bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Which global stock indices trigger stronger contagion risk in the Vietnamese stock market? Evidence using a bivariate analysis
Authors: Wang Kuan-Min , Lai Hung-Cheng
Published: June 2013

This paper extends recent investigations into risk contagion effects on stock
markets to the Vietnamese stock market. Daily data spanning October 9, 2006
to May 3, 2012 are sourced to empirically validate the contagion effects
between stock markets in Vietnam, and China, Japan, Singapore, and the US. To
facilitate the validation of contagion effects with market-related
coefficients, this paper constructs a bivariate EGARCH model of dynamic
conditional correlation coefficients. Using the correlation contagion test
and Dungey et al.?s (2005) contagion test, we find contagion effects between
the Vietnamese and four other stock markets, namely Japan, Singapore, China,
and the US. Second, we show that the Japanese stock market causes stronger
contagion risk in the Vietnamese stock market compared to the stock markets
of China, Singapore, and the US. Finally, we show that the Chinese and US
stock markets cause weaker contagion effects in the Vietnamese stock market
because of stronger interdependence effects between the former two markets.
Statistical Analysis of Reservoir Parameters of the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Formation in the Carpathian Foredeep Obtained from Dst Tests and Geophysical Surveys
Authors: Dubiel Stanisław , Uliasz-Misiak Barbara
Published: June 2013

Streszczenie

W publikacji przedstawiono wybrane wyniki analizy statystycznej właściwości zbiornikowych i parametrów złożowych utworów jury górnej-kredy dolnej określone na podstawie wyników testów rurowymi próbnikami złoża (RPZ) oraz badaniami geofizycznymi, przydatne przy opracowywaniu charakterystyki geologicznej złóż węglo­wodorów w utworach górnej jury-dolnej kredy.

Właściwości zbiornikowe (porowatość ogólna, miąższość efektywna) oraz parametry złożowe (przepuszczal­ność, gradient ciśnienia złożowego i wskaźnik wydobycia wody złożowej) jury górnej-kredy dolnej, usyste­matyzowano w postaci histogramów, w celu scharakteryzowania ich rozkładu i wyznaczenia wartości średnich. Wyznaczone średnie wartości mogą być wykorzystane przy projektowaniu procesów dowiercania, opróbowania i eksploatacji złóż węglowodorów w utworach górnej jury-dolnej kredy.

Wartość ciśnienia złożowego określona na podstawie wyników testów złożowych RPZ stanowi podstawę symulacji złożowych, a także projektowania konstrukcji otworów wiertniczych, technologii dowiercania oraz eksploatacji złoża. Metodami analizy statystycznej wyznaczono równanie regresji liniowej zmian ciśnienia złożowego w funkcji głębokości zalegania skał węglanowych jury górnej- kredy dolnej. Równanie to może być wykorzystywane do prognozowania wartości ciśnienia w danym rejonie wierceń.

Cechy produkcyjne badanych poziomów perspektywicznych jury górnej-kredy dolnej oceniono na podstawie zmian wskaźnika wydobycia wody złożowej (wydatek przypadający na jednostkę depresji ciśnienia) w funkcji miąższości efektywnej. Uzyskana korelacja pozwala na prognozowanie wskaźnika wydobycia wody złożowej na podstawie miąższości efektywnej w badanych utworach.

Cechą skał zbiornikowych, od której w znacznym stopniu zależy wielkość wskaźnika wydobycia tak wody złożowej, jak też i węglowodorów, jest ich przepuszczalność. Zróżnicowane zależności pomiędzy porowatością i przepuszczalnością występujące w skałach węglanowych są często przyczyną trudności i niejednoznaczności w interpretacji wyników testów złożowych. Metodami analizy statystycznej stwierdzono - dla wybranego obszaru poszukiwań naftowych - zadawalającą korelację między przepuszczalnością efektywną dla wody określoną testami RPZ, a porowatością oszacowaną na podstawie pomiarów geofizyki wiertniczej, nadającą się do progno­zowania wartości przepuszczalności skał jury górnej-kredy dolnej.
Content analysis of heavy metals/metalloids and mineral composition of waste generated during uranium concentrate processing
Authors: Pala Aleksandra , Widziewicz Kamila , Nowak Jacek , Loska Krzysztof , Biegańska Jolanta
Published: June 2013

Streszczenie

Odpady powstające w procesie wydobycia i przeróbki rudy uranowej stanowią najliczniejszą grupę odpadów pouranowych. Gromadzone w postaci hałd skały płonnej i odpadów przeróbczych, ze względu na obecność w nich promieniotwórczych radionuklidów oraz pierwiastków metali ciężkich/metaloidów, stanowią potencjalne źródło zagrożenia dla ekosystemów.

W artykule przedstawiono wyniki analizy składu mineralnego oraz chemicznego skały płonnej. Określenie składu mineralnego dokonano na drodze analizy rentgenograficznej, stosując dyfraktometr HZG-4 firmy DRON. Zawartość metali ciężkich/metaloidów w próbkach odpadów oznaczona została przy użyciu metody atomowej spektrometrii absorpcyjnej. Analizie spektrometrycznej poddano następujące metale ciężkie/metaloidy: As, Cr, Zn, Cd, Pb, Co, Cu, Ni. Celem wykonanych analiz było scharakteryzowanie rozpatrywanej grupy odpadów pouranowych pod względem składu mineralnego i pierwiastkowego.

