bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Architecture of Service Systems as the Framework for the Definition of Service Science Scope
Authors: Targowski Andrew
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this study is to define generic service processes, their system, and a scope of service science developed originally by the author. In the presented approach, the main criterion is the class of serviced users, since this leads to the six kinds of process recognition and eventually helps in planning e-service systems’ architecture. E-service system (e-SS) is defined as a mission-goal-strategy-driven configuration of technology, organizational processes and networks designed to deliver HTservicesTH that satisfy the needs, wants, or aspirations of customers. Marketing, operations, and global environment considerations have significant implications for the design of an e-service system. Four criteria which impact e-service systems’ architecture have been defined as: service business model, customer contact and level of involvement (Service User Interface), service provider’s enterprise complexity (Enterprise Systems and Networks), and scope of goods involved in service. It was proved that the e-service system is the intermediary layer between Service User Interface and Enterprise Systems and Networks. Two examples of e-SS have been modeled.
A Survey of Development Methods for Semantic Web Service Systems
Authors: Wahl Terje , Sindre Guttorm
Published: May 2011

Semantic web services (SWS) hold the promise of enabling dynamic discovery of candidate web services fitting a particular specified need. One interesting question is what impact this will have on software and systems engineering methods – will mainstream methods like RUP still be suitable, or will new or adapted methods be needed? This article surveys the state-of-the-art in methods specifically tailored for the engineering of SWS systems, looking at development methods trying to cover the entire lifecycle as well as methods covering only one or two phases. Some of the surveyed methods are specifically meant to deal with semantics, others are for the engineering of service-oriented systems in general. The survey reveals that there are many proposals being made in this area, some extensions of mainstream methods like RUP, others more experimental
A Service Science Perspective on Human-Computer Interface Issues of Online Service Applications
Authors: Pinhanez Claudio
Published: May 2011

This paper proposes a framework for online service applications based on Service Science which identifies and enables a better understanding of the different issues faced by online service designers, engineers, and delivery personnel. The application of the Service Science framework is made possible by carefully distinguishing online service applications not only from traditional personal software applications but also from online information applications, such as the ones used by news and entertainment websites, through a process of specializing Pinhanez’s definition of customer-intensive systems (Pinhanez, 2008) to online applications. To demonstrate the utility of the framework, we consider the six basic characteristics of services, as traditionally defined in Service Science — customer-as-input, heterogeneity, simultaneity, perishability, coproduction, and intangibility — and derive from these characteristics a list of 15 different issues that are highly important for the design and evaluation of the human-computer interface of online services.
Toward an Integrated Conceptualization of the Service and Service System Concepts
Authors: Mora Manuel , Raisinghani Mahesh S. , O’Connor Rory , Gelman Ovsei
Published: May 2011

Service and service systems concepts are fundamental constructs for the development of the emergent SSME, ITSM, and Service Oriented Software (SOS) knowledge streams. A diversified literature has provided a richness of findings, but at the same time, the lack of standardized conceptualizations is a source of confusion to IT practitioners and academics. Given this problematic situation, we pose that a systems approach is useful to address it. In this article, we review and synthesize key studies in these knowledge streams to design: (i) a framework to characterize both concepts under a system view and, (ii) harmonized definitions (e.g. identification of shared and essential properties) for such fundamental concepts. Our main contribution is scholastic, but we are confident that the posed conceptual artifacts can be further used to elaborate standardized definition for the IT service and IT service system constructs, as well as analysis tools for describe real service systems.
IT Service Personnel
Authors: Cater-Steel Aileen
Published: May 2011

