bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
General Introduction
Authors: Nobre Farley Simon , Tobias Andrew M. , Walker David S.
Published: May 2010

The practice of organizing is ancient, but formal study of organizations is relatively new. The search for knowledge on organizations through scientific methods of investigation has received increasing attention since the beginning of the 20th century. Such investigations have found enough maturity and formality to constitute a new discipline known today as organization theory. Principles of organizations evolved with ancient and medieval civilizations, and developed and matured after the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th century and latterly in the United States of America in the 19th century. Such a transformation flourished gradually after the apogee of the Renaissance in Europe which was marked by a period of revolution in thinking, supported by religious, economic, social and political changes (Wren, 1987).
Beyond the Thresholds of Manufacturing Organizations
Authors: Nobre Farley Simon , Tobias Andrew M. , Walker David S.
Published: May 2010

The major contributions of this chapter are concerned with: a. Analysis of the limitations of past and current manufacturing organizations (and operations management systems). b. Definition of concepts and features for new manufacturing organizations through perspectives of management, socio-technology and organizational systems theory. From these perspectives we derive the concept of a new organizing and production model that we call customer-centric organizations.
The New Organization
Authors: Nobre Farley Simon , Tobias Andrew M. , Walker David S.
Published: May 2010

This chapter contributes by proposing the definition, the structure and the processes of Computational Organization Management Networks (COMN) which are new organizations whose principles of operation are based on the concepts of Hierarchic Cognitive Systems (as proposed in Chapter III) along with those of Telecommunications Management Networks of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T, 2000). Structured with functional layers and the roles which range from technical and managerial to institutional levels of analysis, and also equipped with technological, operational, managerial and business processes, the concept of Computational Organization Management Networks (COMN), as proposed in this chapter, plays an important part in the developments of future organizations where cognitive machines and Cognitive Information Systems (CIS) are prominent actors of governance, automation and control of the whole enterprise. Moreover, this chapter introduces the concept of immersive systems in order to provide the new organization with the capability of immersiveness.
Utilizing the Lead User Method for Promoting Innovation in E-Recruiting
Authors: Furtmueller Elfi , Wilderom Celeste , van Dick Rolf
Published: May 2010

In order to maintain their customer base, many e-recruiting firms are in need of developing innovations. The Lead User (LU) Method has been heralded in the new product innovation literature but not yet applied often in e-service settings. Based on an e-recruiting portal, the authors compare new service ideas emerging from interviews with 60 registered applicants to the ideas derived from 15 so-called lead users. Whereas most users offered us social-network features they already know from other platforms, lead users came up with more novel service solutions for different user segments. From both type of users we learned that applicants are more inclined to re-use the same e-recruiting portal if it includes community and social network features for specified user segments, sharing a similar social identity supplementing offline ties. Thus, carefully specifying and treating differentially various user groups at the outset of an e-service innovation project is likely to pay off. This and other practical findings have prompted us to sketch implications for innovating e-recruiting services.
The Enrichment of the HR Intranet Linked to the Regulation's Process Between HR Actors
Authors: Guiderdoni-Jourdain Karine
Published: May 2010

The subject of our communication will be a better understanding of how the regulation between the on line HR designers and HR experts is built, and to know about the consequences on the HR intranet’s enrichment and the HR reengineering. The author’s communication will articulate in two parts. Firstly, she will come back on the e-HR concept in a way to enrich the definition proposed above by a systematic approach. Secondly, individuals will see how this model, mentioned in all the speeches, meets the logic of the different actors and how the differences between them could be managed; which raises an issue to resolve.
What are the Main Impacts of Internet and Information and Communication Technology on Unions and Trade Unionism? An Exploratory Research in Europe and North America
Authors: Michaux Valéry
Published: May 2010

In a second step, this research shows that ICT poses threats but also offers opportunities for unions and trade unionism. The tensions between opportunities and threats led to the identification of four main types of challenges posed by ICT for unions in the industrialized world today.
Information Overload in the New World of Work
Authors: ter Heerdt Jeroen , Bondarouk Tanya
Published: May 2010

In this chapter the authors present a revision of the information overload concept elaborated by Eppler and Mengis (2004). The main elements of our approach are literature synopsis and analysis, qualitative semi-structured interviews, and discussion. Their review of the information overload concept is multidisciplinary as we identify similarities and differences among the various management perspectives and refine it with the empirical findings. They hope that by doing so, we can identify synergies between the theoretical conceptualization (Epper and Mengis, 2004), and real-life settings. They present results in a highly compressed, visualized format that allows for a more concise representation of the subject domain, easy comparisons, and hopefully – reduction of information overload. The empirical study was done at the Microsoft B.V. (The Netherlands) where Information workers became the most important type of workers within an organization.
HR Shared Service Centers
Authors: van Balen Mitchell , Bondarouk Tanya
Published: May 2010

