bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Breaking Out from Lock-In
Authors: Hospers Gert-Jan
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses strategies aimed at regional-economic structural change in the German Ruhrgebiet. The Ruhrgebiet used to be the largest industrial area in Western-Europe. After the crisis in the coal and steel industry the region pursued re-industrialisation policies in the 1960s and 1970s. These attempts were largely unsuccesful. Therefore, since the 1980s the involved actors gradually adopted regional innovation strategies. Thus, they were able to break out from the region’s lock-in situation. The re-orientation of the Ruhrgebiet towards innovation based on the industries’ expertise and past (e.g. environmental technology, energy and industrial tourism) is more successful than its earlier re-industrialisation attempts. Also for other old industrial areas in Europe this kind of place-based renewal might be the future.
Fuel Reduction Effect of the Solar Cell and Diesel Engine Hybrid System with a Prediction Algorithm of Solar Power Generation
Authors: Obara Shin’ya
Published: May 2011

Green energy utilization technology is an effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We developed the production-of-electricity prediction algorithm (PAS) of the solar cell. In this algorithm, a layered neural network is made to learn based on past weather data and the operation plan of the hybrid system (proposed system) of a solar cell and a diesel engine generator was examined using this prediction algorithm. In addition, system operation without a electricity-storage facility, and the system with the engine generator operating at 25% or less of battery residual quantity was investigated, and the fuel consumption of each system was measured. Numerical simulation showed that the fuel consumption of the proposed system was modest compared with other operating methods. However, there was a significant difference in the prediction error of the electricity production of the solar cell and the actual value, and the proposed system was shown to be not always superior to others. Moreover, although there are errors in the predicted and actual values using PAS, there is no significant influence in the operation plan of the proposed system in almost all cases.
GIS and Remote Sensing in Environmental Risk Assessment
Authors: Chen X. Mara
Published: May 2011

The existence, well-being, and sustainable development of the global economy hinges upon the state of the earth’s environment. Effective environmental risk assessment and management issues have become increasingly important. With the ever-growing global population and expanding economic development, we consume more natural resources, produce more waste, and develop more areas into the regions that are prone to environmental risks. Although humans have interacted with the environment for thousands of years, environmental risk assessment and management is only a recent research undertaking. As the industrialization has made the human-environment interactions more dynamic and complex, the increased environmental risks have propelled and compelled people to use technologies for identifying and solving problems. The earliest global environmental applications of remote sensing and GIS technologies began in the 1960s, particularly marked by the successful launch of the TIROS- 1, the first meteorological satellite, and the development of computer-based geographic information systems (GIS). The story Silent Spring (Carson, 1962) awoke the public’s environmental consciousness and promoted the public demands for governments to set up environmental protection policies and research priorities. The birth of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 set the stage for modern environment risk assessment. The launch of the LANDSAT program in 1972 created a new way for monitoring global land use and land cover changes (Foley, 1999; Goward, Masek, Williams, Irons, & Thompson, 2001).
Promoting E-Governance Through Capacity Development for the Global Environment
Authors: Perry Jim , Paas Leslie , Arreola Maria Eugenia , Santer Elena , Sharma Nalini , Bellali Johara
Published: May 2011

Solving the world’s great crises and taking advantage of the world’s greatest opportunities requires innovation and capacity. E-governance uses Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) to broaden participation and make problem solving more effective. Environmental issues represent some of the world’s greatest crises and most significant opportunities. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is a global leader in tackling such issues. UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook (GEO) relies on contributions from many experts from all regions of the world. Because capacity development is critical to UNEP’s ability to fulfill its mandate, UNEP collaborated with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to commission more than 50 experts to develop training resources for integrated environmental assessment and reporting at the sub-global level. These resources were adapted to an eLearning format, significantly broadening their utility and reach. All materials are organized onto the Moodle Learning Management System and use a facilitated interaction model. The eLearning curriculum and approach has been peer reviewed and pilot tested. This research has further developed a blended learning, Train-the-Multipliers program to train facilitators. This eLearning implementation has clearly demonstrated potential and is advancing e-governance at global, regional, national and sub-national levels in the area of environmental assessment and reporting. Although UNEP’s position as a strong proponent of global environmental governance is unique, the detailed approach described for the eLearning programme is generic and therefore, would be a useful model for others who wish to develop eLearning curricula.
Sustainable Transportation Development
Authors: Rashid Kushairi , Yigitcanlar Tan , Bunker Jonathan
Published: May 2011

