bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Promoting Team Learning in the Classroom
Authors: Holt Lila , Ziegler Mary F.
Published: October 2011

The new workplace is a key arena for learning in today’s society. The spiraling demand for knowledge in the workplace has increased interest in learning, especially team learning. Team learning can be viewed from multiple perspectives, making it difficult for career and technical educators (CTEs) to know how to prepare students for a team-based work environment, especially one that includes virtual teams. In addition, emerging technology adds to the confusion about how to provide effective learning experiences that mirror what is occurring in the workplace. To prepare the workforce of tomorrow, CTE instructors can become facilitators of team learning by providing ample opportunity for learners to practice team skills in a low-risk learning environment. By providing the exposure and practice to team learning skills and technology tools, CTEs may help equip students with added skills in entering a global workplace.
Collaborative Online Learning in Non-Formal Education Settings in the Developing World
Authors: Asunka Stephen
Published: October 2011

In the present knowledge economy, individuals, particularly working adults, need to continuously acquire purposeful knowledge and skills so they can better contribute towards addressing society’s ever-changing developmental challenges. In the developing world however, few opportunities exist for working adults to acquire such new learning experiences through the formal education sector, and this makes it imperative for organizations to develop non-formal education and training programs to help address this need. With the proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) worldwide, this article recommends the adoption of Collaborative Online Learning (COL) by non-formal learning organizations as a means of helping address the education and training needs of working adults. The article thus provides an overview of COL, and then draws on the research literature on relevant theories to recommend best-practice strategies for designing and delivering effective and workable COL initiatives within non-formal education settings, particularly in the developing world.
Business Intelligence Conceptual Model
Authors: Glancy Fletcher H. , Yadav Surya B.
Published: October 2011

A business intelligence conceptual model (BISCOM) is proposed as a process-focused design theory for developing, understanding, and evaluating business intelligence (BI) systems. Previous work has concentrated on subsets of the BI systems, use of BI tools, and specific business functional area requirements. BISCOM provides a unified and comprehensive design theory that integrates and synthesizes existing research. It extends existing research by proposing functionality that does not currently exist in BI systems. The BISCOM is validated through descriptive methods that demonstrate the model utility and through prototype creation to demonstrate the need for BISCOM.
Business Intelligence Competency Centers
Authors: O’Neill Daniel
Published: October 2011

Enterprises today continue to invest in business intelligence (BI) initiatives with the hope of providing a strategic advantage to their organizations. Many of these initiatives are supporting the tactical goals of individual business units and not the strategic goals of the enterprise. Although this decentralized approach provides short term gains, it creates an environment where information silos develop and the enterprise as a whole struggles to develop a single version of the truth when it comes to providing strategic information. Enterprises are turning toward a centralized approach to BI which aligns with their overall strategic goals. At the core of the centralized approach is the business intelligence competency center (BICC). This paper details why the centralized BICC approach should be considered an essential component of all enterprise BI initiatives. Examining case studies of BICC implementations details the benefits realized by real world companies who have taken this approach. It is also important to provide analysis of the two BI approaches in the areas of BI process and BI technology/data and people relations. The findings indicate the benefits of the centralized BICC outweigh the deficiencies of the decentralized approach.
Line Drawings that Appear Unsharp
Authors: Dehlinger Hans
Published: October 2011

A straight line, pen-drawn and executed on a pen-plotter, is by default sharp and crisp. This is the nature of a straight line between two points. Likewise, drawings generated from such lines are by definition sharp. This paper considers generative line drawings, executed on a pen-plotter which appears to be wholly or in part unsharp when viewed. Described here are some strategies based on systematic experiments with geometric transformations to produce such drawings. The topic is approached from an artist’s point of view with a focus on the generative and algorithmic issues involved, and the results are demonstrated by examples.
Perspectives on the Field of Cognitive Informatics and its Future Development
Authors: Wang Yingxu , Widrow Bernard Carlos , Zhang Bo , Kinsner Witold , Sugawara Kenji , Sun Fuchun , Lu Jianhua , Weise Thomas , Zhang Du
Published: October 2011

The contemporary wonder of sciences and engineering has recently refocused on the beginning point of: how the brain processes internal and external information autonomously and cognitively rather than imperatively like conventional computers. Cognitive Informatics (CI) is a transdisciplinary enquiry of computer science, information sciences, cognitive science, and intelligence science that investigates the internal information processing mechanisms and processes of the brain and natural intelligence, as well as their engineering applications in cognitive computing. This paper reports a set of eight position statements presented in the plenary panel of IEEE ICCI’10 on Cognitive Informatics and Its Future Development contributed from invited panelists who are part of the world’s renowned researchers and scholars in the field of cognitive informatics and cognitive computing.
A Novel Algorithm for Block Encryption of Digital Image Based on Chaos
Authors: Peng Jun , Zhang Du , Liao Xiaofeng
Published: October 2011

