bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MOOCs in the Global Context
Authors: Oswal Sushil K.
Published: November 2016

The purpose of this chapter is to present a critique of MOOC hype in the international context. The author scrutinizes the claims advanced by MOOC proponents by asking two questions: 1) What are the assumptions about literacy and learning that inform MOOC discourse about mass education of U.S. and foreign citizens? and 2) What could be some unstated political, cultural, and economic purposes behind these MOOC ventures? In order to provide a contextualized and substantiated critique of the exaggerated claims about the innovative nature of MOOC pedagogy and their extended reach to the poor citizens of developing countries, the author presents an analysis of two writing courses offered as MOOCs by Georgia Tech and Ohio State University, both sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Finally, the author also discusses the implications of this MOOC hype in the international context to the United States.
Digital Citizens as Writers
Authors: Hill Valerie
Published: November 2016

As much of life is spent in digital spaces, information literacy now includes a personal responsibility for digital citizenship. This chapter focuses on how students can best become literate, successful learners in the age of MOOCs by embracing a personal responsibility for information literacy. The need for information literacy embedded into MOOCs is imperative because literacy, particularly writing, has rapidly changed in global digital participatory culture and continues to evolve. The shift from traditional classrooms filled with primarily print materials toward mobile devices and instant access to information in real time has revolutionized literacy within a historically short time period. The idea of good writers being also good readers may still hold true in new media formats; however, the concept of the student as a “prosumer” (both consumer and producer of content) in an age of disposable social media and constant connectivity requires a new vision of writing and literacy.
Principled/Digital
Authors: Overstreet Matthew
Published: November 2016

This essay argues that the primary goal of writing instruction should be the cultivation of an ethics of attunement. This is a habit of mind that allows a writer to adapt to the demands of context and therefore engage in successful rhetorical action. The ability to cultivate this habit of mind is the standard by which MOOCs, or any other writing instruction technology, should be judged. Working from this premise, the essay critiques MOOC-based instruction methods. It finds a deep tension between MOOC models and the theories of knowledge, learning and being which underlie contemporary writing pedagogy. This indicates that MOOCs, as they now exist, may be unable to satisfy composition's ethical imperative.
Arguing for Proactivity
Authors: Jenkins Patricia
Published: November 2016

The field of composition studies has come to value online writing instruction's potential because it has matured theoretically. Despite its status as a viable means of instruction, research shows that those who teach it fail to comply with the obligation of accessibility and inclusivity in their online courses. When meeting ideals for accessible and inclusive online writing instruction remains unimportant and difficult to put into practice, instructors fail students with disabilities. The author argues that instructors need to advocate for a proactive approach at their institutions to address the issue of not providing accessible and inclusive online writing courses. A proactive approach supports instructors in attending to the online learning environment before launching a course so that it meets the needs of students with disabilities. This essay offers ideas for framing a conversation to address the issue described above and to encourage establishing a culture of proactivity, and it provides a vision for the features of a proactive culture.
Connecting Writing Studies with Online Programs
Authors: Quezada Teresa , Brunk-Chavez Beth , Posey Evelyn
Published: November 2016

This chapter addresses how The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Technical and Professional Writing Certificate Program (TWP) was developed, navigated the transition from an independent writing certificate program to one within a suite of online offerings, evaluated and assessed the program. The authors discuss how the program's focus on the Principles and Effective Practices for Online Writing Instruction strengthens the TPW program by providing a unified approach to stakeholders; preparing faculty to deliver consistent, engaging courses that meet program goals; enhancing recruitment efforts and broadening the pool of prospective students, streamlining administrative functions, and ultimately improving the students' online writing experience.
The Online Writing Program Administrator (OWPA)
Authors: Borgman Jessie C.
Published: November 2016

This chapter explores issues specific writing program administration considering the huge influx of online writing courses across the country. The author argues that a pedagogical shift has occurred that requires a change in administering writing programs: teaching online is different that teaching face-to-face. Considering this influx and pedagogical shift, the author argues that in the age of MOOCs, focusing on faculty support and the development and maintenance of online writing courses (OWCs) becomes imperative. The central idea of the chapter is that in order for online writing instructors to focus on what they do best (teaching), they need to be led by someone with online writing instruction (OWI) experience, who is trained and qualified to lead a writing program that includes OWCs. The author argues for the development of a new WPA role, an Online Writing Program Administrator (OWPA), in order to distinguish a brand (a concept from Keith Rhodes, 2010) of OWI, which is distinctly different than the instruction and content offered by MOOCs.
A (Critical) Distance
Authors: Howard Laura
Published: November 2016

