bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Smartness, City Efficiency, and Entrepreneurship Milieu
Authors: Mundula Luigi , Auci Sabrina
Published: August 2018

The definition of smart city and its measurement are not shared. Different characteristics define a city as smart, which is strictly linked to urban efficiency and to entrepreneurship spirit in a multifaceted way as well as to citizens' well-being. On the basis of the comparison between city and entrepreneur behaviour and on the definition of Giffinger et al. (2007) of smart city, this chapter verifies the efficiency of a sample of European cities using a stochastic frontier approach. Departing from this analysis, the chapter develops the relative smartness definition based on the efficient use of its own resources and related to the different context. Moreover, as a city becomes close to the optimal value, the frontier will shift upward because of the more attractiveness and a new adjustment mechanism should be followed to become efficient again (virtuous cycle). Then, the concept of smartness becomes dynamic. This definition, taking into account city's performance, is able to sustain the entrepreneurship milieu of a city.
Introduction to Smart City and Agricultural Revolution
Authors: Angadi Rajesh
Published: August 2018

In this chapter, a discussion is presented about what Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT) really is and what intricacies are used while building big data and internet of things. Further Big Data and Internet of Things have been used for building an application used for Smart City & Agriculture. A smart city is an urban development vision to integrate multiple information and communication technology (ICT) solutions. Smart city's goal is to improve quality of life with technology to improve the efficiency of services and meet residents' needs. Smart agriculture approach is to develop, transform and reorient agricultural development under new realities of climate change. It increases productivity enhances resilience (adaptation), reduces mitigation with achievement of national food security and development goals. This chapter includes detailed discussion on Smart City and Smart Agriculture along with planning, designing as well as various approaches used to build and implement them effectively.
Smart Cities and Internet Technology Research for Sustainable and Inclusive Development
Authors: Marouli Christina , Lytras Miltiadis D.
Published: August 2018

The concept of smart cities has recently emerged to highlight the significance of innovation and information technologies in urban planning. In this chapter, after a discussion of different conceptions and important dimensions of smart cities, a wealth of information technologies that have been used in cities for a variety of services is presented. The authors advocate that smart urban solutions should be designed within a smart cities vision and strategic plan, defined by people's needs. They propose an integrated strategic policy making model for smart, sustainable and inclusive cities and they make recommendations for policies and education for smart cities. The special character of public and private spaces, the significance of everyday life, the pivotal role of open governance and meaningful citizen participation, as well as the balance between the desired surveillance for efficient resource management and freedom and creativity have been highlighted as challenges that should inform the design of smart urban solutions and future research on smart cities.
A Smart City Initiative
Authors: Pawlikowska-Piechotka Anna , Łukasik Natalia , Ostrowska-Tryzno Anna , Sawicka Karolina
Published: August 2018

This chapter presents theoretical base for the creation of the Smart Evaluation Method (SEM) and an attempt to use this scoring method in practice for measuring environment, sport and recreation potentials of urban greens. A multi-item questionnaire instrument was used to assess selected urban parks: environment quality (air, soil, and water), natural resources (greens, water, and landscape), socio-cultural resources (as public safety), recreation and sport facilities (as children playgrounds, tennis courts, pathways), and park visitor's satisfaction. The survey was carried out in eight selected urban parks in Warsaw and Madrid. With the use of correlation, factor and graphic analysis of their quality, a number of subjective and objective factors which might determine urban greens potentials were identified. They include strong and weak points of the sport and recreation programme of urban parks which were identified. The SEM method was developed with a goal of responding to the challenges of smart city, helping to create sustainable environment and reduce negative consequences of climate change, improve information about public space programme and promote active lifestyle. The knowledge acquired on the base of the SEM innovative scoring method and its outcomes analyse could help to develop smart planning and management of urban greens, enhance the quality of life, provide healthier environment and improve the use of public space.
Crowdsourcing and Living Labs in Support of Smart Cities' Development
Authors: Papadopoulou Chrysaida-Aliki , Giaoutzi Maria
Published: August 2018

The concept of ‘smart cities' has quite recently stimulated an alternative way of approaching urban sustainability through the extensive adoption of ICTs, harmoniously combined with human capital and city's potential in order new patterns of urban development to be generated. Crowdsourcing and living labs serve the goal of being ‘smart' by promoting the establishment of broad cooperative schemes for prototypical ideas generation and innovation production. The present paper focuses on exploring the contribution of crowdsourcing and living labs to smart cities' development. In the first part, the backbone of a smart city is presented; in the second part, a methodological approach integrating smart cities' development with crowdsourcing and living labs is elaborated; in the third part, the role of crowdsourcing in generating prototypical ideas is described; in the fourth part, the potential evaluation and implementation of such ideas in a living lab environment is examined; and finally, some conclusions are drawn.
Energy Simulations as a Tool in Integrated Design Process
Authors: Rucińska Joanna
Published: August 2018

