bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Free & Open Source Software for Microfinance
Authors: Augsburg Britta , Schmidt Jan Philipp , Krishnaswamy Karuna
Published: September 2010

In this chapter we investigate the potential of open source software to increase the impact of microfinance (MF) especially for the very poor. We argue that especially small and medium organizations play a crucial role, because they are more flexible in operations and familiar with the local context. We consider how new information and communication technology (ICT) can increase outreach of MF to the very poor within a self-sustainable holistic approach. We consider the potential of free/open source software projects to address the computing needs of small and remote MFIs, and we describe the reasons why no suitable solutions have emerged yet. While the use of FOSS and ICTs in general can help increase outreach, we feel the need to draw attention to the challenges that come with it; one should not forget that access to basic financial services is not all that is needed by the very poor.
Implementing Point of Sale Technology in Microfinance
Authors: Musa Abu Saleh Mohammad , Khan Mostafa Saidur Rahim
Published: September 2010

Adoption of Information Technology (IT) in Microfinance Institutes (MFIs) has become one of the key indicators to ensure good governance and transparency to the stakeholders. Though the cost of investment in IT is a matter of concern, it has manifold benefit ranging from productivity improvement to socio economic development of the target clients. This chapter focuses on the adoption of IT in MFIs and its possible benefits in operation, cost reduction and stakeholder relationship through an evaluation of a small-scale MFI, Come to Save (CTS), operating in Bangladesh. This chapter reinforces that timely implementation of IT reduces cost of operation, attains economies of scale and increases outreach through increased staff productivity.
Can Information and Communication Technologies Improve the Performance of Microfinance Programs?
Authors: Jawadi Fredj , Jawadi Nabila , Ziane Ydriss
Published: September 2010

Given the important role played by microfinance institutions (MFIs), a growing number of studies have been recorded in this field. More specifically, researchers and practitioners are interested in factors that influence their performance in order to enhance the way they function and to ensure their sustainability. One of these factors concerns the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in MFI programs. Despite the relevance of the topic, few studies have looked at the links between ICT use and the enhancement of MFI performance. In addition, ICT use in developing and emerging financial markets is also under studied. The purpose of this chapter is to fill this gap in the literature and to analyse how ICT can influence MFI performance. In this regard, three aspects of MFI performance are studied: efficiency, risk management and customer relationship management. The results of the survey conducted with MFI professionals in developing and emerging countries show that the implementation of ICTs enables MFIs to significantly improve their microfinance services, while enhancing work efficiency and customer relationship management in the same way as in other branches of financial services in general. However, our results give no empirical support to the contribution of ICTs in risk management or risk reduction.
Marketing Analysis of Emerging Peer-to-Peer Microlending Websites
Authors: Assadi Djamchid , Hudson Meredith
Published: September 2010

The marketing trends of the emerging sector of peer-to-peer microlending websites have been left largely unexplored during its rise to recognition. Based on a sample of nine popular social lending sites, this exploratory chapter uses observational research methods to analyze the uncontrollable and controllable marketing elements of online social lending websites in order to better understand its present and future tendencies. A more comprehensive understanding based on similarities and differences of the marketing movement within this industry will be the end result of this chapter, and therefore, a more reliable prediction of the future it holds.
Information Technology and Microfinance in Developed Countries
Authors: Estapé-Dubreuil Glòria , Torreguitart-Mirada Consol
Published: September 2010

As Information Technology becomes increasingly more present in the so called Information Society, its potential to constitute a strategic resource also increases. Whether, and to what extent, strategic changes linked to the adoption of IT have effectively reached specific economic sectors or industries is therefore of interest. This chapter is meant as a contribution in that area, analyzing the relationships between IT and microfinance, focusing on the microfinance sector in Spain. Our study shows that the microfinance sector’s basic IT infrastructures are above the Spanish average. Two main uses of IT tools are revealed: (1) to provide information, both to prospective clients and to those sustaining microfinance, and (2) as a management and support tool, including on-line direct support to would-be entrepreneurs. Strategic use of IT is less widespread, related primarily to financial transparency issues, more clearly shown by MFIs linked to the social economy. Finally, depth of outreach related to the actual IT use in the sector is also discussed.
International Ethical Attitudes and Behaviors
Authors: Yates Dave , Harris Albert
Published: September 2010

