bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mastering Social Media in the Modern Business World
Authors: Kasemsap Kijpokin
Published: March 2018

This chapter explains the overview of social media; the perspectives of social media marketing; social media and communication management; social media competence and knowledge sharing in modern business; social media applications in the tourism industry; social media applications in the health care industry; the multifaceted applications of social media platforms in modern business; and the importance of social media in the modern business world. The implementation of social media is required for modern organizations that seek to serve suppliers and customers, increase business performance, strengthen competitiveness, and achieve continuous success in the modern business world. The chapter argues that applying social media has the potential to enhance organizational performance and reach strategic goals in the social media age.
Developing a Hierarchy Model for Selection of Social Media Manager
Authors: Hsu Pi-Fang , Su Yi-Wen , Tsai Chia-Wen
Published: March 2018

With the fast development of the Internet, communication tools are no longer limited to traditional media. Enterprises have become aware of the rapid emergence of social media in recent years. Social media marketing has become an important field that demands attention, especially its changing marketing strategies. It is necessary to designate a professional to manage the social media platforms of an enterprise to attract consumers. Hence this study develops a two-part model to assist employers in choosing the ideal social media manager. The first part derives criteria for choosing a social media manager by conducting a thorough literature review and employing the modified Delphi method. The second part applies the analytic hierarchy process to calculate and identify the best suited social media manager by ranking candidates according to the relative weights of the evaluation criteria. In addition, a renowned Taiwanese restaurant chain is used as an example, to demonstrate how a social media manager is selected by applying this model. The results show that enterprises emphasize social media capabilities, professional skills, innovation, personal characteristics, and social skills.
Storytelling and Narrative Marketing in the Era of Social Media
Authors: Ferrari Sonia
Published: March 2018

This chapter is focused on the elements that, in post modern era, have greatly changed our society, both in terms of buying and consumption habits and, more generally, in terms of lifestyles. This is mainly due to the Internet, which provides low cost, faster and interactive information and communication. As described in detail in the chapter, companies have been forced to adopt new marketing strategies and, thanks to the spread of social media and viral marketing, tools such as word of mouth and storytelling have become even more effective than in the past. But today companies need to use them in a different way, actively involving the consumers, because they attribute a greater value to a product if they participate in the process of creation of its image and elements of differentiation. If managed in an innovative way, focusing on sensory and transmedia aspects, storytelling becomes a very powerful Customer Relationship Marketing and image building medium and, above all, a source of enduring competitive advantage.
Examining the Role of WeChat in Advertising
Authors: Yao Qi , Wu Mei
Published: March 2018

WeChat, the most popular social networking service mobile app in China, enables users to contact friends with text, audio, video contents as well as get to know new people within a range of a certain distance. Its latest version has gone beyond the pure social function and opened a window into marketing. This study applies activity theory as a framework to explore new features of WeChat as a new platform for advertising. Then the authors qualitatively analyze the implications that marketers adapted and appropriated WeChat to engage with their customers and in turn how these implications modified the ways of advertising. The significance of this study is that it applied activity theory as an attempt to complement the theoretical pillars of communication study. Activity theory focuses on the activity itself rather than the interaction between WeChat and the users. Second, activity theory reveals a 2-way process which emphasizes both on how advertisers adapt WeChat based on everyday practice; and how WeChat modifies the activities which the advertisers engage in.
The Application of Instagram as a Promotional and Communication Tool by Productive Families in the Kingdom of Bahrain
Authors: Abdulrazzaq Amera H. , Hamad Sharifa , Ali Marwa , Mohammed Fatima , Kamal Walaa S.
Published: March 2018

This study aims to investigate Instagram potentialities in the family business sector in Bahrain known as “Productive families”. The intention to adopt and use the tool to promote their products and support information sharing, cooperation, and actual communication, the actual benefits and use derived as a stand-alone tool, and the socio-economic payoffs for their businesses. An analytical and quantitative approach is used throughout the study. A survey was distributed to 253 participants consisting of a standard questionnaire divided in to two main parts: the first part covered the demographic elements while the second part focused on two factors (Performance Expectancy and Effort Expectancy) of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT). The analysis reveals that: (1) Instagram can be an important means of creating valuable opportunities for productive families to achieve their missions and goals in promoting and advertising their products; (2) the two factors analyzed (Performance expectancy and Effort expectancy) directly influence the families' intention to use form which leads directly to the actual usage; (3) the families' age, gender and level of education have indirect effects on their intention to adopt and use the platform; (4) most of the families use Instagram to promote their businesses, specifically handcrafts and services and have doing so for over two year; (5) The main financially supporter is Tamkeen, which backs 53% of the surveyed families. To our knowledge, this is the first in-depth study of the use of Instagram by Productive Bahraini families.
Trust Management Issues in Social-Media Marketing
Authors: Kumar Vikas , Pradhan Prasann
Published: March 2018

