bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Un Américain à Pékin : John Dewey
Authors: Berthier Patrick
Published: October 2012

Résumé Résumé : Si le voyage est encore le meilleur moyen d’accéder à l’altérité de l’étranger, encore faut-il “savoir voyager”. Quel type d’expérience en effet le voyage met-il en jeu ? Comment accéder à la saisie de cette altérité ? Dewey écarte l’idée d’une compréhension par l’histoire, ou celle d’une médiation universelle de l’esprit, s’il est vrai que les modes de pensée ne sont rien de plus que des formes métabolisées d’habitudes. Dewey tente alors de cerner les “particularités” de la “culture” chinoise par la description de comportements, que l’on ne peut jauger, estime-t-il, que dans leur relation à leur environnement et ce que l’on peut désigner in fine comme une philosophie “naturelle”. La rencontre entre les cultures est alors une question qui ne peut être abordée que de façon pragmatique et ouverte, dans l’hypothèse d’un “fond commun de sagesse et d’expérience”.
L'étrangeté de la formation de soi
Authors: Moreau Didier
Published: October 2012

Résumé Résumé : La formation de soi est un processus éducatif dont l’étrangeté a été posée dès le début de la philosophie de l’éducation. Il s’agit d’y comprendre comment celui qui se forme devient un autre pour devenir soi, c’est-à-dire, comment cet autre est réduit pour devenir le même. Deux perspectives se présentent alors : celle d’une expulsion de l’altérité dans l’extériorité, et celle d’un accueil de l’altérité du monde dans l’intériorité de l’être en formation. La première met en œuvre le schème d’une conversion, la seconde, celui d’une métamorphose. C’est celle-ci qui est interrogée ici à travers sa constitution dans la pensée stoïcienne, chez Cicéron lisant Caton et chez Sénèque. Ce sont les étrangers qui nous forment, lorsqu’ils sont devenus des Revenants. La question, reprise par la Modernité, ne possède plus la clarté que l’humanisme ancien y avait introduite. Herder, par le concept de l’ Emporbildung , va tenter de réconcilier la formation de soi avec la formation de l’humanité, contre la vision saisissante d’une conversion des peuples étrangers à la vérité d’une civilisation plus valeureuse.
Une utopie éducative en Émilie-Romagne
Authors: Dubois Émilie
Published: October 2012

Résumé Utopie et Éducation forment un duo assez singulier, l’une et l’autre étant souvent soumises à leur coexistence. La ville de Reggio Emilia, désormais reconnue pour le système alternatif de la petite enfance qu’elle a instauré dans ses écoles municipales depuis 1963, entretient avec ce duo un lien particulier qu’il est intéressant d’examiner pour illustrer comment il parvient à se manifester dans l’existence quotidienne d’enfants, d’éducateurs et de parents. À la fois nécessaire par le passé, dans le présent, mais également dans un avenir qui tend à l’optimisme, Utopie semble occuper dans l’expérience préscolaire reggiane une place bien à elle, au cœur de la philosophie et des pratiques pédagogiques qui la régissent ( Toutes les traductions sont celle de l’auteur.)
Country Environments and the Adoption of IT Outsourcing
Authors: Qu Wen Guang , Pinsonneault Alain
Published: October 2012

Research on information technology (IT) outsourcing adoption has been confined to a single-country perspective. The understanding of how country-specific variables influence the adoption of IT outsourcing is limited. This study uses new institutional economics to build a framework that links country-level factors to the adoption of IT domestic outsourcing. The authors suggest that country-level factors, such as the maturity of the IT-related legal system, social trust, uncertainty avoidance, Internet penetration, and the maturity of the IT outsourcing market, affect the opportunism costs and coordination costs involved in domestic IT outsourcing and influence its adoption among firms. The results show that the maturity of the IT-related legal system, social trust, and the maturity of the IT outsourcing market are positively associated with IT outsourcing adoption. The authors conclude the paper with a discussion of the study’s implications for practice and future research.
Contextual Factors, Knowledge Processes and Performance in Global Sourcing of IT Services
Authors: Du Rong , Ai Shizhong , Abbott Pamela , Zheng Yingqin
Published: October 2012

