bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
E-Government Development in the Caribbean
Authors: Ubaldi Barbara-Chiara
Published: May 2011

While in theory, the benefits of e-government are numerous, global experience to date indicates that in reality they remain much more elusive. Given e-government’s high impact on good governance and on the promotion of progress in developing countries, in order to better enable communities to benefit from e-government, it is important that the most adequate approach to the transition of a country or of a number of countries to the information society be identified in order for key issues to be addressed expeditiously, correctly, and effectively for an e-government that is at once as comprehensive as possible but also sustainable and meaningful. This is particularly true for a region such as the Caribbean, which already came late to the assimilation of the industrial age paradigm and which still has to determine its role in the global information society as well as its digital age. While it is common belief that for the majority of countries e-government development is more efficiently and more effectively targeted through national programs tailored to specific needs and characteristics, this is not considered to be the case for countries in the Caribbean region. Over the last five years, an unprecedented international cooperation for administrative reform and e-government capacity building has taken place in the Caribbean region (i.e., Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, Turks, and Caicos Islands). Such an effort has involved many regional and international organizations (e.g., the United Nations, the European Union, the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank, the OAS, etc.); a lot of work has been accomplished to assist countries in enhancing the application of ICT to government functions in order to advance public sector reform, improve government services, enhance knowledge management and decision making, and promote economic and social development. This international cooperation was carried out through a rich mix of ministerial consultations, working group meetings, meetings of experts, informal consultations, research and development, and country surveys. The rationale behind this kind of intervention was the conviction shared within the international community that a regional approach would permit dealing with the various issues related to e-government development more efficiently and more effectively.
Anonymous Code Lists for Secure Electronic Voting over Insecure Mobile Channels
Authors: Voutsis Nico , Zimmermann Frank
Published: May 2011

A protocol is proposed that would allow electronic voting over channels, which typically are regarded as insecure like short message service (SMS) and cellular phones. Unlike personalized lists of codes, which are typically proposed to secure the vote and to uniquely identify the voter, we propose anonymous code lists, which offer more ?exibility and security, in particular with respect to privacy and the anonymity of the voter.
Data Mining and Homeland Security
Authors: Seifert Jeffrey W.
Published: May 2011

A significant amount of attention appears to be focusing on how to better collect, analyze, and disseminate information. In doing so, technology is commonly and increasingly looked upon as both a tool, and, in some cases, a substitute, for human resources. One such technology that is playing a prominent role in homeland security initiatives is data mining. Similar to the concept of homeland security, while data mining is widely mentioned in a growing number of bills, laws, reports, and other policy documents, an agreed upon definition or conceptualization of data mining appears to be generally lacking within the policy community (Relyea, 2002). While data mining initiatives are usually purported to provide insightful, carefully constructed analysis, at various times data mining itself is alternatively described as a technology, a process, and/or a productivity tool. In other words, data mining, or factual data analysis, or predictive analytics, as it also is sometimes referred to, means different things to different people. Regardless of which definition one prefers, a common theme is the ability to collect and combine, virtually if not physically, multiple data sources, for the purposes of analyzing the actions of individuals. In other words, there is an implicit belief in the power of information, suggesting a continuing trend in the growth of “dataveillance,” or the monitoring and collection of the data trails left by a person’s activities (Clarke, 1988). More importantly, it is clear that there are high expectations for data mining, or factual data analysis, being an effective tool. Data mining is not a new technology but its use is growing significantly in both the private and public sectors. Industries such as banking, insurance, medicine, and retailing commonly use data mining to reduce costs, enhance research, and increase sales. In the public sector, data mining applications initially were used as a means to detect fraud and waste, but have grown to also be used for purposes such as measuring and improving program performance. While not completely without controversy, these types of data mining applications have gained greater acceptance. However, some national defense/homeland security data mining applications represent a significant expansion in the quantity and scope of data to be analyzed. Moreover, due to their security-related nature, the details of these initiatives (e.g., data sources, analytical techniques, access and retention practices, etc.) are usually less transparent.
African Regional Case of E-Government
Authors: Kaaya Janet
Published: May 2011

New developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) over the past few decades, especially the establishment of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, have created an unprecedented capacity for people to access and retrieve information on the Internet. Such developments have also affected the way public institutions, particularly governments, provide services to their citizens in addressing the challenges of improving government efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability (Allen, Juillet, Pacquet, & Roy, 2001; Allen, Juillet, Miles, Paquet, Roy, & Wilkins, 2004; Holliday, 2002; La Porte, Demchak, de Jong, 2002; UN, 2004). In addressing these challenges, applications of ICTs have been considered as one of key components in the various public sector reforms, and to some extent associated with the coining of “reinventing government” (Heeks, 2001; Ho, 2002). Thus, by the late 1990s many governments were already delivering Web-based services as “an integral and significant part of a new ‘e-government’ ” (Ho, 2002, p. 434). All over the world, therefore, countries and states are at the various stages of implementing e-government or digital government to improve delivery of government services to their citizens and at the same time to provide increased avenues for direct participation of citizens in addressing with their governments the citizens’ development needs. In general, in all respects of implementing e-government strategies, developed countries are far ahead of developing countries (Basu, 2004; La Porte et al., 2002; Nath, 2003; Netchaeva, 2002; Singh & Naidoo, 2005; UN, 2001, 2002, 2004) due to a number of reasons that will be highlighted later in this chapter.
A Metamorphic Testing Approach for Online Testing of Service-Oriented Software Applications
Authors: Chan W. , Cheung S. C. , Leung Karl R.P.H.
Published: May 2011

Testing the correctness of services assures the functional quality of service-oriented applica-tions. A service-oriented application may bind dynamically to its supportive services. For the same service interface, the supportive services may behave differently. A service may also need to realize a business strategy, like best pricing, relative to the behavior of its counterparts and the dynamic market situations. Many existing works ignore these issues to address the problem of identifying failures from test results. This article proposes a metamorphic approach for online services testing. The off-line testing determines a set of successful test cases to construct their corresponding follow-up test cases for the online testing. These test cases will be executed by metamorphic services that encapsulate the services under test as well as the implementations of metamorphic relations. Thus, any failure revealed by the metamorphic testing approach will be due to the failures in the online testing mode. An experiment is included.
Using Digital Hotlines in an Anti-Corruption Campaign
Authors: Saddler Paula F.
Published: May 2011

Throughout the world, people are just as concerned about corruption as they are about unemployment, poverty, and physical security. Governments can support citizens in their fight against corruption by using digital hotlines to investigate wrongdoing and to strengthen fraud-prevention efforts. Best practices in managing digital hotlines can be packaged into a module that is rolled out to all units of government from the national to the local level.
Measuring E-Government in Italy
Authors: Corsi Marcella
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes our experience in establishing an Observatory for the measurement of the impact of e-government policies onto the efficiency and the effectiveness of the Italian public sector. Such an Observatory is based on evaluation procedures different from those used in other measurement exercises, such as e-Europe or those belonging to the Big Five consultant groups. Moreover, the adopted definition of “e-government” is slightly different than the usual one, as it takes into account not only the mere providing of e-services, but also the whole impact of ICT in terms of transformation of Public Administration — both at a “front-” and at a “back-office” level. What has made us think about a new evaluation method is the desire for a standard, transparent (i.e., one that everyone understands) system, which, while it takes into account the overall level of e-government, the type and number of online services, and their ease of access and quality, also considers policy actions which flavor the spread of electronic government applications, both inside and outside the public sector.
Revamping the Administrative Structure and Processes in India for Online Diplomacy
Authors: Jain R. B.
Published: May 2011

There is a talk of e-governance all over the world. India has also not remained oblivious of these developments. E-governance implies a smoother interface between government and citizen. Peoples’ expectations from e-government have gone up very high. They see the new technology as a panacea to improve their living conditions. With the application of IT initiatives in certain states of India and at the union level, there has been some overall improvement in the transparency and accountability of the government. However, it must be remembered that technology cannot deliver everything. It is only a tool and an enabler to accomplish certain objectives—perhaps more quickly. E-governance has both a narrow and a broad perspective. In a narrow sense, it is focused primarily on public service delivery through Web site and Internet, while in a broader sense, it stands for all kinds of ICT (information and communication technology) applications in different stages of policy making, formulation, implementation, and evaluation (Snellen, 2005). E-governance sometimes may also make it harder, rather than easier, to achieve more information-driven, boundary-crossing reform such as improved delivery of public services (Heeks, 2002).
Managing Stakeholder Interests in E-Government Implementation
Authors: Tan Chee-Wee , Pan Shan L. , Lim Eric T.K.
Published: May 2011

