bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Defining E-Novation in Action
Authors: Ehsani Ehsan
Published: October 2011

Managing product development in an efficient manner is considered a crucial element for a company’s survival in today’s world. Current markets usually consist of highly fragmented segments of customers looking for customized and differentiated products at lower costs. Intense competition has also pressured companies to launch the products faster to the market in order to reap the planned benefits. Usage of collaborative Web-enabled models for innovation and product development, what we refer to as E-Novation, has become more popular as a result of responding to the aforementioned challenges. From technological point of view, the E-Novation models are particularly enabled through collaborative Web solutions, Web 2.0 tools, and Web-based virtual worlds. This chapter deals with the application of such collaborative Internet-based technologies in the product development and discusses their use in various stages of product development process; from idea management to prototyping. Based on existing literature in the area, the analysis of four cases (Dell, InnoCentive, Ponoko, and Implenia), participant observation and experience with such applications and semi-structured interviews with both managers of such projects and the projects’ stakeholders, this chapter demonstrates that new organizational models and skills are required to manage interdependencies internally and externally in collaboration through E-Novation. It also provides some insights about the future trends and opportunities in this era and guidelines for successful implementation of these technologies in reality.
E-Novation and Start-Up Companies
Authors: Sood Suresh
Published: October 2011

By 2010 the potential to launch a “startup-in-a-box” with an E-Novation framework (Pattinson and Low 2008) supported by social technologies to foster intense collaboration among core employees will become both a reality and essential. Only through a combination of framework and social technologies can startups and founding employees keep pace with the changing business landscape and generate a rapid amount of knowledge to sustain sufficient advantage in the market.
Inventions of Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits
Authors: Marzuki Arjuna
Published: October 2011

This chapter deals with the concept of first time right IC. A development of subsystems for wireless application is used as test case. The subsystems are Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), Medium Power Amplifier (MPA) and Variable Signal Generator (VSG). Several issues such as suitable multiband design flow and high speed switch must be solved. A new design methodology of integrated circuits for multiband application is presented. The design methodology is modified from a typical Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) flow. Core based design, parasitic aware approach and power constrained optimization are introduced into the new design flow. The same core circuit topology is used as main block to design 2.4 GHz and 3.5 GHz LNA and MPA. A power constrained optimization is applied to a test case amplifier i.e. broadband amplifier to get the optimized RF performance. The optimization is simulation-based technique. A 0.15 µm 85 GHz PHEMT is used in designing the LNA, MPA and broadband amplifier. This chapter also introduces the inventions of Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), Mixer, Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA), Power Amplifiers (PA) and Transmit-Receive Switch (T/R). These circuits are crucial components for RF and Microwave front-end integrated circuits. The elements of inventions of circuits are clearly explained. The inventions reflect the requirement or the need of solving current problem using available technology.
Distributed Learning Spaces
Authors: Keppell Mike , Riddle Matthew
Published: October 2011

This chapter examines distributed and personal learning spaces across the spectrum of physical, blended and virtual learning spaces in the higher education context. We suggest that higher education is no longer defined by tangible boundaries of a ‘physical campus’ but by the entire student experience, whether that involves negotiating the physical corridors of the campus, attending face-to-face classes, participating in fully online courses or a blend of both face-to-face and online courses. In addition the student experience may also involve connecting to virtual environments from home, a local cafe, on the train or participating in professional practice hundreds of kilometers from the physical campus. This chapter attempts to account for the diverse range of spaces that are enriching the learning and teaching experience for both academics and students and suggests the need to recognise the changing nature of learning spaces in higher education.
Assessment in Virtual Learning Spaces
Authors: Crisp Geoffrey
Published: October 2011

This chapter examines how assessment spaces must change in response to the rapid development and uptake of new virtual learning spaces. Students are engaging in collaborative, cooperative learning activities in a spatially distributed environment, yet their assessment tasks are often delivered in traditional assessment spaces that bear little resemblance to their learning spaces. The assessment of students in virtual worlds, virtual laboratories, role-plays and serious games is examined and the case is presented for the wider use of evidence-centered assessment designs and stealth assessment techniques.
ICTs for Improved Service Delivery
Authors: Hulela Keba
Published: October 2011

The adoption of ICT smart switch cards in Botswana as a new strategy is to offset the socio-economic constraints experienced by the vulnerable people in the society. This chapter provides background of UEPS ICT smart switch card, setting-the-stage, project overview, challenges, and further readings on similar themes related to ICT usage in the social program.
Linking Mathematical Literacy to ICT
Authors: Moloi Tshele
Published: October 2011

