bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Pilot Study Examining the Unmet Needs of Cancer Survivors Living with Polypathology
Authors: Siu M. , Catton P. , Jones J. , Jadad A.R.
Published: June 2013

With improved average longevity, the issue of polypathology in the cancer population is of growing importance, because it will increasingly affect more people. The present study piloted two self-report surveys aiming to provide preliminary data on the nature of polypathology and supportive care needs (met and unmet) of cancer survivors. Survivors were recruited from outpatient clinics at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto and were asked to complete and give feedback on the surveys. Of a convenience sample of 88 survivors, almost three quarters (73%) reported having polypathology, and 64% had at least 1 unmet need. Results also suggest that those with the highest number of needs were more likely to have polypathology. Our study invites further assessments with self-report surveys of the complex picture that arises when cancer is not the only disease affecting a person. It also highlights the need for innovative supportive services to address patient needs.
Ce que les Hopi m'ont appris sur le paysage
Authors: Pérez Patrick
Published: June 2013

Les Hopi, des Amérindiens établis en Arizona du nord, élaborent un paysage au moyen de pratiques de contemplation, de dispositifs architecturaux, de mythes et de récits de parcours, de pèlerinages sur les traces des aïeux, et plus récemment, par de la poésie et de la photographie de paysage. Cet article analyse trois domaines majeurs de cette construction : le domaine phénoménologique (rôle de la vue qui porte loin ; place de la couleur ; jeux d’échelles ; goût pour les objets naturels mimant des artefacts) ; le domaine social (interprétation éthique des traces des ancêtres ; formation d’une unité sociale) ; le domaine cognitif (modalités de la transmission et de la remémoration paysagères). À travers cette « étude de cas », l’article veut contribuer à une interrogation épistémologique sur les raisons du paysage, ici et ailleurs.
Difficultés d'adaptation à la mondialisation des marchés : le cas du négoce des vins de Bordeaux
Authors: Réjalot Michel
Published: June 2013

Dans un contexte de concurrence internationale accrue et de réorganisation des marchés vitivinicoles mondiaux autour d’un oligopole à franges, le négoce des vins de Bordeaux est-il en mesure de tirer profit de cette nouvelle donne et de s’imposer comme un acteur offensif du mouvement de restructuration des filières vins en France et dans le monde ? Les caractéristiques de ces entreprises girondines, manquant de moyens financiers, mal intégrées à l’amont et mal armées sur un plan marketing, ne plaident pas en leur faveur. Depuis une quinzaine d’années, la concentration du négoce girondin s’accélère, et sauf exception notable, se fait au profit de groupes aux sièges sociaux non girondins. A plus long terme, cette évolution pose la question de la localisation des centres de décision des nouveaux « méga-groupes » vitivinicoles en voie de formation. La « place de Bordeaux » pourra-t-elle conserver un leader d’envergure mondiale ?
La prison centrale de Yaoundé : l'espace au cœur d'un dispositif de pouvoir
Authors: Morelle Marie
Published: June 2013

Cet article traite du fonctionnement interne de la prison centrale de Yaoundé (Cameroun). Construite en 1968 pour accueillir 1 000 prisonniers, celle-ci abrite environ 4 000 détenus, répartis de manière très inégalitaire. De tels effectifs influent sur les processus de contrôle de l’espace carcéral. On constate l’émergence d’une gestion de la prison fondée sur une double hiérarchie dans le travail de surveillance : les gardiens exercent leur contrôle sur les détenus tout en déléguant une partie de cette tâche à certains prisonniers. Selon un système de don-contre-don, des détenus accèdent ainsi à de relatifs privilèges durant leur incarcération. Ils surveillent des espaces et des seuils au sein de la prison : ils en tirent une rente et un statut. D’autres prisonniers encore ont recours à la corruption des agents de l’administration pénitentiaire. Des logiques informelles de régulation et de pacification de l’espace carcéral côtoient ainsi des pratiques plus formelles. Ensemble, elles produisent un dispositif de pouvoir, garant du maintien de l’ordre en prison. Cet article étudie les rapports de pouvoir entre les personnels de l’Administration pénitentiaire et les détenus d’une part, et entre les détenus d’autre part, dans leur dimension spatiale, en étudiant en particulier les circulations internes à la prison centrale de Yaoundé.
Épistémologie des savoirs scolaires et sens culturel des activités physiques et sportives
Authors: Roure Cédric
Published: June 2013