Social Media provides a new channel to marketers and businesses to communicate with their customers and business partners and integrate this media in their business strategy. The large scale growth of the social media and its increasing users has opened up new marketing era for the businesses. However, with enormous growth of the social media and other online channels, the competition has increased worldwide. Correspondingly, the customer retention and satisfaction has come-up as the biggest challenge. It has become necessary to gain and retain the customer trust, so that the existing customers are retained and new customers are attracted. Trust management becomes the most important issue in the online environment to work closely with the existing and potential customers along with the business partners. Present work discusses the important aspects of entrusting, managing and maintaining user trust with the social media marketing strategies. The paper highlights the various prevailing models of the trust management and comes out with the strong arguments to facilitate the user trust for businesses using social media marketing techniques.
Social Media and Customer Retention
Authors: Stokinger Ellen , Ozuem Wilson
Published: March 2018

Social media has become an integrated part of everyday life, but its entry into the luxury goods industry has been far from easy. The use of social media in the luxury beauty industry has caused many heated debates as it is seen as a form of interference in the exclusivity of luxury brands by limiting the physical and sensual contact between brand and customer. The purpose of this chapter is to provide some insights into how social media impacts the cosmetics industry. Further, the authors provide evidence that the effective application of social media in the luxury beauty industry could lead to wider market share and customer retention. The chapter concludes with some strategies that practitioners and researchers can adopt to develop effective marketing communication strategies using social media platforms.
Social Media Metrics
Authors: Sudarsanam S. K.
Published: March 2018

Concepts and the theories related to social media are discussed in this chapter. This chapter talks about the various frameworks of social media for the use of organizations in developing social media framework with the business objectives. Definitions and guidelines in respect of social media metrics are mentioned in this chapter. Further it suggests the methods in choosing the right metrics for the key social media objectives in respect of canvassing or product launches. A new Social media metrics framework has been suggested and also the metrics have been identified for each framework group. This Chapter will help Organizations in identifying the key social media metrics for tracking and monitoring the measurement of the performance of one's brands, products, and services in the social media channels. Once the key social media metrics are identified, organizations can choose the right tool to measure the metrics defined. This would help Organizations to improve or enhance their marketing and operational business strategies by leveraging the power and reach of the social media channels. The future directions for research and the references indicated in this chapter would be of great help to researchers in the area of social media metrics.
A Netnographic Analysis of Facebook Content Strategy of World's Top 10 Management Institutes
Authors: Pillai Anandan , Chauhan Kalpana
Published: March 2018

This research paper analyzes the content strategy of World's top 10 management institutes that they followed on Facebook to understand the importance of content strategy in building brand communities. It uses the Netnographic approach to analyse the content strategy and establishes that the content context i.e. its relevance to the community matters the most in building strong community. This research would fill the gap that existed in the brand community literature where researchers hardly discussed about relevance of content strategy in brand's social media strategy.
Gamification and Social Media as Tools for Tourism Promotion
Authors: Kachniewska Magdalena
Published: March 2018

The goal of this chapter is to present the application of gamification mechanism and social media tools in the promotion of tourism regions and enterprises as well as the promotion of tourism activity itself. The framework distinguishes between stimulus characteristics of the game (promotion mechanism) that lead to sociological responses toward the game (tourism brand) and actual buyers' (tourists') behaviour. Though the game-like mechanism has been applied in tourism for decades and some funware elements are well known among teens – they hardly deal with competition of computer games. Two popular systems of tourism badges in Poland are thus discussed in order to look for reasons of their falling popularity and teenagers' resistance to participate in the systems. Mobile devices enable teens to combine playing and travelling. The development of mobile applications, integrating social gaming, and location-based technology has led to the growing interest in location-based social network marketing, particularly in tourism and hospitality. The chapter concludes with a proposal how to revitalize an old-school system of tourism badges through the modern gamification mechanism combined with social media tools.
Social Media in Political Public Relations
Authors: Sebastião Sónia Pedro , Trindade Alice Donat
Published: March 2018

This chapter demonstrates how Web social media can be used in different ways to create more personalized or more impersonal messages in political public relations campaigns. When everyone is awakening to the potential of these social media for political communication campaigns, it is necessary to find alternative strategies to spread our word and distinguish ourselves from our competition. At this point, it is important to define the targets of persuasion and public relations; in addition, the manner in which a public relations campaign can be helpful is yet to be established, as well as the most adequate social media to be used.
The Use of Social Media and Online Petitions to Achieve Collective Change for a Sustainable Future
Authors: Naidoo Vannie
Published: March 2018

