bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dental Age Assessment (DAA) of Children and Emerging Adults
Authors: Roberts Graham J. , Petrie Aviva
Published: May 2011

A variety of methods have been used to estimate dental age. Tooth development as a means of estimating age has been used for several centuries. The purpose of the chapter is to describe the method used at the Dental Paediatric Unit of King’s College London Dental Institute and the UCL Eastman Dental Institute to carry out Dental Age Assessment (DAA). An important principle is the biological variability of growth of teeth, a factor inappropriately considered in many studies of DAA. This chapter serves to inform colleagues, lawyers, immigration workers, social workers and subjects of unknown date of birth of the way in which DAA is conducted.
Automating Human Identification Using Dental X-Ray Radiographs
Authors: Nomir Omaima , Abdel Mottaleb Mohamed
Published: May 2011

The goal of forensic dentistry is to identify individuals based on their dental characteristics. This chapter presents a system for automating that process by identifying people from dental X-ray images. Given a dental image of a postmortem (PM), the proposed system retrieves the best matches from an antemortem (AM) database. The system automatically segments dental X-ray images into individual teeth and extracts representative feature vectors for each tooth, which are later used for retrieval. This chapter details a new method for teeth segmentation, and three different methods for representing and matching teeth. Each method has a different technique for representing the tooth shape and has its advantages and disadvantages compared with the other methods. The first method represents each tooth contour by signature vectors obtained at salient points on the contour of the tooth. The second method uses Hierarchical Chamfer distance for matching AM and PM teeth. In the third method, each tooth is described using a feature vector extracted using the force field energy function and Fourier descriptors. During retrieval, according to a matching distance between the AM and PM teeth, AM radiographs that are most similar to a given PM image, are found and presented to the user. To increase the accuracy of the identification process, the three matching techniques are fused together. The fusion of information is an integral part of any identification system to improve the overall performance. This chapter introduces some scenarios for fusing the three matchers at the score level as well as at the fusion level.
Forensic Statistics in Health Sciences
Authors: Chattopadhyay Amit
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews the application of forensic statistical methods related issues such as: methods of deciphering evidence, DNA profile matching, searching a database of DNA profiles, scientific reliability, discrimination in presentation of statistical evidence in legal settings, assumptions in underlying statistical analysis when evidence is presented, precision & accuracy, role of using extreme values in evidence, and decision analysis in forensic science. The emphasis of the chapter is on concepts from statistical application, nature, and use of evidences in everyday clinical practice and in the court of law. Another goal of the chapter is to serve as a central reference to access of information about resources related to this topic.
Putting Interoperability on the Map
Authors: Eliakis Stelios , Zampou Eleni , Pramatari Katerina
Published: May 2011

Information sharing and interoperability are key ingredients for any system that participates in Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) and wants to communicate and exchange information with other partners. Although there are many technologies that support interoperability, there is apparently no relevant research about how to extract and aggregate the requirements of a system, the necessary architecture components and tools regarding interoperability. This chapter reviews the principles and the constraints that affect architecture design and the research efforts about interoperability infrastructures, and proposes a set of architecture components and tools that can enable, support and maintain interoperability in heterogeneous, dynamic, and constantly changing environments.
Requirements Metadata Driven Dynamic Configuration of Business Processes
Authors: Spies Marcus , Taleb-Bendiab Azzelarabe
Published: May 2011

Services computing is developing towards complex, large-scale infrastructures referred to as the Internet of things and an Internet of services. Cloud computing supports hundreds of thousands of users and applications/services and ensures that these are available on demand, in a reliable and secure way. These infrastructures present many challenges to the design and implementation of systems to manage, protect and tune them. This chapter shows that in order to support the needed interoperability in these infrastructures, such systems must support adaptation based on service semantics and be capable of runtime autonomic behaviour. For engineering such systems, there is a strong need to build on and extend standard software architectures, in particular the service oriented architectures (SOA) and model driven service engineering approaches. Given these requirements, this chapter introduces a model driven approach to a runtime adaptable requirements driven services management system, and presents a theoretical framework building on intention models that are transformed in several steps to dynamic business processes complying with the Web services paradigm and the business process execution language for Web services. These services can be reconfigured at runtime by autonomic behaviours of the management system in line with the intention model. Within the Neptune framework introduced here, the needed modelling languages, model transformations and a runtime environment implementing such an approach are provided. The chapter closes with a case study based on the well known PetShop enterprise application blueprint. The study demonstrates in practice the autonomic adaptation to changes in the services requirements observed at runtime, and concludes with a section highlighting future applications and extensions of the approach.
Semantic Technologies and E-Business
Authors: Bedini Ivan , Gardarin Georges , Nguyen Benjamin
Published: May 2011

