bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Bayesian Framework for Improving Clustering Accuracy of Protein Sequences Based on Association Rules
Authors: Yin Peng-Yeng , Shyu Shyong-Jian , Huang Guan-Shieng , Liao Shuang-Te
Published: May 2011

With the advent of new sequencing technology for biological data, the number of sequenced proteins stored in public databases has become an explosion. The structural, functional, and phylogenetic analyses of proteins would benefit from exploring databases by using data mining techniques. Clustering algorithms can assign proteins into clusters such that proteins in the same cluster are more similar in homology than those in different clusters. This procedure not only simplifies the analysis task but also enhances the accuracy of the results. Most of the existing protein-clustering algorithms compute the similarity between proteins based on one-to-one pairwise sequence alignment instead of multiple sequences alignment; the latter is prohibited due to expensive computation. Hence the accuracy of the clustering result is deteriorated. Further, the traditional clustering methods are ad-hoc and the resulting clustering often converges to local optima. This chapter presents a Bayesian framework for improving clustering accuracy of protein sequences based on association rules. The experimental results manifest that the proposed framework can significantly improve the performance of traditional clustering methods.
Fuzzy Logic in Medicine
Authors: LaBrunda Michelle , LaBrunda Andrew
Published: May 2011

This article explores the use of fuzzy logic in the medical field. While giving a comparison of classic and fuzzy logic we present the various uses of the applications made possible by fuzzy logic, focusing on diagnosis and treatment. The ever evolving technology making the line between medicine and technology thinner every year, is helping to make the treatment of disease and the mending of injury easier for medical professionals. We also propose several questions that arise from, and may by answered by, fuzzy logic and its applications.
Exploring a UML Profile Approach to Modeling Web Services in Healthcare
Authors: Raghupathi Wullianallur
Published: May 2011

The Web services paradigm offers numerous potential benefits to the health care area. These include interoperability, portability, scalability, and compliance with universal standards. However, development of large-scale Web services applications in health care is relatively scarce. Multiple challenges are slowing the diffusion of information technology practices in health care, starting with the absence of modeling tools and methodologies that are the bases for building such technology. This article describes a UML profile approach to developing Web services applications in the health care area, emphasizing the use of such extensions as stereotyping and tagging to model the unique elements of health care processing. We apply these ideas to a health clinic example. From here, one can imagine building incrementally upon these ideas to develop frameworks for Web services applications in health care. The benefits would enhance the overall quality of health care delivery and lower costs.
Mobile Electronic Commerce
Authors: Pierre Samuel
Published: May 2011

Mobile electronic commerce (or m-commerce) is generally defined as the set of financial transactions that can be carried out over a wireless mobile network (Pierre, 2003; Varshney, 2001; Varshney, Vetter, & Kalakota, 2000). According to this definition, m-commerce constitutes a subset of all electronic commercial transactions (electronic commerce or e-commerce) from business- to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B). Thus, short personal messages such as those from short messaging system (SMS) sent between two individuals do not fall within the category of m-commerce, whereas messages from a service provider to a salesperson or a consumer, or vice versa, do fit this very definition. M-commerce appears an emerging manifestation of Internet electronic commerce which meshes together concepts such as the Internet, mobile computing, and wireless telecommunications in order to provide an array of sophisticated services (m-services) to mobile users (Paurobally, Turner, & Jennings, 2003). Before purchasing a product, clients need services such as those used to search for a product and a merchant who offer the lowest price for this product. Consumers also like to participate in auctions and analyze the quality/price ratio of a product for a certain number of suppliers (Jukic, Sharma, Jukic, & Parameswaran, 2002). Online shopping for a given product is becoming increasingly popular, and electronic purchasing and bargaining consist of looking up and deciphering the contents of electronic catalogues prior to making a decision. To automate this process and to ensure that these documents are comprehensible to computers, they must have a standard format. Such services exist in standard commerce; however, in e-commerce, they require further consideration such as those related to the market dynamics, the variety of platforms, and the languages used by various merchant sites (Itani, & Kayssi, 2003; Lenou, Glitho, & Pierre, 2003).
Mobile Portals
Authors: Turel Ofir , Serenko Alexander
Published: May 2011