As e-government plays an increasingly dominant role in modern public administrative management, its pervasive influence on organizations and individuals is apparent. It is, therefore, timely and relevant to examine e-governance—the fundamental mission of e-government. By adopting a stakeholder perspective, this study approaches the topic of e-governance in e-government from the three critical aspects of stakeholder management: (1) identification of stakeholders; (2) recognition of differing interests among stakeholders; and (3) how an organization caters to and furthers these interests. Findings from the case study point to the importance of (1) discarding the traditional preference for controls to develop instead a proactive attitude towards the identification of all relevant collaborators; (2) conducting cautious assessments of the technological restrictions underlying IT-transformed public services to map out the boundary for devising and implementing control and collaboration mechanisms in the system; and (3) developing strategies to align stakeholder interests so that participation in e-government can be self-governing.
Digital Public Sphere
Authors: Rho Seung-Yong
Published: May 2011

In the information age, simultaneous citizen-government interaction through information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as e-mails, digital policy forums through bulletin boards, and real-time digital chat already has been happened. Digital deliberation is one of examples for improving citizen-government interaction through ICTs. In this context, it is important to evaluate current practice of digital deliberation. That is, can we consider current practice of digital deliberation as authentic citizen participation in governance process? Based on the analysis of the current practice of digital deliberation through ICTs, unlike the expectation, this paper argues that there was a lack of active participation by citizens as well as public servants. The policies should be made by the will of citizens in democratic governance but current practice of digital deliberation did not support this statement. Citizens’ unawareness of digital deliberation, citizens’ lack of active participation, and public officials’ less positive perspective on the digital deliberation make current digital deliberation unconstructive. These practices have violated the principle of democracy, which is government by the people. The citizens’ strong will of active digital deliberation is a key to the success of digital deliberation in the democratic governance. In addition, public officials’ positive view and strong support on the digital deliberation are important to make digital deliberation effective.
Evaluation Framework for Assessing E-Democracy Policy
Authors: Henderson Monika , Hogarth Fergus , Jeans Dianne
Published: May 2011

E-democracy, defined in this chapter as “the use of information and communication technologies in democratic processes,” covers a range of methods by which governments and communities engage with each other. This includes a variety of activities that support public participation in democratic processes, such as electronic voting, online consultation, Web-based discussion forums, electronic petitions to Parliament, using the Internet to Webcast parliamentary debates, and digital polling and surveys. E-democracy is a fairly recent and evolving field, with rapid developments at both practical and conceptual levels. Innovative projects and initiatives are being introduced in many different countries, but this process is rarely guided by a comprehensive policy framework or informed by systematic evaluation. In 2001, an OECD review concluded that “no OECD country currently conducts systematic evaluation of government performance in providing information, consulting and engaging citizens online” (OECD, 2001 p. 4). Writers in the field have noted that the evaluation of e-democracy initiatives has not developed as quickly as public debate about the potential impacts, that evaluations are rare to date, and that there is no consensus on appropriate evaluation methodologies (Grönlund, n.d.). Examples of publicly available evaluations include the Scottish e-petitioner system (e.g., Malina & Macintosh, n.d.; Malina, Macintosh, & Davenport, 2001) and online consultation (e.g., Smith & Macintosh, 2001; Whyte & Macintosh 2000, 2001). Macintosh and Whyte (2002) have produced “a tentative interdisciplinary framework of evaluation issues and criteria” for electronic consultation. An OECD report (2003) lists evaluation issues for online engagement. However, overall there are few resources to guide evaluation in the e-democracy area to date.
Motives, Strategic Approach, Objectives & Focal Areas in e-Gov-Induced Change
Authors: Scholl Hans J.
Published: May 2011

In its early catalogue and transaction phases, E-Government (e-Gov) has been quite successful, although some critics say that it mainly reaped the harvest of relatively low hanging fruits by making paper-based information accessible over the Web, and also by Web-enabling some existing transaction processes. The subsequent horizontal and vertical integration phases of e-Gov, those critics hold, present a greater challenge and require more technological sophistication and organizational effort. Business processes may need streamlining, change, and even replacement in order to become more citizen-centric and also increase government internal effectiveness and efficiency (IEE). This exploratory study finds that strategies and objectives for reaching the integration phase vary with focal areas and motives. However, e-Gov, it is found, is a main driver of business process change in the public sector. Many practices and lessons learned from private sector reengineering apply in the government context.
A Review of Single-Item Internet Auction Literature and a Model for Future Research
Authors: Baker Jeff , Song Jaeki
Published: May 2011