This chapter studies what semantic technologies can bring to the e-business domain and how they can be applied to it. After an overview of the goals to be achieved by e-business applications a large panel of existing e-business standards is detailed, with a specific focus on B2B (Business to Business) and their current modus operandi. Furthermore, some of the most relevant e-business ontologies are also presented. Next, the chapter argues that the use of semantic technologies will simplify the automatic management of many e-business partnerships. However the construction of ontologies brings a new level of complexity that might be facilitated by automating the great part of the generation process. For this purpose, the Janus system, which is a prototype to help with the automatic derivation of ontologies from XML Schemas, the de-facto format adopted in e-business standard applications was developed. Differently from existing systems, it permits to retrieve automatically conceptual knowledge from large XML corpus sources and is based on the use of the Semantic Data Model for Ontology (SDMO) whose advantages are presented in this chapter.
Development of an Ontology-Based E-Recruitment Application that Integrates Social Web
Authors: Tétreault Michel , Dufresne Aude , Gagnon Michel
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents the elaboration of an ontology-based application called Combine. This application aims to optimize and enhance e-Recruitment processes in the domain of Information Technologies’ staffing services, and especially e-Recruitment processes that use Social Web platforms as a means of sourcing candidates. This chapter will describe the context motivating this development and how the system was designed, from the requirements analysis to the prototype evaluation, revealing the concerns, constraints and opportunities met along the way. All of these factors will be discussed mainly in regards to Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) theories in order to argue the potential return on investment of the conceptualized semantic e-Recruitment application.
Business Document Exchange between Small Companies
Authors: Bonfatti Flavio , Monari Paola Daniela , Martinelli Luca
Published: May 2011

This chapter is aimed at presenting a practical approach, and its technological implementation, for enabling small companies to exchange business documents in different formats and languages with minimal impact on their legacy systems and working practices. The proposed solution differs from the general-purpose or theoretical approaches reported in other chapters of this book, as it is intended to focus on the basic interoperability requirements of small companies in their real life. Special attention is spent to show how to define a minimal reference ontology, use it for annotating the data fields in legacy systems, and map it onto existing standards in order to remove the cultural and technical obstacles for small companies to join the global electronic market. These techniques have been studied and prototyped, and are presently validated, by some EU-funded projects.
Interoperability in the Building of Next Generation of Collaborative Working Environments
Authors: Martínez-Carreras M. Antonia , Ruiz-Martínez Antonio , Llinares Manuel Bernal
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the most important problems of current Collaborative Working Environments (CWEs), indicating some of the requirements for next generation of CWEs collected by the Expert Group@Collaboration. Moreover it analyzes Service-Oriented Architecture technologies and semantic concepts for fulfilling the requirements previously analyzed. After that, it describes a reference architecture for future CWEs which is based on technologies analyzed before and that satisfies the requirements introduced to overcome the problems of CWEs. In order to show how this architecture can help in the building of future CWEs three of the applications are depicted based on it, indicating some of the advantages and disadvantages presented.
Convergence of Information Security in B2B Networks
Authors: Harnesk Dan
Published: May 2011

Over the past 20 years, researchers have made significant headway into understanding information security, with most studies focusing on internal organizational information security affairs. This study adds to the cumulative tradition by creating a concept for the convergence of information security in B2B network contexts. More specifically, the move from information security safeguards to information security observers is presented in depth. By adopting the Actor Network Theory and the Process Theory, this chapter demonstrates how three conversion, use, and performance sub-processes constitute the devised process of converging information security. Each sub-process directs attention towards definition, integration, the evaluation of security and how the metaphor of the observer may operate in the B2B network context.
Approaches to Facilitating Analysis of Health and Wellness Data
Authors: Mamykina Lena , Mynatt Elizabeth D.
Published: May 2011

In the last decade novel sensing technologies enabled development of applications that help individuals with chronic diseases monitor their health and activities. These applications often generate large volumes of data that need to be processed and analyzed. At the same time, many of these applications target non-professionals and individuals of advanced age and low educational level. These users may find the data collected by the applications challenging and overwhelming, rather than helpful, and may require additional assistance in interpreting it. In this paper we discuss two different approaches to designing computing applications that not only collect the relevant health and wellness data but also find creative ways to engage individuals in the analysis and assist with interpretation of the data. These approaches include visualization of data using simple real world imagery and metaphors, and social scaffolding mechanisms that help novices learn by observing and imitating experts. We present example applications that utilize both of these approaches and discuss their relative strengths and limitations.
Considering Worth and Human Values in the Design of Digital Public Displays
Authors: Otero Nuno , José Rui
Published: May 2011