Epistemology of School Knowledge Contents and Cultural Meaning of Sports and Physical Exercise in School This paper focuses on showing how pertinent it is to conceive of the theoretical framework to give an account of the epistemology of the knowledge content involved in the sports, arts and physical activities ( Activités physiques sportives et artistiques or APSA) taught during sports sessions ( Education physique et sportive or EPS). The issue is that of a cultural transmission of APSA, which would take into account the epistemological perspectives of didactic research. The point is to describe the way the knowledge content of an APSA group, racket sports, is organised, and to consider the mechanisms leading to this organisation and to its evolution. Our results show that a framework built upon two modes of reflection about school knowledge contents, an historical and a sociological mode, are both pertinent and valid. The discussion concerns the role the way knowledge contents are organised plays in the formation of the group consisting in racket sports, and the cultural significance of theses activities.
« Bulle immobilière » et politique d'octroi de crédits
Authors: Antipa Pamfili , Lecat Rémy
Published: June 2013

Durant la décennie passée, la France a connu une hausse des prix immobiliers parmi les plus fortes et les plus prolongées des pays de la zone euro. Cet article vise à analyser les facteurs sous-tendant ces évolutions. En particulier, nous tenterons de déterminer si la dynamique des prix observée peut être attribuée aux évolutions démographiques et financières qui ont façonné l’économie française entre 1992 et 2012. Cette analyse est entreprise dans le cadre d’un modèle à correction d’erreur permettant de différencier la dynamique de court et de long terme des prix immobiliers. En tenant compte d’un ensemble de variables macroéconomiques standard, nos estimations impliquent que les prix immobiliers auraient dû baisser de 28 % en 2008 pour rejoindre leur niveau d’équilibre. Au 3 e trimestre 2012, malgré un ajustement du marché immobilier pendant la crise, les prix immobiliers se situent encore 21 % au-dessus de ce même niveau d’équilibre. Cependant, l’allongement de la durée des prêts immobiliers octroyés aux ménages, en augmentant la capacité d’achat de ces derniers, permet d’expliquer la hausse des prix pendant les années 2000. Aujourd’hui, cette durée semble s’être stabilisée et les déterminants standards des prix d’équilibre sont de nouveau orientés à la baisse. L’ajustement en cours des prix est néanmoins lent, leur dynamique étant inerte à court terme.
Quelle régulation du marché locatif privé ?
Authors: Le Bayon Sabine , Madec Pierre , Rifflart Christine
Published: June 2013

Le marché locatif privé est, depuis maintenant plus d’une décennie, sujet à une crise profonde (hausse des loyers, paupérisation des locataires, mobilité résidentielle bloquée, ...). Dans ce contexte, les pouvoirs publics ont récemment mis en place deux mesures. L’une encadrant l’évolution des loyers dans les zones sous tensions, l’autre agissant sur l’offre par le biais d’un nouveau dispositif d’incitation fiscale à l’investissement locatif. Après un état des lieux du marché locatif privé, nous nous proposons d’évaluer l’impact de ces mesures gouvernementales sur les loyers, les taux d’effort supportés par les locataires, les rendements perçus par les propriétaires, ou encore sur la construction. Il ressort de cette étude que l’encadrement, s’il est pérennisé, pourrait certes stopper l’inflation des loyers dans les zones ciblées et avoir un impact positif sur le taux d’effort des ménages les plus modestes, notamment si plusieurs obstacles sont surmontés (maintien de l’offre, transparence de l’information, ...). Concernant le dispositif Duflot, en s’appuyant sur des plafonds de ressources et de loyers trop élevés, il bénéficierait peu aux classes moyennes inférieures, alors même que son coût fiscal s’avère non négligeable. Bien que la régulation du marché locatif paraisse être, dans ces conditions, une équation insoluble compte tenu des attentes des parties prenantes (État, bailleurs privés et locataires), certaines solutions existent comme le développement de l’offre locative sociale ou encore de l’accession sociale à la propriété. Ces solutions, coûteuses mais pérennes, permettraient de détendre durablement un marché locatif privé saturé.
Éléments de réflexion sur le foncier et sa contribution au prix de l'immobilier
Authors: Levasseur Sandrine
Published: June 2013

Cet article s’intéresse aux différentes sources de dysfonctionnement du marché foncier français et à ses conséquences sur le marché de l’immobilier en termes de prix et d’offre de logements. En France, à l’exception de certaines zones, la rareté du foncier apparaît construite par le jeu des acteurs qui, tout le long de la chaîne, grippe la production de terrains à bâtir. Dans les années 2000, cette insuffisance du foncier, combinée aux règles urbanistiques, s’est traduite par une offre de logements trop faible au regard des besoins. L’article formule plusieurs propositions en vue d’améliorer le fonctionnement du marché foncier français, allant de la simple publication de données sur le foncier à une proposition plus ambitieuse qui assortit la déclaration de constructibilité d’un terrain de l’obligation de construire.
La rénovation énergétique en France dans le secteur résidentiel privé
Authors: Charlier Dorothée
Published: June 2013

