bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Semantic Web Uncertainty Management
Authors: Haarslev Volker , Pai Hsueh-Ieng , Shiri Nematollaah
Published: May 2011

Since the introduction of the Semantic Web vision (Berners- Lee, Hendler, & Lassila, 2001), attempts have been made for making Web resources more machine interpretable by giving them a well-defined meaning through semantic markups. One way to encode such semantic markups is to use ontologies. An ontology is “an explicit specification of a conceptualization” (Gruber, 1993, p. 199). Informally, an ontology consists of a set of terms in a domain, relationships between the terms, and a set of constraints on the way in which those terms can be combined. By explicitly defining the relationships and constraints among the terms, the semantics of the terms can be better defined and understood. Over the last few years, a number of ontology languages have been developed, most of which use Description Logics (DLs) (Baader, McGuinness, Nardi, & Schneider, 2003) as the foundation. The family of DLs is a subset of first-order logic (FOL) and is considered to be attractive as it keeps a good compromise between expressive power and computational tractability. Uncertainty is a form of deficiency or imperfection in the information/data, where the truth of information is not established definitely. Uncertainty modeling and reasoning have been challenging issues for over two decades in many disciplines, such as database and artificial intelligence. Most of the information in the real world is uncertain or imprecise, for example, classifications of genes in bioinformatics, schema matching in information integration, finding best matches in a Web search, and so forth. Therefore, uncertainty management is essential for the success of many such applications and in particular DLs and the Semantic Web. Despite its popularity, it has been realized that classical DLs are inadequate to model uncertainty. For example, in the medical domain, one might want to express that: “It is very likely that an obese person would have heart disease,” where “obese” is a vague concept that may vary across regions and “likely” shows the uncertain nature of this information. Such an expression cannot be expressed using classical DLs. The importance of incorporating uncertainty in DLs has been recognized by the knowledge representation community: “modeling primitives such as … fuzzy/probabilistic definitions” could be the next step for extension (Horrocks et al., 2000, p. 3). For this, a number of frameworks have been proposed to incorporate uncertainty in DLs. This paper provides a survey of these proposals. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. We first provide the background on the classical DL framework. We then study representative extensions of DLs with uncertainty. This follows by some possible research directions for incorporating uncertainty in the Semantic Web. We conclude with a summary and some remarks.
Smart Assets Through Digital Capabilities
Authors: Liyanage Jayantha P. , Langeland Thore
Published: May 2011

The history of oil and gas (O&G) production on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) dates back to the early 70s and began with the discovery and subsequent development of the great Ekofisk asset in 1969. Ever since, North Sea has been an attractive region, and Norway in particular has been a major supplier of O&G to the world energy market. The remaining production prospect on the Shelf is also said to be substantial and the more recent estimates indicate that it is equivalent to twice the already produced amount. However, a major part of the Norwegian O&G production portfolio will approach maturity by 2007/2008. Both declining production and marginal discoveries have given a clear indication that the Norwegian O&G industry will undergo a series of significant challenges during the next few years. These critical issues, in conjunction with volatile business environment, have brought a major turning point demanding immediate steps to enhance operational efficiency and to reduce operating risk in offshore exploration and production (E&P) activities on NCS.
Sponsorship in IT Project Management
Authors: Bryde David , Petie David
Published: May 2011

Since the 1970s academics and practitioners in the discipline of project management have sought answers to two inter-related questions: How is project success defined and measured? What are the influences on project success? To answer the first question people have studied project success criteria/key performance indicators. To answer the second, studies have focused on project critical success factors. Daniel (1961) introduced the concept of “success factors,” stating that “in most industries there are usually three to six factors that determine success; these key jobs must be done exceedingly well for a company to be successful” (p.116). Approaches to the management of information have been established using Daniel’s concept. For example, Rockart (1979) developed a Critical Success Factor (CSF) method for meeting the information needs of top executives. This method focused on understanding the objectives and goals of the company and the factors (CSFs) critical to their achievement, and establishing information systems to report on performance in these two areas. A key challenge has been to integrate the definitions and measures of success with CSFs, and in this respect work has been carried out to develop frameworks linking models of success criteria (the measures of success) with CSFs (see, for example, van Veen-Dirks & Wijn, 2002). The concept of CSFs has also been applied to project environments, with project CSFs being “those inputs to the management system that lead directly or indirectly to the success of the project” (Cooke- Davies, 2002, p. 185). Project management theory has also looked for a holistic answer to the questions of “How is project success defined and measured?” and “What are the influences on project success?”, through the development of models linking project success criteria and project CSFs (Westerveld, 2002; Bryde, 2003).
Supporting Quality of Service for Internet Multimedia Applications
Authors: Ang Yew-Hock
Published: May 2011