Organizational information security policy must incorporate organizational, societal, and individual level factors. For organizations that operate across national borders, cultural differences in these factors, particularly the ethical attitudes and behaviors of individuals, will impact the effectiveness of these policies. This research looks at the differences in attitudes and behaviors that exist among five different countries and the implications of similarities and differences in these attitudes for organizations formulating information security policies. Building on existing ethical frameworks, we developed a set of ethics scenarios concerning data access, data manipulation, software use, programming abuse, and hardware use. Using survey results from 599 students in five countries, results show that cultural factors are indicative of the differences we expected, but that the similarities and differences among cultures that should be taken into account are complex. We conclude with implications for how organizational policy makers should account for these effects with some specific examples based on our results.
Behavioral Advertising Ethics
Authors: Massey Aaron K. , Antón Annie I.
Published: September 2010

Behavioral advertising is a method for targeting advertisements to individuals based on behavior profiles, which are created by tracking user behavior over a period of time. Individually targeted advertising can significantly improve the effectiveness of advertising. However, behavioral advertising may have serious implications for civil liberties such as privacy. In this chapter, we describe behavioral advertising ethics within the context of technological development, political and legal concerns, and traditional advertising practices. First, we discuss the developmental background of behavioral advertising technologies, focusing on web-based technologies and deep packet inspection. Then, we consider the ethical implications with a primary focus on privacy of behavioral advertising technologies. Next, we overview traditional market research approaches taken to advertising ethics. Following that, we discuss the legal ethics of behavioral advertising. Finally, we summarize these cross-disciplinary concerns and provide some discussion on points of interest for future research.
Pedagogical Sustainability of Interoperable Formal and Informal Learning Environments
Authors: Leone Sabrina , Guazzaroni Giuliana
Published: September 2010

Nowadays interaction and networks appear to be crucial. The impact that new technologies have had in every field has flowed into a rethinking of knowledge, knowledge management, teaching and learning, networks and the individual. Formal, non-formal and informal learning have become key words of this age. New technologies and the revolution of Web 2.0 social tools have deeply influenced learning approaches. However, the effectiveness of Web 2.0 educational tools depends on the pedagogical sustainability beneath and on internationally shared standards to facilitate interoperability. This chapter aims to discuss the pedagogical sustainability of interoperable formal and informal learning environments. Advantages and drawbacks will be highlighted, in terms of technological and pedagogical effectiveness and appropriateness, through two case studies illustrating respectively the combined use of Moodle (LMS) and Elgg (PLE) at the University of Florence to facilitate lifelong learning, and a recent experience of integration of Moodle, Mediawiki and De.li.cious that we have carried out as PhD students in elearning at the Università Politecnica delle Marche.
Design and Implementation Issues of Interoperable Educational Application
Authors: Ishikawa Yasushige , Kondo Mutsumi , Smith Craig
Published: September 2010

This chapter reports on the development of an innovative interoperable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) application for English teaching in primary schools in Japan. An investigation into the use of the ICT application during a four month period at two primary schools is also described. The results of the initial needs analysis conducted to identify appropriate means of support for effective primary school English education, the subsequent processes of the design, the development and implementation of the ICT application, the children’s reflections during use of the ICT application in English lessons, and a post-course evaluation by children and by their homeroom teachers are described. Proposals are made for the future enhancement of the interoperability capacity for the ICT application.
E-Learning
Authors: Neema-Abooki Peter , Kitawi Alfred
Published: September 2010

Electronic learning (E-learning) strategies require a realization of the changes in both the demand and supply of e-learning resources. The conceptualization of e-learning, a precedent stage in any e-learning strategy development, affects the deployment and use of e-leaning. Since the development of e-learning strategies corresponds to different models available, this chapter aims at highlighting on and proposing an e-learning fourfold strategy in the management of universities. The strategies to this effect are: Ideological, Methodological, Output, and Ecological. The chapter heretofore rationalises that the Ecological strategies have an impact on the other three. Universities are therefore called to develop a clear e-learning strategy framework that is commensurate with the existential needs; hence, a strategy that reflects and actuates the mission and vision of a university within a specific context. The chapter therefore analyses the impact of the fourfold strategy with particular reference to Africa-based universities.
Soft Computing and its Applications
Authors: Bhattacharyya Siddhartha , Maulik Ujjwal , Bandyopadhyay Sanghamitra
Published: September 2010

