bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Kansei Search Method Using User’s Subjective Criterion Deviation
Authors: Sakurai Yoshitaka , Knauf Rainer , Kawabe Takashi , Tsuruta Setsuo
Published: May 2013

Sensibility-vectors (kansei-vectors) are useful for retrieving objects like pictures, music, perfumes, and apparels on the Internet. The sensibility-vector is an array of values, each indicating a degree of feeling or impression represented as sensibility word or kansei word. However, even such an approach leaves a gap between user’s subjective sensibility (image, feeling) value and the corresponding one stored in the database. This paper proposes a search method to automatically and adaptively decrease such gaps by estimating a subjective criterion deviation (SCD) of the user’s search histories and fuzzy modeling. Conventional methods need tests and questionnaires beforehand to infer user’s individual sensibility to his or her instinct or impression. The proposed method automatically decreases such gaps without users’ burden caused by such conventional methods as requiring questionnaires. Moreover, this method reflects the dynamic changes in user’s preferences. Namely, this method does not need to know user’s preferences beforehand with questionnaires. An experiment was conducted by building and using a perfume search system. Experimental data results showed that the proposed method is effective.
An Evaluation Framework and a Benchmark for Multi/Hyperspectral Image Compression
Authors: Delcourt Jonathan , Mansouri Alamin , Sliwa Tadeusz , Voisin Yvon
Published: May 2013

This paper benchmarks three multi/hyperspectral image compression approaches: the classic Multi-2D compression approach and two different implementations of 3D approach (Full 3D and Hybrid). All approaches are combined with a spectral PCA decorrelation stage to optimize performance. These three compression approaches are compared within a larger comparison framework than the conventionally used PSNR, which includes eight metrics divided into three families. The comparison is carried out with regard to variations in bitrates, spatial, and spectral dimensions variations of images. The time and memory consumption difference between the three approaches is also discussed. Results of this comparison show the weaknesses and strengths of each approach.
Direct 3D Information Determination in an Uncalibrated Stereovision System by Using Evolutionary Algorithms
Authors: Koch Alain , Dipanda Albert , Bourgeois-République Claire
Published: May 2013

This paper proposes a 3D panoramic shape reconstruction method based on an uncalibrated stereovision system (USS) composed of five cameras circularly located around the object to be analysed. First, some interesting points are detected from markers placed on the object such that they are visible by two successive cameras of the USS. These points are then matched on both images acquired by a couple of successive cameras. This process is repeated for all the couples of cameras. Second, by using an evolutionary algorithm, the depth values of the different interesting points are calculated. A comparison with a traditional method based on calibrated cameras validates the accuracy of 3D information provided by the proposed method. Finally, by combining all the interesting points, a panoramic view of the object is obtained.
Sliding Window-Based Fast Corner Matching Palmprint Authentication
Authors: Malik Jyoti , Sainarayanan G. , Dahiya Ratna
Published: May 2013

Authentication time is the main and important part of the authentication system. Normally the response time should be fast but as the number of persons in the database increases, there is probability of more response time taken for authentication. The need of fast authentication system arises so that authentication time (matching time) is very less. This paper proposes a sliding window approach to make fast authentication system. The highlight of sliding window method is constant matching time, fast and can match translated images also. Several palmprint matching methods like match by correlation etc. are dependent upon the number of corners detected and so is the matching time. In sliding window method, matching time is constant as the numbers of matching operations are limited and the matching time is independent of the number of corners detected. The palmprint corner features extracted using two approaches Phase Congruency Corner Detector and Harris Corner Detector are binarized so that only useful information (features) is matched. The two approaches of Phase Congruency Corner Detector and Harris Corner Detector, when matched with hamming distance using sliding window can achieve recognition rate of 97.7% and 97.5% respectively.
Defect Detection Approach Based on Combination of Histogram Segmentation and Probabilistic Estimation Technique
Authors: Ershad Shervan Fekri
Published: May 2013

Defect Detection is a problem that has received much attention from image processing scientists. If defect detection is done correctly and accurately, it can be used in visual inspection systems. Consequently, many different methods have been proposed to solve this problem. Most of these methods have computation complexity and they do not guarantee for accurate results in every application. In this article an approach is proposed for defect detection based on a main box included two stages. In the first stage the image is divided into the two groups of pixels based on histogram segmentation and in the second stage the defects in defected group are highlighted based on Probability estimation algorithm by using a train stage. This approach by using a train set, guarantees the accurate result for near all of the applications of defect detection. In result part to prove the quality of proposed approach, the algorithm is applied on stone images to detect the porosity.
Rotation Invariant Texture Image Retrieval with Orthogonal Polynomials Model
Authors: Krishnamoorthi R. , Devi S. Sathiya
Published: May 2013

