bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From High Tech to High Touch
Authors: Chen Hong-Mei
Published: May 2011

Companies are competing intensively using ‘high tech’ systems such as electronic customer relationship management (eCRM or CRM) to interact with customers online over the Web, aiming to profit from retaining customers through “high touch.” This chapter defines a new construct, Perceived Touch, and provides theoretical underpinnings for the “high touch” assumption of eCRM systems. An empirical study was conducted to examine both the cognitive and affective effects of Perceived Touch on online customers’ intention to return after their initial visit in the eCRM context. While past studies of traditional information systems paid more attention to cognition than affect, the affective effect is critical to examine so that eCRM strategy and system design can be better informed. Our research results validate the antecedent role of Perceived Touch to Perceived Ease of Use (of the technology acceptance model—TAM) and further argue for the renewed importance of Attitude for user acceptance in the eCRM context. This study illuminates the significance of the affective impact of Perceived Touch on online customers’ Behavioral Intention to Return through both the Affective Route and the Alternative Cognitive Route where affective effect precedes cognitive effect. Practical implications of this study are discussed.
A Movie E-Shop Recommendation Model Based on Web Usage and Ontological Data
Authors: Aresti Andreas , Markellou Penelope , Mousourouli Ioanna , Sirmakessis Spiros , Tsakalidis Athanasios
Published: May 2011

Recommendation systems are special personalization tools that help users to find interesting information and services in complex online shops. Even though today’s e-commerce environments have drastically evolved and now incorporate techniques from other domains and application areas such as Web mining, semantics, artificial intelligence, user modeling, and profiling setting up a successful recommendation system is not a trivial or straightforward task. This chapter argues that by monitoring, analyzing, and understanding the behavior of customers, their demographics, opinions, preferences, and history, as well as taking into consideration the specific e-shop ontology and by applying Web mining techniques, the effectiveness of produced recommendations can be significantly improved. In this way, the e-shop may upgrade users’ interaction, increase its usability, convert users to buyers, retain current customers, and establish long-term and loyal one-to-one relationships.
A Review of Single-Item Internet Auction Literature and a Model for Future Research
Authors: Baker Jeff
Published: May 2011

Internet auctions have received a considerable amount of attention from researchers. We review recent empirical literature pertaining to single-item Internet auctions and observe that existing work has examined the roles of the auctioneer, bidder, and seller in Internet auctions. As this stream of research matures, research will necessarily move from concept discovery and process explanation to theory deepening. As a first step towards synthesis of findings in Internet auctions, we compile a comprehensive list of the various factors that have been examined in empirical studies and note their general impact upon auction outcome. Based upon this extant research, we propose a conceptual model of Internet auctions as a framework for structuring future work into Internet auctions. We then note the existing economic, psychological, sociological, and cognitive theoretical bases for work on Internet auctions. We conclude by highlighting the potential for behavioral economics to bring unity to Internet auction research and by calling researchers to engage in the work of forging a comprehensive theory of Internet auctions.
A Parallel Methodology for Reduction of Coupling in Distributed Business-to-Business E-Commerce Transactions
Authors: Orme Anthony Mark , Etzkorn Letha H.
Published: May 2011

Recently, new standards for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce transactions, to reduce extended record locking, relaxed standard database transaction properties. In this chapter, we provide a parallel methodology employing a mobile/intelligent agent framework to alleviate extended record locking, while adhering to standard database transaction properties. Our methodology provides a minimum 30% reduction of record locking compared to new B2B standards.
System-of-Systems Cost Estimation
Authors: Lane Jo Ann
Published: May 2011

As organizations strive to expand system capabilities through the development of system-of-systems (SoS) architectures, they want to know “how much effort” and “how long” to implement the SoS. In order to answer these questions, it is important to first understand the types of activities performed in SoS architecture development and integration and how these vary across different SoS implementations. This article provides results of research conducted to determine types of SoS lead system integrator (LSI) activities and how these differ from the more traditional system engineering activities described in Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) 632 (“Processes for Engineering a System”). This research further analyzed effort and schedule issues on “very large” SoS programs to more clearly identify and profile the types of activities performed by the typical LSI and to determine organizational characteristics that significantly impact overall success and productivity of the LSI effort. The results of this effort have been captured in a reduced-parameter version of the constructive SoS integration cost model (COSOSIMO) that estimates LSI SoS engineering (SoSE) effort.
E-Learning Business Risk Management with Real Options
Authors: Angelou Georgios N.
Published: May 2011

