bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Septic Elbow in the Setting of Neuropathic Joint as the Initial Presentation of a Cervical Syrinx
Authors: Strike Sophia A. , Johnston James C. , Farjoodi Payam
Published: February 2013

Neuropathic arthropathy, or Charcot’s joint, is a degenerative disorder resulting from abnormal sensory innervation that is associated with diabetes mellitus, tabes dorsalis, and syringomyelia. Patients may present with a painless instability of the affected joint, although a range of symptoms are seen. This article presents a case of a patient who presented with a swollen elbow, consistent with septic arthritis, and bilateral lower extremity weakness. Joint fluid cultures were positive for methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
. Extensive joint destruction on radiographic imaging and a thorough neurologic examination revealing generalized weakness and upper motor neuron signs prompted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine which revealed a cervical syrinx. Our patient was diagnosed with syringomyelia-associated neuropathic arthropathy that initially presented as a septic joint. In the setting of septic arthritis, substantial joint destruction (particularly in a patient with neurologic deficits) should prompt additional investigation, including MRI of the spine, for neurologic causes. Although surgery is generally not recommended for neuropathic arthropathy because of poor healing and high rates of complication, neuropathic arthropathy in the setting of a septic joint requires operative irrigation and debridement.
Lumbar Artery Injury Following Posterior Spinal Instrumentation for Scoliosis
Authors: Sandri Andrea , Regis Dario , Marino Marco Andrea , Puppini Giovanni , Bartolozzi Pietro
Published: February 2013

Vascular injuries are uncommon but potentially serious complications of spinal surgery. Lumbar artery lesion complicating posterior spinal instrumentation for scoliosis has been occasionally described. A 39-year-old woman with adult scoliosis was treated with correction and stabilization from T8 to L5 via a midline posterior approach. Transpedicular screws were inserted from levels L1 to L5 on the convex left side and at T11, T12, L4, and L5 on the concavity right side. Pedicle screws were not inserted from L2 to L4 on the right side due to difficulty identifying the pedicle channel with the probe. The instrumentation was completed with 2 hooks at T8 and T5 on the left side and 1 at T7. Five hours postoperatively, the patient suffered a hypotensive attack and her abdomen was distended. Her hemoglobin level was 4.5 g/dL. Hemodynamic stabilization was achieved with emergent therapy, including fluid resuscitation, blood, and plasma transfusion. An urgent contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography scan showed a large hematoma at the right retroperitoneum with active extravasation of contrast medium, but the source of bleeding was not detectable because of metallic artifacts. Immediate angiography demonstrated rupture of the third right lumbar artery. Selective microcoil embolization was performed with occlusion of the corresponding branch. The bleeding stopped and hemodynamic parameters were stable. No spinal cord impairment or muscle infarction occurred, and 1-year follow-up was uneventful. Lumbar artery injury should be considered as a complication after posterior spinal surgery for scoliosis and prompt diagnosis and intervention are required. Selective lumbar artery embolization is a safe and effective procedure to stop bleeding in hemodynamically stable patients after fluid resuscitation and blood transfusion.
A Clinical Learning Experience: Enhancing Baccalaureate Nursing Students’ Self-Efficacy in Meeting the Psychosocial Needs of Clients With Dementia
Authors: Jordan Kerry , Church Terri
Published: February 2013

Today’s health care landscape requires expert nursing care for clients with dementia. Unfortunately, most nursing students dislike providing dementia care. Lack of students’ self-efficacy may account for some of the negativity surrounding dementia care, and learning activities to increase self-efficacy may be one means for increasing positive feelings. The purpose of this article is to describe and evaluate a clinical learning activity designed to increase the self-efficacy of students in meeting the psychosocial needs of clients with dementia. The experience involved 39 baccalaureate nursing students and included the implementation of a therapeutic activity in a long-term care setting. Evaluation involved discussing the activity before and after implementation, observing the students perform the activity, administering a survey before and after the activity, and completing a clinical log addressing the major objectives. Evidence from the evaluation suggests that the experience promoted increased self-efficacy in students.
Solar Energy Storage
Authors: Elgafy Ahmed
Published: February 2013