In the integrated building modelling, all aspects have the same importance. It means that the architect, construction, and HVAC engineers create a building with interactions. BIM guarantees permanent information about important indicators generated parallel during the whole design process. Sophisticated simulation gives opportunity to observe important factors, for example, thermal comfort, ventilation quality, energy performance of building, operating and investments costs. For effective design process, selection of the appropriate team of people should be done carefully. It is particularly important to have a proper approach to modernisation of buildings. Without careful analysis of the concept and cooperation at various stages, it is not possible to complex retrofit of the building, which is aimed not only at reducing the energy use but also at maintain the desired thermal comfort.
Improving Urban Planning Information, Transparency and Participation in Public Administrations
Authors: Santos Beatriz
Published: August 2018

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the involvement of citizens in all public affairs that is also extended to urban planning. Spanish Public Administrations have made important changes and progress trying to get urban and spatial planning closer to the citizen. Firstly, a significant effort has been made to generate knowledge services providing citizen access to urban planning information. Secondly, administrations try to involve citizens in urban planning through participation programmes by using the new channels that information and communication technology offers. This paper analyses different instruments and web-based participation systems implemented in Spain in order to check the result of these developments concluding that there is still a long considerable way to go since information and communications technologies offers a lot of options and tools to improve these processes.
Accounting for Noise Pollution in Planning of Smart Cities
Authors: Hammad A.W.A. , Akbarnezhad A. , Rey D.
Published: August 2018

The incorporation of sustainable design measures in urban planning and development has been steadily increasing in the recent years. Achieving a sustainable urban environment requires accounting for the economic, environmental and social impacts of the development involved. An important factor affecting the social and environmental sustainability of urbanised areas which is commonly overlooked in urban planning is the noise pollution level. Despite the proven impacts of noise pollution on the general wellbeing of individuals within an urban setting, there remains a lack of systematic methods to integrate the impact of noise within the design of urban areas. This chapter seeks to raise awareness of the issue of noise pollution in urban settings while proposing novel approaches for its incorporation as a design parameter in planning the layout of smart cities.
The Smart City and Its Citizens
Authors: Capra Carlo Francesco
Published: August 2018

Smart cities are associated almost exclusively with modern technology and infrastructure. However, smart cities have the possibility to enhance the involvement and contribution of citizens to urban development. This work explores the role of governance as one of the factors influencing the participation of citizens in smart cities projects. Governance characteristics play a major role in explaining different typologies of citizen participation. Through a focus on Amsterdam Smart City program as a specific case study, this research examines the characteristics of governance that are present in the overall program and within a selected sample of projects, and how they relate to different typologies of citizen participation. The analysis and comprehension of governance characteristics plays a crucial role both for a better understanding and management of citizen participation, especially in complex settings where multiple actors are interacting.
Smart Cities and the Internet
Authors: Deakin Mark
Published: August 2018

This chapter challenges recent mode 2 accounts of smart cities and in particular, the idea they are an index of the future internet. Adopting the triple helix model of knowledge production, it studies smart cities, not as the emergent technologies of economic transactions, but in terms of civil society's support for the integration of Web2.0-based information and communication platforms into their regional innovation systems. This reveals that no matter how technologically advanced such an internet-driven reinvention of cities may appear, being smart is something which reaches beyond this. Beyond this and towards policies, leadership qualities and corporate strategies that not only serve the knowledge economy, but which are also smart in allowing cities to cultivate the creativity of the internet as the information and communication technologies of regional innovation systems.
Nurturing Compassion-Based Empathy
Authors: Huda Miftachul , Jasmi Kamarul Azmi , Embong Wan Hassan Wan , Safar Jimaain , Mohamad Ahmad Marzuki , Mohamed Ahmad Kilani , Muhamad Nasrul Hisyam Nor , Alas Yabit , Rahman Sri Kartika A.
Published: August 2018

In the last decade, the emergence of violence has been since visible among the youth in school and even in higher education (HE). The number is various forms such as bullying, cyber bullying and even bullying victimization. It can be seen that forms of instance reported are many violence which refers to the perpetration among the school aged students. This paper aims to examine the problems on violence at any forms to propose a model to solve the knowledge set of compassionate based empathy. The findings reveal that the series of feeling mindful of self and social empathy should be developed to enhance the awareness with the ability to interact and care among HE. Providing the framework for the current issue of impending futile effort in terms of caring for terminal patients, nurturing compassionate based empathy could be one of the sources to assist the knowledge on the instructional design and assessment through best practice to improve the social and self-empathy awareness with compassion in HE.
Child Sexual Abuse
Authors: Thukral Shubham , Rodriguez Tania Debra
Published: August 2018