E-learning markets have been expanding very rapidly. As a result, the involved senior managers are increasingly being confronted with the need to make significant investment decisions related to the elearning business activities. Real options applications to risk management and investment evaluation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have mainly focused on a single and a-priori known option. However, these options are not inherent in any ICT investment. Actually, they must be carefully planned and intentionally embedded in the ICT investment in order to mitigate its risks and increase its return. Moreover, when an ICT investment involves multiple risks, by adopting different series of cascading options we may achieve risk mitigation and enhance investment performance. In this paper, we apply real options to the e-learning investments evaluation. Given the investment’s requirements, assumptions and risks, the goal is to maximize the investment’s value by identifying a good way to structure it using carefully chosen real options.
The Impact of Computer Self-Efficacy and System Complexity on Acceptance of Information Technologies
Authors: Hasan Bassam , Ali Jafar M.
Published: May 2011

The acceptance and use of information technologies by target users remain a key issue in information systems (IS) research and practice. Building on past research and integrating computer self-efficacy (CSE) and perceived system complexity (SC) as external variables to the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study examines the direct and indirect effects of these two factors on system eventual acceptance and use. Overall, both CSE and SC demonstrated significant direct effects on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as well as indirect effects on attitude and behavioral intention. With respect to TAM’s variables, perceived ease of use demonstrated a stronger effect on attitude than that of perceived usefulness. Finally, attitude demonstrated a non-significant impact on behavioral intention. Several implications for research and practice can be drawn from the results of this study.
Mining Text with the Prototype-Matching Method
Authors: Durfee A. , Visa A. , Vanharanta H. , Schneberger S. , Back B.
Published: May 2011

Text documents are the most common means for exchanging formal knowledge among people. Text is a rich medium that can contain a vast range of information, but text can be difficult to decipher automatically. Many organizations have vast repositories of textual data but with few means of automatically mining that text. Text mining methods seek to use an understanding of natural language text to extract information relevant to user needs. This article evaluates a new text mining methodology: prototypematching for text clustering, developed by the authors’ research group. The methodology was applied to four applications: clustering documents based on their abstracts, analyzing financial data, distinguishing authorship, and evaluating multiple translation similarity. The results are discussed in terms of common business applications and possible future research.
Employee Surveillance Based on Free Text Detection of Keystroke Dynamics
Authors: Ahmed Ahmed Awad E.
Published: May 2011

In recent years, many studies have highlighted the unprecedented growth in security threats from multiple and varied sources faced by corporate, as well as governmental organizations. People inside the organization with ready access to confidential or proprietary data can easily violate the organization security policy, maliciously or inadvertently, without being caught. In order to protect their reputation and valuable assets, many organizations take the dramatic but necessary step of deploying and operating employee surveillance and monitoring tools within their network perimeters. In this chapter, we discuss employee surveillance schemes from both technological and legal perspectives. We argue that keystroke dynamics could be used to fight effectively against insider threat, and as such it could play an important role in employee surveillance. We present a keystroke recognition scheme based on free text detection that goes beyond the traditional approach of using keystroke dynamics for authentication or employee performance evaluation, and consider using such information for dynamic user profiling. The generated profiles can be used to identify reliably perpetrators in the event of security breach. Such form of user profiling provides a very effective way of combating insider threat that is less intrusive to individual privacy.
Privacy-Enhancing Technologies
Authors: Wang Yang
Published: May 2011

Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), which constitute a wide array of technical means for protecting users’ privacy, have gained considerable momentum in both academia and industry. However, existing surveys of PETs fail to delineate what sorts of privacy the described technologies enhance, which in turn makes it difficult to differentiate between the various PETs. Moreover, those surveys could not consider very recent important developments with regard to PET solutions. The goal of this chapter is two-fold. First, we provide an analytical framework to differentiate various PETs. This analytical framework consists of high-level privacy principles and concrete privacy concerns. Secondly, we use this framework to evaluate representative up-to-date PETs, specifically with regard to the privacy concerns they address, and how they address them (i.e., what privacy principles they follow). Based on findings of the evaluation, we outline several future research directions.
Information Security Within an E-Learning Environment
Authors: Kritzinger E. , von Solms S.H
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces information security within the educational environments that utilize electronic resources. The education environment experienced a paradigm shift over the last several years, due to the rapid growth in technology. This growth has made it possible for the education environment to utilize electronic services to enhance education methods. It is however vital that all education environments (traditional or new ones) ensure that all resources (lecturers, students and data) are properly protected against any possible security threats. This chapter highlights the importance of securing information within the electronic environment. This is done by providing key aspects that must be addressed and implemented to ensure information security. The chapter also identifies four information security pillars that could assist top management to enhance overall information security management.
City Marketing Goes Mobile
Authors: Chudalla Juliane , Pousttchi Key
Published: May 2011