Teren badań obejmował obszar Kotliny Jeleniogórskiej, znajdujący się w południowo-zachodniej Polsce w województwie dolnośląskim. Odpady skalne pobrane zostały z hałd zlokalizowanych w miejscowościach Kowary-Podgórze i Radoniów.

Przeprowadzona analiza rentgenograficzna pobranych próbek odpadów wykazała obecność w odpadach minerałów powszechnie występujących na terenie Kotliny Jeleniogórskiej. W próbkach oznaczone zostały między innymi minerały należące do grupy zeolitów oraz minerałów ilastych, które wykazują zdolność sorpcji metali ciężkich/metaloidów.

Analiza spektrometryczna metali ciężkich/metaloidów potwierdziła obecność w pobranych próbkach ozna­czanych metali ciężkich/metaloidów, których stężenia nie przekroczyły jednak wartości dopuszczalnych, określo­nych w Rozporządzeniu Ministra Środowiska w sprawie standardów jakości gleby i ziemi.

Przeprowadzone analizy nie wykazały, aby rozpatrywana grupa odpadów wydobywczych miała negatywny wpływ na środowisko przyrodnicze.
A Novel Model of Invasive Fungal Rhinosinusitis in Rats
Authors: Zhang Fang , An Yunfang , Li Zeqing , Zhao Changqing
Published: June 2013

Background

Invasive fungal rhinosinusitis (IFRS) is a life-threatening inflammatory disease that affects immunocompromised patients, but animal models of the disease are scarce. This study aimed to develop an IFRS model in neutropenic rats.

Methods

The model was established in three consecutive steps: unilateral nasal obstruction with Merocel sponges, followed by administration of cyclophosphamide (CPA), and, finally, nasal inoculation with Aspergillus fumigatus. Fifty healthy Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups, with group I as the controls, group II undergoing unilateral nasal obstruction alone, group III undergoing nasal obstruction with fungal inoculation, group IV undergoing nasal obstruction with administration of CPA, and group V undergoing nasal obstruction with administration of CPA and fungal inoculation. Hematology, histology, and mycology investigations were performed.

Results

The changes in the rat absolute neutrophil counts (ANCs) were statistically different across the groups. The administration of CPA decreased the ANCs, whereas nasal obstruction with fungal inoculation increased the ANCs, and nasal obstruction did not change them. Histological examination of the rats in group V revealed the hyphal invasion of sinus mucosa and bone, thrombosis, and tissue infarction. No pathology indicative of IFRS was observed in the remaining groups. Positive rates of fungal culture in tissue homogenates from the maxillary sinus (62.5%) and lung (25%) were found in group V, whereas groups I, II, III, and IV showed no fungal culture in the homogenates.

Conclusion

A rat IFRS model was successfully developed through nasal obstruction, CPA-induced neutropenia, and fungal inoculation. The disease model closely mimics the pathophysiology of anthropic IFRS.
Wolves in the Early Nineteenth-Century County of Jönköping, Sweden
Authors: Kardell Örjan , Dahlström Anna
Published: June 2013

In Sweden there has been a vigorous debate concerning management of the wolf (
Canis lupus
) ever since 1983, when the species was naturally re-established in the country by long-distance dispersal. The contradictory interests are due to a commitment by Naturvårdsverket, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, to protect the wolf, while at the same time wolves arouse fear and hatred among many members of the public because they attack hunting dogs and kill game and livestock. The wolf is expected to increase in numbers and spread over most of Sweden. We argue that modern wolf management would benefit from a historical perspective and our study draws on data from a time when wolves, livestock and people depending on their herds were far more numerous than today. We also discuss aspects of available wolf food supply and territorial size in the early nineteenth century county of Jönköping, Sweden. This is possible by combining hitherto undetected source material on wolves, with a high geographical resolution, with the insights of modern wildlife research. Our main conclusions are that historic wolf territories were in all probability larger than current territories. This was due to a scarcity of large prey, especially during the winter months when livestock were stabled. Past herding practices seem, to a very large extent, to have kept predation on livestock at nearly negligible levels compared to total livestock numbers. This is a significant finding that should be of interest to those concerned with present day wolf management. We also discuss the potential for the future re-establishment of wolves in the studied area.
Book Reviews
Authors: Lihua Wang , Inal Onur , Brady Lisa M. , Schoenfeld Stuart , Mcisaac Jacqueline , Sheail John , Smout T.c. , Iii Joseph E. Taylor
Published: June 2013