In this chapter the authors consider articles in professional literature regarding Human Resource Centers, with the goal to explore issues raised by practice: motivation, risk analysis, structure and implementation. Using Grounded Theory approach, they analysed 34 articles, and through open and axial coding, we have modeled the HR SSC’s.
An Integrated View of E-Business and the Underlying ICT Infrastructure
Authors: Gerst Martina , Iversen Eric , Jakobs Kai
Published: May 2010

The chapter argues that any distinction between “e-business” and “infrastructure” is artificial. It shows that the lower-level techncial standards that make up the ICT infrastructure exert a direct impact on the e-business standards and systems that are using it. Accordingly, any assessment of the effect of standards on e-business has to take into account all layers of standards.
A Taxonomy of Service Standards and a Modification for E-Business
Authors: Blind Knut
Published: May 2010

Against the background of theoretical typologies of service standards, a survey among European service companies addressed the question, in which service-related categories formal and informal standards are implemented. Relying on the assessment of the importance of the various service-related standardisation aspects, it was possible to identify a taxonomy of service standards containing five clusters of service standards “Service Management”, “Service Employee”, “Service Delivery”, “Customer Interaction”, and “Data Flows and Security”, which correspond very closely to the ex ante applied typology derived from the literature. The analysis of the subsample of companies active in e-commerce reveals significant differences, which reflect their special needs caused by the distance to their customers.
Perceived Relation between ICT Standards' Sources and their Success in the Market
Authors: Jakobs Kai
Published: May 2010

This chapter briefly outlines a study that looked at potential links between ICT / e-business standards’ origins and their subsequent success in the market (or lack thereof). The outcome of the study suggests that companies who need to either implement or set standards do not distinguish between ‘formal’ standards setting bodies (SSBs) and consortia. Rather, specifics of the individual bodies are of interets, including, among others, their processes, IPR rules, and membership.
How to Select the Best Platform for ICT Standards Development
Authors: Jakobs Kai , Kritzner Jan
Published: May 2010

The chapter tries to provide the information that potential standards-setters should consider when selecting a standards setting body (SSB). It proposes classifications of both standards users and SSBs. The former focuses on users’ strategies and business models, the latter describes SSBs’ characteristics in different categories. The SSB that yields the best match should be given some preference, as it is likely to offer the most successful platform for the envisaged standardisation activity.
International Framework for Collaboration between European and Japanese Standard Consortia
Authors: Tokuda Akio
Published: May 2010

To develop automobiles that fulfill the criteria of “environment-friendliness” “advanced safety”, and“riding comfort”, coordination between ECUs (electronic control units) is indispensable. Since one or a number of functions is carried by the coordination of separate ECUs, it is important to standardize automotive LAN protocols to ensure reliable interoperability. In parallel with standardization, conformance test specifications for the protocols have played an increasingly important role in securing the interoperability of the complex LAN bus system. The present chapter, whose purpose is to examine the international collaborative framework which has been established between European and Japanese consortia since 2006 for the standardization of the automotive LAN protocol known as “FlexRay”, will focus on the contribution of the Japanese standard consortium to the drafting of the original conformance test specifications. The FlexRay protocol is expected to become the de facto standard in the automotive high-speed safety protocol market.
Between Supply and Demand
Authors: Egyedi Tineke M.
Published: May 2010

There is a continuous pressure for improvement in e-business. Increasing technical possibilities, new forms of outsourcing, the ongoing integration of business processes, the expansion of value chains, the emergence of new markets and new players; they affect the infrastructure and underlying ICT standards. Contrary to the inherent stability one might expect from standards, maintenance of and change in standards are rule rather than exception. The benefit of standards change is sometimes obvious. However, it can also pose severe problems (e.g. heavy switching costs and reduced market transparency). This chapter synthesizes research findings on standards change. A conceptual framework is developed to determine under which circumstances standards change is avoidable; if so, in what manner; and if not, which means exist to reduce the negative impact of change. While some change drivers are innovation- related, others stem from the standardization activity itself. They require distinct coping strategies: change control and quality control, respectively. Along these two lines, the chapter discusses strategies to cope with the impact of standards change.
Open Standards and Government Policy
Authors: Pedersen Mogens Kühn , Fomin Vladislav V. , de Vries Henk J.
Published: May 2010

