bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Y'en a marre, une lente sédimentation des frustrations
Authors: Haeringer Nicolas
Published: February 2012

Résumé « La coupe est pleine : y’en a marre » : c’est l’un des slogans des « yenamarristes », ces journalistes et rappeurs sénégalais qui mobilisent contre « la corruption, l’injustice, et la mal-gouvernance ». Déjà entendu lors du Forum Social Mondial à Dakar, ce slogan s’est rapidement répandu. Sur leur pression et après quelques jours de vives tensions, le président Abdoulaye Wade avait abandonné son projet de modification de la constitution en juin dernier. À la faveur du contre-G20, Mouvements a rencontré l’un de leurs animateurs, Fadel Barro.
Occupy Wall Street : une question de « pouvoir-faire »
Authors: Haeringer Nicolas
Published: February 2012

Résumé L’occupation de Wall Street a débuté le 17 septembre 2011. Inspiré par les expériences égyptiennes et espagnoles, le camp a essaimé un peu partout aux États-Unis, et irrigué à son tour les imaginaires des militants en lutte contre les plans d’austérités en Europe.
Les Guignols de l'Info
Authors: Coulomb-Gully Marlène
Published: February 2012

Résumé On s’efforce ici de mettre au jour l’imaginaire sexué qui sous-tend la représentation du Genre dans Les Guignols de l’Info , emblématique programme de Canal Plus. L’analyse de l’émission permet de conclure, sinon à une posture volontairement réactionnaire des auteurs, du moins au caractère « gender blind » de l’entreprise. En effet, loin de l’image progressiste généralement attachée à l’émission, les Guignols confirment, peut-être à leur corps défendant, voire à l’insu de leur plein gré – pour reprendre une formule devenue célèbre –, les attendus normatifs d’une énonciation comique émise d’un point de vue masculin dominant où les femmes sont objets plus que sujets du rire. Le floutage énonciatif propre au dispositif parodique permet en dernière instance que s’y retrouvent des publics aux attentes les plus diverses, la dimension satirique de l’émission servant les impératifs d’audience de la chaîne.
Éthique et gestion publique : apprendre des scandales
Authors: Boisvert Yves
Published: February 2012

Dans ce texte nous voulons démontrer que les scandales politico‑administratifs constituent des phénomènes sociaux offrant beaucoup de renseignements sur la culture et les structures de nos institutions publiques. Il est toutefois nécessaire de posséder un cadre d’analyse qui permet une compréhension en profondeur du scandale pour lui faire perdre son apparence tragique et en tirer des enseignements.
Les défis éthiques de la recherche académique : le cas de la france et des états‑unis
Authors: Bartoli Annie , Brenkert George , Hermel Philippe
Published: February 2012

Cet article examine les questions éthiques liées à la mesure de la performance dans les organisations contemporaines et observe le cas particulier de la recherche académique. Les auteurs utilisent des référentiels issus de la philosophie et des sciences du management au niveau international. Le phénomène du « Publish or Perish », largement pratiqué aux États?Unis, est étudié dans son applicabilité à des pays comme la France. L’élaboration d’instruments pour mesurer quantitativement la performance des chercheurs (comme le nombre de publications dans différents types de revues, le référencement des citations, etc.) est approfondie en termes d’impact, positif ou négatif, sur la qualité de la recherche et du progrès scientifique. Enfin, certaines conditions de succès pour réconcilier l’éthique et les mesures de la performance de la recherche académique sont envisagées.
La moralité attribuée à la règle : l'appropriation du métier de policier
Authors: Pécaud Dominique
Published: February 2012

En France, l’évolution du travail policier essaye de concilier de nouvelles formes d’organisation et le respect des libertés publiques. Deux mouvements de pensée sont convoqués : une industrialisation progressive des activités, une recomposition des libertés publiques au titre d’une société valorisant la sécurité. Ainsi se pose la question de l’évaluation du travail de la police à la fois dans un registre de pensée technico‑administratif et politico‑moral. Une crise identitaire peut surgir si, du point de vue des policiers, ces deux registres semblent incompatibles. La problématique que nous abordons est double. Premièrement, les policiers font appel à une moralité attachée à des règles de métier officielles, ou non, qui s’imposent du fait de leur capacité à permettre l’atteinte de fins attachées au métier. Deuxièmement, le détournement de la règle est possible, dès qu’il apparaît acceptable au regard de toutes les institutions dans lesquelles il s’effectue. Ainsi, malgré les apparences, le métier de policier est‑il un métier de la « juste mesure ». Des règles soupçonnées de nuire à l’efficacité recherchée par les policiers peuvent être parfois interprétées, oubliées ou détournées au titre de fins politiques ou morales. Ces fins légitiment une transgression, mais jusqu’à un certain point. A contrario, l’industrialisation excessive du métier apparaît comme un obstacle à l’engagement et à la reconnaissance professionnels.
L'éthique dans les activités de renseignement
Authors: Denécé Éric
Published: February 2012