The diffusion of mobile services is one of important technological phenomena of the twenty-first century (Dholakia & Dholakia, 2003). According to the International Telecommunication Union,1 the number of mobile service users had exceeded 1.5 billion individual subscribers by early 2005. This represents around one-quarter of the world’s population. The introduction of .mobi, a new toplevel domain,2 is expected to further facilitate the usage of mobile services. Because of their high penetration rates, mobile services have received cross-disciplinary academic attention (e.g., Ruhi & Turel, 2005; Serenko & Bontis, 2004; Turel, Serenko & Bontis, 2007; Turel, 2006; Turel & Serenko, 2006; Turel & Yuan, 2006; Turel et al., 2006). While the body of knowledge on mobile services in general is growing (Krogstie, Lyytinen, Opdahl, Pernici, Siau, & Smolander, 2004), there seems to be a gap in our understanding of a basic, yet important service that mobile service providers offer, namely mobile portals (m-portals). M-portals are wireless Web pages that help wireless users in their interactions with mobile content and services (based on the definition by Clarke & Flaherty, 2003). These are a worthy topic for investigation since, in many cases, they represent the main gate to the mobile Internet and to wireless value-added services (Serenko & Bontis, 2004). Particularly, users of premium wireless services typically employ m-portals to discover and navigate to wireless content such as news briefs, stock quotes, mobile games, and so forth. Given this, m-portals have a strong value proposition (i.e., a unique value-added that an entity offers stakeholders through its operations) for both users and service providers. These value dimensions, which drive the implementation and the use of m-portals, are explored in the subsequent sections. Despite that a number of publications solely devoted to the topic of m-portals already exist, there are very few works that not only present the concept of mobile portals, but also portray their characteristics and discuss some of the issues associated with their deployment by service providers and employment by individual users. The value proposition of mobile portals was rarely explored in depth, and some motivational factors for developing and using mobile portals still remain unclear. To fill this gap, this article explores value proposition of mobile portals from both a wireless service provider and an individual user perspective. Based on this discussion, two conceptual frameworks are suggested. The rest of this article is structured as follows. First, the key value drivers of m-portals from a wireless service provider’s viewpoint are portrayed. Second, a framework that depicts the unique attributes of mobile portals and their impact on the value users derive from these services is offered. This framework is then utilized for discussing some of the challenges mobile portal developers and service providers currently face. These obstacles need to be overcome in order for service providers and users to realize the true value of mobile portals.
Protection of Mobile Agent Data
Authors: Guan Sheng-Uei
Published: May 2011

One hindrance to the widespread adoption of mobile agent technology is the lack of security. Security will be the issue that has to be addressed carefully if a mobile agent is to be used in the field of electronic commerce. SAFER?or Secure Agent Fabrication, Evolution, and Roaming?is a mobile agent framework that is specially designed for the purpose of electronic commerce (Zhu, Guan, Yang, & Ko, 2000; Guan & Hua, 2003; Guan, Zhu, & Maung, 2004). Security has been a prime concern from the first day of our research (Guan & Yang, 1999, 2002; Yang & Guan, 2000). By building strong and efficient security mechanisms, SAFER aims to provide a trustworthy framework for mobile agents, increasing trust factors to end users by providing the ability to trust, predictable performance, and a communication channel (Patrick, 2002). Agent integrity is one such area crucial to the success of agent technology (Wang, Guan, & Chan, 2002). Despite the various attempts in the literature, there is no satisfactory solution to the problem of data integrity so far. Some of the common weaknesses of the current schemes are vulnerabilities to revisit attack when an agent visits two or more collaborating malicious hosts during one roaming session and illegal modifi- cation (deletion/insertion) of agent data. Agent Monitoring Protocol (AMP) (Chionh, Guan, & Yang, 2001), an earlier proposal under SAFER to address agent data integrity, does address some of the weaknesses in the current literature. Unfortunately, the extensive use of PKI technology introduces too much overhead to the protocol. Also, AMP requires the agent to deposit its data collected to the agent owner/butler before it roams to another host. While this is a viable and secure approach, the proposed approach?Secure Agent Data Integrity Shield (SADIS)?will provide an alternative by allowing the agent to carry the data by itself without depositing it (or the data hash) onto the butler. Besides addressing the common vulnerabilities of current literature (revisit attack and data modification attack), SADIS also strives to achieve maximum efficiency without compromising security. It minimizes the use of PKI technology and relies on symmetric key encryption as much as possible. Moreover, the data encryption key and the communication session key are both derivable from a key seed that is unique to the agent’s roaming session in the current host. As a result, the butler can derive the communication session key and data encryption key directly. Another feature in SADIS is strong security. Most of the existing research focuses on detecting integrity compromise (Esparza, Muñoz, Soriano, & Forné, 2006) or on bypassing integrity attacks by requiring the existence of a cooperating agent that is carried out within a trusted platform (Ouardani, Pierre, & Boucheneb, 2006), but which neglected the need to identify the malicious host. With SADIS, the agent butler will not only be able to detect any compromise to data integrity, but to identify the malicious host effectively.
Addressing the Credibility of Mobile Applications
Authors: Kamthan Pankaj
Published: May 2011

