bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Convergence of Formal Ontologies and Standardized E-Learning
Authors: Sicilia Miguel-Ángel , Barriocanal Elena García
Published: May 2011

Current efforts to standardize e-learning resources are centered on the notion of a learning object as a piece of content that can be reused in diverse educational contexts. Several specifications for the description of learning objects — converging in the LOM standard — have appeared in recent years, providing a common foundation for interoperability and shared semantics. At the same time, the Semantic Web vision has resulted in a number of technologies grounded in the availability of shared, consensual knowledge representations called ontologies. As proposed by several authors, ontologies can be used to provide a richer, logics-based framework for the expression of learning object metadata, resulting in the convergence of both streams of research towards a common objective. In this article, we address the practicalities of the representation of LOM metadata instances into formal ontologies, discussing the main technical and organizational issues that must be addressed for an effective integration of both technologies, and sketching some illustrative examples using modern ontology languages and a large knowledge base.
Secure Semantic Grids
Authors: Thuraisingham Bhavani , Khan Latifur
Published: May 2011

This chapter first describes the developments in semantic grids and then discusses the security aspects. Semantic grids integrate Semantic Web and grid technologies. They also integrate knowledge management with Semantic Web and the grids. There is much interest on applying the semantic grid for many applications in science and engineering. Therefore, it is critical that the semantic grids be secure. We will also discuss Semantic Web mining and privacy implications relevant to semantic grids.
Multimedia Security and Digital Rights Management Technology
Authors: Fernandez-Medina Eduardo , De Capitani di Vimercati Sabrina , Damiani Ernesto , Piattini Mario , Samarati Perangela
Published: May 2011

Multimedia content delivery applications are becoming widespread thanks to increasingly cheaper access to high bandwidth networks. Also, the pervasiveness of XML as a data interchange format has given origin to a number of standard formats for multimedia, such as SMIL for multimedia presentations, SVG for vector graphics, VoiceXML for dialog, and MPEG-21 and MPEG-7 for video. Innovative programming paradigms (such as the one of web services) rely on the availability of XML-based markup and metadata in the multimedia flow in order to customize and add value to multimedia content distributed via the Net. In such a context, a number of security issues around multimedia data management need to be addressed. First of all, it is important to identify the parties allowed to use the multimedia resources, the rights available to the parties, and the terms and conditions under which those rights may be executed: this is fulfilled by the Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. Secondly, a new generation of security and privacy models and languages is needed, capable of expressing complex filtering conditions on a wide range of properties of multimedia data. In this chapter, we analyze the general problem of multimedia security. We summarize the most important XML-based formats for representing multimedia data, and we present languages for expressing access control policies. Finally, we introduce the most important concepts of the DRM technology.
Monitoring Technologies and Digital Governance
Authors: Danielson Peter
Published: May 2011

Digital government is a technological adventure. It applies new technologies—in particular, computer-mediated communication—to the ongoing development of democratic forms of government. While the primary focus in digital government literature is on computer-mediated politics and formal governance, these technologies have wider effects. Generally, new information technologies enable new forms of control (see Beniger, 1986, for an excellent history and the general connections between information, control, and governance). The technological changes that make digital government an option alter the possibilities of governance at all levels. Driven by the declining price of computer hardware (so-called Moore’s law) sensors (e.g., cameras, RFID tags), computers and networking make it possible to find out about and to control many hithertofore uncontrolled aspects of our lives. This article considers the effect of new monitoring technologies in the broad sense introduced by McDonald (2001) as inclusive of the range of control mechanisms—personal, informal, social, market, legal, and political—that we deploy. In general, we expect technological innovation to create ethical problems. Innovations move communities from technological and social situations for which their norms are well adapted to new situations in which the fit tends to be worse (Binmore, 2004). Even seemingly small changes in technology, especially communications and monitoring technology, produce significant stress on norms. (Consider how cell phones and then cell phone cameras challenge norms governing privacy in public spaces.) Therefore, we should expect moves toward digital government to face ethical problems. This article considers problems due to a suite of monitoring and surveillance technologies that promises significant benefits but raises issues in terms of the values of control, privacy, and accountability.
Identity Theft and E-Fraud as Critical CRM Concerns
Authors: Smith Alan D. , Lias Allen R.
Published: May 2011