This paper proposes a novel image block encryption algorithm based on three-dimensional Chen chaotic dynamical system. The algorithm works on 32-bit image blocks with a 192-bit secret key. The idea is that the key is employed to drive the Chen’s system to generate a chaotic sequence that is inputted to a specially designed function G, in which we use new 8x8 S-boxes generated by chaotic maps (Tang, 2005). In order to improve the robustness against differental cryptanalysis and produce desirable avalanche effect, the function G is iteratively performed several times and its last outputs serve as the keystreams to encrypt the original image block. The design of the encryption algorithm is described along with security analyses. The results from key space analysis, differential attack analysis, and information entropy analysis, correlation analysis of two adjacent pixels prove that the proposed algorithm can resist cryptanalytic, statistical and brute force attacks, and achieve a higher level of security. The algorithm can be employed to realize the security cryptosystems over the Internet.
Legal Truth and Consequences for a Failed ERP Implementation
Authors: Austin Walter W. , Brennan Linda L. , Hunt James L.
Published: October 2011

This case is inspired by a complaint and response filed in the U.S. court system. One of the case’s authors served as an expert witness in the case. Because the suit settled before going to trial, some of the details of the case are not part of the public record; therefore, the names of the companies involved have been changed and certain details disguised to protect the identity of the litigants. However, the essentials of the case remain faithful to the actual circumstances and provide a basis for analysis of decision points and a discussion of costs and responsibilities for the issues in the case. A leading manufacturer of building materials in the United States selected an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to install on its existing hardware infrastructure. This case describes the ERP selection, implementation and migration challenges, impaired functionality, and the business and legal issues that ensued due to the software’s incompatibility with the hardware. With the software not performing as expected, the vendor withdrawing its software support, and costs escalating, the manufacturer sought legal counsel.
Using Technology to Connect Students with Emotional Disabilities to General Education
Authors: Frank Alicia Roberts
Published: October 2011

This case follows a high-school special-education teacher who teaches in a program for students with emotional disturbance (ED) in a large, comprehensive high school. Many of her students cannot attend general-education classes because of anxiety or behavioral issues, but as a special educator, she does not have the subject-area expertise to provide them with the academic education they need to be prepared for life after high school. She hopes that through the use of a video connection to general-education classes her students can be exposed to the highly qualified content-area teachers while remaining in the safe environment of the ED classroom. She believes that virtual attendance in a class could help her students feel comfortable enough to make the move to the actual classroom and be included with their peers to gain academic knowledge and social skills.
Suspicions of Cheating in an Online Class
Authors: Davis Julia
Published: October 2011

Dr. John Dobson is an Assistant Professor of Education Leadership at Northern New England State University (NNESU) who teaches traditional classes and online classes for his department. As the level of state financial support has decreased, online classes have become increasingly important to NNESU. They are one of the few growing revenue streams at the institution. While teaching a summer online course, Dr. Dobson comes to believe that one of his students is cheating. In this case, Dr. Dobson attempts to navigate the process of proving that the student is cheating, holding the student accountable for his/her actions, and garnering the institutional support necessary to hold the student accountable.
Using Management Methods from the Software Development Industry to Manage Classroom-Based Research
Authors: Schneider Edd
Published: October 2011

This case details a classroom-based research and development project facilitated with management approaches adapted from the software industry to the classroom, specifically a combination of the methods generally known as ‘Scrum’ and ‘Agile’. Scrum Management and Agile Software Development were developed in response to the difficulties of project management in the constantly changing world of technology. The on-going project takes a classroom of students and has them design and conduct research based on software tools they develop. An emphasis of the project is conducting research that involves all class members and makes students think critically about group management.
Relevance of Mesh Dimension Optimization, Geometry Simplification and Discretization Accuracy in the Study of Mechanical Behaviour of Bare Metal Stents
Authors: Gagliardi Mariacristina
Published: October 2011