With the urgent need to harvest and store solar energy, especially with the dramatic unexpected changes in oil prices, the design of new generation of solar energy storage systems has grown in importance. Besides diminishing the role of the oil, these systems provide green energy which would help reducing air pollution. Solar energy would be stored in different forms of energy; thermal, electric, hybrid thermal/electric, thermochemical, photochemical, and photocapacitors. The nature of solar energy, radiant thermal energy, magnifies the role and usage of thermal energy storage (TES) techniques. In this chapter, different techniques/technologies for solar thermal energy storage are introduced for both terrestrial and space applications. Enhancing the performance of these techniques using nanotechnology is introduced as well as using of advanced materials and structures. The chapter also introduces the main features of the other techniques for solar energy storage along with recent conducted research work. Economic and environment feasibility studies are also introduced.
Solar Photovoltaic Servo Tracking Controlled System
Authors: Shibli Murad
Published: February 2013

Renewable energy has known a great interest during the last two decades. Solar energy is viewed as the cleanest renewable source of energy for the future since it is the least polluting and the most inexhaustible of all known energy sources. Subsequently, technologies that enable the use of solar energy focus on solar thermal collectors and on the photovoltaic effect of semiconductors to generate electricity directly from sunlight. In the case of solar energy, it is shown that optimal energy is obtained when the rays of the sun are incident normally on the collecting surface. Therefore, several techniques and experiments have been conducted recently to develop efficient solar tracking systems. Solar panel tracking systems optimize energy output of photovoltaic panels by positioning them to follow the sun’s path throughout the day. The sun’s position in the sky varies both with installation location, the seasons, and the time of day.
Image Processing for Solar Cell Analysis, Diagnostics and Quality Assurance Inspection
Authors: Mauk Michael G.
Published: February 2013

Image capturing, processing, and analysis have numerous uses in solar cell research, device and process development and characterization, process control, and quality assurance and inspection. Solar cell image processing is expanding due to the increasing performance (resolution, sensitivity, spectral range) and low-cost of commercial CCD and infrared cameras. Methods and applications are discussed, with primary focus on monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells using visible and infrared (thermography) wavelengths. The most prominent applications relate to mapping of minority carrier lifetime, shunts, and defects in solar cell wafers, in various stages of the manufacturing process. Other applications include measurements of surface texture and reflectivity, surface cleanliness, integrity of metallization lines, uniformity of coatings, and crystallographic texture and grain size. Image processing offers the capability to assess large-areas (> 100 cm2) with a non-contact, fast (~ 1 second), and modest cost. The challenge is to quantify and interpret the image data in order to better inform device design, process engineering, and quality control. Many promising solar cell technologies fail in the transition from laboratory to factory due to issues related to scale-up in area and manufacturing throughput. Image analysis provides an effective method to assess areal uniformity, device-to-device reproducibility, and defect densities. More integration of image analysis from research devices to field testing of modules will continue as the photovoltaics industry matures.
Methods of Forecasting Solar Radiation
Authors: Sudirman Rubita , Norddin Muhammad Noorul Anam Mohd
Published: February 2013

Extreme demands on the methods used for forecasting solar radiation has been the driving force behind the efforts to find the best method available. An extensive study of different techniques available was conducted. Methods studied in this research can be classified as time series and neural network approach. Time series approaches considered are autoregressive (AR), moving average (MA), autoregressive moving average (ARMA), and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA). In neural network approaches, multi-layer perceptron networks are used. The error back-propagation learning algorithm is utilized in the training process. Comparison of methods and performance of different methods are presented in the result and discussion section of this chapter. The solar radiation data used were a collection of past data acquired throughout the US continent for 10 years period. These data were used to forecast future solar radiation based on the past trend observed from the database using both time series and neural network approaches. Finally, this chapter makes general comparison among the methods used and outlines some advantages and disadvantages of using the neural network approach.
Convergence of Fixed and Mobile Networks
Authors: Kovács Gábor , Németh Gábor Árpád , Pap Zoltán
Published: February 2013

This chapter gives overview of one of a recent trend in telecommunication convergence: fixed-mobile convergence (FMC). Its types, implications, and main challenges are identified and analyzed with special respect to the protocols employed. The future integration of fixed and mobile access to next generation networks (NGN) is investigated from several aspects, such as AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting) protocols, network and application layer mobility management solutions, and policy control. The focus is on access and core networks where the convergence is going to take place. At the end, a short outlook is given to near future mobile trends.
Study and Non-Study Related Technologies use of Flemish Students in Higher Education
Authors: Bruneel Steven , Elen Jan , De Wit Kurt , Verhoeven Jef C.
Published: February 2013