The increase in demand for higher education has resulted in a surge of online courses and degree programs across the US and worldwide. Calls for open access learning options and more cost-effective higher educational opportunities have contributed to this rapid increase, especially in the form of Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs. For educators and scholars, the evolution of MOOCs and the enthusiastic rhetoric surrounding them necessitates a critical examination. One such area for examination is the relationship between MOOCs and the contingent faculty crisis, especially how the evolution of MOOCs could hurt or help online contingent faculty. Arguably, the concept of the MOOC as a mode of delivery may present opportunities to subvert instructional delivery methods and other elements of the online distance learning status quo that create challenges for contingent faculty online. Ultimately, this chapter offers insight into the issues faced by part-time instructors teaching online, especially in terms of the material realities of the work they do and how their experience is distinct from that of the face-to-face (f2f) contingent instructor. Important to this discussion is how a shift in our conception of MOOCs as an instructional approach may offer new perspectives for online contingent labor in higher education. Overall, the goal of this work is to raise awareness and to advance scholarly discussion of this topic, understanding MOOCs as one potential site of resistance and change.
Audience, User, Producer
Authors: Tham Jason Chew Kit
Published: November 2016

While some studies have looked at the suitability of MOOCs as an emerging mode of delivery, many seem to miss the mark on the question of usability in the MOOC context. Without a clear understanding of user roles in MOOCs, it will be challenging for course providers to evaluate the effectiveness of their designed systems and thus may negatively impact MOOC participants' experience with the course platform. With an eye toward a user-centered technological design philosophy, this chapter situates MOOCs as socio-rhetorical systems within a large complex ecology of learning. Through the lens of Activity Theory, I investigate the intricate roles of audience, user, and producer that MOOC participants play interchangeably while scrutinizing the relationships between these roles in an online social learning environment.
What Online Writing Spaces Afford Us in the Age of Campus Carry, “Wall-Building,” and Orlando's Pulse Tragedy
Authors: Martini Rebecca Hallman , Webster Travis
Published: November 2016

Theorizing about twenty-first century writing spaces, the authors argue that online writing environments offer particular affordances to writing teachers when navigating challenging subject matter at complex, political moments. Alongside narrative theorization, the authors provide stories about their writing experiences alongside their students, while offering strategies for complicating and extending our field's discussions of the possibilities for online writing in the age of massive online open courses. The authors conclude that, while online spaces cannot offer “safe spaces” for writing instruction, they may offer “braver” spaces as students and instructors alike grapple with challenging, political landscapes.
Using Online Writing Communities to Teach Writing MOOCs
Authors: Colby Rebekah Shultz
Published: November 2016

The immense enrollment capacity of massive open online courses (MOOCs) radically decenters student and teacher authority in the writing classroom. However, online writing communities teach each other how to write effectively within that community, a type of writing instruction which could be leveraged in a MOOC. The author qualitatively coded the types of writing questions and feedback posted on a technical writing forum, Technical Writing World and discovered that writing questions focused on technical writing genres, style guides, documentation practices, lower order concerns, and revision or outsourcing of work. Responses often directed the original poster to research the rhetorical situation within a specific company. The author then outlined three pedagogical approaches for writing MOOCs: students could ask writing questions from professionals on similar writing websites, conduct qualitative studies of similar online writing communities to learn their underlying writing values, and participate in MOOCs that were organized to be communities of practice.
Hacking the Lecture
Authors: Odom Stephanie , Lindsey Leslie
Published: November 2016

This case study will detail the experience of one composition instructor and her efforts to adapt a collaborative, student-centered freshman composition course to the online environment using a lecture video-focused course delivery. Lectures can be understood as “content lectures” or “presence lectures,” which are recorded lectures meant to model writing skills or communicate concern and support, rather than delivering information to be recalled on an exam. Effective composition pedagogy, because it is often more emotionally labor intensive than lecture-based pedagogy, can be compromised if online writing classes are only conducted textually. Auditory and visual communication creates richer social presence than text-only interactions, but it also introduces logistical challenges of creating an authentic digital space and ensuring the materials are accessible to all learners. To overcome these obstacles while still giving students a feel of the instructor's social presence, pre-recording short presence lectures can be a useful compromise as writing instructors explore the potential of online learning.
Data Clustering
Authors: Başaran Bülent , Güneş Fatih
Published: November 2016

Data clustering can be associated with and used in many research methodologies and application areas. In this chapter, the basics of data clustering and some kind of its applications are given with examples and a real data set. The examples show data types and help to explain basic clustering algorithms. The real data help to classify countries in terms of their computer and internet proficiency levels. After examining the resulting clusters obtained from four different basic methods according to eight computer and internet proficiencies, it is found that the regional closeness of countries and being outside of a union are the major drivers of those clusters' formation. This application gives some possible future research area extensions to researchers about clustering the same or other countries by different proficiencies and unions.
For Better Healthcare Mining Health Data
Authors: Gürsel Güney
Published: November 2016

