bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effective Immobilization of Agrobacterium sp. IFO 13140 Cells in Loofa Sponge for Curdlan Biosynthesis
Authors: Martinez Camila , Ruiz Suelen , Nogueira Marcela , Bona Evandro , Portilho Márcia , Matioli Graciette
Published: May 2015

Curdlan production by Agrobacterium sp. IFO13140 immobilized on loofa sponge, alginate and loofa sponge with alginate was investigated. There was no statistically-significant difference in curdlan production when the microorganism was immobilized in different matrices. The loofa sponge was chosen because of its practical application and economy and because it provides a high stability through its continued use. The best conditions for immobilization on loofa sponge were 50 mg of cell, 200 rpm and 72 h of incubation, which provided a curdlan production 1.50-times higher than that obtained by free cells. The higher volumetric productivity was achieved by immobilized cells (0.09 g/L/h) at 150 rpm. The operating stability was evaluated, and until the fourth cycle, immobilized cells retained 87.40% of the production of the first cycle. The immobilized cells remained active after 300 days of storage at 4 °C. The results of this study demonstrate success in immobilizing cells for curdlan biosynthesis, making the process potentially suitable for industrial scale-up. Additional studies may show a possible contribution to the reduction of operating costs.
Investigating the Effect of Cold Soak Duration on Phenolic Extraction during Cabernet Sauvignon Fermentation
Authors: Panprivech Siriwan , Lerno Larry , Brenneman Charles , Block David , Oberholster Anita
Published: May 2015

The impact of increasing cold soak (CS) duration (0, 1, 4, 7, and 10 days at 10 °C) on the extraction of phenolic compounds during the CS period and primary fermentation as well as the final composition of Cabernet Sauvignon wine was investigated. The results showed that CS duration had no effect on hydroxycinnamate and flavonol extractions. Greater amounts of gallic acid, (+)-catechin, (−)-epicatechin, and total tannins were extracted with increasing CS duration, with differences maintained during bottle aging. Anthocyanin extraction and color density increased with longer periods of CS; however, by the end of primary fermentation, as well as three months’ bottle aging, there were no significant differences due to CS duration. The wines made with seven and 10 days of CS had higher seed tannin contributions and total tannin compared to the non-CS wine, which could potentially result in increased astringency.
NBM-T-BBX-OS01, Semisynthesized from Osthole, Induced G1 Growth Arrest through HDAC6 Inhibition in Lung Cancer Cells
Authors: Pai Jih-Tung , Hsu Chia-Yun , Hua Kuo-Tai , Yu Sheng-Yung , Huang Chung-Yang , Chen Chia-Nan , Liao Chiung-Ho , Weng Meng-Shih
Published: May 2015

Disrupting lung tumor growth via histone deacetylases (HDACs) inhibition is a strategy for cancer therapy or prevention. Targeting HDAC6 may disturb the maturation of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) mediated cell cycle regulation. In this study, we demonstrated the effects of semisynthesized NBM-T-BBX-OS01 (TBBX) from osthole on HDAC6-mediated growth arrest in lung cancer cells. The results exhibited that the anti-proliferative activity of TBBX in numerous lung cancer cells was more potent than suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), a clinically approved pan-HDAC inhibitor, and the growth inhibitory effect has been mediated through G1 growth arrest. Furthermore, the protein levels of cyclin D1, CDK2 and CDK4 were reduced while cyclin E and CDK inhibitor, p21Waf1/Cip1, were up-regulated in TBBX-treated H1299 cells. The results also displayed that TBBX inhibited HDAC6 activity via down-regulation HDAC6 protein expression. TBBX induced Hsp90 hyper-acetylation and led to the disruption of cyclin D1/Hsp90 and CDK4/Hsp90 association following the degradation of cyclin D1 and CDK4 proteins through proteasome. Ectopic expression of HDAC6 rescued TBBX-induced G1 arrest in H1299 cells. Conclusively, the data suggested that TBBX induced G1 growth arrest may mediate HDAC6-caused Hsp90 hyper-acetylation and consequently increased the degradation of cyclin D1 and CDK4.
Silver(I) 2,2'-(1,2-Phenylenedisulfanediyl)diacetic Acid as a Molecular Building Block for a Silver(I)-Cadmium(II) Coordination Polymer
Authors: Grosu Ioana , Berghof Christiane , Lönnecke Peter , Silaghi-Dumitrescu Luminita , Hey-Hawkins Evamarie
Published: May 2015