Internet auctions have received a considerable amount of attention from researchers. We review recent empirical literature pertaining to single-item Internet auctions and observe that existing work has examined the roles of the auctioneer, bidder, and seller in Internet auctions. As this stream of research matures, research will necessarily move from concept discovery and process explanation to theory deepening. As a first step towards synthesis of findings in Internet auctions, we compile a comprehensive list of the various factors that have been examined in empirical studies and note their general impact upon auction outcome. Based upon this extant research, we propose a conceptual model of Internet auctions as a framework for structuring future work into Internet auctions. We then note the existing economic, psychological, sociological, and cognitive theoretical bases for work on Internet auctions. We conclude by highlighting the potential for behavioral economics to bring unity to Internet auction research and by calling researchers to engage in the work of forging a comprehensive theory of Internet auctions.
Peering into the Black Box
Authors: Bellows Ben , Bhandari Aman , Ibrahim Mahad , Sandhu Jaspal S.
Published: May 2011

This chapter begins with an overview of public health in developing regions. From this population-level perspective, we discuss the information challenges in each of the four domains of public health: research, education, health-care delivery, and disease surveillance. We introduce health-related use classes—categories of specific use cases—to provide a structured presentation of health and information communication technologies in developing regions. In this regard, we define and discuss the following six use classes: (a) surveillance and information gathering, (b) research, (c) provider to provider, (d) provider to patient,(e) education, and (f) logistics. Defining ICT broadly, we argue that the design or selection of technology requires consideration of the cost, ease of use, infrastructure, culture of ICT use, penetration of different ICTs, and population health profile. All of these factors vary among resource-scarce settings, and each factor can greatly impact the appropriate choice in any given setting. We discuss the following three types of assessment, each of which plays a crucial role in project evaluation: systems issues, usability, and health outcomes. Designing ICT for health applications in developing countries requires a deep understanding of various contextual factors, such as health and ICT infrastructure, disease burden, and sociocultural issues. With this in mind, and with some understanding of future trends in health and ICT utilization, we provide forward-looking recommendations for practitioners, researchers, funders, and policy makers.
Learning-Supported Decision-Making
Authors: Antonacopoulou Elena P. , Papamichail K. Nadia
Published: May 2011

The biggest challenge for any organization is managing the disperse nature of knowledge across a diverse set of knowledge carriers. The role of ICTs in supporting and extending the organizational memory is of particular concern. This chapter contributes to our understanding of the challenges the Digital era presents us by proposing a socio-technical framework, which emphasizes feedback as the critical link connecting social systems and technical structures The main thrust of the framework is the alignment of social structures and social actors in ways that seek to integrate different modes of learning with different models of decision-making. This integration is to be supported by a range of decision-learning structures (in ICT systems), which create different feedback levels. These feedback levels are the main focus of the chapter which makes a valuable contribution in extending debates of learning, decision-making and their relationship demonstrating the inherent challenges of the digital era in using ICTs as social as much as technical tools.
Computing Curricula
Authors: Scime Anthony , Wania Christine
Published: May 2011

An analysis of eight computing model curricula verifies that there are significant differences between computing disciplines. While there are many courses in the models with the same or similar names, the courses may be completely different. By reverse engineering model course descriptions, the courses are compared to determine the inclusiveness of each course in each of the others. Although expected, these results are significant for colleges and universities establishing or revising computing programs.
Establishing a "Knowledge Network" of Local and Regional Development Subjects
Authors: Molodtsov Olexandr
Published: May 2011

Efficiency of collective action, aimed at social development, in many ways depends on the level of being well-informed and the intensiveness of knowledge sharing between the social agents, which are the professional corporate communities in this domain. Modern information technologies allow influencing the social development by establishing of Internet networks for geographically separated social agents who collaborate on the basis of “horizontal” communications. From this point of view, the Internet can be considered a catalyst of inter-group communication and an instrument for decentralized projection of social development. There has been no sociological research conducted in Ukraine to find out the efficiency level of cooperation between social agents using an Internet network to share information and knowledge concerning local and regional development. But even a general overview of the Ukrainian Internet shows an unsatisfactory state of such cooperation. Indirectly, this is proved by the data regarding the Internet content for 2002, which demonstrates that scientific research and educational organizations represented only 4.4% of the Internet content (Bryzhko, , Tsymbaliuk, Orekhov, & Galchenko, 2002, p. 101). We have all the grounds to state that computer databases existing in Ukraine do not meet the requirements of the local and regional development. Further, they do not contribute sufficiently to the professional growth and development of the professional communities’ ethical standards.
The Didactical Potential of Robotics for Education with Digital Media
Authors: Wiesner-Steiner Andreas , Schelhowe Heidi , Wiesner Heike
Published: May 2011

