bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
AI Methods for Analyzing Microarray Data
Authors: Djebbari Amira , Culhane Aedín C. , Armstrong Alice J. , Quackenbush John
Published: May 2011

Biological systems can be viewed as information management systems, with a basic instruction set stored in each cell’s DNA as “genes.” For most genes, their information is enabled when they are transcribed into RNA which is subsequently translated into the proteins that form much of a cell’s machinery. Although details of the process for individual genes are known, more complex interactions between elements are yet to be discovered. What we do know is that diseases can result if there are changes in the genes themselves, in the proteins they encode, or if RNAs or proteins are made at the wrong time or in the wrong quantities. Recent advances in biotechnology led to the development of DNA microarrays, which quantitatively measure the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously and provide a snapshot of a cell’s response to a particular condition. Finding patterns of gene expression that provide insight into biological endpoints offers great opportunities for revolutionizing diagnostic and prognostic medicine and providing mechanistic insight in data-driven research in the life sciences, an area with a great need for advances, given the urgency associated with diseases. However, microarray data analysis presents a number of challenges, from noisy data to the curse of dimensionality (large number of features, small number of instances) to problems with no clear solutions (e.g. real world mappings of genes to traits or diseases that are not yet known). Finding patterns of gene expression in microarray data poses problems of class discovery, comparison, prediction, and network analysis which are often approached with AI methods. Many of these methods have been successfully applied to microarray data analysis in a variety of applications ranging from clustering of yeast gene expression patterns (Eisen et al., 1998) to classification of different types of leukemia (Golub et al., 1999). Unsupervised learning methods (e.g. hierarchical clustering) explore clusters in data and have been used for class discovery of distinct forms of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (Alizadeh et al., 2000). Supervised learning methods (e.g. artificial neural networks) utilize a previously determined mapping between biological samples and classes (i.e. labels) to generate models for class prediction. A k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) approach was used to train a gene expression classifier of different forms of brain tumors and its predictions were able to distinguish biopsy samples with different prognosis suggesting that microarray profiles can predict clinical outcome and direct treatment (Nutt et al., 2003). Bayesian networks constructed from microarray data hold promise for elucidating the underlying biological mechanisms of disease (Friedman et al., 2000).
3D and 4D Medical Image Registration Combined with Image Segmentation and Visualization
Authors: Li Guang , Citrin Deborah , Miller Robert W. , Camphausen Kevin , Mueller Boris , Mychalczak Borys , Song Yulin
Published: May 2011

Image registration, segmentation, and visualization are three major components of medical image processing. Three-dimensional (3D) digital medical images are three dimensionally reconstructed, often with minor artifacts, and with limited spatial resolution and gray scale, unlike common digital pictures. Because of these limitations, image filtering is often performed before the images are viewed and further processed (Behrenbruch, Petroudi, Bond, et al., 2004). Different 3D imaging modalities usually provide complementary medical information about patient anatomy or physiology. Four-dimensional (4D) medical imaging is an emerging technology that aims to represent patient motions over time. Image registration has become increasingly important in combining these 3D/4D images and providing comprehensive patient information for radiological diagnosis and treatment.
Software Support for Advanced Cephalometric Analysis in Orthodontics
Authors: Halazonetis Demetrios J.
Published: May 2011

Cephalometric analysis has been a routine diagnostic procedure in Orthodontics for more than 60 years, traditionally employing the measurement of angles and distances on lateral cephalometric radiographs. Recently, advances in geometric morphometric (GM) methods and computed tomography (CT) hardware, together with increased power of personal computers, have created a synergic effect that is revolutionizing the cephalometric field. This chapter starts with a brief introduction of GM methods, including Procrustes superimposition, Principal Component Analysis, and semilandmarks. CT technology is discussed next, with a more detailed explanation of how the CT data are manipulated in order to visualize the patient’s anatomy. Direct and indirect volume rendering methods are explained and their application is shown with clinical cases. Finally, the Viewbox software is described, a tool that enables practical application of sophisticated diagnostic and research methods in Orthodontics.
DISMON
Authors: Lagares-Lemos Ángel M. , Lagares-Lemos Miguel , Colomo-Palacios Ricardo , García-Crespo Ángel , Gómez-Berbís Juan Miguel
Published: May 2011