Starting from heterotopic multidentate ligand 2,2'-(1,2-phenylenedisulfanediyl)diacetic acid, (RS,RS,RS,RS/SS,SS,SS,SS)-[Ag{1,2-C6H4(SCH2COOH)2-κ2S,S'}2]BF4 (1) was prepared and further used as a building block for the synthesis of heterobimetallic Ag-Cd coordination polymer [Ag2Cd2{1,2-(OOCCH2S)2C6H4}3 (H2O)3·5H2O]n (2). Both complexes were characterized by X-ray structure analysis and conventional spectroscopic techniques.
Land Surface Albedo Estimation from Chinese HJ Satellite Data Based on the Direct Estimation Approach
Authors: He Tao , Liang Shunlin , Wang Dongdong , Chen Xiaona , Song Dan-Xia , Jiang Bo
Published: May 2015

Monitoring surface albedo at medium-to-fine resolution (<100 m) has become increasingly important for medium-to-fine scale applications and coarse-resolution data evaluation. This paper presents a method for estimating surface albedo directly using top-of-atmosphere reflectance. This is the first attempt to derive surface albedo for both snow-free and snow-covered conditions from medium-resolution data with a single approach. We applied this method to the multispectral data from the wide-swath Chinese HuanJing (HJ) satellites at a spatial resolution of 30 m to demonstrate the feasibility of this data for surface albedo monitoring over rapidly changing surfaces. Validation against ground measurements shows that the method is capable of accurately estimating surface albedo over both snow-free and snow-covered surfaces with an overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.030 and r-square (R2) of 0.947. The comparison between HJ albedo estimates and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectral Radiometer (MODIS) albedo product suggests that the HJ data and proposed algorithm can generate robust albedo estimates over various land cover types with an RMSE of 0.011–0.014. The accuracy of HJ albedo estimation improves with the increase in view zenith angles, which further demonstrates the unique advantage of wide-swath satellite data in albedo estimation.
Classification of Vessels in Single-Pol COSMO-SkyMed Images Based on Statistical and Structural Features
Authors: Wu Fan , Wang Chao , Jiang Shaofeng , Zhang Hong , Zhang Bo
Published: May 2015

Vessel monitoring is one of the most important maritime applications of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. Because of the dihedral reflections between the vessel hull and sea surface and the trihedral reflections among superstructures, vessels usually have strong backscattering in SAR images. Furthermore, in high-resolution SAR images, detailed information on vessel structures can be observed, allowing for vessel classification in high-resolution SAR images. This paper focuses on the feature analysis of merchant vessels, including bulk carriers, container ships and oil tankers, in 3 m resolution COSMO-SkyMed stripmap HIMAGE mode images and proposes a method for vessel classification. After preprocessing, a feature vector is estimated by calculating the average value of the kernel density estimation, three structural features and the mean backscattering coefficient. Support vector machine (SVM) classifier is used for the vessel classification, and the results are compared with traditional methods, such as the K-nearest neighbor algorithm (K-NN) and minimum distance classifier (MDC). In situ investigations are conducted during the SAR data acquisition. Corresponding Automatic Identification System (AIS) reports are also obtained as ground truth to evaluate the effectiveness of the classifier. The preliminary results show that the combination of the average value of the kernel density estimation and mean backscattering coefficient has good ability for classifying the three types of vessels. When adding the three structural features, the results slightly improve. The result of the SVM classifier is better than that of K-NN and MDC. However, the SVM requires more time, when the parameters of the kernel are estimated.
National Forest Aboveground Biomass Mapping from ICESat/GLAS Data and MODIS Imagery in China
Authors: Chi Hong , Sun Guoqing , Huang Jinliang , Guo Zhifeng , Ni Wenjian , Fu Anmin
Published: May 2015

Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) was mapped throughout China using large footprint LiDAR waveform data from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) onboard NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) imagery and forest inventory data. The entire land of China was divided into seven zones according to the geographic characteristics of the forests. The forest AGB prediction models were separately developed for different forest types in each of the seven forest zones at GLAS footprint level from GLAS waveform parameters and biomass derived from height and diameter at breast height (DBH) field observation. Some waveform parameters used in the prediction models were able to reduce the effects of slope on biomass estimation. The models of GLAS-based biomass estimates were developed by using GLAS footprints with slopes less than 20° and slopes ≥ 20°, respectively. Then, all GLAS footprint biomass and MODIS data were used to establish Random Forest regression models for extrapolating footprint AGB to a nationwide scale. The total amount of estimated AGB in Chinese forests around 2006 was about 12,622 Mt vs. 12,617 Mt derived from the seventh national forest resource inventory data. Nearly half of all provinces showed a relative error (%) of less than 20%, and 80% of total provinces had relative errors less than 50%.
Unified Camera Tamper Detection Based on Edge and Object Information
Authors: Lee Gil-beom , Lee Myeong-jin , Lim Jongtae
Published: May 2015