Mobile access has opened new vistas for various sectors of society including businesses. The ability that anyone using (virtually) any device could be reached anytime and anywhere presents a tremendous commercial potential. Indeed, the number of mobile applications has seen a tremendous growth in the last few years. In retrospect, the fact that almost anyone can set up a mobile application claiming to offer products and services raises the question of credibility from a consumer’s viewpoint. The obligation of establishing credibility is essential for an organization’s reputation (Gibson, 2002) and for building consumers’ trust (Kamthan, 1999). If not addressed, there is a potential for lost consumer confidence, thus significantly reducing the advantages and opportunities the mobile Web as a medium offers. If a mobile application is not seen as credible, we face the inevitable consequence of a product, however functionally superior it might be, rendered socially isolated. The rest of the article is organized as follows. We first provide the motivational background necessary for later discussion. This is followed by introduction of a framework within which different types of credibility in the context of mobile applications can be systematically addressed and thereby improved. Next, challenges and directions for future research are outlined. Finally, concluding remarks are given.
Business and Technology Issues in Wireless Networking
Authors: Wright David
Published: May 2011

A major development in the enabling technologies for mobile computing and commerce is the evolution of wireless communications standards from the IEEE 802 series on local and metropolitan area networks. The rapid market growth and successful applications of 802.11, WiFi, is likely to be followed by similar commercial profitability of the emerging standards, 802.16e, WiMAX, and 802.20, WiMobile, both for network operators and users. This article describes the capabilities of these three standards and provides a comparative evaluation of features that impact their applicability to mobile computing and commerce. In particular, comparisons include the range, data rate in Mbps and ground speed in Km/h plus the availability of quality of service for voice and multimedia applications.
Pen-Based Mobile Computing
Authors: Garret Bernie
Published: May 2011

The original idea of a portable computer is credited to Alan Kay of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center who suggested the idea in the 1970s (Kay, 1972a, 1972b; Kay & Goldberg, 1977). He envisioned a notebook-sized portable computer named the “Dynabook” that could be used for all of the user’s information needs and using wireless network capabilities for connectivity.
Positioning Technologies for Mobile Computing
Authors: O’Grady Michael J. , O’Hare Gregory M.P.
Published: May 2011

Mobility is, as the name suggests, the defining characteristic of mobile computing and the primary differentiator between it and other computer usage paradigms. Traditionally, computers were used in what may be termed a static context. However, when computers are used in a mobile context, a number of difficulties that challenge traditional assumptions emerge. Not least amongst these are those difficulties that arise in delivering a service that is relevant and consistent with the situation in which the end-user find themselves. Should a person be waiting at a bus stop, he or she does not wish to go online and browse a bus timetable. Rather, he or she wishes to know when the next bus will stop at his or her particular stop. Thus location and time would be fundamental to the provision of such a service. Capturing time provides no major difficulties. However, identifying the physical location of a service subscriber may prove problematic. In this review, we summarize some of the key technologies that enable the position of a mobile computer user to be determined.
3G Mobile Medical Image Viewing
Authors: Wong Eric T.T. , Tong Carrison K.S.
Published: May 2011

Teleradiology is the technology of remote medical consultation using X-ray, Computed Tomographic or Magnetic Resonance images. It was commonly accepted by clinicians for its effectiveness of making diagnosis for patients at critical situations. Since the huge size of data volume involved in teleradiology [American College of Radiology et al., 2003], clinicians are not satisfied with the relatively slow data transfer rate. It limits the technology to fixed-line communication between the doctor’s home and his office. In this project, a mobile high speed wireless medical image viewing system using 3G Wireless Network [Collins et al., 2001], Virtual Private Network and One-Time Two-Factor Authentication (OTTFA) technologies is presented. Using this system, teleradiology can be achieved by using a 3G PDA phone to query, retrieve and review the patient’s record at anytime and anywhere in a secure environment. Using this technology, the patient-data availability can be improved significantly, which is crucial to timely diagnosis of patients at critical situations.
Dynamics of Mobile Service Adoption
Authors: Verkasalo Hannu
Published: May 2011