The project “Roberta – girls conquer robotics” was launched by the Fraunhofer Institute (AIS) with the aim to help promote girls’ interest in sciences, mathematics and technology. As a summary of this research program, this article presents substantial results from the scientific evaluation of Roberta and suggests a new pedagogical approach towards the use of robotics in education. We discuss how didactics and technology (LegoMindstorms) interact in Roberta courses and how the materiality of robotics itself plays an important role here; that is, it already comes along as gendered material. Due to that, we draw conclusions towards general educational concepts for digital media. If carefully used as a didactical actor, robotics not only suits boys’ and girls’ interest in technological messiness but enables them for a technological-mediated life instead of just feeling overwhelmed. Robotics, therefore, can function as an appropriate medium for general education in the more comprehensive sense of developing personality and agency.
Students' Perceptions of the Laptop Program
Authors: Changchit Chuleeporn , Cutshall Robert , Elwood Susan
Published: May 2011

Due to a rapid increase in the usage of information technology, several companies are demanding that graduates have more than just the basic computer skills when they graduate. This has prompted many universities to initiate a campus laptop program in order to increase their students’ computer experiences and skill sets. The success of a laptop program relies heavily on the extent to which the laptop environment is accepted and wholeheartedly implemented by students and faculty. Defining the conception factors necessary to successfully implement a laptop initiative becomes a critical issue to the success of the program. This study examines university students’ perceptions of a required laptop program to determine what factors that they think are crucial for the success of such a program. By understanding what factors encourage students to support a laptop initiative, such a program can be made more useful to students as well as more beneficial to universities.
Participatory 3D Modelling
Authors: Rambaldi Giacomo
Published: May 2011

Mapping is a fundamental way for displaying spatial human cognition. “It is a representational medium that both has a history and is part of the practice of history” (Herrington, 2003). For centuries and increasingly with the advent of Geographic Information Technologies (GIT), graphic representations of part or the whole of Earth in cartographic, electronic, two or three dimensional formats have been playing significant roles as media (Sui & Goodchild, 2001) used to store, display and convey information and as basis of analysis for decision support.
Determining Whether ICT Improves Social Interactions
Authors: Gururajan Raj
Published: May 2011

Previous innovations, such as telephones allowed individuals to communicate on a one-to-one basis, or for powerful, central institutions to speak one-way to the masses (Burrows, 2000). New technologies such as the Internet are revolutionizing communications as a positive force, improving the efficiency and accountability of local government, and strengthening communities. This requires a vision in order to be able to actively use technology rather than passively reacting to change. Any advancement which is able to significantly empower people, also threatens to entrench the division between haves and have-nots—both as organizations and as individuals (Burrows, 2000). In the current climate, local government agencies are beginning to use these new technologies to open up the process of communication between governments and the citizens.
Virtual Reality & Immersive Technology in Education
Authors: Connolly Patrick E.
Published: May 2011

Virtual reality, also known as VR, is an exciting but ill-defined field of discovery. The question of how technological advances in this field will impact education is difficult to answer at present with any degree of certainty, but is one that must be considered by educational researchers, teachers, and administrators. This position paper presents the foundational definitions and positions of several investigators in this realm, along with thoughts on difficulties and complex issues that currently hinder the application of virtual reality in educational settings. It is recommended that the excitement that VR generates be leveraged into applications research in order to validate both the effectiveness of VR in education and encourage further development of the technology.
Training Sequences and ther Effects on Task Performance and User Outcomes
Authors: Sanford Clive , Bhattacherjee Anol
Published: May 2011

This article introduces the concept of IT training sequences and examines how sequencing of conceptual and procedural training impact IT task performance, user satisfaction, and users’ self-efficacy. Using assimilation theory, we develop four hypotheses related to training sequences. These hypotheses were then tested in a database design context using a quasi-experimental study involving student subjects. Empirical results demonstrate improved far transfer and near transfer task performance and higher self-efficacy for subjects trained in the conceptual-procedural sequence versus the reverse sequence, though user satisfaction was not significantly different between the two sequences. Implications for IT training research are discussed.
Towards Improved Business Planning Decision Support for Small-to-Medium Tourism Enterprise Operators
Authors: McGrath G. Michael
Published: May 2011