La lutte contre le terrorisme a accru, partout, le rôle des services de renseignement dans la sécurité nationale. S’ils ont bénéficié d’un renforcement significatif de leurs moyens. Ils ont également dû s’adapter aux nouvelles règles de gouvernance de nos sociétés démocratiques. Ainsi, une préoccupation éthique est‑elle apparue dans les services occidentaux, considérant qu’un métier aussi particulier ne peut être exercé sans que les opérateurs ne disposent d’un code de conduite leur donnant d’indispensables repères. Cette exigence nouvelle a été accentuée par les pratiques hautement discutables dont se sont rendus coupables les services de renseignement américains dans le cadre de leur « guerre contre le terrorisme ».
Regards sur les évolutions des missions de service public dans les industries de réseaux
Authors: Bouquet Gaël , Klargaard Olaf
Published: February 2012

Depuis une vingtaine d’années, les missions de service public assurées dans les industries de réseaux n’ont eu de cesse d’évoluer, sous l’impulsion des politiques européennes de libéralisation. L’objectif d’efficacité économique, au centre des préoccupations concurrentielles, et la réorganisation du contrôle institutionnel ont conduit à une clarification et une modernisation sans précédent de leur contenu et de leur évaluation. Toutefois, les principes classiques des services publics ont vu leur application émaillée et certains écueils n’ont pu être surmontés, tant en raison de l’organisation des opérateurs « historiques », que du fait des imperfections du contrôle institutionnel.
Reappraising Design Practice
Authors: Sims Roderick C.
Published: February 2012

Since the emergence of computer-based applications to support teaching and learning in the early 1970s, the practices of those responsible for the design and development of those applications have received considerable attention. The underpinning tradition for those designers and developers has been the practice of Instructional Design, a series of guiding principles to define and create artefacts and/or strategies to facilitate learning. However, as computer technology has evolved over the past 40 years, the successful application of that technology to education and training has not been consistently achieved. It is therefore timely to revisit and reappraise design practices to assess the alignment of these ‘traditional’ approaches with contemporary technology and pedagogy. This chapter argues that to design and develop learning and teaching environments that support an emergent, learner-centred pedagogy, especially in terms of the role and value of simulations, requires an alternative design mindset. To this end, the chapter elaborates an enhanced version of Proactive Design for Learning (PD4L) and its application to e-simulations as a set of principles that enable technology and pedagogy to align, through the synergy of both the attributes of networked, online technology and contemporary approaches to learning. By applying PD4L in association with an outcomes-based ethos, more effective learning through e-simulations will emerge.
Real Experiences with Virtual Worlds
Authors: Cram Andrew , Hedberg John G.
Published: February 2012

The virtual world provides a useful experimental space in which learners can experience the design parameters of a real world task. The importance of the simulated space is that it enables the learner to explore their solution to a design task. This chapter explores some educational opportunities offered by virtual world simulations, and presents a conceptual framework to guide their design and implementation. The framework is illustrated by exploring three contrasting simulation examples. In particular, the examples explain how simulations within virtual worlds can be linked to real world performances and provide an efficient way of developing difficult concepts. The examples outline different types of simulations: an exploratory simulation for learning socio-scientific inquiry; a role play simulation involving an ethically toned situation; and a design simulation in which learners test and refine their ideas for subsequent creation using concrete materials.
Design of an Authentic E-Learning Environment
Authors: Bastiaens Theo J.
Published: February 2012

The increasing necessity of a lifelong learning attitude has its influence on the ageing population in Western societies. Employees nowadays cannot rely on their skills once learned in school. Most, also older, employees have to keep up by learning new insights, new skills, and new knowledge. A lot of money is invested in training and further education. New technology can play an important role here. This chapter will give an insight into the development of an authentic multimedia learning environment to support lifelong learners. More specifically, it has been developed in order to improve learning materials in terms of giving the right amount of scaffolding at the time when it is needed to increase the motivation and the performance of the (older) learner. A design that adapts cognitive load theory to minimise cognitive overload was embedded in an authentic context that, as a result, provided a fruitful basis for authentic and simulated learning environments addressing both younger and older adults.
Professional Midwifery Education
Authors: Phillips Diane
Published: February 2012