Robert B. Marks, China: Its Environment and History (Wang Lihua)
Sam White, The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (Onur Inal)
Mark Fiege, The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States (Lisa M. Brady)
Diana K. Davis and Edmund Burke III (eds.), Environmental Imaginaries of the Middle East and North Africa (Stuart Schoenfeld)
J. Keri Cronin, Manufacturing National Park Nature: Photography, Ecology, and the Wilderness Industry of Jasper (Jacqueline McIsaac)
Tim Sands, Wildlife in Trust: a Hundred Years of Nature Conservation (John Sheail)
Marianna Dudley, An Environmental History of the UK Defence Estate 1945 to the Present (T.C. Smout)
Ray Hilborn, with Ulrike Hilborn, Overfishing: What Everyone Needs to Know and Mansel G. Blackford, Making Seafood Sustainable: American Experiences in Global Perspective (Joseph E. Taylor III)
The Entropy of Co-Compact Open Covers
Authors: Wei Zheng , Wang Yangeng , Wei Guo , Wang Tonghui , Bourquin Steven
Published: June 2013

Co-compact entropy is introduced as an invariant of topological conjugation for perfect mappings defined on any Hausdorff space (compactness and metrizability are not necessarily required). This is achieved through the consideration of co-compact covers of the space. The advantages of co-compact entropy include: (1) it does not require the space to be compact and, thus, generalizes Adler, Konheim and McAndrew’s topological entropy of continuous mappings on compact dynamical systems; and (2) it is an invariant of topological conjugation, compared to Bowen’s entropy, which is metric-dependent. Other properties of co-compact entropy are investigated, e.g., the co-compact entropy of a subsystem does not exceed that of the whole system. For the linear system, (R; f), defined by f(x) = 2x, the co-compact entropy is zero, while Bowen’s entropy for this system is at least log 2. More generally, it is found that co-compact entropy is a lower bound of Bowen’s entropies, and the proof of this result also generates the Lebesgue Covering Theorem to co-compact open covers of non-compact metric spaces.
Fabrication of a Polyaniline Ultramicroelectrode via a Self Assembled Monolayer Modified Gold Electrode
Authors: Bolat Gulcin , Kuralay Filiz , Eroglu Gunes , Abaci Serdar
Published: June 2013

Herein, we report a simple and inexpensive way for the fabrication of an ultramicroelectrode and present its characterization by electrochemical techniques. The fabrication of polyaniline UME involves only two steps: modification of a gold (Au) electrode by self assembled monolayers (SAM) and then electrodeposition of polyaniline film on this thiol-coated Au electrode by using cyclic voltammetry and constant potential electrolysis methods. Two types of self-assembled monolayers (4-mercapto-1-butanol, MB, and 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid, MUA) were used, respectively, to see the effect of chain length on microelectrode formation. Microelectrode fabrication and utility of the surface was investigated by cyclic voltammetric measurements in a redox probe. The thus prepared polyaniline microelectrode was then used for DNA immobilization. Discrimination between double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) was obtained with enhanced electrochemical signals compared to a polyaniline-coated Au electrode. Different modifications on the electrode surfaces were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
La commanderie de l'Ordre des Hospitaliers à Acre
Authors: Stem Eliezer
Published: June 2013

The Commandery ofthe Hospitalier Order at Acre, by Eliezer Stern

The Hospitalier Commandery of Saint John at Acre was one of the major monuments of the ancient medieval city. Until recently, however, only one of the two vaulted halls was known, because the rest of the buildings were buried or hidden by Ottoman constructions. Excavations undertaken in the last half century have totally renewed our knowledge of the complex, which included halls, kitchens, latrines, dormitories, and lodgings for pilgrims. This archaeological synthesis is the first French-language presentation of the complex.
Le portail d'Acre transporté au Caire : sources et diffusion des modèles rayonnants en Terre sainte au milieu du XIIIe siècle
Authors: Plagnieux Philippe
Published: June 2013

Das Portal aus Akkon, das nach Kairo transportiert wurde : Quellen und Verbreitung rayonnantgotischer Vorbilder im Heiligen Land in der Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts, von Philippe Plagnieux

Seit dem Ende des 13. Jahrhunderts schmückt ein sehr schönes rayonnantgotisches Portal aus Marmor den Haupteingang des Grabmals und der Madrasa, die in Kairo von dem mameluckischen Sultan al-N ?s,ir Muhammad errichtet wurden (1403/1404 vollendet). Zwei am Denkmal angebrachte Inschriften und vor allem zwei Passagen des Historikers und Chronisten al-Maqr ?z ? (Kairo 1364-1442) erlauben es, die Missgeschicke dieses architektonischen Kleinods zu verfolgen. Auf Befehl des Siegers von Akkon von 1291 ließ ein Emir die den Lateinern abgenommene Stadt abreißen, aber er verschonte das Portal einer der Kirchen, das er für seinen Wohnsitz in Kairo mitnahm. Das Portal wurde sehr bald zur Trophae fur den Endsieg über die Lateiner und ein Symbol dynastischer Legitimation, so dass es in der Folge zwischen den verschiedenen Machtprätendenten mehrfach den Besitzer wechselte.