In a recent study conducted for the Australian Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre, improved business planning was identified as one of the most pressing needs of small-to-medium tourism enterprise operators. Further significant problems confronting these businesses were coping with rapid change, complexity and uncertainty. System dynamics (SD) is especially well-suited to the modelling and analysis of problem domains with these characteristics and, in this chapter, we report on the development and implementation of a “tourism enterprise planning simulator” (TEPS) based largely upon SD constructs and technologies. Scenarios in which TEPS might be used to good effect are outlined and the potential benefits of this deployment are detailed.
Virtual Networking without a Backpack? Resource Consumption of Information Technologies
Authors: von Geibler Justus , Kuhndt Michael , Turk Volkar
Published: May 2011

This chapter concentrates on the environmental impacts of the increasing use of the Internet. It highlights that the Internet and Internet applications are far from being purely virtual, but are clearly linked to the use of natural resources. With the growth of the Internet’s infrastructure there is a seemingly inevitable increase in the resource consumption for the production of electronic equipment and its electricity consumption. A number of conclusions can be made regarding the minimisation of environmental risks and maximisation of ebusiness’ potential to dematerialise. The presented findings are mainly based on findings derived from research within the Digital Europe project, which was conducted as the first pan-European study of the social and environmental impacts and opportunities of e-commerce and information communication technologies. Supported by the European Commission, the project has been led by the research organisations Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei in Italy, Forum for the Future in UK and the Wuppertal Institute in Germany.
A Literature Overview of Fuzzy Database Modeling
Authors: Ma Z.. M.
Published: May 2011

Fuzzy set theory has been extensively applied to extend various data models and resulted in numerous contributions, mainly with respect to the popular relational model or to some related form of it. To satisfy the need of modeling complex objects with imprecision and uncertainty, recently many researches have been concentrated on fuzzy semantic (conceptual) and object-oriented data models. This chapter reviews fuzzy database modeling technologies, including fuzzy conceptual data models and database models. Concerning fuzzy database models, fuzzy relational databases, fuzzy nested relational databases, and fuzzy object-oriented databases are discussed, respectively.
Exploratory Time Series Data Mining by Genetic Clustering
Authors: Liao T. Warren
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we present genetic algorithm (GA) based methods developed for clustering univariate time series with equal or unequal length as an exploratory step of data mining. These methods basically implement the k-medoids algorithm. Each chromosome encodes in binary the data objects serving as the k-medoids. To compare their performance, both fixed-parameter and adaptive GAs were used. We first employed the synthetic control chart data set to investigate the performance of three fitness functions, two distance measures, and other GA parameters such as population size, crossover rate, and mutation rate. Two more sets of time series with or without known number of clusters were also experimented: one is the cylinder-bell-funnel data and the other is the novel battle simulation data. The clustering results are presented and discussed.
Internet Data Mining Using Statistical Techniques
Authors: Kumar Kuldeep
Published: May 2011

Data mining has emerged as one of the hottest topics in recent years. It is an extraordinarily broad area and is growing in several directions. With the advancement of the Internet and cheap availability of powerful computers, data is flooding the market at a tremendous pace. However, the technology for navigating, exploring, visualising, and summarising large databases is still in its infancy. Internet data mining is the process of collecting, analysing, and decision making while the data is being collected on the Internet. In most of the financial applications, data is updated every second or minute or hour. By using Internet data-mining tools, a decision can be made as soon as data are updated.
Ontology-Based Interpretation and Validation of Mined Knowledge
Authors: Canhoto Ana Isabel
Published: May 2011

The use of automated systems to collect, process and analyse vast amounts of data is now integral to the operations of many corporations and government agencies, in particular it has gained recognition as a strategic tool in the war on crime. Data mining, the technology behind such analysis, has its origins in quantitative sciences. Yet, analysts face important issues of a cognitive nature both in terms of the input for the data mining effort, and in terms of the analysis of the output. Domain knowledge and bias information influence which patterns in the data are deemed as useful and, ultimately, valid. This chapter addresses the role of cognition and context in the interpretation and validation of mined knowledge. We propose the use of ontology charts and norm specifications to map how varying levels of access to information and exposure to specific social norms lead to divergent views of mined knowledge.
Privacy-Preserving Data Mining and the Need for Confluence of Research and Practice
Authors: Fu Lixin , Nemati Hamid , Sadri Fereidoon
Published: May 2011