Data mining has great contributions to the healthcare such as support for effective treatment, healthcare management, customer relation management, fraud and abuse detection and decision making. The common data mining methods used in healthcare are Artificial Neural Network, Decision trees, Genetic Algorithms, Nearest neighbor method, Logistic regression, Fuzzy logic, Fuzzy based Neural Networks, Bayesian Networks and Support Vector Machines. The most used task is classification. Because of the complexity and toughness of medical domain, data mining is not an easy task to accomplish. In addition, privacy and security of patient data is a big issue to deal with because of the sensitivity of healthcare data. There exist additional serious challenges. This chapter is a descriptive study aimed to provide an acquaintance to data mining and its usage and applications in healthcare domain. The use of Data mining in healthcare informatics and challenges will be examined.
Adaptive Edge Detection Method towards Features Extraction from Diverse Medical Imaging Technologies
Authors: Maitra Indra Kanta , Bandhyopadhyaay Samir Kumar
Published: November 2016

The CAD is a relatively young interdisciplinary technology, has had a tremendous impact on medical diagnosis specifically cancer detection. The accuracy of CAD to detect abnormalities on medical image analysis requires a robust segmentation algorithm. To achieve accurate segmentation, an efficient edge-detection algorithm is essential. Medical images like USG, X-Ray, CT and MRI exhibit diverse image characteristics but are essentially collection of intensity variations from which specific abnormalities are needed to be isolated. In this chapter a robust medical image enhancement and edge detection algorithm is proposed, using tree-based adaptive thresholding technique. It has been compared with different classical edge-detection techniques using one sample two tail t-test to exam whether the null hypothesis can be supported. The proposed edge-detection algorithm showing 0.07 p-values and 2.411 t-stat where a = 0.025. Moreover the proposed edge is single pixeled and connected which is very significant for medical edge detection.
A Hybrid System Based on FMM and MLP to Diagnose Heart Disease
Authors: Aggarwal Swati , Azad Venu
Published: November 2016

In the medical field diagnosis of a disease at an early stage is very important. Nowadays soft computing techniques such as fuzzy logic, artificial neural network and Neuro- fuzzy networks are widely used for the diagnosis of various diseases at different levels. In this chapter, a hybrid neural network is designed to classify the heart disease data set the hybrid neural network consist of two types of neural network multilayer perceptron (MLP) and fuzzy min max (FMM) neural network arranged in a hierarchical manner. The hybrid system is designed for the dataset which contain the combination of continuous and non continuous attribute values. In the system the attributes with continuous values are classified using the FMM neural networks and attributes with non-continuous value are classified by using the MLP neural network and to synthesize the result the output of both the network is fed into the second MLP neural network to generate the final result.
A Combinational Fuzzy Clustering Approach for Microarray Spot Segmentation
Authors: Pauline Ong , Zainuddin Zarita
Published: November 2016

Due to microarray experiment imperfection, spots with various artifacts are often found in microarray image. A more rigorous spot recognition approach in ensuring successful image analysis is crucial. In this paper, a novel hybrid algorithm was proposed. A wavelet approach was applied, along with an intensity-based shape detection simultaneously to locate the contour of the microarray spots. The proposed algorithm segmented all the imperfect spots accurately. Performance assessment with the classical methods, i.e., the fixed circle, adaptive circle, adaptive shape and histogram segmentation showed that the proposed hybrid approach outperformed these methods.
Proficient Clustering algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Gopal Nivetha , Krishnan Venkatalakshmi
Published: November 2016

Enhancing the energy efficiency and maximizing the networking lifetime are the major challenges in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN).Swarm Intelligence based algorithms are very efficient in solving nonlinear design problems with real-world applications.In this paper a Swarm based Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm (FFOA) with the concept of K-Medoid clustering and swapping is implemented to increase the energy efficiency and lifetime of WSN. A comparative analysis is performed in terms of cluster compactness,cluster error and convergence. MATLAB Simulation results show that K-Medoid Swapping and Bunching Fruit Fly optimization (KMSB-FFOA) outperforms FFOA and K-Medoid Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm (KM-FFOA).
A Study on Hybridization of Intelligent Techniques in Bioinformatics
Authors: Bhargavi Peyakunta , Jyothi S. , Mamatha D. M.
Published: November 2016

