bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Enterprise Resource Planning and Systems Integration
Authors: Hwang Mark I.
Published: May 2011

Systems integration has been an important topic ever since businesses started using mainframes to run their back-office operations. These systems specialized in common tasks found in functional areas such as accounts receivable and accounts payable, inventory, purchasing, and ordering. However, getting information from these fragmented systems to get a whole picture view of the business was extremely difficult if not impossible. By integrating back-office operations into a single system, enterprise resource planning (ERP) was supposed to solve that problem. In reality, however, very few companies fully implement all the modules of an ERP package and most continue to rely on legacy systems and other specialized software for their processing needs Integration of ERP with various enterprise applications remains a challenge. Moreover, it is not uncommon to have ERP software from different vendors or multiple copies of ERP software from the same vendor running in the same company. Integrating multiple instances of ERP software will be the predominant ERP project in most large corporations in the next half decade. Finally, many companies pursue merger and acquisition as a major growth strategy. A critical task in merging two companies nowadays involves integrating their ERP systems. This paper addresses these integration issues involving ERP systems. Common tools for integration and success factors for integration projects are discussed.
Essentials of Functional and Object-Oriented Methodology
Authors: Shoval Peretz , Kabeli Judith
Published: May 2011

Many paradigms for system analysis and design have been proposed over the years. Early approaches have advocated the functional approach. Common methodologies that support this approach are SSA and SSD (DeMarco, 1978; Yourdon & Constantine, 1979). SSA is based on the use of data flow diagrams (DFDs), which define the functions of the system, the data stores within the system, the external entities, and the data flows among these components. Early SSA and similar methodologies emphasized the functional aspects of system analysis, neglecting somehow the structural aspects, namely the data model. This was remedied by enhancing those methodologies with a conceptual data model, usually the entity-relationship (ER) model (Chen, 1976), that is used to create a diagram of the data model, which is later mapped to a relational database schema.
Evaluation of an Open Learning Environment
Authors: Clarebout Geraldine , Elen Jan , Lowyck Joost , Van den Ende Jeff , Van den Enden Erwin
Published: May 2011

Educational goals have generally shifted from knowing everything in a specific domain to knowing how to deal with complex problems. Reasoning and information processing skills have become more important than the sheer amount of information memorized. In medical education, the same evolution occurred. Diagnostic reasoning processes get more strongly emphasized. Whereas previously knowing all symptoms and diseases was stressed, reasoning skills have become educationally more important. They must enable professionals to distinguish between differential diagnoses and recognize patterns of illnesses (e.g., Myers & Dorsey, 1994).
Extensions to UML Using Stereotypes
Authors: Riesco Daniel , Daniele Marcela , Romero Daniel , Montejano German
Published: May 2011

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) allows to visualize, to specify, to build and to document the devices of a system that involves a great quantity of software. It provides a standard form for writing the models of a system, covering so much of the conceptual aspects (such as processes of the business and functions of the system) as the concrete ones (such as the classes written in a specific programming language, schemas of databases and software components).
Future of Small Business E-Commerce
Authors: Poon Simpson
Published: May 2011

The use of the Internet for business purposes among small businesses started quite early in the e-commerce evolution. In the beginning, innovative and entrepreneurial owners of small businesses attempted to use rudimentary Internet tools such as electronic mail (e-mail) and file transfer protocol (FTP) to exchange messages and documents. While primitive, it fulfilled much of the business needs at the time. Even to date, e-mail and document exchange, according to some of the latest research findings, are still the most commonly used tools despite the fact that tools themselves have become more sophisticated.
Gender and Computer Anxiety
Authors: Kase Sue E. , Ritter Frank E.
Published: May 2011

Because of their ability to enhance productivity, computers have become ubiquitous in the workplace. By the early 1990s the use of computers in the workplace reached a per capita penetration that the telephone took 75 years to achieve (Webster & Martocchio, 1992). During the past several decades, there has been both speculation and hard research related to the psychological effects of computer technology. More recently the role of attitudes towards computers in influencing the acceptance and use of computer-based management information systems (MIS) has been highlighted by a growing number of MIS researchers. Generally, these studies focus on the negative attitudes towards computers and concerns about the impact of MIS on individual performance in the workplace.
Geographic Information Systems as Decision Tools
Authors: Crossland Martin D.
Published: May 2011

Geographic information systems (GISs) as a technology have been studied and reported extensively and, not unexpectedly, in the field of geography. The various ways of capturing spatial data, arranging attribute data into appropriate database structures, and making the resulting large data sets efficient to store and query have been extensively researched and reported (Densham, 1991). However, the geographic research community has only recently noted the need to study how GISs are used as decision tools, especially with regard to how such decision making might be related to a decision maker’s cognitive style (Mennecke, Crossland, et al., 2000). As an example, the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science called for research examining how geographic knowledge is acquired through different media and by users with different levels of experience and training (University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, 1996).
Globalization of Consumer E-Commerce
Authors: Brandon Jr. Daniel
Published: May 2011