Information technology and, more precisely, the internet represent challenges and opportunities for medicine. Technology-driven medicine has changed how practitioners perform their roles in and medical information systems have recently gained momentum as a proof-of-concept of the efficiency of new support-oriented technologies. Emerging applications combine sharing information with a social dimension. This paper presents DISMON (Disease Monitor), a system based on Semantic Technologies and Social Web (SW) to improve patient care for medical diagnosis in limited environments, namely, organizations. DISMON combines Web 2.0 capacities and SW to provide semantic descriptions of clinical symptoms, thereby facilitating diagnosis and helping to foresee diseases, giving useful information to the company and its employees to increase efficiency by means of the prevention of injuries and illnesses, resulting in a safety environment for workers.
Processing and Communication Techniques for Applications in Parkinson Disease Treatment
Authors: Orozco-Gutiérrez Álvaro , Delgado-Trejos Edilson , Carmona-Villada Hans , Castellanos-Domínguez Germán
Published: May 2011

This chapter deals with processing and communication techniques for Parkinson’s disease treatment applications. First, the authors summarize the background of physiological dynamics related to degenerative disorders of the central nervous system and common clinical procedures using microelectrode recordings (MER) for detecting brain areas. This summary is followed by a discussion of different aspects related to the inclusion of a communication platform for specialized assistance by expert neurologists to remote hospitals. Next, the authors present different techniques derived from biomedical signal processing for analyzing non-stationary and complexity components, with the aim of developing an automatic recognition system that will support computer-based clinical decisions in detecting brain areas. In addition, they explain each component of medical teleconsult. Finally, they discuss the whole integrated system, including the advantages, limitations and viability of this clinical procedure based on modern technology resources.
Informatics Applications in Neonatology
Authors: Battin Malcolm , Knight David , Kuschel Carl
Published: May 2011

Neonatal care is an extremely data-intensive activity. Physiological monitoring equipment is used extensively along with web-based information tools and knowledge sources. Merging data from multiple sources adds value to this data collection. Neonatal databases assist with collecting, displaying, and analyzing data from a number of sources. Although the construction of such databases can be difficult, it can provide helpful support to clinical practice including surveillance of infectious diseases and even medical error. Along with recording outcomes, such systems are extremely useful for the support of audit and quality improvement as well as research. Electronic information sources are often helpful in education and communication with parents and others, both within the unit and at a distance. Systems are beginning to be used to help with decision making – for example in the case of weaning neonates from ventilators, and this work is likely to become more important in the future.
Digital Pathology and Virtual Microscopy Integration in E-Health Records
Authors: Rojo Marcial García , Daniel Christel
Published: May 2011

In anatomic pathology, digital pathology integrates information management systems to manage both digital images and text-based information. Digital pathology allows information sharing for diagnosis, biomedical research and education. Virtual microscopy resulting in digital slides is an outreaching technology in anatomic pathology. Limiting factors in the expansion of virtual microscopy are formidable storage dimension, scanning speed, quality of image and cultural change. Anatomic pathology data and images should be an important part of the patient electronic health records as well as of clinical datawarehouses, epidemiological or biomedical research databases, and platforms dedicated to translational medicine. Integrating anatomic pathology to the “healthcare enterprise” can only be achieved using existing and emerging medical informatics standards like Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM®1), Health Level Seven (HL7®), and Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT®), following the recommendations of Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE®).
Regional and Community Health Information Exchange in the United States
Authors: Gundlapalli Adi V. , Reid Jonathan H. , Root Jan , Xu Wu
Published: May 2011

A fundamental premise of continuity in patient care and safety suggests timely sharing of health information among different providers at the point of care and after the visit. In most healthcare systems, this is achieved through exchange of written medical information, phone calls and conversations. In an ideal world, this exchange of health information between disparate providers, healthcare systems, laboratories, pharmacies and payers would be achieved electronically and seamlessly. The potential benefits of electronic health exchange are improved patient care, increased efficiency of the healthcare system and decreased costs. The reality is that health information is electronically exchanged only to a limited extent within local communities and regions, much less nationally and internationally. One main challenge has been the inability of health information exchange organizations to develop a solid business case. Other challenges have been socio-political in that data ownership and stewardship have not been clearly resolved. Technological improvements over the past 20 years have provided significant advances towards safe and secure information exchange. This chapter provides a general overview of community health information exchange in the United States of America, its history and details of challenges faced by stakeholders. The lessons learned from successes and failures, research and knowledge gaps and future prospects are also discussed. Current and future technologies to facilitate and invigorate health information exchange are highlighted. Two examples of successful regional health information exchanges in the US states of Utah and Indiana are highlighted.
The Electronic Health Record to Support Women’s Health
Authors: Parry Emma
Published: May 2011

