bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Student Perspective of Plagiarism
Authors: Zimitat Craig
Published: May 2011

This paper reports on an Australian study of undergraduate students’ engagement in plagiarism-related behaviours, their knowledge of plagiarism and their academic writing skills. Students were surveyed to: (i) estimate the incidence of plagiarism behaviours; (ii) examine students’ self-reported academic writing skills; (iii) their knowledge of plagiarism; and (iv) their ability to identify plagiarised work. Across all three undergraduate years, approximately 90% of students believed that direct copying of text or ideas without acknowledgement constituted plagiarism, whilst around 5% were unsure if it constituted plagiarism. The majority of students (80% or more) claimed never to have plagiarized. About 80% of undergraduate students said they possessed the skills of note-taking, paraphrasing, citing and referencing etc., but barely half of students in each year group reported confidence with these skills. Students were able to distinguish between clear-cut cases of plagiarism and paraphrasing when presented with either different writing processes or different work samples, but they were less able to distinguish between “borderline cases”. There are clear implications for classroom practice. First, students need the opportunity to practice and develop their academic writing skills, in the context of articulating their understandings of their own discipline. This requires teachers to recognise that academic writing is a developmental skill and to learn how to improve the writing skills of their students. Second, in this process, teachers need to ensure that students are inducted into the conventions of the academy that relate to the use, manipulation and transformation of knowledge.
Strategic Alignment for Business Value Creation
Authors: Chew Eng K. , Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

Chapter IV defines the macromodel for achieving business/IT alignment. This chapter defines the detailed methodology for each step of the IT strategy process. First, the business strategy process must be methodical and able to clearly show the linkage between corporate strategic intents and the respective specific business functional plans for realizing the intents. For example, for a specific productivity goal defined for the corporation, the respective initiatives planned for sales and marketing, and those for supply chain management must be clearly linked and explicitly correlated in a “cause-and-effect” manner. A good method invented by Norton and Kaplan called strategy map is an effective tool for this purpose. This chapter reviews the basic principles of IT strategy. It briefly discusses various models used to analyze or describe disparate parts of strategic alignment. These strategic alignment models are contrasted with our end-to-end alignment model for defining and executing business-aligned IT strategy. It shows that our model has integrated all the individual disparate alignment elements proposed by these models. Further, it shows our model has addressed some key requirements which have either not been considered or only partially considered by some of these models. The main strengths of our model compared to previous work are twofold: (a) it addresses all alignment elements in an integrated fashion to make them meaningful and useful for practitioners; and (b) it addresses the full life cycle of strategic alignment from direction setting to strategic outcome monitoring and ongoing feedback loop for self-adjusted alignment (aided by architecture principles and IT governance).
Privacy through Security
Authors: Allison Ian , Strangwick Craig
Published: May 2011

The chapter discusses how one small business planned for, and implemented, the security of its data in a new enterprise-wide system. The company’s data was perceived as sensitive, and any breach of privacy as commercially critical. From this perspective, the chapter outlines the organizational and technical facets of the policies and practices evidenced. Lessons for other businesses can be drawn from the case by recognizing the need for investments to be made that will address threats in business critical areas. By highlighting the need for organizations to understand the nature of the risk and the probability of an event occurring, the security approaches highlight the need to address both the threats and actions in the event of an incident to reduce the risk to privacy.
Cluster Ensemble and Multi-Objective Clustering Methods
Authors: Faceli Katti , de Carvalho Andre C.P.L.F. , de Souto Marcilio C.P.
Published: May 2011

Clustering is an important tool for data exploration. Several clustering algorithms exist, and new algorithms are frequently proposed in the literature. These algorithms have been very successful in a large number of real-world problems. However, there is no clustering algorithm, optimizing only a single criterion, able to reveal all types of structures (homogeneous or heterogeneous) present in a dataset. In order to deal with this problem, several multi-objective clustering and cluster ensemble methods have been proposed in the literature, including our multi-objective clustering ensemble algorithm. In this chapter, we present an overview of these methods, which, to a great extent, are based on the combination of various aspects of traditional clustering algorithms.
Video Games, Reading, and Transmedial Comprehension
Authors: Dubbles Brock
Published: May 2011