Urban sprawl combined with low density development causes unsustainable development patterns including accessibility and mobility problems, especially for those who do not have the capacity to own a vehicle or access to quality public transport services. Sustainable transportation development is crucial in order to solve transport disadvantage problems in urban settlements. People who are affected by these problems are referred to as ‘transportation disadvantaged’. Transportation disadvantage is a multi-dimensional problem that combines socio-economics, transportation and spatial characteristics or dimensions. However, a substantial number of transportation disadvantage studies so far only focus on the socio-economic and transportation dimensions, while the latter dimension of transportation disadvantage has been neglected. This chapter investigates the spatial dimension of transportation disadvantage by comparing the travel capabilities of residents and their accessibility levels with land use characteristics. The analysis of the study identifies significant land use characteristics with travel inability, and is useful for identifying the transportation disadvantaged population.
Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Development in South East Asia
Authors: Teriman Suharto , Yigitcanlar Tan , Mayere Severine
Published: May 2011

Many South East Asian cities have experienced substantial physical, economic and social transformations during the past several decades. The rapid pace of globalization and economic restructuring has resulted in these cities receiving the full impact of urbanization pressures. In an attempt to ease these pressures, cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur have advocated growth management approaches focusing especially on urban infrastructure sustainability. These approaches aim to achieve triple bottom line sustainability by balancing economic and social development, and environmental protection. This chapter evaluates three Asia-Pacific city cases, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, and assesses their experiences in managing their urban forms and infrastructure whilst promoting sustainable patterns of urban development.
Collaboration as a Key Enabler for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Implementing Green ICT
Authors: Marmaridis Ioakim , Unhelkar Bhuvan
Published: May 2011

Global competitiveness through advances in ICT is giving SMEs abilities that up until a few years ago were inconceivable. Along with increased market reach and added impact SMEs also begin to feel the pressure of becoming more ecologically friendly. Therefore, they need to establish Green ICT practices within their businesses. While these practices are relatively better resourced in large businesses, SMEs find it rather challenging to implement Green ICT practice because of their size and amount of resources they can put behind such initiative. This chapter describes how collaboration can be used as a key enabler for SMEs adopting Green ICT for their operations. Green ICT improvements are presented in the context of people, process and technology framework and individual solutions are offered along with their benefits that SMEs can readily adopt and begin their transition towards Green ICT.
Communication, Information and Sustainability
Authors: Tortora Marco
Published: May 2011

This chapter, recognizing that the main communication concepts are deeply geographical in their inner nature, has the intent of introducing an analysis of the connection there should be between geography, communication, organization and sustainability. The author will use the geography of information as the main framework to detect these links and to present the analysis of a regional communication infrastructure to understand how the Internet can be pivotal to communication and local development strategies. The analysis will present regional communication policies, projects and practices to understand if these are positive or negative forces for a regional sustainable development.
From Traditional Non-Sustainable Production to Closed Loop Manufacturing
Authors: Golinska Paulina
Published: May 2011

The scope of this chapter addresses the issues related to materials management for closed loop manufacturing based on the integration of material flows management systems with production planning and control systems (PPC) or business systems (like ERP) applicable to remanufacturing environments. It aims to identify and discuss the main issues and further research steps needed in order to improve materials management, as well as assessment of the environmental impact of remanufactured products. The main problems that appear in the area of materials management by shifting from non-sustainable production to closed loop manufacturing have been identified and discussed. The integrated materials management approach has been presented.
Approaches and Initiatives to Green IT Strategy in Business
Authors: Goel Amit , Tiwary Amit , Schmidt Heinz
Published: May 2011