In this paper, the authors propose a set of analyses on the deployment of coronary stents by using a nonlinear finite element method. The goal is to propose a convergence test able to select the appropriate mesh dimension and a methodology to perform the simplification of structures composed of cyclically repeated units to reduce the number of degrees of freedom and the analysis run time. A systematic study, based on the analysis of seven meshes for each model, was performed, gradually reducing the element dimension. In addition, geometric models were simplified considering symmetries; adequate boundary conditions were applied and verified based on the results obtained from the analysis of the whole model.
Subspace Discovery for Disease Management
Authors: Namayanja Josephine , Janeja Vandana P.
Published: October 2011

This paper identifies key subspaces for better disease management. Disease affects individuals differently based on features such as age, race, and gender. The authors use data mining methods to discover which key factors of a disease are more relevant for particular strata of the population using bin wise clustering. The authors use a case study on Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). MetS is a combination of abnormalities that occur in the body during the processing of food and nutrients. A number of definitions have been studied to classify MetS. No clear criterion exists that can generally fit into a single satisfactory protocol. This domain encompasses a variety of demographics in society, leading to an implication that different criteria may be appropriate for different demographic strata. The authors address this issue and identify the cross section of demographic strata and the disease characteristics that are critical for understanding the disease in that subset of the population. Findings in real world NHANESIII data support this hypothesis, thus the approach can be used by clinical scientists to narrow down specific demographic pools to further study impacts of key MetS characteristics.
Similarity Searching of Medical Image Data in Distributed Systems
Authors: Charisi Amalia , Korvesis Panagiotis , Megalooikonomou Vasileios
Published: October 2011

In this paper, the authors propose a method for medical image retrieval in distributed systems to facilitate telemedicine. The proposed framework can be used by a network of healthcare centers, where some can be remotely located, assisting in diagnosis without the necessary transfer of patients. Security and confidentiality issues of medical data are expected, which are handled at the local site following the procedures and protocols of each institution. To make the search more effective, the authors introduce a distributed index based on features that are extracted from each image. Considering network bandwidth limitations and other restrictions that are associated with handling medical data, the images are processed locally and a pointer is distributed in the network. For the distribution of this pointer, the authors propose a function that maps the pointer of each image to a node with similar contents.
Identifying Temporal Changes and Topics that Promote Growth Within Online Communities
Authors: Durant Kathleen T. , McCray Alexa T. , Safran Charles
Published: October 2011

In this paper the authors have extended the methodology for temporal analysis of online forums and applied the methodology to six online cancer forums (melanoma, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, ovarian cancer and breast cancer). The goal was to develop, apply and improve methods that quantify the responsiveness of the interactions in online forums in order to identify the users and topics that promote use and usefulness of these online medical communities. The evolutional stages that gauge when a forum is expanding, contracting, or in a state of equilibrium were considered. The response function was thought to be an approximation of a discussion group’s utility to its members. By applying the evolutionary phase algorithm, it was determined that two out of six of the forums are in contracting phases, while four are in their largest growth phase. By analyzing the topics of the influential threads, the authors conclude that cancer treatment discussions as well as stage IV cancer discussions promote growth in the forums. It is observed that the discussion of treatment rather than diagnosis is important to help a cancer forum thrive.
A Success Framework to Investigate Critical Factors Associated with Implementation of Customer Relationship Management
Authors: Keramati Abbas , Sangari Mohamad Sadegh
Published: October 2011

This paper suggests a novel success framework for customer relationship management (CRM) based on a conceptual implementation model to identify associated critical factors and their contribution to overall success/failure. Fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) is applied to identify the relative importance of each factor in successful implementation of each stage and the CRM initiative as a unified process. The results illustrate that CRM goals, change management, customer knowledge management, and top management support are the most critical factors for successful implementation of CRM projects within Iranian business contexts. The proposed success framework provides valuable insight into the CRM implementation process and its critical success factors (CSFs). It can be applied as a practical assessment tool that provides a pre-evaluation of the overall success of the CRM implementation project and identifies areas of weakness that negatively affect successful implementation of each stage of CRM initiative.
Service Quality and WOM (Word-of-Mouth)
Authors: Choudhury Koushiki
Published: October 2011

The Indian banking industry is going through turbulent times. In this era of mature and intense competitive pressures, it is imperative that banks maintain a loyal customer base. To achieve this objective and improve their market and profit positions, many retail banks are directing their strategies toward increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty through improved service quality. In the present context, characterised by rapid change and sophisticated customers, it is important that banks in India determine service quality factors, which are pertinent to the customers’ selection process, as well as the dimensionality of customer-perceived service quality. If service quality dimensions are identified, service managers can improve the delivery of customer perceived quality during the service process and have greater control over the outcome. The author suggests that customers distinguish four dimensions of service quality in the retail banking industry in India. These dimensions of customer-perceived service quality are customer-orientedness, competence, tangibles, and convenience. The results of this study offer strong support for the intuitive notion that improving service quality increases favourable behavioural intentions, namely WOM (Word-of-Mouth) communications.
Role of European Automotive Supplier Integration in New Product Development
Authors: Syan Chanan S. , White Anthony S.
Published: October 2011

