bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Networks on the Internet
Authors: Pereira Débora
Published: May 2011

Social Network Analysis – SNA is a hybrid research method used here to systematize a network of relationships around the collective transnational flux of information via the micro-blog service Twitter. The case studied is the exile of Peruvian indigenous leader Alberto Pizango to Nicaragua, and the conflicts between Indians and the military in May and June 2009 in Bagua, in the Amazon. To historically and politically contextualize the object of this case study in the so-called “Network society”, concepts about globalization, ubiquity, and spatial and informational connectivity are employed. The method of Social Network Analysis is described in detail, with attention to the possibilities of visualization and of patterns of connections and identification of ideological values of actors in the network.
A Two-Layer Learning Architecture for Multi-Class Protein Folds Classification
Authors: Wang Ruofei , Gao Xieping
Published: May 2011

Classification of protein folds plays a very important role in the protein structure discovery process, especially when traditional sequence alignment methods fail to yield convincing structural homologies. In this chapter, we have developed a two-layer learning architecture, named TLLA, for multi-class protein folds classification. In the first layer, OET-KNN (Optimized Evidence-Theoretic K Nearest Neighbors) is used as the component classifier to find the most probable K-folds of the query protein. In the second layer, we use support vector machine (SVM) to build the multi-class classifier just on the K-folds, generated in the first layer, rather than on all the 27 folds. For multi-feature combination, ensemble strategy based on voting is selected to give the final classification result. The standard percentage accuracy of our method at ~63% is achieved on the independent testing dataset, where most of the proteins have <25% sequence identity with those in the training dataset. The experimental evaluation based on a widely used benchmark dataset has shown that our approach outperforms the competing methods, implying our approach might become a useful vehicle in the literature.
Theoretical Study on the Antioxidant Activity of Alizarin, Purpurin, and Pseudopurpurin
Authors: Jin Ruifa , Bao Hongzheng , Bai Yin , Li Xiuhua
Published: May 2011

Hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives are a large group of natural polyphenolic compounds found widely in plants. The cytotoxic activities of hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives have been demonstrated using cancer cell lines. The pharmacological effect can be explained by their antioxidant activity and their inhibition of certain enzymes. There are two main kinds of mechanism, H-atom transfer and one-electron transfer, by which antioxidants can play their role. The structural and electronic properties of hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives, alizarin, purpurin, pseudopurpurin, and their radicals were investigated using density functional theory. It turned out that these three molecules appear to be good candidates for high antioxidant activity species, particularly for pseudopurpurin. Taking this system as an example, we present an efficient method for the investigation of antioxidant activity for such kind of hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives from theoretical point of view. With the current work, we hope to highlight the antioxidant activity of hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives and stimulate the interest for further studies and exploitation in pharmaceutical industry.
An Intelligent Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Course Involving NetLogo
Authors: Sakellariou Ilias , Kefalas Petros , Stamatopoulou Ioanna
Published: May 2011

In the context of an Agent and Multi-Agent Systems course, exposing students to problems and issues related to agent-based programming allows them to understand at a deeper level the otherwise theoretical aspects involved in the design of a multi-agent system (MAS). Indeed, educators have reported a variety of environments and techniques they use in order to increase active learning. The authors argue that NetLogo presents an excellent platform for the task, since it provides, among other interesting features, a small learning curve and an easy to setup visualization environment. This chapter records their experience in teaching a MAS course, using NetLogo as the vehicle for practical coursework. In addition, two extra NetLogo libraries that were provided to students are described, one for BDI-like agents (Belief-Desire-Intention, i.e. goal-oriented agents) and one for ACL-like (Agent Communication Language) communication, which were specifically developed for allowing students to implement more complex agent societies than the original NetLogo platform allowed.
Introducing AI and IA into a Non Computer Science Graduate Programme
Authors: Stamatopoulou Ioanna , Fasli Maria , Kefalas Petros
Published: May 2011

As part of designing a new Master’s programme entitled Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship there was an apparent need to include a unit involving the use of innovative technologies for the development of innovative products and services. The authors aim was therefore to introduce students to Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Agents using, however, different from “mainstream” practices since the programme is addressed to students from varying, not necessarily Computer Science related, backgrounds. In this work they report their approach and experience from the entire process -from designing the unit, taking into consideration some inherent restrictions such as coordination of teachers and short duration of the course, to delivering it to a diverse audience that requires different didactic methods to be employed. Their primary aim is to disseminate their ideas and report good practice to fellow educators that may face similar situations or wish to employ any of our techniques.
Introducing Multiagent Systems to Undergraduates through Games and Chocolate
Authors: Bowring Emma , Tambe Milind
Published: May 2011

