bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sustaining Organizational Innovation
Authors: Allen Jeff , Gojer Ashwini Joshua , Gavrilova-Aguilar Mariya , Philpot Denise
Published: October 2011

Organizational change is a situation, while innovation is an attitude of change. Organizations cannot, in a global economy, remain static and rooted in current practices. Organizational innovation is the necessary ingredient for successful change. More difficult than both change and innovation is the subject of sustainability. Change is often a temporary “fix” that quickly reverts to status-quo. This chapter recommends practices for change management and organizational innovation by reviewing change theories, describing innovation models, referencing sustainability leadership, and providing examples of technology integration. Educators, trainers, performance specialists, change agents, managers, and organizational development professionals will benefit by understanding the principles and future trends of innovation. Both educational institutions and industrial organizations will utilize the guiding questions to determine their readiness to embrace organizational innovation. The goal is to instill the need for an attitude of change in all stakeholders of the organization in order to be well equipped to direct the nation’s workforce.
Counseling in an Andragogical Approach
Authors: Henschke John A.
Published: October 2011

The introduction provides the unique professional preparation of the author in both fields for merging counseling and andragogy – the art and science of helping adults learn. Providing general counseling information, he then gives a sketch and time gaps of publication in adult education and counseling. Next, he presents a chronology of publications merging the two fields. In the future trends section, a comprehensive model for counseling in adult education is constructed, including: an andragogical approach, dimensions of maturation, closely connecting counseling and learning, with life tasks, challenges, and dealing with our human values and priorities within human systems of adult life. Examples are articulated of both the professional and learner implementing the model.
Intercultural Awareness in E-Learning
Authors: Luyegu Eunice
Published: October 2011

Advancements in learning technologies have facilitated the creation of e-learning on both local and global scales. Culture has direct implications for e-learning. Cultural variation in e-learning audiences presents a tremendous opportunity to promote cultural awareness. Piers (2003) has noted that culture is the most important factor in the success of e-learning. Yet instructional designers find it challenging to design for diverse learner populations and educators are not taking advantage of opportunities to promote cultural awareness. Guidelines and strategies for designing culturally sensitive e-learning environments are well-documented and so is the use of technologies to promote intercultural awareness. This chapter focuses on three main areas: (1) the relationship between culture and e-learning, (2) the use of technologies to promote intercultural awareness, and (3) the design of culturally-accommodating e-learning environments.
Social Network Informed Design for Learning with Educational Technology
Authors: Haythornthwaite Caroline , De Laat Maarten
Published: October 2011

This chapter discusses and illustrates how knowledge of social networks can be used to inform social and technical design for learning and teaching in higher education. The chapter introduces the social network perspective and how this can be used to explore learning. It shows how a relational approach can be used to explore the basis of learning ties, uncover social roles and positions, and form a basis for a network’s social capital. This is followed by a discussion of current research directions illustrating how this approach can be applied in education. This research indicates how knowledge of informal learning networks can facilitate informed design for learning, teaching, and professional development.
Hybrid Algorithms for Manufacturing Rescheduling
Authors: Huatuco Luisa Huaccho , Calinescu Ani
Published: October 2011

This chapter investigates manufacturing rescheduling of customised production and compares the results with those found for commodity production in earlier research by the authors. The hybrid rescheduling algorithms presented in this chapter were obtained by combining two key rescheduling-related elements found in the literature (a) rescheduling criteria (i.e., job priority, machine utilisation and right-shift delay) with (b) level of disruption transmitted to the shop-floor due to rescheduling (i.e., High disruption and Low disruption). The main advantage of hybrid rescheduling algorithms over individual rescheduling algorithms consists of their ability to combine the main features of two different algorithms, in order to achieve enhanced performance, depending on the objective of the organisation. The five hybrid rescheduling algorithms taken into account in this chapter are: Priority High, Priority Low, Utilisation High, Utilisation Low and Right-Shift. The authors’ case study research in three manufacturing companies has identified the use of a set of these hybrid algorithms in practice. Each of the case studies is evaluated in terms of time-based performance in three main areas: suppliers’ interface, internal production and customers’ interface. This evaluation is carried out for both customised and commodity production, using the same hybrid rescheduling algorithms and performance measure the authors used in their previous research work, for comparability purposes (i.e. the entropic-related complexity). The findings show that customised production exhibits a lower entropic-related complexity than commodity production. Although this behaviour may seem unexpected, the entropic-related complexity analysis allows for an interpretation / understanding of its underlying reasons. For example, companies making customised products first agreed the specifications of the products with the customer, and then they mutually agreed on a contract which would financially protect manufacturers (should last minute customer changes occur), by specifying analytically determined penalties or premium charges. Furthermore, a set of recommendations were made to the companies involved in this research study based on the analysis presented in this chapter, such as the need for manufacturing organisations of customised products to ensure they have dependable suppliers, and that, internally, they plan for and embed sufficient spare capacity to cope with internal or external disturbances.
Consumer Centric Knowledge Management in Zakat Institutions as Strategic Approach to Reduce Poverty
Authors: Hussain Abu Baker Ramadan Mohamed
Published: October 2011