Mobile services have great potentials in different fields, so it is interesting to have a closer look of them, and about the way they can be used sensiblebly in the present; in the future for city marketing too. This chapter provides basic knowledge on mobile services, the presentation of restrictions, and opportunities of mobile devices, applications, and communication techniques, to help to understand what advantages mobile services have and for what they could be used for. The desriptions of present and possible mobile services and the three case studies inform the readers of the design of such services and help practitioners to design and implement their own successful mobile services for city marketing purposes.
Using Information Communication Technology to Decentralize City Marketing
Authors: Morolong Bantu L.
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the reader to the idea of city marketing. This idea has developed over time, globally, as cities continue to grow rapidly. The chapter assesses how city marketing as a concept and a practice has generally developed with particular reference to Botswana, Southern Africa. Using evidence from documented material this chapter critically reviews city marketing as perceived and applied by planners and policy makers. The chapter looks at how Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be used to market cities such as Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. Literature and experiences from other parts of the world are used to underscore city growth as a serious development issue. City dwellers are identified as key stakeholders in city marketing because they have a more permanent association with the city in contrast to those who come into the city to visit or for business, tourism, and other purposes.
Two Experiments in Reducing Overconfidence in Spreadsheet Development
Authors: Panko Raymond R.
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes two experiments that examined overconfidence in spreadsheet development. Overconfidence has been seen widely in spreadsheet development and could account for the rarity of testing by end-user spreadsheet developers. The first experiment studied a new way of measuring overconfidence. It demonstrated that overconfidence really is strong among spreadsheet developers. The second experiment attempted to reduce overconfidence by telling subjects in the treatment group the percentage of students who made errors on the task in the past. This warning did reduce overconfidence, and it reduced errors somewhat, although not enough to make spreadsheet development safe.
A Theoretical Model and Framework for Understanding Knowledge Management System Implementation
Authors: Butler Tom
Published: May 2011

The study’s objective is to arrive at a theoretical model and framework to guide research into the implementation of KMS, while also seeking to inform practice. In order to achieve this, the chapter applies the critical success factors (CSF) method in a field study of successful KMS implementations across 12 large multinational organisations operating in a range of sectors. The chapter first generates a ‘collective set’ of CSFs from extant research to construct an a priori model and framework: this is then empirically validated and extended using the field study findings to arrive at a ‘collective set’ of CSFs for all 12 organisations. These are then employed to refine and extend the theoretical model using insights from the literature on capability theory. It is hoped that the model and framework will aid theory building and future empirical research on this highly important and relevant topic.
Knowledge Chain Activity Classes
Authors: Holsapple Clyde W. , Jones Kiku G.
Published: May 2011

Just as Porter’s value chain model identifies classes of business activity that can be performed in ways that contribute to a firm’s competitiveness, the knowledge chain model contends there are classes of knowledge management (KM) activity that can be performed in ways that enhance firm competitiveness. These KM activities pervade the value chain, being inherent in the implementation of each value chain activity. Derived from a collaboratively engineered ontology of knowledge management, the knowledge chain model is supported by anecdotal evidence and a survey has found support for the propositions that its activity classes are linked to enhanced productivity, agility, innovation, and reputation. Here, we present a study of leaders of KM initiatives that examines each of the nine knowledge chain classes in terms of its competitive impact and the extent to which its positive impact on competitiveness is associated with the importance of technology in performing activities within that class. The study provides confirming evidence that each of the knowledge chain activity classes can be performed in ways that contribute to competitiveness. Moreover, we find that for five of the activity classes there is a significant positive correlation between impact on competitiveness and the importance of computer-based technology in implementing the class’s activities.
Social Capital and Knowledge Sharing in Knowledge-Based Organizations
Authors: Wah Chay Yue
Published: May 2011