IT service management best practice frameworks such as the IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®) aim to improve the quality of service to customers. This study reports on recent surveys and case studies of organizations which have embarked on IT service management improvement. It highlights specific difficulties experienced by organizations in changing the orientation of staff to customer service rather than technology. Six factors were found to be critical in achieving an effective service-oriented philosophy. The factors are support from senior management; the threat or opportunity to outsource IT services; integration of processes to provide end-to-end service; involvement of business stakeholders; culture change of IT staff to service excellence; and the redesign of processes prior to investing in tools.
Podcasting – Past, Present and Future
Authors: Lomicka Lara , Lord Gillian
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores current and potential pedagogical applications of academic podcasting in K-12 and higher education language learning classrooms. In order to fulfill the purpose of the chapter, it is composed of three primary sections: (1) Where we’ve been - a review of published research on podcasting; (2) Where we are - an investigation of what current teachers and researchers are doing with podcasting in their language classes based on survey results; and (3) Where we’re going - an assessment of future trends and applications. After reading the chapter, the reader should be eager to continue to explore the applications of academic podcasting in the language classroom.
Simulating Immersion
Authors: Martín Mario Daniel , Beckmann Elizabeth A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the genesis, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative approach to the intensive use of Academic Podcasting Technology (APT) in the teaching of Spanish to undergraduates at the Australian National University from 2007 to 2009. Students became active users and producers of Spanish language podcasts in a simulated immersion environment. Integrating APT into the educational design of two thematic courses created authentic and engaging socio-cultural contexts for language use while meeting students’ needs for resource accessibility and mobility. Pioneering and exciting in its conception and outcomes, this approach has received very positive feedback from students, and provides a pedagogically-sound model for the effective use of APT in immersive-style language teaching.
iStudyAbroad
Authors: Murphy-Judy Kathryn
Published: May 2011

Students studying abroad already don’t leave home without their mobile devices—phones, MP3 players, netbooks, laptops. The potential for m-learning for these device-toting learners holds great promise that can easily be capitalized upon by the savvy teacher. Learners studying abroad who are outfitted with m-learning devices which include well-chosen Web 2.0 resources derive immediate and long range benefits. Furthermore, when organized to communicate with learners back home, the travelers help create a transnational community of practice that shares the wealth of the experiential learning. This chapter takes a tour of mobile learning technologies and techniques that enhance and extend the study abroad experience far beyond the reach of a small group fortunate enough to travel. As has long been the case with CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) and TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning), and now with MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning), experts note that well-chosen resources, along with carefully structured and planned activities, enhance various aspects of language acquisition and social interaction. After the literature review, this chapter considers lessons gleaned from the author’s trails, trials, and errors across a range of technologies and borders. It ends with suggestions for ways to optimize iStudyAbroad today and tomorrow.
Patterns as an Analysis Framework to Document and Foster Excellent E-Learning Designs
Authors: Kohls Christian
Published: May 2011

Patterns capture whole forms of good design. The question is, what makes a part whole and how can we analyze complex situations into self-contained patterns that can be re-used in new scenarios? In order to give an answer, this chapter first investigates the unfolding of structures into patterns. The gestalt principle that the sum is more than its parts is a ubiquitous concept in pattern theory. In this chapter, the importance of wholeness and organized structures is outlined. It is argued that the instances of a design pattern belong to a form category where the members share a characteristic structure with emergent gestalt qualities, rather than an abstract set of features. The symmetry of pattern instances needs to be described in a specific way that does not reduce the million ways in which a pattern can occur to an abstract representation. In order to be generative, a pattern description must describe the design space. Design patterns describe the variation, as well as the creation of forms, their constraints, and limits. Yet, patterns go beyond the mere description of forms. They also discuss the meaning of forms by interpreting them as solutions to problems. Different levels of problem types, their relation to forces, and multiple views on solutions will be discussed. The chapter will give an answer to why there are so many different description formats and show that they are all about capturing and analyzing whole forms.
On the Implications of the Social Web Environment for Pedagogical Patterns
Authors: Kamthan Pankaj
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the impact of the Social Web in enabling human-to-human communication during the production and management of patterns. To do that, two conceptual models, one aimed towards understanding the stakeholders of patterns, and the other for a pattern production process are proposed. The role of the stakeholders in carrying out the different workflows of a pattern production process is elaborated. In doing so, the prospects and concerns presented by the technologies/applications underlying the Social Web are highlighted.
Legal Issues in the Use of Technology in Higher Education
Authors: Guest Charles L. , Guest Joyce M.
Published: May 2011

In recent years, explosive growth in the use of technology in higher education has resulted in numerous changes to institutional policy and practice. This chapter is focused upon two technology-related issues, copyright and privacy, that have had a significant impact on such policy and practice. The chapter includes a brief review of the historical context, of the legal dimensions, and of current practice related to these issues. As is also reflected in the body of literature on these topics, a heavier emphasis is placed on copyright.
Assistive Technology in Higher Education
Authors: Asselin Susan B.
Published: May 2011

