bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Writing Papers Using Nivivo8 and Coh-Metrix
Authors: Zhang Felicia
Published: October 2011

It is argued that the use of Nivivo8 and Coh-Metrix is capable of increasing the quality of submissions for publication and will be an excellent set of tools for postgraduate students to use for publication purposes.
Learning and Performance Innovation
Authors: Allen Jeff , Bracey Pamela , Pasquini Laura
Published: October 2011

Innovations in learning and performance possess the ability to enhance academic programs which encourage educators, businesses, and other stakeholders to reach their objectives. This chapter will address the subject of learning and performance innovation as it directly relates to educators, training personnel, performance specialists, and leaders. Further, this chapter will broaden the definition of innovation to include the utilization of theory, system, processes, and tools that advance society by improving skill sets, promoting global and local connectivity, and increasing productivity and knowledge.
Organizational Learning and Technology
Authors: Wang Jia
Published: October 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the role of technology in organizational learning. Recognizing that the presence of technology may not always bring about desirable change, this chapter focuses on identifying promising aspects of technologies and their potential to enhance the organization’s learning capacity. Three interrelated constructs—technology, organizational learning, and knowledge management—are examined. This review pointed to several challenges related to technology integration in the organizational learning processes. A variety of technology-based learning platforms are suggested. Virtual learning, virtual dialoguing, virtual communities of practice, and technology-enabled knowledge management systems are recommended as appropriate technology applications for facilitating learning within organizations. Gaining an understanding about how technology can be leveraged to promote learning is key to improving organizational practices.
Fair Use, Copyright, and Academic Integrity in an Online Academic Environment
Authors: Holloway Kristine
Published: October 2011

Technology has changed the way Fair Use is determined in an educational environment. Administrators face issues of ownership and copyright when making instructional materials available electronically. Planning for copyright issues, negotiating fair contracts with faculty and vendors, collaborating with stakeholders, and re-thinking Fair Use policies for online learning must occur when transitioning to an electronic library. Instructors and school leaders must understand Fair Use and the legal issues involved. They must deal with issues of academic integrity in an electronic environment and offer instruction on how to avoid student and faculty miss-use of materials. Ownership of intellectual property should be clearly defined to avoid conflict between online instructors and administration. Administrators must understand fair use and copyright issues and create policies and plans for dealing with issues that will inevitably arise as they work with course materials, faculty, and students in an online environment.
Information Competency and E-Learning
Authors: Farmer Lesley
Published: October 2011

In the information society, learners need to locate and evaluate resources carefully as well as determine how to use relevant information to solve problems and make wise decisions. As more students learn in online environments, resources and support must be available to optimize their success. Information literacy offers a series of processes as a means to deal successfully with information. By melding information literacy and content matter in e-learning environments, instructional designers can create authentic experiences for students to hone their skills. Choosing effective electronic resources, collaboration with librarians, and addressing technical issues are key to successful e-learning for information literacy. Future trends in e-learning approaches are discussed.
Human Resource Development and Technology Integration
Authors: Wang Jia
Published: October 2011

In the information age, technology is rapidly becoming an integral part of organizational life. Ever increasing technology applications have significantly reshaped the day-to-day practices of human resource development (HRD). This chapter explores the role of technology in HRD. Specifically, it addresses three issues. First, it identifies the challenges that technology has brought to HRD in the twenty-first century. Second, it analyzes the impact of technology on HRD practices with a focus on emerging HRD practices in virtual environments. Third, it provides insights into the future of virtual HRD in training and development, organizational development, and career development.
Technology, E-Leadership and Educational Administration in Schools
Authors: Dickerson Jeremy , Coleman Howard V.
Published: October 2011

Because of the ambiguity of terms for school leaders from country to country (principal, head, administrator, etc.), for the purposes of this chapter, candidates studying to become K-12 school administrators are referred to as “future educational leaders,” while active or current K-12 school administrators are referred to as “educational leaders.” This information will be useful at both the school and district levels, further supporting the use of the term “educational leaders.”
Fishing for Quality Learning
Authors: Lynch Julie , Lee Kerry
Published: October 2011

In order to prepare children for a world of rapid change New Zealand has developed a new education curriculum. This curriculum emphasises both a new vision and new values for teaching and learning. In order to address these, some progressive schools are trialing new technologies such as learning management systems. One such system which is showing exciting results is KnowledgeNet (KNet), which provides opportunities for students, peers, teachers, parents, and the community to be actively involved in the child’s education. Schools trialing this system are beginning to see extensive positive applications. This chapter will provide visual real-life classroom examples in order to describe how one New Zealand school has successfully introduced KNet.
Leadership in Higher Education in Adopting a Telecommuting Program
Authors: Snodgrass P. J. , Brewer Ernest W.
Published: October 2011

