bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analyzing Critical Functions of Recording Tools for Synchronous Cyber Classroom Instruction
Authors: Wei Chun-Wang , Hung I-Chun , Kinshuk  , Chen Nian-Shing
Published: October 2011

Digital learning content is one of the crucial components for online courses. There are many ways for creating digital learning contents. Among them, recording of live instructional activities is becoming one of the most important methods to produce learning contents. However, the previous studies mainly focused on how to create digital learning content in offline mode, very few literatures addressed how to effectively record live instructional activities for digital learning content. This chapter focuses on how to effectively record live instructional activities conducted in synchronous cyber classrooms. The aims of this chapter are firstly to identify the recording scenarios for different modes of instructions in synchronous cyber classrooms, secondly to explore the functional requirements for different types of instruction modes, and finally to find out the best match between the instruction modes and the essential functions of recording tools.
Software Agent Systems for Supporting Student Team Project Working
Authors: Whatley Janice
Published: October 2011

This chapter describes the trial of an experimental software agent system, designed to help students to get started on their team projects, by allocating tasks to individuals and agree on ground rules for the team. Students taking Information Technology degree programmes tried the system over several years, providing feedback on the suitability of this sort of system for supporting the process aspects of team project working. Findings from this research showed that students used the output from the system in different ways according to their previous experience and suggested additional features that students would like to see in a system for supporting their team working, which could be incorporated into future development of the system.
E-Government Service Development
Authors: Shareef Mahmud Akhter , Archer Norm
Published: October 2011

E-government (EG) is an alternative channel to regular brick and mortar government office. This information and communication technology (ICT) driven delivery system offers government services to its different stakeholders in a more comprehensive, efficient, and effective way than it was through physical government office. At different stages of EG development and growth, functions, pattern, and capacities of offered services are distinctively different, and as such, association of technology is also different with these different stages. This chapter is designed to understand prime components, recognize stakeholders, and identify differentiable growth stage of EG. To fulfill this objective, this chapter is divided into four sections.
Virtual Learning Communities of Practice in Metaverse
Authors: Moretti Gaia , Schlemmer Eliane
Published: October 2011

Characteristic of the contemporaneous age, and taking advantage of the diffusion of digital technologies, virtual communities are diffusing in the organization’s culture such as places where members can learn, work, or simply meet. The evolution of the same digital technologies, and the development of Digital Virtual Worlds in 3D (such as Second Life), permits now to think of new tools for the organizational communities and for communities in general that could build new knowledge, share common practices, and work together in immersive and collaborative spaces. Digital virtual spaces can contribute to change the traditional structure and definition of virtual communities, and can also contribute to their digital development, in the field of participation.
Technological Minimalism versus Second Life
Authors: Mattar Joao
Published: October 2011

This chapter addresses a certain resistance against the use of Second Life in education, which is based on the theory of technological minimalism. The main arguments behind this resistance and the theory’s basic concepts are discussed. Then a critique of an example of the application of technological minimalism to the use of Second Life in education follows. Technological minimalism advocates the minimum use of technology needed to transmit content. The text argues that in the current stage of education technology potential educational tools should not be chosen based on that criterion. Technology and education cannot be easily separated anymore. As a conclusion, this chapter suggests a new form of minimalism: a minimalism of content.
Finding Liquid Salvation
Authors: Grieve Gregory Price , Heston Kevin
Published: October 2011

The Cardean Ethnographic Method was developed between 2007 and 2010 to study religious communities in the virtual world of Second Life. In our research, we faced a two-sided methodological problem. We had to theorize the virtual and its relation to the actual, while simultaneously creating practices for an effective ethnographic method. Our solution, named after the Roman goddess of the hinge, Cardea, theorizes the “virtual” as desubstantialized and nondualistic; “residents” as fluid, multiple, and distributed cyborg-bodies; and “cloud communities” as temporary, outsourced groups of emotionally bonded residents. These three qualities enable a classic form of ethnography based on participant observation, which is possible on Second Life because the platform enables immersion, a prolonged time in the field, as well as the bodily practices necessary for thick description. The Cardean method unveils online religion operating as “Liquid Salvation”—which is defined by consumerism, radical individualism, and pragmatic religious practice.
Second Life, Second Morality?
Authors: Gabriels Katleen , Bauwens Joke , Verstrynge Karl
Published: October 2011