Over the past two decades, the automotive industry has experienced major changes as a result of globalisation, changing customer requirements and environmental legislation. The supplier integration in the new product development process is a significant step in facilitating reduction in the time to market of innovations and reducing costs. The aim of this work is to assess the extent of supplier integration in automotive organisations and to identify what barriers still exist. An exploratory Europe-wide survey was conducted, and 31 usable returns from automotive organisations spread across the EU. The survey confirmed the increasing importance of supplier integration in the automotive industry; however, the practice varies from organisation to organisation. They also indicate that most automobile manufacturers are engaged in functional rather than strategic supplier integration, indicating that the supplier integration is not yet fully developed, but progress in the first tier of suppliers is becoming common.
Citizen Lifetime Value in E-Government
Authors: Nikkhahan B. , Tarokh M. J.
Published: October 2011

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is one of the most important measures of valuing the customers in private sector. CLV calculates customer contribution in the profits of organization. In this paper Citizen Lifetime Value (CzLV) is introduced to measure the financial value of citizens for the government. CzLV evaluates citizen contribution in cost reduction of the organization. This measure can be calculated based on past behavior of citizens in using the service and cost reduction of using online services rather than offline ones. Logistic regression is employed as a data mining technique to predict future use of online services by citizens. A service of Tehran.ir called “137,” one of the most important portals of Iran’s E-government, is considered as a case study. CzLV for the citizens of this service is calculated and four citizen segments are specified. Then each segment is evaluated based on different characteristic of citizens, and suitable strategies are presented to build more financial values for the organization.
Mining Customers Behavior Based on RFM Model to Improve the Customer Satisfaction
Authors: Bagheri Fatemeh , Tarokh Mohammad J.
Published: October 2011

Organizations use data mining to improve their customer relationship management processes. Data mining is a new and well-known technique, which can be used to extract hidden knowledge and information about customers’ behaviors. In this paper, a model is proposed to enhance the premium calculation policies in an automobile insurance company. This method is based on customer clustering. K-means algorithm is used for clustering based on RFM models. Customers of the insurance company are categorized into some groups, which are ranked based on the RFM model. A number of rules are proposed to calculate the premiums and insurance charges based on the insurance manner of customers. These rules can improve the customers’ satisfaction and loyalty as well as the company profitability.
Investigating Switching Cost Roles in Determining Loyalty in the Mobile Telecommunications Market
Authors: Qayyum Abdul , Khang Do Ba
Published: October 2011

The paper evaluates various roles (direct antecedent, mediator or moderator) of perceived switching costs in determining customer loyalty in the mobile telecommunications market. Data were collected through a field survey of mobile phone users in Pakistan. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate hypothesized relationships. Perceived switching costs were found to play all three roles. Findings suggest that perceived switching costs directly influence customer loyalty, mediate the impacts of perceived service quality, value, and trust on customer loyalty and negatively moderate the relationships of satisfaction and perceived service quality with customer loyalty. Implications of these findings are discussed.
The Mediating Role of Job Embeddedness Between Internal Marketing and Turnover Intention
Authors: Ibrahim Mona Mohamed Sayed
Published: October 2011

This study contributes to the stream of research on job embeddedness and internal marketing. Greater attention needs to be paid to understand the mechanisms and processes through which internal marketing influences work-related attitudes such as turnover intention in order to develop complete understanding of the effect of internal marketing on job embeddedness. This study fills this research gap using a sample of respondents employed by telecommunication companies in Egypt. The author examines whether job embeddedness mediated the effects of internal marketing on turnover intention. Results from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that job embeddedness fully mediates the relationship between internal marketing and turnover intention. Results also support that internal marketing has obviously positive influence on job embeddedness and a clearly negative influence on turnover intention; finally, internal marketing has direct and indirect influences on turnover intention through job embeddedness. Implications for research and practice of the findings are discussed.
An Enhanced Fuzzy ARM Approach for Intrusion Detection
Authors: Abouzakhar Nasser S. , Chen Huankai , Christianson Bruce
Published: October 2011