This chapter explores the implementation of Consumer Centric Knowledge Management (CCKM) in Zakat institutions. It aims to expand and to clarify its understanding extending the notion how the CCKM approach improves the effectiveness of these institutions to attain the community objectives. Although the implementation of CCKM in businesses around the world is well documented, its value added for Zakat institutions stems from a consensus to alleviate poverty and to reduce the number of poor people. The chapter addresses knowing the poor and needy, organizational learning; poverty intelligence and institutionalization process as the main starting-up components of implementing CCKM in Zakat institutions. The chapter, in this sense, reinforces the importance of the approach in putting poor and needy orientation into practice.
Effective Tools for Customer Knowledge Management
Authors: Al-Busaidi Kamla Ali
Published: October 2011

Customer knowledge management (CKM) is becoming vital for organizations’ operative and innovative performance. Currently, organizations are transforming their business strategies from mass production to mass customization and customer focused strategies to respond to business pressures and achieve a competitive advantage. Customer knowledge enables organizations to develop effective business strategies and achieve a competitive advantage. The capability of organizational knowledge management is assessed by incorporating tools that support knowledge management. Based on the experience of customer service managers’ perspective in successful CKM organizations, this chapter discusses effective tools for customer knowledge management that add value to organizations. Specifically, the chapter examines the most effective IT tools and non-IT tools (organizational mechanisms) that support the acquisition, storage, transfer, and application of customer knowledge. The chapter also examines the impacts of CKM tools on organizations.
An Enterprise Model for Customer-Centric Knowledge Management and Knowledge-Oriented Customer Relationship Management
Authors: Chan Joseph O.
Published: October 2011

Knowledge management and customer relationship management are two key ingredients for value creation in the new economy. The merging of these business strategies has created two enterprise perspectives, customer-centric knowledge management (CCKM) and knowledge-oriented customer relationship management (KCRM). CCKM concerns the processes of managing customer knowledge, whereas KCRM concerns the application of knowledge to enhance CRM processes. Enterprise modeling provides a compositional framework for requirement specifications of interrelated components of an enterprise. This chapter presents an enterprise model for CCKM and KCRM that provides an integrated framework for customer knowledge and operational assets, spanning the different levels of an enterprise and across the various dimensions of the CRM ecosystem.
Perceptual Quality Assessment of Packet-Based Vocal Conversations over Wireless Networks
Authors: Jelassi Sofiene , Youssef Habib , Pujolle Guy
Published: October 2011

In this chapter, the authors describe the intrinsic needs to effectively integrate interactive vocal conversations over heterogeneous networks including packet- and circuit- based networks. The requirement to harmonize transport networks is discussed and a foreseen architecture multi -operators and -services is presented. Moreover, envisaged remedies to the ever increasing network complexity are also summarized. Subjective and objective methodologies to evaluate voice quality under listening and conversational conditions are thoroughly described. In addition, software- and emulation- based frameworks developed in order to evaluate and improve voice quality are rigorously described. This chapter stresses parametric model-based assessment algorithms due to their ability to be useful for on-line network management. In particular, the authors describe parametric assessment algorithms over last-hop wireless Telecom networks and packet-based networks. The last part of this chapter describes several management applications which consider users’ preferences and providers’ needs.
Adoption of Wearable Systems in Modern Patient Telemonitoring Systems
Authors: Eleni Antoniadou , Maglogiannis Ilias
Published: October 2011