This study is an examination of in-world morality of frequent residents of Second Life. Given the lack of systematic research on morality in non-gaming virtual worlds, the authors conducted an explorative small-scale, in-depth qualitative study with regular Second Life-residents. Drawing on cyber-anthropology, cyber-sociology, and game studies, they explore to what extent ideas and pictures of in-world moral behaviour differ from moral categories and definitions used in real life situations. Research findings show, firstly, that communication and sanction mechanisms (e.g. gossip), known from real life, are important means to create social control and group cohesion in Second Life. Secondly, the technologically mediated context intensifies and provides new tools for social control (e.g. alternative avatar). Thirdly, residents also make use of “out-world” systems to restrict or punish immoral behaviour (e.g. blogs, discussion forums, Web search engines). In general, findings indicate that morality in Second Life is not completely different from morality shown in real life. On the other hand, they also point at distinctiveness in a mediated environment because of specific technological tools.
Structural Classification of Complex Molecules by Artificial Intelligence Techniques
Authors: Torrens Francisco , Castellano Gloria
Published: October 2011

Algorithms for classification and taxonomy bases on criteria, e.g., information entropy. The feasibility of replacing a given molecule by similar ones in the composition of a complex drug is studied. Some local anaesthetics currently in use are classified using structural properties. In taxonomy the detailed comparison of the sequences of biomolecules, proteins or nucleic acids, allows the reconstruction of a molecular phylogenetic tree. The method is applied to the classifications of (1) indazolols (against Trichomonas vaginalis), (2) fullerenes and fullerite, (3) living and heat-inactivated lactic acid bacteria against cytokines, (4) phylogenesis of avian birds and 1918 influenza virus, (5) local anaesthetics, (6) transdermal-delivery percutaneous enhancers, (7) quantitative structure–activity relationship of anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) compounds, (8) HIV inhibitors, e.g., thiocarbamates, N-aryloxazolidinone-5-carboxamides and styrylquinolines, (9) antimalarial aryltriazolylhydroxamates, (10) N-aryl-N-(3-aryl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-5-yl) amines against prostate cancer, antimitotic 2-phenylindole-3-carbaldehydes against breast cancer and anti-tubulin agents against gastric cancer with indole ring. The entropy contributions may be studied with the equipartition conjecture. It is not within the scope of our simulation method to replace biological tests of drugs or field data in palaeontology, but such simulation methods can be useful to assert priorities in detailed experimental research. Available experimental and field data should be examined by different classification algorithms to reveal possible features of real biological significance.
On Extended Topochemical Atom (ETA) Indices for QSPR Studies
Authors: Roy Kunal , Das Rudra Narayan
Published: October 2011

Development of predictive models has been accepted as an important strategy to aid in toxicity screening of chemicals, determination of physicochemical as well as other biological activity of new molecules, and also in the generation and optimization of lead compounds in rational drug discovery process. The journey of quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) modeling started with the development of various property-based and two-dimensional descriptors to model various physicochemical and biological properties (including toxicity). Topological descriptors contain significant information encoded in the molecular structure. Extended topochemical atom (ETA) indices, a relatively new class of topological descriptors, are the focus point in this chapter. ETA indices contain important information regarding the nature of the atoms, bonds, atomic electronic environment and consider the contribution of different functional groups, molecular fragments, and branching to the response as evidenced by different reports showing their successful application in modeling different endpoints including toxicity, drug activity, and physicochemical properties. Extensive research is still going on for the refinement of the ETA indices by the incorporation of some novel parameters, and future reports on ETA indices will include these new indices.
Architecture for ERP System Integration with Heterogeneous E-Government Modules
Authors: Frank Lars
Published: October 2011

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems consist normally of ERP modules managing sale, production and procurement in private businesses. ERP systems may also have modules for special lines of business or modules for the different sectors of E-Government. However, the ERP systems of today use a common database and therefore, it is normally only possible to use modules supported by the ERP supplier. This limits the possibilities for special lines of business like the different sectors of E-Government. It is normally not possible to use the traditional ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability) properties across heterogeneous ERP modules and therefore, it is not possible to integrate such modules without inconsistency and anomaly problems. That is, the users cannot trust the data they are reading and even worse they can undermine the validity of the databases if they update the databases by using such invalid information. However, it is possible to use so called relaxed ACID properties. That is, it should, from a user point of view, look as if the traditional ACID properties were implemented, and therefore, the users can trust the data they are reading and cannot do anything wrong by using this data.
Towards a Participative Platform for Cultural Texts Translators
Authors: Bénel Aurélien , Lacour Philippe
Published: October 2011

Provided as a participative Web platform, our software is designed as a collaboration and debate place for scholars around the world working on the same opus, author, time or genre. At the end of the chapter, this design is confronted with the observation of a face-to-face working session.
Using Simulation to Design and Improve an Outpatient Procedure Center
Authors: Huschka Todd R. , Rohleder Thomas R. , Denton Brian T.
Published: October 2011