The study aims to understand the social and organizational factors that influence knowledge sharing. A model of knowledge management and knowledge sharing was developed inspired by the work of Nahapiet and Ghoshal. Data on KM processes and various social capital measures were collected from a sample of 262 members of a tertiary educational institution in Singapore. Rewards and incentives, openmindedness, and cost-benefit concerns of knowledge hoarding turned out to be the strongest predictors of knowledge sharing rather than prosocial motives or organizational care. Individuals who are highly competent in their work abilities are less likely to share what they know when they perceive that there are few rewards or when sharing is not recognized by the organization. The findings provide evidence for the importance of social capital as a lubricant of knowledge sharing and engaging performance management systems in knowledge-intensive organizations.
IS Support for Knowledge Management and Firm Performance
Authors: Zhang Michael J.
Published: May 2011

While a great deal has been written about how information systems (IS) can be deployed to facilitate knowledge management for performance improvements, there is little empirical evidence suggesting such IS deployment can actually improve a firm’s bottom-line performance. This study attempted to assess the impacts of IS support for two key knowledge management activities (knowledge generation and knowledge transfer) on labor productivity and profitability with both survey and archival data. The potential moderating effects of firm-specific, complementary organizational resources on the performance impacts of the IS support were also examined and tested. The results showed that IS support for knowledge generation and IS support for knowledge transfer both had direct positive effects on labor productivity. Coupled with firm-specific, complementary organizational resources, both types of IS support exerted positive effects on profitability.
Interpretive Flexibility Along the Innovation Decision Process of the UK NHS Care Records Service (NCRS)
Authors: Papazafeiropoulou Anastasia , Gandecha Reshma
Published: May 2011

Interpretive flexibility is a term used to describe the diverse perspectives on what a technology is and can or can not do during the process of technological development. In this chapter, we look at how interpretive flexibility manifests through the diverse perceptions of stakeholders involved in the diffusion and adoption of the NHS Care Records Service (NCRS). Our analysis shows that while the policy makers acting upon the application of details related to the implementation of the system, the potential users are far behind the innovation decision process, namely at the knowledge or persuasion stages. We use data from a local heath authority from a county close to London. The research explores, compares, and evaluates contrasting views on the systems implementation at the local as well as national level. We believe that our analysis is useful for NCRS implementation strategies, in particular, and technology diffusion in large organisations, in general.
Global Information Ethics
Authors: Floridi Luciano
Published: May 2011

The article argues that Information Ethics (IE) can provide a successful approach for coping with the challenges posed by our increasingly globalized reality. After a brief review of some of the most fundamental transformations brought about by the phenomenon of globalization, the article distinguishes between two ways of understanding Global Information Ethics, as an ethics of global communication or as a global-information ethics. It is then argued that cross-cultural, successful interactions among micro and macro agents call for a high level of successful communication, that the latter requires a shared ontology friendly towards the implementation of moral actions, and that this is provided by IE. There follows a brief account of IE and of the ontic trust, the hypothetical pact between all agents and patients presupposed by IE.
GSM-Based SMS Time Reservation System for Dental Care
Authors: Suomi Reima , Serkkola Ari , Mikkonen Markku
Published: May 2011

In this chapter we focus on the application of a mobile time reservation system for dental care. The specific application allocates cancelled dentist times to new customers and new customers are searched from a waiting list with Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) Short Message System (SMS) messages. This chapter shows how standard, widely used technology—when used innovatively—can bring many benefits to many stakeholders with reasonable costs and changes in business processes. We present and analyze the function of an SMS message-based dental service appointment reservation system that has been implemented in Lahti, Finland. The analysis contains a description of the system’s function, as well as some assessment of the success from the service provider and customer point of view.
Reframing Information System Design as Learning Across Communities of Practice
Authors: Gallagher Kevin , Mason Robert M.
Published: May 2011

This chapter frames the requirements definition phase of systems design as a problem of knowledge transfer and learning between two communities of practice: IS designers and system users. The theoretical basis for the proposed approach is Wenger’s (1998) framework for social learning, which involves three dimensions: alignment, imagination, and engagement. The chapter treats the requirements defi- nition task in systems design as a set of activities involving mutual learning and knowledge transfer between two communities of practice (CoP) along these three dimensions. In taking this approach, the chapter maps the results of past research on the systems design process onto this CoP framework and illustrates that the proposed framework encompasses the same activities used by traditional methods of requirements definition. However, this approach focuses attention on the learning that must take place between the two CoPs and thereby helps resolve some of the inherent shortcomings of prior efforts and approaches. The framework provides both a more encompassing conceptual lens for research on improving the requirements definition task and practical guidance for managers who are charged with a systems design project.
Anthropomorphic Feedback in User Interfaces
Authors: Murano Pietro , O’Brian Holt Patrik
Published: May 2011