Fraud and identity theft have been increasing with the use of e-commerce. In the U.S. alone, it has been estimated that victims may spend on average $1,500 in out-of-pocket expenses and an average of 175 hours in order to resolve the many problems caused by such identity thieves. Organizations that engage in e-commerce as a large part of their business need to protect their customers against these crimes. An empirical study of 75 managerial employees and/or knowledge workers in five large organizations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, revealed a number of interesting facts about how much information they share with others, what the likelihood is that they will conduct business online, and whether or not they take steps to protect their personal identity and credit. Model construction and implications were generated concerning steps that employees and customers may take to avoid identity theft.
Failing the Disabled Community
Authors: Kreps David , Adam Alison
Published: May 2011

The focus of this chapter is Web accessibility for disabled people, given that much of the Web remains inaccessible or difficult to access. The topic of disabled people’s Web access is introduced through a consideration of disability discrimination legislation and a description of how the law applies to Web accessibility. There is a tension between the active burdens the legislation demands and the relative passivity of approaches towards disability discrimination that still prevail. This is exacerbated by the widespread acquiescence to automatic software checking. The history of the development of the World Wide Web in terms of accessibility is briefly described. This reveals the familiar tension between a ”free market” approach and regulation that does not readily support social inclusion through accessibility. A table of detailed points showing where automatic tools cannot perform an adequate check against the W3C standards is presented followed by a narrative expanding our claim for the poverty of automatic approaches.
Employee Perceptions of Outsourcing of Information Technology Operations
Authors: Louis Lynda Roberson
Published: May 2011

Little research exists that address employee perceptions of information technology (IT) outsourcing, and its effects on IT employees. This chapter examines a study that investigated perceptions of employees directly involved in IT outsourcing and correlated these perceptions with factors identified in earlier studies. The following human resource factors associated with outsourcing were evaluated: job security, benefits and compensation, morale, productivity, training and skills, and career opportunities. The study evaluated four hypotheses that contended transitioned employees benefited more from IT outsourcing. Results substantiated those of two previous studies of employee perception of IT outsourcing. However, there was no statistical evidence to support the contention that transitioned professionals benefit more from outsourcing than retained professionals. To assist management with addressing these issues, a Modified Management Outsourcing Adoption Model, based on an earlier study, is presented as a tool for use in management action plans to incorporate employee perspectives into the outsourcing process and potentially lead to more successful outsourcing ventures.
Facial Expression and Gesture Analysis for Emotionally-Rich Man-Machine Interaction
Authors: Karpouzis Kostas , Raouzaiou Amaryllis , Drosopoulos Athanasios , Ioannou Spiros , Balomenos Themis , Tsapatsoulis Nicolas , Kollias Stefanos
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents a holistic approach to emotion modeling and analysis and their applications in Man-Machine Interaction applications. Beginning from a symbolic representation of human emotions found in this context, based on their expression via facial expressions and hand gestures, we show that it is possible to transform quantitative feature information from video sequences to an estimation of a user’s emotional state. While these features can be used for simple representation purposes, in our approach they are utilized to provide feedback on the users’ emotional state, hoping to provide next-generation interfaces that are able to recognize the emotional states of their users.
Explaining Algorithms
Authors: Muldner Tomasz , Shakshuki Elhadi
Published: May 2011

This article presents a novel approach for explaining algorithms that aims to overcome various pedagogical limitations of the current visualization systems. The main idea is that at any given time, a learner is able to focus on a single problem. This problem can be explained, studied, understood, and tested, before the learner moves on to study another problem. Toward this end, a visualization system that explains algorithms at various levels of abstraction has been designed and implemented. In this system, each abstraction is focused on a single operation from the algorithm using various media, including text and an associated visualization. The explanations are designed to help the user to understand basic properties of the operation represented by this abstraction, for example its invariants. The explanation system allows the user to traverse the hierarchy graph, using either a top-down (from primitive operations to general operations) approach or a bottom-up approach. Since the system is implemented using a client-server architecture, it can be used both in the classroom setting and through distance education.
A Generic Internet Trading Framework for Online Auctions
Authors: Yao Dong-Qing , Qiao Haiying , Qiao Haibing
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we introduce a generic Internet trading framework for online auctions. We present the requirements and service of the framework. A generic OR/XOR bidding language that can express different OR/XOR combinations is adopted for Web interfaces. The framework is implemented with free open-source technologies already successfully tested in industries. Researchers can use the platform to implement different electronic-market mechanisms, simulate the market behavior of their interests, and experiment with it. We also provide future directions for the framework design.
Interorganizational Relationships in the Context of SMEs' B2B E-Commerce
Authors: Lawson-Body Assion , O’Keefe Timothy P.
Published: May 2011

