bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multi-Disciplinary Studies in Online Business Education
Authors: Arbaugh J. B.
Published: May 2011

This chapter argues that research in online teaching and learning in higher education should take a multi-disciplinary orientation, especially in settings whose curricula are drawn from several disciplinary perspectives such as business schools. The benefits of a multi-disciplinary approach include curriculum integration and enhanced communication and collective methodological advancement among online teaching and learning scholars from the disciplines that comprise the integrated curricula. After reviewing multi-disciplinary studies in business education published to date, the chapter concludes with recommendations for advancing research in this emerging stream. Some of the primary recommendations include the use of academic discipline as a moderating variable, more studies that incorporate samples comprised of faculty and/or undergraduate students, and the development of more comprehensive measures of student learning.
Using Experimental Research to Investigate Students’ Satisfaction with Online Learning
Authors: Bangert Art W.
Published: May 2011

The use of experimental research in higher education settings for investigating the effectiveness of technology-supported instructional innovations in K-12 and higher education settings is fairly limited. The implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 has renewed the emphasis on the use of experimental research for establishing evidence to support the effectiveness of instructional interventions and other school-based programs in K-12 and higher education contexts. This chapter discusses the most common experimental designs and threats to internal validity of experimental procedures that must be controlled to ensure that the interventions or programs under investigation are responsible for changes in the dependent variables of interest. A study by Bangert (2008) is used to illustrate procedures for conducting experimental research, controlling potential threats to internal validity and reporting results that communicate both practical and statistical significance.
Quality Assurance in E-Learning
Authors: McCroskey Stacey , Kovach Jamison V. , Ding Xin David , Miertschin Susan , O’Neil Sharon Lund
Published: May 2011

Quality is a subjective concept, and as such, there are many criteria for assuring quality, including assessment practices based on industry standards and accreditation requirements. Most assessments, including quality assurance in e-learning, frequently occur at three levels: individual course assessments, department or program assessments, and institutional assessments; frequently these levels cannot be distinctly delineated. While student evaluations are usually included within these frameworks, student views are but one variable in the quality assessment equation. To offer some plausible perspectives of how students view quality, this chapter will provide an overview of quality assurance for online learning from the course, program, and institutional viewpoints as well as review some of the key research related to students’ assessment of what constitutes quality in online courses.
Measuring Success in a Synchronous Virtual Classroom
Authors: Martin Florence , Parker Michele A. , Ndoye Abdou
Published: May 2011

This chapter will benefit those who teach individuals using the synchronous virtual classroom (SVC). The SVC model will help instructors design online courses that incorporate the factors that students need to be successful. This model will also help virtual classroom instructors and managers develop a systematic way of identifying and addressing the external and internal factors that might impact the success of their instruction. The strategies for empirically researching the SVC, which range from qualitative inquiry to experimental design, are discussed along with practical examples. This information will benefit instructors, researchers, non-profit and profit organizations, and academia.
Factors Influencing User Satisfaction with Internet-Based E-learning in Corporate South Africa
Authors: Cadenhead Craig , Van Belle Jean-Paul
Published: May 2011

This chapter looks at the factors that influence user satisfaction with Internet based learning in the South African corporate environment. An electronic survey was administered, and one hundred and twenty responses from corporations across South Africa were received. Only five of the thirteen factors were found to exert a statistically significant influence on learner satisfaction: instructor response towards the learners, instructor attitude toward Internet based learning, the flexibility of the course, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and the social interaction experienced by the learner in assessments. Interestingly, four of those five were also identified as significant in a similar Taiwanese study, which provides an interesting cross-cultural validation for the findings, even though this sample was different and smaller. Perhaps surprisingly, none of 6 demographic variables exerted significant influence. Hopefully organisations and educational institutions can note and make use of the important factors in conceptualizing and designing their e-learning courses.
Online Project-Based Learning
Authors: Yukselturk Dr. Erman , Baturay Dr. Meltem Huri
Published: May 2011