In this qualitative study, literacy practices of “struggling” seventh and eighth graders were recorded on videotape as they engaged in both traditional and new literacies practices in an after-school video games club. These recordings were analyzed in the context of building comprehension skills with video games. The students struggled with reading and are characterized as unmotivated and disengaged by the school, which may be at the root of their inability to use comprehension strategies. Playing video games is viewed here as a literate practice, and was seen to be more engaging than traditional activities (such as reading school text, writing journals, etc.). The conclusion of this observation makes connections to current research in comprehension and provides a basis for teachers to use games to develop comprehension and learning.
COTS Computer Game Effectiveness
Authors: Luckhardt Redfield Carol , Gaither Diane L. , Redfield Neil M.
Published: May 2011

This chapter looks at the effectiveness of commercially available educational computer games. It defines what a game is from game theory and what an intelligent tutoring system is, suggests some concepts from these areas to use for game development, and reflects on some surveys of commercial off-theshelf (COTS) educational software, including computer games. Two effectiveness studies conducted at John Jay High School, and the results of the studies are presented on the educational computer game Math Blaster Algebra. One of the studies showed a positive learning increase from using Math Blaster Algebra. Both studies showed no negative impacts on scores and grades with more time playing the game. With lessons learned from game theory, the intelligent computer-based training field, and these effectiveness studies, educational computer gaming can continue to grow, be effective, and be accepted into educational systems.
Changing Health Behavior Through Games
Authors: Edgerton Erin
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses how proven health communication theories can be used in electronic games to affect behavior change. After discussing the need for effective health communication and reviewing the current trends in online health-seeking behavior, it argues that games provide a unique opportunity for users to interact with health information, practice health behaviors, and become immersed in meaningful content. Through exploration of the elaboration likelihood model, social cognitive theory, and stages of change theory, this chapter will discuss how games can be used to change perceptions, attitudes, and actions relating to health behaviors. Examples of how these health communication theories have been used in both public health research and games will be given. At the conclusion of this chapter, readers will have an understanding of several health communication theories and the related techniques that can be used to design persuasive games for behavior change.
Wag the Kennel
Authors: Shaffer David William
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, I look at the relationship between games and assessment—and more broadly at what that tells us about the relationship between educational reform and technological change. Research already shows that with their ability to provide rich, complex, and compelling virtual worlds, well-designed computer games can teach players innovative and creative ways of thinking, deep understanding of complex academic content, and valuable forms of real-world skills. But, in the end, even effective games can only take students as far as the tests will let them go. If we want to use games to prepare young people for life in a changing world, we need to change how we think about assessment first. To address this challenge, in what follows I examine one way to think about assessing the development of innovative and creative thinking through game-play.
Character Attachment in Games as Moderator for Learning
Authors: Lewis Melissa L. , Weber René
Published: May 2011

The Entertainment Education Paradigm (EEP) offers a new way to think about education by blending entertainment with educational experiences. Video games provide an excellent format for entertainment education because of both the prevalence and enjoyment of playing video games and the ways in which individuals of today learn. Role-playing games are one of the better game genres for entertainment education. They provide both high levels of entertainment and a strong connection between player and game characters (models) which lead to an increase in learning. Based on the theories of parasocial interaction, identification, and social learning, this chapter offers a measurement for character attachment and introduces this new construct as a moderator for learning in role-playing video games.
Interpreting Game-Play Through Existential Ludology
Authors: Payne Matthew Thomas
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces and operationalizes an innovative interpretive strategy called “existential ludology” to explain how the game-play mechanics of two tactical shooter video games?America’s Army: Rise of a Soldier (Microsoft’s Xbox) and Full Spectrum Warrior (Sony’s PlayStation 2)?educate gamers on how to play militarily. These titles, both produced in part by the U.S. Department of Defense, engender strict, doctrinal learning opportunities by embedding official combat protocols into their game-play structures. By employing existential ludology as an interpretive tool we can understand these military-backed games from an experiential, player-centric perspective, while also recognizing how their seemingly innocuous game-play is located within, and linked to, larger networks of power. Moreover, existential ludology’s flexibility as an interpretive instrument encourages educators to recognize the educational affordances of popular video games so that they might adopt these popular media artifacts for their own pedagogical ends.
Gamers, Gender, and Representation
Authors: Carr Diane , Pelletier Caroline
Published: May 2011

The issue of gender reoccurs in debates about the introduction of computer games into formal learning contexts. There is a fear that girls will be alienated rather than engaged by games in the classroom. There is also concern over sexist imagery, and thus about representational aspects of computer games. In this chapter, particular aspects of these issues are addressed in turn. The authors explore the issue of gender and gendered game preferences, in relation to the cultural framing of the gaming audience. Attention is then directed at the issue of representation, with a consideration of the tensions between representation, meaning, and playability. These issues are considered primarily through perspectives drawn from media studies, and with reference to recent work from the emerging field of computer game studies.
Saving Worlds with Videogame Activism
Authors: Jones Robert
Published: May 2011

