bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
mobileSJ
Authors: Camacho Jesus , Galicia Leonardo , Gonzalez Victor M. , Favela Jesus
Published: February 2011

Many modern working environments are characterized by the need to manage multiple activities simultaneously. This is the case of hospital work, which also demands a high degree of mobility and collaboration among specialists. These working conditions have motivated us to design and implement mobileSJ, a mobile information management tool based on the concept of working spheres. The tool allows users to gather information related to a working sphere, including documents, contacts, and pending tasks. The tool assists users when switching between tasks, facilitates the sharing of activity related information with colleagues, as well as the synchronization of information among multiple devices, including handheld computers and public displays. We conducted a usability test and a focus group to inform the design of a new version of the tool and to know how the tool could support the work of medical interns by facilitating the management and sharing of resources, providing more efficient means of communication with colleagues and increasing their personal productivity.
Technology Trust in Internet-Based Interorganizational Electronic Commerce
Authors: Ratnasingam Pauline , Pavlou Paul A.
Published: February 2011

Trust in Internet-based Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce is an important issue for both practicioners and academicians. Whereas the traditional notion of dyadic interfirm trust primarily focuses on trust in a trading partner firm, trust in e-commerce also implicitly incorporates the notion of trust in the transaction infrastructure and underlying control mechanisms (technology trust), which deals with transaction integrity, authentication, confidentliality, non-repudiation, and best business practices. This researcch explicitely examines this new institutional character of trust in B2B e-commerce, arguing that business value realization is heavily dependent on the dimension of technology trust, captured as perceived benefits and actual organizational performance, even after controlling for the positive effects of partner trust. Given the absense of adequate metrics to capture the notion of technology trust in B2B e-commerce, this research develops and validates a measure for technology trust and tests its effec on benefits and performance. This paper contributes to theory by bridging the gap between technological solutions (technology trust) from an institutional trust perspective, trading partner trust (relationship trust) and business value (perceived benefits and organizational performance). The proposed theoretical model is tested in organizations actively involved in B2B e-commerce using survey methodology. The findings from 288 firms validated the importance of technology trust for organizational success in B2B e-commerce.
Pushing Elusive Alliances into the Light
Authors: van der Merwe Rian , Pitt Leyland F.
Published: February 2011

Sociologists have for many years explored the value of social capital, or the resources embedded in social relations and social network structures. In recent years, organizational forms such as strategic alliances and network organizations have been an important new form of entrepreneurial venture, particularly in business markets. An important and often overlooked type of alliance on the Internet is what we call the “elusive alliance”. These alliances are not formally acknowledged, they are difficult to identify and can often be unknown, even to the members of the alliance themselves. They consist of informal links and social networks on the Internet—unspoken connections and codes of conduct that are extremely valuable because of the social capital embedded in them. This paper aims to find ways to formally identify and expand these alliances in entrepreneurial ways that will improve their effectiveness, usefulness and ultimately, their social capital, translated into financial returns. We use Social Network Theory as the framework to study these networks.
Internet Shopping
Authors: Roberts Martyn , Xu Xianzhong M. , Mettos Nekatarios
Published: February 2011

It has been widely speculated that new markets and customers can be reached through the use of the Internet and new ways of conducting business can be developed. A major growth in electronic commerce (EC) is organisations that directly interact with their customers (business to-consumer EC). The supermarket sector is at the forefront of this development. However, little empirical evidence is documented to reveal whether consumer shopping patterns have significantly changed toward Internet shopping. By using a case study approach and a questionnaire survey, this study reports the Internet shopping models adopted by the major UK supermarkets, and examines consumer shopping behaviour and their attitudes toward the Internet for grocery shopping.
E-Government and Social Exclusion
Authors: Lee-Kelley Liz , James Thomas
Published: February 2011

In the UK, central government’s vision is to deploy all local government services electronically by 2005. Yet recent government and commercial statistics have indicated a widening gap between those who are e-literate and those who are not. This study examines the possibility of social exclusion from e-government implementation. Anchored on two questions–(a) What are the factors influencing the adoption of e-government initiatives? and (b) Is the implementation of e-government likely to result in the social exclusion of certain groups in the community?–the study sampled members of the public from two local authorities in the UK to investigate their dispositions towards the new offering of online government services. The results found that unlike previous research, basic demographic characteristics do not appear to be related to Internet (or e-government) use. This could be a consequence of new and improved technologies reducing access barriers. However, there were clear indications that language, ethnicity, cognitive computer skills and a positive personal attitude towards online transactions are the key drivers for e-government adoption. Of concern is the existence of a hard core of non-users, which will require a proactive policy to provide the relevant facilitating conditions to promote use and experience. This study contributes to a better understanding of the factors required for effective online public services delivery and the ways to direct resources into increasing Internet literacy and use.
Web Site Design
Authors: Rosen Deborah E. , Purinton Elizabeth , Lloyd Scott F.
Published: February 2011

