bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Horizontal Process Integration in E-Government
Authors: Choudrie Jyoti , Weerakkody Vishanth
Published: May 2010

This article examines how horizontal integration between the various departments of a local authority in the United Kingdom (UK) occurs. Following that the aim of this article is to extract the “success factors” in government intervention that support horizontal and vertical integration based on the strategies pursued in the UK in order to render favourable results if applied elsewhere. The research methodology consisted of an in-depth case study that used the research tools of interviews and referring to archival documents. This research is timely as the maturity of e-government increases the issues of integrating processes and systems across various government departments becomes pertinent. The conclusion and lessons that can be learnt from this research is that e-government integration on a horizontal level obtains significant efficiency and effectiveness as more and more public services are being centralized.
Online Policy Consultation
Authors: Walsh Lucas
Published: May 2010

As developments in communication technologies impact upon many spheres of public and private life, they influence the way in which the public sector engages citizens. While most governments have an online presence, this is mainly applied to the provision of one-way (i.e. government to citizen) information and services. However, available technologies such as the Internet and mobile telephony provide opportunities for governments to enter into a two-way dialogue with citizens, increase transparency of their operations, and encourage democratic participation outside election time. As the government closest to the people, local government is particularly well placed to use online technologies to enhance and expand participatory democracy through strategies such as e-consultation. The implementation of an e-consultation strategy by local government presents a number of challenges to local governments seeking to enhance their dialogue with constituents using information and communication technologies (ICTs). This chapter draws from an external evaluation of an Australian local government initiative, Darebin eForum.1 Conducted in 2007, this evaluation included a survey of e-consultation participants2 and interviews with Council Officers responsible for moderating the site.3 The findings provide a snapshot of some of these challenges. 4 Though modest in size and ambition, the experiences of Darebin eForum provide valuable insight into the challenges faced by governments seeking to use ICTs to engage in dialogue with their constituents.
Users' Acceptance of E-Government
Authors: Sahu G. P.
Published: May 2010

The study seeks to highlight the key variables affecting usage of e-government by internal users of Indian Central Excise. An e-government acceptance model is developed and empirically tested using the 163 usable questionnaire responses from internal users of the Indian Central Excise. A priority of the variables is set by calculating the “total effect” of each variable on “intention to use e-government.” Further, the “total effect” is compared with “ratio of acceptance” and clear recommendations for the Central Excise are generated for increasing the usage of e-government among it users. The model developed here can be applied in other similar e-government projects to test the users’ intention to accept the system.
In-Stream Data Processing for Tactical Environments
Authors: Carvalho Marco
Published: May 2010

Data dissemination and information management technologies for tactical environments are quickly becoming major areas of research for both military and civilian applications. Critical to the problem is the need for fully distributed information management technologies that are efficient, adaptive and resilient. In this paper, we introduce and discuss a new strategy for tactical data dissemination and processing based on distributed online learning. Starting from a formal description of the problem we introduce our proposed solution and its theoretical properties. We also present and discuss a number of simulation experiments for different data dissemination scenarios, and conclude the work with a discussion on how such techniques may be applied to critical e-government environments under different assumptions of service availability and information release policies.
Current Issues and Future Analysis in Text Mining for Information Security Applications
Authors: Xu Shuting , Luo Xin
Published: May 2010

Text mining is an instrumental technology that today’s organizations can employ to extract information and further evolve and create valuable knowledge for more effective knowledge management. It is also an important tool in the arena of information systems security (ISS). While a plethora of text mining research has been conducted in search of revamped technological developments, relatively limited attention has been paid to the applicable insights of text mining in ISS. In this chapter, we address a variety of technological applications of text mining in security issues. The techniques are categorized according to the types of knowledge to be discovered and the text formats to be analyzed. Privacy issues of text mining as well as future trends are also discussed.
Strategies for Assessing Organisational Knowledge Assets
Authors: Schiuma Giovanni
Published: May 2010

Today’s global business is characterised by interconnectedness, interdependence, and an increasing level of complexity that force organisations to be flexible, proactive, and dynamic. In this emerging global scenario most of the traditional strategies, approaches, and policies no longer work the way they used to. The new challenge, particularly for companies coping with global business, is the ability to drive their transformation into intelligent organisations, that is, organisations that are able to leverage their intellectual capital to achieve their business objectives and envision new development paths. This chapter, assuming that the organisational intellectual capital corresponds to the knowledge assets attributed to a company, discusses the “What,” “Why,” and “How” of the knowledge asset assessment. First, the subprocesses of the assessment are discussed, highlighting the main features of the assessment of knowledge assets as well as the twofold nature of the knowledge asset assessment, distinguishing between stock and flow perspective of the evaluation. Second, the managerial reasons at the basis of the implementation of measurement systems for disclosing organisational knowledge resources are discussed. Finally, on the base of a distinction between the assessment approaches and the evaluation architectures, four main knowledge-asset assessment strategies are defined
Division of Interfirm Activities in the Knowledge-Based Economy
Authors: Andersen Poul Houman
Published: May 2010