This study utilized a newly developed handsetbased mobile end-user research platform and obtained data from 548 Finnish smartphone users in 2006. In addition to descriptive adoption statistics, a path analysis model is developed that explains mobile service adoption contingent on a set of explanatory variables. The paper finds that user intentions have a strong impact on consequent adoption of the service. What is more, perceived hedonic benefits from the service are the strongest factor driving user intentions to use the service. The perceived technical capability to use the service and the role of the surrounding social network explain little why early-adopter users intend to use services. Interestingly multimedia services are strongly driven by newer more capable handsets and mobile Internet browsing benefits significantly from block or flat-rate (instead of usage-based) pricing plans for transmitted data. The paper develops several indices that measure time-varying characteristics of mobile services.
The Mobile Phone Telecommunications Service Sector in China
Authors: Fong Michelle W.L.
Published: May 2011

Technology leapfrogging by a late adopter of technologies means skipping intermediate technologies and adopting the latest technologies. In this way, this late adopter would be exposed to unprecedented opportunities offered by the new technologies. This case study focuses on China’s attempt at leapfrogging to mobile phone telecommunications technology. It provides a description of the underlying forces involved in shaping and influencing this leapfrogging attempt. Students or readers are encouraged to analyse this case from their contextual perspective—may it be from the standpoint of a competing country, foreign investor, competing marketing corporation, policy maker, or consumer. Instructors of teaching cases may perhaps consider assigning different roles to students in discussing this case within a group.
Perception of Mobile Technology Provision in Health Service
Authors: Oddershede Astrid M. , Carrasco Rolando A.
Published: May 2011

In this chapter the user interface perception and resources for mobile technology (MT) support in health care service activities is investigated. Most procedures oriented to provide better operation and quality of health service depend on the existing information and communication technology (ICT) system. However, the implementation of new technology competes with funding available for health institutions resources, hence introducing them is complex. The technical difficulties encountered in using ICT are: an inadequate physical infrastructure, quality of service (QoS) issues, and insufficient access by the user to the hardware/software communication infrastructure. A case study by multi-criteria approach was investigated involving three categories of hospitals in Chile and empirical data was collected comprising diverse health sector representatives. The main contribution is the proposed research decision-making model using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate and compare information and communications systems as fixed, wireless, or computer-assisted provisions for health-related activities and to identify the high priority dimensions in a health care service.
Using the Railway Mobile Terminals in the Process of Validation and Vending Tickets
Authors: Horvat Marko , Žagar Mario
Published: May 2011

This article describes the functional and technical side of Railways Ltd. mobile terminals project. The advantage of mobile terminals lies in the greater efficiency of railway tickets vending, the control and real-time supervision of complete process of vending tickets in the country. Mobile terminals allow railway conductors to automatically vend and verify tickets. Also, information about each sold ticket is transmitted wirelessly via GSM/GRPS in real time or near real time. The information about sold tickets is received by the central server and stored in the main database. The data are available for analysis and report making.
Mobile Payment Issues and Policy Implications
Authors: Kwon Youngsun , Nam Changi
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces three mobile payment plans that have been launched in Korea: mobile banking service, mobile prepaid electronic cash service and mobile phone bill service. Based on the recent experiences of the Korean economy, this chapter discusses the regulatory and monetary policy issues associated with mobile payments. Mobile payments are superior to existing means of payments because of their efficiency and convenience and mobile network operators (MNOs) are on the verge of turning into non-bank financial institutions in their nature. The government needs to facilitate the crossbreed between banks and MNOs to accelerate the development of efficient payment instruments rather than hindering innovation in banking industry.
Contractual Obligations Between Mobile Service Providers and Users
Authors: Willis Robert , Serenko Alexander , Turel Ofir
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the effect of contractual obligations between users and providers of mobile services on customer loyalty. One of the unique characteristics of mobile commerce that distinguishes it from most other goods and services is the employment of long-term contractual obligations that users have to accept to utilize the service. In terms of over-the-counter products, sold in one-time individual transactions in wellestablished markets, a strong body of knowledge exists that suggests that businesses may enhance loyalty through the improvement of quality and customer satisfaction levels. With respect to mobile commerce, however, this viewpoint may not necessarily hold true given the contractual nature of business-customer relationships. In the case of mobile computing, it is suggested that loyalty consists of two independent yet correlated constructs that are influenced by different factors: repurchase likelihood and price tolerance. Repurchase likelihood is defined as a customer’s positive attitude towards a particular service provider that increases the likelihood of purchasing additional services or repurchasing the same services in the future (e.g., after the contract expires). For example, when people decide to purchase a new mobile phone, they are free to choose any provider they want. In other words, repurchase likelihood is not affected by contractual obligations. In contrast, price tolerance corresponds to a probability of staying with a current provider when it increases or a competitor decreases service charges. In this situation, individuals have to break the existing contractual obligations. Currently, there is empirical evidence to suggest that the discussion above holds true in terms of mobile computing. However, there are few well-documented works that explore this argument in depth. This chapter attempts to fill that void. This chapter will present implications for both scholarship and practice. In terms of academia, it is believed that researchers conducting empirical investigations on customer loyalty with mobile services should be aware of the two independent dimensions of the business-customer relationship and utilize appropriate research instruments to ensure the unidimensionality of each construct. With regards to practice, it is suggested that managers and marketers be aware of the differences between repurchase likelihood and price tolerance, understand their antecedents, and predict the consequences of manipulating each one. It is noted that overall loyalty is not the only multidimensional constuct in mobile commerce. Recently, it was emperically demonstrated that perceived value of short messaging services is a second-order construct that consists of several independent yet correlated dimensions (Turel et al., 2007)
Mobile E-Work to Support Regional and Rural Communities
Authors: Heinonen Sirkka
Published: May 2011