Dans cet article, nous voulons analyser les déterminants des dépenses en rénovation des ménages en faisant la distinction entre les travaux de réparation et les travaux en économie d’énergie (travaux d’isolation du bâti et travaux de remplacement des équipements). Nous souhaitons aussi étudier l’effet des gains énergétiques espérés à la suite d’une rénovation en économie d’énergie sur cette décision d’entreprendre des travaux de rénovation. Pour réaliser cette étude, nous utilisons l’Enquête Logement 2006 de l’INSEE. Toutefois, afin de disposer des gains énergétiques espérés, il est nécessaire de créer de nouvelles variables sur la consommation énergétique des logements avant et après travaux en utilisant un logiciel technique de simulation. Les dépenses de rénovation sont analysées en tenant compte de deux caractéristiques importantes : les dépenses sont censurées en zéro et interdépendantes entre elles. La censure et l’interdépendance sont analysées en utilisant un Tobit multivarié. Comme principaux résultats, nous obtenons que les rénovations en économie d’énergie et les rénovations en réparation ne sont pas expliquées par les mêmes déterminants. Finalement, les gains énergétiques espérés sont des variables clés de la décision d’investir.
Le logement des jeunes et des nouvelles générations, 1978-2006
Authors: Allègre Guillaume , Dollé Guillaume
Published: June 2013

On observe entre 1978 et 2006 une forte augmentation du coût du logement (par m 2 ) relativement au revenu des ménages. Cette augmentation de la cherté relative du logement touche particulièrement les ménages jeunes dont les revenus progressent moins vite que l’ensemble des ménages. Malgré cela, les jeunes ménages vivent dans des logements plus grands en 2006 qu’en 1978. Cette évolution qualitative a eu lieu surtout entre 1978 et 1988 ; elle est nettement moins marquée pour les ménages les plus jeunes. L’intégralité de la très forte hausse du coût relatif du logement par m 2 se traduit par une hausse du poste logement dans le budget des ménages jeunes. Concernant les conditions de logement, il n’y a pas de sacrifice générationnel : lorsqu’elles vieillissent, les générations les plus récentes bénéficient sans ambiguïté de logements nettement plus grands. Les jeunes résident un peu plus longtemps chez leurs parents, mais ceci s’explique en grande partie par l’allongement des études et la hausse du chômage. Ces éléments plaident pour un réexamen de la situation économique par âge et génération qui tient compte des effets de l’évolution du coût du logement sur le niveau de vie ainsi que sur les transferts de richesse intergénérationnels.
Un préconscient saturé
Authors: Smadja Claude
Published: June 2013

La métapsychologie du fonctionnement opératoire repose principalement sur un état de saturation économique du préconscient. Cet état de saturation est lié à une perte d’énergie d’investissement du système préconscient et au surinvestissement des contenus perceptifs et actuels de la conscience. L’ensemble de cette saturation a pour effet d’empêcher le processus associatif en séance.
Le sacre du roman
Authors: Ozouf Mona
Published: June 2013

C’est la chance du roman que de naître dans un siècle enfanté dans le fracas d’une révolution, puis mettant sur le trône un personnage romanesque de haute volée, modèle pour bien des destins à venir : Napoléon. Le roman trouve face à lui un monde en ébullition, où les conditions sociales sont sens dessus dessous, d’où Dieu s’est absenté. Face à ce monde ouvert où les parcours sociaux sont devenus moins prévisibles, le roman, bien mieux que les autres genres, plus codés, va trouver matière. Contraint ni par l’unité de temps ni par l’unité de lieu, à lui de narrer les conquêtes promises aux ambitieux et aux apprentis des deux sexes, qui rêvent d’être les acteurs de leur propre vie. Si les futurs romanciers n’ont pas compris tout de suite que le roman était l’observateur privilégié d’une société en gésine, c’est bien à lui qu’ils en sont venus, une fois remisés leurs rêves de jeunesse. À travers tout le siècle, le roman leur a permis de suivre les aléas du seul héros désormais possible : l’individu.
Adapting Test-Driven Development to Build Robust Web Services
Authors: Laranjeiro Nuno , Vieira Marco
Published: June 2013

Web services are increasingly being used in business critical environments as a mean to provide a service or integrate distinct software services. Research indicates that, in many cases, services are deployed with robustness issues (i.e., displaying unexpected behaviors when in presence of invalid input conditions). Recently, Test-Driven Development (TDD) emerged as software development technique based on test cases that are defined before development, as a way to validate functionalities. However, programmers typically disregard the verification of limit conditions, such as the ones targeted by robustness testing. Moreover, in TDD, tests are created before developing the functionality, conflicting with the typical robustness testing approach. This chapter discusses the integration of robustness testing in TDD for improving the robustness of web services during development. The authors requested three programmers to create a set of services based on open-source code and to implement different versions of the services specified by TPC-App, using both TDD and the approach presented in this chapter. Results indicate that TDD with robustness testing is an effective way to create more robust services.
A Method for Model-Driven Information Flow Security
Authors: Seehusen Fredrik , Stølen Ketil
Published: June 2013