The seamless electronic health record is often hailed as the holy grail of health informatics. What is an electronic health record? This question is answered and consideration is given to the advantages and disadvantages of an electronic health record. The place of the electronic health record at the centre of a clinical information system is discussed. In expanding on the advantages several areas are covered including: analysis of data, accessibility and availability, and access control. Middleware technology and its place are discussed. Requirements for implementing a system and some of the issues that can arise in the field of women’s health are elucidated. Finally, in this exciting and fast moving field, future research is discussed.
Managing Paramedic Knowledge for Treatment of Acute Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Quinn Tom , Bali Raj K. , Katherine Dale , Gregory Pete
Published: May 2011

The objective of this paper is to examine the efficacy of the Knowledge Management (KM) paradigm in the context of UK paramedics’ assessment and treatment of patients with suspected acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or ‘heart attack’. We outline the role of thrombolytic therapy and other aspects of emergency cardiac care and discuss how contemporary KM tools and techniques can be used to support the development and retention of key clinical skills and knowledge in this emerging field of practice. The paper examines some of the key issues posed by the increasing skill base and associated knowledge of Health Professionals such as paramedics and why any KM approach needs to be aware of this in order to ensure optimal clinical practice.
Current Challenges in Empowering Clinicians to Utilize Technology
Authors: Roberts Jean M.
Published: May 2011

This chapter is designed to outline the current situation and challenges to successful deployment of technologies to support clinical activities. It utilises action research and cooperative enquiry within the community of practice. It is grounded in UK experiences but will have international resonance in many key areas. Increasingly members of the public are joining the clinical professions in using health data to maintain and improve health status of the individual; however this chapter predominantly focuses on catalysts and inhibitors to professional use. The second objective of this chapter is to consider the opportunities presented by emerging technologies, and restrictions to effective deployment such as cultural reluctance, ethical issues and privacy concerns. It is hoped that highlighting the key issues for consideration will reassure clinicians that they are faced with similar informatics challenges to all other in the health domain and that, for all, the benefits of persisting with utilising technology in support of their clinical work are considerable.
Challenges and Solutions in the Delivery of Clinical Cybersupervision
Authors: Miller Kenneth L. , Miller Susan M.
Published: May 2011

Supervision is both a special case of instruction and a critical aspect of professional development. The ongoing development of web-based infrastructures and communication tools provides opportunities for cybersupervision. Advantages of cybersupervision for counselor training include opportunities to provide location independent, “live” supervision of counseling sessions in which: (a) evaluative feedback is communicated in “real time” using text or graphical modalities; (b) audio evaluative feedback is digitally recorded in “real time” for post-session playback; and, (c) weekly, hour-long, supervision sessions are conducted using either synchronous (e.g., multifeatured video conferencing, chat room) or asynchronous (video recording, email) web-based communication tools. Challenges to quality online supervision include communicating critical supervisor characteristics, developing an effective supervisor/supervisee online relationship, insuring requisite personal dispositions and computer skills, implementing a theoretical model of supervision, and resolving legal and ethical problems. Authors examine these advantages, challenges, and solutions in the context of two online supervision/instructional models for training counselors (i.e., professional counselors, psychologists, clinical social workers, and psychiatrists) and discuss generalizability of the cybersupervision model for professional training in a variety of fields that include medicine, law, and education
Simulation Modeling as a Decision-Making Aid in Economic Evaluation for Randomized Clinical Trials
Authors: Eldabi Tillal , Macredie Robert D. , Paul Ray J.
Published: May 2011

This chapter reports on the use of simulation in supporting decision-making about what data to collect in a randomized clinical trial (RCT). We show how simulation also allows the identification of critical variables in the RCT by measuring their effects on the simulation model’s “behavior.” Healthcare systems pose many of the challenges, including difficulty in understanding the system being studied, uncertainty over which data to collect, and problems of communication between problem owners. In this chapter we show how simulation also allows the identification of critical variables in the RCT by measuring their effects on the simulation model’s “behavior.” The experience of developing the simulation model leads us to suggest simple but extremely valuable lessons. The first relates to the inclusion of stakeholders in the modeling process and the accessibility of the resulting models. The ownership and confidence felt by stakeholders in our case is, we feel, extremely important and may provide an example to others developing models.
How Human Technology Improve the Scheduling of Unplanned Surgical Cases
Authors: Fitzgerald Janna Anneke , Lum Martin , Dadich Ann
Published: May 2011