The adoption of wearable systems in modern patient telemonitoring systems has been considered as a medical challenge towards the established medical practices, aiming at the highest level of quality of life. The current state-of-the-art technologies in wearable computing, wireless telemedical platforms and wireless sensors allow easy and unobtrusive electronic measurement of several vital signals and health conditions regardless the time and the place the patients need a condition monitoring. Certain major milestones to consider in the process of adopting wearable systems, besides the enabling technologies, are the affordability that depends on financial criteria, the adaptability of the overall healthcare sector to the innovative technologies and the conformance of the medical staff to the lifelong learning for vocational training. These aspects are discussed in this chapter, along with the description of the wearable systems capabilities and reference to their latest popular applications and future trends.
The Urban Communication Infrastructure
Authors: Drucker Susan , Gumpert Gary
Published: October 2011

Does Wi-Fi, the Internet, the mobile phone, satellite communication, the I-Pod, flat screen television, wireless devices, Skype, Face Book, Twitter, virtual communities, laptops, Kindle, alter a sense of place and attachment? This area of exploration is absent not only in the areas of urban planning and design, but also other types of places such as schools and even the home where communication technologies are especially varied and proliferate. This chapter will propose a taxonomy of the relationship of people to places in a media rich environment suggesting a continuum ranging from place attachment through a sense of a-location. The taxonomy offers a classification system clarifying the need to examine the impact of media technologies on the people/environment relationship. This reflects not only how people’s use of space and place have changed as a result of the proliferation of laptops and I-phones, but also what this means in terms of how they connect or disconnect with their physical surroundings.
Distributed Video Coding and Content Analysis for Resource Constraint Multimedia Applications
Authors: Kumar Praveen , Pande Amit , Mittal Ankush , Mudgal Abhisek
Published: October 2011

Video coding and analysis for low power and low bandwidth multimedia applications has always been a great challenge. The limited computational resources on ubiquitous multimedia devices like cameras along with low and varying bandwidth over wireless network lead to serious bottlenecks in delivering real-time streaming of videos for such applications. This work presents a Content-based Network-adaptive Video-transmission (CbNaVt) framework which can waive off the requirements of low bandwidth. This is done by transmitting important content only to the end user. The framework is illustrated with the example of video streaming in the context of remote laboratory setup. A framework for distributed processing using mobile agents is discussed with the example of Distributed Video Surveillance (DVS). In this regard, the increased computational costs due to video processing tasks like object segmentation and tracking are shared by the cameras and a local base station called as Processing Proxy Server (PPS).However, in a distributed scenario like traffic surveillance, where moving objects is tracked using multiple cameras, the processing tasks needs to be dynamically distributed. This is done intelligently using mobile agents by migrating from one PPS to another for tracking an individual case object and transmitting required information to the end users. Although the authors propose a specific implementation for CbNaVt and DVS systems, the general ideas in design of such systems exemplify the way information can be intelligently transmitted in any ubiquitous multimedia applications along with the use of mobile agents for real-time processing and retrieval of video signal.
Systems Biology Methodologies for the Understanding of Common Oncogenetic Mechanisms in Childhood Leukemic and Rhabdomyosarcoma Cells
Authors: Lambrou George I. , Adamaki Maria , Koultouki Eleftheria , Moschovi Maria
Published: October 2011

Therefore, let us imagine a best case scenario where oncogenesis is understood, at least in part, and drug design, effectiveness, and side effects could be resolved by simply modeling the system. This would dramatically reduce drug costs, with positive consequences not only for treatment, but also on the social level. Drugs would become much more affordable, hence curing and improving the lives of more people. This hypothetical, best-case scenario should point scientists to move towards the direction of attempting to make scientific endeavors for the social benefit. Systems biology is a discipline that does indeed move towards that direction. Of course, as most things in life, the use of systems biology could be used in a dual manner, that is, for social benefit or profit.
Quality Based on a Spatial SERVQUAL Model in Healthcare
Authors: Zimeras Stelios
Published: October 2011

