bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Theoretical Reflections on the Construction of Simulation Games
Authors: Peja Daniela Olmetti
Published: September 2010

With the aim of studying the process of transcoding and identifying the meaning assigned to specific research variables described in the present work, a number of reflections are presented in this chapter that, apart from supplying the methodological background for the teacher, allow researchers to identify the main factors that distinguish the traditional classroom lesson and the experimental method represented by simulandia games. In particular, reference is made to the work of Bloom, Gagné and Gardner and Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy.
Microarray Data Mining
Authors: Bruno Giulia , Fiori Alessandro
Published: September 2010

Microarray technology is a powerful tool to analyze thousands of gene expression values with a single experiment. Due to the huge amount of data, most of recent studies are focused on the analysis and the extraction of useful and interesting information from microarray data. Examples of applications include detecting genes highly correlated to diseases, selecting genes which show a similar behavior under specific conditions, building models to predict the disease outcome based on genetic profiles, and inferring regulatory networks. This chapter presents a review of four popular data mining techniques (i.e., Classification, Feature Selection, Clustering and Association Rule Mining) applied to microarray data. It describes the main characteristics of microarray data in order to understand the critical issues which are introduced by gene expression values analysis. Each technique is analyzed and examples of pertinent literature are reported. Finally, prospects of data mining research on microarray data are provided.
Temporal Association Rule Mining in Large Databases
Authors: Kumar A. V. Senthil , Alrabea Adnan , Sekhar Pedamallu Chandra
Published: September 2010

Over the last couple of years, data mining technology has been successfully employed to various business domains and scientific areas. One of the main unresolved problems that arise during the data mining process is treating data that contains temporal information. A thorough understanding of this concept requires that the data should be viewed as a sequence of events. Temporal sequences exist extensively in different areas that include economics, finance, communication, engineering, medicine, weather forecast and so on. This chapter proposes a technique that is developed to explore frequent temporal itemsets in the database. The basic idea of this technique is to first partition the database into sub-databases in light of either common starting time or common ending time. Then for each partition, the proposed technique is used progressively to accumulate the number of occurrences of each candidate 2-itemsets. A Directed graph is built using the support of these candidate 2-itemsets (combined from all the sub-databases) as a result of generating all candidate temporal k- itemsets in the database. The above technique may help researchers not only to understand about generating frequent large temporal itemsets but also helps in understanding of finding temporal association rules among transactions within relational databases.
A Comparative Study of Associative Classifiers in Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation Analysis
Authors: Wang Weiqi , Wang Yanbo J. , Xin Qin , Bañares-Alcántara René , Coenen Frans , Cui Zhanfeng
Published: September 2010

Discovering how Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) can be differentiated is an important topic in stem cell therapy and tissue engineering. In a general context, such differentiation analysis can be modeled as a classification problem in data mining. Specifically, this is concerned with the single-label multi-class classification task. Previous studies on this topic suggests the Associative Classification (AC) rather than other alternative (Classification) techniques, and presented classification results based on the CMAR (Classification based on Multiple Association Rules) associative classifier. Other AC algorithms include: CBA (Classification Based on Associations), PRM (Predictive Rule Mining), CPAR (Classification based on Predictive Association Rules) and TFPC (Total From Partial Classification). The main aim of this chapter is to compare the performance of different associative classifiers, in terms of classification accuracy, efficiency, number of rules to be generated, quality of such rules, and the maximum number of attributes in rule-antecedents, with respect to MSC differentiation analysis.
Multiagent Knowledge-Based System Accessing Distributed Resources on Knowledge Grid
Authors: Sajja Priti Srinivas
Published: September 2010

Knowledge is considered as a strategic weapon to get success in any business. Span of modern business applications have increased from a specific geographical area to the global world. The necessary resources of the business are available in distributed fashion using platform / technology like world wide web and grid of computational facilities. The prime intention of the grid architecture is to utilize scarce resources in objective to efficiently mine information from distributed resources. With simple data grid and semantic web technologies, it is difficult to offer higher level knowledge-based services on grid environment. Hence, development of a framework that helps mining and utilizing the required information from large, unstructured, and distributed resources in intelligent fashion becomes necessary. This chapter describes and differentiates World Wide Web (WWW), Semantic Web, Data Grid, and Knowledge Grid with the literature survey. Considering the limitations of the existing approaches, a generic multilayer architecture is designed and described with detailed methodology for each layer. The chapter also presents fuzzy XML technique to represent domain and meta knowledge into the knowledge repositories. To experiment the proposed generic architecture, an application of e-Learning is selected and a multiagent system mining knowledge grid is discussed with detailed methodology and role of agents in the system. The chapter concludes with advantages and application areas.
Internet Forums
Authors: Morzy Mikolaj
Published: September 2010

