bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Tennessee Public Health Workforce Development Consortium
Authors: Hall-Campbell Aleshia , Connor Pamela , Tipton Nathan , Mirvis David
Published: October 2011

From 2003 to 2009, the Tennessee Public Health Workforce Development Consortium (The Consortium) served as a multi-institutional collaborative effort to develop and implement academic continuing professional education programs for public health professionals in Tennessee. The Consortium included the Tennessee Department of Health (DOH), East Tennessee State University (ETSU), the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK), and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis (UTHSC). Utilizing online, distance education techniques and technologies to provide graduate level certificate programs in epidemiology, health system leadership and health care management, as well as a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree to meet the specific needs of DOH’s professional staff, the Consortium successfully implemented an innovative, cross-institutional model for the provision of public health education. The online technology not only facilitated the use of active learning approaches appropriate for older adult learners who are returning to academic work, but also helped students and faculty meet the challenges of learning and teaching across multiple, geographically distant sites. This chapter describes the central role technology played in the project in terms of fostering inter-organizational cooperation and collaboration and providing measurable educational impact. The chapter also illustrates the project’s role in forming community partnerships, as well as explaining the best practices/strategies learned from this project.
Bridging the Gaps
Authors: Collins Caroline , Vásquez Olga. A. , Bliesner James
Published: October 2011

The following case study chronicles the activities of a community-university partnership that supports the University of California, San Diego’s threefold mission of teaching, research, and service while directing educational resources to underrepresented communities. This partnership, instantiated in a research project widely known as La Clase Mágica, involves a broad spectrum of institutional units seeking to bridge the digital, cognitive, and employment gaps that exist between middle-class mainstream communities and those at the margins. The case study examines the project’s history and philosophy, theoretical framework, commitment to collaboration, assessment, and impact over the past two decades.
An Open Network of Digital Production Centers
Authors: Careaga Alfredo Alejandro , Ramirez-Martinell Alberto
Published: October 2011

In this chapter, the authors present the Network of Digital Production Centers, a modular, scalable scheme for the development of educational and cultural content in schools and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. The chapter describes its goals, philosophy, its operations, and its growth plans, as well as the results achieved during the first phase of its implementation. The authors frame the project within the overall objectives of its funding institution, the Ibero-American Network for Sustainable Development, an NGO that began this project with the goal of transforming traditional content consumers into developers and producers of educational and cultural digital materials. The learning curve in the field of user multimedia production is steep, but the Network of Digital Production Centers and the Ibero-American Network for Sustainable Development are harvesting the first set of tangible benefits and usable knowledge.
The Rise and Fall of Tobacco in the Lake City Market Area
Authors: Allard Cora M. , Whittington Debbie G. , Speziale Barbara J.
Published: October 2011

In 2005, Clemson University’s SC LIFE Project and South Carolina’s Florence School District Three began a collaborative project to catalyze research among teachers and students in the rural community. This project piloted the concept of using Web-based videoconferencing to allow university faculty to facilitate research in a precollege setting. This technology removed the more than 200 miles distance between the partners as an impediment to the participation of district teachers and students in Clemson University programs. To prepare teachers for the research, an online course was developed and disseminated from Clemson University via Macromedia Breeze. Teachers and administrators from Florence District Three met with Clemson University faculty through videoconferencing and bulletin board technology. District personnel chose the theme, “The Rise and Fall of Tobacco in the Lake City Market Area.” The school district personnel also gained proficiency in digital technology skills (e.g. Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Premier Elements, Movie Maker) that they and their students used to collect information and create a final DVD.
Communication Protocols
Authors: Tarnay Katalin , Adamis Gusztáv
Published: October 2011

The increasing importance of fast and reliable communication has resulted in the creation of certain communication rules, which nowadays, we call communication protocols. In this chapter, a historical overview of early protocol development and deployment is presented as a look-back to the evolution of communication protocols. Then we introduce the most important terms and notions of the protocol theory. To make it easier to understand these concepts, we use the INRES protocol as demonstration tool. In the next topic, we summarize the steps of the protocol engineering. At the end of the chapter, we give some guidelines for protocol classification.
Notations for Test Specification
Authors: Jaskó Szilárd , Muhi Dániel
Published: October 2011

The first part reviews the development of testing TTCN and ASN.1. The main part discusses TTCN and ASN.1 with explanation examples. The future research directions subchapter provides possibilities most likely to appear in the future. The conclusion gives an overview of the fundamental mechanisms of this field.
Mobile Network Protocols of GSM and GPRS
Authors: Adamis Gusztáv
Published: October 2011