Privacy-preserving data mining (PPDM) refers to data mining techniques developed to protect sensitive data while allowing useful information to be discovered from the data. In this article, we review PPDM and present a broad survey of related issues, techniques, measures, applications, and regulation guidelines. We observe that the rapid pace of change in information technologies available to sustain PPDM has created a gap between theory and practice. We posit that without a clear understanding of the practice, this gap will be widening which, ultimately, will be detrimental to the field. We conclude by proposing a comprehensive research agenda intended to bridge the gap relevant to practice and as a reference basis for the future related legislation activities.
Neural Network-Based Stock Market Return Forecasting Using Data Mining for Variable Reduction
Authors: Encke David
Published: May 2011

Researchers have known for some time that nonlinearity exists in the financial markets and that neural networks can be used to forecast market returns. Unfortunately, many of these studies fail to consider alternative forecasting techniques, or the relevance of the input variables. The following research utilizes an information-gain technique from machine learning to evaluate the predictive relationships of numerous financial and economic input variables. Neural network models for level estimation and classification are then examined for their ability to provide an effective forecast of future values. A cross-validation technique is also employed to improve the generalization ability of the models. The results show that the classification models generate higher accuracy in forecasting ability than the buy-and-hold strategy, as well as those guided by the level-estimation-based forecasts of the neural network and benchmark linear regression models.
Customized Recommendation Mechanism Based on Web Data Mining and Case-Based Reasoning
Authors: Kim Jin Sung
Published: May 2011

One of the attractive topics in the field of Internet business is blending Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques with the business process. In this research, we suggest a web-based, customized hybrid recommendation mechanism using Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) and web data mining. CBR mechanisms are normally used in problems for which it is difficult to define rules. In web databases, features called attributes are often selected first for mining the association knowledge between related products. Therefore, data mining is used as an efficient mechanism for predicting the relationship between goods, customers’ preference, and future behavior. If there are some goods, however, which are not retrieved by data mining, we can’t recommend additional information or a product. In this case, we can use CBR as a supplementary AI tool to recommend the similar purchase case. Web log data gathered in a real-world Internet shopping mall was given to illustrate the quality of the proposed mechanism. The results showed that the CBR and web data mining-based hybrid recommendation mechanism could reflect both association knowledge and purchase information about our former customers.
Ethical Dilemmas in Data Mining and Warehousing
Authors: Cazier Joseph A. , LaBrie Ryan C.
Published: May 2011

As we have increasing privacy and risk concerns in the world today with identity theft, questionable marketing, data mining, and profiling, it is becoming increasingly important to explore how consumers feel and react to the use of their data. This study makes an important contribution to the literature by presenting common positive and negative myths surrounding these issues and exploring how ethical or unethical consumers believe these practices are by looking at the myths and their reaction to them. We focus on consumers’ perceptions because at the end of the day it is what the consumers perceive to be happing that will determine their reaction. An ethical data practice is one that is believed to increase consumer, business, or societal value, and an unethical data practice is one which causes harm to these groups.
Multimedia Information Retrieval at a Crossroad
Authors: Li Q. , Yang J. , Zhuang Y.
Published: May 2011

In the late 1990s, the availability of powerful computing capability, large storage devices, high-speed networking and especially the advent of the Internet, led to a phenomenal growth of digital multimedia content in terms of size, diversity and impact. As suggested by its name, “multimedia” is a name given to a collection of multiple types of data, which include not only “traditional multimedia” such as images and videos, but also emerging media such as 3D graphics (like VRML objects) and Web animations (like Flash animations). Furthermore, multimedia techniques have been penetrating into a growing number of applications, ranging from document-editing software to digital libraries and many Web applications. For example, most people who have used Microsoft Word have tried to insert pictures and diagrams into their documents, and they have the experience of watching online video clips, such as movie trailers. In other words, multimedia data have been in every corner of the digital world. With the huge volume of multimedia data, finding and accessing the multimedia documents that satisfy people’s needs in an accurate and efficient manner became a non-trivial problem. This problem is defined as multimedia information retrieval.
Designing for Learning in Narrative Multimedia Environments
Authors: Gjedde L.
Published: May 2011

Narrative is fundamental for learning and the construction of meaning. In the design of interactive learning programs, the need for narrative is often neglected, and the emphasis is on information design rather than the design of experiential learning environments. This chapter presents research related to the development of two prototypes of narrative interactive multimedia learning environments, from an experiential and situated learning perspective and proposes a model for a narrative learning process, related to a situated and experiential learning perspective.
Enabling Multimedia Applications in Memory-Limited Mobile Devices
Authors: Herbster R. , Almeida Hyggo , Perkusich Angelo , Morais Marcos
Published: May 2011