This article reviews globalization aspects of “business to consumer” (B2C) electronic commerce. According to Computerworld, “Globalization is the marketing and selling of a product outside a company’s home country. To successfully do that on the Internet, a company needs to localize – make its Web site linguistically, culturally, and in all other ways accessible to customers outside its home territory” (Brandon, 2001). This overview describes the key issues in the globalization of electronic commerce; for more detail, see the full book chapter (Brandon, 2002).
Harmonizing IT and Business Strategies
Authors: Johnston Kevin
Published: May 2011

The alignment of business strategy with IT strategy has been a concern of chief information officers (CIOs) (Berkman, 2000; Croteau & Bergeron, 2001; Crowley, 2001), chief executive officers (CEOs) (Armstrong, Chamberlain, Moore & Hart, 2002; Mesoy, 1999), academic researchers (Henderson & Venkatraman, 1999; Reich & Benbasat, 2000; Tallon & Kraemer, 2000), and research companies (Broadbent, 2000; Croteau & Bergeron, 2001; Meta Group, 2001) since the age of vacuum tubes. In surveys (Mesoy, 1999) of CIO concerns, alignment has consistently been rated as a major issue. A Cutter study reported that business-IT alignment was “the number one problem facing IT” (Crowley, 2001).
Infocratic Perspective on the Delivery of Personal Financial Services
Authors: Gordon Steve , Mulligan Paul
Published: May 2011

In recent years, two factors – an increasingly relaxed regulatory environment and the growth of the Internet — have changed the competitive landscape of the personal financial services industry, particularly with regard to the potentiality of horizontal integration. Had financial regulation eased 10 years ago, most companies would have had little choice but to pursue a strategy of acquisition and merger to attain the capacity for providing integrated financial services. However, the Internet creates opportunities to build organizations, real and virtual, based on the control of information rather than the ownership of assets. Here we explore the potential for control of information to affect organizational strategy in the delivery of personal financial services.
Information Modeling in UML and ORM
Authors: Halpin Terry
Published: May 2011

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) was adopted by the Object Management Group (OMG) in 1997 as a language for object-oriented (OO) analysis and design. After several minor revisions, a major overhaul resulted in UML version 2.0 (OMG, 2003), and the language is still being refined. Although suitable for object-oriented code design, UML is less suitable for information analysis, since it provides only weak support for the kinds of business rules found in data-intensive applications. Moreover, UML’s graphical language does not lend itself readily to verbalization and multiple instantiation for validating data models with domain experts.
Instant Messaging Moves from the Home to the Office
Authors: Hwang Ha Sung , Stewart Concetta M.
Published: May 2011

Instant messaging (IM) quickly established itself as one of the most popular modes of communication, with millions of people logging in at home, at the workplace, and at school. IM is an Internet protocol (IP)-based application that provides convenient communication between people using a variety of different device types. IM enables two people to exchange messages and hold simultaneous conversations without incurring long distance fees, as long as they use the same IM application. While corporate users employ proprietary systems, end users have several commercial services available to them, such as AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo! Instant Messenger. With IM, users can exchange short text messages simultaneously as well as learn the online status of other users. This is IM’s key feature.
Intelligent Business Portals
Authors: Li Xue
Published: May 2011

Business Portals are now widely used in e-commerce. Intuitively Portals can be regarded as an information gateway for exchanging business information over the Internet. The process of business information exchange requires the services of security and access control, interoperability over a variety of software of platforms and systems, interconnectivity for communications among different data communication networks, and scalability for information being sharable on different hardware devices. So, portals can also be regarded as an information carrier for delivering the right information to the right user, at the right time, to the right place, to make the right decisions. A portal is a packaged piece of information with the properties of self-servicing, personalization, and real-time delivery. From a business point of view, a portal is a mobile, self-explanatory, and just-in-time delivered piece of information. In e-commerce, business information is a set of time-stamped transactions that can be triggered by events in business activities. This article will illustrate and explain the architecture of intelligent business portals for Web-enabled business applications.
Intelligent Metabusiness
Authors: Joia Luiz Antonio
Published: May 2011