Increasing resource consumption by business organizations is impacting the environment and resulting in changes to climatic patterns. The use of Information Technology (IT) and related systems are further contributing to sustainability issues and challenges within business. Hence it becomes imperative for enterprises to formulate their IT Strategies with green approaches in mind so as to reduce the environmental impact of their IT usage. This chapter discusses the issues and challenges in formulating such strategies with particular emphasis on architecture based approaches to green initiatives. A six step methodology for Green IT strategies for business is also recommended.
The Role of the Business Analyst in Green ICT
Authors: Beal Adriana
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents the role of business analysts in the green initiative of an organization. As corporations become more environmentally conscious, business objectives such as decreasing energy use and producing fewer emissions require adjustments in processes and rules governing how ICT solutions are designed and implemented. For example, optimizing the process of buying an airline ticket from a green perspective might require changing the rules for online purchase and designing an ICT solution to switch the process to a paperless, secure electronic ticketing system. The entire optimization of a process such as passenger ticketing requires analysis of the solution, its alternatives and its associated risks. This is what a business analyst does. In the past decade, the role of business analysts has rapidly evolved in multiple directions to encompass activities such as business evaluation, risk management, process modeling, dealing with metrics and measurement and undertaking acceptance testing of solutions. This chapter discusses how business analysts can provide an invaluable contribution to the process of developing environmentally sound ICT practices within and around the organization. Organizations need to get their green credentials in order (Information Age, 2007). They also need to take a strategic, long term view of the environmental factors affecting their business. A business analyst, as discussed here, helps bring together myriad variables into a cohesive and comprehensive plan to address the various long-term and strategic aspects of greening ICT processes in the broad context of the corporation, the industry and the overall business ecosystem.
Decision Criteria for Green Management Information Systems
Authors: Gasmelseid Tagelsir Mohamed
Published: May 2011

The emphasis on climate changes and their consequences is moving to the front line agenda of government agencies, business organizations, industry, and research institutions. While the existence of beneficiary and/or regulatory considerations tends to be the main motivator, the perceived growing impacts of climate change on objectives and strategies is emerging as a new attention driving force. However, the perceived impacts and “pressures” felt have resulted into different interventions, analytical approaches and operational pathways. This growing attention has also been accompanies with the establishment of specialized organizations such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, specialized programs at other UN agencies and dedicated research programs at educational institutions. While Greening ICT continued to be one of the major themes, emphasis tends to be made on technological and technical methodologies. As a result, there have been many shortcomings with regards to the understanding and appreciation of the impacts of climate changes at different landscapes. The basic aim of this chapter is to investigate and discusses the context of ICT greening from another dimension by looking at the impacts of “greening” procedures on the capacity of management Information Systems to facilitate the realization of corporate objectives. The chapter advocates an approach for viewing the impacts of greening procedures on MIS by focusing on its entire architecture, information processing capacity and knowledge management considerations.
From Cleaner Production to Greening the Local Economy
Authors: Odake Nobutaka , Furukawa Satomi
Published: May 2011

As interests in the impacts of business activities on environment have been growing, environmental policy is now shifting from the “end of pipe” stage to the next stage, which factor in the life cycles and social efficiency. An increasing trend in environmental departments of state and municipal governments in Europe is that these departments have outgrown their restriction-based environmental measures. Their concept of environmental policy has shifted to management support programs that helps small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increase their competitiveness through improving their environmental efficiency. This chapter discusses and compares two environmental programs: the case of die Effizienz Agentur NRW (EFA) and the case of der ÖkoBusinessPlan Wien, the Eco Business Plan Vienna (EBP). The goal of this chapter is to extract the conveyed meanings of partnerships and the role of public sectors through the activities of local intermediaries such as agents need to play in fostering environmental conservation. The focus of discussion is on the partnerships among the parties involved in the programs and on the program operations.
Identifying and Clustering of Target Customers of Green Products
Authors: Wang Miao-Ling
Published: May 2011

The number of consumers concerned about the environment is growing. Although the promotion of green products is recognized as a basic method for solving the waste crisis and improving the environment, resources for producing or serving green products are relatively limited, causing inconveniences and elevated prices for the consumer. Therefore, it becomes significant that those customers who are willing to sacrifice convenience in order to purchase higher priced green products be identified. Through the affirmation of target customers in an effective marketing system, enterprises can recycle used products efficiently, increase profits and successfully transmit advertising information to consumers who are disposed to buy green products. In this chapter, we apply data mining techniques to cope with this problem. After clustering the customers, a bi-objective nonlinear problem is constructed with multiple attribute utility theory; the target customers form the foundation of marketing.
Natural Resources Accounting for Sustainable Development
Authors: Nallathiga Ramakrishna
Published: May 2011

Economic growth has been conventionally looked upon as the measure for the development of society, while ignoring the other aspects viz., human development, natural resources, environment and ecology. In the conventional accounting of economic development, the value of services and goods provided by natural resources like air, water, land and biota are ignored; neither any attempts are made to monitor and account for the changes in natural resources and environment. For the economic development to be sustainable, the environmental costs have to be limited and to be growing at slower pace than the economic gains. In this chapter, an attempt is made to outline the importance of using Natural Resource Accounting (NRA) for sustainable development through an attempt to estimate the environmental costs and benefits, and also to compare with economic growth in the case of India. This chapter highlights the potential of using NRA to make decisions for sustainable development through policies for conservation, management and development of natural resources.
Understanding the Context of Green ICT
Authors: Gheewala Deepa , Gheewala Vivek
Published: May 2011