Assistive technology makes a task possible for an individual with a disability, while technology makes a task easier for a non-disabled person. Increasing enrollments of students with disabilities have challenged our institutions to provide opportunities to participate in higher education by having access to assistive technologies and universally designed instruction. Provision of accessible learning environments is a shared responsibility between disability services, information technology, and faculty. College students find themselves in an environment where they encounter negative attitudes and a need to self advocate for critical support services to insure access to learning. Recent trends hold promise for removing these barriers including universal design in instruction, mandated web accessibility, multiple technologies for e-learning, universal accessibility of learning tools, and opportunities for professional development of faculty and staff.
The Impact of Technology on Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education
Authors: Van Haneghan James P.
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the impact of technology on assessment and evaluation in higher education. The impacts on classroom, program, and organizational assessment are discussed. Both formative and summative assessments in classrooms have been impacted by emerging technologies. However, the impact of many of the technological tools developed by measurement specialists has not been as widespread as one would expect given the age of many assessment technologies. Nevertheless, there remains a great potential for new measurement technologies to significantly improve classroom assessment practices. Technology for organizational assessment has continued to boom in light of the dual push for both accountability and continuous improvement by accreditors. The social impacts and burden of organizational assessment and evaluation are discussed. Overall, it is concluded that in order to evaluate the impact of technology, attention needs to be paid to the consequences of both classroom and organization assessment.
The Future of Online Learning in Higher Education
Authors: Jones Marshall G. , Harmon Stephen W.
Published: May 2011

This chapter addresses the future of online learning and online learning technologies in higher education. Our understanding of the use of future technologies can be aided by a better understanding of how we have addressed the use of technologies in our past and in our present. A brief history of the use of technology in teaching and learning serves as a catalyst for a discussion of the near term, mid-range and far term technologies and possible issues associated with them. The authors propose that keeping the focus on human learning instead of specific tools will help higher education take full advantage of online learning in the near and far term future.
Factors Influencing Students Intention to Take Web-Based Courses in a College Environment
Authors: Nemati Hamid , Thompson Marcia
Published: May 2011

The growing use of a web-based environment for college education is gradually replacing some aspects of the classroom in a University setting, and it is shifting the long accepted paradigm of understanding how students learn and introduces the question of what influences a student’s decision to learn in an online environment. In a web-based course, students gain a level of interaction with the material not possible in the classroom, yet lose other components that are only available in a physical environment. Educators struggle to determine what influences a student to take web-based college courses, and how they best learn in that environment. This study proposes that the student’s learning style, their self-efficacy and self-regulation when it comes to learning, and their expectations regarding online classes, are all factors in their choice to take web-based college courses. To validate this, students currently taking college level courses were surveyed and their responses analyzed. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]
ICT Integration Efforts in Higher Education in Developing Economies
Authors: Tibebu Dawit , Bandyopadhyay Tridib , Negash Solomon
Published: May 2011

A situational modified version of Tearle’s model (2004) is utilized in this study to understand the integration of ICTs in the educational process. The study evaluated self efficacy beliefs, institutional support and policy in the context of developing economies where challenges of inadequate resources and insufficient skills persist. We assess the state of affairs, and the challenges faced by teachers and management at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. The results show that educators are generally appreciative of ICTs role in the teaching/learning process. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]
Examining Technological Disparities and Instructional Practices in English Language Arts Classroom
Authors: Song Holim , Kidd Terry , Owens Emiel
Published: May 2011

A considerable amount of research has been conducted about technological disparity within various classroom instructional practices; yet educators have concerned about the chronic underachievement of students in urban school settings. In order for technology to have its greatest impact on our educational system, teachers and student must not only access to technology, but access to technology in a contextual matter that is culturally relevant, responsive and meaningful to their educational practice. Results of this study revealed that socioeconomic status of the school still plays an important role in how well teacher are trained and their ability to integrate technology in the classroom. This study provides a platform for discussion on technology and instructional practices within urban school and to offer recommendations as we begin to rethink technological disparities and the intentional and unintentional affects on instructional practices.
Business Report Writing Students’ Perceptions of Their Ability to Succeed in an Online Environment vs. Students’ Performance in an Online Course
Authors: Wilkinson Kelly , Crews Tena B.
Published: May 2011

