bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Managing and Visualizing Unstructured Big Data
Authors: Mitra Ananda
Published: June 2017

One of the most common terms that is used in a significant amount of popular and scholarly discussion is “Big Data.” As pointed out earlier, the term has a dubious history and different people claim ownership (see, e.g., Mitra, 2014). What remains true of the notion of Big Data is that it exists. With the increasing rate at which institutions and individuals are digitizing many different kind of information the amount of data can only go up in volume. Therefore, Big Data has become an object of analysis for a variety of groups, from academics to marketers, all of whom are interested in understanding how Big Data could provide highly granular information about people.
Bioinspired Solutions for MEMS Tribology
Authors: Singh R. Arvind , Jayalakshmi S.
Published: June 2017

Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) are miniaturized devices that operate at small-scale. Actuators-based MEMS have not been commercially realized yet, owing to the manifestation of high surface forces such as adhesion and friction between their moving elements. In recent years, inspiration from ‘Lotus Effect' has opened a new direction in the field of micro/nano-tribology to manipulate/control surface forces at small-scale. The underlying principle discovered from the ‘super-hydrophobic nature' of the leaves of water-repellent plants has led to the design and development of various ‘biomimetic tribological surfaces' that exhibit remarkable reduction in surface forces under tribological contact. In this chapter are presented the tribological issues in MEMS devices, examples of conventional solutions for the tribological issues and unique ‘bioinspired solutions' that have great capability to mitigate surface forces at micro/nano-scales.
Reverse Engineering in Rehabilitation
Authors: Mikołajewska Emilia , Macko Marek , Szczepański Zbigniew , Mikołajewski Dariusz
Published: June 2017

Reverse engineering is relatively novel technology, which may revolutionize clinical practice in rehabilitation. This technology may constitute next step toward patient-tailored therapy, providing customized medical products increasing effectivity and accessibility of rehabilitation procedures and decreasing cost of manufacturing and time of delivery. Such opportunities need separate research, assessment of associated threats, and dedicated solutions. This article aims at investigating the extent to which the available opportunities in the area of application of reverse engineering in rehabilitation are being exploited, including own concepts, studies and observations.
Social Business Process Modeling
Authors: Yahya Fadwa , Boukadi Khouloud , Maamar Zakaria , Ben-Abdallah Hanêne
Published: June 2017

Capitalizing on Web 2.0 to improve communication and knowledge sharing among stakeholders, a new form of Business Processes (BP), called Social Business Processes (SBP), has emerged. This chapter provides a social business process meta-model called SBP2M that enriches an existing business process meta-model with social aspect. It also proposes a domain specific language (DSL) for SBP modeling. This DSL is defined based on SBP2M and developed as an extension of the standard BPMN notation. The proposed DSL is simple and yet generic thanks to the reduced number of extensions and its ability to model SBP regardless of the used Web 2.0 technology. To show the applicability of the proposed notation, we have implemented it within the BPMN2 modeler editor.
Serious Games in Entrepreneurship Education
Authors: Almeida Fernando , Simões Jorge
Published: June 2017

One of the main strategies for fostering the entrepreneurial mindset in students has been the development of training activities inside and outside classrooms using serious games. Our study makes a brief description regarding five serious games initiatives that intend to promote and facilitate entrepreneurship education for different educational stages. Furthermore, we discuss the main key benefits and challenges by the introduction of serious games in the learning process. We concluded by identifying that serious games have the potentiality of improving the learning process by providing an immersive experience for students that increases their motivation and potentiates the acquisition of multidisciplinary competencies. However, there are some challenges that should be properly considered and mitigated, namely in terms of assessing learning goals, integration with didactical systems and support for different styles of learning.
Continuous Assurance and the Use of Technology for Business Compliance
Authors: Marques Rui Pedro Figueiredo
Published: June 2017

In the current organizational context, in which there is a fierce competitiveness and a constant need for more timely, relevant and reliable information to support the decision making and achieve the strategic and operational objectives, Continuous Assurance has assumed an important role as a management goal and in ensuring improved effectiveness of organizations. This works provides the concept of Continuous Assurance, its objectives and components, and a model which allows both to evaluate information systems with Continuous Assurance services and to help design the requirements of new ones. Finally, some implementations are also presented providing a comprehensive understanding the state-of-the-art and the benefits of Continuous Assurance.
Sustainable Advantages of Business Value of Information Technology
Authors: Romero Jorge A.
Published: June 2017