Blended teaching and learning approaches are used in the postgraduate course of Graduate Diploma of Midwifery for students who are predominately women with family responsibilities residing in metropolitan, regional, or rural Victoria, a major state in Australia. The Virtual Maternity Clinic (VMC), a virtual learning experience (VLE) research project, was implemented during trimester 2, 2009. The purpose of the project was to expand the blend of teaching and learning activities to support students in their preparation for professional practice. The VMC includes four characters in early pregnancy and care provided by their midwife. All students enrolled in midwifery courses (postgraduate and undergraduate) at Deakin University were recruited to participate in a two-phase, pre- and post-use evaluation process related to the VMC. Findings from the pre-evaluation included that students’ had high expectations of the VMC in supporting their learning. The results from the post-evaluation of the VMC indicated that students’ were very satisfied that the VMC supported their learning. Future research directions include further development of the VMC.
Evaluating the Impact of a Virtual Emergency Room Simulation for Learning
Authors: Rogers Luke , Miller Charlynn , Firmin Sally
Published: February 2012

This study explored the value of Second Life as a clinical simulation platform for healthcare students. Participants were exposed to the Critical Life simulation and worked in teams within the simulation. Pre- and post-surveys and interviews were used to gauge responses to participation, level of use of online tools and gaming, and input about the experience of using the simulation. The main findings from the study were that participants had positive and realistic experiences using Critical Life as a collaborative learning tool; participants agreed that Critical Life would assist them in developing technical and non-technical skills; participants were not deterred by the technology and perceived they would use it in their own time; and participants agreed that the simulation was able to incorporate effective learning strategies that may improve clinical judgment. Interviews revealed that the participants enjoyed working in virtual teams suggesting that in healthcare education, virtual simulations have potential for use across multiple campuses and universities.
Integrating E-Simulations in Teaching Business Information Systems
Authors: Cybulski Jacob L. , Nguyen Lemai
Published: February 2012

Students’ early exposure to the fundamentals of business and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), creation of a professional skill base, as well as, the gaining of practical experience in applying such knowledge and skills, are the determinants of success in their study and development as Information Systems (IS) professionals. This chapter argues that e-simulations, or computer-based and online simulations, can be effectively used to engage learners in interactive learning activities and provide them with real world practical experience in the safety of an educational setting. A research project is subsequently described. A suite of e-simulations were developed and deployed across two institutions to support teaching and learning of Information Systems. Using staff discussions and online surveys, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the staff and students. The collected data were then analysed to evaluate and guide a sequence of curriculum and technology changes with a view to arriving at an optimum support model for students and teachers using the e-simulations. The findings of the study emphasise the usefulness of e-simulations to accommodate the learning styles of generation Y students, to stimulate their interest and creative thinking, and in meeting industry expectations of IS graduates’ ability to fulfil professional roles. Based on these insights, in its concluding remarks, the chapter outlines a conceptual framework for the inclusion of e-simulations in Information Systems curriculum development and teaching delivery.
Developing Professional Competence in Project Management Using E-Simulation on Campus
Authors: Searle Ian , Zadeh Hossein
Published: February 2012

Professional Competency is an important aspect of tertiary education. The term implies not just theoretical knowledge but practical know-how and ability to perform in the workplace. This chapter describes an approach to building professional competency in the field of project management developed in a postgraduate Project Management course at RMIT University, Australia. The course involves an extended twelve-week project simulation in which all phases of the Project Management Life-Cycle are exercised. The aim of the simulation is to build professional competency in the management of projects with particular emphasis on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) project management framework. The simulation uses various techniques to provide a realistic experience for students. Some the techniques involve electronic simulation tools, including electronic communication media and animations. Student evaluation of the use of the simulation tools is presented and discussed.
Scenario-Based Learning
Authors: Jinks Audrey , Norton Geoff , Taylor Matt , Stewart Terry
Published: February 2012

The aim of this chapter is to share experiences involved in designing, developing, and implementing e-simulation software for achieving scenario-based learning objectives. It does this by focusing on our work with Scenario Based Learning-Interactive (SBLi), a software tool developed at The University of Queensland, Australia to provide lecturers and teachers with an easy-to-use tool for creating and deploying interactive multi-media scenarios on the Web or CD. While a number of authoring tools are capable of creating simple, interactive scenarios, SBLi has been developed to provide a tool with the functionality and transparency that allows scenario authors to easily create and modify complex and realistic scenarios that engage learners in acquiring specific knowledge and skills. This chapter describes the main features of this e-simulation tool, what is involved in creating SBLi scenarios, and how scenarios have been developed and used in Australia and overseas to provide problem-based and enquiry-based learning experiences. Examples are listed to show the range of learning objectives and the diverse and novel ways in which SBLi is being used to improve critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and other learning attributes across a range of disciplines in secondary and tertiary institutions and in continuing professional development. Important lessons concerning the development and sustainable application of this specific e-simulation tool are also discussed.
Future Developments in E-Simulations for Learning Soft Skills in the Health Professions
Authors: Kommers Piet
Published: February 2012

