bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How "White Papers" in ePortfolios Document Student's Learning Skills
Authors: Fritz P. A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the “Undergraduate ePortfolio Project” used in the Department of Communication, University of Toledo. The author argues, from a constructivist perspective, that the success of an ePortfolio project lies in its content, not its form. Included are the theoretical underpinnings of this project, the pedagogical design, and the assessment rubrics. The pedagogical section describes how the department revised its writing assignments for the portfolio, offers suggested writing projects, describes the generic assignment sheet used by the department, and offers sample student papers. The assessment section presents specific rubrics for evaluating the practical nature of portfolio writings.
Can We Talk? Electronic Portfolios as Collaborative Learning Spaces
Authors: Greenberg Gary
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the Northwestern University Collaboratory Project’s ePortfolio. As a resource in the Collaboratory, a Web-based collaborative learning environment, it provides collaborative learning spaces where K-12 students can share and discuss their work. Web document templates are used by students to create media-rich documents that can be viewed with only a Web browser. Of particular significance is how the ePortfolio’s document-based communication model is being used to support mentoring, peer review, feedback, and reflection, and to facilitate a community of learning that motivates and encourages students.
Soft Computing Approach for Bond Rating Prediction
Authors: Sethuraman J.
Published: May 2011

Soft computing is popularly referred to as a collection of methodologies that work synergistically and provide flexible information processing capabilities for handling real-life situations. Its aim is to exploit the tolerance for imprecision, uncertainty and approximate reasoning in order to achieve tractability and robustness. Currently, fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks, and genetic algorithms are three main components of soft computing. In this chapter, we show the application of soft computing techniques to solve high dimensional problems. We have taken a multi-class classification problem of bond rating prediction with 45 input variables and have used soft computing techniques to solve it. Two techniques, namely dimensionality reduction technique and variable reduction techniques, have been tried and their performances are compared. Hybrid networks are found to give better results compared to normal fuzzy and ANN methods. We also have compared all the results with normal regression techniques.
A Neural Network Approach to Cost Minimizatin in a Production Scheduling Setting
Authors: Lee Kun-Chang , Paik Tae-Young
Published: May 2011

Cost managers working in manufacturing firms have suffered from the difficulty of determining an optimal cost control strategy. Though the concept of ABC can provide a theoretically nice scheme for cost control, it has been widely known that cost managers have serious trouble comprehending the ABC scheme and applying it to real cost control situations. In this sense, proposing a heuristic method by which cost managers can obtain an approximate cost control strategy comparable to one obtained by ABC would be very meaningful from the view of both theory and practice. To fulfill this need, we suggest using a multi-layered perceptron (MLP) neural network model with backpropagation learning algorithm, and then approximating the optimal cost control strategy of ABC. The primary concern of this study is to investigate whether such solutions approximated by the MLP would be valid from a statistical perspective. If true, it would mean that cost managers can depend on the neural network method to come up with an optimal cost control strategy comparable to applying ABC. To show the validity of the proposed cost control strategy by using the MLP, this study proposes to solve two problems within the context of a production scheduling situation, using ABC: (1) neural network-based total cost estimation (NNTCE); and (2) neural network-based cycle time estimation (NNCTE). For experimental setup, we assume that two products sharing five types of exogenous variables and three types of endogenous variables are manufactured at the same facility. The MLP neural network approach to NNTCE and NNCTE was generated with a set of 180 training data and 125 test data, all of which were proved to be statistically identical with the ABC results.
Becoming a Learning Organization in the Software Industry
Authors: Dutta Dev K.
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines to what extent the implementation of Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM) of software process improvement enables a firm to transform itself into an learning organization (LO). It argues that even though the CMM does lead the software firm forward on the route to learning, it does not go far enough. By recognizing organizational knowledge and organizational learning as the twin pillars of the LO, the author develops a conceptual framework against which the five maturity levels of CMM can be mapped and examined. This allows for an assessment of whether the CMM serves as a silver bullet in achieving the software firm’s goal of reaching the visionary state of the LO.
IT-Enabled Integration of Business Relationships in the Steel Industry Context
Authors: Salo Jari
Published: May 2011

