bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Super-Sized Fandom
Authors: Kirk Andrew J.
Published: May 2011

This chapter looks at “A Day in the Life of Miss McDonald”—a photography exhibit produced in the Philippines and disseminated online—to discuss how globalization, coupled with advances in Internet technologies, has transformed the manner in which popular culture acquires meaning. In sum, these advances have allowed fans to wrangle control of the meanings bestowed to popular culture artifacts back from dominant producers, regardless of national origin. This chapter begins by examining traditional conceptualizations of popular culture before discussing how globalization and consumers like Miss McDonald have helped fans become original meaning makers rather than the meaning re-makers, always necessarily limited by the control of the producers. The case of Miss McDonald offers a useful point of entry for understanding popular culture’s past as well as its global future.
Public Discourses on the Korean Wave in Taiwan
Authors: Lin Lihyun
Published: May 2011

Recently, Korean dramas have won popularity in East Asia and provoked public discussions in newspaper forums in Taiwan. This chapter analyzes how the interpretive communities have formed their interpretive frameworks, what they have conceived from the Korean Wave and what policy implications have been drawn. According to the analysis, the dominant discourse is economic nationalism – while Korea has become a developed country, Taiwan should learn from Koran and catch up in this global competition. Imbedded in internal politics, different interpretative communities have learned different lessons from Korea. The pro-unification (with China) camp claimed that Taiwan should reduce local colors and open trade with China. The pro-(Taiwan) independence camp claimed that Taiwan should enhance national identity. The media reform group claimed that Taiwan should establish a strong public service broadcaster like the Korean counterparts. Based on this study, this chapter suggests that public discourses should address media problems in order to enhance communication at home and abroad.
BAM
Authors: Schweibenz Werner , Sieglerschmidt Jörn
Published: May 2011

Starting from cultural heritage initiatives of the European Union and cultural portals such as the European Digital Library Europeana and the future German Digital Library, the paper presents BAM, the joint portal for libraries, archives, museums in Germany which is currently the only portal for cultural content. since the German Digital Library is not yet online. The goal of BAM is to provide access to and increase the visibility of German cultural content on the Web. To do so the portal directs users from the list of results on the BAM website to the digital object on the participating institution’s website. In addition, an alliance was formed with Wikipedia Germany to offer the possibility to link directly from an article’s web link section to the results of a corresponding BAM search. Moreover, organizational, technical and content related issues of BAM are described. Finally, future research directions for cultural portals are indicated.
User Centered Technologies, Serious Games and Learning
Authors: Conti Giuseppe , De Amicis Raffaele , Girardi Gabrio , Andreolli Michele
Published: May 2011

The widespread adoption of IT technologies by cultural heritage (CH) has transformed how cultural heritage is presented both to experts and the broad public. In the last few years a large number of multimedia applications, including virtual and augmented reality simulations, have been proposed by researchers and industry alike. However some of these technologies struggle to achieve mass diffusion, most probably due to limitations of their interfaces. Conversely, the recent widespread success of both serious games and mobile applications are laying the foundations for true extensive access to digital information on cultural heritage, creating new possibilities. This chapter illustrates this technological trend, highlighting their potential effects on the public and discussing a number of emerging scenarios of interest for the cultural heritage domain.
Inspiring Personal and Social Transformation through Avatar Role Play in an Online Immersive Virtual Environment
Authors: Seo Kay Kyeongju , Tindall Dana A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the use of educational role play in the online immersive virtual environment (IVE) as a means of social and personal transformation aimed toward positive outcomes in social and cultural sensitivity online and in the real world. Characteristics of the IVE online, its parallels to real life, educational typologies, and norms are discussed as well as its flexible attributes for specific use in the role play context. Strategies for creating and facilitating a role play and examples of role play activities adapted for the IVE are also described.
A New Perspective of the Intellectual Capital Dynamics in Organizations
Authors: Bratianu Constantin
Published: May 2011

Most pioneers of the intellectual capital studies developed static models able to describe the structure and the operational power of this new concept. Their contributions have been based on individual experience of dealing with tangible assets. According to these models, there is no time variable in the intellectual capital interpretation, and therefore there is no change or transformation. Intellectual capital is considered a stock with the following generic structure: human capital, structural capital, and relational capital. The purpose of this chapter is to present a dynamic model of the organizational intellectual capital, based on a new concept of integrators, and a new functional structure. Integrators are powerful fields of forces acting upon the employees of a company in order to generate synergy. Among the most important integrators we may think of leadership, management, processes and organizational culture. The new structure is based on knowledge, intelligences and values, as independent basic building blocks.
Intangible Assets and Company Succession
Authors: Durst Susanne
Published: May 2011