The fast growth in globalization stimulates the trend of open standards and challenges governments in devising policies for the national information infrastructures to foster equal access to and even distribution of knowledge among citizens and business. In response, governments may seek a more active role in standardization as they face challenges from being stakeholders in use of standards; a need for new standards may drive governments to become participants in the standardization process, and to require conformance assurance by the market, and search for a policy on migration from an installed base of proprietary solutions. In this chapter the authors identify some critical issues, which can help government decision makers opt for select positions and interventions in standardization.
Facilitating Design of Efficient Components by Bridging Gaps between Data Model and Business Process via Analysis of Service Traits of Data
Authors: Chen Ning
Published: May 2010

In many large-scale enterprise information system solutions, process design, data modeling and software component design are performed relatively independently by different people using various tools and methodologies. This usually leads to gaps among business process modeling, component design and data modeling. Currently, these functional or non-functional disconnections are fixed manually, which increases the complexity and decrease the efficiency and quality of development. In this chapter, a pattern-based approach is proposed to bridge the gaps with automatically generated data access components. Data access rules and patterns are applied to optimize these data access components. In addition, the authors present the design of a toolkit that automatically applies these patterns to bridge the gaps to ensure reduced development time, and higher solution quality.
A Fundamental SOA Approach to Rebuilding Enterprise Architecture for a Local Government after a Disaster
Authors: Wheeler Zachary B.
Published: May 2010

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, the destruction of property, assets, documentation, and human life in the Gulf Port has introduced a myriad of challenging issues. These issues involve human, social, government, and technological concerns. This chapter does not address the many immediate human and social concerns brought forth from a natural disaster or major terrorist attack (NDMTA); this chapter addresses a small but significant problem of re-establishing or laying the groundwork for an enterprise architecture for local government during the response phase of the disaster. Specifically, it addresses constructing a high-level data model and fundamental SOA, utilizing the remaining local assets, XML (extensible markup language), and Web services.
Medical Information Representation Framework for Mobile Healthcare
Authors: Widya Ing , Mei HaiLiang , Beijnum Bert-Jan , Wijsman Jacqueline , Hermens Hermie
Published: May 2010

In mobile healthcare, medical information are often expressed in different formats due to the local policies and regulations and the heterogeneity of the applications, systems, and the adopted Information and communication technology. This chapter describes a framework which enables medical information, in particular clinical vital signs and professional annotations, be processed, exchanged, stored and managed modularly and flexibly in a mobile, distributed and heterogeneous environment despite the diversity of the formats used to represent the information. To deal with medical information represented in multiple formats the authors adopt techniques and constructs similar to the ones used on the Internet, in particular, the authors are inspired by the constructs used in multi-media e-mail and audio-visual data streaming standards. They additionally make a distinction of the syntax for data transfer and store from the syntax for expressing medical domain concepts. In this way, they separate the concerns of what to process, exchange and store from how the information can be encoded or transcoded for transfer over the internet. The authors use an object oriented information model to express the domain concepts and their relations while briefly illustrate how framework tools can be used to encode vital sign data for exchange and store in a distributed and heterogeneous environment.
Sensing of Vital Signs and Transmission Using Wireless Networks
Authors: Jasemian Yousef
Published: May 2010

People living with chronic medical conditions, or with conditions requiring short term monitoring, need regular and individualized care to maintain their normal lifestyles. Mobile healthcare is a solution for providing patients’ mobility while their health is being monitored. Existing studies show that mobile healthcare can bring significant economic savings, improve the quality of care, and consequently the patient’s quality of life. However, despite all progresses in advanced information and telecommunication technologies, there are still very few functioning commercial wireless mobile monitoring devices present on the market, which most work off-line, are not proper for m-health services and there are still many issues to be dealt with. This chapter deals with a comprehensive investigation of feasibility of wireless and cellular telecommunication technologies and services in a real-time m-health system. The chapter bases its investigation, results, discussion and argumentation on an already developed remote patient monitoring system by the author. The implemented m-health system has been evaluated and validated by a number of well defined tests and experiments. The designed and implemented system fulfils the requirements. The suggested system is reliable, functions with a clinically acceptable performance, and transfers medical data with a reasonable quality, even though the system was tested under totally uncontrolled circumstances during the patients’ daily activities. Both the patients and the involved healthcare personnel expressed their confidence in using it. It is concluded that the system is applicable in clinical setup, and might be generalized in clinical practice. Finally, the chapter suggests improvement approaches for more reliable, more secure, more user-friendly and higher performance of an m-health system in future.
Context-Aware Task Distribution for Enhanced M-health Application Performance
Authors: Mei Hailiang , van Beijnum Bert-Jan , Widya Ing , Jones Val , Hermens Hermie
Published: May 2010