This study explored the perceived motivators and constraints that influence adoption of a telecommuting program at higher education institutions. Participants were 102 members of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) from 11 southern states. Sixty-four participants completed a 4-part survey via the World Wide Web; 38 participants completed the survey by mail. Both adopters and non-adopters of telecommuting programs identified that the primary motivator for adopting a telecommuting program was improvement of overall benefits to employees. Whereas adopters reported that cost of implementation was the primary constraint to adopting a telecommuting program, non-adopters reported a variety of other factors as the primary constraint. Results of this study have implications for implementation of and research on telecommuting programs in higher education.
Traditional Educational Leadership
Authors: Wang Victor X.
Published: October 2011

This article addresses the traditional instructional leadership (characterized with Tyler’s four questions; teachers prescribe a curriculum; learners assume a submissive role of following instructors) in comparison with the andragogical or innovative instructional leadership. As more and more scholars cast their doubt on this particular instructional mode (traditional instructional leadership) especially when compared with the innovative instructional leadership, this article seeks to draw on traditional instructional leadership that revolves around Ralph Tyler’s model. In doing so, instructors and practitioners will see clearly what the traditional instructional leadership may bring to most education settings and above all, they may rely on a ready-made formula when planning curriculums, instruction, program planning, or evaluation. While traditional instructional leadership may have come under much criticism lately, there is much to learn from it.
Criteria That Contribute to High Quality Teaching
Authors: Moran John , Liu Leping
Published: October 2011

Top-quality teaching fosters high student achievement and high achievers can harness their talents and energies to become successful, contributing citizens. There is confusing and conflicting research on teacher quality and no consensus on objective ways to describe teacher quality. This article describes an approach to the issue as a subjective multivocal synthesis of writings, opinions and comments of many different individuals and groups. The chapter is based on the principal component analysis of a Likert-scale survey instrument which consists of 30 statements adapted from research literature and U.S. states’ Teacher of the Year criteria. The results deliver responses to the question: What are the frequently-cited criteria describing high quality teachers and teaching that can be combined to form named, describable components for high quality teachers and teaching upon which there is a general consensus among students, teachers, parents, and school administrators?
Leadership Development in Kazakhstan
Authors: Parker Judith , Tazhina Gainiya
Published: October 2011

Kazakhstan’s recent history has transitioned from that of nomadic clans to domination by Russia to today’s independent nation. During these 20 years of independence, universities often educate leaders by translating and adapting traditionally Western models and research instruments. This article will report the findings of three such instruments on leadership, career management, and stress tolerance that were administered to graduate students at the University of International Business in Kazakhstan within the past year and consider their importance for the future of leadership development that is rich with technology.
Teacher Directed Instruction for Student Engagement
Authors: Swanson Karen Weller , Collins Geri
Published: October 2011

This article will define teacher directed instruction in light of a trend toward more learner-centered classroom experiences for 21st century students. The authors will identify the danger in creating an either/or paradigm but rather discuss what researchers have determined to be best practices in the teacher-centered context. Also, Hoyt and Perera (2000) surveyed faculty as to which type of instruction approach they incorporated into their practice. Forty-five percent identify some combination which used lecture as a primary approach. Thus the discussion of best practice will broaden the current conversation beyond what is good or bad but rather what supports student outcomes. Specific successful pedagogical strategies will be outlined including development of an engaging lecture, cooperative learning designed to enhance reading assignments, purposeful questioning, and using the Socratic Method.
Time to Graduation of Three Different Master’s Degrees in Psychology at a Public University
Authors: Fisher Dennis G. , Reynolds Grace L.
Published: October 2011

There has been a considerable amount of interest in graduation rates of baccalaureate degree programs in the educational literature. There has also been some attention given to graduation from doctoral programs and from associate degree programs. However, there is almost no literature on the graduation rates for Master’s degree programs. This report uses a method of analysis known as survival analysis or event history analysis to examine the time to event for two different events leading to completion of a Master’s degree. One event is the time to preliminary examination, and the other event is the time to final thesis defense or final examination. The data compare three different Master’s programs in a psychology department of one of the largest campuses of one of the largest public university systems in the United States.
Building a Brand in Virtual Learning Spaces
Authors: Glazer Hilda R. , Wanstreet Constance E.
Published: October 2011