Human technology in health care includes managerial knowledge required to marshal a health care workforce, operate hospitals and equipment, obtain and administer funds, and, increasingly, identify and establish markets. In this article, the authors focus on human technology and improvement of decision-making processes in the context of operating theatre scheduling of unplanned surgical cases. Unplanned surgery refers to unscheduled and unexpected surgical procedures in distinction to planned, elective surgery. The management of unplanned surgery is a strategic function in hospitals with potential clinical, administrative, economical, social, and political implications. Making health care management decisions is complex due to the multidisciplinary and the multifocussed nature of decision-making processes. The complexity of multidisciplinary and multifocussed decision-making is further exacerbated by perceived professional identity differences. This article presents findings from interviews with doctors and nurses about the scheduling of unplanned surgical cases. The interviews focused on current decision- making determinants, the acceptability of using a model to guide decision-making, and enablers and barriers to implementing the model. The key finding was the limited practicality of a model to guide the scheduling of unplanned surgery. While it could guide decisions around clinical determinants, logistical determinants, and ideal timeframes, it would have difficulty reshaping inter- and intra-professional dynamics.
Standards and Guidelines Development in the American Telemedicine Association
Authors: Krupinski Elizabeth A. , Antoniotti Nina , Burdick Anne
Published: May 2011

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) was established in 1993 to promote access to medical care for consumers and health professionals via telecommunications technology. The ATA Standards and Guidelines Committee has been charged by the Board of Directors with identifying, overseeing, and assisting work groups to develop individual standards and guidelines for specific technical, clinical and administrative areas. This chapter will review the mission of the ATA Standards and Guidelines Committee, the process by which standards and guidelines documents are produced, and report on its progress to date in providing the telehealth community with standards and guidelines for the practicing medicine at a distance.
Novel Data Interface for Evaluating Cardiovascular Outcomes in Women
Authors: Villablanca Amparo C. , Baxi Hassan , Anderson Kent
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses critical success factors in the design, implementation, and utility of a new construct and interface for data transfer with broad applicability to clinical data set management. In the context of a data coordinating center for evaluating cardiovascular outcomes in high-risk women, we detail and provide a framework for bridging the gap between extensible markup language (XML) and XML schema definition file (XSD) in order to provide greater accessibility using visual basic for applications (VBA) and Excel. Applications and lessons learned are discussed in light of current challenges to healthcare information technology management and clinical data administration. The authors hope that this approach, as well as the logic utilized and implementation examples, will provide a user-friendly model for data management and relational database design that is replicable, flexible, understandable, and has broad utility to research professionals in healthcare.
Pulse!!
Authors: McDonald Claudia L. , Cannon-Bowers Jan , Bowers Clint
Published: May 2011

Pulse!! The Virtual Clinical Learning Lab is designed to transfer and further develop state-of-the-art game design and technology to create subject matter for teaching critical thinking skills in experiential medical learning in virtual reality. The underlying design principles of Pulse!! include real-time feedback, repetitive practice, controlled environment, individualized learning, defined outcomes and educational validity. Pulse!! development incorporated evaluation issues early in the design cycle. The Pulse!! evaluation process ensures that the learning platform meets standards as rigorous as that required by military simulation systems and educational accrediting bodies. The Pulse!! method of case and technology development indicates that virtual-world educational platforms must be not only user-friendly, visually effective, interactively immersive and fluid but also procedurally rooted in curriculum, rich in readily-accessible information and cognizant of actual practice in the real world.
Optimizing Resource Consumption for Secure Messaging in Resource Constrained Networks
Authors: Haleem P. P. Abdul , Sebastian M. P.
Published: May 2011

Conservation of resources such as bandwidth, energy and memory are of a concern in Resource Constrained Networks (RCNs). Wireless mobile devices, especially low cost devices are stifled by the limited resources such as battery power, screen size, input, memory and processors. The low cost wireless mobile devices penetrating the developing world market demand for a cost effective messaging format that fits within the constrained wireless environment. Reduction of verbosity is considered to be one of the most effective steps in controlling the resource consumption in RCNs. This chapter presents a method for optimizing resource consumption by the use of a new messaging format with less verbosity. The proposed format is based on YAML Ain´t Markup Language (YAML), which is further enhanced with message level security specifications.
Performance Enhancement of Routing Protocols in Mobile Ad hoc Networks
Authors: Mnif Kais , Kadoch Michel
Published: May 2011