Building context-aware mobile healthcare systems has become increasingly important with the emergence of new medical sensor technologies, the fast adoption of advanced mobile systems, and improved quality of care required by today’s patients. A unique feature of our mobile healthcare system is a distributed processing paradigm whereby a set of bio-signal processing tasks is spread across a heterogeneous network. As well as applying the traditional adaptation methods such as protocol adaptation and data prioritization, the authors investigate the possibility of adaptation based on dynamic task redistribution. In this chapter, the authors propose an adaptation middleware that consists of a task assignment decision mechanism and a task redistribution infrastructure. The decision mechanism represents task assignment as a graph mapping problem and searches for the optimal assignment given the latest context information. Once a new assignment is identified, the member tasks are distributed accordingly by the distribution infrastructure. A prototype implementation based on the OSGi framework is reported to validate the task redistribution infrastructure.
Maximum Expectation Algorithms for Missing Data Estimation
Authors: Marwala Tshilidzi
Published: May 2010

Two sets of hybrid techniques have recently emerged for the imputation of missing data. These are, first, the combination of the Gaussian Mixtures Model and the Expectation Maximization algorithms (the GMM-EM) and second, the combination of Auto-Associative Neural Networks with Evolutionary Optimization (the AANN-EO). In this chapter, the evolutionary optimization method implemented is the particle swarm optimization method (the AANN-PSO). Both the GMM-EM and AANN-EO techniques have been discussed individually and their merits discussed at length in the available literature. This chapter provides a comparison between these techniques, using datasets from an industrial power plant, an industrial winding process and an HIV sero-prevalence survey. The results show that GMMEM method is suitable and performs better in cases where there is little or no interdependency between the input variables, whereas the AANN-PSO combination is suitable when there are inherent nonlinear relationships between some of the given variables.
Support Vector Regression for Missing Data Estimation
Authors: Marwala Tshilidzi
Published: May 2010

This chapter develops and compares the merits of three different data imputation models by using accuracy measures. The three methods are auto-associative neural networks, a principal component analysis and support vector regression all combined with cultural genetic algorithms to impute missing variables. The use of a principal component analysis improves the overall performance of the auto-associative network while the use of support vector regression shows promising potential for future investigation. Imputation accuracies up to 97.4% for some of the variables are achieved.
Committee of Networks for Estimating Missing Data
Authors: Marwala Tshilidzi
Published: May 2010

This chapter introduces a committee of networks for estimating missing data. The first committee of networks consists of multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs), support vector machines (SVMs) and radial basis functions (RBFs). The committee was constructed from a weighted combination of these three networks. The second, third and fourth committees of networks were evolved using a genetic programming approach and used the MLPs, RBFs and SVMs, respectively. The committee of networks was collectively implemented with hybrid particle-swarm optimization and a genetic algorithm for missing data estimation. They were tested on an artificial taster as well as HIV datasets and then compared to the individual multi-layer perceptron, radial basis functions and support vector regression for missing data estimation. It was found that the committee of network approach provided improved results over the three methods acting individually. However, this improvement comes with a higher computational load than does using the individual approaches. Furthermore, it is found that evolving a committee method was a good way of constructing a committee.
Missing Data Approaches to Classification
Authors: Marwala Tshilidzi
Published: May 2010

In this chapter, a classifier technique that is based on a missing data estimation framework that uses autoassociative multi-layer perceptron neural networks and genetic algorithms is proposed. The proposed method is tested on a set of demographic properties of individuals obtained from the South African antenatal survey and compared to conventional feed-forward neural networks. The missing data approach based on the autoassociative network model proposed gives an accuracy of 92%, when compared to the accuracy of 84% obtained from the conventional feed-forward neural network models. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve for the proposed autoassociative network model is 0.86 compared to 0.80 for the conventional feed-forward neural network model. The autoassociative network model proposed in this chapter, therefore, outperforms the conventional feed-forward neural network models and is an improved classifier. The reasons for this are: (1) the propagation of errors in the autoassociative network model is more distributed while for a conventional feed-forward network is more concentrated; and (2) there is no causality between the demographic properties and the HIV and, therefore, the HIV status does change the demographic properties and vice versa. Therefore, it is better to treat the problem as a missing data problem rather than a feed-forward problem.
Optimization Methods for Estimation of Missing Data
Authors: Marwala Tshilidzi
Published: May 2010

