sticking to one system, organizations need to manage a portfolio of e-procurement systems to realize the full potential of the Internet. Further, these systems evolve over a period of time, thus necessitating dynamic instead of static analysis. Prior research has analyzed e-procurement and its predecessor, EDI-based IOIS, as a static game with adoption and subsidy being the key issues. However, with e-procurement increasingly being a competitive necessity, the issue is not “if to adopt e-procurement”, but “how to adopt e-procurement”. This chapter analyzes e-procurement adoption efforts in a dynamic game setting. First, the e-procurement adoption effort is analyzed in a “without subsidy” scenario and then in a “with subsidy” scenario. Results show that e-procurement adoption efforts are likely to be more if the buyer and suppliers are not myopic, and the rate of decay in strategic benefits from the dyadic relation is low. Further, the buyer can induce more effort from the supplier by offering him subsidies. The buyer will offer a subsidy only if he can take away more than half of the total e-procurement benefits. The level of subsidy depends on the effectiveness of the supplier’s e-procurement adoption effort. Results for the game theoretic model are corroborated with the case study.
Broadband Technology
Authors: Jussawalla M.
Published: May 2011

An important struggle for the control of the Internet is underway. It is fundamental in as much as it initiates control of the broadband network itself. It raises issues about what resources users will be able to reach, what content will be accessible, from whom and at what price and what functions application providers will be able to deliver. A core issue is control of transmission capacity. The chapter notes the struggles between carrier/content interests which desire to use Internet technologies for control of the global network and the global Internet. Implications for terrestrial networks, radio spectrum and satellite broadband are discussed. Finally the chapter concludes that access to broadband networks is a pre-condition for opening up opportunities for globalization and social integration and for making the power of the knowledge economy widespread. International organizations have a significant role to play in advancing this process.
Innovation Strategies in Digital Convergence
Authors: Bunduchi R. , Berar S.
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the innovation strategy of one of the major telecom companies—Nokia—in its efforts to develop a sustainable position in the emerging digital home market. The analysis of Nokia’s innovation strategy in the digital domain is based on Abernathy and Clark’s (1985) classification which differentiates between different types of innovations, depending on their impact on the firm’s competitive position. The case study finds that Nokia follows a niche creation strategy, relying on its existing technological competencies in areas such as handset design and open device architecture, while building new market competencies developed either in house, or through collaboration with industry partners. The chapter provides an in depth view into the strategic actions of a large firm which attempts to build a sustainable competitive advantage in an emerging market by taking advantage of the opportunities arising from the convergence of digital home technologies.
Online Delivery of Tourism Services
Authors: Houghton John W.
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents an overview of recent developments in online delivery of tourism services, highlighting major issues and challenges. Many tourism services are highly amenable to online delivery and, in OECD countries, the adoption of e-commerce and online service delivery in tourism has been rapid. The tourism sector is among the leaders in online marketing and sales, but considerable potential remains, with the sector lagging in the adoption of supply chain related systems and the use of ICTs for internal efficiency. The Internet brings new opportunities and challenges, with both disintermediation and the emergence of new intermediaries. Key policy issues include the need to carefully monitor the competition effects of online service delivery and take advantage of the potential for the development of destination management systems that provide an integrated front-end for small to medium sized tourism enterprises.
ICT and the Travel Industry
Authors: Garkavenko Vladimir , Milne Simon
Published: May 2011