The exponential growth of digital image data has created a great demand for effective and efficient scheme and tools for browsing, indexing and retrieving images from a collection of large image databases. To address such a demand, this paper proposes a new content based image retrieval technique with orthogonal polynomials model. The proposed model extracts texture features that represent the dominant directions, gray level variations and frequency spectrum of the image under analysis and the resultant texture feature vector becomes rotation and scale invariant. A new distance measure in the frequency domain called Deansat is proposed as a similarity measure that uses the proposed feature vector for efficient image retrieval. The efficiency of the proposed retrieval technique is experimented with the standard Brodatz, USC-SIPI and VisTex databases and is compared with Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Tree Structured Wavelet Transform (TWT) and Gabor filter based retrieval schemes. The experimental results reveal that the proposed method outperforms well with less computational cost.
Challenges and Opportunities of Consumer Empowerment in Online Reputation Management
Authors: Vollero Agostino , Siano Alfonso
Published: May 2013

This chapter addresses the role of consumer empowerment in a social media context and its influence on the building of an online reputation. The main objective of the research herein is to delineate the “new” power of consumers when they operate within social media, such as blogs, social network sites, opinion platforms, and/or reputation-based systems, etc. To this end, the chapter aims to answer the following research questions: “What are the different categories and features of online consumer empowerment?” and “What is the role of empowered consumers in maintaining/developing a favourable online brand/corporate reputation?” From a practical standpoint, the identification of the decisive factors that support a firm’s e-reputation can indicate how an organisation could benefit from online consumer empowerment, without being overwhelmed by it. Moving to conceptual implications, the prime value of this chapter is that it attempts to narrow the gap in the field in terms of existing research and suggests online reputation management as an interpretative key of a modern conceptualisation of e-marketing.
Insights on E-Emerging Practices
Authors: Cooper Graham
Published: May 2013

The aim of this chapter is to give a vector to the background of e-business, and from that to highlight the areas which have driven the emerging practice of e-business. Every generation views the origins of development from its immediate past; the evolution is often lost in the passion for the future, but it is just this developmental trajectory that predicts the future. This Chapter therefore takes a historical perspective and looks at one root of “e-“ and uses its overview to consider the direction and barriers to global acceptance in the interdependent globalised business community.
Discovering Opinions from Customers’ Unstructured Textual Reviews Written in Different Natural Languages
Authors: Žižka Jan , Darena František
Published: May 2013

Gaining new and keeping existing clients or customers can be well-supported by creating and monitoring feedbacks: “Are the customers satisfied? Can we improve our services?” One of possible feedbacks is allowing the customers to freely write their reviews using a simple textual form. The more reviews that are available, the better knowledge can be acquired and applied to improving the service. However, very large data generated by collecting the reviews has to be processed automatically as humans usually cannot manage it within an acceptable time. The main question is “Can a computer reveal an opinion core hidden in text reviews?” It is a challenging task because the text is written in a natural language. This chapter presents a method based on the automatic extraction of expressions that are significant for specifying a review attitude to a given topic. The significant expressions are composed using significant words revealed in the documents. The significant words are selected by a decision-tree generator based on the entropy minimization. Words included in branches represent kernels of the significant expressions. The full expressions are composed of the significant words and words surrounding them in the original documents. The results are here demonstrated using large real-world multilingual data representing customers’ opinions concerning hotel accommodation booked on-line, and Internet shopping. Knowledge discovered in the reviews may subsequently serve for various marketing tasks.
E-Marketing as an Antecedent to Online Fraud
Authors: Sofo Michelle , Sofo Francesco
Published: May 2013

We live in a new world of constant technological upgrades and their pervasive intrusions especially in trade and commerce. The new e-commerce world order continues to transform the way business interactions occur in dynamic, complex, and adaptive ways. This has opened up ways for new and sometimes less scrupulous dealings in the online marketplace. Key questions answered in the chapter include: what are the new guidelines and best practices that mitigate the risks for consumers and advertisers? What constitutes online deceptive behavior and internet fraud? What explanatory frameworks and concepts from the academic literature can we use to best inform us about safeguarding the erosion of consumer trust that occurs through fraudulent e-marketing? The chapter explores four Australian case studies (each featuring a nexus between e-marketing and fraudulent online transactions) in order to apply a new theoretical framework based on constructionism to the emerging problem of online scams. The main contribution is the application of the Theory of Reality Construction to e-marketing. This innovative perspective includes social, psychological and intellectual dimensions which may be useful to entrepreneurs, policy makers, students, practitioners, researchers, and educators who seek to gain a deeper appreciation of the darker side that exists in the new era of e-marketing.
New Insights into Consumer Loyalty of Website-Services
Authors: Carlson Jamie , Ahrholdt Dennis , Sridharan Ramaswami , Simatupang Togar
Published: May 2013

