bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Principles of Classification
Authors: Lumme Veli
Published: August 2012

This chapter discusses the main principles of the creation and use of a classifier in order to predict the interpretation of an unknown data sample. Classification offers the possibility to learn and use learned information received from previous occurrences of various normal and fault modes. This process is continuous and can be generalized to cover the diagnostics of all objects that are substantially of the same type. The effective use of a classifier includes initial training with known data samples, anomaly detection, retraining, and fault detection. With these elements an automated, a continuous learning machine diagnostics system can be developed. The main objective of such a system is to automate various time intensive tasks and allow more time for an expert to interpret unknown anomalies. A secondary objective is to utilize the data collected from previous fault modes to predict the re-occurrence of these faults in a substantially similar machine. It is important to understand the behaviour and functioning of a classifier in the development of software solutions for automated diagnostic methods. Several proven methods that can be used, for instance in software development, are disclosed in this chapter.
Generating Indicators for Diagnosis of Fault Levels by Integrating Information from Two or More Sensors
Authors: Zhao Xiaomin , Zuo Ming J , Moghaddass Ramin
Published: August 2012

Diagnosis of fault levels is an important task in fault diagnosis of rotating machinery. Two or more sensors are usually involved in a condition monitoring system to fully capture the health information on a machine. Generating an indicator that varies monotonically with fault propagation is helpful in diagnosis of fault levels. How to generate such an indicator integrating information from multiple sensors is a challenging problem. This chapter presents two methods to achieve this purpose, following two different ways of integrating information from sensors. The first method treats signals from all sensors together as one multi-dimensional signal, and processes this multi-dimensional signal to generate an indicator. The second method extracts features obtained from each sensor individually, and then combines features from all sensors into a single indicator using a feature fusion technique. These two methods are applied to the diagnosis of the impeller vane trailing edge damage in slurry pumps.
Stochastic Fatigue of a Mechanical System Using Random Transformation Technique
Authors: Kadry Seifedine
Published: August 2012

In this chapter, a new technique is proposed to find the probability density function (pdf) of a stress for a stochastic mechanical system. This technique is based on the combination of the Probabilistic Transformation Method (PTM) and the Finite Element Method (FEM) to obtain the pdf of the response. The PTM has the advantage of evaluating the probability density function pdf of a function with random variable, by multiplying the joint density of the arguments by the Jacobien of the opposite function. Thus, the “exact” pdf can be obtained by using the probabilistic transformation method (PTM) coupled with the deterministic finite elements method (FEM). In the method of the probabilistic transformation, the pdf of the response can be obtained analytically when the pdf of the input random variables is known. An industrial application on a plate perforated with random entries was analyzed followed by a validation of the technique using the simulation of Monte Carlo.
Degradation Based Condition Classification and Prediction in Rotating Machinery Prognostics
Authors: Liu Chao , Jiang Dongxiang
Published: August 2012

A transition stage exists during the equipment degradation, which is between the normal condition and the failure condition. The transition stage presents small changes and may not cause significant function loss. However, the transition stage contains the degradation information of the equipment, which is beneficial for the condition classification and prediction in prognostics. The degradation based condition classification and prediction of rotating machinery are studied in this chapter. The normal, abnormal, and failure conditions are defined through anomaly determination of the transition stage. The condition classification methods are analyzed with the degradation conditions. Then the probability of failure occurrence is discussed in the transition stage. Finally, considering the degradation processes in rotating machinery, the condition classification and prediction are carried out with the field data.
A Temporal Probabilistic Approach for Continuous Tool Condition Monitoring
Authors: Geramifard Omid , Xu Jian-Xin , Zhou Junhong
Published: August 2012

In this chapter, a temporal probabilistic approach based on hidden semi-Markov model is proposed for continuous (real-valued) tool condition monitoring in machinery systems. As an illustrative example, tool wear prediction in CNC-milling machine is conducted using the proposed approach. Results indicate that the additional flexibility provided in the new approach compared to the existing hidden Markov model-based approach improves the performance. 482 features are extracted from 7 signals (three force signals, three vibration signals and acoustic emission) that are acquired for each experiment. After the feature extraction phase, Fisher’s discriminant ratio is applied to find the most discriminant features to construct the prediction model. The prediction results are provided for three different cases, i.e. cross-validation, diagnostics, and prognostics. The possibility of incorporating an asymmetric loss function in the proposed approach in order to reflect and consider the cost differences between an under- and over-estimation in tool condition monitoring is also explored and the simulation results are provided.
Structure Reliability and Response Prognostics under Uncertainty Using Bayesian Analysis and Analytical Approximations
Authors: Guan Xuefei , He Jingjing , Jha Ratneshwar , Liu Yongming
Published: August 2012