The field of “intelligent agents and multi-agent systems” is maturing; no longer is it a special topic to be introduced to graduate students after years of training in computer science and many introductory courses in artificial intelligence. Instead, the time is ripe to introduce agents and multi-agents directly to undergraduate students, whether majoring in computer science or not. This chapter focuses on exactly this challenge, drawing on the co-authors’ experience of teaching several such undergraduate courses on agents and multi-agents, over the last three years at two different universities. The chapter outlines three key issues that must be addressed. The first issue is facilitating students’ intuitive understanding of fundamental concepts of multi-agent systems; the authors illustrate uses of science fiction materials and classroom games to not only provide students with the necessary intuitive understanding but with the excitement and motivation for studying multi-agent systems. The second is in selecting the right material — either science-fiction material or games — for providing students the necessary motivation and intuition; we outline several criteria that have been useful in selecting such material. The third issue is in educating students about the fundamental philosophical, ethical and social issues surrounding agents and multi-agent systems:they outline course materials and classroom activities that allow students to obtain this “big picture” futuristic vision of our science. The authors conclude with feedback received, lessons learned and impact on both the computer science students and non computer-science students.
Privacy and Identity in a Networked World
Authors: Tennis Bradley T.
Published: May 2011

Digital information technologies have opened up fantastic new opportunities for ordinary people to both stand atop a virtual soapbox and reach millions and to participate in new forums for social interaction. However, as users conduct more and more of their personal and professional lives online, the distinction between public and private that has underlain the development of privacy law to date has begun to blur. While some traditional regulatory tools have proven adaptable, the ever increasing ability to collect and analyze that electronic information suggests that the assumptions and policy considerations underlying privacy laws must be reexamined. Old dividing lines between public and private forums cannot be readily transported into the digital realm. Instead, privacy regulations in the information age should protect the ability for users of online services to control the dissemination of their personal information and compartmentalize different aspects of their online conduct.
The Right to Privacy and the Right to Identity in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing
Authors: Gomes de Andrade Norberto Nuno
Published: May 2011

Identity and privacy are often intertwined and, as a result, the significance of the distinction between the two concepts has been overlooked by law. This paper sheds some light upon the worrying indeterminacy between the concepts of privacy and identity in legal terminology, underlining the negative consequences that the lack of clarity and coherence in articulating the rights to privacy and identity will create in the forthcoming age of Ubiquitous Computing. In its proposal for a legal articulation between both rights, the article distinguishes between personal information that qualifies alethically (from a???e?a [aletheia], the Greek word for truth) from the one that does not. It is based upon whether personal information represents or conveys a true fact or a truthful aspect concerning a given individual (depending on whether it has an alethic value or not) that the distinction between and the application of the rights to privacy and to identity shall be determined. As a way to test the usefulness of the alethic criteria, the article looks into the main challenges posed by the vision of a Ubiquitous Computing world upon the rights to privacy and identity. In this context, the paper devotes particular attention to the implications of automated profiling technologies, arguing that the conceptual clarification of both the rights to privacy and identity will be crucial in order to protect and promote the autonomy and self-determination of the human person.
On Model-Driven Engineering of Reconfigurable Digital Control Hardware Systems
Authors: Balderas-Contreras Tomás , Rodriguez-Gomez Gustavo , Cumplido René
Published: May 2011

The continuous increase in the degree of design complexity during the development process of modern digital hardware systems, come into being due to the increasing demand of more and more functionality under strict design constraints, has led to designers trying to alleviate this complexity by increasing the level of abstraction when describing the functionality of a system. Recent proposals in the field of Electronic Design Automation intend to use common programming languages, like C, C++, and Java, or dialects derived from them, to describe the behavior of a digital hardware system and then generate a lower-level representation, closer to the hardware implementation platform, from such description. This phenomenon led us to firmly believe that the process of describing the functionality of a digital circuit resembles more and more the process of developing software; and, thus, it is possible to experiment with the application of the latest trends in software engineering, like the Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) paradigm, to design digital hardware systems. In this chapter we describe the basic principles of MDE, and provide some hints about the kind of languages and transformation tools needed to design algorithms in the domain of digital control that could be transformed into a digital circuit. We intend to open doors and encourage the research on the design of digital control systems at higher levels of abstraction and their implementations in different kinds of hardware platforms, including reconfigurable devices.
Reconfigurable Embedded Control Systems
Authors: Khalgui Mohamed , Mosbahi Olfa
Published: May 2011