Companies engage in many business relationships; however, the number is decreasing constantly, so existing relationships are increasingly valuable. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight how inter-organizational relationships can be seen as a source of competitive advantage and how, in order to survive in a hyper-competitive landscape, key relationships are integrated with new information technology solutions, such as ERP. This chapter focuses on the changes brought about by technology integration in the context of the steel industry with the help of a longitudinal case study. The chapter sheds some light on factors affecting the changes occurring in business relationships and illustrates how those alterations can be managed. It seems that information technology integration within a business relationship is a complex process that depends on characteristics of the adopted technology as well as the relationship. Subsequently, implications are discussed together with suggestions for future research. Lastly, the limitations are briefly stated.
Digital Forensics
Authors: Dampier David A. , Bogen A. Chris
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the field of digital forensics. It is intended as an overview to permit the reader to understand the concepts and to be able to procure the appropriate assistance should the need for digital forensics expertise arise. Digital forensics is the application of scientific techniques of discovery and exploitation to the problem of finding, verifying, preserving, and exploiting digital evidence for use in a court of law. It involves the use of hardware and software for finding evidence of criminal activity on digital media, either in a computer or in a network device, and attributing that evidence to a suspect for the purposes of conviction. Digital forensics can also be used for non-law enforcement purposes. Data recovery is a form of computer forensics used outside of the legal arena. The authors hope that the reader will understand some of the intricacies of digital forensics and be able to intelligently respond to incidents requiring a digital forensic response.
Managing New Zealand Women in IT
Authors: Logan Keri A. , Crump Barbara
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses workplace attitudes and policies that continue to affect women’s participation, retention, and promotion in the information technology (IT) workforce. It draws on data collected from two qualitative studies of New Zealand women working in the industry. The findings reveal that there are some distinct differences in the way in which males and females operate in the workplace, and that women’s values and different work practices are often not taken into account by management. Managers of IT professionals who recognise the subtleties of the gendered culture of the IT work environment and who develop and implement equitable policies and strategies will be rewarded by a creative, innovative, and productive workforce.
Gender and the Information Technology Workforce
Authors: Trauth Eileen A. , Quesenberry Jeria L.
Published: May 2011

Despite increases of women in the labor force, females are largely under-represented in the American IT workforce. Among the challenges that managers face in addressing the under representation of women in the IT workforce is the identification of an appropriate theory as a basis for understanding data about gender and IT in order to reverse the gender imbalance. Hence, the purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate the managerial implications of theory choice when addressing the under representation of women in the IT workforce. We provide an overview of the three main theoretical perspectives, the essentialist theory, the social construction theory, and the individual differences theory of gender and IT, which are used to understand and investigate the IT gender gap. We then make the argument that the essentialist and social construction theories do not provide the analytical robustness required to pay attention to more nuanced managerial recommendations. Finally, we demonstrate how the individual differences theory of gender and IT can significantly contribute to the reconfiguration of analytical knowledge of the IT gender gap and spur innovative management policies.
Work-Life Imbalance of IT Workers in the Internet Age
Authors: Richardson Helen , Bennetts Darrell
Published: May 2011

These days, no information technology (IT) manager or worker will have escaped the expectation from a client that a job needed to be completed “yesterday.” The field of information systems (IS) research is only beginning to develop models for understanding the emerging issue of workload pressures upon IT workers, and their consequent need to maintain a balance between work and home. IT organisations need to consider how they manage their IT workers, departing from the traditional efficiency approach to staff management, and moving towards one better suited to the globalised environment within which businesses now operate. In its two parts, this chapter will consider the challenges of work-life balance that IT workers increasingly face. These days, IT workers are more vulnerable than other work employment groups to the pressure of contemporary workload expectations and deadlines. Research in the fields of sociology and psychology can help fill in detail on this emerging issue, otherwise absent from contemporary IS research. Sociology and Psychology can help IT practitioners better understand the increasing human cost of the currently increasing commercial pressures. In its first part, this chapter utilises some straightforward sociological concepts to background how “top down” or strategic management of IT workers could be improved within the IT sector. Sociologists have long had a strong interest in social change, in the ways in which both work and non-work (“leisure”) activities are changing within an increasingly globalised world. Many IT workers are now suffering both physical and mental symptoms due to commonplace business management approaches, which ultimately forgo long-term business profitability for short-term bottom lines. The second part of this chapter utilises the understanding of emotional intelligence within psychology and applies it as a bottom up strategy to illustrate how IT workers can cope with work-life imbalance. Here, a case study illustrates how the emotional qualities of resilience and adaptability that some IT workers possess can enable them to overcome work-life imbalances within the pressured context of globalised IT production. Leading on from the case study, the chapter will provide guidance on how IT workers might foster these qualities using HR techniques from the recently developed field of emotional intelligence. By utilising what have so far been interrelated, yet also independent, discussions within sociology and psychology on the effects of the Internet Age upon IT workers, this chapter aims to provide a balanced approach to the intellectual and emotional management of IT workers.
Learning from Patterns During Information Technology Configuration
Authors: Horton Keith S. , Dewar Rick G.
Published: May 2011

