bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adult Learning
Authors: Monyai Reginald Botshabeng
Published: May 2018

This chapter attempts to provide solutions on how to convert theoretical work into practical work in an online classroom. An analysis of various researchers provides quantitative statistics on how to put theoretical work into practice. The use of digital tools such as social media and the internet have been critically analyzed to provide a bridge between theoretical and practical work in an online classroom. The use of digital tools in linking theory to practice clearly shows the relevance of the topic.
Online Higher Education for Nontraditional Adult Students
Authors: Kim Junghwan , Shin Heh Youn , Smith Kim L. , Hwang Jihee
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines two U.S. four-year public universities, the Pennsylvania State University World Campus and the University of Oklahoma Outreach, that have successfully developed online adult education system/programs for adults. Using the principles of effectiveness for serving adult learners, the integrated review reveals not only how they advance online higher education environment for adults, but the types of challenges they have. Key findings highlight that, under a strong tradition of distance education, “self-assessment system,” “financial independence,” and “diverse active supports for life and career planning” play a critical role in increasing the academic engagement and retention of adult students. However, they also have several challenges: “high tuition rates and limited scholarship options,” “monitoring students' experience,” “learning outcome assessment,” and “commitment of faculty members.” The authors close with practical/academic implications and future research agendas.
Interactive Learning Environments
Authors: Hunter Margaret A. , Rasmussen Harriette Thurber
Published: May 2018

The promise of technology to meet student learning demands, increase employer demand for digital fluency, and provide faculty with a platform for student-centered teaching has fallen short. Colleges must examine new ways to train faculty to use technology in tandem with pedagogy. This chapter illustrates a three-tiered model to close this gap in digital fluency among college faculty, in order to enable a more engaging and student-centered experience for faculty-learners and the students they teach. The three-tiered model, adapted from a blended learning pilot, incorporates critical constructs in technological pedagogical content knowledge integration, the technology acceptance model, and phased faculty development, while offering user-friendly access to digital tools which are appropriate for each tier of the model.
Collaborative Learning and Co-Author Students in Online Higher Education
Authors: Nobre Ana , Nobre Vasco
Published: May 2018

The technologies themselves cannot be analyzed as instruments per se, nor can they be exhausted in their relation with science. There is a social and even an individual dimension that affects our own way of relating to society. It is in open education that we have been developing our educational practices. This chapter presents a collaborative learning activity, the curricular unit Materiais e Recursos para eLearning, part of an on-line Master in Pedagogy of eLearning, Universidade Aberta, Portugal. In the present work, the authors dedicate their attention to co-learning and co-research, as processes that help to exemplify some situations, the a-REAeduca. The data collection was supported essentially by the content analysis technique.
Examining International Telecollaboration in Language Teacher Education
Authors: Lawrence Geoff , Spector-Cohen Elana
Published: May 2018

This chapter presents findings of case study action research examining the impact of technology-mediated collaboration between teacher-learners in two graduate-level Applied Linguistics Master's programs in Canada and Israel. To date, little research has been conducted on international telecollaborative exchanges in language teacher education programs. This chapter will discuss teacher-learners' perceived benefits and challenges of this international telecollaborative exchange, its impact on beliefs towards the use of technology-mediated tools, and the relevance of these types of collaborations in language teacher education. The authors will highlight individual teacher-learner voices in this study that illustrate how teacher assumptions about authority, experience, and teacher identity evolve on individual pathways and are situated in complex, historically embedded paradigms of teaching and learning experience. The chapter will conclude with insights gained regarding strategies for implementing effective international telecollaborative exchanges in language teacher education programs.
Harmony Search Algorithm
Authors: Askarzadeh Alireza , Rashedi Esmat
Published: May 2018

Harmony search (HS) is a meta-heuristic search algorithm which tries to mimic the improvisation process of musicians in finding a pleasing harmony. In recent years, due to some advantages, HS has received a significant attention. HS is easy to implement, converges quickly to the optimal solution and finds a good enough solution in a reasonable amount of computational time. The merits of HS algorithm have led to its application to optimization problems of different engineering areas. In this chapter, the concepts and performance of HS algorithm are shown and some engineering applications are reviewed. It is observed that HS has shown promising performance in solving difficult optimization problems and different versions of this algorithm have been developed. In the next years, it is expected that HS is applied to more real optimization problems.
Open Innovation
Authors: Carroll Noel
Published: May 2018