The main purpose of this work is to represent an alternative effective model for measuring the quality of healthcare (SERVQUAL) considering the geographical location of the under examination healthcare sectors. Based on that consideration, a new modeling is taking place introducing a spatial interaction between neighboring regions (spatial-SERVQUAL model). New directions are analyzed implementing specific questionnaires taking advantage of the spatial information given by the evaluation of the model. Moreover the role of spatial information in the health sector in relation to, for example, local health improvement performance management, is analyzed to support needs assessment and resource targeting as one of the principal action points in healthcare policies. Finally, the benefits of the GIS systems are illustrated, combined with the spatial assumptions, introducing a real-time health and disease monitoring tool to identify significant health trends in real-time data streams and geographic information systems.
Improving Quality of Care through Risk Management Knowledge Transfer and Quality Assurance in Nursing Care
Authors: Alamantariotou Kleopatra
Published: October 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to provide innovative knowledge and creative ideas of improving quality of care and to explore how risk management and Knowledge transfer and quality assurance can improve health care. Under careful consideration, our purpose is to summarize which factors improve and promote the quality of care and which factors diminish quality. There are forms of ongoing efforts to make performance better. Quality improvement must be a long-term, continuous effort, reducing errors and providing a safe trust environment for health professionals and patients. After reading this chapter, you should know the answer to these questions: What role can risk management and knowledge transfer play in quality of care? How can risk management and knowledge transfer work together? What are the factors that improve risk management and quality assurance in health care? How does knowledge transfer support, inform, and improve care?
Introduction to Continuous Authentication
Authors: Traoré Issa , Ahmed Ahmed Awad E.
Published: October 2011

Continuous Authentication (CA) systems represent a new generation of security mechanisms that continuously monitor user behavior and use this as basis to re-authenticate periodically throughout a login session. CA has been around for about a decade. As a result a limited amount of research work has been produced to date, and the first commercial products have only recently started reaching the market. We attempt, in this chapter, to provide some general perspectives in order to help achieve some common and better understanding of this emerging field. The chapter introduces basic CA concepts and terminologies, discusses the characteristics of CA data sources, and identifies major areas of application for CA systems.
Keystroke Analysis as a Tool for Intrusion Detection
Authors: Gunetti Daniele , Picardi Claudia
Published: October 2011

In this chapter we discuss the potentialities of Keystroke Analysis as a tool for Intrusion Detection and other security applications, and investigate experimentally how the accuracy of the analysis scales with the increase of the number of individuals involved, a fundamental issue if we want to add Keystroke Analysis to the set of tools that can be used to improve the security of our computers and networks.
Continuous User Authentication Based on Keystroke Dynamics through Neural Network Committee Machines
Authors: Filho Sérgio Roberto de Lima e Silva , Roisenberg Mauro
Published: October 2011

This chapter proposes an authentication methodology that is both inexpensive and non-intrusive and authenticates users continuously while using a computer keyboard. This proposed methodology uses neural network committee machines. The committee consists of several independent neural networks trained to recognize a behavioral biometric characteristic: user’s typing pattern. Continuous authentication prevents potential attacks when users leave their desks without logging out or locking their computer session. Some experiments were conducted to evaluate and to calibrate the authentication committee. Best results show that a 0% FAR and a 0.15% FRR can be achieved when different thresholds are used in the system for each user. In this proposed methodology, capture system does not need to concern about typing errors in the text. Another feature of this methodology is that new users can be easily added to the system, with no need to re-train all neural networks involved.
Resilient P2P Video Streaming over an Urban VANET
Authors: Qadri Nadia N. , Fleury Martin , Ghanbari Mohammed
Published: October 2011

This Chapter proposes the concept of resilient multi-source streaming using a peer-to-peer overlay network over an urban vehicular ad-hoc network. Peer-to-peer overlay networks with multiple sources have proven to be robust, distributed solutions to multimedia transport, including streaming. To achieve video streaming over a vehicular ad-hoc network overlay, the Chapter introduces spatial partitioning of a video stream based on flexible macroblock ordering. Flexible macroblock ordering is an error resilient feature of an H.264 video codec in which macroblocks can be assigned to slices in non-raster scan order. Furthermore, the Chapter examines the impact of differing traffic densities and road layouts upon a peer-to-peer overlay network’s performance when streaming video. The research demonstrates that the vehicles’ mobility pattern and their drivers’ behaviors need to be carefully modeled to determine signal reception. The Chapter also considers the impact of the wireless channel, which also should be more realistically modeled, compared to the usual two-ray path loss model.
Operational Hedging Strategies to Overcome Financial Constraints during Clean Technology Start-Up and Growth
Authors: Erzurumlu S. Sinan , Tanrisever Fehmi , Joglekar Nitin
Published: October 2011

Clean technology startups face multiple sources of uncertainty, and require specialized knowhow and longer periods for revenue growth than their counterparts in other industries. These startups require large investments and have been hit hard during the current credit squeeze. On the other hand, clean technologies create important positive externalities for the economy. Hence, loan guarantees and other incentive schemes are being developed that are conditioned upon operational benchmarks. The authors offer a framework to establish the extent wherein operational hedging can reduce risk and increase the probability of obtaining financing. They examine a variety of evidence, ranging from production outsourcing to creation of joint ventures, to posit that operational hedging may affect both the marginal cost of capital and the marginal return on investment through mitigating the informational problems in the market. However, operational hedging may not be an effective strategy in all settings: the decision for creation of such hedges ought to weigh the benefits of reduced marginal cost of capital and the opportunity cost of reduced future growth potential against a status quo.
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: October 2011