The development and design of computational artifacts and their current widespread use in diverse contexts needs to take into account end-users needs, likes/dislikes and broader societal issues including human values. However, the fast pace of technological developments highlights that the process of defining the computational artifacts not only needs to understand the user but also consider engineers and designers’ creativity. Taking into account these issues, we have been exploring the adoption of the Worth-Centred Design (WCD) framework, proposed by Gilbert Cockton, to guide our development efforts regarding digital public displays. This chapter presents our insights as a design team regarding the use of the WCD framework and discusses our current efforts to extend the adoption of the framework. Finally, future steps are considered, and will focus on enriching our understanding concerning potential places for digital displays, stakeholders’ views, encouraging open participation and co-creation.
Issues of Sensor-Based Information Systems to Support Parenting in Pervasive Settings
Authors: Reyes Fernando Martínez
Published: May 2011

The vision of the home of the future considers the existence of smart spaces saturated with computing and pervasive technology, yet so gracefully integrated with users. Sensing technology and intelligent agents will allow the smart home to empower dwellers lifestyle. In today’s homes, however, the exploration of pervasive and ubiquitous systems is still challenging. Lessons from past experiences have shown that social and technology issues have affected the implementation of pervasive computing environments that “fade into the background”, and of supportive applications that disappear from user’s consciousness. This paper presents our experience with the exploration of a pervasive system that aims to complement a parent’s awareness of their children’s activity in situations of concurrent attendance of household and childcare. To minimize issues such as sensing reliability and variations with parenting needs around this kind of pervasive support, parents are enabled to configure and adapt the UbiComp system to their current needs. From responses of a user study we highlight opportunities for the system on its current status, and challenges for its future development.
An Approach for Capturing Human Information Behaviour
Authors: Grzywaczewski Adam , Iqbal Rahat , James Anne , Halloran John
Published: May 2011

Rapid proliferation of web information through desktop and small devices places an increasing pressure on Information Retrieval (IR) systems. Users interact with the Internet in dynamic environments that require the IR system to be context aware. Modern IR systems take advantage of user location, browsing history or previous interaction patterns, but a significant number of contextual factors that impact the user information retrieval process are not yet available. Parameters like the emotional state of the user and user domain expertise affect the user experience significantly but are not understood by IR systems. This paper presents results of a user study that simplifies the way context in IR and its role in the systems’ efficiency is perceived. The study supports the hypothesis that the number of user interaction contexts and the problems that a particular user is trying to solve is finite, changing slowly and tightly related to the lifestyle. Therefore, the IR system’s perception of the interaction context can be reduced to a finite set of frequent user interactions. In addition to simplifying the design of context aware personalized IR systems, this can significantly improve the user experience.
From the City of Bits to E-Topia
Authors: Deakin Mark
Published: May 2011

Mitchell’s book on the City of Bits, sets out a vision of urban life literally done to bits, left fragmented and in danger of coming unstuck. His next book e-topia, provides the counter-point to this vision of urban life as ungovernable and scenario where the city is no longer left in bits and pieces, but a place where it ‘all comes together’. As Mitchell states in Me++: the Cyborg Self and the Networked City, all this ‘coming together’ is now possible because the trial separation of bits and atoms is over and the dissolution of the boundaries between virtual and physical space makes citizenship worth playing for. The landscape which this chapter uncovers is different for the reason it reveals the middle ground between the ‘high-level’ issues surrounding e-topia and those lying at the ‘grass roots’ level of me ++ the cyborg-self. For it is here with the likes of Graham and Marvin, Laclau and Mouffe and Zizek, that questions about the (radical) liberal democracy underlying the ‘city of bits’ and supporting the global strategy of ‘e-topia’ as the ‘me++ of the cyborg self’, get ‘bottomed out’ as the citizenship, community and governance of the digitally-inclusive regeneration thesis.
Study of Electronic Governance Practices
Authors: Ribeiro de Mello Gilmar , Slomski Valmor , Riccio Edson Luiz
Published: May 2011