The Internet has gone from near-invisibility to near-ubiquity and penetrated into every aspect of society in the past decades (Department of Commerce, 1998). The application scenarios have also changed dramatically, and now demand a more sophisticated service model from the network. In the early 1990s, there was a large-scale experiment in sending digitized voice and video across the Internet through a packetswitched infrastructure (Braden, Clark, & Shenker, 1994). These highly-visible experiments have depended upon three enabling technologies: (1) Many modern workstations now come equipped with built-in multimedia hardware, (2) IP multicasting, which was not yet generally available in commercial routers, and (3) Highly-sophisticated digital audio and video applications have been developed. It became clear from these experiments that an important technical element of the Internet is still missing: multimedia, which dominate increasing proportion of today’s data traffic, are not well supported on the Internet.
System Dynamics Based Technology for Decision Support
Authors: Qudrat-Ullah Hassan
Published: May 2011

Managers face problems that are increasingly complex and dynamic. Decision support systems (DSS) are designed to assist them make better decisions. However, the empirical evidence concerning the impact of DSS on improved decision making and learning in dynamic tasks is equivocal at best (Klabbers, 2003; Sharda, Steve, Barr, & McDonnell, 1988; Sterman, 2000; Todd & Benbasat, 1999). Over four decades of dynamic decision making; studies have resulted in a general conclusion on why people perform poorly in dynamic tasks. In dynamic tasks, where a number of decisions are required rather than a single decision, decisions are interdependent, and the decision-making environment changes as a result of the decisions or autonomously or both (Edwards, 1962), most often the poor performance is attributed to subjects’ misperceptions of feedback. That is, people perform poorly because they ignore time delays between their “actions and the consequences” (Sterman, 2000) and are insensitive to the feedback structure of the task system (Diehl & Sterman, 1995). Decision maker’s mental models about the task are often inadequate and flawed (Kerstholt & Raaijmakers, 1997; Romme, 2004). In this paper we argue that system dynamics based interactive learning environments (ILEs) could provide effective decision support for dynamic tasks by reducing the misperceptions of feedback.
Taxonomy of C2C E-Commerce Venues
Authors: Jones Kiku , Leonard Lori N.K.
Published: May 2011

The most cited and researched example of C2C e-commerce is through online auctions such as eBay. However, there are many other venues for conducting C2C e-commerce that should be explored that may not necessarily be apparent. As demonstrated by existing research in C2C e-commerce, researchers have focused their studies on venues in which C2C e-commerce is the specified purpose of a site. In addition to these venues, C2C e-commerce can be facilitated in places such as online communities, Web-based discussion forums, consumer blogs, and chat rooms. Each of these venues needs to be explored before a complete representation of C2C e-commerce can be made. Differences in how a consumer views each of the C2C e-commerce venues may be expected to alter the factors affecting his/her determination to participate in C2C e-commerce in the various venues. To help researchers in structuring the potential venues and classifying factors affecting participation, this article presents a taxonomy of the C2C e-commerce venues and a description of the types of venues found in the categories. The next section provides a background discussion of each venue discussed in the taxonomy. Following that will be the presentation of the taxonomy. Future trends and conclusions are provided at the end of the article.
Technology Discourses in Globalization Debates
Authors: Ibrahim Yasmin
Published: May 2011

Globalization, a key concept in our modern and postmodern discourse, is a highly contentious term that continues to generate endless debates about its form and consequences on our societies. Anthony Giddens (1999) professes that while the term is “not particularly attractive or an elegant one, absolutely no one who wants to understand our prospects and possibilities can ignore it.” While many agree that it denotes the occurrence of social change, there is, however, less agreement what these changes may be and whether they, in effect, represent the transition of one form of society to another (i.e., the industrial to the postindustrial or information society). Nevertheless, the increase in the volume of discourses surrounding the term is significant in illuminating that the increased interdependence of the world can lead to new forms of challenges, concerns, empowerment, and resistance with the symbolic and material exchanges of ideas, products, and services, as well as the formation of social networks (Castells, 1998). Castells (1996, 2000, 2001), in his numerous reflections on the network society, asserts that since the 1980s, a new economy has emerged that is global, information-based, and interconnected. This new form of economy remains capitalist in form but is situated on an informational rather than an industrial form of development; at the core of the informational mode of development are networks contributing to a network society.
Triangular Strategic Analysis for Hybrid E-Retailers
Authors: Lee In
Published: May 2011