Scandals of corruption in government and mismanagement in business and government departments has made us rethink of what the world is becoming and what should be done to steer it on the right track. Brilliant policy and law makers have tried to put in place laws and governing statutes that can assist in ethically governing businesses and governments so that they can sustain themselves and maintain a healthy respectful and transparent relationship with all their stakeholders and communities. The failure by certain governments and businesses to adhere to policy, statutes and laws has frustrated good people and their only podium left standing is social media and online petitions. On websites worldwide communities are getting together to discuss and defame businesses and governments that are perpetuating unethical behaviour. This has changed the face of marketing as marketers and the public relations departments are in change of maintain and promoting a company or governments image. The face of marketing has changed as social media has introduced itself into the mix.
Social Media's Role in Alleviating Political Corruption and Scandals
Authors: Manrique Cecilia G. , Manrique Gabriel G.
Published: March 2018

This chapter is an attempt to show how the use of social media in one country, the Republic of the Philippines, has grown and has been used to encourage political awareness and participation among the Filipino masses. The country is ranked among the most technologically savvy in the world but ironically is also considered one of the most corrupt countries as well. The authors believe that, as a result of the showings Filipinos have made when called upon via social media to oust corrupt officials, there is a method whereby such knowledge can be harnessed for the good thus alleviating scandals and ultimately corruption in the country. This research points to the direction the country, and various other countries in the world in similar situations, may take in order to combat corruption through greater citizen participation.
Image Quality Assessment and Outliers Filtering in an Image-Based Animal Supervision System
Authors: Khoramshahi Ehsan , Hietaoja Juha , Valros Anna , Yun Jinhyeon , Pastell Matti
Published: March 2018

This paper presents a probabilistic framework for the image quality assessment (QA), and filtering of outliers, in an image-based animal supervision system (asup). The proposed framework recognizes asup's imperfect frames in two stages. The first stage deals with the similarity analysis of the same-class distributions. The objective of this stage is to maximize the separability measures by defining a set of similarity indicators (SI) under the condition that the number of permissible values for them is restricted to be relatively low. The second stage, namely faulty frame recognition (FFR), deals with asup's QA training and real-time quality assessment (RTQS). In RTQS, decisions are made based on a real-time quality assessment mechanism such that the majority of the defected frames are removed from the consecutive sub routines that calculate the movements. The underlying approach consists of a set of SI indexes employed in a simple Bayesian inference model. The results confirm that a significant amount of defected frames can be efficiently classified by this approach. The performance of the proposed technique is demonstrated by the classification on a cross-validation set of mixed high and low quality frames. The classification shows a true positive rate of 88.6% while the false negative rate is only about 2.5%.
An Up-To-Date Review of Piglet Isosporosis
Authors: Boulaki Vasiliki , Vlachakis Dimitrios , Sotiraki Smaragda , Kossida Sophia
Published: March 2018

Piglet isosporosis caused by Isospora suis represents a considerable problem worldwide with great economic losses and veterinary importance in pig production. So the control of this parasite is a great need. However, little is known about porcine coccidiosis concerning dynamics, pathophysiology and immunology of this disease, as well as host-parasite interactions. In addition, only few studies deal with experimental modelling of this illness with parameters such as the excretion patterns and the age-related susceptibility. However, besides natural I. suis infections occurring in pig farms, there are some experimental infections described that allow investigating accurately the course of infection. Experimental infections could contribute to a more effective control of these infections. In addition, managerial practices of farrowing facilities and piglet manipulations can contribute to this purpose. So, the description of hygiene measures, the appropriate management of farrowing facilities and piglet manipulations, as well as appropriate farm-specific environment, comprising appropriate design and materials of the farrowing pen and enough room, could diminish the occurrence and transmission of this parasite. However, unfortunately there are only very few reports documenting all this subjects that are so important for the effective control of this disease.
Thermography in Animal Models of Cancer
Authors: Gil da Costa Rui M. , Silva António Ramos , Rocha Ana Faustino , Oliveira Paula Alexandra , Gabriel Joaquim , Abrantes Ana Margarida , Botelho Maria Filomena
Published: March 2018

Laboratory animals provide important models for studying human diseases, including many types of cancer. Mice are among the most commonly used laboratory animals, allowing for the study of carcinogenic agents, cancer development and for testing innovative preventive and therapeutic strategies. Thus, monitoring angiogenesis in animal models is a major goal for cancer research. Among the currently available imaging techniques, thermography is a useful approach for studying the superficial vascularization of cancer, based on their heat emissions. At this chapter emphasis is placed on thermography and its applications on laboratory animals, in comparison with other available and applicable imaging techniques. In conclusion, thermography may be usefully applied to the study of cancer vascularization in animal models, particularly when using laboratory rodents such as mice. Care is needed in adapting existing approaches to the specificities of each animal species.
Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Livestock Production
Authors: Sylvester O. Anie
Published: March 2018