Finally, there is need to indicate the relationship between mathematics/mathematical literacy and ICTs. In this chapter, the two are seen as inseparable. In everyday life, a person is continually faced with challenges that call for mathematical skills, such as financial issues (hire-purchase, mortgage bonds, and investments), understand house plans, read a map, follow time table, et cetera; with the usage of ICT these can be done very fast and accurately. It is of utmost importance that a person must have a sense and knowledge of Mathematics, so as to detect mistakes committed by the usage of ICT.
Enterprise Information Systems Adoption in Iberian Large Companies
Authors: Trigo António , Varajão João , Barroso João , Soto-Acosta Pedro , Molina-Castillo Francisco J. , Gonzalvez-Gallego Nicolas
Published: October 2011

Information Systems (IS) and Technologies assume a wide variety of roles within companies, ranging from operational to strategic support of the company. This fact puts pressure on managers, who are required to manage these investments properly. This chapter presents a study conducted with several Chief Information Officers from large Iberian companies with the purpose of identifying and characterizing the roles played by IS and the motivations currently behind their adoption. The findings of this study reveal the reasons why IS and technologies are being adopted by Iberian companies are evolving and that, while the adoption of certain types of systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems is now consolidated, the adoption of other systems like Business Intelligence is expected to increase significantly in the near future.
Game Design and the Challenge-Avoiding, Self-Validator Player Type
Authors: Heeter Carrie , Magerko Brian , Medler Ben , Fitzgerald Joe
Published: October 2011

Achiever and Explorer player types are well known in MMOs and educational games. Players who enjoy being a winner, but dislike hard challenges (“Self-Validators”) are a heretofore ignored but commonly occurring player type. Self-Validators worry about and are distressed by failing. They can simply avoid playing overly difficult games for entertainment. But in a required learning game, Self-Validators’ excessive worry about failing can interfere with learning. The authors consider whether and how eight very different modern games accommodate Explorers, Achievers, and Self-Validators and discuss implications for entertainment and learning game design and research. Seven of eight diverse games analyzed primarily served either the Explorer or Achiever player type. Self-Validators were partially accommodated in some Achiever-oriented games, through user-selectable difficulty. Design with all three types in mind would encourage inclusion of features that enable players to optimize their preferred style of play.
The Development of Knowledge and Information Networks in Tourism Destinations
Authors: Da Costa Mendes Júlio
Published: October 2011

This chapter looks to analyse new paradigms in the relationship between public and private organisations towards tourism destinations. It proposes new approaches for increased performance both at the competitive and the organisational level. Based on the literature review, this chapter suggests new organisational forms of being and interaction directed at increased customer needs and growing competitiveness on the tourism industry. The development of public-private partnerships and knowledge networking in destinations and in organisations are issues also addressed. Furthermore, the implementation of interorganisational networks in a cooperative environment is important in developing and maintaining an adequate environment with shared objectives and practices in tourist destinations.
Human Resources in the Balanced Scorecard System
Authors: Kettunen Juha
Published: October 2011

Strategic planning is a matter of mapping the route between the perceived present circumstances and the desired future situation. Strategic management adapts higher education institutions (HEI) to their environment including educational policy, local demand for skilled labor, and other factors. The purpose of HEIs is to positively affect the development of society and the local community. The balanced scorecard approach developed by Kaplan and Norton (2001, 2004, 2006) is a framework for the communication and implementation of the strategy. The approach creates a shared understanding of the strategic plan by describing the plan using strategy maps, strategic objectives, measures and target values for the planning period (Niven, 2005). The balanced scorecard approach can be combined with other approaches and management tools. The purpose of this article is to report on a development project where the balanced scorecard approach was applied in the management information system MIS) of an HEI. The MIS integrates the different approaches of management into human resources (HR) planning. It is important that the balanced scorecard approach is supported by the MIS. This is especially critical in large organizations. Many administrative units and organizational levels emphasize the importance of automation enabling management to consistently aggregate the scorecards of lower organizational levels to the overall scorecard. The MIS with a portal is a valuable communication channel, information processor, management tool and the joint memory of the organization. The empirical part of the article describes the MIS of the Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS), where the MIS is based on strategic management and the balanced scorecard approach. The system integrates budgeting, action plans, HR planning and quality management. The data warehouse approach is used to capture data from the diverse source systems and to store the data in an integrated database. An MIS portal was developed to support the management process and be open to the personnel of the institution. The portal supports the dialogue and commitment of the personnel to the strategic outlines. The portal is open to management and the personnel of the institution.
E-Recruitment in Emerging Economies
Authors: Rao Pramila
Published: October 2011