This chapter contributes to the study of flow theory development in the online environment by analysing its quadratic effects on consumer loyalty and flow’s role acting in parallel with satisfaction and trust. In doing so, the research reveals efficient key resource allocation implications to enhance consumer loyalty, as well as future research directions to further advance the development of flow theory.
E-Government in Less Developed Countries
Authors: Eid Riyad , Alsharief Raja Yahya
Published: May 2013

In recent years, e-Government has been the favourable theme for numerous studies and reports. Yet, there is a lack of systematic evidence regarding the key challenges for the e-Government implementation in less developed countries. Consequently, This chapter is devoted to a comprehensive review of literature relevant to shed light on the e-Government in less developed countries, its importance, and finally the effect of the e-Government on the government activities. It also discusses some applications which have been tried by a number of less developed countries and the results they have achieved.
The Impact of Internet Adoption on the International Marketing of the Jordanian Banking Sector
Authors: Al-Hasan Said , Thomas Brychan C. , Mansour Ayman
Published: May 2013

The research aims are to explore the extent of the banking sector’s adoption of Internet applications in Jordan for marketing products and to identify the impact of such adoption on developing international markets. This study also aims to determine the major obstacles restraining banks marketing their products internationally through the Internet and to make recommendations conducive to an effective and optimal implementation of Internet applications for marketing bank products locally and internationally. The statistical software package SPSS was used to analyse data and test hypotheses and from the findings a series of recommendations were formulated for upgrading the banking industry in Jordan. A population frame included banking organisations in Jordan and a research sample of 19 banks was used involving an inclusive field survey. For the unit of analysis, the study analysed information and data gathered through the questionnaire which was distributed to managers and other personnel involved in marketing at banks. Statistical methods used to analyse data and test hypotheses were frequency rates and percentages relevant to the questionnaire, standard deviations and means, and multiple regression analysis. The key results from the statistical analysis have shown that the Jordanian banking sector’s adoption of the Internet has had an impact on the international clients’ commitment towards the banks.
Fostering Psychological Coherence
Authors: Schafer Stephen Brock
Published: May 2013

As we experience a paradigm shift into a media age, ICTs are altering the psychological parameters of human reality. The premise of this chapter is that the psychological dynamics of interactive images projected as Media Dreams correspond with the psychological dynamics of dream images as defined by Carl G. Jung. (Jacobi, 1973). If this is true, images in media dreams mirror patterns of energy and information in what Jung called the collective unconscious. Jung calls images archetypal representations or projections of archetypal energy patterns that are structured as metaphorical narrative. The most recent cognitive research (Lakoff, 2008) verifies that—indeed—the cognitive unconscious has the framework of metaphorical narrative and that these story patterns correlate with energy patterns in the nervous system. Jung also knew that dreams “have a purpose,” and that the purpose is “compensation” or harmonization of conscious and unconscious psyche. Jungian compensation is essentially the same thing as coherence, and recent research on coherence confirms that coherent states can be evoked with specific feedback technologies. Moreover, coherent psychological states increase emotional and perceptual stability as well as alignment among the physical, cognitive, and emotional systems. The authors’ hypothesis is that the images projected by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)—the media dreams of a population—are subject to psychological analysis in order to disclose unconscious sources of psychological stress in contextual collectives.
Directions for ICT Research in Disease Prevention
Authors: Nalin Marco , Verga Monica , Sanna Alberto , Saranummi Niilo
Published: May 2013

The market for ICT enabled Personal Health Systems in secondary prevention, namely chronic disease management systems, is already emerging, and from an ICT research perspective, challenges in this domain have been tackled in the last decade. This chapter instead will focus on ICT research directions for primary prevention, i.e., taking care of individuals’ health before they actually become “patients” of any chronic condition. Primary prevention proposes strong challenges, especially because a healthy person is less interested in investing time and money in solutions for improving/maintaining her health status. This chapter proposes a model in which the citizen can become a co-producer of her own health, together with the traditional Healthcare Systems and with other entities that may find interesting business opportunities to enter in this game.
Emerging ICT Challenges on Provision of Online HIV/AIDS Advisory Services
Authors: Msanjila Simon Samwel
Published: May 2013

In order to address the research challenges related to spreading, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS it is necessary to look at it from different angles. Considering a single aspect on established initiatives, such as technological or political concerns that have been adopted in research, leaves a “none complete and integrated picture” on challenges related to the provision of services for combating HIV/AIDS. This chapter addresses this aspect by considering a multi-perspective approach and proposes a set of challenges for each perspective. It also considers the technological perspective of provision of HIV/AIDS advisory services and presents challenges towards designing the proposed system.
Low Cost T-Health and T-Social with Ginga
Authors: Burlamaqui Aquiles Medeiros Filgueira , Azevedo Samuel Oliveira , Silva Igor Rosberg de Medeiros , Silva Sarah Raquel da Rocha , Souto da Silva Gustavo Henrique , Benjamim Xiankleber Cavalcante , Dias Ricardo Alexandre da Rocha , Azevedo de Sena Hugo Tacito , Bezerra Diogo Henrique Duarte , Azevedo Clezio Lima , Felix de Castro Angélica
Published: May 2013