The general objective of this work is to identify a set of electronic governance practices for the executive power of the Brazilian States and Federal District, to measure and relate them to the economic and social development of the respective States and Federal District. In order to achieve this objective, we first used bibliographic research to build the theoretical platform about electronic governance and controllership in public management and the identification of electronic governance practices; next, we propose the measuring and monitoring index for the electronic governance development; and at last, we perform Pearson’s correlation test to verify the correlation between electronic governance and the indexes of both economic and social development. When comparing the results of the correlation and the percentage of the implemented practices, we conclude that the State with the highest GDP, the highest HDI and the lowest Gini, are the ones with the highest number of implemented electronic governance practices.
Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation
Authors: Aziz Monis
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an insight into the various challenges faced by a post-conflict nation like Afghanistan and suggest implementation of e-Governance. It explores various ICT tools and techniques that can help and assist government officials, leaders, stakeholders and decision-makers adopt appropriate governance systems and state building mechanisms as part of post-conflict reconstruction efforts. The chapter helps to identify the various ways in which post-conflict reconstruction issues can be dealt by using the best practices linked with ICT functional feasibility and implementation; and identify the specific challenges that a post-conflict country has to overcome with regard to e-Governance project formulation and implementation. Despite the specificity of each country, lessons highlighted in this chapter show that a sound mix of policies based on universally shared values, experience and the proper use of management systems and tools are crucial for every country emerging from conflict.
Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process as an Emerging and Innovative Public Policymaking Area
Authors: Balci Asim , Medeni Tunç Durmus , Nohutçu Ahmet
Published: May 2011

The paper would concentrate on the “formation” and “participation” (formulation) dimension and stage of the ICT policy process. Presenting up-to-date information and analyses regarding the developments in recent and current stage of evolution, guidelines and suggestions for future are provided.
E-Governance for Development
Authors: Misuraca Gianluca , Viscusi Gianluigi
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to present and discuss a conceptual framework on e-Governance for development developed by the authors and the model underpinning it with particular regard to the relationship between Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and Governance in developing and emerging countries. The final goal is to exploit both the framework and the model to propose operational guidelines for designing a roadmap towards the implementation of e-Governance and Public Administration Reform (PAR). In defining the organizational and institutional dimensions underpinning ICT-enabled Governance, indeed, the chapter positions e-Government activities within the broader framework of e-Governance (i.e., the governance with and of ICT), as a learning type of dynamics characterized by a multidimensional and multi level area of intervention. In order to test the framework and model proposed, the chapter discusses selected case studies supporting the definition of the key issues to be considered as guidelines to implement e-Governance interventions as part of broader PAR programmes.
Ethics and Privacy Considerations for Systems Biology Applications in Predictive and Personalized Medicine
Authors: Chen Jake Y. , Xu Heng , Shi Pan , Culbertson Adam , Meslin Eric M.
Published: May 2011

Integrative analysis and modeling of the omics data using systems biology have led to growing interests in the development of predictive and personalized medicine. Personalized medicine enables future physicians to prescribe the right drug to the right patient at the right dosage, by helping them link each patient’s genotype to their specific disease conditions. This chapter shares technological, ethical, and social perspectives on emerging personalized medicine applications. First, it examines the history and research trends of pharmacogenomics, systems biology, and personalized medicine. Next, it presents bioethical concerns that arise from dealing with the increasing accumulation of biological samples in many biobanking projects today. Lastly, the chapter describes growing concerns over patient privacy when large amount of individuals’ genetic data and clinical data are managed electronically and accessible online.
Virtual Screening
Authors: Barakat Khaled H. , Mane Jonathan Y. , Tuszynski Jack A.
Published: May 2011

Virtual screening, or VS, is emerging as a valuable tool in discovering new candidate inhibitors for many biologically relevant targets including the many chemotherapeutic targets that play key roles in cell signaling pathways. However, despite the great advances made in the field thus far, VS is still in constant development with a relatively low success rate that needs to be improved by parallel experimental validation methods. This chapter reviews the recent advances in VS, focusing on the range and type of computational methods and their successful applications in drug discovery. The chapter also discusses both the advantages and limitations of the various techniques used in VS and outlines a number of future directions in which the field may progress.
Systems Biology-Based Approaches Applied to Vaccine Development
Authors: Manque Patricio A. , Woehlbier Ute
Published: May 2011