This chapter examines the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on livestock production by rural farmers in Nigeria. Questionnaire, interview, and personal observation methods were employed to elicit information on the impact of ICT on livestock production on rural areas of Nigeria. The study reveals the significance of personal characteristics of the respondents. The findings also reveal that rural farmers need to be encouraged by providing them with relevant ICT gadgets in order to enhance effective access to information on veterinary and extension services to improve productivity. It is therefore concluded that the establishment of internet facilities in rural communities should be the priority of the State and Federal Governments in order to encourage computer literacy.
EVAINU Research
Authors: Bosco Alejandra
Published: March 2018

New virtual learning environments for educational innovation at the university of the present-future--EVAINU--is a research project financed by the Autonomous University of Barcelona as part of its support for emerging research groups. The project came about as a result of the growing presence of the ICTs in the higher education system and has focused on identifying typical cases, which use these media at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) involving some form of curricular innovation or improvement in accordance with the European convergence processes, which the Spanish university system is currently undergoing. As a result, three case studies of different qualifications were carried out in order to investigate their potential for improving university education. One of these cases--Virtual Veterinary Science--is described in this study. Among the preliminary results of this research so far, of particular interest is the fact that while the ICTs are clearly an important opportunity to make a qualitative leap and to go beyond teaching outlooks based on exposition, passive reception, and memorising, more institutional support is necessary in terms of working strategies, which promote new ways of organising teaching, the development of ICT skills among teaching staff and students, and the creation of incentives for teacher training, among other initiatives.
Relationship Marketing Model
Authors: Sarwari Sara
Published: March 2018

To keep the customer loyal, today relationship marketing gets more and more attention in hospitality industry especially in the hotel business. This article develops a model of relationship marketing to empirically investigate: (1) the effect of emotions on relationship quality; and (2) and the effect of both relationship quality and emotions on customer loyalty. Here empirical findings are derived from a survey of 284 loyal guests at five-star hotels in Bangladesh by using structural equation modeling (AMOS 21.0). The findings of this article provide strong evidence of the relationship between emotions and relationship quality, which in turn are necessary determinants of customer loyalty. Findings imply that increase of the positive emotions of customers will increase the relationship quality between the hoteliers and the customers, which ultimately introduce more loyal customers in the five-star hotels in Bangladesh and make the hotels pursuit more competitive advantage, and long-term profit.
Remote Maintenance and Communication System for Wind Turbines
Authors: Ünal Buket Celik , Ünal Onur
Published: March 2018

This article describes how a shared vision systems support people to solve a problem from different places. The advantages of the system are, reduction in time to diagnose and resolve maintenance issues, reduction in diagnosis errors, reduced travel costs for experts, and increased reliability in service. The aim of this article is to analyze the benefits of a shared vision system for maintenance and repair tasks for wind turbines as well as to improve the occupational safety and health. The entire process for wind turbines, from installation to operation and maintenance deals with very large components and maintenance operations are actually quite complicated. Therefore, instead of wind turbine, a substitute system is used for the experiment to analyze the advantages of a shared vision system for maintenance operations. The substitute system and the wind turbine have similar mechanical and electrical failures that need to be solved. As a part of this article, a substitute system is used and implemented by using a shared vision system for maintenance operation.
An Effective Approach to Test Suite Reduction and Fault Detection Using Data Mining Techniques
Authors: Subashini B. , Mala D. Jeya
Published: March 2018

Software testing is used to find bugs in the software to provide a quality product to the end users. Test suites are used to detect failures in software but it may be redundant and it takes a lot of time for the execution of software. In this article, an enormous number of test cases are created using combinatorial test design algorithms. Attribute reduction is an important preprocessing task in data mining. Attributes are selected by removing all weak and irrelevant attributes to reduce complexity in data mining. After preprocessing, it is not necessary to test the software with every combination of test cases, since the test cases are large and redundant, the healthier test cases are identified using a data mining techniques algorithm. This is healthier and the final test suite will identify the defects in the software, it will provide better coverage analysis and reduces execution time on the software.
A Best Practise Business Intelligence Framework for the Telecommunications Industry
Authors: February Sam Aubrey Fabian
Published: March 2018

This article endeavors to assess and evaluate the current level of efficiency by which the business intelligence (BI) department is able to deliver decision-making support and to propose a suitable business intelligence framework. The framework would be recommended for the local telecommunications industry towards the enhancement of decision making thereby improving productivity and overall decision-making efficiency. Every company needs a clear set of goals to achieve the maximum benefits from its BI solution. Articulating organisational BI goals are essential. An organisation must however do more than just state its goals to achieve its BI objectives; it needs a working framework that provides a blue print for success. The success of a business intelligence program depends on the approach or methodology used to implement the business intelligence strategy and the related components.
Juxtaposition of Evolution of Leadership Theories and Foucault's Power Knowledge Dynamics
Authors: Sud Kashika , Jha Jatinder Kumar
Published: March 2018