Usability is rapidly becoming recognized as a crucial element in Web design. Usability addresses the question: How easy is a system for visitors to learn, to use and to remember? Usability impacts the quality of the user’s experience. How, then, does an organization contemplating an online presence choose design elements and a composition that facilitate usability thus encouraging visitors to enter a Web site as well as become repeat visitors? Cognitive psychology offers one perspective that may provide some guidance for site design based upon how individuals process information. The research presented in this paper addresses the question: What factors, if used in site design, will encourage surfers to enter a Web site? Through the development of the Web Site Preference Framework, the authors provide evidence that by making a Web site conducive to information processing preferences, Web pages can be designed that will facilitate viewers entering the site.
Wiring Watkins University
Authors: Borchers Andy
Published: February 2011

This case describes the “wiring” of Watkins University (a fictional name for a real Midwestern university) between 1997 and 2003 as the university responded to competitive pressures in the higher education market. After describing the University and the competitive challenges it faced, the case takes the student into a strategy session between the organization’s CFO, CTO and Provost as they review progress on four key initiatives: Web based teaching, student laptop program, a Web based ERP implementation and a proposed “one card” system. Questions are raised as to acceptance of the technology, the impact of these initiatives on the organization’s strategic posture and competitiveness, IT budget planning, and future steps for the organization to take.
King Hotel Goes Online
Authors: Kamel Sherif , Hussein Maha
Published: February 2011

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) usually face financial constraints that limit their resource development and hinder their technological advancement. In Egypt, SMEs comprise almost 99% of the non-agricultural private sector and 75% of the private sector in Egypt at large. It is an important contributor to the economy and affects a number of sectors including tourism. The increase in competition in the sector has driven a number of SMEs to turn to the Internet to gain competitive advantage and to leverage their position and attract more business. However, the successful integration of what is still an innovation into the business process and its application into organisational functionality requires careful institutionalization. There are many challenges that need to be carefully handled in addition to a number of societal and cultural factors that are integral to the process that need to be adapted. The role of the change agent at the SME level is vital to the success of the introduction of the technology, its diffusion, adaptation and acceptance by the different levels in the organisation. This case demonstrates the results of a study addressing the impact of introducing information and communication technology to small and medium sized enterprises in Egypt, represented through the experience of King Hotel in introducing the Internet as a platform for business development, the challenges faced, opportunities created, and lessons learnt for future implementations.
The Evolution of E-Recruiting
Authors: Lee In
Published: February 2011

Given hyper-competition and rapid environmental changes, one of the most critical sources of competitive advantage is attracting and retaining talented workers. E-recruiting is one of the most rapidly growing areas of e-business. To promote an understanding of the use of e-recruiting technologies and management practices utilized by leading business organizations, this study investigates the evolution of e-recruiting systems and analyzes the corporate career Web sites of Fortune 100 companies. Thirty-three attributes that characterize corporate career Web sites were identified, named, and organized around four major categories: recruiting methods, job search tools, job application tools, and information on organizational attributes. While all Fortune 100 companies practice e-recruiting, our content analysis indicates that most of them need to further develop the e-recruiting system in order to improve their recruiting performance.
A Critical Review of Online Consumer Behavior
Authors: Cheung Christy M.K. , Chan Gloria W.W. , Limayem Moez
Published: February 2011

Empirical research on online consumer theory has been examined under diverse contexts over the years. Although researchers from a variety of business disciplines have made significant progress over the past few years, the scope of these studies is rather broad, the studies appear relatively fragmented and no unifying theoretical framework is found in this area. In view of this, this study attempts to provide an exhaustive review of prior theoretical literature and to provide an integrative model of online consumer behavior. This framework not only provides us with a cohesive view of online consumer behavior, but also serves as a salient guideline for researchers in this area. The paper is concluded with a research agenda for future studies.
E-Commerce Issues in Australian Manufacturing
Authors: Gao Jing
Published: February 2011