New interaction modes involving avatars in 3D virtual worlds and also software for interpreting facial and voice expressions are recognised for their potential use in soft skills training in professions such as medicine. Doctor to patient communication is becoming a vital element in the transition from cure to care, and communication skills training needs continual revision and development. A series of projects examined in this chapter articulate instructional strategies that rely on controlling communicative parameters such as emotional states. In one project, the natural coach/mentor was complemented by a semi-realistic 3D “Intelligent Virtual Agent”. Pedagogical scenarios like “learning by modeling” rest upon doctors’ and nurse practitioners’ competencies to classify patients’ emotions and various existential crises. The project formulated the method to derive and structure ontologies for emotions and affective behaviors and the outcome is a confrontation between advanced media and instructional strategies. In terms of communicative strategy, the doctor-patient interaction is a precursor to the wider field of professional communication, and needs dedicated methods to consolidate best practices in ontologies for life-long learning.
The Challenge of Investigating the Value of E-Simulations in Blended Learning Environments
Authors: Segrave Stephen , Rice Mary
Published: February 2012

This chapter focuses on digital role-play simulations, which are increasingly being used in higher education via the Web to provide engaging, more authentic learning experiences for students. With careful attention to design, development, and implementation processes they can be particularly valuable for increasing the professional capabilities that graduates require in the workplace. Evaluation of an e-simulation can be difficult, particularly when it is just one component of a blended learning environment. Using Deakin University’s e-simulations program as a case study, this chapter outlines the phases and elements of the program, its evaluation approach, evaluation challenges experienced, and lessons learnt. The chapter argues that, in spite of the challenges of investigating e-simulations in blended learning environments, design-based research offers the most value to stakeholders. The chapter concludes by outlining future commitments in the DeakinSims program to maintain a focus on design-based research.
Orthogonal Image Moment Invariants
Authors: Papakostas G.A. , Karakasis E.G. , Koulouriotis D.E.
Published: February 2012

This chapter focuses on the usage of image orthogonal moments as discrimination features in pattern recognition applications and discusses their main properties. Initially, the ability of the moments to carry information of an image with minimum redundancy is studied, while their capability to enclose distinctive information that uniquely describes the image’s content is also examined. Along these directions, the computational formulas of the most representative moment families will be defined analytically and the form of the corresponding moment invariants in each case will be derived. Appropriate experiments have taken place in order to investigate the description capabilities of each moment family, by applying them in several benchmark problems.
Certain and Uncertain Triangulation in Multiple Camera Vision Systems via LMIs
Authors: Chesi Graziano , Hung Yeung Sam
Published: February 2012

Triangulation is a fundamental problem in computer vision that consists of estimating the 3D position of a point of the scene from the estimates of its image projections on some cameras and from the estimates of the projection matrices of these cameras. This chapter addresses multiple view L2 triangulation, i.e. triangulation for vision systems with a generic number of cameras where the sought 3D point is searched by minimizing the L2 norm of the image reprojection error. The authors consider the standard case where estimates of all the image points are available (referring to such a case as certain triangulation), and consider also the case where some of such estimates are not available for example due to occlusions (referring to such a case as uncertain triangulation). In the latter case, it is supposed that the unknown image points belong to known regions such as line segments or ellipses. For these problems, the authors propose a unified methodology that exploits the fundamental matrices among the views and provides a candidate 3D point through the solution of a convex optimization problem based on linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Moreover, the chapter provides a simple condition that allows one to immediately establish whether the found 3D point is optimal. Various examples with synthetic and real data illustrate the proposed technique, showing in particular that the obtained 3D point is almost always optimal in practice, and that its computational time is indeed small.
Camera Calibration with 1D Objects
Authors: Alexandre de França José , Stemmer Marcelo Ricardo , França Maria B. de Morais , Palácios Rodrigo H. Cunha
Published: February 2012

Camera calibration is a process that allows to fully understand how the camera forms the image. It is necessary especially when 3D information of the scene must be known. Calibration can be performed using a 1D pattern (points on a straight line). This kind of pattern has the advantage of being “visible” simultaneously even by cameras in opposite positions from each other. This makes the technique suitable for calibration of multiple cameras. Unfortunately, the calibration with 1D patterns often leads to poorly accurate results. In this work, the methods of single and multi-camera calibration are analyzed. It is shown that, in some cases, the accuracy of this type of algorithm can be significantly improved by simply performing a normalization of coordinates of the input points. Experiments on synthetic and real images are used to analyze the accuracy of the discussed methods.
Adaptive Face Recognition of Partially Visible Faces
Authors: Babu T. Ravindra , Danivas Chethan S.A. , Subrahmanya S.V.
Published: February 2012

