bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dynamics of Change in Human-Driven and Natural Systems: Fast Forward, Slow Motion, Same Movie? A Case Study from Plant Protection
Authors: Andrivon Didier
Published: March 2012

Evolutionary biology and evolutionary ecology deal with change in species and ecosystems over time, and propose mechanisms to explain and predict these. In particular, they look for generic elements that will drive any organism or phylum to adaptive changes or to extinction. This paper, using examples from the field of plant protection against pests and diseases, shows that the patterns of change observed in natural and in human-driven systems are comparable, and proposes that their similarities result from the same mechanisms operating at different paces. Human-driven systems can thus be seen simply as ‘fast-forward’ versions of natural systems, making them tractable tools to test and predict elements from evolutionary theory. Conversely, the convergence between natural and human-driven systems opens opportunities for a more widespread use of evolutionary theory when analyzing and optimizing any human-driven system, or predicting its adaptability to changing conditions.
N-Heterocyclic carbene/Brønsted acid cooperative catalysis as a powerful tool in organic synthesis
Authors: De Vreese Rob , D’hooghe Matthias
Published: March 2012

The interplay between metals and N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) has provided a window of opportunities for the development of novel catalytic strategies within the past few years. The recent successful combination of Brønsted acids with NHCs has added a new dimension to the field of cooperative catalysis, enabling the stereoselective synthesis of functionalized pyrrolidin-2-ones as valuable scaffolds in heterocyclic chemistry. This Commentary will briefly highlight the concept of N-heterocyclic carbene/Brønsted acid cooperative catalysis as a new and powerful methodology in organic chemistry.
Double trouble: a case of von Recklinghausen’s disease with coexistent lepromatous leprosy
Authors: Karthikeyan Kaliaperumal , Latchoumibady Kaliaperumal , Sowmya Srinivasan
Published: March 2012

Leprosy (or Hansen disease) is a tropical disease which affects the skin and nerves leading to deformities and disabilities. Von Recklinghausen's disease (neurofibromatosis 1) is a well-recognized genetic disorder with both cutaneous and systemic manifestations. Lesions of neurofibromatosis may be mistaken for nodules of lepromatous leprosy and vice versa. Occurrence of both von Recklinghausen's disease and lepromatous leprosy together is very rare. Since cutaneous nodules can also occur in neurofibromatosis, lepromatous leprosy can be easily missed. The presence of lepromatous leprosy in a patient with von Recklinghausen's disease is unique and poses certain diagnostic dilemmas which are discussed in this report.
Study of microbial keratitis in central India
Authors: Satpathi Parthasarathi , Satpathi Sanghamitra
Published: March 2012

This item has no abstract. Use the links below to access the full text.
Epidemic cholera in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, 2009: the importance of sanitation and soap
Authors: Mahamud Abdirahman Sheikh , Ahmed Jamal A , Nyoka Raymond , Auko Erick , Kahi Vincet , Ndirangu James , Nguhi Margaret , Burton John Wagacha , Muhindo Bosco Z , Breiman Robert F , Eidex Rachel B.
Published: March 2012

Introduction: Cholera remains a major public health problem that causes substantial morbidity and mortality in displaced populations due to inadequate or unprotected water supplies, poor sanitation and hygiene, overcrowding, and limited resources. A cholera outbreak with 224 cases and four deaths occurred in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya from September to December 2009. Methodology: We conducted a case-control study to characterize the epidemiology of the outbreak. Cases were identified by reviewing the hospital registry for patients meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) case definition for cholera. For each case a matched control was selected. A questionnaire focusing on potential risk factors was administered to cases and controls. Results: From 18 September to 15 December 2009, a total of 224 cases were identified and were hospitalised at Kakuma IRC hospital.  Three refugees and one Kenyan national died of cholera. V. cholerae O1, serotype Inaba was isolated in 44 (42%) out of 104 stool specimens collected. A total of 93 cases and 93 matched controls were enrolled in the study. In a multivariate model, washing hands with soap was protective against cholera (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =0.25[0.09-0.71]; p < 0.01), while presence of dirty water storage containers was a risk factor (AOR=4.39[1.12-17.14]; p=0.03). Conclusion:  Provision of soap, along with education on hand hygiene and cleaning water storage containers, may be an affordable intervention to prevent cholera.
Rats born to Brucella abortus infected mothers become latent carriers of Brucella
Authors: Islam Md. Ariful , Khatun Mst. Minara , Baek Byeong-Kirl
Published: March 2012