The chapter deals with distributed multi-agent reconfigurable embedded control systems following the component-based International Industrial Standard IEC61499 in which a Function Block (abbreviated by FB) is an event-triggered software component owning data and a control application is a distributed network of Function Blocks that have classically to satisfy functional and to meet temporal properties described in user requirements. The authors define a new reconfiguration semantic where a crucial criterion to consider is the automatic improvement of the system’s performance at run-time, in addition to its protection when hardware faults occur. To handle all possible cases in industry, the authors classify thereafter the reconfiguration scenarios into three forms before the authors define an architecture of reconfigurable multi-agent systems where a Reconfiguration Agent is affected to each device of the execution environment to apply local reconfigurations, and a Coordination Agent is proposed for any coordination between devices in order to guarantee safe and adequate distributed reconfigurations. A Communication Protocol is proposed in our research work to handle coordinations between agents by using well-defined Coordination Matrices. The authors specify both the reconfiguration agents to be modelled by nested state machines, and the Coordination Agent according to the formalism Net Condition/Event Systems (Abbreviated by NCES) which is an extension of Petri nets. To verify the whole architecture, the author check by applying the model checker SESA in each device functional and temporal properties described in the temporal logic “Computation Tree Logic”, but the authors have also to check any coordination between devices by verifying that whenever a reconfiguration is applied in a device, the Coordination Agent and other concerned devices should react as described in user requirements. The chapter’s contributions are applied to two Benchmark Production Systems available in our research laboratory.
Collaborative Transportation Sharing
Authors: Gonzalez-Feliu Jesus , Morana Joëlle
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the role that information sharing has on the collective decisions made in supply chain management. The authors identify information sharing as the critical factor in reasoning that occurs as stakeholders along the supply chain collaboratively make decisions. However, a shared conceptual model is required for determining what information must be shared. Their model identifies five elementsin information system management related to shared logistics projects: the enterprise‘s solutions (for each stakeholder and for the entire reasoning community), their deals, sharing management, organizational features and information and communication technologies related to the management of shared information. Moreover, the main accelerating and limitating factors are overviewed.The chapter illustrates the applicability of the model with a case study on the distribution of newspapers in France.
Chewing the Communal Cud
Authors: Mummery Jane , Rodan Debbie
Published: May 2011

Contending that media users are more than consumers and that the mass media are able to achieve more in the public sphere than simply meet market demand, Mummery and Rodan argue in this chapter that some types of mass media may in fact fulfil public sphere responsibilities. The authors demonstrate how forums such as broadsheet letters to the editor and online political blogs—despite their commonly recognised limitations due to influence by private/commercial ownership, editorship, and the requirements of authorship—may exemplify, enable and support community deliberation over issues of public concern. More specifically, via engaging with Jürgen Habermas’ conceptions of the necessary conditions for rational and communal deliberation, and critically examining recent debates in these forums, the authors argue both that these mediated forums can enable and exemplify community deliberation and, more generally, that community deliberation itself does not need to be strictly consensus-oriented to be productive.
Decision Support in Interest Based Negotiation Support Systems
Authors: Bellucci Emilia , Zeleznikow John
Published: May 2011

Negotiation Support Systems (NSS) model the process of negotiation from basic template support to more sophisticated decision making support. The authors attempt to develop systems capable of decision support by suggesting possible solutions for the given dispute. Current Negotiation Support Systems primarily rely upon mathematical optimisation techniques and often ignore heuristics and other methods derived from practice. This chapter discusses the technology of several negotiation support systems in family law developed in their laboratory based on data collected and methods derived from practise. The chapter explores similarities and differences between systems the authors have created and demonstrates their latest development, AssetDivider.
Social Networks in Information Systems
Authors: de Freitas Hernâni Borges , Barão Alexandre , da Silva Alberto Rodrigues
Published: May 2011

A social network represents a set of social entities that interact through relationships like friendship, co-working, or information exchange. Social Network Analysis studies the patterns of relationships among social entities and can be used to understand and improve group processes. The arrival of new communication tools and networking platforms, especially the Web 2.0 Social Networking Services, opened new opportunities to explore the power of social networks inside and outside organizations. This chapter surveys the basic concepts of social networks methods, approaches, tools, and services. In particular, this chapter analyzes state-of-the-art social networks, explaining how useful Social Network Analysis can be in different contexts and how social networks can be represented, extracted, and analyzed in information systems.
The Evolution of Virtual Universities
Authors: Cottingham Marion
Published: May 2011