The goal of this chapter is to give an overview about the architecture of GSM and GPRS networks, and introduce to the reader the protocols used for mobility management and call control at the core network. To make it easier to understand the way in which the protocols work, we give many examples to help the readers in his studies. We show how the location update takes place, how the calls are originated and terminated, how the short messages are handled, et cetera.
Network Mobility
Authors: Ukil Arijit
Published: October 2011

Network mobility (NEMO) management is concerned about the mobility management of an entire wireless mobile network to provide uninterrupted network connectivity to many mobile devices moving together in the mobile network. This is particularly important for ubiquitous computing, which commonly means anytime, anywhere computing and communication. Most of the 3G and entire 4G and beyond wireless communication technology is all-IP. This growing use of IP devices in portable applications has created the demand for mobility support for entire networks of IP devices. NEMO solves this problem by extending Mobile IP. Devices on a mobile network are unaware of their network’s mobility; however, they are provided with uninterrupted Internet access even when the network changes its attachment point to the Internet. The main objective of NEMO is to provide continuous, optimal, and secure Internet access to all nodes and even recursively nested mobile sub-nets inside a moving network. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is engaged in standardizing NEMO Basic Support protocol that ensures uninterrupted connectivity to nodes within a mobile network via a mobile router. This protocol extends the mechanisms utilized in the host mobility management protocol Mobile IPv6. There are few open problems remain to be addressed in NEMO. In this chapter, we discuss about NEMO basic support protocols, its features, and other related issues.
Protocols in Next Generation Networks
Authors: Horváth Róbert , Kovács Gábor , Pap Zoltán
Published: October 2011

This chapter focuses on Next Generation Networks (NGN), how protocols employed in different segments of the telecommunication infrastructure interwork to guarantee the quality for different service types. After the interpretation of the definition and concept of NGN, the general architecture of NGN is presented with regard to the heterogeneous demands of services. The protocols used in different sections of the end-to-end communication relation are introduced from the point of view of service and transport functions of NGN. The main focus of the chapter is on the fixed access solutions and Ethernet based multi-service access and regional networks, but configuration and streaming protocols are covered as well.
Overview of IP Multimedia Subsystem Protocols and Communication Services
Authors: Szabó Sándor , Gyöngyösi László , Lendvai Károly , Imre Sándor
Published: October 2011

The IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) provides advanced facilities and standardized service architecture for Next Generation Networks (NGN). IMS enables both cellular and fixed network operators to provide a wide and attractive service portfolio to the customers. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the IMS architecture and of the most popular IMS services. We discuss the basic components and mechanisms defined for IMS, the related IMS services, and we give a survey on the future of the evolving telecommunication networks. We examine the most popular IMS services such as Presence Service (PS), Instant Messaging (IM), and the background of these IMS services. The IMS system enables fixed-mobile convergence, and it bridges the gap between the fixed and mobile communications. To understand and use the new concepts and IMS services, it is important to know what the new IMS services and concepts bring to us. Our goal is to give a brief overview in order to help understanding today’s and tomorrow’s relevant communication technologies and protocols.
Application-Driven Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Simon Gyula
Published: October 2011

Sensor networks are built from tiny, resource limited nodes, which are able to communicate with each other, and thus, provide distributed services. The quality of communication, and especially of routing, is one of the major enablers of good performance, energy efficiency, and longevity in resource-deprived sensor networks. Since the advent of wireless sensor networks, literally hundreds of routing algorithms, tailored especially for this domain, have been proposed in the literature. This chapter highlights the main ideas and illustrates how these solutions help to reach various design goals. After a general overview, the taxonomy of routing algorithms in sensor networks will be presented, and then the mainstream algorithms, with the greatest impact on the field, will be introduced and analyzed. Through typical routing algorithms, we will show how and what kind of quality of services can be provided for various application needs.
A Software Engineering Framework for Context-Aware Service-Based Processes in Pervasive Environments
Authors: Jaroucheh Zakwan , Liu Xiaodong , Smith Sally
Published: October 2011

Context-awareness is considered to be the cornerstone technique for developing pervasive computing applications that are flexible, adaptable, and capable of acting autonomously on behalf of the user. However, context-awareness introduces various software engineering challenges. The separation of concerns is a promising approach in the design of the context-aware adaptive processes (CAAPs) where the core logic is designed and implemented separately from the context handling and adaptation logics. In this respect, this chapter presents a conceptual framework for developing CAAPs and software infrastructure for efficient context management that together address the known software engineering challenges and facilitate the design and implementation tasks associated with such context-aware applications.
Community Computing
Authors: Jung Youna , Kim Minsoo
Published: October 2011