We present a method for software development in which information flow security is taken into consideration from start to finish. Initially, the user of the method (i.e., a software developer) specifies the system architecture and selects a set of security requirements (in the form of secure information flow properties) that the system must adhere to. The user then specifies each component of the system architecture using UML inspired state machines, and refines/transforms these (abstract) state machines into concrete state machines. It is shown that if the abstract specification adheres to the security requirements, then so does the concrete one provided that certain conditions are satisfied.
MoDSEL
Authors: Er Ersin , Tekinerdogan Bedir
Published: June 2013

Model-Driven Software Development (MDSD) aims to support the development and evolution of software intensive systems using the basic concepts of model, metamodel, and model transformation. In parallel with the ongoing academic research, MDSD is more and more applied in industrial practices. Like conventional non-MDSD practices, MDSD systems are also subject to changing requirements and have to cope with evolution. In this chapter, the authors provide a scenario-based approach for documenting and analyzing the impact of changes that apply to model-driven development systems. To model the composition and evolution of an MDSD system, they developed the so-called Model-Driven Software Evolution Language (MoDSEL) which is based on a megamodel for MDSD. MoDSEL includes explicit language abstractions to specify both the model elements of an MDSD system and the evolution scenarios that might apply to model elements. Based on MoDSEL specifications, an impact analysis is performed to assess the impact of evolution scenarios and the sensitivity of model elements. A case study is provided to show different kind of evolution scenarios and the required adaptations to model elements.
Design and Transformation of a Domain-Specific Language for Reconfigurable Conveyor Systems
Authors: An Kyoungho , Trewyn Adam , Gokhale Aniruddha , Sastry Shivakumar
Published: June 2013

Much of the existing literature on domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) focuses on either the DSML design and their use in developing complex software systems (e.g., in enterprise and web applications), or their use in physical systems (e.g., process control). With increasing focus on research and development of cyber-physical systems (CPS) such as autonomous automotive systems and process control systems, which are systems that tightly integrate cyber and physical artifacts, it becomes important to understand the need for and the roles played by DSMLs for such systems. One use of DSMLs for CPS systems is in the analysis and verification of different properties of the system. Many questions arise in this context: How are the cyber and physical artifacts represented in DSMLs? How can these DSMLs be used in analysis? This book chapter addresses these questions through a case study of reconfigurable conveyor systems used as a representative example.
Requirements Specification as Basis for Mobile Software Quality Assurance
Authors: Lacuesta Raquel , Fernández-Sanz Luis , Romay María del Pilar
Published: June 2013

Development of mobile applications is a complex task due to the specific characteristics of the environment. Although different proposals to offer more practical and systematic processes have been published within the so-called mobile software engineering, it is still necessary to devise more advanced methods, especially in the area of software quality assurance. This chapter presents a set of practices to support quality control by developers based on the adoption of methods from traditional software engineering focused on effective requirements specification and associated methods for generating practical testing procedures.
Creating and Applying Security Goal Indicator Trees in an Industrial Environment
Authors: Bagnato Alessandra , Raiteri Fabio , Jung Christian , Elberzhager Frank
Published: June 2013

Security inspections are increasingly important for bringing security-relevant aspects into software systems, particularly during the early stages of development. Nowadays, such inspections often do not focus specifically on security. With regard to security, the well-known and approved benefits of inspections are not exploited to their full potential. This book chapter focuses on the Security Goal Indicator Tree application for eliminating existing shortcomings, the training that led to their creation in an industrial project environment, their usage, and their reuse by a team in industry. SGITs are a new approach for modeling and checking security-relevant aspects throughout the entire software development lifecycle. This book chapter describes the modeling of such security goal based trees as part of requirements engineering using the GOAT tool dedicated plug-in and the retrieval of these models during the various phases of the software development lifecycle in a project by means of Software Vulnerability Repository Services (SVRS) created in the European project SHIELDS (SHIELDS - Detecting known security vulnerabilities from within design and development tools).
The Design and Implementation of Paperless Medical System (PMS) for Offshore Operating Company
Authors: Ghalib Nabil
Published: June 2013

Application software development has always been viewed as a massive challenge by companies that view IT services as a support function rather than a core function. The term “core” here implies that IT plays an enabler role to facilitate technology and services that support users to meet set business objectives in an efficient way. Furthermore, IT development is perceived by many managers as a burden; hence, they prefer the fast track implementation of specialized packages to deliver the majority of service levels over the long wait for systems to be built in-house, even though the latter option is more advantageous in the long run, as it offers a much better fit to all user requirements. With this dilemma in mind, this case is an example of how an in-house development solution was implemented. The case touches on positive and negative aspects of the decision to build the application and covers a range of issues encountered during every phase of the development life cycle.
A Hierarchically Structured Collective of Coordinating Mobile Robots Supervised by a Single Human
Authors: Wong Choon Yue , Seet Gerald , Sim Siang Kok , Pang Wee Ching
Published: June 2013