This article presents the juxtaposition of the evolution of leadership theories from transactional, to transformational and also to the new age theories, which are based on ethics and aesthetics like the servant leadership with Foucault's epistemology of genealogy of power-knowledge. Genealogy is an anti-method which begins with a critique of the present. Foucault's genealogical episteme has been used to elicit problematization of the established field of leadership which the authors believe to be scientifically evolved and academically established. The article critically traces, the historical account of developments in leadership theories and questions the perfection and hegemony of transformational theory, questioning the reliable assumptions and potential limitations of transactional and transformational theory to finally establish constant evolution in the subject as the stable new construct of leadership. Though Foucauldian thought argues for the balance of power between follower and leader and leader's power being interdependent on knowledge, on the contrary, this article highlights the concentration of power in the hands of privileged few in the existing paradigms of leadership. The panopticon, as a metaphor of vigil focuses on the concentrated power in the hands of those at a higher pedestal and the self-government and objectivizing of followers which prevails in the organisations, While mapping these transitions in leadership theory with the genealogy of power-knowledge dynamics of Foucault's episteme, the article contributes to the existing literature on leadership by acknowledging a need for a newer leadership in the current complex business environment in accordance with the genealogical theme of pastoral power.
Named Data Networking
Authors: Meddeb Maroua , Dhraief Amine , Belghith Abdelfettah , Monteil Thierry , Drira Khalil , Al-Ahmadi Saad
Published: March 2018

This article describes how the named data networking (NDN) has recently received a lot of attention as a potential information-centric networking (ICN) architecture for the future Internet. The NDN paradigm has a great potential to efficiently address and solve the current seminal IP-based IoT architecture issues and requirements. NDN can be used with different sets of caching algorithms and caching replacement policies. The authors investigate the most suitable combination of these two features to be implemented in an IoT environment. For this purpose, the authors first reviewed the current research and development progress in ICN, then they conduct a qualitative comparative study of the relevant ICN proposals and discuss the suitability of the NDN as a promising architecture for IoT. Finally, they evaluate the performance of NDN in an IoT environment with different caching algorithms and replacement policies. The obtained results show that the consumer-cache caching algorithm used with the Random Replacement (RR) policy significantly improve NDN content validity in an IoT environment.
MCFS Enhanced Route Selection Approach Using Multipath Carry Forwarding and Searching in VANET
Authors: Patel Hiteshkumar Chandrakant , Kulkarni Gopal Ramchandra
Published: March 2018

This article describes how a vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) is an infrastructureless network in which vehicles are connected without wires. Routing in VANET is challenging nowadays due to increased number of a vehicle, the high mobility of nodes, dynamically changing topology and highly partitioned network, so the challenges on the roads are also increased like the road congestion, the safety problem, speed, etc. Various protocol designs have been suggested by various authors to search and forward packets to the destination node. These various algorithms use different schemes like greedy forwarding, perimeter forwarding, carry and store approach, geographic location base approach, etc. The proposed system uses both beacon packets and a geographic closure node approach to forward packets. The beacon-based strategy includes a carry and search approach to search for a routing path. Geographic forwarding will start when carry and search forwarding fails to transmit packets. Route requests will perform multicasting while a route reply follows a unicast strategy. The new proposed system achieves good PDR and an end to end delay.
Communication Improvement and Traffic Control Based on V2I in Smart City Framework
Authors: Rath Mamata , Pati Bibudhendu
Published: March 2018

This article describes how soft computing techniques are tolerant of imprecision, intended on approximation, focus on uncertainty and are based on partial truth. Current real-world problems pertaining to congested traffic is pervasively imprecise and therefore design of smart traffic control system is a challenging issue. Due to the increasing rate of vehicles at traffic points in smart cities, it creates unexpected delays during transit, chances of accidents are higher, unnecessary fuel consumption is an issue, and unhygienic environment due to pollution also degrades the health condition of general people in a normal city scenario. To avoid such problems many smart cities are currently implementing improved traffic control systems that work on the principle of traffic automation to prevent these issues. The basic challenge lies in the usage of real-time analytics performed with online traffic information and correctly applying it to some traffic flow. In this research article, an enhanced traffic management system called SCICS (Soft Computing based Intelligent Communication System) has been proposed which uses swarm intelligence as a soft computing technique with intelligent communication between smart vehicles and traffic points using the vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) concept of VANET. It uses an improved route diversion mechanism with implemented logic in nanorobots. Under a vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) scenario, the communication between intelligent vehicles and infrastructure points takes place through nanorobots in a collaborative way. Simulation carried out using Ns2 simulator shows encouraging results in terms of better performance to control the traffic.
Social Media and SMEs
Authors: Talukder Majharul , Quazi Ali , Djatikusumol Dede
Published: March 2018

