bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Implications of Distance Education in Alaska
Authors: Hoanca Bogdan , Mock Kenrick
Published: May 2011

Alaska is the largest and most sparsely populated state in the United States of America. Extreme weather patterns and extreme cultural diversity compound the challenge of delivering quality education to state residents in remote areas. E-learning technologies have emerged as a cost-effective, interactive means of delivering quality teaching to even the most isolated locations in the state. Additionally, the ability to archive content and to access it at will, in an asynchronous manner, is highly suited to the different learning styles and different learning rates of the various populations in the state. This chapter introduces the challenges associated with delivering e-learning in Alaska, reviews the historical evolution of distance-learning networks, and summarizes present achievements and future opportunities. The analysis includes K-12 education, higher education and professional continuing education.
Strategies for Virtual Learning and E-Entrepreneurship in Higher Education
Authors: Kettunen Juha , Kantola Mauri
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents the strategies of higher education institutions and how they can be described using the balanced scorecard approach. The pedagogical ICT strategy describes the virtual learning and e-entrepreneurship in higher education. Strategic themes are presented to describe what management believes must be done to succeed and achieve the desired outcomes in virtual learning and e-entrepreneurship. Strategy maps are used to describe the strategy in a graphical representation. In addition, the study presents an example of the cooperation between a higher education institution and a spin-off company. This chapter helps the educational administrators to better describe and implement strategies for virtual learning and e-entrepreneurship.
Virtual Communities and E-Business Management
Authors: Flavián Carlos , Guinalíu Miguel
Published: May 2011

As a result of the new possibilities offered by Internet managers are increasing options provided by the new technologies in strategic planning. The virtual community has become one of the more interesting options. The general aim of this article is to explain the concept of virtual community, paying special attention to the most important strategies and management suggestions. Firstly, we will analyze the concept of community from a sociological viewpoint. We then define a virtual community and what causes an individual to belong to one. Secondly, we will show the main strategic implications of the development of virtual communities. Next we will detail a series of recommendations for the proper management of virtual communities. The two final sections present the future trends of research and the main conclusions of the article.
A Typology of Interorganizational Relationships
Authors: Lee Wonyoung , Aggarwal Praveen , Shin Hyonkil , Cha Taihoon , Kim Seunghan
Published: May 2011

The decreasing cost of IT has encouraged organizations to seek new ways of cooperating with members of the supply chain and other key strategic partners. This increased cooperation is giving rise to a new type of interorganizational system (IOS). Before the advent of the Internet, IS integration required significant investments on the part of organizations participating in an IOS. Such heavy investments, in turn, necessitated close strategic cooperation in the non-IS domain, as well. Thus, IS integration went handin- hand with non-IS (relational) integration in the pre-Internet era. However, advances in Internet technology have commoditized IS integration to a significant extent, thereby allowing the uncoupling of IS integration and relational integration. It is now possible for organizations to have IS integration without developing strong non-IS linkages. We propose a framework to account for this recent shift and present a typology for classifying interorganizational systems based on the segregation of IS and relational integration. We also verify the typology in case studies of four large firms.
New Ethics for E-Business Offshore Outsourcing
Authors: Ruzic Fjodor
Published: May 2011

In today’s dynamic e-business environment where fast time to market is imperative, where information and telecommunications technology is costly and changing rapidly, and where skilled technical resources are scarce, e-businesses need reliable, high-end outsourcing infrastructure and resources. E-business companies should consider corporate social responsibility and they must work on reducing the pain and stress of disruption in home countries while increasing the socioeconomic benefits of these jobs in the receiving country. E-business should develop offshore outsourcing ethics program. It presents the analysis of the nature and the social impact of information technology and the corresponding formulation and justification of policies for the ethical use of technology. These notions are considered in efforts to produce globally acceptable ethics program that would articulate both individual company and global interests in an appropriate way. This chapter examines e-business ethics development, and new standardization efforts toward unified, globally acceptable Code of Ethics. It covers the analysis and discussion on the needs for such instrument and findings on how to reach unified global solution.
Electronic Risk Management
Authors: Sinha Tapen , Condon Bradly
Published: May 2011

Doing business on the Internet has many opportunities along with many risks. This chapter focuses on a series of risks of legal liability arising from e-mail and Internet activities that are a common part of many e-businesses. Some of the laws governing these electronic activities are new and especially designed for the electronic age, while others are more traditional laws whose application to electronic activities is the novelty. E-business not only exposes companies to new types of liability risk, but also increases the potential number of claims and the complexity of dealing with those claims. The international nature of the Internet, together with a lack of uniformity of laws governing the same activities in different countries, means that companies need to proceed with caution.
E-Business Process Management and Intellectual Property
Authors: Mykytyn Kathleen , Mykytyn Peter P.
Published: May 2011