The business value of information technology (IT) and the way to sustain advantages obtained through investment in IT has been a topic of interest in the last few years. It is important to understand the relationship of IT and its effects on business value, particularly the sustainable advantages that companies can obtain if they use IT to obtain a strategic differentiation and operating efficiency in relation to competitors. This chapter explores these sustainable advantages and their links to performance measures and firm strategies. This chapter will also help us understand the incremental contribution that companies can enjoy after the adoption of a new IT.
A Gamification Update to the Taxonomy of Technology and Mental Health
Authors: Marks Madeline R. , Tan Amanda C. , Bowers Clint
Published: June 2017

Mental health providers cannot ignore the importance of utilizing technology in this era of the “Internet of Things.” This chapter reaffirms the need for mental health providers and software developers to work in concert with each other when developing technology for mental health. We also articulate the importance of the patient and the patient's role in connecting technology into the equation. As researchers and practitioners, the goal should be to create technology that will encourage repeated and continuous use of said technology, and not just technology acceptance in order to move the field forward toward the provision of low-cost, effective mental health services.
Fault Tolerant Cloud Systems
Authors: Kumar Sathish , Balamurugan B
Published: June 2017

Cloud computing refers to a model for accessing computing resource like networks, servers, storage, applications and services by remotely. Cloud computing offers these resources as a service, namely infrastructure –as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, and software-as-a-service. To use these service two roles involved: the cloud provider offers the service and the cloud customer consumes the service. These resources are efficiently shared and utilized by customers and it is called workload. The requirement of workload depends on customer demands that vary from higher to lower. Based on the customer demand, cloud provider makes the resource available efficiently. In the context of cloud, the workload is based on web-based service or jobs processed in batch mode. The arrival process of jobs in the cloud is no often deterministic. The irregular increase or decrease in workload has a vital impact on resource provision. Monitoring the resources helps in measuring the performance of the cloud so that the resource can be provisioned to customers efficiently.
From Information Systems Outsourcing to Cloud Computing
Authors: Almunawar Mohammad Nabil , Almunawar Hasan Jawwad
Published: June 2017

We are witnessing the business prospects of cloud computing becoming apparent as many cloud computing services have been made available online. Previously, outsourcing of computing resources employs a third party to set up, develop and maintain the infrastructure within or outside the business organization. However, nowadays many business organizations all over the world see that outsourcing their computing resources through cloud computing is a highly viable option as it saves a business organization from the complicated setup and maintenance costs of computer infrastructure. There are three generally known types cloud computing, namely, public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud. There also three generally service models namely software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). This paper highlights the development of cloud computing technology, benefits and issues of outsourcing an organization's computing resources through cloud computing.
Service Quality and Perceived Value of Cloud Computing-Based Service Encounters
Authors: Egedigwe Eges
Published: June 2017

Cloud computing based technology is becoming increasingly popular as a way to deliver quality education to community colleges, universities and other organizations. At the same time, compared with other industries, colleges have been slow on implementing and sustaining cloud computing services on an institutional level because of budget constraints facing many large community colleges, in addition to other obstacles. Faced with this challenge, key stakeholders are increasingly realizing the need to focus on service quality as a measure to improve their competitive position in today's highly competitive environment. Considering the amount of study done with cloud computing in education, very little has been done in examining the needs and the satisfactions of the instructor customer. The purpose of this study is to examine the expectations and perceptions of instructors' usage of cloud computing based technology on overall quality of service (QoS) in their respective institutions of higher education.
3D Scanning and Simulation of a Hybrid Refrigerator Using Photovoltaic Energy
Authors: Morales Edith Obregón , Bueno José de Jesús Pérez , Esparza Juan Carlos Moctezuma , García Diego Marroquín , Pérez Arturo Trejo , Romero Roberto Carlos Flores , Ramírez Juan Manuel Olivares , López Maria Luisa Mendoza , Ulloa Juan Carlos Solís , Vong Yunny Meas , Obregón Víctor Hugo Rodríguez
Published: June 2017

In this chapter, a methodology that starts from the measurement and recording of real prototype geometries up to simulations to evaluate parameters, improvements or performance under various conditions is proposed. Here it is presented a case study of a solar powered refrigerator with storage capacity for 50 kg of fruit. The refrigerator comprises two systems, vapor-compression and Peltier. The methodology consisted in acquiring by a 3D laser scanner or Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) and in some small complex items using a 3D photogrammetry scanner. These data were transferred first as a CAD or SolidWorks® geometry and subsequently transferred to domains geometry useful for ANSYS or COMSOL simulation software. These models with high-resolution brings the simulations closer to real prototypes. As a source of direct information from the prototypes, thermal images obtained using a thermographic camera were taken. Also, wireless sensors were installed for temperature and humidity monitoring. The analyses of the energy efficiencies of both prototypes were performed.
Uniform Random Number Generation With Jumping Facilities
Authors: Chen E. Jack
Published: June 2017