Many huge and complex pervasive services can be provided by employing cooperation among smart objects like agents. To offer such services efficiently, community computing was proposed as a new computing paradigm, in which pervasive services are provided through cooperation among agents (Jung, 2006). To design a community computing system, we proposed two abstraction models distinguished by intelligence level of community; the simple model (Jung, 2006) and the static community situation based model. In addition, we introduced a development process based upon the Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) approach for fast and convenient implementation of community computing systems. In this chapter, our contribution is to organize previous work related to cooperation and then clearly present the position of community computing in comparison. In addition, we refine the proposed two models including all their intermediate models in the development process, such as CCM (Community Computing Model), CIM-PI (Platform Independent Community Computing Implementation Model), and CIM-PS (Platform Specific Community Computing Implementation Model). To help automatic transformation from CCM to source codes, we improve a development toolkit called CDTK (Community Computing Development Toolkit). By using CDTK, a community computing system can be implemented semi-systematically. Finally, to verify the feasibility of community computing, we present implementation results of two scenarios by using proposed two models and CDTK. Through the simulated results, we examine the possibility of community computing.
How to Choose the Right Cloud
Authors: Bibi Stamatia , Katsaros Dimitrios , Bozanis Panayiotis
Published: October 2011

Cloud computing is a recent trend in IT that moves computing and data away from desktop and portable PCs into large data centers, and outsources the “applications” (hardware and software) as services over the Internet. Cloud computing promises to increase the velocity with which applications are deployed, increase innovation, and lower costs, all while increasing business agility. But, is the migration to the Cloud the most profitable option for every business? This chapter presents a study of the basic parameters for estimating the potential infrastructure and software costs deriving from building and deploying applications on cloud and on-premise assets. Estimated user demand and desired quality attributes related to an application are also addressed in this chapter as they are aspects of the decision problem that also influence the choice between cloud and in-house solutions.
Cloud As a Computer
Authors: Pendyala Vishnu S. , Holliday JoAnne
Published: October 2011

The evolution of the cloud as a computer is a very significant milestone in this golden era of computing that changed both the technology and the business model of computing. The cloud has the potential to give access to all possible resources on the Internet using minimal hardware in hand, such as a mobile device with Internet access. This chapter explores the various aspects of cloud computing and makes predictions as to the future directions for research in this area. Some of the issues facing the paradigm shift that cloud computing represents are discussed, and possible solutions presented.
QoS-Oriented Service Computing
Authors: Yang Dr. Xiaoyu
Published: October 2011

The idea of cloud computing aligns with new dimension emerging in service-oriented infrastructure where service provider does not own physical infrastructure but instead outsources to dedicated infrastructure providers. Cloud computing has now become a new computing paradigm as it can provide scalable IT infrastructure, QoS-assured services, and customizable computing environment. However, it still remains a challenging task to provide QoS assured services to serve customers with minimized cost, while also to guarantee the maximization of the business objectives (e.g. margin profit) to service provider and infrastructure provider within certain constraints. In order to address these issues, this chapter proposes a QoS-oriented service computing methodology, and discusses associated topics including service level agreement and associated reference architecture, green service, service metering and metrics, service monitoring, and on-demand resource provisioning. In the case study, we demonstrate how we employ QoS-oriented service computing in a multi-server, multi-user on-line game to facilitate the on-demand resource provisioning to maintain quality of service and quality of experience.
Point-of-Sale Technologies at Retail Stores
Authors: Clodfelter Richard
Published: October 2011

This chapter provides a review and synthesis of information related to technologies available at the retail POS (point-of-sale) checkout. Several POS technologies available to retailers are described, detailing their benefits and drawbacks for both retailers and consumers. The five technologies described and analyzed are barcode scanning, electronic shelf tags, shelf-checkouts, RFID tags, and fingerprint authentication. The extent to which retailers have implemented these available technologies is described, and perspectives on the future implementation of these technologies and emerging trends are also presented. Findings would indicate that there will continue to be innovations in retail technology at POS, and shopper expectations will continue to change. At the same time, retailers will probably remain cautious in deciding if and when to adopt new technologies. They must be convinced that the innovations will deliver sufficient value to offset their expenses.
Internet Management for Communication-Distribution Interaction as a Means to Maximize Customer Consumption Experience
Authors: Cacia Claudia , Aiello Lucia , Singer Pierpaolo , Ferri Antonella
Published: October 2011