Electronic human resource management (e-HRM) is the process of using online technology for human resource management activities, such as recruitment, training, performance appraisal and benefits (Rudich, 2000). The goal of this article is to discuss the origins of e-recruitment and address some challenges of e-recruitment in emerging economies like India and Mexico as multinationals seeks to establish strong presence in these countries. E-recruitment originated in the form of independent job sites called bulletin board systems in the 1980s. Initially only the U.S. universities and military had access to Internet facilities. However, the PC revolution that embraced the world in the early 1990s changed the corporate landscape completely (Rudich, 2000). Today more than three-fourths of the Fortune 500 companies use online recruiting and approximately about 18 million people are posting their resumes on Internet portals such as Monster.com (Feldman & Klaas, 2002). Corporations are aggressively seeking the best talent worldwide. Internet recruiting allows organizations to tap a huge talent beyond their own national boundaries (Birchfield, 2002). E-recruitment has several advantages such as its low cost (Galanaki, 2002; Rudich, 2000), quick response time (Hays, 1999), wide range of applicants (Sessa & Taylor, 2000), and worldwide accessibility (Galanaki, 2002; Vinutha, 2005). Specifically to recruitment, it has demonstrated a shorter recruitment cycle and lower cost-per-hire (Jasrotia, 2001; Pollitt, 2005; Sridhar, 2005). For instance, Nike has demonstrated with the use of e-recruitment the average time to fill job positions reduced from 62 to 42 days and the recruitment costs reduced by 54% (Pollitt, 2005). From the employees’ perspective, is that it has made the recruitment process a very proactive one—now passive applicants post their resumes online in anticipation of an interview (Mollison, 2001). Further, online recruitment allows applicants the luxury of accessing jobs online at their own convenience 24 hours 7 days a week. It provides the comfort of scrutinizing jobs without physically going through the stress of an interview. Finally, it allows applicants to get a thorough understanding of the organization and its culture before joining the organization (Vinutha, 2005).
Business Artifacts for E-Business Interoperability
Authors: Badr Youakim , Narendra Nanjangud C. , Maamar Zakaria
Published: October 2011

Traditional solutions to address interoperability issues are mainly process-centric so that consistent interactions among collaborating enterprises are ensured. These solutions examine interoperability from a technological perspective with focus on exchanging information messages between distributed and heterogeneous applications. However, interoperability from a business perspective has been overlooked in the past due to the complexity of reconciling diverse business strategies, organizational constraints, and IT infrastructures. Business interoperability denotes the ability of diverse enterprises to collaborate together to coproduce added-value products and services. In this chapter, a new line of thinking is promoted whereby interoperability is data-centric instead of process-centric. Business interoperability is dealt with by adopting business artifacts that are able to cross organizational boundaries, and by introducing a stack of three layers - strategy, service, and resource. Artifacts are self-contained business records that include attributes, states, and life cycles that reflect the changes in these states. The artifact concept not only describes a business entity, but also encompasses knowledge about what to process without explaining how to do it. The shift from processes to artifacts makes business interoperability “quite simple’’ to deploy and renders collaboration easy to manage and analyze. The chapter also introduces several interaction patterns that regulate the exchange of artifacts between enterprises. The ideas and proposals in this chapter are discussed via a realistic case-study to demonstrate how business people can seamlessly manage their day-to-day activities and intuitively construct interoperable and sustainable collaborations at the business and technological levels.
Developing a Corporate Memory as a Competitive Advantage in the ICT-Sector
Authors: Juntunen Arla
Published: October 2011

This chapter focuses on the challenges of developing a knowledge management platform to support organizational memory and knowledge transfer. The study is based on a qualitative study in the ICT sector. First, the chapter discusses the development of the KM platform. Second, the benefits, and a competitive advantage of such a platform, are discussed. Finally, the conclusions are made, based on the case study.
A Qualitative Study of Knowledge Management
Authors: Zaragoza-Saez Patrocinio , Claver-Cortes Enrique , Quer-Ramon Diego
Published: October 2011