The integration of fuzzy logic with data mining methods such as association rules has achieved interesting results in various digital forensics applications. As a data mining technique, the association rule mining (ARM) algorithm uses ranges to convert any quantitative features into categorical ones. Such features lead to the sudden boundary problem, which can be smoothed by incorporating fuzzy logic so as to develop interesting patterns for intrusion detection. This paper introduces a Fuzzy ARM-based intrusion detection model that is tested on the CAIDA 2007 backscatter network traffic dataset. Moreover, the authors present an improved algorithm named Matrix Fuzzy ARM algorithm for mining fuzzy association rules. The experiments and results that are presented in this paper demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating fuzzy logic with association rule mining in intrusion detection. The performance of the developed detection model is improved by using this integrated approach and improved algorithm.
A Multi-Agent Question-Answering System for E-Learning and Collaborative Learning Environment
Authors: Alinaghi Tannaz , Bahreininejad Ardeshir
Published: October 2011

The increasing advances of new Internet technologies in all application domains have changed life styles and interactions. E-learning and collaborative learning environment systems are originated through such changes and aim at providing facilities for people in different times and geographical locations to cooperate, collaborate, learn and work together by using various educational services. One of the most important requirements of learners in online and virtual environments is the ability to ask questions and receive appropriate answers. The nature of such environments and the lack of physical existence of teachers make such issues critical and challenging problems. This paper presents a multi-agent system for building a question-answering system in learning management systems and collaborative learning environments. In the proposed system, after validating the content of questions, all available resources including course materials, frequently asked questions and responses from other learners will be gathered and finally using a recommender system, the most appropriate answer(s) with respect to several criteria such as learner’s knowledge, research background, history of previous questions, and the candidate answers relevant to the question will be suggested. A simplified version of the system has been implemented and integrated to a well known open source collaborative learning environment system in order to simulate and evaluate the applicability and appropriateness of the proposed system. The result shows that the proposed question-answering system may be used efficiently and expanded to accommodate further advanced capabilities.
The Effects of Videoconferenced Distance-Learning Instruction in a Taiwanese Company
Authors: Lin Chin-Hung , Yang Shu-Ching
Published: October 2011

Distance learning, where instruction is given to students despite wide separations of students and teachers, is increasingly popular. Videoconferencing, which is examined in this study, is a distance learning mode of featuring real-time interaction of students and teachers and provides sequence, real-time, vision, and actual interaction. This study focuses on learning achievement compared to that of face-to-face instruction at one fixed location. It investigates the interrelation of learning achievement, gender, emotional intelligence, and motivation. Statistical techniques are used to analyze and evaluate the data. The subjects were divided into a target group and control group. The findings were that learning achievement was similar for videoconferencing and traditional face-to-face instruction. It showed a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and learning achievement. An implication is that a judicious embedding of emotional intelligence consideration in the design and implementation of videoconferencing courses might enhance learning achievement.
Validation of Learning Effort Algorithm for Real-Time Non-Interfering Based Diagnostic Technique
Authors: Hsu Pi-Shan , Chang Te-Jeng
Published: October 2011

The objective of this research is to validate the algorithm of learning effort which is an indicator of a new real-time and non-interfering based diagnostic technique. IC3 Mentor, the adaptive e-learning platform fulfilling the requirements of intelligent tutor system, was applied to 165 university students. The learning records of the subjects who attended IC3 Mentor were converted into Characteristic Learning Effort (CLE) curves through the algorithms of learning effort. By evaluating CLE curves and questionnaire survey reports, the findings indicate that the learning effort algorithm is verified to be an effective real-time and non-interfering diagnostic technique. Furthermore, CLE curve is proven to be an effective user-friendly tool for learners and instructors in diagnosing learning progress under adaptive e-learning context. The CLE curve generated by the algorithm of learning effort is a visualized graphic tool which can be applied in the adaptive e-learning platform of education and industry fields.
A FAQ-Based e-Learning Environment to Support Japanese Language Learning
Authors: Liu Yuqin , Yin Chengjiu , Ogata Hiroaki , Qiao Guojun , Yano Yoneo
Published: October 2011

In traditional classes, having many questions from learners is important because these questions indicate difficult points for learners and for teachers. This paper proposes a FAQ-based e-Learning environment to support Japanese language learning that focuses on learner questions. This knowledge sharing system enables learners to interact and share information and knowledge through FAQ and e-mail. Teachers contribute answers to discussion among learners. The system also allows learners to discuss and collaborate, stimulating their motivation to study Japanese as a foreign language. All questions are stored in a FAQ database, allowing other learners to reuse resources, helping learners learn by themselves and reduce teacher workloads.
Improve Oral Training
Authors: Wang Li-Jyu , Chang Hung-Fan
Published: October 2011