Electronic commerce on the Internet has been discussed in literature as an interorganizational information system that can provide a strategic advantage via customer loyalty to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, that is not always true, because many SMEs have difficulties achieving the benefits, as suggested by media and early research. This study is an empirical examination of the impact of the Internet’s Web tools on the interorganizational relationships (IOR) between SMEs and their loyal customers. Data collected from 386 SMEs in North America (United States and Canada) and processed with Partial Least Square (PLS) show that the use of Web tools (i.e., the level of Web content and the level of security on the Internet) has a positive impact on the relation between cooperation and interdependence, and customer loyalty. However, the impact of the Internet’s Web tools on the relation between trust and customer loyalty is different, because the use of nonsecure Web tools reduces the impact of trust on customer loyalty, and surprisingly, the use of secure Web tools doesn’t increase or decrease the impact of trust on customer loyalty. The implications of the results of the study are discussed.
The Client-Supplier E-Relationship Management
Authors: Tagliavini Marco , Ghiringhelli Elisa
Published: May 2011

The case study presents an overview of e-business activities within the European B2B office furniture segment, analyzing the scenarios faced by one of the top companies in this segment, hereafter fictitiously referred to as “Cadiac.”Focus is on challenges and issues faced by this company in the last five years within the client-supplier e-relation-ship management: from the use of Internet-based technology to improve the information exchange with clients and dealers to the development of customer relationship manage-ment applications. The present overview explores:market peculiarities and their impact on e-business strategy, challenges, and issues, the different technical solutions adopted through real client case studies, future challenges and opportunities. Of course, the e-business channel is leveraged by Cadiac as an additional channel to the traditional face-to-face negotiation, and in any case is replacing it. The purpose, on the contrary, is to reinforce the business model (sales are driven through a dealer network) by offering a way to reduce complexity and facilitate order management.
Electronic Commerce Adoption Barriers in Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Developed and Developing Countries
Authors: Kartiwi Mitra , MacGregor Robert C.
Published: May 2011

Today, electronic commerce (e-commerce) has been utilised as a rapid vehicle to transform the world into an information society. In the business environment, e-commerce has made considerable inroads not only into large organisations but also the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, SMEs are not adopting e-commerce with same speed as their larger counterparts. This slow growth has been attributed to various adoption barriers, which have been well documented in numerous research studies. While several recent studies have begun examining the relationship between the perceptions of adoption barriers in developed economies, the relationship between the perceptions of these barriers has not been fully examined in developing economies. This paper examines the correlation and underlying factors of barriers to e-commerce (as perceived by SME owner/managers) in a developing economy (Indonesia). It then compares these with SME owner/manager perceptions from a developed economy (Sweden). The study showed that there are differences in the groupings and priorities of barriers to e-commerce between the two locations. Most importantly, however, was the finding that while Swedish respondents were more concerned with technical issues, the Indonesian respondents were more concerned with organisational barriers.
A Contigency Theory for Online Customer Retention
Authors: Khalifa Mohamed , Limayem Moez , Liu Vanessa
Published: May 2011

Customer retention, or repurchase, is one of the main factors that help to create and maintain the competitiveness and sustainability of an organization. With the proliferation of B2C electronic commerce, retention has become even more important to Internet merchants who sell online, where customers are provided with a wide variety of choices and competition is globally severe. As opposed to pageviews and click through ratios, repurchase provides a more revealing metric of the effectiveness of websites. It is therefore important to explain and identify the determinants of online customer retention. Previous IS research on online shopping mainly focused on adoption and usage issues. Very few studies, however, examined whether customers made repurchases after they were attracted to and satisfied with the buying experience and product. In this study, we develop, operationalize and empirically test a model that explains online consumer retention as measured by repurchase. Our findings demonstrated that the direct effect of satisfaction on repurchase is positively moderated by online shopping habit. This research also highlights and identifies specific factors affecting customer retention that should help practitioners in formulating the appropriate marketing strategies.
Multi-Channel Retailing and Customer Satisfaction
Authors: Warrington Patricia T. , Gangstad Elizabeth , Feinberg Richard , de Ruyter Ko
Published: May 2011