Using a Single-Human Multiple-Robot System (SHMRS) to deploy rescue robots in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) can induce high levels of cognitive workload and poor situation awareness. Yet, the provision of autonomous coordination between robots to alleviate cognitive workload and promote situation awareness must be made with careful management of limited robot computational and communication resources. Therefore, a technique for autonomous coordination using a hierarchically structured collective of robots has been devised to address these concerns. The technique calls for an Apex robot to perform most of the computation required for coordination, allowing Subordinate robots to be simpler computationally and to communicate with only the Apex robot instead of with many robots. This method has been integrated into a physical implementation of the SHMRS. As such, this chapter also presents practical components of the SHMRS including the robots used, the control station, and the graphical user interface.
Service Composition Verification and Validation
Authors: Palomo-Duarte Manuel
Published: June 2013

Web services are changing software development thanks to their loosely coupled nature and simple adoption. They can be easily composed to create new more powerful services, allowing for large programming systems. Verification and validation techniques try to find defects in a program to minimize losses that its malfunction could cause. Although many different approaches have been developed for “traditional” program testing, none of them have proven definitive. The problem is even more challenging for new paradigms like web services and web service compositions, because of their dynamic nature and uncommon web service-specific instructions. This chapter surveys the different approaches to web service and web service composition verification and validation, paying special attention to automation. When no tools are available for a given technique, academic efforts are discussed, and challenges are presented.
Constraints in Authoring BIM Components for Optimal Data Reuse and Interoperability
Authors: Lockley Stephen , Greenwood David , Matthews Jane , Benghi Claudio
Published: June 2013

This research investigates the issues of authoring reusable BIM components that can be delivered across multiple platforms. A key constraint in the uptake of Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology is interoperability, the ability to accurately and automatically share and exchange data. This has been addressed by the creation of a system of standards; Industry Foundation Classes (Ifcs). Recognising the importance of Ifc standards, the promoters of many proprietary BIM software platforms generally claim that their products support them fully. This has been challenged, and the reported work has aimed to test these assertions. A simple test model was constructed to represent the various geometries that are encountered, which were then expressed in Ifc files. Fourteen commonly-used BIM software tools were subjected to tests in which the range of geometries within the test model was imported into each tool in Ifc format. A simple visual analysis of the outcomes showed a dramatic failure to process the geometries as they were intended. The results of the study indicate that the current commercial BIM authoring tools, whilst being technically capable of providing support for the required component geometric representations, are constrained from doing so by their conversion interfaces from Ifc geometries. The practical implications of this are considerable, and could result in the possibility of serious errors within designs for construction projects. This is particularly relevant in the case of the BIM library components that are currently being authored for importing into project design models. The test model has been circulated to experts in the area, and their observations, as well as results of any further tests will be made publicly available.
Energy Optimization of Power Station for a Small Research Institute
Authors: Ani Vincent Anayochukwu
Published: June 2013

Renaissance University, Agbani has a research institute with internet facility that accommodates 200 computers for student training, research and browsing. This facility becomes impossible to run due to the inability of the public utility to provide steady, reliable and efficient power. A 250KVA generating set was denoted by the school Administration and latter installed for this facility. After the installation, the facility cut off from public utility and depends wholly on Diesel generator. From experience with the performance of the existing generating sets as regards emissions and operating costs due to high cost of maintenance and diesel, a hybrid system (Diesel-Solar PV) was proposed. This paper investigates and analyzes the economic and environmental benefits of the proposed project to existing diesel generator. From the analyses, the proposed system (solar PV-diesel) has less total net present cost and less emission as a result of less fuel consumption and higher efficiency operation of the diesel genset when compared to the existing system (diesel only).
Cost Minimization of Power Delivery Systems by Optimal Power Generation from Distributed Energy Resources Using Real Valued Cultural Algorithm
Authors: Som Trina , Chakraborty Niladri
Published: June 2013

An economic estimation of a network of distributed energy resources (DERs) forming a power delivery system in an Indian scenario has been made. The mathematical analysis is based on the application of real valued cultural algorithm (RVCA). The RVCA-evaluated total annual cost for power delivery networks has been obtained utilizing both solar and fuel cells as DERs along with a battery energy storage system. The analyses for optimal power operation pertaining to minimum cost have been made by considering two cases in Indian power delivery system. The first case deals with the consumers’ individual optimal operation of DERs, while in the second one, the consumers form a microgrid with the optimal supply of power from DERs. The total annual costs for these two cases are found to be economically competitive and encouraging in the context of supplying reliable power to a small locality. A reduction of approximately 4.3% in the annual cost has been obtained in the case of microgid system than that in the separately operating consumers’ system for a small locality of India. It is observed that the application of RVCA in power optimization results in a reduction of total cost depicting an improved outcome in terms of energy economy.
A Framework for Synthesizing Arbitrary Boolean Queries Induced by Frequent Itemsets
Authors: Adhikari Animesh
Published: June 2013