The new online applications described as Web 2.0 or Social Media have a significant effect on consumer behaviour and contribute to an unprecedented customer empowerment. This issue has an important influence in many fields of activity, especially ones of the Web’s most successful areas, i.e. tourism. The purpose of this chapter is to recommend the Internet as a “point of synergy” in the “promo-distribution” process of tourism. The Internet is a tool that customizes digital content to support consumers’ decision making and maximizes customer consumption experience. Despite the lack of extensive research, the corporate world seems to embrace the Web 2.0 concept, which so far appears to be a promising tool for building customer loyalty and strong consumer-relationships that create value for e-retailers. The research tests the models proposed in a case study, which could be considered a core contribution, both in terms of practical implications for corporations, and in academic research.
You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression
Authors: Bargas-Avila Javier A. , Roth Sandra P. , Tuch Alexandre N. , Opwis Klaus
Published: October 2011

Knowledge about users’ expectations and mental models is a key aspect of interface development. By meeting users’ expectations, errors may be prevented and interaction quality enhanced. In the case of online shops, this means that it is crucial to know where users expect to find the most common Web objects such as the search field, shopping cart, or navigation. In this chapter, we show how users’ mental models of an online shop can be analyzed and validated empirically. The resulting model shows where users typically expect to find the most common Web objects within an online store. This knowledge can be used to improve the first impression, orientation, and usability of your website.
Factors Affecting WiFi Use Intention
Authors: Ktoridou Despo , Kaufmann Hans-Ruediger , Liassides Christos
Published: October 2011

Wireless communications are here to stay; nevertheless, a number of individuals are still reluctant to use them for accessing the Web. This urges providers to better understand the concerns of consumers in order to better position the products and services in the market and to reduce the barriers that consumers may have in using WiFi – Wireless Fidelity Internet technologies. The present quantitative study was carried out for the purpose of assessing the effect of a number of constructs, identified in the past to affect the use of IT and WiFi use intention, as well as identifying the underlying factor structure of these constructs. It further aimed to assessing the overall attitudes and behavior of consumers towards WiFi use, as well as identifying and comparing WiFi users and non-users’ overall behavior towards WiFi use and their perceptions of factors determining WiFi adoption.
Fame, Fantasy, Fanfare and Fun
Authors: Tai Zixue
Published: October 2011

Phenomenal growth in recent years has made the Chinese blogosphere the largest blogging space in the world. By embedding the blogs against the backdrop of the broad context of the Internet communication environment in China, this chapter offers a panoramic overview of the fast-evolving Chinese blogosphere and critically assesses its social, cultural, and political ramifications. The chapter starts with an examination of landmark developments and milestone events in the historical trajectory of blogging in China in the past decade, followed by an in-depth analysis of major trends, popular practices, and dominant blogger groups. Finally, the chapter evaluates emerging platforms and themes unfolding on the horizon, and discusses their future implications.
The Status of Blogging in the Republic of Ireland
Authors: Brost Lori F. , McGinnis Carol
Published: October 2011

This chapter examines the phenomenon and the status of blogging in the Republic of Ireland. It focuses on the social, cultural, political, technological, and legal factors that have influenced the existence and functioning of the Irish blogosphere and seeks to ascertain whether it is in good health, in decline, or in transition. To date, there is no research on the history and evolution of Irish blogging, and there are no assessments of the status of the blogging practice in the Republic of Ireland. This case study scrutinizes the history of blogging in Ireland, traces its evolution, and draws conclusions about the state of Irish blogging. Data collection for the study involved an extensive review of Irish blogs as well as e-mail and phone interviews with Irish bloggers. The authors conclude that the Irish blogosphere is vibrant, diverse, and evolving; additionally, they offer directions for future research.
Development of Safety-Critical Control Systems in Event-B Using FMEA
Authors: Prokhorova Yuliya , Troubitsyna Elena , Laibinis Linas , Kharchenko Vyacheslav
Published: October 2011

Application of formal methods, in particular Event-B, helps us to verify the correctness of controlling software. However, to guarantee the dependability of software-intensive control systems, we also need to ensure that safety and fault tolerance requirements are adequately represented in a system specification. In this chapter we demonstrate how to integrate the results of safety analysis, in particular failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), into formal system development in Event-B. The proposed methodology is exemplified by a case study.
Security of Dependable Systems
Authors: Ahmed Naveed , Jensen Christian Damsgaard
Published: October 2011