In this paper, the authors explore the influences of two major contextual factors—supplier team members’ cultural understanding and trust relationship—on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services. The authors discuss a joint investigation conducted by a cross-cultural research team in China. Cultural understanding is measured by individualism with guanxi and mianzi, two Chinese cultural concepts, and trust relationship is measured by adjusting trust, a notion reflecting the uniqueness of the Chinese people. Knowledge processes are characterized by knowledge sharing. Performance is measured by the outcomes of global sourcing, which is represented by product success and personal satisfaction. Data are collected in 13 companies in Xi’an Software Park, with 200 structured questionnaires distributed to knowledge workers. The results of quantitative data analysis indicate that cultural understanding influences trust relationship greatly, as well as knowledge sharing and performance in global sourcing of IT services. Trust relationship significantly impacts knowledge sharing, whereas trust relationship and knowledge sharing have no impact on performance. This study suggests that special aspects of the Chinese context have significant direct impacts on knowledge processes while no direct and immediate impacts on performance in global sourcing of IT services.
Asymmetric Interaction in Competitive Internet Technology Diffusion
Authors: Song Peijian , Zhang Cheng , Xu Yunjie , Xue Ling , Wang Ke , Zhang Chenghong
Published: October 2012

This paper explores the diffusion of competitive Internet technology products in the context of competition between local and multinational corporations as well as how the diffusive interactions between technologies affect their dominance in electronic markets. Drawing on existing theories of innovation diffusion, and competitive dynamics, the authors adopted a new diffusion model that incorporates the influence of one technology’s adoption on the diffusion of other technology. The authors then validated the model using longitudinal field data of the two pairs of Internet technology products in Chinese electronic markets. The findings of this investigation suggest that Internet product diffusion can be better predicted by a competitive dynamic model than by an independent-diffusion-process model. Further, results indicate that the diffusive interaction between local and multinational corporations’ technologies can be a two-way asymmetric interaction. Such a pattern supports a conclusion of significant second-mover advantage for local online vendors in fast-growing emerging markets. The authors also examine the policy implications of these results, specifically with respect to how asymmetric interaction effects can help domestic online vendors gain second-mover advantage facing the entry of multinational corporations.
Image Dimensionality Reduction Based on the Intrinsic Dimension and Parallel Genetic Algorithm
Authors: Lei Liang , Wang TongQing , Peng Jun , Yang Bo
Published: October 2012

In the research of Web content-based image retrieval, how to reduce more of the image dimensions without losing the main features of the image is highlighted. Many features of dimensional reduction schemes are determined by the breaking of higher dimensional general covariance associated with the selection of a particular subset of coordinates. This paper starts with analysis of commonly used methods for the dimension reduction of Web images, followed by a new algorithm for nonlinear dimensionality reduction based on the HSV image features. The approach obtains intrinsic dimension estimation by similarity calculation of two images. Finally, some improvements were made on the Parallel Genetic Algorithm (APGA) by use of the image similarity function as the self-adaptive judgment function to improve the genetic operators, thus achieving a Web image dimensionality reduction and similarity retrieval. Experimental results illustrate the validity of the algorithm.
Cognitive MIMO Radio
Authors: Li Mingming , Lin Jiaru , Liu Fazhong , Wang Dongxu , Guo Li
Published: October 2012

The authors consider a cognitive radio network in which a set of cognitive users make opportunistic spectrum access to one primary channel by time-division multiplexing technologies. Multiple Input Multiple Output techniques (MIMO) are similarly considered to enhance the stable throughput for cognitive links while they should guarantee co-channel interference constraints to the primary link. Here, two different cases are considered: one is that cognitive radio network is distributed; the other is centrally-controlled that cognitive radio network has a cognitive base station. In the first case, how to choose one fixed cognitive user and power control for each transmission antenna at the cognitive base station are considered to maximize the cognitive link’s stable throughput. In the second case, a scheme to choose a group of cognitive users and a Zero-Forcing method to pre-white co-channel interference to the primary user, are also proposed in order to maximize cognitive base station’s sum-rate. The algorithm can be employed to realize opportunistic spectrum transmission over the wireless fading channels.
Fuzzy Neural Network Control for Robot Manipulator Directly Driven by Switched Reluctance Motor
Authors: Ge Baoming , de Almeida Aníbal T.
Published: October 2012

Applications of switched reluctance motor (SRM) to direct drive robot are increasingly popular because of its valuable advantages. However, the greatest potential defect is its torque ripple owing to the significant nonlinearities. In this paper, a fuzzy neural network (FNN) is applied to control the SRM torque at the goal of the torque-ripple minimization. The desired current provided by FNN model compensates the nonlinearities and uncertainties of SRM. On the basis of FNN-based current closed-loop system, the trajectory tracking controller is designed by using the dynamic model of the manipulator, where the torque control method cancels the nonlinearities and cross-coupling terms. A single link robot manipulator directly driven by a four-phase 8/6-pole SRM operates in a sinusoidal trajectory tracking rotation. The simulated results verify the proposed control method and a fast convergence that the robot manipulator follows the desired trajectory in a 0.9-s time interval.
Integrating Patient Consent in e-Health Access Control
Authors: Wuyts Kim , Scandariato Riccardo , Verhenneman Griet , Joosen Wouter
Published: October 2012