An Internet forum is a web application for publishing user-generated content under the form of a discussion. Messages posted to the Internet forum form threads of discussion and contain textual and multimedia contents. An important feature of Internet forums is their social aspect. Internet forums attract dedicated users who build tight social communities. There is an abundance of Internet forums covering all aspects of human activities: politics, sports, entertainment, science, religion, leisure, hobbies, etc. With large user communities forming around popular Internet forums it is important to distinguish between knowledgeable users, who contribute high quality contents, and other types of users, such as casual users or Internet trolls. Therefore, social role discovery becomes an important issue in discovery of valuable knowledge from Internet forums. This chapter provides an overview of Internet forum technology. It discusses the architecture of Internet forums, presents an overview of data volumes involved and outlines technical challenges of scraping Internet forum data. A broad summary of all research conducted on mining and exploring Internet forums for social role discovery is presented. Next, a multi-tier model for Internet forum analysis (statistical analysis, index analysis, and network analysis) is introduced. Social roles are automatically attributed to Internet forum users based on egocentric graphs of user activity. The issues discussed in the chapter are illustrated with real-world examples. The chapter concludes with a brief summary and a future work agenda.
Cryptography in E-Mail and Web Services
Authors: Al-Hamdani Wasim A
Published: September 2010

Cryptography has been used since ancient times in many different shapes and forms to protect messages from being intercepted. However, since 1976, cryptography started to be part of protected public communication when e-mail became commonly used by the public. Webmail (or Web-based e-mail) is an e-mail service intended to be primarily accessed via a web browser, as opposed to through an e-mail client, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla‘s Thunderbird Mail. Very popular webmail providers include Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and AOL. Web based email has its advantages, especially for people who travel. Email can be collected by simply visiting a website, negating the need for an email client, or to logon from home. Wherever a public terminal with Internet access exists one can check, sends and receive email quickly and easily. Another advantage of web based email is that it provides an alternate address allowing user to reserve his/her ISP address for personal use. If someone would like to subscribe to a newsletter, enter a drawing, register at a website, participate in chats, or send feedback to a site, a web based email address is the perfect answer. It will keep non-personal mail on a server for you to check when you wish, rather than filling up your private email box. Web service is defined as “a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network”. Web services are frequently just Internet application programming interfaces (API) that can be accessed over a network, such as the Internet, and executed on a remote system hosting the requested services. Other approaches with nearly the same functionality as web services are Object Management Group‘s (OMG) Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Microsoft‘s Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) or SUN‘s Java/Remote Method Invocation (RMI). Integrating Encryption with web service could be performing in many ways such as: XML Encryption and XML Signature. In this article we present client and Web-based E-mail, next generation E-mail and secure E-mail, followed by cryptography in web service and the last part is the future of web service security. The article start with the integration of cryptography with E-mail client and web base then the integration of cryptography and web service is presented. At the end of the major two sections: e-mail service and web service there is a general prospect vision of encryption future for e-mail service and web service. This section presents our view for the cryptography integration with the second generation of e-mail and web service.
An Electronic Contract Signing Protocol Using Fingerprint Biometrics
Authors: Bedi Harkeerat , Yang Li , Kizza Joseph M.
Published: September 2010

Fair exchange between a pair of parties can be defined as the fundamental concept of trade where none of the parties involved in the exchange have an unfair advantage over the other once the transaction completes. Fair exchange protocols are a group of protocols that provide means for accomplishing such fair exchanges. In this chapter we analyze one such protocol which offers means for fair contract signing, where two parties exchange their commitments over a pre-negotiated contract. We show that this protocol is not entirely fair and illustrate the possibilities of one party cheating by obtaining the other’s commitment and not providing theirs. We also analyze a revised version of this protocol which offers better fairness by handling many of the weaknesses. Both these protocols however fail to handle the possibilities of replay attacks where an intruder replays messages sent earlier from one party to the other. Our proposed protocol improves upon these protocols by addressing to the weaknesses which leads to such replay attacks. We implement a complete working system which provides fair contract signing along with properties like user authentication and efficient password management achieved by using a fingerprint based authentication system and features like confidentiality, data-integrity and non-repudiation accomplished through implementation of cryptographic algorithms based on elliptic curves.
Ubiquitous Computing for Independent Living
Authors: Bergmann Neil W.
Published: September 2010