This study presents an efficient method for system reliability and response prognostics based on Bayesian analysis and analytical approximations. Uncertainties are explicitly included using probabilistic modeling. Usage and health monitoring information is used to perform the Bayesian updating. To improve the computational efficiency, an analytical computation procedure is proposed and formulated to avoid time-consuming simulations in classical methods. Two realistic problems are presented for demonstrations. One is a composite beam reliability analysis, and the other is the structural frame dynamic property estimation with sensor measurement data. The overall efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method is compared with the traditional simulation-based method.
Parallel Scatter Search Algorithms for Exam Timetabling
Authors: Mansour Nashat , Sleiman-Haidar Ghia
Published: August 2012

University exam timetabling refers to scheduling exams into predefined days, time periods and rooms, given a set of constraints. Exam timetabling is a computationally intractable optimization problem, which requires heuristic techniques for producing adequate solutions within reasonable execution time. For large numbers of exams and students, sequential algorithms are likely to be time consuming. This paper presents parallel scatter search meta-heuristic algorithms for producing good sub-optimal exam timetables in a reasonable time. Scatter search is a population-based approach that generates solutions over a number of iterations and aims to combine diversification and search intensification. The authors propose parallel scatter search algorithms that are based on distributing the population of candidate solutions over a number of processors in a PC cluster environment. The main components of scatter search are computed in parallel and efficient communication techniques are employed. Empirical results show that the proposed parallel scatter search algorithms yield good speed-up. Also, they show that parallel scatter search algorithms improve solution quality because they explore larger parts of the search space within reasonable time, in contrast with the sequential algorithm.
Dynamic Assignment of Crew Reserve in Airlines
Authors: Moudani Walid , Mora-Camino Félix
Published: August 2012

The Crew Reserve Assignment Problem (CRAP) considers the assignment of the crew members to a set of reserve activities covering all the scheduled flights in order to ensure a continuous plan so that operations costs are minimized while its solution must meet hard constraints resulting from the safety regulations of Civil Aviation as well as from the airlines internal agreements. The problem considered in this study is of highest interest for airlines and may have important consequences on the service quality and on the economic return of the operations. A new mathematical formulation for the CRAP is proposed which takes into account the regulations and the internal agreements. While current solutions make use of Artificial Intelligence techniques run on main frame computers, a low cost approach is proposed to provide on-line efficient solutions to face perturbed operating conditions. The proposed solution method uses a dynamic programming approach for the duties scheduling problem and when applied to the case of a medium airline while providing efficient solutions, shows good potential acceptability by the operations staff. This optimization scheme can then be considered as the core of an on-line Decision Support System for crew reserve assignment operations management.
DIMMA-Implemented Metaheuristics for Finding Shortest Hamiltonian Path Between Iranian Cities Using Sequential DOE Approach for Parameters Tuning
Authors: Yaghini Masoud , Momeni Mohsen , Sarmadi Mohammadreza
Published: August 2012

A Hamiltonian path is a path in an undirected graph, which visits each node exactly once and returns to the starting node. Finding such paths in graphs is the Hamiltonian path problem, which is NP-complete. In this paper, for the first time, a comparative study on metaheuristic algorithms for finding the shortest Hamiltonian path for 1071 Iranian cities is conducted. These are the main cities of Iran based on social-economic characteristics. For solving this problem, four hybrid efficient and effective metaheuristics, consisting of simulated annealing, ant colony optimization, genetic algorithm, and tabu search algorithms, are combined with the local search methods. The algorithms’ parameters are tuned by sequential design of experiments (DOE) approach, and the most appropriate values for the parameters are adjusted. To evaluate the proposed algorithms, the standard problems with different sizes are used. The performance of the proposed algorithms is analyzed by the quality of solution and CPU time measures. The results are compared based on efficiency and effectiveness of the algorithms.
Collective Narrative Expertise and the Narbs of Social Media
Authors: Mitra Ananda
Published: August 2012