The trend for online courses and programs continues to expand as today’s learners request an anytime, anywhere learning environment. To design effective online learning, data must be collected to review students’ perceptions of their ability to succeed in an online environment and their performance in online courses. This manuscript describes an experimental research study conducted with business report writing students in a College of Business. The control group was taught in a traditional classroom setting and the experimental group was taught in a blended learning environment. Students had a high level of perception of their technology abilities and ability to be successful in an online environment; however, there was significance different in performance between the two groups on assignment and post-test scores.
A Learning Platform For The Introduction Of Remote Sensing Principles In Higher Education In A Blended Learning Collaborative Environment
Authors: Adaktilou Nektaria , Cartalis Costas , Kalkanis George
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this study was the creation of a pedagogy inclusive electronic platform for the introduction of Remote Sensing principles to University students. In Universities throughout the world, there is a constant research about new and more flexible ways of teaching and organizing learning in all thematic areas. Environmental Remote Sensing is the measurement from a distance, of all the spectral features of the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. These measurements are usually made by instruments carried by satellites and they are processed to create information concerning regional and global environmental issues. Remote Sensing is an interdisciplinary thematic area that evolves in a very fast manner. This course has been taught at the Physics Department of the University of Athens in the traditional lecture-based manner until now. This study describes the design, development, pilot application and formative evaluation of the learning platform proposed. The indices derived for the educational proposal’s evaluation demonstrated that the platform has a very good potential to support learning in the area of Remote Sensing and act as an interactive digital repository of knowledge that may enhance students’ learning and facilitate the organization and management of the course.
Regional Risks Assessment
Authors: Božek František , Navrátil Josef , Dvorák Jirí , Božek Miloš
Published: May 2011

The index method, which enables a complex assessment of regional risks, is described. The method is based on the comparison of critical indicators with the acquired data on basic levels of every assessed sphere and their subsequent transformation into non-dimensional integrated indexes. The integrated risk index value of (i+1)-area of given sphere may be calculated as a weighted average of individual risk indexes of i-area. The Saaty´s method has been chosen for determining the weights of risk indexes. The proposed method enables the comparison of otherwise non-comparable risk spheres. The applicability of the method in practice has been verified by the assessment of environmental and technological risks in a selected region. The aim of the method is to provide state administration and self-administration bodies with a tool which may help them in their effort to prevent the probability of activation of threats, reduce the consequences of undesirable events, increase the effectiveness of reconstruction and set priorities in the risk assessment process.
Data Envelopment Analysis in Environmental Technologies
Authors: Miidla Peep
Published: May 2011

Contemporary scientific and economic developments in environmental technology suggest that it is of great importance to introduce new approaches that would enable the comparison of different scenarios for their effectiveness, their distributive effects, their enforceability, their costs and many other dimensions. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is one of such methods. The DEA is receiving an increasing importance as a tool for evaluating and improving the performance of manufacturing and service operations. It has been extensively applied in performance evaluation and benchmarking of several types of organizations, so-called Decision Making Units (DMU) with similar goals and objectives. Among these are schools, hospitals, libraries, bank branches, production plants, but also climate policies, urban public transport systems, renewable energy plants, pollutant emission systems, environmental economics, etc. The purpose of this chapter is to present the basic principles of the DEA and give an overview of its application possibilities for the problems of environmental technology.
Modeling and Understanding the Interrelationship between Natural Resource Extraction, Poverty and Inequality
Authors: Fonta William M. , Ogujiuba Kanayo K. , Amakom Uzochukwu
Published: May 2011

Many rural households in developing countries derived their income partly from forest extraction yet, very little is known about the distributional implications of this income source on poverty and household welfare in general. Applying Gini and poverty decomposable techniques to community level datasets in rural Nigeria for analyzing the distributional implications of forest income on household welfare, the study finds that forest income reduces both income inequality and poverty. 2-step Ordinary Least Square (OLS) analysis of the determinants of forest income indicates that the decision to participate in forest extraction increases with more access to natural forest areas, larger and poorer households; and decreases with membership in forestry management and higher educational attainment. Furthermore, poverty simulations revealed that poverty can be reduced in the short run, through programs that raise the price that households receive for minor forest products. However, in order to synergize forest-led poverty reduction and forest conservation, the study recommends the planting and use of minor forest products outside of the natural forest areas. Other policy options and implications of the study are fully discussed.
Deliberative Machines in Techno-Political Arrangements
Authors: Monnoyer-Smith Laurence
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the theoretical consequences of a conception of deliberative devices as a technical mediation, and more specifically how it helps to redraw the frontiers of grassroots participation. To understand the position of technology in deliberation, it is vital to appreciate how the device itself structures the distribution of opportunities for citizens to speak up. The existence of “deliberative machines” gives them a tribunal and a space for interaction that would be difficult to find in real world arenas of public debate. This chapter’s theoretical frame is inspired by the French philosophers Foucauld and Deleuze and will question the nature of these “deliberative machines”. This chapter will propose to consider them as symptoms of transition between two types of setups, in a context of conflict between conceptions of representation and participation in reflexive democracies.
Two Informational Complexity Measures in Social Networks and Agent Communities
Authors: Fonseca António Jorge Filipe
Published: May 2011