In this paper, a novel camera tamper detection algorithm is proposed to detect three types of tamper attacks: covered, moved and defocused. The edge disappearance rate is defined in order to measure the amount of edge pixels that disappear in the current frame from the background frame while excluding edges in the foreground. Tamper attacks are detected if the difference between the edge disappearance rate and its temporal average is larger than an adaptive threshold reflecting the environmental conditions of the cameras. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated for short video sequences with three types of tamper attacks and for 24-h video sequences without tamper attacks; the algorithm is shown to achieve acceptable levels of detection and false alarm rates for all types of tamper attacks in real environments.
Novel Real-Time Diagnosis of the Freezing Process Using an Ultrasonic Transducer
Authors: Tseng Yen-Hsiang , Cheng Chin-Chi , Cheng Hong-Ping , Lee Dasheng
Published: May 2015

The freezing stage governs several critical parameters of the freeze drying process and the quality of the resulting lyophilized products. This paper presents an integrated ultrasonic transducer (UT) in a stainless steel bottle and its application to real-time diagnostics of the water freezing process. The sensor was directly deposited onto the stainless steel bottle using a sol-gel spray technique. It could operate at temperature range from −100 to 400 °C and uses an ultrasonic pulse-echo technique. The progression of the freezing process, including water-in, freezing point and final phase change of water, were all clearly observed using ultrasound. The ultrasonic signals could indicate the three stages of the freezing process and evaluate the cooling and freezing periods under various processing conditions. The temperature was also adopted for evaluating the cooling and freezing periods. These periods increased with water volume and decreased with shelf temperature (i.e., speed of freezing). This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the ultrasonic sensor and technology for diagnosing and optimizing the process of water freezing to save energy.
Dynamic Response of Tapered Optical Multimode Fiber Coated with Carbon Nanotubes for Ethanol Sensing Application
Authors: Shabaneh Arafat , Girei Saad , Arasu Punitha , Mahdi Mohd , Rashid Suraya , Paiman Suriati , Yaacob Mohd
Published: May 2015

Ethanol is a highly combustible chemical universally designed for biomedical applications. In this paper, optical sensing performance of tapered multimode fiber tip coated with carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film towards aqueous ethanol with different concentrations is investigated. The tapered optical multimode fiber tip is coated with CNT using drop-casting technique and is annealed at 70 °C to enhance the binding of the nanomaterial to the silica fiber tip. The optical fiber tip and the CNT sensing layer are micro-characterized using FESEM and Raman spectroscopy techniques. When the developed sensor was exposed to different concentrations of ethanol (5% to 80%), the sensor reflectance reduced proportionally. The developed sensors showed high sensitivity, repeatability and fast responses (<55 s) towards ethanol.
Towards a Dynamic Clamp for Neurochemical Modalities
Authors: Rivera Catalina , Kwon Hyuck-Jin , Hashmi Ali , Yu Gan , Zhao Jiheng , Gao Jianlong , Xu Jie , Xue Wei , Dimitrov Alexander
Published: May 2015

The classic dynamic clamp technique uses a real-time electrical interface between living cells and neural simulations in order to investigate hypotheses about neural function and structure. One of the acknowledged drawbacks of that technique is the limited control of the cells’ chemical microenvironment. In this manuscript, we use a novel combination of nanosensor and microfluidic technology and microfluidic and neural simulations to add sensing and control of chemical concentrations to the dynamic clamp technique. Specifically, we use a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip to generate distinct chemical concentration gradients (ions or neuromodulators), to register the concentrations with embedded nanosensors and use the processed signals as an input to simulations of a neural cell. The ultimate goal of this project is to close the loop and provide sensor signals to the microfluidic lab-on-a-chip to mimic the interaction of the simulated cell with other cells in its chemical environment.
Awareness of Humanities, Arts and Social Science (HASS) Research Is Related to Patterns of Citizens’ Community and Cultural Engagement
Authors: Rudd Murray
Published: May 2015

Why should societies invest resources in humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS) research? While citizens’ quality of life should be affected by the type and level of cultural amenities they have access to, the broader links between HASS research and its impacts on quality of life attributes can be tenuous because of the research attribution challenge, temporally and spatially linking specific HASS research and its ultimate impact on well-being and society. From a survey of 1920 Canadians, here I report perceived values, awareness of HASS research, threats to quality of life, and levels of community and cultural engagement. The key finding of this exploratory study was that HASS research awareness acted as a powerful predictor of threat perceptions, levels of community activity, and cultural engagement at the local level. It was not, however, a significant predictor of core values. From a theoretical perspective, this is in line with a priori expectations that core values are a precursor to worldviews, threat perceptions, and behaviors. There are very different policy prescriptions for increasing HASS research awareness and, by extension, Canadian citizens’ propensity for cultural and physical engagement, depending on how HASS research awareness affects their threat perceptions, values, and behavior. They include alternatives that focus on experiential learning early in life and adult-oriented awareness-building activities. The strong relationship between HASS research awareness and citizen engagement implies that there are important roles for education and awareness-building activities beyond simply encouraging future consumption of cultural commodities among HASS-aware citizens.
Some Elementary Aspects of 4-Dimensional Geometry
Authors: Carter J. , Mullens David
Published: May 2015