For centuries universities have worked as individual entities in isolation, and students have attended classes their respective campuses. In the 70s Open University started its operation as the first virtual university. It was not until the late 80s and 90s that some traditional universities started having affiliations with offshore facilities for students to study the first year of their degrees in their home countries before moving overseas to complete the rest of their degrees. This globalisation was the beginning of knowledge commercialisation as universities set up arrangements with rapidly emerging offshore institutions that were eager to jump onto this profitable bandwagon. Eventually competition drove some universities to extend the time spent in the students’ home countries to a second year, which sent students flocking to their door away from nonconforming universities. The lower overseas student numbers at these universities forced them to discontinue their affiliations, as they were no longer viable. Online distance education and later the Internet opened new challenges as students could enroll directly with the university of their choice and do their whole degree from home. This also gives the less wealthy students an opportunity to study at the world’s top universities most of which have no entry requirements. Lots of universities around the world have joined to form consortiums to handle this rapid change in global education commercialisation.
Interrelationships Between Professional Virtual Communities and Social Networks, and the Importance of Virtual Communities in Creating and Sharing Knowledge
Authors: Garrigos Fernando
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents the interrelationships between professional virtual communities and social networks, and analyzes how, and in what ways, these communities play a crucial role in the creation and sharing of knowledge. The chapter begins by outlining how virtual communities are gaining importance in the new environment. It explains what we understand as a professional virtual community and its importance and also the relevance of social networks in today’s Knowledge Management age. The study then analyses how the development of social networks is crucial to the improvement of professional virtual communities, and also how virtual organizations can promote the improvement of social networks. Finally, the study examines how virtual communities are vital as mechanisms for creating and sharing knowledge.
Motif Analysis and the Periodic Structural Changes in an Organizational Email-Based Social Network
Authors: Juszczyszyn Krzysztof , Musial Katarzyna
Published: May 2011

Network motifs are small subgraphs that reflect local network topology and were shown to be useful for creating profiles that reveal several properties of the network. In this work the motif analysis of the e-mail network of the Wroclaw University of Technology, consisting of over 4000 nodes was conducted. Temporal changes in the network structure during the period of 20 months were analysed and the correlations between global structural parameters of the network and motif distribution were found. These results are to be used in the development of methods dedicated for fast estimating of the properties of complex internet-based social networks.
Personal Blogging; Individual Differences and Motivations
Authors: Guadagno Rosanna E. , Eno Cassie A. , Okdie Bradley M.
Published: May 2011

The present chapter examines current research of blogging practices; it focuses on the personal blog, a blog created and maintained by an individual and not used for financial or occupational gain. The authors maintain that individual difference factors, such as personality and gender, may contribute to differences in likelihood to blog, motivation to blog, and blog content. The authors argue that the same factors that allow for differentiation of individuals in more classic self-expressive communication modalities (e.g., journaling) may also delineate individuals in new modes of online communication and self-expression. However, these factors may manifest themselves differently over more contemporary methods of self-expression and communication. The authors conclude that bloggers and blog readership appear to be steadily growing, making this area of online self-expression increasingly deserving of scientific inquiry.
Expanding Opportunities in a Shrinking World
Authors: Datta Avimanyu , Jessup Len
Published: May 2011

The authors present a parsimonious theoretical model that illustrates how Internet-based virtual environments (such as social networking Web sites) moderate the relationship between social networks and social entrepreneurship. Social networks promote social entrepreneurship by means of (a) technology and knowledge transfer; (b) locating information; (c) generating entrepreneurial opportunities; (d) building entrepreneurial competency; (e) financing innovation; and (f) building effective networks for commercialization of innovations. Internet based virtual environments increase the velocity with which online social networks are formed and operationalized. They, thus, have a moderating effect in the relationship between social networks and social entrepreneurship. The authors also represent three concepts that are core to social networks: density, centrality, and heterogeneity. They posit that all three explain variance in social entrepreneurship and that Internet-based virtual environments moderate each of the relationships these three elements of social networks have with social entrepreneurship.
The Paradox of Computer-Mediated Communication and Identity
Authors: Leonard Lynnette G. , Withers Lesley A. , Sherblom John C.
Published: May 2011