Ubiquitous computing technology (ICT) shows great potential in supporting the infirm elderly, and others managing complex health issues, to live independently in their own home. While these technologies have great promise, their adoption level is low in Australia. It is suggested that two concurrent strategies are needed to improve the penetration of ICT-based assistive technology in the community. Firstly, significant trials are needed to verify that such systems can provide improved health outcomes and reduce health system costs for suitably targeted patients. Secondly, research in security and privacy, open standards, human-computer interfaces and new models of care driving software specifications is needed, so that these health system benefits can be achieved at a reasonable cost, and with adequate consideration of the needs of clients and carers.
Ageing, Chronic Disease, Technology, and Smart Homes
Authors: Soar Jeffrey
Published: September 2010

This chapter explores ageing, chronic disease, technology and social change. Healthcare has been transformed through medical technology but there is much still to be done to enable seamless exchanges between all carers, which is expected to improve safety, quality and efficiency. There is massive potential for technology to transform the experience of ageing including assisting with the management of chronic disease, coordinated care and guided self-care for consumers. Innovative technologies are increasingly available to assist in maintaining health and independent living. This includes telecare, telehealth, assistive technologies, robots and smart homes. A challenge is in providing access to and support in the use of technologies where there are clear benefits to consumers, carers, providers and funders of healthcare. The chapter also reports on the Queensland Smart Home Initiative which is one of several organisations internationally that share a mission of assisting people to be supported through these technologies.
A Robotic Arm for Electric Scooters
Authors: Cubero Samuel N.
Published: September 2010

This chapter describes the mechanical design, manufacture and performance of a three-degree-of-freedom manipulator arm and gripper that can be attached to a mobile vehicle or electric scooter. Known by the acronym “ESRA”, or “Electric Scooter Robot Arm”, this device can be remotely or automatically controlled to pick up and retrieve heavy objects, such as books or grocery products, from high shelves or difficult-to-reach locations. Such tasks are often considered to be arduous or even impossible for the frail elderly and people with disabilities. This chapter describes one example of how the combination of mechanical and electronic engineering technology can be used to perform physically strenuous tasks and enable the frail elderly and people with disabilities to enjoy a greater degree of self-sufficiency, independence and physical productivity. It includes the design process for robotic arm manipulators and actuators. It also provides a brief overview of existing “state of the art” robotic and machine vision technologies, and how these can be used to perform many everyday domestic or household chores.
U3A Online and Successful Aging
Authors: Swindell Rick , Grimbeek Peter , Heffernan Jan
Published: September 2010

Population aging is refocusing aging policy away from mainly remedial actions towards low cost preventative interventions that keep older people independent and participating in their communities for longer. The purpose of this chapter is 3-fold: 1) to outline the elements of the successful aging model; 2) to explain the worldwide, self-help University of the Third Age (U3A) adult education program as a very low cost, successful aging organization; and 3) to discuss findings from two related studies of older adults who were members of a virtual U3A called U3A Online. Considerable anecdotal evidence shows that U3A Online is particularly valuable for people who are isolated from their mainstream communities by circumstances such as illness, disability or care giving. An email focus group with nine participants from three countries was conducted over a two year period, using the successful aging model as a guideline to examine the characteristics of these older people who are attracted to online learning. Results based on the combination of automated computer text analysis and manual text analysis techniques supported a conclusion that the Internet was an integral part of the lives of these participants, particularly those with serious health difficulties or profound hearing loss. Outcomes also supported a conclusion that electronic communication can reduce feelings of isolation and provide stimulating and enjoyable pastimes with the potential to assist older people in aging successfully.
Intelligent Transportation Systems for Older Drivers
Authors: Hatherly Christopher G.
Published: September 2010

This chapter covers current and future technologies relevant to older drivers. It does this using a systems framework, reviewing research and issues relating to older adults and technology at the level of the road user, the transport infrastructure and the vehicle. While most Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) currently exist at the level of the vehicle (technologies such as satellite navigation, collision avoidance, and hazard alerting systems), research and development at the infrastructure level also holds promise of significant improvements in automotive safety through the exchange and coordination of digital information between vehicles and the roads upon which they are driven. At the individual level, there are also increasingly sophisticated technologies being developed that aim to accurately identify potentially unsafe drivers, and to maintain and even enhance cognitive capacities that are critically important to safe driving. This chapter begins with a review of salient characteristics of older drivers, before discussing current and future technologies at each level of the adopted framework: the road user, the road, and the vehicle.
Low Usage of Intelligent Technologies by the Aged
Authors: Heng John , Banerji Subhasis
Published: September 2010