Discrete-event simulation (DES) is an effective tool to for analyzing and improving healthcare processes. In this chapter we discuss the use of simulation to improve patient flow at an outpatient procedure center (OPC) at Mayo Clinic. The OPC addressed is the Pain Clinic, which was faced with high patient volumes in a new, untested facility. Simulation was particularly useful due to the uncertain patient procedure and recovery times. We discuss the simulation process and show how it helped reduce patient waiting time while ensuring the clinic could meet its target patient volumes.
Health Information Exchange for Improving the Efficiency and Quality of Healthcare Delivery
Authors: Shi Jing , Upadhyaya Sudhindra , Erdem Ergin
Published: October 2011

In healthcare industry, providers, patients, and all other stakeholders must have the right information at the right time for achieving efficient and cost effective services. Exchange of information between the heterogeneous system entities plays a critical role. Health information exchange (HIE) is not only a process of transmitting data, but also a platform for streamlining operations to improve healthcare delivery in a secure manner. In this chapter, we present a comprehensive view of electronic health record (EHR) systems and HIE by presenting their architecture, benefits, challenges, and other related issues. While providing information on the current state of EHR/HIE applications, we also discuss advanced issues and secondary uses of HIE implementations, and shed some light on the future research in this area by highlighting the challenges and potentials.
A Model for Asynchronous Discussions in a Mathematics Content Course
Authors: Miller Travis K.
Published: October 2011

In this chapter a model is outlined for using asynchronous online discussions in a mathematics content course for preservice elementary teachers. The model integrates conversational discussion threads as a component of a traditional, face-to-face course. This successful approach is based on elements of the variation theory of learning, and derives from a comprehensive dissertation study examining its effectiveness.
Long-Term Experiences in Mathematics E-Learning in Europe and the USA
Authors: Trenholm Sven , Juan Angel A. , Simosa Jorge , Oliveira Amilcar
Published: October 2011

This chapter presents a comparative study regarding four long-term experiences teaching mathematics online at four different universities in Europe and the USA. The chapter first begins by discussing general differences in e-learning adoption between the USA and Europe (with specific focus on asynchronous e-learning). Second, some of the major benefits and challenges of mathematics e-learning are discussed. Third, the chapter describes some specific experiences with mathematics e-learning at the four universities (two European and two American) - these descriptions focus on methodological and practical aspects of the e-learning process in mathematics courses. Finally, a comparative analysis highlights common patterns and differences among the different models and some key factors for successful mathematics e-learning practice are identified along with a set of recommendations.
My Equations Are the Same as Yours!
Authors: Badger M , Sangwin C J
Published: October 2011

In this chapter we explain how computer aided assessment (CAA) can automatically assess an answer that consists of a system of equations. In particular, we will use a computer algebra system (CAS) and Buchberger’s Algorithm to establish when two systems of equations are the “same.”
Software Tools Used in Math Refresher Courses at the University of Alcalá, Spain
Authors: Alcázar J.G. , Marvá M. , Orden D. , San Segundo F.
Published: October 2011

We describe our experience of using the following mathematical tools: an e-learning platform (Moodle), several components of the WIRIS software suite for mathematics education (the formula editor, WIRIS CAS, and WIRIS-Quizzes), the dynamical geometry package GeoGebra, the computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha, and the mathematics software system SAGE. Our aim in this chapter is two-fold: on the one hand, we report the use of these tools in Math refresher courses. On the other, we provide sufficient information about them for readers to decide on the usefulness of these tools in their own particular context (maybe different from that of a refresher course). More specifically, for each tool we give a general description, some comments on its use in Math refresher courses, and a list of (general) advantages and drawbacks.
Using Tactile Prompts to Increase Social-Communicative Skills with Children with Autism
Authors: Axe Judah B.
Published: October 2011

Tactile prompts can be worn by children with autism to cue them to make social initiations to peers and make eye contact and respond to adults’ facial expressions. Two previous studies and this author’s research document the efficacy of tactile prompts. Teachers and therapists should use tactile prompts to increase social-communicative behavior with children with autism.
Personal Reflections on the Educational Potential and Future of Closed Captioning on the Web
Authors: Zdenek Sean
Published: October 2011