Many initiatives exist that integrate e-health systems on a large scale. One of the main technical challenges is access control, although several frameworks and solutions, like XACML, are becoming standard practice. Data is no longer shared within one affinity domain but becomes ubiquitous, which results in a loss of control. As patients will be less willing to participate without additional control strategies, patient consents are introduced that allow the patients to determine precise access rules on their medical data. This paper explores the consequences of integrating consent in e-health access control. First, consent requirements are examined, after which an architecture is proposed which incorporates patient consent in the access control service of an e-health system. To validate the proposed concepts, a proof-of-concept implementation is built and evaluated.
Service Identification and Specification with SoaML
Authors: Gebhart Michael
Published: October 2012

This chapter focuses on the identification and specification of services based on prior modeled business processes and legacy systems. The resulting service interfaces and service components formalized by using the Service oriented architecture Modeling Language (SoaML) describe the integration of legacy systems into a service-oriented application landscape. The legacy systems provide services for integration purposes and represent the implementations of service components. Additionally, the resulting architecture allows functionality of legacy systems to be replaced with functionality provided by external cloud services. According to model-driven development concepts, the formalized service interfaces and service components as part of the service designs can be used to automatically derive service interface descriptions using the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). These descriptions enable the technical integration of legacy systems. If necessary, service implementations based on the Service Component Architecture (SCA) and the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) can be generated.
Considerations of Adapting Service-Offering Components to RESTful Architectures
Authors: Athanasopoulos Michael , Kontogiannis Kostas , Brealey Chris
Published: October 2012

Over the past few years, we have witnessed a paradigm shift on the programming models and on architectural styles, which have been used to design and implement large-scale service-oriented systems. More specifically, the classic message-oriented and remote procedure call paradigm has gradually evolved to the resource-oriented architectural style, inspired by concepts pertinent to the World Wide Web. This shift has been primarily driven by multifaceted functional and non-functional requirements of Web enabled large-scale service offering systems. These requirements include enhanced interoperability, lightweight integration, scalability, enhanced performance, even looser coupling, and less dependence on shifting technology standards. As a consequence, several, and sometimes antagonistic, architectures, design patterns, and programming paradigms have emerged on a quest to overcome the constantly expanding enterprise software needs. In the context of resource-oriented architectures, the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style has gained considerable attention due to its simplicity, uniformity, and flexibility. More specifically, the potential for scalability and loose coupling, the uniformity of interfaces, and the efficient bridging of enterprise software systems with the Web are significant factors for software architects and engineers to consider REST when designing, implementing, composing, and deploying service-oriented systems. These issues stir discussion among academics and practitioners about how to properly apply REST constraints both with respect to the development of new enterprise systems and to the migration and adaptation of existing service-oriented systems to RESTful architectures. In this chapter, the authors discuss issues and challenges related to the adaptation of existing service-oriented systems to a RESTful architecture. First, they present the motivation behind such an adaptation need. Second, the authors discuss related adaptation theory, techniques, and challenges that have been recently presented in the research literature. Third, they identify and present several considerations and dimensions that the adaptation to REST entails, and the authors present frameworks to assess resource-oriented designs with regard to compliance to REST. Fourth, the authors introduce an adaptation framework process model in the context of enterprise computing systems and technologies, such as Model Driven Engineering and Service Component Architecture (SCA). Furthermore, they discuss open challenges and considerations on how such an adaptation process to REST can be extended, in order to yield systems that best conform to the REST architectural style and the corresponding REST constraints. Finally, the chapter is concluded with a summary and a discussion on the points raised and on some emerging trends in this area.
Towards Migrating Genetic Algorithms for Test Data Generation to the Cloud
Authors: Di Martino Sergio , Ferrucci Filomena , Maggio Valerio , Sarro Federica
Published: October 2012

Search-Based Software Testing is a well-established research area, whose goal is to apply meta-heuristic approaches, like Genetic Algorithms, to address optimization problems in the testing domain. Even if many interesting results have been achieved in this field, the heavy computational resources required by these approaches are limiting their practical application in the industrial domain. In this chapter, the authors propose the migration of Search-Based Software Testing techniques to the Cloud aiming to improve their performance and scalability. Moreover, they show how the use of the MapReduce paradigm can support the parallelization of Genetic Algorithms for test data generation and their migration in the Cloud, thus relieving software company from the management and maintenance of the overall IT infrastructure and developers from handling the communication and synchronization of parallel tasks. Some preliminary results are reported, gathered by a proof-of-concept developed on the Google’s Cloud Infrastructure.
Testing Web Services in the Cloud
Authors: Sneed Harry M.
Published: October 2012