Several informational complexity measures rely on the notion of stochastic process in order to extract hidden structural properties behind the apparent randomness of information sources. Following an equivalence approach between dynamic relation evolution within a social network and a generic stochastic process two dynamic measures of network complexity are proposed.
Norm Emergence with Biased Agents
Authors: Mukherjee Partha , Sen Sandip , Airiau Stéphane
Published: May 2011

Effective norms can significantly enhance performance of individual agents and agent societies. We consider individual agents that repeatedly interact over instances of a given scenario. Each interaction is framed as a stage game where multiple action combinations yield the same optimal payoff. An agent learns to play the game over repeated interactions with multiple, unknown, agents. The key research question is to find out whether a consistent norm emerges when all agents are learning at the same time. In real-life, agents may have pre-formed biases or preferences which may hinder or even preclude norm emergence. We study the success and speed of norm emergence when different subsets of the population have different initial biases. In particular we characterize the relative speed of norm emergence under varying biases and the success of majority/minority groups in enforcing their biases on the rest of the population given different bias strengths.
Using Biometrics to Secure Patient Health Information
Authors: Backherms Dennis
Published: May 2011

The crime of identity theft has proven to be one of the most costly crimes in American history. Identity theft has become so prevalent in our society today that many laws have been passed, and new bills introduced, to try and combat these troublesome issues. However, recently, a new trend in identity theft has been occurring, individuals are now experiencing medical identity theft. One way to help protect a patient’s medical information is through biometric authentication for records access. The technology of biometrics, while thought a novelty at first, has proven to be both a reliable and efficient method for securing patient health records. Biometric technology helps to provide a multi-tiered approach to medical record access and also helps create an audit trail for discovery of unauthorized medical record access. Implementing biometric technology in patient health record security will help substantially reduce the likelihood that medical identity theft will occur.
Ubiquitous Use of RFID in the Health Industry
Authors: Brown Mary
Published: May 2011

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies are becoming ubiquitous in a variety of settings and industries. The healthcare industry has adopted the use of RFID as a means of tracking equipment, managing inventory, to locating human resources including controversial applications involving injecting chips into humans as a means of authentication. There are a variety of ethical implications to the use of this technology as well as potential health concerns that will be explored in this chapter.
Medico Ergonomics
Authors: Podtschaske Beatrice , Stahl Maria , Friesdorf Wolfgang
Published: May 2011

The importance of technology for the medical sector is steadily growing. Potentials for rationalization that can help to overcome the problems of an ageing population exist. So far these expectations could not be fulfilled because some devices lack a sufficient usability concept and do not fulfill the user demands. This chapter will illustrate problems that can arise when developing user-centered and task-oriented “health care applications.” The “medico ergonomics approach” is introduced as a possibility to overcome these problems. The applicability of the developed approach is demonstrated with the help of a case study. Content of this case study is a usability context analysis of a web-based patient record. The case study shows the suitability of the medico ergonomic models to illustrate complex interrelations of patient treatment. Based on these results requirements are defined and task-supporting functions are derived. The models support the development of a “common ground of understanding” between the potential user and the developers of the product. This is a crucial condition for developing integrated and utilizable (software) products and therewith for developing ergonomic working systems.
User Diversity as a Challenge for the Integration of Medical Technology into Future Smart Home Environments
Authors: Wilkowska Wiktoria , Ziefle Martina
Published: May 2011

Facing the growing aging population in many countries of the world, healthcare-related technologies become increasingly important, representing a possible solution to the soaring overstrained health care systems and dwindling number of caregivers. Though a user-centred and sensible integration of medical technology in home environments is highly challenging, especially when focusing on the group of old and frail users. Their specific needs and wants, their (dis)abilities and limitations have to be carefully considered, in order to reach full acceptance and a successful rollout of e-health applications in home environments. As the knowledge about acceptance in the medical sector is still limited, an elaborate research is needed in order to understand and respect aged persons’ specific demands. In an empirical approach, the role of age, technology generation, technical expertise, and gender are determining for the acceptance of medical technologies. As the acceptance of medical technologies might be also biased by social norms and the way aging and age-related consequences are evaluated within a society, individual ageing concepts as well as economic and educational levels were considered for the evaluation of the perceived benefits and drawbacks of medical technologies. Outcomes show the importance of understanding users’ needs and wants in order to develop user-centred medical technology concepts and to allow a successful rollout.
e-Health Technologies in Home Care Nursing
Authors: Remmers Hartmut , Hülsken-Giesler Manfred
Published: May 2011