This paper proposes to use virtual backbone structure to handle control messages in ad hoc networks. This structure is effective in reducing the overhead of disseminating control information. In the first part, the approach to build the virtual backbone on the setup phase is presented. The construction of backbone is based on the Minimum Connected Dominating Set (MCDS). The novelty is in the way on finding the MCDS. A Linear Programming approach is used to build a Minimum Dominating Set (MDS). Then, a spanning tree algorithm is applied to provide the MCDS. A theoretical analysis based on probabilistic approach is developed to evaluate the size of MCDS. Different techniques of diffusion in ad hoc networks are presented and compared. The flooding technique is simple and efficient, but it is expensive in term of bandwidth consumption and causes broadcast storm problem. Simulation results show that technique using virtual backbone performs flooding and it is compared to MPR (Multipoint Relay). The second part of this paper presents a distributed procedure to maintain the backbone when the mobility of terminals is introduced. A maintenance procedure will be executed by the node which changes its position. This procedure is distributed and guarantees the node connectivity to the backbone. The authors believe that the maintenance of the backbone with small size will be more effective. Simulation results show the performance of this procedure when mobility and scalability are considered.
Throughput Optimization of Cooperative Teleoperated UGV Network
Authors: Abualhaol Ibrahim Y. , Matalgah Mustafa M.
Published: May 2011

Cooperative communications among group of teleoperated unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) allows to exploit spatial diversity in wireless fading channels by relaying signals between each other. Due to the high speed of the UGVs, the nature of the channel environments and the possible co-channel interference, the effect of multipath propagation and the Doppler spread are more pronounced. In this article, we proposed a low complexity dynamic channel assignment (DCA) technique with adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) strategy to allocate the available bandwidth over a number of communications links in a cooperative UGV network. In many processing algorithms and transmission protocols reported in the literature, performance improvement in terms of system throughput and reliability has been demonstrated. The proposed DCA with AMC in a cooperative UGV network has two objectives. First, to maximize the overall throughput of the cooperative UGV network and second, to significantly reduce the probability of outage in the system. In this article, the outage is defined as the percentage of time the links are incapable of supporting a minimum required transmission rate which is determined by the application. The DCA approach is formulated in terms of a binary optimization problem that is solved using the branch-and-bound method. The authors assum the links in the network to be Rayleigh faded and we used a finite state Markov chain (FSMC) for their modeling. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we showed that the proposed DCA approach in a cooperative UGVs provides significant gain in the overall throughput and reduction in the outage probability compared to the static channel assignment (SCA).
A Qualitative Resource Utilization Benchmarking for Mobile Applications
Authors: Rawassizadeh Reza , Anjomshoaa Amin , Tjoa A Min
Published: May 2011

There are many mobile applications currently available on the market, which have been developed specifically for smart phones. The operating system of these smart phones is flexible enough to facilitate the high level application development. Similar to other pervasive devices, mobile phones suffer from limited amount of resources. These resources vary from the power (battery) consumption to the network bandwidth consumption. In this research the mobile resources are identified and classified. Furthermore, a monitoring approach to measure resource utilization is proposed. This monitoring tool generates traces about the resource usage which is followed by a benchmarking model which studies monitoring traces and enables users to extract qualitative information about the application from quantitative trace of resource usage.
Evaluating E-Communities of Wireless Networks Worldwide
Authors: Kavaliotis Theodoros I. , Economides Anastasios A.
Published: May 2011

Many people communicate among themselves using wireless networks. They have developed e-communities in order to discuss issues about their network development, problems, opportunities, and wireless technology advances among others. The purpose of this article is to present an evaluation framework and analyze the current status of such Electronic Communities of Wireless Networks (ECWNs) in four continents: Africa, America, Europe and Oceania. The evaluation framework contains fifty criteria categorized into four categories: 1) Usability, 2) Technical Characteristics, 3) Community’s Commitment, and 4) Members’ Commitment. Then, fifty-seven ECWNs were evaluated using these criteria. The results show that there are large differences among ECWNs with respect to the forum structure, archives accessibility, interactivity, services, members’ commitment, participation and relationships. In most ECWNs, two major drawbacks are the lack of online forums and a newsletter service. Finally, suggestions are made in order to improve current ECWNs. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]
A Secure and Trustworthy Framework for Mobile Agent-Based E-Marketplace with Digital Forensics and Security Protocols
Authors: Wei Qi , Patel Ahmed
Published: May 2011