This chapter asks how people can be assisted in learning from practice, as a basis for informing future action, when configuring information technology (IT) in organizations. It discusses the use of Alexanderian patterns as a means of aiding such learning. Three patterns are presented that have been derived from a longitudinal empirical study that has focussed upon practices surrounding IT configuration. The paper goes on to argue that Alexanderian Patterns offer a valuable means of learning from past experience. It is argued that learning from experience is an important dimension of deciding “what needs to be done” in configuring IT with organizational context. The three patterns outlined are described in some detail, and the implications of each discussed. Although it is argued that patterns per se provide a valuable tool for learning from experience, some potential dangers in seeking to codify experience with a patterns approach are also discussed.
Global Service Provider Strategies and Networking Alternatives…
Authors: Landi Ron , Raisinghani Mahesh S.
Published: May 2011

Deregulation and liberalization of the telecommunications markets has led to tough international competition. This chapter presents well-established approaches used by large telecom service providers in assessing the technical and market forces impacting their network planning and strategies. This paper, in the form of a tutorial, takes the reader through the assessment and analysis processes dealing with the requirements, design and implementation issues facing global communications carriers today. Four generic telecommunication network models (varying based on the degree of capital intensity required) are presented to demonstrate that a strategy of employing these generic models to appropriate settings generates cost savings and network efficiencies. A specific case analysis conducted by the global communications carrier for a regional network in Italy is included that discusses strategic planning for the provision of new data and Internet services, and assesses alternative network designs and technologies to provide optimized solutions and service delivery.
Inclusion of Social Subsystem Issues in IT Investment Decisions
Authors: Ryan Sherry D. , Gates Michael S.
Published: May 2011

Researchers have attempted to augment the traditional cost/benefit analysis model used in the IT decision process. However, frequently social subsystem issues are inadequately considered. Survey data, collected from a U.S. sample of 200 executives, provides an empirical assessment of how these issues compare with other IT decision criteria given differing decision types. The social subsystem issues considered most important by decision makers are also identified and the manner by which they consider these issues is investigated.
Failures of B2C Retailing
Authors: Pandya Anil M. , Dholakia Nikhilesh
Published: May 2011

Conceptualizing business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses as an innovative class of technology-infused services yields insights into the factors that may lead to success or failure of such businesses. Drawing from services marketing literature and recent thinking on Internet service metrics, this chapter presents a framework for analyzing B2C businesses.
IT Standards Typology
Authors: Vries Henk J.D.
Published: May 2011

A scientific community needs well-defined and agreed-upon concepts with related terms as a basis for a sound academic discourse. The field of IT standards and standardization research is still developing in this direction. This Chapter aims to contribute to this process by proposing a definition for the area of research as well as classifications of IT standards. It appears that classifications of standards can be based on the subject matter concerned, on the process of developing the standards, or on the intended use of the standards. IT standards are IT standards because of the subject matter addressed in the standards. The Chapter concludes by discussing how the scientific as well as the professional IT standardization community might use the findings.
Question Driven Instruction
Authors: Beatty Ian D. , Leonard William J. , Gerace William J. , Dufresne Robert J.
Published: May 2011

Audience response systems (ARS) are a tool, not a magic bullet. How they are used, and how well they are integrated into a coherent pedagogical approach, determines how effective they are. Question Driven Instruction (QDI) is a radical approach in which an ARS-mediated “question cycle” organizes classroom instruction, replacing the “transmit and test” paradigm with an iterative process of question posing, deliberation, commitment to an answer, and discussion. It is an implementation of “real-time formative assessment.” In QDI, an ARS is used to facilitate and direct discussion, to engage students in active knowledge-building, and to support “agile teaching” by providing the instructor with constant feedback about students’ evolving understanding and difficulties. Class time is used primarily for interactively developing understanding, rather than for presenting content: in QDI, an instructor is more an engineer of learning experiences than a dispenser of knowledge. This requires new teaching skills, such as moderating discussion and managing the classroom dynamic, interpreting students’ statements and modeling their learning, making real-time teaching decisions, and designing ARS questions that teach rather than test and that target process as well as content. Above all, it requires understanding and communicating that ARS use is diagnostic and instructional, rather than evaluative.
Anonymous Polling in an Engineering Tutorial Environment
Authors: Durbin Steven M. , Durbin Kristi A.
Published: May 2011