Multi-channel retailers that utilize an e-CRM approach stand to benefit in multiple arenas by providing targeted customer service as well as gaining operational and competitive advantages. To that end, it is inherent that multi-channel retailers better understand how satisfaction—a necessary condition for building customer loyalty—influences consumers’ decisions to shop in one retail channel or another. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of shopping experience on customers’ future purchase intentions, both for the retailer and for the channel. Using a controlled experimental design, U.S. and European subjects responded to a series of questions regarding the likelihood making a future purchase following either a positive or nega-tive shopping encounter. Results suggest that shopping intentions vary based on the shopping channel as well as cultural differences.
Business Networking with Web Services
Authors: Ferreira Diego R.
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes how the latest advances in Web services technology are paving the way toward dynamic B2B integration. It begins by distinguishing between three kinds of life cycles: the operational life cycle, the B2B trading life cycle, and the business networking life cycle. In the past, most B2B integration solutions have been designed to support the operational life cycle by specifying a set of predefined B2B conversations. We will show that Web services can be used to settle those conversations at run-time, and that they can support the B2B trading life cycle all the way from partner search to contracting, operation, and evaluation. In general, though, the B2B trading life cycle may change across different markets, which requires mechanisms for a company to retrieve information about how it should proceed once it enters a new market. These mechanisms belong to the business networking life cycle, and they can be supported by Web services as well. The conclusion is that Web services provide the required features to support the full life cycle of business collaborations.
Modeling Learner's Cognitive Abilities in the Context of a Web-Based Learning Environment
Authors: Souto Maria Aparecida M. , Verdin Regina , de Oliveira José Palazzo M.
Published: May 2011

Our study is concerned with making the instruction suitable to the individual learner’s characteristics. This chapter describes the methodology used to investigate how to model the learner’s Cognitive Ability Level (CAL) based on the observation and analysis of his/her behaviour in a Web-learning environment. In our study, the CAL represents the learner’s cognitive stage development according to Bloom’s taxonomy. The methodology encompasses two phases: (i) the generation of the CAL classes for the target population and (ii) the study of learning trajectories of CAL classes in an experimental learning module. As a result, we have identified the CAL classes’ parametersvalues that best discriminate these classes from the observation and analysis of their learning trajectory on the Web. The entire knowledge obtained from this investigation will make possible to automate the learners’ CAL diagnostic. It will also give us the background to develop Web-learning environment contents.
Asynchronous Learning Using a Hybrid Learning Package
Authors: Chatterjea Kalyani
Published: May 2011

This article analyses the rationale for the development of a Web-based teacher-upgrading programme and discusses the main issues of in-service professional upgrading of working adults using the WWW. In-service upgrading has been an accepted avenue for retraining practising teachers in Singapore to keep abreast of changing curriculum requirements as well as infusion of information technology in teaching and learning. To cope with the teachers’ busy work schedule and many school commitments upgrading courses were offered to the teachers primarily asynchronously, using the Internet platform with some integrated synchronous sessions. Issues of adult learning in a learner-controlled adaptive learning environment, and life-long learning were addressed through an IT-infused asynchronous mode, providing the much-needed freedom in time management for the course participants. The development also includes delivery of high definition graphics through a customized hybrid system of CD-ROM and Web that addresses image-downloading bottleneck and thereby overcomes a basic problem of distance learning in geo-spatial education. Finally reflections on the attending adult learners’ responses to such an upgrading programme are discussed.
Online Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Software Training Through the Behavioral Modeling Approach
Authors: Chen Charlie C. , Shaw R. S.
Published: May 2011

The continued and increasing use of online training raises the question of whether the most effective training methods applied in live instruction will carry over to different online environments in the long run. Behavior Modeling (BM) approach – teaching through demonstration — has been proven as the most effective approach in a face-to-face (F2F) environment. A quasi-experiment was conducted with 96 undergraduate students who were taking a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 course in a university in Taiwan. The BM approach was employed in three learning environments— F2F, online synchronous and online asynchronous classes. The results were compared to see which produced the best performance, as measured by knowledge near-transfer and knowledge far-transfer effectiveness. Overall satisfaction with training was also measured. The results of the experiment indicate that during a long duration of training no significant difference in learning outcomes could be detected across the three learning environments.
If You Build a Political Web Site, Will They Come?
Authors: Norris Pippa , Curtice John
Published: May 2011

This study focuses on the capacity of the Internet for strengthening political activism. The first part summarizes debates about these issues in the previous literature. This study starts from the premise that political activism is a multidimensional phenomenon and that we need to understand how different channels of participation relate to the social and political characteristics of the online population. We predict that certain dimensions of activism will probably be strengthened by the rise of the knowledge society, particularly cause-oriented forms of political participation, reflecting the prior social and political characteristics of the online population. By contrast, we expect the Internet to have far less impact upon conventional channels of political participation, exemplified by election campaigns. The second part summarizes the sources of data and the key measures of political activism used in this study, drawing upon the British Social Attitudes Survey from 2003. The third part examines the evidence for the relationship between use of the Internet and patterns of civic engagement in the British context. The conclusion summarizes the results and considers their broader implications.
E-Enforcement in Digital Government
Authors: de Bruijn Hans , Berlo Marieke Koopmans-van
Published: May 2011