Security and dependability are crucial for designing trustworthy systems. The approach “security as an add-on” is not satisfactory, yet the integration of security in the development process is still an open problem. Especially, a common framework for specifying dependability and security is very much needed. There are many pressing challenges however; here, we address some of them. Firstly, security for dependable systems is a broad concept and traditional view of security, e.g., in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability, does not suffice. Secondly, a clear definition of security in the dependability context is not agreed upon. Thirdly, security attacks cannot be modeled as a stochastic process, because the adversary’s strategy is often carefully planned. In this chapter, we explore these challenges and provide some directions toward their solutions.
Application Security for Mobile Devices1
Authors: Costa Gabriele , Lazouski Aliaksandr , Martinelli Fabio , Mori Paolo
Published: October 2011

In these last years, mobile devices, such as mobile phones or Personal Digital Assistants, became very popular among people. Moreover, mobile devices became also very powerful, and most of them are also able to execute applications, such as games, Internet browsers, e-mail clients, and so on. Hence, an adequate security support is required on these devices, to avoid that malicious applications damage the device or perform unauthorized accesses to personal data (such as the contact list). This chapter describes the approaches that have been proposed in scientific literature to guarantee the security of mobile devices.
Supporting Software Evolution for Open Smart Cards by Security-by-Contract
Authors: Dragoni Nicola , Gadyatskya Olga , Massacci Fabio
Published: October 2011

If all applications could be loaded at the start this would boil down to information flow analysis for which many solutions exist, but this is precisely what we want to overcome. When applications are not known in advance and can be updated asynchronously and possibly without connection to trusted third parties, we must preserve the security policies of the various owners of the applets during such autonomous evolution. This chapter illustrates the extension of the Security-by-Contract approach from mobile phones to smart cards: Security-by-Contract is based on the loading time application certification on the card that will enable the card to make autonomous decisions on application and policy updates while ensuring the compliance of every change of the platform with the security policy of each application’s owner.
SecInvest
Authors: Houmb Siv Hilde , Ray Indrajit , Ray Indrakshi
Published: October 2011

Today, millions of users rely on the Internet to do business and to access a wide variety of services. Examples include e-commerce, banking transactions, B2B interactions, multi-player games, blogs, and social networks. Trust in these services is a prerequisite to achieve the full economic potential of information communications technology (ICT). Security economics explore the opportunities of security investments by transforming security from a cost to an asset. This chapter describes SecInvest, a security investment support framework that helps security economists explore such opportunities. SecInvest derives a security solution fitness score that can be used to compare alternative solutions and decide whether to invest in security or take the associated risk. The framework considers various cost variables, investment budget and priorities, laws and regulations, risk level, a priori security status, and other decision variables when deriving the fitness score.
TPACK Vernaculars in Social Studies Research
Authors: Lee John K. , Manfra Meghan M.
Published: October 2011

To address the myriad effects that emerge from using technology in social studies, we introduce in this chapter the concept of vernaculars to represent local conditions and tendencies, which arise from using technology in social studies. The chapter includes three examples of TPACK vernaculars in social studies. The first explores a theoretical TPACK vernacular where Web 2.0 technologies support social studies and democratic life. The second example is focused on a three-part heuristic for seeking information about digital historical resources from the Library of Congress. Example three presents personalized vernacular TPACK developed by teachers planning to use an online gaming website called Whyville. Research and theorizing on vernacular forms of TPACK in social studies can aid teachers as they reflect on their own experiences teaching with technology.
A Model for Examining the Criteria Used by Pre-Service Elementary Teachers in Their Evaluation of Technology for Mathematics Teaching
Authors: Johnston Christopher J. , Moyer-Packenham Patricia S.
Published: October 2011

Multiple existing frameworks address aspects of teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics with technology. This study proposes the integration of several frameworks, including TPACK (Mishra & Koehler, 2006), MKT (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008), and technology evaluation criteria (Battey, Kafai, & Franke, 2005) into a new comprehensive model for interpreting teachers’ knowledge of the use of technology for teaching mathematics: the T-MATH (Teachers’ Mathematics and Technology Holistic) Framework The study employed quantitative and qualitative methods to examine 144 pre-service elementary teachers’ evaluations of technology for future mathematics teaching. The proposed model and its application to this group of pre-service teachers suggest that there are multiple dimensions to understanding teachers’ knowledge of uses of technology for mathematics teaching, and that teachers’ self-identified evaluation criteria reveal the dimension in which their knowledge resides. Understanding teachers’ progressions through these dimensions may provide insights into the types of experiences that support teacher development of the knowledge necessary to teach mathematics using appropriate technologies.
Cross-Boundary Collaboration of E-Governance in Taiwan
Authors: Sung Yu-Hsieh
Published: October 2011