Due to its nature as an interactive medium, the video game offers uniquely different approaches to the project of activism. Unlike other audio/visual media like film and TV, video games consist of processes enacted by players. More specific, they contain rules systems known as algorithms that the player navigates to become successful at the game. And through that process of learning that algorithm a new form of rhetoric is born. Ian Bogost labels this unique form as procedural rhetoric: “the art of persuasion through rule-based representations and interactions rather than the spoken word, writing, images, or moving pictures.” Through gamic actions players internalize not only the rules, but also the rhetoric of that rule system. To demonstrate precisely how procedural rhetoric works through video game technologies, this chapter presents a definition for video game activism as well as three distinct modes: original design, engine appropriation, and machinima. Using three recent case studies, the chapter suggests some of the implications for educators and why they should take video games seriously as means of political expression when teaching students about civic duty.
Game Design as a Compelling Experience
Authors: Qiu Wei , Zhao Yong
Published: May 2011

This study explored the nature and design of a compelling experience: game design. Thirty-six college juniors in the software engineering major participated in a semester-long project to design games for Chinese language learning. The project was designed to help engineering students understand educational and other issues in designing educational games. Results show that game design expanded students’ perceptive capacity; enhanced their subject-matter understanding, problem-solving skills, meta-learning ability and motivation; and facilitated students’ reflection on themselves as well as their environments. Factors are discussed to make a game design learning experience compelling
Designing Games-Based Embedded Authentic Learning Experiences
Authors: de Byl Penny
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents the embedded authentic serious game-based learning experiences (EASLE) architecture which has been developed to assist in the definition of games-based applications. The motivation behind the design of EASLE is to keep game specifications as simple and focused as possible for educators attempting to create serious games as current available game design methodologies and templates are complex and extensive. Furthermore, it is argued that games created with EASLE reduce the amount of game development work to be done by the educator allowing for deeper collaboration between students. Toward the end of this chapter a game developed with EASLE which took two weeks to complete is presented.
Designing Games for Learning
Authors: Warren Scott J. , Dondlinger Mary Jo
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses two games that were designed to target learning as well as implications for the design of future games intended for this purpose. It illustrates how the ADDIE model of instructional design can be leveraged to produce digital game spaces as well as the limitations that designers face based on the goals of the project, the chosen technology, and the audience chosen for the digital intervention. The goal of this chapter is to use real-world examples of learning game design processes in order to prepare instructional designers for the complexity of using game and instructional design principles as a means of improving student motivation, learning, and other psychological factors that prepare them for engaging meaningfully in the educational experience.
Consumers' Optimal Experience on Commercial Web Sites
Authors: Wan Fang , Nan Ning , Smith Malcolm
Published: May 2011

Though marketers are aware that online marketing strategies are crucial to attract visitors to Web sites and make the Web site sticky (Hoffman et al., 1995; Morr, 1997; Schwartz, 1996; Tchong, 1998), little is known about the factors that can bring out such a compelling online experience. This chapter examines how specific Web atmospheric features such as dynamic navigation design, together with Web users’ surfing goals, can lead to an optimal online experience. In addition, the chapter also examines the consequences of an optimal surfing experience on consumers’ attitudes toward commercial Web sites/brands (promoted on these sites) and purchase intentions. In this chapter, we review related research on online consumer experience, identify two key antecedents of the optimal online experience, report an experiment testing the effects of these antecedents and provide insights for future research.
E-Branding the Consumer for Cultural Presence in Virtual Communities
Authors: Pennington Robert
Published: May 2011

Brands have evolved from signs of property rights to signs of product attributes to signs of consumer attributes. Brands have become an important mode of consumer communication, identifying and distinguishing consumers as social objects within consumer market culture. Virtual communities have evolved from telephonic verbal communication to highly interactive electronic media that provide rich audio-visual sensory detail that gives consumers a sense of being in an environment. As a fundamentally cultural phenomenon, marketing communication reflects shared patterns of consumer thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors. Virtual communities are particularly suited for communication in consumer culture because they afford consumers authentic cultural presence. Culture depends on communication. Communication depends on symbols. Symbols constitute electronic environments. E-branding affords consumers the necessary tools to communicate their roles and relationships in virtual consumer culture environments for transfer to actual consumer culture environments. Consumption in actual environments results in brand viability and marketing success.
Understanding Consumer Reactions to Offshore Outsourcing of Customer Services
Authors: Sharma Piyush , Mathur Rajiv , Dhawan Abhinav
Published: May 2011