This article employs a case study approach to explore the notion of connectedness between doctoral learners at a Midwestern distance learning university and other learners, faculty, their schools within the university, and the university itself in terms of brand identity and management. Although more than one-third of the learners felt no connection to their university and thus no brand association, this case study suggests that there is room for improvement at all levels of connectedness to the academic environment. This includes developing management practices that reinforce uniqueness and foster consistent images of the institution as credible, reliable, and responsive.
Enhancing Pedagogy with mLearning
Authors: Thomas Damon , Thomas Angela , Fluck Andrew
Published: October 2011

This chapter reports on a study of student mobile practices in one high school in Tasmania. This school provided all year 7 and 8 students with iPod Touches, and aimed to explore new forms of pedagogy that reflected a more relevant and contemporary curriculum for young people in the 21st century. Surveys and interviews were conducted with students to explore the effectiveness of the school’s program, as well as to understand the kinds of common practices students engaged in with mobile technologies in general. Surprisingly, the results revealed that the school practices were emerging somewhat slowly and students reported mixed comments about the program. Based on the research findings, recommendations are offered to teachers in order to maximize the benefits of mobile learning (commonly referred to as mLearning) to enhance pedagogy.
Digital Technologies
Authors: Penney Dawn , Newhouse Paul , Jones Andrew , Campbell Alistair
Published: October 2011

This chapter draws on research that has explored the use of digital technologies in the context of examination-based assessment in senior secondary physical education in Western Australia (WA). It discusses the potential that digital technologies present to enhance pedagogy in senior physical education teaching and extends learning opportunities in the subject. Pedagogical innovation is particularly considered in relation to linkages between traditionally distinct ‘theory’ and ‘practical’ course components and the ‘personalization’ of learning that is associated with the use of digital technologies. The use of digital technologies is identified as supporting the development of authentic, ‘integrated’ learning experiences, and greater inclusivity through enhanced recognition of different abilities at the point of summative assessment. Attention is also drawn, however, to the need to further explore issues of equity amidst the development of assessment and pedagogies utilizing digital technologies.
Using Prediction Markets to Deliver Authentic Learning Experiences
Authors: Buckley Patrick , Garvey John , McGrath Fergal
Published: October 2011

Mass higher education presents serious problems to implementing active learning. Large class sizes means that traditional active learning strategies are becoming more and more difficult to implement, due to the administrative burdens associated with them. In this chapter, the authors present prediction markets as a pedagogical tool which can be used to allow teachers to implement active learning in a large group teaching environment without imposing prohibitive administrative overheads. They outline the benefits for students in the cognitive and affective domains of learning. They move on to present a case study describing in detail how our methodology can be implemented and conclude by presenting research on the effectiveness of our approach in the cognitive domain of learning. The authors conclude that prediction markets are a powerful tool for implementing active learning in a large group teaching environment.
New Challenges in Web-Based Education
Authors: Lê Quynh , Lê Mark
Published: October 2011

The Web has become popular in education as it is an essential foundation for e-learning. It provides powerful resources for social interaction, teaching, learning and research. This chapter examines the various roles that the Web can contribute to teaching and learning and the impacts it has on shaping the conceptual as well as practical changes in education. Finally it discusses the challenges facing teachers in making the Web learner-friendly and culturally accommodating.
Mixed Realities
Authors: Rolf Daniel
Published: October 2011

Teaching with technological support brings its own set of problems, some of them technical and others social in nature. Familiarity with specific technology can enhance the teacher’s, the practicing professional’s and the student’s experience, otherwise each will face a potentially steep learning curve before being able to achieve the best outcomes. We live in a time of rapid technical advancement bringing us new and ever more exciting opportunities at ever decreasing cost. In this chapter the authors will look at technologies which present opportunities in the virtuality continuum, from the ubiquitous mobile phone to more specialized augmented and mixed reality systems. They show examples from various fields of endeavor in an attempt to whet the appetite of those interested in new and innovative approaches to training and education.
Web-Based Learning
Authors: Fan Si , Lê Quynh
Published: October 2011

Due to the increasing adoption of computers and networks, web-based learning (e-learning) has become more feasible and acceptable within the worldwide (De Moor, 2007). The Web, as an essential means of supporting teaching and learning, has become an important application in the field of tertiary education. Most Australian universities adopt the Web and web-based technologies to support their students in both traditional coursework as well as online learning (Straub, 2008). As one indispensible mode of education, web-based learning has brought students and lecturers with a much more convenient way to teach and learn. It serves in a variety of learning activities, such as communication, information retrieval, collaboration, assessment and work management. With a strong confidence in web-based learning, it is believed by a number of researchers that this learning mode will continue to grow and capture a greater share of the tertiary education market.
Evaluating Educational Software
Authors: Mukherjee Michelle M.
Published: October 2011