The emergence of e-business as a viable business model is unquestioned and global in its involvement and impact. Further, the value that intellectual property (IP) in the form of trademarks, copyrights, and patents plays in that medium of doing business impacts businesses, information technology (IT) professionals, academics responsible for IT coursework and programs, and, of course, the legal community. This chapter reviews these IP types with particular emphasis on their relationship and impact on e-business. Relevant legal cases are cited and discussed to provide additional foundation to the e-business community. The chapter also provides appropriate recommendations for e-business in light of these IP issues, and identifies some possible future trends and research issues.
A Survey on Neural Networks in Automated Negotiations
Authors: Papaioannou Ioannis , Roussaki Ioanna , Anagnostou Miltiades
Published: May 2011

Automated negotiation is a very challenging research field that is gaining momentum in the ebusiness domain. There are three main categories of automated negotiations, classified according to the participating agent cardinality and the nature of their interaction (Jennings, Faratin, Lomuscio, Parsons, Sierra, & Wooldridge, 2001): the bilateral, where each agent negotiates with a single opponent, the multi-lateral which involves many providers and clients in an auction-like framework and the argumentation/persuasion-based models where the involving parties use more sophisticated arguments to establish an agreement. In all these automated negotiation domains, several research efforts have focused on predicting the behaviour of negotiating agents. This work can be classi- fied in two main categories. The first is based on techniques that require strong a-priori knowledge concerning the behaviour of the opponent agent in previous negotiation threads. The second uses mechanisms that perform well in single-instance negotiations, where no historical data about the past negotiating behaviour of the opponent agent is available. One quite popular tool that can support the latter case is Neural Networks (NNs) (Haykin, 1999). NNs are often used in various real world applications where the estimation or modelling of a function or system is required. In the automated negotiations domain, their usage aims mainly to enhance the performance of negotiating agents in predicting their opponents’ behaviour and thus, achieve better overall results on their behalf. This paper provides a survey of the most popular automated negotiation approaches that are using NNs to estimate elements of the opponent’s behaviour. The rest of this paper is structure as follows. The second section elaborates on the state of the art bilateral negotiation frameworks that are based on NNs. The third section briefly presents the multilateral negotiation solutions that exploit NNs. Finally, in the last section a brief discussion on the survey is provided.
Highly Available Database Management Systems
Authors: Zhao Wenbing
Published: May 2011

The subject of highly available database systems has been studied for more than two decades, and there exist many alternative solutions (Agrawal, El Abbadi, & Steinke, 1997; Kemme, & Alonso, 2000; Patino-Martinez, Jimenez-Peris, Kemme, & Alonso, 2005). In this article, we provide an overview of two of the most popular database high availability strategies, namely database replication and database clustering. The emphasis is given to those that have been adopted and implemented by major database management systems (Davies & Fisk, 2006; Ault & Tumma, 2003).
Theories of Meaning in Schema Matching
Authors: Evermann Joerg
Published: May 2011

Schema matching is the identification of database elements with similar meaning as preparation for subsequent database integration. Over the past 20 years, different schema-matching methods have been proposed and have been shown to be successful to various degrees. However, schema matching is an ongoing research area and the problem is not yet considered to be solved. This article reviews existing schema-matching methods from the perspective of theories of meanings drawn from philosophy and psychology. It positions existing methods, raises questions for future research based on these theories, and shows how these theories can form a firm theoretical basis as well as guide future schema-matching research.
A Database Project in a Small Company (or How the Real World Doesn't Always Follow the Book)
Authors: Mallach Efrem
Published: May 2011

The case study describes a small consulting company’s experience in the design and implementation of a database and associated information retrieval system. Their choices are explained within the context of the firm’s needs and constraints. Issues associated with development methods are discussed, along with problems that arose from not following proper development disciplines.
Semantic Integrity Constraint Checking for Multiple XML Databases
Authors: Madiraju Praveen , Sunderraman Rajshekhar , Navathe Shamkant B. , Wang Haibin
Published: May 2011