As a means of improving student participation, an infrared remote based audience response system was trialled in a second-year introductory level engineering tutorial. This chapter presents a case study of the initial implementation that directly followed a semester that employed a traditional tutorial format. Student response was consistent and generally positive at both the beginning and end of the semester, and the opportunity for live (anonymous) assessment proved useful from an instructional perspective, despite some limitations of the system. Interestingly, the new tutorial format appeared to encourage discussion after each question was concluded, driven in part by the fact that a histogram of responses to the multiple-choice questions was displayed.
Space, Time, and Process
Authors: Refrigeri Giuseppe
Published: May 2011

This chapter starts by describing the main features of distance education and by analyzing the changes induced from this way of the teaching-learning practice on space and time, which are considered as two constitutive factors of traditional education. The chapter then focuses on the following aspects: space ubiquity, simultaneity, and logical-psychological concomitance and depicts new scenarios for education while describing the changes induced on those aspects by distance.
Blogs and Wikis
Authors: Dawley Lisa
Published: May 2011

The strengths and weaknesses of each tool are discussed in detail, and educators are taught to match the strengths of the specific tool to the learning objectives they seek to achieve in their courses. Multiple examples of objectives and online learning activities are provided to help instill a deep understanding of the power of each online tool. This leaves you with a long-term ability to adapt your own curriculum over time, because you have learned options for using a variety of online tools to achieve specific learning objectives. Finally, each chapter includes a sample lesson plan that demonstrates how to integrate the tool into the learning experience. These ideas and activities provide tried and true suggestions for creating an online environment that engages and empowers learners for success. And when your students are successful in learning, you are successful in teaching.
Developing E-Learning Provision for Healthcare Professionals' Continuing Professional Development
Authors: Peacock Susi , Dunlop Gloria Maria
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) for allied healthcare professionals (AHPs) through e-learning. External pressures are increasing on AHPs to engage with CPD on a regular basis to improve the quality of care services and facilitate changes in working practice. E-learning has the potential to reach this group of diverse learners and integrate learning into their work schedule at a time and place convenient for them and their employers: eCPD. We provide a practical reflection grounded in the experience of practitioners and students who have been involved in our deployment of eCPD over the last three years. The issues that have arisen from this initiative will be familiar to many of those who have been involved in the deployment of e-learning in our sector. Ultimately, we hope that the solutions we have provided to meet the needs of this specific group of learners will address those for all e-learners. In addition, we believe that it will support the process of embedding (“normalising”) e-learning across an institution.
Self, Peer, and Group Assessment in E-Learning
Authors: Roberts Tim S.
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides an informal introduction to self, peer, and groupassessment, especially as they may be applied within an online, or e-learning, environment. What is self assessment? What is peer assessment?What is group assessment? In what ways are they similar, and whatdistinguishes one from another? The principal characteristics of each aredescribed. An assumption, made explicit from the start, is that assessmentshould not just be about grading, but about assisting the process oflearning itself. References are made throughout to the thoughts andexperiences of many researchers and practitioners currently working inthe field.
Learning and Assessment
Authors: Panko Mary
Published: May 2011

This chapter reflects on the lessons learned by the developers of a courseabout self, peer, and group assessment for adult educators, large elementsof which were carried out via online discussion forums. In particular, thischapter will look in detail at the ways in which the learners used onlinediscussion forums and also examine particular exchanges to show how thegroup projects were developed in an online environment. From thesereflections come a number of pointers that may enable facilitators to eithermake changes to the way in which their courses are organised or highlightaspects to their students to enrich and simplify their learning experience.This case study represents the first iteration of an action research cyclewhere future investigations will lead to increasingly effective integration ofe-learning in the form of online discussions and the development of morestraightforward self, peer and group assessment.
Learning English for Technical Purposes
Authors: Dragemark Anne
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents some research findings in the area of self assessment,obtained from the European Leonardo Project: Learning English forTechnical Purposes (LENTEC), carried out 2001–2003. In this project,upper-secondary vocational students solved problem-based learning casesin a virtual environment. The project aimed at stimulating upper-secondaryvocational school students from six different European countries to improvetheir English-language skills. It also aimed at helping foreign-languageteachers to develop their skills in online tutoring. A validation study wasundertaken and the results underscored that students need time andpractice to assess their own results. According to students and teachers, amajority of the students became more aware of their own language-learning development. The teachers in the project developed a new teacherrole where some of the responsibility for assessment moved from them to thestudents themselves. This not only motivated the students but also gave themadded time for actual language learning.
The Structuring Of The Strategic-Decision-Making Process
Authors: Shimizu Tamio , Monteiro de Carvalho Marley , Barbin Fernando Jose
Published: May 2011

