bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Broken Supply and Social Chain
Authors: Zhang Yanli , Xing Ruben , Wang Zhongxian
Published: October 2011

There was a time in the history of GM when it was the largest corporation in the US. The history of GM also shows that it was the single largest employer in the world. The announcement of GM’s bankruptcy on June 1, 2009 shocked the world and had a tremendous impact on the United States economy. Looking back at the history of GM, there were many indicators which suggested the fate of the company. There were several internal factors that answer the question, what went wrong with GM. These internal factors are management arrogance, not meeting customer demands, the costs and demands of unions, poor forecasting, and internal controls on accounting standards. Similarly, there were several external factors that answer the same question, which include increased competition and loss of market share, rising gas prices and environmental friendliness, and the costs and burdens of meeting government regulations and restrictions. This paper will explore and answer the following questions: What are the fundamental causes of GM’s problems? What can be learned from GM’s mistakes and experiences? How and why an industrial icon came to ruin?
Collective Construction of Meaning and System for an Inclusive Social Network
Authors: Neris Vânia Paula de Almeida , Almeida Leonelo Dell Anhol , Cunha de Miranda Leonardo , Hayashi Elaine Cristina Saito , Baranauskas M. Cecília C.
Published: October 2011

Information and Communication Technology has the potential of benefiting citizens, allowing access to knowledge, communication and collaboration, and thus promoting the process of constitution of a fairer society. The design of systems that make sense to the users’ community and that respect their diversity demands socio-technical views and an in-depth analysis of the involved parties. The authors have adopted Organizational Semiotics and Participatory Design as theoretical and methodological frames of reference to face this challenge in the design of an Inclusive Social Network System for the Brazilian context. This paper presents the use of some artifacts adapted from Problem Articulation Method to clarify concepts and prospect solutions. Results of this clarification fed the Semantic Analysis Method from which this paper presents and discusses an Ontology Chart for the domain and the first signs of the inclusive social network system.
Social and Cultural Challenges in ERP Implementation
Authors: Poti Sapna , Bhattacharyya Sanghamitra , Kamalanabhan T.J.
Published: October 2011

This paper studies the differential practices of change management in organizations of western origin and compares it with the best practices prevalent in Indian organizations, with special emphasis on social and cultural challenges faced in these countries. Since Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), as part of an information and communication technology (ICT) initiative, is frequently associated with organization change and transformation in relation to its adaptation, it has been used as the context in this study. The impact of social factors and cultural challenges on change management processes and elements are compared and contrasted using multiple case studies from USA, Canada, European (Western/Eastern) and Indian organizations who have adopted ERP technologies. The conceptual framework highlights cultural and social factors that affect ERP implementation, and offers suggestions to researchers to empirically test these influences using sophisticated analytical methods and develop change strategies and practices in response to these challenges. Further, it also draws attention to the need for a contemporary, result-oriented, quantitatively measurable framework of change management at the individual and enterprise levels. It is expected that such an approach would result in better buy-in from all stakeholders in terms of increased accountability.
Call Center Operational Performance Indicators and Customer Satisfaction
Authors: Oliveira Alexandre Ferreira , Joia Luiz A.
Published: October 2011

This article purports to investigate the relationship – in an empirical way – between the various operational indicators currently used for the management of call centers in Brazil and customer satisfaction. In this context, a set of call centers rendering services to a telecommunications company will be analyzed in order to verify which of their indicators are positively associated with customer satisfaction. A methodological approach based on surveys as well as stepwise multiple linear regressions is developed and applied in order to achieve the objective of this paper. The “First-Contact Resolution Rate” and the “Average Handle Time After the Call” indicators present a statistically significant relationship with customer satisfaction. Some alternative call center operational performance indicators are proposed, in an exploratory way, so as to convey an enhanced relationship between call center performance and customer satisfaction.
A Strategic Benchmarking Process for Identifying the Best Practice Collaborative Electronic Government Architecture
Authors: Zandi Faramak , Tavana Madjid
Published: October 2011

The rapid growth of the Internet has given rise to electronic government (e-government) which enhances communication, coordination, and collaboration between government, business partners, and citizens. An increasing number of national, state, and local government agencies are realizing the benefits of e-government. The transformation of policies, procedures, and people, which is the essence of e-government, cannot happen by accident. An e-government architecture is needed to structure the system, its functions, its processes, and the environment within which it will live. When confronted by the range of e-government architectures, government agencies struggle to identify the one most appropriate to their needs. This paper proposes a novel strategic benchmarking process utilizing the simple additive weighting method (SAW), real options analysis (ROA), and fuzzy sets to benchmark the best practice collaborative e-government architectures based on three perspectives: Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), and Government-to-Government (G2G). The contribution of the proposed method is fourfold: (1) it addresses the gaps in the e-government literature on the effective and efficient assessment of the e-government architectures; (2) it provides a comprehensive and systematic framework that combines ROA with SAW; (3) it considers fuzzy logic and fuzzy sets to represent ambiguous, uncertain or imprecise information; and (4) it is applicable to international, national, Regional, state/provincial, and local e-government levels.
Modeling Control Flow in WS-BPEL with Chu Spaces
Authors: Du Xutao , Xing Chunxiao , Zhou Lizhu , Han Ke
Published: October 2011