A successful company succession depends on a multitude of different aspects. In the case of external succession, certainly, the available funds represent a critical factor. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the decision to acquire a company is based on other factors as well. This chapter rests upon the hypothesis that a potential external successor will be only interested in those companies offering promising prospects. Thus, it is expected that the decision to takeover a company is rooted in the target firm’s inherent intangible assets which justify a financial investment in return. Data are collected through interviews with eight external successors from Germany who pursued buy-in respectively buy-out initiatives in small and medium-sized enterprises. The study’s findings highlight those intangible assets that are regarded as critical in the external succession process. This helps us to obtain a more complete picture about the issue of company succession.
Smaller Heroes I Didn’t See
Authors: Shea Brendan O
Published: May 2011

The theme of this chapter explores aspects of professional blindness in the family practice setting. The exploration uses the vehicle of an exercise in practice audit, which resulted in a more meaningful level of interaction between the GP and a particular group of individuals in his practice. What set out as a quantitative exercise in audit inadvertently threw up valuable qualitative insights and reflections on how this family doctor had previously viewed this group of individuals in the past, and more importantly, would do so in the future. In particular, the exercise challenges us to look for and see the ambitions and hopes of those individuals who attend us for medical care, in order to properly respect these important aspects of their humanity, and to assist us in more easily rising beyond the confines unwittingly imposed and accepted by a passive acceptance of disease defined horizons and the medical model. The audit outcomes include improved levels of achievement in the relevant markers of good care, easily and unremarkably measurable in the standard manner. A key outcome, rather more difficult to measure, included an increased respect and recognition of the difficulties, efforts, challenges, fears, hopes and varied realities experienced by this most particular group of eclectically selected individuals.
Coordination of a Supply Chain with Demand Stimulation and Random Demand Disruption
Authors: Xiao Tiaojun , Luo Jia , Jin Jiao
Published: May 2011

This chapter develops a dynamic game model of a supply chain consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer to study the coordination mechanism and the effect of demand disruption on the coordination mechanism, where the market demand is sensitive to retail price and service. We assume that the supplier and the retailer only know the distribution of the disrupted amount after the demand disruption and they share the quantity deviation costs. We find that an all-unit wholesale quantity discount-subsidy mechanism can coordinate the supply chain. We give the coordination mechanism of the supply chain after the demand disruption and find that the demand disruption remarkably influences the price-service level decisions of the centralized supply chain and the coordination mechanism of the decentralized supply chain. In particular, the expected quantity differs from the planned quantity although the penalty costs prevent from this deviation.
Optimal Pricing Strategies for an Inventory System with Perishable Items and Waiting Time Dependent Order Cancellations
Authors: Thangam A. , Uthayakumar R.
Published: May 2011

Although many researchers have studied inventory models for perishable items, the situation of advance sales, spot sales and order cancellations have not been addressed so far. However, this problem arises in a variety of industries including the sales of fashion garments, flight seats and hotel rooms. In this article, we deal with an inventory system in which sales cycle is divided into an advance sales period and a spot sales period. We consider order cancellation effect which depends on the waiting time of the customer orders. The goal is to determine the optimal order quantity and optimal prices in order to maximize the profit. We also show the concavity of the profit function using mathematical lemmas and theorem. Besides we develop a solution procedure which computes optimal policy effectively. Finally we present the results of numerical study for linear and exponential demand functions.
Educational Technology in the Medical Industry
Authors: Hopper Keith B. , Johns Carol L.
Published: May 2011

The enormous U.S. medical industry is a rich laboratory and think tank for technology integration. Higher education in the medical industry is comprised of a large number of professional training programs as well as formidable continuing medical education. Continuing education for medical professionals is inconsistent and flawed. Technology integration in medical fields has mirrored the false starts and frustrations seen generally in higher education. There are promising areas of investigation such as high-fidelity patient simulators and incorporation of wireless handheld devices for point-of-care reference information and best practices. Widespread adoption of electronic medical records may allow medical education researchers to link instructional practices to eventual patient outcomes, with implications for higher education.
Integrating XML Technologies and Open Source Software for Personalization in E-Learning
Authors: Lee Hsun-Ming , Davis Robert A. , Chi Yu-Liang
Published: May 2011

E-learning that emphasizes learner-centered activity and system interactivity provides a pedagogic opportunity to deliver a context for individual learning options. In the past decade, e-catalog standards based on learning object models have facilitated the design of e-learning systems. This study addresses issues for e-learning in a professional setting to foster the development of computer skills in students. In particular, personalized templates generated according to student and learning object models are proposed for instructors to provide practice exercises. Standardized XML technologies and open source software are integrated to create information filters and user interfaces to achieve personalization. The students use open source software that acts as a new type of Web client other than a browser. A case study that applies personalized templates for the learning of computer programming students with different skill levels is presented.
Teaching with Technology
Authors: Wang Victor X.
Published: May 2011