To bolster e-government’s chronic promotion of seamless services to all citizens, the Taiwan government will continue to focus on developing from the e-government to e-governance, which reflects the value of citizen-centric innovative service for better governance through information and communication technologies. With efforts over the past score years, the development of e-government has reached a certain limit, general public aspiration of one-stop services and swift services is still invariable. The integration and cross-boundary collaboration become the most momentous countermeasures to fulfill services from e-government to e-governance.
Global Comparative Study on the Relationship between User’s Traits and Public e-Service Quality
Authors: Chang Chih-Hao , Obi Toshio
Published: October 2011

While much of e-government or e-service research has focused on system or internal efficiency improvement, this study tries to raise another important topic regarding user traits, user perception of quality, and causality. Meanwhile, by integrating different kinds of theories and perspectives, namely sociology, management and informatics, a comprehensive blueprint can be fully discussed. The findings contribute to our knowledge of theoretical development in e-governance, service marketing, and policy marketing. In addition, the empirical results can be used as a general principal reference for other cities planning to implement e-services and can be used as specific evaluation criteria by which the two cities in the cases studies can further understand their users.
Trust and Public Services in E-Government Based on Customer Orientation
Authors: Chiang Li-chun
Published: October 2011

This chapter aims to identify the role of risk perception and trust in civil servants’ intention to deliver e-services in e-government. The research method is based on theories on perceived behaviors and technology acceptance. The research uses questionnaires to examine civil servants’ intention to adopt digitalized services in e-government and seeks to measure perceived usefulness of e-services, subjective norm, self-efficacy, technology facilitating conditions, trust towards Information Systems, and perceived risk from the perspective of service marketing (e.g., SSTs, self-service technologies). Structural equation modeling is used to further analyze the data and to design a theoretical model predicting the individual’s intention to trust e-services in e-government. The research results indicate that perceived usefulness cannot directly influence behavioral intention without an attitude of acceptance towards digitalized administration. Further, civil servants do not have high risk perception in using online public services.
E-Government at the Grassroots
Authors: Wood Lawrence E.
Published: October 2011

This chapter conveys the results of an empirical analysis designed to evaluate how e-government in practice, particularly at the local level, corresponds with e-government stages theory. At the same time, examining e-government activity through the lens of such theory provides insights regarding the e-government maturation process, in a way that informs our understanding of not only relatively recent trends, but perhaps expectations for the future as well. The research identifies major challenges associated with establishing even basic e-government activity in some locations, though the results across virtually all locations included in the analysis should serve as a cautionary tale in regards to some of the highly anticipated benefits of e-government, especially in the area of civic engagement. From a policy-oriented standpoint, the relatively straightforward nature of this analysis can serve as a framework for similar evaluations, especially as e-government opportunities, and indeed challenges, continue to evolve.
The Use of Internet by Diasporic Communities for Political Mobilization
Authors: Sanchez Maricarmen , Ganapati Sukumar
Published: October 2011

This chapter analyzes how the Internet enables social and political mobilization of diasporic communities. Two diasporic communities—the Eritreans and the Iranians—form the empirical basis. The Eritrean diasporic community has used the Internet in their fight against Ethiopia and in their efforts to establish Eritrea as an independent country. The Iranian diasporic community used social networking, blogging, and other methods to politically mobilize amongst themselves in the host society and to mobilize their fellow countrymen in their homeland in the recent 2009 elections. The case studies illustrate how the Internet enables political mobilization that transcends time and space. Yet, the success of political mobilization depends on the diaspora’s relationship with the homeland’s government, their ability to create linkages, and their power relations.
Government Capacity Enhancement and Political Progress
Authors: Yang Feng-Chun
Published: October 2011

This study focuses on e-government development progress in China, examining how China’s e-government building and implementation are impacting government and society to reveal its inner values. China’s e-government building and development have mainly focused on enhancing government capacity and this has eventually led to the imbalance between government and society. At the same time, it has also neglected government public service provision and the interactive capacity to link government and the public. This situation contributes to the persistence of the prevailing government management and control modes and the ignoring of the demands for social change and demands of the public will, thus setting aside political and social reform. This study also notes that government and internet users are engaging in increasingly fierce fights over the power of discourse power in a networked world and power over political resources. This will become the new variable that influences China’s e-government building and development.
Vision 2020
Authors: Pan Ching-Heng , Chen Don-Yun , Wang Chian-Wen
Published: October 2011

The chapter introduces a novel website model adopted in Vision 2020. An evaluation framework is presented for assessing the extent to which a website facilitates electronic participation via Web 2.0 technologies. Then, the Vision 2020 website is thoroughly examined in terms of the evaluation framework. Recommendations for the design and implementation strategies of government websites aimed to increase e-participation are offered.
Time-Constrained Fashion Sales Forecasting by Extended Random Vector Functional Link Model
Authors: Yu Yong , Choi Tsan-Ming , Hui Chi-Leung
Published: October 2011