This chapter presents various optimization methods to optimize the missing data error equation, which is made out of the autoassociative neural networks with missing values as design variables. The four optimization techniques that are used are: genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, hill climbing and simulated annealing. These optimization methods are tested on two datasets, namely, the beer taster dataset and the fault identification dataset. The results that are obtained are then compared. For these datasets, the results indicate that genetic algorithm approach produced the highest accuracy when compared to simulated annealing and particle swarm optimization. However, the results of these four optimization methods are the same order of magnitude while hill climbing produces the lowest accuracy.
Emerging Missing Data Estimation Problems
Authors: Marwala Tshilidzi
Published: May 2010

This chapter is divided into three parts: The first part presents a computational intelligence approach for predicting missing data in the presence of concept drift using an ensemble of multi-layered feed-forward neural networks. An algorithm that detects concept drift by measuring heteroskedasticity is proposed. Six instances prior to the occurrence of missing data are used to approximate the missing values. The algorithm is applied to simulated time series data sets resembling non-stationary data from a sensor. Results show that the prediction of missing data in non-stationary time series data is possible but is still a challenge. In the second part, an algorithm that uses dynamic programming and neural networks to solve the problem of missing data imputation is presented. A model that uses autoassociative neural networks and genetic algorithms is used as a basis; however, the neural networks are not trained using the entire data set. Data are broken up into granules and various models are created. The models are tested on a real dataset and the results show that the proposed method is effective in missing data estimation. In the third part of this chapter, a study of the impact of missing data estimation on fault classification in mechanical systems is undertaken. The fault classification task is implemented using the extension network as well as Gaussian mixture models. When the imputed values are used in the classification of faults using the extension networks, the fault classification accuracy of 95% is observed for single-missing-entry cases and 92% for two-missing-entry cases while the full database set is able to give classification accuracy of 97%. On the other hand, the Gaussian mixture model gives 94% for single-missing-entry cases and 92% for two-missing-entry cases while the full database set is able to give classification accuracy of 96%.
Systems Analysis and Design in Polish Universities Curricula
Authors: Polak Przemyslaw
Published: May 2010

Nowadays, there are two main information systems modeling methods: structured and object-oriented. The structured methods have been widely used since the 1970s, whereas recently the object-oriented methods have attracted more attention. This chapter analyses the methods that are taught on the courses of information systems analysis and design. The curricula of information systems and computer science studies in Polish higher education institutions are compared to the Association for Computing Machinery curricula recommendations. In both cases none of the methods is prevailing. Also, the program of introducing, at the Warsaw School of Economics, Poland, all management and business administration students to the basics of systems analysis and design is presented. Thus, students majoring in information systems learn both modeling methods, whereas only structured methods are introduced to all management students.
Systems Engineering Modeling and Design
Authors: Saurabh Kumar
Published: May 2010

System theories, analysis and design have been deployed within every corporate function and within a broad section of businesses and markets. Systems thinking involve changing paradigms about the way the world works, the way corporations function, and the human role in each. In systems thinking, analysis and design we look for interrelationships among the elements of a system. The chapter reflects the core insights of system modeling. This chapter addresses the core issues of system engineering, analysis, design, Simulation and modeling of real-world objects. It tells everything one needs to know to be a successful system thinker, modeler, technical manager and forecaster. The chapter focuses on: the real-world goals for, services provided by, and constraints on systems; the precise specification of system structure and behavior, and the implementation of specifications; the activities required in order to develop an assurance that the specifications and real-world goals have been met; the evolution of systems over time and across system families. It is also concerned with the processes, methods and tools for the development of systems in an economic and timely manner.
Designing Reputation and Trust Management Systems
Authors: Beck Roman , Franke Jochen
Published: May 2010

This article analyzes the handling of customer complaints after shipping ordered goods by applying automated reputation and trust accounts as decision support. Customer complaints are cost intensive and difficult to standardize. A game theory based analysis of the process yields insights into unfavorable interactions between both business partners. Trust and reputation mechanisms have been found useful in addressing these types of interactions. A reputation and trust management system (RTMS) is proposed based on design theory guidelines as an IS artifact to prevent customers from issuing false complaints. A generic simulation setting for analysis of the mechanism is presented to evaluate the applicability of the RTMS. The findings suggest that the RTMS performs best in market environments where transaction frequency is high, individual complainthandling costs are high compared to product revenues, and the market has a high fraction of potentially cheating customers.
Virtual Campus Development on the Basis of Subsidiarity
Authors: Cörvers Ron , Kraker Joop de
Published: May 2010