Telework, or e-work as it is now more frequently called in Europe, means working outside one’s regular workplace, utilising sophisticated ICT. E-work is an alternative form of organising work, a “love child” of the information society. E-work manifests itself in numerous forms and modes. These various solutions emerge as an evolutionary process along with the technological developments, economic pressures, and changes in socio-cultural patterns such as new information- age lifestyles (e.g., Castells, 1996; Heinonen, 2000). E-work can be carried out at home, in a telework centre or at any other facility. It can also be done as a mobile mode on a train, bus or some other vehicle, as well as at airports, railways and bus stations-in other words on the move from one place to another. Such mobile e-work is primarily increasing, owing to technological and social developments. ICT has become smaller in size, more portable and more efficient.
Integrating Mobile Technologies in Enterprise Architecture with a Focus on Global Supply Chain Management Systems
Authors: Unhelkar Bhuvan , Wu Ming-Chien , Ghanbary Abbass
Published: May 2011

This chapter investigates opportunities to integrate mobile technologies within an organization’s enterprise architecture (EA), with an emphasis on supply chain management (SCM) systems. These SCM systems exist within the overall EA of the business. SCM systems are further influenced by the increasing modern- day need for information and communications technologies (ICTs) within a business, to bring together all of its disparate applications. The resultant enterprise application integration (EAI) also stands to benefit immensely from the incorporation of mobile technologies within it. Traditionally, supply chain management systems have involved management of the flows of material, information, and finances in a complex web of networks that include suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers. Thus, these traditional supply chain management systems have a great need for integration under the umbrella of EAI. Mobile technologies can provide time and location independence to these EAIs in terms of information in the supply chain systems, creating the possibility of multiple business processes that traverse diverse geographical regions. This chapter, based on the research conducted by the authors at the University of Western Sydney, discusses the opportunities that arise in supply chain management systems due to the time and location independence offered by mobility, and the resultant advantages and limitations of such integration to the business.
3G Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
Authors: Katsianis Dimitris , Rokkas Theodoros , Varoutas Dimitris , Sphicopoulos Thomas
Published: May 2011

Digital convergence brings new players in the telecom market and the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) are an alternative way for companies to enter the 3G telecom market and start offering services. This chapter aims to contribute to the assessment of the market conditions, architectures and potential for profitable business cases of MVNOs aiming to operate in the mature and competitive markets. The results and conclusions provide guidelines for the wide audience of mobile market players and media companies, spanning telecom operators to regulators and academia. In the following, the necessary background information is presented, quantitative figures such as Net Present Value, pay-back period, investment cost, revenues and running cost for different MVNO business cases are estimated and compared. The MVNO’s impacts on a MNO operator and the effects of MVNO collaboration with a WLAN operator are analyzed with the same method and figures.
Ensuring Serializability for Mobile-Client Data Caching
Authors: Parker Shin , Chen Zhengxin
Published: May 2011