This chapter outlines briefly the dynamics of the interplay between Child Sexual Abuse and Family. Child abuse is a state of emotional, physical, economic and sexual maltreatment meted out to a person below the age of eighteen and is a globally prevalent phenomenon. Child abuse is a violation of the basic human rights of a child and is an outcome of a set of inter-related familial factors among other ones. The primary focus is on the issues of intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse, familial risk factors for abuse and broadly some theories that contribute to the understanding of intrafamilial child sexual abuse. The chapter also explores reactions of the family to the sexually abused child, evaluation of the interventions suitable for the same and the status of psychotherapy with respect to the sexually abused child and their family.
Cross Talk Between Functional Foods and Gut Health
Authors: Thakur Kiran , Zhang Jian Guo , Wei Zhao-Jun , Kumar Narendra , Tomar Sudhir Kumar , Pophaly Sarang Dilip
Published: August 2018

The phrase “Let food be the medicine and medicine be the food,” coined by Hippocrates over 2500 years ago is receiving a lot of interest today as food scientists and consumers realize the many health benefits of certain foods. Lately, consumer's choice in food consumption has improved considerably due to the acknowledgment of the fact that foods influence the overall human health. There has been a growing interest over the years to explore beneficial gut microbiota and different interventions are devised to modulate the microbiota through the use of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics. Besides improving intestinal health, functional food ingredients also have the potential to restore the gut homeostasis during intestinal disorders conditions. The human gut has a marked effect on the nutritional and health status of the host due to the presence of diverse bacterial species, which develop important metabolic and immune functions. This makes intestinal microbiota a target for nutritional and therapeutic interventions and a factor which influence the biological activity of other food compounds .This chapter attempts to highlight how the reciprocal interactions take place between the gut microbiota and functional food components and how these interactions affect human health and manage various metabolic disorders.
Role of Nutraceuticals in Cancer
Authors: Dahiya Kiran , Dhankhar Rakesh
Published: August 2018

Nutraceuticals are increasingly becoming popular for prevention and treatment of cancer. Association of adverse effects with standard treatment modalities of cancer has led to consideration of safer approaches. Nutraceuticals may help in prevention of cancer as well as in treatment and avoidance of side effects associated with chemo-radiation. The active components of nutraceuticals are known as phytochemicals. Many mechanisms have been put forward for the actions of these phytochemicals but an exact mechanism for a well defined role of a particular phytochemical in a specific type of cancer is yet to be elucidated. Thus, nutraceutical industry has emerged as a research oriented sector. It is important for the healthcare professionals to understand the categories, research developments, mechanism of action and areas of concern in the field of nutraceuticals.
Multimedia Data Security With Recent Trends and Technologies
Authors: Kanimozhi Suguna S.  , Dhanya V. S.
Published: August 2018

This chapter throws light on major multimedia data security techniques. It has become so essential in today's society which uses multimedia data in almost all walks of life. There are a lot of multimedia data transactions carried out every day. Thus, to ensure data security the techniques, steganography and watermarking are frequently used. In steganography and watermarking techniques, the data to be hidden is encrypted and fed into a transparent layer like documents, images, and it is decrypted at the receiving end by the recipient. Generally, steganographic communications are one-to-one while watermarking is one-to-many. Besides these techniques, certain other techniques are also used in the application for providing security to multimedia data. From this chapter, a detailed content about steganography and watermarking can be obtained.
Exploring Recent Advances in Digital Video Steganography and Future Scope
Authors: Banik Barnali Gupta
Published: August 2018

In this digital era, with the advent of technology like 4G network and VOIP, video calling is the most cost effective and cutting-edge communication technique. Simultaneously, video sharing through social networking sites is very popular, as it can reach a wider public domain in seconds. This enormous use of video motivates the fact that as digital medium video can be effectively utilized for secret sharing. Using video steganography, any kind of secret data like text, image, audio, even a short video can be hidden inside another video object, which can be securely transmitted to the recipient over the internet. In this chapter, an effort has been made to relate various techniques of video steganography under a single header to identify future scope of research. Also, all possible quality metrics for videos and for measuring robustness have been studied, and different steganalysis attacks on video have been analyzed. The broad mission of this chapter is to be a quick reference to future researchers of video steganography.
De-Noising of Binary Image Using Accelerated Local Median-Filtering Approach
Authors: Khan Amit , Majumdar Dipankar
Published: August 2018