Soft Computing is a relatively new computing paradigm bestowed with tools and techniques for handling real world problems. The main components of this computing paradigm are neural networks, fuzzy logic and evolutionary computation. Each and every component of the soft computing paradigm operates either independently or in coalition with the other components for addressing problems related to modeling, analysis and processing of data. An overview of the essentials and applications of the soft computing paradigm is presented in this chapter with reference to the functionalities and operations of its constituent components. Neural networks are made up of interconnected processing nodes/neurons, which operate on numeric data. These networks posses the capabilities of adaptation and approximation. The varied amount of uncertainty and ambiguity in real world data are handled in a linguistic framework by means of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic. Hence, this component is efficient in understanding vagueness and imprecision in real world knowledge bases. Genetic algorithms, simulated annealing algorithm and ant colony optimization algorithm are representative evolutionary computation techniques, which are efficient in deducing an optimum solution to a problem, thanks to the inherent exhaustive search methodologies adopted. Of late, rough sets have evolved to improve upon the performances of either of these components by way of approximation techniques. These soft computing techniques have been put to use in wide variety of problems ranging from scientific to industrial applications. Notable among these applications include image processing, pattern recognition, Kansei information processing, data mining, web intelligence etc.
The Enterprise in the 21st Century
Authors: Pappis Costas P.
Published: September 2010

Climate change has emerged lately as one of the main issues of concern, may be the most important, in economy and society. This was not so, even just a few years ago. Climate change used to be considered, even until quite recently, as something not much more than mere scientific hypothesis. But the situation has radically changed. The planet is now almost universally recognized as being in a state of emergency because of global warming and its impacts on the environment, economy and human societies. Enterprises are increasingly faced with the climate change challenge and with having to take measures to adapt. Countries and the whole international community are taking urgent measures to mitigate the causes of climate change and hopefully, in a rather distant future, reverse the catastrophic trend.
Global Impacts of Climate Change
Authors: Pappis Costas P.
Published: September 2010

In the previous chapter, the basic facts regarding global warming have been presented, summarizing mainly the latest scientific findings reported by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), particularly in Working Group I’s Fourth Assessment Report on the Physical Science Basis of Climate Change (Forster et al., 2007).
Climate Change Adaptation Polices
Authors: Pappis Costas P.
Published: September 2010

In the previous chapters issues such as the role of the enterprise in a globalized world, extended enterprise, enterprise social responsibility and the role of supply chain management in view of sustainability requirements were introduced; basic facts about global warming and the impacts of climate change in human lives and the environment were presented; economic and social impacts of climate change for people around the world, developing and developed countries were outlined and climate change monetary costs were indicated; and relationships between climate change and key supply chain operations were discussed.
Business Responses to Climate Change
Authors: Pappis Costas P.
Published: September 2010

In the previous chapters 5 and 6 the issues of adaptation and mitigation regarding climate change were introduced. Key concepts were defined, several questions were addressed and potential responses and policies were summarized, based on the findings of scientific research, including valuable sources such as (IPCC, 2007) and (Stern Review, 2006). It is particularly interesting to explore how businesses have perceived these issues and, even more important, how they have actually responded to the challenges of climate change. The issue of global warming, with its pervasive impacts on the society and economy, is not only an issue of public policy and, of course, it is not just an academic issue to be discussed among researchers. The extent and ways that businesses participate in world’s efforts to stabilize oncentrations is of vital importance, as businesses in different sectors of the economy produce large quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and thus have a significant share of the responsibility for the problem. On the other hand, big corporations possess the organizational, technological, and financial resources to cope with environmental problems, including global warming. Indeed, big corporations’ involvement is a critical factor in the policy deliberations relating to climate change, as they are main suppliers of consumers with goods and services as well as main developers and disseminators of new technology. In addition, they implement and finance a substantial part of governments’ climate change policies.
Coping with Uncertainty and Risk
Authors: Pappis Costas P.
Published: September 2010

In the previous chapters, reference has been made to the uncertainty, which characterizes measurements and assessments related to climate change, and the risks accompanying policies to adapt to and/or mitigate the impacts of global warming. Particularly in the case of the facts, based on (IPCC, 2007a), about global warming and relevant projections into the future presented in chapter 2, the presence of uncertainties is strong (Stainforth et al., 2005; Meinshausen, 2006). The same is true in the case of the global warming impacts presented in chapter 3. On the other hand, it is obvious that such uncertainties, coupled with other uncertainties stemming from sources related to society and economy, imply that any policy to adapt to and/ or mitigate the impacts of global warming is accompanied with some degree of risk, and the outcome of such a policy will be, to a bigger or lesser degree, uncertain.
Deciphering the Hacker Underground
Authors: Bachmann Michael
Published: September 2010