Knowledge is one of the basic production factors owned by enterprises, and knowledge management is one of the main dynamic capabilities on which enterprises can base their competitive advantages. The creation, transfer, and later use of knowledge have become increasingly important, and multinational corporations (MNCs), being scattered in various places, constitute the appropriate environment to implement knowledge management processes meant to maximize their intellectual assets. This chapter has as its aim to answer three questions: (a) what actions do MNCs undertake in order to set knowledge management processes in motion; (b) what main variables impact on their knowledge creation capability; and (c) what main variables impact on their knowledge transfer capability? A qualitative research work based on a multiple case study has served to achieve that aim, allowing us to carry out an exploratory study of six MNCs which have shown their proactivity in the knowledge management area. The results of the analysis have led to eight propositions which highlight the most relevant variables facilitating the processes for the creation and transfer of knowledge within a MNC.
Organizational Learning During Changes in Estonian Organization
Authors: Alas Ruth
Published: October 2011

This chapter analyzes organizational changes and organizational learning in Estonian companies. During the last decades, Estonia has transformed from being an authoritarian, centralised, totalitarian, socialist state to a democratic country with a free market economy and different attitudes and values. Empirical study in Estonian organizations indicates connections between the institutionalization stage at the societal level and types of changes and organizational learning within organizations. The author proposes the model connecting changes and learning in organizations during societal transience, which could help managers of international companies to plan and implement changes in subsidiaries locating in countries in transition.
Lessons Learned from the NASA Astrobiology Institute
Authors: Faithorn Lisa , Blumberg Baruch S.
Published: October 2011

Complex social, economic, political and environmental challenges as well as new research areas that cut across disciplinary, institutional and national boundaries are catalyzing a rapid increase in geographically distributed work groups. At the same time, advanced information technologies designed to facilitate effective communication and collaboration among remote colleagues are having a dramatic impact on social and professional relationships and organizational structures and forms. The practice of science is one of the domains that are undergoing significant change as a result of this trend toward increased collaboration. In this chapter we describe our efforts to promote collaboration among geographically dispersed multidisciplinary science teams in the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The lessons learned regarding the importance of recognizing and addressing the complex and inter-related dimensions of collaboration have implications not only for science but also for many other contemporary domains of activity.
Exploring Organizational Learning and Knowledge Exchange through Poetry
Authors: Grisoni Louise
Published: October 2011

The central discussion in this chapter is that poetry can be used to provide a bridge between tangible, rational and explicit knowledge and tacit or implicit knowledge, providing opportunities to access new organizational knowledge, understandings and learning. A study based on 60 middle and senior United Kingdom public services managers is presented. In this study managers worked together to explore how creative inquiry into their organizational experience might help address some of the problematic issues facing their organizations and learn how to develop new ideas about best practice. The challenge was to generate new knowledge about the organization. Poetry in the form of ‘haiku’ was used as a creative research method to access tacit knowledge, which, when combined with explicit knowledge and understanding, led to new insights and organizational learning.
Trust, Virtual Teams, and Grid Technology
Authors: Giambona Genoveffa Jeni , Silburn Nicholas L.J. , Birchall David W.
Published: October 2011

This chapter focuses on the collaborative use of computing resources to support decision making in industry. Through the use of middleware for desktop grid computing, the idle CPU cycles available on existing computing resources can be harvested and used for speeding-up the execution of applications that have “non-trivial” processing requirements. This chapter focuses on the desktop grid middleware BOINC and Condor, and discusses the integration of commercial simulation software together with free-to-download grid middleware so as to offer competitive advantage to organizations that opt for this technology. It is expected that the low-intervention integration approach presented in this chapter (meaning no changes to source code required) will appeal to both simulation practitioners (as simulations can be executed faster, which in turn would mean that more replications and optimization are possible in the same amount of time) and management (as it can potentially increase the return on investment on existing resources).
The Impact of Missing Skills on Learning and Project Performance
Authors: Jiang James , Klein Gary , Beck Phil , Wang Eric T.G.
Published: October 2011

To improve the performance of software projects, a number of practices are encouraged that serve to control certain risks in the development process, including the risk of limited competences related to the application domain and system development process. A potential mediating variable between this lack of skill and project performance is the ability of an organization to acquire the essential domain knowledge and technology skills through learning, specifically organizational technology learning. However, the same lack of knowledge that hinders good project performance may also inhibit learning since a base of knowledge is essential in developing new skills and retaining lessons learned. This study examines the relationship between information system personnel skills and domain knowledge, organizational technology learning, and software project performance with a sample of professional software developers. Indications are that the relationship between information systems (IS) personnel skills and project performance is partially mediated by organizational technology learning.
Contested Terrain
Authors: Bakke John Willy
Published: October 2011