This study integrated Project-based learning (PBL) in an online environment and aimed to investigate critical issues, dynamics, and challenges related to PBL from 49 student perspectives in an online course. The effect of PBL was examined qualitatively with open-ended questionnaire, observations, and students’ submissions who were taking an online certificate course. According to the findings, students thought that an online PBL course supports their professional development with provision of practical knowledge, enhanced project development skill, self confidence, and research capability. This support is further augmented with the facilities of the online learning environment. Students mainly preferred team-work over individual work. Although students were mostly satisfied with the course, they still had some suggestions for prospective students and instructors. The findings are particularly important for those people who are planning to organize course or activities which involve online PBL and who are about take an online or face-to-face PBL course.
Monitoring Biodiversity Using Remote Sensing and Field Surveys
Authors: Mücher C. A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter concludes that, in combination with additional environmental data sets, it is now possible to model quantitatively the spatial extent of widespread habitats and landscapes on the basis of land cover information derived from satellite imagery. Although it is now possible to model the spatial extent of widespread European habitats, these patterns cannot be directly translated into area estimates. The retrieval of accurate land cover information is not only crucial for the spatial modelling of European landscapes and habitats, but also for their monitoring. Operational remote sensing enables land cover characterization at various scales but the classification accuracies are still insufficient at continental and global scales for monitoring purposes. Instead, the use of continuous thematic fraction layers, as derived from linear unmixing, provides a good basis for monitoring land cover changes of Europe’s complex landscapes. However, gradual and small changes in habitats and their quality are not easily detected from space by satellite imagery, and therefore, additional information from field surveys is needed. Protocols for rapid field surveying of habitats have been developed that can provide a European baseline based on a sampling design across European landscapes. The information from the field samples (e.g. square kilometres) can be used for the validation and calibration of the obtained distribution maps of European habitats. The field surveying method is amongst others based on the estimation of the main plant life forms, which are highly correlated with vegetation structure. The latter has been shown to have a good relationship with satellite imagery. Field surveys are always limited to relatively small areas in Europe, and therefore, the spatial modelling of habitats and landscapes with the help of remotely sensed information remains important for providing a synoptic overview.
Integrated Modeling of Global Environmental Change (IMAGE)
Authors: Kram T. , Stehfest E.
Published: May 2011

Continued population growth, rising per capita income, industrialization and ever-increasing flows of materials, have created growing concern over how to ensure a more sustainable form of global human development. It is widely accepted that human development in currently less developed countries, following a similar path of many industrialized countries in coming decades, will lead to an unsustainable future. In particular, problems associated with climate change, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity, and the accelerated nitrogen cycle will be encountered at global, continental, and regional scales. Solving them will demand a comprehensive understanding of the Earth system. Integrated assessment models such as the Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment (IMAGE) is a helpful tool for investigating these changes, their causes, and interlinkages in a comprehensive framework. This includes the major feedback mechanisms in the biophysical system. This chapter describes briefly the history of IMAGE, data and sub-models, and how they are linked together It is adapted from Kram & Stehfest (2006). IMAGE starts from basic driving forces like demographics and economic development, energy consumption and production, and agricultural demand, trade, and production. Important elements in the bio-physical modeling are addressed, such as land cover and land use processes, the global current and historical carbon cycle, the global nitrogen cycle, management of nutrients in agricultural systems, and climate variability including interaction with land use. A short discussion on uncertainty and sensitivity is presented, and finally, an overview of major applications is given.
Modeling Species Distribution
Authors: Trisurat Yongyut , Toxopeus Albertus G.
Published: May 2011

The results show that among the three approaches, the potentially suitable habitats derived from cartographic overlay cover the largest area and are likely to overestimate existing occurrence areas. The logistic regression model predicts approximately 56% as suitable area, while maximum entropy results covers approximately 9% of the sanctuary. Although the results show large differences in the suitable areas, it should not be concluded that any one method always proves better than the others. Utilization of any method is dependent on the situation and available information. If species observations are limited, the cartographic overlay or habitat suitability is recommended. The logistic regression method is recommended when adequate presence and absence data are available. If presence-only data is available, a niche-based model or the maximum entropy method (MAXENT) is highly recommended.
Modeling Land Use and Biodiversity in Northern Thailand
Authors: Trisurat Yongyut , Alkemade Rob , Verburg Peter H.
Published: May 2011