Frequent itemsets determine the major characteristics of a transactional database. It is important to mine arbitrary Boolean queries induced by frequent itemsets. In this paper, the author proposes a simple and elegant framework for synthesizing arbitrary Boolean queries using conditional patterns in a database. Both real and synthetic databases were used to evaluate the experimental results. The author presents an algorithm for mining a set of specific itemsets in a database and a model of synthesizing a query in a database. Finally, the author discusses an application of the proposed framework for reducing query processing time.
Effects of Different Parameters on Delamination Factor of Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP)
Authors: Sharma Vikas , Kumar Vinod , Kumar Harmesh
Published: June 2013

The experimental investigations of the delamination factor of glass fiber reinforced plastic at different cutting parameters are reported in this study. This paper has involved the determination of different factors affecting the hole quality and cause of delamination in a glass fiber reinforced plastic. The various process parameters like different twist drill bits of different materails, different point angle at different speed, feed rate have been taken. The thrust forces and torque values were measured using piezoelectric dynamometer. Mathematical model has been developed for different machining conditions using Minitab software with help of Taguchi design to plan the experiments. The Universal microscope has been used which determines delaminated diameter in GFRP specimens. The finite element method has been applied by using Ansys11.0 software which helped to find out delaminated diameter. It was experimentally observed that for the tungsten carbide and M50 drill bits, the thrust force and torque significant increases on increasing the point angle and feed rate.
Service Quality and Customer Loyalty
Authors: Vun Albert Chong Yan , Harun Amran , Lily Jaratin , Lasuin Charlie Albert
Published: June 2013

The study of e-consumer behavior is getting more attention in e-commerce related literature. Acknowledging the importance of e-commerce, this study aims to investigate the influence of e-service quality dimensions (efficiency, requirement fulfilment, accessibility, privacy and responsiveness) on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty as well as to understand the mediating effect of customer satisfaction on e-service quality and customer loyalty. The study employed survey strategy using a self-administered questionnaire with professionals working in different industries and business settings located in Sabah, Malaysia. Study results indicated that out of five e- service quality dimensions, efficiency, accessibility, privacy and responsiveness are positively affecting customer satisfaction but in contrast accessibility had insignificant impact on customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, efficiency, accessibility and responsiveness were found to have a positive and significant relationship with customer loyalty. The findings of hierarchical regression indicated that customer satisfaction partially mediated the effects of efficiency, privacy and responsiveness on customer loyalty. Based on these findings, the study implications and suggestions regarding future research are discussed.
E-Commerce in a Web 2.0 World
Authors: Alavi Shirin , Ahuja Vandana
Published: June 2013

This paper details the usage of online communities to influence consumer price sensitivity for expensive, medium, and low cost products by formulating a research instrument, which is accomplished through an extensive literature review of price effects prevalent in the online domain. The research study further examines the impact of reference price effect, difficult comparison effect, price quality effect, and switching cost effect on consumer price sensitivity and proceeds to segment consumers into groups which demonstrate similar characteristics. Organisations benefit by identifying the strategically significant consumers in each category and target them appropriately rather than investing in a blanket promotion program. The objective is to enable organisations to identify consumers demonstrating future profit or relationship potential and devise strategies to impact price sensitivity by responding to price search intentions, improving product perceptions, improving consumer experiences, informing consumers about new schemes, and improving product perceived value. Most valuable consumers are those who depict consistent behaviour across all three product typologies. Valuable consumers identified through a customer portfolio analysis can be leveraged by hosting appropriate content in an online business community and subsequently using customers engaged through business online communities as important sources of competitive advantage. Due to these benefits, online business communities may generate more profitable sales than transactional marketing methods.
The Design of Authentic Inquiry for Online Knowledge-Constructive Interaction and Self-Regulated Learning Processes
Authors: Lee Woon Jee , Ke Fengfeng
Published: June 2013

This study examined students’ self-regulated learning processes and satisfaction within an authentic, inquiry-based learning module in a graduate-level online course. In this design-based case study, a WebQuest-based, authentic learning module was developed to support self-regulated, collaborative discussions, and implemented with 22 graduate students at a large southeastern university in US. Online discussion transcripts were coded via the Online Learning Interaction Model, and learning satisfaction data were collected via an online survey. As a result, students’ social and knowledge-constructive interactions were closely associated with self-regulated processes. During group and class discussions, students were involved in planning and coordination interactions as well as those for reflection and self-evaluation. Students were generally satisfied with the design elements implemented in the authentic activities. The study findings provide insights on the design of the authentic and inquiry learning that supports both social and individual aspects of self-regulation processes.
Student Perceptions on the Utilization of Formative Feedback in the Online Environment
Authors: Halupa Colleen , Bolliger Doris U.
Published: June 2013