The increasing dependence of modern societies, industries, and individuals on information technology and computer networks renders them ever more vulnerable to attacks on critical IT infrastructures. While the societal threat posed by malicious hackers and other types of cyber criminals has been growing significantly in the last decade, mainstream criminology has only recently begun to realize the significance of this threat. Cyber criminology is slowly emerging as a subfield of criminological study and has yet to overcome many of the problems other areas of criminological research have already mastered. Aside from substantial methodological and theoretical problems, cyber criminology currently also suffers from the scarcity of available data. As a result, scientific answers to crucial questions remain. Questions like: Who exactly are these network attackers? Why do they engage in malicious hacking activities? This chapter begins to fill this gap in the literature by examining survey data about malicious hackers, their involvement in hacking, their motivations to hack, and their hacking careers. The data for this study was collected during a large hacking convention in Washington, D.C, in February 2008. The study findings suggest that a significant motivational shift takes place over the trajectory of hackers’ careers, and that the creation of more effective countermeasures requires adjustments to our current understanding of who hackers are and why they hack.
Examining the Language of Carders
Authors: Holt Thomas J.
Published: September 2010

The threat posed by a new form of cybercrime called carding--or the illegal acquisition, sale, and exchange of sensitive information--has increased in recent years. Few researchers, however, have considered the social dynamics driving this behavior. This chapter explores the argot, or language, used by carders through a qualitative analysis of 300 threads from six web forums run by and for data thieves. The terms used to convey knowledge about the information and services sold are explored in this chapter. In addition, the hierarchy and status of actors within carding communities are examined to understand how language shapes the social dynamics of the market. The findings provide insight into this emerging form of cybercrime, and the values driving carders’ behavior. Policy implications for law enforcement intervention are also discussed.
Overcoming Objections to MUVEs in Education
Authors: Laughlin Daniel
Published: September 2010

This chapter addresses some of the objections to the use of multi user virtual environments (MUVEs) in education that proponents of that medium are likely to encounter. Selection of the objections on the MUVEs literature and the author’s experience championing MUVEs as education tools within a government agency. Many of the objections apply broadly to MUVEs of both game and non-game varieties. The goal of this chapter is to help the reader overcome the arguments raised by others to build support for the use of MUVEs. Some guidance is also given for an approach to overcome objections based on mental model theory.
The Recursive Knowledge Development Model for Virtual Environments
Authors: Adams Nan B. , DeVaney Thomas A.
Published: September 2010

The concept of leveraging strategic control of the knowledge from teachers to students in virtual learning environments serves as the basis for determining how to move students through stages of knowledge acquisition to knowledge application and ultimately to knowledge generation in online settings. Instructional strategies for fostering student engagement in a virtual learning environment are identified as critical, and a number of relevant theories focusing on student learning, affect, needs and adult concerns are presented to provide a basis for transfer of knowledge from teacher to learner. A model is presented that combines the dimensions of knowledge approach, knowledge authority and teaching approach to demonstrate the recursive and scaffold design for the creation of virtual learning environments.
The Techno-Pedagogical Context of Distance Learning
Authors: Duruz Timothy F.
Published: September 2010

The incredible array of collaborative communication tools that have been incorporated into modern day education rely primarily on the internet as a delivery mechanism. Our zeal to employ the latest and greatest technologies towards instruction often ignores both the genesis and best practices for use of these innovations, which can be traced to collaborative scientific and educational efforts and experimentation in the latter half of the twentieth century. Knowledge of these advances and tools can help us to understand newer emerging technologies, which have profound potential for learning applications, such as Multi-User Virtual Environments. A brief discussion on the history of technology and information sharing follows the section on pedagogical issues.
Faculty Professional Learning
Authors: Alegre Olga M. , Villar Luis M.
Published: September 2010

The model Faculty Electronic Professional Learning and Portfolio (FEPLP) is viewed as cyclic with six basic entry points: quality management of academic development, professional development programmes, e-mentoring for new faculty teachers, development teaching and assessment competences in a blended environment, web-supported faculty assessment strategies, and review of an e-portfolio. This computer-mediated model includes a range of multiple representations of teaching competences that seek to provide for different professional development programmes for faculty in higher education, increases e-mentoring interactions, and provides a more closely reflection on campus e-learning experiences. The authors also investigated future staff developments including further competence module and online course development inspired by this model.
Case Study of ASCIT
Authors: Di Fiore Fabian , Quax Peter , Lamotte Wim , Van Reeth Frank
Published: September 2010

