bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
High Tech, High Fear?
Authors: Reynolds Tracy , Venkataramany Sivakumar
Published: March 2016

Outsourcing a wide variety of information technology jobs overseas has become a recent trend due to the availability of well-educated and inexpensive work force abroad, particularly, in India. Back-office functions in financial services, medical transcriptions in health care industry and call centers for several industries are a few examples where less important and mechanical functions have been transported to less developed countries. While fears loom large on account of anticipated job losses, the changing landscape of the information technology field can bring many benefits to the American workforce by a better understanding of global competitors, strategically planning for future employment needs, and also promote continuing education for desirable skill sets.
Banking Development In The Former Yugoslavian Republics
Authors: Radzic Jelena , Yuce Ayse
Published: March 2016

This paper analyzes the development of the banking sectors in six former Yugoslavian Republics. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro formed their own banking system in the last decade. Some of them faced with banking crisis, the others had experienced smoother transition. We examine the challenges faced by these countries with respect to European Union membership.
Business Development Service: Addressing The Gap In The Western Cape, South Africa
Authors: Brijlal Pradeep
Published: March 2016

A survey was conducted to evaluate utilization of business development services by small businesses in the Western Cape. It was deduced that fairly established businesses do not seem to need or use consultancy /training services. This may be due to the lack of awareness on the owners part or perceived value of money. Emerging and stable businesses have a strong demand for financial support, business management advice and skills, market opportunities and technical skills. The new approach to business should entail identifying specific needs of business, considering its degree of sophistication and thereby providing services to meet those unmet needs
The Increasing Global Market For Health Care: The Effect Of Emerging Technologies On Global Outsourcing & Offshoring Of Health Care Services
Authors: Mackie J. Jay , Oss Monica E.
Published: March 2016

The use of outsourcing as a business management tool has a long history in the delivery of health and human services in the United States. But, the current price-pressured, highly-competitive U.S. health and human service market is also experiencing new competitive developments due to the introduction of new technologies and further use of lower-cost labor markets outside of the United States, commonly referred to as offshoring. This paper will explore the evolution of outsourcing and offshoring in health and human services and provide a model to analyze the technological factors that will likely contribute to a global transformation of the health and human services. Traditional thinking is that offshoring is usually limited to highly-repetitive, low-skill service tasks such as data entry and call center management. But, new research on the concept of offshoring posits that services that are labor intensive, information-based, codifiable, and/or highly transparent are candidates for technology-enabled outsourcing. A broader shift in labor models, from local to global, is likely to occur. Since these four characteristics apply to many of the professional functions in the health and human service field, it is imperative that health care executives understand the potential risks and opportunities of these emerging technologies. In particular, the authors will review the likely health service functions that will be subject to worker/labor competition through global outsourcing and suggest possible strategies for organizations in the field to address these new competitive threats.
Russian And United States Graduate Business Students Differ In Their Ethical Beliefs
Authors: Mihalek Paul , Rich Anne , Speir John
Published: March 2016

Russia, once isolated from the Western world, is now encouraging trade and direct investment. Currently, there is substantial interest by foreign investors, including those in the U.S., to invest in Russian enterprises. The increasing globalization of business, in general, and specifically with Russia, requires managers to develop a better understanding of the cultural background and ethical reasoning of the individuals who are involved in multinational business. This paper presents the results of a research study comparing Russian graduate business students with U.S. graduate business students. Survey questions were used to obtain responses related to five business activities.The purpose of this study was to identify whether there are differences in the ethical beliefs of graduate business students in Russia and the United States. Predications of the responses were based on the four cultural dimensions delineated by Hofstede. The questions asked replicated the study conducted by Nyaw and Ng (1994) and the statistical analysis includes a discussion on outlier and bracketing effects. Our study shows differences between Russian and U.S. graduate business students in ethical behavior in the areas of job security, health and safety, tolerance for unethical behavior towards customers and suppliers and toward business rivals. However, the differences are not always predicable based on Hofstedes theories.
Long-Term Orientation As A Determinant Of Relationship Quality Between Channel Members
Authors: Ryu Sungmin , Moon Chul Woo
Published: March 2016