Workplaces are key loci for expressing and studying organizational identity, even in distributed work. In organization studies, there is a growing recognition of the importance of spatial processes, and workplace design has become an instrument for organizational change. This chapter explores organizational identity through a change process where the office layout was redesigned to strengthen organizational identity and increase productivity. The study shows that identity processes get shaped by the material environment and by technologies enabling distributed and mobile work. It also shows that previous events frame the interpretation of current processes. The chapter is based on a qualitative and quantitative study of the national branch of an international oil company.
Accountability and Ethics in Knowledge Management
Authors: Land Frank , Amjad Urooj , Nolas Sevasti-Melissa
Published: October 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to argue the case that the study of Knowledge Management should embrace considerations of ethics and accountability. Knowledge Management—a relatively new discipline—is often seen as a necessary but benign component of any modern business organization. This chapter suggests that underlying modern notions of knowledge management are the far older practices comprising the management of knowledge prevalent in most spheres of human activity. Many of these are political in nature, and distort and manipulate knowledge to achieve ends which may include criminal activity and fraud, but often merely serve to further the aims of organizational actors. The discipline called Knowledge Management has much to learn from the ancient art of the management of knowledge.
The Structure of Theory and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Authors: Wallis Steven E.
Published: October 2011

From a Kuhnian perspective, a paradigmatic revolution in management science will significantly improve our understanding of the business world and show practitioners (including managers and consultants) how to become much more effective. Without an objective measure of revolution, however, the door is open for spurious claims of revolutionary advance. Such claims cause confusion among scholars and practitioners and reduce the legitimacy of university management programs. Metatheoretical methods, based on insights from systems theory, provide new tools for analyzing the structure of theory. Propositional analysis is one such method that may be applied to objectively quantify the formal robustness of management theory. In this chapter, I use propositional analysis to analyze different versions of a theory as it evolves across 1,500 years of history. This analysis shows how the increasing robustness of theory anticipates the arrival of revolution and suggests an innovative and effective way for scholars and practitioners to develop and evaluate theories of management.
What is New with Organization of E-Business
Authors: Potocan Vojko , Nedelko Zlatko , Mulej Matjaž
Published: October 2011

In modern working relations, a company can improve its business dramatically, especially with formation and performance of suitable management. An important role in the whole management of a company belongs also to management of e-business. A broad definition defines e-business as a business process that uses Internet (and/or any other electronic medium) as a channel to complete business transactions. One of the main concerns about management of e-business is how much of each e-business should be owned by each e-business participants. This is called the extent of vertical integration. But in the modern business environment, vertical integrations alone are not enough. The alternative to vertical integration is some other form of relationship, not necessarily ownership. Inthe authors’ contribution, they will examine the relationship between the links of the e-business in terms of the flows between the operations involved. The authors use term link for all the different types of flow in exchange. This contribution discusses two issues: 1) How different relationships in e-business impact organization of e-business, and 2) How different organizational forms impact of e-business.
National Intellectual Capital Stocks and Organizational Cultures
Authors: Nazari Jamal A. , Herremans Irene M. , Manassian Armond , Isaac Robert G.
Published: October 2011

Using a set of macro-level socio-economic indicators, we first explore whether two Middle Eastern countries (Lebanon and Iran) provide the foundation for organizations to develop their intellectual capital (IC). Then, we investigate the role of micro-level organizational characteristics that might support or hinder the development of IC management processes within organizations. The insight gained through our comparison will shed light on some important organizational attributes that foster the management of IC for wealth creation. The analysis has important implications for multinational corporations (MNCs) that have operations in the Middle East, are contemplating business involvement in the Middle East, or that have employees with Middle Eastern origin.
Knowledge Redundancy, Environmental Shocks, and Agents’ Opportunism
Authors: Biggiero Lucio
Published: October 2011

Notwithstanding the warning of myopic view, when giving too much emphasis to the short run and stable environments, efficiency is usually claimed by standard economics as the main goal of competitive firms. This is challenged by management and organization scholars, who argue that, in presence of strong uncertainty due to environmental turbulence, slack resources can be a competitive advantage. In order to put some sound block in this debate through, this paper tests four groups of hypotheses on an agent-based model of industry competitiveness based on suppliers’ quality. It innovates current literature in two ways: first, it considers redundancy in terms of organizational knowledge, and not in terms of personnel or financial assets or other types of resources, which are usually taken as object of study. Secondly, it compares the effects of two forms of perturbations: environmental shock and opportunism. The results show that these two forms impact differently on industry profitability and that knowledge redundancy can (limitedly) compensate the effects of environmental shocks but not of opportunism. Moreover, it demonstrates that, as agents exchange (and accumulate) more information, knowledge efficiency declines, but less than proportionally to the increase of knowledge exchange.
Solving Semantic Interoperability Conflicts in Cross-Border E-Government Services
Authors: Mocan Adrian , Facca Federico M. , Loutas Nikolaos , Peristeras Vassilios , Goudos Sotirios K. , Tarabanis Konstantinos
Published: October 2011