We indicate that Heron’s formula (which relates the square of the area of a triangle to a quartic function of its edge lengths) can be interpreted as a scissors congruence in four-dimensional space. In the process of demonstrating this, we examine a number of decompositions of hypercubes, hyper-parallelograms and other elementary four-dimensional solids.
Superluminescence from an optically pumped molecular tunneling junction by injection of plasmon induced hot electrons
Authors: Braun Kai , Wang Xiao , Kern Andreas M , Adler Hilmar , Peisert Heiko , Chassé Thomas , Zhang Dai , Meixner Alfred J
Published: May 2015

Here, we demonstrate a bias-driven superluminescent point light-source based on an optically pumped molecular junction (gold substrate/self-assembled molecular monolayer/gold tip) of a scanning tunneling microscope, operating at ambient conditions and providing almost three orders of magnitude higher electron-to-photon conversion efficiency than electroluminescence induced by inelastic tunneling without optical pumping. A positive, steadily increasing bias voltage induces a step-like rise of the Stokes shifted optical signal emitted from the junction. This emission is strongly attenuated by reversing the applied bias voltage. At high bias voltage, the emission intensity depends non-linearly on the optical pump power. The enhanced emission can be modelled by rate equations taking into account hole injection from the tip (anode) into the highest occupied orbital of the closest substrate-bound molecule (lower level) and radiative recombination with an electron from above the Fermi level (upper level), hence feeding photons back by stimulated emission resonant with the gap mode. The system reflects many essential features of a superluminescent light emitting diode.
Automated solid-phase synthesis of oligosaccharides containing sialic acids
Authors: Lai Chian-Hui , Hahm Heung Sik , Liang Chien-Fu , Seeberger Peter H
Published: May 2015

A sialic acid glycosyl phosphate building block was designed and synthesized. This building block was used to prepare α-sialylated oligosaccharides by automated solid-phase synthesis selectively.
E-Participation and Citizen Relationship Management in Urban Governance
Authors: Huebner Jim P.
Published: May 2015

Citizen relationship management (CiRM) is a combination of management approaches and information technologies for improving citizen services and citizen participation used at all levels of government. As an adaptation of private sector customer relationship management (CRM), CiRM is experiencing significant public sector adoption rates globally. However, while private sector CRM has demonstrated significant impact in the private sector, CiRM benefits are limited, and particularly lagging in the area of citizen e-participation in urban governance. This chapter provides an overview of the scope of CiRM functionality, with particular regard to the CRM origins and CiRM extensibilities, to develop a broader perspective of CiRM's capacity for addressing e-participation. Developing this perspective further, theoretical and methodological approaches to e-participation are presented and evaluated in four categories: generic CiRM participation models, e-government CiRM, democratic CiRM, and strategic CiRM. Further research opportunities are highlighted within the context of emerging organizational, technological, and societal trends.
eParticipation in Europe
Authors: Tambouris Efthimios , Macintosh Ann , Dalakiouridou Efpraxia , Smith Simon , Panopoulou Eleni , Tarabanis Konstantinos , Millard Jeremy
Published: May 2015

During the past few years, information and communication technologies and especially the internet are increasingly used in a vast range of human activities, including citizens' interaction with government. In this context, advanced technologies are also being used to more actively engage citizens in democratic processes, which are termed as electronic participation (eParticipation). eParticipation has attracted considerable attention worldwide. In Europe, a large number of initiatives have been funded providing valuable lessons. The aim of this chapter is to map the current state of eParticipation in Europe and provide practical recommendations. More specifically, the authors first present the results of a review of policy documents in the European Union in order to understand how eParticipation fits into European policies. They then present an analytical framework to aid theoretical understanding of eParticipation, followed by the results of a European study on eParticipation initiatives. Based on all these, the authors propose a number of recommendations on eParticipation for policy makers, practitioners, evaluators and research funders.
The FUPOL Policy Lifecycle
Authors: Sonntagbauer Susanne , Sonntagbauer Peter , Nazemi Kawa , Burkhardt Dirk
Published: May 2015