The main objective of this chapter is to highlight the importance of subsidiarity in the development of a virtual campus. Subsidiarity is the principle that matters ought to be handled by the lowest competent authority. In our view, subsidiarity is crucial to sustainable approaches in virtual mobility. We support this view by two case descriptions: the development and implementation of a very successful virtual course - European Virtual Seminar on Sustainable Development (EVS) and the project to expand from this single course to a virtual campus - Virtual Campus for a Sustainable Europe (VCSE). We conclude that the factors determining the viability and uptake of international online learning initiatives, such as virtual campuses, are a bottom-up approach enabled by the availability of inexpensive ICT, an educationally driven need for virtual mobility, and interdependence within the international partnership.
Network Organisation to Improve Virtual Campus Management
Authors: Fulconis François , Garrot Thierry
Published: May 2010

In the restructuring and reforming of European education, e-learning has become one of the priorities of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research in France. Since 2001, e-learning virtual campuses have been promoted by the state. Within the context of Economics and Management, the CANEGE project (CAmpus Numérique en Economie-GEstion) was created. Identified as a form of network organisation, this virtual campus will be explored in this chapter in relation to its functioning and its management. Through the academic literature covering network organisation, the main purpose of this chapter is to make recommendations and establish best practices regarding the management of e-learning virtual campuses based on the CANEGE experience. This chapter explores what the authors consider to be the most relevant aspects that need to be considered in relation to the establishment and implementation of virtual campus initiatives that comprise several partners.
Learning and Teaching with Computer Games in Higher Education
Authors: Whitton Nicola
Published: May 2010

This chapter examines the rationale for the use of computer games in learning, teaching, and assessment in Higher Education. It considers their pedagogic potential in respect to a number of theories of learning, as well as some of the practical issues associated with using computer games in real teaching situations, both face-to-face and online. The first part of the chapter focuses on the theory underpinning the use of computer game-based learning with HE students, examining motivation and engagement, constructivism, collaborative and problem-based learning. The second part of this chapter considers the practical issues of using computer games in actual teaching contexts and presents twelve principles for the design and evaluation of computer games to support learning.
Multi-User Virtual Environments for Learning Meet Learning Management
Authors: Livingstone Daniel , Kemp Jeremy , Edgar Edmund , Surridge Chris , Bloomfield Peter
Published: May 2010

Alongside the growth of interest in Games-Based Learning, there has been a notable explosion of interest in the use of 3D graphical multi-user virtual environments (MUVE) for learning. Platforms such as Second Life® or alternatives (Theresm, Active Worlds, OpenCroquet, and so on) have potential for online tuition in ways quite different from those offered by traditional Web-based Virtual Learning Environments (VLE, a.k.a. Learning Management System or LMS). The Sloodle project is working to integrate Second Life with the Moodle VLE – and to investigate how this might support learning and teaching with the Second Life platform. Second Life can be considered as a 3D client for Moodle learning activities, while a complimentary view is to consider Moodle as a back-end for Second Life learning activities – enabling virtual world learning activities integrated with Web-based class lists and grade books. The authors close by considering future directions and applications.
Observation as a Requisite for Game-Based Learning Environments
Authors: Marty Jean-Charles , Carron Thibault , Heraud Jean-Mathias
Published: May 2010

In this chapter, the authors propose a Game-Based LMS called the pedagogical dungeon equipped with cooperation abilities for particular activities. The main purpose of this chapter is to explain how to keep awareness of the on-going activities while remaining involved in the game itself. The difficulty is to provide the teacher with this awareness in an immersive way, making the teacher more involved in the game when s/he obtains feedback on the activity. The chapter is split into three sections. The authors propose a first section that deals with the description of our view of learning games illustrated through the pedagogical dungeon. They briefly describe the generation of a dungeon from activity preparation and the links between pedagogical concepts and their representation in the dungeon. The second section concentrates on the observation features needed in these environments in order to obtain interesting facts on what is going on. The authors need to collect traces of the collaborative activity during the enactment phase. They describe the trace life cycle and explain how facts constituting awareness can be calculated from the traces. The third part deals with the restitution of this awareness to the teacher. The problem here is to find an appropriate way to represent awareness both of students’ knowledge and behavior. This awareness must be perceived through appropriate graphical representations to preserve the “immersion” property, implying that these representations must be directly present in the game. The pedagogical dungeon has been experimented during several practical works with real classrooms at the University of Savoie and the Graduate Business School of Chambery, France. This experimental approach illustrates the different aspects of the work, concerning the learning game itself, the observation features, and the restitution of the awareness to the teacher.
Towards a Development Approach to Serious Games
Authors: de Freitas Sara , Jarvis Steve
Published: May 2010