Software engineering is largely concerned with the methodical, systematic production of quality software to support organizational goals. Despite significant advances in technology over the last decade, software engineering still heavily relies on human efforts and human interaction to generate economic contributions for an organization. In more recent years, the question of software service complexity has become central to Global Software Development (GSD) with a view of developing software across a global landscape. However, few efforts have surfaced to challenge the complexity of the relational infrastructure of software teams that support the development of software architecture. This is important in order to sustain and support lean software development and organisational structures particularly in an open service innovation environment. However, from a socio-economic perspective, there are few theoretical efforts that attempt to introduce new insights on how the human factors contribute towards a GSD value co-creation. The objective of this chapter is to examine the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and i* (i star) modelling techniques to examine how we could model the economic impact of software relational structures. The chapter explores how i* models leverage SNA concepts to model GSD development. This chapter also offers a discussion on the theoretical development of the socio-economics of GSD in an “open innovation” context.
Is Modeling a Treatment for the Weakness of Software Engineering?
Authors: Osis Janis , Asnina Erika
Published: May 2018

Experts' opinions exist that the way software is built is primitive. The role of modeling as a treatment for Software Engineering (SE) became more important after the appearance of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA). The main advantage of MDA is architectural separation of concerns that showed the necessity of modeling and opened the way for Software Development (SD) to become engineering. However, this principle does not demonstrate its whole potential power in practice, because of a lack of mathematical accuracy in the initial steps of SD. The question about the sufficiency of modeling in SD is still open. The authors believe that SD, in general, and modeling, in particular, based on mathematical formalism in all its stages together with the implemented principle of architectural separation of concerns can become an important part of SE in its real sense. They introduce such mathematical formalism by means of topological modeling of system functioning.
Reverse Engineering of Object-Oriented Code
Authors: Favre Liliana , Martinez Liliana , Pereira Claudia
Published: May 2018

Software modernization is a new research area in the software industry that is intended to provide support for transforming an existing software system to a new one that satisfies new demands. Software modernization requires technical frameworks for information integration and tool interoperability that allow managing new platform technologies, design techniques, and processes. To meet these demands, Architecture-Driven Modernization (ADM) has emerged as the new OMG (Object Management Group) initiative for modernization. Reverse engineering techniques play a crucial role in system modernization. This chapter describes the state of the art in the model-driven modernization area, reverse engineering in particular. A framework to reverse engineering models from object-oriented code that distinguishes three different abstraction levels linked to models, metamodels, and formal specification is described. The chapter includes an analysis of technologies that support ADM standards and provides a summary of the principles that can be used to govern current modernization efforts.
Optimizing Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments
Authors: Goyal Mukta , Krishnamurthy Rajalakshmi
Published: May 2018

In today's scenario, e-learning has become a significant part of the academic environment as well as of the corporate training sectors. Advancement in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTS) has brought new intersection of education, teaching, and learning that defines e-learning. E-learning systems deliver information for education at any time and at any place in an efficient manner. E-learning system consists of course content or learning materials in the form of nodes. These nodes are linked such that users can traverse the other nodes in the hypermedia environment. These learning concepts are available synchronously and asynchronously in different ways of representation. This presents learning materials in a disorganized manner to the learners. Due to this, learners may decline to adapt the learning material or may deviate from their goals. This requires a user model to respond to different needs of a learner. To handle the uncertainty of learner's mind while learning the concepts an intuitionistic fuzzy approach is used.
Use of Data Reduction Process to Bankruptcy Prediction
Authors: Sardasht Morteza Shafiee , Saheb Saeed
Published: May 2018