This study assesses the effects of Long-Term Orientation culture on inter-organizational trust and conflict. This research examines the role of one important cultural factor, namely long-term orientation, as it relates to contractual relationships between manufacturers and their suppliers. As LTO cultures have become accepted as a crucial factor for describing nations, this study should prove invaluable to our understanding of inter-organizational relationships affected by differing levels of long-term orientation. The authors investigate the effects of LTO in the relationship between a manufacturer and its supplier. These results reveal that, LTO culture significantly affects the relationships between channel members. In particular, high LTO culture positively affects the generation of trust. Whereas high LTO culture suppresses the conflict between channel members, low LTO cultures do not suppress conflict between channel members.
Path To Financial Inclusion: The Success Of Self-Help Groups-Bank Linkage Program In India
Authors: Venkataramany Sivakumar , Bhasin Balbir B.
Published: March 2016

Financial inclusion has been a major theme in both industrialized and developing economies in the era of financial globalization. When microcredit institutions have received limited success in many countries, microfinance is being used in India for the purpose of accomplishing universal financial inclusion. This paper recognizes the overwhelming efforts of the Government of India and focuses on the success of the linkage between commercial banks and self-help groups (SHGs). The SHGs comprising predominantly women groups help in the social cause of alleviation of poverty, , increase of sustainability, reduction of vulnerability, improvement of capacity building and help the weaker sections build assets. Increased education, better standard of living, reduced child mortality and child labor, emancipation cum empowerment of women, and communal harmony are value adding benefits to the country.
A Study Of Corporate Venturing And Sustainability Of First Mover Advantages During Technological Disruption In The U.S. Mobile Wireless Data Industry
Authors: Rivas Ronald M.
Published: March 2016

This study tests the impact of corporate venturing (CV) forms on the sustainability of pioneering advantage. Using the Miles and Covin 2002 classification of CV forms, this study shows that performance of early entrants is twice as much higher than performance of lagers. However, the effect of parent support prior to entry is substantially larger than the pioneering effect. Companies entering a market via direct external CV perform twenty five to fifteen times better than companies entering via direct internal CV. Hence, the sustainability of first mover advantage is challenged in the face of new entrants with superior resources.
Information Technology Investment
Authors: Cline Melinda K. , Guynes Carl S. , Reilly Ralph
Published: March 2016

Much evidence regarding the relationship between IT investment and firm performance is contradictory. Numerous issues have been summarized and discussed as factors that contribute to the contradictory findings. While many researchers have found IT investments to have a positive performance impact, others have failed to support those findings. These contradictory findings concerning IT investment appear at the firm, industry, and national economy levels of analysis. There are four broad issues related to the role of IT within an organization that are factors contributing to the contradictory findings: structural business characteristics, management ability, definition of IT, and measurement approach. While there are many studies that use broad secondary indices and economic models to look for mathematical relationships between IT investment and firm performance, few studies take an in-depth look at the role of IT within an organization and expose the dynamics of this relationship.
Trends In IT Human Resources And Its Impact On Curriculum Design
Authors: Agrawal Vipin K , Tenkorang Frank , Agrawal Vijay K. , Taylor Allen R.
Published: March 2016

In light of rapid changes in technology and business, institutions of higher education face the difficult task of adapting their curriculum to be general enough to cover all the core concepts of the discipline while being specific enough to prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed by businesses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) forecasts that the demand for IT professionals in the United States will continue to increase but the demand will not be evenly distributed across all areas. The BLS breaks future demand into job categories but it does not explore the meta-trends that will drive future job growth and is thus of limited value for curriculum development purposes. This paper reviews existing literature and develops a conceptual framework of the meta-trends driving job growth. This framework is intended to be used as a guide by Information Technology curriculum committees to aid in establishing a curriculum that meets the needs of key stakeholders while avoiding the trap of chasing the latest fads.
Offshoring Limitations
Authors: Vedder Richard , Guynes Carl S. , Reilly Ralph
Published: March 2016

Using offshore locations to provide high quality products and services at a lower cost makes good economic sense. The current global environment focuses on reducing costs and having a lean organizational structure. There are, however, numerous repercussions being felt by American IT workers due to an increase in offshoring activities. This paper focuses on the impact of offshoring and the weighing of costs and benefits as a result of offshoring activities. Minimizing costs is often cited as the most important reason for American jobs to be outsourced, but a major factor behind offshoring is the intense global competition among nations in a period of slow economic growth. This competition forces global firms to keep a constant watch on costs to achieve a higher degree of efficiency.
Integration Of Information Technology And Simulation For Managing Manufacturing-Logistics Network
Authors: Fitzpatrick Brian D. , Ali Shahid I.
Published: March 2016