The advantages of portfolios come from observing the student learning process and recording feedback. Students utilized their own learning portfolios to do learning assessment and self-correction. The research that has been done in Taiwan has shown that using a portfolio is effective in improving English speaking performances (ESP). The purpose of this study is to apply the portfolios to assess students’ speaking performances. The researcher administered speaking evaluation forms and the PRCA-24 as the instruments. The PRCA-24 was used to assess students’ communication apprehension and was analyzed by t-test. The major findings were summarized. The portfolios were expected to enhance students’ ESP and intended to reduce students’ communication apprehension through self-monitoring their ESP. Finally, this research can provide valuable perspectives on the use of portfolios and self-monitoring, and prompted the expansion and sustainability of English education system.
Beyond Babel
Authors: Fantin Monica
Published: October 2011

This article highlights the importance of the concepts of media literacy, and digital and informational literacy to understand the multimodal meaning of multiliteracies and their interfaces. An analogy with Babel is used to understand the different ways in which this concept articulates the linguistic, visual, audio, spatial, and gestural dimensions in digital culture. In this framework, the question of convergence is highlighted in learning experiences undertaken in formal and informal contexts. To qualify the meaning of this learning for the subject, the article mentions the concept of personal literacy to locate the importance of subjectivity in the interactions that the multiliteracies offer. Finally, in an exercise of representation of the components of the multiliteracies, the article presents a diagram that highlights the importance of mediation and the forms of appropriation that express concepts and experiences in search of a transformative pedagogical practice, as an opportunity to understand the multiliteracies as a condition of dialog, expression and participation in the culture.
Good Teaching Practice and Quality Indicators for Virtual and Blended Learning
Authors: Pérez M. Esther del Moral , Martínez Lourdes Villalustre
Published: October 2011

The M.A.T.R.I.X (Modalities of Telematic Learning and Inter-university Results that can be Extrapolated to Blended Learning)1 project identified and described the diverse teaching methods and practices applied in a representative sample of virtual and blended learning degree courses taught at different Spanish Universities using the G92 Shared Virtual Campus. The purpose was to extrapolate the experiences considered as “good practice” in the new blended learning contexts and methodologies proposed by the EHEA, using as indicators the quality of the learning design as assessed by experts, the satisfaction level of the students taking the courses, their effective contribution to attaining specific and generic competence in different subjects.
Developing and Managing Digital/Technology Literacy and Effective Learning Skills in Adult Learners
Authors: Hsu Jeffrey , Wang Zhongxian , Hamilton Karin
Published: October 2011

The needs of adult learners are different from those of traditional undergraduate students, and programs must be designed to meet this need. In particular, digital and technology literacy needs, including general computing skills, computerized communications, online and distance learning, and Web 2.0 tools make navigating coursework an additional challenge. In this paper, the authors examine the technology and digital literacy needs and backgrounds of adult learner students and discuss research on the interaction between technology and adult learner education. Using the features of intensive weekend classroom sessions, on-line distance learning, and specialized teaching methods, an improved learning environment tailored to unique needs and career goals can be offered to business undergraduate adults. An important component is the development of technology and digital literacy skills to “fill the gaps” of students who may have extensive business or working experience, but are less than proficient in the use of technology. More depth and analysis is given to the following areas: digital and technology skills and knowledge improvement, pedagogical features, the use of intensive weekend and evening sessions, and the role of distance learning to supplement the classroom sessions.
Technological Literacy in the Profile of Skills of University Professor in the New European Higher Education System
Authors: Nuzzaci Antonella
Published: October 2011

This article describes the new requirements of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) - international and cross-cultural, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that are important in all fields of university studies and take on a central role for learning and teaching. The literature review showed that, despite the considerable attention focused on the technological know-how of university teaching, few studies have examined the characteristics of these actors. The purpose is to focus more on teachers, clearly defining the technological skills necessary to develop the new European System of Higher Education in order to facilitate the development of skills, general learning, disciplinary, and professional digital education. This paper analyzes why this adaptation is necessary, the difficulties encountered, the objectives, and the response of teachers to these changes. On the other hand, university education acts on three fronts: the integration and use of new educational technologies in universities, the European convergence and application of ICT, the innovation and education needed to bridge the gap between universities, and teachers facing reality, both socially and professionally. This study contributes to the debate on the interactions between academic literacy, technological skills, and employment prospects for university teachers.
Transformation of Individual Learning Through Informatics and Information Technology Activities in Primary School
Authors: Dagiene Valentina , Grabauskiene Vaiva
Published: October 2011