Introduction: Rats are known to be infected with Brucella. Vertical transmission of brucellosis was recorded in rats. The study was performed to judge whether rats born from Brucella abortus infected mothers can act as latent carriers of Brucella infection. Methodology: Female Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were experimentally infected with B. abortus biotype 1 and subsequently bred 10 days post infection (PI). Serum samples of rats (n = 48) born from infected dams were tested using the Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT), tube agglutination test (TAT), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at one, two and three months of age. Tissue samples were plated onto Brucella agar and blood agar media and incubated at 37°C with 5% CO2 for five to seven days for isolation of bacteria.. Results: B. abortus was isolated from 18 out of 48 rats born to infected dams, and the isolates were confirmed as B. abortus by AMOS (B. abortus, melitensis, ovis and suis) PCR assay with the production of a 498 bp PCR amplicon. Serum samples of rats (n = 48) born from infected dams were tested negative using the RBPT, TAT and ELISA at all time points. Conclusion: We conclude from the study that rats born to infected dams may become latent carriers of Brucella infection potentially providing a reservoir for future transmission.
Prevalence of virulence determinants in Staphylococcus epidermidis from ICU patients in Kampala, Uganda
Authors: Okee Moses S , Joloba Moses L , Okello Margaret , Najjuka Florence Christine , Katabazi Fred Ashaba , Bwanga Freddie , Nanteza Ann , Kateete David Patrick
Published: March 2012

Introduction: Staphylococcus epidermidis is often considered a non-pathogenic organism but it causes nosocomial infections. To distinguish invasive strains, comparative studies of patient and community isolates may offer some clues. We investigated the distribution of virulence determinants in patient isolates from Uganda. Methodology: S. epidermidis isolates were identified with the Staph API ID 32 kit. Antimicrobial susceptibility, biofilm formation and hemolysis were detected with standard procedures. Genes associated with virulence (aap, atlE, bhp, hla, hld, ica, IS256, sdrE, sea, tsst) and antimicrobial resistance (aac(6')-Ie-aph(2'')-Ia, aph(3')-IIIa, ant(4')-Ia, blaZ, mecA, vanA/vanB1) were detected by PCR. Results: S. epidermidis grew in 30 (30/50, 60%) ICU samples and 20 (20/60, 33%) community samples (one isolate per sample per patient/person). All ICU isolates (30/30, 100%) were IS256 and hld positive, 22 (22/30, 73%) were biofilm/ica positive, 21 (21/30, 70%) were hemolytic on blood agar, nine (9/30, 30%) contained atlE gene, six (6/30, 20%) hla gene, five (5/30, 17%) aap gene, and three (3/30, 10%) bhp gene. A gene encoding an aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme, aph(3')-IIIa, was highly prevalent (28/30, 93%), while blaZ (2/30, 7%), mecA (3/30, 10%), vanA (3/30, 10%) and vanB1 (3/30, 10%) were less  prevalent. Of the community isolates, one (1/20, 5%) was ica positive, two (2/20, 10%) formed biofilms, and three (3/20, 15%) possessed the atlE gene. bhp, aap, IS256, hld and antimicrobial resistance genes were not detected in community isolates. Conclusions: S. epidermidis from ICU patients in Mulago Hospital is potentially virulent and could be a reservoir for antimicrobial resistant genes.
Plasmodium falciparum malaria, bilateral sixth cranial nerve palsy and delayed cerebellar ataxia
Authors: Duque Vitor , Seixas Diana , Ventura Conceição , Da Cunha Saraiva , Meliço-Silvestre António
Published: March 2012

We describe the case of a 14-year-old Caucasian male, a resident in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who was observed in Portugal with severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria with high-level parasitemia and severe thrombocytopenia. The course was complicated by bilateral sixth cranial nerve palsy during acute malaria, followed by the appearance of delayed cerebellar ataxia during the recovery phase. This occurred after successful treatment with quinine plus doxycycline over seven days. Different levels of thrombocytopenia and C-reactive protein were observed during both neurologic events in the presence of HRP-2 positive tests for Plasmodium falciparum antigen. The patient recovered completely after three months.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus metrics for patients in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Nazeer Asghar , Al-Tawfiq Jaffar A.
Published: March 2012

Introduction: The World Health Organization recommends essential measures to "combat drug resistance", including instituting surveillance "everywhere". Standardized metrics are crucial for reliable surveillance. Studies publish metrics with varying definitions for multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO). The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) proposed standardized metrics for MDRO for consistent reporting, identifying high-risk groups, and evaluating interventions. Methodology: We retrieved 73 studies through PubMed using the search terms "methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus", "MRSA", and "Saudi Arabia". We selected 20 studies that reported MRSA incidence or prevalence in patients and/or percentage among Staphylococcus aureus isolates and evaluated these metrics against the closest matching SHEA/HICPAC metrics. Results: We outlined issues applicable to MRSA metrics such as comparison of risk-unadjusted metrics; their pooling for different hospitals; not accounting for post-discharge infections; non-specification of AST-based, and healthcare and community associated infections' related, standardized metrics by SHEA/HICPAC; and appropriate temporal criteria for nosocomial infections. We elaborated salient features of reviewed metrics versus their SHEA/HICPAC complements. Terminology and definitions of reviewed metrics differed from SHEA/HICPAC counterparts. Some did not satisfy the epidemiological or statistical criteria for their reported category; e.g. prevalence indicators were classified as incidence and vice versa. Conclusions: SHEA/HICPAC metrics would be useful for future studies. Our results show an imminent need for an international consensus on fundamental MDRO surveillance metrics; illustrate surveillance scenarios requiring standardized metrics; identify some indicators from Saudi studies supplementing SHEA/HICPAC metrics; and underscore SHEA/HICPAC's advice for avoiding comparison of risk-unadjusted metrics between hospitals.
Use of 3d process-based model to determine forests protecting against rockfall – case study Kamniška Bistrica
Authors: Skudnik Mitja , Kušar Gal
Published: March 2012