Teachers are under increasing pressure from government and school management to incorporate technology into lessons. They need to consider which technologies can most effectively enhance subject learning, encourage higher order thinking skills and support the performance of authentic tasks. This chapter reviews the practical and theoretical tools that have been developed to aid teachers in selecting software and reviews the software assessment methodologies from the 1980s to the present day. It concludes that teachers need guidance to structure the evaluation of technology, to consider its educational affordances, its usability, its suitability for the students and the classroom environment and its fit to the teachers’ preferred pedagogies.
Accessibility Issues of Educational Web Sites
Authors: Kurt Serhat
Published: October 2011

The World Wide Web (Web) has become an essential part of our daily life. Web accessibility remains an important issue because many people have limited access to the Web. It is essential to make this content accessible to all people. This chapter provides an overview of the importance of web accessibility. It explains the current status of the issue, accessibility guidelines and techniques to evaluate and achieve web accessibility. Useful resources and practical recommendations to increase accessibility are also included.
The Outcomes-Based Approach
Authors: Tam Maureen
Published: October 2011

This chapter aims to discuss the emerging trend of an outcomes-based approach to curriculum improvement in higher education in recent decades; consider its practical considerations for curriculum and educational technology design; critically review the advantages and disadvantages of adopting an outcomes-based approach; and finally discuss the caveats of inappropriate use in curriculum and instructional design in higher education. As any other models of educational or instructional design, the outcomes-based approach has limitations, as well as promises for guiding better instruction and curriculum. It remains as a matter of how skillfully it is used to maximize its benefits and value while diminishing its limiting effects that could educationally trivialize the kind of learning and education that it purports to promote in the first place.
The Next Generation
Authors: Kukulska-Hulme Agnes , Jones Chris
Published: October 2011

Focusing on intermediate and institutional levels of design for learning, this chapter explores how institutional decisions relate to design, using recent experience at The Open University as a case study. To illuminate the relationship between institutional decisions and learner-focused design, we review and bring together some of the research on learner practices in mobile and networked learning. We take a critical stance in relation to the concept of generation, which has been applied to understanding learners of different ages using terms such as net generation and digital natives. Following on from this, we propose an integrated pedagogical design approach that takes account of learner practices, spaces for learning, and technologies. The chapter also proposes future research directions focused on the changing context for learning, a distinction between place and space and an understanding of how the different levels of educational systems interact with mobile and networked technologies.
Informed Design of Educational Activities in Online Learning Communities
Authors: Carlén Urban , Lindström Berner
Published: October 2011

The aim of this chapter is to sketch design implications for organizing online educational activities in higher education that will intentionally engage medical students and professionals in the field together. When using an online forum, which is already embedded in the work practice, participants can build an online learning community (OLC) to discuss specialist subjects. This chapter is based on findings derived from a larger case study about participation in a professional OLC in general medicine. The proposal of an educational activity will complement numerous online activities with a more structured form of learning. As long as participants are challenged in learning about the specialist subject, they will contribute to the collective account. Online participation can be one way to foster students in becoming doctors. Together with qualified professionals, medicine students can create and sustain relationships over their professional careers.
3D Virtual Worlds in Higher Education
Authors: Rapanotti Lucia , Minocha Shailey , Barroca Leonor , Boulos Maged N. Kamel , Morse David R.
Published: October 2011

3D virtual worlds are becoming widespread due to cheaper powerful computers, high-speed broadband connections and efforts towards their tighter integration with current 2D Web environments. Besides traditional gaming and entertainment applications, some serious propositions are starting to emerge for their use, particularly in education, where they are perceived as enablers of active learning, learning by doing, and knowledge construction through social interaction. However, there is still little understanding of how 3D virtual worlds can be designed and deployed effectively in the education domain, and many challenges remain. This chapter makes a contribution towards such an understanding by reporting on three notable case studies at the authors’ own institutions, which have pioneered the use of Second Life, a 3D virtual world, in higher education.
Mobile Learning in Higher Education
Authors: Zeng Rui , Luyegu Eunice
Published: October 2011

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the growth of mobile learning across all sectors of education. Keen interest in mobile learning has led to a proliferation of views, perspectives, and diverse activities underpinned by different learning theories. This chapter focuses on various dimensions of mobile learning, including definitions, theoretical dimensions, mobile learning applications in higher education, and future research directions. Mobile learning is still an emerging and immature field. The chapter provides broad definitions and discussions of mobile learning drawing upon existing work. By exploring the experiences and views of various researchers, the chapter reveals the opportunities and challenges involved with mobile learning.
Fostering NCL in Higher Education
Authors: Alvino Serena , Trentin Guglielmo
Published: October 2011