This paper helps investigate the integration of information technology (IT) and simulation in order to help understand how to set reliable delivery dates in manufacturing-logistics networks.  This integration is necessary to assist organizations involved in the network to help plan and control their operations more efficiently.  The authors reviewed previous work in the areas of IT-oriented logistics, real time simulation, and due date assignment.  We describe a general architecture for a real-time simulation-based system and create a prototype based on our architecture.  An application of the prototype in a small manufacturing company is employed.  The prototype implemented was for a local manufacturer of made-to-order safety windows with three manufacturing plants and a one office location, all within a 50-mile radius.  The prototype for this company was developed utilizing a Boreland’s Delphi 3 application development tool.  The reason that a distributed simulation model was not implemented was that we focused on validating the most critical components of our architecture using a simple prototype as our initial validation effort.  The following possible advantages of our architecture were identified: *        The architecture can use the most up-to-date operational data to make decisions regarding delivery date assignment and network management.*        The architecture can support both central and distributed environments. *        The prototype developed based on the architecture could assign tight delivery dates.*        The prototype could be used to maintain or increase the level of on-time deliveries by monitoring the operations.*        The prototype could generate options on delivery dates and cost based on routings/priority and transportation service options.
The Process Of Creating XBRL Instance Documents: A Research Framework
Authors: Janvrin Diane , Mascha Maureen Francis
Published: March 2016

The past decade has witnessed a technological revolution fueled by the widespread use of the Internet, web technologies, and their applications.  Within financial reporting, proponents of extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) argue that XBRL will revolutionize financial reporting since it allows corporate financial information to be aggregated, transmitted, and analyzed quicker and more accurately (Hoffman and Strand 2001; Hannon 2002; Bovee et al. 2005; Willis 2005; Cox 2006). The SEC recently mandated that publicly traded companies furnish financial information in XBRL format (Rummel 2008; SEC 2009a). Thus, the purpose of this project is to provide researchers with a framework for examining the process financial statement preparers use to create XBRL instance documents. Further, the paper (1) demonstrates how the framework may be used, (2) raises unanswered questions, and (3) suggests avenues for future research.
Improving The Nexus Between Research And Teaching In Undergraduate IS Education
Authors: Kamoun Faouzi , Fakhry Hussein
Published: March 2016

This study outlines a framework to assess the merits of integrating IS research into undergraduate teaching. Though the general merits of such integration have been explored, with limited empirical evidences in many previous (non-IS related) studies, this integration is particularly much needed in the IS field. This urgency is justified by many factors, such as the rapid pace in the rollout of IS tools, technologies and terminologies and the shallow focus on research in most IS curricula. Our study adds to existing literature in at least two aspects. First, to our best knowledge, this is the first reported study that reflects upon the integration of research into teaching within the IS context. Second, our research is a first initiative that contributes to establishing a formal framework for the planning and the assessment of such integration. Such an assessment framework will be very useful for continuous improvement to ensure that the integration achieves the learning outcomes it was designed for. Based on the proposed assessment framework and research methodology, this research proposes multiple sources of evidence to assess the merits of incorporating IS research into undergraduate teaching. The paper also shares the experience of a three-semester case study that aimed to diffuse research into teaching in an undergraduate computing and information systems course. Our research underlines the need for formal frameworks to assess the learning outcomes of undergraduate research dissemination into the curriculum. Objectives, performance criteria and measurement indicators should be clearly defined. Careful planning, judicious implementation, based on best practices and thorough assessment, are some basic ingredients for successful integration of research into the classroom. These requirements need to be integrated in the overall assessment strategy of the program curriculum. The assessment tools and research methods presented in this study can be very useful in assisting other IS departments establish a permeable boundary between undergraduate teaching and research.
Measuring An Information Security Awareness Program
Authors: Wolf Michael , Haworth Dwight , Pietron Leah
Published: March 2016

Research shows security awareness lacks a uniform definition. This paper explores the various attempts that have been made to define security awareness and then presents a clear and concise definition of security awareness. Due to the lack of a behaviorally-oriented measurement, security awareness has relied on the use of self-reported questionnaires and surveying users through this same type of instrument. These attempts assume that knowledge of security awareness leads to correspondingly correct behavior, without attempting any field validation that this paradigm holds true. This paper goes beyond self-reporting and measures the behavior of end-users. It compares that behavior with policy to determine the actual compliance percentage and draws conclusions from these results.
Yield Management As A Pricing Mechanism
Authors: Martinez Maria-Encarnacion Andres , Borja Miguel-Angel Gomez , Jimenez Juan-Antonio Mondejar
Published: March 2016