A fundamental epistemological question that has been the focus of much deliberation over time is: how do we know what we know? One of the answers to this question has been found in the theories of narrative asserting that humans learn through stories, ranging from religious epics to personal anecdotes. The social media phenomenon offers a unique form of narration that utilizes “narbs,” narrative bits that tell the stories of specific individuals who may be, but often are not, traditional experts. Yet, as a collection, these narbs could become the authoritative narrative about a particular issue where expertise is located in the collective. This chapter examines the theoretical basis of knowledge creation through narrative, and how the narbs of social media users are creating dynamic bodies of information. The chapter offers a lexicon for categorizing narbs and provides an analytical frame for examining them. The overall aim of this chapter is to demonstrate that interaction and new modes of gathering and disseminating information and knowledge in the digital environment require different and emergent expertise in narrative construction and interpretation.
Understanding and Evaluating Source Expertise in an Evolving Media Environment
Authors: Pure Rebekah A. , Markov Alexander R. , Mangus J. Michael , Metzger Miriam J. , Flanagin Andrew J. , Hartsell Ethan H.
Published: August 2012

Recent technological changes have created a radically different information environment from the one that existed even a few decades ago. Rather than coming from a small number of sources, each with a substantial investment in the information production and delivery processes, information is increasingly provided by a wide range of sources, many of which can readily provide and deliver information to large audiences worldwide. One consequence of this evolution in information production is an almost incomprehensibly vast information repository in the form of the Web and other online resources. A variety of social media have extended this information and source fecundity even further by connecting individuals to one another and by providing significant opportunities to share myriad types of information generated by users themselves. This shift in information dissemination challenges longstanding models of the provision of credible information by suggesting circumstances under which sources that are not understood as “experts” in the traditional sense are in fact in the best position to provide the most credible information.
Google Scholar as the Co-Producer of Scholarly Knowledge
Authors: van Dijck José
Published: August 2012

Search engines in general, and Google Scholar in particular, are co-producers of academic knowledge. They have a profound impact on the way knowledge is generated, transmitted, and distributed. This chapter first explores how Google Scholar works as a human-technological system in order to analyze the site’s technology in combination with its inscribed usage and its actual use and users. The chapter then scrutinize the complex power relationships of digital networks with Google at its epicenter. Following Manuel Castells’s (2009) proposal to “unwire” the construction of academic knowledge through the coded dynamics of search engines, the author examines the larger legal and political-economic implications of the platform’s architecture and organized structure. Combining these two layers of analysis should inform an enriched type of information literacy.
Professional ICT Knowledge, Epistemic Standards, and Social Epistemology
Authors: Truyen Frederik , Buekens Filip
Published: August 2012

Several co-evolving trends have impacted expectations of professional workers’ quality of knowledge. The abundance of information shared through the Internet, the ever-increasing specialization of tasks, the possibility of immediately accessible information through social networks, the participation of stakeholders in the social web, and the increased requirements for separation of duty in a corporate context have contributed to a situation where the current ‘knowledge worker’ is not expected to have the same level of readily available knowledge as before. This chapter describes this phenomenon in detail with a case study from ICT-expert jobs. It shows that an ICT manager can no longer overlook the work of collaborators, just by virtue of being the smartest employee around. He/she will increasingly rely on organizational procedures and professional standards to assess whether the right people - with the right competencies for the job – are at his/her disposal. After describing the specifics of professional knowledge for ICT experts and the role of social software plays in this, the chapter focuses on the epistemological aspects of ICT expertise. The authors discuss current strands of reliabilistic accounts for knowledge in relation to expertise. They show that besides reliability, it is accuracy that is needed in order to perform as an expert.
Interaction and Expertise in an Appalachian Music Archive
Authors: Clark Emily
Published: August 2012

In the world of archives, Web 2.0 means more than wider and easier access to digital surrogates of archival objects. Newly developing Web 2.0 applications provide multiple possibilities for contextualizing archival objects through the contributions of many users, rather than a few established experts, marking a shift in archival practice and the role of the expert archivist. For many archival objects with origins in collaborative and popular cultural traditions, a context for online access that invites collaboration and challenges the authority of the expert is particularly conducive to helping users make sense of the archival objects. While this may lead to tensions between innovation and tradition in archival practice, user-contributed knowledge and multiple interpretations of documents can be incorporated as a complement to institutional records, rather than a replacement for traditional methods of description and classification. The purpose of this chapter is to describe recent developments in interactive and collaborative online archives that challenge and enhance traditional ideas about archival expertise. For one Appalachian folk song collection in particular, a community of expertise, ownership, and collaboration may help to keep unique recordings in continued use as part of a living, and still-evolving, musical tradition.
Fostering SCADA and IT Relationships
Authors: Beggs Christopher , McGowan Ryan
Published: August 2012