In 1994, the Sloan School of Management at MIT inaugurated a multi-year research and education initiative called “Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century”, headed by Thomas Malone, Director, Center for Coordination Science. One of the key activities of this initiative has been developing a series of coherent scenarios of possible future organizations. The Scenario Working Group considered a wide variety of possible driving forces, major uncertainties, and logics that might shape 21st century organizations. Two scenarios were then created addressing the size and the modus-operandi of the future organizations: “Small Companies, Large Networks”, as the one found in Northern Italy (Textile Production in the Prato region of Italy), and “Virtual Countries”, as more mergers and acquisitions are turning up worldwide (e.g., Exxon and Mobil) (Laubacher & Malone, 1997).
Intelligent Software Agents
Authors: Heucke Alexa , Peters Georg , Tagg Roger
Published: May 2011

An agent, in traditional use of the word, is a person that acts on behalf of another person or group of persons. In software, the term agent is broadly used to describe software that carries out a specialist range of tasks, on behalf of either a human user or other pieces of software. Such a concept is not new in computing. Similar things have been said about subroutines, re-usable objects, components and Web services. So what makes agents more than just another computer technology buzzword and research fashion?
Internet Diffusion in the Hospitality Industry
Authors: Machado Mendes-Filho Luiz Augusto , Martins Ramos Anatália Saraiva
Published: May 2011

Tourism is the most important industry in the world in terms of the numbers of employees and its effect on the social and economical development of a region or country. Holjevac (2003) believes that, by the year 2050, tourism will by far be the largest industry worldwide, with 2 billion tourists and US$24 billion in domestic and international receipts. Moreover, the major tourist destinations will be India, China, Indonesia, and Brazil.
Introducing Java to the IT Master's Curriculum
Authors: Lucas Wendy
Published: May 2011

The object-oriented programming paradigm has gained popularity in both industry and academia, and Java is becoming the language of choice. Yet, it can be a difficult language to learn, with many hurdles for novice programmers. This overview describes how Java was successfully introduced as the first programming language in an information technology master’s program at Bentley College. Careful consideration was given to a variety of factors, including when to introduce object-oriented concepts, which integrated development environment to use, and how to support students with minimal prior programming experience. The impact of these choices on the learning experience and the factors that led to the successful implementation of Java as a first programming language are described.
Isoluminance Contours for Animated Visualization
Authors: Cottingham Marion
Published: May 2011

Visualization software applications were introduced to enable the sheer volume of data produced by computers worldwide to be viewed in picture form. Visualization makes it easier for the human visual system to pick up trends, patterns, and relationships in the data. The first wave of these applications typically generated simple two-dimensional line graphs, bar charts, and pie charts on expensive graphics workstations.
IT Supporting Strategy Formulation
Authors: Achterbergh Jan
Published: May 2011

This overview approaches information and communication technology (ICT) for competitive intelligence from the perspective of strategy formulation. It provides an ICT architecture for supporting the knowledge processes producing relevant knowledge for strategy formulation.
Modeling Information Systems in UML
Authors: Rittgen Peter
Published: May 2011

The first approaches to object-oriented modeling appeared by the second half of the 1970s, but not much happened for more than a decade, so there were still barely more than a handful of modeling languages at the end of the 1980s. It was the early 1990s that witnessed an ever-growing market in competing object-oriented methods so that potential users found it increasingly difficult to identify any single method that suited their needs. This phenomenon came to be known as the “method wars.” Towards the end of 1994 two of the “big” players, Grady Booch and Jim Rumbaugh, decided to join forces by integrating their respective approaches, the Booch method and OMT (Object Modeling Technique). In late 1995, Ivar Jacobson became a member of this team merging in his OOSE method (Object-Oriented Software Engineering). The efforts of the “three amigos” aimed at overcoming unnecessary differences between the individual approaches and also improving each of them by creating a common, standardized modeling language that could serve as an industry standard. The result was the release of the Unified Modeling Language (UML), version 0.9, in June 1996. The UML partners, an industry consortium, performed further work on UML. This led to the versions 1.0 and 1.1 being introduced in 1997. The latter was adopted by the OMG (Object Management Group) in the same year. The current version is 1.5 (OMG, 2003) but a major upgrade to 2.0 is in preparation (Björkander & Kobryn, 2003).
Moderator in Government-Initiated Online Discussions
Authors: Edwards Arthur R.
Published: May 2011

In an older version of a Dutch Internet dictionary the moderator is defined as “a person who exercises censorship on a mailing list or newsgroup.”1 In the libertarian tradition of the Internet, moderation has often been viewed as conflicting with free speech and unrestrained communication (Tsagarousianou, 1998). However, as the history of the famous PEN-experiment (Public Electronic Network) in Santa Monica (1990-96) already showed, the free speech principle has to be weighed against other legitimate concerns, like the need to facilitate a genuine discussion and to counteract possible abuses of the medium (Docter & Dutton, 1998).
New Advancements in Image Segmentation for CBIR
Authors: Zhang Yu-Jin
Published: May 2011