In the ASCIT project, several elements of Multi-user Virtual Environments were integrated into a demonstrator enabling long term sick children to communicate efficiently with their regular school and classroom learning environment. By presenting them with an attractive and game-like interface, combined with state-of-the-art audio and video communication means, the children were encouraged to spend time using the system and to keep up with the day-to-day classroom activities. The authors will describe in detail the three interacting parts in the development cycle. Starting off with the analysis section, the authors describe how the requirements for the system were gathered. In the section on the technical development, they present an overview of the various technical challenges posed by the usage scenario, including real-time transmission of several high quality audio/video streams. Finally, user evaluation was performed on the demonstrator to determine to what extent the system efficiently addressed the identified concerns in the analysis stage.
Staging Second Life in Real and Virtual Spaces
Authors: Fewster Russell , Wood Denise , Chafer Joff
Published: September 2010

Over a four-week period students enrolled in a second-year visual theatre course at the University of South Australia attempted to stage the online virtual world Second Life in a conventional proscenium arch theatre. The Staging Second Life project played upon the liminal space between ‘real’ and digital, and gave the students the opportunity to transpose a virtual world into a theatrical setting. The students actively played between these two media in turn becoming intermedialists. Within the hypermedium of the theatre they were able to remediate the conventions of Second Life via their bodies and manipulation of objects. The project reflects a growing trend in performance pedagogy where technology and new ways of thinking about its applications are increasingly integrated into the curriculum. This chapter describes the practical aspects of the course as well as the emergent theory of intermediality underpinning the Staging Second Life project.
Foreign Language Instruction in a Virtual Environment
Authors: Kaplan-Rakowski Regina
Published: September 2010

The chapter conveys the experiences of using the virtual world Second Life (SL) to supplement classroom-based instruction of an introductory foreign language class. With attention given to the needs of educators and instructional designers, as well as students, the author presents selected activities, along with detailed practical plans and theoretical justifications for those activities. She follows by discussing the technological characteristics of SL (communication features, logging features, and features used to ease activity preparation) that the author found to be of particular pedagogical value in her instruction. The importance of situated cognition, cultural relevance, self-pacing, students’ autonomy, and interactivity with diminished inhibition is examined as well.
Enhancing tertiary healthcare education through 3D MUVE-based simulations
Authors: Miller Charlynn , Lee Mark J. W. , Rogers Luke , Meredith Grant , Peck Blake
Published: September 2010

This chapter focuses specifically on the use of three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments (3D MUVEs) for simulation-based teaching and learning in tertiary-level healthcare education. It draws on a broad range of extant research conducted over the past three decades, synthesizing this with newer developments and examples that have emerged since the advent and proliferation of the “3D Web.” The chapter adopts and advocates a research-informed approach to surveying and examining current initiatives and future directions, backed by relevant literature in the areas of online learning, constructivist learning theory, and simulations. Both opportunities and challenges are discussed, with the aim of making a contribution to the development of best practice in the field.
New Augmented Reality Applications
Authors: Redó Manuela Núñez , Torres Arturo Quintana , Quirós Ricardo , Redó Inma Núñez , Castelló Juan B. Carda , Camahort Emilio
Published: September 2010

In this Chapter, the authors will present an Augmented Reality (AR) system for teaching Inorganic Chemistry to university-level students. Augmented Reality (AR) is a computer related research area that allows users to see views of the real world enhanced with computer-generated text and visual information. AR with 3D models can be used as an educational aid to help students gain spatial intuition. This is really important and useful in disciplines like Inorganic Chemistry, where solving problems related to 3D crystal structures, understanding these structures or facing symmetry related problems can be supported by computer generated 3D graphics. AR is an immersive technology that can improve education offering more interaction and realism. It can also be applied to real-time online and in-classroom teaching. Our system is based on inexpensive webcams and open-source software. A survey the authors conducted after using it in the classroom shows great acceptance of the system and improved results when solving Inorganic Chemistry problems related to 3D structures. This opens up new possibilities of self-assessment and interaction.
Interactive Models Based on Virtual Reality Technology Used in Civil Engineering Education
Authors: Sampaio Alcínia Zita , Henriques Pedro Gameiro , Cruz Carlos Oliveira , Martins Octávio Peres
Published: September 2010

Concerning the educational task, a school of engineering can be reasonably expected to constantly update computational resources which are in frequent use in the professions, technology which must be introduced into the training of the student, leading to their adaptation for curricula in these disciplines. The interaction allowed by three-dimensional geometric models could make an end to passive attitudes of learners as an opposition to traditional teaching systems. In addition, virtual reality technology could be applied as a complement to three-dimensional modeling, leading to a better communication between the various stakeholders in the process, whether in training, in education or in professional practice. Techniques of virtual reality were applied on the development of teaching models related to the construction activity. The involvement of virtual reality techniques in the development of educational applications brings new perspectives to the teaching of subjects related to the field of Civil Engineering activity.
The European Perspective of E-Health and a Framework for its Economic Evaluation
Authors: Di Giacomo Paola
Published: September 2010