In order to capture market dividends and stay at par with the competition in the knowledge-based economy, firms must constantly develop their skill profile. There is considerable scope for learning through interfirm learning processes. However, the uncertain and costly nature of this process hampers exchange of knowledge in interfirm networks. This opens up for a new form of intermediary specialised in the absorption, generation, and dissemination of knowledge: the knowledge processor. This contribution addresses the core strategic issues faced by this type of firm, and illustrates the process through a case study of a knowledge processor.
The Conundrum of Valuing a Company's Intellectual Capital
Authors: Joia Luiz Antonio , da Silva Sanz Paulo Sérgio
Published: May 2010

Since the early 1990s, research has been conducted in an attempt to establish a viable and reliable manner of measuring the intangible assets, also referred to as the intellectual capital, of companies. Several models have been devised, most of them using indicators to evaluate the intangible assets of a given undertaking. In this chapter, exploratory field study methodology is used to analyse the behaviour of the “customer retention” indicator, which has been widely used to evaluate a company’s relationship capital. Two of the largest Brazilian e-retailing groups are analysed in order to obtain an in-depth insight into the behaviour of their frequent customers via their digital channel. Conclusions are presented, indicating that the role of frequent customers in e-retailing companies can sometimes be widely divergent from that presented in existing academic literature. Finally, recommendations are made in order to reach a clearer understanding of the conundrum of valuing a company’s intellectual capital via taken-for-granted indicators.
Developing a Corporate Memory as a Competitive Advantage in the ICT-Sector
Authors: Juntunen Arla
Published: May 2010

This chapter focuses on the challenges of developing a knowledge management platform to support organizational memory and knowledge transfer. The study is based on a qualitative study in the ICT sector. First, the chapter discusses the development of the KM platform. Second, the benefits, and a competitive advantage of such a platform, are discussed. Finally, the conclusions are made, based on the case study.
Learning at the Core
Authors: Villalba Ernesto
Published: May 2010

The present study explores the relationship between the knowledge-enabling environment and the demand of training in 18 small private companies providing educational and consultancy services in Sweden. In this way, the chapter is an exploration of the ways Swedish knowledge-intensive companies manage their knowledge. The 18 companies have participated in a European programme for employee’s competence, financed by the European Social Fund. As part of this European financed programme, companies have evaluated their business activity and determined their training needs in order to remain competitive. The 18 companies, thus, are in a position of providing information on the demand for learning that is rarely available. Knowledge is understood, here, both as the structure and the content of the mental schemas. It is embodied in individuals; it differs from information and data; and it can be tacit or explicit. Knowledge is a dynamic entity that is in a constant dialectic process with the reality it represents. It is through this dialectic process that people learn. This conceptualization of knowledge implies that when looking at organizational processes for managing knowledge, it is important not only to look at formal organized activities for learning, but also informal learning activities that constitute the main source for tacit knowledge, as well as the conditions in place for knowledge creation, what is here called the knowledge-enabling environment. It is argued that through knowledge management, companies are indeed implementing strategies for the promotion of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning has been used in policy arenas as a guiding principle for educational policies and reforms.
An Integrated Knowledge Innovation Process Management Model
Authors: Bibikas Dimitris , Paraskakis Iraklis , Psychogios Alexandros G. , Vasconcelos Ana C.
Published: May 2010

The increasing pressure of today’s highly globalised markets has lead organisations to continuously compete for knowledge and innovation. Despite the fact that there is extensive analysis of the concepts of knowledge and innovation management as autonomous areas of research, there is limited investigation for identifying and managing knowledge innovation as an integrated concept. The aim of this chapter is to conceptualise an amalgamation between innovation and knowledge process management models. This study is based on a single case, selected to provide description and generate theory around the introduced knowledge innovation lifecycle model. Skandia was conceived as an appropriate example, since it has significant reputation both on knowledge and innovation management strategy. The proposed conceptual model of highly interlinked and recursive knowledge and innovation processes flow is believed to offer enhanced utilisation of knowledge and innovation management in organisational settings.
Intellectual Capital in Knowledge-Intensive Firms
Authors: López Sáez Pedro , Navas López José Emilio , de Castro Gregorio Martín
Published: May 2010