Cloud Computing makes it possible for users to access a wide range of web services in the public domain and to embed these global services in their local applications. This promises to save a significant amount of individual development cost. The biggest obstacle to using this technology is the problem of trust. To gain trust in the services offered they have to be extensively tested, either by the user himself or by a trusted agent. This chapter deals with the testing of web services in the cloud. There are many similarities to testing web services in a local service-oriented architecture, but there are also significant differences. In a company specific SOA, testers can gain access to the source. This is not true of the cloud. There is no possibility of accessing the source. Therefore, testers must rely solely on the specification contained in the service level agreement – SLA – and the web service interface definition – WSDL or REST – to base their test upon. Testing in the cloud is strictly a black-box test. The goal of a cloud service test is also not to find errors but to assess the suitability of the service to the purpose of the user. It may be necessary to test several services in order to find that one best suited to the requirements of the user. To judge suitability it is necessary to define an ideal usage profile, including performance, security and other non-functional criteria, and to compare that with the actual profile of each potential service. For this both static and dynamic analysis methods must be applied. The chapter presents an automated approach to assessing cloud services and selecting that one most suitable to the user’s application.
Testing in the Cloud
Authors: Rice Randall W.
Published: October 2012

Cloud-based applications offer great value and benefits to businesses and other application consumers. However, unlike traditional in-house developed systems or commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) applications, the customer has little or no control over when and how functionality may change. The cloud consumer also has little or no control over how the data controlled by the application is processed, stored, and secured. This chapter explores how the testing of cloud applications is fundamentally different from other contexts where the customer has a greater degree of control. The limitations of risk mitigation are discussed as well as cloud computing models that may also reduce the cloud consumer’s risk.
Defining Minimum Requirements of Inter-Collaborated Nodes by Measuring the Weight of Node Interactions
Authors: Sotiriadis Stelios , Bessis Nik , Huang Ye , Sant Paul , Maple Carsten
Published: October 2012

This paper focuses on defining the minimum requirements to support the inter-cooperation between various scales, dynamically evolved Virtual Organizations (VOs). This proposed method is able to assign a weighted value to each pair-wise path that each member (node) can select in order to locate neighbouring nodes according to their preferences. The method also takes into account the communication overhead between each node interaction. The weight of each path is to be measured by the analysis of prerequisites in order to achieve a mutually agreed interaction between nodes. Requirements are defined as the least parameters or conditions that a node needs to achieve in order to determine its accessibility factor. The motivation behind this work is the vision of the Critical Friends Community model, which is a suitable topology for interoperable grid environments. The topology suggests that capturing inter-cooperated nodes interactions that can be publicly available could lead to knowledge of neighbouring VO members which, in turn, could be used for facilitating a more effective resource discovery and selection decision.
The Development of a Parallel Ray Launching Algorithm for Wireless Network Planning
Authors: Lai Zhihua , Bessis Nik , De La Roche Guillaume , Kuonen Pierre , Zhang Jie , Clapworthy Gordon J.
Published: October 2012

Propagation modeling has attracted much interest because it plays an important role in wireless network planning and optimization. Deterministic approaches such as ray tracing and ray launching have been investigated, however, due to the running time constraint, these approaches are still not widely used. In previous work, an intelligent ray launching algorithm, namely IRLA, has been proposed. The IRLA has proven to be a fast and accurate algorithm and adapts to wireless network planning well. This article focuses on the development of a parallel ray launching algorithm based on the IRLA. Simulations are implemented, and evaluated performance shows that the parallelization greatly shortens the running time. The COST231 Munich scenario is adopted to verify algorithm behavior in real world environments, and observed results show a 5 times increased speedup upon a 16-processor cluster. In addition, the parallelization algorithm can be easily extended to larger scenarios with sufficient physical resources.
Matrixes of Weighing and Catastrophes
Authors: Hernández Ramírez José G. , García García María J. , Hernández García Gilberto J.
Published: October 2012

An easy to apply multi-criteria technique is the Matrixes Of Weighing (MOW), but many of the professionals that use it, in their respective fields, do it in intuitive fashion. In this regard, applications are rarely reported in specialized literature, which explains how few references exist about them. One of the application areas for MOW is the handling of catastrophes, in particular the pre-catastrophe and post-catastrophe phases where a series of problems are usually handled which solution leads to a choice, which could be done by using multi-criteria techniques.The objective of this investigation is to present the MOW with multiplicative factors, and showing their application in the pre-catastrophe phase, when choosing possible shelters and in the post-catastrophe phase, by aiding to hierarchies which infrastructures to be recovered after a catastrophe.
ICT-Based Market Information Services (MIS) Projects, Deployment Environment, and Performance
Authors: Okello Julius Juma
Published: October 2012