Vaccines represent one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent and treat diseases. The use of vaccines in the control of viral diseases represents an important milestone in the history of medicine. The genomic revolution brought us the possibility to scan genomes in the search of new and more effective vaccine candidates and the advancement of bioinformatics provided the framework for the application of strategies that were focused not only on antigen discovery but also on comparative genomics, and pathogenic factor identification and data mining. In addition, the progress in post-genomic technologies including gene expression technologies such as microarray and proteomics gave us the opportunity to explore the host responses to vaccines leading to a better understanding of immune responses to pathogens and/or to vaccines, assisting in the development of new and better vaccines and adjuvants. This chapter will review how systems biology-based approaches including genomics, gene expression technologies, and bioinformatics have changed the way of thinking about antigen discovery and vaccine development. In addition, the chapter will discuss how the study of the host responses in combination with “in silico” approaches could help predict immunogenicity and improve the efficacy of vaccines.
A New Approach for Sequence Analysis
Authors: Dempsey Kathryn , Currall Benjamin , Hallworth Richard , Ali Hesham
Published: May 2011

Understanding the structure-function relationship of proteins offers the key to biological processes, and can offer knowledge for better investigation of matters with widespread impact, such as pathological disease and drug intervention. This relationship is dictated at the simplest level by the primary protein sequence. Since useful structures and functions are conserved within biology, a sequence with known structure-function relationship can be compared to related sequences to aid in novel structure-function prediction. Sequence analysis provides a means for suggesting evolutionary relationships, and inferring structural or functional similarity. It is crucial to consider these parameters while comparing sequences as they influence both the algorithms used and the implications of the results. For example, proteins that are closely related on an evolutionary time scale may have very similar structure, but entirely different functions. In contrast, proteins which have undergone convergent evolution may have dissimilar primary structure, but perform similar functions. This chapter details how the aspects of evolution, structure, and function can be taken into account when performing sequence analysis, and proposes an expansion on traditional approaches resulting in direct improvement of said analysis. This model is applied to a case study in the prestin protein and shows that the proposed approach provides a better understanding of input and output and can improve the performance of sequence analysis by means of motif detection software.
Pathway Resources at the Rat Genome Database
Authors: Petri Victoria
Published: May 2011

The set of interacting molecules representing a biological pathway or network is a central concept in biology. It is within the pathway context that the functioning of individual molecules acquires purpose and it is the integration of these molecular circuitries that underlies the functioning of biological systems. In order to provide the research community with a dynamic platform for accessing pathway information, the Rat Genome Database (RGD – http://rgd.mcw.edu) is using a multi-tiered approach. In this chapter, the pathway resources that RGD currently offers are presented. Issues covered include: the biological pathway, the concept and the ontology, pathway literature curation and annotation of genes, interactive pathway diagrams, and tools and resources to access and navigate between pathway data. A case study is presented; future directions are discussed.
Visualization of Protein 3D Structures in ‘Double-Centroid’ Reduced Representation
Authors: Reyes Vicente M. , Sheth Vrunda
Published: May 2011

This article is of two parts: (a) the development of a protein reduced representation and its implementation in a Web server; and (b) the use of the reduced protein representation in the modeling of the binding site of a given ligand and the screening for the model in other protein 3D structures. Current methods of reduced protein 3D structure representation such as the Ca trace method not only lack essential molecular detail, but also ignore the chemical properties of the component amino acid side chains. This chapter describes a reduced protein 3D structure representation called “double-centroid reduced representation” and presents a visualization tool called the “DCRR Web Server” that graphically displays a protein 3D structure in DCRR along with non-covalent intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions. In the DCRR model, each amino acid residue is represented as two points: the centroid of the backbone atoms and that of the side chain atoms; in the visualization Web server, they and the non-bonded interactions are color-coded for easy identification. The visualization tool in this chapter is implemented in MATLAB and is the first for a reduced protein representation as well as one that simultaneously displays non-covalent interactions in the molecule. The DCRR model reduces the atomicity of the protein structure by ~75% while capturing the essential chemical properties of the component amino acids. The second half of this chapter describes the application of this reduced representation to the modeling and screening of ligand binding sites using a data model termed the “tetrahedral motif.” This type of ligand binding site modeling and screening presents a novel type of pharmacophore modeling and screening, one that depends on a reduced protein representation.
Mechanical Models of Cell Adhesion Incorporating Nonlinear Behavior and Stochastic Rupture of the Bonds
Authors: Ganghoffer Jean-François
Published: May 2011