Die formale Analyse des Portais zeigt, dass es sich an den Pariser Denkmalern, die im Jahrzehnt um 1240-1250 begonnen wurden, orientiert (Sainte- Chapelle, Nordquerhaus von Notre-Dame in Paris...). Alles spricht also dafür, das Portal von Akkon mit dem Aufenthalt Ludwigs des Heiligen im Orient zwischen 1248 und 1254 in Verbindung zu bringen. Zur Stützung dieser Beobachtung muss man mindestens zwei andere Ensembles berücksichtigen, die demjenigen von Akkon sehr nahe stehen und sich ebenfalls an den jüngsten Pariser Bauten orientieren, und die im Kielwasser Ludwigs des Heiligen ausgeführt wurden : Das ehemalige Nordportal der Kathedrale von Nikosia in Zypern und die Vorhalle der großen Halle des «Crac des Chevaliers».
Evaluación del rendimiento de los sistemas de búsqueda de respuestas de dominio general
Authors: Olvera-Lobo María-Dolores , Gutiérrez-Artacho Juncal
Published: June 2013

Los sistemas de búsqueda de respuestas (SBR) son una alternativa a los tradicionales sistemas de recuperación de información tratando de ofrecer respuestas precisas y comprensibles a preguntas factuales, en lugar de presentar al usuario una lista de documentos relacionados con su búsqueda. Se ha evaluado la eficacia de cuatro SBR disponibles en la Web —QuALiM, SEMOTE, START, y TrueKnowledge—, mediante una amplia muestra de preguntas de definición, factuales y de lista, pertenecientes a distintos dominios temáticos. Se utilizó una colección de 500 preguntas cuyas respuestas fueron valoradas por los usuarios y, posteriormente, se aplicaron varias medidas para su evaluación (MRR, TRR, FHS, MAP y precisión). Se observa que START y TrueKnowledge presentan un nivel aceptable de respuestas correctas, precisas y en una secuencia bien ordenada. Los resultados obtenidos revelan el potencial de esta clase de herramientas en el ámbito del acceso y la recuperación de información de dominio general.
El precio de la internacionalidad: la dualidad en los patrones de publicación de los investigadores españoles en comunicación
Authors: Fernández-Quijada David , Masip Pere , Bergillos Ignacio
Published: June 2013

Este artículo caracteriza los patrones de publicación en revistas científicas de los investigadores españoles de comunicación. Se analiza la institución de procedencia, el número de autores, la tipología de las colaboraciones y el número y destino de las referencias para tres muestras de revistas distintas: revistas españolas no indizadas en SSCI, revistas españolas incluidas en SSCI y revistas internacionales SSCI. Los resultados muestran un comportamiento dual de los autores en función del destino nacional o internacional de sus artículos. Así, publicar en una revista internacional es más propio de los autores de universidades jóvenes e implica mayoritariamente autoría múltiple, colaboración con autores foráneos y un gran número de referencias a revistas internacionales. Todos estos parámetros se invierten en el caso de las revistas nacionales. Finalmente, las revistas españolas SSCI se definen más por su nacionalidad que por su pertenencia al índice bibliográfico de referencia internacional.
Web-Based Services and Future Business Models
Authors: Ndou Valentina , Del Vecchio Pasquale , Passiante Giuseppina , Schina Laura
Published: June 2013

A paradigm shift is taking place today that provides a compelling value proposition for organizations and requires the adoption of new business models for the management of their core activities in a competitive way. The new emerging business models are related with open innovation, cloud computing approach, as well as social networking, which creates opportunities for firms to harvest the resources and knowledge that could be found outside the firm’s boundaries. However, in order for firms to grasp most of the emerging technologies, they should reconfigure their activities to tackle the challenge and opportunity presented by new innovations and technology trends. In this chapter, the authors demonstrate the changes that these new trends are witnessing for the business models of firms from a provider and user perspective.
Informational Data Mining
Authors: Gürbüz Feyza , Önen Fatma Gökçe
Published: June 2013

The previous decades have witnessed major change within the Information Systems (IS) environment with a corresponding emphasis on the importance of specifying timely and accurate information strategies. Currently, there is an increasing interest in data mining and information systems optimization. Therefore, it makes data mining for optimization of information systems a new and growing research community. This chapter surveys the application of data mining to optimization of information systems. These systems have different data sources and accordingly different objectives for knowledge discovery. After the preprocessing stage, data mining techniques can be applied on the suitable data for the objective of the information systems. These techniques are prediction, classification, association rule mining, statistics and visualization, clustering and outlier detection.
A Modeling Approach to Building Wireless Sensors
Authors: Sacco E.
Published: June 2013

The gap between wireless sensor networks and application experts such as doctors, physicists, and biologists is slowly closing. Previous efforts have been made to bring the two together, but a design and implementation methodology for the lone user has never been proposed. In this chapter, a procedure is proposed based on the author’s experience building and programming a wireless humidity sensor for a greenhouse with only a small amount of previous programming experience. Various factors affecting the design and construction of sensor nodes are analysed and then applied in a practical manner in the project. The project ended prematurely due to hardware faults but reached a point that allows the continuation of the methodology in a theoretical fashion.
Database Systems in Biology
Authors: Pappalardo Elisa , Cantone Domenico
Published: June 2013