The basic types of decision models presented in the previous chapter (rational, descriptive, political, and ambiguous models) relies on quantitative values (money, time, or probabilities) that are most suitable for structured and semi-structured decision problems. These basic models can be used as starting models to guide the structuring process of strategic decision problems. First, a systematic procedure for structuring the strategic decision making process is presented, using decision matrix and decision trees. The need for the sensitivity analysis is introduced, and will be illustrated with more detail in the next chapter. Some problems that must be considered in this structuring process are illustrated in form of hidden traps and paradoxes. The first step in the decision-making process is to formulate the problem. It is possible that an inadequate formulation of the problem leads to a result that reduces efficiency and efficacy, since an incorrect formulation can define a wrong problem.
E-Learning in Healthcare and Social Care
Authors: Kalogeropoulou Maria , Bastaki Maria , Magoulia Polyxeni
Published: May 2011

E-learning has the potential to transform learning for healthcare and social care, supporting the aims of the NHS Plan and raising standards of care for patients and service users across health and social care. This chapter sets out a vision of healthcare and social care services in the 21st century, and a strategy for making it a reality. The authors present and discuss here the basic principles and benefits of e-learning for healthcare professionals, medical students, and patient education.
The Method of Least Squares
Authors: Jaeger Bernd
Published: May 2011

The method of least squares is a geometric principle of curve fitting. The unknown parameters of a function are calculated in such a way that the sum of squared differences between function values and measurements gets minimal. Examples are given for a linear and a nonlinear curve fitting problem. Consequences of model linearizations are explained.
Knowledge Management in Telemedicine
Authors: Paraki Jayanth G.
Published: May 2011

Knowledge management (KM) can be defined as the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge. It has also been defined as the efficient utilisation of the existing intangible knowledge-related resources available in every sector of the economy to enhance the productivity of all factors of production. Telemedicine is a tool to enhance equitable distribution of healthcare across the world. In this chapter the author discusses the various aspects of knowledge management and telemedicine and proposes to globalize telemedicine.
Evolutionary Algorithms
Authors: Collet P.
Published: May 2011

Evolutionary computation is an old field of computer science that started in the end of the 1960s nearly simultaneously in different parts of the world. Each paradigm has evolved separately, apparently without knowledge of what was happening elsewhere, until people finally got together and shared their experience. This resulted in strong trends that still survive, even though it is now possible to outline a generic structure for an evolutionary algorithm that is described in this chapter.
Cognitively Based Modeling of Scientific Productivity
Authors: Naveh I. , Sun R.
Published: May 2011

This chapter advocates a cognitively realistic approach to social simulation. based on a model for capturing the growth of academic science. Gilbert’s (1997) model, which was equation based, is replaced in this work by an agent-based model, with the cognitive architecture CLARION providing greater cognitive realism. Using this agent model, results comparable to human data are obtained. It is found that while different cognitive settings may affect aggregate productivity of scientific articles, generally they do not lead to different distributions of productivity. It is argued that using more cognitively realistic models in social simulations may lead to novel insights.
On Technological Specialization in Industrial Clusters
Authors: Dawid H.
Published: May 2011

In this chapter an agent-based industry simulation model is employed to analyze the relationship between technological specialization, cluster formation, and profitability in an industry where demand is characterized by love-for-variety preferences. The main focus is on the firms’ decisions concerning the position of their products in the technology landscape. Different types of strategies are compared with respect to induced technological specialization of the industry and average industry profits. Furthermore, the role of technological spillovers in a cluster as a technological coordination device is highlighted, and it is shown that due to competition effects, such technological coordination negatively affects the profits of cluster firms.
Application of RAP/AOR to the Modeling and Simulation of a Ceramics Factory
Authors: Taveter K.
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the application of the RAP/AOR methodology proposed by Taveter and Wagner (2005, 2006) to the modeling and simulation of a real ceramics factory. The chapter addresses the modeling of the ceramics factory from the interaction, information, and behavior aspects of the methodology. The chapter also discusses the simulation of the manufacturing processes of the ceramics factory by executing the process models developed using the RAP/AOR methodology. The method is aimed at the creation of simulation environments and automation systems of distributed manufacturing.
Modeling an Artificial Stock Market
Authors: Lavigne S. , Sanchez S.
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents an artificial stock market created to analyze market dynamics from the behavior of investors. It argues that information—delivered by financial intermediaries as rating agencies and considered as cognitive institution—directs the decisions of investors who are heterogeneous agents endowed with capabilities of learning in a changing environment. The objective is to demonstrate that information influences market dynamics as it allows the coordination of the decisions of investment in the same direction: information is a focal point for investors and contributes to generate a speculative dynamic on the market.
Artificial Intelligence Tools for Handling Legal Evidence
Authors: Nissan Ephraim
Published: May 2011