The rolling of a single biological cell is analysed using modelling of the local kinetics of successive attachment and detachment of bonds occurring at the interface between a single cell and the wall of an ECM (extracellular matrix). Those kinetics correspond to a succession of creations and ruptures of ligand-receptor molecular connections under the combined effects of mechanical, physical (both specific and non-specific), and chemical external interactions. A three-dimensional model of the interfacial molecular rupture and adhesion kinetic events is developed in the present contribution. From a mechanical point of view, this chapter works under the assumption that the cell-wall interface is composed of two elastic shells, namely the wall and the cell membrane, linked by rheological elements representing the molecular bonds. Both the time and space fluctuations of several parameters related to the mutual affinity of ligands and receptors are described by stochastic field theory; especially, the individual rupture limits of the bonds are modelled in Fourier space from the spectral distribution of power. The bonds are modelled as macromolecular chains undergoing a nonlinear elastic deformation according to the commonly used freely joined chains model, while the cell membrane facing the ECM wall is modelled as a linear elastic plate. The cell itself is represented by an equivalent constant rigidity. Numerical simulations predict the sequence of broken bonds, as well as the newly established connections on the ‘adhesive part’ of the interface. The interplay between adhesion and rupture entails a rolling phenomenon. In the last part of this chapter, a model of the deformation induced by the random fluctuation of the protrusion force resulting from the variation of affinity with chemiotactic sources is calculated, using stochastic finite element methods in combination with the theory of Gaussian random variables.
Design of Quality Aspects in Service Oriented Architecture through Service Level Agreements
Authors: Massarelli Marco , Raibulet Claudia , Cammareri Daniele , Perino Nicolò
Published: May 2011

This chapter gives a solution to design Service Oriented Architectures which defines and manages Service Level Agreements to enforce Quality of Services and achieves adaptivity at runtime. The validation of this proposed approach is performed through an actual case study in the context of the multimedia application domain.
Quality of Service Monitoring, Diagnosis, and Adaptation for Service Level Management
Authors: Wang Guijun , Wang Changzhou , Wang Haiqin , Santiago Rodolfo A. , Jin Jingwen , Shaw David
Published: May 2011

A key requirement in Service Level Management (SLM) is managing the Quality of Services (QoS) demanded by clients and offered by providers. This managing process is complicated by the globalization and Internet scale of enterprise services and their compositions. This chapter presents two contributions to the QoS management task for SLM. First, instead of considering monitoring as an isolated service, it incorporates a monitoring service as an integral part of a comprehensive QoS management framework for SLM. Second, it includes a diagnosis service as an integral part of the QoS management framework. Using the data fed from monitoring service, diagnosis service detects system condition changes and reasons about the causes of detected degradation in networked enterprise system. With condition detection and situation understanding, the QoS management framework can then proactively activate adaptation mechanisms to maximize the system’s ability to meet QoS contract requirements of concurrent clients. Using this framework, enterprise systems can provide real time automated QoS management to optimize system resources in meeting contract requirements. This approach is validated using QoS management services integrated in a publish/subscribe style of SOA. Benefits of QoS monitoring, diagnosis, and adaptation services for responsiveness SLM are demonstrated via experiments.
Supporting Service Level Agreement with Service Discovery
Authors: Zisman Andrea
Published: May 2011

Service Level Agreement (SLA) has been used as an effective way to evaluate and enforce the quality of services and their providers. However, despite the development in the area, the creation, maintenance, and evolution of SLAs are not easy tasks. This chapter presents an approach to support the creation of SLAs during the development of service-based systems. Said approach is based on an iterative service discovery process, in which services that can provide the functionalities and satisfy properties and constraints of service-based systems during their design phase are identified and used to (re-)formulate service level agreements between services participating in the system, as well as the design models of these systems. The discovery process is based on service requests expressing structural, behavioral, and quality characteristics of the system being developed. These requests are matched against different types of service specifications. The information represented in the service specifications of the matched services is used to generate service level agreements and the design models of the service-based systems.
Web Services Composition Problem
Authors: Cheikh Fahima
Published: May 2011

In the approach taken in this chapter, the composition problem is as follows: given a client service, a goal service and a set of available services, determine if there exists a mediator service that enables the communication between the client and the existing services in order to satisfy the client request, represented by the goal service. In this chapter’s model, available services that have access control constraints are considered. To formally capture these constraints, the chapter defines Web Services as Conditional Communicating Automata (CCA) in which communication is done through bounded ports. This chapter gives a detailed presentation of said model and gives complexity results of the composition problem.
Applying Concept Reuse for Adaptive Service Composition
Authors: Ezenwoye Onyeka , Sadjadi S. Masoud
Published: May 2011