In the last few decades huge amounts and diversified work has been witnessed in the domain of de-noising of binary images through the evolution of the classical techniques. These principally include analytical techniques and approaches. Although the scheme was working well, the principal drawback of these classical and analytical techniques are that the information regarding the noise characteristics is essential beforehand. In addition to that, time complexity of analytical works amounts to beyond practical applicability. Consequently, most of the recent works are based on heuristic-based techniques conceding to approximate solutions rather than the best ones. In this chapter, the authors propose a solution using an iterative neural network that applies iterative spatial filtering technology with critically varied size of the computation window. With critical variation of the window size, the authors are able to show noted acceleration in the filtering approach (i.e., obtaining better quality filtration with lesser number of iterations).
Implementation of a Hybrid Classification Method for Diabetes
Authors: Choubey Dilip Kumar , Paul Sanchita , Bala Kanchan , Kumar Manish , Singh Uday Pratap
Published: August 2018

This chapter presents a best classification of diabetes. The proposed approach work consists in two stages. In the first stage the Pima Indian diabetes dataset is obtained from the UCI repository of machine learning databases. In the second stage, the authors have performed the classification technique by using fuzzy decision tree on Pima Indian diabetes dataset. Then they applied PSO_SVM as a feature selection technique followed by the classification technique by using fuzzy decision tree on Pima Indian diabetes dataset. In this chapter, the optimization of SVM using PSO reduces the number of attributes, and hence, applying fuzzy decision tree improves the accuracy of detecting diabetes. The hybrid combinatorial method of feature selection and classification needs to be done so that the system applied is used for the classification of diabetes.
Melanoma Identification Using MLP With Parameter Selected by Metaheuristic Algorithms
Authors: Mukherjee Soumen , Adhikari Arunabha , Roy Madhusudan
Published: August 2018

Nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms find near optimum solutions in a fast and efficient manner when used in a complex problem like finding optimum number of neurons in hidden layers of a multi-layer perceptron (MLP). In this chapter, a classification work is discussed of malignant melanoma, which is a type of lethal skin cancer. The classification accuracy is more than 91% with visually imperceptible features using MLP. The results found are comparably better than the related work found in the literature. Finally, the performance of two metaheuristic algorithms (i.e., particle swarm optimization [PSO] and simulated annealing [SA]) are compared and analyzed with different parameters to show their searching nature in the two-dimensional search space of hidden layer neurons.
A Tale of Two Systems
Authors: Wang Wendy , Wu Yun
Published: August 2018

With China becoming an economic powerhouse, there has been increasing need for more studies on issues related to information systems localization in China and ways to solve them. Most information systems adoption literatures have been conducted in the context of Western society, especially in America, and due to differences in the cultural, social, and legal environment, these theories and findings out of these studies need to be tested in the context of Chinese culture. This chapter adopts the technology, organization, and environment framework to explain why a Chinese apparel manufacturing company failed in its first enterprise resource planning (ERP) project, and how it achieved success in the second project with government's assistance and what they have learned from their first experience with ERP. This study provides insight on the characteristics of Chinese companies and the unique challenges they have encountered in the informatization process.
The Role of Innovative and Digital Technologies in Transforming Egypt Into a Knowledge-Based Economy
Authors: Kamel Sherif H. , Rizk Nagla
Published: August 2018

Digital technology, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and innovative technology applications are gradually transforming businesses and governments in emerging markets making them more competitive and offering opportunities for economic growth and prosperity. This chapter demonstrates Egypt's potential to enable a knowledge society through the deployment of emerging technology tools and applications across different sectors of the society. The chapter analyzes the critical success factors that are necessary for the realization of a digitally driven society where information is seamlessly exchanged for the optimal utilization of resources for decision-making purposes at the government, public, and private sector levels. The chapter highlights the need for the formulation of a nation-wide entrepreneurial ecosystem that promotes a tech-startup culture that can effectively contribute to transforming the society by enabling inclusion, universal access to the internet, more diversified educational opportunities and a comprehensive and conducive environment to development.
Utilizing the Technology-Organization-Environment Framework to Examine the Adoption Decision in a Healthcare Context
Authors: Wolverton Colleen Carraher , Lanier Patricia A.
Published: August 2018