Global semantic integrity constraints ensure integrity and consistency of data spanning multiple databases. In this paper, we take initial steps towards representing global semantic integrity constraints for XML databases. We also provide a general framework for checking global semantic integrity constraints for XML databases. Furthermore, we set forth an efficient algorithm for checking global semantic integrity constraints across multiple XML databases. Our algorithm is efficient for three reasons: (1) the algorithm does not require the update statement to be executed before the constraint check is carried out; hence, we avoid any potential problems associated with rollbacks, (2) sub constraint checks are executed in parallel, and (3) most of the processing of algorithm could happen at compile time; hence, we save time spent at run-time. As a proof of concept, we present a prototype of the system implementing the ideas discussed in this paper.
Goal-Oriented Requirement Engineering for XML Document Warehouses
Authors: Nassis Vicky , Dillon Tharam S. , Rahayu Wenny , Rajugan R.
Published: May 2011

eXtensible Markup Language (XML) has emerged as the dominant standard in describing and exchanging data amongst heterogeneous data sources. The increasing presence of large volumes of data appearing creates the need to investigate XML document warehouses (XDW) as a means of handling the data for business intelligence. In our previous work (Nassis, Rajugan, Dillon, & Rahayu, 2004) we proposed a conceptual modelling approach for the development of an XDW with emphasis on the design techniques. We consider important the need of capturing data warehouse requirements early in the design stage. The elicitation of requirements and their use for data warehouse design is a significant and, as yet, an unaddressed issue. For this reason, we explore a requirement engineering (RE) approach, namely the goal-oriented approach. We will extract and extend the notion of this approach to introduce the XML document warehouse (XDW) requirement model. In order to perform this, we consider organisational objectives as well as user viewpoints. Furthermore, these are related to the XDW particularly focussing on deriving dimensions, as opposed to associating organisational objectives to the system functions, which is traditionally carried out by RE.
Architecture for Symbolic Object Warehouse
Authors: González Císaro Sandra Elizabeth , Oscar Nigro Héctor
Published: May 2011

Much information stored in current databases is not always present at necessary different levels of detail or granularity for Decision-Making Processes (DMP). Some organizations have implemented the use of central database - Data Warehouse (DW) - where information performs analysis tasks. This fact depends on the Information Systems (IS) maturity, the type of informational requirements or necessities the organizational structure and business own characteristic. A further important point is the intrinsic structure of complex data; nowadays it is very common to work with complex data, due to syntactic or semantic aspects and the processing type (Darmont et al., 2006). Therefore, we must design systems, which can to maintain data complexity to improve the DMP.
Full-Text Search Engines for Databases
Authors: Kovács László , Tikk Domonkos
Published: May 2011

Current databases are able to store several Tbytes of free-text documents. The main purpose of a database from the user’s viewpoint is the efficient information retrieval. In the case of textual data, information retrieval mostly concerns the selection and the ranking of documents. We present here the particular solution of Oracle; there for making the full-text querying more efficient, a special engine was developed that performs the preparation of full-text queries and provides a set of language and semantic specific query operators.
Rough Sets
Authors: Beaubouef Theresa , Petry Frederick E.
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses ways in which rough-set theory can enhance databases by allowing for the management of uncertainty. Rough sets can be integrated into an underlying database model, relational or object oriented, and also used in the design and uerying of databases, because roughsets are a versatile theory, theories. The authors discuss the rough relational databases model, the rough object-oriented database model, and fuzzy set and intuitionistic set extensions to each of these models. Comparisons and benefits of the various approaches are discussed, illustrating the usefulness and versatility of rough sets for uncertainty management in databases.
MILPRIT
Authors: de Amo Sandra , Junior Waldecir P. , Giacometti Arnaud
Published: May 2011

In this article, we consider a new kind of temporal pattern where both interval and punctual time representation are considered. These patterns, which we call temporal point-interval patterns, aim at capturing how events taking place during different time periods or at different time instants relate to each other. The datasets where these kinds of patterns may appear are temporal relational databases whose relations contain point or interval timestamps. We use a simple extension of Allen’s Temporal Interval Logic as a formalism for specifying these temporal patterns. We also present the algorithm MILPRIT* for mining temporal point-interval patterns, which uses variants of the classical levelwise search algorithms. In addition, MILPRIT* allows a broad spectrum of constraints to be incorporated into the mining process. An extensive set of experiments of MILPRIT* executed over synthetic and real data is presented, showing its effectiveness for mining temporal relational patterns.
A Web-Based Application to Exchange Electronic Health Records and Medical Images in Ophthalmology
Authors: de la Torre Díez Isabel , Sánchez Roberto Hornero , Coronado Miguel López , Crespo Jesús Poza , López Gálvez María Isabel
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes a Web -based application to store and exchange Electronic Health Records (EHR) and medical images in Ophthalmology: TeleOftalWeb 3.2. The Web -based system has been built on Java Servlet and Java Server Pages (JSP) technologies. Its architecture is a typical three-layered with two databases. The user and authentication information is stored in a relational database: MySQL 5.0. The patient records and fundus images are achieved in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) native database: dbXML 2.0. The application uses XML-based technologies and Health Level Seven/Clinical Document Architecture (HL7/CDA) specifications. The EHR standardization is carried out. The main application object is the universal access to the diabetic patients EHR by physicians wherever they are.
Misuse of Online Databases for Literature Searches
Authors: Bartsch Robert A.
Published: May 2011