A facility for generating sequences of pseudorandom numbers is a fundamental part of computer simulation systems. Furthermore, multiple independent streams of random numbers are often required in simulation studies, for instance, to facilitate synchronization for variance-reduction purposes, and for making independent replications. A portable set of software utilities is described for uniform random-number generation. It provides for multiple generators (streams) running simultaneously, and each generator (stream) has its sequence of numbers partitioned into many long disjoint contiguous substreams. Simple procedure calls allow the user to make any generator “jump” ahead/back v steps (random numbers). Implementation issues are discussed. An efficient and portable code is also provided to implement the package. The basic underlying generator CMRG (combined Multiple Recursive Generator) combines two multiple recursive random number generators with a period length of approximately 2191 (˜ 3.1× 1057), good speed, and excellent theoretical properties.
Particle Shape Analysis Using Digital Image Processing
Authors: Tannous Katia , Silva Fillipe de Souza
Published: June 2017

This chapter will discuss new software, Particles and Geometric Shapes Analyzer (APOGEO), aiming the determination of aspect ratio and sphericity of solid particles by image processing technique without any manual work. This software can quantify the major and minor axes correlating two or three dimensions of particles (e.g.: biomass, mineral, pharmaceutical and food products) to obtain their shape. The particles can be associated with different geometries such as, rectangular parallelepiped, cylinder, oblate and prolate spheroids, and irregular. The results are presented in histograms and tables, but also can be saved in a spreadsheet.
Measuring Text Readability Using Reading Level
Authors: Brewer James C.
Published: June 2017

Reading Grade Level calculations have been in use for over a century in the United States and have guided the selection of texts used in school programs. Government agencies at all levels, the military in its various branches, and editors of publications have found such formulas of use in setting policy or determining who can participate in programs. As readership is now a worldwide phenomenon with English as the primary language of the Internet, Reading Grade Level calculations can also be useful in creating Web pages and assigning reading texts to large multi-user classes (MOOCs) run over the Internet. In this regard, it is possible for faculty to be assured that the material is reachable to a wide audience by checking Reading Grade Level and providing additional guidance for the more difficult items in the form of discussion or focused questions. Authors can use the formulas as a tool to check the quality of their own writing and improve sections which are unnecessarily complex.
Cyber Security Protection for Online Gaming Applications
Authors: Zhao Wenbing
Published: June 2017

In this article, we point out the threats to online gaming applications and present two strategies that can be used to build secure and dependable online gaming applications. These strategies not only seek the solution for gathering entropy to seed the PRNG used in such applications, but also intend to eliminate malicious intrusions to protect the seed and to maintain replica consistency. By applying these techniques, the online gaming applications can ensure its service integrity (both the service providers and the innocent players are protected) and guarantee high availability despite the presence of Byzantine faults. Finally, we outline some open research issues in this field.
Ensemble Clustering Data Mining and Databases
Authors: Wierzchon Slawomir T.
Published: June 2017

Standard clustering algorithms employ fixed assumptions about data structure. For instance, the k-means algorithm is applicable for spherical and linearly separable data clouds. When the data come from multidimensional normal distribution – so-called EM algorithm can be applied. But in practice the assumptions underlying given set of observations are too complex to fit into a single assumption. We can split these assumptions into manageable hypothesis justifying the use of particular clustering algorithms. Then we must aggregate partial results into a meaningful description of our data. The consensus clustering do this task. In this article we clarify the idea of consensus clustering, and we present conceptual frames for such a compound analysis. Next the basic approaches to implement consensus procedure are given. Finally, some new directions in this field are mentioned.
The Concept of the Shapley Value and the Cost Allocation Between Cooperating Participants
Authors: Kolker Alexander
Published: June 2017

The goal of this chapter is to illustrate two mathematical game theory concepts for allocating costs (savings) between cooperating participants, specifically in healthcare settings. These concepts are the nucleolus and the Shapley value. The focus of this chapter is on the practical application of the Shapley value for the cost sharing within the bundled payments model for the episodes of care mandated recently by the Center for Medicare Services (CMS). The general Shapley value methodology is illustrated, as well as an important particular case in which each participant uses only a portion of the largest participant's asset (the so-called airport game). The intended readers are primarily leaders of organizations and hospitals involved in the implementation of the CMS mandated bundled payment model for the episodes of care.
Decision Filed Theory
Authors: Shao Lan , Markkula Jouni
Published: June 2017