Predicting corporate bankruptcy has been an important challenging problem in research topic in accounting and finance. In bankruptcy prediction, researchers often confront a range of observations and variables which are often vast amount of financial ratios. By reducing variables and select relevant data from a given dataset, data reduction process can optimize bankruptcy prediction. This study addresses four well-known data reduction methods including t-test, correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA) and evaluated them in bankruptcy prediction in the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). To this end, considering 35 financial ratios, the results of data reduction methods were separately used to train Support Vector Machine (SVM) as the powerful prediction model. Regarding the empirical results, among the aforementioned methods, the t-test lead to the most prediction rate with 97.1% of predictability and PCA by 95.1% provides the next position.
A Fuzzy ANP Based Weighted RFM Model for Customer Segmentation in Auto Insurance Sector
Authors: Ravasan Ahad Zare , Mansouri Taha
Published: May 2018

Data mining has a tremendous contribution for researchers to extract the hidden knowledge and information which have been inherited in the raw data. This study has proposed a brand new and practical fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) based weighted RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary value) model for application in K-means algorithm for auto insurance customers' segmentation. The developed methodology has been implemented for a private auto insurance company in Iran which classified customers into four “best”, “new”, “risky”, and “uncertain” patterns. Then, association rules among auto insurance services in two most valuable customer segments including “best” and “risky” patterns are discovered and proposed. Finally, some marketing strategies based on the research results are proposed. The authors believe the result of this paper can provide a noticeable capability to the insurer company in order to assess its customers' loyalty in marketing strategy.
Construct a Multi Criteria Decision Making Tool
Authors: Chen Chun-An
Published: May 2018

When dealing with multi-criteria decision-making problems in both engineering and management research fields, DEMATEL is one of the common methods applied by the researchers. However, so far there is no any easy-to-use DEMATEL application software. Moreover, for DEMATEL, the threshold value setup may vary in different researchers. Later MMDE method was developed, which could obtain clear threshold value. However, its concept and complicated computing process hinder the common researchers to use it quickly. Without any related application software either, it is quite inconvenient to the researchers. Therefore, the study develops an application software that combines with these two methods and incorporates with friendly interfaces. In the paper, it takes how to develop Taiwan into a passenger transport center of East Asia as an example, to illustrate the operation and application of the software. It provides the researchers using DEMATEL and MMDE methods with an excellent and easy-to-good tool.
Towards an Automated Model to Evaluate Collaboration Through Non-Verbal Interaction in Collaborative Virtual Environments
Authors: Casillas Luis , Peña Adriana , Gutierrez Alfredo
Published: May 2018

Virtual environments represent a helpful resource for learning and training. In their multiuser modality, Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) support geographical distant people to experience collaborative learning and team training; a context in which the automatic monitor of collaboration can provide valuable and in time information, either for human instructors or intelligent tutor systems, about individual and group performance. CVE enable people to share a virtual space where they interact through a graphical representation, generating nonverbal behavior such as gaze-direction or deictic gestures, a potential means to understand collaboration. This paper presents an automated model and its inference mechanisms to evaluate collaboration in CVE based on the nonverbal activity of the participants. The model is a multi-layer analysis that includes: data filtering, fuzzy classification, and rule-based inference producing high-level assessment for group collaboration.
Detecting Cognitive Distraction Using Random Forest by Considering Eye Movement Type
Authors: Koma Hiroaki , Harada Taku , Yoshizawa Akira , Iwasaki Hirotoshi
Published: May 2018

Detecting distracted states can be applied to various problems such as danger prevention when driving a car. A cognitive distracted state is one example of a distracted state. It is known that eye movements express cognitive distraction. Eye movements can be classified into several types. In this paper, the authors detect a cognitive distraction using classified eye movement types when applying the Random Forest machine learning algorithm, which uses decision trees. They show the effectiveness of considering eye movement types for detecting cognitive distraction when applying Random Forest. The authors use visual experiments with still images for the detection.
Simulation and Modeling
Authors: Mushiri Tawanda , Mbohwa Charles
Published: May 2018

The chapter describes the design of the speed governing system of 150 MW Francis turbines at a power station. The turbine governing system is vital for the safety and availability of a power plant. The dynamic characteristics of the turbine system are nonlinear and difficult to predict. The identification, development and implementation of the hydraulic system for the power plant were done via literature survey and computer based simulations and also analyzed by comparing different controllers through simulation. The governor system parameters were simulated with the actual data available in the power plant. Traditional PID controller parameters are difficult to tune when used in control systems and a fuzzy PID which can tune the parameters on-line is introduced to be appropriate in the turbine governing control system. In MATLAB/SMULINK simulation environment, the simulation results show that fuzzy logic PID control strategy has better performances than traditional PID controller.
An Efficient Time Series Forecasting Method Exploiting Fuzziness and Turbulences in Data
Authors: Pandey Prateek , Kumar Shishir , Shrivastava Sandeep
Published: May 2018