Offshore outsourcing is a fast-growing aspect of the world economy today and it has drawn attention from policy makers as well as public at large in many developed countries. However, there is hardly any research on how outsourcing of customer services may influence individual consumers, their perceptions, attitudes and behaviors. In this chapter, the authors first review the extant literature in the country-of-origin and services marketing areas to highlight key concepts and theories relevant to this area. Next, they show how offshore outsourcing of customer services may influence consumer perceptions about service quality, brand image and brand loyalty on one hand and impact customer satisfaction, complaint behavior and repurchase intentions on the other. The role of several relevant demographic and psychographic variables is also discussed. Finally, the findings from a survey-based study among customers in three developed countries (US, UK and Australia) are reported along with a discussion of managerial implications and future research directions in this area.
Multi-Channel Retailing and Customer Satisfaction
Authors: Warrington Patricia T. , Gangstad Elizabeth , Feinberg Richard , de Ruyter Ko
Published: May 2011

Multi-channel retailers that utilize an eCRM approach stand to benefit in multiple arenas - by providing targeted customer service as well as gaining operational and competitive advantages. To that end, it is inherent that multi-channel retailers better understand how satisfaction – a necessary condition for building customer loyalty – influences consumers’ decisions to shop in one retail channel or another. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of shopping experience on customers’ future purchase intentions, both for the retailer and for the channel. Using a controlled experimental design, U.S. and European subjects responded to a series of questions regarding the likelihood making a future purchase following either a positive or negative shopping encounter. Results suggest that shopping intentions vary based on the shopping channel as well as cultural differences.
A Methodology for Integrating Information Technology in Software Engineering Education
Authors: Kamthan Pankaj
Published: May 2011

The discipline of software engineering has been gaining increasing significance in computer science and engineering education. In this chapter, the goal is to describe a systematic approach toward integrating information technologies in software engineering education (SEE), both inside and outside the classroom. A methodology for integrating IT is proposed and explored in the context of SEE, particularly related to the Internet and the Web; in this context, SEE supports a heterogeneous combination of objectivism and constructivism, and aims to be feasibility sensitive. In doing so, the prospects and concerns of incorporating IT in SEE are presented. The potential of integrating IT in SEE is illustrated by examples.
Online Communities of Inquiry in Higher Education
Authors: Donohoe Ann , McMahon Tim , O’Neill Geraldine
Published: May 2011

The primary purpose of this chapter is to explore how online communities of inquiry can be developed to facilitate students to engage in reflective practice. The discussion begins with a critical review of the literature, examining the role of educational technology within higher education and the need to develop pedagogical frameworks for its use in practice. An overview of an action research study is presented that used communities of inquiry to facilitate registered nurses to critically reflect on clinical practice. The preliminary findings from focus group interviews indicate that learners viewed their participation in online communities of inquiry as a beneficial aid to reflection. The chapter concludes with recommendations for practice and for further research in the area of online communities of inquiry.
Knowledge Sharing
Authors: Liu Shuhua
Published: May 2011

Knowledge is one of the most important competitive resources a business can have. However, the failure of knowledge management initiatives in the last decade, especially the failure of knowledge management (sharing) systems, directly points out the inadequacy of current approaches to knowledge sharing.This chapter, expanding on the current view of knowledge and knowledge management, offers an alternative approach to knowledge sharing. It is argued that to understand employee knowledge-sharing behavior, we have to understand the interactions between organizational context and individuals’ sense-making processes before achieving success. Studies in knowledge sharing are reviewed before the missing organizational factors are pointed out. Established theories in sociology, management science, and organizational behavior are introduced where the influences of both formal and informal organizational factors on employee knowledge sharing are elaborated. Theoretical and practical implications of current study on knowledge-sharing research are discussed in the end.
Understanding the Impact of Wireless Local Area Networks on Users and Assessing User Satisfaction with Wireless Local Area Networks
Authors: Chen Leida , Nath Ravi , Cowin Jonathan
Published: May 2011