This article addresses instructors’ formative feedback to graduate student writing. The authors investigated the utilization of a formative feedback option in online master and doctoral degree programs in health education and administration. Two hundred and five graduate students at a small private university in the Midwest in various health programs completed an online questionnaire focusing on student perceptions of the use of formative feedback including preferences, utilization, usefulness, and barriers. The first part of the survey was completed by all respondents; the second part of the questionnaire was directed at formative feedback users only. Over seventy three percent of respondents utilized the feedback option and most individuals valued the feedback. Results highlighted differences of learner perceptions and preferences. Participants offered a number of barriers and reasons for non-use; however, students who did not utilize the option were either satisfied with their performance or were unable to meet deadlines set by instructors.
Supply Risk Structural Equation Model of Trust, Dependence, Concentration, and Information Sharing Strategies
Authors: Mandal Santanu , Bhattacharya Sourabh
Published: June 2013

The purpose of the paper was to formulate a framework for supply side risk and empirically validate the same in the Indian context. A framework was developed for supply side risk by starting with a structured literature review complemented with theoretical underpinnings from the principles of Resource Based Value, Transaction Cost Economies and the Relational Capital Theory. The study validated the framework through a survey of 164 purchasing and supply chain managers in India. The study used confirmatory factor analysis to develop the measurement model. Structural equation modeling was deployed for testing the proposed structural relationships and hypotheses. The findings clearly indicated that factors such as supplier concentration, supplier dependence, sourcing strategies and trust towards customers enhanced the supply side risk situation for the organization. In contrast to this, trust towards suppliers and high level of information sharing among the supply chain partners created undesired risk.
Exploring Spatial Patterns of Property Crime Risks in Changchun, China
Authors: Song Wei , Liu Daqian
Published: June 2013

Urban crime has increasingly become a major issue for Chinese cities. Using crime data collected at police precincts in 2008, the main aim of this research is to examine the spatial distribution of property crime which accounted for almost 82% of all crimes in the city of Changchun, and analyze the relationship between the spatial patterns of property crime and neighborhood characteristics. Standardized property crime rates (SCR) were applied to assess the relative risk of property crime across the city. Statistically significant clusters of high-risk areas or hot-spots were detected. A global ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model and a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model were calibrated to explore the risk of property crime as a function of contextual neighborhood characteristics. The analytical results show that significant local variations exist in the relationship between the risk of property crime and several neighborhood socioeconomic variables.
Recognizing Student Emotions using Brainwaves and Mouse Behavior Data
Authors: Azcarraga Judith , Suarez Merlin Teodosia
Published: June 2013

Brainwaves (EEG signals) and mouse behavior information are shown to be useful in predicting academic emotions, such as confidence, excitement, frustration and interest. Twenty five college students were asked to use the Aplusix math learning software while their brainwaves signals and mouse behavior (number of clicks, duration of each click, distance traveled by the mouse) were automatically being captured. It is shown that by combining the extracted features from EEG signals with data representing mouse click behavior, the accuracy in predicting academic emotions substantially increases compared to using only features extracted from EEG signals or just mouse behavior alone. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to assess the prediction accuracy of the system at points during the learning session where several of the extracted features significantly deviate in value from their mean. The experiments confirm that the prediction performance increases as the number of feature values that deviate significantly from the mean increases.
Words that Fascinate the Listener
Authors: Weninger Felix , Staudt Pascal , Schuller Björn
Published: June 2013

In a large scale study on 843 transcripts of Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) talks, the authors address the relation between word usage and categorical affective ratings of lectures by a large group of internet users. Users rated the lectures by assigning one or more predefined tags which relate to the affective state evoked in the audience (e. g., ‘fascinating’, ‘funny’, ‘courageous’, ‘unconvincing’ or ‘long-winded’). By automatic classification experiments, they demonstrate the usefulness of linguistic features for predicting these subjective ratings. Extensive test runs are conducted to assess the influence of the classifier and feature selection, and individual linguistic features are evaluated with respect to their discriminative power. In the result, classification whether the frequency of a given tag is higher than on average can be performed most robustly for tags associated with positive valence, reaching up to 80.7% accuracy on unseen test data.
An Adaptive Decision Support System for Last Mile Logistics in E-Commerce
Authors: Al-nawayseh Mohammad K. , Alnabhan Mohammad M. , Al-Debei Mutaz M. , Balachandran Wamadeva
Published: June 2013