This paper will present evidence to show that there is an absence of informed, broad, media discussion on e-commerce initiatives in Australia. As pointed out by several authors (Gittins, 1995), the newspaper medium is one of the main vehicles through which advisers and policymakers seek to influence society. Thus, this medium takes on the role of a public forum on national issues. However, it was found that newspapers in Australia have failed provide this role of preparing the manufacturing industries for the impact of new technologies. In this interpretive study, major Australian newspapers were examined for public discussions about e-commerce in manufacturing industries. The PEST (political, economic, social, and technological) framework was used as a lens to subdivide issues, problems, and opportunities identified in the academic e-commerce literature. This lens was then used to examine 103 newspaper articles identified, using the keywords Australian manufacturing and e-commerce in what was believed to be all the major Australian newspapers. It was found that some articles merely reported vendors’ promises of potential cost savings while overlooking the need for investment in technology, training, and maintenance costs; other discussions focused on “users as victims” issues, such as security and privacy. In-depth issues, such as reliability, communication protocols, bandwidth availability, and integration problems were overlooked. In particular, the problem of business strategies was ignored.
Online Privacy Policies
Authors: Ashrafi Noushin , Kuilboer Jean-Pierre
Published: February 2011

Based on U.S. census data, more than three-fourths of Internet users are concerned about having control over the release of their private information when using online services. To ease consumers’ concerns, the Internet industry has come up with self-regulatory practices. The effectiveness of self-regulatory practices and the commitment of the Internet industry to online privacy are yet to be evaluated. The questions regarding self-regulation, what it means from the industry point of view, and to what extent it is implanted remains unclear. This study is exploratory in nature and attempts to examine privacy issues in the context of fair information practices and how they are perceived and practiced by the top 500 interactive companies in the United States. Our results confirm that most companies ask for consumer trust by claiming benevolence. However, they fall short when it comes to costly implementations of comprehensive privacy protection policies.
Development and Testing of an E-Commerce Web Site Evaluation Model
Authors: Joia Luiz A. , Barbosa de Oliveira Luiz C.
Published: February 2011

The scope of this research is to develop and test a model for evaluating B2C e-commerce Web sites. Consequently, this study seeks to investigate the relationship between the Web site interface of B2C e-commerce and virtual customer behavior, concentrating on purchasing attitude and intention. The objective of this article is, therefore, to research which features of a virtual store effectively influence the user purchasing process via the Internet. In order to achieve this aim, the technology acceptance model was adapted for pertinent theoretical references about consumer behavior on the Web. The model developed was then tested and validated through a structural equation modeling approach. An empirical analysis of the CD e-retailing industry in Brazil was then conducted. The study concludes that, for the electronic commerce of CDs, ease of use, trust, pleasure, and attractiveness as perceived by visitors to CD e-retailing Web sites are key issues for understanding customer attitude and purchasing intention.
Mobile and Electronic Commerce Systems and Technologies
Authors: Hu Wen-Chen , Yang Chyuan-Huei T. , Yeh Jyh-haw , Hu Weihong
Published: February 2011

The emergence of wireless and mobile networks has made possible the introduction of electronic commerce to a new application and research subject: mobile commerce. Understanding or constructing a mobile or an electronic commerce system is an arduous task because the system involves a wide variety of disciplines and technologies and the technologies are constantly changing. To facilitate understanding and constructing such a system, this article divides the system into six components: (i) applications, (ii) client computers or devices, (iii) mobile middleware, (iv) wireless networks, (v) wired networks, and (vi) host computers. Elements in these components specifically related to the subject are described in detail and lists of current technologies for component construction are discussed. Another important and complicated issue related to the subject is the mobile or electronic commerce application programming. It includes two types of programming: client-side and server-side programming, which will be introduced too.
Contract Negotiation in E-marketplaces
Authors: Esmahi Larbi
Published: February 2011

E-transactions via shopping agents constitute a promising opportunity in the e-markets. In this article we will discuss the problem of contract negotiation in e-marketplaces. We succinctly present an overview of protocols commonly used to implement negotiation in e-markets. An analysis of the interaction process within e-markets according to different situation of individual and joint profit/cost is presented. We also present a case study of a marketplace for e-services using dependency relations within the negotiation process. The experimental results of this negotiation model show that a combination of utility functions and dependency relations increase the number of contacts and reduce the differences between agents’ individual profit. Finally, we conclude the article with the introduction of some potential research problems related to e-markets, which will be explored within future extensions of this work.
Understanding Electronic Commerce Adoption in Bruneian SMEs
Authors: Seyal Afzaal H. , Rahim Md. Mahbubur
Published: February 2011