The process of segmenting images is one of the most critical ones in automatic image analysis whose goal can be regarded as to find what objects are presented in images (Pavlidis, 1988). Image segmentation consists of subdividing an image into its constituent parts and extracting these parts of interest (objects). A large number of segmentation algorithms have been developed since the middle of 1960’s (see survey papers and books, for example, Bovik, 2000; Fu & Mui, 1981; Lucchese & Mitra, 2001; Medioni, Lee, & Tang, 2000; Pal & Pal, 1993; Zhang, 2001), and this number continually increases from year to year in a fast rate. This number had attended, 10 years ago, the order of thousands (Zhang & Gerbrands, 1994). However, none of the proposed segmentation algorithms is generally applicable to all images, and different algorithms are not equally suitable for a particular application. Though several thousands of algorithms have been proposed, improvements for existing algorithms and developments for treating new applications are still going on.
New Perspectives on Rewards and Knowledge Sharing
Authors: Bock Gee-Woo (Gilbert) , Siew Chen Way , Kim Young-Gul
Published: May 2011

Of the 260 responses from a survey of European multinationals, 94% believed that knowledge management requires employees to share what they know with others within the organization (Murray, 1999). Among the processes of knowledge management—creation, sharing, utilization and accumulation of knowledge—sharing is what differentiates organizational knowledge management from individual learning or knowledge acquisition.
Newcomer Assimilation in Virtual Team Socialization
Authors: Long Shawn D. , Kohut Gary F. , Picherit-Duthler Gaelle
Published: May 2011

The way we work today is being transformed. Recent technological advances, combined with more flexible job design, have helped increase the number of people working in geographically and/or temporally dispersed environments. Increasing numbers of organizations have employees who are not physically present in the traditional organizations. Hence, more employees are working on teams that seldom, if ever, meet face-to-face. These “teleworkers” have the same work responsibilities as traditional employees, but they have the added challenges of managing or operating within the dynamics of these virtual teams.
Novel Indexing Method of Relations Between Salient Objects
Authors: Chbeir Richard , Yetongnon Kokou
Published: May 2011

During the last decade, a lot of work has been done in information technology in order to integrate image retrieval in the standard data processing environments (Rui, Huang & Chang, 1999; William & Grosky, 1997; Yoshitaka & Ichikawa, 1999).Relations between image objects are very frequently used to index the image-document (Peuquet, 1986). In medicine, for instance, the spatial data in surgical or radiation therapy of brain tumors are decisive because the location of a tumor has profound implications on a therapeutic decision (Chbeir, Amghar, & Flory, 2001). Hence, it is crucial to provide a precise and powerful system to express spatial relations. In the literature, three major types of spatial relations are proposed: metric (Peuquet, 1986), directional (El-kwae & Kabuka, 1999) and topological relations (Egenhofer, 1997; Egenhofer, Frank & Jackson, 1989).
Observations on Implementing Specializations within an IT Program
Authors: Slazinski Erick D.
Published: May 2011

With a projected 2.26 million additional jobs to fill in various computer fields by the year 2010, there are and will continue to be ample job opportunities in the computer industry. However, the computer field is far too broad for one individual to be an expert in the entire field. Therefore it may be more useful for students to have the opportunity to concentrate their studies in a specific interest area within a broader Information Technology (IT) degree.
On the Relativity of Ontological Domains and Their Specifications
Authors: Kapetanios E.
Published: May 2011

Business knowledge is considered the most valuable resource of organizations. The exchange of business knowledge within an organization as well as among different cooperating organizations is considered a major promotion of know-how and better coordination of various organization units, as well as an increase of the value of an organization itself.
Perturbations, Accuracy and Robustness in Neural Networks
Authors: Alippi Cesare , Vanini Giovanni
Published: May 2011

A robustness analysis for neural networks, namely the evaluation of the effects induced by perturbations affecting the network weights, is a relevant theoretical aspect since weights characterise the “knowledge space” of the neural model and, hence, its inner nature.
Public Sector Case Study on the Benefits of IS/IT
Authors: Lin Chad , Pervan Graham
Published: May 2011

While organisations continue to invest heavily in IS/IT, research studies and practitioner surveys report contradictory findings on the effect of the expenditures on organisational productivity (Grover et al., 1998). Therefore, it is not surprising to see that the term “productivity paradox” is gaining increasing notoriety as several studies point toward fairly static productivity and rising IS/IT expenditure. Despite large investments in IS/IT over many years, it has been difficult to determine where the IS/IT benefits have actually occurred, if indeed there have been any (Willcocks & Lester, 1997). The main objective of this article is to generate a deeper understanding of issues surrounding the current practices and norms in managing IS/IT benefits and investments evaluation.
Qualitative Methods in IS Research
Authors: Trauth Eileen M.
Published: May 2011