Data management in mobile computing has emerged as a major research area, and it has found many applications. This research has produced interesting results in areas such as data dissemination over limited bandwidth channels, location- dependent querying of data, and advanced interfaces for mobile computers (Barbara, 1999). However, handling multimedia objects in mobile environments faces numerous challenges. Traditional methods developed for transaction processing (Silberschatz, Korth & Sudarshan, 2001) such as concurrency control and recovery mechanisms may no longer work correctly in mobile environments. To illustrate the important aspects that need to be considered and provide a solution for these important yet “tricky” issues in this article, we focus on an important topic of data management in mobile computing, which is concerned with how to ensure serializability for mobile-client data caching. New solutions are needed in dealing with caching multimedia data for mobile clients, for example, a cooperative cache architecture was proposed in Lau, Kumar, and Vankatesh (2002). The particular aspect considered in this article is that when managing a large number of multimedia objects within mobile client-server computing environments, there may be multiple physical copies of the same data object in client caches with the server as the primary owner of all data objects. Invalid-access prevention policy protocols developed in traditional DBMS environment will not work correctly in the new environment, thus, have to be extended to ensure that the serializability involving data updates is achieved in mobile environments. The research by Parker and Chen (2004) performed the analysis, proposed three extended protocols, and conducted experimental studies under the invalid-access prevention policy in mobile environments to meet the serializability requirement in a mobile client/server environment that deals with multimedia objects. These three protocols, referred to as extended server-based two-phase locking (ES2PL), extended call back locking (ECBL), and extended optimistic twophase locking (EO2PL) protocols, have included additional attributes to ensure multimedia object serializability in mobile client/server computing environments. In this article, we examine this issue, present key ideas behind the solution, and discuss related issues in a broader context.
Intelligent User Interfaces for Mobile Computing
Authors: O’Grady Michael J. , O’Hare Gregory M.P.
Published: May 2011

In this chapter; the practical issue of realizing a necessary intelligence quotient for conceiving intelligent user interfaces (IUIs) on mobile devices is considered. Mobile computing scenarios differ radically from the normal fixed workstation environment that most people are familiar with. It is in this dynamicity and complexity that the key motivations for realizing IUIs on mobile devices may be found. Thus; the chapter initially motivates the need for the deployment of IUIs in mobile contexts by reflecting on the archetypical elements that comprise the average mobile user’s situation or context. A number of broad issues pertaining to the deployment of AI techniques on mobile devices are considered before a practical realisation of this objective through the intelligent agent paradigm is presented. It is the authors hope that a mature understanding of the mobile computing usage scenario; augmented with key insights into the practical deployment of AI in mobile scenarios; will aid software engineers and HCI professionals alike in the successful utilisation of intelligent techniques for a new generation of mobile services.
mCity
Authors: Hallin Anette , Lundevall Kristina
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents the mCity Project; a project owned by the City of Stockholm; aiming at creating user-friendly mobile services in collaboration with businesses. Starting from the end-users’ perspective; mCity focuses on how to satisfy existing needs in the community; initiating test pilots within a wide range of areas; from health care and education; to tourism and business. The lesson learned is that user focus creates involvement among end users and leads to the development of sustainable systems that are actually used after they have been implemented. This is naturally vital input not only to municipalities and governments but also for the IT/telecom industry at large. Using the knowledge from mCity; the authors suggest a new; broader definition of “m-government” which focuses on mobile people rather than mobile technology.
E-Com Supply Chain and SMEs
Authors: Craig Ron
Published: May 2011

This chapter considers the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in supply chains. It starts with an overview of the important role of SMEs in national and world economies. Following this is an overview of supply chains, information and communication technologies, and e-business. Both opportunities and challenges for supply chains in general and SMEs in particular are considered, and conclusions drawn. The major contribution of the chapter is in providing an extensive overview of the literature as it relates to information and communication technologies, supply chain management, and SMEs, providing researchers and practitioners with a starting point to look for further information as needed.
Innovation and B2B E-Commerce
Authors: New Steven
Published: May 2011

The massive wave of enthusiasm for B2B (business- to-business) e-commerce generated with the “dot-com” boom led many to believe that a fundamental transformation of how firms bought and sold products was just around the corner. The new “wired” world of commerce would lead to real-time, Internet-driven trading, with significant implications for — amongst other things — the nature of buyer-supplier relationships, pricing, and the management of industrial capacity. Despite the excitement, such a transformation has largely failed to materialise, and whilst there has been a limited uptake of B2B innovations (for example, the use of online reverse auctions), the fundamental character of B2B trade has remained mostly unchanged. Drawing on a multi-stranded empirical study, this chapter seeks to explain the divergence between the expected and realised degrees of innovation.
An Introductory Study on Business Intelligence Security
Authors: Yee Chan Gaik
Published: May 2011

Firstly, the fact that business intelligence (BI) applications are growing in importance, and secondly, the growing and more sophisticated attacks launched by hackers, the concern of how to protect the knowledge capital or databases that come along with BI or in another words, BI security, has thus arisen. In this chapter, the BI environment with its security features is explored, followed by a discussion on intrusion detection (ID) and intrusion prevention (IP) techniques. It is understood through a Web-service case study that it is feasible to have ID and IP as countermeasures to the security threats; thus further enhancing the security of the BI environment or architecture.
Building and Managing Modern E-Services
Authors: Hamilton John
Published: May 2011