This paper investigates 84 small and medium business organizations in Brunei Darussalam to identify specific relationships between managers’ perceptions of the strategic value of e-commerce and the variables that may influence e-commerce. Two out of three perceived strategic value factors are significant, whereas four out of five adoption factors are a significant determinant of e-commerce. Factor analysis was applied to test the measurement model and the structured model was tested through canonical correlation. Based on the results, conclusions have been made.
Study of SME Innovation in Two Queensland Industries
Authors: Thorpe David , Goh Steven
Published: February 2011

This chapter describes research in innovation in smaller SME firms in Southern Queensland, Australia. The industries selected for this study were micro manufacturing in the Darling Downs Region and domestic building constructions in South East Queensland. Results of this research and its implications for innovation in the SME industry sector are discussed. While the firms studied, and the research methodology used, were quite different in each case, it was found that there were common factors that aided and inhibited innovation in each industry. These factors have implications for SME firms in other industries. Suggestions are made in the chapter with respect to the ongoing facilitation of innovation in such firms.
Politicians as Patrons for E-Democracy? Closing the Gap Between Ideals and Realities
Authors: Mahrer Harald
Published: February 2011

Throughout the world, democratic countries, whether old, new, or in transition, are facing innovations in communications and information technology. Especially within developed economies, the challenge toward e-democracy through the digital transformation of democratic institutions has become increasingly evident. With the identification of the notion of the “middleman paradox,” recent research findings have added a new dimension to existing theories on the hesitant evolution of e-democracy, which clearly identifies politicians as an inhibiting factor. Consequently, the research in this paper attempts to explore further this newly discovered phenomenon by presenting theoretical and empirical evidence. The findings of a multiple case study carried out in all 25 EU member countries, based on an adopted exploratory research design, are presented. These findings give more detailed insights on the nature of the middleman paradox and on the ambiguous role of politicians in the further evolution of e-democracy.
State of the Art in E-Gov Research
Authors: Gronlund Åke
Published: February 2011

This article assesses the maturity of the e-government (e-gov) field by examining the nature of 170 papers published at three major e-gov conferences using a straightforward maturity model. Papers were examined mainly for rigor but, to some extent, also for relevance. It was found that theory generation and theory testing are not frequent, while case stories (no theory, no structured data collection) and product descriptions (no analysis or test) are. Also, claims beyond what is reasonable, given the method used, are frequent. As for relevance, only a few of the cases where theories are either tested or generated concern the role and nature of government and governance; most concern general organizational issues that could well find a place within traditional IS conferences. On the positive side, involvement of various pertinent disciplines appears relevant, and global outreach goes far beyond the Atlantic shores. It is concluded that e-gov conferences need to address quality criteria, both rigor- and relevance-oriented, if e-gov is to develop into a mature research field.
User Attitudes to E-Government Citizen Services in Europe
Authors: Millard Jeremy
Published: February 2011

In 2005, the eUSER project undertook a questionnaire survey covering about 10,000 households in 10 European Union member states, the purpose of which was to provide some of the first systematic evidence in Europe of citizen user behaviour and their attitudes to the use of public services, and particularly the role of e-services in this context. The survey focused on a number of themes — the public’s use of government services, the different channels (or media) employed, the nature of potential future demand for e-government, the barriers and experiences in using e-government, and the socio-economic attributes of e-government users compared with non-users. The results provide important new information on the role that the Internet is now playing in the delivery and take-up of government services by European citizens. Face-to-face contact is still the most important channel for contacting government in Europe. In some countries (e.g., the UK), however, telephone and post have overtaken face-to-face. Results also show that potential demand for e-government services is about 50% of all government users and could be higher. One quarter of individual e-government users have acted as intermediaries for family members or friends, and one quarter have also done so on behalf of their employer. Most barriers that users anticipate they will meet when using e-government relate to difficulty in actually starting, with a feeling that face-to-face is better and the fear about data privacy important. However, once citizens have used e-government services, the barriers appear less, though still important, and relate mainly to the difficulty of feeling left alone with problems or questions.
Repeated Use of E-Gov Web Sites
Authors: Chai Sangmi , Herath T. C. , Park I. , Rao H. R.
Published: February 2011