Networked Collaborative Learning (NCL) is undeniably a double-edged sword. On the one hand it can yield high-quality learning and enhance both teachers’ and learners’ satisfaction. On the other hand, however, it requires careful planning and specific skills for the design and management of online learning activities. This is one of the main reasons for the limited adoption of NCL in a number of educational contexts. The focus of this chapter is a specific proposal aimed to foster the wide diffusion of Educational Technology (ET) and NCL in higher education (HE). In this perspective the chapter analyses the main barriers that limit the diffusion of Network-Based Educational Technology (NBET) approaches, in particular NCL, and then, in order to overcome them, presents an innovative approach to faculty training in Educational Technology Instructional Design. This approach is founded on multidimensional scaffolding, which supports teachers to integrate rules, heuristics, and best practices for design of active and collaborative online learning into their everyday activity.
Instructional Technical and Pedagogical Design
Authors: Ottenbreit-Leftwich Anne T. , Millard Mark O. , van Leusen Peter
Published: October 2011

This chapter described a case study of informed educational technology design. The chapter discussed how a conceptual guide for technology teacher experiences (Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Glazewski, & Newby, 2010) informed educational technology design in a course intended to prepare future teacher students to use technology. These students are introduced to various technologies and create materials for their future classrooms. They are also exposed to cases wherein they are required to make decisions on which technologies are most pedagogically appropriate. Therefore, the technology and pedagogy selected for this course are particularly important, as course instructors need to model appropriate decision-making.
Priorities in the Classroom
Authors: Smith Robert Emery , Chen Helen L. , Johnson Menko , O’Brien Alyssa J. , Huang-DeVoss Cammy
Published: October 2011

Innovative and informed design for higher education must begin with attention to teaching, not with shopping lists for digital media tools or blueprints for high performance spaces. The outcomes of the action research program embodied in Wallenberg Hall, a “socio-technical system” at Stanford University created to explore the futures of classroom learning, demonstrate the merit of this perspective. Framed in terms of an evolved implementation of the Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model of course design and presenting a three level categorization of teaching innovation, this chapter discusses a collection of course case studies to argue that the most innovative and informed design happens by keeping well-supported pedagogy at the forefront of higher education.
Routing Solutions for the Service Industry
Authors: Bozkaya Burcin , Cao Buyang , Aktolug Kaan
Published: October 2011

First introduced by Dantzig and Ramser over 50 years ago, vehicle routing problems (VRP) have drawn the attention of both academic researchers and practitioners due to its difficult-to-solve nature and hence its attractiveness in theoretical research as well as wide applicability in real-world settings. Today VRP is probably one of the most widely encountered types of problems for routing and distribution in the service industry. Examples include furniture delivery to a customer’s address, scheduling of bus service pick-up/drop-off for students or company personnel, or service technician routing. The goal of this chapter is to provide a background, mathematical model and various solution approaches on a more commonly encountered variant of the problem, namely the VRP with Time Windows (VRPTW). The authors also present three case studies from their experience in the service industry that are real applications of VRPTW. For each study, they describe the overall approach and methodology, and the positive contributions to the respective company which has implemented enterprise-scale GIS-based systems around the distribution problem of interest.
A Hybrid Algorithm Based on Monte-Carlo Simulation for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Route Length Restrictions
Authors: Juan Angel A. , Faulin Javier , Bektas Tolga , Grasman Scott E.
Published: October 2011

This chapter describes an approach based on Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to solve the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) with route length restrictions and customer service times. The additional restriction introduces further challenges to the classical CVRP. The basic idea behind our approach is to combine direct MCS with an efficient heuristic, namely the Clarke and Wright Savings (CWS) algorithm, and a decomposition technique. The CWS heuristic provides a constructive methodology which is improved in two ways: (i) a special random behavior is introduced in the methodology using a geometric distribution; and (ii) a divide-and-conquer technique is used to decompose the original problem in smaller sub-problems that are easier to deal with. The method is tested using a set of well-known benchmarks. The chapter discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed procedure in relation to other approaches for solving the same problem.
HMIP Model for a Territory Design Problem with Capacity and Contiguity Constraints
Authors: Lopez Fabian
Published: October 2011