During more than a decade, the literature has provided several intellectual capital models. Nevertheless, empirical evidence is still necessary in the field, and empirically supported models for classification and measurement of intellectual capital are not very common. This work finds the main components or building blocks of an intellectual capital balance sheet, taking the three most common components of intellectual capital (human capital, structural capital, and relational capital) and testing empirically if this grouping of intangible assets is supported by the evidence obtained from a sample of knowledge-intensive firms from Boston’s Route 128. Findings suggest a classification of intellectual capital according to four categories: human capital, structural capital, relational business capital, and strategic alliances.
Organizations and Learning Process
Authors: Ke Weiling , Wei Kwok Kee
Published: May 2010

This chapter uses organizational learning as a lens to study how firms implement the enterprise system. The core research questions are: What are the critical organizational factors affecting organizational learning in ES implementation? How do these elements shape the learning process and thereby influence ES implementation outcomes? To address these questions, we conducted comparative case study with two organizations that have recently adopted ES and achieved significantly different results. Based on the empirical findings, we propose a framework that describes how organizational factors affect the four constructs of organizational learning in ES implementation context — knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation and organizational memory.
Supporting Innovation Through Knowledge Management in the Extended Enterprise
Authors: Sorli Mikel , Stokic Dragan
Published: May 2010

Managing of knowledge for innovation in an extended enterprise (EE) environment is a key issue. This in turn requires effective utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT). This chapter addresses the application of ICT for knowledge management (KM) needed for innovation in industry. An ICT-based KM system to support innovation process in EE environment (i.e., to support mastering of the innovation process) is presented. The main objective of the new AIM system is to provide the means of stimulating the creation of innovative ideas in general, and specifically on potential product/process improvements and on problem solving. The AIM system supports collection of such ideas throughout EE from people involved with the products and processes, as well as a development of the collected ideas into innovations.
Government Innovation Through Knowledge Management
Authors: Luna-Reyes Luis Felipe
Published: May 2010

Contemporary organizations face the challenge of growing and advancing in a complex and changing environment (Johannessen, Olaisen, & Olsen, 2001; Malhotra, 2000). In order to accomplish this objective, private organizations continuously innovate to attract customers (Johannessen et al.). Competition has been accelerated by information technology, which allows the appearance of new business models, introducing new competitors in the business arena (Rayport, 2001). Under these circumstances, it appears that innovation is one of the most valuable activities for any organization (Nonaka, 1996). Furthermore, the management of intangible assets such as knowledge is one of the critical factors to promote innovation and sustainable competitive advantage (Davenport, 2001; De Long & Fahey, 2000; Malhotra; Nonaka).
A Technology-Focused Framework for Integrating Knowledge Management into Strategic Innovation Management
Authors: Henselewski Marc , Smolnik Stefan , Riempp Gerold
Published: May 2010

Today’s business environment is characterized by highly transparent markets and global competition. Technology life cycles are decreasing due to the fast pace at which development of new technologies is progressing. To compete in this environment, it is necessary to identify upcoming innovations and trends as early as possible to decrease uncertainty, implement technology leadership, and create competitive advantage. In a parallel development, the amount of information available is already vast and increasing daily. As a result of these developments, strategic innovation management has become increasingly challenging. The goal of our chapter is to investigate to what extent knowledge management technologies support and improve strategic innovation management to face the aforementioned problems successfully. Consequently, we will develop a characterization scheme which works as a framework for the subsequent evaluation of knowledge management technologies and apply this to a real-world case.
Perceived Organizational Environment and Performance Reliability in the Case of Hospital Nurses
Authors: Saito Murako
Published: May 2010

Most hospital organizational environments in Japan are required to redesign the current organization into a new type of organization, namely a knowledge-based or an intelligent organization. Team care formation, for instance, which forms a hierarchy with medical doctors having an initiative, and simply gathering some disciplinary staff in plural areas, is not adequate. Redesigning an innovative organization is not possible without appropriate transformation into a flexible and resilient organization that can cope with the contingency of complex social environment. Professional staff in hospitals need to develop their work organization to be more flexible and adaptive to the changes in society. The accidental events which happen in hospitals are rarely controlled only by technical countermeasures or by traditional human resource management, but can be purposefully aligned by the appropriate application of knowledge management methodologies. Accuracy of human action is not merely acquired by avoiding erroneous behavior, rather it is ensured by continuously redesigning work organizational climate for the participants to take an autonomic action with the sense of organizational citizenship and social responsibility. The focus in this chapter is placed on the current situations of work organization of hospitals in Japan and on the comparison of perceived nursing work, incidence rates during 24 hours of nursing care work, and reduced reliability among four control modes of organizational environment, such as strategic, tactical, opportunistic, and scrambled. This study suggests that cognitive reliability on work conditions and on perceived work environment plays a critical role in improving performance reliability and in reducing human errors in order to provide a high quality of nursing care.
Details About IDM Web Application Design Methodology
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa , Pandurino Andrea
Published: May 2010