The potential success of e-government depends on its citizens adopting online services and the security of those services. However, despite the development and diffusion of a variety of government services on the Internet, little research has been carried out regarding: (1) the impact of perceived confidentiality of a user’s information on his or her intention to use the service; (2) the relationship between intention towards repeated use and satisfaction derived from service performance of government; and (3) the moderating effect of demographic characteristics (gender and race difference) on the relationship between a user’s satisfaction, confidentiality and repeated use intention. This paper develops an integrated framework of intentions towards repeated use with a level of confidential information shared by a user as one factor and e-government satisfaction derived from service performance as another factor. The results suggest that a user’s intention to continue using government Web sites is related to the user’s satisfaction, perceived performance of the Web site and the requirement for confidential information. This research also confirms that gender difference does moderate the relationship between users’ satisfaction levels and repeated use intention. Race difference has an effect on the strength of the relationship between the user’s perceived confidentiality and repeated use intention.
A Heuristic Model to Implement Government-to-Government Projects
Authors: Joia Luis Antonio
Published: February 2011

Electronic government has proven a watershed in the domain of public administration, despite being difficult to pin down precisely. Indeed, the government-to-government arena is one of the least studied aspects of this newly established field of knowledge. This article aims to present a heuristic model to implement government-to-government endeavors effectively. The framework presented in this article was largely drawn from an actual government-to-government case study successfully implemented in Brazil. From the analysis of this explanatory case study involving the Brazilian Central Bank and the Brazilian Justice Department, some key success factors were singled out, as well as the major hurdles to be overcome and causes thereof. These findings led the researcher to propose a heuristic framework not only to explain the conclusions drawn from the case study presented, but also to help researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to deploy government-to-government projects adequately.
A Comprehensive Framework Towards Information Sharing Between Government Agencies
Authors: Bajaj Akhilesh , Ram Sudha
Published: February 2011

Recently, there has been increased interest in sharing digitized information between government agencies, with the goals of improving security, reducing costs, and offering better quality service to users of government services. The bulk of previous work in interagency information sharing has focused largely on the sharing of structured information among heterogeneous data sources, whereas government agencies need to share data with varying degrees of structure ranging from free text documents to relational data. In this work, we explore the different technologies available to share information. Specifically, our framework discusses the optional data storage mechanisms required to support a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). We compare XML document, free text search engine, and relational database technologies and analyze the pros and cons of each approach. We explore these options along the dimensions of information definition, information storage, the access to this information, and finally the maintenance of shared information.
Value-creating E-Government Business Models for Early Childhood Education in Finland
Authors: Järveläinen Jonna , Koskivaara Eija , Pihlaja Päivi , Salmela Hannu , Tähkäpää Jarmo , Kestilä Timo , Kinos Jarmo
Published: February 2011

In many cases, e-government is considered a name for transforming informative public services into electronic mode, although the focus of e-government should be on creating value for citizens as well as public organizations. In this article we apply Amit and Zott’s (2001) e-business value creation methods to an egovernment environment, namely early childhood education in Finland. The objective of the collaborative action research study was to find out what kind of business models in e-government would create value for citizens. The methodological result based on the collaborative nature of the study is a method for analyzing and generating business models. Amit & Zott’s framework also seems to be applicable to the e-government environment, and we were able to draw many viable business models for early childhood education, which forms the practical contribution of the study.
E-Government Capabilities for 21st Century Security and Defense
Authors: Ladner Roy , Petry Fred , McCreedy Frank
Published: February 2011

In this article we provide an overview of e-government as it pertains to national security and defense within the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). We discuss the adoption of Web services and service-oriented architectures to aid in information sharing and reduction of IT costs. We also discuss the networks on which services and resources are being deployed and explain the efforts being made to manage the infrastructure of available services. This article provides an overview of e-government for national security and defense and provides insight to current initiatives and future directions.
In-Stream Data Processing for Tactical Environments
Authors: Carvalho Marco
Published: February 2011

Data dissemination and information management technologies for tactical environments are quickly becoming major areas of research for both military and civilian applications. Critical to the problem is the need for fully distributed information management technologies that are efficient, adaptive and resilient. In this paper, we introduce and discuss a new strategy for tactical data dissemination and processing based on distributed online learning. Starting from a formal description of the problem we introduce our proposed solution and its theoretical properties. We also present and discuss a number of simulation experiments for different data dissemination scenarios, and conclude the work with a discussion on how such techniques may be applied to critical e-government environments under different assumptions of service availability and information release policies.
Ontological Mediation for Multi-Agent Systems
Authors: Rahimi Shahram , Rana Pravab J. , Ahmad Raheel , Gupta Bidyut
Published: February 2011