Green ICT can be considered as the adoption of eco-friendly processes by an organization in its practice of Information and Communication Technologies. The last decade, in particular, has seen profound awareness on the part of individuals as well as organizations in adopting such processes that are environmentally friendly. While automation and related computing activities continue to lead to exponential use of energy quotient, Green ICT continues to chip away at the ‘resigned‘ views of the decision makers to their environmental responsibilities. It is vital today to understand the increasing importance and the context provided by ICT in helping prove the green credentials of an organization. ICT operates at systems and applications level; at the end-user level through the desktops and printers; and at the enterprise level through its data centers, servers and other infrastructure. Green ICT is all about optimization and improvement of the organization’s operational processes without hindering its progress in use of technology. This chapter discusses the context provided by ICT in helping an organization to prove its green credentials. The issues discussed in this chapter include hardware and software implementations, infrastructures, attitudes and policies of decision makers, and how they influence global warming. Therefore, it includes carbon emissions, and the use of software applications in measuring and reporting carbon emissions.
Improving Energy-Efficiency of Computational Grids via Scheduling
Authors: Zong Ziliang , Ruan Xiaojun , Manzanares Adam , Bellam Kiranmai , Qin Xiao
Published: May 2011

High performance Grid platforms and parallel computing technologies are experiencing their golden age because of the convergence of four critical momentums: high performance microprocessors, high-speed networks, free middleware tools, and highly increased needs of computing capability. We are witnessing the rapid development of computational Grid technologies. Dozens of exciting Grid infrastructures and projects like Grid-tech, Grid Portals, Grid Fora, and Commercial Grid Initiatives are being built all over the world. However, the fast growing power consumption of data centers has caused serious concerns for building more large-scale supercomputers, clusters, and Grids. Therefore, designing energy-efficient computational Grids to make them economically attractive and environmentally friendly for parallel applications becomes highly desirable. Unfortunately, most previous studies in Grid computing primarily focus on the improvement of performance, security, and reliability, while completely ignoring the energy conservation issue. To address this problem, we propose a general architecture for building energy-efficient computational Grids and discuss the potential possibilities for incorporating power-aware techniques to different layers of the proposed Grid architecture. In this chapter, we first provide necessary background on computational Grids, Grid computing, and parallel scheduling. Next, we illustrate the general Grid architecture and explain the functionality of different layers. Followed by that, we discuss the design and implementation details of applying the energy-efficient job-scheduling technique, which is called Communication Energy Conservation Scheduling (or CECS for short), to computational Grids. Finally, we present extensive simulation results to prove the improvement of energy-efficiency of computational Grids.
Low Power Techniques for Greener Hardware
Authors: Buch Kaushal , Dubey Rahul , Buch Saket
Published: May 2011

The last two decades have seen an exponential growth in the fields of electronic communication and information technology. Not surprisingly, ICT devices have become an integral part of our daily life. As demands for the development of more compact and versatile devices arise, there is mounting pressure on the designers to efficiently use the available resources. The new age ICT has become a matter of serious concern for the environment due to increased power consumption by the devices, the backbone infrastructure and eventual electronic waste disposal. This chapter describes techniques to reduce power consumption in ICT by reducing power at the very basal level of usage, which is the hardware. Careful architecture and design in hardware that keeps the principles of carbon reduction in mind can not only increase the efficiency of the device but also help in making it a green device. The primary focus of the chapter is to reduce the power utilized in the computation part of the device. The chapter also provides a background to other studies being carried out to reduce power consumed by the device as a whole.
Strategic Business Trends in the Context of Green ICT
Authors: Sherringham Keith , Unhelkar Bhuvan
Published: May 2011