This article is a concise overview of a field which until the late 1990s did not exist in its own right: computer and computational methods for modeling reasoning on legal evidence and crime analysis and detection. Yet, for various kinds of forensic tests, computer techniques were sometimes used, and statistical methods have had some currency in the evaluation of legal evidence. Until recently it would not have been possible to provide an overarching review such as the present one.
Computational Ethics
Authors: Ruvinsky Alicia I.
Published: May 2011

Computational ethics is the integration of computer simulation and ethics theory. More specifically, computational ethics is an agent-based simulation mechanism that takes a computational perspective to ethics theory. This approach uses computer modeling and multiagent systems to generate societies of agents capable of adopting various ethical principles. The principle adopted by an agent will dictate its moral action in response to a moral dilemma. By simulating the agents’ application of ethical principles to moral dilemmas and observing the resulting moral landscape of a group of affected agents, we are better able to understand the social consequences of individual ethical actions.
Defending against Distributed Denial of Service
Authors: Xiang Yang , Zhou Wanlei
Published: May 2011

Recently the notorious Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks made people aware of the importance of providing available data and services securely to users. A DDoS attack is characterized by an explicit attempt from an attacker to prevent legitimate users of a service from using the desired resource (CERT, 2006). For example, in February 2000, many Web sites such as Yahoo, Amazon.com, eBuy, CNN.com, Buy. com, ZDNet, E*Trade, and Excite.com were all subject to total or regional outages by DDoS attacks. In 2002, a massive DDoS attack briefly interrupted Web traffic on nine of the 13 DNS “root” servers that control the Internet (Naraine, 2002). In 2004, a number of DDoS attacks assaulted the credit card processor Authorize. net, the Web infrastructure provider Akamai Systems, the interactive advertising company DoubleClick (left that company’s servers temporarily unable to deliver ads to thousands of popular Web sites), and many online gambling sites (Arnfield, 2004). Nowadays, Internet applications face serious security problems caused by DDoS attacks. For example, according to CERT/CC Statistics 1998-2005 (CERT, 2006), computer-based vulnerabilities reported have increased exponentially since 1998. Effective approaches to defeat DDoS attacks are desperately demanded (Cisco, 2001; Gibson, 2002).
Document Security in the Ancient World
Authors: Walker Christopher H.
Published: May 2011

While issues of encryption, firewalls, surveillance technologies, and cyber terrorism occupy the day-to- day thoughts of contemporary practitioners on the frontiers of information science, the essential problems they face are old, not new. The concept of document security goes back to some of the earliest eras from which writing survives. Testimony to the efforts of information professionals confronting security issues in the ancient world can be found in business, government, family, and temple contexts.
Interviews with Young People using Online Chat
Authors: Dunkels Elza , Enochsson AnnBritt
Published: May 2011

When we first started using online interviews as a method for qualitative research, we had no thoughts about it being any different from face-to-face interviews. Being naturalized digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001), having not used computers and the Internet from childhood but having become accustomed to them over time, we did not give the methodological issues much thought. However, when we started getting questions about our research, we understood that we took too much for granted. The questions that were raised made us question our approaches.
Personal Information Ethics
Authors: Al-Fedaghi Sabah S.
Published: May 2011

Beginning with information ethics that is based on the machine-independent concept of information recognized to have an intrinsic moral value, personal information ethics (PIE) goes further by conferring moral value on personal information itself. PIE gives moral consideration to the well-being of any personal information based on the moral concern for the welfare of its proprietor.
Pharming Attack Designs
Authors: Gupta Manish
Published: May 2011

Pharming is emerging as a major new Internet security threat. Pharming has overtaken “phishing” as the most dangerous Internet scam tactic, according to the latest Internet Security Intelligence Briefing (Veri-Sign, 2005). Pharming attacks exploit the design and implementation flaws in DNS services and the way Internet addresses are resolved to Internet protocol (IP) addresses. There are an estimated 7.5 million external DNS servers on the public Internet (MF-Survey, 2006). Pharming attacks manipulate components of the domain and host naming systems to redirect Internet entering personal and sensitive information on their fake site. Financial services’ sites are often the targets of these attacks, in which criminals try to acquire personal information in order to access bank accounts, steal identities, or commit other kinds of fraud. The use of faked Web sites makes pharming sound similar to e-mail phishing scams, but pharming is more insidious, since users are redirected to a false site without any participation or knowledge on their part. Pharming is technically harder to accomplish than phishing, but also sneakier because it can be done without any active mistake on the part of the victim (Violino, 2005). The greatest security threat lies in the fact that a successful pharming attack leaves no information on the user’s computer to indicate that anything is wrong.
Benefits and Limitations of Portals
Authors: Eboueya Michel , Uden Lorna
Published: May 2011