Online library databases are the primary method for finding relevant literature in many fields. These databases either primarily have abstracts or have the entire article online (i.e., full-text). This chapter describes how students use and misuse abstract and full-text databases when conducting literature searches. Findings from two studies indicate (1) students overestimate the usefulness of full-text databases, (2) students do not know which type of database is the best tool for a particular situation, and (3) students favor technology that is easier for them to use. By understanding the implications of these findings, it is hoped instructors can create lectures and assignments that increase students’ information literacy levels. Additionally, this chapter provides an example of how people, in general, will use new technology that is easier but is not necessarily more useful.
Consistent Queries over Databases with Integrity Constraints
Authors: Caroprese Luciano , Molinaro Cristian , Trubitsyna Irina , Zumpano Ester
Published: May 2011

Integrating data from different sources consists of two main steps, the first in which the various relations are merged together, and the second in which some tuples are removed (or inserted) from the resulting database in order to satisfy integrity constraints. There are several ways to integrate databases or possibly distributed information sources, but whatever integration architecture we choose, the heterogeneity of the sources to be integrated causes subtle problems. In particular, the database obtained from the integration process may be inconsistent with respect to integrity constraints, that is, one or more integrity constraints are not satisfied. Integrity constraints represent an important source of information about the real world. They are usually used to define constraints on data (functional dependencies, inclusion dependencies, etc.) and have, nowadays, a wide applicability in several contexts such as semantic query optimization, cooperative query answering, database integration, and view update.
Information Quality
Authors: Naumann Felix , Roth Mary
Published: May 2011

Commercial database management systems (DBMS) have come a long way with respect to efficiency and more recently, with respect to quality and user friendliness. Not only do they provide an efficient means to store large amounts of data and intuitive query languages to access the data, popular DBMS also provide a whole suite of tools to assess, store, manage, clean, and retrieve data in a user-friendly way. Some of these feature address database experts, others are targeted at end-users with little or even no database knowledge. The recent developments in the field of autonomic computing drive the easeof- use even further. In this chapter we study how well a typical DBMS meets the goal of providing a high-quality data storage and retrieval facility. To this end, we draw on an established set of information quality criteria and assess how well an exemplary DBMS fares. While quality criteria are usually defined for a set of data, we extend, wherever possible, the definitions to the systems that manage this data.
Extended Action Rule Discovery Based on Single Classification Rules and Reducts
Authors: Ras Zbigniew W. , Wyrzykowska Elzbieta M.
Published: May 2011

Action rules can be seen as logical terms describing knowledge about possible actions associated with objects that are hidden in a decision system. Classical strategy for discovering them from a database requires prior extraction of classification rules that next are evaluated, pair by pair, with a goal to build a strategy of action based on condition features, in order to get a desired effect on a decision feature. An actionable strategy is represented as a term r = [(w) ? (a?b)]?[f?y], where ?, a, ß, f, and ? are descriptions of events. The term r states that when the fixed condition ? is satisfied and the changeable behavior (a?ß) occurs in objects represented as tuples from a database, so does the expectation (f??). With each object, a number of actionable strategies can be associated, and each one of them may lead to different expectations and the same to different reclassifications of objects. This chapter will focus on a new strategy of construction of action rules directly from single classification rules instead of pairs of classification rules. This way we do not only gain on the simplicity of the method of action rules construction, but also on its time complexity. The chapter will present a modified tree-based strategy for constructing action rules, followed by a new simplified strategy of constructing them. Finally, these two strategies will be compared.
Enhancing the Process of Knowledge Discovery in Geographic Databases Using Geo-Ontologies
Authors: Bogorny Vania , Engel Paulo Martins , Alavares Luis Otavio
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the problem of mining frequent geographic patterns and spatial association rules from geographic databases. In the geographic domain most discovered patterns are trivial, non-novel, and noninteresting, which simply represent natural geographic associations intrinsic to geographic data. A large amount of natural geographic associations are explicitly represented in geographic database schemas and geo-ontologies, which have not been used so far in frequent geographic pattern mining. Therefore, this chapter presents a novel approach to extract patterns from geographic databases using geoontologies as prior knowledge. The main goal of this chapter is to show how the large amount of knowledge represented in geo-ontologies can be used to avoid the extraction of patterns that are previously known as noninteresting.
Software Configuration Management in Agile Development
Authors: Bendix Lars , Ekman Torbjörn
Published: May 2011