“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.
Internal Key Factor in the Export Performance of Spanish SMEs
Authors: Turró Lluís Jovell , Eusebio Rossano
Published: October 2011

The internationalization is a complex process that requires a great effort, both financial and human, that some companies cannot spare, especially if they are medium or small companies. The authors’ investigation is based upon these medium and small companies and the problems they face, and analyzes the issues that affect their export intensity. For this, a multidimensional model is proposed as a result of a deep research on literature on this field. The results of this study show how technological innovation is an important aspect when determining an effort for exportation in this kind of companies.
High Technology Industrialization and Internationalization
Authors: Chan Leong , Daim Tugrul
Published: October 2011

Through exploring high technology industrialization and internationalization, the chapter reviews related issues from three interconnected levels: national, enterprise, and technology level. Part 1 gives a detailed discussion on technology transfer policy in different countries. Part 2 focuses on the issues of international technology transfer at enterprise level. Part 3 explores how technology characteristics can influence international technology transfer. The following parts review the methodologies and research gaps. Lastly, the chapter summarizes some key questions for future research.
Reference Products and Services
Authors: O’Gorman Jack
Published: October 2011

There is a paradigm shift in progress in reference collections affecting the content, format, and use of reference materials. This shift is a result of changing formats for reference products, and it presents challenges to traditional reference services. In order to better understand where reference collections are heading, we must take a look back to see how we got here. This chapter defines a reference paradigm, looks at the history of reference in libraries, and examines the shift from both a reference library product and reference service perspective. It also describes how major changes have impacted traditional reference titles and how libraries and users have adjusted to those changes.
The Adoption of Information Security Management Standards
Authors: Barlette Yves , Fomin Vladislav V.
Published: October 2011

This chapter introduces major information security management methods and standards, and particularly ISO/IEC 27001 and 27002 standards. A literature review was conducted in order to understand the reasons for the low level of adoption of information security standards by companies, and to identify the drivers and the success factors in implementation of these standards. Based on the findings of the literature review, we provide recommendations on how to successfully implement and stimulate diffusion of information security standards in the dynamic business market environment, where companies vary in their size and organizational culture. The chapter concludes with an identification of future trends and areas for further research.
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Authors: de Carvalho Rogério Atem , Johansson Björn
Published: October 2011

After the implementation peak of ERPs that occurred during the pre- and post-Y2K periods, the high-end ERP market started to saturate and major ERP vendors started to seek for new business opportunities, in special towards Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). On the buyer side, demands for becoming more competitive in a globalized market, have been pushing SMEs to adopt ERP too. Additionally, influenced by the free/open source movement, new types of ERP licensing appeared by the beginning of the decade, creating a classification according to the basic licensing model: free/open source ERP (FOS-ERP) and proprietary ERP (P-ERP). Therefore, this paper aims at exploring the merge between SMEs, P-ERP, and FOS-ERP, by analyzing the differences between the two proposals and offering guidance for prospective adopters.
Using Context Awareness for Self-Management in Pervasive Service Middleware
Authors: Zhang Weishan , Hansen Klaus Marius
Published: October 2011

Context-awareness is an important feature in Ambient Intelligence environments including in pervasive middleware. In addition, there is a growing trend and demand on self-management capabilities for a pervasive middleware in order to provide high-level dependability for services. In this chapter, we propose to make use of context-awareness features to facilitate self-management. To achieve self-management, dynamic contexts for example device and service statuses, are critical to take self-management actions. Therefore, we consider dynamic contexts in context modeling, specifically as a set of OWL/SWRL ontologies, called the Self-Management for Pervasive Services (SeMaPS) ontologies. Self-management rules can be developed based on the SeMaPS ontologies to achieve self-management goals. Our approach is demonstrated within the LinkSmart pervasive middleware. Finally, our experiments with performance, extensibility, and scalability in the context of LinkSmart show that the SeMaPS-based self-management approach is effective.
The Benefits of Data Warehousing at Whirlpool
Authors: Haley Barbara J. , Watson Hugh J. , Goodhue Dale L.
Published: October 2011