The need to provide agricultural information to farmers has led to emergence of numerous electronic-based MIS projects in developing countries. These projects aim at promoting farmer linkage to better markets. However, experiences from past and present projects show mix cases of success and failure, despite some projects meeting their goals. This study examines how the environments in which such ICT-based MIS are deployed affect their performance. It specifically uses two ICT-based market information service projects, the DrumNet and Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange (KACE) projects, to assess how the socio-economic, physical, and institutional environments in such projects are deployed affect the performance of such projects. The study finds that a number of environmental factors related to socio-economic, physical, market, and legal environment affect the performance of ICT-based projects. Some of these factors exacerbate transactions costs thus undermining the performance and even sustainability of ICT-based MIS projects. It discusses policy implications of these findings.
ICT and Unemployment in Nigeria
Authors: Oye N.D. , Ibrahim Inuwa , Ahmad Muhammad Shakil
Published: October 2012

A number of telecentres have been established in places like shops, schools, community centre, police stations and clinics. The population of Nigeria, according to the national population commission (NPC) figures stands at over 140, 000,000, and 60% of this number is made up of unemployed youths. With the institutions of learning in Nigeria churning out graduates of various levels and degrees on a yearly basis, a rising trend has seen these graduates coming out of the nation’s universities and polytechnics to join those who graduated ahead of them but without any means of livelihood for years. This chapter examines the role played by unemployment on the making of the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for a period of nine years (2000 - 2008). The objectives of the study are to examine the effects of unemployment on the Nigerian GDP for the selected years, to observe the kind of association that existing between the unemployment and the makings of the Nigerian GDP. Data was collected and analyzed using the regression analysis. Findings showed that unemployment has an enormous effect (over 65%) on the making of the Nigerian GDP, and there exists an inverse relationship between the model (unemployment) and the GDP - increase in the model leads to decrease on the GDP and vice versa. The role of ICT on unemployment and GDP is reviewed. In addition ICT as a tool of combating unemployment corruption is discussed. Recommendations are proffered based on the study that unemployment can be combated through the public sector reforms and the use of ICT.
Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Livestock Production
Authors: Sylvester O. Anie
Published: October 2012

This chapter examines the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on livestock production by rural farmers in Nigeria. Questionnaire, interview, and personal observation methods were employed to elicit information on the impact of ICT on livestock production on rural areas of Nigeria. The study reveals the significance of personal characteristics of the respondents. The findings also reveal that rural farmers need to be encouraged by providing them with relevant ICT gadgets in order to enhance effective access to information on veterinary and extension services to improve productivity. It is therefore concluded that the establishment of internet facilities in rural communities should be the priority of the State and Federal Governments in order to encourage computer literacy.
Understanding the Information Security Landscape in South Africa
Authors: Maumbe Blessing , Owei Vesper T.
Published: October 2012

Information security risks are a major threat to South Africa’s bid to build a broad-based information society. The integration of information security in e-government is no longer an option, but an imperative given the resulting “information overload” and the need to filter “good” from “bad” information. Unless South Africa integrates information security in its e-government development policy and practices, the acclaimed benefits of e-government will not be realized. The moral hazard problems arising from bad information behavior such as human manipulation, withholding information, unauthorized access, and violation of individual privacy and confidentiality heightens the need to combat info-security risks and vulnerabilities. South Africa’s readiness to deal with the information security risks has come under scrutiny. The information security infrastructure in South Africa is also not clearly understood. This chapter examines South Africa’s information security landscape and describes how institutional and agency coordination could help improve information security in e-government.
Soft Computing Modeling of Wild Fire Risk Indices
Authors: Iliadis L. , Betsidou T.
Published: October 2012

It is essential to find ways that can reduce the risk of devastating forest fires which have multiple negative ecological and financial consequences. This preliminary research effort focuses on the implementation of an intelligent rule based fuzzy inference system evaluating wild fire risk in the forest departments of Greece. The system uses soft computing techniques and was built in the Matlab integrated environment. The whole research is related to the wild fires in Greece during the period 1983-1997 with data coming from the general forest management service. It classifies all Greek forest departments (by assigning three labels) according to their forest fire risk due to distinct parameters. The estimation of the risk indices was done by using fuzzy triangular membership functions and Einstein fuzzy conjunction T-Norms. Moreover the system produces the profile of the forest departments located in the geographic area of “Peloponnesus.” This is a region located in the southern part of the country and it has a vast number of annual forest fire breakouts. Meteorological, topographic, and historical (total burned area and intervention time) features were considered for the determination of the risk indices. The system has shown a good performance which can be improved further if more data is gathered and used. Its main advantage is that it offers an innovative and reliable model that can be employed in any part of the world as a basis for natural disasters’ risk estimation.
The Security Practitioners’ Perspective
Authors: Gelbstein Eduardo
Published: October 2012