Contrary to expectations, assistive technology (AT) usage by the elderly has not increased in proportion to availability and ease of access. This is despite a belief that technology can contribute significantly towards improving their quality-of-life. Our Rehabilitation Mechatronics research group at NTU Singapore is developing a “unified neuro-physio platform”, taking a cue from Eastern philosophies which emphasize that the “internal environment” of the users strongly affects how they interact with the “external environment.” This chapter highlights the need to bridge these two environments meaningfully through “sensitive” technologies which address the mindsets and learning mechanisms of users. The technology platform we propose helps the elderly to understand and enhance their internal environment in order to interact at various levels with AT in their external environment. It provides a fresh approach to understanding and minimizing the persistent “digital divide” between the elderly and high technology.
Attitudes Toward Intelligent Technologies
Authors: Tiberio Lorenza , Scopelliti Massimiliano , Giuliani Maria Vittoria
Published: September 2010

Nursing homes provide long-term care services and can help preserve the quality of life of elderly people subject to physical and cognitive impairments. In this chapter, we explore the role of intelligent technologies as a supplement to human care-giving and the potential to improve quality of life for both older adults and their caregivers in nursing homes. A study was conducted on elderly people’s and caregivers’ attitudes toward the use of intelligent technologies in nursing homes, with the aim of understanding in which domains of everyday activities the application of intelligent technologies can be more suitable. Results showed that attitude toward the application of intelligent technologies in nursing homes is positive, although multifaceted. Elderly people and caregivers considered intelligent technologies as relevant devices for the improvement of quality of life in different domains. Nonetheless, differences related to the role that technologies played in nursing homes clearly emerged.
Spreadsheet-Based Orchestration for Describing and Automating Web Information Access Processes
Authors: Fujima Jun , Yoshihara Shohei , Tanaka Yuzuru
Published: September 2010

A spreadsheet is one of the most widely used applications by office workers. It provides an end user, with a programming environment. In this chapter, the authors propose a spreadsheet-based environment in which end users can orchestrate multiple Web applications. First, the authors provide a method for embedding various Web resources in spreadsheet cells as visual components that can be reused on the spreadsheet. Second, they propose a method by which these embedded components can be accessed by using special functions via the formula language. Third, they present these special functions to describe loop structures. Their approach enables users to define the complex coordination of multiple Web applications on the spreadsheet using its formula language. Further, they describe their prototype implementation, which uses Microsoft Excel and its user interface support to utilize the embedded Web applications.
A Web-Enabled, Mobile Intelligent Information Technology Architecture for On-Demand and Mass Customized Markets
Authors: Ghiassi M. , Spera C.
Published: September 2010

This chapter presents a web-enabled, intelligent agent-based information system model to support on-demand and mass customized markets. The authors present a distributed, real-time, Java-based, mobile information system that interfaces with firms’ existing IT infrastructures, follows a build-to-order production strategy, and integrates order-entry with supply chain, manufacturing, and product delivery systems. The model provides end-to-end visibility across the entire operation and supply chain, allows for a collaborative and synchronized production system, and supports an event-based manufacturing environment. The system introduces four general purpose intelligent agents to support the entire on-demand and mass customization processes. The adoption of this approach by a semiconductor manufacturing firm resulted in reductions in product lead time (by half), buffer inventory (from five to two weeks), and manual transactions (by 80%). Application of this approach to a leading automotive manufacturer, using simulated data, resulted in a 51% total inventory reduction while increasing plant utilization by 30%. Adoption of this architecture by a pharmaceutical firm resulted in improving accuracy of trial completion estimates from 74% to 82% for clinical trials resulting in reduced trial cost overruns. These results verify that the successful adoption of this system can reduce inventory and logistics costs, improve delivery performance, increase manufacturing facilities utilization, and provide a higher overall profitability.
Utilisation of Expert Online Retrieval Tools
Authors: Sturm Roberta , Igel Christoph
Published: September 2010

This chapter focuses on analysing system utilisation patterns, in connection with the use of the “Movement and Training” knowledge management system. Developed with the aim of supporting teaching courses at university level, or more precisely their preparation, realisation and follow-up, this web-based system is free of charge and has been available to a general educational audience since 2005. The authors present an analytic approach, which, in the first instance and from the user’s perspective, illustrates whether the intended utility and added values for instructors and learners have been achieved. A further intention was to identify any potential barriers that would obstruct utilisation of the system. In combination with basic theoretical principles and empirical findings relating to knowledge management, the authors derive implications for modifying the system with the aim of facilitating its future use.
Fully Including Students, Teachers, and Administrators with Disabilities in Telementoring
Authors: Burgstahler Sheryl , Thompson Terrill
Published: September 2010