The demand of a rich suite of easy-to-use tools and help that simplify data management within a network is increasing more and more. These tools should give users immediate access to resources, and control over when and how they share information (Portals & Gateways references, 2006).
Business Challenges of Online Banking Portals
Authors: Ayadi Achraf
Published: May 2011

During the last few years, the growing interest in the banking industry on the Internet has led to the development from simple banking Web sites into comprehensive online banking portals (OBP). These portals offer a great variety of services in addition to traditional bank products and thereby enable customers to obtain financial advice from a single source.
Developing Online Learning Portals in Low Bandwidth Communities
Authors: van der Merwe Mae , Uden Lorna
Published: May 2011

University portals are emerging all over the world. Portals have been perceived by many people as the technologies that are designed to enhance work and learning processes at university by making workflows simpler and information more readily available in a form in which it can be processed (Franklin, 2004). There are many benefits for having a portal in a university. First, the portal makes it easy for people to find university information targeted specifically at them. Instead of the user searching the Web for information, a person identifies himself or herself to the portal, and the portal brings all relevant information to that person. Secondly, the portal uses a single consistent Web-based front end to present information from a variety of back-end data sources. Although information about people is stored in many different databases at a university, the role of a portal is to put a consistent face to this information so that visitors do not have to deal with dozens of different Web interfaces to get their information. Usability is an important issue when designing the university portal. Principles from human computer interaction must be included in the design of portals.
Dynamic Taxonomies and Intelligent User-Centric Access to Complex Portal Information
Authors: Sacco Giovanni M.
Published: May 2011

One of the key requirements of portals is easy access to information, or findability according to Morville’s definition (Morville, 2002). After a decade of using traditional access paradigms, such as queries on structured database systems and information retrieval or search engines, the feeling that “search does not work” and “information is too hard to find is now reaching a consensus level. The problem is that traditional access paradigms are not suited to most search tasks, that are exploratory and imprecise in essence: the user needs to explore the information base, find relationships among concepts and think alternatives out in a guided way. New access paradigms supporting exploration are needed. Since the goal is end-user interactive access, a holistic approach in which modeling, interface and interaction issues are considered together, must be used and will be discussed in the following.
Empowerment and Health Portals
Authors: Edenius Mats
Published: May 2011

We know that interest in employing Web portals for communication between the health care sector and the public is constantly increasing (Kapsalis, Charatsis, Georgoudakis, Nikoloutsos, & Papadopoulos, 2004). We can also find an increasing demand for various kinds of such communication (Sciamanna, Clark, Diaz, & Newton, 2003). It promises to become an important and valuable tool for e-health (i.e., computer-based health care and health care management). Patients can log into a Web portal in order to find an appropriate medical treatment, communicate personal matters, and/or find the right way and place to find adequate health care.
Enhancing Portal Design
Authors: Taranovych Yuriy
Published: May 2011

In recent years, portals became more and more popular among organizations (Klaene, 2004). A portal provides a solution for aggregating content and applications from various information systems for presentation to the user (Linwood & Minter, 2004). Generally, portals pose three main architectural requirements (Linwood & Minter, 2004): as portals integrate heterogeneous content from various sources, a modularized architecture is necessary to allow maintainable portal systems. Second, portals require separating various concerns (Fowler, Rice, & Foemmel, 2002). For instance, the portal’s user interface is supposed to display heterogeneous content consistently on various devices, whereas the backend is supposed to syndicate content from various sources. Third, a consistent management and coordination of different information sources, portal elements, and other components is necessary for good portals design.
E-Portals in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates
Authors: Michael Ian
Published: May 2011

Technology is seen as a key driving force in the economy within all of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE) nation; the seven are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al- Khaimah, and Fujairah. The government of Dubai leads the other emirates in terms of commerce activity, and has taken a strategic view of creating and promoting government portals to achieve this vision. Recently Dubai’s Municipality portal won an award for best content among all other UAE portals.
Industry Portals for Small Businesses
Authors: Scarso Enrico
Published: May 2011