Based on a number of e-channel case studies and strategic management theories, this short article presents (1) an overview of a triangular strategic analysis and (2) an example application of the triangular strategic analysis with an Office Depot case study. Data on the Office Depot’s e-channel strategy and implementation were collected through secondary sources such as trade journals and Office Depot’s official publications. The triangular strategic analysis consists of (1) competitive forces analysis, (2) resource base analysis, and (3) critical success factor analysis
A University/Community Partnership to Bridge the Digital Divide
Authors: David Ruppel David , Ruppel Cynthia
Published: May 2011

A policy concern in the information age is the “digital divide,” a gap between those who have easy access to technology and those who do not. References are made to information “haves” and “have-nots” in an age where information is equivalent to wealth (Holloway, 2000). The “have-nots” are in danger of exclusion from the new economy and marginalization into low-wage jobs (Dunham, 1999). In 2000, the President of the United States asked the IT community to help close this digital divide for moral reasons and to ensure that the economy flourishes with the availability of skilled workers (Shewmake, 2000). This overview summarizes a five-phase service-learning project accomplished through a partnership between the University of Toledo and a local K-8 parochial/non-profit school. The students were primarily enrolled in a Systems Analysis, Design and Implementation course (SAD). This longitudinal project was undertaken to plan, design, and wire a network for the school and to assess and implement continuing and future computer needs. It allowed students to gain “real-life” experience while contributing to the growth of IT among children in a non-profit setting.
The Use of Electronic Banking and New Technologies in Cash Management
Authors: Ruiz de Aguirre Leire San Jose
Published: May 2011

The use of new information and communication technologies (ICT) as a business tool has increased rapidly for the past 10 years (Bonsón, Coffin, & Watson, 2000; Claessens, Glaessner, & Klingebiel, 2000; Vasarhelyi & Greenstein, 2003). More specifically, financial software, e-banking, and the Internet, as core aspects of the various technologies used, have become driving forces behind the expansion of firms and the development of cash management. New technologies are considered as one of the most attractive ways for businesses to increase revenue and achieve economies of scale that can reduce unit costs (Ballantine & Stray, 1998; Barajas & Villanueva, 2001; Daniel, 1999; Daniel & Storey, 1997; Deyoung, 2001; Downes & Muy, 1998; Faulder, 2001; Jayawardhena & Foley, 2000). There are different studies about the use of ICT in the management of the enterprise that explain the obtaining of enterprise performance. Brynjolfsson and Hitt (2000) and Nájera (2005) have done a review of these works and a classification of these types of researches. Unfortunately, there are not specific works or empirical researches about the use of e-banking in cash management; consequently, this work is focused in this. The rest of the chapter is structured as follows. The theoretical foundation on which the study is based is explained in Section 2. Section 3 presents the data and the analysis procedure used to conduct the empirical study. The main results of the investigation are shown in Section 4, and Section 5 presents conclusions. The chapter ends with a list of bibliographical references.
User Modeling and Personalization of Advanced Information Systems
Authors: Razmerita Liana
Published: May 2011

Enterprise information systems are among the key enablers of the leadership agility on competitive market places and therefore the design of advanced information systems (IS) is a continuous challenge for modern organizations. IS can include knowledge management systems (KMS), customer relationship management solutions, business-to-business applications, e-commerce, e-government or e-learning systems. Advanced IS featuring intelligence have recently implemented as complex applications with modular archi­tecture relying on Web services, Semantic Web technology integrating user modeling, machine learning approaches, and/or agent-based technology. Personalization and more recently contextualization have emerged as key issues for achieving intelligent features in advanced IS. This chapter presents a set of personalization techniques for IS. The second section provides background informa­tion related to personalization of IS, and it proposes a set of personalization mechanisms. In the third section, these personalization mechanisms are exemplified in the context of KMS. The fourth section outlines future work related to personalization of IS. Finally, the fifth section summarizes the main ideas presented in this article.
Using an Architecture Approach to ManageBusiness Processes
Authors: Ho Shuk Ying
Published: May 2011

Business process management has long been a topic of great interest in operations management research. Early research on business process management focuses on workflow analysis and process optimization. These types of research evaluate and analyze a predefined set of procedures from a process perspective. That said, with a list of activities, constraints and criteria, the procedural workflow are specified and examined. Then, process analysts come up with suggestions to optimize the process and speed up the workflow. Research findings are widely applied in production and logistics; however, some works are criticized as being too rigid and only suitable for a stable business environment (Burns, 1993). The article describes an architecture approach for business process management, and is organized as follows: first, we review the literature on architecture. Next, we outline a de facto standard for the architecture approach, and highlight the strength of using an architecture approach. Finally, we describe future trends, and conclude the article.
Using Prolog for Developing Real World Artificial Intelligence Applications
Authors: Tsadiras Athanasios
Published: May 2011