Forecasting is about providing estimation of the future that cannot be observed at the moment. In this chapter, the random vector functional link (RVFL), which is a variation of the artificial neural networks (ANN) model, is used in establishing a fashion sales forecasting model. It is well-known that the RVFL inherits the learning and approximation capability of ANN, while running much faster than the traditional ANN. In order to develop a real world forecasting application, we propose a time-constrained forecasting model (TCFM), implemented by an extended RVFL, in which the user can define the time limit and a precision threshold for yielding the forecasting result. Real datasets collected from a fashion retail company are employed for the analysis. Our experiment has shown that the proposed TCFM can produce quality forecasting within the given time constraint. Future research directions are outlined.
A Mass Customisation Implementation Model for the Total Design Process of the Fashion System
Authors: Pan Bernice
Published: October 2011

Global economic development has been increasingly segregateing the design and manufacturing functions of industries both geographically and administratively. In response, fashion companies in advance economies have increasingly operated as brand houses that engage in design and marketing as their sole activities. The total design processes of the contemporary upstream fashion supply chain is therefore investigated and analysed as an integrated fashion system. A new conceptual model of mass customisation aligning the activities and interests of the collective fashion supply chain producers is subsequently developed with its associated implementation strategies. This model takes a consumer-centric approach, and places designers/brand houses as the instrument and channel for mass customisation. The objective is to enable the prospect for small medium fashion enterprises to deploy the vision and principles of mass customisation in a more coordinated, cost effective, and responsive way. The prospective benefits and practical issues of this new model are discussed.
The Not So Level Playing Field
Authors: Forman Abbe E. , Baker Paul M.A. , Pater Jessica , Smith Kel
Published: October 2011

The study reported in this chapter examined gender and disability identity representation in the virtual environment, Second Life. In Second Life, identity representation is the choice of the user and is a matter of convenience, style or whim, rather than a fixed characteristic. A survey of groups that identify as disabled or having a disability, especially focusing on gender, was conducted in Second Life. The distinct categories analyzed in this study included: groups associated with disability/being disabled, race/ethnicity, gender, aging, and sexuality. In the virtual world, the visual cues that exist in the “real world” are removed. However, in the “real world”, those visual cues serve to activate schemas that may help explain the stigmas and ensuing isolation often felt by people with disabilities. Interestingly, in Second Life even when the visual cues are removed, users with disabilities still associate with others who identify as having disabilities. The study specifically explored groups (i.e. “communities”) found in Second Life that jointly identify by gender and a disability identities. Regardless of binary gender framework, the differences between the groups that are externally classified as having some degree of disability, and those who choose to self identify or affiliate with disability related groups, have rich import for the sociology of online communities as well as for the design and characteristics of games.
Virtual Evidence in the Courtroom
Authors: Schofield Damian
Published: October 2011

There are a number of fundamental implications inherent in the shift from oral to visual mediation, and a number of facets of this modern evidence presentation technology need to be investigated and analysed. This chapter describes the use of computer-generated visual evidence in court (particularly forensic animation and virtual reconstruction technology) and discusses some of the benefits and potential problems of implementing this technology.
Teacher Professional Development through Virtual Campuses
Authors: Jimoyiannis Athanassios , Gravani Maria , Karagiorgi Yiasemina
Published: October 2011

This chapter acknowledges the increasing impact of eLearning and the associated rise of Virtual Campuses (VCs) for Teacher Professional Development (TPD). On the basis of reported literature, in particular, deficiencies identified in Bell’s (1991) traditional “individual”, “group,” and “school development” approaches, the authors propose an alternative model for TPD delivered through VCs. In support of this “new” model, key issues underlying the VC paradigm in terms of the design and implementation of such environments are further discussed. In particular, the authors argue about the value and complications behind the adoption of this model and suggest principles supporting the design of such type of environments.
Librarianship Presence in Virtual Worlds
Authors: Baum Jenny , Lyons Kate
Published: October 2011