“Living technologies”, such as social networking sites and mobile phones are, nowadays, the subject of educational research. In this chapter we attempt to shed light on the relationship between the reasons for the use of living technologies and learning technologies from students’ perspectives. In this exploratory research project, 15 students were interviewed several times throughout the academic year and 143 students, from various bachelor programs at a Flemish university (Flanders/Belgium) completed an online survey. Results demonstrate that these students make a clear distinction with regard to the frequency and reasons for use of living technologies and learning technologies, with these students rarely use living technologies (for instance, Facebook or mobile phones) for educational purposes. Results are explained in terms of privacy and the reluctance to use particular applications for several non-educational reasons. We end with some possible suggestions for follow-up research.
Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning
Authors: Dunlap Joanna C. , Lowenthal Patrick R.
Published: February 2013

Given ever-changing societal and professional demands, lifelong learning is recognized as a critical educational goal. With postsecondary students’ increased demand for online learning opportunities and programs, postsecondary educators face the challenge of preparing students to be lifelong contributing members of professional communities of practice online and at a distance. The emergence of powerful Web 2.0 technologies and tools has the potential to support educators’ instructional goals and objectives associated with students’ professional preparation and the development of lifelong learning skills and dispositions. In this chapter, the authors explain how postsecondary educators can use the Web 2.0 technologies associated with blogging, social networking, document co-creation, and resource sharing to create intrinsically motivating learning opportunities that have the potential to help students develop the skills and dispositions needed to be effective lifelong learners.
Applied Cryptography in Electronic Commerce
Authors: Grzonkowski Slawomir , Ensor Brian D. , McDaniel Bill
Published: February 2013

Electronic commerce has grown into a vital segment of the economy of many nations. It is a global phenomenon providing markets and commercialization opportunities world-wide with a significantly reduced barrier to entry as compared to global marketing in the 20th century. Providing protocols to secure such commerce is critical and continues to be an area for both scientific and engineering study. Falsification, fraud, identity theft, and disinformation campaigns or other attacks could damage the credibility and value of electronic commerce if left unchecked. Consequently, cryptographic methods have emerged to combat any such efforts, be they the occasional random attempt at theft or highly organized criminal or political activities. This chapter covers the use of cryptographic methods and emerging standards in this area to provide the necessary protection. That protection, as is common for web-based protocols, evolves over time to deal with more and more sophisticated attacks. At the same time, the provision of security in a manner convenient enough to not deter electronic commerce has driven research efforts to find easier to use and simpler protocols to implement even as the strength of the cryptographic methods has increased. This chapter covers current standards, looking at several facets of the secure commercialization problem from authentication to intrusion detection and identity and reputation management. Vulnerabilities are discussed as well as capabilities.
Identity-Based Cryptography
Authors: Torres Jenny , Nogueira Michele , Pujolle Guy
Published: February 2013

Since computer systems and communication become each time more pervasive, information security takes attention, requiring guarantees for data authentication, integrity and confidentiality. Pervasive communication and computer systems intend to provide access to information and services anytime and anywhere, demanding cryptographic systems more practical and that consider the characteristics of emerging network paradigms, such as wireless communication, device constraints and mobility. Identity-Based Cryptography (IBC) is an asymmetric key cryptographic technology that employs as user’s public key any unique information related to the identity of the user. IBC efficiently manages keying material and provides an easy way to issue a pair of keys applying user information. However, it assumes the existence of a Trusted Third Party (TTP), called Private Key Generator (PKG), which is responsible for generating the corresponding user private key. Relying on a TTP and using an identity as the base of the scheme result in different weaknesses on the system, as the inherent key escrow problem. This chapter investigates those weaknesses, and it points out the stat-of-the-art of proposed solutions to avoid them. This chapter also provides an overview of Identity-Based Encryption (IBE), Identity-Based Signature (IBS) and Identity-Based Key Agreement (IBKA), emphasizing IBE due to being an open problem for many years. This chapter concludes highlighting IBC applications and future trends.
Applied Cryptography in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Kar Dulal C. , Ngo Hung L. , Mulkey Clifton J.
Published: February 2013

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.
mVITAL
Authors: Ozturk Yusuf , Sharma Jayesh
Published: February 2013