Artificial Intelligence Applications are becoming crucial for enterprises that want to be successful by having the advantage of using high information technology. The development of such applications is assisted by the use of high level computer programming languages that are closer to the programmer than to the computer. Such a programming language is Prolog. Prolog is a logic programming language (Clocksin & Mellish 2003) that was invented by Alain Colmerauer and Phillipe Roussel at the University of Aix-Marseille in 1971. The name Prolog comes from programmation en logique (i.e., “programming in logic” in French). Together with LISP, they are the most popular Artificial Intelligence programming languages. Prolog was generated by an attempt to develop a programming language that extensively uses expressions of logic instead of developing a program by providing a specific sequence of instructions to the computer. Theoretically, it is based on a subset of first-order predicate calculus that allows only Horn clauses (Bratko, 2000). The control of the program execution is based on Prolog’s built-in search mechanism that in fact is an application of theorem proving by first-order resolution.
The Next Generation of Personalization Techniques
Authors: Uchyigit Gulden
Published: May 2011

Coping with today’s unprecedented information overload problem necessitates the deployment of personalization services. Typical personalization approaches model user preferences and store them in user profiles, used to deliver personalized content. A traditional method for profile representation is the so called keyword-based representation, where the user interests are modelled using keywords which are selected from the contents of the items which the user has rated. Although, keyword based approaches are simple and are extensively used for profile representation they fail to represent semantic-based information, this information is lost during the pre-processing phase. Future trends in personalization systems necessitate more innovative personalization techniques that are able to capture rich semanticbased information during the representation, modelling and learning phases. In recent years ontologies (key concepts and along with their interrelationships) to express semantic-based information have been very popular in domain knowledge representation. The primary goal of this chapter is to present an overview of the state-of-the art techniques and methodologies which aim to integrate personalization technologies with semantic-based information.
Ontology-Based Personalization of E-Government Services
Authors: Grandi Fabio , Mandreoli Federica , Martoglia Riccardo , Ronchetti Enrico , Scalas Maria Rita
Published: May 2011

While the World Wide Web user is suffering form the disease caused by information overload, for which personalization is one of the treatments which work, the citizen who gets ready to use the e-Government services which are made available on the Web is not immune from contagion. This seems a good reason to try to prescribe a personalization treatment also to the e-Government user. Hence, we introduce the design and implementation of Web information systems supporting personalized access to multi-version resources in an e-Government scenario. Personalization is supported by means of Semantic Web techniques and relies on an ontology-based profiling of users (citizens). Resources we consider are collections of norm documents (laws, decrees, regulations, etc.) in XML format but can also be generic Web pages and portals or e-Government transactional services. We introduce a reference infrastructure, describe the organization and present performance figures of a prototype system we have developed.
Adaptive Presentation and Scheduling of Media Streams on Parallel Storage Servers
Authors: Mourlas Constantinos
Published: May 2011

One way to implement adaptive software is to allocate resources dynamically during run-time rather than statically at design time. Design of adaptive software and adaptive execution of processes are key factors that improve versatility of software and decrease maintenance costs. In this chapter we study the development of adaptive software focusing on a design strategy for the implementation of parallel media servers with an adaptable behaviour. This strategy makes the timing properties and the quality of presentation of a set of media streams predictable. The proposed adaptive scheduling approach exploits the performance of parallel environments and seems a promising method that brings the advantages of parallel computation in media servers. The proposed mechanism provides deterministic service for both Constant Bit Rate (CBR) and Variable Bit Rate (VBR) streams. We present an efficient placement strategy for data frames as well as an adaptability strategy that allows appropriate frames to be dropped without sacrificing the ability to present multimedia applications predictably in time.
Open Learner Modelling as the Keystone of the Next Generation of Adaptive Learning Environments
Authors: Morales Rafael , Van Labeke Nicolas , Brna Paul , Chan María Elena
Published: May 2011