The innovative impact of advancing e-Health technologies is more frequently being discussed in nursing science. Nurses play an important role in collecting data and giving support to other users, especially in home care. Since issues of acceptance play a major role, the following article, which presents findings based on a focus group consisting of the elderly, caretaking relatives and professional nurses, is discussed from an ethical point of view in the context of international debate. It is interesting to note, that to some extent there is substantial ambivalence in the willingness to integrate such technologies into daily care. A need for technical assistance is clearly recognizable, however, limits as well. The authors’ findings indicate that a fundamental discussion on the relevance of e-Health methods in professional nursing needs to be held. It should address the ethical questions of often conflicting interests and rights (protection of identity, privacy and safety) in situations of high vulnerability.
Using New Model-Based Techniques for the User Interface Design of Medical Devices and Systems
Authors: Janß A. , Lauer W. , Pekam F. Chuembou , Radermacher K.
Published: May 2011

Studies concerning critical incidents with technical equipment in the medical/clinical context have found out, that in most of the cases non-ergonomic and non-reliable user interfaces provoke use deficiencies and therefore hazards for the patient and the attending physician. Based on these studies, the authors assume that adequate and powerful tools for the systematic design of error-tolerant and ergonomic Human-Machine-Interfaces for medical devices are missing. In this context, the Chair of Medical Engineering (mediTEC) has developed the new software-based tool mAIXuse in order to overcome these difficulties and to support designers as well as risk assessors. Based on two classical formal-analytical approaches, mAIXuse provides a high-performance modelling structure with integrated temporal relations in order to visualise and analyse the detailed use process, even with complex user interfaces. The approach can be used from the very early developmental stages up to the final validation process. Results of a comparative study with the new mAIXuse tool and a conventional process-FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) show, that the new approach clearly outperforms the FMEA technique.
Smart Lifelogging Technology for Episodic Memory Support
Authors: Lee Matthew L. , Dey Anind K.
Published: May 2011

Recent episodic memory impairment (EMI) affects over 26 million individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Smart lifelogging technologies can capture a log of the user’s personal experience using wearable or embedded recording devices and present elements of that log as cues that can support memory recollection for people with EMI. In this chapter, the authors describe their design process for developing and evaluating a smart lifelogging system specifically designed to help people with mild EMI remember their experiences better and reduce the burden on their caregivers. The authors’ design process includes two formative field studies to understand both what lifelogging data is most effective for supporting memory and how to present these data. The authors found that their self-guided approach was more effective at supporting people’s ability to retain a detailed memory of their experiences, to feel more confident about their memory abilities, and to reduce the additional burden placed on the caregiver than a caregiver-guided approach.
Resolving and Mediating Ambiguous Contexts in Pervasive Environments
Authors: Roy Nirmalya , Das Sajal K. , Julien Christine
Published: May 2011

Pervasive computing applications envision sensor rich computing and networking environments that can capture various types of contexts of inhabitants of the environment, such as their locations, activities, vital signs, and environmental measures. Such context information is useful in a variety of applications, for example to manage health information to promote independent living in “aging-in-place” scenarios. In reality, both sensed and interpreted contexts are often ambiguous, leading to potentially dangerous decisions if not properly handled. Thus, a significant challenge facing the development of realistic and deployable context-aware services for pervasive computing applications is the ability to deal with these ambiguous contexts. In this chapter, the authors discuss a resource optimized quality assured ontology-driven context mediation framework for resource constrained sensor networks based on efficient context-aware data fusion and information theoretic sensor parameter selection for optimal state estimation. It has the ability to represent contexts according to the applications’ ontology and easily composable ontological rules to mediate ambiguous contexts.
Supporting the Ubiquitous Doctor
Authors: Ferraz Carlos , Diniz Juliana
Published: May 2011