This chapter aims to study the use of Hybridization of intelligent techniques in the areas of bioinformatics and computational molecular biology. These areas have risen from the needs of biologists to utilize and help interpret the vast amounts of data that are constantly being gathered in genomic research. Also describes the kind of methods which were developed by the research community in order to search, classify and mine different available biological databases and simulate biological experiments. This chapter also presents the hybridization of intelligent systems involving neural networks, fuzzy systems, neuro-fuzzy system, rough set theory, swam intelligence and genetic algorithm. The key idea was to demonstrate the evolution of intelligence in bioinformatics. The developed hybridization of intelligent techniques was applied to the real world applications. The hybridization of intelligent systems performs better than the individual approaches. Hence these approaches might be extremely useful for hardware implementations.
Systemic Risks and Parametric Modeling
Authors: Hollmann John K.
Published: November 2016

Predictability in cost and schedule outcomes is a key financial objective for capital project systems. The primary measure of predictability is accuracy; it measures how estimates differ from the final actual outcomes. Unfortunately, accuracy in funding estimates in the construction arena has been elusive. Despite over 50 years of research, most companies are unable to quantify risks realistically. The cause is simple; traditional risk quantification methods have no empirical basis. This chapter is about empirically-based parametric modeling of “systemic” risks. Systemic risks are attributes of a project system and they are the dominant driver of project uncertainty. There are a number of reliable methods to quantify project-specific risk “events” and conditions and escalation and exchange risks. While those are the topics of other chapters, this chapter describes how to integrate the parametric method with those. Working together, those risk quantification methods can realistically predict the “usual” project cost growth and schedule slip.
The Case for Truly Integrated Cost and Schedule Risk Analysis
Authors: Cropley Colin H.
Published: November 2016

Time and cost outcomes of large and complex projects are forecast poorly across all sectors. Over recent years, Monte Carlo (MC) simulation has increasingly been adopted to forecast project time and cost outcomes more realistically. It is recognised that the simultaneous analysis of time and cost impacts makes sense as a modelling objective, due to the well-known relationship of time and money in projects. But most MC practitioners advocate the use of Schedule Risk Analysis (SRA) feeding into Cost Risk Analysis (CRA) because they believe it is too hard to perform Integrated Cost & Schedule Risk Analysis (IRA) realistically. This chapter elaborates an IRA methodology that produces realistic forecasts without relying on questionable assumptions and enables identification and ranking of all sources of cost uncertainty for risk optimisation as part of the process. It also describes an extension of IRA methodology to include assessment of the assets produced by the project as well as the project itself, thus enabling the analysis of business risks as well as project risks.
Monte Carlo Project Risk Analysis
Authors: Agarwal Ruchi , Virine Lev
Published: November 2016

Monte Carlo simulations of project schedules have become one of the foundations of quantitative project risk analysis. Monte Carlo method helps to determine the chance that project will be completed on time and on budget, expected project cost and finish time given risks and uncertainties, as well as identify critical risks and crucial tasks. There are a number of ways how Monte Carlo schedule risk analysis can be conducted. “Traditional” Monte Carlo schedule analysis is performed based on statistical distributions of task duration, cost and other input parameters. Event-based quantitative risk analysis incorporates risk events, which can affect project schedules. The chapter discusses a number of important concepts related to Monte Carlo simulations: statistical distribution, sampling process, convergence monitoring, sensitivity analysis, probabilistic and conditional branching and others.
Complexity Theory and System Dynamics for Project Risk Management
Authors: Chapman Robert J.
Published: November 2016

As a consequence of the consensus that projects are growing in complexity from ever ambitious goals there is a perpetual search for methods aimed at pinpointing and describing the source of complexity with the objective of subsequently reducing uncertainty, managing risk and improving project performance. An area of study that has engaged enquiring minds for over fifty years but has not yet been accepted into mainstream project management is the study and application of systems thinking and system dynamics. The purpose of this chapter is to promulgate the view that the mapping of projects as systems should be re-examined as a means of articulating and responding to complexity. The chapter examines general systems theory, systems thinking and systems dynamics with examples of causal loop diagrams as an aid to describe and respond to risk exposure. It includes simple causal loop diagrams as a means of illustrating how risks may be identified and addressed. The emphasis is on seeing the ‘big picture' to avoid gaps and omissions in the management of risk and uncertainty.
Getting to Grips with Behavioural Bias
Authors: Trickey Geoff
Published: November 2016

The author discusses whether the impressive progress achieved by technical advances in project management have been stalled by failure to make similar advances in addressing the Human Factors. This imbalance may, he believes, be contributing to challenges being widely experienced in dealing with a residual ‘rump' of workplace safety incidents, for example. He argues that ever tightening the controls and micro-managing workplace behaviour or pursuing zero safety incidents can be counterproductive both for compliance and for the bottom line. Professional, regulatory and standards bodies increasingly emphasise the importance of employee participation and risk leadership in achieving the mutual trust and respect necessary for objectives to be fully realised. He advises that project managers need to appreciate distinctive and deeply rooted individual differences in the behavioural dispositions of individual employees and proposes that readily available assessment techniques that address these issues should be added to their toolkit.
Integration of Project Risk Management (PRM) into Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
Authors: Agarwal Ruchi , Virine Lev
Published: November 2016