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in Time Series forecasting. A number of time series forecasting methods have been proposed by various researchers. However, a common trend found in these methods is that they all underperform on a data set that exhibit uneven ups and downs (turbulences). In this paper, a new method based on fuzzy time-series (henceforth FTS) to forecast on the fundament of turbulences in the data set is proposed. The results show that the turbulence based fuzzy time series forecasting is effective, especially, when the available data indicate a high degree of instability. A few benchmark FTS methods are identified from the literature, their limitations and gaps are discussed and it is observed that the proposed method successfully overcome their deficiencies to produce better results. In order to validate the proposed model, a performance comparison with various conventional time series models is also presented.
Modeling and Querying Fuzzy Data
Authors: Yan Li , Ma Z. M.
Published: May 2018

Imperfect information extensively exists in data and knowledge intensive applications, where fuzzy data play an import role in nature. Fuzzy set theory has been extensively applied to extend various database models and resulted in numerous contributions. The chapter concentrates on two main issues in fuzzy data management: fuzzy data models and fuzzy data querying based on the fuzzy data models. A full up-to-date overview of the current state of the art in fuzzy data modeling and querying is provided in the chapter. In addition, the relationships among various fuzzy data models are discussed in the chapter. The chapter serves as identifying possible research opportunities in the area of fuzzy data management in addition to providing a generic overview of the approaches to modeling and querying fuzzy data.
Improving Urban Planning Information, Transparency and Participation in Public Administrations
Authors: Santos Beatriz
Published: May 2018

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the involvement of citizens in all public affairs that is also extended to urban planning. Spanish Public Administrations have made important changes and progress trying to get urban and spatial planning closer to the citizen. Firstly, a significant effort has been made to generate knowledge services providing citizen access to urban planning information. Secondly, administrations try to involve citizens in urban planning through participation programmes by using the new channels that information and communication technology offers. This paper analyses different instruments and web-based participation systems implemented in Spain in order to check the result of these developments concluding that there is still a long considerable way to go since information and communications technologies offers a lot of options and tools to improve these processes.
Transdisciplinary Research in Sustainable Scientific Education in the Field of Urbanism and Architecture
Authors: Perović Svetlana
Published: May 2018

The chapter presents a case study based on transdisciplinary research, which was conducted at the Faculty of Architecture in Podgorica and is an innovation in architectural and urban practice of higher education in Montenegro. The study is based on the view that autonomous action of disciplines in the case of architecture and urbanism as multidisciplinary activities is limited, and an integrated approach to solving complex problems in the urban system is required. A global approach to research and solving urban issues is an important actor of sustainable development, where universities are central in this process. Collaborative educational discourses with a high degree of cooperation can develop an adequate platform for responses to the complex issues of the urban system. Producing experts with a developed awareness of a comprehensive understanding of the problem and transdisciplinary collaborative knowledge can strongly contribute to sustainable improvement, control, and management of urban spaces.
Developing a Sustainable Urban Mobility Index
Authors: Shen Yongjun , Hermans Elke
Published: May 2018

Sustainability is a multi-dimensional concept that can be assessed by means of constructing a composite indicator or index. In doing so, a scientifically sound and appropriate index methodology is required. The research proposed in this chapter aims to provide a guideline for developing a sustainability index that is able to assess the impact of mobility on the urban quality of life. By studying the index development process in other domains critically and taking the specific sustainable urban mobility context into account, this study investigates the different methodological steps that are essential in the construction of a sustainable urban mobility index. The main challenges and potential options when developing such an index are discussed.
Urban Economy and Sources of Its Efficiency as Factors Addressing the Challenges Faced by Urban Economy
Authors: Chiloane-Tsoka Evelyn , Mabiza Junior Mabiza-ma
Published: May 2018