Consumers nowadays frequently make their purchases online. One common pricing strategy on the Internet is demand-based pricing, which allows firms to adapt prices to the demand for their products. This mechanism can undoubtedly be employed more efficiently on the Internet, due to how quickly demand information can be obtained. Within demand-based pricing, one very well-known practice is yield management. This practice was pioneered by airlines, but has spread in recent years to industries such as hotels, rental cars and cruise lines to name but a few industries. The application of yield management was an authentic revolution for the traditional concept of pricing, but has shown that it can be a good strategy when used correctly. Applying yield management requires firms to understand consumer purchasing behavior in order to compare present demand with the demand that is anticipated in the future. Yield management techniques imply the allocation of a fixed capacity to different prices and segments of consumers in order to maximize income. Yield management is sometimes confused with a well-known segmentation strategy called time-based pricing. For this reason, in this paper we highlight the main demand-based pricing strategies that are now being used on the Internet, placing special emphasis on yield management.
Mundus Mulieris: A Number Of Issues Related To The Position Of Women In Rome
Authors: Ochaita Alicia Valmana
Published: March 2016

Women in Rome always took a back seat to the men; in fact and law, the woman was subordinate to her husband, or pater; she was subject to perpetual tutelage and had no political rights. The fact that right from the beginning, the roman family was not based on blood ties but rather on the common bond of being subject to the authority of a pater familias determined the place of women both in the family and within society. However, this element of potestas which kept the agnatic family together and meant that it was regarded as such, evolved alongside the changes in the way in which the family was understood and therefore, affected the legal status of those subject to the power of the pater, specifically, that of women. Indeed, over the course of the roman Republic, particularly towards the end, this situation of total incapacity of women began to crumble due, to a great extent, to the economic position of some of them and to their social status. Thus, by way of praxis, roman women gradually gained access to a certain level of autonomy.
Mining The Literature In Search Of IT Business Value
Authors: Marthandan Govindan , Tang Chun Meng
Published: March 2016

On the topic of information technology (IT) business value, there has been great interest among IT researchers, IT vendors, and business managers in demonstrating what organisations can achieve with IT, thus providing reasons to justify investments in IT. To understand how organisations leverage IT to their advantage, this paper searched in three major electronic databases for journal articles that studied information technology or information systems success, performance, value, benefit, evaluation, payoff, productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. Having summarized a vast number of past findings reported in the journal articles, this paper concludes that there is still much work to do on the topic of IT business value and recommends several future research directions. This paper is a timely effort to complement past literature reviews on IT business value, updating what has been reported since the early 2000s.
Book Review: Accounting Information Systems
Authors: Amyot Thomas G.
Published: March 2016

Accounting Information Systems, Second edition by James A. Hall, South-Western College Publishing, 1998, pp. 797. Reviewed by Thomas G. Amyot, (amyott@rosnet.strose.edu), College of Saint Rose
Towards Integrating Advanced Database Concepts Into Accounting
Authors: Olsen David H. , Kimmell Sharon L.
Published: March 2016

This paper provides a review of several recently developed, advanced database technologies which could dramatically affect current accounting practice. These technologies are discussed in the context of a proposed taxonomy along four specified dimensions. The paper also provides a description of each of these technologies and an associated table of key concepts as well as a definition or description. The paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each of these newer technologies and their applicability to the accounting function in companies. Where appropriate, concrete examples of accounting applications for these technologies are provided.
A Survey Of The Academic Ethics Of Accounting Seniors
Authors: Brown Bob , Saunders Gary
Published: March 2016

We surveyed recent accounting seniors about the ethics of their academic behavior while in the university. Contrary to some earlier research, we did not find accounting majors to be more ethical than other business students. More than 70% of respondents had engaged in 4 of 16 activities considered unethical in the literature. Ninety-eight percent had engaged in at least one of the activities while enrolled in the university. This rate was higher than any found in the literature. Implications for accounting in-structors and managers are discussed.
Inventory Costing: Developing Business Logic In Accounting Systems
Authors: Ingram Robert W.
Published: March 2016

Business logic is the link in an information system between a user interface and a database. Typically it contains formal rules, translated into computer programs, that control how data will be processed to achieve the objectives of the information system. This paper describes a classroom exercise to help students understand this segment of an information system. In addition, it is useful for helping students understand the relation between traditional financial accounting and accounting systems. They are required to describe formally and precisely how FIFO and LIFO inventory values can be derived in an automated system.
To Trust Or Not To Trust: The Impact Of WebTrust On The Perceived Trustworthiness Of A Web Site
Authors: Portz Kris , Strong Joel M. , Sundby Larry
Published: March 2016