In this article we propose a layered architecture that makes possible the visualization of large videos, and even other multimedia documents, in memory/processing limited devices. Storage of videos is performed at the server side, and the client plays the video without worrying about storage space in the device. Data available in the server is divided into small pieces of readable data for mobile devices, generally JPEG files. For example, when the client requests videos from the server, the videos are sent as JPEG files and shown at an ideal rate for users. The video frames are sent through a wireless connection.
Multimedia Contents for Mobile Entertainment
Authors: Yan H. , Wang L. , Ye Y.
Published: May 2011

In this article, we provide an overview of multimedia contents for mobile entertainment applications. The objective is for the readers to become familiar with basic multimedia technology, and the concepts and commonly used terms. Our focus will be on multimedia signal representation, processing, and standards.
Interactive Multimedia and AIDS Prevention
Authors: Illera J. L.R.
Published: May 2011

Using multimedia applications to inform or to train is very different than using them for changing attitudes. The documented and discussed project started with the perspective that a large proportion of young people, despite knowing how AIDS might be contracted, still adopt risk behaviors. A multimedia role play application was designed to include both information and game layers. The game introduces complex situations using video stories, and then lets the users construct different narratives by choosing between behavior alternatives. The result of each narrative is related to contracting the disease or not. A discussion about role playing games follows, on the limits of this approach, as well as the kind of interactivity and the forms of delayed feedback given.
Integration of Management of Quality of Web Services in Service Oriented Architecture
Authors: Serhani M. A. , Badidi M. E. , Benharref A. , Dssouli R. , Sahraoui H.
Published: May 2011

With the proliferation of Web services and their wide adoption as a novel technology for business-to-business interactions on the Web, Quality of Web Services (QoWS) management has witnessed considerable interest in recent years. Most of the existing works regarding this issue do not provide support for the overall QoWS management operations and are very often limited to a subset of these operations. Some of these works propose QoWS solutions for only basic web services while others propose solutions for composite web services. In this chapter, we propose to extend the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) with a framework for QoWS management in which services may be basic or composite Web services. The framework uses a layered approach to provide support for the most common QoWS management operations, which include QoWS specification, QoWS verification, QoWS negotiation, and QoWS monitoring. These operations are supported at both the design and the development phases of Web services.
Using Semantic Technologies for the Support of Engineering Design Processes
Authors: Brandt Sebastian C. , Schlüter Marcus , Jarke Matthias
Published: May 2011

The design and development processes of complex technical systems are of crucial importance to the competitiveness of a technology-oriented enterprise. These processes are characterised by high creativity and strong non deterministic dynamics. Established information science methods, however, are intended for more deterministic work processes. They cannot be effectively applied to support creative activities like conceptual synthesis, analysis, and decision-making. Therefore methods of experience management need to be exploited here. This paper presents a new integrated approach to such design process guidance based on capturing the process traces in a Process Data Warehouse (PDW). Both the products to be designed and the process steps corresponding, are structured and stored as extended method traces. This trace capture facilitates the processing and subsequent reuse of the information through a process-integrated development environment. The concept of the PDW has been evaluated in several engineering design case studies. One of those, which focuses on the conceptual design of a chemical production plant, will be described in more detail.
Unique Applications of Multi-Agent Models in Uncovering Language Learning Processes
Authors: Satterfield Teresa
Published: May 2011

Multi-scale “artificial societies” are constructed to examine competing first- and second-language acquisition-based theories of creole language emergence. Sociohistorical conditions and psycholinguistic capacities are integrated into the model as agents (slaves and slave-owners) interact. Linguistic transmissions are tracked, and grammar constructions are charted. The study demonstrates how a CAS approach offers clear indications for computational solutions to questions of language change and formation.
Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education
Authors: Anastasiades Panagiotes S.
Published: May 2011

This chapter focuses on the designing and development of blended learning environments for adult education, and especially the education of teachers. The author argues that the best combination of advanced learning technologies of synchronous and asynchronous learning is conducive to the formation of new learning environments, which, under certain pedagogical conditions, will adequately meet the special needs of adult students. Particular emphasis is given to the designing and development of a pedagogical blended learning model based on the principles of transformation adult theory and constructivism. This model implements advanced learning technologies in a pedagogical context, aiming at the formation of a collaborative blended learning environment, which will encourage critical thinking and reflection, providing the necessary conditions for a polymorphic distant education for teachers. Finally, we present a case study of a blended environment of teachers’ training designed by the Center of Intercultural and Migration Studies (E.DIA.M.ME.) at the University of Crete.