For several decades the information systems field has studied the individual-level information technology (IT) adoption decision. With the mounting pressure to invest in updated technologies and governmental pressure to implement electronic medical records (EMR), the healthcare industry has searched for factors which influence the adoption decision. However, the adoption rate of ERM has been low due to resistance. In this study, the authors examine why traditional models of adoption which focus on the perceptions of the individual towards the innovation (or a micro-level of analysis) have been inadequate to explain ERM adoption issues. Thus, they examine the broader context within which the adoption/non-adoption decision takes place (or a macro-level of analysis), which incorporates the environmental pressures playing a role in the adoption decision. In this study, the authors adopt the technology-organization-environment framework to examine the context of a physician's decision about whether or not to adopt electronic medical record (or EMR) technology.
User-Driven Innovation in E-Health Change Processes
Authors: Andersen Synnøve Thomassen
Published: August 2018

This chapter describes a user-driven innovation project in psychiatric services for children and adolescents in rural areas in Norway. The researcher applies a multilayer and dialectic perspective in the analysis of the user-driven innovation process that designed new ICT solution in compliance with a new decentralized treatment model with required treatment model. The researchers' findings suggest that contradiction appeared at material, cognitive, and organizational layers are crucial for path creation in such e-health projects. The contradiction in one layer leads to new contradictions in others, which together facilitate changes. Human actors, especially user groups in innovation processes, play an active role in leading the break from the existing path. Thus, this chapter contributes to the understanding of how user-driven innovation might help in deconstructing existing power structures across different layers in the change processes.
Segmenting Low-Carbon Tourists by Low-Carbon Travel Scale
Authors: Dai You-Yu
Published: August 2018

This chapter expands research on low-carbon tourism by using the low-carbon travel scale (LCTS) to profile low-carbon tourists. The results demonstrate the LCTS's ability to effectively identify different levels of low-carbon tourists. A priori segmentation was conducted using the respondents' overall LCTS score as the segmenting criterion. The resulting four segments were labeled “not a low-carbon tourist,” “minimal low-carbon tourists,” “moderate low-carbon tourists,” and “strong low-carbon tourists.” This study (1) confirms the usefulness of the LCTS for identifying and segmenting travelers and (2) provides the sustainable tourism field with a more holistic tool for measuring sustainable travelers. Destination managers interested in marketing to low-carbon tourists can use this tool to identify how many low-carbon tourists come to their area, level of low-carbon tourists' tendencies, and what the destination can focus on to attract more of this travel segment.
Literature Review of Augmented Reality Application in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry With Relation to Building Information
Authors: Tabrizi Aydin , Sanguinetti Paola
Published: August 2018

The rapid development and adoption of AR applications creates numerous opportunities for integrating AR with BIM and improving conventional methods used in the fields of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). In this chapter, the current trends in the development of AR applications and the application of AR technologies in the fields of AEC are proposed. Also, the relation between AR application and BIM in the AEC industry with the benefits of this integration and possible issues is discussed. The related examples of BIM+AR are described during the literature review. The authors believe the papers presented in this document cover the latest research trends and developments in the use of AR and its combination with BIM for AEC applications. In the future, it is expected that AR applications will be further utilized in the AEC field to enhance productivity, safety, and efficiency.
Mechanisms of Electrical Conductivity in Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene
Authors: Vargas-Bernal Rafael
Published: August 2018

There is enormous interest in carbon nanomaterials due to their exceptional physical properties, from the perspective of science and engineering of materials applied to the electronics industry. Significant progress has been made towards understanding the mechanisms of electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes and graphene. However, scientists around the world continue studying these mechanisms to exploit them fully in different electronic applications with a high technological impact. This chapter discusses the mechanisms of electrical conductivity of both nanomaterials, analyzes the present implications, and projects its importance for future generations of electronic devices. In particular, it is important to note that different mechanisms may be identified when these nanomaterials are used individually, when they are incorporated as fillers in composite materials or hybrid materials, or even when they are doped or functionalized. Finally, other electrical variables with important role in electrical conductivity of these materials are also explored.
Green IT and the Struggle for a Widespread Adoption
Authors: Chen Edward T.
Published: August 2018

Increasing pollution levels, consumption of electricity as well as other natural resources, and the continuous buildup of outdated computer systems in landfills are plaguing the computer systems industry. Green information technology (IT) is a sensible solution providing multiple resources and alternatives for day-to-day computer use that could reduce the negative impact on our environment without reducing the effectiveness and capabilities of the technology. This chapter describes the struggle of adoption and provides basic concepts and sustainable solutions of green IT for businesses and individuals.
Use of GIS and Remote Sensing for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping
Authors: Erener Arzu , Sarp Gulcan , Duzgun Sebnem H.
Published: August 2018