The successful sequencing of the genoma of various species leads to a great amount of data that need to be managed and analyzed. With the increasing popularity of high-throughput sequencing technologies, such data require the design of flexible scalable, efficient algorithms and enterprise data structures to be manipulated by both biologists and computational scientists; this emerging scenario requires flexible, scalable, efficient algorithms and enterprise data structures. This chapter focuses on the design of large scale database-driven applications for genomic and proteomic data; it is largely believed that biological databases are similar to any standard database-drive application; however, a number of different and increasingly complex challenges arises. In particular, while standard databases are used just to manage information, in biology, they represent a main source for further computational analysis, which frequently focuses on the identification of relations and properties of a network of entities. The analysis starts from the first text-based storage approach and ends with new insights on object relational mapping for biological data.
A Review on Applied Data Mining Techniques to Stock Market Prediction
Authors: Fidan Neslihan , Ozkok Beyza Ahlatcioglu
Published: June 2013

A portfolio manager considers forecasting the asset prices and measurement of the market risk of an underlying asset. Financial institutions produce datasets to handle their problems by using data mining tools. Recently new technologies have been developed for tracking, collecting, and processing financial data. From a data analysis point of view, this chapter reviews the published articles based upon predictive data mining applications to stock market index. It is observed that hybrid models that combine data mining techniques or integrate an algorithm to a method work efficiently. Finally, the chapter provides likely directions of future researches.
Towards a Post-Implementation Evaluation Framework of Outpatient Electronic Drug Prescribing
Authors: Oliveira Tiago Cravo , Oliveira Mónica Duarte , Peña Teresa
Published: June 2013

The adoption of electronic drug prescribing (ePrescribing) systems has been largely discussed in scientific literature. Yet post-implementation evaluations of these systems are still in short supply. At a time when large investments are being made throughout the world in health information systems and technologies, under pressure for cost-containment, evidence on which systems provide the largest net benefits is required. In this chapter, the authors start by reviewing the literature on the costs and benefits of outpatient ePrescribing systems and find that the evidence is scattered. There is a general consensus that ePrescribing is beneficial, although few studies quantify the net benefits of specific systems. The review also shows that the evaluation of ePrescribing systems is complex and that most studies share limitations associated with the evaluation of other health information technologies and systems. The authors propose an evidence-based framework to inform post-implementation evaluations of outpatient ePrescribing systems and to improve the quality and comparability of studies in the area.
Healthcare Information System Modelling
Authors: Hainaut Jean-Luc , Brogneaux Anne-France , Cleve Anthony
Published: June 2013

This chapter studies the requirements for a wide range of healthcare information systems, including, but not limited to, clinical pathways management, patient record management, home care management, and medical personnel and resource management. The analysis concentrates on the description and management of medical activities, leaving aside the standard management processes common to all enterprises. It develops a generic architecture for these information systems comprising four central submodels devoted to the description, respectively, of organizational structures, care processes, information, and resources. Each submodel is analysed independently of the others then integrated into a consistent global model. Extensions of this model to other facets of the healthcare information system are discussed and some practical applications are suggested.
ICT and Healthcare
Authors: Olaniran Bolanle A. , Rodriguez Natasha
Published: June 2013

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support and facilitate interactions on the Web has increased in the amount of users, communities, and organizations. Computer-Mediated Communications (CMC) is among the most frequently studied and used ICT. As a communications medium, CMC has the ability to connect geographically dispersed individuals without the constraints of time or space. CMC helps foster online communities—where individuals with similar interests and/or experiences can come together. It is the ability to connect people that make these ICTs a valuable tool for social support. Thus, this chapter proposes the need to explore the use of ICT, specifically the role of CMC as a support medium for victims/survivors of Domestic Violence (DV), a topic germane to healthcare and the overall general well-being of females, their families, and societies at large.
Potential of GIS and Spatial Knowledge in Health Care and Public Safety
Authors: Blanc Eilon , Reychav Iris
Published: June 2013

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are a relatively new tool in health care services and organizations. However, health-care professionals who know how to utilize GIS and other spatial tools get a powerful decision support tool. This chapter presents an overview of the GIS and spatial simulation in the health care environment. In the first section, an introduction to the situation is provided. Then, in the second section, the key terms are introduced: access in health care, GIS, and spatial simulation. In the third section, different cases where GIS supports decision making in the health care services are shown. In the fourth section, two examples of spatial simulation are shown. Finally, future research directions and conclusions are discussed.
Improving Health using Therapies 2.0 with Ubiquitous Wireless Access
Authors: Macías Elsa M. , Suarez Alvaro , Calvo Fernando
Published: June 2013

Improved 4G communication technologies in conjunction to Web 2.0 technologies are contributing to design and implement new and exciting healthcare services for citizens that can be accessed any time and any place. Tobacco is a risk factor causing increased morbidity and mortality in developed countries. Smoking cessation is a hard challenge for several people that can be achieve with the help of Web 2.0 and wireless access technologies to multimedia information. There are a lot of basic Web 1.0 portals for smoking cessation. The authors present an overview of serious damages or even death provoked by nicotine poisoning, an overview of on-line group therapies, and their user-centric Web 2.0 Portal intended for smoking cessation. They demonstrate innovative and effective facts of their Web 2.0 portal: Wireless access, scheduled agendas, and video on-demand services.
Participatory Online Platforms and the Construction of Citizen Autonomy in Health Issues
Authors: Martins Nuno Duarte , Alvelos Heitor , Espanha Rita
Published: June 2013