Interoperability is one of the most challenging problems in modern cross-organizational information systems, which rely on heterogeneous information and process models. Interoperability becomes very important for e-Government information systems that support cross-organizational communication especially in a cross-border setting. The main goal in this context is to seamlessly provide integrated services to the user (citizen). In this paper we focus on Pan European e-Services and issues related with their integration. Our analysis uses basic concepts of the generic public service model of the Governance Enterprise Architecture (GEA) and of the Web Service Modeling Ontology (WSMO), to express the semantic description of the e-services. Based on the above, we present a mediation infrastructure capable of resolving semantic interoperability conflicts at a pan-European level. We provide several examples to illustrate both the need to solve such semantic conflicts and the actual solutions we propose.
Learning of OWL Class Expressions on Very Large Knowledge Bases and its Applications
Authors: Hellmann Sebastian , Lehmann Jens , Auer Sören
Published: October 2011

The vision of the Semantic Web aims to make use of semantic representations on the largest possible scale - the Web. Large knowledge bases such as DBpedia, OpenCyc, and GovTrack are emerging and freely available as Linked Data and SPARQL endpoints. Exploring and analysing such knowledge bases is a significant hurdle for Semantic Web research and practice. As one possible direction for tackling this problem, the authors present an approach for obtaining complex class expressions from objects in knowledge bases by using Machine Learning techniques. The chapter describes in detail how to leverage existing techniques to achieve scalability on large knowledge bases available as SPARQL endpoints or Linked Data. The algorithms are made available in the open source DL-Learner project and this chapter presents several real-life scenarios in which they can be used by Semantic Web applications.
An Idea Ontology for Innovation Management
Authors: Riedl Christoph , May Norman , Finzen Jan , Stathel Stephan , Kaufman Viktor , Krcmar Helmut
Published: October 2011

Exchanging and analyzing ideas across different software tools and repositories is needed to implement the concepts of open innovation and holistic innovation management. However, a precise and formal definition for the concept of an idea is hard to obtain. In this paper, the authors introduce an ontology to represent ideas. This ontology provides a common language to foster interoperability between tools and to support the idea life cycle. Through the use of an ontology, additional benefits like semantic reasoning and automatic analysis become available. Our proposed ontology captures both a core idea concept that covers the ‘heart of the idea’ and further concepts to support collaborative idea development, including rating, discussing, tagging, and grouping ideas. This modular approach allows the idea ontology to be complemented by additional concepts like customized evaluation methods. The authors present a case study that demonstrates how the ontology can be used to achieve interoperability between innovation tools and to answer questions relevant for innovation managers that demonstrate the advantages of semantic reasoning.
Cognitive Parameter Based Agent Selection and Negotiation Process for B2C E-Commerce
Authors: Mazumdar Bireshwar Dass , Mishra R. B.
Published: October 2011

Multi-agent paradigms have been developed for the negotiation and brokering in B2C e-commerce. Few of the models consider the mental states and social settings (trust and reputation) but rarely any model depicts their combination. In this chapter, a combined model of belief, desire, intention (BDI) for agent’s mental attitudes and social settings is used to model their cognitive capabilities. The mental attitudes also include preferences, commitments, along with BDI. These attributes help to understand the commitment and capability of the negotiating agent. In this work, we present three mathematical models. First, a cognitive computational model is used for the computation of trust, and then index of negotiation, which is based on trust and reputation. The second computation model is developed for the computation of business index that characterizes the parameters of some of the business processes, which match the buyer’s satisfaction level. On the basis of index of negotiation and business, we calculate SI (selection index) to select a seller agent with the highest value of SI. The third computation model of utility is used for negotiation between seller and buyer to achieve maximum combined utility increment (CUI), which is the difference of marginal utility gain (MUG) of buyer and marginal utility cost (MUC) of seller.
The Different Key Processes in the Implementation of Knowledge Management Among IC Designers, Distributors and Manufacturers
Authors: Shen Pei-Di , Lee Tsang-Hsiung , Tsai Chia-Wen , Chen Yi-Fen
Published: October 2011