Mobile agents raise security issues such as the protection of platform/host that runs the mobile agent against attacks which can harm or use its resources without permission, and another is the need for protection to guard mobile agents and their supporting systems against the malicious attacks from a variety of intervening sources that might alter information it carries and processes when it visits the hosts in its transactions itineraries. In this article, the authors propose a framework which includes safe, secure, trusted and auditable services, as well as forensic mechanisms to provide audit trails for digital evidence of transactions and protection against illegal activities. The proposed framework and protocols provide a secure communication for mobile agents when they move to different security environments to deal with e-marketplace activities such as search information, negotiation and payments. This article is concluded by highlighting and discussing further research work to build viable systems.
Character Animation
Authors: Orvalho Verónica Costa , Orvalho João
Published: May 2011

Character Animation has a crucial role in modern videogames: it is essential to provide a realistic and immersive experience to the users. This chapter presents the main problems when preparing characters for animation, describes current solutions, and discusses published research and future directions in the fields of character rigging and animation. Its main focus is on facial animation, which is the key element to convey emotion and personality to a 3D character. It also describes a system we have developed and used on several productions, capable of automatically transfer the facial rig and animations between characters. After reading this chapter, you should have an understanding of the complexity involved in character animation process, especially of the face, and the reasons why it remains a challenge.
Enhancing Online Games with Agents
Authors: Poggi Agostino
Published: May 2011

Online games have grown during recent years into a popular entertainment form with a wide variety of games and player communities spread across the world. Such games have, as the most important requirements, to be ease-of-use, to induce newbies to play, and to maintain the game hard to master, to induce players to play for a long time. Moreover, given that a large set of them are based on the competition of (often numerous) teams of players and/or non-player character, then the use of smart and effective coordination techniques is indispensable for their development. Agent technologies can be considered a suitable solution for coping with the previous requirements. In fact, their learning and coordination capabilities make them the right means for both realizing online games and supporting players in all the operation that are necessary to play a game. The goal of this chapter is to describe the main reasons for which multi-agent systems are considered one of the most interesting technologies for the development of online games and for providing the most appropriate services to maintain game communities. It particular, this chapter introduces JADE, a software framework designed to aid the development of multi-agent applications, and shows how it can be used for the realization of online games that want both to be accessible through heterogeneous network and devices and to provide a smart set of services for their game communities.
Once Upon a Time
Authors: Smed Jouni
Published: May 2011

Interactive digital storytelling (IDS) aims at generating dramatically compelling stories based on the user’s input. During the two decades of research, IDS has promised to change the way computer games tell stories. This chapter reviews the theory behind IDS as well as the current state of IDS research and studies whether – and how – IDS can improve storytelling in computer games.
Playing with Violence
Authors: Arriaga Patrícia , Gaspar Augusta , Esteves Francisco
Published: May 2011

This chapter intends to contribute to the clarification of the controversy surrounding the short-term effects of playing violent games [VG] on aggressive and prosocial behavior, aggressive thoughts, feelings, and physiological measures. An updated review of research on the effects of playing VG on the main variables under analysis is reviewed and some theoretical approaches, as well as methodological concerns, are addressed. Finally, questions that remain unanswered are discussed and future areas of research in this area are suggested.
Application of Serious Games in Industrial Contexts
Authors: Duin Heiko , Hauge Jannicke Baalsrud , Hunecker Felix , Thoben Klaus-Dieter
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes application areas for serious games in the context of such CNOs. A classification scheme for serious games has been developed based on two different approaches: one based on a process framework, the other one based on a game genome approach. Both are applied on a number of known serious games with the objective to identify uncovered areas and gaps. These gaps represent new opportunities for the application of serious games which has not yet been realised.
New Business Models for the Computer Gaming Industry
Authors: Heitmann Martin , Tidten Kay
Published: May 2011

Nowadays, managers in the computer and video gaming industry are forced to reevaluate their companies’ strategic position within the value-added chain, as traditional business models show a tendency to erode. While there are some striking parallels to the music industry, like facing the threat of acts of piracy, indicating what future developments might be expected, there are also best practice examples from the computer and video gaming industry to learn from. Thus, it is imperative to have a look at the changes in competitive settings within this industry and analyze adequate examples regarding how to setup new profitable business models. In order to evaluate the changed business models in a meaningful way a systematic approach is advisable. Therefore, a short ontology of business models is given first, supporting the illustration of recent developments in the industry and which will guide the presentation of selective cases. Three major implications for managers in the computer and video gaming industry will be identified. These include a need to centralize the game experience, a stronger shift towards online distribution channels and the development of a collective sense of identity by target communities.
Business Opportunities in Social Virtual Worlds
Authors: Pannicke Danny , Repschläger Jonas , Zarnekow Rüdiger
Published: May 2011