Human decision making theories and formal models are increasingly used for developing advanced ICT based intelligent systems and services. Decision Filed Theory (DFT) is one of the decision making theories that has significant potential for practical applications in real-world decision making situations. Successful empirical studied have shown that DFT theory is able to explain human decision making behaviour in real situations and the model can be applied as a basis for ICT system and service design. In this article, we present the results of a Systematic Literature Review that we conducted for analysing and synthesizing the evidence of DFT development and its validated usage in different application areas. The results show that the interest in DFT and its applications has grown strongly during the last years. The basic model has been extended to cover more complex decision making situations and its applications have been widening.
Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Analysis to Evaluate Information -Based Decision-Making
Authors: Hu Nan
Published: June 2017

Business operators and stakeholders often need to make decisions such as choosing between A and B, or between yes and no, and these decisions are often made by using a classification tool or a set of decision rules. Decision tools usually include scoring systems, predictive models, and quantitative test modalities. In this chapter, we introduce the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and demonstrate, through an example of bank decision on granting loans to customers, how ROC curves can be used to evaluate decision making for information based decision making. In addition, an extension to time-dependent ROC analysis is introduced in this chapter. We conclude this chapter by illustrating the application of ROC analysis in information based decision making and providing the future trends of this topic.
Digital Literacy for the 21st Century
Authors: Spires Hiller A. , Medlock Paul Casey , Kerkhoff Shea N.
Published: June 2017

Before the Internet was an integral part of life, Paul Gilster (1997) defined digital literacy as the “ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers” (p. 1). Thus, digital literacy involves any number of digital reading and writing techniques across multiple media forms. These media include words, texts, visual displays, motion graphics, audio, video, and multimodal forms. There are myriad cognitive processes at play, along a continuum from consumption to production when a reader is immersed with digital content as well as with print text. The purpose of this chapter is to (a) define digital literacy from multiple theoretical viewpoints, (b) illustrate how the definition continues to evolve in light of emerging technologies, and (c) discuss the cognitive, social, and affective dimensions of digital literacy as it is a key requirement in contemporary K-12 education.
Teaching Media and Information Literacy in the 21st Century
Authors: Gretter Sarah , Yadav Aman
Published: June 2017

In our hyper-connected era, individuals are constantly exposed to images and information that shape our digital culture. Possessing the competencies to understand how information is conveyed in our daily lives can therefore empower citizens to recognize its functions and effects on human communication. This chapter looks at the importance of Media & Information Literacy for individuals in the 21st century. It provides a brief history of the concept, as well as a detailed exploration of the competencies that compose it. It also refers to the role that educators play in its instruction and concludes with recommendations for teachers to start embedding MIL principles in their teaching.
Computer Agent Technologies in Collaborative Learning and Assessment
Authors: Rosen Yigal
Published: June 2017

In recognition of the importance of collaborative and problem solving skills, educators are realizing the need for effective and scalable learning and assessment solutions to promote the skillset in educational systems. In the settings of a comprehensive collaborative problem solving assessment, each student should be matched with various types of group members and must apply the skills in varied contexts and tasks. One solution to these assessment demands is to use computer-based (virtual) agents to serve as the collaborators in the interactions with students. The chapter presents the premises and challenges in the use of computer agents in the assessment of collaborative problem solving and describes how human and computer agent collaborative assessments are used in international learning and assessment project Animalia.
Use of Bitcoin for Internet Trade
Authors: Khalil Sadia , Masood Rahat , Shibli Muhammad Awais
Published: June 2017

Bitcoin is considered to be the world's first peer to peer and unregulated crypto-currency which has received widespread popularity in the last few years. It is issued and controlled by the members of the Bitcoin system. The success of Bitcoin has spurred the launch of many other crypto-currencies. Despite being widely adopted by various large scale businesses, Bitcoin transactions are still exposed to many known as well as zero-day attacks due to various vulnerabilities being exploited by the malicious entities. In order to achieve reliable and secure transactions, extensive research needs to be carried out to critically examine Bitcoin architecture and its level of security. In this regard, this chapter presents a holistic analysis of Bitcoin architecture and a survey of the attacks prevalent to its transactions. As an evaluation of the Bitcoin system, a comparison of different crypto-currencies has been presented, based on their features, possible attacks, disadvantages and the advantages which they possess over Bitcoin.
Determining Impact of Demographics on Perceived Service Quality in Online Retail
Authors: Kalia Prateek , Law Penny , Arora Richa
Published: June 2017