Face Recognition is an active research area. In many practical scenarios, when faces are acquired without the cooperation or knowledge of the subject, they are likely to get occluded. Apart from image background, pose, illumination, and orientation of the faces, occlusion forms an additional challenge for face recognition. Recognizing faces that are partially visible is a challenging task. Most of the solutions to the problem focus on reconstruction or restoration of the occluded part before attempting to recognize the face. In the current chapter, the authors discuss various approaches to face recognition, challenges in face recognition of occluded images, and approaches to solve the problem. The authors propose an adaptive system that accepts the localized region of occlusion and recognizes the face adaptively. The chapter demonstrates through case studies that the proposed scheme recognizes the partially occluded faces as accurately as the un-occluded faces and in some cases outperforms the recognition using un-occluded face images.
Feature Set Reduction in Rotation Invariant CBIR Using Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform
Authors: Sharma Deepak , Walia Ekta , Sinha H.P.
Published: February 2012

An accurate Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) system is essential for the correct retrieval of desired images from the underlying database. Rotation invariance is very important for accurate Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). In this chapter, rotation invariance in Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) system is achieved by extracting Fourier features from images on which Dual Tree Complex Wavelets Transform (DT-CWT) has been applied. Before applying DT-CWT, the Fourier feature set is reduced by exploiting the symmetry property of Fourier transform. For an N x N image, feature set has been reduced from N2/2 features to N2/4 features. This reduction in feature set increases the speed of the system. Hence, this chapter proposes a method which makes the Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) system faster without comprising accuracy and rotation invariance.
Corner Detection Using Fuzzy Principles
Authors: Cuevas Erik , Zaldivar Daniel , Perez-Cisneros Marco
Published: February 2012

Reliable corner detection is an important task in pattern recognition applications. In this chapter an approach based on fuzzy-rules to detect corners even under imprecise information is presented. The uncertainties arising due to various types of imaging defects such as blurring, illumination change, noise, et cetera. Fuzzy systems are well known for efficient handling of impreciseness. In order to handle the incompleteness arising due to imperfection of data, it is reasonable to model corner properties by a fuzzy rule-based system. The robustness of the proposed algorithm is compared with well known conventional detectors. The performance is tested on a number of benchmark test images to illustrate the efficiency of the algorithm in noise presence.
Eye Detection Using Color, Haar Features, and Efficient Support Vector Machine
Authors: Chen Shuo , Liu Chengjun
Published: February 2012

Eye detection is an important initial step in an automatic face recognition system. Though numerous eye detection methods have been proposed, many problems still exist, especially in the detection accuracy and efficiency under challenging image conditions. The authors present a novel eye detection method using color information, Haar features, and a new efficient Support Vector Machine (eSVM) in this chapter . In particular, this eye detection method consists of two stages: the eye candidate selection and validation. The selection stage picks up eye candidates over an image through color information, while the validation stage applies 2D Haar wavelet and the eSVM to detect the center of the eye among these candidates. The eSVM is defined on fewer support vectors than the standard SVM, which can achieve faster detection speed and higher or comparable detection accuracy. Experiments on Face Recognition Grand Challenge (FRGC) database show the improved performance over existing methods on both efficiency and accuracy.
Detecting Eyes and Lips Using Neural Networks and SURF Features
Authors: Lenskiy Artem A. , Lee Jong-Soo
Published: February 2012

In this chapter, the authors elaborate on the facial image segmentation and the detection of eyes and lips using two neural networks. The first neural network is applied to segment skin-colors and the second to detect facial features. As for input vectors, for the second network the authors apply speed-up robust features (SURF) that are not subject to scale and brightness variations. The authors carried out the detection of eyes and lips on two well-known facial feature databases, Caltech. and PICS. Caltech gave a success rate of 92.4% and 92.2% for left and right eyes and 85% for lips, whereas the PCIS database gave 96.9% and 95.3% for left and right eyes and 97.3% for lips. Using videos captured in real environment, among all videos, the authors achieved an average detection rate of 94.7% for the right eye and 95.5% for the left eye with a 86.9% rate for the lips
Classification with Axis-Aligned Rectangular Boundaries
Authors: Park Sung Hee
Published: February 2012

This chapter presents a new method for binary classification that classifies input data into two regions separated by axis-aligned rectangular boundaries. Given the number of rectangular regions to use, this algorithm automatically finds the best boundaries that are determined concurrently. The formulation of the optimization problem involves minimizing the sum of minimum functions. To solve this problem, the author introduces underestimate of the minimum function with piecewise linear and convex envelope, which results in mixed integer and linear programming. The author shows several results of the algorithm and compare the effects of each term in the objective function. Finally, the chapter demonstrates that the method can be used in image capturing application to determine the optimal scheme that minimizes the total readout time of pixel data.
A Novel 3D Approach for Patient Schedule Using Multi-Agent Coordination
Authors: Kanaga E. Grace Mary , Valarmathi M.L. , Darius Preethi S.H.
Published: February 2012