A major performance factor when gathering information across a platform like the World Wide Web is the efficiency of the search and retrieval system. The effectiveness of current search and retrieval systems is restricted as they do not use the semantics of the data but only utilize keywords. Using a multi-agent system where agents gather information and organize it, creating ontologies, is a very viable approach to the problem. Major difficulties that arise during collaboration among such information-providing agents are ambiguity and data misinterpretation. This is due to the diversity of ontology creators, differences in linguistics, and ontological overlapping. Users may also knowingly or unknowingly add incorrect information to ontologies. Ontological mediation tries to address such collaboration issues relating to ambiguous and unfamiliar information arising due to various reasons. We propose a communication-based approach for ontological mediation. In the process, we also present a classification model for ontological mediation.
Translucent States
Authors: Frick Maria
Published: February 2011

This work focuses on online state communication through the analysis of Latin-American presidential portals. It postulates that even though governmental websites contribute to the dynamics of democracy in terms of greater transparency and participation in government processes, online government communication is neither completely symmetric nor transparent, since the ways of constructing, presenting and accessing the information are linked to cultural schemes. In this sense, the work argues that the search for transparency in Internet communication can expect -at best- clear and even translucent States, where transparency limits are determined by the sets of values and symbolic representations already existent in each society’s political culture.
Acceptability of ATM and Transit Applications Embedded in Multipurpose Smart Identity Card
Authors: Yeow Paul H.P. , Loo W.H.
Published: February 2011

The study investigates the acceptance of automated teller machine (ATM) and transit applications (Touch ‘n Go) embedded in Malaysian multipurpose smart identity card named as MyKad. A research framework was developed based on UTAUT model. Five hundred questionnaires were distributed. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show that Malaysians do not have strong intentions of using the two applications due lack of understanding of the benefits and the efforts needed to use the applications. In addition, they have the misconception that there are insufficient facilities to support the usage of the applications. Consequently, there is no social support to use the applications. Moreover, they perceive that the applications do not have credibility. Besides, they are unsure if they use of the applications would cause anxieties. Recommendations were given to increase the acceptance and to resolve the issues.
Implementing Free Wi-Fi in Public Parks
Authors: Al-Shafi Shafi , Weerakkody Vishanth
Published: February 2011

This article examines the adoption of free wireless Internet parks (iPark) by Qatari citizens as a means of accessing electronic services from public parks. The Qatari government has launched the free wireless Internet parks concept under their national electronic government (e-government) initiative with a view to providing free Internet access for all citizens whilst enjoying the outdoors. By offering free wireless internet access, the Qatari government hopes to increase the accessibility of e-government services and encourage their citizens to actively participate in the global information society with a view to bridging the digital divide. The adoption and diffusion of iPark services will depend on user acceptance and the availability of wireless technology. This article examines an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) that proposes individual differences and technology complexity in order to determine perceived usefulness and perceived ease of the iPark initiative by using a survey-based study. The article provides a discussion on the key findings, research implications, limitations, and future directions for the iPark initiative in Qatar.
Requirements Based Evaluation of eGovernment in the Large
Authors: Matheis Thomas , Ziemann Jörgg , Loos Peter , Schmidt Daniel , Wimmer Maria
Published: February 2011

An increasing level of cooperation between public administrations nowadays on national, regional and local level requires methods to develop interoperable eGovernment solutions and leads to the necessity of an efficient evaluation and requirements engineering process that guides the establishment of systems and services used by public administrations in the European Union. In this article, the authors propose a framework to systematically gather and evaluate requirements for eGovernment in the large. The evaluation framework is designed to support requirements engineers to develop a suitable evaluation and requirements engineering process with respect to interoperable eGovernment solutions. The methodology is motivated and explained on the basis of a European research project.
Identifying Factors of Integration for an Interoperable Government Portal
Authors: Tripathi Rakhi P. , Gupta M. P. , Bhattacharya Jaijit
Published: February 2011