This chapter reviews the assumptions on which this section of the book is based, explores the irreversible dependency of society on information and communications technologies, and sets the scene for the asymmetric nature of cyber-attacks, and lists the main the challenges facing security practitioners in the public and private sectors. These are discussed in more detail in subsequent chapters.
Cyber-Search and Cyber-Seizure
Authors: Lotrionte Catherine B.
Published: October 2012

This chapter discusses the nature of cyber threats against government and private computer systems, describing some steps the government has taken and the challenges involved in protecting those systems. The chapter argues that a national security approach for cyber security policy is the most promising option for preventing these cyber threats while operating within the domestic legal framework. After a review of the President’s constitutional authorities to protect the nation from traditional threats, the chapter concludes that the President has some power to monitor Internet communications in transit within the United States when the communications threaten the welfare of the nation. The chapter recommends that this authority be augmented by Congressional action through legislation. The President’s powers in cyber security, even given Congressional support, however, are still restrained by the protections the Fourth Amendment provides for traditional forms of communication and individual privacy. Although there is limited Fourth Amendment precedent in the area of cyber security, the well-established exceptions to the Fourth Amendment requirements, based on consent, special governmental needs and the reasonableness of the search or seizure, provide a legal basis for executive branch action to protect critical infrastructures and their computer systems. As the Courts have long held, these exceptions allow the government to conduct searches or seizures without being bound by all of the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. If the government develops its cyber security policy in line with these exceptions, this chapter argues the government can both protect critical computer systems and operate within Fourth Amendment doctrine that recognizes the legitimacy of privacy in electronic communications.
Neighbor-Replica Distribution Technique Model for Availability Prediction in Distributed Interdependent Environment
Authors: Noor Ahmad Shukri Mohd , Herawan Tutut , Deris Mustafa Mat
Published: October 2012

High availability is important for large scale distributed systems. Replication provides effective ways to enhance performance, high availability and fault tolerance in distributed systems. An efficient and effective replication technique is the key to improve the availability performance. Data and processes can be replicated for failures recovery. There are currently projects successfully implemented in two-replica distribution technique (TRDT) or primary–backup technique. However, these projects have their weaknesses of increasing cost overhead and inherit irrecoverable scenarios from TRDT such as double faults when both copies of replicated components are damaged. The authors propose the Neighbor Replica Distributed Technique (NRDT) availability prediction model. Focusing on improving high availability in which it predicts future expectation of interdependent server’s availability in a distributed online system over an extended period of time. The results and discussion are explored further in the article.
Lightweight Interacting Patient Treatment Processes
Authors: Mans Ronny , van der Aalst Wil , Russell Nick , Bakker Piet , Moleman Arnold
Published: October 2012

Processes concerning the diagnosis and treatment of patients cannot be straightjacketed into traditional production-like workflows. They can be best characterized as weakly-connected interacting light-weight workflows where tasks reside at different levels of granularity, and for each individual patient a doctor proceeds in a step-by-step way deciding what next steps be taken. Classical workflow notations fall short in supporting these patient processes as they have been designed to support monolithic processes. Classical notations (WF-nets (work flow nets), BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation), EPCs (Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances), etc.) assume that a workflow process can be modeled by specifying the life-cycle of a single case in isolation. To address these problems, the authors present an extension of the Proclets framework which allows for dividing complex entangled processes into simple autonomous fragments. Additionally, increased emphasis is placed on interaction related aspects such that fragment instances for individual patients can cooperate in any desired way. The authors describe an implementation of the Proclets framework. Proclets have been added to the open-source Workflow Management System YAWL to better support inter-workflow support functionalities.
Ontology Merging and Reasoning Using Paraconsistent Logics
Authors: Cocos Cristian , Imam Fahim , MacCaull Wendy
Published: October 2012

Dealing with the inconsistencies that might arise during the ontology merging process constitutes a major challenge. The explosive nature of classical logic requires any logic-based merging effort to dissolve possible contradictions, and thus maintain consistency. In many cases, however, inconsistent information may be useful for intelligent reasoning activities. In healthcare systems, for example, inconsistent information may be required to provide a full clinical perspective, and thus any information loss is undesirable. The authors present a 4-valued logic-based merging system that exhibits inconsistency-tolerant behavior to avoid information loss.
Probabilistic Evaluation of SMS Messages as Forensic Evidence
Authors: Ishihara Shunichi
Published: October 2012