Past research on the effects of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on identity has focused either on the inherent risks or opportunities it provides. The authors argue that the paradox within the nature of CMC has led to paradoxical predictions about the effects of CMC on identity. Rather than adopting a naïve perspective focusing on only one side of the paradox, the authors take a view of technological realism in which the paradox is embraced. Guided by these views, the authors analyze 59 students’ papers reflecting on their identity choices in the creation and development of a Second Life avatar. Second Life is a three-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) in which users create avatars (called “residents”) to explore, interact with other residents, learn, recreate, and shop with the local currency (i.e., Linden Dollars; http://secondlife.com/whatis/). Using the constant comparative method for thematic content, themes supporting a paradox of CMC effects on identity are identified from the student papers. The implications of a view of technological realism are offered.
Relationships and Etiquette with Technical Systems
Authors: Miller Christopher A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter focuses not on technology mediation of human relationships, but rather on human-like relationships with technology itself. The author argues, with supporting reasoning and data from his work and that of others, that humans have a natural tendency to generalize social interaction behaviors and interpretations (that is, domain-specific “etiquette”) learned for human-human interactions to interactions with any complex, semi-autonomous and partially unpredictable agent—including many machines and automation. This tendency can affect human trust, perceived workload, degree of confidence and authority, and so forth—all of which can in turn affect performance, safety, and satisfaction with a machine system. The author urges taking an “etiquette perspective” in design as a means of anticipating this phenomenon and either encouraging or discouraging it as appropriate.
Is E-Learning Used for Enhancing Administration or Learning? On the Implications of Organisational Culture
Authors: Hrastinski Stefan , Keller Christina , Lindh Jörgen
Published: May 2011

The transition from learning on campus to e-learning presents many challenges. One of the key challenges is the organisational culture, which may enhance or hinder e-learning implementation. In this chapter, we describe how the organisational culture shapes e-learning use at universities. We compare a School of Business and a School of Health Sciences. It is argued that strategies for e-learning have played akey role in shaping the organisational culture, which in turn shapes how e-learning is being used. The School of Business regarded efficient administration as the key driver while the School of Health Sciences regarded collaborative learning as the key driver for e-learning. We introduce the concepts of administration-centered and learning-centered e-learning culture to pinpoint the difference identified. A challenge is to develop an e-learning culture that values both how e-learning can be used to enhance administration and learning.
Learning Reflection and Creativity in Online Game Communities
Authors: Medeni Tunç D. , Elwell Mark , Cook Steven A. , de Souza Euler G.M.
Published: May 2011

It is increasingly being recognized that participation in role-playing gaming communities contributes to the learning of their members. Within the field of educational research, there is a wide spreading interest in online communities and virtual worlds: Online technologies provide new opportunities for “anytime/anywhere” social interaction and the number of innovative curricular designs that incorporate online collaborative environments has been steadily increasing since such technology first emerged. As Lave and Wenger (1991) argue, understanding the learning in naturally occurring contexts, and not just formal ones, is crucial if we are to forward learning and educational theory and practice beyond the contexts we ourselves contrive. “We ought to investigate more naturally occurring, self-sustaining indigenous virtual cultures so that our theory might be a more accurate reflection of them and our practice a better reflection on them in days to come.” (Galarneau, 2004; Steinkuehler, 2005 p. 80-81)
A Critical Cultural Reading of "YouTube"
Authors: Pauwels Luc , Hellriegel Patricia
Published: May 2011

This chapter looks into YouTube as one of the most popular Social Software platforms, challenging the dominant discourse with its focus on community formation and user empowerment. On the basis of an analysis of the steering mechanisms embodied in the infrastructure as well as empirical observations of YouTube’s content fluctuations during a period of time, insight is provided into the embedded cultural values and practices and into the nature of the ongoing negotiation of power and control between the YouTube controllers (owners, designers, editors) and the “prosumers”. This exploratory study is theoretically inspired by Michel de Certeau’s ideas of utilization as a productive activity involving strategic and tactical behaviour. Methodologically the model for ‘hybrid media analysis’ (Pauwels 2005) is taken as a point of departure for analysing various aspects of the Website’s platform (including structure, design, hyperlinks, imagery, topics and issues). This model is geared towards decoding the multimodal structure of Websites and their social and cultural significance.
Unravelling the Web
Authors: Widyanto Laura , Griffiths Mark
Published: May 2011