It is believed that, with the help of suitable technology, learners and systems can cooperate in building a sufficiently accurate learner model they can use to promote learner reflection through discussion of their knowledge, preferences and motivational dispositions (among other learner characteristics). Open learner modelling is a technology that can help set up this discussion by giving the learners a representation of aspects of the learner as “believed” by the system. In this way/role, open learner modelling can perform a critical role in a new breed of intelligent learning environments driven by the aim to support the development of self-management, signification, participation and creativity in learners. In this chapter we provide an analysis of the migration of open learner modelling technology to common e-learning settings, the implications for modern e-learning systems in terms of adaptations to support the open learner modelling process,
Approaches to Semantics in Knowledge Management
Authors: Fugazza Cristiano , David Stefano , Montesanto Anna , Rocchi Cesare
Published: May 2011

There are different approaches to modeling a computational system, each providing different semantics. We present a comparison among different approaches to semantics and we aim at identifying which peculiarities are needed to provide a system with uniquely interpretable semantics. We discuss different approaches, namely, Description Logics, Artificial Neural Networks, and relational database management systems. We identify classification (the process of building a taxonomy) as common trait. However, in this chapter we also argue that classification is not enough to provide a system with a Semantics, which emerges only when relations among classes are established and used among instances. Our contribution also analyses additional features of the formalisms that distinguish the approaches: closed versus. open world assumption, dynamic versus. static nature of knowledge, the management of knowledge, and the learning process.
Why Humans are the Weakest Link
Authors: Nohlberg Marcus
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the concept of social psychology, and what forms of deception humans are prone to fall for. It presents a background of the area and a thorough description of the most common and important influence techniques. It also gives more practical examples of potential attacks, and what kind of influence techniques they use, as well as a set of recommendations on how to defend against deception, and a discussion on future trends. The author hopes that the understanding of why and how the deceptive techniques work will give the reader new insights into information security in general, and deception in particular. This insight can be used to improve training, to discover influence earlier, or even to gain new powers of influence.
Impact of the Human Element on Information Security
Authors: Dontamsetti Mahi , Narayanan Anup
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the impact of the human element in information security. We are in the third generation of information security evolution, having evolved from a focus on technical, to process based, to the current focus on the human element. Using case studies, the authors detail how existing technical and process based controls are circumvented, by focusing on weaknesses in human behavior. Factors that affect why individuals behave in a certain way, while making security decisions are discussed. A psychology framework called the conscious competence model is introduced. Using this model, typical individual security behavior is broken down into four quadrants using the individuals’ consciousness and competence. The authors explain how the model can be used by individuals to recognize their security competency level and detail steps for learning more effective behavior. Shortfalls of existing training methods are highlighted and new strategies for increasing information security competence are presented.
Trusting Computers Through Trusting Humans
Authors: Adam Alison
Published: May 2011

This chapter considers the question of how we may trust automatically generated program code. The code walkthroughs and inspections of software engineering mimic the ways that mathematicians go about assuring themselves that a mathematical proof is true. Mathematicians have difficulty accepting a computer generated proof because they cannot go through the social processes of trusting its construction. Similarly, those involved in accepting a proof of a computer system or computer generated code cannot go through their traditional processes of trust. The process of software verification is bound up in software quality assurance procedures, which are themselves subject to commercial pressures. Quality standards, including military standards, have procedures for human trust designed into them. An action research case study of an avionics system within a military aircraft company illustrates these points, where the software quality assurance (SQA) procedures were incommensurable with the use of automatically generated code.
Security Usability Challenges for End-Users
Authors: Furnell Steven
Published: May 2011

This chapter highlights the need for security solutions to be usable by their target audience, and examines the problems that can be faced when attempting to understand and use security features in typical applications. Challenges may arise from system-initiated events, as well as in relation to security tasks that users wish to perform for themselves, and can occur for a variety of reasons. This is illustrated by examining problems that arise as a result of reliance upon technical terminology, unclear or confusing functionality, lack of visible status and informative feedback to users, forcing users to make uninformed decisions, and a lack of integration amongst the different elements of security software themselves. The discussion draws upon a number of practical examples from popular applications, as well as results from survey and user trial activities that were conducted in order to assess the potential problems at first hand. The findings are used as the basis for recommending a series of top-level guidelines that may be used to improve the situation, and these are used as the basis assessing further examples of existing software to determine the degree of compliance.
A Critical Theory Approach to Information Technology Transfer to the Developing World and a Critique of Maintained Assumptions in the Literature
Authors: Al-Mabrouk Khalid
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews some of the existing Information Technology Transfer (ITT) literature and suggests that it has fallen victim to the well-known limitations of an economic rationalist and positivist worldview. In particular we challenge the extensive use of the term “success” in the ITT literature, arguing that it is problematic for several reasons. Mainstream ITT research portrays ITT as primarily linear, incremental, and progressive in line with the economic rationalist belief that a “rising tide lifts all boats.” We suggest Marx’s theory of dialectical materialism as an alternative to the dominant hegemony and encourage researchers in ITT to accept the fact that internal contradictions are part of a dialectic system. We encourage ITT researchers to view local resistance more sympathetically. Concerted efforts should be made to understand and dialog with the Other. Overall we recommend more interview based case study research in preference to mass-mail out surveys which may prove ineffective in reaching a broad segment of the population in non-Western locations. The existing literature’s preoccupation with educated urban elites and Transnational Corporations may also prove to be a hindrance to both our increased understanding and radical social change.
An Analysis-Form of Soft Systems Methodology for Information Systems Maintenance
Authors: Lai Ivan Ka-Wai , Mula Joseph M.
Published: May 2011

Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) has been employed to increase the effectiveness of organizational requirement analysis in Information Systems (IS) development in recent years. Various forms of SSM for IS development have been developed and examined in different environments by different researchers. There appears to be little research or application that can be identified of the use of SSM in IS maintenance. The objective of this chapter is to develop a conceptual “analysis-form” of SSM for IS maintenance, so that further research can be undertaken in the application of this conceptual model.
Research Challenges in Multimedia WiMAX
Authors: Aráuz Julio
Published: May 2011

On the stage of today’s communications world, broadband mobile technologies are a continuously flourishing trend. In this context, WiMAX, a technology based on the IEEE 802.16 standards, currently plays a noteworthy role. Throughout the chapter we survey current literature related to the delivery of multimedia data in WiMAX systems and, most importantly, identify research areas in which promising improvement opportunities exist. We start by portraying how both market and technical conditions have encouraged the adoption of WiMAX, and then, by building upon a fundamentals introduction, we focus on issues related to capacity and frame assembly. We also identify relevant aspects related to scheduling and mapping between user applications and WiMAX services. We close the chapter with a discussion on quality of service in wireless systems and visit the mathematical background of opportunistic scheduling for WiMAX.
Ubiquitous Access to Adaptive Hypermedia
Authors: Stary Chris
Published: May 2011

Although mobile interactivity is becoming quite common, for content-rich applications, such as educational hypermedia systems, user-centered design is still a development challenge. Content has to be accessible for different users in various settings, thus, to be presented in a situation-dependent way to learners and coaches. For browser- or GUI-like access facilities the drivers of design are rarely learning tasks or transfer activities coupling content to communication, but rather standard access facilities of hypermedia systems, eventually driven by domain-independent user profiles. Taking into account learning tasks and transfer activities requires adaptation of navigation and content elements of hypermedia to various front ends. In this chapter conceptual mappings of stationary to mobile access facilities ensuring coherence and consistency are presented. Context-sensitive coupling communication facilities to didactically relevant content elements enables focused work. Navigation is either based on (filtered) domain structures or on user views generated through annotations. For mobile access, additional visual encodings are used to facilitate the navigation procedure given the limited space of non-stationary devices. In this way ubiquitous access facilitates self-directed learning.
Mobile Agents and Personalized Multimedia Services
Authors: Georgiadis Christos K.
Published: May 2011

Discovering and redirecting multimedia services in a personalized manner is achieving increasing importance for mobile users. It is a powerful characteristic, one of the endless capabilities of mobile ecommerce technology. Regardless of their location, users are able to find and utilize services according to their needs and without complex configuration and preknowledge of service interfaces. In addition, they gain control over how, where, and when multimedia services are delivered. Mobile agent platforms may contribute significantly as a supporting component of the overall personalized multimedia service infrastructure. In order to appreciate the impact of MA-based solutions in personalized multimedia service platforms, we present a set of basic criteria related to mobile agents, which may evaluate their necessity and usage. Although it is not an exhaustive list of evaluation criteria, it is sufficient to cover a broad variety of areas under consideration regarding the involvement of mobile agents in service platforms.
Content Adaptation for Heterogeneous Mobile Devices
Authors: Schmohl Robert , Baumgarten Uwe , Köthner Lars
Published: May 2011

Recent advances in mobile computing have spawned a very heterogeneous environment of mobile devices, which is reflected by the presence of the devices’ different capabilities. This chapter focuses on handling this device heterogeneity in the context of content adaptation of mobile services so that generic content can be provided to any device in the heterogeneity spectrum. We present an approach that enables mobile services to adapt its content provision to a mobile device by considering the device’s content provision capabilities. Those capabilities encompass both the communication channels for content delivery and the capabilities to present content to the user. Our approach is designed as a service platform that implements a content adaptation procedure for Web-based mobile services by utilizing device capability databases and generic page transformation. This approach enables mobile devices to visualize any generic content device specifically on their integrated browsers.
Discussing Health Issues on the Internet
Authors: Moon Jane
Published: May 2011