Interoperability is an important pre-condition for achieving higher stages of e-government and further ensures that a one stop portal will become a reality. Interoperability results from vertical and horizontal integration. The question arises: How can the level of interoperability and degree of integration be ascertained? This paper suggests a framework. It begins by identifying critical factors necessary for the successful adoption of interoperability technology along three dimensions of integration—process integration, communication integration, and data integration. Factors are formed from a literature review and discussions with webmasters and IT professionals working on portal development in various government departments of India. These factors are useful in further evaluation across the three dimensions and locate the position of a government portal in a technology adoption space. It is then possible to ascertain a portal’s current level of integration sophistication.
Development of Dual Video Acquisition and Parallel AVI Player with Camera Calibration System for Supporting Dual View Motion Detection
Authors: Nasrulloh Amar Vijai , Mengko Tati L. R. , Apriantono Tommy
Published: February 2011

Human motion capture consists of the recording of human body movements for immediate or delayed analysis and playback. Development of the dual video acquisition methods and continued with dual and parallel AVI player display can visually display dual view motion detection and successfully identify the depth of the motion detection. Times and frames are played together in dual AVI player display. The mouse cursor tags, using markers, every motion manually and records the two view graphics movement of the joints represented by the markers. The software module to find Ln of two camera calibration that connects a 2 dimensional image plane and 3 dimensional world coordinates has been built using Direct Linear Transformation equation with distance error ±0,44 pixels for video camera 1 and ±1,03 pixels for video camera 2.
Phase Unwrapping Using Energy Minimization Methods for MRI Phase Image
Authors: Adi Kusworo , Mengko Tati L. R. , Suksmono Andriyan B. , Gunawan H.
Published: February 2011

Phase Unwrapping (PU) is reconstruction of absolute phase data from its wrapped phase. The absolute phase cannot be extracted from the wrapped phase data directly. Without phase noise, singularity, and aliasing problems, the phase information can be unwrapped easily. However, the phase data are always contaminated by noise and discontinuities, making the PU process more complicated. Therefore, a suitable PU algorithm is required to address the problems properly. In this method, the energy difference between neighborhood pixels in level 3 is counted, followed by getting the probability value to obtain its total fringes. The capability of the proposed method to unwrap simulated and actual MRI phase images is also demonstrated. In actual MRI phase image, PU can be implemented for water and fat separation.
Toward Applications of EMG and Preliminary Study in the Next Design of Compact Integrated Bio-Signal Recording System
Authors: Astami Kastam , Aridarma Arga
Published: February 2011

Electromygraph or EMG is a device used to measure and record muscle signal. The developments of microelectronics allow the design and realization of such a device with current off-shelf components. The authors developed system consists of multi-channel analog circuitry and is microcontroller based to facilitate connectivity with a computer or laptop as a recording platform. From this developed system, the authors further improve the system by referring to the previous result. One of the improvements is the user controllable gain of each channel. However, beyond the improvement to the system, the use it in an acupuncture experiment for recording muscle signal during the acupuncture process. This paper also explores the possibility of implementing muscle signal as a control for an assistive system and integrating it for an integrated bio-signal recording system.
Telemonitoring System of Neurological Signs in a Health Telematique Network
Authors: Folea Silviu , Avram Camelia , Vidican Sorin , Astilean Adina
Published: February 2011

The paper presents a new, experimental, wireless tremor telemonitoring system composed of an optional variable number of portable devices integrating three-axis acceleration mini-sensors which are connected to very small dimensions acquisition systems with Wi-Fi transmission capabilities. The main advantages of the design system consist of the possibilities to monitor simultaneously many body parts of one or multiple subjects on local or more extended areas both for scheduled assessments and in an everyday life environment. Possible applications of the presented experimental system, considered as a part of a health telematic network, consist of delivering supplementary, consistent sets of data to clinicians in order to reliably assess patients’ state in home and community settings, over longer periods of time. This system consists of delivering new data necessary for differential diagnosis of different types of tremors, or to precise different stages of illness in a health telematic network. The multiple simultaneous measuring capabilities and the extended observation time period could cover eventually neglected aspects related to occasional, temporary, or an intermittent tremor. The Wi-Fi DAQ proposed system’s novelty, in contrast with existing Wi-Fi solutions, is its ultra low power Wi-Fi capability, which makes it suitable for sensing applications where battery power management is critical.
Customer Perspective of CRM Systems
Authors: Pan Shan L.
Published: February 2011