The authors of this chapter discuss challenges that must be addressed to ensure the full inclusion of teachers, administrators, and students with disabilities in telementoring activities in elementary and secondary school environments. Potential barriers to participation relate to the physical environment, the technology used to support a telementoring program, and communication strategies within that environment. Solutions presented to address access challenges employ both universal design and accommodation approaches. The content of this chapter may be useful to administrators, teachers, and technology specialists as they integrate telementoring into elementary and secondary classroom practices; to professionals who seek to promote telementoring in formal and informal settings; and to researchers who wish to identify telementoring topics for further study.
QTI
Authors: Piotrowski Michael
Published: September 2010

The creation of good tests is time-consuming and expensive. Tests should therefore be reusable to ensure sustainability and to preserve investments and intellectual assets. This requires a standard, platform-neutral, vendor-independent interchange file format for tests. IMS Question and Test Interoperability (QTI) aims to be this standard. Almost a decade after the publication of the first version of QTI, even the interchange of simple multiple-choice tests between different systems remains problematic. In this chapter, the author present a critical analysis of QTI. His conclusion is that QTI has failed to provide interoperability of questions and tests due to serious problems in its design.
Do Current Standards Support Adaptive Sequencing Interoperability?
Authors: Gutierrez-Santos Sergio
Published: September 2010

In the complex world of e-learning, there are many aspects to consider: administrative issues (e.g. keeping track of the courses of a student), technical issues (e.g. packaging learning content in a platform-independent way), and academic issues. This chapter concentrates on one of the latter, namely the problem of adaptive sequencing. This problem can be stated like: given a student and a set of learning resources, find the optimum sequence for his or her special characteristics, goals, needs, and background. An appropriate sequencing, adapted to the student, has a positive impact on motivation and learning, hence its importance. However, this is a problem that has not been yet carefully considered in any standard or specification, hindering interoperability among platforms that adapt the sequencing of learning content to their users. This chapter reviews the two specifications most relevant for the standard expression of adapted sequencings: IMS Simple Sequencing and IMS Learning Design. The strong and weak points of each specification are highlighted, showing their implications on adaptive sequencing interoperability.
Specification of an Adaptable and Inclusive E-Learning Support System
Authors: Green Steve
Published: September 2010

The chapter outlines the problems associated with inclusive e-learning and the role that user profiles and an adaptation service can have to support personalization. The chapter introduces the idea of an Adaptable Personal Learning Environment (APLE) and looks at how one component, the Transformation, Augmentation and Substitution Service (TASS), can be formally specified using Prolog. The compliance with a range of standards is identified: in particular the IMS ACCLIP and ACCMD standards for accessible learner profiles and learner object metadata and the AccessForAll proposals. The chapter also considers issues of IMS and SCORM content packaging, learner information profiles and the JISC definitions for a Personal Learning Environment, all within the context of inclusive e-Learning support.
Interoperability
Authors: Ariza Marta R. , Quesada Antonio
Published: September 2010

This chapter offers a brief overview of the main ideas underlying the learning object (LO) paradigm, with special emphasis placed on pedagogical aspects. Requirements for the interoperability and reusability of learning objects (LOs) are discussed, with attention drawn to the need of developing new metadata models to fully benefit from this approach. The authors also claim a wider utilization of LO principle design based on educational research, to improve the chances of promoting efficient learning. A literature review on technology and science education is also provided, revealing a gap between computer and learning science, in relation to the embracement of the LO paradigm. Reflections on this situation and implications for the science education community are also included. Finally, one project on computer-supported science education is analyzed from the perspective of interoperability and reusability.
Diagnostic and Formative E-Assessment in Engineering on a Moodle-Based VLE
Authors: Mora-Aguilar M. C. , Sancho-Brú J. L.
Published: September 2010

Electronic learning is nowadays a reality that has been possible due to the recent advances in technology. Different new Web tools have been developed to be directly applied to the teaching/learning process at all levels, especially in higher education. In fact, e-learning tools are the key elements for carrying out educational innovation when dealing with overcrowded groups of students. This e-tools applied to assessment are analyzed in this chapter. In particular, diagnostic and formative e-assessment implemented on a Moodle-based VLE environment has been introduced in different basic Mechanics subjects, with similar contents but taught in different engineering degrees, in diverse years or with various group sizes. The benefits and underlying problems of this introduction are described here. This has been made in order to compare results of different subjects and to extract general conclusions, which could be extrapolated to any other engineering disciplines.
Rural Scenery Narrative and Field Experiences
Authors: Hasebe Tadashi , Ohmura Michiaki , Bannai Hisashi
Published: September 2010