This chapter focuses on the impact of the ICT on the travel industry with a focus on the New Zealand travel agent (TA) sector. We present key findings from a longitudinal study of TA businesses conducted during 2000-2004. These findings are compared and contrasted with information gathered from in-depth interviews with consumers. The study explores major pressure factors on TA businesses: direct airline-consumers sale, introduction of the Internet, and the emergence of the well-informed consumer. The research also establishes that there is great variation in the extent to which travel agents use the advantages associated with new technology and how New Zealand travel agents perceive ICT. We argue that in such a crucial moment of disintermediation and the fight for the consumer, TA will need to implement more aggressive advertising policies with a strong emphasis on their professional advice, personal financial reliability, and time-saving attributes for clients.
Sex Tourism and the Internet
Authors: Eades Jerry
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the relationship between the Internet and sex tourism. It argues that interest in sex tourism in the media erupted in the early 1990s, about the same time that the Internet itself was becoming popular. The relationship between the two was both positive and negative. On the one hand, the Internet has allowed members of sexual subcultures to contact each other and for new forms of sex tourism to be marketed. On the other hand, the Internet also provided a platform for those opposed to sex tourism to raise the profile of the issue, in the process conflating images of sex tourism with those of Internet pornography, pedophilia, and child abuse, particularly in relation to tourism destinations in the Southeast Asian region. It has therefore aided the amplification of moral panics surrounding these issues. This sensational coverage has, however, tended to overshadow other forms of sex tourism, including those in which consenting adults meet together in resorts of clubs for recreational sex with each other. Thus, while the Internet has created moral panics and led to crackdowns in certain sections of the sex tourism market, it has allowed other alternative lifestyles to flourish on an unprecedented scale in an increasingly liberalized environment.
Changing Technological Trends in the Travel Behaviour of Older Tourists
Authors: Patterson Ian
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the growth in usage of information technology and the Internet by older adults. We are becoming an ageing society with seniors and baby boomers now responsible for a larger share of all holiday spending. The Internet provides a perfect vehicle for the travel industry however, many seniors are still fearful about using the Internet, and perceived problems still exist with credit card security, quality control and privacy issues. In the future, Internet travel bookings are likely to increase with the growth in baby boomers who generally prefer to use the Internet. This will further encourage the use of discount fares however it will place increased pressure on the future role of the travel agent. Furthermore the authors hope that through an understanding of the technological needs of older adults, it will inform tourism providers about the best ways to attract older people to use Internet sites for all aspects of their travel needs.
Bi-Directional Constraint Pushing in Frequent Pattern Mining
Authors: Zaïane Osmar R. , El-Hajj Mohammed
Published: May 2011

Frequent Itemset Mining (FIM) is a key component of many algorithms that extract patterns from transactional databases. For example, FIM can be leveraged to produce association rules, clusters, classifiers or contrast sets. This capability provides a strategic resource for decision support, and is most commonly used for market basket analysis. One challenge for frequent itemset mining is the potentially huge number of extracted patterns, which can eclipse the original database in size. In addition to increasing the cost of mining, this makes it more difficult for users to find the valuable patterns. Introducing constraints to the mining process helps mitigate both issues. Decision makers can restrict discovered patterns according to specified rules. By applying these restrictions as early as possible, the cost of mining can be constrained. For example, users may be interested in purchases whose total price exceeds $100, or whose items cost between $50 and $100. In cases of extremely large data sets, pushing constraints sequentially is not enough and parallelization becomes a must. However, specific design is needed to achieve sizes never reported before in the literature.
Mining XML Documents
Authors: Candillier Laurent , Denoyer Ludovic , Gallinari Patrick , Rousset Marie Christine , Termier Alexandre , Vercoustre Anne-Marie
Published: May 2011

XML documents are becoming ubiquitous because of their rich and flexible format that can be used for a variety of applications. Giving the increasing size of XML collections as information sources, mining techniques that traditionally exist for text collections or databases need to be adapted and new methods to be invented to exploit the particular structure of XML documents. Basically XML documents can be seen as trees, which are well known to be complex structures. This chapter describes various ways of using and simplifying this tree structure to model documents and support efficient mining algorithms. We focus on three mining tasks: classification and clustering which are standard for text collections; discovering of frequent tree structure which is especially important for heterogeneous collection. This chapter presents some recent approaches and algorithms to support these tasks together with experimental evaluation on a variety of large XML collections.
Topic and Cluster Evolution Over Noisy Document Streams
Authors: Schulz Sascha , Spiliopoulou Myra , Schult Rene
Published: May 2011