Rapid growth of density of population and overcrowded and congested cities in the Southern African region due to urban migration from people seeking a better lifestyle and job opportunities, despite high levels of urban unemployment, infrastructure and sanitation, is embedded by lack of accelerated innovation to create sustainable future for most people. However, in South Africa infrastructure is seen as an enabler weapon of development to cultivate growth and confront challenges of efficient operations that are to reduce costs of production and create access to application of modern society. With this in mind, the chapter aims to look at the extent to which sources of efficiency can be used as a tool to address the urban economic challenges affecting the global economic development in the region.
Strategic Directions in European Sustainable City Management
Authors: Backović Nemanja , Milićević Vesna , Sofronijevic Adam
Published: May 2018

Initiatives for development of sustainable cities require complex and long term managerial approach in order to succeed. Strategic approach to this challenge is of special interest in European environment where certain cultural and economic features create specific framework for long term development of sustainable cities. This chapter presents and analyzes several strategic directions important for management of sustainable cities in Europe. Based on in-depth literary review and Internet research, culture diversity, innovativeness and flexibility of sustainable city economy and civic initiatives integrated in urban growth are pinpointed as major strategic influencers on sustainable city growth in Europe.
Economic Impact and Current Results of Urbanization
Authors: Santy Raeni Dwi , Buhari Refi Mayasari
Published: May 2018

The growth of the urban population in Indonesia is commonly fast due to permanently inclinig urbanization flows. This chapter considers the most important factors of Indonesian urbanization and its positive and negative effects in current conditions to discover directions for modernization of the governmental role in regulation and control of urbanization processes. Special issues of this chapter are concentrated around the problem of urbanization's role in development of Indonesia (national and regional level), national labor and internal migration policy, and niveling disbalance between urban and rural areas. Finally, this chapter includes special conclusions and reccommendations for modernization of national and regonal programs oriented to optimise internal conditions of urbanization development in Indonesia that are based on the best achievements of international experience and use local Indonesian features of urbanization.
Cultural Event Management and Urban E-Planning Through Bottom-Up User Participation
Authors: Corallo Angelo , Trono Anna , Fortunato Laura , Pettinato Francesco , Schina Laura
Published: May 2018

Cultural events are an important driver of socio-cultural-economic transformation. The growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has affected the ways in which people can play an active role in cultural event management and urban planning. This work proposes a methodological approach that identifies the key elements for building bottom-up urban e-planning strategies. After a brief theoretical analysis of the impact of cultural activities, tourism and ICTs on urban planning, this paper presents the results of an empirical study carried out in the Puglia region (south of Italy) during the cultural event known as “La Notte della Taranta”, in which the crowd created added-value information via comments posted on social media. Data were collected using a mobile application specifically created for this event as part of the Folkture project, as well as from Facebook and Twitter posts. Using network-analytic and sentiment/semantic algorithms, the work aims to support the event management decisional process and produce results valuable to the field of urban planning.
Cities Really Smart and Inclusive
Authors: Albuquerque Cristina Maria Pinto
Published: May 2018

This chapter discusses the idea that a really smart city needs not only to innovate in technologies, but also to assure that these innovations will increase social capital and participation possibilities to all citizens. In this domain ICT's to promote new forms of democratic engagement, collective collaboration or creativity stimulation are very important components of a really smart city, more human and social-valued. The focus of the discussion is thus the potential of Smart Cities to develop new possibilities to reduce social isolation and to increase new forms of autonomy, and the factors to have in consideration to avoid digital-divide. The chapter debates also questions associated with the use of surveillance and registration processes and the connected issues of liberty and privacy versus security.
From Rural Majority to Urban Majority Africans
Authors: Benna Umar G.
Published: May 2018

Africa is experiencing triple processes of high population growth, rapid urbanization, and digital transformation. The undercurrents of these processes suggest that the continent is turning from rural majority to urban majority, and this situation raises the question of where will this majority work? Arab Spring and the turbulent situation in the Middle East suggest what could be the result of inaction. This chapter attempts to answer this question by using exploratory research method to highlight the potential role of mainly young entrepreneurs to define, through online questionnaire responses, their preferred terrain of workplace creation in local areas, cities, rural areas and in the diverse regions of Africa as well as on the ubiquitous online work environment extending from home to anywhere in the continent. The chapter ends with a review of the observations and suggestions about future research.
Sustainability Strategies and Projects of Turkish Municipalities
Authors: Bostancı Seda H.
Published: May 2018