E-health is a priority of the European i2010 initiative, which aims to provide safe and interoperable information systems for patients and health professionals throughout Europe. Moreover, the use of electronic storing and transmission of data to patients is increasing while through the deployment of e-health applications, health care is improved in terms of waiting time for patients. The concentration results from the cumulative incidence of chronic-degenerative pathologies, the greater utilization of biomedical technologies, and the increased health services demand. Finally, the interest towards electromechanical systems means the realization of tools of small dimensions, which have tremendous advantages thanks to their invasivity and greater diagnostic-therapeutic effectiveness. Therefore, an economic analysis has to take into consideration the use of biomedical technology, the analysis of alternatives, the selection of the economic evaluation technique, and the identification and quantification of the costs and benefits.
E-Health
Authors: Moumtzoglou Anastasius
Published: September 2010

People-centered health care represents a structural change in thinking, which encapsulates before anything else the consideration of the patient. The development of people-centered care might include a partnership approach based on equal footing, capacity-building and the expansion of organizational care. Its central values encompass empowerment, participation, family, community, and the abolition of any kind of discrimination. As a result, they bestow people on shared decision-making not exclusively on issues of treatment but also for health care organization. On the other hand, a global e-health agreement is beginning to take shape on the engagement of stakeholders, the interoperability, and standards. Consequently, e-health can have a significant impact on people-centered care, despite the challenges of implementation and adoption.
Safe Implementation of Research into Healthcare Practice through a Care Process Pathways Based Adaptation of Electronic Patient Records
Authors: Stamatopoulos V. G. , Karagiannis G. E. , Manning B. R. M.
Published: September 2010

Concern has been expressed over the lack of evidence of the effective transfer of new research findings, guidelines and protocols into front-line clinical use. This book chapter outlines an approach which focuses on establishing and then using existing end-to-end care process pathways as initial benchmarks against which to evaluate the effects of changes in clinical practice in response to new clinical knowledge inputs. Whilst the prime focus of this approach is to provide a robust means of validating improvement in best practice processes and performance standards as the basis of good clinical governance, it will also seek to identify potential risks of adverse events and provide the basis for preventive measures, further backed-up by training within the relevant specialist domains. The objective is to close this loop by monitoring incremental change in care processes through a rolling analysis of input to Electronic Patient Record integrated into the clinical governance process. A pathway-linked knowledge service approach that could radically simplify and speed up the record updating process that supports and does not impinge on the professional autonomy.
Measuring Safety of Care
Authors: Kristensen Solvejg , Mainz Jan , Bartels Paul D.
Published: September 2010

Patient safety initiatives have been launched in a number of countries, mostly focusing on problem identification, learning and improvement. However, so far there has been little focus on monitoring outcomes and surveillance of development of patient safety at the organizational and system level. As a consequence, we still do not know the extent of adverse incidents or patient safety problems, just as we do not know whether the measures introduced have in fact led to improvement. The perspectives of implementing use of e.g. indicators, audits and questionnaires for systematic risk management is, that it will be possible to continuously estimate the prevalence and incidence of patient safety quality problems. The lesson learned in quality improvement is that it will pay back in terms of improvement in patient safety. For this purpose validated methods are needed.
Gastrointestinal Motility Online Educational Endeavor
Authors: Au Shiu-chung , Gupta Amar
Published: September 2010

Medical information has been traditionally maintained in books, journals, and specialty periodicals. Now, a growing number of people, including patients and caregivers, turn to a variety of sources on the Internet, most of which are run by commercial entities, to retrieve healthcare-related information. The next area of growth will be sites that focus on specific fields of medicine, featuring high quality data culled from scholarly publications, operated by eminent domain specialists. One such site is being developed for the field of Gastrointestinal Motility; it further augments the innovations of existing healthcare information sites with the intention of serving the diverse needs of lay people, medical students, and experts in the field. The site, called Gastrointestinal Motility Online, leverages the strengths of online textbooks, which have a high degree of organization, in conjunction with the strengths of online journal collections, which are more comprehensive and focused, to produce a knowledge base that can be easily updated, but still provides authoritative and high quality information to users. In addition to implementing existing Web technologies such as Wiki- and Amazon-style commenting options, Gastrointestinal Motility Online uses automatic methods to assemble information from various heterogeneous data sources to create a coherent, cogent, and current knowledge base serving a diverse base of users.
Standards in Telemedicine
Authors: Ferrer-Roca O.
Published: September 2010