The adoption of Green ICT by business is far more than just the acquisition of low-carbon emitting solutions, green hardware and implementing software to switch-off computers in periods of inactivity. Although such changes are necessary actions, Green ICT is about a strategic business transformation in response to both markets and legislation because it is good for business. Such transformation requires a redefinition of business processes, a realignment of information exchange, integration of unified communication, and above all, changing the business model to align with evolving business trends and market opportunities. Beyond the marketing benefits that accrue to a business from the use of Green ICT, the adoption of Green ICT allows businesses to lower costs and improve service delivery, while simultaneously addressing environmental footprint. Operational gains and market opportunities are the business drivers to overcome the incumbency of replacing utility infrastructure and the knowledge worker assembly line that ICT provides to business. This chapter discusses aspects of the strategic business transformation associated with the adoption of Green ICT within businesses, including the significance of information exchange for green business operations.
Technological Change and the Transformation of Global Agriculture
Authors: Nin-Pratt Alejandro
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the economic impact of science-based research in agriculture. Global agriculture was transformed in the 20th century by the Green Revolution that resulted from applying Mendelian genetics to crop and animal breeding. Developments of biotechnology in the last 20 years marked the dawn of a gene revolution that is thought to replace Mendelian genetics as the driver of technical change in agriculture. In recent years and still far from reaching the full potential impact of biotechnology in agriculture, developments in nanotechnology promise to further push the research and innovation frontier in agriculture. In this new environment, the private sector emerges as the main actor in agricultural R&D displacing the public sector, which played a central role during the Green Revolution period. However, more public investment in R&D rather than less and new institutions will be needed in developing countries if they are to benefit from the new technologies.
Concept-Oriented Query Language for Data Modeling and Analysis
Authors: Savinov Alexandr
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes a novel query language, called the concept-oriented query language (COQL), and demonstrates how it can be used for data modeling and analysis. The query language is based on a novel construct, called concept, and two relations between concepts, inclusion and partial order. Concepts generalize conventional classes and are used for describing domain-specific identities. Inclusion relation generalizes inheritance and is used for describing hierarchical address spaces. Partial order among concepts is used to define two main operations: projection and de-projection. This chapter demonstrates how these constructs are used to solve typical tasks in data modeling and analysis such as logical navigation, multidimensional analysis, and inference.
Flexible Querying of Imperfect Temporal Metadata in Spatial Data Infrastructures
Authors: Bordogna Gloria , Bucci Francesco , Carrara Paola , Pepe Monica , Rampini Anna
Published: May 2011

Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) allow users connected to the Internet to share and access remote and distributed heterogeneous geodata that are managed by their providers at their own Web sites. In SDIs, available geodata can be found via standard discovery geo-services that makes available query facilities of a metadata catalog. By expressing precise selection conditions on the values of the metadata collected in the catalog, the user can discover interesting and relevant geodata and then access them by means of the services of the SDI. An important dimension of geodata that often concerns such users’ requests is the temporal information that can have multiple semantics. Current practice to perform geodata discovery in SDIs is inadequate for several reasons. First of all, with respect to the temporal characterization, available recommendations for metadata specification, for example, the INSPIRE Directive of the European community do not consider the multiple semantics of the temporal metadata. To this aim, this chapter proposes to enrich the current temporal metadata with the possibility to indicate temporal metadata related to both the observations, i.e., the geodata, the observed event, i.e., the objects in the geodata, and the temporal resolution of observations, i.e., their timestamps. The chapter introduces also a proposal to manage temporal series of geodata observed at different dates. Moreover, in order to represent the uncertain and incomplete knowledge of the time information on the available geodata, the chapter proposes a representation for imperfect temporal metadata within the fuzzy set framework. Another issue that is faced in this chapter is the inadequacy of current discovery service query facilities: in order to obtain a list of geodata results, corresponding values of metadata must exactly match the query conditions. To allow more flexibility, the chapter proposes to adopt the framework of fuzzy databases to allow expressing soft selection conditions, i.e., tolerant to under-satisfaction, so as to retrieve geodata in decreasing order of relevance to the user needs. The chapter illustrates this proposal by an example.
Fuzzy Querying Capability at Core of a RDBMS
Authors: Aguilera Ana , Cadenas José Tomás , Tineo Leonid
Published: May 2011

This chapter is focused in incorporating the fuzzy capabilities to a relational database management system (RDBMS) of open source. The fuzzy capabilities include connectors, modifiers, comparators, quantifiers, and queries. The extensions consider a more flexible DDL and DML languages. The aim is to show the design and implementation details in the RDBMS PostgreSQL. For this, a fuzzy query processor and fuzzy access mechanism has been designed and implemented. The physical fuzzy relational operators have been also defined and implemented. The flow of a fuzzy query through the different modules (parser, planner, optimizer, and executor) has been shown. Some experimental results have been included to demonstrate the performance of the proposal solution. These results show that the extensions have not decreased the performance of the RDBMS.
Application of Space-Time Signal Processing and Active Control Algorithms for the Suppression of Electromagnetic Fields
Authors: Hult Tommy , Mohammed Abbas
Published: May 2011