Pervasive care and chronic disease management to reduce institutionalization is a priority for most western countries. The realization of next generation ubiquitous and pervasive healthcare systems will be a challenging task, as these systems are likely to involve a complex structure. Such systems will consist of various devices, ranging from resource-constrained sensors and actuators to complex multimedia devices, supporting time critical applications. This is further compounded by cultural and socio-economical factors that must be addressed for next generation healthcare systems to be widely diffused and used. In this study, the requirements for a vital sign monitoring solution are derived and based on these requirements a standards compliant medical device networking solution is presented. mVITAL is an end-to-end solution based on IEEE-11073 framework. IEEE-11073 defines a family of standards and nomenclature for device communication protocol, data format and logical interface between monitoring station and standard compliant medical devices. mVITAL is not only providing medical sensor networking and vital sign monitoring but also closes the loop by signaling alert messages to the caregiver and allowing pervasive access to vital signs of a patient using smartphones over a heterogeneous network. A role based access control mechanism is developed to limit the access to secure data. The end-to-end delay and the variations in delay for both the sensor data collection and the pervasive access are analyzed. mVITAL is developed as a complementary solution augmenting functionality of a hospital information system and can be loosely coupled with the hospital information system using web services.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography on WISPs
Authors: Hutter Michael , Wenger Erich , Pelnar Markus , Pendl Christian
Published: February 2013

In this chapter, the authors explore the feasibility of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) on Wireless Identification and Sensing Platforms (WISPs). ECC is a public-key based cryptographic primitive that has been widely adopted in embedded systems and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). In order to demonstrate the practicability of ECC on such platforms, the authors make use of the passively powered WISP4.1DL UHF tag from Intel Research Seattle. They implemented ECC over 192-bit prime fields and over 191-bit binary extension fields and performed a Montgomery ladder scalar multiplication on WISPs with and without a dedicated hardware multiplier. The investigations show that when running at a frequency of 6.7 MHz, WISP tags that do not support a hardware multiplier need 8.3 seconds and only 1.6 seconds when a hardware multiplier is supported. The binary-field implementation needs about 2 seconds without support of a hardware multiplier. For the WISP, ECC over prime fields provides best performance when a hardware multiplier is available; binary-field based implementations are recommended otherwise. The use of ECC on WISPs allows the realization of different public-key based protocols in order to provide various cryptographic services such as confidentiality, data integrity, non-repudiation, and authentication.
A Keystroke Biometric System for Long-Text Input
Authors: Tappert Charles C. , Cha Sung-Hyuk , Villani Mary , Zack Robert S.
Published: February 2013

A novel keystroke biometric system for long-text input was developed and evaluated for user identification and authentication applications. The system consists of a Java applet to collect raw keystroke data over the Internet, a feature extractor, and pattern classifiers to make identification or authentication decisions. Experiments on more than 100 participants investigated two input modes—copy and free-text—and two keyboard types—desktop and laptop. The system can accurately identify or authenticate individuals if the same type of keyboard is used to produce the enrollment and questioned input samples. Longitudinal experiments quantified performance degradation over intervals of several weeks and two years. Additional experiments investigated the system’s hierarchical model, parameter settings, assumptions, and sufficiency of enrollment samples and input-text length. Although evaluated on input texts up to 650 keystrokes, the authors found that input of 300 keystrokes, roughly four lines of text, is sufficient for the important applications described.
Brain-Like System for Audiovisual Person Authentication Based on Time-to-First Spike Coding
Authors: Wysoski Simei Gomes , Benuskova Lubica , Kasabov Nikola K.
Published: February 2013

The question of the neural code, or how neurons code information about stimuli, is not definitively answered. In addition to experimental research, computational modeling can help in getting closer to solving this problem. In this chapter, spiking neural network architectures for visual, auditory and integrated audiovisual pattern recognition and classification are described. The authors’ spiking neural network uses time to first spike as a code for saliency of input features. The system is trained and evaluated on the person authentication task. The chapter concludes that the time-to-first-spike coding scheme may not be suitable for this difficult task, nor for auditory processing. Other coding schemes and extensions of this spiking neural network are discussed as the topics of the future research.
Key Management
Authors: Wu Chuan-Kun
Published: February 2013