In health service environments, support to mobility is an important issue, given that the mobility of the medical professionals is inherent to the organizational structure of healthcare entities, such as hospitals and medical centers. The concept of the “Ubiquitous Doctor” refers to a doctor that works anytime, anywhere and uses any computer device. For doing this, the doctor needs support to migrate a work session started on a device to another one, either for convenience (more comfort) or forced (e.g. low battery). This so called ‘session migration’ presents some challenges like preventing from disruption and performing quickly, so the Ubiquitous Doctor’s productivity can be improved. This chapter presents the design and implementation of a context-aware system (middleware services and application) to support the Ubiquitous Doctor, as well as experiments that show that the average migration time represents a low impact on the transition time between medical activities, and an assessment carried out with a group of doctors confirmed the importance of supporting the migration process in order to make it fast and reliable. The doctors also agreed on the importance of using the most convenient device based on context variables like user status and location.
Preparing Healthcare Organizations for New IT Systems Adoption
Authors: Breas Robert , Guah Matthew Waritay
Published: May 2011

Information systems exist for hospitals but even the most advanced systems concentrate on relatively simple coordination, resource allocation and documentation aspects of healthcare operations. At the same time the need to improve health care performance by means of more sophisticated IT systems is widely felt. In practice, however, the adoption of new IT is usually a difficult and a very slow process. To analyse the underlying reasons, we identified a set of key bottlenecks in the IT adoption process by interviewing large groups of healthcare actors. We conclude that health care organizations should be better prepared in order to facilitate easier IT systems’ adoption. To do so, a readiness framework is considered to be helpful, the contours of which are sketched in this article. It is also discussed how, based on clarified clinical pathways, workflow management can assist in framing optimization of resource utilisation, clinical decision-making, staff training and quality improvement in healthcare delivery.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis to Establish Determinants of Wireless Technology in the Indian Healthcare
Authors: Gururajan Raj , Gurney Tiana , Hafeez-Baig Abdul
Published: May 2011

This study reports the determinants of wireless technology in the Indian healthcare validated by a second order regression model. In order to assert the determinants, a qualitative study was conducted with 30 physicians using interviews to arrive at a set of barriers and drivers. Further analysis of the qualitative data indicated that there is a third component emerging, namely, clinical influence. The interview data was used to develop a survey instrument and this was administered on the Indian clinicians with 200 completed surveys. This data was used to establish the sub-components of the three major determinants as identified in the qualitative study. This is reported in this article.
Adoption of Mobile Technology by Public Healthcare Doctors
Authors: Banderker Nesaar , Van Belle Jean-Paul
Published: May 2011

South African doctors working in the public healthcare sector are faced with the unique resource constraints prevalent in a developing country. Mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) hold the promise of improving the quality of healthcare, but this potential can only be unlocked if individuals decide to adopt the new technologies. Understanding the factors that influence the doctor’s adoption of a technology is therefore vital. This article reports on an investigation into the factors influencing the adoption of mobile devices by doctors in the public healthcare sector in the Western Cape, South Africa. The research methodology was shaped by qualitative enquiry and described through thematic analysis. The authors confirmed the key adoption factors identified in prior research: job relevance, usefulness, perceived user resources and device characteristics. However, some additional adoption factors were uncovered in this research, namely patient influence, support structures from national government and hospital administration, and unease in respect of malpractice legal suits. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]
Cellular Nanocomputers
Authors: Peper Ferdinand , Lee Jia , Adachi Susumu , Isokawa Teijiro
Published: May 2011

Cellular Automata have their roots in von Neumann’s research on self-reproduction, but since their debut they have been used for a much wider variety of purposes. In recent years they have attracted attention as architectures for nanocomputers–computers to be realized by nanotechnology. Their highly regular structure is considered an important advantage in this context, because of the potential for fabrication by bottom-up techniques like molecular self-assembly. This article gives an overview of research on cellular automaton-based nanocomputers, and discusses their strong points and challenges.
Towards Arithmetical Chips in Sub-Excitable Media
Authors: Zhang Liang , Adamatzky Andrew
Published: May 2011

We discuss a theoretical design of an arithmetical chip built on an excitable medium substrate. The chip is simulated in a two-dimensional three-state cellular automaton with eight-cell neighborhoods. Every resting cell is excited if it has exactly two excited neighbors, the excited cells takes refractory state unconditionally. A transition from refractory back to resting state also happens irrelevantly to a state of the cell neighborhood. The design is based on principles of collision-based computing. Boolean logic values are encoded by traveling localizations, or particles. Logical gates are realized in collisions between the particles. Detailed blue prints of collision-based adders and multipliers presented in the article pave the way to future laboratory experimental prototypes of general-purpose chemical computers.
Dominant Spin Relaxation Mechanisms in Organic Semiconductor Alq3
Authors: Patibandla Sridhar , Kanchibotla Bhargava , Pramanik Sandipan , Bandyopadhyay Supriyo , Cahay Marc
Published: May 2011