Several studies have been conducted on the effects of radiation on the human body. This has been especially important in the case of radiation from hand held mobile phones. The amount of radiation emitted from most mobile phones is very small, but given the close proximity of the phone to the head it might be possible for the radiation to cause harm. The suggested approach involves the use of adaptive active control algorithms and a full space-time processing system setup (i.e. multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver side or MIMO), with the objective of reducing the possibly harmful electromagnetic radiation emitted by hand held mobile phones. Simulation results show the possibility of using the adaptive control algorithms and MIMO antenna system to attenuate the electromagnetic field power density.
Blind Equalization for Broadband Access using the Constant Modulus Algorithm
Authors: Leeson Mark S. , Iwu Eugene
Published: May 2011

The cost of laying optical fiber to the home means that digital transmission using copper twisted pairs is still widely used to provide broadband Internet access via Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) techniques. However, copper transmission systems were optimally designed for voice transmission and cause distortion of high bandwidth digital information signals. Thus equalization is needed to ameliorate the effects of the distortion. To avoid wasting precious bandwidth, it is desirable that the equalization is blind, operating without training sequences. This chapter concerns the use of a popular blind adaptive equalization algorithm, namely the Constant Modulus Algorithm (CMA) that penalizes deviations from a fixed value in the modulus of the equalizer output signal. The CMA is set in the context of blind equalization, with particular focus on systems that sample at fractions of the symbol time. Illustrative examples show the performance of the CMA on an ideal noiseless channel and in the presence of Gaussian noise. Realistic data simulations for microwave and DSL channels confirm that the CMA is capable of dealing with the non-ideal circumstances that will be encountered in practical transmission scenarios.
Advances in Moving Face Recognition
Authors: Fang Hui , Costen Nicolas , Grant Phil , Chen Min
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the approaches to extracting features via the motion subspace for improving face recognition from moving face sequences. Although the identity subspace analysis has achieved reasonable recognition performance in static face images, more recently there has been an interest in motion-based face recognition. This chapter reviews several state-of-the-art techniques to exploit the motion information for recognition and investigates the permuted distinctive motion similarity in the motion subspace. The motion features extracted from the motion subspaces are used to test the performance based on a verification experimental framework. Through experimental tests, the results show that the correlations between motion eigen-patterns significantly improve the performance of recognition.
Image Processing Applications Based on Texture and Fractal Analysis
Authors: Dobrescu Radu , Popescu Dan
Published: May 2011

Texture analysis research attempts to solve two important kinds of problems: texture segmentation and texture classification. In some applications, textured image segmentation can be solved by classification of small regions obtained from image partition. Two classes of features are proposed in the decision theoretic recognition problem for textured image classification. The first class derives from the mean co-occurrence matrices: contrast, energy, entropy, homogeneity, and variance. The second class is based on fractal dimension and is derived from a box-counting algorithm. For the purpose of increasing texture classification performance, the notions “mean co-occurrence matrix” and “effective fractal dimension” are introduced and utilized. Some applications of the texture and fractal analyses are presented: road analysis for moving objective, defect detection in textured surfaces, malignant tumour detection, remote land classification, and content based image retrieval. The results confirm the efficiency of the proposed methods and algorithms.
Towards Alleviating the Post-Apartheid Education Crisis in South Africa
Authors: Padayachee Pragashni , Harding Ansie
Published: May 2011

Post-apartheid South Africa is witnessing an education crisis of significant proportions. The new outcomes-based education system has failed to deliver, and universities are suffering the consequences of under-preparation of learners for tertiary studies. The educator corps is lacking, and it has become common practice for universities to deploy augmented programmes in mathematics for secondary school learners in the surrounding area. This chapter describes a particular model of blended learning, devised for the Incubator School Project (ISP), an initiative of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The defining feature of this blended model is that it incorporates DVD technology, which offers an affordable and accessible option for the particular group of learners. DVD technology was used as an ingredient in this blended learning approach since it is easily available to the majority of learners and to the schools they attend. This chapter describes the particular blended model and reports both qualitatively and quantitatively on its success: qualitatively, based firstly on a questionnaire completed by learners and secondly on interviews of educators; quantitatively, based thirdly on learner performance before and after the intervention and fourthly on a single school case study where the mathematics performance of the learners who participated in the ISP is compared to those who did not participate in the ISP. Finally, the scope of blending of this model is evaluated by means of a radar chart, adapted from an existing radar measure. The findings of the study suggest that the use of DVD technology in the blended learning approach impacted favourably on the mathematics learning and enhanced the mathematics performance of these learners.
Blending In
Authors: LeNoue Marvin D. , Stammen Ronald
Published: May 2011