It has been alleged by some academics that excessive Internet use can be pathological and addictive. This chapter reviews what is known from the empirical literature on “Internet addiction” and its derivatives (e.g., Internet Addiction Disorder, Pathological Internet Use etc.) and assesses to what extent it exists. The chapter briefly overviews (i) the history and concept of Internet addiction, (ii) research on (adolescent and adult) Internet addiction, (iii) the attraction of the online world to adolescents, (iv) Internet users in their own words, an (v) an examination of online versus offline identity. The chapter has demonstrated that research into adolescent Internet addiction is a relatively little studied phenomenon although most effects found among adult users are thought to occur among adolescents too. In conclusion it would appear that if Internet addiction does indeed exist, it affects only a relatively small percentage of the online population and there is very little evidence that it is problematic among adolescents.
The Impact of Communications Technology on Trust
Authors: Hodgson Paul
Published: May 2011

This chapter analyses the formation and generation of social trust through communications technology in postmodern society, and presents some possible solutions to social disintegration. One view of social capital sees it as the strength of a network of relationships within a community. Evolutionary theory holds that any group whose members were prepared to help one another and were truthful and trusting with each other, would be victorious over other groups. Modern communications technology in postmodern society can be seen thus far to have led to a greater individualization and atomization of experience which presents a problem for the reinforcement of social trust. Virtual communication has been built upon social capital generated in the physical world but is in danger of depleting the very basis upon which it is constructed. The author’s belief is that technology that better enables and enhances mechanisms of social coordination and trust are needed. Some observations on the nature of such technology are provided.
Web Mining and Social Network Analysis
Authors: Marmo Roberto
Published: May 2011

Research on social networks has advanced significantly due to wide variety of on-line social websites and very popular Web 2.0 application. Social network analysis views social relationships in terms of network and graph theory about nodes (individual actors within the network) and ties (relationships between the actors). Using web mining techniques and social networks analysis it is possible to process and analyze large amount of social data (such as blogtagging, online game playing, instant messenger etc.) and by this to discover valuable information from data. In this way, we can understand the social structure, social relationships and social behaviors. This new approach is also denoted as social network mining. These algorithms differ from established set of data mining algorithms developed to analyze individual records, because social network datasets are called relational due to centrality of relations among entities. This chapter also sets out a process to apply web mining.
Data Mining in Decision Support for Bioenergy Production
Authors: Ayoub Nasser , Naka Yuji
Published: May 2011

Deliberate exploitation of natural resources and excessive use of environmentally abhorrent materials have resulted in environmental disruptions threatening the life support systems. A human centric approach of development has already damaged nature to a large extent. This has attracted the attention of environmental specialists and policy makers. It has also led to discussions at various national and international conventions. The objective of protecting natural resources cannot be achieved without the involvement of professionals from multidisciplinary areas. This chapter recommends a model for the creation of knowledge-based systems for natural resources management. Further, it describes making use of unique capabilities of remote sensing satellites for conserving natural resources and managing natural disasters. It is exclusively for the people who are not familiar with the technology and who are given the task of framing policies.
A Conversation Between Colleagues
Authors: Fortuna Colette , Henderson Sheila , McLuckie Joseph , Rodrigues Susan , Syme-Smith Lorraine , Taylor Neil , Williamson Graham
Published: May 2011

At the University of Dundee, in the School of Education, Social Work and Community Education, there is a Science, Mathematics and ICT Education research group. The transcript that follows represents a conversation on the topic of literacy implications of technology driven practice. The authors hope the transcript will help situate their rationale for the inclusion of multiple literacy, rather than digital literacy, in the title of this book. In essence they suggest that multiple literacy in science education is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, apply, communicate, compute and use technology based resources associated within various science education contexts to achieve goals, develop knowledge, skills and understandings relevant to science information and ideas.
Empowering Students to be Scientifically Literate through Digital Literacy
Authors: Ng Wan
Published: May 2011

The objective of this chapter is to discuss the relationships between the three literacies that are mentioned above: digital literacy, science literacy and multiple literacies. The chapter will define digital literacy and scientific literacy and argue that being digitally literate would enhance the development of scientific literacy. It will look at the similarities in skills required for the two literacies (i.e., skills derived from learning science and learning to use digital technology). These are skills at both the operational and conceptual levels. The chapter will draw on these similarities to discuss how being digitally literate could better support the independent and personalized learning of science in the development of individuals who are scientifically literate. The use of multiple literacies pedagogy, the multimodal means of learning and communicating, as bridging the two literacies will be made. Specific examples will be used to illustrate the objective of this chapter. The chapter will conclude with a conceptual framework for the development of digital literacy in empowering students to become scientifically literate.
Multiple Literacies and Environmental Science Education
Authors: Hickey Ruth , Whitehouse Hilary
Published: May 2011