This paper presents a Chu spaces semantics of typical control flow of WS-BPEL including fault handling and link semantics. BPEL-CF is proposed as a simplification of this subset of WS-BPEL. For the compositional modeling of BPEL, the authors present a Chu spaces process algebra. This algebra allows faults to be thrown at any point of execution and take link-based synchronization into consideration. The paper gives the abstract syntax of BPEL-CF, the semantic algebra, and the valuation functions for computing the Chu spaces denotations of BPEL-CF programs.
Towards High Maturity in SaaS Applications Based on Virtualization
Authors: Liu Shijun , Zhang Yong , Meng Xiangxu
Published: October 2011

This paper proposes a high level maturity in SaaS applications based on virtualization technologies, in which the hardware virtualization focuses on providing the flexible on-demand hosting environment, the application virtualization used to meet the scalable application deployment requirements and data virtualization solves data integration and unified data access problems to ensure multi-tenant efficiency. In order to realize the configurability, a method based on metadata and JMX is used to manage the metadata so that changed metadata can be hot deployed immediately during runtime. A case study of a SaaS application for supply business in automobile industry is introduced with the discussion of approaches to higher level maturity model.
Identifying Services in Procedural Programs for Migrating Legacy System to Service Oriented Architecture
Authors: Nakamur Masahide , Igaki Hiroshi , Kimura Takahiro , Matsumoto Kenichi
Published: October 2011

In order to support legacy migration to the service-oriented architecture (SOA), this paper presents a pragmatic method that derives candidates of services from procedural programs. In the SOA, every service is supposed to be a process (procedure) with (1) open interface, (2) self-containedness, and (3) coarse granularity for business. Such services are identified from the source code and its data flow diagram (DFD), by analyzing data and control dependencies among processes. Specifically, first the DFD must be obtained with reverse-engineering techniques. For each layer of the DFD, every data flow is classified into three categories. Using the data category and control among procedures, four types of dependency are categorized. Finally, six rules are applied that aggregate mutually dependent processes and extract them as a service. A case study with a liquor shop inventory control system extracts service candidates with various granularities.
Fuzzy QoS Based OLSR Network
Authors: Maheswari G. Uma
Published: October 2011

Quality-of-Service (QoS) routing protocol is developed for mobile Ad Hoc Networks. MANET is a self configuring network of mobile devices connected by wireless links. Each device in the MANET is free to move independently in any direction; therefore, it changes links to other devices frequently. The proposed QoS-based routing in the Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol relates bandwidth and delay using a fuzzy logic algorithm. The path computations are examined and the reason behind the selection of bandwidth and delay metrics is discussed. The performance of the protocol is investigated by simulation. The results in FQOLSR indicate an improvement in mobile wireless networks compared with the existing QOLSR system.
Development of a Complex Geospatial/RF Design Model in Support of Service Volume Engineering Design
Authors: Boci Erton S. , Sarkani Shahram , Mazzuchi Thomas A.
Published: October 2011

Today’s National Airspace System (NAS) is managed using an aging surveillance radar system. The radar technology is not adequate to sustain the support of aviation growth and cannot be adapted to use 21st century technologies Therefore, FAA has begun to implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) that would transform today’s aviation and ensure increased safety and capacity. The first building block of the NextGen system is the implementation of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system. One of the most important design aspects of the ADS-B program is the design of the terrestrial radio station infrastructure. This design determines the layout of the terrestrial radio stations throughout the United States and is optimized to meet system performance, safety and security. Designing this infrastructure to meet system requirements is at the core of Service Volume (SV) Engineering. In this paper, the authors present a complex Geospatial/RF design ER Development model-based ADS-B SV Engineering design that captures radio sites layout and configuration parameters. CORE software is selected to implement the model-based SV Engineering environment.
Data Transmission Oriented on the Object, Communication Media, Application, and State of Communication Systems
Authors: Sabelkin Mike , Gagnon François
Published: October 2011