The goal of the present study is mapping the nature of possible contributions of participatory online platforms in citizen actions that may contribute in the fight against cancer and its associated consequences. The research is based on the analysis of online solidarity networks, namely the ones residing on Facebook and the blogosphere, that citizens have been gradually resorting to. The research is also based on the development of newer and more efficient solutions that provide the individual (directly or indirectly affected by issues of oncology) with the means to overcome feelings of impotence and fatality. In this chapter, the authors summarize the processes of usage of these decentralized, freer participatory platforms by citizens and institutions, while attempting to unravel existing hype and stigma; the authors also provide a first survey of the importance and the role of institutions in this kind of endeavor; lastly, they present a prototype, developed in the context of the present study that is specifically dedicated to addressing oncology through social media.
New Public Management Reforms in the Portuguese NHS
Authors: Picoito Célia , Major Maria João
Published: June 2013

New Public Management (NPM) is a global paradigm that affects all public sectors, health included. Following the course of NPM reforms, Portuguese hospitals adopted a more business-oriented approach. Among various transformations hospitals have been through, the way they are financed changed from a retrospective finance system, based on a budget determined by the previous year’s costs, to “contratos-programa” that are established between each hospital, the provider, and Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS), the financier. Once these “contrato-programa” are based in prices per production lines, it is extremely important to have an effective cost system that can calculate accurate costs for each production line. With this purpose, in 2007 a pilot project was initiated to replace the existing and mandatory cost department method by Activity-Based Costing (ABC) method. In this chapter, the authors analyze the changes performed in the Portuguese hospitals by NPM movement and the role that traditional (cost department) and ABC methods play in it.
The Impact of ICT and Online Social Networks on Health and Social Services
Authors: Porfírio José , Jacquinet Marc , Carrilho Tiago
Published: June 2013

One of the domains where ICTs’ impact on healthcare and social services can be assessed is through the presence of healthcare interactions in virtual social networks, blogs, and portals. The emerging concept of e-health is covering part of this new phenomena, and the task is to make a clear statement of the problem: what are the relevant dimensions and the impacts of new technologies and practice in health and social services, and how this is changing the present business model in these industries? The present chapter deals with three main issues. The first is the Concept of E-health. The second issue is related to the Healthcare online social networks. In this domain, the authors consider that it is important to distinguish different types of networks, taking into consideration their aim, since they will have different implications both for business as usual and for strategic purposes of different healthcare services’ providers. Finally, the authors assess the ICTs’ impact on healthcare in the domain of e-business. By integrating these different concepts, they demonstrate how ICTs directed to healthcare are changing the underlying structure of healthcare businesses, supplying new business models, and becoming a driver for change and productivity gains, while contributing to infrastructure and skill development to healthcare. These changes are posing interesting strategic challenges to the healthcare sector that is worthwhile to consider and equate in light of the conditions required for success.
Action Research in Virtual Communities
Authors: Boaduo Nana Adu-Pipim
Published: June 2013

Contextually, all tertiary institutions have four major responsibilities – teaching, research, publication, and community service. The adage “publish or perish” has become a thorn in the flesh of many university academic staff who rest on their laurels and do nothing about research, publication, and community engagement. Practising university academic staff are required by the nature of their profession to engage in regular research be it in their daily lecturing and supervision of students’ research thesis or writing for publication. Currently, research has become the buzz-word in all tertiary institutions but not all of them take the pains to school academic staff in the practice of research in terms of the virtual communities where the institution is located. In the context of this paper, the author looks at action research through the eyes of teachers of all categories in virtual communities and how their involvement can complement successful social networking. The approaches used in this discussion are purely from empirical and exploratory perspectives and provide detailed discussion with emphasis on the application of action research for effective and efficient social networking considering the social, cultural, organizational and human cognitive perspectives.
Retaining and Exploring Digital Traces
Authors: Akoumianakis Demosthenes , Milolidakis Giannis , Vlachakis George , Karadimitriou Nikolas , Ktistakis Giorgos
Published: June 2013

The present work rests and elaborates on the assumption that social technologies are increasingly turned into computer-mediated virtual settlements, thereby allowing the excavation of a variety of enacted cyber-phenomena such as ad hoc online ensembles, informal social networks and virtual communities, on the grounds of “digital” traces or remains. In this vein, the authors motivate and present a method for virtual excavations that is tightly coupled to a transformational technology such as knowledge visualization. The analytical and explanatory value of the method is assessed using two case studies addressing representative genres of social technologies, namely web sites augmented with social plug-ins and social networking services. Analysis reveals intrinsic aspects of “digital” traces and remains, the form they take in today’s social web and the means through which they can be excavated and transformed to useful information. It turns out that such virtual excavations, when organized and conducted carefully, can be of benefit to enterprises, service organizations and public sector institutions. In addition, their tight coupling with knowledge visualization eliminates extensive data analysis as much of this work can be done using the visualization. On the other hand, and depending on the size of digital trace data, the choice of visualizations and the underlying toolkit are of paramount importance.
User-Centered Study on Quality of Mobile Video Services
Authors: Song Wei , Tjondronegoro Dian , Docherty Michael
Published: June 2013