A project by James Cook University’s School of Education created an online learning environment targeted at rural and regional schools in Far North Queensland. Pre-service teachers worked with practising teachers and children to develop learning activities which were shared through the BirdNet website. The site hosts a wide range of learning activities for bird identification, building school gardens, as well as professional learning tools such as lesson plans and integrated units of work. Project successes indicate that innovation, creativity and place-based learning can support high levels of both ICT and scientific literacy in all participants. The challenges faced included those resulting from technical issues, effects of distance, child-safety provisions for an on-line environment, and entry level of skills for participants. The value of informal learning by pre-service teachers, freed from the formal learning assessment regime, is endorsed as a valid sustainable, strategy which can be adopted by teacher educators.
Working toward Self-Evaluation
Authors: Cranton Patricia
Published: May 2011

I have not met many educators who say that they enjoy the assessment and grading of learners’ work, or find it rewarding. In my research on authentic teaching, when I asked participants what they did not like about teaching, the most common response was that they did not like grading. It was not that they minded giving feedback or comments; most people found giving feedback to be a natural and satisfying part of their practice, but they did not like “giving grades.” They worried about fairness, subjectivity, and the power inherent in being the one who judges the work of another person. They worried about “giving grades” acting as an obstacle to a genuine relationship with their learners, and they worried about students being focused on “getting grades” rather than learning.
New Perspectives of Andragogy in Relation to the Use of Technology
Authors: Farmer Lesley
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines technological factors that influence the conditions and processes of adult learning, and how adult educators can deal with those changes effectively. Technology can reinforce and enhance adult learning, providing a learning environment with tools and resources that the learner can explore and control, thus fostering more independent, adult-centered learning. Adult learning changes because of the need to learn how to use technology tools, the opportunity for expanded access to resources, the variations in designing and experiencing learning experiences, and the expanded opportunities to engage with these resources and with other learners. Several issues contextualize the realities and challenges of adult learning as impacted by technology: workplace learning and learning organizations, informal learning, distance education, globalization, the Digital Divide, and older adult learners. Emerging trends are also mentioned.
Caste, Class, and IT in India
Authors: Langran Elizabeth
Published: May 2011

While India has transformed itself into a global leader in IT, its major cities have become enclaves for growth that only benefits a middle- and upper-class minority. Despite the increases in employment, this prosperity has not “trickled down” to the millions of impoverished in a highly fragmented, stratified society. The caste system and the history of India’s middle class have engendered political decisions that have not benefited the poor’s use of technology. It is important to examine Indian culture in order to more fully understand reasons behind the duality of a modern, consumerist IT India and a terribly impoverished India. While there are some initiatives underway to address the digital divide, it is challenging to create replicable models in a complex and diverse country that changes rapidly from one location to another. Providing access to technology is not eliminating the existing social, cultural, political and economic factors that have created the inequities.
Security Patterns
Authors: Nhlabatsi Armstrong , Bandara Arosha , Hayashi Shinpei , Haley Charles , Jurjens Jan , Kaiya Haruhiko , Kubo Atsuto , Laney Robin , Mouratidis Haralambos , Nuseibeh Bashar , Tun Thein , Washizaki Hironori , Yoshioka Nobukazu , Yu Yijun
Published: May 2011

Addressing the challenges of developing secure software systems remains an active research area in software engineering. Current research efforts have resulted in the documentation of recurring security problems as security patterns. Security patterns provide encapsulated solutions to specific security problems and can be used to build secure systems by designers with little knowledge of security. Despite this benefit, there is lack of work that focus on evaluating the capabilities of security analysis approaches for their support in incorporating security analysis patterns. This chapter presents evaluation results of a study we conducted to examine the extent to which constructs provided by security requirements engineering approaches can support the use of security patterns as part of the analysis of security problems. To achieve this general objective, the authors used a specific security pattern and examined the challenges of representing this pattern in some security modeling approaches. The authors classify the security modeling approaches into two categories: problem and solution and illustrate their capabilities with a well-known security patterns and some practical security examples. Based on the specific security pattern they have used our evaluation results suggest that current approaches to security engineering are, to a large extent, capable of incorporating security analysis patterns.
Static Program Analysis of Multi-Applet JavaCard Applications
Authors: Loizidis Alexandros , Almaliotis Vasilios , Katsaros Panagiotis
Published: May 2011