Successful teaching with technology in adult education stems from many factors. Technology is only used to enhance learning. Not only are teachers of adult learners required to study the tools related to the use of technology, but are also required to study the nature of knowledge, the nature of learning, constructivism and various kinds of teaching philosophies. Without thorough knowledge of these factors, successful teaching with technology cannot occur in adult education, let alone other educational fields. This article is comprehensive concerning successful teaching with technology in adult education because it also addresses the interrelationships between the use of technologies and the teaching and learning process.
A Multiple Case Study on Integrating IT Infrastructures in the Public Domain
Authors: Kamal Muhammad Mustafa
Published: May 2011

Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are complex organisations whose heterogeneous operational structures can be greatly enhanced by effectively using of Information Technology (IT) to support improvements in the quality of services offered to citizens. While the benefits of IT cannot be disputed, there are several concerns about its success as LGAs are confronted with the challenges of synchronising their cross-departmental business processes and integrating autonomous IS. This article examines a potentially important area of IT infrastructure integration in LGAs through Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). The adoption of EAI solutions is a burgeoning phenomenon across several private and public organisations. Nevertheless, where EAI has added efficacy to the IT infrastructures in the private domain, LGAs have also been slow in adopting cost-effective EAI solutions. The shortage of research studies on EAI adoption in LGAs presents a knowledge gap that needs to be plugged. The research methodology followed consisted of an in-depth analysis of two case studies by using the research tools of interviews, observation and referring to archival documents. This research is timely as the demand for integrated service delivery increases, the issues of harmonising business processes and integrating IS becomes pertinent. The conclusion and lessons that can be learnt from this research is that integrating IT infrastructures through EAI achieves significant efficiency in delivering end-to-end integrated electronic Government (e-Government) services.
New Directions for IT Governance in the Brazilian Government
Authors: Marzullo Fabio Perez , Moreira de Souza Jano
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents an IT Governance Framework and a Competency Model that was developed to identify the intellectual capital and the strategic actions needed to implement an efficient IT Governance programme in Brazilian Government Offices. This work is driven by the premise that the human assets of an organization should adhere to a set of core competencies in order to prioritize and achieve business goals that, when seen from a government perspective are related to public resources management. IT Governance may help the organization to succeed in its business domain; consequently, through effective investment policies and strategic decisions on IT assets, the organization can come up with a business-IT alignment proposal, capable of enabling and achieving highly integrated business services.
Attending to Temporal Assumptions May Enrich Autonomous Agent Computer Simulations
Authors: Koehler Gus
Published: May 2011

Agent-based computer simulations use agents on landscapes to investigate epidemics, social phenomena, decision making, supply networks, the behavior of biological systems, and physical and chemical processes, among other things. This essay examines how agents and landscapes are oriented in time and this orientation’s relevance to observing and interpreting findings. I argue that the proposed temporal deepening of how simulations are constructed involving interaction of multiple temporalities (itself a kind of temporality) could lead to the unexpected triggering of cascades of secondary emergences. Such cascades may already be there but going unobserved. Buddhist cosmology is briefly used as a contrast with current simulation temporal orientations to illuminate key points. Katherine Hayles’s work on media, my theoretical work on time-ecologies and heterochrony, and J. T. Fraser’s theory of the nested hierarchy of time and associated causalities are used to explore these issues.
On the Reliability of Post-CMOS and SET systems
Authors: Stanisavljevic Milos , Schmid Alexandre , Leblebici Yusuf
Published: May 2011

The necessity of applying fault-tolerant techniques to increase the reliability of future nano-electronic systems is an undisputed fact, dictated by the high density of faults that will plague the chips. The averaging and thresholding fault-tolerant technique that has proven remarkable efficiency in CMOS is presented for SET-based designs. Computer simulations demonstrate the superiority of this fault-tolerant technique over other methods, which is specifically the case when an adaptable threshold is used.
A Neuromorphic Single-Electron Circuit for Noise-Shaping Pulse-Density Modulation
Authors: Kikombo Andrew Kilinga , Asai Tetsuya , Oya Takahide , Schmid Alexandre , Leblebici Yusuf , Amemiya Yoshihito
Published: May 2011