This chapter presents a novel 3D approach for patient scheduling (3D-PS) using multi-agents. Here the 3Ds refers to the Distributed, Dynamic and Decentralized nature of the patient scheduling. As in many other scheduling problems, in the hospital domain, a major problem is the efficient allocation of resources to the patients. The resources here mean the doctor, diagnosing equipments, lab tests, et cetera. Commonly, patient scheduling is performed manually by human schedulers with no automated support. Human scheduling is not efficient, because the nature of the problem is very complex; it is inherently distributed, dynamic, and decentralized. Since agents are known to represent distributed environment well and also being capable of handling dynamism, an agent based approach is chosen. The objectives are to reduce patient waiting times, minimize the patient stay in the hospital, and to improve resource utilization in hospitals. The comparison of several agent-based approaches is also reviewed, and the auction-based approach is chosen. The complete multi-agent framework given in literature is adapted to suit the patient scheduling scenario. The patient scheduling system is implemented in the JADE platform where patients and resources are represented as agents. The chief performance metric is the weighted tardiness which has to be minimized in order to obtain an effective schedule. The experiment is carried out using constant number of resources and varying number of patients. The simulation results are presented and analyzed. 3D-PS produces up to 30% reduction in total weighted tardiness in a distributed environment, as compared to other traditional algorithms. A further enhancement to this approach aims to reduce the communication overhead by reducing the number of messages passed and hence resulting in a better coordination mechanism. This auction based mechanism aims to provide the basic framework for future enhancements on patient scheduling.
A Fuzzy Approach to Disaster Modeling
Authors: Stoklasa Jan
Published: February 2012

The decision making process of the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) operations centre during disasters involves a significant amount of uncertainty. Decisions need to be made quickly, and no mistakes are tolerable, particularly in the case of disasters resulting in a large number of injured people. A multiphase linguistic fuzzy model is introduced to assist the operator during the initial phase of the medical disaster response. Based on uncertain input data, estimating the severity of the disaster, the number of injured people, and the amount of forces and resources needed to successfully deal with the situation is possible. The need for reinforcements is also considered. Fuzzy numbers, linguistic variables and fuzzy rule bases are applied to deal with the uncertainty. Outputs provided by the model (severity of the disaster, number of reinforcements needed etc.) are available both as fuzzy sets (for the purposes of disaster planning) and linguistic terms (for emergency call evaluation purposes).
On the Use of Fuzzy Logic in Electronic Marketplaces
Authors: Kolomvatsos Kostas , Hadjiefthymiades Stathes
Published: February 2012

Today, there is a large number of product providers in the Web. Electronic Marketplaces (EMs) enable entities to negotiate and trade products. Usually, intelligent agents assume the responsibility of representing buyers or sellers in EMs. However, uncertainty about the characteristics and intentions of the negotiating entities is present in these scenarios. Fuzzy Logic (FL) theory presents a lot of advantages when used in environments where entities have limited or no knowledge about their peers. Hence, entities can rely on a FL knowledge base that determines the appropriate action on every possible state. FL can be used in offers, trust, or time constraints definition or when an agent should decide during the negotiation process. The autonomic nature of agents in combination with FL leads to more efficient systems. In this chapter, the authors provide a critical review on the adoption of FL in marketplace systems and present their proposal for the buyer side. Moreover, the authors describe techniques for building FL systems focusing on clustering techniques. The aim is to show the importance of FL adoption in such settings.
Hand Tremor Prediction and Classification Using Electromyogram Signals to Control Neuro-Motor Instability
Authors: Bakshi Koushik , Chandra Sourav , Konar Amit , Tibarewala D.N.
Published: February 2012

This chapter provides a prototype design of a hand tremor compensator/controller to reduce the effect of the tremor to an external device/ apparatus, such as a magnetic pen for the patients suffering from Parkinson and similar diseases. It would also be effective for busy surgeons suffering from hand tremor due to muscle fatigue. Main emphasis in this chapter is given on the prediction of the tremor signal from the discrete samples of electromyogram data and tremor. The predicted signal is inverted in sign and added to the main tremor signal through a specially designed magnetic actuator carrying the external device, such as a magnetically driven pen or surgical instrument. Two different prediction algorithms, one based on neural nets and the other based on Kalman Filter have been designed, tested, and validated for the proposed application. A prototype model of the complete system was developed on an embedded platform. Further development on the basic model would be appropriate for field applications in controlling tremors of the subjects suffering from Parkinson and the like diseases.
The User-Language Paraphrase Corpus
Authors: McCarthy Philip M. , McNamara Danielle S.
Published: February 2012