In recent years, critical infrastructure utilities have been faced with conflicting attitudes and cultural differences of where SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and IT fit into an organizational structure. This lack of understanding between SCADA, IT processes, and business operations remains a concern for many utilities within the SCADA community. The importance of SCADA and IT relationships is an area of the SCADA landscape that is often unrecognised. This paper examines the results and findings of a SCADA and IT relationship survey that was undertaken to identify where SCADA operations fit within organizations around the world. It describes several proposed models that define the role and responsibility of SCADA within an organizational structure. It also presents a concept model for SCADA security responsibility and identifies key observations of SCADA and IT working together at the INL Control System Cyber Security Training in Idaho, USA. The main findings of the research suggest that clear defined roles and responsibilities for SCADA operations and SCADA security need to be established and secondly, that immediate cultural driven change is required in order to improve SCADA and IT relationships.
Influence Strategy
Authors: Pickett Bryan , Lingenfelter Mike
Published: August 2012

The U.S. strategy in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as with al-Qaeda has focused predominantly on heavy U.S. military involvement (with a high proportion of kinetic operations), while using influence components (media, public diplomacy, Civil Affairs (CA), Military Information Support Operations (MISO), and Public Affairs (PA)), for the most part, in a reactive manner. This paper explores influence strategy and theory to identify what the key components of an effective influence strategy are, and how to modify these components to increase strategic effectiveness. First examined is the relationship of influence strategy with grand strategy, then progressed to examining several key influence theories as proposed by Cialdini, Ellul, Pratkanis, and Aronson, Tugwell, McLuhan, and Reilly. From the review, it appears that there are multiple descriptive formulations of the components of influence, but no specific formulations on how to develop an effective influence strategy using these principles. The principles of influence were compared and several hypotheses regarding an effective influence strategy proposed to help achieve the desired political end-state. The authors plan to test these hypotheses in future research using case studies of the Boer War, WWI, WWII, the Cold War, and the current conflict of U.S. versus trans-national Jihadi terrorists.
Critical Infrastructure Systems
Authors: Pye Graeme
Published: August 2012

A system security analysis and system modelling framework tool is proposed adopting an associated conceptual methodology as the basis for assessing security and conceptually modelling a critical infrastructure system incident. The intent is to identify potential system security issues and gain operational insights that will contribute to improving system resilience, contingency planning, disaster recovery and ameliorating incident management responses for critical infrastructure system incidents. The aforementioned system security analysis and modelling framework is applied to an adverse critical infrastructure system incident case study. This paper reports on the practical application of the framework to a case study of an actual critical infrastructure system failure and the resultant incident implications for the system and the wider regional communities.
Concept Learning and the Limitations of Arcade-Style Games
Authors: Moore David Richard , Hsiao E-ling
Published: August 2012

This study suggests that conceptualization is the primary activity of arcade-style gameplay. Arcade-style game play is primarily a function of presenting concepts to players and continually requiring them to react with finer responses. The degree to which a concept is malleable determines how large its range is in gameplay. In other words, the characteristics of a concept determine its role in gameplay. The primary purpose of this article is to distinguish between two types of concepts; one that is appropriate for arcade style gaming and another that requires a different, more involved style. Designers of games, particularly of educational games, will find guidance for selecting concepts related to their instructional content.
The Learning Games Design Model
Authors: Chamberlin Barbara , Trespalacios Jesús , Gallagher Rachel
Published: August 2012

Instructional designers in the Learning Games Lab at New Mexico State University have developed a specific approach for the creation of educational games, one that has been used successfully in over 20 instructional design projects and is extensible to other developers. Using this approach, game developers and content experts (a) work collaboratively to ensure educational goals and outcomes are appropriate for the learner and the learning environment, (b) immerse themselves’ in both content and game design, and (c) test extensively throughout development with members of the target audience. The authors describe the model, discuss the implications of this approach for the creation of effective educational games, and share case studies based on the design model in practice.
The Context, Design, and Impact of System-Wide Assessments to Enhance Effectiveness in the Higher Colleges of Technology of the United Arab Emirates
Authors: Drummond Marshall “Mark” , Robby Matthew A.
Published: August 2012

This paper examines the use of System-wide Assessments, an innovative initiative to enhance the accountability, quality, and effectiveness within the Higher Colleges of Technology of the United Arab Emirates. The authors review the historic and contemporary influences on college/university assessments and the key forces or factors which have shaped development and need of Outcome Assessments. The paper summarizes the literature on the best practices for assessment and promoting changes. The paper describes the objectives, structures, and processes involved with random use of System-wide Assessments among the 17 Federal colleges. A survey of 80 Deans and Chairs reports the perceptions and ratings of the process and impact of System-wide assessments. The lessons learned are described and inform recommendations for key components of an effective assessment system to promote accountability and improvement in higher education. Findings have significance for leaders of institutions of higher learning throughout the Middle East and the world.
Conducting an Effective Residential School for an Undergraduate Materials Science and Engineering Course
Authors: Keleher Patrick , Patil Arun
Published: August 2012