This chapter addresses the development cycle of recent ‘services’ models. It considers that all products involve services and consequently maybe be considered as service systems. First, the issue of ‘services’ is described; next, the enhancement of ‘services’ via value creation is described, along with the progression from supply and demand chains, to value chains, to service value chains, and finally to service value networks. This progression pathway has developed over time, and has enabled ‘service’ and ‘e-service’ businesses to deliver and further develop competitive business solutions. The combinations of integrated, highly competitive, e-supply chains delivering the final ‘services’ suite to the frontline business seller moves the e-supply chain model to a more advanced level.Today, the recent concept of utilizing service value networks offers a key to future competitive solutions. Service value networks house fully integrated e-demand and e-supply chains working in harmony to the deliver both services and e-services. They are also highly agile and offer customer-induced flexible business solutions to customer requests. This chapter highlights the progression to service value networks. In addition it also offers the manager a balanced scorecard structural mechanism via which management controls over e-services and service value networks may be developed and maintained.
A Design Tool for Business Process Design and Representation
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa
Published: May 2011

In this chapter the focus is on business process design as middle point between requirement elicitation and implementation of a Web information system. We face both the problem of the notation to adopt in order to represent in a simple way the business process and the problem of a formal representation, in a machine-readable format, of the design. We adopt Semantic Web technology to represent process and we explain how this technology has been used to reach our goals.
Procedure for Modeling and Improving E-SCM Processes
Authors: Boonyathan Patcharee , Al-Hakim Latif
Published: May 2011

Today’s managers are turning to the functions of the supply chain to improve margins and gain competitive advantage. The explosion of the Internet and other e-business technologies has made real-time, online communication throughout the entire supply chain a reality. Electronic supply chain management (e-SCM) is a reference to the supply chain that is structured via electronic technology-enabled relationships. This chapter concentrates on the development of a procedure referred to as eSCM-I for e-SCM process improvement. The procedure focuses on process mapping and relies on principles of coordination theory. It is based on SCOR to standardize the process and take advantage of this technique of benchmarking/best practices potential. The procedure employs IDEF0 technique for mapping the processes.
E-Business Technologies in E-Market Literature
Authors: Manouselis Nikos
Published: May 2011

E-business processes are implemented through existing, as well as novel technologies. This book chapter focuses on the field of electronic markets (e-markets), and studies the technologies and solutions that are applied and proposed in this field. In particular, the chapter reviews e-market literature in order to identify which are the technological trends that have appeared in the e-markets field during the last decade. A conceptual model that allows for the classification of e-market research literature according to a number of technical topics is first introduced. Then, e-market literature is reviewed, and the technologies that seem to be attracting more research attention are identified. Representative contributions are discussed, and directions for future research are indicated. The overall aim of this chapter is to provide a blueprint of the literature related to e-business technologies for e-markets.
From Operational Dashboards to E-Business
Authors: Gasmelseid Tagelsir Mohamed
Published: May 2011

The unprecedented advancements witnessed in the field of information and communication technology over the last couple of years are significantly affecting the nature and magnitude of B2B interactions as well as their operational effectiveness and efficiency. However, interaction and contracting among global enterprises continued to be challenged by the difference of laws, authentication requirements, and endorsement constrains. With the rapidly increasing proliferation of mobile devices, wireless communication systems, and advanced computer networking protocols, the deployment of electronic contracting platforms and applications has provided many opportunities to enterprises, dictated new axioms for doing business, and gave rise to new paradigms. Together with the increasing institutional transformations, technological advancements motivated businesses to engage in an interactive process of contract formulation and negotiation.
Applications of Agent-Based Technology as Coordination and Cooperation in the Supply Chain Based E-Business
Authors: Huq Golenur Begum , Lawson Robyn
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the utilization of a multiagent system in the field of supply chain management for electronic business. It investigates the coordination and cooperation processes, and proposes and discusses a newly developed model for an enhanced and effective cooperation process for e-business. The contribution made by this research provides a theoretical solution and model for agents that adopt the enhanced strategy for e-business. Both large organizations and SMEs will benefit by increasing and expanding their businesses globally, and by participating and sharing with business partners to achieve common goals. As a consequence, the organizations involved will each earn more profit.
Security in Mobile Agent Systems
Authors: Fang Fang Chua , Radhamani G.
Published: May 2011