IDM provides also a good organization of pages with PIDM that, producing different views, allows focusing on different design aspects. IDM inherits several aspects by W2000 (Baresi, Garzotto, Mainetti, & Paolini, 2002) such as the separation of different contents in topic (called in W2000 entity) and the separation of topic in dialogue acts (the components in W2000). To well understand the proposed methodology, in this book, several detailed examples are presented using W2000 and IDM methodology. The design is always in-the-large, but some guidelines in order to lead the designer to carefully design the pages are introduced in the last chapter.
A Brief Introduction to Ontology
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa , Pandurino Andrea
Published: May 2010

It is now clear that a careful initial phase of design, above all that it concerns for the complex Web information systems, it is essential to assure the quality of the final system. To reduce the necessary time development effort in order to get the final output, it is important to have tools that allow quickly obtatining tangible results; in few words, it is important to quickly obtain a consistent part of code for the final application. In this way, it is possible to provide the customer with a first draft of the information system in order to have a first validation of the design.
A Case Study for External Users
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa , Pandurino Andrea
Published: May 2010

The case of study in examination has the goal of realizing a Web application to support an operator of a tourist agency that wants to realize a tourist package according to the requirements of the customer. The operator has to organize the trip starting from the purchase of the flights or the railway ticket up to the booking of the service of car rental, of taxi, of the hotel or other tourist features. The proposed solution has to be that much closer to the demands of the user relative to the destination, to the dates and to the range of price that he/she will have pointed out.
Case Study for Internal Users
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa , Pandurino Andrea
Published: May 2010

The case immediately introduces it as a case strongly oriented to the logic of process and for which the operator, which in this context operates by the business intranet, does not have necessity of particular navigation, but it only has to limit itself to performing the orders of service. For this case study, therefore, the problem to choose the better methodology to apply is not present, but that proposed for the internal users immediately seems the most suitable.
From the Model to the Code Generator
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa , Pandurino Andrea
Published: May 2010

Surely, the design phase is one of the most important in the whole information system life cycle. The design phase allows realizing of the information system according to an engineering approach that by abstracting itself completely from the implementation details, it can adequately focus itself on the design aspects allowing for provision of a clear and precise methodological guideline to the developers. In this way, a high level of quality is guaranteed to the information system that will be not influenced by ad hoc decisions made up by the developers; decisions that, in the greatest part of the cases, are deprived of a suitable methodological support, and that inevitably bring to a diminution of the total quality of the project.
Tool to Support the Design Methdology
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa , Pandurino Andrea
Published: May 2010

As it will be clearer subsequently, two different technologies will be used for realizing the generation of the code; the first one predominantly focused on the generation of code for the Web applications that do not have an underlying business process, and that they do not require, therefore, the management of the relative problems. The second technology has been selected instead, to also keep in mind the business processes. In order to provide support to the designer in the design of the whole complex Web information system, it is essential to provide a suitable tool that hides the intrinsic complexity of the methodology supporting the designer in the application of the same that is often complex, and the tool has to be able to translate the design made up in a machine readable format to be able to use this design in the following automatic code generation of the Web application according to a model-driven approach. In this chapter, we introduce the design and implementation of the editor made up mainly of the architecture presented (and based on Eclipse™ Platform as illustrated in the preceding chapter) and on the methodological steps of integration among the several editors for the design and implementation of these guidelines.
Case Studies
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa , Pandurino Andrea
Published: May 2010

This chapter presents the detailed output of the two code generators showed in the previous chapter. For the first code generator software, the main focus is on the design of layout that, modeled using the specific editor integrated into the case tool showed in Chapter XIII, can create a complete application. In particular, applying to the generated application a specific cascade style sheet, the generated application is really closer to the original one.
Conclusions
Authors: Paiano Roberto , Guido Anna Lisa , Pandurino Andrea
Published: May 2010