Rapid deforestation has occurred in northern Thailand over the last few decades, and it is expected to continue. Besides deforestation, climate change has become a global threat to biodiversity in recent years and in the future. The government has implemented conservation policies aimed at maintaining a forest cover of 50% or more and has been promoting agribusiness, forestry, and tourism development in the region. The goal of this chapter was to analyze the likely effects of various directions of development on the region. Specific objectives were to: (1) forecast land-use change and land-use patterns across the region based on trend, integrated-management, and conservation-oriented scenarios, (2) analyze the consequences of deforestation and climate change for biodiversity, and (3) identify areas most susceptible to future deforestation and high biodiversity loss. The chapter combined a dynamic land-use change model (Dyna-CLUE) with a model for biodiversity assessment (GLOBIO3). The Dyna-CLUE model was used to determine the spatial patterns of land-use change for the three scenarios, viz trend, integrated management, and conservation oriented. The methodology developed for the Global Biodiversity Assessment Model framework (GLOBIO3) was used to estimate biodiversity intactness expressed as the remaining relative mean species abundance (MSA) of the original species relative to their abundance in the primary vegetation. The results revealed that forest cover in 2050 would mainly persist in the West and upper North of the region, which is rugged and not easily accessible. In contrast, the highest deforestation was expected to occur in the lower north. MSA values decreased from 0.52 in 2002 to 0.45, 0.46 and 0.48, respectively, for the three scenarios in 2050. The expected MSA values were lower than the predefined target of 30% at outside protected areas for all land use scenarios. The lowest value is found for the trend scenario (20.8%). The expected MSA for trend scenario is below the predefined target of 70% due to high habitat loss and severe fragmentation from road development in the future. Nevertheless, the MSA values for integrated and conservation-oriented scenarios nearly meet the representation goal. Based on the model outcomes, conservation measures were recommended to minimize the impacts of deforestation on biodiversity. The model results indicated that only establishing a fixed percentage of forest was not efficient in conserving biodiversity. Measures aimed at the conservation of locations with high biodiversity values, limited fragmentation, and careful consideration of road expansion in pristine forest areas may be more efficient to achieve biodiversity conservation.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Authors: Trisurat Yongyut , Alkemade Rob , Shrestha Rajendra P.
Published: May 2011

This chapter summarizes key findings of all the chapters contained in the book and presents analytical views on how modeling of land use and climate change and the consequent biodiversity change may potentially be used to assess past, current, and future threats to biodiversity and livelihoods of people at local and regional levels. In addition, this chapter identifies some key results, future innovations and research needs, e.g., accurate land use prediction, downscaling world climate data to local condition, and biodiversity/species distribution model. It also includes how to effectively implement the model results for conservation of land and biodiversity such as protected area system plan, optimal land use policy, environmental impact assessment, and strategic environmental assessment.
Named Entity Recognition for Ontology Population using Background Knowledge from Wikipedia
Authors: Zhang Ziqi , Ciravegna Fabio
Published: May 2011

Named Entity Recognition (NER) deals with identifying and classifying atomic texts into pre-defined ontological classes. It is the enabling technique to many complex knowledge acquisition tasks. The recent flourish of Web resources has opened new opportunities and challenges for knowledge acquisition. In the domain of NER and its application in ontology population, considerable research work has been dedicated to exploiting background knowledge from Web resources to enhance the accuracy of the system. This chapter gives a review of existing literature in this domain with an emphasis on using background knowledge extracted from the Web resources. The authors discuss the benefits of using background knowledge and the inadequacies of existing work. They then propose a novel method that automatically creates domain-specific background knowledge by exploring the Wikipedia knowledge base in a domain- and language-independent way. The authors empirically show that the method can be adapted to ontology population, and generates high quality background knowledge that improves the accuracy of domain-specific NER.
Ontology-Based Knowledge Capture and Sharing in Enterprise Organisations
Authors: Dadzie Aba-Sah , Uren Victoria , Ciravegna Fabio
Published: May 2011

Despite years of effort in building organisational taxonomies, the potential of ontologies to support knowledge management in complex technical domains is under-exploited. The authors of this chapter present an approach to using rich domain ontologies to support sense-making tasks associated with resolving mechanical issues. Using Semantic Web technologies, the authors have built a framework and a suite of tools which support the whole semantic knowledge lifecycle. These are presented by describing the process of issue resolution for a simulated investigation concerning failure of bicycle brakes. Foci of the work have included ensuring that semantic tasks fit in with users’ everyday tasks, to achieve user acceptability and support the flexibility required by communities of practice with differing local sub-domains, tasks, and terminology.
Cross-language Ontology Learning
Authors: Hjelm Hans , Volk Martin
Published: May 2011

A formal ontology does not contain lexical knowledge; it is by nature language-independent. Mappings can be added between the ontology and, arbitrarily, many lexica in any number of languages. The result of this operation is what is here referred to as a cross-language ontology. A cross-language ontology can be a useful resource for machine translation or cross-language information retrieval. This chapter focuses on ways of automatically building an ontology by exploiting cross-language information from parallel corpora. The goal is to improve the automatic learning results compared to learning an ontology from resources in a single language. The authors present a framework for cross-language ontology learning, providing a setting in which cross-language evidence (data) can be integrated and quantified. The aim is to investigate the following question: Can cross-language data teach us more than data from a single language for the ontology learning task?
Semantic Mapping for Access Control Model
Authors: Zhao Yi , Halang Wolfgang A.
Published: May 2011