This chapter reviews some of the key research supporting the use of serious games for training in work contexts. The review indicates why serious games should be used to support training requirements, and in particular identifies “attitudinal change” in training as a key objective for deployment of serious games demonstrators. The chapter outlines a development approach for serious games and how it is being evaluated. Demonstrating this, the chapter proposes a game-based learning approach that integrates the use of a “four-dimensional framework”, outlines some key games principles, presents tools and techniques for supporting data collection and analysis, and considers a six-stage development process. The approach is then outlined in relation to a serious game for clinical staff concerned with infection control in hospitals and ambulances, which is being developed in a current research and development project. Survey findings from the target user group are presented and the use of tools and techniques explained in the context of the development process. The chapter proposes areas for future work and concludes that it is essential to use a specific development approach for supporting consistent game design, evaluation and efficacy for particular user groups.
Towards the Development of a Games-Based Learning Evaluation Framework
Authors: Connolly Thomas , Stansfield Mark , Hainey Thomas
Published: May 2010

The field of games-based learning (GBL) has a dearth of empirical evidence supporting the validity of the approach (Connolly, Stansfield, & Hainey, 2007a; de Freitas, 2006). One primary reason for this is a distinct lack of frameworks for GBL evaluation. The literature has a wealth of articles suggesting ways that GBL can be evaluated against particular criteria with various experimental designs and analytical techniques. Based on a review of existing frameworks applicable to GBL and an extensive literature search to identify measurements that have been taken in relevant studies, this chapter will provide general guidelines to focus researchers on particular categories of evaluation, individual measurements, experimental designs and texts in the literature that have some form of empirical evidence or framework relevant to researchers evaluating GBL environments particularly focusing on learner performance. A new evaluation framework will be presented based on the compilation of all the particular areas and analytical measurements found in the literature.
Leveraging Simulation Practice in Industry through use of Desktop Grid Middleware
Authors: Mustafee Navonil , Taylor Simon J.E.
Published: May 2010

The computational grid offers services for efficiently scheduling jobs on the grid, but for grid-enabled applications where data handling is a most relevant part, the data grid kicks in. It typically builds on the concept of files, sites and file transfers between sites. These use a data transfer service, plus a replica manager to keep track of where replicas are located. The authors consider a multi-site, grid-aware data warehouse, which is a large distributed repository sharing a schema and data concerning scientific or business domains. Differently from typical grid scenarios, the data warehouse is not simply a set of files and accesses to individual files. It is a single distributed schema and both localized and distributed computations must be managed over that schema. Given this difference, it is important to study approaches for placement and computation over the grid data warehouse and this is our contribution in this book chapter.
Small World Architecture for Building Effective Virtual Organisations
Authors: Liu Lu , Antonopoulos Nick
Published: May 2010

The aim of this chapter is to appreciate the need for and propose some thoughts on modelling trust–control dynamics for communities that use grid technology. It takes the viewpoint that members within a grid-based community require a trust framework that brings together and takes into account both social and technological approaches to trust. It also emphasises the importance of the simultaneous analysis of trust and control in their co-development. In line with the duality perspective that considers trust and control as independent yet interrelated dimensions, trust is explored in its relation to control. Control is examined as a multi-dimensional phenomenon that includes personal, formal, and social scopes. The analysis of trust appeals to its cognitive and affective dimensions. The model introduced also takes into account the mediating role of psychological ownership in the trust–control dynamics. Specifically, shared psychological ownership is singled out as a new explanatory variable of this dynamic.
Runtime Service Discovery for Grid Applications
Authors: Dooley James , Zisman Andrea , Spanoudakis George
Published: May 2010

A Virtual Organisation in large-scale distributed systems is a set of individuals and/or institutions with some common purposes or interests that need to share their resources to further their objectives, which is similar to a human community in social networks that consists of people have common interests or goals. Due to the similarity between social networks and Grids, the concepts in social science (e.g. small world phenomenon) can be adopted for the design of new generation Grid systems. This chapter presents a Small World Architecture for Effective Virtual Organisations (SWEVO) for Grid resource discovery in Virtual Organisations, which enables Virtual Organisations working in a more collaborative manner to support decision makers. In SWEVO, Virtual Organisations are connected by a small number of interorganisational links. Not every local network node needs to be connected to remote Virtual Organisations, but every network node can efficiently find connections to specific Virtual Organisations.
Using Grid Technology for Maximizing Collaborative Emergency Response Decision Making
Authors: Asimakopoulou Eleana , Anumba Chimay J. , Bouchlaghem  , Bouchlaghem
Published: May 2010