The proposed communication system architecture is called TOMAS, which stands for data Transmission oriented on the Object, communication Media, Application, and state of communication Systems. TOMAS could be considered a Cross-Layer Interface (CLI) proposal, since it refers to multiple layers of the Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model (OSI). Given particular scenarios of image transmission over a wireless LOS channel, the wireless TOMAS system demonstrates superior performance compared to a JPEG2000+OFDM system in restored image quality parameters over a wide range of wireless channel parameters. A wireless TOMAS system provides progressive lossless image transmission under influence of moderate fading without any kind of channel coding and estimation. The TOMAS system employs a patent pending fast analysis/synthesis algorithm, which does not use any multiplications, and it uses three times less real additions than the one of JPEG2000+OFDM.
Sensing Technologies for Societal Well-Being
Authors: Gomez Elizabeth Avery
Published: October 2011

Sensing technologies by design are calibrated for accuracy against an expected measurement scale. Sensor calibration and signal processing criteria are one type of sensor data, while the sensor readings are another. Ensuring data accuracy and precision from sensors is an essential, ongoing challenge, but these issues haven’t stopped the potential for pervasive application use. Technological advances afford an opportunity for sensor data integration as a vehicle for societal well-being and the focus of ongoing research. A lean and flexible architecture is needed to acquire sensor data for societal well-being. As such, this research places emphasis on the acquisition of environmental sensor data through lean application programming protocols (APIs) through services such as SMS, where scant literature is presented. The contribution of this research is to advance the research that integrates sensor data with pervasive applications.
A Complete Spectrum Sensing and Sharing Model for Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Wireless Networks Using Markov Chain State Machine
Authors: Rajaee Amir , Saedy Mahdy , Kelley Brian
Published: October 2011

an unlimited number of secondary users. It includes the sharing aspect of Cognitive Radio. Power-law distribution of node degree in scale-free networks is important for considering the traffic distribution and resource management thus we consider the effect of the topology on sensing and sharing performances. The authors demonstrate that CIF outperforms Uniform Indexing (UI) algorithm in Scale-Free networks while in Random networks UI performs as well as CIF.
A Study of Speed Aware Routing for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Akunuri Kirthana , Arora Ritesh , Guardiola Ivan G.
Published: October 2011

The flexibility of movement for the wireless ad hoc devices, referred to as node mobility, introduces challenges such as dynamic topological changes, increased frequency of route disconnections and high packet loss rate in Mobile Ad hoc Wireless Network (MANET) routing. This research proposes a novel on-demand routing protocol, Speed-Aware Routing Protocol (SARP) to mitigate the effects of high node mobility by reducing the frequency of route disconnections in a MANET. SARP identifies a highly mobile node which forms an unstable link by predicting the link expiration time (LET) for a transmitter and receiver pair. NS2 was used to implement the SARP with ad hoc on-demand vector (AODV) as the underlying routing algorithm. Extensive simulations were then conducted using Random Waypoint Mobility model to analyze the performance of SARP. The results from these simulations demonstrated that SARP reduced the overall control traffic of the underlying protocol AODV significantly in situations of high mobility and dense networks; in addition, it showed only a marginal difference as compared to AODV, in all aspects of quality-of-service (QOS) in situations of low mobility and sparse networks.
Value Creation in Electronic Supply Chains by Adoption of a Vendor Managed Inventory System
Authors: Kayikci Yasanur
Published: October 2011

Many strategies have been developed to manage supply chain operations effectively. Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) system is one of the prevalent strategic tools of the supply side logistics based on the electronic data exchange and business process automation among the suppliers and customers to enhance the competitive advantage. VMI is widely used in different industries including automotive sector. The VMI concept is a continuous replenishment program where suppliers are given access to demand and inventory level of customers and they are fully responsible for managing and replenishing the customer’s stock. VMI’s extension on customer satisfaction cannot be perceived sufficiently by decision-makers who are responsible to develop and invest in the customer-supplier relationship. This paper presents a path model using the method of Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression to give insight to decision-makers to understand effect of the VMI adoption on customer satisfaction. This paper investigates both determinants of relative factors of successful VMI adoption and the relationship in the supply chain with an empirical automotive industry case. The results show that the collaboration and coordination between customer and supplier and infrastructure of the information-sharing are the important dimensions to add value to the supply chain and to enhance customer satisfaction.
The Media Gatekeeping Model Updated by R and I in ICTs
Authors: Cossiavelou Vassiliki , Bantimaroudis Philemon , Kavakli Evangelia , Illia Laura
Published: October 2011