This article addresses a research lacuna in the literature with regard to determinants of attitudes and adoption of an innovation (Facebook) in the SMEs sector in emerging economies with particular reference to Indonesia. To this end, five support dimensions: government support, management support, motivational support, technological support and training support were developed basing on existing literature and the established theories in the relevant field. The impact of these support dimensions on managerial attitudes and adoption of innovation were then examined in an organizational setting. Data was collected from a sample of senior managers representing Indonesian SMEs through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using multivariate statistical tools, such as multiple regression analysis. The research revealed significant effects of government support, management support, technological support and training support dimensions on the managerial perception of innovation and direct effects of management and training support on the adoption of innovation. Interestingly, government support dimensions have significant impacted the commitment of SMEs to innovation but not on the adoption behavior of innovation, suggesting that governments' main role would be to ensure commitment of SMEs. This is because commitment is a crucial precondition of adoption behavior. Furthermore, managers' physical maturity (age) was found to moderate the relationship between government support and the perception of innovation. The implications of these interesting findings for SMEs and for the governments in emerging economies to designing an appropriate strategy for effective implementation of social media as an innovation are highlighted in this article.
The Role of Individualization and Project Learning for Cloud Service Profitability
Authors: Herzfeldt Alexander , Wolfenstetter Thomas , Ertl Christoph , Krcmar Helmut
Published: March 2018

This article describes how cloud computing has been one of the most important IT topics in recent years. In increasingly greater numbers, service providers have entered this dynamic market turning it into one of the most competitive markets in modern IT industry. As the market matures, many providers are struggling with profitability issues. Studies on cloud services have primarily approached the topic from a technical or customer's perspective, neglecting the provider's perspective. In this article, the authors address business aspects of cloud services from the provider's perspective. Based on an empirical study of 78 cloud service providers, they analyse the impact of service individualization and project learning on service delivery cost and profitability. The results indicate that while project learning merely helps to reduce service delivery costs, service individualization positively affects profitability.
A novel application of the integra camino bolt for the drainage of chronic subdural hematoma: A technical note
Authors: Doan Ninh , Nguyen Ha , Janich Karl , Montoure Andrew , Mohit Patel , Shabani Saman , Gelsomino Michael , Mueller Wade , Kurpad Shekar
Published: March 2018

Background: Chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) is a common neurosurgical pathology associated with older age and complicated by antiplatelet/anticoagulant therapies. With improving medical care in an aging population, the incidence of cSDH will likely increase over the next 25 years, placing a burden on health care costs. Aims: A simple and inexpensive treatment option for cSDH is desirable. Material and methods: We report a basic, but novel, technique to drain cSDH with an Integra Camino bolt. Results: This technique was employed in two patients, where the significant resolution of cSDH and associated clinical symptoms were observed without complications. Conclusions: Our technique is simple and effective. It incorporates readily available materials, which reduces costs. Such characteristics are necessary, given the increasing incidence of cSDH.
Meningioma in fourth ventricle of brain: A case report and literature review
Authors: Salehpour Firooz , Aghazadeh Javad , Bazzazi Amir , Mirzaei Farhad , Eftekhar Saadat Amir , Alavi Seyed
Published: March 2018

Meningiomas are benign tumors origin from central nervous system. They usually involve cephalic, paravertebral soft tissues, skin and in rare cases in the ear, temporal bone, mandible, foot, lung, and mediastinum. In this case, we report an unusual case of meningioma which placed in the fourth ventricle. A 14-year-old man with seizure and headache referred to our ward. The magnetic resonance imaging reported bilateral acoustic neuroma and fourth ventricle meningioma. The patient was scheduled for total tumor resection and the histopathology revealed psammomatous type of meningioma. The patient discharged with good general status.
Intramedullary melanocytoma of the cervicothoracic cord: Case report and review of literature
Authors: Dubey Amitesh , Kataria Rashim , Sardana Vimal
Published: March 2018

Melanocytoma is rare pigmented tumor of the leptomeninges which arise from the neural crest. Intramedullary location of the tumor is extremely rare, and only a few case reports are available in the literature. We report a case of 35-year-old female with the entity who had a near total removal of the intramedullary tumor with good postoperative outcome. The available literature is reviewed.
Transcranial and epidural approach for spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leakage due to meningoencephalocele of the lateral sphenoid sinus
Authors: Shintoku Ryosuke , Tosaka Masahiko , Shimizu Tatsuya , Yoshimoto Yuhei
Published: March 2018