Software configuration management (SCM) is an essential part of any software project and its importance is even greater on agile projects because of the frequency of changes. In this chapter, we argue that SCM needs to be done differently and cover more aspects on agile projects. We also explain how SCM processes and tools contribute both directly and indirectly to quality assurance. We give a brief introduction to central SCM principles and define a number of typical agile activities related to SCM. Subsequently, we show that there are general SCM guidelines for how to support and strengthen these typical agile activities. Furthermore, we establish a set of requirements that an agile method must satisfy to benefit the most from SCM. Following our general guidelines, an agile project can adapt the SCM processes and tools to its specific agile method and its particular context.
Software Modernization of Legacy Systems for Web Services Interoperability
Authors: Chiang Chia-Chu
Published: May 2011

Software maintenance is an inevitable process due to program evolution (Lehman & Belady, 1985). Adaptive maintenance (Schenidewind, 1987) is an activity used to adapt software to new environments or new requirements due to the evolving needs of new platforms, new operating systems, new software, and evolving business requirements. For example, companies have been adapting their legacy systems to Web-enablingenvironments of doing business that could not have been imagined even a decade ago (Khosrow-Pour & Herman, 2001; Werthner & Ricci, 2004).
A Model-Driven Development Framework for Non-Functional Aspects in Service Oriented Architecture
Authors: Wada Hiroshi , Suzuki Junichi , Oba Katsuya
Published: May 2011

Service oriented architecture (SOA) is an emerging style of software architectures to reuse and integrate existing systems for designing new applications. Each application is designed in an implementation independent manner using two major abstract concepts: services and connections between services. In SOA, non-functional aspects (e.g., security and fault tolerance) of services and connections should be described separately from their functional aspects (i.e., business logic) because different applications use services and connections in different non-functional contexts. This paper proposes a model-driven development (MDD) framework for non-functional aspects in SOA. The proposed MDD framework consists of (1) a Unified Modeling Language (UML) profile to model non-functional aspects in SOA, and (2) an MDD tool that transforms a UML model defined with the proposed profile to application code. Empirical evaluation results show that the proposed MDD framework improves the reusability and maintainability of service-oriented applications by hiding low-level implementation technologies in SOA.
Integrating Software Engineering and Costing Aspects within Project Management Tools
Authors: Gelbard Roy , Kantor Jeffrey , Edelist Liran
Published: May 2011

Currently, there is no integration among CASE tools (computer aided software engineering, also named AMD tools, analysis modeling and design), costing tools, and project management (PM) tools. Not only are there no integrated tools, but there is also no conceptual integration among software engineering (SE) aspects and accounting-costing aspects of software projects within PM tools. PM tools, as well as costing tools are used not only for tracking and controlling an ongoing software project, but also at the very beginning stages of the project, in which critical estimations concerning budget and time frame are made. In order to have a firm, robust, and accurate planning, project planning should be based directly upon raw SE components-objects, that is, upon analysis and design components-objects.
Online Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Software Training Through the Behavioral Modeling Approach
Authors: Chen Charlie C. , Shaw R. S.
Published: May 2011

The continued and increasing use of online training raises the question of whether the most effective training methods applied in live instruction will carry over to different online environments in the long run. Behavior Modeling (BM) approach – teaching through demonstration — has been proven as the most effective approach in a face-toface (F2F) environment. A quasi-experiment was conducted with 96 undergraduate students who were taking a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 course in a university in Taiwan. The BM approach was employed in three learning environments — F2F, online synchronous and online asynchronous classes. The results were compared to see which produced the best performance, as measured by knowledge near-transfer and knowledge fartransfer effectiveness. Overall satisfaction with training was also measured. The results of the experiment indicate that during a long duration of training no significant difference in learning outcomes could be detected across the three learning environments.
Media Centric Knowledge Sharing on the Web 2.0
Authors: Spaniol Marc , Klamma Ralf , Cao Yiwei
Published: May 2011