This case study of the Kamniška Bistrica forest management unit presents a 3D process-based model for determining forests protecting against rockfall. Modelling was performed using the ArcGIS 9.3.1 tool; the kinetic energy of rockfalls was calculated using the Conefall friction model. The finished map of protective forests was compared with the map of protective functions of forests, made by the Slovenia Forest Service. The protective function map covers 90% of forests classified in the 1st category forests by the modelled map. Taking into consideration the entire forest area in the forest management unit, the maps match in 48% of cases. The differences appear predominantly in higher altitudes where the protective function map includes dwarf pine sites, and in lower altitudes where the map does not consider the possibility that trees can perform their protective functions where the terrain becomes level. The aim of this article is to draw attention to the possibilities of using the models as tools for determining forests protecting against rockfalls.
Creative social groups in Slovenia: contribution to geographic studying of human resources
Authors: Ravbar Marjan
Published: March 2012

The article analyzes the spatial dispersion of creative occupations in various municipalities in Slovenia. The main conclusion, which can be drawn from the article, is the very uneven distribution of creative occupations, which are most dominant in national employment centres and suburban areas of city regions. Creative social groups undoubtedly represent a strong impact on the regional development, which is seen through GDP per capita. The areas with higher levels of creative occupations are more innovative and their social and economic development more dynamic. The analyses also show a positive correlation between the share of employed people in creative occupations and innovativeness based on the average number of patents per capita.
Loss of natural heritage from the geomorphological perspective – Do geomorphic processes shape or destroy the natural heritage?
Authors: Komac Blaž , Zorn Matija , Erhartič Bojan
Published: March 2012

This study deals with geomorphological natural features (geomorphosites) relative to the natural processes that create, shape, or destroy such features. As a rule, geomorphologic processes are geographical constants in the landscape although some, due to their high magnitude or low frequency of occurrence, can be seen as an exception (e.g., natural disasters). The importance of geomorphosites is relative to their size, rarity (spatial distribution), and duration (existence in time), which depend on both the frequency and magnitude of geomorphological processes and on the standards of the observer. Human influence and perception of geomorphosites is also important in this regard.
Repensando los estudios de sistemas de innovación. El sistema catalán de innovación como lugar estratégico de investigación
Authors: Ahedo Manuel
Published: March 2012

El enfoque de sistema de innovación ha generado un profundo cambio y mejora en el análisis de los procesos de innovación, al tener en cuenta los contextos nacionales, regionales, sectoriales y tecnológicos. Sin embargo, tras varias décadas de acumulación de conocimiento, el enfoque de sistemas de innovación presenta todavía una serie de limitaciones en la comprensión de algunas cuestiones tanto tradicionales como nuevas o emergentes. Este artículo explora el sistema catalán de innovación, considerado un caso estratégico de investigación, para indicar cuáles son esas cuestiones y retos, y proponer algunas vías posibles para el avance analítico y un mejor conocimiento de los procesos de innovación en el emergente capitalismo global de la sociedad y economía del siglo XXI.
Las fuentes de la innovación y el papel de las instituciones en el sistema de innovación de un distrito industrial
Authors: Golf-Laville Emilio , Ortega-Colomer Francisco Javier
Published: March 2012

El artículo analiza el cambio en la industria textil-confección de las Comarcas Centrales Valencianas (CCV, en adelante) a partir del papel desempeñado por las instituciones que conforman el sistema local de innovación. Este trabajo recoge los principales resultados derivados de diferentes proyectos de investigación realizados entre los años 2004 y 2009. El marco analítico empleado se sustenta en el enfoque de sistema de innovación, que hace especial énfasis tanto en la existencia de instituciones de soporte a la industria, como en sus relaciones de comportamiento. De este modo, se identifican las fuentes de innovación de una industria localizada en una región periférica, con baja intensidad tecnológica, que en los últimos años presenta un proceso de ajuste estructural derivado de la apertura internacional de mercados.
Innovación y desarrollo territorial en aglomeraciones industriales periféricas: el caso del Polo Petroquímico de Bahía Blanca (Argentina)
Authors: Cincunegui Carmen , Brunet Ignasi
Published: March 2012