Librarianship has stereotypically been about books, communities, and the connection between the two. With the emergence of new media and technology, the concept of books has expanded to include information of all types and in multiple formats: eBooks, DVDs, videogames, electronic databases, et cetera. Meanwhile, the idea of community has stayed the same. For example, public libraries primarily serve communities defined by geographic lines; academic libraries serve their campus communities. In non-profit, medical or corporate libraries, communities are defined by their organization’s particular mission. However, now that virtual worlds are becoming mainstream, librarians are redefining community, just as they redefined books. With the emergence of virtual worlds, librarians are encountering virtual patrons, and communities defined by virtual lines that defy physical boundaries. This chapter discusses the librarians and organizations that are moving librarianship into virtual communities, as well as the first library initiatives in online worlds.
Usability and Affordances for Teaching and Learning in Second Life
Authors: Barker Trevor
Published: October 2011

This chapter presents a summary of research undertaken at the University of Hertfordshire into the usability and affordances of three-dimensional (3D) virtual environments (VE) used in teaching and learning. Our earlier experimental work identified important variables related to individual differences and how these affected task completion, learning, and attitude to the environment. More recently the results of these laboratory-based empirical studies have been applied to teaching and learning in the Second Life virtual world. The results of two studies are presented with undergraduate Computer Science students. In the first study the affordances of the Second Life environment for project group working and teaching was evaluated. In the second study small groups of learners developed real world games and modified these for play in Second Life. Based on experiences from these studies, a set of recommendations related to the use of 3D virtual environments in teaching and learning is presented.
Research-Based Best Practices for Online Programs
Authors: Farha Nicholas W.
Published: October 2011

This manuscript outlines a dual approach to online best practices that includes both the administrative side and the instructional (faculty) side of distance education. The majority of best practice documents focuses almost exclusively upon instructional best practices and ignores, or only mention in passing, the needed administrative best practices. The author of this research-based best practices manuscript believes that both, working concurrently, are required for a successful and sustainable distance education program. These guidelines are intended to be not only a set of recommendations, but also a policy document that can be readily implemented.
Lovely Place to Buy!
Authors: Tamura Hiroshi , Sugasaka Tamami , Ueda Kazuhiro
Published: October 2011

Ubiquitous services offer huge business potential for grocery stores, however they also for increase the shopper’s experience. This chapter especially devotes the issue of exploiting the possibilities of ubiquitous services while shopping. It presents clear guidelines and implications for the development of systems aiding the consumer through their shopping activities.
Teaching Group Decision Making Skills to Emergency Managers via Digital Games
Authors: Linehan Conor , Lawson Shaun , Doughty Mark , Kirman Ben , Haferkamp Nina , Krämer Nicole C. , Schembri Massimiliano , Nigrelli Maria Luisa
Published: October 2011

This chapter discusses how a focus on establishing the appropriate learning outcomes of an educational programme, and creatively incorporating these learning outcomes within the design of a game, can lead to the development of a useful educational game. Specifically, it demonstrates the process involved in generating game design criteria from a multi-disciplinary literature review. The design of a game that has been developed as part of a project to train emergency managers in group decision making and communications skills is presented, along with some initial evaluations of that game design. It appears that the game presented can function as a valid practical element of a programme for the training of group decision making and communication skills with emergency management personnel.
A Knowledge-Based Multimedia Adaptation Management Framework for Ubiquitous Services
Authors: Li Ning , Attou Abdelhak , Shahadi Merat , Moessner Klaus
Published: October 2011

The range of multimedia contents and services on the Internet, the diversity of terminals, and the heterogeneity of network technologies make it less and less feasible and rather costly for providers to prepare contents and services in advance in all conceivable formats. There is a need to incorporate dynamic adaptation management into existing multimedia content/service delivery networks. We propose an Adaptation Management Framework (AMF) that provides architectural and functional support allowing dynamic and autonomous content/service adaptation without introducing additional complexities to the actual content/service provider or the user. The AMF provides functionalities needed in such an automated adaptation process, including context representation, adaptation decision making and adaptation operations selection across heterogeneous entities and platforms. It alleviates the complexity of those tasks using ontology representation formalism and knowledge-based processing techniques. It deploys itself as well as associated third-party applications, such as adaptation tools, as Web Services to enhance the interoperability among different entities. The AMF can be plugged into content/service delivery networks as an adaptation engine and serves as an invisible service enabler for ubiquitous content/service delivery.
Interactive Visualization and Exploration of Video Spaces through Colors in Motion
Authors: Chambel Teresa , Martinho João
Published: October 2011

This chapter identifies challenges and concepts inherent to the visualization and exploration of video spaces and presents an approach through ColorsInMotion, an interactive environment to process, visualize and explore a video space with a semantic focus on cultural aspects like music and dance, and stressing features such as their color dominance, rhythm and movement, at the level of the video space and the individual videos. It provides means to capture, experience, and express videos’ properties and relations, allowing to gain insights into our culture and to influence the expression of its intrinsic aesthetics in creative ways.