The topic of the individual learning conditions creation can be analysed from the technological as well as pedagogical side. In both cases there is the same fundamental point: how to create valuable and as much as possible natural learning environment? The experience in the application of technologies for personalisation, analysed in scientific literature, reveals newer possibilities for the individual activities support. This encourages taking a different route in analysing individual learning – to interdisciplinary combine the content of close concepts. The paper deals with basic concepts of interdisciplinary content analysis – informatics and information technology impact to an individual learning in primary school.
Blended Collaborative Learning Through a Wiki-Based Project
Authors: Roussinos Dimitrios , Jimoyiannis Athanassios
Published: October 2011

Wikis are currently gaining in popularity in schools and higher education institutions and they are widely promoted as collaborative tools supporting students’ active learning. This paper reports on the investigation of university students’ beliefs and perceptions of a wiki authoring activity, designed to support blended and collaborative learning. The study was administered in the context of an authentic coursework project activity in a first semester university course on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), attended by 47 first year students. Research findings indicated that the students in the sample were generally positive about the collaborative experience offered through the wiki and the consequent learning outcomes. Students’ perceptions of the functionality and usability of the wiki environment were also positive. They considered the wiki as an effective and easy to use technology. In overall, they evaluated positively the wiki assignment, as well as the technical and learning support they received on-line, through the wiki pages, and by their instructors during the class sessions.
Literacy and Space Technology In Nigeria
Authors: Ogunyemi Christopher Babatunde
Published: October 2011

This paper examines literacy as it affects Space Technology in Nigeria. The place of digital technology enables a proper understanding of literacy in Nigeria. The paper is divided into four parts. The first section redefines literacy in order to understand the possibilities of meanings based on the perceptions of James (1984), Onukaogu (2008), Arua (2009) and Ajayi (2009) that conceptualize the complex nature of literacy and its indispensability. The second part visualizes the role played by literacy in educating technological advancement in Nigeria, bearing in mind that in 1999, the Federal Government of Nigeria approved the Nigerian Space Policy and the implementation of the space program. The third section underscores the socio-economic relevance of literacy in enhancing global space technology for Nigeria while the fourth section relates Ajayi’s (2009) projection in a meta-critical manner, so that Nigeria can become a world power. The theoretical framework for this paper is the “Transformational Theory”. The theory opines that “learning occurs as a result of transformation of participation in culturally valued activities” such as space technology. The paper emphasizes practical findings to stimulate excellence and literacy relevance in science and technology.
Educators’ Expectations on Technology Enhanced Education (TEE)
Authors: Giovannella Carlo , Di Lorenzo Claudia , Scarsella Simona , Presti Corrado Amedeo
Published: October 2011

This paper reports and discusses the result of a survey focused on the perceptions and expectations on TEE applications, conducted among 500 Italian educators (university, high/middle/elementary schools and professionals) involved in on-line or blended learning practices. The expectations are quite basic ones, although may depend on the educational level: support to content sharing and production, communication, assessment and team working are at the top of rank; much less relevant appear to be items like: support to socialization, process design and personalization. Very similar results have been obtained also from a survey among schools’ teachers, novices for TEE, attending a Master in “e-learning: methods, techniques and applications”. The survey was conducted after the conclusion of the first part of the master carried on according to a very traditional distance learning process: content download, self-evaluation tests, tutor assistance upon request. However, after the participation to the second part of the Master, organized as a collaborative, design inspired P3BL (problem, project and process based learning) experience, their opinions on TEE changed in a considerable manner. This indicates how necessary a dissemination action on a large scale among educators with regard to both TEE potentialities and design literacy would be.
E-Government
Authors: Yannacopoulos Denis , Manolitzas Panagiotis , Spyridakos Athanasios
Published: October 2011

Governments across the European Union (EU) face the challenge of responding to public demand for more responsive, efficient and effective services. E-Government based on the principle of providing services via internet to citizens and companies. The rapid growth of electronic government gave the EU the ability to correspond more effectively to the needs of citizens and provide more valuable services. In this paper the authors analyze the web based services that have been developed by EU member states. A comparative measurement of the progress of online services delivery is presented using a Multi-criteria INteractive Ordinal Regression Analysis (MINORA) system. The paper demonstrates the importance of Multicriteria Analysis and the use of reliable methods that allowed the development of a function of total utility dynamically modified depending on the evolution of e-government services.
One-Dimensional Cutting Stock Optimization with Usable Leftover
Authors: Gradisar Miro , Erjavec Jure , Tomat Luka
Published: October 2011