The chapter presents the actual state of the art in t-health and t-social applications running in countries using Brazilian Digital Television System (SBTVD). In order to accomplish it, this chapter makes a historical, political, and technological review of facts that were responsible for the decision of more than 10 countries that now are adopting SBTVD as their Terrestrial Digital Television standard, pointing to a unification of Ginga as the interactivity technology in those countries. Ginga is a middleware that at the same time serves as a digital inclusion tool for countries in development, like Brazil. It includes the best and most innovative technologies available for video/audio broadcasting and interactivity. As practical examples using Ginga, three case studies are presented: ImFine, Mime TV, and iFunnyCube. At the end, the authors present a module capable of reducing costs during interactions in the TV.
Privacy and Data Protection towards Elderly Healthcare
Authors: Costa Ângelo , Andrade Francisco , Novais Paulo
Published: May 2013

Developed societies are registering a dramatic change in terms of population evolution, the most important fact being the ageing population. An alarming fact is that the birth-rate is dropping very fast, inverting the ageing pyramid that used to have a higher incidence on the young population, now having a higher incidence in the older population. In the quest to provide answers to some problems the elderly population has, applications and projects arise from the Ambient Assisted Living area, providing services that help the user in his daily life, providing the needed help and trying to be as non-invasive as possible. The fact is that these systems operate optimally by using information about the user, assisting him according to his preferences. The data gathered for such events is highly personal and sensitive. This can cause a loss of privacy and affect personal data. In this chapter, the authors present an Ambient Assisted Living project towards assistance to an elderly population. The problems and possible solutions in the legal area towards loss of privacy and personal data and information use is also covered.
The Study of Social Needs as a Strategic Tool for the Innovation of the Social Care Sector
Authors: Albuquerque Cristina
Published: May 2013

One of the biggest challenges for social intervention is to acquire more efficacy and innovation. The strategic detection of innovation opportunities is directly linked with the research and comprehension of unmet social and economic needs, but also with a profound evaluation of the usual ways to identify and answer to current and emergent needs. The contribution of ICTs, traditionally absent from social work and social care universes, can be very relevant at this level. Therefore, in this chapter, the authors discuss the boundaries and conceptions of (social) needs as a strategic dimension for innovation and evaluation on social intervention and reflect upon the key issues (difficulties and opportunities) associated with the use of ICTs in social work and social care systems.
A Review of Notifications Systems in Elder Care Environments
Authors: Nava-Muñoz Sandra , Morán Alberto L.
Published: May 2013

For more than a decade, notification systems to support the care of older adults in settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, and homes have been developed. These systems aim to assist in the care process, trying to ensure the safety and wellness of the elderly, and thus to maintain or increase their quality of life. This chapter identifies challenges and areas of opportunity for the implementation of notification systems in these environments, considering a technological perspective. In this work, the authors firstly present a literature review of notification systems in the elderly care environments mentioned above. Subsequently, they propose a taxonomy to classify the reviewed works, and discuss a set of challenges and areas of opportunity that technology can offer in this environment. These areas of opportunity are projected as specific features in each of the identified healthcare environments.
Augmented Reality Framework for the Socialization between Elderly People
Authors: Almeida Luis , Menezes Paulo , Dias Jorge
Published: May 2013

The socialization between elderly people assumes a key role on their mind and body well-being while loneliness expects to be one of major problems of our increasing age society. This research aims to study and develop a framework to support elderly people socialization when they are confined to their homes for some reason. It can be also adequate for people following some neurological or physical rehabilitation treatment remotely or monitoring behaviors in order to prevent potential diseases. This work proposes a framework that supports the socialization through Augmented Reality (AR) based on telepresence. The aim is a low cost solution that enables users to communicate and interact remotely, experiencing the benefits of a face-to-face meeting. The authors explore computers graphics, spatial audio, and artificial vision to induce sensations of being physical in the presence of other people and exploit the potential activities that such frameworks enable. TV and phones are elderly common companion devices that should be complementarily used with emergent AR technologies to enhance and create the remote presence feeling, minimizing the loneliness. Inspired by Virtual Reality (VR) studies, one of the authors’ goals is to explore if VR presence measurement instruments are useful in the AR context by reviewing literature on the area.
Searching Health Information in Question-Answering Systems
Authors: Olvera-Lobo María-Dolores , Gutiérrez-Artacho Juncal
Published: May 2013