The success of knowledge sharing heavily depends on the capabilities of an information system to reproduce the ongoing discourses within a community. In order to illustrate the artifacts of a discourse as authentic as possible it is not sufficient to store the plain information, but also to reflect the context they have been used in. An ideal representation to do so is non-linear storytelling. The Web 2.0 in its “bi-directional” design therefore is an ideal basis for media centric knowledge sharing. In this article we present a novel solution to this issue by non-linear storytelling in the Virtual Campfire system. Virtual Campfire is a social software that allows a modular composition of web services based on a Lightweight Application Server in community engine called LAS. Hence, Virtual Campfire is capable of fully exploiting the features of the Web 2.0 in a comprehensive community information system covering web-services for geo-spatial content sharing, multimedia tagging and collaborative authoring of hypermedia artifacts.
Towards an Integrated Model of Knowledge Sharing in Software Development
Authors: Kautz Karlheinz , Kjærgaard Annemette
Published: May 2011

This article adds to the discussion on knowledge management (KM) by focusing on the process of knowledge sharing as a vital part of KM. The article focuses on the relationship between knowledge, learning, communication, and participation in action, and the role of social interaction and technical media in the knowledge sharing process. We develop an initial theoretical framework of knowledge sharing on the basis of a literature study. Drawing on an empirical study of knowledge sharing in a software development company, we discuss what supports and what hinders knowledge sharing in software development. Finally, we use this knowledge to improve the theoretical framework.
Comparing Four-Selected Data Mining Software
Authors: Segall Richard S. , Zhang Qingyu
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses four-selected software for data mining that are not available as free opensource software. The four-selected software for data mining are SAS® Enterprise MinerTM, Megaputer PolyAnalyst® 5.0, NeuralWare Predict® and BioDiscovery GeneSight®, each of which was provided by partnerships with our university. These software are described and compared by their existing features, characteristics, and algorithms and also applied to a large database of forest cover types with 63,377 rows and 54 attributes. Background on related literature and software are also presented. Screen shots of each of the four-selected software are presented, as are future directions and conclusions.
Enhancing Skills of Application Software via Web-Enabled Problem-Based Learning and Self-Regulated Learning
Authors: Shen Pei-Di , Lee Tsang-Hsiung , Tsai Chia-Wen
Published: May 2011

The computer software education in vocational schools in Taiwan can hardly be deemed as effective. To increase students’ learning motivation and develop practical skills, innovative learning designs such as problem-based learning(PBL) and self-regulated learning (SRL) are on trial in this specific context. We conducted a series of quasiexperiments to examine effects of these designs mediated by a web-based learning environment. Two classes of 106 freshmen in a semester course at Institute of Technology in Taiwan were chosen for this empirical study. Result sreveal that effects of web-enabled PBL, web-enabled SRL, and their combinations, on students’ skills of application software have significant differences. The implications of this study are alsodiscussed.
Planning and Managing the Human Factors for the Adoption and Diffusion of Object-Oriented Software Development Processes
Authors: Serour Magdy K.
Published: May 2011

Although there are a large number of contemporary software development processes/methodologies available to assist and guide software professionals in developing software systems, there is no specific process that can assist organizations in planning and managing their transition to this new work environment. As a result, there are still a large number of information technology (IT) organizations that have not yet implemented any object-oriented (OO) process. For them, the transition to a new work environment and the adoptionand utilization of a software process implies a number of problems, commonly including necessary human and organizational resistance to the ensuing cultural change. This chapter provides IT organizations and professionals with insights into the most important key success factors that may promote the entire process of organizational change. We investigate the effect of various human factors on the adoption and diffusion of an object-oriented software development process. Some of the human factors include motivation, leadership, resistance to culture change, and willingness and readiness to change. In addition, this chapter explores the significant role of these factors in controlling the entire process of implementing an OO process in practice, emphasizing the significance of planning and managing these “soft” factors to achieve clear advantages and gain enviable results.
A Multi-Methodological Approach to Study Systems Development in a Software Organization
Authors: Ovaska Paivi
Published: May 2011

Large-scale systems development is a complex activity involving number of dependencies that people working together face. Only a few studies concentrate on the coordination of development activities in their organizational context. This research study tries to fill at least part of this gap by studying how systems development process is coordinated in practice. The study uses a multimethodological approach to interpret coordination of systems development process in a contemporary software organization in Finland. The methodology is based on the empirical casestudy approach in which the actions, conceptions, and artefacts of practitioners are analyzed using within-case and cross-case principles. In all the three phases of the study, namely multi-\site coordination, requirement understanding, and working with systems development methods, both the qualitative and quantitative methods were used to an understanding of coordination in systems development. The main contribution of this study is to demonstrate that contemporary systems development is much more complex and more driven by opportunity than is currently acknowledged by researchers. The most challenging part of the research process was the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, because of the lack of multimethodological work done in IS discipline.
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Production
Authors: Cavanaugh Thomas B.
Published: May 2011