In secure communications, key management is not as simple as metal key management which is supposed to be in a key ring or simply put in a pocket. Suppose Alice wants to transmit some confidential information to Bob over the public networks such as the Internet, Alice could simply encrypt the message using a known cipher such as AES, and then transmit the ciphertext to Bob. However, in order to enable Bob to decrypt the ciphertext to get the original message, in traditional cipher system, Bob needs to have the encryption key. How to let Alice securely and efficiently transmit the encryption key to Bob is a problem of key management. An intuitive approach would be to use a secure channel for the key transmission; this worked in earlier years, but is not a desirable solution in today’s electronic world. Since the invention of public key cryptography, the key management problem with respect to secret key transmission has been solved, which can either employ the Diffie-Hellman key agreement scheme or to use a public key cryptographic algorithm to encrypt the encryption key (which is often known as a session key). This approach is secure against passive attacks, but is vulnerable against active attacks (more precisely the man-in-the-middle attacks). So there must be a way to authenticate the identity of the communication entities. This leads to public key management where the public key infrastructure (PKI) is a typical set of practical protocols, and there is also a set of international standards about PKI. With respect to private key management, it is to prevent keys to be lost or stolen. To prevent a key from being lost, one way is to use the secret sharing, and another is to use the key escrow technique. Both aspects have many research outcomes and practical solutions. With respect to keys being stolen, another practical solution is to use a password to encrypt the key. Hence, there are many password-based security protocols in different applications. This chapter presents a comprehensive description about how each aspect of the key management works. Topics on key management covered by this chapter include key agreement, group-based key agreement and key distribution, the PKI mechanisms, secret sharing, key escrow, password associated key management, and key management in PGP and UMTS systems.
Modeling Access Control in Healthcare Organizations
Authors: Mourtou Efstratia
Published: February 2013

Since Hospital Information Systems (HIS) are designed to support doctors and healthcare professionals in their daily activities, information security plays a vital role in managing access control. Efficiency and effectiveness of information security policy is crucial, especially when dealing with situations that affect the status and life-history of the patient. In addition, the rules and procedures to follow, in order to provide confidentiality of sensitive information, have to focus on management of events on any table of the HIS. On the other hand, control and statement constraints, as well as events and security auditing techniques, play also an important role, due to the heterogeneity of healthcare professionals’ roles, actions and physical locations, as well as to the specific characteristics and needs of the healthcare organizations. This chapter will first explore issues in managing access control and security of healthcare information by reviewing the possible threats and vulnerabilities as well as the basic attributes of the hospital’s security plan. The authors will then present a hierarchical access model that, from a security policy perspective, refers to data ownership and access control issues. The authors conclude the chapter with discussions of upcoming security issues.
RBAC with Generic Rights, Delegation, Revocation, and Constraints
Authors: Wainer Jacques , Negrello Fabio , Ribeiro de Assis Igor
Published: February 2013

This chapter presents R+DRC, an extension of the Role-based Access Control (RBAC) model. R+DRC allow for defining constraints, for example to enforce different forms of separation of duties, and the right of overriding a constraint. The model also defines delegations, and two forms of revocations. The model is discussed within the framework of modeling the access control of an hospital. Algorithms are provided for the more complex actions.
Youth and Online Social Networking
Authors: Larsen Malene Charlotte , Ryberg Thomas
Published: February 2013

Often, young people do not have a voice in the public debate on internet safety and online social networking, but as this chapter will demonstrate that does not mean they do not have an opinion. Based on responses from 2400 Danish adolescents to an open-ended questionnaire, the authors discuss their accounts of good and bad experiences with social network sites. Furthermore, they analyse how youth (aged 12 to 18) position themselves as users of social network sites both in relation to very concrete and local experiences from their everyday life, and in relation to public media discourses. They discuss how they portray themselves as ‘responsible young people’ by distancing themselves from the public or “grown up” discourses represented by e.g. their parents or the news media.
Sociocognitive Inquiry
Authors: Gaines Brian R. , Shaw Mildred L. G.
Published: February 2013

This chapter describes techniques for sociocognitive inquiry based on conceptual grid elicitation and analysis using web-based tools, such as WebGrid, which are designed to elicit conceptual models from those participating in a networked community. These techniques provide an interactive web-based experience with immediate payback from online graphic analysis, that provides an attractive alternative to, or component of, conventional web-based surveys. In particular, they support targeted follow-up studies based on passive data mining of the by-products of web-based community activities, allowing the phenomena modeled through data mining to be investigated in greater depth. The foundations in cognitive sociology and psychology are briefly surveyed, a case study is provided to illustrate how web-based conceptual modeling services can be customized to integrate with a social networking site and support a focused study, and the implications for future research are discussed.
End-Users’ Acceptance of Biometrics Authentication to Secure E-Commerce within the Context of Saudi Culture
Authors: Harby Fahad AL , Qahwaji Rami , Kamala Mumtaz
Published: February 2013