Various initiatives, promoted by public and private organizations, attempt to overcome the difficulties hindering the actual use of Web technologies by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Among such initiatives, the design and implementation of industry portals are deemed to be an earlier step toward e-business by SMEs. There has been a proliferation of portals, especially in traditional sectors, created with the purpose to facilitate the communication by SMEs with their trading partner, to favor information sharing, improve the efficiency of individual firms and supply chains, and promote innovation. While there are interesting examples of successful industry portals, several others failed.
Large-Scale ASP Replication of Database-Driven Portals
Authors: Mayer Christopher B. , Candan K. Selçuk
Published: May 2011

Web portal applications that dynamically generate results in response to user requests are more popular than ever. Such portal applications usually consist of a business logic component and a very large database, or databases that hold the portal’s content. Despite efforts to speed up response generation, ever-rising user demand means that replication of a portal’s logic and database will be needed at some point as other methods to keep up with demand (faster databases and content caching for example) have limits.
Large-Scale Integrated Academic Portals
Authors: Bellavista Paolo
Published: May 2011

The increasing availability of fixed/wireless network connectivity and the integration of telecommunication systems and the Internet create novel opportunities for users who can benefit from anytime-anywhere access to a growing amount of Internet/intranet Web information. In particular, university communities clearly perceive the potential benefits of widespread availability of Web-based services, which should satisfy heterogeneous requirements from different classes of users, for example, students, teachers, administrative and technical staffs.
Learning Geography with the G-Portal Digital Library
Authors: Goh Dion Hoe-Lian
Published: May 2011

With the rapid growth of digital information, there is increasing recognition that digital libraries (DL) will play important roles in education, research, and work. DLs have correspondingly evolved from being static repositories of information, in which access is limited to searching and browsing, to those that offer a greater array of services for accessing, interacting and manipulating content (Agosti, Ferro, Frommholz, & Thiel, 2004; Goh, Fu, & Foo, 2002).
Open-Source Online Knowledge Portals for Education
Authors: Olla Phillip , Crider Rod
Published: May 2011

The open-source community has created a broad suite of educational and e-learning course management systems (CMS) referred to as educational knowledge portals (EKP). An EKP is a software system designed to aid instructors in the management of online educational courses for their students, especially by helping teachers and learners with course administration. These systems make it possible for a course designer to present to students, through a single, consistent, and intuitive interface, all the components required for a course of education or training.
Portal Features of Major Digital Libraries
Authors: McCarthy Cavan
Published: May 2011

Digital libraries offer access to significant collections of selected and organized digital resources, of the type traditionally found in libraries or archives. They can offer photographs, books, journal articles, and so forth. (Schwartz, 2000). Their major advantage, compared to the Internet as a whole, is access to quality collections from well-known institutions, such as major libraries or archives, also cultural and historical associations (Love & Feather, 1998). They can be said to occupy the “high end” of the Internet.
Portals for Workflow and Business Process Management
Authors: Dalmaris Peter
Published: May 2011

A growing number of portal software vendors offer functionality to allow users to manage business processes and workflows. This functionality is offered either out-of-the box (integrated into the portal software) or as a plug-in component that may be added at a later stage as the need for it arises, or through interfaces for linking the portal to specialised business process or workflow management software. This article discusses the present landscape of the management of business processes or workflows through portals, focusing on the major features of the available technologies, their applications, and trends.
Portals of the Mind
Authors: Simpson Nikakis Karen
Published: May 2011

The idea of a gateway or portal to another world is common in myth and fantasy, and, obviously, far older than the use of the same notion in computing. While computing portals take researchers to other domains of data, the use of portals in myths is often far more complex. In creation myths, the passing of portals has immense consequences for humankind, as in Adam and Eve’s expulsion from their carefree existence in the Garden of Eden (unleashing the world’s woes upon their descendants), and in the carrying away of Persephone by Pluto into the Underworld (leaving a legacy of cold and sunless months each year). In other types of myths, and in the fantastic tales they have bequeathed, portals provide heroes with strange and wonderful adventures, and with experiences that leave heroes irrevocably changed. This article will now explore these types of portals in more detail.
Presentation Oriented Web Services
Authors: Polgar Jana
Published: May 2011

Web services introduced the means for integrating and sharing business processes via the Internet. WSRP’s (WSRP specification version 1, 2003) goal is to extend the integration further by providing a framework for sharing Web service presentation components. WSRP specification formulated a standard protocol, which enables all content and application providers to create Web services, generate their presentation faces as HTML fragments, and offer them to the consumers to be plugged into their local portals.