We experienced a case of sphenoid sinus type meningoencephalocele manifesting as severe cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhea. A 35-year-old man became aware of serous nasal discharge 1 year previously, which had gradually worsened. The nasal discharge was diagnosed as CSF rhinorrhea. Head computed tomography (CT) showed several small depressions in the bone of the left middle cranial fossa, and the largest depression extended through the bone to the lateral sphenoid sinus. Head magnetic resonance imaging revealed that the meningoencephalocele projected to the lateral sphenoid sinus, through this small bone defect of the middle cranial fossa. We performed a combined craniotomy and epidural approach without intradural procedures using neuronavigation. Multiple meningoencephaloceles protruded into small depressions in the middle skull base. The small protrusions not passing through the sphenoid sinus were coagulated. The largest protrusion causing the CSF leakage was identified by neuronavigation. This meningoencephalocele was cut. Both the dural and bone sides were closed with double layers to prevent CSF leakage. The CSF rhinorrhea completely stopped after the surgery. In our case, identification of the leak site was easy with neuronavigation based on bone window CT. The epidural approach also has significant advantages with double layer closure, including both the dural and bone sides. If the site of CSF leakage is outside the foramen rotundum (as with the most common type of lateral sphenoid sinus meningoencephalocele), we recommend the epidural approach using neuronavigation for surgical treatment.
Analysis of factors influencing outcome of depressed fracture of skull
Authors: Satardey Ritesh , Balasubramaniam Srikant , Pandya Jayashree , Mahey Rajesh
Published: March 2018

Context: The outcome of patients with depressed fracture varies and depends on multiple factors. There has been no previous study on the significance of these factors on the outcome of depressed fracture of the skull and hence this study. Aims: The primary aim of our study is to find the factors affecting the outcome in cases of depressed skull fracture (DSF). This will help us improve outcomes and give more accurate prediction of long-term outcomes. Settings and Design: Prospective observational study. Subjects and Methods: Institutional Ethics Committee approval was taken for doing this observational study. This was conducted in a tertiary care institute by collecting data of fifty cases of DSFs in 2 years, between January 2012 and December 2013. The study included patients who were diagnosed with DSFs admitted to our tertiary care public hospital. Patients with comorbidity involving injury to other organs or medical disorders and pediatric patients were excluded from our study. Statistical Analysis Used: Chi-square test and Fisher exact test. Results: There was a statistically significant impact on age, sex, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score at presentation, type of DSF, and site of DSF in the long-term outcome of patients. The patients with GCS score of 13 or more fared well with good long-term outcome as against those with GCS score below it. Any additional brain injury in the form of hematomas, etc., has a significant negative impact on long-term outcome of the patient and warrant urgent surgical intervention. Complications such as dural tear, cerebral contusions, wound infections, and seizures have adverse effect on the recovery. Conclusions: Our observation suggests that patients brought to hospital with minimal delay, with GCS score between 13 and 15, with simple DSF and normal brain parenchyma without dural tear, have the best outcome.
Spastic quadriparesis and communicating hydrocephalus as late sequel of Rosai–Dorfman disease: A case report and review of literature
Authors: Kapoor Ankur , Salunke Pravin , Ahuja Chirag , Chatterjee Debjyoti
Published: March 2018

Rosai–Dorfman disease (RDD) predominantly affects cervical lymph nodes and presents with fever and pancytopenia. Central nervous system involvement though uncommon is often reported. Hydrocephalus and paraparesis as a consequence of RDD is an extremely rare entity. We present a 58-year-old male, diagnosed and treated for RDD with cervical lymphadenopathy, who now presented with spastic paraparesis and on evaluation was found to have communicating hydrocephalus that resolved after ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery.
Modern microsurgical resection of olfactory groove meningiomas by classical bicoronal subfrontal approach without orbital osteotomies
Authors: Farooq Ghulam , Rehman Lal , Bokhari Irum , Rizvi Syed
Published: March 2018