Farmers create rural scenery by farming the land. From their memories of the experience of farming the land, they also create their own particular narratives of that rural scenery. Each such narrative differs not only according to the particular environment of each field, but also according to the personal experiences of the farmer. As the narration is repeated, the rural scenery narrative can become the narrative of everyone in the community and this shared narrative can then influence the behavior of all the members in that rural society. The authors call this a ‘normative scenery narrative’. This chapters explores how normative scenery narratives differ according to the various experiences of farmers in rural fields and does so by documenting a case study of old Otamachi in Akita Prefecture, Japan.
Psychophysiological Applications in Kansei Design
Authors: Lévy Pierre , Yamanaka Toshimasa , Tomico Oscar
Published: September 2010

In order to describe emerging methods and means for Kansei design, this chapter overviews three approaches involving an intense collaboration between the fields of design and psychophysiology: The use of tools built for psychophysiology and of techniques based on constructivist psychology theory, in order to support designers’ inspirational work focusing on human beings’ behaviors, experience, and mental constructs; The use of knowledge created by psychophysiological research as an inspirational source of knowledge and as a conveyor of it for all along the design process. This approach takes into account the latest scientific progresses in psychophysiology, and concerns greatly about the scientific nature of the considered knowledge; The use of psychophysiology tools to complete design requirements. Each approach presented here is supported by an applicative example. These interdisciplinary approaches lead towards the structuring of Kansei Design as an application field of Kansei Science.
The China Brain Project
Authors: de Garis Hugo , Xiaoxi Chen , Goertzel Ben
Published: September 2010

This chapter describes a 4 year research project (2008-2011) to build China’s first artificial brain. It takes an “evolutionary engineering” approach, by evolving 10,000s of neural net modules, (or “agents” in the sense of Minsky’s “Society of Mind” [Minsky 1988, 2007]), and connecting them to make artificial brains. These modules are evolved rapidly in seconds on a “Tesla” PC Supercomputer, and connected according to the artificial brain designs of human “BAs” (Brain Architects). The artificial brain will eventually contain thousands of pattern recognizer modules, and hundreds of decision modules that when suitably combined will control the hundreds of behaviors of a walking, talking robot.
Convergence of Online Gaming and E-Commerce
Authors: Harwood Tracy
Published: September 2010

This chapter firstly explores the characteristics and features of online games and their potential for e-commercial exploitation via the communities of interest that have evolved within and around the gaming environments. The chapter then considers the most common models of e-commercialization applied in online games, virtual and mirror worlds by developers, outlining the types of relationships that exist between organizations and consumers, and the issues of co-creation and co-production that exist within each of the relational contexts identified. Finally, the chapter will review the emergence and convergence of online gaming economies and the issues presented at the boundary between real and fictional worlds, such as managing currencies, social identities and relational networks.
Company Specific Virtual Worlds
Authors: Blowers Paul
Published: September 2010

The rapid rise of Virtual World technology poses exciting opportunities and complex challenges for businesses. Virtual World technology, for the purpose of business usage, can be defined as any 3D immersive and persistent environment that can be accessed concurrently by multiple people for the purposes of conducting E-Commerce. The purpose of this chapter will be to examine how Virtual Worlds are being used in business today. The authors will reflect on the first wave of companies entering Virtual Worlds, which has yielded some key lessons learned, as well as, evidence to its next phase. By defining the spectrum of different uses of Virtual Worlds, this chapter will cover key lessons learned and guidelines, current barriers to adoption, and the business value of using Virtual Worlds for business purposes. Lastly, the authors will examine future trends in Virtual World technology that relate to future Virtual World E-Commerce growth.
Virtual Education
Authors: Ciaramitaro Barbara L.
Published: September 2010

Virtual education is a multi-billion dollar business and maintains a firm place in the world of E-Commerce. It is a mode used by educational institutions, the military, professional organizations, commercial companies, and others to inform, educate and interact with students, consumers, and participants. Second Life® is the most well-known forum for virtual education for many colleges and universities, but it is not the only virtual environment used for educational purposes. Many organizations such as the military have developed their own virtual training and education frameworks (See Ciaramitaro and Jones, Chapter 7). Conferences and seminars offered by professional organizations and business consortiums are increasingly using the virtual environment to attract its participants. Even virtual worlds embraced by children provide many educational aspects such as the “working” experience in the Webkinz world. This chapter will discuss the varying ways that virtual worlds have been incorporated into education. The authors will examine several virtual worlds to see what they offer in terms of content and user experience. They will also examine virtual education from the faculty and student perspective, and investigate how it compares with traditional forms of teaching and learning. As is true in all virtual worlds, within the education domain there are issues and challenges that must be addressed before full-scale adoption is achieved and we will discuss several of these. The authors will conclude with an examination of what the future holds for virtual education.
Legal Issues in the Virtual World and E-Commerce
Authors: Hoops Daniel S.
Published: September 2010