Much work is under way within the Grid technology community on issues associated with the development of services to foster collaboration via the integration and exploitation of multiple autonomous, distributed data sources through a seamless and flexible virtualized interface. However, several obstacles arise in the design and implementation of such services. A notable obstacle, namely how clients within a data Grid environment can be kept automatically informed of the latest and relevant changes about data entered/committed in single or multiple autonomous distributed datasets is identified. The view is that keeping interested users informed of relevant changes occurring across their domain of interest will enlarge their decision-making space which in turn will increase the opportunities for a more informed decision to be encountered. With this in mind, the chapter goes on to describe in detail the model architecture and its implementation to keep interested users informed automatically about relevant up-to-date data.
Mobile Social Networks and Services
Authors: Humphreys Lee
Published: May 2010

Mobile social networks allow users to connect with each other, share information, and create technologically enabled mobile communities. With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the public dream of the likelihood of mobile computing was realized. This chapter reviews mobile social networks ranging from early examples to current services; and, it identifies and categorizes them according to a specific media type, mode, and code. The challenges of categorization in light of technology convergence are discussed. Issues of privacy, compatibility, and pricing are presented as they relate to mobile social networks. Potential strategies are suggested for dealing with these challenges. Finally, future trends of mobile social services are identified.
E-Government
Authors: Hellsten Sirkku Kristiina
Published: May 2010

E-government and other applications of information technologies can provide powerful means for global, national and local justice, increased democracy, decentralized decision-making, and more efficient service delivery. In general, e-government initiatives are aimed at modernizing governmental agencies in their dealings with the public and extending services into online environments. In various African countries, e-government initiatives have begun; they have allowed citizens easy access to public services and lobbying opportunities at policy level decision-making. This chapter identifies prospects and challenges in e-government and e-governance in the East African region. The author sketches harmonizing strategies for the development of an ethical framework for their implementation and argues that the challenge of e-governance in developing countries resides in the challenge of “good governance” as well as issues of accessibility and user skills.
From Software to Team Ware
Authors: Sofo Francesco
Published: May 2010

Social interaction technologies have made it possible for teams to exist in a virtual reality. Such change to the workplace status quo requires a new appreciation of the ways in which team members can create, maintain, transmit and influence their competitiveness and effectiveness. This chapter explores the concepts of virtual teams and online culture; it analyses the key requirements for the successful functioning of virtual teams; for instance, building trust, consolidating authentic communication flows and thinking critically. Commencing with a review of the current research, the chapter concentrates on the rise of virtual teams, the key dimensions, and the importance of establishing online learning cultures to ensure high performance. Additionally, pitfalls of virtual teams and recommendations for enhancing their work are presented.
Folksonomy
Authors: Bitzer Stefan , Thoroe Lars , Schumann Matthias
Published: May 2010

Modern Web 2.0 technologies facilitate the collaboration and sharing of information among users, thereby enabling cooperative processes of information search. One kind of user participation is collaborative tagging, where individuals assign keywords to resources and objects on the Internet. Through the allocation of keywords, objects are enhanced with user-created metadata which results in the so-called folksonomies. This chapter focuses on the classification of tags based on function and user motivation, examines advantages and disadvantages of folksonomies, and provides a review of current applications using collaborative tagging. Future trends and potential developments are identified as they relate to the implementation of collaborative tagging in corporate settings.
E-Tagging in Context
Authors: Pfeiffer Heather D. , Tonkin Emma L.
Published: May 2010

This chapter examines social tagging as annotation; first from the perspective of classification research; and second from the perspective of knowledge representation and knowledge management. Using the context meta-model of the annotation, the authors demonstrate that the model is adequately represented in existing knowledge representation theory; specifically, from the perspective of socially constructed meaning in community networks. Furthermore, the set of tagging representations (that is, triadic networks of the individual, object, and annotation) are explored throughout the knowledge representation domain. In contrast to many commentators, the authors of this chapter conclude that social tagging may effectively be explored via a multidisciplinary approach linking knowledge representation and classifi- cation research and creating an open domain network.