This article provides an overview of the trend in Internet usage; in particular, the trend that relates particularly to health-information-seeking behavior. It discusses a paradigm shift in patientdoctor relationships that has resulted from social changes; that is, lack of consultation time, thirst for medical knowledge, mass-media medical information and an explosion in the number of health Web sites. The Internet has become an important medium for bridging the gap in the patient-doctor relationship. Issues of Internet quality are explored. While the Internet can help consumers by providing immediate feedback as far as treatment and medication are concerned, without proper standards and quality assurance it can give rise to diabolical consequences (Crocco, Villasis-Keever, & Jadad, 2002). Ciolek describes information on the Internet as mediocre and argues that health information on the Internet is subject to “Multi Media Mediocrity” (MMM) (Ciolek, 1997).
Information Technology (IT) and the Healthcare Industry
Authors: Helms Marilyn M. , Moore Rita , Ahmadi Mohammad
Published: May 2011

The healthcare industry is under pressure to improve patient safety, operate more efficiently, reduce medical errors, and provide secure access to timely information while controlling costs, protecting patient privacy, and complying with legal guidelines. Analysts, practitioners, patients and others have concerns for the industry. Using the popular strategic analysis tool of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis (SWOT), facing the healthcare industry and its adoption of information technologies (IT) are presented. Internal strengths supporting further industry investment in IT include improved patient safety, greater operational efficiency, and current investments in IT infrastructure. Internal weaknesses, however, include a lack of information system integration, user resistance to new technologies and processes, and slow adoption of IT. External opportunities including increased use of the Internet, a favorable national environment, and a growing call for industry standards are pressured by threats of legal compliance, loss of patient trust, and high cost of IT.
The Core Governmental Perspectives of E-Health
Authors: Syväjärvi Antti
Published: May 2011

Public healthcare is facing huge future challenges in order to deal with rising costs, growing demands of customers, information flow, demographic changes, and aging population. The healthcare service sector can be seen as an information intensive area during an era of innovation and information technology (cf. Bellamy & Taylor, 1998). According to McLaughlin, Rosen, Skinner, and Webster (1999), it is common to assume that technological interventions are almost inevitable and it is humans’ duty, at least to some extent, to follow the suggested development. In the organizational level of public healthcare, high expectations about the technology and its new possibilities are introduced. Additionally, the customers can seek support and advice for their healthcare needs from thousands online connections at any time of a day (e.g., Silber, 2003). The European Commission (2004) states how “eHealth offers European citizens important opportunities for improved access to better health systems” (p. 22). This trend has implications to human beings and governments.
Healthcare Knowledge Management
Authors: Metaxiotis Kostas
Published: May 2011

The healthcare environment is changing rapidly, and effective management of the knowledge base in this area is an integral part of delivering highquality patient care. People all over the world rely on a huge array of organizations for the provision of healthcare, from public-sector monoliths and governmental agencies to privately funded organizations, and consulting and advisory groups. It is a massive industry in which every organization faces a unique combination of operational hurdles. However, what every healthcare system has in common is the high price of failure. Faced with the prospect of failing to prevent suffering and death, the importance of continuously improving efficiency and effectiveness is high on the agenda for the majority of healthcare organizations (Brailer, 1999). Taking also into consideration that the amount of biological and medical information is growing at an exponential rate, it is not consequently surprising that knowledge management (KM) is attracting so much attention from the industry as a whole. In a competitive environment like the healthcare industry, trying to balance customer expectations and cost requires an ongoing innovation and technological evolution. With the shift of the healthcare industry from a central network to a global network, the challenge is how to effectively manage the sources of information and knowledge in order to innovate and gain competitive advantage. Healthcare enterprises are knowledge-intensive organizations which process massive amounts of data, such as electronic medical records, clinical trial data, hospitals records, administrative reports, and generate knowledge. However, the detailed content of this knowledge repository is to some extent “hidden” to its users, because it is regularly localized or even personal and difficult to share, while the healthcare data are rarely transformed into a strategic decisionsupport resource (Heathfield & Louw, 1999). KM concepts and tools can provide great support to exploit the huge knowledge and information resources and assist today’s healthcare organizations to strengthen healthcare service effectiveness and improve the society they serve.
Issues in Clinical Knowledge Management
Authors: Bali Rajeev K. , Dwivedi Ashish , Naguib Raouf
Published: May 2011