Integrating Project Risk Management (PRM) into Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is a multi-year journey and has long term value. ERM provides a holistic view to existing risks and overcomes the disadvantage of risk being managed in silos in PRM. The main aim of integration of two approaches is to mange risk from both macro and micro perspectives by exploiting opportunities while balancing the downside of risk. The chapter provides a fundamental understanding of what ERM is and its components and shows how PRM is a subset of ERM. Issues and opportunities in integrating PRM into ERM are discussed using real life examples. Furthermore, the chapter brings attention to formal and informal ways of integration and concludes by making six recommendations.
Missed Opportunities from Misalignment of Project and Operational Requirements
Authors: Jarman Mark F. , Dreher Lachlan G.
Published: November 2016

There is a strategic misalignment between project and operational paradigm requirements due to competing and divergent interests resulting in risks from design, construct, and commissioning phases of a project that are transferred to the operational phase of a project life cycle. The risk transfer results from non-alignment of management requirements vertically within an organisation for a total view of risk profile over the full project life cycle. This chapter will explore the issues found from experience and propose structured risk-based solutions for integrating into management requirements that can be measured and monitored for success.
Incorporating Simulation in Project Scoping
Authors: Nersesian Roy L.
Published: November 2016

There is a great deal of public and government regulatory support for significant growth in renewables for electricity generation at the expense of fossil fuels, primarily coal. Unlike fossil fuels whose output is controlled by a utility dispatcher, solar and wind depend on exposure to sunlight and wind speed for determining their output. This chapter deals with the use of simulation to match uncertain supply of solar and wind energy with indeterminable demand using a pumped storage facility to store excess electricity generation and to supply electricity to cover shortfalls. A modeling template using @RISK simulation analysis is proposed. The challenge of fossil fuel plants coupled with solar and wind farms with a strong seasonal demand for electricity is addressed by determining the size of an upper reservoir of a pumped storage facility that would ensure reliable delivery of electricity throughout the year. Scoping of the project to identify courses of action that would reduce the size and the investment in a pumped storage plant are covered.
Applications of Active Remote Sensing Technologies for Natural Disaster Damage Assessments
Authors: Rahman Muhammad Tauhidur
Published: November 2016

Immediately following a natural disaster, it is imperative to accurately assess the damages caused by the disaster for effective rescue and relief operations. Passive remote sensing imageries have been analyzed and used for over four decades for such assessments. However, they do have their limitations including inability to collect data during violent weather conditions, medium to low spatial resolution, and assessing areas and pixels on a damages/no damage basis. Recent advances in active remote sensing data collection methods can resolve some of these limitations. In this chapter, the basic theories and processing techniques of active remote sensing data is first discussed. It then provides some of the advantages and limitations of using active remote sensing data for disaster damage assessments. Finally, the chapter concludes by discussing how data from active sensors are used to assess damages from various types of natural disasters.
Privacy-Preserving Aggregation in the Smart Grid
Authors: Karopoulos Georgios , Ntantogian Christoforos , Xenakis Christos
Published: November 2016

The introduction of information and communication technologies to the traditional energy grid offers advantages like efficiency, increased reliability, resilience, and better control of demand-response, while on the other hand poses customers' privacy at risk. By using information collected by a smart meter, an attacker can deduce whether a house is empty from its residents, which devices are being used, residents' habits and so on. In order to cope with such cases, many privacy-preserving aggregation solutions have been proposed that allow aggregation, while at the same time protect individual readings from attackers. In this book chapter, the authors provide a critical review of such methods, comparing them and discussing advantages and disadvantages.
Analytical Study on Privacy Attack Models in Privacy Preserving Data Publishing
Authors: Sowmyarani C. N.  , Dayananda P.
Published: November 2016

Privacy attack on individual records has great concern in privacy preserving data publishing. When an intruder who is interested to know the private information of particular person of his interest, will acquire background knowledge about the person. This background knowledge may be gained though publicly available information such as Voter's id or through social networks. Combining this background information with published data; intruder may get the private information causing a privacy attack of that person. There are many privacy attack models. Most popular attack models are discussed in this chapter. The study of these attack models plays a significant role towards the invention of robust Privacy preserving models.
Novel Intrusion Detection Mechanism with Low Overhead for SCADA Systems
Authors: Maglaras Leandros , Janicke Helge , Jiang Jianmin , Crampton Andrew
Published: November 2016

SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are a critical part of modern national critical infrastructure (CI) systems. Due to the rapid increase of sophisticated cyber threats with exponentially destructive effects, intrusion detection systems (IDS) must systematically evolve. Specific intrusion detection systems that reassure both high accuracy, low rate of false alarms and decreased overhead on the network traffic must be designed for SCADA systems. In this book chapter we present a novel IDS, namely K-OCSVM, that combines both the capability of detecting novel attacks with high accuracy, due to its core One-Class Support Vector Machine (OCSVM) classification mechanism and the ability to effectively distinguish real alarms from possible attacks under different circumstances, due to its internal recursive k-means clustering algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated through extensive simulations that are conducted using realistic datasets extracted from small and medium sized HTB SCADA testbeds.
Modelling Software-Defined Wireless Sensor Network Architectures for Smart Grid Neighborhood Area Networks
Authors: Nafi Nazmus S. , Ahmed Khandakar , Gregory Mark A.
Published: November 2016

In a smart grid machine to machine communication environment, the separation of the control and data planes in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm increases flexibility, controllability and manageability of the network. A fully integrated SDN based WSN network can play a more prominent role by providing ‘last mile' connectivity while serving various Smart Grid applications and offer improved security, guaranteed Quality of Service and flexible interworking capabilities. Hence, more efforts are required to explore the potential role of SDN in Smart Grid communications and thereby ensure its optimum utilization. In this chapter we provide a description of how SDN technology can be used in WSN with an emphasis on its end-to-end network architecture. We then present its novel application to Advanced Metering Infrastructure, Substation Automation, Distributed Energy Resources, Wide Area Measurement Systems, and Roaming of Electric Vehicles in Smart Grids.
Feasibility Study of Renewable Energy Integrated Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
Authors: Ul-Haq Azhar , Azhar Marium
Published: November 2016

This chapter presents a detailed study of renewable energy integrated charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) and discusses its various aspects such as siting requirements, standards of charging stations, integration of renewable energy sources for powering up charging stations and interfacing devices between charging facilities and smart grid. A smart charging station for EVs is explained along with its essential components and different charging methodologies are explained. It has been recognized that the amalgamation of electric vehicles in the transportation sector will trigger power issues due to the mobility of vehicles beyond the stretch of home area network. In this regard an information and communication technology (ICT) based architecture may support EVs management with an aim to enhance the electric vehicle charging and energy storage capabilities with the relevant considerations. An ICT based solution is capable of monitoring the state of charge (SOC) of EV batteries, health and accessible amount of energy along with the mobility of EVs.
Enabling Publish/Subscribe Communication for On-the-Move Electric Vehicle Charging Management
Authors: Cao Yue , Wang Tong , Wang Yunfeng
Published: November 2016

The introduction of Electric Vehicle (EVs) has a great potential for the reductions of carbon emissions and air pollution. Whereas, EVs are more likely to run out of energy and need to be charged during their journeys. This is mainly due to the limited EV battery capacity and long trip distance in big cities. Practically, this concern could be substantially improved by recharging EVs' electricity at deployed public Charging Stations (CSs) during journeys. However, even if the flexibility of public CSs could be improved and adjusted following the rapid growth of EVs, major technical challenges and contributions in this chapter involve decision making intelligence for the selection of CSs as charging plans, and the provisioning communication infrastructure for secure information dissemination within network.
Adaptive Multiobjective Memetic Optimization
Authors: Dang Hieu V. , Kinsner Witold
Published: November 2016

Multiobjective memetic optimization algorithms (MMOAs) are recently applied to solve nonlinear optimization problems with conflicting objectives. An important issue in an MMOA is how to identify the relative best solutions to guide its adaptive processes. In this paper, the authors introduce a framework of adaptive multiobjective memetic optimization algorithms (AMMOA) with an information theoretic criterion for guiding the adaptive selection, clustering, local learning processes, and a robust stopping criterion of AMMOA. The implementation of AMMOA is applied to several benchmark test problems with remarkable results. The paper also presents the application of AMMOA in designing an optimal image watermarking to maximize the quality of the watermarked images and the robustness of the watermark.
Toward Achieving Environmental Sustainability in the Computer Industry
Authors: Rahman Nayem
Published: November 2016