The purpose of this chapter is to outline an advanced policy lifecycle, the FUPOL model with its ability to link technical features in the area of policy modeling. The FUPOL Policy Lifecycle is based on 6 stages, which are further divided into 8 main tasks. These main tasks are split up into 19 subtasks to provide a very detailed policy lifecycle structure. The detailed breakdown allows one to link each task to various technical features, such as opinion maps, policy indicator dashboard, knowledge database, and simulation and visualization tools. The chapter further argues that the methodology applied is future proof and has the potential of accommodating new technologies in the future.
The Role of Social Influence and Prior Experience on Citizens' Intention to Continuing to Use E-Government Systems
Authors: Alruwaie Mubarak
Published: May 2015

The increasing use of the Internet over recent years has forced governments and individuals to utilise Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in the form of electronic government (e-government). However, the success of e-government delivery is dependent on usage generally but also on growing concerns about perceived social influence and prior experience of e-government service usage; this is in order to ensure better utilisation of ICT investments by retaining current users. Few studies have investigated the influences of perceived social influence and prior experience on personal factors, such as self-efficacy, personal outcome expectation and satisfaction, towards intention to the continual use of e-government systems. To fill this gap, the present research develops a conceptual framework by associating it with citizens' prior experience. A conceptual framework of six constructs is developed by integrating Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT). Theoretically, the present study extends the roles of pre-adoption and post-adoption by offering a self-regulating process through self-efficacy as a physical ability. Further, the study reveals the importance of social influence and prior experience as well as personal outcome expectation and satisfaction as cognitive factors that represent personal goal assessments.
Sociopolitical Digital Interactions' Maturity
Authors: Santos Herman Resende , Tonelli Dany Flávio , Bermejo Paulo Henrique de Souza
Published: May 2015

In the context of the “network society” structured on “digital communication” processes, new values and technologies induce changes in government-society relations. The aim of this study was to propose a conceptual framework of understanding the levels of sociopolitical digital interactions' maturity (SDIM) in response to the following question: how can the sociopolitical digital interactions' maturity levels be classified? To conduct this study, a qualitative methodological approach was adopted. The content analysis of the 27 Brazilian state government websites was structured on a conceptual scheme (SDIM), which allowed the verification and classification of digital interactive tools used in e-government portals. It was concluded that the levels of electronic interactivity do not represent institutional democratic development and that co-creation may generate continuous processes of public sector innovation.
Sustainability Governance in Democracies
Authors: Wydra Doris , Pülzl Helga
Published: May 2015

The pursuit of sustainable development requires a political system that secures effective citizen participation in decision-making, an economic system that is able to generate surpluses on a sustained basis and a social system providing for a solution to tensions arising from disharmonious development; it recognizes also the rights of the individual to adequate conditions of life through balancing environmental, economic and social norms. Although international law is neutral towards different forms of government, increasingly democracy is regarded as the only form of government truly reflecting the “consent of the governed” and therefore being in accordance with the right of the self-determination of people and thus the basis for the realization of human rights. But the theoretical and practical linkage between democracy and sustainable development is still weak. Although there is a burgeoning literature on democratic mechanisms and sustainability, democracy is not regarded as prerequisite for sustainability. The authors argue in this paper that although sustainable development seemingly does not need democratic forms of governance as the values attached to SD could also be implemented in a non-democratic system, research on democracy, human rights and sustainable norms need to be better linked to each other in order to be able to implement the political requirements simultaneously. The authors propose an integrated approach that respects the ideas of sustainable development, as well as human rights and democratic forms of governance. Thus, the authors present different systems of democratic governance, sustainable development indicators systems as well as human rights systems. From there the authors develop ideal-type models that represent those ideas and develop an integrated approach to a democratic sustainable development system in accordance with human rights.
Evaluation and Metrics of E-Government
Authors: Delopoulos Haroula N.
Published: May 2015

This chapter discusses EU methodologies used for the evaluation of a number of e-government related strategies including: Action Plan e-Europe 2002, Action Plan e-Europe 2005, the Strategic Framework i2010 as well as the Digital Agenda 2020. It highlights differences and similarities between these plans. It is suggested that Europe should not focus mainly on the supply side (track availability and sophistication), but should also investigate indicators that might directly affect the eGovernment adoption. To this end, we have searched Eurostat Database in order to demonstrate some of the eGovernment evaluation metrics that affect the use and availability of eGovernment (eGov) in European Union concerning individuals and enterprises. We processed the row data and estimated the annual average and the annual average change of eighteen eGovernment indicators for the years 2005-2010. Furthermore, the chapter determines whether or not some of the targets of Digital Agenda 2020 will be accomplished by stated 2015. The author's estimates are based according to existing trends to determine how these indicators will affect, if nothing changes, in or by 2015.
Competing from a High Cost Economy
Authors: Marsh Ian
Published: May 2015