Question-Answering Systems (QA Systems) can be viewed as a new alternative to the more familiar Information Retrieval Systems. These systems try to offer detailed, understandable answers to factual questions, in order to retrieve a collection of documents related to a particular search (Jackson & Schilder, 2005). The authors carry out a study to evaluate the quality and efficiency of open- and restricted-domain QA systems as sources for physicians and users in general through one monolingual evaluation and another multilingual. Their objective led them to use definition-type questions in order to evaluate QA systems and determine if they are useful to retrieve medical information. In addition, they analyze and evaluate the results obtained, and identify the source or sources used by the systems and their procedure (Olvera-Lobo & Gutiérrez-Artacho, 2010, 2011).
Using Multi-Agent Systems to Support e-Health Services
Authors: Bergenti Federico , Poggi Agostino , Tomaiuolo Michele
Published: May 2013

Multi-agent systems have been importantly contributing to the development of the theory and the practice of complex distributed systems and, in particular, they have shown the potential to meet critical needs in high-speed, mission-critical, content-rich, and distributed information applications where mutual interdependencies, dynamic environments, uncertainty, and sophisticated control play a role. Multi-agent systems can be considered a suitable technology for the realization of applications for providing e-health services where the use of loosely coupled and heterogeneous components, the dynamic and distributed management of data, and the remote collaboration among users are often the most relevant requirements.
Technical Perspective of Authentication Policy Extension for the Adaptive Social Services and e-Health Care Management
Authors: Ohashi Masakazu , Sakimura Nat , Fujimoto Mituo , Hori Mayumi , Kurata Noriko
Published: May 2013

The substantiative study of private information box project of Japanese e-Government proved the effectiveness of the New Authentication Extension Technology to combine different social infrastructures to create new Secure services between Public Sector and Private Sector (Citizen). However, there are still issues to cope with outside of the realm of technology including accountability of each participants and the level of the service, OpenID and SAML are key federated identity protocols. Both SAML and OpenID define mechanisms in support of expressing assurance information on protocol messages, Authentication Context and the Provider Authentication Policy Extension (PAPE), respectively. In deployment scenarios that require proxying from one of the protocols to the other, it becomes necessary to map to and from the corresponding assurance mechanisms. This chapter provides theoretical study of Social and e-Health Data secure exchange methodology on this mapping and related issues.
Enhancing Autonomy in Persons with Intellectual Impairments by Means of ICT Tools
Authors: de la Fuente Yolanda , Sotomayor Eva , Escarabajal Dolores , Romero Samuel , González María del Carmen
Published: May 2013

This chapter presents an experience carried out in an occupational center from the south of Spain, in which a formal research was essayed related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by persons with a variety of intellectual disabilities as a mean for increasing their autonomy in Activities of Daily Living (ADL). An accessible and friendly interface was designed to make the use of the computerized training program as easy and attractive as possible. The use of this program was monitored and the perception of changes in the execution of ADL was rated both by the supervisors at the occupational center and by the families or tutors of the subjects. The authors measured an increase of up to 10% in autonomy in some categories of ADL, proving the free online software they designed for the training program to be effective.
Toxicity of Halogen, Sulfur and Chlorinated Aromatic Compounds
Authors: Gupta Ashutosh Kumar , Chakraborty Arindam , Giri Santanab , Subramanian Venkatesan , Chattaraj Pratim
Published: May 2013

In this paper, quantitative–structure–toxicity–relationship (QSTR) models are developed for predicting the toxicity of halogen, sulfur and chlorinated aromatic compounds. Two sets of compounds, containing mainly halogen and sulfur inorganic compounds in the first set and chlorinated aromatic compounds in the second, are investigated for their toxicity level with the aid of the conceptual Density Functional Theory (DFT) method. Both sets are tested with the conventional density functional descriptors and with a newly proposed net electrophilicity descriptor. Associated R2, R2CV and R2adj values reveal that in the first set, the proposed net electrophilicity descriptor (??±) provides the best result, whereas in the second set, electrophilicity index (?) and a newly proposed descriptor, net electrophilicity index (??±) provide a comparable performance. The potential of net electrophilicity index to act as descriptor in development of QSAR model is also discussed.
Solvent Effect of Oxygen in the Thermolisys Decomposition of the Acetone Diperoxide
Authors: Profeta M. I. , Romero J. R. , Leiva L. A. C. , Jorge N. L. , Vara M. E. Gomez , Castro E. A.
Published: May 2013