Bajo un escenario postfordista, se ha desarrollado desde la década de 1980 un “imaginario” que presenta a las regiones como portadoras de la oportunidad de actuar en forma más flexible e innovadora que las grandes unidades nacionales. Se ha enfatizado también el impacto de las inversiones extranjeras para el surgimiento de iniciativas innovadoras, siempre que exista un entorno social, económico e institucional articulado y receptivo a la novedad y al cambio. Así las regiones abandonan su pretérita situación de “objetos” de desarrollo para colocarse como “sujetos” encargados de reemprender su proceso de desarrollo territorial. Considerando este nuevo enfoque, el artículo expone los resultados de una investigación sobre innovación y desarrollo territorial en aglomeraciones industriales periféricas y analiza, para el caso del Polo Petroquímico de Bahía Blanca, si la actuación de las grandes empresas del Polo ha propiciado la competitividad del territorio al impulsar las ventajas de la proximidad y la interacción localizada.
Innovación, cultura y tamaño: la microempresa en una región ultraperiférica
Authors: González de la Fe Teresa , Hernández Hernández Nuria , Van Oostrom Madelon
Published: March 2012

El análisis de las actividades, actitudes, creencias y comportamientos innovadores en las microempresas tiene pocos antecedentes en los estudios sobre la innovación, a pesar de que este colectivo representa a más del 95% del tejido empresarial en España y en el entorno europeo. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados empíricos de un estudio sobre la innovación en microempresas, que trata de identificar y explicar los factores que más inciden en su capacidad innovadora, basándose en el enfoque de la Triple Hélice. Entre los factores destacan el capital humano, social y relacional, la capacidad de absorción de conocimientos ajenos, así como la existencia de una cultura innovadora que facilita las actitudes, creencias y oportunidades necesarias para innovar en entornos colaborativos con múltiples relaciones e interacciones. El análisis se ha completado con una caracterización de las microempresas en función del peso de estos factores y las barreras a la innovación identificadas.
Instituciones públicas y dinámica empresarial en el sector cultural: la arqueología comercial en España
Authors: Parga-Dans Eva , Fernández Esquinas Manuel
Published: March 2012

El sector cultural y las actividades que comprende están cobrando relevancia debido a su impacto socioeconómico en las sociedades del conocimiento. En países con una rica y dilatada historia cultural como España, destaca especialmente la conservación y gestión del patrimonio, que ha dado lugar al surgimiento del mercado de la arqueología comercial. No obstante, existe una notable dificultad para observar la situación de los servicios culturales y patrimoniales, de las condiciones que influyen en su surgimiento, su situación económica y laboral y sus posibilidades de desarrollo. Este artículo realiza un análisis de la arqueología comercial española, un servicio intensivo en conocimiento que surge y se desarrolla en las políticas y regulaciones de patrimonio histórico surgidas desde la década de 1990. Utilizando fuentes empíricas documentales, un censo de las empresas de arqueología, y una encuesta a una muestra de empresas, se analizan las condiciones y el proceso que da lugar al surgimiento de este sector. Este caso de estudio ejemplifica las dinámicas desarrolladas por la administración pública y su influencia en la creación de un mercado, así como en el ritmo y dirección de la actividad económica y la innovación en el sector cultural.
Misiones actuales de las universidades públicas: una perspectiva sociológica
Authors: Palomares Montero Davinia , García Aracil Adela , Castro Martínez Elena
Published: March 2012

Este artículo analiza, desde la perspectiva del Nuevo Institucionalismo Sociológico, cuáles son las misiones que las universidades públicas españolas asumen de forma institucional en sus planes estratégicos. Para tal fin, se ha utilizado el análisis de contenido. En general, los resultados indican que las universidades muestran mayor énfasis en la misión “Docencia”, seguida de la “Investigación”, y en último lugar en la “Transferencia de conocimiento”, si bien este patrón no es homogéneo en todas las universidades. Se han identificado dos tipologías de universidades en función del peso otorgado a cada misión: las más centradas en “Docencia” frente a las focalizadas en “Investigación y Transferencia de Conocimiento”.
Caracterización de algunas propiedades en tableros de corteza de Pinus pinaster Ait. y tableros de vermiculita expandida
Authors: González Prieto O. , Touza Vázquez M. C. , Pereiro López G.
Published: March 2012