Experimental work on anthropomorphic feedback in user interfaces has shown inconsistent results and researchers offer differing opinions as to the potential usefulness of this style of user interaction. A review of the literature shows that experimental work can be improved and enhanced by taking into account issues that characterise human-human communications. Results from three experiments are reported that exhibit the previously observed inconsistencies but this is arguably a function of task context. An alternative explanation is that the results are a reflection of the cognitive nature of tasks. Overall, the results point the way to further and future results in terms of refining procedures but also in terms of theoretical focus.
Using Misunderstanding and Discussion in Dialog as a Knowledge Acquisition or Enhancement Procecss
Authors: Yousfi-Monod Mehdi
Published: May 2011

The work described in this chapter tackles learning and communication between cognitive artificial agents and trying to meet the following issue: Is it possible to find an equivalency between a communicative process and a learning process, to model and implement communication and learning as dual aspects of the same cognitive mechanism? Therefore, focus is on dialog as the only way for agents to acquire and revise knowledge, as it often happens in natural situations. This particular chapter concentrates on a learning situation where two agents, in a “teacher/student” relationship, exchange information with a learning incentive (on behalf of the student), according to a Socratic dialog. The teacher acts as the reliable knowledge source, and the student is an agent whose goal is to increase its knowledge base in an optimal way. The chapter first defines the nature of the addressed agents, the types of relation they maintain, and the structure and contents of their knowledge base. It emphasizes the symmetry between the interaction and knowledge management, by highlighting knowledge “repair” procedures launched through dialogic means. These procedures deal with misunderstanding, as a situation in which the student is unable to integrate new knowledge directly, and discussion, related to paradoxical information handling. The chapter describes learning goals and strategies, student and teacher roles within both dialog and knowledge handling. It also provides solutions for problems encountered by agents. A general architecture is then established and a comment on a part of the theory implementation is given. The conclusion is about the achievements carried out and the potential improvement of this work.
Conceptual Modeling of Events for Active Information Systems
Authors: March Salvatore T. , Allen Gove N.
Published: May 2011

Active information systems participate in the operation and management of business organizations. They create conceptual objects that represent social constructions, such as agreements, commitments, transactions, and obligations. They determine and ascribe attributes to both conceptual and concrete objects (things) that are of interest to the organization. Active information system infer conclusions based on the application of socially constructed and mutable rules constituting organizational policies and procedures that govern how conceptual and concrete objects are affected when defined and identified events occur. The ontological foundations for active information systems must include constructs that represent concrete and conceptual objects, their attributes, and the events that affect them. Events are a crucial component of conceptual models that represent active information systems. The representation of events must include ascribed attributes representing data values inherent in the event as well as rules defining how conceptual and concrete objects are affected when the event occurs. The state-history of an object can then be constructed and reconstructed by the sequence of events that have affected it. Alternate state-histories can be generated based on proposed or conjectured rule modifications, enabling a reinterpretation of history. Future states can be predicted based on proposed or conjectured events and event definitions. Such a conceptualization enables a parsimonious mapping between an active information system and the organizational system in which it participates.
Information Modeling and the Problem of Universals
Authors: Artz John M.
Published: May 2011

Earlier work in the philosophical foundations of information modeling identified four key concepts in which philosophical groundwork must be further developed. This chapter reviews that earlier work and expands on one key area—the Problem of Universals—which is at the very heart of information modeling.
Empirical Inference of Numerical Information into Causal Strategy Models by Means of Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Hillbrand Christian
Published: May 2011

The motivation for this chapter is the observation that many companies build their strategy upon poorly validated hypotheses about cause and effect of certain business variables. However, the soundness of these cause-and-effect-relations as well as the knowledge of the approximate shape of the functional dependencies underlying these associations turns out to be the biggest issue for the quality of the results of decision supporting procedures. Since it is sufficiently clear that mere correlation of time series is not suitable to prove the causality of two business concepts, there seems to be a rather dogmatic perception of the inadmissibility of empirical validation mechanisms for causal models within the field of strategic management as well as management science. However, one can find proven causality techniques in other sciences like econometrics, mechanics, neuroscience, or philosophy. Therefore this chapter presents an approach which applies a combination of well-established statistical causal proofing methods to strategy models in order to validate them. These validated causal strategy models are then used as the basis for approximating the functional form of causal dependencies by the means of Artificial Neural Networks. This in turn can be employed to build an approximate simulation or forecasting model of the strategic system.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Continuance Intention
Authors: Ifinedo Princely
Published: May 2011