When Walter Benjamin wrote his famous essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, he shone a light on the cultural changes inherent in technology’s ability to infinitely reproduce and distribute art. One of the important consequences of this development was the democratization of art’s availability, allowing the general population to experience artwork that they would otherwise be unable to access. Now technology has advanced to a point where not only is art’s reproduction available to anyone who wants it, its very production is now accessible to almost everyone, even if the prospective artist is utterly devoid of training, expertise, or even talent. With software-based artistic assistance and low-threshold electronic distribution mechanisms, we have achieved the promise of Benjamin’s blurred distinction between artist and audience. As a result, the process by which art is produced has now been democratized, resulting in legitimate questions regarding quality, taste, and the legitimacy of authorship in a human-technological artistic collaboration.
A Relative Comparison of Leading Supply Chain Management Software Packages
Authors: Wang Zhongxian , Yan Ruiliang , Hollister Kimberly , Xing Ruben
Published: May 2011

Supply Chain Management (SCM) has proven to be an effective tool that aids companies in the development of competitive advantages. SCM Systems are relied on to manage warehouses, transportation, trade logistics and various other issues concerning the coordinated movement of products and services from suppliers to customers. Although in today’s fast paced business environment, numerous supply chain solution tools are readily available to companies, choosing the right SCM software is not an easy task. The complexity of SCM systems creates a multifaceted issue when selecting the right software, particularly in light of the speed at which technology evolves. In this paper, we use the approach of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine which SCM software best meets the needs of a company. The AHP approach outlined in this paper can be easily transferred to the comparison of other SCM software packages.
Software Quality Modeling with Limited Apriori Defect Data
Authors: Seliya Naeem , Khoshgoftaar Taghi M.
Published: May 2011

In machine learning the problem of limited data for supervised learning is a challenging problem with practical applications. We address a similar problem in the context of software quality modeling. Knowledge-based software engineering includes the use of quantitative software quality estimation models. Such models are trained using apriori software quality knowledge in the form of software metrics and defect data of previously developed software projects. However, various practical issues limit the availability of defect data for all modules in the training data. We present two solutions to the problem of software quality modeling when a limited number of training modules have known defect data. The proposed solutions are a semisupervised clustering with expert input scheme and a semisupervised classification approach with the expectation-maximization algorithm. Software measurement datasets obtained from multiple NASA software projects are used in our empirical investigation. The software quality knowledge learnt during the semisupervised learning processes provided good generalization performances for multiple test datasets. In addition, both solutions provided better predictions compared to a supervised learner trained on the initial labeled dataset.
Legal and Economic Justification for Software Protection
Authors: Vuyst Bruno de , Fairchild Alea
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses legal and economic rationale in regards to open source software protection. Software programs are, under TRIPS1, protected by copyright (reference is made to the Berne Convention2). The issue with this protection is that, due to the dichotomy idea/expression that is typical for copyright protection, reverse engineering of software is not excluded, and copyright is hence found to be an insufficient protection. Hence, in the U.S., software makers have increasingly turned to patent protection. In Europe, there is an exclusion of computer programs in Article 52 (2) c) EPC (EPO, 1973), but this exclusion is increasingly narrowed and some call for abandoning the exclusion altogether. A proposal by the European Commission, made in 2002, called for a directive to allow national patent authorities to patent software in a broader way, so as to ensure further against reverse engineering; this proposal, however, was shelved in 2005 over active opposition within and outside the European parliament. In summary, open source software does not fit in any proprietary model; rather, it creates a freedom to operate. Ultimately, there is a need to rethink approaches to property law so as to allow for viable software packaging in both models.
Integration Concept for Knowledge Processes, Methods, and Software for SMEs
Authors: Fink Kerstin , Ploder Christian
Published: May 2011

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a vital and growing part of any national economy. Like most large businesses, SMEs have recognized the importance of knowledge management. This Chapter investigates the use of knowledge processes and knowledge methods for SMEs. The learning objectives of this Chapter are to assess the role of knowledge management and knowledge processes in SMEs. Furthermore, the reader should be able to describe major knowledge management programs in SMEs and assess how they provide value for organizations. Empirical studies conducted by the authors show that for SMEs, only four knowledge processes are important: (1) knowledge identification, (2) knowledge acquisition, (3) knowledge distribution and (4) knowledge preservation. Based on the research result of several empirical studies, an integration concept for knowledge processes, knowledge methods, and knowledge software tools for SMEs is introduced and discussed.
Agile Software Methods
Authors: Mnkandla Ernest , Dwolatzky Barry
Published: May 2011