This paper explores the influence of digital technologies on media networks, in particular how they affect the traditional gatekeeping model. Wireless communications are the hot point of all digital technologies, and their application to the transmission of the Olympic Games is a milestone for the global creative industries every two/four years. The authors argue that the research and innovation (R&I) industries’ involvement with the media industries needs to be reconsidered within the framework of an updated media gatekeeping model. To investigate this research question, results are reported from a case study examining the gatekeeping processes in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and the subsequent Olympics up to 2016. Results show the need for a new gatekeeping model that takes into consideration the impact of digital technologies, especially wireless communications. Additionally, new decision models regarding innovation investment in the global media industry are suggested by the impact of R&I on the media gatekeeping model itself.
Global IT Project Management Using Web 2.0
Authors: Gholami Behnaz , Murugesan San
Published: October 2011

For many businesses, managing globally distributed IT projects effectively is key to success in today’s competitive environment. However, IT projects and their managements are notorious for failures, and managing globally distributed teams poses unique additional challenges. While the Internet, email and the Web have been major means of communication among such teams, new Web 2.0 technologies and applications which have emerged into prominence in the last few years present new opportunities for successfully managing global projects. This paper presents the authors’ findings on awareness and level of use of Web 2.0 tools for project management among global teams. It also offers recommendations on how managers of global IT projects can manage their teams more efficiently and effectively using Web 2.0 tools.
IT Offshoring
Authors: Kefi Hajer , Mlaiki Alya , Peterson Richard L.
Published: October 2011

This article is about the role played by trust in structuring and shaping offshoring projects and how cultural differences interfere in the related inter-firms relationships. This study, conducted with three IT service provider companies established in Tunisia, has provided a dataset that has confirmed the structuring role of trust in terms of transferability effect between the client and the offshoring unit. The findings also indicate that trust is perceived as an influencing factor when it is situated at the inter-organizational level and not at the interpersonal level for all the actors concerned. This finding is independent of the cultural affiliation (individualistic versus collectivist). While cultural differences are not “negotiated” the same way by all of our respondents, trust seems noticeably more difficult to settle between the Tunisian partners than between the Tunisian offshoring unit and its European clients.
Self-Organizing Tree Using Artificial Ants
Authors: Azzag Hanene , Lebbah Mustapha
Published: October 2011

In this paper, the authors propose a new approach for topological hierarchical tree clustering inspired from the self-assembly behavior of artificial ants. The method, called SoTree (Self-organizing Tree), builds, autonomously and simultaneously, a topological and hierarchical partitioning of data. Each ’’cluster’’ associated to one cell of a 2D grid is modeled by a tree. The artificial ants similarly build a tree where each ant represents a node/data. The benefit of this approach is the intuitive representation of hierarchical relations in the data. This is especially appealing in explorative data mining applications, allowing the inherent structure of the data to unfold in a highly intuitive fashion.
Co-Evolutionary Algorithms Based on Mixed Strategy
Authors: Hou Wei , Dong HongBin , Yin GuiSheng
Published: October 2011

Inspired by evolutionary game theory, this paper modifies previous mixed strategy framework, adding a new mutation operator and extending to crossover operation, and proposes co-evolutionary algorithms based on mixed crossover and/or mutation strategy. The mixed mutation strategy set consists of Gaussian, Cauchy, Levy, single point and differential mutation operators; the mixed crossover strategy set consists of cuboid, two-points and heuristic crossover operators. The novel algorithms automatically select crossover and/or mutation operators from a given mixed strategy set, and improve the evolutionary performance by dynamically utilizing the most effective operator at different stages of evolution. The proposed algorithms are tested on a set of 21 benchmark problems. The results show that the new mixed strategies perform equally well or better than the best of the previous evolutionary methods for all of the benchmark problems. The proposed MMCGA has shown significant superiority over others.
Pareto Artificial Life Algorithm for Multi-Objective Optimization
Authors: Song Jin-Dae , Yang Bo-Suk
Published: October 2011

Most engineering optimization uses multiple objective functions rather than single objective function. To realize an artificial life algorithm based multi-objective optimization, this paper proposes a Pareto artificial life algorithm that is capable of searching Pareto set for multi-objective function solutions. The Pareto set of optimum solutions is found by applying two objective functions for the optimum design of the defined journal bearing. By comparing with the optimum solutions of a single objective function, it is confirmed that the single function optimization result is one of the specific cases of Pareto set of optimum solutions.
Research of Biogeography-Based Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm
Authors: Mo Hongwei , Xu Zhidan
Published: October 2011