Recently, wireless local area network (WLAN) has gained increasing popularity. WLAN equipment manufacturers and practitioners claimed that WLAN had brought dramatic improvements in the forms of productivity gains and attainment of convenience, flexibility, mobility, and time saving to organizations and their employees. However, very little academic research has been conducted to verify these claims and further our understanding of this new phenomenon. By surveying end-users and managers, this study investigates the impact of WLAN on users and their work. User satisfaction with WLAN is also assessed. This article presents the findings from the study along with a discussion on recent development and future trends of WLAN. Finally, recommendations to researchers, managers, WLAN technology providers and equipment manufacturers are also provided.
E-Commerce and Sales Taxes in the United States
Authors: Reddick Christopher G.
Published: May 2011

This article examines the relationship between electronic commerce and the U.S. state sales and use tax system. A framework is used in this study of a high-quality tax system and it is applied to taxing electronic commerce sales. The first part of this article analyzed nine principles of an effective tax system, and divided these principles into the categories of adequacy of revenue, fairness of revenue, and management of revenue. In the second part of this article, these principles are tested to determine what impact electronic commerce taxation has on an effective revenue system. The results of these initial tests suggest that taxation of electronic commerce was associated with fairness in the tax system. In particular, the results suggested that states that had fairer tax systems were more likely to rely less on a sales tax and more on taxing Internet access. Management and adequacy of the revenue systems of states were not found to have a significant bearing on taxing electronic commerce. These results reinforce the existing public finance and legal theories which argue that the sales tax is not a fair revenue stream, and it should be re-evaluated especially in light of the contentious issue of taxing electronic commerce.
The Ape that Used E-Mail
Authors: Kock Ned , Garza Vanessa
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews theoretical research on e-communication behavior, identifying two main types of theories: technological and social. Based on this review, it provides the rationale for the development of a new theory that is neither technological nor social. The new theory is based on evolution theory, whose foundations were laid out by Darwin. Three theoretical principles are developed from evolution theory: media naturalness, innate schema similarity, and learned schema variety. The chapter concludes by illustrating how the theoretical principles can be used as a basis for the development of a simple predictive model in the context of an online broker.
Effects of Leadership Style and Anonymity on Arguments and Intentions Related to Acting Unethically
Authors: Kahai Surinder S. , Avolio Bruce J.
Published: May 2011

A laboratory experiment was conducted with 42 student groups to evaluate the effects of transactional vs. transformational leadership styles and anonymity when groups supported by an electronic meeting system (EMS) discussed the ethical issue of copying copyrighted software. A confederate leader displayed either transformational or transactional behaviors. Transformational leaders motivate effort by raising the awareness of followers to make them aspire to higher order needs and values, and developing them to fulfill their aspirations. Transactional leaders motivate effort by highlighting the contractual exchange involved in a relationship. Participants working with a transformational confederate were more likely to make arguments that challenged the copying of copyrighted software than those working with one who was more transactional. These arguments in turn caused groups exposed to such arguments to have greater deviation among its members in intentions to copy the software. Participants working with a transactional confederate were more likely to make arguments in favor of copying copyrighted software. These arguments in turn caused groups exposed to such arguments to have a greater mean of intentions to copy the software. Implications for practice and future research on ethics and leadership are discussed.
Integrated Design System
Authors: Yang Quangang , Reidsema Carl
Published: May 2011

The rapid development of computing technology has facilitated its use in engineering design and manufacturing at an increasing rate. To deliver high quality, low cost products with reduced lead times; companies are focussing their efforts on leveraging this technology through the development of knowledge-based systems such as an integrated design system (IDS). An IDS, which can also be referred to as a design information system, is a part of the overall enterprise information system framework, and plays an important role in improving competitiveness in product development oriented companies. Such a system addresses concurrent engineering (CE) issues by considering downstream aspects of different phases in the product life cycle as early as possible in the design stage. These aspects include production process planning and realisation, manufacturing and assembly resources, maintainability, costing and other factors. Both human expertise and downstream aspects predominantly consist of information that is descriptive. This chapter discusses the structure and development of a design information system that can convert this descriptive information into forms that are suitable for embedding within decision-making algorithms. Information in such a system is sorted in terms of its nature into three groups: input data information, constraint information and objective information, all having different representations. Information is also mapped to the relevant design objectives and ranked in importance to facilitate the trade-off analysis after a series of processing activities.
Organizational Readiness to Adopt ERP
Authors: Raymond Louis , Rivard Suzanne , Jutras Danie
Published: May 2011