The 1990s has been a boom period of enterprise systems (ES). Many organizations have experienced the technical, integration and business process re-engineering benefits of implementing ES. As of today, a number of ES have been developed, namely customer relationship management systems (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. In particular, CRM systems have gained significant interest, both in the industry as well as in the academic area, in the recent years. The understanding of the customer’s perspective would help to define the CRM systems to better cater to the customers’ needs in achieving their loyalty and satisfaction. With a better understanding from the point of the customers, management would be able to plot their directions in their CRM endeavour. Therefore, this research intends to look at CRM systems from the perspective of the customer through the conduct of focus group discussion.
Software Architectures for an Extensible Web-Based Survey System
Authors: Chalasani Suresh , Baldwin Dirk
Published: February 2011

Many businesses obtain feedback by surveying customers and business partners. With the advent of the Internet, many of the surveys are now conducted on the Web. This paper describes a software architecture for a Web-based survey system. The architecture for the survey system is based on a three-tier system that is comprised of a Web server, Web application server, and database server. The Web application server hosts the application modules that display and process the surveys. The application software consists of packages for establishing connections to the database and for reading static and dynamic data from the database. The processed surveys are written to the database with the survey responses. This system allows for anonymous survey responses and maintains user confidentiality. At the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, we have implemented this Web-based survey system, and it was subsequently used to conduct three different surveys. This survey system is easily extensible to new surveys, and is used for instructional purposes to teach server-side programming to MIS students. In this paper, we discuss the key ideas behind the design and implementation of the extensible survey system and provide results on its application.
Continuous Computing Technologies for Improving Performances of Enterprise Information Systems
Authors: Bajgoric Nijaz
Published: February 2011

Business computing has evolved into an organizational engine that drives business and provides a powerful source for competitive advantage. In order to achieve higher levels of competitiveness, business has to be continuous from a data availability perspective and agile with regard to data access. Simply put, system and application downtime are not an option in modern business since each hour, or even each minute, of downtime may generate negative financial effects. An enterprise information system (EIS) can be qualified as “high-quality” in terms of its architecture, application platform and information it can provide to users but if that information is unavailable when it is needed by customer, manager or any other end user, the value of that EIS simply becomes “zeroed” from end users’ point of view. The paper presents a framework for implementation of continuous computing technologies (CCT) for improving performances of enterprise information systems from business continuance perspective. It identifies high system availability and agile data access as two critical attributes (measures of performances) in evaluating performances of enterprise information systems. The framework is based on a MS/OR-based definition of a system given by Churchman (1968, 1971). In addition, it proposes a set of IT drivers for enhancing the performances of enterprise information systems from business continuity and business agility perspectives.
Modelling of Complex Economic Systems
Authors: Szczerbicki Edward , Waszczyk Maciej
Published: February 2011

This paper discusses various modelling platforms that can be applied to describe complex systems embedded in economics, as well as the role of modelling in the context of three main functions of scientific research: description, explanation and prediction. Qualitative modelling (non-quantitative) is characterized as an initial stage of any modelling approaches, including the one represented by econometrics. The requirement to begin the modelling process from a non-quantitative perspective represents the vital precondition to satisfy the “isomorphism” function of modelling in relation to real live systems being modelled. Qualitative as well as quantitative description models create the foundation for explanatory model development. These, in turn, can be used for prediction purposes satisfying the third main scientific function of research.
Selfish Users and Fair Sharing of Bandwidth in Distributed Medium Access
Authors: Guha Ratan K. , Rakshit Sudipta
Published: February 2011

Fair sharing of bandwidth in distributed systems is considered. The inherently contention-based medium access in distributed systems is modelled as a non-cooperative game: “Access Game”. It is shown that the Nash Equilibrium (NE) for incomplete information games is usually inefficient compared to the NE of complete information games. Consequently, simple mechanisms to approximate an incomplete information scenario as a complete information scenario are proposed. For complete information games, it is shown that the NE usually does not result in fairness. Therefore, we compute the Constrained Nash Equilibrium (CNE) of the “Access Game” with the fairness criteria as the constraints. It is shown that the CNE is unique.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Metrics
Authors: Shea Timothy , Brown Ahern , White D. Steven , Curran-Kelly Catherine , Griffin Michael
Published: February 2011

Adopting a focus on CRM has been an industry standard for nearly two decades. While evidence suggests that a majority of the attempts to implement CRM systems fail, no single reason for the failures has been identified. Assuming that CRM implementation is an extension of a customer-oriented business strategy and assuming successful integration with Enterprise Information Systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, the authors contend that the lack of valid and reliable CRM metrics leads to the perception of failed CRM implementation. Only through the development, application, and use of CRM metrics can organizations hope to achieve their CRM goals.