We propose a bio-inspired circuit performing pulse-density modulation with single-electron devices. The proposed circuit consists of three single-electron neuronal units, receiving the same input and are connected to a common output. The output is inhibitorily fedback to the three neuronal circuits through a capacitive coupling. The circuit performance was evaluated through Monte-Carlo based computer simulations. We demonstrated that the proposed circuit possesses noise-shaping characteristics, where signal and noises are separated into low and high frequency bands respectively. This significantly improved the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by 4.34 dB in the coupled network, as compared to the uncoupled one. The noise-shaping properties are as a result of i) the inhibitory feedback between the output and the neuronal circuits, and ii) static noises (originating from device fabrication mismatches) and dynamic noises (as a result of thermally induced random tunneling events) introduced into the network.
Fine Control and Selection of Travelling Waves in Inorganic Pattern Forming Reactions
Authors: Costello B. P. J. de Lacy , Armstrong J. , Jahan I. , Ratcliffe N. M.
Published: May 2011

Under normal reaction conditions [AlCl3 0.28-0.34M and NaOH 2.5M A.Volford et al.] spontaneous spiral and circular travelling precipitate waves were observed. We constructed a phase diagram for the reaction and identified a large controllable region at lower aluminium chloride levels. We show that it is possible to selectively initiate travelling circular waves and other self-organised structures within this controllable region. In previous work initiation was undertaken before adding the outer electrolyte resulting in disorganised waves. However, marking the gel one minute after adding outer electrolyte resulted in cardioid waves. Increasing the time interval to two minutes caused a transition to single circular waves. If the gel is marked sequentially nested circular waves (target waves) are formed. These reactions were used to calculate simple and additively weighted Voronoi tessellations. The fine control of self-organisation in precipitation reactions is of interest for the synthesis of novel and functional materials.
Multi-User Virtual Environments for Learning Meet Learning Management
Authors: Livingstone Daniel , Kemp Jeremy , Edgar Edmund , Surridge Chris , Bloomfield Peter
Published: May 2011

Alongside the growth of interest in Games-Based Learning, there has been a notable explosion of interest in the use of 3D graphical multi-user virtual environments (MUVE) for learning. Platforms such as Second Life® or alternatives (Theresm, Active Worlds, OpenCroquet, and so on) have potential for online tuition in ways quite different from those offered by traditional Web-based Virtual Learning Environments (VLE, a.k.a. Learning Management System or LMS). The Sloodle project is working to integrate Second Life with the Moodle VLE – and to investigate how this might support learning and teaching with the Second Life platform. Second Life can be considered as a 3D client for Moodle learning activities, while a complimentary view is to consider Moodle as a back-end for Second Life learning activities – enabling virtual world learning activities integrated with Web-based class lists and grade books. The authors close by considering future directions and applications.
Designing Animated Simulations and Web-Based Assessments to Improve Electrical Engineering Education
Authors: Holton Douglas L. , Verma Amit
Published: May 2011

Over the past decade, our research group has uncovered more evidence about the difficulties undergraduate students have understanding electrical circuit behavior. This led to the development of an AC/DC Concept Inventory instrument to assess student understanding of these concepts, and various software tools have been developed to address the identified difficulties students have when learning about electrical circuits. In this chapter two software tools in particular are discussed, a web-based dynamic assessment environment (Inductor) and an animated circuit simulation (Nodicity). Students showed gains over time when using Inductor, and students using the simulation showed significant improvements on half of the questions in the AC/DC Concept Inventory. The chapter concludes by discussing current and future work focused on creating a more complete, well-rounded circuits learning environment suitable for supplementing traditional circuits instruction. This in-progress work includes the use of a contrasting cases strategy that presents pairs of simulated circuit problems, as well as the design of an online learning community in which teachers and students can share their work.
Stochastic Modeling of Narrowband Fading Channels with Three Dimensional Diffuse Scattering
Authors: Karadimas Petros
Published: May 2011

This chapter studies a composite stochastic model, in which the diffuse component arises from three dimensional (3-D) multipath scattering. That case occurs especially in dense scattering environments, in which the tall obstacles cause arrival of multipath power in the elevation plane, besides that arriving in the azimuth one. Also the multipath components are assumed to arrive at the mobile receiver in specific angular sectors at the azimuth receiver’s plane. The last is physically justified by multipath power blocking due to the channel obstacles (shadow fading), or/and lack of scattering objects at specific angular directions, or/and directional antennas utilization. An extended Suzuki model, where the Rician process for the diffuse scattering component is multiplied by a lognormal one, is considered as an appropriate composite model. The most important metrics of the model are presented, according to its assumptions. More specifically, from the closed form autocorrelation function, the Doppler power spectral density (PSD) of the diffuse component can be analytically derived. Afterwards exact solutions for the envelope and phase probability density functions (PDF’s) are presented. Exact solutions are also derived for the second order statistics, i.e. the level crossing rate (LCR) and the average duration of fades (ADF’s). An efficient deterministic simulation scheme will be presented, which implements the analytical model on a digital computer. Finally a curve fitting of the LCR to real world data, drawn from channel measurements, will demonstrate the flexibility and usefulness of the extended Suzuki model.
Informal Adult Learning in Simulated and Virtual Environments
Authors: Bennett Elisabeth E.
Published: May 2011