Small geographic basic units (BU) are grouped into larger geographic territories on a Territory Design Problem (TDP). Proposed approach to solve a TDP is presented through a study case developed on a large soft drinks company which operates in the city of Monterrey, México. Each BU of our TDP is defined by three activity measures: (1) number of customers, (2) sales volume and (3) workload. Some geographic issues about contiguity and compactness for the territories to be constructed are considered. An optimal solution is obtained when the constructed territories are well balanced taking into consideration each activity measure simultaneously. In particular, contiguity is hard to be represented mathematically. All previous research work indicates that this NP-Hard problem is not suitable for solving on large-scale instances. A new strategy which is based on a hybrid-mixed integer programming (HMIP) approach is developed. Specifically, our implementation is based on a Cut-Generation Strategy. We take advantage from territory centers obtained through a relaxation of a P-median based model. This model has a very high degree of connectivity. Thus, small number of iterations to find connected solutions is required. The authors detail out their methodology and then they proceed to its computational implementation. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our method in finding near-optimal solutions for very large instances up to 10,000 BU’s in short computational times (less than 10 minutes). Nowadays, this model is being used by the firm with important economical benefits.
Optimising Customers as Knowledge Resources and Recipients
Authors: Heavin Ciara , Adam Frederic
Published: October 2011

Undoubtedly, customers play an integral role in the Knowledge Management (KM) approach of small to medium sized software enterprises (SMEs); in fact in the role of customer knowledge is reciprocal in nature. From an SME perspective, it is essential to identify customer knowledge that is valuable to the business and how this knowledge can be leveraged as an external knowledge resource. In doing this, consideration must be attributed to the knowledge activities (KAs), such as knowledge acquisition, codification, storage, maintenance, transfer, and creation, which utilise customer knowledge to facilitate organisational objectives such as new product development. The extent to which an SME effectively leverages customer knowledge directly impacts the customer. In an optimum situation, as knowledge recipients customers should be provided with a product or service that is fit for purpose based on their original knowledge contribution. Using a qualitative analysis approach in five Irish software SMEs, this chapter identifies how these organisations leverage their customers as external knowledge resources and the KAs, with particular emphasis on knowledge acquisition, in which customers play a part.
The Relevance of Customers as a Source of Knowledge in IT Firms
Authors: Cantú Laura Zapata , Pineda José Luis
Published: October 2011

The overall aim and contribution of this chapter is to identify the main sources of knowledge generation in IT-related SMEs and the organizational elements that support this process. Knowledge generation occurs through external knowledge acquisition and internal knowledge creation. The latter process is facilitated by personal motivation and the learning opportunities it offers to the organization’s employees, who play a key role as initiative and suggestion carriers. In order to evaluate the phenomenon under study, which the literature review reflects as an incipient stage, two-step exploratory research was conducted. In the first stage, eight interviews were conducted in four firms. The objective of the second phase was to validate some of the insight from the first stage, so a questionnaire designed for the research purpose was administered. The results show that knowledge in SMEs in the IT sector is generated mainly by employee self-learning, meetings and customers as an external source. These activities are strongly supported by the employees’ opportunity to learn and by organizational culture.
The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Knowledge-Enabled Customer Delight
Authors: Al Hashemi Suhaila , Haji Zahra
Published: October 2011

The research found a relationship between emotional intelligence, knowledge management, and customer satisfaction. National and corporate culture influenced such relationship. The findings of this research therefore add a new dimension (namely, national and corporate culture in the Gulf Region) to the concepts of emotional intelligence, knowledge management, and customer satisfaction.
Integrating Customer Relationship Management, Performance Management, and Knowledge Management through Balanced Scorecard
Authors: Liew Anthony
Published: October 2011

This chapter is primarily based on literature review or secondary research and analysis. The objective of this study is to extend and amalgamate the three major business management concepts: CRM, PM, and KM.
A Knowledge Management Approach to Marketing and the Advent of Customer Knowledge Management
Authors: Mjahed Samiha , Triki Abdelfattah
Published: October 2011

This chapter is intended to give an overview of knowledge management (KM), and to explore its extension to the marketing discipline. It is basically aimed to set the stage for the conceptualisation of knowledge-based complaint management rather than to provide a thorough and exhaustive literature review of the KM theory per se. Therefore the contribution of the chapter in hand lies in the fact that it integrates the concept of customer knowledge in the field of complaint management.
Neural Networks in Cognitive Science
Authors: Yusoff Nooraini , Sporea Ioana , Grüning André
Published: October 2011