The starting point for this chapter is that Australia is a high-cost economy with a fading resources boom and a diminished domestic manufacturing sector. The chapter explores the fresh challenge that these structural developments present to public policy. It argues that this requires a shift from the dominant neo-classical policy paradigm, which has to date provided the intellectual muscle for a transformation of Australia's political economy. The chapter makes the case for policies framed to foster innovation and knowledge as the approach needed for Australia to succeed in an environment characterised by the new international distribution of manufacturing, the impact of new technologies, and the prevalence of global supply chains. To realise innovation-based economic renewal requires capacities for much more targeted interventions that engage business at cluster, sectoral, and/or regional levels. The chapter concludes by considering the obstacles to, and the possibilities for, policy change.
Leveraging Broadband for e-Government and Development in Africa
Authors: Aikins Stephen Kwamena
Published: May 2015

This study investigated the extent and benefits of Africa's broadband connectivity, its impact on e-government and economic growth, and the challenges and best practices for addressing them. Studies by the UN and ITU over the years have revealed Africa lags behind in the global broadband connectivity and e-government diffusion. The Connect Africa summit held in 2007 by the ITU and its partners came out with five specific goals to connect the continent and help improve its economy. This study reviewed the Connect Africa Outcomes Report, and analyzed the publications of three independent studies conducted by: a) the ITU, b) the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and c) Informa Telecoms and Media. The findings reveal that Africa has made substantial progress in international connectivity and mobile broadband penetration. Additionally, broadband connectivity has contributed toward some improvements in e-government initiatives and economic growth. The study concludes with recommendations to address the existing challenges to consolidate the gains made.
Rethinking E-Government Adoption
Authors: Persaud Ajax , Persaud Priya
Published: May 2015

E-government acceptance has attracted substantial research interest over the last fifteen years. The majority of this research is based on technology acceptance models primarily because e-government is viewed as a technology for achieving efficiency, transparency, and information management. However, the adoption of e-government ultimately depends on whether users perceive the technology as serving their needs and meeting their expectations. Thus, understanding and incorporating users' needs in the design, organisation, and deployment of e-government are crucial but have been overlooked. This study develops and tests a user-centric model of e-government by using six factors that have been widely discussed in the literature. The factors have been labelled content, accessibility, localisation, e-participation, user-friendliness and awareness/government literacy. The results show that all six factors plus the interaction of e-participation with user-friendliness are statistically significant in promoting e-government use. The research and practical implications of the results are discussed.
Government-With-You
Authors: Baum Scott , Mahizhnan Arun
Published: May 2015

Singapore's e-government model is considered to be among the best in the world. Over the past decade, the Singapore government has constantly developed and re-invented its online presence. International comparisons have consistently rated Singapore as one of the most advanced e-government nations. However, despite significant progress towards full e-government maturity, some issues of full public participation remain. It is these issues that this chapter discusses. In particular, it considers the ways in which a digital divide within the Singapore model has emerged, despite specific policies to address such a problem.
Public Policy Makers
Authors: Sraha Gloria
Published: May 2015

Many governments use export promotion programmes as a tool to support firms transacting business outside their national borders. Export promotion programmes have the primary objective of getting firms acquitted with foreign market environments in competitive global markets. International markets are more developed and indifferent to national borders, making EPPs an important strategy for export growth in Africa. This chapter explores different export promotion programmes offered in sub-Saharan Africa and contribute to literature on international business. The increasing amalgamation of international markets and high global competition necessitates the adoption of EPPs as an imperative strategy in planning international business. This chapter enriches our understanding of EPPs and how public policymakers have expanded export capacity development programmes to impact knowledge in sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter underscores specific EPPs for utilization to improve export performance of firms in foreign markets and provides practical implications for exporters and public policymakers in Africa.
Model Driven Integration of Heterogeneous Software Artifacts in Service Oriented Computing
Authors: Simon Eric , Estublier Jacky
Published: May 2015

Systems evolutivity requires complex operations on services, including migration, duplication, updating, and a number of administration-related actions. However, current environments are heterogeneous and require integration to manage services. It is a complex problem, because it implies a transformation of life cycle related concepts. This integration does not fit very well in the service-oriented approach: indeed this approach is consumer-centered and considers that services are hosted by third parties, while administration is a provider view. Therefore, there is a gap between technologies used to compose applications and technologies that provide them. In the context of system adaptability, this gap becomes a major challenge to be solved. The authors propose an execution environment, which provides a homogeneous service representation used to integrate: their functionalities, their life-cycle and management operations, and lifecycle related concerns, like deployment. Their approach includes two integration mechanisms: the technologies integration supported by wrappers and concerns integration supported by the run-times.
Towards a Successful E-Government Implementation
Authors: Sagheb-Tehrani Mehdi
Published: May 2015