Sophisticated uses of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have enabled informal learning in simulated and virtual environments. This chapter proposes a four-part informal learning model and explores adult learning in simulated and virtual environments, namely Inter/Intranets, Simulation, and Robust Virtual Environments. The chapter discusses using logic models for assessment and describes future trends of informal learning mediated by ICTs.
Understanding User Behavior towards Passwords through Acceptance and Use Modelling
Authors: Novakovic Lee , McGill Tanya , Dixon Michael
Published: May 2011

The security of computer systems that store our data is a major issue facing the world. This research project investigated the roles of ease of use, facilitating conditions, intention to use passwords securely, experience and age on usage of passwords, using a model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Data was collected via an online survey of computer users, and analyzed using PLS. The results show there is a significant relationship between ease of use of passwords, intention to use them securely and the secure usage of passwords. Despite expectations, facilitating conditions only had a weak impact on intention to use passwords securely and did not influence actual secure usage. Computing experience was found to have an effect on intention to use passwords securely, but age did not. The results of this research lend themselves to assisting in policy design and better understanding user behavior.
Young People, Sexual Content and Solicitation Online
Authors: McAloney Kareena , Wilson Joanne E.
Published: May 2011

Young people can potentially be exposed to sexual material from a variety of sources, both accidentally and purposefully. One such source, the internet, plays host to a vast array of information and imagery, among which sexually explicit material and pornography are in high concentration. Indeed within this virtual catalogue of material it is possible to find both adult and child pornography, particularly if one is aware of the correct methods of accessing such content. This chapter provides an in-depth overview of current knowledge regarding young people’s exposure to and experiences of sexual material and sexual predators online, including those particular aspects of young people’s online interactions that make them vulnerable to receive unwanted sexual material and solicitation. The authors then discuss the use of the Internet for the sexual exploitation of children and young people both in the nature of sexual material to which they are exposed to online including the transmission of images of child pornography and molestation, the processes by which young people access sexual material online, the solicitation of children by sexual predators in targeting young people and how young people in turn come to interact with sexual predators online. Finally they address current mechanisms designed to protect children and young people as they engage in online activities.
E-Procurement Process
Authors: Renna Paolo , Argoneto Pierluigi
Published: May 2011

E-procurement transactions in Business to Business (B2B) environment showed a constant and positive trend in the last years. The most popular methodologies to support these tools are all related to dedicated protocols able to facilitate the agreements among customers and suppliers. This chapter proposes a Multi Agent Architecture integrated with several multi-attribute auction mechanisms specifically designed to support the e-procurement processes. Moreover, differently from other cases proposed in literature, the suppliers’ proposal formulation is strongly influenced by their production plans. A simulative environment has been developed in order to evaluate different performances: the customer and suppliers’ utilities, the profit distribution among the involved agents and the time necessary to reach an agreement. The mentioned approaches are compared with a negotiation process. The simulation results highlight the weakness and strength points of each auction protocol and why they can be considered as a relevant tool in B2B environments.
Search Engine Marketing in Small and Medium Companies
Authors: Alby Tom , Funk Burkhardt
Published: May 2011

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is one of the most effective online advertising channels which let companies efficiently acquire new and reactivate existing customers at low acquisition costs. In this chapter the authors briefly review the scientific literature on SEM with respect to managerial decision problems along the levers of SEM, mainly bid optimization, keyword selection, and adCopy creation. Based on a case study they discuss challenges of SEM campaigns operated by small and medium enterprises (SME). After briefly describing the technical requirements for effectively controlling SEM campaigns the authors focus on keyword selection and how to address the long tail issue in SEM. A/B-Tests are shown to be an appropriate measure for optimizing the combination of ad copies and landing pages. Finally they discuss bid optimization at a keyword level taking into account spill-over effects between keywords.
Use of Wikis for Enhancing E-Collaboration in Geographically-Dispersed Environments
Authors: Simha Anand , Kishore Rajiv
Published: May 2011