In recent years, there has been a significant rise in “e-enforcement.” E-enforcement is the use of electronic tools in law enforcement. In this article, we consider two new forms of e-enforcement which have recently been introduced in Europe. These are Weigh in Motion with Video (WIM-Vid) and the digital tachograph. WIM-Vid is a system involving sensors in the road and cameras in order to register overloading of heavy goods vehicles. WIM-Vid was developed and implemented in the Netherlands and is currently attracting international attention. The digital tachograph replaces the analogue tachograph in all heavy goods vehicles within the European Union. The machine registers drivers’ driving and rest times. In this article, we focus on the special position of the clients of e-enforcement, the regulatees. Although e-enforcement is a form of e-government or digital government, the position of the client is quite distinct. Many definitions describe e-government in terms of service delivery (Chen, 2002; Devadoss, Pan, & Huang, 2002; Finger & Pécaud, 2003; Hiller & Belanger, 2001; Ho, 2002; Moon, 2002). These descriptions feature the concept of customer focus (Devadoss et al., 2002; Finger & Pécaud, 2003; Ho, 2002). The purpose of e-government should be to satisfy these customers, whether they are ordinary citizens or parties in private sector (Finger & Pécaud, 2003). The clients of enforcement, however, are offenders or potential offenders. These clients are characterized by the fact that they do not want the service and generally exhibit uncooperative behaviour (Alford, 2002). They may, for example, actively evade the “service” of enforcement, or commit information fraud (Hawkins, 1984). In this article we will see what the distinct position of the clients of enforcement means for the effects of e-enforcement.
E-Government Adoption and Acceptance
Authors: Titah Ryad , Barki Henri
Published: May 2011

Despite increased research interest on e-government, the field currently lacks sound theoretical frameworks that can be useful in addressing two key issues concerning the implementation of e-government systems: (1) a better understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of e-government systems, and (2) the integration of various e-government applications. The objective of this paper is to provide a foundation towards the development of a theoretical framework for the implementation of e-government systems via extensive literature review, which resulted in (1) a synthesis of existing empirical findings and theoretical perspectives related to e-government adoption, and (2) development of the premises of a conceptual model that would reflect the multi-level and multi-dimensional nature of e-government systems’ acceptance.
Cultivating Greater Acceptance of Women in Technology
Authors: Wasburn Mara H.
Published: May 2011

Many Western nations face a critical shortage of skilled professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, despite abundant opportunities, few women prepare themselves for careers in these fields. Several of those concerned with the problem have proposed that new media programming, such as television dramas with women engineers, computer professionals and/or engineers in leading roles, might help attract more women to STEM fields. This article identifies a theoretical rationale for a media-centered strategy, and describes a pilot study whose data suggest that a media-centered approach might have some success in producing greater interest among women in pursuing STEM careers, particularly information technology (IT) careers.
Introduction to Data Mining in Bioinformatics
Authors: Hsu Hui-Huang
Published: May 2011

Bioinformatics uses information technologies to facilitate the discovery of new knowledge in molecular biology. Among the information technologies, data mining is the core. This chapter first introduces the concept and the process of data mining, plus its relationship with bioinformatics. Tasks and techniques of data mining are then presented. At the end, selected bioinformatics problems related to data mining are discussed. Data mining aims at uncovering knowledge from a large amount of data. In molecular biology, advanced biotechnologies enable the generation of new data in a much faster pace. Data mining can assist the biologist in finding new knowledge from piles of biological data at the molecular level. This chapter provides an overview on the topic.
Feature Selection for the Promoter Recognition and Prediction Problem
Authors: Potamias George , Kanterakis Alexandros
Published: May 2011