Residential schools are an important mechanism by which equitable access to laboratory provide hands-on experience and face-to-face learning for students enrolled in distance mode. This paper elaborates on the evaluation of residential school conducted as a part of undergraduate materials science and engineering course for the distance/flexible students enrolled at Central Queensland University, Australia. The students in this course are adult students who are employed full-time as practitioners and juggling with work, family, and study commitments. This cohort differs greatly in their technical knowledge and professional experience from the students who are enrolled internally. Internal students are predominately students who have progressed from secondary school to tertiary education without any workplace experience. A three day residential school provided the opportunity for students to work individually (undertake quizzes) and as a group (conduct laboratories, pursue group project) to ensure they had access to lecturers and their peers in progressing their tasks and assessment items. The students travelled from throughout Australia to attend the residential school and its design acknowledges the need for the time allocated to be focused, meaningful and worthwhile so students can maximise time at the residential (and the subsequent follow up activities) and minimise time away from the workplace.
Quality Accreditation System for Indian Engineering Education Using Knowledge Management and System Dynamics
Authors: Honnutagi Abdul Razak , Sonar Rajendra , Babu Subash
Published: August 2012

The engineering education system of India is becoming increasingly complex due to reasons like unmanageable numbers of colleges affiliated to universities, wide spectrum of student quality, multi-boss system in management and conflicting interests of stakeholders. Since the Accreditation board of engineering and technology (ABET) of U.S., Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) of U.S. and European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) of UK have been established; many other countries have developed their own version of national quality award (NQA) and accreditation systems. These NQAs and accreditation systems tend to follow the same general framework with different emphases on criterion. Since MBNQA has a prominent knowledge management (KM) component in it and EFQM has a strong mechanism of measuring outcomes/results, it’s attempted to develop a robust framework for Knowledge Quality Management (KQM) by integrating KM and outcome components into it using systems theory. The system dynamics (SD) approach is proposed for the visualization and analysis of quality assessment of undergraduate engineering education in India. Towards this, all possible attributes and indicators to study the interaction and interrelationship of various enablers and results have been identified. Causal loop diagrams (CLDs) and the integrated CLD for the entire proposed model enabling development of a system dynamics (SD) model is presented.
High-Accuracy Characterization of Ambulatory Holter Electrocardiogram Events
Authors: Homaeinezhad Mohammad Reza , Sabzevari Seyyed Amir Hoseini , Ghaffari Ali , Daevaeiha Mohammad
Published: August 2012

In this paper, three noise-robust high-accuracy methods aiming at the detection and delineation of the electrocardiogram (ECG) events (QRS complex, P-wave, T-wave) were developed. The ECG signal was initially appropriately preprocessed by application of a bandpass FIR filter and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The first detection-delineation method was the Walsh-Hadamard Transform (WHT). The WHT coefficients were divided into two groups and the signal was reconstructed using the second group coefficients. By this reconstruction, the values of first derivative of events are made stronger rather than the values of other parts of signal. In the second method, a feed forward artificial neural network was implemented to detect all events of the ECG signal. In the third method, the first derivative of signal was computed using a new signal smoothing algorithm with corresponding statistical properties. For decreasing False Positive (FP) errors associated with P-wave detection, a discriminating border was introduced as the post processing stage specified by three QRS parameters: the duration of a QRS complex, the time distance from the former and latter QRS complexes, and the potential difference from former QRS complex J-location and the latter QRS complex fiducial location. The proposed methods were applied to DAY general hospital high resolution holter data.
Economic Indicators of Primary Milk Producers’ Co-Operative Societies
Authors: Sarker Debnarayan , Ghosh Bikash Kumar
Published: August 2012