La búsqueda de nuevas aplicaciones en el uso de los tableros requiere de la innovación en sus propiedades. Las mejoras en el aislamiento, en la regulación de las condiciones ambientales, en su resistencia al fuego y el incremento en sus propiedades físico-mecánicas, aumentan la diversificación de sus usos. El empleo de nuevas materias en los tableros y/o en los materiales compuestos, denominados composites (1), posibilita la mejora en estas propiedades. Esta publicación analiza diversas propiedades físicas y mecánicas de varios tipos de tableros monocapa, elaborados, por un lado, a base de partículas minerales de vermiculita expandida aglutinadas con silicatos de vidrios solubles (2), y por otro lado, a base de partículas lignocelulósicas de corteza de Pinus pinaster Ait., aglutinadas con cementos derivados del magnesio (3), incluidos ya estos últimos en la clasificación de la norma (4). Como material de referencia se emplean tableros comerciales de virutas de madera (5).
Peer-to-Peer Service Discovery for Grid Computing
Authors: Caron Eddy , Desprez Frédéric , Petit Franck , Tedeschi Cédric
Published: March 2012

Within distributed computing platforms, some computing abilities (or services) are offered to clients. To build dynamic applications using such services as basic blocks, a critical prerequisite is to discover those services. Traditional approaches to the service discovery problem have historically relied upon centralized solutions, unable to scale well in large unreliable platforms. In this chapter, we will first give an overview of the state of the art of service discovery solutions based on peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies that allow such a functionality to remain efficient at large scale. We then focus on one of these approaches: the Distributed Lexicographic Placement Table (DLPT) architecture, that provide particular mechanisms for load balancing and fault-tolerance. This solution centers around three key points. First, it calls upon an indexing system structured as a prefix tree, allowing multi-attribute range queries. Second, it allows the mapping of such structures onto heterogeneous and dynamic networks and proposes some load balancing heuristics for it. Third, as our target platform is dynamic and unreliable, we describe its powerful fault-tolerance mechanisms, based on self-stabilization. Finally, we present the software prototype of this architecture and its early experiments.
Risk Assessment for Cloud-Based IT Systems
Authors: Chou Yuyu , Oetting Jan
Published: March 2012

The use of Cloud Computing services is an attractive option to improve IT systems to achieve rapidly and elastically provisioned capability, and also to offer economic benefits. However, companies see security as a major concern in migrating to the Cloud. To bring clarity in Cloud security, this paper presents a systematic approach to manage the risks and analyzes the full range of risk in Cloud Computing solutions. Furthermore, as a study case, Google App Engine Platform is assessed based on ISO/IEC 27002 and OWASP Top 10 Risk List in this paper. Knowing the risks of Cloud solutions, companies can execute well-informed decisions on going into the Cloud and build their Cloud solutions in a secure way, relying on a robust e-trust relationship.
A Domain-Specific Language for Describing Grid Applications
Authors: Afgan Enis , Bangalore Purushotham , Gray Jeff
Published: March 2012

Grid computing environments are dynamic and heterogeneous in nature. In order to realize application-specific Quality of Service agreements within a grid, specifications at the level of an application are required. This chapter introduces an XML-based schema language (called the Application Specification Language, ASL) and a corresponding modeling tool that can be used to describe applications in grid computing environments. Such application descriptions allow derivation of guided and autonomic service developments for installation and invocation routines throughout the grid. In order to promote the language and ease the application description process, a domain-specific tool is also introduced. Based on our experience, the ASL in combination with higher level models improves, simplifies and promotes the grid application deployment process while simultaneously minimizing tedious and error-prone tasks such as manual application description composition.
Making Scientific Applications on the Grid Reliable Through Flexibility Approaches Borrowed from Service Compositions
Authors: Karastoyanova Dimka , Leymann Frank
Published: March 2012

The current trend in Service Oriented Computing (SOC) is to enable support for new delivery models of software and applications. These endeavours impose requirements on the resources and services used, on the way applications are created and on the QoS characteristics of the applications and the supporting infrastructure. Scientific applications on the other hand require improved robustness and reliability of the supporting Grid infrastructures where resources appear and disappear constantly. Enabling business model like Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and guaranteeing reliability of Grid infrastructures are requirements that both business and scientific application nowadays impose. The convergence of existing approaches from SOC and Grid Computing is therefore an obvious need. In this work we give an overview of the state-of-the-art of the overlapping research done in the area of SOC and Grid computing with respect to meeting the requirements of the applications in these two areas. We show that the requirements of business applications that already exploit service-oriented architectures (SOA) and the scientific application utilizing Grid infrastructures overlap. Due to the limited extent of cooperation between the two research communities the research results are either overlapping or diverging in spite of the similarities in requirements. Notably, some of the techniques developed in each area are needed but still missing in the other area and vice versa. We argue therefore that in order to enable an enterprise-strength service-oriented infrastructure one needs to combine and leverage the existing Grid and Service middleware in terms of architectures and implementations. We call such an infrastructure the Business Grid. Based on the Business Grid vision we focus in this work on presenting how reliability and robustness of the Business Grid can be improved by employing approaches for flexibility of service compositions. An overview and assessment of these approaches are presented together with recommendations for use. Based on the assumption that Grid services are Web services, these approaches can be utilized to improve the reliability of the scientific applications thus drawing on the advantages flexible workflows provide. This way we improve the robustness of scientific applications by making them flexible and hence improve the features of business applications that employ Grid resources and Grid service compositions to realize the SaaS, IaaS etc. delivery models.
Functional Genomics Applications in GRID
Authors: Milanesi Luciano , Merelli Ivan , Trombetti Gabriele , Cozzi Paolo , Orro Alessandro
Published: March 2012