Last mile logistics represent one of the most important challenging issues in online grocery shopping. Online customers are expecting high logistical services, demanding convenience, high reliable and on-time delivery services. As such, online retailers have to respond to these expectations by providing convenient logistical services while keeping this process cost efficient as much as possible. This research aims to design an e-commerce logistical decision support system for online grocery shopping in Jordan as a case study from the developing countries. Online grocery retailers are supposed to use this model in order to select the most suitable delivery operating system in the future. To implement and evaluate this model, one of the available routing and scheduling online solutions (i.e. “My Route Online”) is used to identify, analyse, and compare the cost efficiencies of the available alternative delivery solutions. The system is tested using real data over three different delivery alternatives (i.e. home delivery, delivery point and pickup point) in order to evaluate and compare their cost efficiencies. The findings from the experiments show that there are significant differences amongst the three delivery alternatives on the basis of three KPIs: cost, distance and time. The findings also indicate that the time indicator has more powerful change effect on cost than distance for all delivery alternatives. According to the level of investments online grocery retailers are willing to offer, customer preferences, and the experimental results, it is concluded that pickup point solution is the best logistical strategy for online grocery retailers to start with.
An Empirical Investigation of Two Group Idea Generation Techniques
Authors: Ghosh Kaushik , Aiken Milam
Published: June 2013

Gallery writing is a widely used variant of brainwriting and the technique is available in electronic and manual forms. This study posits a model based on the input-process-output framework to empirically test the relative efficacy of electronic and manual gallery writing. An experiment using a student sample was conducted and data was collected to test the proposed model. Path analysis shows that while either technique can be used successfully, groups using the electronic version generated more text. Also, free riders were dissatisfied with the meeting process. Some implications of this study are that when a large number of ideas are desired in group meetings, electronic gallery writing might be the preferred technique, while manual gallery writing might be better when meeting participants want to keep the discussion focused on succinct ideas.
ERP and SCM Integration
Authors: Mekawie Shereen , Elragal Ahmed
Published: June 2013

Organizations rely on various types of information systems (IS) to manage day-to-day business and make decisions such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) systems. Organizations rely on ERP systems to replace their legacy systems, integrate core business processes and to help adding value and increasing visibility. Additionally, SCM systems help organizations to enhance relationships with supply chain members. It is essential for organizations to measure their business performance by taking into consideration intra-organizational and inter-organizational indicators. Therefore, the integration between ERP and SCM systems is a key to enable more business performance; that were otherwise hidden. Accordingly, the motive for this paper is to study the influence of ERP-SCM integration on enabling more business performance measures. For this reason, a business performance measures framework was constructed and then tested on two organizations using multi-case study qualitative research approach. Analysis results indicated that integrating ERP and SCM systems would render more performance measures and hence enable better and wider-scope evaluation. Consequently, managers are more informed and accordingly are able to make high quality decisions.
Healthcare Data Mining
Authors: Azari Ali , Janeja Vandana P. , Mohseni Alex
Published: June 2013

A model to predict the Length of Stay (LOS) for hospitalized patients can be an effective tool for measuring the consumption of hospital resources. Such a model will enable early interventions to prevent complications and prolonged LOS and also enable more efficient utilization of manpower and facilities in hospitals. In this paper, the authors propose an approach for Predicting Hospital Length of Stay (PHLOS) using a multi-tiered data mining approach. In their aproach, the authors form training sets, using groups of similar claims identified by k-means clustering and perfom classification using ten different classifiers. The authors provide a combined measure of performance to statistically evaluate and rank the classifiers for different levels of clustering. They consistently found that using clustering as a precursor to form the training set gives better prediction results as compared to non-clustering based training sets. The authors have also found the accuracies to be consistently higher than some reported in the current literature for predicting individual patient LOS. Binning the LOS to three groups of short, medium and long stays, their method identifies patients who need aggressive or moderate early interventions to prevent prolonged stays. The classification techniques used in this study are interpretable, enabling them to examine the details of the classification rules learned from the data. As a result, this study provides insight into the underlying factors that influence hospital length of stay. They also examine the authors’ prediction results for three randomly selected conditions with domain expert insights.
Factors Influencing Citizen Adoption of E-Government in Developing Countries
Authors: Al Hujran Omar , Aloudat Anas , Altarawneh Ikhlas
Published: June 2013

The main purposes of this study are to investigate citizen adoption of e-government services in Jordan and to explore factors affecting the level of adoption of e-government services. Importantly, this study aims to develop a conceptual framework that is based on previous literature of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in order to examine the relationships between certain factors (government trustworthiness, service quality and citizen satisfaction) and citizen adoption of e-government services. A self-administered questionnaire was used to capture data from 356 Jordanian citizens across the country randomly. The findings indicate that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, citizen satisfaction and trustworthiness are significant predictors of the Jordanian intention to use an e-government service. The results also showed that the service quality dimensions: responsiveness, reliability, and empathy have significant impacts on the citizen satisfaction. The study has made significant contributions to the body of knowledge at academic and practical levels as an important exploratory study that was conducted in the context of Jordan, a developing country with genuine need for more research works on e-government issues. In addition, this study provides some valuable insights into the performance and adoption of e-government in Jordan that could help government agencies to improve the effectiveness of their services.