In this chapter we give a brief overview of the biological and technical background of artificial neural networks as are used in cognitive modelling and in technical applications. This will be complemented by three instructive case studies which demonstrate the use of different neural networks in cognitive modelling.
A Survey on Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Marcelín-Jiménez Ricardo , Ruiz-Sánchez Miguel Ángel , López-Villaseñor Mauricio , Ramos-Ramos Victor M. , Moreno-Escobar Carlos E. , Ruiz-Sandoval Manuel E.
Published: October 2011

Localization is a fundamental challenge of wireless sensor networks in many applications because a set of nodes must be aware of individual positions, based only on their own resources, i.e. without the aid of external agents. This problem has been tackled using different approaches that provide good solutions under specific circumstances. Nevertheless, new conditions, including massive node deployment or irregular topologies, call for further study and development.
Enhanced QoS through Cooperating Schemes in Next Generation Wireless Networks
Authors: Charilas Dimitris E. , Panagopoulos Athanasios D. , Constantinou Philip
Published: October 2011

This chapter addresses the critical issue of Quality of Service (QoS) provisioning in next generation wireless networks. While the QoS offered to users may be enhanced through innovative protocols and new technologies, future trends should take into account the efficiency of the resource allocation strategies and the network/terminal cooperation as well. 4G networks will be characterized by an heterogeneous environment where several access networks will be available. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize techniques that enable efficient distribution of resources exploiting the existing infrastructure. Such techniques may involve either smart selection mechanisms or cooperating schemes among network entities. Since decision-making processes are examined, the use of game theory is considered as a valuable asset in the authors’ work. To this end, the chapter also collects applications of both non-cooperative and cooperative game theory applications in wireless networks. The main aspects of both game types are presented and several games are modeled.
A Platform for Pervasive Building Monitoring Services Using Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Asgari Abolghasem (Hamid)
Published: October 2011

At the core of pervasive computing model, small, low cost, robust, distributed, and networked processing devices are placed, which are thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have emerged as pervasive computing technology enablers in several field, including environmental monitoring and control. Using this technology as a pervasive computing approach, researchers have been trying to persuade people to be more aware of their environment and energy usage in the course of their every day life. WSNs have brought significant benefits as far as monitoring is concerned, since they are more efficient and flexible compared to wired sensor solutions. In this chapter, the authors propose a Service Oriented Architecture for developing an enterprise networking environment used for integrating enterprise level applications and building management systems with other operational enterprise services and functions for the information sharing and monitoring, controlling, and managing the enterprise environment. The WSN is viewed as an information service provider not only to building management systems but also to wider applications in the enterprise infrastructure. The authors also provide specification, implementation, and deployments of the proposed architecture and discuss the related tests, experimentations, and evaluations of the architecture.
Level Crossing Sampling for Energy Conservation in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Alasti Hadi
Published: October 2011

In periodic sampling of the bandlimited signals, many of the consecutive samples are very similar and sometimes the signal remains unchanged over periods of time. These samples can be interpreted as redundant. For this, transmission of all of the periodic samples from all of the sensors in wireless sensor networks is wasteful. The problem becomes more challenging in large scale wireless sensor networks. Level crossing sampling in time is proposed for energy conservation in real-life application of wireless sensor networks to increase the network lifetime by avoiding the transmission of redundant samples. In this chapter, a design framework is discussed for application of level crossing sampling in wireless sensor networks. The performance of level crossing sampling for various level definition schemes are evaluated using computer simulations and experiments with real-life wireless sensors.
A Novel Energy Saving Approach through Mobile Collaborative Computing Systems
Authors: Wu Xiaoxin , Chen Huan , Liu Yaoda , Zhu Wenwu
Published: October 2011

Energy saving has been studied widely in both of computing and communication research communities. For handheld devices, energy is becoming a more and more critical issue because lots of applications running on handhelds today are computation or communication intensive and take a long time to finish. Unlike previous work that proposes computing or communication energy solutions alone, this paper proposes a novel energy savings approach through mobile collaborative systems, which jointly consider computing and communication energy cost. In this work, the authors use streaming video as investigated application scenario and propose multi-hop pipelined wireless collaborative system to decode video frames with a requirement for maximum inter-frame time. To finish a computing task with such a requirement, this paper proposes a control policy that can dynamically adapt processor frequency and communication transmission rate at the collaborative devices. The authors build a mathematical energy model for collaborative computing systems. Results show that the collaborative system helps save energy, and the transmission rate between collaborators is a key parameter for maximizing energy savings. The energy saving algorithm in computing devices is implemented and the experimental results show the same trend.
Secure Electronic Healthcare Records Distribution in Wireless Environments Using Low Resource Devices
Authors: Belsis Petros , Skourlas Christos , Gritzalis Stefanos
Published: October 2011