Web Services are gaining acceptance as the predominant standards-based approach to building open distributed systems. Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) allows for the composition of existing Web Services to create higher-level Web Services. There is a need to deliver reliable service compositions with precise Quality of Service (QoS) attributes covering functional correctness, performance and dependability, especially since the current BPEL standard provides limited constructs for specifying exceptional behavior and recovery actions. This chapter presents a language-based approach to transparently adapting BPEL processes to improve reliability. This approach addresses reliability at the business process layer (i.e., the language layer) using a code generator, which weaves fault-tolerant code to the original code and an external proxy. The chapter also explains the software patterns present in this approach. These patterns constitute abstract reusable concepts that will facilitate rapid model-driven development of adaptive service compositions that can be easily configured for a range of situations.
Model-based Methodology and Framework for Assessing Service and Business Process Availability
Authors: Milanovic Nikola , Milic Bratislav
Published: May 2011

In the world where on-demand and trustworthy service delivery is one of the main preconditions for successful business service and business process, availability is of the paramount importance and cannot be compromised. This chapter presents a framework for modeling business process availability that takes into account services, the underlying ICT-infrastructure and people. Based on a fault model, the chapter develops the methodology to map dependencies between ICT-components, services and business processes. The mapping enables automatically derived appropriate availability models and analytically assessed steady-state, interval and user perceived availability at all levels, up to the level of the business process. The chapter demonstrates the applicability of the mapping using two case studies. Finally, it defines a roadmap towards model-based service management and position this work within its context.
Design and Deployment of Service Oriented Applications with Non-Functional Requirements
Authors: Gönczy László , Varró Dániel
Published: May 2011

As the use of SOA became a mainstream in enterprise application development, there is a growing need for designing non-functional aspects of service integration at the architectural level, instead of creating only technology specific assets (configuration descriptors). This architectural design supports flexibility and early validation of requirements. This chapter presents a model-driven method supporting the automated deployment of service configurations. This deployment technique is supported by an extensible tool chain where (i) service models are captured by a service-oriented extension of UML enabling to capture non-functional requirements, and (ii) configuration descriptors for the target deployment platform are derived by automated model transformations within the VIATRA2 framework.
A First Step towards Integrating Educational Theory and Game Design
Authors: van Staalduinen Jan-Paul
Published: May 2011

As of yet, there is no clear relationship between game elements and deep learning. This chapter used a literature review to create an overview of 25 game elements that contribute to learning. The TOPSIM game, by TATA Interactive Systems, was used in a case study to delve into the educational impact of 16 of these game elements. Using pre-game and post-game tests, it was concluded that the students learned from the game, and that they considered the following elements to contribute to their learning: ‘action-domain-link’, ‘adaptation’, ‘debriefing’, ‘conflict’, ‘control’, ‘fantasy’, ‘goals/objectives’, ‘mystery’, and ‘safety’. These results will be used in the construction of a game-based learning model that also incorporates theory on education game design, research on educational elements and principles in games, and theory on core elements that make up all games, whether educational or entertaining.
I’d Rather Be Playing Calculus
Authors: Evans Monica
Published: May 2011

Educational games often implement educational theory, but rarely implement the best practices of entertainment game structures. Currently, many educational games have difficulty engaging and immersing players to the same degree as entertainment games without diminishing the level and complexity of the educational content. This chapter discusses seven best practices of entertainment game design: metaphor, visualization, content as mechanic, self-assessment, achievement, repetition, and multi-linear play–as adapted to meaningful educational content in a variety of fields, with a particular focus on university-level and adult learners. This chapter explores these best practices as utilized in the development of the Digital Calculus Coach, an online game intended to teach calculus concepts and problem solving at the university level.
Theories of Motivation for Adults Learning with Games
Authors: Whitton Nicola
Published: May 2011

This chapter considers motivation from the adult learning perspective, specifically in the context of Higher Education. It is common for the findings of research carried out on children in this area to be used as a justification for game-based learning in university settings. However, adults’ motivations for playing games are unlike those of young people, and motivations to play games for leisure and learning also differ. This chapter considers these differences by first examining the literature on motivation and games, and secondly by presenting and critically discussing two recent theories of adult motivation. It aims to provide an overview of motivations for game-playing outside the post-compulsory education sector, and to present guidelines to better understand how adult motivations can improve learning.
Collaborative Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games
Authors: Voulgari Iro , Komis Vassilis
Published: May 2011