This book study presents recent findings from an ongoing cross-cultural study exploring the acceptance of a new security method based on biometrics authentication systems to be applied to an e-commerce application within the context of Saudi culture. The aim of the study was to explore factors affecting users’ acceptance of biometrics authentication system. The authors conducted a large scale experiment of 306 Saudis using a login fingerprint system and examined a proposed conceptual framework based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with moderating variables. The findings from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis indicate that education levels are significant moderating factors, while gender and age do not record as significant. The findings of this study propose the need to take cultural background and disposition into consideration when applying biometrics technology.
Policy and Issues in Deploying Automated Plagiarism Detection Systems in Academic Communities
Authors: Cheong Chi Hong , Lau Tak Pang , King Irwin
Published: February 2013

Plagiarism is becoming prevalent through the use of the Internet. Educational institutions are seeking technology to combat plagiarism. This chapter describes policy and issues encountered by an educational institution that deploys an automated plagiarism detection system. Background information of plagiarism and the benefits of using automated plagiarism detection systems are presented as motivation. A detailed account on the benefits of using automated plagiarism detection system in the academic setting is given. Associated policy issues (administrative issues, submission policy issues, disciplinary issues, copyright issues, security and privacy issues, and ethical issues) and resources needed to deploy such a system are discussed in details. VeriGuide, an automated plagiarism detection system designed and implemented at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is presented as a case study on how the technology can be used to alleviate workload for the teachers and also provide a fair academic environment for the students. It is hoped that the case study would be helpful for those who are interested in using such a system to promote academic quality and integrity.
Cognitive Cooperation in Wireless Networks
Authors: Ong Eng Hwee , Khan Jamil Y.
Published: February 2013

In recent years, vertical handover (VHO) has been identified as the primary vehicle to provision seamless mobility and quality of service (QoS) transparency for end-user in composite network. This allows end-user to enjoy ubiquitous connectivity in the most efficient way, irrespective of time and place, commonly known as always best connected. In this chapter, the authors introduce the notion of cognitive cooperation as a means to provide optimized VHO opportunistically in order to exploit the inherent heterogeneity that exists within such composite network to improve radio resource usage. Through the cognitive cooperation, the chapter proposes a distributed load adaptation strategy (LAS) framework which exploits the benefits of joint optimization, particularly between link adaptation and load adaptation on-demand. The authors advocate that such synergetic interactions between the physical layer (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layer have advantages over the PHY approach based only on link adaptation. Comprehensive performance analyses show that the LAS framework arbitrates a QoS-balanced system in which statistical QoS guarantee for multimedia traffic can be provisioned and overall system capacity can be maximized.
A Social Relational Network-Based Architecture for Maintaining the Media Integrity and Optimizing the Quality of Experience
Authors: Koumaras Harilaos G. , Fajardo Jose Oscar , Liberal Fidel , Sun Lingfen , Koumaras Vaios , Troulos Costas , Kourtis Anastasios
Published: February 2013

This chapter proposes a Content-aware and Network-aware Management System (CNMS) over a converged user-environment of social networking and mobile multimedia. The proposed CNMS will focus on applying dynamic personalized multi-layer adaptation for the optimization of the Quality of Experience (QoE) level in a requested media service according to the users’ preferences, favourites provided in their social network profile, and prior experiences rated by users themselves. By user’s preference extraction, a service/content classification will be performed according to an estimation of the user’s favourites, which will be used to provide optimized media delivery across the delivery chain. Therefore, the end-user will always receive her/his favourite service, like Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), interactive application/on-line gaming, web browsing, at requested QoE. The system will ensure optimal allocation of network resources and optimal selection of streaming scheme according to different services/content types and user preferences, and therefore enhance the ratio of price-for-value for the specific subscription and achieve an end-to-end, holistic QoE optimisation. Although QoE is perceived as subjective, it is the only measure that counts for customers of a service. Being able to estimate the user preferences in a controlled manner through the end-user’s social networks profiles, helps operators understand what may be wrong with their services and their respective QoE. The proposed multimodal management system is user-centric and applies advanced machine learning techniques in order to extract user preferences from the social network profile of the user and build up a ranking scale of the services/contents. This ranking scale will be translated to adaptation actions per service type at several instances such as before the provision of the service takes place (i.e. Time Zero), during the delivering of the service (i.e. Time T), across all the network layers and delivery-chain nodes, while ensuring throughout the process that the main focus on the QoS-adaptation of the mobile access network is maintained.
Cloud Environment Controls Assessment Framework
Authors: Shah Bharat
Published: February 2013