The corpus in this challenge comprises 1998 target-sentence/student response text-pairs, or protocols. The protocols have been evaluated by extensively trained human raters; however, unlike established paraphrase corpora that evaluate paraphrases as either true or false, the User-Language Paraphrase Corpus evaluates protocols along 10 dimensions of paraphrase characteristics on a six point scale. Along with the protocols, the database comprising the challenge includes 10 computational indices that have been used to assess these protocols. The challenge posed for researchers is to describe and assess their own approach (computational or statistical) to evaluating, characterizing, and/or categorizing, any, some, or all of the paraphrase dimensions in this corpus. The purpose of establishing such evaluations of user-language paraphrases is so that ITSs may provide users with accurate assessment and subsequently facilitative feedback, such that the assessment would be comparable to one or more trained human raters. Thus, these evaluations will help to develop the field of natural language assessment and understanding (Rus, McCarthy, McNamara, & Graesser, 2008 [a]).
Some Issues on Capturing the Meaning of Negated Statements
Authors: Blanco Eduardo , Moldovan Dan
Published: February 2012

Negation is present in all human languages, and it is used to reverse the polarity of parts of a statement. It is a complex phenomenon that interacts with many other aspects of language. Besides the direct meaning, negated statements often carry positive implicit meaning. Negation can be interpreted in terms of its scope and focus. This chapter explores the importance of both scope and focus to capture the meaning of negated statements. Some issues that must be taken into account for representing negation are outlined, the forms in which negation occurs are depicted, and heuristics to detect scope and focus of negation are proposed and evaluated.
Understanding and Reasoning with Text
Authors: Britt M. Anne , Wiemer Katja , Millis Keith K. , Magliano Joseph P. , Wallace Patty , Hastings Peter
Published: February 2012

Consider the assignment that teachers have been giving their students for years: “Write an expository essay on a scientific topic. Example topics may include global warming, human memory, or the spread of infectious diseases. You must have at least three references.” The instructor makes it clear that the paper should have a thesis or claim that is supported by evidence. Claims might be that global warming will be disastrous only for some nations, why it is futile to teach mnemonics to young children, or that cell phone use causes cancer. From the perspective of the student (and cognitive psychologists), this assignment is challenging at any grade. The challenge is that the assignment entails a number of complicated and interconnected tasks. For example, reading a research paper requires the reader to make inferences that span sentences and paragraphs (in addition to a whole host of other processes), and to understand the logical and rhetorical structure of the text as a whole. If the paper describes an experiment, the student must additionally understand how to determine whether the data support the conclusion (i.e., the scientific method). In most cases, the student must also integrate the content of several papers (sources) into a coherent structure. This process involves evaluating the credibility of the sources, selecting relevant pieces of information from each, and putting them into a coherent argument structure. No wonder such assignments are met with groans.
P-MATCH
Authors: Kao Anne , Poteet Stephen R. , Jones David H. , Augustine David
Published: February 2012

Many industries keep log data on maintenance and support. The log data contains information on the problems reported as well as the actions taken to fix the problems. The log data contains a wealth of information useful for future maintenance, as well as product design and inventory management. However, it is always hard to identify parts involved automatically when the number of part types is large and the data are sloppily authored. Boeing’s P-MATCH identifies part names from noisy non-professionally authored log data. In this chapter, the authors use P-MATCH to illustrate how to leverage the combined strength of natural language processing and text mining.
Newness and Givenness of Information
Authors: McCarthy Philip M. , Dufty David , Hempelmann Christian F. , Cai Zhiqiang , McNamara Danielle S. , Graesser Arthur C.
Published: February 2012

The identification of new versus given information within a text has been frequently investigated by researchers of language and discourse. Despite theoretical advances, an accurate computational method for assessing the degree to which a text contains new versus given information has not previously been implemented. This study discusses a variety of computational new/given systems and analyzes four typical expository and narrative texts against a widely accepted theory of new/given proposed by Prince (1981). Findings suggest that a latent semantic analysis (LSA) based measure called span outperforms standard LSA in detecting both new and given information in text. Further, the span measure outperforms standard LSA for distinguishing low versus high cohesion versions of text. Results suggest that span may be a useful variable in a wide array of discourse analyses.
Mining and Visualizing the Narration Tree of Hadiths (Prophetic Traditions)
Authors: Azmi Aqil , AlBadia Nawaf
Published: February 2012

Hadiths are narrations originating from the words and deeds of Prophet Muhammad. Each hadith starts with a list of narrators involved in transmitting it. A hadith scholar judges a hadith based on the narration chain along with the individual narrators in the chain. In this chapter, the authors report on a method that automatically extracts the transmission chains from the hadith text and graphically display it. Computationally, this is a challenging problem. Foremost each hadith has its own peculiar way of listing narrators; and the text of hadith is in Arabic, a language rich in morphology. The proposed solution involves parsing and annotating the hadith text and recognizing the narrators’ names. The authors use shallow parsing along with a domain specific grammar to parse the hadith content. Experiments on sample hadiths show our approach to have a very good success rate.
Combinatory Categorial Grammar for Computer-Assisted Language Learning
Authors: Delamarre Simon , Abraham Maryvonne
Published: February 2012