This chapter comprises an outline of the prototype concept referred to as Second-Wave Enabled Technology Enhanced (SWETE) instruction. SWETE is positioned to subsume the blended learning concept, critiqued as a categorization that will fade to ubiquity as second-generation e-learning paradigms predominate in digitally-mediated education and training. In this chapter, the operational attributes of the SWETE model are presented via description of second-wave technologies, delineation of recent changes in educational cultures and contexts, and discussion of the principles of effective digitally-mediated education. The authors highlight the benefits of social media-driven instructional designs and introduce the use of Blackboard LMS/social network site mashups as core tools for online teaching and learning. The chapter ends with a look at the future of mobile and blended learning, and a call for research into the use of social network technology in the delivery of learning opportunities.
Learning in a Mobile Age, a More and More Mobile Age
Authors: Traxler John
Published: May 2011

The launch of the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning is one of several indicators that mobile learning globally is reaching a critical and sustainable momentum and identity. The past nine or ten years have seen a host of pilots and initiatives across sectors and across countries and these have established firstly that mobile learning takes learning to individuals, communities and countries where access to learning was challenging or problematic and secondly that mobile learning enhances, enriches and extends how learning is understood. Environmental factors have meant that this development has been haphazard. The mobile learning community is now faced with broader challenges of scale, durability, equity, embedding and blending in addition to the earlier and more specific challenges of pedagogy and technology, but these developments take place in the context of societies where mobile devices, systems and technologies have a far wider impact than just mobile learning as it is currently conceived. This chapter looks at the definition and evolution of mobile learning as the starting point for a discussion of this wider impact.
Designing Participant-Generated Context into Guided Tours
Authors: Sprake Juliet
Published: May 2011

This article presents an interdisciplinary framework for designing participant-generated context into guided tours. The framework has been developed in parallel to practice-led research in the design of mobile learning tours with young people based in London. The article draws on art, architecture and urbanism to outline productive concepts, ‘seeding’ and ‘threading’, which support mobilised learning in tours of the built environment. In this, context is explored as an active and dynamic idea in developing attributes of the mobilised learner in the design of tours around buildings and the built environment. 150 words or less.
A Design of Collaborative Learning System Based on PDA for Improving Performance of Real-Time Learning
Authors: Liu Cheng-Li , Su Kuo-Wei
Published: May 2011

In conventional classroom, when a student’s progress is stymied by the lack of direct contact with his or her instructor and peers, mobile devices offer new forms of communication that break down the traditional barriers to education. Personal digital assistant (PDA) has been a popular choice – more so than cell phone – for implementing m-learning in the last few years. However, how to design a collaborative learning system based on PDA to create an appropriate interface for content presentation on small screen in order to improve performance of learning is the major objective of this study. The authors used principles of human-computer interaction (HCI) and utilized task analysis, literature review, experimental design, small-screen design to construct a collaborative learning system based on PDA, and addressed potential issues with appearance in order to design a friendly PDA interface whose performance was analyzed with a post-experiment user satisfaction questionnaire. The results of this experiment show that the principles of Interface design based on HCI used in design of the learning system would help students to improve performance of learning and become capable, self-reliant, self-motivated and independent. The findings also demonstrate that variations among students’ preference or content are associated with differences in the display presentation mode in which the landscape interface is recommended for use.
Exploring the Effects of Web-Enabled Self-Regulated Learning and Online Class Frequency on Students’ Computing Skills in Blended Learning Courses
Authors: Shen Pei-Di , Tsai Chia-Wen
Published: May 2011

Web-based courses have shown to be successful in providing quality distance education. However, due to a national education policy, pure online courses are not permitted in Taiwan. In addition, there exists a lack of appropriate design and delivery of blended learning courses. In this study, the authors conducted a quasi-experiment to examine the effects in applying blended learning (BL) with web-enabled self-regulated learning (SRL) to enhance students’ skills of deploying database management system (DBMS). Four class sections with a total of 172 second-year students were taken as four distinct groups. The results showed that students in the SRL and BL groups with 5 online classes had the highest grades for using DBMS among the four groups. Students who received the treatments of web-enabled SRL also outperformed a control group that did not have the benefit of instruction in SRL. The implications of this study are also discussed. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]
Blending Professional Development for Rural Educators An Exploratory Study
Authors: Kitchenham Andrew
Published: May 2011