As information technologies have evolved, so too has our understanding of the information systems that employ them. A significant part of this evolving understanding is the role of the human contexts within which information systems are situated. This, in turn, has led to the need for appropriate methods of studying information systems in their context of use. Just as decisions about information systems need to be considered within their contexts of use, so also do choices about the appropriate research methodologies to employ for studying them. Increasingly, qualitative methods are chosen as an appropriate method for studying contextual aspects of information systems development, use and impact.
Quality of UML
Authors: Krogstie John
Published: May 2011

According to Booch, Rumbaugh, and Jacobson (1999), developing a model for an industrial strength software system before its construction is regarded increasingly as a necessary activity in information systems development. The use of object-oriented modeling in analysis and design started to become popular in the late eighties, producing a large number of different languages and approaches. Lately, UML (2004) has taken a leading position in this area.
Reasoning About User Preferences
Authors: Babaian Tamara
Published: May 2011

Personalization has been identified as a key task to the success of many modern systems. As Riecken (2000, p. 28) writes in the editorial of the special issue of the Communications of the ACM devoted to this subject, “personalization means something different to everyone.” Personalization can take various forms; however, it can be broadly described as the set of mechanisms by which an application is tailored to a particular end user and his or her goal.
Risk Management in the Digital Economy
Authors: Ritchie Bob , Brindley Clare
Published: May 2011

The digital economy has been generated by radical changes to every aspect of business and commerce in the last two decades. These changes are far more significant than the developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that have largely facilitated the digital economy itself. Every business sector has witnessed changes in the competitive structure of the marketplace, consumer preferences, buying habits, marketing and promotional strategies, production operations, internal administration systems, supply chain arrangements, and the opening up of the global economy. Managers would concede that the uncertainties and risks in running their businesses, as a result of such changes, are not only much greater than previously but increasing. However, the digital economy is a two-edged sword in the sense that the ICTs generating the additional uncertainties and risks also provide the means to enable decision makers to manage them more effectively. The key to survival in the digital economy rests with the abilities of the managers to utilize ICTs effectively to manage uncertainties and risks.
Self-Organizing Networked Learning Environments
Authors: Dron Jon
Published: May 2011

The Internet has long been touted as an answer to the needs of adult learners, providing a wealth of resources and the means to communicate in many ways with many people. This promise rarely has been fulfilled, and often, when it is, by mimicking traditional instructor-led processes of education. As a large network, the Internet has characteristics that differentiate it from other learning environments. As Kelly (1998) puts it, “the sum of the value of a network increases as the square of the number of members.” Because these interactions are mediated through computers and may be with many users at once, this is a notable underestimate.
Semantic Web Fundamentals
Authors: Antoniou Grigoris , Christophides Vassilis , Plexousakis Dimitris , Doerr Martin
Published: May 2011

The World Wide Web (Berners-Lee, Cailliau, & Groff, 1992; Berners-Lee, 1999) has changed the way people communicate with each other and the way business is conducted. It lies at the heart of a revolution that is currently transforming the developed world toward a knowledge economy (Neef, 1997), and more broadly speaking, to a knowledge society.
Shaping the Evolution of Mobile Commerce
Authors: Rulke Andreas , Iyer Anand , Chiasson Greg
Published: May 2011

How does a breakthrough technology, or a breakthrough combination of formerly separate technologies, become a viable business? What are the necessary conditions, competencies, and organizing mechanisms? Which enterprises are in the best positions to provide the various competencies and to organize the new business? How will the new business unfold?
Simulation for Business Engineering of Electronic Markets
Authors: Janssen Marijn
Published: May 2011

Information and communication technology (ICT) is applied to support the creation of electronic markets (e-markets). Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the exchange of structured data between information systems of different organizations. EDI is often considered as the first step towards e-markets. In the course of time EDI was extended and interorganizational information systems (IOS) were used to create electronic marketplaces. IOS serve as intermediaries between buyers and sellers. Probably the most well known examples of IOSs are airline reservation systems, which are closed systems having typically a limited number of participants.
Socio-Cognitive Model of Trust
Authors: Falcone Rino , Castelfranchi Cristiano
Published: May 2011

Humans have learned to cooperate in many ways and in many environments, on different tasks, and for achieving different and several goals. Collaboration and cooperation in their more general sense (and, in particular, negotiation, exchange, help, delegation, adoption, and so on) are important characteristics - or better, the most foundational aspects - of human societies (Tuomela, 1995).
Spatial Analysis in a Public Health Setting
Authors: Lipton Robert , Gorman D. M. , Wieczorek William F. , Gruenewald Paul
Published: May 2011