Biogeography-based optimization algorithm (BBO) is an optimization algorithm inspired by the migration of animals in nature. A new multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is proposed, which is called Biogeography-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (BBMOEA). The fitness assignment and the external population elitism of SPEA2 are adapted to ensure even distribution of the solution set. The population evolutionary operators of BBO are applied to the evolution of the external population to ensure the convergence of the solution set. Simulation results on benchmark test problems illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
A Cross Layer Spoofing Detection Mechanism for Multimedia Communication Services
Authors: Vrakas Nikos , Lambrinoudakis Costas
Published: October 2011

The convergence of different network types under the same architecture offers the opportunity for low cost multimedia services. The main objective has been the high quality of the provided services. However, considering that older equipment with limited processing capabilities may be present in such environments, a tradeoff between security and service quality is inevitable. Specifically, low resource enabled devices cannot utilize state of the art security mechanisms, such as IPSec tunnels, integrity mechanisms, etc., and they simply employ HTTP Digest authentication. The lack of integrity mechanisms in particular raises many security concerns for the IMS infrastructures. Attacks such as Man in the Middle (MitM), spoofing, masquerading, and replay that can be launched in IMS environments, have been pinpointed in bibliography by various researchers. Moreover, an internal attacker may utilize his legitimate security tunnels in order to launch spoofing and identity theft attacks. This paper presents a cross-layer spoofing detection mechanism that protects SIP-based infrastructures from the majority of the aforementioned attacks without requiring an additional cryptographic scheme which would inevitably introduce considerable overheads.
Deploying Privacy Improved RBAC in Web Information Systems
Authors: Mavridis Ioannis
Published: October 2011

Access control technology holds a central role in achieving trustworthy management of personally identifiable information in modern information systems. In this article, a privacy-sensitive model that extends Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to provide privacy protection through fine-grained and just-in-time access control in Web information systems is proposed. Moreover, easy and effective mapping of corresponding components is recognized as an important factor for succeeding in matching security and privacy objectives. Such a process is proposed to be accomplished by capturing and modeling privacy requirements in the early stages of information system development. Therefore, a methodology for deploying the mechanisms of an access control system conforming to the proposed Privacy Improved Role-Based Access Control (PIRBAC) model is presented. To illustrate the application of the proposed methodology, an application example in the healthcare domain is described.
Implementing Standardization Education at the National Level
Authors: de Vries Henk J.
Published: October 2011

This paper explores how standardization education can be implemented at the national level. Previous studies form the main source for the paper. This research shows that implementation of standardization in the national education system requires policy at the national level, a long term investment in support, and cooperation between industry, standardization bodies, academia, other institutions involved in education, and government. The approach should combine bottom-up and top-down. The paper is new in combining previous findings to an underpinned recommendation on how to implement standardization education.
A Novel Architecture for Deep Web Crawler
Authors: Sharma Dilip Kumar , Sharma A. K.
Published: October 2011

A traditional crawler picks up a URL, retrieves the corresponding page and extracts various links, adding them to the queue. A deep Web crawler, after adding links to the queue, checks for forms. If forms are present, it processes them and retrieves the required information. Various techniques have been proposed for crawling deep Web information, but much remains undiscovered. In this paper, the authors analyze and compare important deep Web information crawling techniques to find their relative limitations and advantages. To minimize limitations of existing deep Web crawlers, a novel architecture is proposed based on QIIIEP specifications (Sharma & Sharma, 2009). The proposed architecture is cost effective and has features of privatized search and general search for deep Web data hidden behind html forms.
How Culture May Influence Ontology Co-Design
Authors: Anticoli Linda , Toppano Elio
Published: October 2011

This article addresses the issue of cultural influence in ontology design and reuse. The main assumption is that an ontology is not only a socio-technical artefact but also a cultural artefact. It contains embedded assumptions, core values, points of view, beliefs, thought patterns, etc. Based on results already found in several design fields the authors formulate some preliminary hypotheses about the possible relationships existing between culture and features of design process and produced ontology. A critical and qualitative analysis of six collaborative design systems has been performed to test some of the hypotheses, confirming some of the findings. The authors argue that a “culture aware” attitude may be of great importance for supporting the processes of cross cultural collaborative ontology design and the internalization and localization of these kinds of artefacts.
WSMO and WSMX Support to the Semantic Web Services Technology
Authors: Abed Mariam Abed Mostafa
Published: October 2011

This paper tests the ability of the Web Service Modeling Ontology (WSMO) and the Web Service Modeling eXecution environment (WSMX) to support the Semantic Web Services technology, and automate the process of web service discovery, selection and invocation. First, it introduced web services and their limitations that were overcome in the vision of the Semantic Web Services technology. Then a Semantic Web Service (SWS) was built on top of WSMO to access the publications of the German University in Cairo (GUC), and was registered to WSMX. To test the validity to the claim, a service request to access the publications of the GUC was sent to WSMX and the process followed by WSMX was investigated. Furthermore, the discussion added a suggestion that would enhance the transparency between the Semantic Web and WSMO-WSMX initiatives.
The Practice of Jordanian Business to Attain Customer Knowledge Acquisition
Authors: Talet Amine Nehari , Alhawari Samer , Mansour Ebrahim , Alryalat Haroun
Published: October 2011