At Whirlpool, data warehousing is providing important support in all of these critical areas (see Table 1). To illustrate, Whirlpool’s data warehouse enables quality engineers to easily track the performance of component parts. This allows the engineers to assess new components that are being field tested, to quickly detect problems with particular parts, and to identify the high and low quality suppliers. From a different perspective, suppliers can check on the performance of the parts they supply and, consequently, can manage proactively the quality provided to Whirlpool. Purchasing managers have parts information from around the world so that they can find the lowest-cost, highest quality part available on a global basis. This case study briefly describes Whirlpool, the business need that suggested a data warehouse, the approval process, and the data warehouse that was built. It describes how the data warehouse is accessed, how users are trained and supported, and the major applications and benefits. The lessons learned also are described to benefit those companies that are implementing or thinking about implementing data warehousing.
Researching Telework
Authors: Ellison Nicole B.
Published: October 2011

This chapter examines the state of the art in telework research. The author reviews the most central scholarly literature examining the phenomenon of telework (also called home-based work or telecommuting) and develops a framework for organizing this body of work. She organizes previous research on telework into six major thematic concerns relating to the definition, measurement, and scope of telework; management of teleworkers; travel-related impacts of telework; organizational culture and employee isolation; boundaries between “home” and “work” and the impact of telework on the individual and the family. Areas for future research are suggested.
The Information Age
Authors: Hedley R. Alan
Published: October 2011

This chapter1 examines implications of the information revolution for the global inequalities between North and South. A multidimensional empirical taxonomy of information technology is provided to chart its diffusion throughout the world. Two major conclusions ensue from this analysis: 1) the information revolution is still very much in its beginning stages; and 2) it is limited primarily to the developed nations of the North. Based on past practice, the technical operating features of the Internet, and a content analysis of one Internet discussion group, three possible development scenarios are offered. Although no firm conclusions are possible, analysis of the Internet does reveal that technologically and empirically greater opportunity exists now for the previously excluded (i.e., the South) to participate. However, the question remains as to whether this is sufficient to redress the gross imbalance between North and South.
Experiences in Strategic Information Systems Implementation in UK Healthcare
Authors: Barnes Stuart J.
Published: October 2011

Implementing large strategic IS in the UK health sector has recently become the subject of much debate, as hospitals have undergone wide-reaching government-led institutional reforms involving the introduction of IT. Many of the developments have followed the patterns in the U.S. One such example is that of Case Mix, introduced strategically as part of the Resource Management Initiative and aimed at the facilitation of both clinical and financial audit. Moreover, Case Mix was implemented alongside significant changes in hospital structure and culture, requiring clinicians to get involved in management tasks and decision making within the structure of the hospital, supported by a new information infrastructure. Case Mix was implemented blanket-fashion throughout many UK hospitals, and the success of such systems has varied significantly. A number of lessons can be learned from the way that the implementation was approached. This chapter stems from a research project focusing longitudinally on the implementation of Case Mix in four UK hospitals. It draws a number of findings from the cases, and importantly, explicates a framework for strategic IS implementation, as generated from the cases and supported by the extant literature. Such a framework has implications for both theory and practice, and assists in the understanding of what is often a dynamic and poorly understood situation.
Search Engines, Relevancy, and the World Wide Web
Authors: Lucas Wendy
Published: October 2011

This chapter presents a survey and discussion of the relevancy rankings assigned by search engines to pages in their indices. An examination of methodologies whose goal it is to improve the relevancy of search results follows. The chapter concludes with a look at emerging trends in search engine technologies and directions for future research.
Communities of Practice
Authors: Kimble Chris , Hildreth Paul , Wright Peter
Published: October 2011

With the current trends towards downsizing, outsourcing and globalisation, modern organisations are reducing the numbers of people they employ. In addition, organisations now have to cope with the increasing internationalisation of business forcing collaboration and knowledge sharing across time and distance simultaneously. There is a need for new ways of thinking about how knowledge is shared in distributed groups. In this chapter we explore a relatively new approach to knowledge sharing using Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of Communities of Practice (CoPs). We investigate whether CoPs might translate to a geographically distributed international environment through a case study that explores the functioning of a CoP across national boundaries.
Time Capital and Intangible Accounting
Authors: Standfield Ken
Published: October 2011