We study the issue of discovering and tracing thematic topics in a stream of documents. This issue, often studied under the label “topic evolution” is of interest in many applications where thematic trends should be identified and monitored, including environmental modelling for marketing and strategic management applications, information filtering over streams of news and enrichment of classification schemes with emerging new classes. We concentrate on the latter area and depict an example application from the automotive industry – the discovery of emerging topics in repair & maintenance reports. We first discuss relevant literature on (a) the discovery and monitoring of topics over document streams and (b) the monitoring of evolving clusters over arbitrary data streams. Then, we propose our own method for topic evolution over a stream of small noisy documents: We combine hierarchical clustering, performed at different time periods, with cluster comparison over adjacent time periods, taking into account that the feature space itself may change from one period to the next. We elaborate on the behaviour of this method and show how human experts can be assisted in identifying class candidates among the topics thus identified.
The Organisation of Performance Measurement in an Extended Enterprise
Authors: Folan Paul , Jagdev Harinder , Browne Jimmie
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the administrative requirements for business integration between partnering companies in the extended enterprise who operate a performance measurement (PM) system. It argues that, while on the one hand, interorganisational performance measurement is expected to become increasingly significant in the research literature, it is currently difficult to legislate and coordinate the various PM activities that must be taken into account so as to overcome the disparity in geographical location and culture of extended enterprise nodes. Furthermore, while Extended enterprise performance measurement concepts are increasingly being promulgated, the complex nature of these models has made business integration of the firms involved a difficult task: There are problems with regulating the policies and behaviour of those who participate in the system, as well as assessing their understanding of the process itself. These problems are tackled here by the development of a series of questionnaires and assessment checklists, and by their application in an empirical study in an extended enterprise of the automotive industry.
I-Accounting
Authors: Koumpis Adamantios , Roberts Bob
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the core aspects of an approach facilitating the valuation of intangible assets created by virtual organisations. The approach we present relies on established simple unified procedures which can drastically reduce problems caused by handling each situation individually, especially if there is no previous experience of similar cases. At the same time, the volume, value, and visibility of transactions between the various stakeholders and involved parties is increased. We conclude with an example case analysis related to the reality faced in collaborative research projects; these are carried out by diverse partners operating as a virtual organisation whose different intellectual assets (IAs) and the value thereof need to be recognised in order to prepare the ground for successful project completion.
Wireless Web Security Using a Neural Network-Based Cipher
Authors: Woungang Isaac , Sadeghian Alireza , Wu Shuwei , Misra Sudip , Arvandi Maryam
Published: May 2011

The increasingly important role of security for wireless Web services environments has opened an array of challenging problems centered on new methods and tools to improve existing data encryption and authentication techniques. Real-time recurrent neural networks offer an attractive approach to tackling such problems because of the high encryption capability provided by the structural hidden layers of such networks. In this chapter, a novel neural network-based symmetric cipher is proposed. This cipher releases the constraint on the length of the secret key to provide the data integrity and authentication services that can be used for securing wireless Web services communication. The proposed symmetric cipher design is robust in resisting different cryptanalysis attacks. Simulation results are presented to validate its effectiveness.
A Survey of Key Generation for Secure Multicast Communication Protocols
Authors: Aye Win , Siddiqi Mohammad Umar
Published: May 2011

Multicast communication demands scalable security solutions for group communication infrastructure. Secure multicast is one such solution that achieves the efficiency of multicast data delivery. Key generation plays an important role in enforcing secure and efficient key distribution. This chapter addresses the issues focused on the area of key generation on key management cryptographic algorithms that support security requirements in multicast group communications. These issues are of importance to application developers wishing to implement security services for their multicast applications. The three main classes, centralized, decentralized, and distributed architectures, are investigated and analyzed here and an insight given to their features and goals. The area of group key generation is then surveyed and proposed solutions are classified according to the efficiency of the cryptographic algorithms and multicast security requirements. We also outline the open problems in this area.
Node Authentication in Networks Using Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Authors: Norville Richard S. , Namuduri Kamesh , Pendse Ravi
Published: May 2011

Zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) based authentication protocols provide a smart way to prove an identity of a node without giving away any information about the secret of that identity. There are many advantages as well as disadvantages to using this protocol over other authentication schemes, and challenges to overcome in order to make it practical for general use. This chapter examines the viability of ZKPs for use in authentication protocols in networks. It is concluded that nodes in a network can achieve a desired level of security by trading off key size, interactivity, and other parameters of the authentication protocol. This chapter also provides data analysis that can be useful in determining expected authentication times based on device capabilities. Pseudocode is provided for implementing a graph-based ZKP on small or limited processing devices.
Web Services Security in E-Business
Authors: Yau Wei-Chuen , Radha Krishna Rao G. S. V.
Published: May 2011

Web services enable the communication of application-to-application in a heterogeneous network and computing environment. The powerful functionality of Web services has given benefits to enterprise companies, such as rapid integrating between heterogeneous e-business systems, easy implementation of e-business systems, and reusability of e-business services. While providing the flexibility for e-business, Web services tend to be vulnerable to a number of attacks. Core components of Web services such as simple object access protocol (SOAP), Web services description language (WSDL), and universal description, discovery, and integration (UDDI) can be exploited by malicious attacks due to lack of proper security protections. These attacks will increase the risk of e-business that employs Web services. This chapter aims to provide a state-of-the-art view of Web services attacks and countermeasures. We examine various vulnerabilities in Web services and then followed by the analysis of respective attacking methods. We also discuss preventive countermeasures against such attacks to protect Web services deployments in e-business. Finally, we address future trends in this research area.
Information Security in Banking
Authors: Streff Kevin
Published: May 2011

The banking sector is identified as a critical infrastructure by the federal government. In this chapter, the author provides an overview of information security in the banking sector, outlines the information and technology common to most banks, explains the information security law and regulation banks must comply with, and explores the information security controls necessary to protect the banking infrastructure in the United States.
Swallowing the Bait, Hook, Line, and Sinker
Authors: Kierkegaard Sylvia
Published: May 2011

Phishing and pharming continue to plague many financial institutions and electronic commerce (e-commerce) Web sites. Security experts estimate annual losses from computer crime total in the billions, but there are actually no valid statistics on the losses from this type of crime because no one knows how many cases go unreported. The array of online threats grows all the time. Sophisticated criminals have now turned to a new activity of rat-ing, where criminals can watch everything the user is typing from other parts of the globe. The new activity is difficult to detect. Companies have devised various methods of protecting their customers. They are beginning to integrate more security, well beyond simple user names and passwords, as the need for more stringent methods becomes imperative. Various countries also have passed identity fraud legislation, but the global nature of cybercrime raises difficult legislative problems of jurisdiction as criminals use off-shore servers and Internet sites to avoid domestic regulations.
Managing Information Assurance in Subscription-Based Financial Services
Authors: Ungureanu Victoria
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews the main types of access control mechanisms that can be used to govern subscription-based financial services. The overall performance of these mechanisms is analyzed with respect to several important features of subscription-based financial services. Namely, the chapter analyzes the impact of the following features: (1) the number of clients/ subscriptions can be potentially large; (2) the number and types of subscriptions offered by a provider varies in time; (3) subscription terms may change; and (4) subscriptions terms may take into account mutable information. Furthermore, the chapter presents in detail one mechanism that achieves good performance.
Modeling the Resource Perspective of Business Processes by UML Activity Diagram and Object Petri Net
Authors: Sarshar Kamyar , Loos Peter
Published: May 2011