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are now being implemented in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This chapter presents the results of a study that proposes and validates a framework for evaluating the level of readiness for ERP adoption in manufacturing SMEs. The framework conceptualizes readiness to adopt an ERP as including four dimensions: the organizational context, external forces, perception of ERP, and business processes. A field study of eleven manufacturing SMEs was conducted. The framework led to the classification of these firms in three clusters: “committed adopters” (4 firms), “uncommitted adopters” (5 firms), and “late adopters” (2 firms).
Information System Development
Authors: Elliman Tony , Hatzakis Tally , Serrano Alan
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the idea that even though information systems development (ISD) approaches have long advocated the use of integrated organisational views, the modelling techniques used have not been adapted accordingly and remain focused on the automated information system (IS) solution. Existing research provides evidence that business process simulation (BPS) can be used at different points in the ISD process to provide better-integrated organisational views that aid the design of appropriate IS solutions. Despite this fact, research in this area is not extensive; suggesting that the potential of using BPS for the ISD process is not yet well understood. The paper uses the findings from three different case studies to illustrate the ways BPS has been used at different points in the ISD process, especially in the area of requirements engineering. It compares the results against IS modelling techniques, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages that BPS has over the latter. The research necessary to develop appropriate BPS tools and give guidance on their use in the ISD process is discussed.
Cross-Border Court Jurisdiction and Economic Law Application in Electronic Commerce
Authors: Kawana Takeshi
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to examine international jurisdiction and choice of law for e-commerce involving economic legal issues. International jurisdiction and choice of law will be determined under private legal principles, but as e-commerce involves economic law as a law to ensure national economic stability, the court may consider economic law with both private and public legal functions. At that time there may be some conflict of law involving state economic policy, and it must be considered how to coordinate the conflict and create a universal legal structure for non-territorial cyberspace. This chapter will propose three layers of legal structure for e-commerce: the private law layer, the economic law layer, and the criminal law layer, all of which have perspectives for borderless cyberspace.
Web Service Orchestration and Choreography
Authors: Daniel Florian
Published: May 2011

The Web service domain is a fast growing and fast changing environment. From a business perspective, the trend over the last few years in the Web services area firmly points toward seamless business logic integration and inter-enterprise collaboration. However, in order to accomplish such goals, both technological and conceptual advances are required. Some already have proven their viability, others still have to be made. Among them, Web service orchestration and choreography are of crucial importance, but still lack a widely agreed on development framework comprising both technological and conceptual aspects. In this paper we try to provide a critical snapshot of current standards for Web service development and particularly we focus on Web service orchestration and choreography. We discuss problems and solutions from a conceptual point of view, exemplify the illustrated ideas by means of real-world technologies and standards and highlight the mutual dependencies that exist among orchestration and choreography of Web services.
Effects of Web-based Customer relationship management on Customer Satisfaction
Authors: Jih Wen-Jang , Lee Su-Fang , Tsai Yuan-Cheng
Published: May 2011

This study addresses the effect of e-customer relationship management (e-CRM) practices on online customers’ satisfaction with their experience in interacting with the company websites. Recognizing the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with customers, companies are actively seeking ways to enhance the customer value of their offerings through relationship marketing. Since effective managing of customer relationship essentially involves managing customer information flow, Internet technologies have become an important element of a firm’s e-CRM program. The company website is functioning as the focal point of contact for interacting with existing and prospective customers. An important concern is how the company website affects customers’ overall perception of the website. Using the concepts of Internet-mediated market orientation in marketing and user satisfaction in information systems, this study analyzes causal as well as correlation relationships between e-CRM practices and online customer website satisfaction. Based on the primary data collected in Taiwan, the study found that e-CRM practices positively impact online customers’ website satisfaction through their perception of the website’s customer orientation.
Ontologies for Scalable Services-Based Ubiquitous Computing
Authors: Oberle Daniel , Bornhovd Christof , Altenhofen Michael
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses scalability problems and solutions to services-based ubiquitous computing applications in real time enterprises. The scalability problems are (1) identifying relevant services for deployment, (2) verifying a composition by a logical rule framework, and (3) enabling the mapping of required services to the “best” available device. We argue that ontologies can help to counter these challenges. Subsequently, we provide a detailed introduction to ontologies. We focus on the ontology languages emerging from the corresponding W3C Semantic Web activity. The W3C recommendations have a high impact on future tools and the interoperability of ontology-based applications. We contrast the pros and cons of ontologies at a general level and demonstrate the benefits and challenges in our concrete smart items middleware.
A Focus on Location Context
Authors: Aitenbichler Erwin
Published: May 2011