With the completion of various whole genomes, one of the fundamental bioinformatics tasks is the identification of functional regulatory regions, such as promoters, and the computational discovery of genes from the produced DNA sequences. Confronted with huge amounts of DNA sequences, the utilization of automated computational sequence analysis methods and tools is more than demanding. In this article, we present an efficient feature selection to the promoter recognition, prediction, and localization problem. The whole approach is implemented in a system called MineProm. The basic idea underlying our approach is that each position-nucleotide pair in a DNA sequence is represented by a distinct binary-valued feature—the binary position base value (BPBV). A hybrid filter-wrapper, featuredeletion (or addition) algorithmic process is called for in order to select those BPBVs that best discriminate between two DNA sequences target classes (i.e., promoter vs. nonpromoter). MineProm is tested on two widely used benchmark data sets. Assessment of results demonstrates the reliability of the approach.
Combining Data Warehousing and Data Mining Techniques for Web Log Analysis
Authors: Pedersen Torben Bach , Thorhauge Jesper , Jespersen Søren E.
Published: May 2011

Enormous amounts of information about Web site user behavior are collected in Web server logs. However, this information is only useful if it can be queried and analyzed to provide high-level knowledge about user navigation patterns, a task that requires powerful techniques. This chapter presents a number of approaches that combine data warehousing and data mining techniques in order to analyze Web logs. After introducing the well-known click and session data warehouse (DW) schemas, the chapter presents the subsession schema, which allows fast queries on sequences of page visits. Then, the chapter presents the so-called “hybrid” technique, which combines DW Web log schemas with a data mining technique called Hypertext Probabilistic Grammars, hereby providing fast and flexible constraint-based Web log analysis. Finally, the chapter presents a “post-check enhanced” improvement of the hybrid technique.
Evolutionary Induction of Mixed Decision Trees
Authors: Kretowski Marek , Grzes Marek
Published: May 2011

This article presents a new evolutionary algorithm (EA) for induction of mixed decision trees. In nonterminal nodes of a mixed tree, different types of tests can be placed, ranging from a typical inequality test up to an oblique test based on a splitting hyper-plane. In contrast to classical top-down methods, the proposed system searches for an optimal tree in a global manner, that is it learns a tree structure and finds tests in one run of the EA. Specialized genetic operators are developed, which allow the system to exchange parts of trees, generating new sub-trees, pruning existing ones as well as changing the node type and the tests. An informed mutation application scheme is introduced and the number of unprofitable modifications is reduced. The proposed approach is experimentally verified on both artificial and real-life data and the results are promising. Scaling of system performance with increasing training data size was also investigated.
A Service-Oriented Multimedia Componentization Model
Authors: Zhang J. , Zhang L. , Quek Francis , Chung Jen-Yao
Published: May 2011

As Web services become more and more popular, how to manage multimedia Web services that can be composed as value-added service solutions remains challenging. This paper presents a service-oriented multimedia componentization model to support Quality of Service (QoS)-centered, device-independent multimedia Web services, which seamlessly incorporates cutting-edge technologies relating to Web services. A multimedia Web service is divided into control flow and data flow. Each can be delivered via different infrastructures and channels. Enhancements are proposed to facilitate Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Composite Capability/Preference Profiles (CC/PP) protocols to improve their flexibility to serve multimedia Web services. We present a set of experiments that show the viability of our service-oriented componentization model that can support efficient delivery and management of multimedia Web services.
Multimedia Information Design for Mobile Devices
Authors: Ally M.
Published: May 2011

There is a rapid increase in the use of mobile devices such as cell phones, tablet PCs, personal digital assistants, Web pads, and palmtop computers by the younger generation and individuals in business, education, industry, and society. As a result, there will be more access of information and learning materials from anywhere and at anytime using these mobile devices. The trend in society today is learning and working on the go and from anywhere rather than having to be at a specific location to learn and work. Also, there is a trend toward ubiquitous computing, where computing devices are invisible to the users because of wireless connectivity of mobile devices. The challenge for designers is how to develop multimedia materials for access and display on mobile devices and how to develop user interaction strategies on these devices. Also, designers of multimedia materials for mobile devices must use strategies to reduce the user mental workload when using the devices in order to leave enough mental capacity to maximize deep processing of the information. According to O’Malley et al. (2003), effective methods for presenting information on these mobile devices and the pedagogy of mobile learning have yet to be developed. Recent projects have started research on how to design and use mobile devices in the schools and in society. For example, the MOBILearn project is looking at pedagogical models and guidelines for mobile devices to improve access of information by individuals (MOBILearn, 2004). This paper will present psychological theories for designing multimedia materials for mobile devices and will discuss guidelines for designing information for mobile devices. The paper then will conclude with emerging trends in the use of mobile devices.
Exploring Student Motivationsfor IP Teleconferencing in Distance Education
Authors: Stafford Thomas F. , Lindsey Keith
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the various motivations students have for engaging in both origination site and distant site teleconferenced sections of an information systems course, enabled by Internet protocol (IP)- based teleconferencing. While in the past many distance learning courses have been asynchronous Webbased offerings, technology and cost advantages now available through IP teleconferencing provide for synchronous course offerings that can serve several physical locations at the same time while retaining the converged media advantages of Internet delivery. To better understand how this new capability can be incorporated into future curricula, it is important to understand student motivations for participating in IP teleconferencing as part of a lecture section for a class delivered across geographically dispersed collegiate campuses. Theoretical perspectives of student motivations for engaging in distance education are examined, and the results of three specific studies of student motivations for IP teleconferencing and multimedia-enhanced instruction are examined and discussed.
ICT Impact on Knowledge Industries
Authors: Falch Morten , Nicolajsen Hanne Westh
Published: May 2011