Given that business processes are performed in an organizational context, it is essential that process modeling notations provide proper mechanisms to represent the resources perspective of business processes. After relating the resource perspective within a framework to other business process perspectives and discussing the lifecycle resource models undergo, this contribution introduces the UML 2.0 activity diagrams as well as object Petri nets regarding their approach to model the resource perspective of business processes. Afterwards, the application of the notations is illustrated by a real-life process of the health-care domain. The following comparison of the notations indicates the benefits and the limitations of both notations.
Insuring a Successful ERP Implementation
Authors: Furumo Kimberly
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides a case study of a failed enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation at a public university. Public universities, like other governmental agencies, may have more dif?culty implementing information technology (IT) because of limited resources, increased organizational bureaucracy, and extensive statutory reporting requirements. This chapter begins by identifying what an ERP system is, the dif?culties of implementing ERP systems, and the added dif?culties related to implementing technology in governmental organizations. In this case study analysis, upper managers, IT staff, and functional department end users were asked to identify why the project failed. Several lessons were learned including the importance of allocating adequate ?nancial resources to IT projects and managing the change process. As organizations move from the centralized legacy system environment which was prevalent in the last half of the 20th century, to the new distributed ERP environment, roles and responsibilities are changing. Readers are provided with practical suggestions that will help improve IT implementation success in governmental agencies.
GovBenefits.gov
Authors: Turner Curtis
Published: May 2011

This case study examines how 10 federal agencies came together in the fall of 2001 to implement an e-government initiative as part of President George W. Bush’s Presidential Management Agenda. The initiative, known as GovBenefits.gov™, is a Web site that connects citizens to 1,000 (390 federal and 610 state government) benefit and assistance programs. Through a series of personal interviews and an examination of program documentation, the case study explores the people, technology, and processes used to launch and maintain the Web site. The author arrives at five lessons learned, which are: (1) Establish a clear value proposition; (2) Develop shared risk and rewards; (3) Develop tangible results quickly; (4) Use creativity to get the word out; and (5) Don’t stop innovating.
Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network
Authors: Hoanca Bogdan
Published: May 2011

The case describes the development of the Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network (AF-HCAN), a consortium providing telemedicine in Alaska. Given the state’s vast geographical areas, the lack of infrastructure in the remote villages, and the extreme climate, AFHCAN faced particular challenges in ensuring access to quality health care across its target area. Using federal funds, a consortium of federal, military, and private organizations developed an intuitive, easy to use, custom-developed software and an integrated (cart-based) hardware platform. Low utilization levels following the initial deployment, prompted an organizational change from delivering a software/hardware product to delivering a turn-key system (including training). The system has been successfully deployed to 260 sites in the state. Users with limited computer literacy levels and even with limited English language skills are able to use the systems successfully. Overall, both patients and heath providers report high levels of satisfaction with the system.
Best Practices in Leveraging E-Business Technologies to Achieve Business Agility
Authors: Sabri Ehap H.
Published: May 2011

This chapter explains the best practice in implementing e-business Technologies to achieve business cost reduction and business agility. Many companies started to realize that gaining competitive advantage is no longer feasible by only managing their own organizations; it also requires getting involved in the management of all upstream supply organizations as well as the downstream network. E-business technologies present huge opportunities that are already being tapped by several companies and supply chains. Although the benefits of implementing e-business technologies are clear, enterprises struggle in integrating e-business technologies into supply-chain operations. The author illustrates the strategic and operational impact of e-business technologies on supply chains and explains the performance benefits and challenges firms should expect in implementing these technologies. Also, the author provides the best-practice framework in leveraging e-business applications to support process improvements in order to eliminate non-value-added activities and provide real-time visibility and velocity for the supply chain. Finally, this chapter presents the future trends of using e-business in transformation programs.
Concepts and Operations of Two Research Projects on Web Services and Context at Zayed University
Authors: Maamar Zakaria
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents two research projects applying context in Web services. A Web service is an accessible application that other applications and humans can discover and invoke to satisfy multiple needs. While much of the work on Web services has up to now focused on low-level standards for publishing, discovering, and triggering Web services, several arguments back the importance of making Web services aware of their context. In the ConCWS project, the focus is on using context during Web-services composition, and in the ConPWS project, the focus is on using context during Web-services personalization. In both projects, various concepts are used such as software agents, conversations, and policies. For instance, software agents engage in conversations with their peers to agree on the Web services that participate in a composition. Agents’ engagements are regulated using policies.
Role of ICTs in Socioeconomic Development and Poverty Reduction
Authors: Rahman Hakikur
Published: May 2011