This study is one of the first likelihood ratio-based forensic text comparison studies in forensic authorship analysis. The likelihood-ratio-based evaluation of scientific evidence has started being adopted in many disciplines of forensic evidence comparison sciences, such as DNA, handwriting, fingerprints, footwear, voice recording, etc., and it is largely accepted that this is the way to ensure the maximum accountability and transparency of the process. Due to its convenience and low cost, short message service (SMS) has been a very popular medium of communication for quite some time. Unfortunately, however, SMS messages are sometimes used for reprehensible purposes, e.g., communication between drug dealers and buyers, or in illicit acts such as extortion, fraud, scams, hoaxes, and false reports of terrorist threats. In this study, the author performs a likelihood-ratio-based forensic text comparison of SMS messages focusing on lexical features. The likelihood ratios (LRs) are calculated in Aitken and Lucy’s (2004) multivariate kernel density procedure, and are calibrated. The validity of the system is assessed based on the magnitude of the LRs using the log-likelihood-ratio cost (Cllr). The strength of the derived LRs is graphically presented in Tippett plots. The results of the current study are compared with those of previous studies.
Developing Decision-Making Skill
Authors: April Kurt A. , Goebel Katja M. J. , Blass Eddie , Foster-Pedley Jonathan
Published: October 2012

This paper explores the value that computer and video games bring to learning and leadership and explores how games work as learning environments and the impact they have on personal development. The study looks at decisiveness, decision-making ability and styles, and on how this leadership-related skill is learnt through different paradigms. The paper compares the learning from a lecture to the learning from a designed computer game, both of which have the same content through the use of a spot test, taken immediately after the lecture and the game, and seven day retest scores. It also presents data collected and evaluated on decision-making from three distinct groups: executives (including entrepreneurs), gamers and non-gamers.
Identification of Core DNA Elements That Target Somatic Hypermutation
Authors: Kohler Kristin M. , McDonald Jessica J. , Duke Jamie L. , Arakawa Hiroshi , Tan Sally , Kleinstein Steven H. , Buerstedde Jean-Marie , Schatz David G.
Published: October 2012

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) diversifies the V region of Ig genes and underlies the process of affinity maturation, in which B lymphocytes producing high-affinity Abs are generated and selected. SHM is triggered in activated B cells by deamination of deoxycytosine residues mediated by activation-induced deaminase (AID). Whereas mistargeting of SHM and AID results in mutations and DNA damage in many non-Ig genes, they act preferentially at Ig loci. The mechanisms responsible for preferential targeting of SHM and AID activity to Ig loci are poorly understood. Using an assay involving an SHM reporter cassette inserted into the Ig L chain locus (IgL) of chicken DT40 B cells, we have identified a 1.9-kb DIVAC (diversification activator) element derived from chicken IgL that supports high levels of AID-dependent mutation activity. Systematic deletion analysis reveals that targeting activity is spread throughout much of the sequence and identifies two core regions that are particularly critical for function: a 200-bp region within the IgL enhancer, and a 350-bp 3′ element. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments demonstrate that whereas DIVAC does not alter levels of several epigenetic marks in the mutation cassette, it does increase levels of serine-5 phosphorylated RNA polymerase II in the mutation target region, consistent with an effect on transcriptional elongation/pausing. We propose that multiple, dispersed DNA elements collaborate to recruit and activate the mutational machinery at Ig gene variable regions during SHM.
AN INTERACTIVE TOOL FOR ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF TEXTURE PARAMETERS IN PHOTOREALISTIC VIRTUAL 3D MODELS
Authors: Sima A. A. , Buckley S. J. , Viola I.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. Texture mapping is a common method for combining surface geometry with image data, with the resulting photorealistic 3D models being suitable not only for visualization purposes but also for interpretation and spatiameasurement, in many application fields, such as cultural heritage and the earth sciences. When acquiring images for creation of photorealistic models, it is usual to collect more data than is finally necessary for the texturing process. Images may be collected from multiple locations, sometimes with different cameras or lens configurations and large amounts of overlap may exist. Consequently, much redundancy may be present, requiring sorting to choose the most suitable images to texture the model triangles. This paper presents a framework for visualization and analysis of the geometric relations between triangles of the terrain model and covering image sets. The application provides decision support for selection of an image subset optimized for 3D model texturing purposes, for non-specialists. It aims to improve the communication of geometrical dependencies between model triangles and the available digital images, through the use of static and interactive information visualization methods. The tool was used for computer-aided selection of image subsets optimized for texturing of 3D geological outcrop models. The resulting textured models were of high quality and with a minimum of missing texture, and the time spent in time-consuming reprocessing was reduced. Anecdotal evidence indicated that an increased user confidence in the final textured model quality and completeness makes the framework highly beneficial.
COMPARISON OF MULTI-SCALE DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS FOR DEFINING WATERWAYS AND CATCHMENTS OVER LARGE AREAS
Authors: B. Harris  , K. McDougall  , M. Barry
Published: October 2012