This chapter adds an in-depth description of location context, because location is the most prominent context property and the associated tracking technology is increasingly deployed in industry. First, we motivate a number of application areas for this technology in industry, healthcare, tourism, and more. We first describe the different physical properties location sensors can measure and then the principles and algorithms to calculate the locations of mobile entities based on this sensor data. Several commercial location systems and research prototypes are described as implementation examples. Finally, with the help of location models, the raw location information is processed to derive higher-level information meaningful to application services.
Trust and Accountability
Authors: Ries Sebastian
Published: May 2011

Ubiquitous computing implies that literally any activity in everyday life can be assisted or accompanied by networked computers. Therefore, the concepts of everyday social life must be carefully reflected on when developing applications for ubiquitous computing. The present chapter focuses on the concepts of trust and accountability. First, both concepts are introduced with their everyday semantics. Second, we explain why trust is relevant for ubiquitous computing, and introduce the main issues for dealing with trust in computer science. Third, we show how accountability can be achieved in distributed systems using reputation and micropayment mechanisms. In both sections, we provide a short overview of the state-ofthe- art and give detailed examples for a deeper understanding. Finally, we provide a research outlook, again arguing for the integration of these concepts into future ubiquitous computing applications.
Advanced Hands and Eyes Interaction
Authors: Weber Michael , Hermann Marc
Published: May 2011

This chapter gives an overview of the broad range of interaction techniques for use in ubiquitous computing. It gives a short introduction to the fundamentals of human-computer interaction and the traditional user interfaces, surveys multi-scale output devices, gives a general idea of hands and eyes input, specializes them by merging the virtual and real world, and introduces attention and affection for enhancing the interaction with computers and especially with disappearing computers. The human-computer interaction techniques surveyed here help support Weiser’s idea of ubiquitous computing (1991) and calm technology (Weiser & Brown, 1996) and result in more natural interaction techniques than in use of purely graphical user interfaces. This chapter will thus first introduce the basic principles in human-computer interaction from a cognitive perspective, but aimed at computer scientists. The humancomputer interaction cycle brings us to a discussion of input and output devices and their characteristics being used within this cycle. The interrelation of the physical and virtual world as we see it in ubiquitous computing has its predecessors in the domain of virtual and augmented realities where specific hands and eyes interaction techniques and technologies have been developed. The next step will be attentive and affective user interfaces and the use of tangible objects being manipulated directly without using dedicated I/O devices.
Classic Cryptography
Authors: Mogollon Manuel
Published: May 2011

Chapters 1 and 2 cover information on classic cryptography and the aspects of information security related to security services and mechanisms. The history of cryptography and code-breaking is very interesting and, in this chapter, some of the types of implementation employed over the centuries to attempt to code information are covered. These implementations are not very sophisticated by today’s standards and are considered too weak for serious applications. Some early crypto machines and the Vernam Cipher developed by Gilbert Vernam in 1917 are discussed in this chapter.
Confidentiality
Authors: Mogollon Manuel
Published: May 2011

In the world of communications, assurance is sought that (1) a message is not accidentally or deliberately modified in transit by replacement, insertion, or deletion; (2) the message is coming from the source from which it claims to come; (3) the message is protected against unauthorized individuals reading information that is supposed to be kept private; and (4) there is protection against an individual denying that the individual sent or received a message. These assurances are provided through the use of security mechanisms. Chapters IV, V, VI, and VII discuss security mechanisms such as confidentiality, integrity, and access authentication that are used to implement the security services listed above. This chapter covers two types of symmetric encryption: stream ciphers and block ciphers. The theory behind using shift registers as stream ciphers, as well as the DES and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), are also covered in this chapter.
Confidentiality
Authors: Mogollon Manuel
Published: May 2011

Asymmetric encryption is a form of cryptography in which one key is used to encipher and the other to decipher. The two keys are mathematically related, and if it is possible to make one of the keys public and still maintain the algorithm security, then the system is called public-key. The most used public-key ciphers, the Pohlig-Hellman algorithm, the RSA algorithm, the ElGamal algorithm, and Diffie-Hellman, are discussed in this chapter.
The Place of Knowledge-Based Development in the Metropolitan Region
Authors: Heywood Phil
Published: May 2011