Spatial methods are an increasingly important tool in understanding public health issues. Spatial analysis addresses an often forgotten or misunderstood aspect of public health, namely, studying the dynamics of people in places. As advances in computer technology have continued apace, spatial methods have become an appealing way to understand the manner in which the individual relates to larger frameworks that compose the human community and the physical nature of human environments (streets with intersections, dense vs. sparse neighborhoods, high or low densities of liquor stores or restaurants, etc.). Spatial methods are extremely data-intensive, often pulling together information from disparate sources that have been collected for other purposes, such as research, business practice, governmental policy, and law enforcement. Although initially more demanding in regard to data manipulation compared to typical population level methods, the ability to compile and compare data in a spatial framework provides much additional information about human populations that lies beyond typical survey or census research. We will discuss general methods of spatial analysis and mapping which will help to elucidate when and how spatial analysis might be used in a public health setting. Further, we will discuss a practical research example focusing on the relationship between alcohol and violence.
Speech and Audio Signal Applications
Authors: Perez-Meana Hector , Nakano-Miyatake Mariko
Published: May 2011

With the development of the VLSI technology the performance of signal processing devices have greatly improved making possible the implementation of more efficient systems to storage, transmission enhancement and reproduction of speech and audio signals. Some of these successful applications are shown in Table 1.
Strategies of E-Commerce Business Value Optimization
Authors: Scupola Ada
Published: May 2011

The Internet economy is becoming an integral part of many countries’ economies, creating new jobs, giving rise to new companies like the dot coms and transforming traditional jobs and traditional companies. The Internet is increasingly becoming a part of the basic business model for many companies as organizations around the world are adopting new e-business models, integrated solutions to explore new ways of dealing with customers and business partners, new organizational structures and adaptable business strategies (Singh & Waddell, 2004). There are many definitions of electronic commerce (e.g., Wigand, 1997). Here, a classic definition by Kalakota and Whinston (1996) is adopted, where e-commerce is “the buying and selling of information, products and services via computer networks today and in the future via any one of the myriad of networks that make up the ‘Information Superhighway (I-way)’” (p.1). A distinction between physical and digital products can be made. A digital product is defined as a product whose complete value chain can be implemented with the use of electronic networks; for example, it can be produced and distributed electronically, and be paid for over digital networks. Examples of digital products are software, news, and journal articles. The companies selling these products are usually Internet-based “digital dot coms” such as Yahoo and America Online. On the contrary, a physical product cannot be distributed over electronic networks (e.g., a book, CDs, toys). These products can also be sold on Internet by “physical dot coms”, but they are shipped to the consumers. The corporations using electronic commerce are distinguished into “bricks and mortar” companies, hybrid “clicks and mortar” companies (such as Amazon.com) and pure dot coms (Barua & Mukhopadhyay, 2000).
Survey of 3D Human Body Representations
Authors: Sappa Angel D. , Aifanti Niki , Malassiotis Sotiris , Grammalidis Nikos
Published: May 2011

The problem of human body modeling was initially tackled to solve applications related to the film industry or computer games within the computer graphics (CG) community. Since then, several different tools were developed for editing and animating 3D digital body models. Although at the beginning most of those tools were devised within the computer graphics community, nowadays a lot of work proceeds from the computer vision (CV) community. In spite of this overlapped interest, there is a considerable difference between CG and CV human body model (HBM) applications. The first one pursues realistic models of both human body geometry and its associated motion. On the contrary, CV seeks more of an efficient than an accurate model for applications such as intelligent video surveillance, motion analysis, telepresence, 3D video sequence processing, and coding.
Surveying Mobile Commerce Environments
Authors: Veijalainen Jari , Weske Mathias
Published: May 2011

During the last five years, the term mobile commerce (m-commerce) has appeared in the vocabulary of business people and researchers. Historically and conceptually, m-commerce can be regarded a new phase in electronic commerce (e-commerce). Although the term was introduced without a clear meaning and it is still lacking a single widely accepted definition, most people would say that the term m-commerce refers to e-commerce activities performed by people while on the move. Thus, m-commerce involves e-commerce transactions where a mobile terminal and a wireless network are used to conduct them. Therefore, m-commerce takes advantage of the e-commerce infrastructure developed for Internet e-commerce. Although in some cases an m-commerce transaction might be an alternative to a regular e-commerce transaction (such as buying a book) performed using a workstation and wired network, in many cases this is not the situation. The limitations of the mobile device - for instance, user interface limitations - are such that it is not attractive to perform typical Internet e-commerce transactions on them. Wireless technologies, combined with so-called ‘Internet-enabled’ terminals, constitute an ideal platform to realize new types of e-commerce transactions that are not possible or reasonable for wired terminals. The small and light, yet powerful, mobile terminals are almost always carried by their owners, just like wallets or watches. They can indeed also store electronic cash, credit card information, tickets, certificates of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and so forth. Thus, they can assume the role of an e-wallet, as well as function as authentication and authorization devices in various contexts.
Systems Thinking and the Internet
Authors: Maani Kambiz E.
Published: May 2011