This chapter is aimed at comprehensively analyzing and defining agile methodologies of software development from a software quality assurance perspective. A unique way of analyzing agile methodologies to reveal the similarities that the authors of the methods never tell you is introduced. The chapter starts by defining agile methodologies from three perspectives: a theoretical definition, a functional definition, and a contextualized definition. Then an agile quality assurance perspective is presented starting from a brief review of some of the traditional understandings of quality assurance to the innovations that agility has added to the world of quality. The presented analysis approach opens a window into an understanding of the state-of-the-art in agile methodologies and quality, and what the future could have in store for software developers. An understanding of the analysis framework for objectively analyzing and comparing agile methodologies is illustrated by applying it to three specific agile methodologies.
Software Component Survivability in Information Warfare
Authors: Park Joon S. , Giordano Joseph
Published: May 2011

The need for software component survivability is pressing for mission-critical systems in information warfare. In this chapter, we describe how mission-critical distributed systems can survive component failures or compromises with malicious codes in information warfare. We define our definition of survivability, discuss the survivability challenges in a large mission-critical system in information warfare, and identify static, dynamic, and hybrid survivability models. Furthermore, we discuss the trade offs of each model. Technical details and implementation of the models are not described in this chapter because of space limitations.
Transforming the Practice of Mobile Learning
Authors: Danaher Patrick
Published: May 2011

This chapter deploys Denning’s (2004) powerful assertion that “an innovation is a transformation of practice in a community” (p. 1) through the elaboration of three key educational principles: engagement; presence; and flexibility. Each principle is accompanied by an elicitation of practical strategies that have proved effective in implementing the principles sustainably within particular courses and programs of study, as well as factors that inhibit that implementation. The authors use these principles and strategies that work as an evaluative lens for examining the pedagogical innovativeness of mobile learning and teaching environments. The application of that lens highlights a set of challenges and opportunities facing those technologies and their proponents, specifically in the authors’ host institution and in higher education more broadly. Provided that those technologies can be used to engage with those challenges and opportunities, mobile learning can indeed contribute simultaneously to pedagogical innovation and to transformed practice in university learning and teaching.
From Individual Learning to Collaborative Learning— Location, Fun, and Games
Authors: Owen Martin
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores mobile learning where location and game like or playful activity adds to the context of learning. The relationship between space, play, and the development of context and learner identity is explored through an examination of the issues concerning the context of space, narratives, and engagement. There is a discussion of the meta-knowledge and specific learning attributes we would want to encounter in mobile game like learning. These issues are further explored in three case studies of learning activities which have been designed such that the context of location and game like or playful learning is significant. The examples include simple games based on multiple choice questions, a complex multi-role simulation and an environmental tagging and hypermedia project. The case is made for the potential of the context of location, and game-like learning in mobile learning.
Participatory Simulation for Collaborative Learning Experiences
Authors: Yin Chengjiu , Ogata Hiroaki , Yano Yoneo
Published: May 2011

In traditional education, most of the communication is one-way, where the teacher teaches and the students listen. The students are therefore less motivated to learn. In this chapter, we use the scaffolding technique to design an interactive simulation framework called SPS (scaffolding participatory simulation) for collaborative learning. Based on the SPS framework, a system called PLASPS (PDA-based learning algorithm system using participatory simulation) was developed to help students learn about sorting algorithms. Using this system, the teacher can assign tasks to their students and ask them to sort a list of numbers according to a certain algorithm. Learners then collaborate together to complete the task. The system checks the result and provides feedback to the students if there is a mistake with the positions of the numbers. The learners then correct the number positions and send the result back to the system. The collaborative activities and discussions, along with information about any errors, help the students to understand the sorting algorithm.
An Architecture for a Personalized Mobile Environment to Facilitate Contextual Lifelong Learning
Authors: Dimakopoulos Dionisios N. , Magoulas George D.
Published: May 2011

In response to the ever-increasing need of private and public organizations for lifelong learning, research in technology-enhanced learning has been geared towards the provision of systems that will better support those who pursue education at a number of different stages in their life, move between institutions while pursuing a course of study, or make use of resources and facilities from more than one institution/ organization. The new generation of mobile phones can support applications that would facilitate contextual learning through life. This chapter presents our approach to designing a mobile application for contextual lifelong learning and the prototype created. The application assists learners to access, compose and manage their learning in a range of institutional, informal and work-based settings by keeping them connected with content that is relevant to their studies, and its use is demonstrated in three lifelong learning scenarios.