Knowledge-based urban development in metropolitan regions can help shape the social and physical renewal required to respond to current rapid change. Decision making can be devolved, participation promoted, regional networks of production and culture developed, coherent planning and servicing of settlements introduced to transcend local government boundaries, and resource consumption and pollution can be controlled at the metropolitan/regional scale. Examples of successful development of creative urban regions include metropolitan regions in Europe and North America based on one or more of the five paradigms of cultural self-renewal, inclusive creativity, economic vitality and communication, self-sustaining environmental quality, and the empowering effects of participatory governance. Their planning can draw on a wide range of well-established methods, ranging from long-established central place theory to ideas of wholeness developed by Alexander (2002). Well-established practices of advocacy, voluntarism, institutional innovation, and regular evaluation can be linked to build the regional consciousness and institutions required to implement these solutions for the regions to become creative urban regions.
Analysis and Intuition in Strategic Decision Making
Authors: Paprika Zita Zoltay
Published: May 2011

Many management scholars believe that the process used to make strategic decisions affects the quality of those decisions. However, several authors have observed a lack of research on the strategic decisionmaking process. Empirical tests of factors that have been hypothesized to affect the way strategic decisions are made are notably absent (Fredrickson, 1985). This article reports the results of a study that attempts to assess the effects of decision-making circumstances, focusing mainly on the approaches applied and the managerial skills and capabilities the decision makers built on during concrete strategic decision-making procedures. The study was conducted in California between September 2005 and June 2006 and it was sponsored by a Fulbright research scholarship grant.
Debiasing Decision Makers Through Knowledge Management
Authors: Handzic Meliha
Published: May 2011

The need to improve decision making is a longstanding concern in decision support research. As the accelerated technological development and fierce competition coming from global sources are becoming more apparent in the new 21st century, enhanced decision-making capabilities are required more than ever before to enable organisations to meet the new challenges. Decision making can be viewed as a dynamic and iterative process comprising: (1) identification phase, which involves decision problem recognition and diagnosis activities; (2) development phase, which concerns search and design activities; and (3) selection phase, which comprises screening, evaluation, and authorisation activities (Mintzberg et al., 1976). The quality of the subsequent decisions will depend on the nature of the preceding diagnostic, design, and selection activities.
Decision Making Support in Emergency Response
Authors: Diniz Viviane Barbosa , Borges Marcos R.S. , Gomes José Orlando , Canós José H.
Published: May 2011

An emergency event can be chronologically divided into three phases: prevention, response, and investigation. Preventive actions attempt to anticipate all emergency situations and describe procedures intended to avoid undesirable outcomes. Unfortunately, not all circumstances can be predicted and some cannot be avoided. When undesirable situations occur, an emergency response action has to be set off. The response phase is very complex because decisions have to be made in a very short time and sometimes without the desirable information. An investigation usually follows any incident in order to find out the causes of the emergency, assess the effectiveness of the response, and generate recommendations for future preventive and response actions (Ochoa, Neyem, Pino, & Borges, 2006). Concerning the emergency response phase, actions are usually carried out by several teams which should work in a manner as cooperative and articulated as possible to eliminate or reduce the impact of the disaster. These teams usually follow established procedures to deal with emergencies contained in emergency plans. In most events, actions are coordinated centrally but decisions are made at both central and local levels. Information plays an important role in these decisions. According to Dykstra (2003), when things go wrong in emergency management, the reasons are generally related to breakdowns in information, communication, and/or coordination.
DSS Using Visualization of Multi-Algorithms Voting
Authors: Bittmann Ran M. , Gelbard Roy M.
Published: May 2011

The problem of analyzing datasets and classifying them into clusters based on known properties is a well known problem with implementations in fields such as finance (e.g., pricing), computer science (e.g., image processing), marketing (e.g., market segmentation), and medicine (e.g., diagnostics), among others (Cadez, Heckerman, Meek, Smyth, & White, 2003; Clifford & Stevenson, 2005; Erlich, Gelbard, & Spiegler, 2002; Jain & Dubes, 1988; Jain, Murty, & Flynn, 1999; Sharan & Shamir, 2002). Currently, researchers and business analysts alike must try out and test out each diverse algorithm and parameter separately in order to set up and establish their preference concerning the individual decision problem they face. Moreover, there is no supportive model or tool available to help them compare different results-clusters yielded by these algorithm and parameter combinations. Commercial products neither show the resulting clusters of multiple methods, nor provide the researcher with effective tools with which to analyze and compare the outcomes of the different tools. To overcome these challenges, a decision support system (DSS) has been developed. The DSS uses a matrix presentation of multiple cluster divisions based on the application of multiple algorithms. The presentation is independent of the actual algorithms used and it is up to the researcher to choose the most appropriate algorithms based on his or her personal expertise.