For many years, medical teams working on telemedicine have made a strong effort to define the telemedicine Body of Knowledge (BoK), and generate compatible standards that allow delivering telemedicine with adequate medical quality. The authors expect, after the European Commission statement on the Prague 2009 declaration, a new era for telemedicine. The essential barriers, which have already been encountered, include Literacy, Standard connectivity and Quality control. In the present chapter, the authors will address the item of Literacy regarding the type of standards in each of the topics of the Telemedicine Body of Knowledge.
Standards and Guidelines Development in the American Telemedicine Association
Authors: Krupinski Elizabeth A. , Antoniotti Nina , Burdick Anne
Published: September 2010

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) was established in 1993 to promote access to medical care for consumers and health professionals via telecommunications technology. The ATA Standards and Guidelines Committee has been charged by the Board of Directors with identifying, overseeing, and assisting work groups to develop individual standards and guidelines for specific technical, clinical and administrative areas. This chapter will review the mission of the ATA Standards and Guidelines Committee, the process by which standards and guidelines documents are produced, and report on its progress to date in providing the telehealth community with standards and guidelines for the practicing medicine at a distance.
Biopharma Drugs Innovation in India and Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer in the Changed Patent Regime
Authors: Rashmi Rakhi
Published: September 2010

This chapter addresses the relationship between the intellectual property rights and Foreign Direct Investment in the context of Indian biopharma Industry to assess the impact of the TRIPs agreement of WTO on the biopharmaceutical industry of developing countries. The central issue in this study is the extent to which patent reform (after the imposition of the TRIPs agreement in 1995) affects India’s ability to attract technology transfer for biopharmaceutical drugs innovation. The study analyzes FDI flow in the biopharma industry in Pre TRIPs (before the imposition of product patent protection 1991-1999) and post TRIPs (after product patent protection, 1999-2005). It does a comparative analysis of the relationship between the amount of foreign investment in different Indian states and the investment climate ranking of those states that are the part of Indian bio cluster.
Beyond Mobile Learning
Authors: Caron André H. , Caronia Letizia , Gagné Pascal
Published: September 2010

Contemporary research on mobile learning focuses mainly on issues such as the acquisition of knowledge, the development of cognitive skills and the efficiency of these tools with respect to the achievement of specific educational goals. Nonetheless, the consequences of the adoption of a technology within a learning context for educational purposes should not be reduced solely to the cognitive dimension implied in its use, nor should it be measured only in terms of goal achievement. Even if intended as purely educational tools, technologies are complex social objects that redefine the sense of the context, the activity and even the identity of the actors engaged in their use. When educational institutions adopt mobile information technologies they propose more than a supposedly efficient educational instrument or technology-formatted contents. They introduce a form of life. By form of life, we mean a repertoire of possible uses, actions, meanings and even intended actors that the users may adopt. A technology is then a condensed social context within which learning takes place. We might then ask, what kinds of learning are at stake? To grasp the richness and the complexity of the learning involved in using mobile information devices, we need a larger and holistic definition of learning that goes beyond simply acquiring knowledge on particular topics, or processing information for some formal educational purpose. Learning through mobile devices is a larger and complex process that involves different aspects of an individual’s psychological, cultural and social development. How does the use of an iPod affect the students’ identity? How does it contribute to the development of social skills and social awareness? Drawing on research involving 123 Canadian university students recruited from different disciplines (on the basis of data coming from diaries and focus groups), this chapter focuses on the multiple consequences of the introduction of this technology as an educational tool in students’ academic life.
Imagine Mobile Learning in your Pocket
Authors: Murray Cecilie
Published: September 2010

Students and teachers are embracing mobile technologies in their social lives. How is this reflected in K-12 schools? This chapter examines the experiences of students and teachers in a range of mobile learning projects in the K-12 environment. Four research projects highlight the experiences of students and teachers as they grapple with mobile technologies and the wireless environment, with implementation and technical issues, with learning approaches and pedagogical innovations. The projects focused on Literacy, Mathematics and cross-curricular learning with Australian primary and secondary students as well as students in international collaborative projects. In each project, students demonstrated improved attitudes to school, greater engagement and participation in learning and enhanced performance. Teachers learned a diversity of approaches to classroom management and curriculum planning, and demonstrated significant pedagogical change. The benefits of mobile learning were also reflected in the community, with parents taking greater responsibility and interest in their children’s learning opportunities.
Using Mobile Phones for Teaching, Learning and Assessing Irish in Ireland
Authors: Keogh Katrina A.
Published: September 2010