A common ongoing task for Functional Genomics is to compare full organisms’ genome with those of related species, to search in huge database for functional annotation of novel sequences and to identify specific patterns of them, such as ESTs, genes, and microRNA. The prediction of these patterns has a relevant computational cost, while public genome archives exceed one billion sequence traces from over 1,000 organisms and this number is increasing rapidly as costs decline, but powerful solution must be enabled in order to perform efficient searches. This means that Functional Genomics applications require significant computational infrastructures, where reusable tools and resources can be accessed. In particular, grid computing seems to fulfill both the computational and data management requirements, even if porting applications on this infrastructure can be difficult. The implementation of a suitable environment for the management of distributed computations can provide reliable advantage, reducing the gap between the requirements of the functional genomic domain and the potential of this technology.
QoS-Based Job Scheduling and Resource Management Strategies for Grid Computing
Authors: Huang Kuo-Chan , Shih Po-Chi , Chung Yeh-Ching
Published: March 2012

This chapter elaborates the quality of service (QoS) aspect of load sharing activities in a computational grid environment. Load sharing is achieved through appropriate job scheduling and resource allocation mechanisms. A computational grid usually consists of several geographically distant sites each with different amount of computing resources. Different types of grids might have different QoS requirements. In most academic or experimental grids the computing sites volunteer to join the grids and can freely decide to quit the grids at any time when they feel joining the grids bring them no benefits. Therefore, maintaining an appropriate QoS level becomes an important incentive to attract computing sites to join a grid and stay in it. This chapter explores the QoS issues in such type of academic and experimental grids. This chapter first defines QoS based performance metrics for evaluating job scheduling and resource allocation strategies. According to the QoS performance metrics appropriate grid-level load sharing strategies are developed. The developed strategies address both user-level and site-level QoS concerns. A series of simulation experiments were performed to evaluate the proposed strategies based on real and synthetic workloads.
Grid Transaction Management and Highly Reliable Grid Platform
Authors: Tang Feilong , Guo Minyi
Published: March 2012

As Grid technology is expanding from scientific computing to business applications, open grid platform increasingly needs the support of transaction services. This chapter proposes a grid transaction service (GridTS) and GridTS based transaction processing model, defines two kinds of grid transactions: atomic grid transaction for short-lived reliable applications and long-lived transaction for business processes. The chapter also presents solutions to managing these two kinds of transactions to reach different consistent requirements. Moreover, this chapter investigates a mechanism for automatic generation of compensating transactions in the execution of long-lived transactions through the GridTS. Finally, it discusses the future trends along the reliable grid platform research.
Service Level Provisioning for Cloud-Based Applications Service Level Provisioning for Cloud-Based Applications
Authors: Cardellini Valeria , Casalicchio Emiliano , Silvestri Luca
Published: March 2012

Cloud computing has recently emerged in the landscape of Information Technology as a compelling paradigm for managing and delivering services over the Internet in a performance- and cost-effective way. However, its development is still at its infancy, with many issues worthy to be investigated. In this chapter, we analyze the problem of service level provisioning and the possible strategies that can be used to tackle it at the various layers of the cloud architecture, focusing on the perspective of cloud-based application providers. We also propose an approach for the dynamic QoS provisioning of cloud-based applications which takes into account that the provider has to fulfill the service level settled with the application users while minimizing the resources outsourced from the cloud infrastructure in such a way to maximize its profits.
Adopting the Grid Computing & Semantic Web Hybrid for Global Knowledge Sharing
Authors: Mohamed Mirghani , Stankosky Michael , Ribière Vincent
Published: March 2012

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the requirements of Knowledge Management (KM) services deployment in a Semantic Grid environment. A wide range of literature on Grid Computing, Semantic Web, and KM have been reviewed, related, and interpreted. The benefits of the Semantic Web and the Grid Computing convergence have been investigated, enumerated and related to KM principles in a complete service model. Although the Grid Computing model significantly contributed to the shared resources, most of KM tools obstacles within the grid are to be resolved at the semantic and cultural levels more than at the physical or logical grid levels. The early results from academia, where grid computing still in testing phase, show a synergy and the potentiality of leveraging knowledge, especially from voluminous data, at a wider scale. However, the plethora of information produced in this environment will result in a serious information overload, unless proper standardization, automated relations, syndication, and validation techniques are developed.
Service Level Agreements for Real-Time Service-Oriented Infrastructures
Authors: Kübert Roland , Gallizo Georgina , Polychniatis Thodoris , Varvarigou Theodora , Oliveros Eduardo , Phillips Stephen C. , Oberle Karsten
Published: March 2012