This chapter explores the value of closed captioning in universal design. While closed captions positively impact a wide range of our students—deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing—they also have the potential to create more robust and interactive digital learning systems. Caption technology can address the current limitations of video search and retrieval by offering students fully searchable, fully clickable interactive transcripts. The future of closed captioning on the Web will offer students a means to search the video collection of an entire course, or even across all of the videos produced in all of the courses of a department, college, or university. In this future learning environment, captions will enable students to use keywords not only to find and review course content across multiple videos but also to insert their own “margin” notes, share comments with students, and create customizable video mash-ups as study guides.
Parental Communication About the Needs of Their Children
Authors: Aitken Joan E.
Published: October 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze parental use of an online support group about their children with disabilities. A content analysis was conducted of 1,718 emails from a listserv support group for parents of children who have been diagnosed as eligible for special education services. The findings suggest that parents use the group for the following purposes: (a.) expressive story-telling, (b.) seeking and giving advice, (c.) seeking or offering validation or encouragement, (d.) seeking or providing information, (e.) seeking or suggesting resources, and (f.) sharing celebrations and telling success stories for hope. Parents often discussed: How to deal with professionals (e.g., teachers, physicians), family, testing and diagnosis of disability, communicating with educators and the school context, Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meetings and reports, and family dynamics. The communication skills parents are most concerned about are writing and reading.
General Perspective in Learning Management Systems
Authors: Folden Robert W.
Published: October 2011

In order to properly understand learning management systems, it is necessary to both understand where they came from historically and the theoretical foundations upon which they are built. This understanding will allow for an effective comprehension of the elements that need to be involved in the development of these specialized management information systems that target the delivery of quality instruction at a distance. This chapter will attempt to lay that foundation. It will not cover every detail, but should provide the reader with enough background to be able to view these systems from the proper perspective.
ANGEL Mining
Authors: Swanger Tyler , Whitlock Kaitlyn , Scime Anthony , Post Brendan P.
Published: October 2011

This chapter data mines the usage patterns of the ANGEL Learning Management System (LMS) at a comprehensive college. The data includes counts of all the features ANGEL offers its users for the Fall and Spring semesters of the academic years beginning in 2007 and 2008. Data mining techniques are applied to evaluate which LMS features are used most commonly and most effectively by instructors and students. Classification produces a decision tree which predicts the courses that will use the ANGEL system based on course specific attributes. The dataset undergoes association mining to discover the usage of one feature’s effect on the usage of another set of features. Finally, clustering the data identifies messages and files as the features most commonly used. These results can be used by this institution, as well as similar institutions, for decision making concerning feature selection and overall usefulness of LMS design, selection and implementation.
Aircraft Development and Design
Authors: Sevillian Dujuan B.
Published: October 2011

Effective Human Factors Engineering (HFE) has provided the aerospace industry with design considerations that promote aviation safety in the development of complex aircraft systems, as well as the operators and maintainers that utilize those systems. HFE is an integral aspect within the systems engineering process. Measuring the effectiveness of Human Systems Integration (HSI) in the research & development stage is critical for the design of new and modified systems. This chapter focuses on how providing effective HFE design solutions enhances product design and system safety. Providing the customer with safe and reliable products augments mission capabilities throughout the product lifecycle.
Design and Optimization of Defense Hole System for Uniaxially Loaded Laminates
Authors: Akour Salih N. , Al-Husban Mohammad , Abdalla Musa O.
Published: October 2011

Stress concentrations associated with circular holes in pure Uniaxial-loaded laminates can be reduced by up to 24.64%. This significant reduction is made possible by introducing elliptical auxiliary holes along the principal stress direction. The best reduction is achieved when four elliptical defense holes are introduced in the vicinity of the main hole. The effect of the fiber orientation, as well as the stiffness of both the fiber and the matrix are investigated.
Effect of Core Thickness on Load Carrying Capacity of Sandwich Panel Behavior Beyond Yield Limit
Authors: Akour Salih N. , Maaitah Hussein , Nayfeh Jamal F.
Published: October 2011

Sandwich Panel has attracted designer’s interest due to its light weight, excellent corrosion characteristics and rapid installation capabilities. It has been implemented in many industrial application such as aerospace, marine, architectural and transportation industry. Its structure consists of two face sheets and core. The core is usually made of material softer than the face sheets. The current investigation unveils the effect of core thickness on the behavior of Sandwich Panel beyond the yield limit of core material. The core thickness is investigated by utilizing univariate search optimization technique. The load is applied in quasi–static manner (in steps) till face sheets reach the yield limit. Simply supported panel from all sides is modeled using a finite element analysis package. The model is validated against numerical and experimental cases that are available in the literature. In addition, experimental investigation has been carried out to validate the finite element model and to verify some selected cases. The finite element results show very good agreement with the previous work and the experimental investigation. The study presents that the load carrying capacity of the panel increases as the core material goes beyond the yield point. Also, increasing core thickness to a certain limit delays the occurrence of core yielding and gives opportunity to face sheets to yield first.
EPlanAirport
Authors: Sáez Jaime García
Published: October 2011