In this chapter, we briefly summarize the results achieved in this book, and we will provide some indications on possible future developments. In the book’s coverage, we mainly focus on the design and on the development of complex Web information systems that are information systems that aim to manage, in an explicit way, the design of the processes inside the Web application as support for them.
Early User Involvement and Participation in Employee Self-Service Application Deployment
Authors: Koopman Gerwin , Batenburg Ronald
Published: May 2010

This chapter theoretically and empirically addresses the notion that user participation and involvement is one of the important factors for IS success. Different models and studies are reviewed to define and classify types of early end-user involvement and participation. Next, five case studies are presented of Dutch governmental organizations (Ministries) that have recently deployed an employee self-service application. Based on interviews with developers, project managers and users it can be showed that the deployment success of such systems is positively related to the extent of early user involvement and participation. In addition, it was found that expectancy management is important to keep users informed about certain deployment decisions. In this way, employees can truly use the self-service applications without much support from the HR-departments.
Does User Centered Design, Coherent with Global Corporate Strategy, Encourage Development of Human Resource Intranet Use?
Authors: Guiderdoni-Jourdain Karine , Oiry Ewan
Published: May 2010

In organizations, researchers as well as professionals have generally observed insufficient use of computer technologies when compared to their expected outcomes before their implementation (Bowers, 1995). Reiterating in detail Orlikowski’s theoretical propositions, the authors try to impart a clear theoretical status and to identify how transformation of the « artifact » can eventually transform uses. Using a longitudinal case study describing uses of a HR Intranet in an aeronautical firm, the authors want to show that: computer technology conception integrating user’s needs, which scientific literature usually calls « user centered » conception, allows use development. However, data gathered in the interviews allows stating that this kind of conception achieved to develop uses only because it was in a strong interaction with corporate policy.
Applicant Information and Selection Strategies in Corporate Web Site Recruiting
Authors: Puck Jonas F. , Holtbrügge Dirk , Mohr Alexander T.
Published: May 2010

This chapter empirically analyses the influence of the cultural context on the comprehensiveness to which companies in different countries make use of applicant information and selection strategies in corporate web site recruiting. The elements of informing and selection are discussed as critical elements of corporate Web site recruiting in the literature. Based on Hofstede’s 4-Dimensions model of culture, seven hypotheses are developed and tested against data from 420 companies in 14 countries. The results indicate that cultural effects are relevant even though a management technique is provided on the World Wide Web. From a practitioner’s perspective, the results of this study have implications on at least three different levels. At first, companies have to train both their HR- and IT-personnel with regard to the influences of culture. Secondly, job applicants have to be aware of the different intensities of corporate Web site recruiting across countries. Thirdly, companies developing corporate Web site recruiting software should consider the development of culture-specific applications to allow for a culture-consistent implementation.
XML Schema Evolution and Versioning
Authors: Guerrini Giovanna , Mesiti Marco
Published: May 2010

The large dynamicity of XML documents on the Web has created the need to adequately support structural changes and to account for the possibility of evolving and versioning the schemas describing XML document structures. This chapter discusses and compares the support for schema evolution and versioning provided by commercial systems as well as the most relevant approaches and prototypes proposed and developed by the research community.
Data Integration Issues and Opportunities in Biological XML Data Management
Authors: Mesiti Marco , Ruiz Ernesto Jiménez , Sanz Ismael , Llavori Rafael Berlanga , Valentini Giorgio , Perlasca Paolo , Manset David
Published: May 2010

There is a proliferation of research and industrial organizations that produce sources of huge amounts of biological data issuing from experimentation with biological systems. In order to make these heterogeneous data sources easy to use, several efforts at data integration are currently being undertaken based mainly on XML. Starting from a discussion of the main biological data types and system interactions that need to be represented, the authors deal with the main approaches proposed for their modelling through XML. Then, they show the current efforts in biological data integration and how an increasing amount of Semantic information is required in terms of vocabulary control and ontologies. Finally, future research directions in biological data integration are discussed.
Enabling Secure Wireless Real-Time Vehicle Monitoring and Control
Authors: Ngoh Lek Heng
Published: May 2010

The use of in-car networked electronic controller units (ECUs) for monitoring and control of various vehicle subsystems has become a common practice among the automotive manufacturers. In this chapter, the author surveys one of the most popular in-car networking technologies, the Controller Area Network (CAN), as well as newer and emerging in-car network technologies called FlexRay and Media-Oriented System Transport (MOST). Currently, these networks are deployed for in-car applications such as engine diagnostics, and infotainment systems. In this chapter, however, the author extends the use of these embedded vehicular networks by proposing to remotely monitor and control the vehicles through them, in order to realize safety and driver assistance related applications. To accomplish this task, additional technologies such as real-time wireless communications and data security are required, and each of them is introduced and described in this chapter.
The Search for the 'Hidden' Virtual Communities of Practice
Authors: Ribeiro Richard , Kimble Chris
Published: May 2010