“Because knowledge has become the single most important factor of production, managing intellectual assets has become the single most important task of business,” states Thomas Stewart in his ground-breaking book Intellectual Capital – The New Wealth of Organizations (Doubleday, 1997). As intellectual assets are the most important assets within any business, they must be measured and managed according to the most objective means possible. The development of Intangible Accounting and Time Capital represents a step in the direction of objective (strategy-independent) intellectual capital reporting where intangibles can be identified, managed and measured just as traditional assets are identified, measured and managed. The diagram below illustrates the relationships between various generations of intellectual capital measures. This chapter will explore third generation intellectual capital measures. Two technologies, iValuing and Intangible Accounting, are required to implement third generation intellectual capital measurement and management. The purpose of third generation intellectual capital reporting is to provide a standardized way to measure and manage intangibles within corporations. Intangibles include intangible assets, intangible liabilities, intangible revenue, intangible expenses and intangible capital. When people refer to intangible assets, they are frequently referring to various forms of intellectual property. The intangible accounting definition of “intangible assets” is much wider and includes reference to human interactions, knowledge, quality, cycle time and more.
Process to Product
Authors: Jackson Charles
Published: October 2011

Knowledge, a resource that was once hoarded and rare, is becoming a commodity with potential to dramatically change the world. While knowledge advances as the key strategic fuel powering an information economy, researchers and entrepreneurs race to create tools to meet needs of effective knowledge management. There is a growing urgency for new technology support structures to link organizations’ people and information worldwide in more effective and valuable ways (Kelly, 1998; Kosko, 1999; Tapscott, 1999). The development of innovative processes and supporting products directly impacts the ability of business and society to use information and knowledge for improvement (Ruggles, 1997; Davenport and Prusak, 1998). Forecasts are common for multi-billion dollar growth in knowledge management products during the next decade. Ernst & Young predicts that knowledge management “has the potential to exceed ERP (enterprise resource planning) as an application opportunity. The principal driving force for this is a growing realization that effective management of knowledge can add real value to the organization (Landau, 1998; Koulopoulos, 1998). This, according to Dr. George Kozmetsky, “will continue well into the next century” (Kosmetsky, 1999). The objective of this chapter is to provide an outline of the general and specific technology issues relating to development of electronic knowledge management tools. Although it focuses particularly on the design of software systems, it provides a coherent overview of general technical aspects and considerations.
The Relationship of Some Personal and Situational Factors to IS Effectiveness
Authors: Khalil Omar E.M. , Elkordy Manal M.
Published: October 2011

Most, if not all, of the empirical evidence on information systems effectiveness and its associated factors is confined to the use of data from developed countries in particular from the USA. The findings of such research cannot necessarily be generalized to other environments where the social, economic and cultural characteristics are different. Such evidence needs to be first validated using cross-cultural research before it can be used to manage global information systems effectively. This chapter reports on the results of research aimed at testing the relationship of user’s age, tenure in the job, organizational level, education, training, duration of system use, and involvement in system development to information systems effectiveness, as measured by user satisfaction and systems usage. Data were collected from 120 managers in 22 Egyptian banks. Age, tenure in the job, and user involvement in systems development were found to be positively correlated with user satisfaction. However, age, organizational level and education were found to be negatively associated with system usage. While beneficial to the Egyptian IS managers, such evidence from developing countries should contribute to the building of a general theory of transnational global information systems.
Financial Evaluation of Information Systems Investments
Authors: Dykman Charlene A.
Published: October 2011

Information systems represent a significant investment for most organizations, regardless of the industry. Managers need to understand that the decision to spend millions, or billions, of dollars on an information system should be analyzed just like any other major purchase. It seems that general management often just “gives in” to the “expert power” of the technologists, both internal and external to the organization. Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) of an information system acquisition may not be quite as simple or straightforward as doing so for other capital expenditures. However, it is still possible, and necessary, to do the financial analysis. Discussed in this chapter are the issues involved in evaluating information system investment decisions as well as the applicability of various financial measures to evaluation of IS projects.
Enhancing Project Management as an Instrument for Costing and Controlling in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Authors: Fraunholz Bardo
Published: October 2011

This chapter presents an introduction to a Project Management Costing and Controlling System to enhance traditional project management in order to integrate all business processes of a project-driven organisation. In order to achieve this, we analyzed relevant business processes in project-driven SMEs of a particular industry and utilized this knowledge to develop an architecture for the proposed system. We describe how reuse and a multiple levels of abstraction can help to organize projects and add precision to traditional project management, thus adding extra value. With this system, the author hopes to make project management more attractive for SMEs by creating a fully integrated system to steer a project-driven business. This will assist firms to become more competitive with the added benefit of gaining easy access to vital knowledge about their process and cost structure.
Ceramic Membrane And Core Pilot Results For Produced Water Management
Authors: Pedenaud Pierre , Wayne Evans , Samuel Heng , Didier Bigeonneau
Published: October 2011