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are often promoted as central to reviving and sustaining regional communities. Apart from these, the revolutionary feature of modern ICTs—mainly the Internet and mobile telephony—facilitate low cost and speedy interaction among network participants. In this context, knowledge and information are fundamental for facilitating rural development and bringing about social and economic escalation. Nowadays, ICTs are universally acknowledged as powerful tools for development. At the same time, ICTs are seemingly essential to social development and economic growth. In recent years, the process of ICTs has been influencing the socioeconomic context in many countries. Despite that, in many countries a significant proportion of the population does not have access to clean water, sanitation, basic health services and proper education; ICTs provide novel opportunities for information interchange and technology transfer. This chapter looks into critical aspects of ICTs in raising socioeconomic development in underdeveloped countries and tries to illustrate success cases in developed countries that can be replicated in developing countries to reduce poverty. Emphasis has been given to analyze the role of ICTs in poverty reduction processes upholding regional developments. Enactment of ICTs has been elaborately discussed for the uplift of community and it has been observed that solving common causes for common citizens needs strategic implementation of policies at the central core and pragmatic implementation of actions at the grass roots. Simultaneously, this chapter discusses various critical aspects of the development processes to achieve good governance that is vital for sustainable development. However, as ingredients for uplift through ICTs, institutional approaches in various forms have been found to be extremely effective for socioeconomic development and at the same time for regional developments.
Enterprise Architecture Framework for Agile and Interoperable Virtual Enterprises
Authors: Kim T. , Lee S. , Lee J. , Kim K.
Published: May 2011

Virtual enterprise (VE) has become a prime candidate to survive under the increasingly turbulent and competitive business environment. In order to quickly respond to the rapidly changing business environment, the agility and interoperability are regarded as the core requirements for the VEs. Unfortunately, there is no previous approach to fully support configurations of the agile and interoperable VE. The systematic modeling framework based on the meta-model driven approach could be used for business domain experts and developers to construct VE models quickly and systematically with insights. It should be noted that this chapter aims to present a systematic modeling framework itself, not to generate only instances of VE models. Based on the proposed framework, business domain experts and developers would configure all of VE models such as VE architectures, modeling languages, model transformations, and deployment models, as well as instances of VE models.
Improving Stakeholder Communications and IT Engagement
Authors: Verley G.
Published: May 2011

Stakeholder engagement is critical to applying enterprise architecture (EA) principles and methodologies in order to achieve value from information technology (IT) investments. Stakeholders include the business owners, data owners, developers, and technical infrastructure operational staff. Obtaining stakeholder engagement is a continuous process and is necessary at all levels of the organization. It is also an integral aspect of the governance process for IT investments. This chapter addresses the following topics as they relate to stakeholder engagement:• Obtaining high-level stakeholder involvement in EA governing processes and addressing major challenges in building stakeholder engagement.• Illustrating how stakeholder involvement can lead to consolidation and better management of IT investments.• Identifying vehicles to communicate with EA stakeholders while ensuring the architecture accommodates the style and priorities of the stakeholder community.
Web Services Discovery and QoS-Aware Extension
Authors: Chen Zhou Chen , Chia Liang-Tien , Lee Bu-Sung
Published: May 2011