Information technology has radically altered corporate structures and the way work is transacted in corporate organizations. Firms are seeking to enhance their efficiency by themselves becoming more geographically dispersed and by availing of the benefits of outsourcing. Functional groups are becoming increasingly “virtual” and spatially dispersed; much of organizational interaction is now technology mediated. These trends in turn call for further technology innovations to facilitate communication and collaboration in such situations. Wiki-based systems are an emergent and promising platform for technology mediated interaction. In this study, we describe a Wiki-based system, delineate its major features, and compare it with other available communication technologies. We then examine how the use of Wiki-based systems can enhance communication and collaboration outcomes in the context of a collaborative task, requirements elicitation, chosen for this purpose since it is high value and demands intense interaction across functional domains. We present a model and develop an understanding of the manner in which specific Wiki features enhance three variables – media richness, contextual richness, and organizational memory – which in turn impact communication quality as well as requirements quality in terms of the clarity, completeness, and consistency of a requirements specification. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our study and of possible future research in this area.
Foundations of Trust for E-Health
Authors: Corritore Cynthia L. , Kracher Beverly , Wiedenbeck Susan , Marble Robert
Published: May 2011

Trust has always been an important element of healthcare. As healthcare evolves into ehealth, a question arises: What will the nature of trust be in ehealth? In this chapter the authors provide the reader with a foundation for considering this question from a research perspective. The authors focus on one ehealth domain: online websites. The chapter begins with a high-level overview of the body of offline trust research. Next, findings related to online trust are presented, along with a working definition. Trust research in the context of online health care is then examined, although this body of work is in its infancy. A detailed discussion of our research in the area of online trust is then presented. Finally, with this background, we take the reader through some possible research questions that are interesting candidates for future research on the nature of trust in ehealth.
Green Transport Infrastructure
Authors: Davidson Kristiane , Lukies Ned , Lehtonen Debbie
Published: May 2011

In an age when escalating fuel prices, global warming and world resource depletion are of great concern, sustainable transport practices promise to define a new way of mobility into the future. With its comparatively minimal negative environmental impacts, non reliance on fuels and positive health effects, the simple bicycle offers significant benefits to humankind. These benefits are evident worldwide where bicycles are successfully endorsed through improved infrastructure, supporting policies, public education and management. In Australia, the national, state and local governments are introducing measures to improve and support green transport. This is necessary as current bicycle infrastructure is not always sufficient and the longstanding conflict with motorized transport still exists. The aim for the future is to implement sustainable hard and soft bicycle infrastructure globally; the challenges of such a task can be illustrated by the city of Brisbane, Australia.
Integrating Green ICT in a Supply Chain Management System
Authors: Unhelkar Bhuvan , Lan Yi-Chen
Published: May 2011

Green Integrated Supply Chain Management (GISCM) brings together various stakeholders in the supply chain within and outside the organization to help the organization improve its environmental credentials. To benefit both the business and the environmental bottom line, the supply chain management of an organization needs to be analyzed, planned and optimized for sourcing and deliveries and in an environmentally-conscious manner. Such analysis includes suppliers, customers, regulatory authorities and employees at all levels on an organization. Undoubtedly, electronic (Internet-based) systems deliver enterprises with a competitive advantage by opening up opportunities to streamline processes, reduce costs, increase customer patronage and enable straight thorough processing capabilities. These same characteristics of good SCM can be converted to handle environmental issues related to supply chain operation and processing. This chapter proposes a fundamental framework for creating and analyzing GISCM solutions.
Strategies for a Sustainable Enterprise
Authors: Rosen Michael , Krichevsky Tamar , Sharma Harsh
Published: May 2011

Companies with successful environmental and sustainability programs recognize the need for these programs to be enterprise-wide. Ad-hoc efforts are difficult to scale, manage, repeat, or improve upon. Just like any enterprise-wide program, the issues and requirements of a sustainability initiative are complex and multidimensional. Processes, applications, infrastructure and operations must be aligned with the business goals and requirements. Underlying all of this is the fact that both greenness and sustainability require a robust and adaptable IT infrastructure. This chapter applies the lessons learned from effective use of enterprise architecture (EA) to sustainability initiatives. In particular, it focuses on facilitating the alignment of business visions encompassing financial, environmental, and social responsibility with processes and operational capabilities. Using an architectural approach leverages the key practices that are already in place in successful organizations to drive enterprise-wide sustainability efforts.
Information and Communication Technologies for the Good Society
Authors: Hofkirchner Wolfgang
Published: May 2011