Blended learning is a process by which educators use varied web-, print-, and classroom-based techniques to present a specific set of skills to a group of adult learners. In this chapter, the author argues that Rossett, Douglis, and Frazee’s (2003) blended learning model is superior to others’ as it is based on adult-learning principles. In March, 2007, the researcher and one colleague conducted a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) federal study on teacher supply and demand issues in Northern Canada. As part of the questionnaire and interview data, the participants (n = 113) were asked to comment on professional development models currently used and models to be considered. In particular, comments on the use of blended learning as a viable method of e-professional development model were favourable. In follow up to those comments, the main researcher provided professional development model exemplars and asked the participants to discuss the advantages and disadvantages for the rural professionals. The results of this study are promising as the majority of participants chose blended learning as their primary choice for professional development.
Transforming Pedagogy Using Mobile Web 2.0
Authors: Cochrane Thomas , Bateman Roger
Published: May 2011

Blogs, wikis, podcasting, and a host of free, easy to use Web 2.0 social software provide opportunities for creating social constructivist learning environments focusing on student-centred learning and learner-generated content creation and sharing. Building on this foundation, mobile Web 2.0 has emerged as a viable teaching and learning tool, facilitating engaging learning environments that bridge multiple contexts. Today’s dual 3G and wifi-enabled smartphones provide a ubiquitous connection to mobile Web 2.0 social software and the ability to view, create, edit, upload, and share learner-generated Web 2.0 content. This chapter outlines how a Product Design course has moved from a traditional teacher-centred face-to-face, studio-based learning environment to one using mobile Web 2.0 technologies to enhance and engage students in a social constructivist learning paradigm.
Forensic Anthropology
Authors: Ubelaker Douglas H. , Grossman Julia A.
Published: May 2011

Traditionally, methodology within forensic anthropology has involved very basic techniques of measurement, observation and interpretation. Rooted in the academic fields of anatomy and physical anthropology, forensic anthropology has grown to address problems of recovery, determination of species, estimation of age at death, sex, ancestry, stature, postmortem interval, and the evaluation of evidence relating to foul play and identification. Growth and expansion of the field into new areas of application have revealed new problems needing new methodological solutions. Striving to resolve these problems, anthropologists have turned to new technology, or approaches utilized in related academic areas that would be new to anthropology. This chapter explores aspects of those technological developments and how they have found a home in the practice of forensic anthropology.
Vertebral Morphometry in Forensics
Authors: Guglielmi Giuseppe , D’Errico Stefano , Pomara Cristoforo , Fineschi Vittorio
Published: May 2011

Imaging techniques (plain radiographs, multi slice computed tomography (MSCT), and magnetic resonance (MRI)) are being increasingly implemented in forensic pathology. These methods may serve as an adjuvant to classic forensic medical diagnosis and as support to forensic autopsies. It is well noted that various post-processing techniques can provide strong forensic evidence for use in legal proceedings. This chapter reviews vertebral morphometry application in forensic, expressly used in the case of semi-automatic digital recognition of vertebral heights in fractures, by means of vertebral shape analysis which relies on six or more points positioned over the margins of each vertebrae T5 to L4 used to calculate anterior, medial, and posterior heights and statistical shape models. This approach is quantitative, more reproducible, and more feasible for large-scale data analysis, as in drug trials, where assessment may be performed by a variety of clinicians with different levels of experience. As a result, a number of morphometric methodologies for characterisation of osteoporosis have been developed. Current morphometric methodologies have the drawback of relying upon manual annotations. The manual placement of morphometric points on the vertebrae is time consuming, requiring more than 10 min per radiograph and can be quite subjective. Several semi-automated software have been produced to overcome this problem, but they are mainly applicable to dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans. Furthermore, this chapter aims to verify by an experimental model if the technique could contribute, in present or in future, to investigate the modality of traumatic vertebral injuries which may explain the manner of death.
Machine Learning for Clinical Data Processing
Authors: Li Guo-Zheng
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces great challenges and the novel machine learning techniques employed in clinical data processing. It argues that the novel machine learning techniques including support vector machines, ensemble learning, feature selection, feature reuse by using multi-task learning, and multi-label learning provide potentially more substantive solutions for decision support and clinical data analysis. The authors demonstrate the generalization performance of the novel machine learning techniques on real world data sets including one data set of brain glioma, one data set of coronary heart disease in Chinese Medicine and some tumor data sets of microarray. More and more machine learning techniques will be developed to improve analysis precision of clinical data sets.