In this paper, the kinetics of the thermal decomposition reaction of 3,3,6,6-tetramethyl-1,2,4,5 tetroxane (ACDP) is investigated in various oxygen solvents at different temperatures. Linear relationships are observed between the enthalpy and entropy of activation of the unimolecular reactions of those diperoxides. The isokinetic temperature calculated by Leffler’s treatment is 527.2K, which is consistent with the proposed Exner correlation between the logarithm of the rate constant values for the same reaction in each solvent at two temperatures, where the corresponding ß value was 523.5K. A true “isokinetic relationship” for the ACDP thermolysis indicates that their reactions constitute a reaction series with similar interaction mechanisms. This can be related to the capacity for hydrogen bonding between the solvent and the diperoxide molecules. The solvanting properties of the media help the peroxidic bond rupture these molecules.
Characterization of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Profiles by Multivariate Statistical Analysis
Authors: Marino D. J. , Castro E. A. , Massolo L. , Mueller A. , Herbarth O. , Ronco A. E.
Published: May 2013

In the present study, statistical methods based on multivariate analyses such as the Descriptive Discriminant Analysis (DDA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were applied to determine relationships between particle sizes and the composition of the associated semi-volatile compounds, in addition to evaluating these observations in relation to the emission sources, study areas, sampling campaigns and season. Results from the DDA showed that the PAHs distributions give the best discrimination capacity within the data set, whereas the PAH distribution in intermediate particle fractions incorporates noise in the statistical analysis. The PCA was useful in identifying the main emission sources in each study area. It showed that in the city of La Plata the most important pollution sources are traffic emissions and the industrial activity associated with oil and petrochemical plants. In Leipzig, the main sources are those associated with traffic and also a power plant. The combined PCA and DDA methods applied to PAH distributions is a valuable tool in characterizing types of emissions burdens and also in obtaining a differentiation of sample identity according to study areas and sampling times.
Hydrogen-Bonded Interactions in the Systems L-Cysteine - H2SeO3 and L-Cysteine -H2SeO4
Authors: Pankratov Alexei N. , Bychkov Nikolay A. , Tsivileva Olga M.
Published: May 2013

Using the density functional theory method at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory, the formation of hydrogen-bonded complexes of L-cysteine with selenious and selenic acids has been studied. In both cases of selenium-containing acids, the complexes occur preferably by cysteine carboxylic group, therewith the enthalpy of formation values consist from –19 to –21 kcal/mol, and free energy from –6 to –9 kcal/mol. Probably, the initial act of interaction in the system hydroxyl-containing selenium compound - a-amino acid, proceeding with mutual orientation of the reactants molecules and intermolecular hydrogen bonds formation, serves as a prerequisite for the thiol group capability of participating in the subsequent stages (including more completed transformations) of biologically important reactions.
Theoretical Studies on the Structure and Spectroscopic Properties of 2,4-D (2,4-Diclorofenoxiacetic Acid)
Authors: Andino María G. , Profeta Mariela I. , Romero Jorge M. , Jorge Nelly L. , Castro Eduardo A.
Published: May 2013

The 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is applied to and recovered from the leaf surfaces of garden bean and corn plants. This paper examines the theoretical study of the 2,4-D IR and UV spectra as well as the determination of its optimized molecular structure. Theoretical calculations are performed at the density functional theory (DFT) levels. The different structural and electronic effects determining the molecular stability of the conformers are discussed in a comparative fashion. The optimized geometry was calculated via the B3LYP method with 6-311G(d,p) and 6-311++G(d,p) basis sets and the FT-IR spectra was calculated by the density functional B3LYP method with the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The scaled theoretical wavenumbers show good agreement with the experimental values. A detailed interpretation of the infrared spectra of 2,4-D is reported.
Two-D Analysis of the Thermo-Mechanical Properties of ZrO2-Based Composites
Authors: Salehi Sedigheh , Ryukhtin Vasyl , Lukas Petr , Van der Biest Omer , Vleugels Jef
Published: May 2013

In this paper, a fast and efficient tool for predicting a set of physical and mechanical composite properties such as thermal expansion coefficients, thermal and electrical conductivity, stiffness, and thermal residual stress is developed based on the analysis of a representative volume of ZrO2-based composite. Such an analysis allows an engineer to assess the mechanical and physical properties to design an optimum composite composition in terms of advantageous mechanical properties and at the same time a good electrical discharge machining performance. Thermal residual stresses in the constituent phases and thermal and electrical conductivity of ZrO2-based composites are assessed by a Finite Element (FE) model using 2 dimensional SEM micrographs. The FE models are verified by comparing numerically calculated results with experimentally measured data.
An Efficient Algorithm for Automating Classification of Chemical Reactions into Classes in Ugi’s Reaction Scheme
Authors: Ram Sanjay , Pal Somnath
Published: May 2013