Mobile video, as an emerging market and a promising research field, has attracted much attention from both industry and researchers. Considering the quality of user-experience as the crux of mobile video services, this chapter aims to provide a guide to user-centered studies of mobile video quality. This will benefit future research in better understanding user needs and experiences, designing effective research, and providing solid solutions to improve the quality of mobile video. This chapter is organized in three main parts: (1) a review of recent user studies from the perspectives of research focuses, user study methods, and data analysis methods; (2) an example of conducting a user study of mobile video research, together with the discussion on a series of relative issues, such as participants, materials and devices, study procedure, and analysis results; and (3) a conclusion with an open discussion about challenges and opportunities in mobile video related research, and associated potential future improvements.
Evaluation of E-Resources in Government
Authors: Jain Vinita
Published: June 2013

Throughout history, man has been recording, presenting, and preserving information through various media like palm leaves stores, tablets, leather, clay, etc. The invention of paper and the printing press brought a revolution in this direction. Subsequently, micro documents and audio-video cassettes also arrived on the scene. The 20th century witnessed a revolution in the form of computer for storing and retrieving information. CD-ROM brought a revolution in information storage and retrieval. DVD, with much higher storage capacity, further revolutionized the information delivery mechanism. World Wide Web converted the whole world into an information city. The information going electronic, knowledge storage and retrieval has become dynamic with the help of powerful retrieval engines irrespective of the storage media used, be it CD or Internet. Slowly, the static and paper-based libraries are being replaced by dynamic electronic/digital/virtual mechanisms for producing, organizing, locating, repackaging, and accessing the information. Many libraries have gained experience in developing and building digital resources and their management. Electronic book is a text, analogous to a book that is in digital form to be displayed on a computer screen. E-books are online or in CD-ROMs, which store vast amounts of data in text form, as well as digital images, animation, music, and other sounds to supplement this text.
Internet and Online Medical Journal Access Skills of the Medical Practitioners of Tamilnadu
Authors: Murugan B. O. Sathivel , Sornam S. Ally
Published: June 2013

This study focuses on the allopathic medical practitioners’ skill to use online medical journals and barriers faced while seeking information. Five-hundred-twenty-nine medical practitioners are involved in this study. Among the total sample, one-third of the practitioners have skill to use the online medical journals and the remaining two-thirds of them do not have this skill. Gender and workplace of the practitioners do not have significant association in the access skill of the online medical journals. However, it is reversed for the practitioners’ educational qualification. Online medical journal access skill is in descending order of the practitioners’ educational qualification. The top three reasons for not using the online journals are presented in descending order: not knowing how to search (69.998%), lack of time (59.721%), and did not know the availability (58.609%). Government bodies (NIC, DPH, DME) and medical associations (IMA, S-IMA) associated with medical librarians may conduct digital information literacy level assessments of the medical practitioners and plan to organise digital information source awareness programs and hands-on training programs to the practitioners at regular intervals.
Security Challenges in University Libraries of India
Authors: Chatterjee Abhijit , Maity Arabinda
Published: June 2013

Security is a true concern for the modern and well-equipped libraries, and this situation worsens with the application of information technology virtually in all areas of library services. The older security threats in the library transform into modern cyber crime and network hazards. This chapter briefly describes two different sets of threats in modern libraries and the measures that can be adopted for prevention. The chapter provides some of these prevention measures.
Emerging Issues in Open Access Initiatives in Africa
Authors: Bashorun M. T. , Lawal Iro Sani , Abdulmumin Isah
Published: June 2013

Access to scholarly publications in the 21st century has been greatly enhanced with the emergence of open access initiatives the world over. This new trend has contributed immensely to the development of a global scholarly communication system. This chapter investigates various facets of the Open Access (OA) movement and its growth in Africa. It highlights different roles played by organizations, libraries, publishers, and researchers in the development of OA. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the benefits and challenges of OA to various stakeholders. It concludes with recommendations on how to improve open access in Africa.
Scholarly Information Access Pattern of UGC-Infonet Digital Library Consortium by Faculty and Research Scholars in Gandhigram Rural Institute-Deemed University (India)
Authors: Jeyshankar R.
Published: June 2013

The UGC-Infonet Digital Library Consortium is the most important consortium providing access to a large array of e-resources to all academic universities and colleges in India, and thus facilitates the prompt access and efficient and effective usage of e-resources for teaching and research activities. It facilitates free access to scholarly journals and databases in all areas of learning to the research and academic community. The chapter deals with the usage of UGC-Infonet e-journal consortium by the faculty members and research scholars of the Gandhi Gram Rural Institute University, Tamil Nadu.
Use of E-Journals by the Faculty Members, Researchers, and Students in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Annamalai University
Authors: Thanuskodi S. , Meena M.
Published: June 2013