Despite the explosive growth of electronic commerce, many individuals are still reluc-tant to conduct business transactions on the Internet. Individuals may mistrust sending private information over the Internet or they may have concerns about the existence, performance, standing, and integrity of online businesses. In direct response to these concerns, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has developed an electronic commerce assurance service called WebTrust which is intended to improve the consumer's confidence in the process and the quality of information disclosed on vendor web sites. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the effectiveness of WebTrust by examining the influence of WebTrust on consumers' perceptions of a web site's trustworthiness. The question is investigated through a computer experiment. The results of this study are very encouraging for electronic commerce assurance services in general, and the WebTrust service in particular. Evidence is found that the presence of WebTrust on a web site has a positive impact on the perceived trustworthiness of the website. The results also show that knowledge of WebTrust plays a significant moderating role in the relationship between perceived trustworthiness and the presence of WebTrust. When subjects have prior knowledge of WebTrust they perceive a web site with WebTrust to be more trustworthy than a web site without whereas, the presence of WebTrust has no impact when subjects are uneducated about the WebTrust assurances. Also, when WebTrust is present, subjects with knowledge of WebTrust are more confident in the web site than those without knowledge of WebTrust. When WebTrust is not present, knowledge subjects are more unsure of a web site without WebTrust than those without knowledge.
The Issues And Solutions Of Integrating DBMS To A Multi-DBMS
Authors: Leong Leslie
Published: March 2016

Many organizations invest heavily in heterogeneous databases according to organizational functions. These heterogeneous databases are stand-alone systems that do not interact with one another. The objective of this paper is to introduce a multi-database system (MDBMS) that interacts with other heterogeneous DBMS within the organization to integrate information processing. In this paper, we discuss the potential inconsistencies in integrating heterogeneous databases. We further extend to include issues in designing a MDBMS. With a MDBMS, data sharing across organization reduces overheads and costs, thus, provides a competitive advantage to the global firms.
Critical Factors Of Success In Curriculum Enhancement In The Accounting Curriculum Using SAP R/3
Authors: Ragan Joseph M. , McGettigan Patrick J. , Storms Michael R. , Naccarelli Matthew G.
Published: March 2016

Education is a well recognized aspect of an enterprise system implementation. How to educate, what to educate, when to educate, and who to educate are common questions that get raised. As an example, of particular importance in an enterprise system context is the balance between learning how to use the system itself and in understanding the integration and process concepts behind the system. As the go-live date fast approaches and budgets are running tight, firms often limit or eliminate the concepts, such as education, and focus on the keystrokes so that employees will be able to use the system. Saint Joseph's University, a liberal arts university in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, recently implemented SAP R/3 within its accounting curriculum. This implementation was done in phases and at each point during the rollout, a user questionnaire was used to assess the learning skills and abilities of the students. In the early stages of this rollout, keystrokes and navigation became paramount as students learned the menu paths and reporting information available within the system. In later courses, the skills were transparent to analysis of information as students attempted to make business decisions using a case simulation. An assessment was done before and after each course, which assisted the instructors in knowing what to emphasize and when. The purpose of this paper is to outline the structure of this delivery and the lessons learned from field experience.
Adaptive management of applications across multiple clouds: The SeaClouds Approach
Authors: Brogi Antonio , Carrasco Jose , Cubo Javier , Di Nitto Elisabetta , Durán Francisco , Fazzolari Michela , Ibrahim Ahmad , Pimentel Ernesto , Soldani Jacopo , Wang PengWei , D’Andria Francesco
Published: March 2016

How to deploy and manage, in an efficient and adaptive way, complex applications across multiple heterogeneous cloud platforms is one of the problems that have emerged with the cloud revolution. In this paper we present context, motivations and objectives of the EU research project SeaClouds, which aims at enabling a seamless adaptive multi-cloud management of complex applications by supporting the distribution, monitoring and migration of application modules over multiple heterogeneous cloud platforms. After positioning SeaClouds with respect to related cloud initiatives, we present the SeaClouds architecture and discuss some of its aspect, such as the use of the OASIS standard TOSCA and the compatibility with the OASIS CAMP initiative.
Process Ontology Specification for Enhancing the Process Compliance of a Measurement and Evaluation Strategy
Authors: Becker Pablo , Papa Fernanda , Olsina Luis
Published: March 2016