Agent technologies have grown rapidly in recent years as Internet usage has increased tremendously. Despite its numerous practical benefits and promises to provide an efficient way of mitigating complex distributed problems, mobile agent technology still lacks effective security measures, which severely restricts its scope of applicability. This chapter analyzes and synthesizes the different security threats and attacks that can possibly be imposed to mobile agent systems. The security solutions to resolve the problems and the research challenges in this field are presented.
Games-Based E-Learning
Authors: Connolly Thomas , Stansfield Mark
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces games-based e-learning as a means of providing enriching and stimulating learning experiences within higher education and training. It highlights how e-learning has evolved and the developments that have opened the way for games-based e-learning, giving examples of specific applications. The authors hope that through gaining a better understanding of the implications, challenges and barriers to games-based e-learning, educators, practitioners and developers will be able to make better use of and gain substantial benefit from these exciting learning technologies. Finally, the chapter will identify what the authors believe to be future trends in relation to e-learning and games-based e-learning.
A Brief Overview of Wireless Systems and Standards
Authors: Sankaran Sundar G.
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides a brief overview of wireless systems and standards. The evolution of wireless systems from voice-centric circuit-switched systems to data-centric packet-switched systems is discussed. The first- and second-generation wireless systems were designed primarily for voice service. The data rate supported by these systems is very limited. The 2.5G systems were developed to retrofit second-generation systems to support higher data rate applications. The third-generation systems are designed to meet the demands of the Internet era. A wide range of IP-based services is provided using these systems. IEEE 802.16 standard-based systems, commonly referred to as WiMAX, are being proposed as an alternative to third-generation systems for carrying data traffic. Popular wireless LAN and wireless PAN standards are also discussed.
Measurements in E-Business
Authors: Aiken Damon
Published: May 2011

This chapter is designed to answer two fundamental questions related to research on electronic surveys and measures. First, what are some of the major measures specifically related to e-business? Second, what makes Internet research methods different from off-line research methods? The chapter partly delineates what makes Internet research methods distinctive through its discussion and separation of the most common measures. This separation not only provides the framework for the chapter, but it distinguishes research for understanding the evolving e-consumer from measures related to the new paradigm for e-business strategy. In total, 17 different measures are discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of emerging issues in e-business metrics, and possibilities for future research.
Adoption of Internet Technology by the Banking Industry in Oman
Authors: Al-Hajri Salim , Tatnall Arthur
Published: May 2011

The banking industry in Oman is of major importance to Oman’s economy, yet Omani banks continue to conduct most of their transactions using traditional methods. A strong banking industry significantly supports economic development through efficient financial services, and their role in trying to achieve the objectives outlined by the Sultan of Oman will depend heavily on the industry’s capabilities. Omni banks will need to introduce change at both procedural and informational levels that includes moving from traditional distribution channel banking to electronic channel banking. This paper addresses the question: What are the enablers and the inhibitors of Internet technology adoption in the Omani banking industry compared with those in the Australian banking industry? The paper does not attempt a direct comparison of the banking industries in these two very different countries, but rather presents a discussion of Internet technology adoption in Oman, informed by the more mature Australian experience.
Sensis.Com.Au
Authors: Zhao Fang
Published: May 2011

Sensis Search, a young entrepreneurial dot-com launched in 2004, is the first mover in redefining the Australian search market and creates a new paradigm for Internet searches that delivers relevant, quality local, and global results. This chapter focuses on exploring the experiences of Sensis Search and identifying key issues of its operation. Data for this qualitative case study was collected mainly from two primary sources: (i) a documentary research into Sensis’ business reports, online newsletters, memos, agendas, and other official publications, and (ii) an in-depth interview with a senior manager of sensis.com. au. The case study illustrates how Sensis has been managed, how it has succeeded, and what lessons can be learned from its experience.
Nibbling, Sniping, and the Role of Uncertainty in Second-Price, Hard-Close Internet Auctions
Authors: Friesner Daniel , Bozman Carl S. , McPherson Matthew Q.
Published: May 2011

Internet auctions have gained widespread appeal as an efficient and effective means of buying and selling goods and services. This study examines buyer behavior on eBay, one of the most wellknown Internet auction Web sites. eBay’s auction format is similar to that of a second-price, hardclose auction, which gives a rational participant an incentive to submit a bid that is equal to his or her maximum willingness to pay. But while traditional second-price, hard-close auctions assume that participants have reliable information about their own and other bidders’ reservation prices, eBay participants usually do not. This raises the possibility that eBay participants may adapt their bidding strategies and not actually bid their reservation prices because of increased uncertainty. In this article, we empirically examine the bidding patterns of online auction participants and compare our findings to the behavior of bidders in more conventional auction settings.