This paper examines the physical and financial performance of some primary dairy co-operatives in West Bengal state in India. It suggests that financial performance indicators dominate over physical ones, and all the dominating variables have long term positive impact on Primary milk Producers’ Cooperative Societies (PMPCSs). The significant impact of financial performance variables contributes to high profit efficiency for all primary dairy cooperative societies under study. When the profit efficiency is measured only on the basis of financial performance indicators the score of efficiency for all the PMPCSs lies between 90% and 100% level suggesting that all PMPCSs perform well when the performance of PMPCSs is judged only on the basis of financial performance indicators. But when they are judged by the combined effect of both physical and financial performance indicators, all PMPCSs are not performing well because the impact of physical performance variables differs significantly among them. These results seem to suggest that in order to strengthen the dairy development programme on co-operative line at the primary level more emphasis should be given to these dominating physical and financial performance variables in general and physical dominating variables in particular.
Does Fattening Pay for Smallholders?
Authors: Ayenew Habtamu Yesigat
Published: August 2012

This research was undertaken to comprehensively evaluate the performance of the fattening enterprise and to study the economics of cattle fattening in the crop-livestock mixed production system, North Gondar, Ethiopia. Data was collected from 112 farmers from purposively selected three districts and two peasant associations. The Tobit analysis resulted labor availability in the households, duration of fattening (length of stay of oxen in the fattening period) and feed cost have found to affect the gain from fattening negatively. Experience of the farm operator, number of cattle in the fattening activity, frequency of fattening in the year and selling in the export market have significantly enhance the gain from the operation. Fattening is found seemingly paying and profitable for most of the farmers and could be considered as a farm-business which can be used as one of the strategies to achieve transformation of the subsistence agriculture to market oriented farm operation.
Through Common Agricultural Policy Reforms
Authors: Jean-Vasile Andrei , Untaru Mircea
Published: August 2012

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the major European policies with the highest financial and social impact not only for rural communities but at the whole EU-27 level. Making this policy work has generated serious imbalances and disruptions between member states. For correcting this situation, all the reforms, starting with The MacSharry reform has aimed to improve this policy, the financial allotments and correct the functional mechanism. This paper makes a short analysis regarding the main CAP reforms since 1992 to 2003, reviling the main changes and improvements of it.
The Agritourism Potential of Aquaculture Farms in Romania
Authors: Adrian Zugravu Gheorghe , Magdalena Turek Rahoveanu Maria , Ionica Soare , Adrian Turek
Published: August 2012

Agritourism, as an economic activity has gained its recognition and importance in the national economy because of the social role it plays due to the natural resources potential and also to the species biodiversity that are to be found in Romanian waters. In some isolated areas, such as the Danube Delta and the Danube Plain, fishing and agritourism are the main activities that provide jobs and income sources for local populations. The authors aim at analyzing the size and concentration of the agritourism as an economic activity in Romania and tackle the degree of specialization and concentration of this particular economic activity on the level of the studied region. The results of the research may bring an important contribution to reconsidering the agritourism potential in substantiating the regional and local development strategies.
Assessment of Risk on Information Technology Projects Through Moments of Translation
Authors: Sehlola Petronnell , Iyamu Tiko
Published: August 2012

Many of the IT solutions in an organisation are employed through IT projects. Based on the reliance on IT solutions, organisations’ investment on IT projects has increased tremendously in the last two decades. This is informed and triggered by the premises that IT will help them to yield solutions that will fulfill or exceed their expectations, thereby make the organisation realise the required return on investment. Projects are a means to yield solutions through technological artefacts such as infrastructure (networks included), applications, databases or a combination of these. The technological artefacts do carries or are associated with foreseen or unforeseen risks. Hence proper risk identification and management on IT projects is necessitated to ensure that the organisation reaches its desire state. Unfortunately, risks are never easy to identify or manage. Using one case, the study employed actor-network theory in the analysis of the data to understand the factors which manifest themselves into risks during the deployment of IT projects in the organisation.
A Manifesto for E-Health Success
Authors: Wickramasinghe Nilmini , Bali Rajeev K. , Tatnall Arthur
Published: August 2012

Healthcare is the biggest service industry on the globe. Sadly, it has yet to realize the full potential of e-health, which is in stark contrast to other e-business initiatives such as e-government and e-education, e-finance, or e-commerce. However, as all OECD countries grapple with key challenges which are impacting the delivery of cost effective quality healthcare, all are agreed that e-health may hold the key. This makes it more important than ever for successful adoption of e-health. It is the contention of this paper that to be e-health prepared is necessary but not sufficient for successful e-health solutions to be realized. The paper asserts that it is only by embracing a rich theoretical lens of analysis that the full potential of e-health can be harnessed and thus it proffers ANT (Actor-network Theory) as such a lens.
Empirically Examined the Disjoint in Software Deployment
Authors: Sekgweleo Tefo , Iyamu Tiko
Published: August 2012