Cyberspace is such an enormous concept that trying to briefly explain the “rules” for E-Commerce or “cyberlaw” is next to impossible. For an E-Commerce, it is important to understand that there are business-to-business transactions and those involving consumers. In addition to requiring a mastery of many legal specialties, E-Commerce presents legal issues in a virtual environment. Many business practices in a cyberspace are untested in the courts. New and innovative methods of competition, as well as the effects of an international playing field change the playfield constantly. The legalities of this great new frontier pose an impressive and intellectually stimulating challenge. This chapter is a survey and summary of the legal environment in the E-Commerce and the virtual world.
Opening the Content Pipeline for OpenSim-Based Virtual Worlds
Authors: Winkler Shenlei E.
Published: September 2010

Open-Simulator (Open-Sim) refers to a three dimensional application environment that can be used to develop virtual worlds similar to those that exist in Second Life®. Open-Sim is considered open source software, i.e., software that is developed by a community of volunteers and is available for use by the public free of charge (Open Simulator, 2009). Although participants in virtual worlds are generally considered by law to be the owner of any Intellectual Property (IP) they create, content creators and owners of OpenSim-based virtual worlds struggle with issues surrounding licensing, content delivery, and usage in these immersive spaces. The Fashion Research Institute (FRI) is specifically exploring these issues in a case study involving the licensing its Shengri La virtual world creations to external users. This case study is the basis of ongoing legal research by FRI’s legal steering committee of attorneys from the American Bar Association’s Virtual Worlds and Online Gaming committee who are working on a pro bono (volunteer) basis. This chapter presents the result of the ongoing case study. It offers a practitioner’s view of issues related to licensing and distribution of content in virtual worlds.
Security and Privacy Concerns of Virtual Worlds
Authors: Gogolin Greg
Published: September 2010

This chapter looks at security and privacy concerns of virtual worlds by investigating the use and capabilities of current and emerging technologies such as gaming, blogging, podcasting, virtual meetings, and virtual worlds. Security and privacy concerns will be investigated in the context of exploits and IT-related security risks, access management and confidentiality, reputation and product risk management, resource management, financial considerations and accountability, and safety. Several technologies and personal practices are reviewed, as well as ways to mitigate or eliminate their associated risks. The core principles of information security -confidentiality, integrity, and availability - provide an overall framework for the chapter.
On Analogue TMR System
Authors: Kucera Pavel
Published: September 2010

This chapter presents a reliability model of the TMR (Triple Modular Redundancy) system based on analogue measurement channels. While reliability modelling of the standard TMR system (based on digital channels) has been well described in many previous publications, an applicable reliability solution for analogue measurement channels is still missing. First, the structure of analogue measurement channel is described in this chapter. Then, the reliability model of the wiring system is introduced. Next, the standard TMR model is presented and its reliability model is mentioned. An analogue TMR measurement channel system is introduced and its reliability model based on Markov processes is presented. Then the reliability model of the communication channel is described. Finally, the reliability of this model is analytically calculated and the solution is applied to an example.
Object Recognition via Contour Points Reconstruction Using Hurwitz - Radon Matrices
Authors: Jakóbczak Dariusz
Published: September 2010

Object recognition is one of the topics of artificial intelligence, computer vision, image processing and machine vision. The classical problem in these areas of computer science is that of determining object via characteristic features. Important feature of the object is its contour. Accurate reconstruction of contour points leads to possibility to compare the unknown object with models of specified objects. The key information about the object is the set of contour points which are treated as interpolation nodes. Classical interpolations (Lagrange or Newton polynomials) are useless for precise reconstruction of the contour. The chapter is dealing with proposed method of contour reconstruction via curves interpolation. First stage consists in computing the contour points of the object to be recognized. Then one can compare models of known objects, given by the sets of contour points, with coordinates of interpolated points of unknown object. Contour points reconstruction and curve interpolation is possible using new method of Hurwitz - Radon Matrices.
Fuzzy Logic Based Modeling in the Complex System Fault Diagnosis
Authors: Pokorný Miroslav , Fojtík Pavel
Published: September 2010