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are nowadays used as a cornerstone for building service-oriented architectures. SLAs have been closely investigated in the scope of distributed and Grid computing and are now gaining uptake in cloud computing as well. However, most solutions have been developed for specific purposes and are not applicable generally, even though the most approaches propose a general usability. Only rarely have SLAs been applied to real-time systems. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze different fields where SLAs are used, examine the proposed solutions, and investigate how these can be improved in order to better support the creation of real-time service-oriented architectures.
Measuring Specific Absorption Rate by using Standard Communications Equipment
Authors: Bri Diana , Lloret Jaime , Turro Carlos , Garcia Miguel
Published: March 2012

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is used to measure the body tissue exposure to electromagnetic fields. This chapter describes how SAR values can be estimated from a deployed Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). We carried out this work using the Received Signal Strength (RSS) obtained from the access points. This parameter is easily obtained by an ordinary wireless network scanner. RSS variations are measured for a different number of people in the same room and without people. It will allow us to estimate how much energy is absorbed by a group of people and by a single person on average. Moreover, we have included the weight of the people in order to know the RSS lost by kilogram. These measurements were taken at the Higher Polytechnic School of Gandia, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain, in two placements: the library and inside an anechoic camera.
mHealth
Authors: Househ Mowafa , Borycki Elizabeth M. , Kushniruk Andre W. , Alofaysan Sarah
Published: March 2012

The mHealth field focuses on the use of mobile technologies to support hospital care, healthy behavior, patient monitoring, and educational awareness. It is a new field that is developing rapidly, with thousands of mHealth applications developed within the last two years alone. In this chapter, the authors discuss the current state of, and the opportunities and challenges within, the mHealth field. They also introduce the term Mobile Social Networking Healthcare (MSN-Healthcare), which they define as follows: “The use of mobile health applications that incorporate social networking tools to promote healthy behaviors and awareness among patient groups and communities.” This concept has not been introduced in previous literature. This chapter is organized as follows: 1) introduction and background of mHealth; 2) opportunities for the implementation of mHealth in relation to chronic disease management, the education of health professionals, the needs of health professionals, and the decision-making process for patients and clinicians; 3) challenges concerning implementation and usability, information needs, and interactions with clinical work; 4) current application uses; and 5) future trends and conclusion.
Evaluation of Quality of Context Information in U-Health Smart Homes
Authors: Filho José Bringel , Agoulmine Nazim
Published: March 2012

Ubiquitous Health (U-Health) smart homes are intelligent spaces capable of observing and correctly recognizing the activities and health statuses of their inhabitants (context) to provide the appropriate support to achieve an overall sense of health and well-being in their inhabitants’ daily lives. With the intrinsic heterogeneity and large number of sources of context information, aggregating and reasoning on low-quality raw sensed data may result in conflicting and erroneous evaluations of situations, affecting directly the reliability of the U-Health systems. In this environment, the evaluation and verification of Quality of Context (QoC) information plays a central role in improving the consistency and correctness of context-aware U-Health applications. Therefore, the objective of this chapter is to highlight the impact of QoC on the correct behavior of U-Health systems, and introduce and analyze the existing approaches of modeling, evaluating, and using QoC to improve its context-aware decision-making support.
Biometric Authentication in the Digital Age
Authors: Anthony Raymond , Hoanca Bogdan , Mock Kenrick
Published: March 2012

The increased use of biometric traits to digitally authenticate people has the potential to conveniently and accurately grant or deny individual access to information and services. Unlike passwords or smart cards that are also used to authenticate a user, biometrics are not replaceable if lost or stolen—yet there are no universal rights protecting people against unauthorized use of their biometrics. Moreover, there are no clear accommodation rights for users who might not be able to provide some biometrics, for example due to cultural reasons or because of a disability. If users cannot be guaranteed the recovery of stolen biometrics, do people have a right to only provide those biometrics that cannot be stolen? While biometric technology by itself does not raise intrinsic ethical issues, the authors identify a number of extrinsic ethical arguments about the ethical status of applications of this technology and its consequences, namely, those that are linked to distributive justice issues and risk. They explore some of these concerns and discuss strategies to mitigate them within the context of balancing the rights of individuals and the need to ensure collective security.
The Better Part of Valor
Authors: Hai-Jew Shalin
Published: March 2012

The pervasiveness of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in the modern world makes it near impossible to conduct the living of daily life without these technologies. People go online to meet a variety of human needs—for work, shopping, security, socializing and intercommunications, self-worth, entertainment, and personal life goals. In the framework of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, online spaces often provide for the meeting of physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization, and yet, their every action, search, information sharing, social interchange, and digital thought is recorded into digital perpetuity. Law enforcement has tools to profile and track individuals in the Web?sphere and even deep into the Invisible or Hidden Web. This chapter explores how people may meet their many current human needs in the present without shortchanging their options for the future. In particular, the human rights risks that are discussed include security and well-being, privacy, reputation (freedom from defamation), and the flexibility of future choices.
Human Rights, the Global War on Transnational Terror, and the Mixed Roles of ICT
Authors: Hai-Jew Shalin
Published: March 2012