This research starts with a premise, whether significant difference in perceived service quality (PSQ) exist within demographic characteristics of online shoppers, such as education, age, gender, monthly income, occupation and marital status. Web survey has been administered to 308 online shoppers of four most popular e-retailers in India, who have made at least one online purchase in past six months. Hypotheses have been formulated on the basis of panoptic literature review of six demographic factors i.e. education, age, income, occupation, marital status and gender. Kruskal-Wallis (H Test) and Mann-Whitney Test have been used to check difference in PSQ within different demographic factors. No significant difference in PSQ within different demographic factors has been found, except within different occupational categories. Subsequent post hoc test elucidated significant difference within business-service and business-student groups, however there was no significant difference within service-student groups.
Integrating Content Authentication Support in Media Services
Authors: Katsaounidou Anastasia , Dimoulas Charalampos
Published: June 2017

The present chapter investigates content authentication strategies and their use in media practice. Remarkable research progress has been conducted on media veracity methods and algorithms, however, without providing that much straightforward tools to users involved in real-world applications. Hence, there is an urgent need for further supporting content verification by exploiting all the available methods in properly integrated online environments, forming a Media Authentication Network. On-demand training (and feedback) on these technologies is considered of major importance, enabling users to collaborate with media and forgery experts towards adoption, refinement and widespread dissemination of best practices. Better comprehension of the involved tools and algorithms would propel their broad exploitation in practice, gaining valuable feedback for further improvements. Thus, a continuously updated online repository, containing documented examples, learning resources and media veracity tools, could be adaptively accommodated, better supporting various users and applications needs.
Entrepreneurship as the Vantage Point
Authors: Kamakula Madhu Kishore Raghunath Raghunath , Patro Chandra Sekhar
Published: June 2017

Entrepreneurship is the impetus for development of any nation. Entrepreneurship is a revolution to ignite the minds of low spirited youth and would be considered as a means to revolutionize enterprises. Industrialization and entrepreneurship go on same lines as the former created foundation for current modernized Indian enterprises, so does later. ‘Ideas are many but execution is a cup of few'. There are many people who come up with different ideas at every point, but entrepreneurs are the one who pull off rabbit out of the magic hat. In today's world, entrepreneurship has become an act of inspiration which eventually have a compounding effect on society, benefiting the mankind. India is going through a new phase where one is going to witnesses old wine in a new bottle i.e., start-ups, which is nothing but an act of entrepreneurship, being the vantage point to all businesses. The purpose of the chapter is to articulate the potential importance the word entrepreneurship holds and the tools of IT used in entrepreneurial development.
Load Flow Analysis in Smart Grids
Authors: Hasan Osman , Mahmood Awais , Hasan Syed Rafay
Published: June 2017

Load flow analysis is widely used to estimate the flow of various electrical parameters, such as the voltage, current and power, in power grids. These estimates allow us to effectively and reliably manage the given grid under random and uncertain conditions. Given the enormous amount of randomness and uncertainties in the factors that affect the smart grids, compared to traditional power grids, a complete and rigorous load flow analysis holds a vital role in ensuring the reliability of this safety-critical domain. In this chapter, we describe smart grids in terms of their basic components and then categorize the factors that affect the loads in smart grids. This is followed by a comprehensive survey of various existing load flow analysis techniques, i.e., numerical, computational intelligence and probabilistic.
The Morality of Reporting Safety Concerns in Aviation
Authors: Tani Kawtar
Published: June 2017

Previous investigation into the morality of actions suggested that individuals' level of cognitive moral development, strongly influences their decisions regarding what is right or wrong, and focuses upon the rights, duties and obligations involved in a particular ethical situation. Using the cognitive moral development framework, this research sought to explore the moral reasoning behind aviation employees' intentions to report wrongdoing in the aviation context. Findings indicated that a significant association between participants' intentions to intervene in a wrongdoing situation, and their level of moral reasoning exists. Specifically, the modal level of participants' moral reasoning was consistent with the Conventional level of moral theories, and was higher for participants who stated that they would intervene, than for participants who stated they would not intervene in a wrongdoing situation.
Application of Fuzzy Numbers to Assessment Processes
Authors: Voskoglou Michael
Published: June 2017