This chapter deals with the model-based fault diagnosis approaches that exploit the fuzzy modeling approximation abilities to obtain the appropriate model of the monitored system. This technique makes use of the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model to describe the non-linear dynamic system by its decomposition onto number of linear submodels, so that it is possible to overcome difficulties in conventional methods for dealing with nonlinearity. A linear residual generator formed by Kalman filters which are designed for the each of the linear subsystem is then proposed to generate diagnostic signals - residuals. Since the task is formulated on a statistical basis, the generalized likelihood ratio test is chosen as a decision-making algorithm. Finally, two practical examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach.
Community Practices to Improve E-Governance at the Grass Roots
Authors: Rahman Hakikur
Published: September 2010

Wide use of information technologies has lead governments across the globe to adopt the new nature of governance system for their citizens, businesses and within the government structure. Governance systems nowadays do not only enclave simply the dissemination of government regulations and directives to their stakeholders, but also target to improve their knowledge and capacity. At the threshold, by putting the information technologies as a thrust sector for many years and with well adopted e-governance framework, several countries have achieved remarkable success. However, many of them despite diversified efforts could not put into the track mainstreaming electronic format of the governance system. This research feel that to improve the governance system, inclusion of grass roots participants are necessary and nurturing of community practices targeting to raise their knowledge and skills through an adoptive e-governance framework would enhance the process. As a case study, it put forwards a case from UNDP, including hints on similar other cases.
E-Government Policy
Authors: Ambali Abdul Raufu
Published: September 2010

One must admit that the emerging of faster delivery service required a faster mechanism of transaction between government and its people. But such transaction is not without issues that have to be addressed by the governments of the public sectors. The primary issues addresses by this chapter are the relationships between the perceived: security tightening, facilitating conditions, usefulness, eases of using e-filing system and users’ retention. The second issue addresses by the chapter is differences in gender of the users with respect to factors that influence their state of retention. The findings of the study show a strong relationship between the predicting factors and user’s intention to continuing using the system. The findings also show that the retention of users is highly affected by the differences in the gender of the users. This research would like to recommend that faster transaction mechanism between the government and the people enhances the e-governance system and in this context, this chapter is focusing on some potential implications of e-filing system of Malaysia.
The Adoption Process of Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) in Turkish Public Organizations
Authors: Yildiz Mete , Oktem Mustafa Kemal , Bensghir Turksel Kaya
Published: September 2010

Free and open source software (FOSS) has been increasingly used both in public and private organizations in order to contain costs, increase software transparency and reliability, and information security, among other reasons. This article identifies and examines the arguments and actors, who have promoted and opposed the use of FOSS in the Turkish public sector. It also analyzes how these actors organize the processes of adoption and presents the discourses that they used to affect the open source-related policy decisions. The methods used e-mail questionnaires directed to IT experts in government, academia, private sector and the media, together with the archival analysis of related documents. It is found that FOSS enhances e-government implementations being relatively secure than proprietary software, low cost, participative, scalable and easy to manage. The article concludes with the evaluation of the current level of FOSS use in Turkish government agencies, an explanation of the process of adoption by presenting a process model of FOSS adoption in Turkey that may be applied in other similar countries and different frames of analysis that shape the adoption process. In this vein, the main aim is to link FOSS to the e-government processes and ultimate aim is to link this manuscript to the grass roots e-governance improvement literature.
Conceiving Community Knowledge Records as e-Governance Concerns in Wired Healthcare Provision
Authors: Vat Kam Hou
Published: September 2010

This chapter investigates the potential of community knowledge records (CKRs) in the electronic transformation for healthcare provision in Macau by examining various ICTs for personalized healthcare support, such as the electronic health (or e-health) records (EHR).
A Citizen-Centric Platform to Support Networking in the Area of E-Democracy
Authors: Molinari Francesco , Wills Christopher , Koumpis Adamantios , Moumtzi Vasiliki
Published: September 2010

This chapter describes experiences acquired during the research work conducted as part of the European Project Tell Me (www.tellmeproject.eu). The project envisaged to support the pan-European creation of Living Labs as new forms of cooperation between government, enterprises, citizens and academia for a successful transfer of e-Government, e-Democracy and e-Services state-of-the art applications, solutions, know-how and best practices. In this chapter the authors explore the potential of providing an existing system (DEMOS) allowing moderated and goal-oriented discourses between citizens and policy makers to become parts of open-ended ventures on the creation of collaborative networks for Electronic Democracy. This work would also recommend that this form of support network elevates e-Democracy of a country and thus improves e-governance systems at the grass roots.