With the increasing development of the Semantic Web technologies, the Semantic Web has been introduced to apply in the Web Services to integrate data across different applications. For the Semantic Web Services to succeed it is essential to maintain the security of the organizations involved. Security is a crucial concern for commercial and mission critical applications in Web-based environments. To guarantee the security of the Web Services, security measures must be considered to protect against unauthorized disclosure, transfer, modification, or destruction, whether accidental or intentional. Access control is a kind of security measurements to guarantee the service processes, which is defined to allow resource owners to define, manage, and enforce the access conditions for each resource. In this chapter, an attribute based access control model with semantic mapping (SABAC, for short) is proposed to specify access control over attributes defined in domain ontologies. The model is built on the basis of XACML policy language. Semantic mapping process is proved to be syntactical, semantic, and structural. Our SABAC model between the service requester and service provider can make the access to the Semantic Web Services secure.
Ontological Representation of Virtual Business Communities
Authors: Petric Ingrid , Urbancic Tanja , Cestnik Bojan
Published: May 2011

Business knowledge that is embodied in texts such as business news and companies profiles has become widely accessible to the business community, as well as to the general public, mostly due to the growing popularity of the Internet. The field of efficient information retrieval and knowledge discovery from textual data is an increasingly important research topic driven by the Internet growth and easy access to very large business directories on the Internet. To become acquainted with a particular domain and to better understand the underlying concepts, domain knowledge can be represented by ontologies. In addition, ontologies can be used for identification of potential links in virtual business communities and for decision support when searching for right business partners, which is very relevant to small to medium-sized enterprises. Potential applications range from dynamic supply chain configuration to building consortia as quick responses to business opportunities.
Nature-Inspired Intelligence in Supply Chain Management
Authors: Vassiliadis Vassilios , Dounias Giorgos
Published: May 2011

Supply chain management is a vital process for the competitiveness and profitability of companies. Supply chain consists of a large and complex network of components such as suppliers, warehouses, customers etc. which are connected in almost every possible way. Companies’ main aim is to optimize the components of these complex networks to their benefit. This constitutes a challenging optimization problem and often, traditional mathematical approaches fail to overcome complexity and to converge to the optimum solution. More robust methods are required sometimes in order to yield to the optimal. The field of artificial intelligence offers a great variety of meta-heuristic techniques which specialize in solving such complex optimization problems, either accurately, or by obtaining a practically useful approximation, even if real time constraints are imposed. The aim of this chapter is to present a survey of the available literature, regarding the use of nature-inspired methodologies in supply chain management problems. Nature-inspired intelligence is a specific branch of artificial intelligence. Its unique characteristic is the algorithmic imitation of real life systems such as ant colonies, flock of birds etc. in order to solve complex problems.
Multi-period routing in Hybrid Courier Operations
Authors: Athanasopoulos Theodore , Minis Ioannis
Published: May 2011

Appointment-based logistics systems, such as special courier services, or repair / maintenance services, face ever increasing competitive pressures for efficiency and on-time performance. For example, in addition to typical (core) operations, courier service providers lately deal with micrologistics activities, such as bulk product deliveries. The promise dates of such deliveries have some flexibility within a pre-specified service level. In this hybrid environment, bulk deliveries are typically planned on an ad hoc basis, without taking explicitly into account the workload for core operations, a practice that may lead to inefficiencies. This chapter proposes a new method to perform assignment of service requests (calls) with some flexibility taking into account expected routes in a multi-period horizon. The problem is solved on a rolling horizon basis in order to address the dynamics of arriving calls. The method is tested through several theoretical examples, as well as in an extensive industrial case, and appears to be superior to current methods used in practice.
A Rigouous Framework for Model-Driven Development
Authors: Favre Liliana María
Published: May 2011

The model-driven architecture (MDA) is an approach to model-centric software development. The concepts of models, metamodels, and model transformations are at the core of MDA. Model-driven development (MDD) distinguishes different kinds of models: the computation-independent model (CIM), the platform-independent model (PIM), and the platform-specific model (PSM). Model transformation is the process of converting one model into another model of the same system, preserving some kind of equivalence relation between them. One of the key concepts behind MDD is that models generated during software developments are represented using common metamodeling techniques. In this chapter, we analyze an integration of MDA metamodeling techniques with knowledge developed by the community of formal methods. We describe a rigorous framework that comprises the NEREUS metamodeling notation (open to many other formal languages), a system of transformation rules to bridge the gap between UML/OCL and NEREUS, the definition of MDA-based reusable components, and model/metamodeling transformations. In particular, we show how to integrate NEREUS with algebraic languages using the Common Algebraic Specification Language (CASL). NEREUS focuses on interoperability of formal languages in MDD.
Service Design
Authors: Miettinen Satu
Published: May 2011