For instance, the planner will know how a change in an operational procedure or a change in the fleet characteristics or a change in the current infrastructure of the airport will impact on key performance indicators such as capacity, delay, or environment.
The Aviation Operational Environment
Authors: Lofaro Ronald John , Smith Kevin M.
Published: October 2011

This chapter will focus on the role of pilot/flightcrew training and performance evaluation in the identification and management of risk, especially while aloft and in changing conditions. The chapter will integrate different- but we posit interrelated, topic areas: First, a decision-making paradigm for flight crew’s use in the operational environment. Second, training and performance evaluation in flight simulators (FS), as well as the design and development of FS scenarios to test decision performance. Third, Relevant Federal Aviation regulations (FAR’s) and approved programs in current pilot/flightcrew training. Fourth, accident investigations; the role and use-value of accident investigation data in flying safety. Finally, the authors will present recommendations for the next steps in the development and use of new and emerging technologies for maximum pilot/flight crew decision performance and safety. This will be done via a collaborative ground-air, automated system and is what we propose to achieve our goal, increasing safety of flight.
A Unified Approach for Taxonomy-Based Technology Forecasting
Authors: Henschel Andreas , Casagrande Erik , Woon Wei Lee , Janajreh Isam , Madnick Stuart
Published: October 2011

For decision makers and researchers working in a technical domain, understanding the state of their area of interest is of the highest importance. For this reason, we consider in this chapter, a novel framework for Web-based technology forecasting using bibliometrics (i.e. the analysis of information from trends and patterns of scientific publications). The proposed framework consists of a few conceptual stages based on a data acquisition process from bibliographic online repositories: extraction of domain-relevant keywords, the generation of taxonomy of the research field of interests and the development of early growth indicators which helps to find interesting technologies in their first phase of development. To provide a concrete application domain for developing and testing our tools, we conducted a case study in the field of renewable energy and in particular one of its subfields: Waste-to-Energy (W2E). The results on this particular research domain confirm the benefit of our approach.
Real-Time BI and Situational Analysis
Authors: Thiele Maik , Lehner Wolfgang
Published: October 2011

In the past, data-warehouse systems served as information providers for key management members and knowledge workers; today, they are the central platform for the enterprise-wide integrated information provision. Aside from strategic analyses on historical data, this encompasses, above all, the submission of real-time data to operational processes. The clear separation of the operational and the analytical world, as it has been promoted until now, will thus become obsolete in the future. This development (i.e., the merging of the operational and the analytical world in context of Web technologies) is topic of this chapter. For this purpose, we take a closer look at current business intelligence (BI) and data warehouse trends from the perspective of both the applications and the database systems. We discuss scenarios which show the emerging trend to real-time business intelligence and present techniques that address the problems upcoming when building a real-time DWH. Additionally, we extend the concept of real-time business intelligence by the aspect of situational data analyses.
Two Tickets for Paradise
Authors: Shelton Ashleigh K.
Published: October 2011

This chapter begins by identifying linkage points between advergames, tourism and three major mass communication theories/approaches—media dependency theory (Ball Rokeach & DeFleur, 1976; DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1989), uncertainty reduction theory (Berger & Calabrese, 1975), and uses and gratifications theory (Blumler & Katz, 1974). These will serve as examples of how advergames and hospitality can be integrated into theories and models attempting to explain the impact of information technologies. They will also provide a springboard for considering the nature of advergames with regards to tourism.
Tourism Revitalization of Historic District in Perspective of Tourist Experience
Authors: Liu Jiaming
Published: October 2011

Presently, similar development mode and analogical tourist experience as two key problems have appeared to tourism development in domestic historic districts. This chapter discusses the new thought of tourism revitalization in historic districts in the perspective of tourist experience. Firstly, based on the deep analysis of tourist experience’s essential elements in historic districts, 6E experience mode is established to summarize the tourist experience, which includes Estheticism and nostalgia, Education and culture, Entertainment and leisure, Exchange and communication and Emotion sublimation. Meanwhile, how to build up and enhance every single experience of 6E model in tourism revitalization of historic district is also explained. Secondly, the application of 6E model is demonstrated elaborately in the case of Conceptual Planning of Tourism Development in San-Fang Qi-Xiang Historic District in Fuzhou City. Considering the hierarchy and comprehensibility of tourist experience and combined with site environment analysis, San-Fang Qi-Xiang historic district is divided into four function divisions: Nanhou old street mall, Warmth and leisure lane, Antai water-front zone and Residential blocks for minority customization. The four divisions are distinguished by degrees of bustling and tranquility as well as the hierarchy of experience. This chapter concludes that it is beneficial to utilize 6E model to segment function division and plan products in tourism revitalization of historic districts, because it helps to revitalize and create a fresh appearance with historical continuation in cultural, social and economic aspects. Therefore, it is perceived as a sustainable thought of development.
Personal Tour
Authors: Lorenzi Fabiana , Loh Stanley , Abel Mara
Published: October 2011