This chapter reports the result of a survey conducted at Annamalai University to determine the extent to which users are aware and make use of e-journals. The study also examines the search pattern of e-journals. A questionnaire was distributed among the faculty members, research scholars, and post-graduate students to collect desired data. A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed to the selected sample of Faculty of Engineering and Technology; 180 valid samples were collected. The result reveals that 46.67% of respondents want to access only electronic version of journals, whereas only 23.88% of users want to read the printed journals, but 29.45% of respondents want to use both electronic and printed journals. The study found that most of the respondents 73.33% use e-journals for writing papers. 68.33% of respondents use e-journals for studying their course work, and 51.11% of respondents use them for research work. The analysis reveals that most of the respondents, 73.33%, use e-journals for writing papers.
Social Networking in Academic Libraries
Authors: Joshi Sudhanshu
Published: June 2013

The chapter provides a snapshot on the use of social networking in academic libraries through a systematic review of the available literature and an examination of the libraries’ presence on the most popular social networking sites. The chapter initially reviews 819 articles of empirical research, viewpoints, and case studies, based on keyword(s) search “Web 2.0 + Academic Libraries” since 2006 found in the Library Literature and Information Full Text Database. Out of full text research papers, articles with empirical studies, 328 (40% of 819), are shortlisted; all articles are from journals having impact factors (as per ISI Thomson Reuters rating 2011-12), 0.8 and above. The articles are collected from four major management and library science publishers: Ebscohost, Science Direct, Taylor and Francis, Emerald Insight (including EarlyCite articles, Backfiles content). The potential limitation of the study is that it does not attempt to trace out trends using any regression techniques. The extension of this study could be statistically testing the figures observed in this chapter and laying down a grounded theory approach for future research in Web 2.0 applications in libraries. The important finding is that the popularity of the various social networking sites can change quickly on the basis of e-World of Month (e-WoM).
Internet Policy Issues and Digital Libraries’ Management of Intellectual Property
Authors: Tella Adeyinka , Afolabi A. K.
Published: June 2013

The policy issues posed by the Internet in different countries around the world do not seem to be very different. The Internet itself helps us realize this by allowing governments and citizens everywhere to share their problems and solutions. How different governments react to the Internet depends on the extent to which they are prepared to accept external influences. The continued growth of the Internet for personal, government, and business purposes is now being affected by a number of policy issues. The discussions in this chapter center on these various Internet policy issues. These are the issues of content on the Internet, equal access, copyright, and protection of intellectual property. The chapter also considers the emerging Internet policy issues such as privacy and security, and explores the basic principles for managing intellectual property in the digital environment and then suggests the tools for managing intellectual property by digital libraries.
Business Semantics Alignment for Business Process Model Integration
Authors: Fengel Janina
Published: June 2013

Business process modeling has become an accepted means for designing and describing business operations. However, due to dissimilar utilization of modeling languages and, even more importantly, the natural language for labeling model elements, models can differ. As a result, comparisons are a non-trivial task that is presently to be performed manually. Thereby, one of the major challenges is the alignment of the business semantics contained, which is an indispensable pre-requisite for structural comparisons. For easing this workload, the authors present a novel approach for aligning business process models semantically in an automated manner. Semantic matching is enabled through a combination of ontology matching and information linguistics processing techniques. This provides for a heuristic to support domain experts in identifying similarities or discrepancies.
Tracking and Fingerprinting in E-Business
Authors: Boda Károly , Földes Ádám Máté , Gulyás Gábor György , Imre Sándor
Published: June 2013

Online user tracking is a widely used marketing tool in e-business, even though it is often neglected in the related literature. In this chapter, the authors provide an exhaustive survey of tracking-related identification techniques, which are often applied against the will and preferences of the users of the Web, and therefore violate their privacy one way or another. After discussing the motivations behind the information-collecting activities targeting Web users (i.e., profiling), and the nature of the information that can be collected by various means, the authors enumerate the most important techniques of the three main groups of tracking, namely storage-based tracking, history stealing, and fingerprinting. The focus of the chapter is on the last, as this is the field where both the techniques intended to protect users and the current legislation are lagging behind the state-of-the-art technology; nevertheless, the authors also discuss conceivable defenses, and provide a taxonomy of tracking techniques, which, to the authors’ knowledge, is the first of its kind in the literature. At the end of the chapter, the authors attempt to draw the attention of the research community of this field to new tracking methods.
English Auction Issues in Mobile E-Commerce
Authors: Sidnal Nandini , Manvi Sunilkumar S.
Published: June 2013

Recently, agent technology is playing a dominant role in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), distributed computing, and Internet commerce. Agents are set to represent on behalf of customers and vendors in m-commerce to resolve the various issues in the near future. This chapter presents the various issues in m-commerce including issues in English auctions as the major focus that needs to be tackled to make m-commerce successful in the coming years. It provides solutions to some of the challenges by employing cognitive agents. It also presents architectures, techniques, and surveys of the auctioning process in mobile e-commerce.