Software is intended to enable and support organisations to function effectively and efficiently. Hence its deployment is critically vital. Software deployment involve two primary components, technology and non-technology actors. Both actors offer vital contribution to software deployment. Unfortunately, there has been more focus on the technological actors over the years. This could be attributed to why the same types of challenges persist. The study holistically examined the roles of non-technology actors in the deployment of software in organisations. The lens of actor-network theory was employed in the empirical data.
Service Science
Authors: Carroll Noel , Richardson Ita , Whelan Eoin
Published: August 2012

Service comprise of socio-technical (human and technological) factors which exchange various resources and competencies. Service networks are used to transfer resources and competencies, yet they remain an underexplored and ‘invisible’ infrastructure. Service networks become increasingly complex when technology is implemented to execute specific service processes. This ultimately adds to the complexity of a service environment, making it one of the most difficult environments to examine and manage. In addition, although the emerging paradigm of ‘Service Science’ calls for more theoretical focus on understanding complex service systems, few efforts have surfaced which apply a new theoretical lens on understanding the underlying trajectories of socio-technical dynamics within a service system. This paper presents a literature review on Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and discusses how it may be employed to examine the socio-technical nature of service networks. ANT offers a rich vocabulary to describe the interplay of socio-technical dynamics which influence the service system reconfiguration. Thus, this paper offers a discussion on how ANT may be employed to examine the complexity of service systems and service innovation.
User Models for Adaptive Information Retrieval on the Web
Authors: Chevalier Max , Julien Christine , Soulé-Dupuy Chantal
Published: August 2012

Searching information can be realized thanks to specific tools called Information Retrieval Systems IRS (also called “search engines”). To provide more accurate results to users, most of such systems offer personalization features. To do this, each system models a user in order to adapt search results that will be displayed. In a multi-application context (e.g., when using several search engines for a unique query), personalization techniques can be considered as limited because the user model (also called profile) is incomplete since it does not exploit actions/queries coming from other search engines. So, sharing user models between several search engines is a challenge in order to provide more efficient personalization techniques. A semantic architecture for user profile interoperability is proposed to reach this goal. This architecture is also important because it can be used in many other contexts to share various resources models, for instance a document model, between applications. It is also ensuring the possibility for every system to keep its own representation of each resource while providing a solution to easily share it.
A Variable Context Model for Adaptable Service-Based Applications
Authors: Bucchiarone Antonio , Cappiello Cinzia , Di Nitto Elisabetta , Pernici Barbara , Sandonini Alessandra
Published: August 2012

Service-based applications (SBAs) rely on the invocation of services. The use of the service paradigm usually guarantees a high level of flexibility. In fact, applications can be easily reconfigured in order to continuously offer functionalities also in dynamic execution environments. This happens by changing the service selection and their composition. This flexibility can be exploited to design adaptable SBAs able to react to events that could happen during the application lifecycle. The execution flow of adaptable SBAs automatically changes on the basis of the context in which they are executing. The context includes information ranging from the situation in which users access the service-based applications to the status of the components involved in the execution of such applications. In this paper the authors propose a way to use context information to adapt SBAs. In particular, their goal is to discuss the way in which the context should be defined and managed in order to be exploited in the various activities related to the adaptation of service-based applications.
RELADO
Authors: Bruno Raffaele , Conti Marco , Nurchis Maddalena
Published: August 2012

Opportunistic routing is considered as one of the most promising techniques to effectively limit performance degradation in wireless mesh networks caused by unpredictable channel variations and high loss rates. This paradigm defers the selection of the next hop after the packet reception to take advantage of any opportunity provided by broadcast transmissions. Most of the existing opportunistic approaches base the forwarder selection on end-to-end principles. However, in multi-hop wireless environments the cost of a path is not uniformly distributed over space, nor constant over time, hence even two equal-cost paths might present significantly different link quality distributions one from the other. This encourages the use of localized context to implement a more accurate selection of the possible forwarders after each packet transmission. Hence, in this paper the authors propose RELADO, an adaptive opportunistic routing protocol able to efficiently combine end-to-end with local information to ensure transmission resilience across the network. With this flexibility, RELADO is able to reduce packet loss by ensuring the best trade-off between throughput maximization and packet progress. An extensive set of ns2 simulations confirms the potentiality of RELADO to improve network performance when compared to both legacy unicast and opportunistic routing protocols.
Dual Monitoring Communication for Self-Aware Network-on-Chip
Authors: Guang Liang , Nigussie Ethiopia , Plosila Juha , Tenhunen Hannu
Published: August 2012