Virtual worlds enable new ways to create value. Recent examples from Second Life – a virtual world run by Linden Lab – have demonstrated how firms can use this technology to get in touch with customers and provide value to them. This chapter aims at giving an overview of upcoming business opportunities in social virtual worlds. For this purpose, the platform service offered by Linden Lab is analysed first. In the second step, the value creation potential is differentiated into four areas: 1. community-related business models which are comprised of the creation and maintenance of a social system with specific processes; 2. commerce business models which refer to initiation, negotiation and processing of transactions; 3. context business models which add value by supporting navigation and orientation; and finally, 4. content business models which refer to production and preparation of digital content such as avatars, virtual locations and artefacts. The business opportunities of each area are analysed with regard to case examples from Second Life. The chapter concludes with some business implications in order to help practitioners find their way into this new business medium.
Games Development for Pedagogical and Educational Purposes
Authors: Carvalho Vitor , Leão Celina Pinto , Soares Filomena , Cruz-Cunha Maria Manuela
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents a research developed in collaboration by two higher education institutions. Nowadays, high education programs can only be successful with the use of new technologies in the teaching/learning process, especially when there are special education requirements. Two experiments were carried out: (1) a set of billiard balls, for snooker game, simulated by using physics laws and, (2) aLJo 2009, a game whose aim is to achieve the correct sorting of a sequence to accomplish a common task. Both projects were developed by students from University of Minho (UM), with different background and from different engineering courses. The snooker game, an academic project, aims to demonstrate that, through a simple game, several areas of knowledge can be used. On the other hand, aLJo 2009 was developed considering a collaboration protocol between UM and the Parents and Friends Association of the Citizen with Mental Deficiency (APPCDM), to improve behavior and social skills in patients with mental impairments.
Multi-Vocality and Post-Processualism as Methodological Assets of the ’Collaboration Game’
Authors: Karagiannidis C. , Efraimidou S. , Koumpis A.
Published: May 2011

In recent years the gap between educational theory and practice has been closing, but although there have been calls for ‘reflexivity’, there has been little critical examination of its meanings. Proposed reflexive methodologies still perpetuate many traditional hierarchies, and fail to consider the creative nature of the educational process as such. Much research work also takes place within the commercial sphere, and post-processual ideas cannot advance educational practice unless they can be implemented in some type of an e-learning system. In our Chapter we examine theoretical considerations of reflexivity, representation, subjectivity and experiential engagement to highlight their relevance to everyday educational practice, and their potential to undermine existing suboptimalities in the classroom.
The Pedagogical Potential of MMOG
Authors: Gomes Tiago , Carvalho Ana A.
Published: May 2011

The results showed that all of the four analyzed games are motivating for the players, they have some pedagogical potential related to problem solving, and they improve communication and interaction skills. But the majority of the players felt some difficulties in accepting that they could transfer those developed skills to their scholar or professional life.
Creating Computer Games for Class Instruction
Authors: Yu Chien , Olinzock Anthony
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to provide the classroom teachers with the basic tools and fundamentals necessary to create instructional games targeted to specific courses and/or instructional objectives. By discussing the trends and issues related to today’s teaching and learning environment, the authors review the benefits of using educational games in classrooms, and provide some strategies and guidelines for creating computer games for classroom instruction. Along with discussing the fundamental issues and considerations, the authors discuss some of the challenges and impact of computer games in classrooms. Additional examples drawn from literature are also included to illustrate the use of games in education and the strategies of effective instruction.
Business Simulators for Business Education and Research
Authors: Borrajo Fernando , Bueno Yolanda , Fernández Fernando , García Javier , de Pablo Isidro , Sagredo Ismael , Santos Begoña
Published: May 2011

Thus, SIMBA opens up a wide field of research between Artificial Intelligence and Business Management aimed at developing efficient intelligent agents humans can compete with.
Educational Games
Authors: Mester Gyula , Molcer Piroska Stanic , Delic Vlado
Published: May 2011

The market favors the best-selling computer games regardless of their social and educational effects. This chapter will discuss the present trends in educational games development, technologies related to them as well as their features, through representative examples of games used for education with respect to pedagogical, business, and social aspects. Benefits and limitations of introducing games in education will be pointed out. Computer games for the disabled along with their pedagogical and social effects will be presented. Recent research results on the implementation of video games in schools and educational game evaluation will be presented in the chapter, based on the experience in the development, implementation, and evaluation of several interactive e-learning educational exercises, as well as in the development and validation of several innovative computer games for the visually impaired.
EDI and the Promise of Portals for Internet Business Use
Authors: Adamson Greg
Published: May 2011