The continuous growth of wireless technologies introduces a paradigm shift in the way information may be treated. Especially in the medical domain, Information Systems may gain benefits from the utilization of wireless devices which gain continuously in terms of resources. Existing legislation in US and EU countries introduces a lot of new challenges. Above all else, the information exchanged should be encrypted, and verified to reach the intended recipient. The authors of this chapter discuss the challenges hindering the efforts to disseminate in an accurate and secure manner medical information over wireless infrastructures. They present based on the results of two projects partially funded by the EU, an architecture that allows secure dissemination of electronic healthcare records. The chapter presents the architecture based on software agent technologies and enables query and authentication mechanisms in a transparent to the user manner. The chapter also discusses the security oriented choices of the approach and argues based on experimentation that the architecture efficiently supports a sufficient number of users.
Mobile Video Streaming Over Heterogeneous Networks
Authors: Al-Suhail Ghaida A. , Fleury Martin , Al-Majeed Salah M. Saleh
Published: October 2011

All-IP networks are under development with multimedia services in mind. Video multicast is an efficient way to deliver one video simultaneously to many users over such heterogeneous wired-to-wireless networks, such as in wireless IP applications where a mobile terminal communicates with an IP server through a wired IP network in tandem with a wireless network. Unicast video streaming is also an attractive way to deliver time-shifted TV to mobile devices. This Chapter presents a simple cross-layer model that leads to the optimal throughput to multiple users for multicasting video over a heterogeneous network. An adaptive forward-error-correction scheme is applied at the byte-level as well as at the packet-level to reduce channel errors. The results show that a server can significantly adapt to the bandwidth and FEC codes to maximize the video quality of service. For unicast streaming, the Chapter presents a single negative acknowledgment scheme in which a video stream is transmitted over a heterogeneous network from a streaming server to a mobile device in a WiMAX network. The broadband streaming system is compared to several candidate solutions based on originally wired network congestion controllers. Multi-connection streaming is also investigated.
TinyDDS
Authors: Boonma Pruet , Suzuki Junichi
Published: October 2011

Due to stringent constraints in memory footprint, processing efficiency and power consumption, traditional wireless sensor networks (WSNs) face two key issues: (1) a lack of interoperability with access networks and (2) a lack of flexibility to customize non-functional properties such as event filtering, data aggregation and routing. In order to address these issues, this chapter investigates interoperable publish/subscribe middleware for WSNs. The proposed middleware, called TinyDDS, enables the interoperability between WSNs and access networks by providing programming language interoperability and protocol interoperability based on the standard Data Distribution Service (DDS) specification. Moreover, TinyDDS provides a pluggable framework that allows WSN applications to have fine-grained control over application-level and middleware-level non-functional properties. Simulation and empirical evaluation results demonstrate that TinyDDS is lightweight and efficient on the TinyOS and SunSPOT platforms. The results also show that TinyDDS simplifies the development of publish/subscribe WSN applications.
Anomaly Detection in Streaming Sensor Data
Authors: Pawling Alec , Yan Ping , Candia Julián , Schoenharl Tim , Madey Greg
Published: October 2011

This chapter considers a cell phone network as a set of automatically deployed sensors that records movement and interaction patterns of the population. The authors discuss methods for detecting anomalies in the streaming data produced by the cell phone network. The authors motivate this discussion by describing the Wireless Phone Based Emergency Response (WIPER) system, a proof-of-concept decision support system for emergency response managers. This chapter also discusses some of the scientific work enabled by this type of sensor data and the related privacy issues. The authors describe scientific studies that use the cell phone data set and steps we have taken to ensure the security of the data. The authors also describe the overall decision support system and discuss three methods of anomaly detection that they have applied to the data.
The Role of Wireless Technology in Addressing Sleeping Disorders in Aged Care
Authors: Moloney Clint
Published: October 2011

Sleep problems are frequently witnessed in aged care facilities with a large proportion going undetected. Multiple factors are known to contribute many abnormal sleep/wake patterns for residents. A systematic review conducted by Haesler (2004) provided a guide to the direction of future research into sleep in older adults residing in care facilities. This chapter evaluates the effectiveness of implementing the following evidence based recommendation from Haesler (2004): Wrist actigraphy currently represents the most accurate objective sleep assessment tool for use in the population of interest. Factor analysis was utilized to study the patterns of relationship among many dependent variables, with the goal of discovering something about the nature of the independent variables that affect them. Wrist actigraphy showed a disparity between the actual bed time and wake time. One clear difference detected using the device was the increased detection of sleep during the day.