There are many different benefits that a government can obtain from encouraging the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in its public sector delivery frameworks. Utilization of ICTs as a socio-economic stimulant has long been recognized by governments the world over. Electronic government utilizes ICTs to provide all the access to a wide range of public services. Today, different government departments and/or units at all levels of the governance hierarchy respond to millions of citizen demands electronically. The rising interest of many stakeholders in e-Government calls for a conceptual model that will guide implementation regardless of context. This chapter argues that several key success factors are appropriate and need to be considered for successful e-Government implementation. About one hundred e-Government Websites were examined upon those key success factors. Sixty-one university students took part in this investigation. Using t-test, the chapter investigates the appropriateness of the proposed model.
Rule-Based Domain-Specific Modeling for E-Government Service Transactions
Authors: Hernández Guillermo Infante , Fuente Aquilino A. Juan , Pérez Benjamín López , Núñez-Valdéz Edward Rolando
Published: May 2015

There is an explosion of different software platforms and protocols used to achieve systems interoperation. Among those platforms are the e-government transactions systems used mainly by public sector organizations to deliver demanded services to citizens. This scenario brings the appearance of communications gap among public organizations that share common processes, services, and regulations. Therefore, to find a solution to integrate these platforms becomes a relevant issue to be treated. This chapter proposes a rule-based domain-specific modeling environment for public services and process integration formed by common public service elements and a set of process integration rules. This approach provides a mechanism to integrate the conforming pieces of public transactions among different platforms. In addition, a service and a process meta-model is proposed in order to formalize the information structures. A set of process integration rules is also presented to complete the proposed model.
Innovating and Serving the Poor with Antiretroviral Drug Systems
Authors: Baracat Maria Matilde Zraik , Nobre Farley Simon
Published: May 2015

This chapter presents an exploratory study about the Brazilian program on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It highlights the social and technological contributions, which have resulted from the production of antiretroviral drugs by the pharmaceutical industry in Brazil. First, this chapter reviews literature on the history of HIV epidemic and presents the HIV context as a pathology that affects the health of countries, putting at risk their economic and social development. Second, it analyzes the current situation of this epidemic in Brazil, by characterizing the Brazilian Pharmaceutical Industry (BPI). Third, this chapter elucidates the Brazilian production of antiretroviral drugs mainly based on aspects of patent law and Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Results show that the adoption of the Brazilian program for HIV has been successful and encouraged its diffusion to, and adoption by, other countries due to its capability for wide and unrestricted distribution of medicines.
Adoption of E-Government in Africa
Authors: Jain Priti , Akakandelwa Akakandelwa
Published: May 2015

Increasingly, the importance of e-government is growing owing to higher quality delivery of government services, improved citizen empowerment through access to e-information, and better interactions between governments and their stakeholders. Despite all this recognition and appreciation of e-government, there is slow uptake and high failure of e-government in developing countries. A huge imbalance still remains between developed and developing countries, specifically in Africa because of numerous impediments. Africa lags far behind all other regions in the world. Some African countries have initiated e-government, such as Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa, yet others have not taken any initiative or are very slow in realizing its full take off, for instance, Tanzania, Botswana, and Zambia. In light of the above background, the main purpose of this chapter is to determine the challenges and based on the findings make recommendations for adoption of E-Government in Arica. The chapter reviews the theoretical underpinning of E-Government as a tool for modernizing public administration; examines the present state of e-government in Africa; highlights the challenges and barriers African countries encounter in their quest to develop E-Government; reviews the role of public libraries in E-Government, and finally, makes recommendations for E-Government adoption in Africa and other developing countries.
Developing a Citizen-Centric eGovernment Model for Developing Countries
Authors: Jahankhani Hamid , Dastbaz Mohammad , Shareef Shareef M. , Pimenidis Elias
Published: May 2015

This chapter presents an enhanced eGovernment stage model based on citizens' participation for improvements in the delivery of governmental services by putting citizens' insights and their requirements in the context of e-government development and the potential use of a multi-channel delivery of services for regional governments in developing countries. The model proposed is based on research done in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. This research identified missing elements in traditional eGovernment models that would prove essential for implementation in developing countries. These models usually propose five stages of development spanning from emergence to integration. The proposal here considers most of the limitations in two stages, namely initial and an enhancement stage with the advantage of decreasing the uncertainty of e-government implementation in the public sector by recognising the consequence of the institutional readiness, adoption processes, the needs of ICT tools, and the factors that influence the implementation process.
The Effect of Trust on the Continuance Intention of E-Filing Usage
Authors: Thominathan Santhanamery , Ramayah Thurasamy
Published: May 2015