We have measured the longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) spin relaxation times in the organic semiconductor tris(8-hydroxyquinolinolato aluminum) - also known as Alq3 - at different temperatures and under different electric fields driving current. These measurements shed some light on the spin relaxation mechanisms in the organic. The two most likely mechanisms affecting T1 are hyperfine interactions between carrier and nuclear spins, and the Elliott-Yafet mode. On the other hand, the dominant mechanism affecting T2 of delocalized electrons in Alq3 remains uncertain, but for localized electrons (bound to defect or impurity sites), the dominant mechanism is most likely spin-phonon coupling.
Click-Through Rate Estimation for Rare Events in Online Advertising
Authors: Wang Xuerui , Li Wei , Cui Ying , Zhang Ruofei , Mao Jianchang
Published: May 2011

In online advertising campaigns, to measure purchase propensity, click-through rate (CTR), defined as a ratio of number of clicks to number of impressions, is one of the most informative metrics used in business activities such as performance evaluation and budget planning. No matter what channel an ad goes through (display ads, sponsored search or contextual advertising), CTR estimation for rare events is essential but challenging, often incurring with huge variance, due to the sparsity in data. In this chapter, to alleviate this sparsity, we develop models and methods to smoothen CTR estimation by taking advantage of the natural data hierarchy or by clustering and data continuity in time to leverage information from data close to the events of interest. In a contextual advertising system running at Yahoo!, we demonstrate that our methods lead to significantly more accurate estimation of CTRs.
Argo
Authors: Wang Xin-Jing , Yu Mo , Zhang Lei , Ma Wei-Ying
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we introduce the Argo system which provides intelligent advertising made possible from user generated photos. Based on the intuition that user-generated photos imply user interests which are the key for profitable targeted ads, Argo attempts to learn a user’s profile from his shared photos and suggests relevant ads accordingly. To learn a user interest, in an offline step, a hierarchical and efficient topic space is constructed based on the ODP ontology, which is used later on for bridging the vocabulary gap between ads and photos as well as reducing the effect of noisy photo tags. In the online stage, the process of Argo contains three steps: 1) understanding the content and semantics of a user’s photos and auto-tagging each photo to supplement user-submitted tags (such tags may not be available); 2) learning the user interest given a set of photos based on the learnt hierarchical topic space; and 3) representing ads in the topic space and matching their topic distributions with the target user interest; the top ranked ads are output as the suggested ads. Two key challenges are tackled during the process: 1) the semantic gap between the low-level image visual features and the high-level user semantics; and 2) the vocabulary impedance between photos and ads. We conducted a series of experiments based on real Flickr users and Amazon.com products (as candidate ads), which show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
The Open Geospatial Consortium and Web Services Standards
Authors: Reed Carl N.
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the role of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) geospatial standards as a key aspect in the development, deployment, and use of Geospatial Web Services. The OGC vision for web services is the complete integration of geographic (location) and time information into the very fabric of both the internet and the web. Today, the Geospatial Web Services encompasses applications ranging from as simple as geo-tagging a photograph to mobile driving directions to sophisticated spatial data infrastructure portal applications orchestrating workflows for complex scientific modeling applications. In all of these applications, location and usually time are required information elements. In many of these applications, standards are the “glue” that allow the easy and seamless integration of location and time in applications - whether simple mass market or integration into enterprise workflows. These standards may be very lightweight, such as GeoRSS, or more sophisticated such as the OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) and Geography Markup Language (GML).
VISION
Authors: Schade Sven
Published: May 2011

Over the past years, many research projects and initiatives have provided heterogeneous building blocks for the so called Semantic Geospatial Web. The number of proposed architectures and developed components impede a definition of the state of the art, comparisons of existing solutions, and the identification of open research challenges. This chapter provides the missing generic specification of central building blocks. Focusing on service based solutions; VISION (VIsionary Semantic service Infrastructure with ONtologies) is introduced as a means to depict required components at a generalized level. The VISION architecture highlights the most important services for the Semantic Geospatial Web and brings structure to the numerous past and present partial solutions. Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) is introduced as a central concept for encapsulating environmental models. This has great potential to be a major part of future information infrastructures. The German-funded GDI-GRID project serves illustrating examples for MaaS and arising interoperability challenges. This paper will focus on VISION, and compare it with two other recent research projects and conclude by identifying major areas for future research on Semantic Geospatial Web Services and supporting infrastructures.