This chapter examines the possibility of discovering a “hidden” (potential) Community of Practice (CoP) inside electronic networks, and then using this knowledge to nurture it into a fully functioning Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP). Starting from the standpoint of the need to manage knowledge and create innovation, the chapter discusses several issues related to this subject. It begins by examining Nonaka’s SECI model and his notion of Knowledge Transfer; the authors follow this by an investigation of the links between Communities of Practice (CoPs) and Knowledge Management; the chapter concludes by examining the relation between Nonaka’s Communities of Interaction and CoPs. Having established this the authors start their examination of the characteristics of “hidden” Communities of Practice. Following on from the previous discussion, they look at what is meant by “hidden” CoPs and what their value might be. They also look at the distinction between Distributed CoPs (DCoPs) and Virtual CoPs (VCoPs) and the issues raised when moving from ‘hidden’ CoPs to fully functioning VCoPs. The chapter concludes with some preliminary findings from a semi-structured interview conducted in the Higher Education Academy Psychology Network (UK). These findings are contrasted against the theory and some further proposals are made.
The Role of Participatory Design in Constructing the Virtual Knowledge Commons
Authors: Pang Natalie
Published: May 2010

The main goal of this chapter is to demonstrate how purposeful participatory design can be used to construct a virtual knowledge commons that both serves and is defined by communities. Other than the proposition that participatory design is a technique to guide participation within a community, the chapter also explores how this technique can be used to nurture and sustain a shared knowledge commons in the virtual environment. To this end, the conditions and consequences of the virtual environment are discussed, illustrating how with participation, the virtual commons is possibly sustainable. The chapter also raises the role of cultural institutions and examines a number of contemporary examples, resulting in a preliminary spectrum of participation by which practices of participation in the virtual knowledge commons by cultural institutions can be mapped. More research and fieldwork needs to be done to refine this model and generate exemplary practices for policy development and best practices in cultural institutions.
Analyzing Multimodal Interaction
Authors: Ferri Fernando , Paolozzi Stefano
Published: May 2010

Human-to-human conversation remains such a significant part of our working activities because of its naturalness. Multimodal interaction systems combine visual information with voice, gestures, and other modalities to provide flexible and powerful dialogue approaches. The use of integrated multiple input modes enables users to benefit from the natural approach used in human communication. In this paper, after introducing some definitions and concepts related to multimodal environment, we describe the different approaches used in the multimodal interaction fields showing both theoretical research and multimodal systems implementation. In particular, we will address those approaches that use the new semantic technologies as well as the ones related to the Semantic Web fields.
Exploring Multimodal Input Fusion Strategies
Authors: D’Ulizia Arianna
Published: May 2010

Human-computer interaction is a discipline that aims at enabling the interaction between humans and computational machines. In the last years, several efforts have been made to make this interaction more intuitive and natural. In this direction, multimodal interaction has emerged as the future paradigm of human-computer interaction. In order to enable a natural dialogue between users and computer systems, in multimodal systems the two main challenges to face are: to combine and integrate information from different input modalities (fusion process) and to generate appropriate output information (fission process). Our specific concern in this chapter is with the fusion of multiple input modalities.
Interpretation Methods and Ambiguity Management in Multimodal Systems
Authors: Caschera Maria Chiara
Published: May 2010

Naturalness and flexibility of the dialogue between users and multimodal systems can produce more than one interpretation and consequently ambiguities. This chapter deals the problem to correctly recognize user input for enabling a natural interaction. In particular, it analyses approaches that have to cope with issues connected to the interpretation process, dividing them into recognition-based, decision-based, and hybrid multilevel fusion strategies, and providing descriptions of some example of these methods. Moreover, this chapter provides classifications of ambiguities classifying them at a more general level in recognition, segmentation, and target ambiguities, and dividing them in a more detailed way in lexical, syntactical, and pragmatic ambiguities. Considering these classifications, this chapter analyses how interpretation methods support the correct recognition of ambiguities. Finally, this chapter presents methods applied after the interpretation process and that integrate it for solving different class of ambiguities using the dialogue between the user and the system.
Beginnings in Instructional Design and Culture
Authors: Young Patricia A.
Published: May 2010