Service design is establishing itself as a method for developing services and service business. Service needs, new ideas and ways to utilise technology are encountered when the customer and the end user participate in the design process. This chapter focuses on service design methods and the process of how service design can help in innovating customer-orientated service concepts for e-tourism. Service design connects the areas of cultural, social and human interaction. Use of design methods acts as a link between the different views in the service design process. Service design is an emerging field where the terminology and methods are still developing. Mager (2009) has pointed out that the need for service design is evident, as economic development has changed dramatically during the last four decades from manufacturing to provision of information and services. Service design looks at service development from the designer’s point of view. Design thinking has the ability to create concepts, solutions and future service experiences for users.
A Study on Development Strategies of Tourism Cultural and Creative Industry
Authors: Niu Xiaoquan
Published: May 2011

Nowadays tourism activities tend to be increasingly personalized and diversified. Tourism industrial chain can be enriched and the development of tourism industry can be diversified when cultural and creative elements are added to tourism fields. This study takes cultural and creative tourism as the theme, and studies the characteristics and planning framework of cultural and creative tourism, and finally put forward development strategies of tourism cultural and creative industry including building tourism creative zone, combining tourism image slogan with creative elements, emphasizing creative design and marketing in terms of traveling souvenirs, adding the creative elements to tourism festivals and activities, developing tourism market through popular film and television hot spots and performance arts, innovating through combining tourism and other states of matter.
The Web of Data and the Tourism Industry
Authors: Berrueta Diego , Campos Antonio , Rubiera Emilio , Tejo Carlos , Labra José E.
Published: May 2011

The web of data is a new evolutionary step of the web that involves the publication, interchange and consumption of meaningful, raw data by taking full benefit of the web architecture. All the parties involved in the tourism industry should consider the opportunities offered by this new web. Entry barriers are low because existing data sources and documents can be easily leveraged to be part of this extended web. At the same time, new services and platforms that exploit the data are beginning to show the large potential for increased technological and business opportunities. A new scenario of large-scale information availability and efficient data flows is discussed in this chapter.
Individual Privacy and Security in Virtual Worlds
Authors: Roldan Malu , Rea Alan
Published: May 2011

The rapid growth in online usage has resulted in greater concerns about the privacy and security of users. These concerns are no less pertinent in virtual worlds where users often undertake virtual identities that stretch the boundaries of their real-world identities. These in-world personas may be detrimental to users’ careers and reputations should their in-world activities be linked to their real-world identities in digital dossiers. This chapter reviews and classifies privacy transgressions in virtual worlds and provides an overview of technological, behavioral and policy solutions to address these transgressions. The authors conclude with a discussion of the future research and multi-sector collaboration required to integrate disparate, emerging solutions into a federated security infrastructure for the Internet and virtual worlds. The current state of privacy solutions presents an opportunity for virtual worlds to attract more mainstream users as part of the ecosystem of organizations providing security services to online users.
Establishing Social Order in 3D Virtual Worlds with Virtual Institutions
Authors: Bogdanovych Anton , Simoff Simeon
Published: May 2011

An important security aspect of Virtual Worlds (in particular Virtual Worlds oriented towards commercial activities) is controlling participants’ adherence to the social norms (rules of behavior) and making them follow the acceptable interaction patterns. Rules of behavior in the physical world are usually enforced through a post factum punishment, while in computer-controlled environments like Virtual Worlds we can simply block the actions that are inconsistent with the rules and eliminate rule violations as such. In order to facilitate enforcing the rules in such automatic manner and allow for frequent rule changes, the rules have to be expressed in a formal way, so that the software can detect both the rules and the actions that can potentially violate them. In this chapter the authors introduce the concept of Virtual Institutions that are Virtual Worlds with normative regulation of interactions. For development of such systems the authors employ the Virtual Institutions Methodology that separates the development of Normative Virtual Worlds into two independent phases: formal specification of the institutional rules and design of the 3D interaction environment. The methodology is supplied with a set of graphical tools that support the development process on every level, from specification to deployment. The resulting system is capable of enforcing the social norms on the Virtual Worlds’ participants and ensuring the validity of their interactions.
Property-Based Object Management and Security
Authors: Reiners Torsten , Wriedt Sascha , Rea Alan
Published: May 2011