In recent years, geographical information systems (GISs) and remote sensing (RS) have proven to be common tools adopted for different studies in different scientific disciplines. GIS is defined as a set of tools for the input, storage, retrieval, manipulation, management, modeling, analysis, and output of spatial data. RS, on the other hand, can play a role in the production of a data and in the generation of thematic maps related to spatial studies. This study focuses on use of GIS and RS data for landslide susceptibility mapping. Five factors including normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and topographic wetness index (TWI), slope, lineament density, and distance to roads were used for the grid-based approach for landslide susceptibility mappings. Results of this study suggest that geographic information systems can effectively be used to obtain susceptibility maps by compiling and overlaying several data layers relevant to landslide hazards.
The Trends and Challenges of 3D Printing
Authors: Fang Edna Ho Chu , Kumar Sameer
Published: August 2018

3D printing is a type of additive manufacturing technology where a 3D object is created by laying down subsequent layers of material at the mm scale. It is also known as rapid prototyping. 3D printing is now applied in various industries such as footwear, jewelry, architecture, engineering and construction, aerospace, dental and medical industries, education, consumer products, automotive, and industrial design. Some claim that 3D printing will put an end to traditional manufacturing, primarily since 3D printing imposes a tool-less process. Though 3D printing technology is used in weapon manufacturing, it is also being used to improve the lives of mankind. In the future, 3D printing will most probably be used to print human organs. The chapter discusses the trends and challenges faced by this exciting technology.
Making Space for the Psychology of Creativity in Dance Science
Authors: Clements Lucie , Weber Rebecca
Published: August 2018

Creativity is commonly recognized as a complex phenomenon; one which entails a range of debates around definition, process and product, domain specificity, cross-discipline generalisability, and appropriate testing measures. The psychology of creativity appears to find a fitting home in dance science, a field concerned with understanding and enhancing dancers' health and performance. Yet dance psychology has been predominated by research which focuses on the mental processes underpinning optimal skill execution and technical performance. This paper outlines an argument for a greater focus on the creative demands of dance within dance science, highlighting some the challenges of, and barriers to, research in the psychology of creativity in dance, before making a number of recommendations to encourage the growth of this important research area.
An Intelligent Wireless QoS Technology for Big Data Video Delivery in WLAN
Authors: Jat Dharm Singh , Bishnoi Lal Chand , Nambahu Shoopala
Published: August 2018

With the development of internet technologies and applications, video becomes the main source of online generated data. Real-time generated big data video on the internet have many challenges, which include broadcast, evaluation, storage, analysis, and transmission. For multimedia applications, processing and communication are important areas to realizing ambient intelligence and Quality of Service (QoS) is a major challenge for designing and implementation of processing and communication of multimedia traffic. In this study, simulation results have verified the possibility and effectiveness of the developed intelligent wireless QoS technology in terms of big data video communication over a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) and Video Quality Metric (VQM) video quality matrixes are used for measurement of received video at receiver. The results show that dynamics frame aggregation mechanism improve the big data video delivery for SSIM and VQM in comparison to frame aggregation mechanism defined by the draft of IEEE802.11n WLAN.
Beacon-Based Cluster Framework for Internet of People, Things, and Services (IoPTS)
Authors: Shinde Gitanjali Rahul , Olesen Henning
Published: August 2018

Internet of Things (IoT) applications can offer a great potential of benefits to end users. We are moving towards an Internet of People, Things and Services (IoPTS) and a future world of ambient intelligence, where users can seamlessly interact with IoT devices and get information about the services they offer. Interaction can take place directly or through dedicated mobile apps that are built to acquire data from sensors or clusters of IoT devices. The article presents a user-centric cluster framework, taking into account the resource-constrained nature of the IoT devices. As part of the framework, the authors propose a Mobility Aware Clustering Scheme (MACS), which organizes the IoT devices in clusters using a fitness function for each node, and a Profile Aware Proactive Cluster Discovery (PAPCD) mechanism using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons for service advertisement. The authors also propose an IoT service filtering and ranking algorithm to match the users' preferences and requirements
A Classification Learning Research based on Discriminative Knowledge-Leverage Transfer
Authors: Xiong Ding , Yan Lu
Published: August 2018