Background: The olfactory groove meningioma has always been surgically challenging. The common microscopic surgical procedures exercised involve modification of pterional or sub-frontal approaches with or without orbital osteotomies. However, we believe that orbital osteotomies are not mandatory to achieve gross total resection. Hence, this study was performed to evaluate the surgical outcomes of olfactory groove meningioma with bicoronal sub frontal approach but without orbital osteotomies. Materials and Methods: The study was performed by reviewing the medical charts, neuroimaging data, and follow-up data of 19 patients who were treated micro surgically for olfactory groove meningioma without orbital osteotomies in our department. Mean overall follow up period of our study was 5 years. Statistical analysis was done by means of IBM SPSS Software version 19. Results: Nineteen patients (1 male and 18 female patients, with an age range of 35-67 years; average age of patients' 51±7.5 years) of OGM were managed in our department. All patients were evaluated by MRI Brain with and without Gadolinium, CTA, CT Scan both axial and Coronal sequences. Most common symptom reported was head ache (80%), others include; urinary incontinence (26%), seizures (78%), decreased visual acuity (79%), papilledema (74%), personality changes (68%) and olfactory loss was reported in 57% of the patients. Post-operative complications include; CSF accumulation (5%), hematoma at tumor bed (10%), skin infection (5%) and mild post-operative brain edema (26%). Mortality rate was 5%. During 5 years of follow-up, we recorded one recurrence which was after 26 months and successfully removed in reoperation. Conclusion: Bi-coronal sub frontal approach appears to be an excellent technique for Olfactory Meningioma removal as practiced by most neurosurgeons. Nevertheless, it is not mandatory to carry out orbital osteotomy to acquire optimal surgical outcome as is advocated by some Authors.
Pneumorrhachis following chest injury: A rare entity
Authors: Sobti Shivender , Bhaskar S , Sharma Rajesh , Choudhary Ajay
Published: March 2018

Pneumorrhachis (PR) – the phenomenon of intraspinal air – is a rare radiological finding. The presence of intraspinal air is usually after epidural injections, spinal manipulations, synovial cysts, degenerative disc disease, and epidural abscess. PR is mostly asymptomatic but can also be symptomatic. We report a case with PR after chest trauma and attempt to explain its development.
Rapidly developing subdural empyema in an adult with sinusitis: A neurosurgical threat alert
Authors: Chokkappan Kabilan , Lohan Rahul
Published: March 2018

Subdural empyema (SDE) is collection of pus in the potential space between the dura and arachnoid layers of the meninges. Leading causes of SDE are sinonasal and otomastoid infections. Commonly affecting patients in the second and third decades, SDE could have a fulminant course with immediate complications and delayed morbidities including hydrocephalus, focal deficits, and epilepsy.
Телепортация термального квантового дискорда и квантового супердискорда с помощью двухкубитной модели спинового сжатия
Authors: Ahadpour Sodeif , Mirmasoudi Forouzan
Published: March 2018

Изучаются термальные квантовые корреляции (квантовый дискорд и квантовый супердискорд) в двухспиновой модели во внешнем магнитном поле, получены соотношения между ними и запутанностью. Подробно изучена их зависимость от магнитного поля, от силы спинового сжатия и температуры. Одним из интересных результатов является то, что при внезапном исчезновении запутанности квантовые корреляции все же выживают. Изучена термальная квантовая телепортация в рамках упомянутой модели. Основной целью является изучение возможности увеличить термальные квантовые корреляции телепортированного состояния при наличии магнитного поля, силы спинового сжатия и температуры. Отмечено, что телепортация квантового дискорда и квантового супердискорда осуществима на большем интервале температур, чем телепортация запутанности. Наши результаты показывают, что наряду с надежностью квантовый дискорд и квантовый супердискорд могут быть подходящими мерами контроля квантовой телепортации. Кроме того, для обмена квантовой информацией необязательно наличие запутанных состояний.
Molecular Markers of Plasmodium falciparum Drug Resistance in Parasitemic Pregnant Women in the Middle Forest Belt of Ghana
Authors: Osarfo Joseph , Tagbor Harry , Magnussen Pascal , Alifrangis Michael
Published: March 2018

Data on prevalence of antimalarial molecular resistance markers in pregnant women in Ghana is scarce. Prevalence of single nucleotide polymorphisms/haplotypes in the Pfcrt, Pfmdr1, Pfdhfr, and Pfdhps genes was assessed in a cross-sectional study involving 200 pregnant women. Almost 90% of infections were wild type at the Pfcrt gene whereas the Pfmdr1 NFD mutant haplotype occurred in 43% of samples. Prevalence of Pfdhfr/Pfdhps quadruple mutation was 92.6% whereas Pfdfr/Pfdhps quintuple mutation with K540E was not observed. The study provides important updates of antimalarial resistance markers in Ghanaian pregnant women and suggests increased tolerance to one of the first-line treatment options in Ghana: artemether–lumefantrine. The data support the view that sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine is still efficacious for intermittent preventive treatment in Ghana, but the impact of increased doses on selection of mutations needs to be assessed. Continuing the surveillance of resistance markers is important to inform changes in antimalarial drug policy in pregnancy.
Inertia Dynamometer Rotor Crack Test Procedure for Air Disc Brakes
Authors:   Truck and Bus Foundation Brake Committee
Published: March 2018

This Recommended Practice applies to commercial vehicles equipped with air disc brakes and above 4536 kg of Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. Other assessments on the friction material or rotor related to wear, durability, correlation to product life, noise, judder, compliance to specific regulations, etc., are not part of this RP (Recommended practice).