Despite our most impressive advances in science and technology, our prevailing worldview and the way we work and relate are deeply rooted in the thinking that emerged during the Renaissance of the 17th century. This thinking was influenced by the sciences of that era and, in particular, by Newtonian physics. Newton viewed the world as a machine that was created to serve its master—God (Ackoff, 1993). The machine metaphor and the associated mechanistic (positivist) worldview, which was later extended to the economy, the society, and the organization, has persisted until today and is evident in our thinking and vocabulary. The mechanistic view of the enterprise became less tenable in the 20th century, partly due to the emergence of the corporation and the increasing prominence of human relation issues in the workplace. As the futurist Alvin Toffler (1991) declared, “the Age of the Machine is screeching to a halt” (Toffler, 1991).
Technology in the Foreign Language Classroom
Authors: Switala William J.
Published: May 2011

America is a country made up of people from all corners of the globe. Although this is the case, few Americans can communicate in a language other than English. The major reason for this is that Americans do not study foreign languages to any great extent in school, and those who do, have not developed a facility to speak the language they have studied. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages found, in its survey entitled “Foreign Language Enrollments in U.S. Public High Schools, 1890-2000,” that there was a steady decline in the numbers of students studying foreign languages from 1976 to 1994. From 1995 to 2000 this trend was reversed and the number of students learning new languages in the year 2000 almost matched that of the enrollment for 1974. However, this still only accounted for 42.5% of the total number of students attending American high schools (ACTFL, 2004). A possible explanation for this low number may rest in the methodology used to teach foreign languages in our schools. (Brecht, 2002).
Technology-Mediated Progressive Inquiry in Higher Education
Authors: Muukkonen Hanni , Lakkala Minna , Hakkarainen Kai
Published: May 2011

In higher education, students are often asked to demonstrate critical thinking, academic literacy (Geisler, 1994), expert-like use of knowledge, and creation of knowledge artifacts without ever having been guided or scaffolded in learning the relevant skills. Too frequently, universities teach the content, and it is assumed that the metaskills of taking part in expert-like activities are somehow acquired along the way. Several researchers have proposed that in order to facilitate higher level processes of inquiry in education, cultures of education and schooling should more closely correspond to cultures of scientific inquiry (Carey & Smith, 1995; Perkins, Crismond, Simmons & Under, 1995). Points of correspondence include contributing to collaborative processes of asking questions, producing theories and explanations, and using information sources critically to deepen one’s own conceptual understanding. In this way, students can adopt scientific ways of thinking and practices of producing new knowledge, not just exploit and assimilate given knowledge.
Trust in Virtual Enterprises
Authors: Wong T. T.
Published: May 2011

For a virtual enterprise(VE) to be competitive and successful in a dynamic environment characterized by constantly changing customer demands and technological innovations, it must be capable of rapid adjustment in order to reduce the time and cost needed to deliver to the customer a quality product. The success in the agile competition naturally depends on the effective operation of the VE.
U.S. Disabilities Legislation Affecting Electronic and Information Technology
Authors: Bursa Deborah , Justice Lorraine , Kessler Mimi
Published: May 2011

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the cornerstone legislation to address the civil rights of people with disabilities, including making products, services, and physical environments accessible to them. Almost everyone in the U.S. is familiar with the ADA, but designers of technology products and services need to be aware of accessibility standards that go beyond the ADA: specifically, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act. These laws define accessibility standards and guidelines that impact the design of electronic, information, and telecommunication technologies, and they are intended to promote products and services that are as accessible to persons with disabilities as those without (Section 508, 1998). Furthermore, with the aging of the U.S. and world populations (Forrester, 2004), the number of people who want to use technology but cannot, because of disabilities, is on the rise. Designers of technology need to understand how modifications in traditional design will make products more marketable and usable by a wider range of customers. This article reviews important aspects of Sections 508 and 255, assistive technology and accessible design, and additional sources of information and training.
Unified Modeling Language
Authors: Fettke Peter
Published: May 2011