This chapter analyzes e-learning from an industry perspective. The chapter studies how the use of ICTtechnologies will affect the market for university teaching. This is done using a scenario framework developed for study of ICT impact on knowledge industries. This framework is applied on the case of e-learning by drawing on practical experiences.
A Case Study of Business Service Realization
Authors: Karakostas Bill , Zorgios Yannis
Published: May 2011

Having discussed a method for service realization in Chapter VII, the service methodology that was first outlined in the Introduction of this book is now complete. We have covered the following, so far: • Service concepts and fundamentals (Chapter II). • Service identification from business models and modeling, using the IDEF0/ IDEF1X notations (Chapter VII). • Service realization using the MDA transformation of business services to executable Web services (Chapter V). • Environments for service execution and management (Chapter IX). This chapter demonstrates how the above aforementioned concepts and methods can be applied to the analysis design and implementation of real business services. The business domain that we have chosen, accounts.payable/accounts.receivable (A/R-A/P), is pervasive, but by no means trivial. In this chapter, we approach this traditional accounting domain from a fresh, service-oriented perspective, by following the steps of the approach presented in the previous chapters, to show how services can be realized. We finally implement the modeled services using the CLMS service engineering platform that was first introduced in Chapter IX.
Pedagogical Practice for Learning with Social Software
Authors: Bartlett-Bragg Anne
Published: May 2011

This chapter proposes that social software can enable informal learning environments through collective learning networks and the fundamental social interactions embedded in those learning processes. Situated in the adult learning organisational context, the challenge for educators is how to re-frame their pedagogical practices for the new technological developments and facilitate the design of online communication and information exchanges to empower the learners and create an enriched social learning landscape. The chapter presents a pedagogical framework, developed from practice and verified through doctoral research, which provides pathways through phases of development for facilitating informal learning processes and strategies that enable learners to overcome key issues that may inhibit the creation of informal learning environments. Examples from recent practice will be used to illustrate areas where educators need to be aware of both the inhibitors and their pedagogical strategies.
Offshoring
Authors: Gupta Amar , Seshasai Satwik , Mukherji Sourav , Ganguly Auroop
Published: May 2011

The changing economic and labor conditions have motivated firms to outsource professional services activities to skilled personnel in less expensive labor markets. This offshoring phenomenon is studied from a political, economic, technological and strategic perspective. Next, an analytical model is developed for achieving strategic advantage from offshoring based on global partnerships. The model studies the impact of offshoring with respect to the complexity and strategic nature of the tasks and presents a decision strategy for obtaining value through offshoring of increasingly complex tasks. The result is an integrated “24-Hour Knowledge Factory” that is based on a sustainable global model rather than a short term fiscal model. This 24-hour paradigm embodies the shift-style workforce that evolved for the manufacturing sector during the Industrial Revolution and relies on a set of critical success factors in the current environment. A case example is provided from IBM to illustrate these underlying critical success factors.
A Paradigmatic and Methodological Review of Research in Outsourcing
Authors: Yadav Vanita , Gupta Rajen K.
Published: May 2011

Due to the growing academic and practitioner interest in the field of outsourcing, there is a need to do a comprehensive assessment and synthesis of research activities to date. This chapter addresses this need and examines the academic literature on information systems outsourcing and business process outsourcing using a paradigmatic and methodological lens. The objective of this chapter is fourfold. Firstly, it examines the status of outsourcing research from 1995 to 2005 in eight leading academic journals, to compare the current research trends with past research directions in terms of methodologies applied. Secondly, it analyzes the research paradigms adopted in these research papers using the Operations Research Paradigm framework. Thirdly, it compares and contrasts the outsourcing research work published in three leading European journals with the work published in three leading American journals. Finally, it uncovers the implications of this study and the directions for future research.
An Outsourcing Acceptance Model
Authors: Benamati John Skip , Rajkumar T. M.
Published: May 2011