In this study, we investigate the influence of two external influences i.e., Ease of finding and Computer anxiety on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the continuance intention of using a popular course management system (CMS): WebCT. The study used a sample of 72 students that have experience using the software. The students came from four local higher education institutions. In order to study nature of the relationships among the constructs, eight (8) hypotheses were formulated and tested using a structural equation modeling technique: Partial Least Squares (PLS). The predictive power of the model was adequate and the study found support for seven of eight hypotheses. Regarding the impact of the antecedents on continuance intention in the use of technology, the results offer the following insights: when computer anxiety is low, students are able to use the system without much difficulty, and are likely to continue to use CMS in the future. Similarly, students will continue the tool as long as they find it easy to navigate. Perhaps due to contextual factors, the data did not support the relationship between Perceived usefulness and Usage. This particular finding is at variance with the TAM’s results and viewpoint. The study’s implications for research and practice are succinctly outlined.
Training Prospective Online Instructors
Authors: Cicciarelli MarySue
Published: May 2011

Research shows that training prospective online instructors in an online learning environment is advantageous. One effective training topic is on use of theory when designing curriculum. Information in this study reports what empirical research shows about online instructor use of different design theories. It identifies design theories that have not been researched in regard to online instructor utilization of theory, and it illustrates how frequently online instructors use nine of the design theories.
Competent Web Dialogues
Authors: Döös Marianne , Fåhræus Eva R , Alvemark Karin , Wihelmson Lena
Published: May 2011

Conducting a dialogue on the Web is a matter of linking thoughts in digital conversations. Dialogue differs from discussion by not being aimed at beating or convincing other participants in the conversation. The present chapter highlights group dialogues as conversations in which people learn with and from each other. Learning dialogues have the potential of developing the learners’ capacities for critical thinking and complex problem solving. The model of dialogue competence is suggested in order to improve the linking of thoughts in web dialogues. The chapter concludes with considerations when developing dialogue-based communication forms for learning purposes and contributes to teachers’ demand for more support in pedagogic and educational issues.
Assessing Online Discussion Forum Participation
Authors: Shaul Matthew
Published: May 2011

As a socially constructive learning tool, discussion forums remain central to online education. They have continued to evolve in functionality, acquiring ever-increasing usability features. However, development has lagged in providing instructors the means to assess student work in forums. The author submits an overview of his software program that provides instructors with the means to evaluate forum work quickly, easily, and repeatedly. The software accomplishes this by accessing the forums’ underlying database, searching for manifest and latent data, and calculating data associated with an array of metrics. This is a Web-based tool built on Open Source and standards-based languages, providing opportunities to port the program to numerous Learning Management Systems. It is the intention of this author to provide this tool, when completed, for such use as a free, Open Source tool. Interested parties may e-mail the author for progress updates. Currently, however, further work on the project must await the completion of another project, the author’s dissertation.
A Composite Software Framework Approach for Mobile Application Development
Authors: Maharmeh Mohammed , Unhelkar Bhuvan
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents the use of Composite Application Software Development Process Framework (CASDPF) for Mobile Applications Development. This framework for software development, as its name suggests, is made up of the waterfall, iterative, and agile approaches to software development. There is a need to apply such a framework in developing mobile applications. The chapter explains and provides details on what comprises a CASDPF and how it can be used to develop a mobile application.
Mobile Direct Marketing
Authors: Wagner Ralf , Klaus Martin
Published: May 2011

The role of mobile terminals such as mobile telephones, or PDAs, is shifting from gadgetry to serious platforms for direct marketing actions. The ubiquitous use of these devices offers companies a perfect medium through which to promote their products and services in a personalized and interactive way. Since mobile phone users are rarely without their mobile phones, mobile electronic devices provide marketers with almost permanent contact opportunities to introduce their products directly to potential clients. Although potential customers are attracted by the promotion of appealing technologies and sophisticated products and services via mobile communication, the intended impact of this direct marketing approach is often thwarted as it is seen by some as invasive and an infringement of privacy. This chapter outlines the opportunities and challenges of mobile technology applications for direct marketing and relates mobile technologies to a scheme of tasks for successful direct marketing. The chapter concludes by highlighting examples to demonstrate ways of conducting successful mobile direct marketing.
Successful Implementation of Emerging Communication Technologies in a Mobile-Intense Organization
Authors: Patel Keyurkumar J.
Published: May 2011