In this paper, we specify a generic ontology for the process domain considering the related state-of-the-art research literature. As a result, the recently built process ontology contributes to enrich semantically the terms for the (previously developed) measurement and evaluation domain ontology by means of stereotypes. One of the underlying hypothesis in this research is that the generic ontology for process can be seen as a reusable artifact which can be used to enrich semantically not only the measurement and evaluation domain ontology but also to other domains involved in different organizational endeavors. For instance, for the measurement domain, now is explicit that the measurement term has the semantic of task, the measure term has the meaning of outcome, and the metric term has the semantic of method, from the process terminological base standpoint. The augmented conceptual framework, i.e. measurement and evaluation concepts plus process concepts, has also a positive impact on the GOCAME (Goal-Oriented Context-Aware Measurement and Evaluation) strategy capabilities since ensures terminological uniformity, consistency and verifiability to its process and method specifications. In order to illustrate how the augmented conceptual framework impacts on the verifiability of GOCAME process and method specifications in addition to the consistency and comparability of results in measurement and evaluation projects, an ICT (Information and Communications Technology) security and risk evaluation case study is used.
An Experimental Study of the Use of Design Thinking as a Requirements Elicitation Approach for Mobile Learning Environments
Authors: De Carvalho Souza Cynara Lira , Silva Carla
Published: March 2016

Mobile learning (m-learning) is a research field that aims to analyze how mobile devices can contribute to learning. The development of software for mobile devices to support learning is essential for an effective implementation of m-learning or mobile learning environments (MLE). Requirements Engineering processes need to include activities that provoke creativity in the stakeholders to conceive MLEs that actually modify and improve the teaching and learning process. In this context, this paper presents a process for requirements elicitation and documentation of mobile learning environments. This process is based on the concepts of the Design Thinking process that provides a methodology to elicit customer needs, producing simple prototypes that eventually converge to innovative solutions. An experiment was conducted to evaluate if the proposed process contributes to create MLEs that present distinctive and interesting characteristics when compared to existing solutions for a specific problem.
Applying Information Retrieval Techniques to Detect Duplicates and to Rank References in the Preliminary Phases of Systematic Literature Reviews
Authors: Abilio Ramon , Morais Flávio , Vale Gustavo , Oliveira Claudiane , Pereira Denilson , Costa Heitor
Published: March 2016

Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is a means to synthesize relevant and high quality studies related to a specific topic or research questions. In the Primary Selection stage of an SLR, the selection of studies is usually performed manually by reading title, abstract and keywords of each study. In the last years, the number of published scientific studies has grown increasing the effort to perform this sort of reviews. In this paper, we proposed strategies to detect non-papers and duplicated references in results exported by search engines, and strategies to rank the references in decreasing order of importance for an SLR, regarding the terms in the search string. These strategies are based on Information Retrieval techniques. We implemented the strategies and carried out an experimental evaluation of their applicability using two real datasets. As results, the strategy to detect non-papers presented 100% of precision and 50% of recall; the strategy to detect duplicates detected more duplicates than the manual inspection; and one of the strategies to rank relevant references presented 50% of precision and 80% of recall. Therefore, the results show that the proposed strategies can minimize the effort in the Primary Selection stage of an SLR.
Towards a Requirements Specification Multi-View Framework for Self-Adaptive Systems
Authors: Muñoz-Fernández Juan C. , Tamura Gabriel , Mazo Raúl , Salinesi Camille
Published: March 2016

The analysis of self-adaptive systems (SAS) requirements involves addressing uncertainty from several sources. Despite advances in requirements for SAS, uncertainty remains an extremely difficult challenge. In this paper, we propose REFAS, a framework to model the requirements of self-adaptive software systems. Our aim with REFAS is to address and reduce uncertainty and to provide a language with sufficient power of expression to specify the different aspects of self-adaptive systems, relative to functional and non-functional requirements. The REFAS modeling language includes concepts closely related to these kind of requirements and their fulfillment, such as context variables, claims, and soft dependencies. Specifically, the paper´s contribution is twofold. First, REFAS supports different viewpoints and concerns related to requirements modeling, with key associations between them. Moreover, the modeler can define additional models and views by exploiting the REFAS meta-modeling capability, in order to capture additional aspects contributing to reduce uncertainty. Second, REFAS promotes in-depth analysis of all of the modeled concerns with aggregation and association capabilities, especially with context variables. Furthermore, we also define a process that enforces modeling requirements, considering different aspects of uncertainty. We demonstrate the applicability of REFAS by using the VariaMos software tool, which implements the REFAS meta-model, views, and process.
Green Metascheduler Architecture to Provide QoS in Cloud Computing
Authors: De Carvalho Junior Osvaldo Adilson , Bruschi Sarita Mazzini , Santana Regina Helena Carlucci , Santana Marcos José
Published: March 2016