The objective of this chapter is to examine some of the key issues surrounding the incorporation of the Knowledge Management (KM) paradigm in healthcare. We discuss whether it would it be beneficial for healthcare organizations to adopt the KM paradigm so as to facilitate effective decision- making in the context of healthcare delivery. Alternative healthcare management concepts with respect to their ability in providing a solution to the above-mentioned issue are reviewed. This chapter concludes that the KM paradigm can transform the healthcare sector.
Creating a Multimedia Instructional Product for Medical School Students
Authors: Weisburgh Mitchell
Published: May 2011

Because most medical school textbooks do not adequately address pain management, the American Academy of Pain Medicine wanted to create TOP MED, an online textbook that would address this need for different specialties and which also could be used as a textbook for the Introduction to Pain Management course. This online textbook would cover 11 topics and consist of the latest findings from the most renowned experts in the different disciplines of pain medicine. This case study is a description of the process of designing and producing the online textbook.
Efficient Method for Image Indexing in Medical Application
Authors: Chbeir Richard
Published: May 2011

In last two decades, image retrieval has seen a growth of interests in several domains. As a result, a lot of work has been done in order to integrate it in the standard data processing environments (Rui, Huang, & Chang, 1999; Smeulders, Gevers, & Kersten, 1998; Yoshitaka & Ichikawa, 1999). To retrieve images, different methods have been proposed in the literature (Chang & Jungert, 1997; Guttman, 1984; Lin, Jagadish, & Faloutsos, 1994). These methods can be grouped into two major approaches: metadata-based and content-based approaches. The metadata-based approach uses alphanumeric attributes and traditional techniques to describe the context and/or the content of the image such as title, author name, date, and so on. The content-based approach uses image processing algorithms to extract low-level features of images such as colors, textures, and shapes. Image retrieval using these features is done by methods of similarity and hence is a non-exact matching. In this article, we address the spatial and evolutionary issues of images. We propose a novel method that considers different types of relations. This method allows providing a highly expressive and powerful mechanism for indexing images. The rest of this article is organized as follows: the next section is devoted to detail the related work. In the following section, we define our method of computing the different relations and we show how image indexing can be done. The subsequent section demonstrates how our method can adequately index medical images. Finally, we conclude and give future work orientations.
Use of Telemedicine Systems and Devices for Patient Monitoring
Authors: Damigou Dionisia
Published: May 2011

Today’s health standards demand a high quality and efficiency as a major characteristic of every health service provided to the public, even in cases where patients have to be treated from a distance. The combination of medicine and information technology (telecommunications) led to the introduction of the term telemedicine. Telemedicine services are used in assisting remote patients. Interaction and feedback through patient monitoring systems and devices allow the health providers interfere when necessary, so medical maintenance can be guaranteed. This chapter deals with the different kinds of such systems and devices. The contribution of old and new telecommunication technologies is currently being discussed. The individual needs of every remote patient are taken into account, thus, several devices and systems are used for telemonitoring. This chapter indicates characteristics and features of the various kinds of patient monitoring systems and devices.
PDA Usability for Telemedicine Support
Authors: Becker Shirley Ann
Published: May 2011

Telemedicine is broadly defined as the use of information and communications technology to provide medical information and services (Perednia & Allen, 1995). Telemedicine offers an unprecedented means of bringing healthcare to anyone regardless of geographic remoteness. It promotes the use of ICT for healthcare when physical distance separates the provider from the patient (Institute of Medicine, 1996). In addition, it provides for real-time feedback, thus eliminating the waiting time associated with a traditional healthcare visit. Telemedicine has been pursued for over three decades as researchers, healthcare providers, and clinicians search for a way to reach patients living in remote and isolated areas (Norris, 2001). Early implementation of telemedicine made use of the telephone in order for healthcare providers and patients to interact. Over time, fax machines were introduced along with interactive multimedia, thus supporting teleconferencing among participants. Unfortunately, many of the early telemedicine projects did not survive because of high costs and insurmountable barriers associated with the use of technology. Telemedicine has been resurrected during the last decade as a means to help rural healthcare facilities. Advances in information and communications technology have initiated partnerships between rural healthcare facilities and larger ones. The Internet in particular has changed the way in which medical consultations can be provided (Coiera, 1997). Personal computers (PCs) and supporting peripherals, acting as clients, can be linked to medical databases residing virtually in any geographic space. Multimedia data types, video, audio, text, imaging, and graphics promote the rapid diagnosis and treatment of casualties and diseases.