This paper examines how Jordanian companies use the knowledge process to support Customer Knowledge Acquisition (CKA) and how they foster it. The empirical study is based on a sample of the data collected from 156 respondents, drawn randomly from three software business solution companies working in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) area, and four companies which are employing the CRM system. The results show that the three selected factors (need for Customer Knowledge, Verify Customer Source, and Capture Customer Knowledge) have a significant impact on customer acquisition. However, the source identification of knowledge is not significant in Jordanian business software environments. The empirical findings will help both researchers and practitioners in future Knowledge Management (KM) and Customer Acquisition research to gain a better understanding of the knowledge processes about customers on Customer Acquisition. This paper provides a contribution to the literature about Customer Knowledge Acquisition in one of the developing countries as a framework to keep organizations competitive within the global business environment.
Impact of Knowledge Management Dimensions on Learning Organization
Authors: Chawla Deepak , Joshi Himanshu
Published: October 2011

Knowledge and knowledge driven learning determines the organizational ability to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. To excel in business, organizations need to develop processes that facilitate streamline information flow resulting in enhanced learning. This paper investigates the learning capabilities demonstrated by Indian organizations and for the differences between business excellence awarded and non-awarded organizations. This paper examines the impact of Knowledge Management (KM) dimensions on Learning Organization (LO) and tests if the impact is significantly different for these groups. A convenience sample of 57 executives from 16 Indian organizations participated in the study. The results show that organizations awarded for business excellence fare better on all items of LO as compared to non-awarded ones. However, statistical difference is found only in Vision and Strategy and Performance Improvement Process. The results show that most of the KM dimensions have a positive impact on LO dimensions.
A Dynamic Ability-Based View of the Organization
Authors: Nobre Farley Simon , Walker David S.
Published: October 2011

This paper investigates theoretical micro-foundations of core competencies in the organization that pursues sustainable competitive advantage. It advocates that there is a lack of literature perspectives which can explain the sources of core competencies of the firm. This research raises questions on: What are the main sources of creation and sustenance of core competencies? What are the abilities which nourish the development of operational and dynamic capabilities? What is the main source of collective knowledge in the organization? This work answers these questions by proposing a dynamic ability-based view of the organization which contributes to explaining the dynamic behavior of the firm in the pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage. Cognition is the core ability which supports individuals, groups, and organizations with intelligence, autonomy, learning, and knowledge management. These concepts form the set of organizational abilities in this research.
Measuring Knowledge Management/Knowledge Sharing (KM/KS) Efficiency and Effectiveness in Enterprise Networks
Authors: Ganguly Anirban , Mostashari Ali , Mansouri Mo
Published: October 2011

Knowledge Management (KM) is critical in ensuring process efficiency, outcome effectiveness and improved organizational memory for the modern day business enterprises. Knowledge Sharing (KS) is fast becoming a rapidly growing area of interest in the domain of knowledge management. The purpose of this paper is to enlist a set of generalized metrics that can be used to evaluate the efficiency and the effectiveness of knowledge sharing in an enterprise network. The metrics proposed in this research are those that can be readily measured by various types of enterprise knowledge sharing systems, and link usage information to organizational outputs. The paper uses an illustrative case example of how an enterprise might make use of the metrics in measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of its knowledge sharing system.
Green Computing
Authors: Jena Rabindra Ku , Dey D. G.
Published: October 2011

Information technology (IT) is playing an increasingly important role in both business and individuals’ private lives. It is also consuming ever greater amounts of energy; therefore, it is a significant source of CO² emissions. Thus, environmental and energy conservation issues have gained attention in recent years. The reality of rising energy costs and their impact on international affairs coupled with the increased concern over the global warming climate crisis and other environmental issues have shifted the social and economic consciousness of modern society. This paper discusses different aspects of green computing and its impact in India.
Cultural Pluralism in the Context of the Knowledge Society Ecosystem
Authors: Bakry Saad Haj , Al-Ghamdi Ali
Published: October 2011