Wireless Technology is growing at a phenomenal rate. Of the many present challenges highlighted by the author, increased security is one of the main challenges for both developers and end users. This chapter presents this important security aspect of implementing a mobile solution in the context of Sydney International airport. After tackling initial challenges and issues faced during the implementation of wireless technology, this chapter demonstrates how security issues and wireless application were implemented at this mobile-intense airport organization. The decision to deploy and manage the wireless spectrum throughout the Airport campus meant that the wireless LAN had to share the medium with public users, tenants and aircraft communications on the same bandwidth. Therefore, this case study also demonstrates invaluable approach to protect unintended users from breach of existing security policies adopted by their corporate network. Authentication and data privacy challenges, as well as complete WLAN connectivity for tenants, public and corporate usage is presented in this case study.
Using Narrative and Game-Schema Acquisition Techniques to Support Learning from Educational Games
Authors: Koenig Alan D. , Atkinson Robert K.
Published: May 2011

The first part of this chapter explores how narrative can be used as a cognitive aid in educational video games. It discusses how narrative is currently used in games, and how that modality of presentation, when combined with instruction, is complimentary to the way we comprehend, store, and retrieve information. The second part of the chapter reviews the cognitive prerequisites needed in the minds of players to adequately attend to and leverage the instructional aspects of games. To this end, it offers suggestions for how to instill a functional game-schema in the minds of novice players so that they can be productive in the game environment. The focus on the interplay of narrative and game schema construction in this chapter is also meant to serve as a model for a holistic approach to games research in which a game’s cognitive prerequisites are explicitly studied alongside the more traditional pedagogical measures.
Learning Cultural Heritage Through Information and Communication Technologies
Authors: Pantano Eleonora , Tavernise Assunta
Published: May 2011

This chapter aims at illustrating how Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) could be used to exploit and disseminate Cultural Heritage, providing enriching learning experiences for different targets of users, especially young people. In fact, by the immersion in virtual museums or reconstructed worlds, users can build different paths of fruition interacting with 3D objects as in a videogame. In this way, a superimposed and interchangeable view of the real find and its virtual reconstruction for a global vision is allowed. Particularly effective for arising interest and curiosity in the users are mobile devices (i.e. Personal Digital Assistants, pocket PCs, smart-phones) integrated with GIS and GPS, which can provide combined real and virtual information based on users’ location by a Virtual Navigation System. The case study of Calabrian Magna Graecia (Italy) is presented, with particular reference to the projects “Virtual Museum Net of Magna Graecia” and “NETConnect”.
Towards Autonomic Computing
Authors: Ramdane-Cherif Amar
Published: May 2011

Cognitive approach through the neural network (NN) paradigm is a critical discipline that will help bring about autonomic computing (AC). NN-related research, some involving new ways to apply control theory and control laws, can provide insight into how to run complex systems that optimize to their environments. NN is one kind of AC systems that can embody human cognitive powers and can adapt, learn, and take over certain functions previously performed by humans. In recent years, artificial neural networks have received a great deal of attention for their ability to perform nonlinear mappings. In trajectory control of robotic devices, neural networks provide a fast method of autonomously learning the relation between a set of output states and a set of input states. In this chapter, we apply the cognitive approach to solve position controller problems using an inverse geometrical model. In order to control a robot manipulator in the accomplishment of a task, trajectory planning is required in advance or in real time. The desired trajectory is usually described in Cartesian coordinates and needs to be converted to joint space for the purpose of analyzing and controlling the system behavior. In this chapter, we use a memory neural network (MNN) to solve the optimization problem concerning the inverse of the direct geometrical model of the redundant manipulator when subject to constraints. Our approach offers substantially better accuracy, avoids the computation of the inverse or pseudoinverse Jacobian matrix, and does not produce problems such as singularity, redundancy, and considerably increased computational complexity.
A Cognitive Computational Knowledge Representation Theory
Authors: Najjar Mehdi , Mayers André
Published: May 2011

Encouraging results of last years in the field of knowledge representation within virtual learning environments confirms that artificial intelligence research in this topic find it very beneficial to integrate the knowledge psychological research have accumulated on understanding the cognitive mechanism of human learning and all the positive results obtained in computational modelling theories. This chapter introduces a novel cognitive and computational knowledge representation approach inspired by cognitive theories which explain the human cognitive activity in terms of memory subsystems and their processes, and whose aim is to suggest formal computational models of knowledge that offer efficient and expressive representation structures for virtual learning. Practical studies both contribute to validate the novel approach and permit to draw general conclusions.
Toward Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computers
Authors: Yao Yiyu , Shi Zhongzhi , Wang Yingxu , Kinsner Witold , Zhong Yixin , Wang Guoyin
Published: May 2011