The appearance of notions of a “good society” does not come as a surprise, given the recent crises in the fields of economy, the financial markets, or the climate change. These notions play a decisive role in the context of implementing ICTs. This chapter contends that ICTs – like any technology – make sense in the context of normative visions only that make technology a means to an end. The vision of a good society must nowadays refer to the global challenges confronting the further development of societies. In doing so it identifies ICTs as facilitators of the advent of a Global Sustainable Information Society which makes ICTs meaningful or it classifies them as meaningless gadgets or even as detrimental for designing the future. It is Gunilla Bradley who can take credit for devoting her lifework to raising awareness of the impacts of ICTs on humans and the ethical implications of research in that field.
Deciding Query Entailment in Fuzzy OWL Lite Ontologies
Authors: Cheng Jingwei , Ma Z. M. , Yan Li
Published: May 2011

Significant research efforts in the Semantic Web community are recently directed toward the representation and reasoning with fuzzy ontologies. Description logics (DLs) are the logical foundations of standard Web ontology languages. Conjunctive queries are deemed as an expressive reasoning service for DLs. This chapter focuses on fuzzy (threshold) conjunctive queries over knowledge bases encoding in fuzzy DL , the logic counterpart of fuzzy OWL Lite language. It shows decidability of fuzzy query entailment in this setting by providing a corresponding tableau-based algorithm. The chapter shows data complexity for answering fuzzy conjunctive queries in fuzzy is in coNP, as long as only simple roles occur in the query. Regarding combined complexity, this research proves a co3NExpTime upper bound in the size of the knowledge base and the query.
Application of Novel Signal Processing Algorithms for the Detection and Minimization of Skywave Interfering Signals in Loran Receivers
Authors: Mohammed Abbas , Last David
Published: May 2011

Skywave interference commonly affects Loran receivers’ performance. Traditional skywave rejection methods that use fixed, worst-case, sample timing are far from optimal. This chapter reports on novel signal processing techniques for measuring in real-time the delay and strength of the varying skywave components of a Loran signal relative to the groundwave pulse. The merits and limitations of these techniques will be discussed. Their effectiveness will be assessed by theoretical analysis, computer simulations under a range of realistic conditions, and by testing using off-air signals. A prototype Loran system employing the proposed techniques is also presented. This work establishes a basis on which to design a Loran receiver capable of adjusting its sampling point adaptively to the optimal value in a constantly-changing skywave environment. Such receivers promise to improve significantly the accuracy and reliability of positioning under adverse operational conditions.
Supporting Awareness in Ubiquitous Learning
Authors: Ogata Hiroaki
Published: May 2011

This chapter focuses on awareness in computer supported ubiquitous learning environments. In ubiquitous learning, awareness is a key process in individual and/or collaborative learning. Awareness is structured into social, task, concept, workspace, knowledge, and context. This article introduces four systems for supporting various kinds of awareness and concludes with some discussion and proposals for future work.
The Semantic Web as a Catalyst for Enterprise/Industrial Interoperability
Authors: Kalogeras Athanasios P. , Alexakos Christos , Georgoudakis Manos
Published: May 2011

The modern enterprise has to operate in quite a challenging environment that is characterized by competition on a global scale. The need for increased enterprise competitiveness is the driving force behind enterprise interoperability. Starting from B2B applications and relevant technologies, and taking advantage of the technological advancements of the Semantic Web, enterprise interoperability includes both intra-enterprise interoperability of different units/systems of an enterprise and inter-enterprise interoperability of collaborating and at the same time competing enterprises. Enterprise modeling and Semantic Web technologies result in the formal description of the enterprise environment and the exposal of its functionalities as services. Such services represent a major mechanism of the Internet of the future enabling a more innovation driven economy.
An Evaluation of the RFID Security Benefits of the APF System
Authors: Ayoade John , Symonds Judith
Published: May 2011

The main features of RFID are the ability to identify objects without a line of sight between reader and tag, read/write capability and ability of readers to read many tags at the same time. The read/write capability allows information to be stored in the tags embedded in the objects as it travels through a system. Some applications require information to be stored in the tag and be retrieved by the readers. This paper discusses the security and privacy challenges involve in such applications and how the proposed and implemented prototype system Authentication Processing Framework (APF) would be a solution to protect hospital patient data. The deployment of the APF provides mutual authentication for both tags and readers and the mutual authentication process in the APF provides security for the information stored in the tags. A prototype solution for hospital patient data protection for information stored on RFID bracelets is offered.
Digital Propensity
Authors: DaCosta Boaventura , Nasah Angelique , Kinsell Carolyn , Seok Soonhwa
Published: May 2011