Recent years have seen the rapid growth of on-demand, flexible, low-cost cloud-based information technology services. Government and business organizations around the world have started transforming their traditional in-house data center environments to cloud-based outsourced data centers. This transformation is opening doors to new risks given that the cloud computing delivery models, related services, and technologies are still maturing and evolving. Before deployment, organizations must implement cloud environment assessment methodologies to comply with the applicable standards and regulations. They must evaluate the environment’s quality attributes of Internet connectivity, user access control, privacy and confidentiality, asset protection, multiple platforms locality, availability, reliability, performance, and scalability. The purpose of this chapter is to assist organizations that are considering providing and consuming cloud-based services in developing an assessment plan specific to organizational policies, strategies and their business and applicable legal and regulatory requirements; and assessing the cloud environment controls for infrastructure, platform, and software services.
Applying Continuous Authentication to Protect Electronic Transactions
Authors: Albuquerque Silas Leite , Gondim Paulo Roberto de Lira
Published: February 2013

In this sense, this chapter explores some possibilities for continuous authentication use to increase electronic transactions security and addresses issues such: Trust in electronic communications systems, conventional authentication models, continuous authentication concepts and biometrics.
Navigating through Video Stories Using Clustering Sets
Authors: Pinto-Cáceres Sheila M. , Almeida Jurandy , Neris Vânia P. A. , Baranauskas M. Cecília C. , Leite Neucimar J. , Torres Ricardo da S.
Published: February 2013

The fast evolution of technology has led to a growing demand for video data, increasing the amount of research into efficient systems to manage those materials. Making efficient use of video information requires that data be accessed in a user-friendly way. Ideally, one would like to perform video search using an intuitive tool. Most of existing browsers for the interactive search of video sequences, however, have employed a too rigid layout to arrange the results, restricting users to explore the results using list- or grid-based layouts. This paper presents a novel approach for the interactive search that displays the result set in a flexible manner. The proposed method is based on a simple and fast algorithm to build video stories and on an effective visual structure to arrange the storyboards, called Clustering Set. It is able to group together videos with similar content and to organize the result set in a well-defined tree. Results from a rigorous empirical comparison with a subjective evaluation show that such a strategy makes the navigation more coherent and engaging to users.
Hybrid Query Refinement
Authors: Chatterjee Kasturi , Chen Shu-Ching
Published: February 2013

This paper proposes a hybrid query refinement model for distance-based index structures supporting content-based image retrievals. The framework refines a query by considering both the low-level feature space as well as the high-level semantic interpretations separately. Thus, it successfully handles queries where the gap between the feature components and the semantics is large. It refines the low-level feature space, indexed by the distance based index structure, in multiple iterations by introducing the concept of multipoint query in a metric space. It refines the high-level semantic space by dynamically adjusting the constructs of a framework, called the Markov Model Mediator (MMM), utilized to introduce the semantic relationships in the index structure. A k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) algorithm is designed to handle similarity searches that refine a query in multiple iterations utilizing the proposed hybrid query refinement model. Extensive experiments are performed demonstrating an increased relevance of query results in subsequent iterations while incurring a low computational overhead. Further, an evaluation metric, called the Model_Score, is proposed to compare the performance of different retrieval frameworks in terms of both computation overhead and query result relevance. This metric enables the users to choose the retrieval framework appropriate for their requirements.
A Novel Strategy for Recommending Multimedia Objects and its Application in the Cultural Heritage Domain
Authors: Albanese Massimiliano , d’Acierno Antonio , Moscato Vincenzo , Persia Fabio , Picariello Antonio
Published: February 2013

One of the most important challenges in the information access field, especially for multimedia repositories, is information overload. To cope with this problem, in this paper, the authors present a strategy for a recommender system that computes customized recommendations for users’ accessing multimedia collections, using semantic contents and low-level features of multimedia objects, past behaviour of individual users, and social behaviour of the users’ community as a whole. The authors implement their strategy in a recommender prototype for browsing image digital libraries in the Cultural Heritage domain. They then investigate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, based on the users’ satisfaction. The preliminary experimental results show that the approach is promising and encourages further research in this direction.
Government ICT Adoption
Authors: Adapa Sujana
Published: February 2013