The hype of Second Life is over. But the experience of this truly exciting period lives on in many disciplines and research areas, which are developing emerging technologies in virtual, as well as augmented worlds. And as is the rule with new forming developments, the path is not yet determined and weaves through different stages and platforms, calling for additional prototypes to understand the true impact of virtual worlds, Web 3D, or Augmented Reality. Using broad strokes and looking for a common denominator, most people conclude that it is Web 2.0 with all its (social) functionality and 3D objects as the embodiment of virtual existence. Many publications discuss Web 2.0 features and applications, but most do not focus on the 3D objects in the context of virtual worlds and their implications. In this chapter, the authors examine and observe what (virtual) objects are, as well as which properties should be used for inter-world interoperability. The past technological implementations demonstrate that protecting digital media – i.e. music and video – is an endless endeavor and that no security feature is simultaneously unbreakable and usable. This does not need to be the case for 3D virtual objects because we can learn from the past and achieve a new level of protection in a rising media. In this chapter the authors propose such a solution by putting forth a general 3D object understanding that includes a look at virtual worlds such as Second Life with a feasible concept of object security. They suggest that with a new framework objects can be secured and promote additional growth within, and among, virtual worlds. They propose our Global Object Management System (GOMS) architecture as a potential solution to this challenge.
An Access Control Model for Dynamic VR Applications
Authors: Wójtowicz Adam , Cellary Wojciech
Published: May 2011

There is a need for refining data security and privacy protection in virtual reality systems which are interactive, creative and dynamic, i.e. where at run-time mutually interactive objects can be added or removed in different contexts while their behavior can be modified. In virtual worlds of this kind, operations on particular objects either should or shouldn’t be allowed to users playing different roles with respect to inter-object interactions. In the VR-PR method presented in this chapter, where VR-PR stands for “Virtual Reality–Privilege Representation”, privileges are represented by pairs, each comprising an object and a meta-operation. Meta-operations are induced automatically from possible object interactions, i.e. generated using automatic analysis of the object method call graphs. Meta-operations reflect the method call scope admitted and are used in the process of creating and modifying privileges, which in turn is controlled by a validation mechanism. Expressive and flexible, privileges based on meta-operations are consistent with a set of objects composing a virtual world, as well as with the interactions between those objects, both interactions and objects permanently evolving. In this chapter it is shown in a series of use cases how the VR-PR approach can be applied to various types of object-oriented virtual worlds. The examples are followed by a broader discussion of the privilege lifecycle in the same virtual environment.
Domain-Specific Ontologies Trading for Retrieval and Integration of Information in Web-Based Information Systems
Authors: Asensio José-Andrés , Criado Javier , Iribarne Luis , Padilla Nicolás
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the use of domain-specific ontologies through Web trading services as a mechanism for retrieval and integration of information between different systems or subsystems. This mechanism is based on a three-level data architecture, which can be demonstrated by the use of trading service. This architecture includes data at its first level, meta-information on its second level in order to facilitate the processes of retrieval of information, and meta-meta-information at its third level to facilitate the integration of information-through-trading-services. This proposal is a new approach to the process of retrieval and integration of information for Web-based Information Systems (WIS). This chapter presents a case study for a WIS application of an Environmental Management Information System (EMIS), called SOLERES.
Evolution in Ontology-Based User Modeling
Authors: Francisco de Souza Jairo , Siqueira Sean W.M. , Melo Rubens N.
Published: May 2011

Web-ontologies are becoming the de facto standard for WWW-based knowledge representation. As a consequence, user modeling has been associated to Web-ontologies. However, data schemes evolve, and therefore ontologies also evolve. Thus, adaptive systems, more than other ontology-based system, are directly affected by changes in ontologies. Because of this, it is important that adaptive systems can be prepared to deal with the problems that occur after changes are applied to ontologies. In this chapter, the authors perform a literature review on the field of ontology evolution aiming at serving as a point of reference for user modeling area. Therefore, adaptive systems developed on ontology-based user modeling could adapt to changes when the ontologies change.
A General Framework for Inclusive Lifelong Learning in Higher Education Institutions with Adaptive Web-Based Services that support Standards
Authors: Santos Olga , Boticario Jesus
Published: May 2011