This study is an exploratory investigation of the enabling roles of knowledge management for integrated circuit (IC) Designers, Distributors, and Manufacturers. This study explores the different enabling roles in terms of knowledge creation, storage/retrieval, transfer and application when businesses implement knowledge management in upstream, midstream, and downstream firms in the IC industry. Three cases, Winbond, Worldpeace, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) were studied and analyzed systemically to illustrate the findings and insights in this study. The findings in this study point out that IC designers may focus more on knowledge storage, while IC distributors pay more attention to knowledge application and IC Manufacturers emphasize knowledge creation. The necessity to implement knowledge management in the distribution industry is also emphasized in this study. Moreover, the reasons for the different enabling roles are presented in the ‘Insights from Case Studies’ section of the paper.
Understanding IT Governance
Authors: Robb Alastair , Parent Michael
Published: October 2011

Legislators, regulators, and shareholders increasingly demand good governance over all aspects of their business. While much is made of financial governance, most legislation and regulation implicitly recognizes the need for prudent governance of information technology (IT) functions. In this study we conduct an exploratory collective case study of IT governance (ITG) in two financial mutuals - one in Australia and one in Canada, using a contextual lens. In one case, the mutual governs its IT through Board participation in a subsidiary. In the second, governance is delegated to management and a Lead Director. Both of these mechanisms appear to minimize ITG risk, and are the result of their respective regulatory environments. This research begins to lend some clarity regarding IT governance choices by firms, and denotes important contextual differences between countries’ regulatory environments. This will allow researchers, managers, and directors to better understand and discriminate between ITG processes and structures.
Understanding Telehealth
Authors: Jean-Jules Joachim , Villeneuve Alain O.
Published: October 2011

During the past few decades, many healthcare authorities sought to integrate new methods of delivering care to patients. Among the priorities faced by these organizations, a major issue arose of how to provide healthcare to patients who live in rural or remote regions suffering from a lack of accessible professional resources and services that comply with WHO’s call for providing fair access to healthcare. Many attempts were made to integrate new technologies such as telehealth into the healthcare system, but in many cases, telehealth was not successful due in part to limited assimilation into healthcare organizations and work practices. Telehealth addresses operational issues such as a shortage of professionals in rural or underserved geographical regions. Using a breadth of reference theories such as institutional theory, structuration theory, and organizational learning theory, we propose a conceptual model that integrates the determinants of telehealth assimilation and identifies factors that impinge upon the process of assimilation. We posit that telehealth assimilation can only be understood by taking a multilevel approach to the phenomenon, whereby assimilation starts at the individual level, permeates through other organizational levels such as groups, and finally ends at the organizational and inter-organizational level. Further, assimilation of technological innovations must be considered within their institutional context. Derived from our conceptual model, we make several propositions and hope that our work will significantly guide future research and managerial actions geared toward integrating healthcare in the workplace.
Dialogue Act Classification Exploiting Lexical Semantics
Authors: Novielli Nicole , Strapparava Carlo
Published: October 2011

In this chapter we present our experience with automatic dialogue act recognition using empirical methods for exploiting lexical semantics in an unsupervised framework. Moreover, we show how automatic dialogue act annotation of human-ECA (Embodied Conversational Agent) interactions may be used as a preliminary step in conversational analysis for modeling the users’ attitudes. Experiments are presented, by exploiting corpora of English and Italian natural dialogues. In both cases the approaches employed have been conceived as general and domain-independent and may be relevant to a wide range of both human-computer and human-human interaction application domains.
A Conversational Personal Assistant for Senior Users
Authors: Dahl Deborah A. , Coin Emmett , Greene Michael , Mandelbaum Paulette
Published: October 2011

Senior users could benefit from computer assistance in managing the details of everyday life and maintaining contact with friends and family; however, current computer interfaces can be difficult to use as a consequence of the physical, sensory, and cognitive changes that accompany aging. This chapter describe a multimodal application, which we have called Cassandra, that provides an extremely natural, conversational way for senior users to perform tasks like managing reminders or appointments, medication schedules, shopping lists, and phone calls. We discuss the implications of the characteristics of the target user population on the application design. In addition to describing the application, we will also discuss end user feedback.
The Metapontum Agro-Food District of Quality
Authors: Contò Francesco , La Sala Piermichele , Papapietro Paolo
Published: October 2011