There are two approaches for classification of chemical reactions: Model-Driven and Data-Driven. In this paper, the authors develop an efficient algorithm based on a model-driven approach developed by Ugi and co-workers for classification of chemical reactions. The authors’ algorithm takes reaction matrix of a chemical reaction as input and generates its appropriate class as output. Reaction matrices being symmetric, matrix implementation of Ugi’s scheme using upper/lower tri-angular matrix is of O(n2) in terms of space complexity. Time complexity of similar matrix implementation is O(n4), both in worst case as well as in average case. The proposed algorithm uses two fixed size look-up tables in a novel way and requires constant space complexity. Time complexity both in worst and average cases of the algorithm is linear.
Modelling Liquid Flow Through Carbon Nanotubes
Authors: Naghiyev Faig Bakhman Ogli
Published: May 2013

In this paper, the structure of a liquid and character of its flow in carbon nanotube is investigated. A review of the literature and the results of experiments show that the simulation of fluid flow for nanoscale systems should be based on the continuum hypothesis taking into account the quantized character of the liquid in the length scale of intermolecular distances. Consideration of the flow characteristics allowed construction of the analogy of behavior of the liquid in a nanotube with a flow of a viscoplastic Bingham fluid. A model of mass transfer of liquid in a nanotube, based on the possibility of forming an empty interlayer between the moving fluid particles and the particles of the wall of the nanotube, is presented.
Interactions Between Weighting Scheme and Similarity Coefficient in Similarity-Based Virtual Screening
Authors: Holliday John D. , Willett Peter , Xiang Hua
Published: May 2013

Similarity searching is one of the most common methods for ligand-based virtual screening, and is normally carried out using the Tanimoto coefficient with binary fingerprints. However, a recent study has suggested that it may be less appropriate for use with weighted fingerprints in some circumstances. This paper compares the Tanimoto coefficient with other coefficients, and demonstrates that one of these, the cosine coefficient, exhibits a much greater degree of robustness in the face of variations in the nature of the fragment weighting scheme that is being used.
An Exploratory Investigation of the Barriers to the Adoption of Open Source ERP by Belgian SMEs
Authors: Ven Kris , Van Nuffel Dieter
Published: May 2013

Notwithstanding the increasing interest in open source ERP (OS-ERP) products in the past few years, their adoption by Belgian organizations is still very limited. To gain more insight into this phenomenon, we performed an exploratory investigation of which barriers inhibit the adoption of OS-ERP by Belgian SMEs. Based upon our previous research, we identified two main barriers, namely a lack of functionality and a lack of support. Next, we performed a screening of the Belgian OS-ERP market to investigate the functionality and support offered by various OS-ERP products. This allowed us to determine how the perceptions of organizations compare to the actual market for OS-ERP in Belgium. Our results provide more insight into the barriers to the adoption of OS-ERP by Belgian SMEs and provide various avenues for future research.
Managing Software Projects with Team Software Process (TSP)
Authors: Hamid Salmiza Saul , Nasir Mohd Hairul Nizam Md , Sahibuddin Shamsul , Nor Mustaffa Kamal Mohd
Published: May 2013

Despite the widespread use of sound project management practices and process improvement models over the last several years, the failure of software projects remains a challenge to organisations. As part of the attempt to address software industry challenges, several models, frameworks, and methods have been developed that are intended to improve software processes to produce quality software on time, under budget, and in accordance with previously stipulated functionalities. One of the most widely practised methods is the Team Software Process (TSP). The TSP was designed to provide an operational framework for establishing an effective team environment and guiding engineering teams in their work. This chapter provides an overview of the TSP and its associated structures and processes. It also highlights how the TSP operational framework can assist project manager and software development team to deliver successful projects by controlling and minimizing the most common software failure factors. Comparative analysis between the TSP and conventional project management has also been presented. Additionally, the results of TSP implementation in industrial settings are highlighted with particular reference to scheduling, quality, and productivity. The last section indicates additional advantages of TSP and comments on the future of TSP in the global software development project.
Fundamental Building Blocks for Security Interoperability in e-Business
Authors: Asim Muhammad , Petkovic Milan
Published: May 2013

The e-business concept goes beyond traditional electronic enterprise systems that are typically owned and controlled by one company. In e-business systems the data is exchanged in a distributed environment where different components and systems are owned and controlled by different companies. This introduces two main challenges: (1) there is a need for adequate security mechanisms that can protect the data in an end-to-end manner (2) the security mechanisms deployed in e-Business systems must be interoperable to ensure that they work with the security mechanism of others’ systems. This chapter makes an overview of security mechanisms applicable to e-Business, as well as relevant security standards. The chapter also gives an outlook on novel approaches to e-Business security.
Integrating Customer Relationship Management, Performance Management, and Knowledge Management through Balanced Scorecard
Authors: Liew Anthony
Published: May 2013

This chapter is primarily based on literature review or secondary research and analysis. The objective of this study is to extend and amalgamate the three major business management concepts: CRM, PM, and KM.
The Use of Customer Relationship Management Software in Meta-Enterprises for Virtual Enterprise Integration
Authors: Cruz-Cunha Maria Manuela , Putnik Goran  D. , Varajão João
Published: May 2013