This chapter outlines the processes, benefits and challenges of two pilot projects which investigated the integration of mobile phones into the teaching, learning and assessment of Irish in post-primary schools in Ireland. Existing literature examining the status of Irish in Ireland and previous research into the use of mobile phones for teaching and learning languages are described. Findings from the two pilot projects indicate that mobile phones can help to promote the increased use of oral language skills, can increase student motivation and enjoyment for the task at hand and increase students’ competency in the language being taught. Mobile phones also proved successful in providing opportunities for students’ oral language practice and self-assessment and teachers’ formative and summative assessment of students’ language skills.
The Pedagogy of Mobility
Authors: Stewart Kathy M. , Hedberg John G.
Published: September 2010

Direct student experience of the real, live organism, object, place or environment is recognised by teachers and other educators as having powerful potential for high quality learning. Rendering this rich experience into explicit learning contexts for students remains an on-going pedagogical challenge. The use of mobile technologies as a way for students to capture their experience as it happens in the real world holds great promise as a vehicle to support authentic learning. This chapter presents a series of cases where different school groups were challenged with different mobile learning activities. The first two cases are derived from research studies in the local environment. In these two cases students were involved in inquiry-based learning where they used data collected in the field with handheld computer and digital cameras to assess the health of their local environment. The second two cases are derived from complementary geography tasks in the field. In one case students worked in pairs to navigate a given route, and in the fourth engaged in a debate about an issue pertaining to urban planning using text- and picture- messaging technologies. The results of the cases are analysed with a view to generating some general principles around the technologies, the activities and the tools that comprise the pedagogies embodied in these cases. It is hoped that they will inform more effective professional practice, specifically when teaching spatially dependent tasks and, more generally, in mobile collaborative learning environments.
A Web-Based Tool for Spatio-Multidimensional Analysis of Geographic and Complex Data
Authors: Bimonte Sandro
Published: September 2010

Spatial OLAP (SOLAP) integrates spatial data into OLAP systems, and SOLAP models define spatial dimensions while measuring spatio-multidimensional operators. In this paper, the author presents the concepts of geographic and complex measures that allow integrating geographic and complex information as subjects of analysis in spatial data warehouses. The concept of geographic measure extends the concept of spatial measure to the semantic component of geographic information. The concept of complex measure allows introducing complex data as subjects of multidimensional analysis. To reduce the gap in flexibility between spatial and multidimensional analysis, this paper proposes a symmetrical representation of measures and dimensions. Additionally, the author presents a Web-based SOLAP prototype, GeWOlap, that enriches existing SOLAP tools by effectively and easily supporting symmetrical geographic/complex measures and dimensions for modeling and visualization. To validate this approach, the simulated environmental data concerning the pollution of the Venice lagoon is used.
Describing Spatio-Temporal Phenomena for Environmental System Development
Authors: Miralles André , Pinet François , Bédard Yvan
Published: September 2010

This paper is composed of two parts dealing with the modeling of environmental phenomena. The first part presents the traditional ER and OO formalisms dedicated to geographic information modeling. These languages focus mainly on representing the spatial and temporal properties of this type of information. Many of these languages express these properties visually by using pictograms. After a quick historical presentation of the languages, the authors show the various types of spatiality and temporality usually encountered in these languages. Often qualified as primitive, some of these spatialities and temporalities are simple. Others, which are more complex, result from combinations of simple spatialities and simple temporalities. Still others are used in very specific situations encountered during the development of geographical information systems. These different spatialities and temporalities are presented via examples provided in the field of environmental dynamics.
Collaboration in Cyber Transportation Logistics
Authors: Toh Albert K. , Chan Yupo
Published: September 2010

Although the topic of supply chain (SC) and logistics (L) has been discussed in many fora, placing it in today’s cyber (e) space is still a subject that receives little attention. This paper analyzes the role of e-SC/L in the context of global business to business (B2B) electronic commerce (e-commerce). A major beneficiary of e-SC/L are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who can leverage information technology to bypass the extra cost associated with employing a third-party broker, who traditionally bridges the gap between suppliers and retailers. In this paper, a framework for incorporating both e-commerce and e-SC/L for SMEs is proposed in an e-marketplace context. The model consists of a trading platform with e-SC/L capabilities, and a classification scheme for different levels e-SC/L collaboration, presented with relevant types of information, communication and transportation technology (ICTT) needed to facilitate the design of each collaboration level. Included in the highest level are transportation, identification, and modeling and simulation technologies that enable the design of effective forward-looking collaboration.