In this chapter a theoretical framework is proposed for the investigation of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) as environments for the emergence of collaborative learning. Elements and features of MMOGs such as the integrated tasks, the interactions among players, the groups, the members’ characteristics, and the environment are examined through the perspective of their motivational, cognitive and social potential, based on literature review, interviews with players and participant observation. It is argued that MMOGs are environments that can integrate a wide range of motivational features, opportunities for social interactions and for the emergence of cognitive processes, into a meaningful context. Implications for the educational practice are also reviewed.
How Digital Gaming Enhances Non-Formal and Informal Learning
Authors: Aranda Daniel , Sánchez-Navarro Jordi
Published: May 2011

This study presents the results of three investigations on the use of digital gaming in non-formal (leisure institutions) and informal (household context) education. These are: (1) an empirical enquiry on the uses and perceptions of Spanish teenagers in relation to digital technologies as tools for leisure and socialization, (2) an intervention in a public school in Barcelona, in which this chapter analyzes the introduction of video games in the context of leisure activities, and (3) a workshop for families to discuss the cultural and social significance of the use of video games in the household. The results of these experiences have allowed for observation of the youth in their environment and verification that their uses of technology and attitudes towards digital gaming have a great potential for non-formal and informal learning.
Using Spatial Audio in Game Technology for Expressing Mathematical Problems to Blind Students
Authors: Neff Flaithrí , Pitt Ian
Published: May 2011

Game technology often offers solutions to problems that are difficult or impossible to solve in traditional educational settings. Maturing spatial audio technology being developed to enhance the playing experience of gamers is increasingly recognized as a promising method for relaying complex educational scenarios to blind students. The subject of mathematics is a prime example of complex information in education that has challenged teachers of blind students, the students themselves, and researchers for many years. This is especially prevalent in relation to mathematics with inherent spatial attributes or complex sequences that are most effectively portrayed in the traditional medium using visual diagrams or spatially organized symbols on a page. This chapter discusses the alternative uses of spatial sound in gaming industry for overcoming some of the problems associated with presenting some of these complex attributes in mathematics to blind students. The authors also present a theoretical framework designed to offer guidelines to audio game designers focused on presenting complex information to blind students using spatial sound technology. Furthermore, the authors present results of a pilot study examining the presentation of trigonometric shapes using game surround sound tools.
Mobile Gaming Environment
Authors: Shin Namsoo , Norris Cathleen , Soloway Elliot
Published: May 2011

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship of students’ attitude toward mathematics, attitude toward a game, gaming performance, gender, and ethnicity as they relate to learning in an educational gaming environment. During the four-month instructional period, fifty 2nd grade students from three classes used a mobile game. This study used a non-experimental, correlational analysis of the predictors of student performance in mathematics. Overall results showed that the performance of mobile gaming and attitude toward mathematics influence the learning of arithmetic skills regardless of gender and ethnic background. On the basis of these findings, the literature on games, and learning theories, this chapter discusses issues related to design, implementation, and research in order to develop effective mobile game-based learning environments.
Exploring the Gender Differences of Student Teachers when using an Educational Game to Learn Programming Concepts
Authors: Ng Eugenia M. W.
Published: May 2011

The gender differences have long been an issue in computer games, but there is very little empirical research on the behavior and performance of females and males when playing computer games. This chapter discusses an exploratory study that aimed to examine the gender differences between female and male student teachers who played an educational game to learn programming concepts. This study we adopted a self-made educational game called “Game”. Fifteen males and eighteen females finished playing a level of the Game. Female participants spent more time in the Game but their scores were lower. Female and male students also employed different strategies when playing the Game. The findings call for larger and longer research studies and perhaps a re-design of the Game to make it more appealing to females, in order to have a thorough examination on the gender differences when using an educational game to learn.
Engaging the Un-Engageable
Authors: Carr John , Blanchfield Peter
Published: May 2011

Computer games offer an extremely engaging experience and are an overwhelmingly popular pastime for today’s youth. As such, they make an attractive medium for educators seeking to utilise new media to create new engaging learning experiences and provide for those with special needs. Effective integration of game-play and education is extremely difficult to achieve. This problem has plagued the educational games industry since its inception. This chapter will examine this problem with reference to a study which attempts to utilise the motivational power of computer games to aid the education of some of the most challenging students; children who are exhibiting behavioural disorders (oppositional defiant behaviour, attention deficit). Such children can find it almost impossible to focus on traditional educational activities but will give the right computer game their full attention for extended periods. Computer games can engage these children, but can this power be utilised for more than entertainment?