A Fuzzy Number (FN) is a special kind of FS on the set R of real numbers. The four classical arithmetic operations can be defined on FNs, which play an important role in fuzzy mathematics analogous to the role played by the ordinary numbers in crisp mathematics (Kaufmann & Gupta, 1991). The simplest form of FNs is the Triangular FNs (TFNs), while the Trapezoidal FNs (TpFNs) are straightforward generalizations of the TFNs. In the present work a combination of the COG defuzzification technique and of the TFNs (or TpFNs) is used as an assessment tool. Examples of assessing student problem-solving abilities and basket-ball player skills are also presented illustrating in practice the results obtained. This new fuzzy assessment method is validated by comparing its outcomes in the above examples with the corresponding outcomes of two commonly used assessment methods of the traditional logic, the calculation of the mean values and of the Grade Point Average (GPA) index. Finally, the perspectives of future research on the subject are discussed.
Application of Gamification to Blended Learning in Higher Education
Authors: Jaipal-Jamani Kamini , Figg Candace
Published: June 2017

Digital game-based learning (DGBL) has been identified as an effective digital teaching strategy to foster 21st century learning. The inclusion of digital game-based learning in instruction is challenging for educators to structure in higher education learning environments, often because of the lack of coherence with curriculum. Gamification is a recent DGBL strategy that enables the instructor to incorporate the motivational and engagement elements of games in ways that can be adapted to curriculum requirements. Gamification, supported with digital technologies such as web-based tools and learning management systems, offer the instructor the benefits of both face-to-face traditional instruction and online learning. An example of how blended learning in higher education incorporates gamification is presented. Study findings indicate that the blended gamified learning environment motivated learners and promoted cognitive, skill, and attitude development.
Towards Modelling Effective Educational Games Using Multi-Domain Framework
Authors: Ahmad Mifrah , Rahim Lukman Ab , Osman Kamisah , Arshad Noreen Izza
Published: June 2017

Game-based learning (GBL) has dominantly become an emerging teaching industry in 21st century. To provide an effective development of educational games (EG) with assurance of effectiveness; modelling and design methods are highlighted. To model EG, game developers must understand existing element's interaction and relationships. The elements of EG have been documented in many literature, however, the relationships are not well documented. Hence, this research has established these relationships by conducting a literature survey and identifying the relationships between different elements. Consequently, they are validated by eight game-based learning experts via qualitative methods and the validation results are interpreted using hermeneutics method of the interpretivism paradigm. In this chapter, we present the relationships that we found most crucial to validate since they have the least literature evidence. With the relationships identified and documented, game developers will have better understanding of the interaction between each elements and can produce better models of EG.
Women and IT in Lilongwe
Authors: Nyamundundu Alice Violet
Published: June 2017

The purpose of this paper was to investigate and describe why women in Malawi and Africa at large are underrepresented in IT despite the wide spread availability of IT either through cell phones, institutions and general computer hardware and software. Gender discriminates women in education and world of work. The gender issue is all rooted, promoted and strengthened in cultural beliefs. Literature reveals that for their part, African women have internalized the so called inferiority position through their culture and society. Critiques of these beliefs commonly agree that there is need for mental rewiring on gender equity roles. Women need to believe in themselves and shun the positional gender differences which are causing severe imbalances in education and workplaces across Africa. The findings led to the overarching conclusion that African culture is not really changing with the times and it pushes women on the edge. One recommendation will be arrived at, there is need to include to a larger scale gender equity and justice system in education and workplaces across Africa.
E-Government Service Adoption and the Impact of Privacy and Trust
Authors: Iqbal Mehree , Nisha Nabila , Rifat Afrin
Published: June 2017

E-Government helps government to accomplish daily administrative activities and provides an easier way to communicate with external entities such as citizens and businesses through utilization of an online portal. Although adoption of e-Government is potentially a route to provision of better services to citizens, it is not clear that citizens will embrace the use of such services, particularly in developing countries. This is because citizens are often concerned about the use of technology due to lack of privacy and trust for any such online transactions. As such, the success and acceptance of e-Government initiatives are contingent upon citizens' willingness to adopt these services. This chapter thus aims to investigate factors that can influence the future use intentions and adoption of e-Government services in Bangladesh by employing the UTAUT model with the proposed constructs of privacy and trust. Findings of this study and implications for research and practice have been discussed.
Technology and Terror
Authors: Korstanje Maximiliano Emanuel , Skoll Geoffrey
Published: June 2017

The present chapter discusses to what extent rationality plays a leading role not only in forming a culture of fear in western societies, but paves the ways for undemocratic attitudes and reactions. Our founding parents envisaged a world where progress, rationality, and technology played a vital role in building a better place to live. They never imagined the effects of 9/11 nor the financial market and stock crisis in 2008. The rise of uncertainty as a main cultural value of contemporary society raised the question of how much technology facilitated the evolution towards a more pacific, fairer, and safer world. We have witnessed how 9/11 strengthened a process of securitization where high technology was used to surveille citizens, accompanied by ethical dilemmas as illustrated by the Edward Snowden case. David Lyon (2003) points to the public spaces of airports, city squares, and restaurants which are monitored by digital cameras and biometric technology. Securitization has reinforced authorities' trust in technology while terrorist attacks continue across the globe.
Electronic Health Record (EHR) Diffusion and an Examination of Physician Resistance
Authors: MacIver Kristen , Ngafeeson Madison N.
Published: June 2017