The use of outsourcing is expanding rapidly. This chapter empirically tests a model of application development outsourcing acceptance based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). TAM-suggested perceived usefulness and ease of use mediate the effects of other variables on users’ attitudes towards a technology. The model tested in this chapter suggests that perceived usefulness and ease of use of outsourcing mediate the effects of the external environment, prior outsourcing relationships, and risks on decision-makers’ attitude toward application development outsourcing. One hundred and sixty respondents to a survey sent to 3000 IT decision makers provided data to confirm the applicability of TAM and the influences of these external variables. Support for applying TAM in this alternative context was found. Three sub-dimensions of risk, project management, relationship, and employee risk emerged. Project management and employee risks along with prior relationships were found to significantly influence decision maker perceptions about application development outsourcing.
Web Log Analysis
Authors: Taksa Isak , Spink Amanda , Jansen Bernard J.
Published: May 2011

Web log analysis is an innovative and unique field constantly formed and changed by the convergence of various emerging Web technologies. Due to its interdisciplinary character, the diversity of issues it addresses, and the variety and number of Web applications, it is the subject of many distinctive and diverse research methodologies. This chapter examines research methodologies used by contributing authors in preparing the individual chapters for this handbook, summarizes research results, and proposes new directions for future research in this area.
QoS Support in Wireless Networks
Authors: Ahmad Bashar , Kotsis Gabriele
Published: May 2011

Wireless communication has gained a great deal of attention in the last few years from both industry and academia. Nowadays, most computerized devices are equipped with wireless ports such as IEEE 802.11 WLAN, Bluetooth, or Inferred port. IEEE 802.11 WLAN device, in particular, is an ideal wireless communication tool for any mobile-based computer such as a notebook or PDA because of their low cost and high bandwidth. The wireless environment has some characteristics that make supporting QoS a very challenging task. These characteristics are bandwidth scarce, radio channel conditions that vary over the time, and highly packet loss. Legacy IEEE 802.11 standards such 802.11a, b, or g originally do not support QoS, thus many QoS enhancement schemes have been proposed; most of them focus on enhancing a particular part or mode of the standard. QoS support in any system is an accumulative task, as it needs to be maintained throughout all layers. The wireless multimedia application is the best example for proving the accumulative property for its QoS as the user is the final judge about whether the provided quality is satisfactory or not. In this chapter, we will study and analyze QoS support for wireless network and the target application, which will be a real-time multimedia application. First, we discuss QoS support for multimedia application. Second, a framework for classifying the QoS enhancements will be proposed. Next we will study QoS support in IEEE 802.11 and the new QoS extension IEEE 802.11e, and then we will study and classify the proposed QoS enhancement schemes according to the proposed framework. Finally, we will discuss mobility as an important issue for QoS support in wireless environment.
Wideband Smart Antenna Avoiding Tapped-Delay Lines and Filters
Authors: Uthansakul Monthippa , Bialkowski Marek E.
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the alternative approach for wideband smart antenna in which the use of tapped-delay lines and frequency filters are avoidable, so called wideband spatial beamformer. Here, the principles of operation and performance of this type of beamformer is theoretically and experimentally examined. In addition, its future trends in education and commercial view points are identified at the end of this chapter. The authors hope that the purposed approach will not only benefit the smart antenna designers, but also inspire the researchers pursuing the uncomplicated beamformer operating in wide frequency band.
The Civilization Grand Model
Authors: Targowski Andrew
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this study is to develop a comprehensive model of generic civilizations and world civilization, applying the cybernetic technique of analysis and synthesis. Identifying the role of information-communication processes is particularly important for this quest, because these processes strongly influence the progress of civilization at the beginning of the 21st century. Three models, developed by Braudel (1993), Toynbee (1957), and Koneczny (1962), serve as both justification for this type of study and the foundations for a new model. The spectacular progress in technology and living standards achieved by mankind at the beginning of the third millennium prompts research on the grand view of the human condition. Numerous questions need to be answered: 1. What is a civilization? 2. What types of civilizations can be recognized at the beginning of the third millennium? 3. What are the relationships between any particular civilization and the world civilization? 4. What is the role of information and communication in a civilization? 5. What types of laws rule any particular civilization and the world civilization? 6. What are the prospects of the world civilization? Answers to these questions should help us to understand our current condition and the direction of its improvement or perhaps mankind’s further well-being.