Self-aware and adaptive Network-on-Chip (NoC) with dual monitoring networks is presented. Proper monitoring interface is an essential prerequisite to adaptive system reconfiguration in parallel on-chip computing. This work proposes a DMC (dual monitoring communication) architecture to support self-awareness on the NoC platform. One type of monitoring communication is integrated with data channel, in order to trace the run-time profile of data communication in high-speed on-chip networking. The other type is separate from the data communication, and is needed to report the run-time profile to the supervising monitor. Direct latency monitoring on mesochronous NoC is presented as a case study and is directly traced in the integrated communication with a novel latency monitoring table in each router. The latency information is reported by the separate monitoring communication to the supervising monitor, which reconfigures the system to adjust the latency, for instance by dynamic voltage and frequency scaling. With quantitative evaluation using synthetic traces and real applications, the effectiveness and efficiency of direct latency monitoring with DMC architecture is demonstrated. The area overhead of DMC architecture is estimated to be small in 65nm CMOS technology.
Competing With BI and Analytics at Monster Worldwide
Authors: Schick Alex , Frolick Mark , Ariyachandra Thilini
Published: August 2012

In the face of stiff competition, many organizations turn to business intelligence tools to successfully compete in the marketplace. However, successfully implementing and growing a business intelligence solution to combat market pressure is an arduous task. The stages of growth models present one approach that could guide organizations in the implementation and growth of successful business intelligence (BI) efforts. At Monster.com, upper management chose to design and implement a business intelligence framework to compete in the online job search arena. While the progressive steps that led to Monster’s successful BI solution did not strictly follow established BI stage models, it helped the company effectively steer clear of competition and remain a major player in the online job search marketplace.
Business Intelligence in Audit
Authors: Webb Leticia R.
Published: August 2012

Since 2002, regulations have changed the landscape of internal audit as well as how many internal audit departments are viewed by senior management and the board, making it difficult for internal audit, especially small and medium departments, to maintain a role in the risk management process. Many companies are beginning to realize the benefit of using business intelligence in the risk management process. By finding ways to get involved in those efforts, internal audit can again provide value and regain a seat at the risk management table.
Making Organizational Learning Work
Authors: Sullivan John J. , Beach Roger
Published: August 2012

This paper reports findings from an ongoing study to understand the dynamics of operational reliability. Previously, the study identified weaknesses in organizational settings that inhibited learning opportunities, specifically the ability to learn from failure (Sullivan et al., 2008). Effective organizational learning strategies are critical in promoting operational reliability, specifically recovering from operational failures or preventing them altogether (Sullivan, 2007). There is considerable debate over the effectiveness of organizational learning and there is evidence that shows that it can, and in some cases must, work. The U.S. Navy demonstrates exceptional learning capabilities, learning from failure and even learning without failure. Further, the Navy’s knowledge management practices have proven effective over time as generations of military personnel, civil servants, and contractors learn from the experiences of their predecessors (Sullivan, 2007).
Analyzing the Effectiveness of Customer Retention Strategies with Existing Customers in Banking Industry
Authors: Chimote Niraj Kishore , Srivastava Ankita
Published: August 2012

The rationale of this study is to find out the effectiveness of customer retention strategies from the perspective of the existing customers of a bank in Dehradun (India). The literature suggests that the retention is influenced by four levels namely financial bonds, social bonds, structural bonds and customization bonds along with some additional variables. The questionnaire survey was responded by 108 existing customers of a leading private sector bank. Chi-square test revealed that the effectiveness of retention strategies is independent of demographic variables except education. The factor analysis indicated the grouping of the seventeen variables into three factors namely: Value added services, convenience and business development. Finally, a multiple regression analysis revealed that the factors extracted in factor analysis are significant in determining the effectiveness of customer retention strategies.
An Exploratory Study of Customer Satisfaction in a Community Bank
Authors: Barat Somjit , Spillan John E.
Published: August 2012

In a competitive business environment, delivering high level of customer service is critical. Investigating this aspect further, this paper focuses on the physical and service attributes of consumer satisfaction in the banking business, and takes a fresh look at how community banks can compete with larger banks in niche service areas. The goal of the authors’ research is to find out whether the customers 1) were satisfied with every visit to the branch; 2) felt welcome when they came to the branch; 3.) considered the bank’s products substantial for their needs; 4) were satisfied with the image of the bank and 5) had any concerns about their bank deposits and about the bank’s (financial) position during difficult economic times. The findings indicate that customer responses are mixed on these issues, which make the banking industry strive to improve the service offerings. Interesting implications and ideas for further research also emanate from the current study.