This chapter describes the Personal Tour: a multi-agent recommender system designed to help users to find best travel packages according to their preferences. Personal Tour is based on the collaboration of multiple agents exchanging information stored in their local knowledge bases. Based on the paradigm of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence, a user recommendation request is divided into partial recommendations handled by different agents, each one maintaining incomplete information that may be useful to compose a recommendation.
Semantic Technologies in Motion
Authors: Colomo-Palacios Ricardo
Published: October 2011

Semantic technologies are evolving to reach a mature state. Given the importance of Information Technologies in general and Internet in particular to organizations worldwide, these technologies can provide enhanced functionality to both existing and future solutions. This chapter provides an overview of the use of semantic technologies in several application domains, namely: construction & real estate, customer relationship management, e-government, e-learning, environmental sciences, health domain, human resource management, Information Technology, manufacturing, media and tourism, and cultural heritage. More than a hundred references are provided to support the idea that semantic technologies are applicable to almost all areas of interest.
Systematically Exploiting Web 2.0 Social Media in Government for Extending Communication with Citizens
Authors: Yannis Charalabidis , Kleinfeld Robert , Euripidis Loukis , Steglich Stephan
Published: October 2011

Governments of many countries have been for long time attempting to establish communications with citizens in order to understand better their problems and needs, benefit from their collective knowledge, and promote public participation and transparency in their decision making and policy formulation processes. For this purpose they exploited initially the Web 1.0, making considerable investments in developing official e-participation websites, but the results were below expectations; so recently government agencies started exploiting the emerging Web 2.0 social media, which offers big opportunities for interacting with the large numbers of users these media attract. This chapter contributes in this direction by presenting a methodology for the systematic and centrally managed exploitation of Web 2.0 social media by government agencies for extending their communication with citizens. It is based on a central platform providing interoperability with many different Web 2.0 social media, which enables posting and retrieving content from them in a systematic centrally managed and automated manner using their application programming interfaces (APIs). It also allows the deployment in various popular Web 2.0 social media of Policy Gadgets (Padgets), which are micro Web applications presenting policy messages and collecting users’ interactions with them (e.g. views, comments, ratings, votes, etc.). The two basic critical success factors of this methodology, interoperability with Web 2.0 social media and composition of their users’ base, are also discussed.
A Framework for Designing Recommender System for Consumers Using Distributed Data Clustering
Authors: Gorgônio Flavius L. , Neto José P. Araújo , Silva Taciano M.
Published: October 2011

In the past, consumers looked for information about quality of products and services with family members, friends, vendors, and experts. Currently, this reality is changing, and the number of consumers using Internet to find this kind of information is increasing, but not only to obtain additional information about a specific product, but to compare its features with other similar products. However, Internet provides a considerable amount of information through high volume of commercial sites, making the search for really useful information costly and difficult. Recommender systems are a Web social based process, performed by ordinary people, where users want to describe their degree of appreciation about items (products, services or people) based on their personal experience. This chapter proposes a framework for designing Web recommender systems that combine a meta-search engine and a data clustering strategy for product evaluation, enabling consumers to decide which products should be chosen.
Business Intelligence
Authors: Alnoukari Mouhib , Alhawasli Humam Alhammami , Alnafea Hatem Abd , Zamreek Amjad Jalal
Published: October 2011

This chapter attempts to define the knowledge body of Business Intelligence. It provides an overview of the context we have been working in. The chapter starts with a historical overview of Business Intelligence stating its different stages and progressions. Then, the authors present an overview of what Business Intelligence is, its architecture and goals, and its main components including: data mining, data warehousing, and data marts. Finally, the Business Intelligence ‘marriage’ with knowledge management is discussed in details. The authors hope to contribute to the recent discussions about Business Intelligence goals, concepts, architecture, and components.
Agile Software
Authors: Alzoabi Zaidoun
Published: October 2011