There is a growing interest among educators to use video games in the classroom as part of the curriculum to meet the educational needs of today’s students. This may be justified, in part, by claims in recent years about today’s technology-savvy students and their adept use of information and communication technology (ICT). However, such claims have not been accepted without scrutiny; indeed, the relationship between games and learning has been tempestuous over the years. This chapter sought to identify the gaming propensity of postsecondary students (N = 580) through the use of a questionnaire. Age, gender, and socioeconomic status were examined as factors that might explain why students play games. Results suggest that age, gender, and socioeconomic status are composite factors that contribute to gaming, but not the most important consideration in terms of general ICT usage. The findings raise a number of implications for educators, educational policy-makers, practitioners, researchers, instructional technologists, and game developers across both the education spectrum and the entertainment industry in terms of the use and development of video games.
Experimental Setups for User Evaluation of Mobile Devices and Ubiquitous Systems
Authors: Jambon Francis
Published: May 2011

Nowadays, mobile devices features are often linked up to the context of usage. As a consequence, researchers must consider not only the user and the device, but also the surrounding environment when designing effective user study evaluations. Two opposite experimental setups are possible: in-situ and in the laboratory. There is no consensus on their respective benefits, for instance with regard to the number of usability issues detected. In this chapter, the author isolates independent variables that could contribute to evaluation biases by proposing a taxonomy that splits the in-situ and laboratory experimental setups into two new setups. The author describes the concept of the “Uncertainty Principle” to emphasize the dilemma between precise observation and bias minimization and introduce the “Trojan Horse” technique to partially overcome the consequences of the uncertainty principle. As a conclusion, a methodology using the four experimental setups in a complementary way is proposed.
Higher Education’s New Frontier for the E-University and Virtual Campus
Authors: Cartelli Antonio
Published: May 2011

Technologies entered in education since their first appearance and were used both for improving the efficacy and efficiency of traditional teaching and for creating new teaching-learning opportunities (Galliani et al., 1999). The definition “educational technologies” was coined in the 1950s to describe the equipments to be used in teaching-learning controlled environments. The introduction of the computer in teaching led to the definition of “new educational technologies” to mark the overcoming of traditional systems like audio-visual media (i.e., cinema, radio and television) with the new digital medium. In the 1970s the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) formulated the definition of instructional technology as “… the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning. ... We can think about it as a discipline devoted to techniques or ways to make learning more efficient based on theory but theory in its broadest sense, not just scientific theory”. The Internet in the 1990s introduced further elements of innovation in the use of technologies for education with an exponential growth of instruments and resources leading to the transition from face to face (f2f) teaching to online teaching-learning experiences. The Internet more than other technological experiences entered in the educational systems all over the world and is today marking a revolution in continuous education and lifelong learning.
Gaming and Simulation
Authors: Seitz Dr. Sheila , Uram Courtney
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief summary of the military’s use of gaming and simulation to accomplish training. Historically, the military has been a forerunner in the exploration of training techniques that incorporate aspects of games and simulations. Training tools emerge in various gaming formats such as simulations, edutainment, commercial-off-the-shelf games (COTS), and serious games. To develop training in the form of games or simulations, elements of instructional design must be considered to include learning objectives, game play, and feedback. Emerging technologies provide possible solutions to training challenges such as achieving affective learning domain objectives and the portability of training. The military, as an early adapter of games and simulation, continues to forge the way by integrating gaming and simulation, instructional design, and emerging technologies to achieve the ever growing demands of training.
Policy Issues Regarding the Instructional and Educational Use of Videoconferencing
Authors: Bowman Joseph , Fernandez Felix
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to identify policy issues for videoconferencing at the elementary through college levels. As videoconferencing becomes a part of our educational landscape in schools across the country, it is important to understand what policy implications need to be addressed in regards to this educational resource. Issues such as ownership, content, and access are some of the areas that suggest policy discussion. Federal, state, and international policies that guide the use of videoconferencing will be discussed. In sum, this chapter attempts to investigate policy issues and trends related to videoconferencing that informs the educational (PreK-12), business (training), and academic (Higher Education) communities that use this resource.
Hybrid Trust Structure in Self-Organizing Networks
Authors: Zhou Tong , Harn Lein
Published: May 2011

A traditional service provider of telecommunications is recognized as an authority which is trusted by the subscribers and the public. Ad hoc and Peer to Peer (P2P) networks have demonstrated advantages that service provider controlled networks lack, and they also exhibit self-organizing behaviors. A pure self-organizing network does not rely on any hierarchical management. Instead, it utilizes a web of trust for security. Its trust management is complicated and varies from node to node. In this article, we discuss a hybrid trust structure that leverages the involvement of an authority in a self-organizing network to increase trust levels between disconnected small-worlds. The new model will help service providers design more robust and innovative solutions for next generation networks and applications. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]