Since the enactment of the United States Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009, there has been substantial progress in the diffusion of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems in medical clinics throughout the United States. Many physicians, however, continue to resist adopting EHR technology despite several accepted, long-term benefits and available government sponsored financial incentives. The objective of this article is to provide insight into the question as to why physicians are resistant to adopting EHR technology. This article details several of the benefits of EHR systems and uses a systematic review of literature to critically analyze and detail the most common perceived physician barriers to the adoption of EHRs. With the awareness of the major physician barriers to the adoption of EHR technology, stakeholders and policy makers can address barriers and pursue actions to mitigate or reduce physician resistance to achieve nationwide diffusion targets and pursue initiatives to digitize all patient records.
A Study on Extensive Reading in Higher Education
Authors: Presadă Diana , Badea Mihaela
Published: June 2017

As practicing university teachers, we have noticed that students tend to focus exclusively on syllabus reading materials ignoring reading for pleasure outside the classroom. Rarely taught in ordinary university classes, extensive reading skills may play an important part in the foreign language teaching and learning process. Given these facts, we have decided to pilot an extensive reading program at academic level, the ultimate aim being to implement it in the future. Therefore, the purposes of the paper are to discover students' attitude towards extensive reading and to assess the results of the pilot as reflected in their opinions with a view to conceiving a large-scale future reading program. The study attempts to shed light on the issues triggered by the introduction of such a program into the curriculum of philological students, being mainly concerned with the practical side of the phenomenon and highlighting the interdependence between our findings and the latest theories in the field.
Augmented Reality for Tourist Destination Image Formation
Authors: Hassan Azizul
Published: June 2017

In principle, the application of technology is unprecedentedly increasing for destination image formation and Augmented Reality (AR) can be a primal example in such context. This conceptual paper synthesizes the functionalities of AR in tourism destination image formation. This study explores AR application aspects for tourism destination image formation while, placing them in an emerging tourism economy perspective with Bangladesh as the example. A critical explanation generated from reviewing the current literature is offered. Results determine interrelatedness between tourist destination image formation and AR application. In the emerging tourism market scenario, the possibilities of AR application are unlimited but, the policy and structural capacities remain largely inadequate. Study upshots also show that, this technology convincingly creates better perceptions leading to positive tourist destination image.
Fifty Shades of Dark Stories
Authors: Kuznik Lea
Published: June 2017

Dark tourism is a special type of tourism, which involves visits to tourist attractions and destinations that are associated with death, suffering, disasters and tragedies venues. Reasons and motives for the visit are varied such as curiosity, learning, memory, horror, survival guilt, nostalgia and empathy. Dark tourism in Slovenia is very poorly developed comparing to the world. Therefore the paper proposes a typology of dark tourism heritage in the world and in Slovenia. The research based on in-depth analysis of literature and fieldwork give a variety of new opportunities based on storytelling for development future dark tourism products in Slovenia with emphasis on the design of dark and innovative thematic trail in connection with witchcraft.
Affect-Sensitive Computer Systems
Authors: Thompson Nik , McGill Tanya , Murray David
Published: June 2017

Affective computing is the broad domain encompassing all of the hardware, software and underlying theoretical models underpinning the development of affect sensitive computer systems. Such systems facilitate more intuitive, natural computer interfaces by enabling the communication of the user's emotional state. Despite rapid growth in recent years, affective computing is still an under-explored field, which holds promise to be a valuable direction for future software development. Human-computer interaction has traditionally been dominated by the information processing metaphor and as a result, interaction between the computer and the user is generally unidirectional and asymmetric. The next generation of computer interfaces aim to address this gap in communication and create interaction environments that support the motivational and affective goals of the user.
Creative Collaborative Virtual Environments
Authors: Eustáquio Luís , Carneiro de Sousa Catarina
Published: June 2017