Current transfer learning models study the source data for future target inferences within a major view, the whole source data should be used to explore the shared knowledge structure. However, human resources are constrained, the source domain data is collected as a whole in the real scene. However, this is not realistic, this data is associated with the target domain. A generalized empirical risk minimization model (GERM) is proposed in this article with discriminative knowledge-leverage (KL). The empirical risk minimization (ERM) principle is extended to the transfer learning setting. The theoretical upper bound of generalized ERM (GERM) is given for the practical discriminative transfer learning. The subset of the source domain data can be automatically selected in the model, and the source domain data is associated with the target domain. It can solve with only some knowledge of the source domain being available, thus it can avoid the negative transfer effect which is caused by the whole source domain dataset in the real scene. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is better than the traditional transfer learning algorithm in simulation data sets and real data sets.
Covalent Radii and New Applications
Authors: Zhang Yonghe
Published: August 2018

Ionocovalency theory is defined “…everything exists in ionocovalency, the harmony of ionic energy with the covalent environment.” The authors have succeeded in thoroughly studying ionic energy part of the ionocovalent theory, and will now focus target on the covalent environment part of the theory. The essence of chemical reactions and chemical bonds is the overlap of atomic orbitals, the electron density or the ionocovalent potential. The covalent radius rc is the unique parameter that can be considered as an atomic property derived from molecules for data reduction and can be assigned to the atoms interacting in molecules. In the present study, A new application view of covalent radii of multidimensional world is revealed by the ionocovalency theory which can quantitatively describe the chemical phenomena and qualitatively correlates to the universal observations.
e-Voting
Authors: Ali Hayat , Al Mubarak Hanan
Published: August 2018

One of the major fields that have applied ICT in the 21st century government is e-voting. Around the world, e-voting is taking place and is seen as highly important in many countries. However, in many countries, including the Kingdom of Bahrain, public trust toward voting using ICT tools is still a big challenge. This research aims to investigate the factors that affect public trust toward using e-voting system in Bahrain. A model of trust and risk was used from previous studies and several hypotheses were tested. A questionnaire was employed and 453 responses from citizens were collected in Bahrain. The findings revealed that there are significant factors that the governments should focus on to enhance public trust in the context of e-voting, which are: trust in e-voting; trust of government; perceived risk; disposition to trust and intention to use. The research strength of this study resides in its insights on the factors to be considered by the government to overcome the mistrust of using e-voting in Bahrain. The originality of this research resides on the application of a trust model that was applied in other countries in a new context.
Critical Success Factors of Open Government and Open Data at Local Government Level in Indonesia
Authors: Sayogo Djoko Sigit , Yuli Sri Budi Cantika
Published: August 2018

This article explores the complexity of open government and open data implementation from the perspective of local government in developing countries by addressing the challenges, success factors, lesson learned and the indicators of success. Using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with public managers and other actors at the Bojonegoro regency, this study found five major challenges to open government and data, namely: a) the misappropriation and misused of the data, b) limitedness of technological capabilities, c) ensuring data credibility, d) the availability of information policy to govern openness, and e) maintaining public involvement and enthusiasm. The authors also identified four critical success factors driving the success of open government and data: a) collaboration between government, academics, private entities and general public, b) the openness of government office to accept criticism and suggestion, c) the accommodating leaders, and d) the commitment of government agencies to engage in open government and open data.
Modeling the Ranking of Evaluation Criteria for Cloud Services
Authors: Kushagra Kshitij , Dhingra Sanjay
Published: August 2018

The cloud market has become increasingly dense as vendors of all size compete for customers who have gravitated to technology as a way to run their operations. Today traditional players, as well as new vendors, are showing greater agility in the cloud business of India. At present, there are limited industry standards for the cloud-related businesses to assess their services. End-user government departments are puzzled as to which CSP is best suited for their requirements. An evaluation of cloud service providers should not only be driven by cost, but importance should also be given towards service provider ability and commitment to deliver the services. The absence of a common framework to assess the evaluation criteria of CSPs, combined with the fact that no two CSPs are the same, complicates the matter of CSP selection. This article proposes a framework for ranking of evaluation criteria for CSPs. The framework leverages the capability analysis of CSPs, measurable metrics and ranks the evaluation criteria for assessing the best CSP suitable for end-user government organizations.
Analysis of Bundling Homogeneous Content Product in Different Formats
Authors: Chen Li
Published: August 2018

Content digitalization brings products with homogeneous content but in different formats (digital format and physical format) together. Recently retailers in the online book industry started bundling programs such as Amazon Matchbook, giving print book buyers a free or deeply discounted e-book version. While this bundling strategy is attractive to consumers, it potentially allows consumers to resell the print book in the bundle, which might cannibalize retailers' sales. Consequently, it will influence all participants in the industry including the publisher, the retailers, and the consumers. Using a two-period model, the authors investigate the impacts of this strategy under both monopoly and competition. The authors compute the equilibrium outcome for both scenarios. The findings show that (1) under monopoly, both the publisher and the retailer sell at a higher rate; consumers also see higher total surplus; (2) under competition, the retailer who provides bundling will gain a competitive advantage. This study indicates that the bundling model yields a win-win strategy.
Knowledge Acquisition, Knowledge Application, and Innovation Towards the Ability to Adapt to Change
Authors: Turulja Lejla , Bajgorić Nijaz
Published: August 2018