The chapter introduces some key issues of a general framework to support the full participation of students with functional diversity issues (i.e. disabilities) in the learning process by covering the full life cycle of service adaptation at Higher Education institutions. This support is achieved in terms of combining universal design approaches and personalization techniques. Firstly, standards and specifications that try to cover the wide range of possible user needs are considered. Secondly, dynamic contextual recommendations are applied during the course execution to provide the inclusive personalization support. The approach is designed for Higher Education institutions, which are required to integrate this inclusive support into their existing services infrastructure. This framework is analyzed in the context of the EU4ALL project. In particular, the authors of this chapter describe the key components where the research has focused; specifically service based recommendations in order to support some adaptive and inclusive end-user services at UNED.
Collaborative Learning Design within Open Source E-Learning Systems
Authors: Kordaki Maria , Siempos Haris , Daradoumis Thanasis
Published: May 2011

This chapter addresses a number of serious ‘collaborative learning design’ problems faced by adults within the context of e-learning systems and outlines some innovative solutions. Specifically, thirty-three Computer Science students at the Hellenic Open University participated in an experiment aimed at designing collaborative learning courses for Computer Science concepts within MOODLE, a well known open source Learning Management System. The systematic study presented in this chapter argues and specifies that these Prospective Computer Science Professionals (PCSPs) have serious difficulties with the formation of both collaborative learning activities and collaboration procedures, and with realizing them within e-learning settings. The proposed solutions emphasize the design and development of a set of computer-based collaborative patterns reflecting diverse collaboration methods. These patterns are content free and could be used as scaffolding elements for the design of collaborative learning activities for online and blended courses. Specific examples of possible implementation of these patterns within well-known Web-based open source environments that support learning design are also presented.
Game Based Lifelong Learning
Authors: Kelle Sebastian , Sigurðarson Steinn E. , Westera Wim , Specht Marcus
Published: May 2011

Digital Games as a means of learning have become more important in recent years. Infrastructural and sociological developments have created fertile grounds for game innovations, by exploiting the latest technologies, and a new generation of learners have welcomed this form of learning. This chapter focuses on an overview of the current state of the art of learning games, explaining different perspectives. As the gamers’ generation has now grown up, the educational contexts for lifelong learning like higher and vocational education are moving into the scope of game based learning, and therefore deserve special attention.
Formative Assessment and Feedback with Teacher Immediacy Behaviors in an E-Text-Based Context
Authors: Chang Ni
Published: May 2011

Most students favor feedback from an instructor to their assignments, as it informs them of whether or not their finished work is on the right track. However, solely awarding a grade or score to students’ assignments, even if with very brief comments, does not enable students to know how to improve their work. This type of assessment tends to gauge students’ work for evaluation, making students become competitive with peers for grades or scores (Harlen & Crick, 2003; Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006). Deviating from this orientation, this chapter converges on the importance of constructive and beneficial feedback through the assessment process in an e-text-based context, for the purpose of lifelong learning. The chapter also discusses teacher immediacy cues, which are intended to assist the reader in developing a better understanding of how feedback should be provided to students. To aid the reader to walk along this path, this chapter also provides suggested practical strategies.
Developing an E-Learning Course for a Global Legal Firm
Authors: Baltazar Gemma
Published: May 2011

This case study describes the considerations, challenges, and lessons learned in developing this online course, which is the foundation of an overall risk management training program for the Firm. Risk management is a very broad, deep, and complex topic which impacts the practice of law in many different ways. Recognizing that it is in meaningful discussions where learning most likely takes place, the project team’s challenge was to design an e-learning course that allows sufficient interactivity to engage the learner and stimulate thinking around issues they encounter in whatever legal area, and at whatever level they practice.
The Cultural Adaptation of E-Learning
Authors: Edmundson Andrea L.
Published: May 2011

Culturally appropriate instructional design requires the integration of instructional design skills with intercultural knowledge. In e-learning, as in classroom-based courses, courses that accommodate the learning styles and cultural preferences of the targeted learners will offer the best—and fastest—learning outcomes. In this chapter, the author illustrates how to modify an existing e-learning course—or design one ‘from scratch’—that aligns the course content, the instructional methodologies (including activities and assessments) and the technology to the needs and environment of learners in other countries. The ‘smart’ instructional designer conducts a cultural analysis and makes validated changes to e-learning courses, before they are sent for translation, localization, or final production.
Techniques for Content-Based Multimedia Retrieval
Authors: Wei Chia-Hung , Chen Sherry Y.
Published: May 2011

As the size of multimedia database grows, it becomes impractical to manually annotate all contents and attributes of the media, and the difficulty in finding desired information increases. To copy with these challenges, content-based multimedia retrieval systems have been developed for various applications. The chapter not only provides a conceptual architecture for the design of content-based retrieval system, but also discusses essential components of retrieval system and their research issues, including feature extraction and representation, dimension reduction of feature vector, indexing, and query specifications. As content-based multimedia retrieval is a young research field and there exists many challenging research problems, this chapter also addresses several research issues for the future research.
Metrical Properties of Nested Partitions for Image Retrieval
Authors: Kinoshenko Dmitry , Mashtalir Vladimir , Shlyakhov Vladislav , Yegorova Elena
Published: May 2011