With Huntington’s warning of a “clash of civilizations” following the end of the cold war, “cultural pluralism” has become important for enhancing world peace and supporting development. In this paper, cultural pluralism is viewed as a “knowledge society” problem, where intercultural knowledge is produced, disseminated and used within an ecosystem of mutual understanding and respect. The authors present key cultural pluralisms efforts, providing an overall picture of the issues involved. These efforts include: the 2001 United Nations (UN) resolution on dialogue among civilizations; the 2001 UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declaration on cultural diversity; the 2005 Rabat conference on dialogue among cultures and civilizations; and the 2008 Madrid world conference on dialogue. In the second part of this paper, cultural pluralism issues are restructured according to the knowledge society ecosystem framework, where they are organized according to the five STOPE domains: strategy, technology, organization, people and the environment, and where they interact with the intercultural knowledge activities. The resulting cultural pluralism ecosystem framework is useful as a tool for organizing and interrelating future studies on the subject and promoting peace and development.
Integrating ESD in Norwegian Education
Authors: Sandås Astrid , Benedict Faye
Published: October 2011

This article presents and extracts lessons from experiences implementing the Norwegian national strategy for education for sustainable development (ESD) over a period of more than 15 years. After an introduction to central ideas of sustainable development and ESD, the authors discuss appropriate strategies and instruments. Key factors are collaboration to allow pupils and schools to actively contribute to positive development locally and globally, interdisciplinary approaches to complex sustainability issues, and appropriate use of the ICT and other media. ESD programmes and activities should support school development and build the capacity of schools and teachers for integration of ESD.
Location Guided System of Training Solutions and Learning Itineraries Based on Competences Adapted to Users’ Needs
Authors: López-Ruiz Jose , Lara-Navarra Pablo , Serradell-Lopez Enric , Martínez-Aceituno Josep Antoni
Published: October 2011

Competency design stands out among the methodological and educational model changes introduced by the EHEA (European Higher Education Area). This concept is a key factor when developing programs based on academic and professional profiles that respond to social and labour market needs. The UOC eLearning GPS is based on competences and is meant to reduce the gap between formal training and the reality of the labour market and social needs that traditionally has characterized the university. These aspects are the basis of this application. Using a language of competences, the application helps the students identify their main skills and capacities, as well as areas of improvement. Following the model of competency design, this tool helps the user detect and reduce the gap between a starting position of competence and his or her learning and training expectations. UOC eLearning GPS application offers solutions and learning itineraries closer to the user’s real learning needs.
Delivering Educational Games to Mobile Devices
Authors: Minovic Miroslav , Milovanovic Miloš , Starcevic Dušan
Published: October 2011

A new generation of students is accustomed to daily use of mobile devices, and educating them in the proper way is a complicated task. Video games are an ideal tool for communicating with students, and finding the right combination of using mobile devices with educational games is important for educating them. This paper describes a novel approach to educational game defining and interpretation. Application of a model-driven approach to educational game interpretation enables the use of the same game on different devices and platforms. The authors enable the interpretation of an educational game on any mobile device. These games take learning outside the classroom and provide a fun and interesting way of learning anytime, anywhere. The authors use an adventure game as an example using this methodology.
A Pattern of Reference to Insure Organizational Learning Process
Authors: Grundstein Michel
Published: October 2011

In this paper, referring to the Model for General Knowledge Management within the Enterprise (MGKME), the author emphasizes two of the operating elements of this model, which are essential to insure the organizational learning process that leads to the appropriate use of concepts, methods, and tools of innovative technology: “Ad hoc Infrastructures” and “Organizational Learning Processes”. Nonaka’s SECI models and the Japanese concept of Ba underlie these two elements. The author discusses a case in which the “Semi-opened Infrastructure Model” (SopIM) was implemented to deploy artificial intelligence and knowledge-based systems within a large industrial company.
Availability Estimation of Demand Buses as Human Transportation System, Using Self-Organizing Map
Authors: Watanabe Toyohide , Uesugi Kentaro
Published: October 2011

The demand bus is a new transportation means, which is timely planned and runs order by order in accordance with independent requests of individual customers. Demand buses are alternative transportation vehicles, replacing traditional routing-oriented buses. In this paper, the authors address the characteristic issues, attend to the practical operations, and estimate and evaluate the trade-off strategies between usage convenience and cost management. The main idea, which is established from the features among parameters interpretatively, is to make use of visualization techniques and apply a self-organizing map (SOM) to this visualization. The authors display the co-related classification results computed individually from several selected parameters to keep their meaningful correspondence.
Clarification of Abilities and Qualities of Knowledge Coordinators
Authors: Chihara Kayano , Nakamori Yoshiteru
Published: October 2011