An international human rights regime is a major motivator of nation-states and peoples in the global war on transnational terror. It sets normative understandings for how citizens are treated—by their own governments, by each other, and by terrorist groups. A human rights regime also serves as a restraint on governments against brutal repressions in response to terrorism because terrorists are considered dissidents in extremis, and in all cases, the rules of law apply to them (and legal findings by governments are necessary before certain police or military actions may be taken). The contested roles of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in this dynamic context vary, but these technologies are used by all sides for their own objectives. This chapter explores the mixed roles of ICT in supporting a global human rights regime, which underpins the global war on transnational terror.
The Concept of the “Other”
Authors: Ruggiu Daniele
Published: March 2012

This chapter intends to show how the absence of the right of immigration can create some malfunctions in the human rights law and how this is connected with our concept of identity. The failure of our migration control system and the impossibility of empowering human rights in the field of mobility reveals an enormous conceptual short-circuit in the structure of liberal countries in Europe, involving the relationship between the Self and the “Other.”
A New Technique for Estimating the Distribution of a Stochastic Project Makespan
Authors: Cohen Yuval , Zwikael Ofer
Published: March 2012

A critical success dimension in projects is the ability to complete a project within an estimated duration. In that regard, effective project scheduling techniques in an uncertain environment is of interest in many organizations. In this paper, the authors use an analytic approach to analyze the behavior of time duration distributions of projects in stochastic activity networks, and propose a simple computation scheme for approximating their distribution. The findings offer an understanding of the large gap between PERT and simulation results, and the deviation of projects from their intended schedules. In addition to providing theoretical framework, the proposed approach also recommends a simple practical pragmatic technique that computes the time distribution of project duration. This is a simple and handy tool for the project manager that may replace simulation. As a byproduct, the earliest start time distribution for each activity is also estimated.
Software Project Managers under the Team Software Process
Authors: Ruano-Mayoral Marcos , Colomo-Palacios Ricardo , García-Crespo Ángel , Gómez-Berbís Juan Miguel
Published: March 2012

Despite the clear relevance of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) market in world economics and the evident lack of success of software projects, organizations devote little effort to the development and maturity of the software project manager profession. This work analyzes the figure of project manager from the perspective of the Team Software Process (TSP), and it considers the required skills, attitudes and knowledge for a software development project. The basis for the study is the analysis of relevant references from the literature for their subsequent categorization into different competency concepts. The results of the analysis are compared with the contributions which the Guide to the SWEBOK® and the PMBOK® Guide models provide of the profiles of the project manager. The results indicate that the literature relating to the Team Software Process is focused on the definitions of skills and attitudes, and to a lesser extent on knowledge components. The lack of the definition of the components which comprise competency constitutes a challenge for software development organizations that use TSP, whose project managers should confront the task with full capacities, and without the help of established and recognized competencies. The current work attempts to establish the competencies for project managers identified in the literature, in the environment of the use of TSP for software development, using a study based on content analysis.
Half-Life of Learning Curves for Information Technology Project Management
Authors: Badiru Adedeji B.
Published: March 2012

Learning curves are used extensively in business, science, technology, engineering, and industry to predict system performance over time. Although most of the early development and applications were in the area of production engineering, contemporary applications can be found in all areas of applications. Information technology project management, in particular, offers a fertile area for the application of learning curves. This paper applies the concept of half-life of learning curves to information technology project management. This is useful for predictive measures of information technology system performance. Half-life is the amount of time it takes for a quantity to diminish to half of its original size through natural processes. The approach of half-life computation provides an additional decision tool for researchers and practitioners in information technology management. Derivation of the half-life equations of learning curves can reveal more about the properties of the various curves with respect to the unique life-cycle property of information technology.
Questioning the Key Techniques Underlying the Iterative and Incremental Approach to Information Systems Development
Authors: Yu Angus G.
Published: March 2012

The iterative and incremental development (IID) approach is widely adopted in information systems development (ISD) projects. While the IID approach has played an important role the management of many ISD projects, some of the key techniques have not received critical appraisal from the academic community. This paper aims to fill the gap and examines three such techniques through a case study. First of all, the gap between the theory of user participation and the reality of user’s lack of real influence on design and development is explored. The author proposes the concept of “participatory capture” to explain the side effect of user participation. Secondly, the assumption that evolutionary prototyping converges to a successful design is questioned. Thirdly, the side effect of the timeboxing technique is considered. The paper suggests that the IID approach represents the learning approach as categorized in Pich et al. (2002) and it might be ineffective in dealing with the significant uncertainties in ISD projects.