Mature engineering disciplines are generally characterized by accepted methodical standards for describing all relevant artifacts of their subject matter. Such standards not only enable practitioners to collaborate, but they also contribute to the development of the whole discipline. In 1994, Grady Booch, Jim Rumbaugh, and Ivar Jacobson joined together to unify the plethora of existing object-oriented systems engineering approaches at semantic and notation level (Booch, 2002; Fowler, 2004; Rumbaugh, Jacobson, & Booch, 1998). Their effort led to the Unified Modeling Language (UML), a well-known, general-purpose, tool-supported, process-independent, and industry-standardized modeling language for visualizing, describing, specifying, and documenting systems artifacts. Table 1 depicts the origin and descent of UML.
User Spreadsheet Systems Development
Authors: Avdic Anders
Published: May 2011

In the early days of computers, expertise was needed not only to develop systems, but also to use them. As IT tools have become more powerful and user friendly, more and more people have been able to use computers and programs as tools when carrying out working tasks. Nowadays it is even possible for people without special IT training to develop information systems that only IT specialists could have done some years ago.
Virtual Organization in the Human Mind
Authors: Lee Jinyoul
Published: May 2011

Virtual organization has been well documented as both a tool for organizations to seek further profitability through the removal of traditional barriers as well as a method to extend the provision of services to clientele in a manner previously achievable by only large, multinational corporations (Markus, 2000). The widespread implementation of information technology and its many applications in modern business have moved the act of management toward a virtual focus, where managers are able to complete tasks through the use of teams in varying physical locations, with members that may or may not be employees of that firm, sharing a wide variety of data and information. With so many companies now employing virtual organization techniques, referring to a company as “virtual” or to its components as possessing “virtuality” lacks the clarity and specificity needed when using these firms as examples for others. The variety of methods through which a firm can achieve virtuality represents a span nearly as wide as the business community itself.
Virtual Schools
Authors: Russell Glenn
Published: May 2011

Until recent times, schools have been characterised by the physical presence of teachers and students together. Usually, a building is used for instruction, and teaching materials such as books or blackboards are often in evidence. In the 20th century, alternatives to what may be called “bricks-and-mortar” schools emerged. These were forms of distance education, where children could learn without attending classes on a regular basis. The technologies used included mail, for correspondence schools, and the 20th century technologies of radio and television.
Web Accessibility and the Law
Authors: Yu Holly
Published: May 2011

In the past three decades, the method of receiving and conveying information has shifted from paper-based, typewriter-generated, hand-edited, and printing-press-produced publications to more technology-mediated, intelligent, WYSIWYG software-generated forms. Consequently, the concept of access to information has changed to reflect this phenomenon. The new forms of access to information that have made it easier for non-disabled people have often created barriers for people with disabilities.
The Beam Analysis Tool (BAT)
Authors: Burrage Peter , Pelton Leslee Francis
Published: May 2011

In Houghton’s (1989) review of educational paradigms, he highlights the gaining importance of chaos theory. Chaos theory is often characterized by the term non-linear. Chaos theory can be found in many disciplines; in structural engineering, the behaviour of a structure under earthquake loads is often seen in terms of non-linear behaviour. Another characteristic of chaos theory is unpredictability. The implications for educational theory, as Houghton suggests, is that we have a realistic model for what happens in highly interactive systems.
Better Use of Digital Images in Teaching and Learning
Authors: Zhang Y. J.
Published: May 2011

Digital images are convenient and important media for describing and storing spatial, temporal, spectral, and physical components of information contained in a variety of domains. With the progress of electronics, sensors, computer equipment, and network infrastructure, today’s technology enables us to generate, acquire, manipulate, transmit, and store vast (online) image collections. The applications of images, which are expanding over wider and wider areas, have attracted more and more attention in recent years. The use of digital images in teaching and learning is one of the popular application areas.
Building a System to Deliver Programs at a Distance
Authors: Olson Lynette , Langer Gary R
Published: May 2011

Learners in the 21st century are increasingly using online delivery methods to achieve their academic goals. Through online learning, students are provided access to quality programs and services delivered with convenience and flexibility. Although technology tools are used in some measure in many courses provided by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, the courses, programs, and services specifically designated as “online” are those delivered predominately over the Internet and are the focus of Minnesota Online.
Classroom Critical Incidents
Authors: Carroll John M. , Neale Dennis C. , Isenhour Philip L.
Published: May 2011

Evaluating the quality and effectiveness of user interaction in networked collaborative systems is difficult. There is more than one user, and often the users are not physically proximal.  The “session” to be evaluated cannot be comprehensively observed or monitored at any single display, keyboard, or processor.  It is typical that none of the human participants has an overall view of the interaction (a common source of problems for such interactions). The users are not easily accessible either to evaluators or to one another.