Research on e-government is taking a new phase nowadays, with researchers focusing more to evaluate the continued usage intention by the citizens rather than the initial intention. Continuance intention is defined as a person's intention to continue using, or long term usage intention of a technology. Unlike initial acceptance decision, continuance intention depends on various factors that affect the individual's decision to continue using a particular system, with trust being one for the most important factors. Therefore, this case study aims to examine the role of trust, particularly trust in the system, on continuance usage intention of an e-filing system by taxpayers in Malaysia. The primary discussion in this case study concerns the e-filing system in Malaysia, followed by the strategies for successful adoption of e-government services and the benefits of e-government adoption, concluding with future research directions.
Greek Politicians and the Use of Online Technologies for Citizen Engagement
Authors: Papagiannidis Savvas , Stamati Teta , Behr Hartmut
Published: May 2015

This chapter examines how politicians utilise Internet technologies to create an online presence, the motivating and hindering factors for doing so, and the perceived significance such a presence can have. The authors present empirical data collected via in-depth interviews with Greek politicians taking part in the general elections of 2012. The findings suggest that although politicians are increasingly interested in engaging with citizens using online technologies, their efforts are not always focused on achieving measurable and tangible results. Consequently, they do not make full use of the potential online technologies offer. Instead, the authors conclude, online strategies need to be organised around predefined objectives and based on clear communication and engagement plans.
Using Presidential Popularity for Understanding the Relationship between President Bush and Congressional Republicans' Online Campaigning
Authors: Latimer Christopher
Published: May 2015

This chapter is an assessment of the growing use of the Internet by congressional campaigns in the United States to determine whether candidates' Websites are affected by presidential popularity. There is previous research linking low public opinion of a sitting president with a negative impact on members of his political party running for election, particularly during the midterm, but very little analysis examines this phenomenon online. The chapter examines the 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008 House Republican campaign Websites to see if there is a relationship between presidential popularity and congressional online campaign behavior. An examination of Republican campaign Websites was coded based on whether President Bush was present in picture form. The authors demonstrate that there is a correlation between President Bush's popularity and his presence on these Republican congressional Websites in general and more prevalent in different regions of the country.
Factors Influencing Online Poll Participation
Authors: Zhao Kevin Wenyuan , Leung Louis
Published: May 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of participation in online polls and its relationship to the perception of online polls, information literacy, and the political efficacy of Internet users in mainland China. Data was gathered online from a sample of 419 Internet users. Results show that perceptions of both the usefulness and trustworthiness of online polls positively correlated to participation in online polls but not to information literacy or to political efficacy. Contrary to expected results, political efficacy did not relate to online poll participation. However, regression results suggested that Internet users who often participated in online polls were usually males who were literate in publishing and believed that online polls were an effective and trustworthy means to express opinions on public issues. Limitations and implications for future studies are discussed.
Drivers, Benefits, and Challenges of Knowledge Management in Electronic Government
Authors: Salleh Kalsom
Published: May 2015

This chapter explores the role of Knowledge Management (KM) and knowledge workers in the public sector organization in the broader perspective towards achieving the Electronic Government orientation in Malaysia. The future implementation of KM in the public sector organizations should leverage and articulate the experiences, ideas, and expertise of an organization's knowledge workers for the embedded organizational knowledge. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from all public sector accountants working in the accounting specialist department of the Federal Government in Malaysia. This selected knowledge intensive accounting organization has a large pool of public sector accountants and the core competencies of the organization are to provide timely accounting information and quality accounting services to all agencies of the Federal Government. Public sector accountants (knowledge workers) are responsible for the strategic policies and operational management in various departments of this selected public sector organization. The responses from the questionnaires are aimed to preliminarily examine the organizational readiness in technology resources as well as to identify the perceived benefits and challenges in using KM as a strategic management tool to improve the internal operational efficiency and electronic service delivery system for E-Government in this selected knowledge intensive accounting organization in Malaysia.
E-Participation Behavioral in E-Government in Malaysia
Authors: Masrom Maslin , Ling Edith Lim Ai , Din Sabariyah
Published: May 2015

Electronic government or e-government provides great potential for citizens and governments to reduce information cost and maximize the speed of government-citizen interaction. Nearly all governments around the world use Web-based technologies to provide their citizens with access to government services, and to enhance the chances for e-participation in democratic institutions and processes. In Malaysia, the e-government implementation started in 1997 with the aim to deliver services and information effectively and efficiently, and to achieve a fully developed country in the year 2020. Nowadays, many governments of developing country have utilized Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to deliver their services to citizens, and there is also an increasing demand for successful implementation of e-government services within developing nations. It is therefore essential that citizens must be able to use the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to assure nation-wide e-participation besides improving channels and contents of public service deliveries on the part of the government. In view of this, the aims of this chapter are to present the current state of e-government in Malaysia, to discuss participation behavioral in the implementation of e-government services, and to highlight approaches that can be considered in enhancing the e-government services through this participation behavioral.