This chapter proposes a metric on partitions of arbitrary measurable sets and its special properties for metrical content-based image retrieval based on the ‘spatial’ semantic of images. The approach considers images represented in the form of nested partitions produced by any segmentations. Nested partitions representation expresses a degree of information refinement or roughening and so not only corresponds to rational content control but also ensures creation of specific search algorithms (e.g. invariant to image background) and synthesize hierarchical models of image search reducing the number of query and database elements match operations.
R*-Tree Based Similarity and Clustering Analysis for Images
Authors: Pi Jiaxiong , Shi Yong , Chen Zhengxin
Published: May 2011

Image content analysis plays an important role for adaptive multimedia retrieval. In this chapter, the authors present their work on using a useful spatial data structure, R*-tree, for similarity analysis and cluster analysis of image contents. First, they describe an R*-tree based similarity analysis tool for similarity retrieval of images. They then move on to discuss R*-tree based clustering methods for images, which has been a tricky issue: although objects stored in the same R* tree leaf node enjoys spatial proximity, it is well-known that R* trees cannot be used directly for cluster analysis. Nevertheless, R* tree’s indexing feature can be used to assist existing cluster analysis methods, thus enhancing their performance of cluster quality. In this chapter, the authors report their progress of using R* trees to improve well-known K-means and hierarchical clustering methods. Based on R*-Tree’s feature of indexing Minimum Bounding Box (MBB) according to spatial proximity, the authors extend R*-Tree’s application to cluster analysis containing image data. Two improved algorithms, KMeans-R and Hierarchy-R, are proposed. Experiments have shown that KMeans-R and Hierarchy-R have achieved better clustering quality.
Trademark Image Retrieval
Authors: Chau Wing-Yin , Wei Chia-Hung , Li Yue
Published: May 2011

With the rapid increase in the amount of registered trademarks around the world, trademark image retrieval has been developed to deal with a vast amount of trademark images in a trademark registration system. Many different approaches have been developed throughout these years in an attempt to develop an effective TIR system. Some conventional approaches used in content-based image retrieval, such as moment invariants, Zernike moments, Fourier descriptors and curvature scale space descriptors, have also been widely used in TIR. These approaches, however, contain some major deficiencies when addressing the TIR problem. Therefore, this chapter proposes a novel approach in order to overcome the major deficiencies of the conventional approaches. The proposed approach combines the Zernike moments descriptors with the centroid distance representation and the curvature representation. The experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms the conventional approaches in several circumstances. Details regarding to the proposed approach as well as the conventional approaches are presented in this chapter.
Temporal-Based Video Event Detection and Retrieval
Authors: Chen Min
Published: May 2011

The fast proliferation of video data archives has increased the need for automatic video content analysis and semantic video retrieval. Since temporal information is critical in conveying video content, in this chapter, an effective temporal-based event detection framework is proposed to support high-level video indexing and retrieval. The core is a temporal association mining process that systematically captures characteristic temporal patterns to help identify and define interesting events. This framework effectively tackles the challenges caused by loose video structure and class imbalance issues. One of the unique characteristics of this framework is that it offers strong generality and extensibility with the capability of exploring representative event patterns with little human interference. The temporal information and event detection results can then be input into our proposed distributed video retrieval system to support the high-level semantic querying, selective video browsing and event-based video retrieval.
Analyzing Animated Movie Contents for Automatic Video Indexing
Authors: Ionescu Bogdan , Lambert Patrick , Coquin Didier , Marin Alexandru , Vertan Constantin
Published: May 2011

In this chapter the authors tackle the analysis and characterization of the artistic animated movies in view of constituting an automatic content-based retrieval system. First, they deal with temporal segmentation, and propose cut, fade and dissolve detection methods adapted to the constraints of this domain. Further, they discuss a fuzzy linguistic approach for automatic symbolic/semantic content annotation in terms of color techniques and action content and we test its potential in automatic video classification. The browsing issue is dealt by providing methods for both, static and dynamic video abstraction. For a quick browse of the movie’s visual content the authors create a storyboard-like summary, while for a “sneak peak” of the movie’s exciting action content they propose a trailer-like video skim. Finally, the authors discuss the architecture of a prototype client-server 3D virtual environment for interactive video retrieval. Several experimental results are presented.