Abilities and qualities of key persons in regional revitalization projects are unclear, although in connection with the recognition of the importance of these projects, fostering talent is an urgent task. Based on the concept that a key person in regional revitalization projects is the knowledge coordinator, this paper explores abilities and qualities of knowledge coordinators. As a result, the knowledge coordinator in regional revitalization projects is a person who has abilities and qualities as shown by the i-System, and is a person who puts a comprehensive and process-like approach for knowledge creation into practice. This paper visualizes and structures their abilities and qualities from the viewpoint of knowledge coordination by using the i-System.
Systems of Communication
Authors: Murphy Peter
Published: October 2011

Three fundamental systems of communication are defined: information, explanation, and imagination. Information is based on analytic distinctions between objects in the world. Explanatory communication provides knowledge through discourse, narration, logic, rhetoric and other forms of systemic elaboration. Intellectual discovery relies on a third system of communication, that of imagination. Rather than distinction or elaboration, imagination is rooted in intuition and analogy. The most powerful medium of the imagination is antonymous insight. The article discusses examples of the latter from warfare, politics, and science.
Imagination in Creative Design
Authors: Wiltschnig Stefan
Published: October 2011

This paper unpacks the notion of imagination presented in the I5-system of knowledge creation along several theoretical contributions and process models from “knowledge science”, creativity research and design studies. It aims at conceptual clarification and integration around the key notion of “insight moments” across various levels of abstraction from system perspectives through foci on groups and individuals to mental activity. This work is meant to serve as a conceptual foundation for micro-analyses of in-vivo data of creative design processes based on protocols of participatory ethnographic research and interview accounts from first, second and third person perspectives.
A Computational Model of Collaborative Creativity
Authors: Banerjee Amit , Quiroz Juan C. , Louis Sushil J.
Published: October 2011

The role of collaboration in the realm of social creativity has been the focus of cutting edge research in design studies. In this paper, the authors investigate the role of collaboration in the process of creative design and propose a computational model of creativity based on the newly proposed meta-design approach. Meta-design is a unique participatory approach to design that deals with opening up of design solution spaces, and is aimed at creating a viable social platform for collaborative design. A meta-design-based collaborative approach to the design process may achieve ET-creativity by expanding the conceptual space of design beyond what would have been possible by individual, non-collaborative design. The model has been implemented using interactive genetic algorithms, which casts the design problem as an optimization problem and uses a set of collaborative users for subjective fitness evaluation. The design problems investigated include the collaborative design of architectural floorplans and editorial design of brochures.
A System Method to Elicit Innovative Knowledge Based on Chance Discovery for Innovative Product Design
Authors: Wang Hao , Ohsawa Yukio , Nishihara Yoko
Published: October 2011

In the past few years, supplying value-added and innovative products has become an important business strategy. In this paper, a system method of innovative knowledge elicitation based on chance discovery for new product design is proposed and described. This system contains three functional modules: (1) scenario graph generation module by using Keygraph, a visual tool of chance discovery; (2) innovative knowledge solicitation module by innovators market game (IMG), a kind of table game for collaborative innovation; and (3) innovative knowledge alternatives selection module based on the method of analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The experiment is taken to play IMG and make value cognition by humans based on the scenario graph generated by Keygraph. During the IMG, innovative knowledge as new value is co-created by humans. AHP is used to evaluate these innovative alternatives. The performance of the method is illustrated by using a case study on innovative product design. The results indicate this method can aid humans in eliciting innovative knowledge for creative product design at the early stage of product development.
Empirical Research on Learners’ Thoughts About the Impact of Mobile Technology on Learning
Authors: Kismihók Gábor , Vas Réka
Published: October 2011

Mobile learning is gaining attention in Europe. Researchers are examining both pedagogical and technical issues regarding mobilized content delivery; however, little is known about current learners’ thoughts toward mobile learning. In this article, based on an empirical research study, the authors show what learners think about mobile learning and related learning technologies. Data consisting of 300 learners’ thoughts and experiences in connection with mobile learning (living in five different European countries) have been gathered and analysed. Results indicate that current positive attitudes toward mobile learning may be negatively influenced by experience, if previous patterns with other learning technologies are repeated.
Reflections on 4 Years of mLearning Implementation (2007-2010)
Authors: Cochrane Thomas
Published: October 2011

This paper provides a comparative analysis of five mlearning case studies involving 4 years of action research mlearning projects. The projects investigated the potential of mobile web 2.0 tools to facilitate social constructivist learning environments across multiple learning contexts. Highlighted are the design framework, identified critical success factors, and implementation strategy developed from the thirteen mlearning projects undertaken between 2007 and 2009, with an analysis of the eight 2009 projects and their subsequent adaptation in 2010. The projects illustrate the impact of mlearning supported by sustained interaction via communities of practice facilitating pedagogical shifts from teacher-directed to student-generated content and student-generated contexts.