The aim of this paper is to propose and evaluate GreenMACC (Green Metascheduler Architecture to Provide QoS in Cloud Computing), an extension of the MACC architecture (Metascheduler Architecture to provide QoS in Cloud Computing) which uses greenIT techniques to provide Quality of Service. The paper provides an evaluation of the performance of the policies in the four stages of scheduling focused on energy consumption and average response time. The results presented confirm the consistency of the proposal as it controls energy consumption and the quality of services requested by different users of a large-scale private cloud.
Quality of Protection on WDM networks: A Recovery Probability based approach
Authors: Rodas-Brítez Marcelo , Pinto-Roa Diego
Published: March 2016

WDM networks survivability needs a flexible quality of protection (QoP) due to the variety of existing connection demands, lack of fair resource distributions under traditional QoP and optimal resources assignment. Thus, this paper proposes a new paradigm of QoP based on generic levels of protection where the set of protection levels can be defined as the network administrator needs, i.e., a flexible QoP approach whose particular case is the traditional or non-flexible QoP approach. Essentially, the proposed generic level is based on the recovery probability concept which measures the grade of conflict among primary lightpaths that share backup lighpaths for link failure recovery. In order to study how this strategy impacts on the network cost, a Genetic Algorithm is proposed. It calculates the primary and backup lightpaths, considering a multi-objective optimization on the basis of lexicographical sorting approach. The Genetic Algorithm minimizes the number of blocked requests, the number of services without protection, the total differences between the requested QoP and the assigned QoP, and the network cost; all of which by considering the optical fibers used and subject to the wavelength usage as constraint. The experimental results indicate that the proposed approach –flexible QoP– is a promising strategy where the network cost, the number of requests and QoP levels are contradictory objective functions in environments with homogeneous and heterogeneous QoP requirements.
Formal Analysis of Security Models for Mobile Devices, Virtualization Platforms, and Domain Name Systems
Authors: Betarte Gustavo , Luna Carlos
Published: March 2016

In this work we investigate the security of security-critical applications, i.e. applications in which a failure may produce consequences that are unacceptable. We consider three areas: mobile devices, virtualization platforms, and domain name systems.The Java Micro Edition platform defines the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) to facilitate the development of applications for mobile devices, like cell phones and PDAs. We first study and compare formally several variants of the security model specified by MIDP to access sensitive resources of a mobile device.Hypervisors allow multiple guest operating systems to run on shared hardware, and offer a compelling means of improving the security and the flexibility of software systems. In this work we present a formalization of an idealized model of a hypervisor. We establish (formally) that the hypervisor ensures strong isolation properties between the different operating systems, and guarantees that requests from guest operating systems are eventually attended. We show also that virtualized platforms are transparent, i.e. a guest operating system cannot distinguish whether it executes alone or together with other guest operating systems on the platform.The Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is a suite of specifications that provides origin authentication and integrity assurance services for DNS data. We finally introduce a minimalistic specification of a DNSSEC model which provides the grounds needed to formally state and verify security properties concerning the chain of trust of the DNSSEC tree.We develop all our formalizations in the Calculus of Inductive Constructions —formal language that combines a higher-order logic and a richly-typed functional programming language— using the Coq proof assistant.
Literature and Health: Interrogating Public Health Behaviour
Authors: ATIMGA Shimawua
Published: March 2016

Health, ranks among primary issues on the top of developing nations’ agenda. While advancement in medicine and medical care surely increase assurance of wellness it is also acknowledged that the social context where the environmental, organizational and personal factors interact to affect health and general well-being can be better enhanced through an understanding of the health behaviours of such individuals and groups. Such understanding will further enhance intervention activities targeting the prevention, promotion and modification of people’s life styles and proportionately reduce their health risk behaviours. This study maintains that literature has never been aloof to public health advocacy. It illustrates this with the interrogations of public health behavior of Nigerian citizens replete in Ken Saro Wiwa’s collection of short stories titled Prisoners of Jebs and a Forest of Flowers. Using the Social Ecological theory the study analyses selected Short Stories from the two volumes. Wiwa is seen to have used the stories to question the health behavior of compatriots, and to advocate for adoption of better health attitudes. His stories therefore serve as an awakening call for the evolvement of multi-modal strategies for sustainable health.
Toponymy in Igbomina Yoruba Language: An Anthropological Linguistic Perspective
Authors: OLAOYE Anthony Ayodele
Published: March 2016