Large quantities of produced water are generated in oil and gas fields all over the world: the production of one barrel of crude oil generates three barrels of produced water and the water/oil ratio increases drastically over the life of the fields. It is a by-product of petroleum production and needs to be managed efficiently. Produced Water Re-Injection (PWRI) is frequently the selected option over the disposal option for environmental considerations. However due to the combined presence of suspended solids and oil-in-water emulsion, the efficiency of topside filtration and therefore the well injectivity is often problematic. Membrane filtration is considered as a very attractive treatment process that may allow PWRI even in difficult reservoirs without loss of injectivity.

An industrial-scale water treatment pilot has been installed in an oil terminal to test the performance of ceramic ultrafiltration membranes.

The purposes of the tests were to evaluate the performance of various types of membranes in terms of material, pore size and geometry, the impact of chemical additives and to establish effective cleaning procedures. Nine months of tests allowed TOTAL and VEOLIA Water to determine the parameters required for the design of an industrial full field ceramic ultrafiltration membrane unit.

The ultrafiltered produced water was also used to feed a dedicated core pilot to test the injectivity of this treated water into different types of reservoir rocks.

This paper presents the results of these two pilots; it provides new information for the Exploration and Production (E&P) industry on the key parameters to design a ceramic ultrafiltration membrane system for produced water, the main operational constraints and the sustainability of the injectivity.

Introduction

To increase the recovery rate of oil reserves, water injection is usually used during oil production. If most of the injected water comes from sea water treatment, Production Water Re-Injection (PWRI) may be implemented. To optimize production water treatment for re-injection and to reduce oil content in rejected effluents, an offshore compatible technology is needed. As a modular, compact and economical solution, ceramic membrane filtration was tested on site (oil field terminal) as a package in a collaboration between Total and VEOLIA Water.

Figure 1 below shows some pictures of the ceramic membrane pilot installed in a container.
Advanced Compression Solutions for CCS, EOR and Offshore CO2
Authors: Habel Rolf
Published: October 2011

This paper is giving an overview of advanced, innovative and proven technologies for CO2 compression. This includes reciprocating and centrifugal compression - with focus on modern gear type designs for Onshore CO2 applications - in comparison with other technologies. This comparison is related to demands for upcoming Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS), Coal Gasification (IGCC, Oxyfuel) and an outlook to offshore high pressure CO2 compression.

Introduction

CO2 has a long tradition in modern industrial processes and furthermore plays an increasing role in the present discussion of the world wide climate change. Especially in refinery and food industry applications it is used and a common good since several decades. Nowadays numerous industrial procedures require CO2 not in a gaseous but in a compressed state at a specific pressure and temperature.

The use of high-speed reciprocating compressors for Sequestration (CCS) or Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is the historical and traditional approach for the manufacturing of compressed CO2. Nevertheless recent investigations reveal several limits of this technology - e.g. the upper capacity of possible flow rates have strong restrictions due to the mechanical design.

For this reason centrifugal type compressor systems are now state of the art and a promising solution for future CO2 projects. Centrifugal compressors generally can be split into two major building types which distinguish by design namely single-shaft (in-line, between bearings) centrifugals and multi-shaft integral-gear centrifugals. These assembly alternatives will be compared in this paper.

MAN Diesel & Turbo has manufactured reciprocating compressors in the past and still is manufacturing both types of centrifugal technologies (single-shaft and multi-shaft type, according to API 617 as stated by MACEYKA, PICKEREL in 2007) for CO2 services. We therefore feel confident and in a position to give a sophisticated overview and comparison of all technologies.

Overview of CO2 related applications and processes

Before we step into compression technology some explanations concerning CCS and EOR are given:

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

A steeply rising demand for energy world-wide, combined with increasingly strict environmental regulations have created the need for new technologies for the clean and sustainable generation of power. Carbon Capture and Storage labels a group of technologies which all have one aim: To separate carbon dioxide in the process of conventional thermal power generation.

Whether the method by which CO2 is separated is IGCC, Oxyfuel or Post-Combustion: Every one of these processes requires the compression of CO2 for transport and storage for future use. The process path can be seen in Figure 1.