This chapter intends to demonstrate how Applicative and Combinatory Categorial Grammar (ACCG) can be drawn on to design powerful software applications for the teaching of languages. To this end, the authors present some modules from their “pictographic translator,” software that performs syntactical analysis of sentences in natural language directly written by the user, and then dynamically displays series of pictograms that illustrate the words and structure of the user’s sentences. After a short presentation of the application and an introduction to ACCG, the chapter examines how this formalism enables the building of several high-level functions in the system, such as disambiguation, structure exhibition, and grammatical correction/validation. The chapter concludes with a short discussion concerning the potential (and limits) of this architecture with regards to multilingualism.
Fairy Tales and ESL Texts
Authors: Rufenacht Rachel M. , McCarthy Philip M. , Lamkin Travis
Published: February 2012

This chapter describes a study that investigates the potential value of using traditional fairy tales as reading material for English language learners (ELL). Using the computational textual analysis software, the Gramulator, the authors analyzed the linguistic features of fairy tales relative to a corpus of ELL reading material and a corpus of baseline educational texts for native English speakers. The results of the analyses suggest that there are significant similarities between fairy tales and ESL texts, but differences lie in the content of the text types, with fairy tales appearing significantly more narrative in style and ESL texts appearing more expository. The study has important implications for educators and materials developers in the field of English as a Second Language.
Text-Based Affect Detection in Intelligent Tutors
Authors: D’Mello Sidney , Graesser Arthur C.
Published: February 2012

Affect-sensitive Intelligent Tutoring Systems are an exciting new educational technology that aspire to heighten motivation and enhance learning gains in interventions that are dynamically adaptive to learners’ affective and cognitive states. Although state of the art affect detection systems rely on behavioral and physiological measures for affect detection, we show that a textual analysis of the tutorial discourse provides important cues into learners’ affective states. This chapter surveys the existing literature on text-based affect sensing and focuses on how learners’ affective states (boredom, flow/engagement, confusion, and frustration) can be automatically predicted by variations in the cohesiveness of tutorial dialogues during interactions with AutoTutor, an intelligent tutoring system with conversational dialogues. The authors discuss the generalizability of findings to other domains and tutoring systems, the possibility of constructing real-time cohesion-based affect detectors, and implications for text-based affect detection for the next generation affect-sensitive learning environments.
Extracting Commonsense Knowledge Using Concepts Properties
Authors: Blanco Eduardo , Cankaya Hakki C. , Moldovan Dan
Published: February 2012

Commonsense knowledge encompasses facts that people know but do not communicate most of the time. For example, one needs water and soap to take a shower is commonsense. This chapter presents a semantically grounded method for extracting commonsense knowledge. First, commonsense rules are identified, e.g., one cannot see imaginary objects. Second, those rules are combined with a basic semantic representation in order to infer commonsense facts, e.g. one cannot see a flying carpet. Further combinations of semantic relations with inferred commonsense facts are proposed and analyzed. Experimental results show that this novel method is able to extract thousands of commonsense facts with little human interaction and high accuracy.
Toward a Unified Model of Information Systems Development Success
Authors: Siau Keng , Long Yoanna , Ling Min
Published: February 2012

Information systems development (ISD) is a complex process involving interconnected resources, stake holders, and outcomes. Understanding factors contributing to ISD success has attracted keen interest from both researchers and practitioners, and many research studies have been published in this area. However, most studies focus on one or two factors affecting ISD success. A holistic view of factors impacting ISD success is missing. This paper synthesizes past research on the topic and proposes a unified model on ISD success through a systematic and comprehensive literature review. The unified model highlights that ISD is a complex and interactive process involving individual, team, and organization factors, as well as ISD methodology. These factors impact the ISD process as well as its success.
Impact of Flow and Brand Equity in 3D Virtual Worlds
Authors: Nah Fiona Fui-Hoon , Eschenbrenner Brenda , DeWester David , Park So Ra
Published: February 2012

This research is a partial test of Park et al.’s (2008) model to assess the impact of flow and brand equity in 3D virtual worlds. It draws on flow theory as its main theoretical foundation to understand and empirically assess the impact of flow on brand equity and behavioral intention in 3D virtual worlds. The findings suggest that the balance of skills and challenges in 3D virtual worlds influences users’ flow experience, which in turn influences brand equity. Brand equity then increases behavioral intention. The authors also found that the impact of flow on behavioral intention in 3D virtual worlds is indirect because the relationship between them is mediated by brand equity. This research highlights the importance of balancing the challenges posed by 3D virtual world branding sites with the users’ skills to maximize their flow experience and brand equity to increase the behavioral intention associated with the brand.