The computer industry has come under increasing scrutiny in terms of energy consumption, the carbon emissions and e-waste. Shipment of e-waste to developing countries where it is often disposed of in unsafe ways is another major issue. Organizations and individuals have a tendency to throw away or store their aging computer technology assets which is not environmentally sustainable and or cost effective. Implementation of an end-to-end computer and related products' sustainability management strategy by incorporating the reuse of existing technology can make a major impact on the environment. Computer industry sustainability management includes design and development of energy efficient computer products, refurbishing of computer assets, purchasing of green or refurbished components and providing sustainability metrics procedures. By implementing sustainability programs, organizations can contribute in reducing the amount of energy spent to develop new computer technology products, help in reducing carbon emission, keep e-waste out of landfills and recycle them. This paper discusses different aspects of sustainable computer industry program and proposes that computer makers take ownership of disposing of e-waste by following safety standards. The paper also proposes adopting reverse supply chain process for possible reuse, recycle or disposal of computers.
Dynamic Job Scheduling Strategy for Unreliable Nodes in a Volunteer Desktop Grid
Authors: Naseera Shaik
Published: November 2016

Desktop grid aims to harvest a number of idle desktop computers owned by individuals on the edge of internet. Now days, Desktop grids are gaining increasing popularity because of the advances in the technology and availability of high computing power from the desktops. Volunteer nodes in a Desktop Grid encounter two types of failures: volatility failure and interference failure. Volatile failures are due to periodic maintenance, machine breakdown, system crash or shutdown etc that make node inaccessible to the Desktop Grid user. Interference failures are due to volunteer autonomic nature that the node owner can withdraw participation from public execution due to the need to execute the private jobs. This makes the node inaccessible to the Desktop Grid user and may cause partial or entire loss of the public job execution. Volunteer interferences cause slowdown in the execution of the jobs. In this paper the author present a job scheduling algorithm that analyze the nature of volunteer interference failures for effective scheduling of jobs.
A Two-Level Fuzzy Value-Based Replica Replacement Algorithm in Data Grids
Authors: Saadat Nazanin , Rahmani Amir Masoud
Published: November 2016

One of the challenges of data grid is to access widely distributed data fast and efficiently and providing maximum data availability with minimum latency. Data replication is an efficient way used to address this challenge by replicating and storing replicas, making it possible to access similar data in different locations of the data grid and can shorten the time of getting the files. However, as the number and storage size of grid sites is limited and restricted, an optimized and effective replacement algorithm is needed to improve the efficiency of replication. In this paper, the authors propose a novel two-level replacement algorithm which uses Fuzzy Replica Preserving Value Evaluator System (FRPVES) for evaluating the value of each replica. The algorithm was tested using a grid simulator, OptorSim developed by European Data Grid projects. Results from simulation procedure show that the authors' proposed algorithm has better performance in comparison with other algorithms in terms of job execution time, total number of replications and effective network usage.
MR-LDA
Authors: Pang Xiongwen , Wan Benshuai , Li Huifang , Lin Weiwei
Published: November 2016

Latent Dirichlet Allocation(LDA) is an efficient method of text mining,but applying LDA directly to Chinese micro-blog texts will not work well because micro-blogs are more social, brief, and closely related with each other. Based on LDA, this paper proposes a Micro-blog Relation LDA model (MR-LDA), which takes the relations between Chinese micro-blog documents and other Chinese micro-blog documents into consideration to help topic mining in micro-blog. The authors extend LDA in the following two points. First, they aggregate several Chinese micro-blogs as a single micro-blog document to solve the problem of short texts. Second, they model the generation process of Chinese micro-blogs more accurately by taking relationship between micro-blog documents into consideration. MR-LDA is more suitable to model Chinese micro-blog data. Gibbs sampling method is borrowed to inference the model. Experimental results on actual datasets show that MR-LDA model can offer an effective solution to text mining for Chinese micro-blog.
Knowledge Management and Entrepreneurship
Authors: Bandera Cesar , Bartolacci Michael R. , Passerini Katia
Published: November 2016

Most literature on knowledge management (KM) focuses on large firms – the domain in which KM was originally developed – and most KM literature on entrepreneurship focuses on entrepreneurial activities in post-revenue firms. The domain of the startup, however, is traditionally very different from these, characterized by a lack of tangible assets and validated value proposition. The authors review the literature on KM and entrepreneurship with a particular focus on young micro-enterprises that have yet to cross the “valley of death” stage of maturation. Using the Dynamic Knowledge Creation Process as a guide, they elaborate on the challenges facing the implementation of KM in startups, and on the subsequent opportunities for startup growth. Finally, the authors reflect upon research questions that may engage future researchers in proposing strategies that better integrate KM as a discipline into the fabric of entrepreneurship and the startup domain.
Transitioning from Technical Communication to User Experience (UX)
Authors: Rice-Bailey Tammy , Shalamova Nadya
Published: November 2016