The term Agile Method of software development was coined in the 2001.This approach is characterized with creativity, flexibility, adaptability, responsiveness, and human-centricity. Researchers have suggested that the complex, uncertain, and ever-changing environment is pushing developers to adopt agile methods rather than traditional software development. Agile methodologist claim that their Agile methods is the answer for the software engineering chaotic situation, in which projects are exceeding their time and budget limits, requirements are not fulfilled, and consequently ending up with unsatisfied customers. In this chapter we will explain agile methodology, its general characteristics, and quick description of the famous agile methods known in the industry and research.
BORM
Authors: Molhanec Martin , Merunka Vojtech
Published: October 2011

The business intelligence system gradually became of vital importance for many organizations nowadays. But unfortunately, the traditional static modelling may not be able to deal with it. One solution is to use an agile modelling that is characterized with better flexibility and adaptability. The introduced BORM (Business and Object Relation Modelling) method is just an object-oriented and process-based analysis and design methodology, which has proved to be effective in the development and simulation of large and complex business systems such as business intelligence represents. This chapter describes BORM method and presents it on an application example created in Craft. CASE analysis and modelling tool. At the beginning the authors introduce fundamental principles of BORM method and explain the most important concepts of the method. Finally the authors make clear the method in more detail by means of simple and descriptive, but nontrivial, example from real practice.
Measurement of Brand Lift from a Display Advertising Campaign
Authors: Chand Jagdish
Published: October 2011

In this chapter we will describe an advanced business intelligence system we built at Yahoo to measure the lift in brand awareness driven from the display advertising campaigns on Yahoo network. It helped us to show to the advertisers that display advertising is working in lifting awareness and brand affinity.
Business Intelligence in Higher Education
Authors: Bodea Constanta-Nicoleta
Published: October 2011

The chapter presents an ontology-based knowledge management system developed for a Romanian university. The starting point for the development knowledge management system is the classic Information Management System (IMS), which is used for the education & training and research portfolio management. The knowledge management system has a general ontology, containing terms which are valid for a public institution, and specific ontology for the main two process categories, didactical and research. The ontologies were implemented using Protege. The chapter presents the usage scenario of the knowledge management system for the research area. The results are very encouraging and suggest several future developments.
The Graph Traversal Pattern
Authors: Rodriguez Marko A. , Neubauer Peter
Published: October 2011

A graph is a structure composed of a set of vertices (i.e. nodes, dots) connected to one another by a set of edges (i.e. links, lines). The concept of a graph has been around since the late 19th century, however, only in recent decades has there been a strong resurgence in both theoretical and applied graph research in mathematics, physics, and computer science. In applied computing, since the late 1960s, the interlinked table structure of the relational database has been the predominant information storage and retrieval model. With the growth of graph/network-based data and the need to efficiently process such data, new data management systems have been developed. In contrast to the index-intensive, set-theoretic operations of relational databases, graph databases make use of index-free, local traversals. This chapter discusses the graph traversal pattern and its use in computing. (Angles & Guiterrez, 2008)
A Survey of Relational Approaches for Graph Pattern Matching over Large Graphs
Authors: Cheng Jiefeng , Yu Jeffrey Xu
Published: October 2011

Due to rapid growth of the Internet and new scientific/technological advances, there exist many new applications that model data as graphs, because graphs have sufficient expressiveness to model complicated structures. The dominance of graphs in real-world applications demands new graph processing techniques to access and analyze large graph datasets effectively and efficiently. Among those techniques, a graph pattern matching problem receives increasing attention, which is to find all patterns in a large data graph that match a user-given graph pattern. In this survey, we review approaches to process such graph pattern queries with a framework of multi joins, which can be easily implemented in relational databases and requires no specialized native storage for graphs. We also discuss the top-k graph pattern matching problem.
Shortest Path in Transportation Network and Weighted Subdivisions
Authors: Elshawi Radwa , Gudmundsson Joachim
Published: October 2011

In this chapter we consider two versions of the problem; the shortest path in a transportation network and the shortest path in a weighted subdivision, sometimes called a terrain.
Approaches for Pattern Discovery Using Sequential Data Mining
Authors: Gupta Manish , Han Jiawei
Published: October 2011

In this chapter we first introduce sequence data. We then discuss different approaches for mining of patterns from sequence data, studied in literature. Apriori based methods and the pattern growth methods are the earliest and the most influential methods for sequential pattern mining. There is also a vertical format based method which works on a dual representation of the sequence database. Work has also been done for mining patterns with constraints, mining closed patterns, mining patterns from multi-dimensional databases, mining closed repetitive gapped subsequences, and other forms of sequential pattern mining. Some works also focus on mining incremental patterns and mining from stream data. We present at least one method of each of these types and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. We conclude with a summary of the work.
Video Stream Mining for On-Road Traffic Density Analytics
Authors: Hota Rudra Narayan , Jonna Kishore , Krishna P. Radha
Published: October 2011