Abstract. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) allow for the efficient and consistent creation of waterways and catchment boundaries over large areas. Studies of waterway delineation from DEMs are usually undertaken over small or single catchment areas due to the nature of the problems being investigated. Improvements in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, software, hardware and data allow for analysis of larger data sets and also facilitate a consistent tool for the creation and analysis of waterways over extensive areas. However, rarely are they developed over large regional areas because of the lack of available raw data sets and the amount of work required to create the underlying DEMs. This paper examines definition of waterways and catchments over an area of approximately 25,000 km2 to establish the optimal DEM scale required for waterway delineation over large regional projects. The comparative study analysed multi-scale DEMs over two test areas (Wivenhoe catchment, 543 km2 and a detailed 13 km2 within the Wivenhoe catchment) including various data types, scales, quality, and variable catchment input parameters. Historic and available DEM data was compared to high resolution Lidar based DEMs to assess variations in the formation of stream networks. The results identified that, particularly in areas of high elevation change, DEMs at 20 m cell size created from broad scale 1:25,000 data (combined with more detailed data or manual delineation in flat areas) are adequate for the creation of waterways and catchments at a regional scale.
MOVING WINDOW SEGMENTATION FRAMEWORK FOR POINT CLOUDS
Authors: Sithole G. , Gorte B.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. As lidar point clouds become larger streamed processing becomes more attractive. This paper presents a framework for the streamed segmentation of point clouds with the intention of segmenting unstructured point clouds in real-time. The framework is composed of two main components. The first component segments points within a window shifting over the point cloud. The second component stitches the segments within the windows together. In this fashion a point cloud can be streamed through these two components in sequence, thus producing a segmentation. The algorithm has been tested on airborne lidar point cloud and some results of the performance of the framework are presented.
RECONSTRUCTION OF RECTANGULAR WINDOWS IN MULTI-LOOKING OBLIQUE VIEW ALS DATA
Authors: Tuttas S. , Stilla U.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. With multi-looking oblique view airborne laser scanning (ALS) it is possible to create point clouds with a nearly complete 3D coverage of a larger area. This allows, in contrast to nadir view ALS, the extraction of façade information. This paper concentrates on the reconstruction of windows. Because of the limited point density, received from oblique view ALS, the approach aims at the reconstruction of rectangular windows from sparse point clouds (<10 points/ m2). In a pre-processing step window centres are determined. For that indoor points, which lie behind the façades planes, are detected. The following reconstruction process consists of two main steps. First the window centres are used to create a hypothesis for the window outline by searching for a rectangle with maximum size, which includes the window centre but no points of the point cloud. In the second step these outlines are represented by probability density functions to model the uncertainty of the edges. All edges of one type, i.e. left, right, upper or lower edge, are combined by multiplication of their functions. Subsequently these functions are used to allocate the final edge positions to each window. The windows can be reconstructed with a width and height error of a few decimetres, what corresponds to the typical point distance in the point cloud, as far as the window centres are provided in a sufficient quality. The approach performs better the more equal windows are arranged in a façade row or column.
A MODIFIED STOCHASTIC NEIGHBOR EMBEDDING FOR COMBINING MULTIPLE FEATURES FOR REMOTE SENSING IMAGE CLASSIFICATION
Authors: Zhang L. , Zhang L. , Tao D. , Huang X.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. In remote sensing image interpretation, it is important to combine multiple features of a certain pixel in both spatial and spectral domains to improve the classification accuracy, such as spectral signature, morphological property, and shape feature. Therefore, it is essential to consider the complementary property of different features and combine them in order to obtain an accurate classification rate. In this paper, we introduce a multi-feature dimension reduction algorithm under a probabilistic framework, modified stochastic neighbor embedding (MSNE). For each feature, a probability distribution is constructed based on SNE, and then we alternatively solve SNE and learn the optimal combination coefficients for different features in optimization. Compared with conventional dimension reduction strategies, the suggested algorithm can considers spectral, morphological and shape features of a pixel to achieve a physically meaningful low-dimensional feature representation by automatically learn a combination coefficient for each feature adapted to its contribution to subsequent classification. In experimental section, classification results using hyperspectral remote sensing image (HSI) show that this modified stochastic neighbor embedding can effectively improve classification performance.