Toponymy, the study of place names, is an interesting geo-linguistic phenomenon in the ethnography of the Igbomina Yoruba people of Kwara State, Nigeria. The author is interested in the anthropological linguistic aspects of the topic. The research question is: what is the anthropo-linguistic significance of toponyms? Through the interview method of data elicitation, the author gathered information from Igbomina Community kings (Oba), Opinion leaders and custodian of public places, village squares and local museums. The study reveals that place names are very strong and reliable indices or records of people’s historical origin, their genetic relationships, their culture and philosophy. The author then classifies toponyms according to their anthropo –linguistic functions. The following typology of place names, were identified and analyzed: personal, place names, communal, ascriptive, descriptive, honorific, sacred/religious, taboo, etymological and general place names. It was found that toponyms are diachronic, geo-linguistic date marks which could be used in tracking down the history and age of a community, their migration and settlement, their language and dialect variation, the history of language change and language reconstruction, including language documentation.
Prometheus Unbound: Health Humanities and the Complexity of Female Sexuality in Post-Colonial Nigeria
Authors: EROJIKWE Ikechukwu , ANIBUOGU Ugochukwu , NNAMELE Vincent
Published: March 2016

Sexuality in Nigeria has over the years been marred by several issues ranging from illiteracy, religious beliefs to socio-cultural norm. Consequently, women of all ages and almost all social strata have lived with the dangers of health hazards, social injustice and painfully death. That is not to say that sexual problems occur exclusively within the female category; it is safe to state that women are at the receiving end of some of the health and social consequences of sexually related challenges and thus, women are the focus group for this paper. Women in Africa appear chained as far as their sexuality is concerned and need a broad spectrum strategy to find lasting solutions within the context of post-colonial Nigeria. This paper intends to look at sex and sexuality from the health humanities angle. Health humanities as an emerging discipline attempts to look at areas of convergence between health and humanities. Therefore this paper will attempt to look at ways through which film has aided health promotion and awareness with regard to sexuality. The theoretical frame work for this study is perception theory and post colonial theory.
Perception of Employees Concerning Organizational Climate with reference to Manufacturing Industries, Uttarakhand
Authors: Goel Yasha Tejwani , Joshi Dr. Mukesh
Published: March 2016

Organizational Climate means personality of an organization. Like personality of one person differs from other likewise the personality of one organization differs from other. There are several factors on the basis of which one organization can be differentiated with others. In this research the factors that are used to differentiate one organization from other are based on standard tool MAO-C developed by Pareek (2002). These factors consisted of dimensions like orientation, interpersonal relationships, supervision, problem management, management of mistakes, conflict management, communication, decision making, trust, management of rewards, risk taking, and innovation and change. The main aim of this study is to analyze perception of employees of their organization climate. The sample size was 252 and stratified random sampling was used. Descriptive statistics mean and SD were used. Inferential statistics ANOVA was used to reach conclusion. Employees were partitioned on the basis of demographic profile like gender, qualification, designation, and department. This is because the concept of organizational climate is a cognitive process and likely to be affected by employees of different groups. The main findings of the study were that except for employees partitioned on the basis of designation there was significant difference in the perception of employees categorized on the basis of qualification, age, and department concerning organizational climate. Beside, this several other conclusions were reached.
Análise da resistência à compressão do concreto em estruturas acabadas com vistas à revisão da segurança estrutural
Authors: Helene P.
Published: March 2016

Trata-se de discutir a complexa problemática de medida e avaliação da resistência do concreto em estruturas acabadas, ou seja, em estruturas ou componentes estruturais já moldados in loco ou pré-fabricados, em obras em construção ou construídas há anos, para fins de revisão da segurança dessa estrutura. Inicia-se por uma sintética revisão dos conceitos de introdução da segurança no projeto das estruturas de concreto com o significado dos coeficientes de minoração da resistência dos materiais. A partir de resultados experimentais obtidos em teses de doutoramento discute-se a ordem de grandeza da influência de certas variáveis aleatórias principais. Na seqüências trata-se da representatividade da amostragem e cuidados com a extração dos testemunhos cilíndricos. A questão do crescimento da resistência com a idade e do decréscimo dessa resistência com a carga de longa duração (efeito Rüsch) também são abordados para encerrar propondo um procedimento adequado de obtenção do fck para fins de revisão da segurança do projeto estrutural.