Java Card provides a framework of classes and interfaces that hide the details of the underlying smart card interface and make it possible to load and run on the same card several applets, from different application providers with complex trust relationships. This fact paves the way for new business applications, but the card issuer has to secure absence of malicious or faulty card applets. He has to be able to check that (i) applets do not cause illicit method invocations that violate temporal restrictions of inter-applet communication, (ii) applets protect themselves from unwanted information flow to third parties and (iii) it is not possible for an unhandled Java Card API exception to leave an applet in an unpredictable state that is potentially dangerous for the application’s security. The authors explore recent advances in theory and tool support of static program analysis and they present an approach for automatic verification of smart card applications that by definition are security critical.
Disability vs. Smart Environments
Authors: Kadouche Rachid , Abdulrazak Bessam
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses a novel approach to manage the human environment interaction in case of disability. It provides accessible services to the user in smart environment. This approach is based on the user limitation capabilities (“handicap situations”) in smart environment. It is built upon formalisms based on S??T(?) Description logic (DL) named Semantic Matching Framework (SMF). The architecture of SMF is designed in a way that Human-Environment Interaction (HEI) is generated online to identify and compensate the handicap situation occurring in the course of daily life activities. The SMF architecture is based on modules and implemented using semantic web technologies and integrated into a demonstrator, which has been used to validate the concept in laboratory conditions. The chapter includes the time response and the scalability analysis of SMF.
Does Online Discussion Produce Increased Interaction and Critical Thinking†?
Authors: Shedletsky Leonard
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the question: Does online discussion increase critical thinking and interaction? It presents a selective review of the literature concerned with critical thinking and/or interaction during online discussion. It reports a program of 5 studies of the effects of instructional media and instructional methods on critical thinking and interaction. Study 1 tests the influence on critical thinking of online vs. face-to-face discussion, individual vs. group consensus in summarizing discussion, and discussion of examples of concepts vs. discussion of more abstract analysis. Study 2 examines the relationship between the level of critical thinking in discussion and the quality of papers later written by discussants. Study 3 explores the question: Can a teaching assistant (TA) help to facilitate student-to-student interaction and critical thinking? Study 4 asks: Does personal relevance of discussion topic influence student participation and level of critical thinking in discussion online? Study 5 asks: Does the use of rubrics influence the level of student interaction and/or the level of critical thinking in online discussion? The evidence suggests that it is easier to influence students to interact than to think critically. The chapter offers some suggestions on how to increase student-to-student interaction and critical thinking.
The Role of Semiconductor Distributors in the Japanese Semiconductor Market
Authors: Nagai Akihiko , Tanabe Koji
Published: May 2011

In 2009, the global semiconductor market was worth $219.6 billion. Japan has the third largest semiconductor market at $38.3 billion, behind America and China. Japan has a unique semiconductor distribution system based on close relations between semiconductor distributors and major IDMs (integrated device manufacturers), electronics manufacturers, and automobile manufacturers. Because of this, it is difficult for overseas semiconductor manufacturers and fabless semiconductor companies to enter the market. Semiconductor distributors play a significant role in Japan’s semiconductor distribution system. The semiconductor market here has four main characteristics. These characteristics are the reason why Japan’s semiconductor distribution system has developed the way it has.
The Importance of Balancing Knowledge Protection and Knowledge Interchange
Authors: Takahashi Yutaka
Published: May 2011

Business organisations are aware of the importance of knowledge to keep and acquire competitiveness, so willing to find and keep knowledge holders in their organisations. However, employees in many developed countries have freedom to choose what to do for their living; it is possible a suddenly leave regarding their current jobs and get a new job elsewhere. This is a great loss for the former employer, because it means that not only the knowledge holders themselves but also their knowledge leaves the former business. Moreover, this knowledge would be beneficial for the new employers which are often competitors of the former employers. In order to avoid this kind of brain drain, employers often require that employees sign non-disclosure and non-compete agreements. Nevertheless, this request can cause some trouble in the long run. This chapter shows the structures causing this trouble and how to deal with it using the systems thinking approach.
Mobilizing Knowledge in the UK Public Sector
Authors: Pullinger David
Published: May 2011

Knowledge management supports the key goals of an organization. For government this is creating public value, through trust, outcomes, service quality and cost effectiveness. These are vital matters for the UK government, and the need to mobilize knowledge is essential in delivering them. Knowledge management has tended to be about corporate knowledge inside an organization. This is important for government, not least in joining up its many parts to deliver more effective services and outcomes to citizens. However, citizens also have knowledge that can help deliver public value. How citizens and government share knowledge forms a second exploration. Citizens are also concerned about the use made by the state of personal data and knowledge about them; this forms the third strand. The issues that arise are mapped as ethical tensions onto Nonaka’s SECI model, providing both a framework for exploring ethics and for examining the space for organizational innovation.