This chapter focuses on the information and communication technologies (ICTs) adoption by governments in various countries. Theoretical models related to information systems and technology adoption are presented in order to understand the various constructs of importance from the adoption and diffusion of innovations perspective. Moreover, this chapter highlights the drivers and barriers to ICT adoption from the government perspective. Furthermore, this chapter provides important information of ICT adoption in different world regions by governments. Future implications and conclusions are provided.
Technology Design for E-Governance in Nonprofit Organizations
Authors: Saeed Saqib , Rohde Markus
Published: February 2013

Nonprofit organizations are an important sector of society working to support underprivileged citizens. The operations of nonprofit organizations differ from their organizational size, scope, and application domain. Modern computer systems are quite effective in managing organizational tasks, but the nonprofit sector lacks in technological systems concerning organizational settings. In order to foster a successful use of electronic services, it is vital that computer systems are appropriate according to user needs. The diversity of users and their work practices in nonprofit organizations make it difficult for standardized infrastructure to work optimally in diverse organizational settings. In this chapter, the authors discuss the issues and complexities associated with system design for nonprofit organizations. They analyze important open issues that need to be explored for appropriated technology design in this domain.
Authentication Mechanisms for E-Voting
Authors: Abu-Shanab Emad , Khasawneh Rawan , Alsmadi Izzat
Published: February 2013

The e-government paradigm became an essential path for governments to reach citizens and businesses and to improve service and public performance. One of the important tools used in political and administrative venues is e-voting, where ICT tools are used to facilitate the process of voting for electing representatives and making decisions. The integrity and image of such applications won't be maintained unless strict measures on security and authenticity are applied. This chapter explores the e-voting process, reviews the authentication techniques and methods that are used in this process and proposed in the literature, and demonstrates few cases of applying e-voting systems from different countries in the world. Conclusions and proposed future work are stated at the end of the chapter.
The Community Manager and Social Media Networks
Authors: Bolívar Manuel Pedro Rodríguez , Pérez Carmen Caba , Hernández Antonio Manuel López
Published: February 2013

Local governments are increasingly embracing Web 2.0 technologies to encourage the use of means of bidirectional communication to change how they interact with stakeholders, thus providing the greater accountability demanded. Nonetheless, to make Web 2.0 tools efficient, there must be qualified people to operate and supervise the Web 2.0 and social network technologies implemented by local governments. These people, called “Community Managers,” play a key role in the implementation of social networks in local government, successfully or otherwise. In this chapter, the authors analyse whether the training and education of community managers in Spanish local governments is associated with the successful use of social networks by these local governments in their interaction with the public. Their empirical study of local government in Spain shows that the position of community manager is mostly held by men who are aged 25-45 years and have a university degree in journalism, performing in addition, tasks such as updating the municipal website or running the press office.
The Effect of Trust on the Continuance Intention of E-Filing Usage
Authors: Santhanamery T. , Ramayah T.
Published: February 2013

Research on e-government is taking a new phase nowadays, with researchers focusing more to evaluate the continued usage intention by the citizens rather than the initial intention. Continuance intention is defined as a person's intention to continue using, or long term usage intention of a technology. Unlike initial acceptance decision, continuance intention depends on various factors that affect the individual's decision to continue using a particular system, with trust being one for the most important factors. Therefore, this case study aims to examine the role of trust, particularly trust in the system, on continuance usage intention of an e-filing system by taxpayers in Malaysia. The primary discussion in this case study concerns the e-filing system in Malaysia, followed by the strategies for successful adoption of e-government services and the benefits of e-government adoption, concluding with future research directions.
Assessment and Learning Partnerships in an Online Environment
Authors: Griffin Patrick , Care Esther , Robertson Pam , Crigan Judith , Awwal Nafisa , Pavlovic Masa
Published: February 2013

This chapter shows how the online environment is used to promote quality teaching within a research project conducted by the Assessment Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. The project investigates how teacher teams use assessment data to inform teaching decisions and extensive efforts are made to check their learning through performance assessment procedures that monitor their discipline and pedagogy skills development. Teachers from the project are involved in a professional development course. The ways in which they adopt the knowledge, skills, and attitudes addressed by the course are tracked, along with assessment data from their students. The online environment is used to deliver the professional development course and to deliver online assessments for students and teachers. The authors are careful to ensure that the online experience for both teachers and students reinforces the ideas of the project. These include the notions of developmental approach rather than deficit, evidence rather than inferential decision making and collaboration rather than isolation.