This paper describes a method for solving one-dimensional cutting stock problem with usable leftover (CSPUL) in cases where the ratio between the average stock and average order length is less than 3. The proposed method can solve general CSPUL where standard stock lengths, non-standard stock lengths, or a combination of both are cut in the exact required number of pieces. The solutions of sample problems are compared with other methods.
Strategic Development of a Decision Making Support System in a Public R&D Center
Authors: Escobar-Toledo Carlos E. , Martínez-Berumen Héctor A.
Published: October 2011

Decision making in new technologies is a crucial activity to raise competitiveness, especially for technology organizations. The decision-making process requires the use of information technology tools, since the information amount is large and requires reliable methods for collecting, accessing, storing, processing, distributing, and evaluating, in order to provide reliable information to decision makers. The strategy of an organization must take into account the integration of this aspect with other organizational functions. This paper presents a proposal to integrate new elements into the IT strategy, considering the interactions with other organizational functions, defining an implementation and transition plan that takes into account the organization dynamics, which has limited resources and, therefore, requires a gradual and long term transition plan. This paper refers as case study to a Mexican Public R&D Center, which has re-engineered its operating model with a systems approach.
Soft-Checkpointing Based Hybrid Synchronous Checkpointing Protocol for Mobile Distributed Systems
Authors: Kumar Parveen , Garg Rachit
Published: October 2011

Minimum-process coordinated checkpointing is a suitable approach to introduce fault tolerance in mobile distributed systems transparently. In order to balance the checkpointing overhead and the loss of computation on recovery, the authors propose a hybrid checkpointing algorithm, wherein an all-process coordinated checkpoint is taken after the execution of minimum-process coordinated checkpointing algorithm for a fixed number of times. In coordinated checkpointing, if a single process fails to take its checkpoint; all the checkpointing effort goes waste, because, each process has to abort its tentative checkpoint. In order to take the tentative checkpoint, an MH (Mobile Host) needs to transfer large checkpoint data to its local MSS over wireless channels. In this regard, the authors propose that in the first phase, all concerned MHs will take soft checkpoint only. Soft checkpoint is similar to mutable checkpoint. In this case, if some process fails to take checkpoint in the first phase, then MHs need to abort their soft checkpoints only. The effort of taking a soft checkpoint is negligibly small as compared to the tentative one. In the minimum-process coordinated checkpointing algorithm, an effort has been made to minimize the number of useless checkpoints and blocking of processes using probabilistic approach.
Reliability Based Scheduling Model (RSM) for Computational Grids
Authors: Raza Zahid , Vidyarthi Deo P.
Published: October 2011

Computational Grid attributed with distributed load sharing has evolved as a platform to large scale problem solving. Grid is a collection of heterogeneous resources, offering services of varying natures, in which jobs are submitted to any of the participating nodes. Scheduling these jobs in such a complex and dynamic environment has many challenges. Reliability analysis of the grid gains paramount importance because grid involves a large number of resources which may fail anytime, making it unreliable. These failures result in wastage of both computational power and money on the scarce grid resources. It is normally desired that the job should be scheduled in an environment that ensures maximum reliability to the job execution. This work presents a reliability based scheduling model for the jobs on the computational grid. The model considers the failure rate of both the software and hardware grid constituents like application demanding execution, nodes executing the job, and the network links supporting data exchange between the nodes. Job allocation using the proposed scheme becomes trusted as it schedules the job based on a priori reliability computation.
Query Recommendations for OLAP Discovery-Driven Analysis
Authors: Giacometti Arnaud , Marcel Patrick , Negre Elsa , Soulet Arnaud
Published: October 2011

Recommending database queries is an emerging and promising field of research and is of particular interest in the domain of OLAP systems, where the user is left with the tedious process of navigating large datacubes. In this paper, the authors present a framework for a recommender system for OLAP users that leverages former users’ investigations to enhance discovery-driven analysis. This framework recommends the discoveries detected in former sessions that investigated the same unexpected data as the current session. This task is accomplished by (1) analysing the query log to discover pairs of cells at various levels of detail for which the measure values differ significantly, and (2) analysing a current query to detect if a particular pair of cells for which the measure values differ significantly can be related to what is discovered in the log. This framework is implemented in a system that uses the open source Mondrian server and recommends MDX queries. Preliminary experiments were conducted to assess the quality of the recommendations in terms of precision and recall, as well as the efficiency of their on-line computation.