Traffic congestion problem is rising day-by-day due to increasing number of small to heavy weight vehicles on the road, poorly designed infrastructure, and ineffective control systems. This chapter addresses the problem of estimating computer vision based traffic density using video stream mining. We present an efficient approach for traffic density estimation using texture analysis along with Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier, and describe analyzing traffic density for on-road traffic congestion control with better flow management. This approach facilitates integrated environment for users to derive traffic status by mining the available video streams from multiple cameras. It also facilitates processing video frames received from video cameras installed in traffic posts and classifies the frames according to traffic content at any particular instance. Time series information available from various input streams is combined with traffic video classification results to discover traffic trends.
Discovering Patterns in Order to Detect Weak Signals and Define New Strategies
Authors: El Haddadi Anass , Dousset Bernard , Berrada Ilham
Published: October 2011

Competitive intelligence activities rely on collecting and analyzing data in order to discover patterns from data using sequence data mining. The discovered patterns are used to help decision-makers considering innovation and defining the strategy for their business. In this chapter we present four methods for discovering patterns in the competitive intelligence process: “correspondence analysis,” “multiple correspondence analysis,” “evolutionary graph,” and “multi-term method.”
Enculturation of Young Children and Technology
Authors: Spatariu Alexandru , Peach Andrea , Bell Susan
Published: October 2011

Children are exposed to technology in many ways. As technology use in informal settings like the home, the community, the library, the zoos, and museums increases, children are exposed to a variety of applications and technology availability. Each generation of children come to early childhood programs with increasingly different experiences and exposure to technology. Technology has become a strong cultural influence in the lives of children, and we need to explore and think about how this will impact development and learning.
Technology in Three American Preschools
Authors: Henward Allison S.
Published: October 2011

This chapter explores the marriage of popular culture images, media and technology and the manner in which these are implemented in preschool settings. Discussing parents’ choices and teacher’s opinions, this chapter examines popular culture in children’s lives as social symbols. It is specifically concerned with the manner in which social class and preschool ideology contribute to or detract from children’s access to popular culture technology.
Technology
Authors: Audley-Piotorwksi Shannon , Kumar Neha , Hsueh Yeh , Sumner Melanie
Published: October 2011

Technology has changed the potential for research of young children dramatically. Technology has allowed researchers to capture nuances of children’s interactions such as eye movement in infants, heart rate, and physiological reactions that researcher’s could never accurately track without the new technologies. Understanding the role of technology and the evidence of children’s development has opened new ideas about the capabilities of children. Teachers need to understand how these technologies are being used and how researchers support learning and development based on this new approach to information collection with young children.
A Successful Collaboration Between Language Arts and Science
Authors: Zhang Felicia
Published: October 2011

This chapter contains findings from the preceding chapters in r the project addressing language difficulties in science education in large classes.
Interaction in Google Wave Sends Chat Rooms Out with the Tide
Authors: Jones Linda
Published: October 2011

This chapter focuses on Google Wave, a new, emerging world-wide technology by Google that supports both synchronous and asynchronous communication. Research on this technology took place during two sessions of an advanced second language (L2) technology course whereby synchronous conversations in Google Wave were compared to synchronous conversations in Blackboard chat rooms. Students experienced both forms of technology while discussing cross-cultural and pedagogical discussions relevant to L2 learning. Structural comparisons in terms of message length, message turns, numbers of words, and clarification revealed that students were more patient and wrote lengthier, more complex posts when conversing in Google Wave as compared to the chat room. Students’ impressions further confirmed their awareness of writing and reflecting more within Google Wave. These results suggest that Google Wave will support flexible, innovative learning and will provide researchers with multiple opportunities for expanding our understanding of students’ interactions in synchronous environments.
Performance and Anxiety in Videoconferencing
Authors: Craig Daniel A. , Kim Jungtae
Published: October 2011

Anxiety has long been considered a hindrance to both language learning and performance. To address this issue in oral language testing, it has been suggested that the use of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) to distance the test-taker from the interviewer could reduce anxiety levels and, thus, improve performance. Research has been undertaken on the use of synchronous and asynchronous text chat to lower anxiety and increase communication. However, research on the use of videoconferencing is largely unknown in the same areas. Thus, this study undertakes the challenge by comparing forty students’ anxiety levels when they took an oral test face-to-face and via an online videoconferencing medium. The students were from a private, mid-sized, Korean university, and they were interviewed and rated by two interviewers under both face-to-face and video conference conditions, as well as surveyed for state anxiety. The findings in this study will be used to guide the design of future distance assessment instruments as well as inform educational research in this field.