Cognitive informatics (CI) is a cutting-edge and multidisciplinary research area that tackles the fundamental problems shared by modern informatics, computation, software engineering, AI, cybernetics, cognitive science, neuro-psychology, medical science, systems science, philosophy, linguistics, economics, management science, and life sciences [Wang, 2002]. CI can be viewed as a trans-disciplinary enquiry of cognitive and information sciences that investigates into the internal information processing mechanisms and processes of the brain and natural intelligence, and their engineering applications [Wang, 2003, 2007a; Wang and Kinsner, 2006]. It is a trans-disciplinary study of the internal information processing mechanisms and processes of the natural intelligence – human brains and minds – and their engineering applications
Tyranny of the Eye? The Resurgence of the Proto-Alphabetic Sensibility in Contemporary Electronic Modes of Media (PC/Mobile Telephony); and its Significance for the Status of Knowledge
Authors: Sheard Stephen
Published: May 2011

In this chapter the author offers an argument towards the resurgence of a proto-alphabetic imagination in electronic and mobile communications. It is suggested that contemporary trends in mobile telephony which encapsulate the earlier advances in PC development are shifting electronic media – not towards a mythic culture of the aural (McLuhan) but towards an admixture of the aural and visual, aslant the controlling trope of the alphabetical. It is argued that this separation of technologies resembles the predecessors of writing technologies of a “proto”-alphabetic nature. This infuses the literature of management with a metaphysical animism, which is redolent of the faded animism, which marked the initial confluence of the pre-alphabetical sensibilities of Eye and Voice in the pre-alphabetic emergence of mankind. This is suggested as a fresh Symbolic form towards which mankind is advancing. The confluence of ideological tensions preceding these developments is traced; including debates as to conflicts of Word and Sacred (Ricoeur); or Postmodern aversion towards contemporary ocular dominance. This debate leads towards an evaluation of the role and significance of kinds of knowledge which underpin our knowledge society and the knowledge which we take to constitute “knowledge management”.
The Knowledge-Based Approach to Organizational Measurement
Authors: Kianto Aino , Hong Jianzhong
Published: May 2011

Nowadays knowledge and competencies are the key productive factors, and the organizational capability for continuous learning, development and renewal has become the main driver of competitiveness. In this chapter the authors explore how organizational measurement should change in order to remain relevant in the face of the recent increase in the knowledge-intensiveness of work, organizing and value creation. First they argue that, while traditionally measurement has mostly been used for control purposes, recent changes in the nature of work have brought on new challenges which can no longer be met with old mindsets and measures. Then they focus on two novel approaches, intellectual capital and competence development, and examine the current state of the art. Finally, the authors construct foundations for a knowledge-based approach to organizational measurement and set some future directions in which measures should be developed in order to portray and enable knowledge work and knowledge-based value creation.
Temporality and Knowledge Work
Authors: Shih Joanna
Published: May 2011

The hi-tech firms that predominate in Silicon Valley contain a large proportion of knowledge workers—employees with high levels of education and expertise. The region is subsequently a useful prism by which to explore the shift in the pace of work and ideologies of labor control. Engineers in Silicon Valley are a prototypical example of “knowledge workers;” they are valued for their ability to contribute to firms’ competitive advantage via their expertise and innovation. This chapter reports on fifty four semi-structured interviews of high-skilled, white and Asian men and women engineers who worked in the hi-tech industry of Silicon Valley, focusing on the issue of work temporality. Temporality has long been understood as central to the labor process, and as inextricably linked to the mode of production. Here, I highlight the problematic aspects of the shift from the routinized schedule of “clock time”, characterized by rigid temporal boundaries between work and home, and “project time,” characterized by an erratic and increasing pace of work that appears to be largely unfettered by boundaries between private and work time.
Single-Rate Discrete-Time Signals and Systems
Authors: Milic Ljiljana
Published: May 2011

This chapter is a concise review of time-domain and transform-domain representations of single-rate discrete-time signals and systems. We consider first the time-domain representation of discrete-time signals and systems. The representation in transform domain comprises the discrete-time Fourier transform (DTFT), the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), and the z-transform. The basic realization structures for FIR and IIR systems are briefly described. Finally, the relations between continuous and discrete signals are given.