Web services are self-contained, self-describing modular applications. Different from traditional distributed computing, Web services are more dynamic on its ser-vice discovery and run-time binding mechanism. As big numbers of Web services appear on the Web, Web services discovery mechanism becomes essential. This chapter provides an in-depth discussion on works about Web services discovery. We first present some basis knowledge for the Web services discovery. After that we introduce some value-added services for the Web services discovery, such as the quality of service (QoS)-aware services discovery and semantics-aware service discovery. Since nonfunctional attributes, especially the QoS information, are quite important for mission critical tasks, we finally present our Semantic Web-based solution for QoS-aware service discovery and measurement. It complements Web ontology language-service (OWL-S) to achieve better services discovery, composition and measurement.
Query Formation and Information Retrieval with Ontology
Authors: Guan Sheng-Uei
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents an ontology-based query formation and information retrieval system under the mobile commerce (m-commerce) agent framework. A query formation approach that combines the usage of ontology and keywords is implemented. This approach takes advantage of the tree structure in ontology to form queries visually and efficiently. It also uses additional aids such as keywords to complete the query formation process more efficiently. The proposed information retrieval scheme focuses on using genetic algorithms (GAs) to improve computational effectiveness. Other query optimization techniques used include query restructuring by logical terms and numerical constraints replacement.
Utilizing Semantic Web and Software Agents in a Travel Support System
Authors: Ganzha Maria , Gawinecki Maciej , Paprzycki Marcin , Gasiorowski Rafal , Pisarek Szymon , Hyska Wawrzyniec
Published: May 2011

The use of Semantic Web technologies in e-business is hampered by the lack of large, publicly-available sources of semantically-demarcated data. In this chapter, we present a number of intermediate steps on the road toward the Semantic Web. Specifically, we discuss how Semantic Web technologies can be adapted as the centerpiece of an agent-based travel support system. First, we present a complete description of the system under development. Second, we introduce ontologies developed for, and utilized in, our system. Finally, we discuss and illustrate through examples how ontologically demarcated data collected in our system is personalized for individual users. In particular, we show how the proposed ontologies can be used to create, manage, and deploy functional user profiles.
Ontology-Based Spelling Correction for Searching Medical Information
Authors: Moon Jane , Burstein Frada
Published: May 2011

There has been a paradigm shift in medical practice. More and more consumers are using the Internet as a source for medical information even before seeing a doctor. The well known fact is that medical terms are often hard to spell. Despite advances in technology, the Internet is still producing futile searches when the search terms are misspelled. Often consumers are frustrated with irrelevant information they retrieve as a result of misspelling. An ontology-based search is one way of assisting users in correcting their spelling errors when searching for medical information. This chapter reviews the types of spelling errors that adults make and identifies current technology available to overcome the problem.
Semantic Web Standards and Ontologies in the Medical Sciences and Healthcare
Authors: Cannoy Sherrie D. , Iyer Lakshmi
Published: May 2011

This chapter will discuss Semantic Web standards and ontologies in two areas: (1) the medical sciences field and (2) the healthcare industry. Semantic Web standards are important in the medical sciences since much of the medical research that is available needs an avenue to be shared across disparate computer systems. Ontologies can provide a basis for the searching of context-based medical research information so that it can be integrated and used as a foundation for future research. The healthcare industry will be examined specifically in its use of electronic health records (EHR), which need Semantic Web standards to be communicated across different EHR systems. The increased use of EHRs across healthcare organizations will also require ontologies to support context-sensitive searching of information, as well as creating context-based rules for appointments, procedures, and tests so that the quality of healthcare is improved. Literature in these areas has been combined in this chapter to provide a general view of how Semantic Web standards and ontologies are used, and to give examples of applications in the areas of healthcare and the medical sciences.
Strategic and Tactical Planning of Outsourcing in MIS
Authors: Morgan Jeanette Nasem
Published: May 2011

This chapter lays out a set of steps for organizations to traverse in considering and crafting an outsourcing strategy for the firm. Outsourcing in management information systems (MIS) is defined. The chapter proceeds through the steps of strategic and tactical planning, addressing particular issues at each level, and concludes with operational level planning for outsourcing projects. These disciplines prepare an organization to manage and execute a MIS project or ongoing service that will be provided by an outsourcing partner. Lessons learned from good techniques for integrating planning across the firm are included. Planning serves as the introduction to outsourcing selected functions, services, or products. Best practice methods and decision models for outsourcing are crafted from both outsourcing success stories as well as numerous failures, and are covered in subsequent chapters. The chapter includes suggestions for how to address and consider the option of outsourcing MIS projects as part of an overall strategic plan. Project management considerations in this decision are included. Ethical considerations such as humanitarian consequences and theological considerations are addressed.