This article details a collaboration between a Technical Communication (TC) academic program at Milwaukee School of Engineering and its User Experience (UX) industry and community partners. This collaboration resulted in rethinking a TC degree program and establishing a new UX and Communication Design B.S. degree program. This article responds to TC scholarship calling for increased collaboration between academia and industry. The authors further explain how this particular collaboration was guided by Stakeholder Theory, enabling the program to identify its stakeholders and balance their differences while establishing new partnerships with the UX professional community. This article presents a case study of academia/industry collaboration and details both the challenges and successes that emerged during a program redesign. It concludes with models, a tools, and preliminary lessons that can assist other academic programs considering or undergoing similar curriculum or programmatic changes.
A Contextualized Model for Virtual Learning in Higher Institutions
Authors: Segooa Mmatshuene Anna , Kalema Billy Mathias
Published: November 2016

This study aimed at designing a contextualized Virtual Learning model that suits South African institutions of higher learning. The study identified factors necessary for contextualizing VLE to fit the student's perspective in developing countries. Literature was reviewed to identify the contextualizing factors, based on which a research model was designed and validated using data collected from students at different levels of learning at Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa. The study used quantitative approach and the data was analysed using statistical package called Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Results indicated that, compatibility, complexity, technological factors, organisational and environmental issues as well as mind-set are significant factors for VLEs contextualization. This study contributes theoretically by bridging the gap in literature and apposite model informing the development of VLEs in developing countries. Practically, the findings of this study will be leveraged by institutions of higher learning that want to implement VLEs within their settings.
Another look at the identity of the ‘wicked woman’ in 4Q184
Authors: Geyser-Fouché Ananda
Published: November 2016

In this study, I take another look at the possible identity of the ‘wicked woman’ in 4Q184. Although a number of scholars attempted to identify the ‘wicked woman’, I would like to examine two other possibilities that (as far as I know) have not been discussed yet. The first possibility is that it can be seen as a metaphor for the city Jerusalem. This possibility is inspected by comparing the ‘wicked terminology’ that was used to describe the ‘wicked priest(s)’ in the Habakkuk commentary with the ‘wicked terminology’ that was used in 4Q184, as well as in a study of existing traditions in the Old Testament where Jerusalem was portrayed as a woman or wife. The other option is that the ‘wicked woman’ is a metaphor for foreign wisdom, specifically in the form of Hellenism and Greek philosophy or Hellenistic (non-Israelite) diviners. The fact that 4Q184 refers to ‘teaching’ and warns against her influence (this kind of wisdom), that she can let righteous and upright people (not foolish young people) go astray might be a very strong possibility that the Yaḥad is warned not to get diverted by this ‘upcoming culture’ that seems to be so attractive.
Fiction et réalité dans Pays sans chapeau de Dany Laferrière: Entre autobiographie, autofiction et au-delà
Authors: Mukenge Arthur , Kayembe Emmanuel
Published: November 2016

En architecte, le narrateur monte en épingle l’histoire d’ici et d’ailleurs : après vingt années passées à Montréal, il fait un rebond chez lui, à Port-au-Prince (cfr Pays sans chapeau). À première vue, Haïti demeure le même ; c’est le statu quo que le narrateur observe : l’odeur du café est la même, la pauvreté aussi crue que violente affecte la population, les amis du narrateur sont restés fidèles à leur jeunesse. Par la même occasion, le roman relance le débat sur la pertinence de la migration, qui, du coup, semble moins centrée à une ère où l’imaginaire se situe au-delà des pays « réel » et « imaginaire » ; cette dichotomie donne une vraie valeur intrinsèque à Pays sans chapeau et démontre, de ce fait, la belle forme technique et esthétique du roman. Ainsi, nous allons chercher à démontrer comment Pays sans chapeau constitue un corpus stratégique qui se situe entre l’autobiographie, l’autofiction au delà …Fiction and reality in Pays sans chapeau (A country without a hat) by Dany Laferrière: Between autobiography autofiction and beyond. Pays sans chapeau (a country without hat) is one of the novels written by Dany Laferrière and published in 2007. This book deals with the return of the narrator, Vieux Os, to Port-au-Prince after many decades spent abroad in exile. It is also based on the painting or description of the Haitian society in which the narrator is horrified by the sheer number of the dead people or ghosts walking around together with the living in the streets of the city. He realises that the city of Port-au-Prince is overcrowded, yet he cannot distinguish the living from the dead amongst the bodies. The article aims to research the perpetual problem of the relationship between reality and fiction in autobiographical texts. An attempt will be made to determine to which category the novel Pays sans chapeau belongs. Consequently, it also analyses the dichotomy between the fictional and the real. This article will take as its theoretical point of departure Philppe Lejeune and Isabelle Grell’s definitions of autobiography and Jenny Laurent’s definition of autofiction.