If the history of the world is properly searched, the birth of innovation in learning theory as a practice and psychology as a science can be found in the literature of scholars across nations. In Germany, Wilheim A. Lay (1903) studied the relationship between psychology (i.e., memory, perception, muscle response) and the practice of teaching subject matter (i.e., reading, writing, and arithmetic). Lay believed that educational topics could benefit from an experimental approach that explored “not only the psychological but also the biological, anthropological, hygienic, economic, logical, ethical, aesthetic, and religious experiences of the pupil and his community by means of observation, statistics and the experiment (Lay, 1936, p. 139).” In Geneva, Edouard Claparède (1905) argued that the type of teaching should be dependent on the knowledge the child brings with them. Claparède believed that the learner needed to know how to learn in order to learn. Ernst Meumann (1907), in Germany, continued with this line of inquiry into experimental psychology and experimental pedagogy examining the application of psychology methods to pedagogical problems. Given the increased demands on children to learn more information, Meumann sought to develop psychologically based methods to improve teaching and learning.
The Culture-Based Model Framework
Authors: Young Patricia A.
Published: May 2010

The incorporation of culture in the design process is not a simple task. It is one with multiple layers of depth and complexity. But it is also not impossible. CBM captures the nature of culture in design by providing designers with guidance in creating, replicating, modeling, planning, understanding, monitoring, researching, analyzing, integrating, enhancing, communicating, managing, and assessing culture in ICTs.
CBM Learners
Authors: Young Patricia A.
Published: May 2010

The Learners (L1-L10) area centers on the needs of learners and learning. These design factors assist in providing a dynamic learning environment that is supportive of the learner’s cultural frames of reference and seeks to meet the learning outcomes of the project. The design factors are adaptive to learners on multiple levels including intellectual, motivational, and educational, thereby providing opportunities for individualized instruction. Other design factors in this area focus on meeting the needs of the target audience through a variety of strategies including providing opportunities to extend learning beyond design requirements; differentiating learning opportunities; empowering and engaging learners; instilling proactive learning; identifying educational objectives; enculturating the learner; and incorporating culture-based instructional strategies.
CBM Elements IV
Authors: Young Patricia A.
Published: May 2010

This chapter continues with CBM Elements and the design factors related to the anthropology of culture. Cultural history is covered in its entirety. Cultural history covers these types of history:.artistic, agricultural, crime, disease, economic, educational, ethnic, familial, gender, geographic, health, legal, linguistic, political, racial, religious, reproduction, science, sexual intercourse, social, time periods. Cultural history is a narrative representation of events. This history is comprehensive in that it includes many of the histories that have been written by or about a population. Histories serve to preserve the past, tell the stories of human beings, record information, and chronicle a legacy. The point of building or researching a cultural history, according to Burke (2004), is to explore new facets of history and re-evaluate the old.
CBM Elements VI
Authors: Young Patricia A.
Published: May 2010

This chapter continues with CBM Elements and the design factors related to the psychology of culture. All of the design factors related to psychology are covered. This section, the psychology of culture, draws from cognitive anthropology and cultural psychology that focus on cognitive, psychological, and social realms. Culture affects the psychology of human existence (D’Andrade, 1995) in its ability to configure the mind of human beings. Human beings use their minds to negotiate and make sense of the world. Whether part of a society, culture, or group, human beings search for shared meanings with others and an understanding of self. These meanings are best understood in their cultural contexts; therefore, culture is at the core of creating, understanding, and being human (Bruner, 1996).
Case Study of an Educational Product
Authors: Young Patricia A.
Published: May 2010

Instructional design includes the production of educational products such as software, Web-based environments, video games, videos, films, and print technologies. Educational software for school-aged children in the United States has been on the decline since 1999, when it peaked at $605 million; in 2005, estimates of retail sales were at $128 million (Wong, 2006). However, higher education has seen an upsurge in software that aids colleges and universities in managing teaching and learning information. The future of educational product development for children and adult learners needs a resurgence of energy and innovative instructional designs can be at the forefront of this rebirth.
Case Study in E-Learning
Authors: Young Patricia A.
Published: May 2010

The future of e-learning is wide open in terms of innovations in software, hardware, instructional content, and teaching practices. Recent innovations in software have been instrumental in the development of rapid e-learning that allows the creation of podcasts and vodcasts (video podcasts) in 2 to 3 weeks versus 4 to 5 months (Weekes, 2007). Hardware such as PDAs, mobile phones, and pocket PCs provide new avenues in mobile e-learning. Businesses view e-learning as a way to train employees locally and worldwide. Student enrollment in distance education courses in U.S. colleges and universities increased from 2.3 million in 2004 to 3.2 million in 2006 (Allen & Seaman, 2006). It appears that the delivery of instructional content through elearning will continue to be another growth area in the new millennium.
Case Study in Research
Authors: Young Patricia A.
Published: May 2010