To make the Virtual Enterprise (VE) a real, competitive, and widely implemented organizational and management concept, it is fundamental to assure that the requirements of this organizational model are achieved in the several phases of the Virtual Enterprise life-cycle. The support to VE (comprising design, creation, operation and reconfiguration) must be assured by meta-enterprises based on a broker and computer-aided tools, capable of managing, controlling and enabling virtual enterprise creation/operation/reconfiguration, which may represent a strong contribution towards the VE performance. The chapter introduces the VE model requirements, focuses one specific meta-enterprise environment called the Market of Resources, and introduces the incorporation of CRM in this environment as one of the computer-aided systems.
Evolutionary Architecting of Embedded and Enterprise Software and Systems
Authors: Axelsson Jakob
Published: May 2013

Many industries rely heavily on embedded software and systems to maximize business value in their products. These systems are very complex, and the architecture is important to control the complexity and make development efficient. There are often also connections between the embedded system and the different lifecycle processes, and hence, to the enterprise systems supporting those processes. It is rare to start from scratch when developing new products, and instead, these companies evolve their products over time, which means that architecting needs to be evolutionary. This chapter describes what such an evolutionary architecting process can look like based on observations from industry, and how the process can be continuously improved using a maturity model. It is also presented how the embedded system relates to different elements of the enterprise architecture.
A Steady-State Framework for Integrated Business Change and Information Systems Development and Maintenance
Authors: McGinnes Simon
Published: May 2013

Success models often treat Information Systems (IS) as static. Yet most IS evolve continuously, and most development effort occurs during the so-called maintenance phase. For an IS to succeed, its evolutionary process must also remain successful. Unfortunately many IS projects fail, particularly when outsourced. This chapter argues that the practice of managing IS work in project form may itself be implicated in IS failure. The project model is critically examined, identifying mismatches with the reality of IS work as a component of business change. The results suggest that merely trying harder to make projects succeed may be ineffective. An alternative framework for “steady state” development is proposed, which characterises IS work as evolutionary and inseparable from its context of business change, providing a blueprint for IS development without the need for projects, and offering improved chances of success when “big bang” project management would otherwise be the only option.
Architecture for Integration and Migration of Information Systems by Using SOA Services across Heterogeneous System Boundaries
Authors: Frank Lars , Pedersen Rasmus Ulslev
Published: May 2013

The objective of this chapter is to describe how it is possible to integrate and/or migrate information system where local heterogeneous databases are involved. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are very complex standardized information systems, and they are often vital for the companies that use them. Therefore, the authors use integration and migration of ERP systems as an example. Normally, ERP systems are migrated/converted overnight as it normally is not possible to integrate different ERP modules from different ERP suppliers. This is very risky as many types of industries cannot function without a running ERP system. The main focus of this chapter is to illustrate how it is possible to migrate/convert an ERP system module by module and thus minimizing the risk of staying without a functioning ERP system. In central databases, the consistency of data is normally implemented by using the ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability) properties of a DBMS (Data Base Management System). This is not possible if heterogeneous databases are involved and the availability of data also has to be optimized. Therefore, in this chapter, the authors use so called relaxed ACID properties across different database systems or ERP modules. The objective of designing relaxed ACID properties across different database systems is that the users can trust the data they use even if the involved database temporarily are inconsistent.
Prioritizing Packaged Software Implementation Projects
Authors: Rowland Nicholas J.
Published: May 2013

This chapter examines the dynamics of prioritizing implementation projects. Building on the notion of “fit-gap” work, this chapter emphasizes the significance of “de-prioritization” as a practical technique for managing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation projects. “Fit-gap” is a term that resonates with current academic and professional discussions concerning the use of customization and work-arounds necessary to coax suboptimal implementations into functioning properly as the systems age. These are not idle matters given the near irreversibility of ERP projects once initiated and the reported high probability of failure following implementation. Drawn from in-depth interviews and internal documents collected from a multiyear organizational case study of ERP in an institution of higher education, this chapter reports on various uses, interpretations, and consequences of prioritization techniques used to manage implementation projects. In practice, the idea that complex software implementations can be theoretically reduced to mere gaps in fit serves to obscure the political conflict and ambiguous economic accounting that underlie committee work devoted to identifying gaps, deliberating on possible fits, and then prioritizing which gaps are fit immediately and others scheduled for fit later on. In conclusion, while fit-gap committee work is openly intended to result in fewer customizations overall, de-prioritization, as a management technique, appears to “remove without removing” agenda items from the implementation schedule. The upshot for managers: placing such decisions in purgatory delays indefinitely investments of time and finances into customizing new software to fit old policies, and all the work-arounds necessary to shore-up any lingering idiosyncrasies.