The authors propose to define Creative Collaborative Virtual Environments (CCVEs), as platforms for collaborative and distributed creation in online communities. This will be established by examining virtual worlds as agents of change towards new creative and collaborative models. CCVEs are grounded on three key elements: creation, collaboration, and distribution. These relate not only to the technical, but also to the social layers of virtual online communities. Shared creativity and distributed authorship are approached as examples of specific dynamics rooted upon these three elements. The concept of CCVE is important to the design of emerging virtual worlds, specifically regarding the preservation of affordances for collaborative creativity. Discussion based on these observations demonstrates how collaborative creation of new content and meaning takes place in CCVEs, and how they transform communicative and creative agency in digital communities.
Cyberbullying
Authors: Marzano Gilberto
Published: June 2017

Cyberbullying is a new, alarming, and evil phenomenon closely connected with relational changes that new technologies are causing in contemporary society. It consists in using the Internet to harass, threaten, and harm individuals who are the weakest and most vulnerable. Victims of cyberbullying are mightily children and adolescents. In fact, young people are immersed in new digital technologies and use them without knowing their implications. In fact, there isn't the Internet for children and the Internet for adults. Both adults and children use the same devices, tools, and ways of communicating and interacting.
Developing Creativity and Learning Design by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Developing Contexts
Authors: Zhou Chunfang , Purushothaman Aparna
Published: June 2017

This chapter has two aims: 1) to bridge the link between creativity, learning, information ecology and community of practice that underpins the theoretical necessity of contextual user-centered approach to learning design by ICT in developing contexts; and 2) to specifically discuss how a Human Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D) based on learning design can be applied to provide the practical instrument for building creative learning environment in developing contexts. Theoretically, the chapter will build a new framework by using three prominent theories: creativity theories, information ecology and theory of communities of practice. This chapter also has practical contributions to offer developmental scholars and project managers a vocabulary to address the process and learning issues in both formal and informal learning environments and opening up new ways for understanding creativity, learning and usages of ICT in a developmental context.
Mediated Embodiment in New Communication Technologies
Authors: Aymerich-Franch Laura
Published: June 2017

Advanced communication technologies, such as virtual reality or certain types of robots, are able to induce the illusion of adopting a surrogate body as the own body. The sense of owning an artificial body, technologically mediated, in which one perceives to be located, is introduced as mediated embodiment. The concept has not been carefully conceptualized or clearly distinguished from other acceptations of embodiment, coming from a wide range of disciplines. A definition is provided which narrows the concept to accurately describe the experience of embodiment in new communication technologies. In addition, the text gathers the closest constructs related to embodiment in the Communication literature, reviews the most important studies on mediated embodiment, provides potential approaches to its study, and outlines the direction that this field of study is taking.
Online Information Retrieval Systems Trending From Evolutionary to Revolutionary Approach
Authors: Wani Zahid Ashraf , Shafiq Huma
Published: June 2017

Nowadays we are all relying on cyberspace for our information needs. We make use of different types of search tools one is varying in features and indexing depth other. Some of them have specialization in a specific format or two, while few can crawl good portion of web irrespective of formats. Therefore it is very imperative for information professionals to have thorough understandings of these tools. As such the chapter is an endeavor to delve deep and highlight various trends in online information retrieval from primitive to modern ones. Besides, the module also made an effort to envisage the future requirements and expectation keeping in view the ever-increasing dependence on diverse species of information retrieval tools.
Exploring New Handwriting Parameters for Writer Identification
Authors: Aubin Verónica Inés , Doorn Jorge Horacio
Published: June 2017

The automatic processing of handwriting samples is part of the computational biometric. It applies qualitative and quantitative techniques by means of capturing, visualizing and analyzing handwriting. The main applications are writer identification and text understanding. Two significantly different situations appear: on line and off line data capturing. In the former the samples are obtained in a dedicated framework, where the writing instrument and the surface have several sensors. In the latter, the unique information available comes from the residues left on the paper. This chapter deals with the second situation. Width, grey value, direction and other parameters of the residual manuscript text are influenced by the psychomotor characteristics of the writer. Some of these personal parameters may be estimated from the observable properties of the written text.
The Skills of European ICT Specialists
Authors: Sgobbi Francesca
Published: June 2017

After a brief survey of the international literature on skill-related issues that may either support or threaten the further development of ICT-based applications this article provides a picture of the state-of-the-art of the professional skills supplied by ICT specialists in 11 EU countries based on data from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. The first part of the empirical analysis focuses on the skills profile of ICT personnel from EU countries and examines to what extent the higher skills displayed by ICT specialists depend on a different distribution of demographic characteristics and job characteristics compared to the rest of the workforce. The second part of the empirical analysis focuses on the relationship between skills and wages and tests whether employers recognize an occupation-specific wage premium to ICT specialists. The results of the proposed empirical analyses confirm the existence of significant differences between skill profiles and earnings determinants of ICT specialists compared to other workers.