The aim of this work is to illustrate an innovative pattern of local governance based on the approach of the District at the Rural Development. The territorial context of this model is the Metapontum Agro-Food District of Quality. In line with the needs expressed by area businesses, through the establishment of a Service Centre, able to being as ATM Development and Training Workshop, DID’s project start (Desk for Innovation in the district) in order to transform the district into an innovative tool of governance that can guide the agricultural system and horizontally integrated production food chains. This will mean encouraging, in line with the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2007 - 2013 of the Basilicata Region financed by the European Agricultural Rural Development Fund (EAFRD), sector development through the integration of relations between firms, investment in infrastructure, training, research, food safety promotion, and enhancement of agricultural production in the framework of internationalization of markets and innovation of quality-oriented process and products.
Design and Modelling Approaches for Advanced Agricultural Fleet Management Systems
Authors: Bochtis Dionysis D. , Sørensen Claus G. , Vougioukas Stavros G.
Published: October 2011

Knowledge based management of the production is the key to future sustainable and rational agricultural production. The maximisation of the agricultural machine productivity is an important element in the continued efforts of planning and controlling resource input in agriculture. Current consensus depicts agricultural fleet management must adapt a hybrid architecture for the planning efforts with a combination of deliberative and reactive approaches. The transfer of methodologies from the established operations research area has proved beneficial to the planning of agricultural operations as part of a fleet management system. By using deliberated abstractions and representations, the specific planning of agricultural operations can be cast as instances of well-known operational research problems. In this way, the established well proved solution methodology from these problems can be seen to enhance agricultural field operations planning. Key requirements for an envisioned future fleet management system include a positive cost-benefit, flexibility in relation to specific applications of the system, a simple user interface requiring no heavy learning efforts, automatic data logging and data storage, integrations options with other internal management tools, and effective planning and optimisation algorithms adaptive to the actual on-the-farm conditions.
A Governance and Ecosystems Management Approach to the Conservation of Biodiversity
Authors: Manos Basil , Kenward Robert , Arampatzis Stratos , Papathanasiou Jason
Published: October 2011

Finally, this chapter highlights the path drawn by the currently ongoing TESS project (Transactional Environmental Support System) to put some of the conclusions of the GEM-CON-BIO project in practice.
E-Governance and Management of Inland Water Ecosystems Using Time-Series Analysis of Fishery Production
Authors: Kokkinakis A.K. , Andreopoulou Z.S.
Published: October 2011

Governance of inland water ecosystems incorporates many components, such as the policy designation for the monitoring in a systematic basis of valuable biological parameters of the ecosystem regarding planning for the collection, assembly, organization, analysis, and dissemination of time-series fishery data in respect to forecasting for decision-making purposes from local and government stakeholders towards sustainability. E-governance engages an amplified dependence on stored data characterized by shared access to, and transmission of, in the form of digital data by public institutions using contemporary ICTs. Decision-making purposes for sustainable fishery management in inland waters whether at local, national, or regional levels, impose an improved forecasting process designed to ensure the long-term sustainability of fishery resources at levels which promote the objective of their optimum utilization and availability for future generations. Time series data concerning fishery production are often used in order to assess the present situation and consequently to forecast and enhance planning and consequently decision-making. ICTs new broadband Internet connections provide the middleware to effectively accomplish the goal of fishery data collection, their transfer to various government levels, higher levels or equal levels, the organization within a standard IT data structure, and further, the dissemination of either the results or the raw data.
Digital Partnerships for Professional Development
Authors: Banks William P. , Van Sickle Terri
Published: October 2011

The following case study explores the impact of a university-school-community partnership developed in an online environment in order to address the immediate need of high school teachers in North Carolina to become more knowledgeable about responding to student writing in online and digital environments. Using a grassroots, teachers-teaching-teachers model fostered by the National Writing Project, members of the Tar River Writing Project, in partnership with a university faculty member and an administrator from a local public school district, developed and implemented an online professional development workshop to improve teacher response practices. This study demonstrates one method for using online technologies to engage community and university partners in the collaborative work of improving writing instruction and suggests a series of benefits inherent in such partnerships.
Community-University Engagement in an Electronically-Defined Era
Authors: Gander Lois , Rhyason Diane
Published: October 2011

Universities can enhance the return on the public investment that they represent by collaborating with their natural allies in addressing pressing social issues. That work can be further enhanced by harnessing appropriate digital technologies. In this chapter, the authors profile a current example of a community-led, multi-layered partnership that was formed to strengthen the infrastructure of the charitable sector in Canada. In particular, the chapter demonstrates that the “habit of partnerships” combined with the “habit of technology” is a potent strategy for addressing community needs. The authors argue that no single partnership or technology will transform the academic enterprise, but rather that the widespread adoption of technologies among universities’ allies, competitors, students, and faculty that characterizes the electronically-defined era will compel universities to adopt both the habit of partnerships and the habit of technology. That, in turn, will transform the way universities do their business and those with whom they do it.