Research is seen as a bad word, more work and lots more money. However, research is a good thing to do and engage in before, during and after product development. Researching products or services can actually save money and time. Businesses usually refer to this as front end marketing (Weisman, 2007). There needs to be more research before the development of products and a stronger focus on meeting the needs of target audiences. A diagnostic evaluation serves as a meter for researching information in ICTs. There are two ways to use CBM for diagnostic evaluations. The first is to use CBM to research design specifications, and the second is to use CBM as an ethnographic instrument. There may be other ways to use CBM as a diagnostic tool; however these two methods are offered in this chapter.
Porting Applications to Grids
Authors: Gentzsch Wolfgang
Published: May 2010

Aim of this chapter is to guide developers and users through the most important stages of implementing software applications on Grid infrastructures, and to discuss important challenges and potential solutions. Those challenges come from the underlying grid infrastructure, like security, resource management, and information services; the application data, data management, and the structure, volume, and location of the data; and the application architecture, monolithic or workflow, serial or parallel. As a case study, the author presents the DEISA Distributed European Infrastructure for Supercomputing Applications and describes its DEISA Extreme Computing Initiative DECI for porting and running scientific grand challenge applications. The chapter concludes with an outlook on Compute Clouds, and suggests ten rules of building a sustainable grid as a prerequisite for long-term sustainability of the grid applications.
Load Balancing in Peer-to-Peer Systems
Authors: Shen Haiying
Published: May 2010

Structured peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay networks like Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs) map data items to the network based on a consistent hashing function. Such mapping for data distribution has an inherent load balance problem. Thus, a load balancing mechanism is an indispensable part of a structured P2P overlay network for high performance. The rapid development of P2P systems has posed challenges in load balancing due to their features characterized by large scale, heterogeneity, dynamism, and proximity. An efficient load balancing method should flexible and resilient enough to deal with these characteristics. This chapter will first introduce the P2P systems and the load balancing in P2P systems. It then introduces the current technologies for load balancing in P2P systems, and provides a case study of a dynamism-resilient and proximity-aware load balancing mechanism. Finally, it indicates the future and emerging trends of load balancing, and concludes the chapter.
Cell Processing for Two Scientific Computing Kernels
Authors: Xu Meilian , Thulasiraman Parimala , Thulasiram Ruppa K.
Published: May 2010

This chapter uses two scientific computing kernels to illustrate challenges of designing parallel algorithms for one heterogeneous multi-core processor, the Cell Broadband Engine processor (Cell/B.E.). It describes the limitation of the current parallel systems using single-core processors as building blocks. The limitation deteriorates the performance of applications which have data-intensive and computationintensive kernels such as Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). FDTD is a regular problem with nearest neighbour comminuncation pattern under synchronization constraint. FFT based on indirect swap network (ISN) modifies the data mapping in traditional Cooley- Tukey butterfly network to improve data locality, hence reducing the communication and synchronization overhead. The authors hope to unleash the Cell/B.E. and design parallel FDTD and parallel FFT based on ISN by taking into account unique features of Cell/B.E. such as its eight SIMD processing units on the single chip and its high-speed on-chip bus.
Grid Transaction Management and Highly Reliable Grid Platform
Authors: Tang Feilong , Guo Minyi
Published: May 2010

As Grid technology is expanding from scientific computing to business applications, open grid platform increasingly needs the support of transaction services. This chapter proposes a grid transaction service (GridTS) and GridTS based transaction processing model, defines two kinds of grid transactions: atomic grid transaction for short-lived reliable applications and long-lived transaction for business processes. The chapter also presents solutions to managing these two kinds of transactions to reach different consistent requirements. Moreover, this chapter investigates a mechanism for automatic generation of compensating transactions in the execution of long-lived transactions through the GridTS. Finally, it discusses the future trends along the reliable grid platform research.
Error Recovery for SLA-Based Workflows Within the Business Grid
Authors: Quan Dang Minh , Altmann Jorn , Yang Laurence T.
Published: May 2010

This chapter describes the error recovery mechanisms in the system handling the Grid-based workflow within the Service Level Agreement (SLA) context. It classifies the errors into two main categories. The first is the large-scale errors when one or several Grid sites are detached from the Grid system at a time. The second is the small-scale errors which may happen inside an RMS. For each type of error, the chapter introduces a recovery mechanism with the SLA context imposing the goal to the mechanisms. The authors believe that it is very useful to have an error recovery framework to avoid or eliminate the negative effects of the errors.