The Internet promised a lot for enterprises from 1995. The Internet’s ubiquity offered inter-company connectivity (previously provided to corporations by Electronic Data Interchange) for businesses of every size. The business-to-business (B2B) trading exchange concept emerged, 10,000 B2B exchanges were anticipated. Early Internet investment then struck an unexpected hurdle: the Internet didn’t inherently support many of the key requirements for business transactions (such as reliability, confidentiality, integrity, authentication of parties). These requirements added to the cost and complexity of Internet investment. The dot-com stock market crash affected all Internet-related initiatives. But while the B2B exchanges disappeared, other initiatives more aligned to user needs and the Internet’s architecture continued to grow. These included the enterprise portal, which supports the traditional single-business-centred customer relationship model, in contrast to the business disruptive B2B exchange model.
Every Need to be Alarmed
Authors: Young Ed
Published: May 2011

Demand for contemporary IT systems to support chronic availability, expansive integration and extensibility has never been greater. Distributed infrastructures and particularly, the advent of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) introduce new challenges for meeting these demands. Despite architectural conventions to prescribe a common structure and simplifed approach, these systems are becoming more complex, heterogeneous and critical. Comprehensive System Management is no longer a luxury. Faults and potential failures have to be identified, isolated and addressed, and ideally pre-emptively. Our front-line indicators are alarms
Service Oriented Architecture Conceptual Landscape PART II
Authors: Young Ed
Published: May 2011

Contemporary architectural approach is for an orchestrated, agnostic, federated enterprise through the adoption of loosely-coupled open Service interfaces. The Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) paradigm unifies dis­parate, heterogeneous technologies. It resurrects legacy technology silos with a Service ‘face-lift’ while maintaining their autonomy. Somewhat in its infancy as standards and methodologies are evaluated and adopted, the differences between theory and praxis of SOA remain to be fully de­termined, predominately due to the size and complexity of the conundrum it addresses.
Case Study
Authors: Worley Brenton , Adamson Greg
Published: May 2011

In the commercial world, SOA implementation practitioners are finding a gulf between tools, whether vendor-based or open source, and the practical first needs of customers. Future-facing tool developers are addressing problems of orchestration to achieve the SOA promise. Most corporations, however, have not yet established either the services to be abstracted, or the governance requirements around exposing those services, such as the right level of service granularity. This case study is based on recent experience in the utility and retail sectors. The drivers for each are compelling: a business-driven need for IT flexibility. Examples are provided to show that customers in both sectors need to develop their architecture and governance before attempting to choose the right tools. Confusion also exists between tools and off-the-shelf solutions in the SOA environment. The challenge of agile approach for SOA development is also examined.
Mobilising the Enterprise
Authors: Young Ed
Published: May 2011

This article examines current mobile Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) research concerns and presents approaches to the challenges of enterprise support for mobility.
Evaluating Students’ Perceptions of Interactive Response System (IRS)
Authors: Liu Ying Chieh
Published: May 2011

A classroom interactive technology, Interactive Response System (IRS) such as NXTudy, is getting popular in the campus. However, little research has explored how students feel regarding to using IRS, and less solid models have been established to depict students’ behaviors systematically. This study develops a model to formulate university students’ perceptions, attitudes and actionable feedback in terms of using IRS by extending Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A survey was conducted to examine the proposed model and confirm the factor “perceived usefulness” is the most important factor. Instructors should explain the importance of using technology before the class starts and repeat the benefits constantly to enhance students’ understandings, making students realize the usefulness of the technology to raise their intention to use, satisfaction and the willingness of recommending others to use the technology.
Social Networks and Students’ Ethical Behavior
Authors: Leonard Lori N.K. , Manly Tracy S.
Published: May 2011

Social networking sites are prevalent among young adults. College students in particular are utilizing these sites to keep in contact with friends and to make new friends. However, with the positives of social networking, there are also negatives. Students can provide too much personal information online, engage in inappropriate conversations, scrutinize other students, ridicule peers, and so forth. Because of the impersonal environment that technology creates, an individual’s normal behavior can change which leads to a change in his/her basic ethical structure. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a discussion of the changing ethical structure of students, as well as an examination of the ways to teach ethics, given those changes. The chapter also includes a discussion of four classical ethical theories that should be considered when discussing or teaching social networking. Future research directions are also given.
The Protocols of Privileged Information Handling in an E-Health Context
Authors: Fernando Juanita
Published: May 2011

Health authorities need to review the privacy and security of real-life work contexts before pioneering new, privileged information handling protocols as a foundation of a new national e-health scheme.