The objective of article is to provide important empirical evidence to support the role of individual knowledge management processes and separate innovation types within firms. Specifically, knowledge acquisition and knowledge application are analyzed and empirically tested in relation to product and process innovation as well as business performance. The results support the direct impact of product and process innovation on business performance. In addition, the results show the indirect effect of knowledge acquisition and knowledge application on firm business performance through product and process innovation. Although KM represents a complex concept of knowledge management in a firm and can contain more processes, this article confirms that KM processes individually contribute to the innovation and indirectly on business performance. Besides, it confirms mediating effect of innovation between both knowledge acquisition and knowledge application and organizational business performance. In addition, most of the similar studies have been focused on the developed Western countries.
Technology Transfer Projects in the UK
Authors: Wynn Martin George
Published: August 2018

This article examines how technology transfer has operated in university-company projects undertaken in small to medium sized enterprises via the UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme. It adopts a qualitative case study approach, focusing on three companies drawn from an initial review of fourteen technology transfer projects. This provides the foundation for the development of a model of 12 key factors that underpinned successful outcomes in these projects. The fourteen projects are reviewed in terms of their impact on either process change, service improvement or product development, drawing upon the post-project assessments of the funding body and the developed model. Findings suggest that using new technology to innovate internal processes and services is likely to prove more successful than projects focusing on new product development. The model provides an analytical framework that will be of interest and value to academics and business practitioners looking to develop university-industry partnerships involving technology change and innovation.
Knowledge Sharing in a Critical Moment of Work
Authors: Wulandari Fitri , Ferdinand Augusty Tae , Dwiatmadja Christantius
Published: August 2018

This article aims at proofing empirically the influence of social interaction in knowledge sharing by focusing on key persons and the way the knowledge-sharing is spread in order to produce some outcome for the organization through individuals within it. The object of this study is employees of Post Offices in Central Java who frequently share information with their co-workers in accomplishing their jobs. The data is acquired from questionnaires distributed to managers and supervisor level of Post office. Based on purposive sampling method, 210 samples are obtained. The results indicate that the five hypotheseses built in this research are supported and only one hypothesis is not supported. The result shows that employees with specific, complicated, and challenging objective will be more willing to share their knowledge to other employees, particularly when facing new job and target. Furthermore, the result of the study explains that sharing idea of improvement will encourage more dynamic teamwork and help each other in solving any problems.
A Corpus-Based Study of Peer Comments and Self-Reflections
Authors: Wong Dora
Published: August 2018

Engaging students in peer reviewing in the writing classroom has been widely practiced as a way of assessment for learning. In-depth research is needed however to investigate how students specifically use peer comments in their editing process. Using a corpus-based approach, this article investigates the acquisition of journalistic writing skills by 112 undergraduates in Hong Kong. The learner corpora comprise student comments and self-reflections from an online news writing project. While grammatical accuracy remains to be a concern for effectiveness of the peer review practice, the findings reflect sound understanding of structure, layout and style of the online news genre among the participants. Although the students commented more on contents and organization of news writing, findings from keyword search and co-text in the concordances demonstrate awareness of main features of the online news genre. The findings further clarified judgement and choices made by the ESL learners during the drafting and editing processes. The study suggests how peer assessment and self-assessment can be effectively practiced through a cycle of reviewing peer writing, receiving peer comments and self-reflecting on their own drafts. It also indicates how peer review may help acquisition of style and lexico-grammar which can be demanding for many ESL learners.
Startup Success Trends in Small Business Beyond Five-Years
Authors: Perry Alvin , Rahim Emad , Davis Bill
Published: August 2018

While entrepreneurs help to drive venture growth through business development in their respective cities, approximately 50% of new business ventures fail within the first 5 years of operation. Boss concluded that over 60% of entrepreneurs and small business owners fail within the first 6 years of doing business. This article examines some of the main factors that support early growth stage entrepreneurial sustainability for small business startups. In this article, entrepreneurship success factors, failure rates and sustainability are examined through qualitative research, expanding on factors identified in previous studies and applying them to different geographical areas. The results of this study can help reduce the number of small business failures by providing actionable knowledge to entrepreneurs in the start-up and early growth stages of business development.