Municipalities have variety of tools for improving environmental sustainability. The effects of climate change increase the renewable projects developed by municipalities and public private sectors. Turkish municipalities practiced the early steps of sustainability projects, some of which were small-scale projects. In addition, Turkish municipalities have gained experience in LA 21 Process since the late 1990s. Some of the city models for sustainability, such as CittaSlow and healthy city projects developed by Turkish Municipalities. The work in this chapter represents research about variety of issues for environment and sustainability in Turkish Municipalities. Visions, strategies and projects of these municipalities have been analysed to attain this goal. A literature review and SWOT analysis were used for the methodology to determine the Turkish municipalities' potential for sustainability.
APT
Authors: Jen Dan , Meisel Michael , Massey Daniel , Wang Lan , Zhang Beichuan , Zhang Lixia
Published: May 2018

The global routing system has seen a rapid increase in table size and routing changes in recent years, mostly driven by the growth of edge networks. This growth reflects two major limitations in the current architecture: (a) the conflict between provider-based addressing and edge networks' need for multihoming, and (b) flat routing's inability to provide isolation from edge dynamics. In order to address these limitations, we propose A Practical Tunneling Architecture (APT), a routing architecture that enables the Internet routing system to scale independently from edge growth. APT partitions the Internet address space in two, one for the transit core and one for edge networks, allowing edge addresses to be removed from the routing table in the transit core. Packets between edge networks are tunneled through the transit core. In order to automatically tunnel the packets, APT provides a mapping service between edge addresses and the addresses of their transit-core attachment points. We conducted an extensive performance evaluation of APT using trace data collected from routers at two major service providers. Our results show that APT can tunnel packets through the transit core by incurring extra delay on up to 0.8% of all packets at the cost of introducing only one or a few new or repurposed devices per AS.
Image Mosaicing Using Binary Edge Detection Algorithm in a Cloud-Computing Environment
Authors: Alamareen Abdullah , Al-Jarrah Omar , Aljarrah Inad A.
Published: May 2018

Image Mosaicing is an image processing technique that arises from the need of having a more realistic view of the real world wider than the view captured by the lenses of the available cameras. In this paper, a sequence of images will be mosaiced using binary edge detection algorithm in a cloud-computing environment to improve processing speed and accuracy. The authors have used Platform as a Service (PaaS) to provide a number of nodes in the cloud to run the computational intensive image processing and stitching algorithms. This increased the processing speed as most of image processing algorithms deal with every single pixel in the image. Message Passing Interface (MPI) is used for message passing among the compute-nodes in the cloud and a MapReduce technique is used for image distribution and collection, where the root node is used as reducer and the others as mappers. After applying the algorithm on different sequence of images and different machines on JUST cloud, the authors have achieved high mosaicing accuracy, and the execution time has been improved when comparing it with sequential execution on the images.
Communication and Security Technologies for Smart Grid
Authors: Ben Dhaou Imed , Kondoro Aron , Kelati Amleset , Rwegasira Diana Severine , Naiman Shililiandumi , Mvungi Nerey H. , Tenhunen Hannu
Published: May 2018

The smart grid is a new paradigm that aims to modernize the legacy power grid. It is based on the integration of ICT technologies, embedded system, sensors, renewable energy and advanced algorithms for management and optimization. The smart grid is a system of systems in which communication technology plays a vital role. Safe operations of the smart grid need a careful design of the communication protocols, cryptographic schemes, and computing technology. In this article, the authors describe current communication technologies, recently proposed algorithms, protocols, and architectures for securing smart grid communication network. They analyzed in a unifying approach the three principles pillars of smart-gird: Sensors, communication technologies, and security. Finally, the authors elaborate open issues in the smart-grid communication network
Translation Competence
Authors: Vandepitte Sonia , Mousten Birthe , Maylath Bruce , Isohella Suvi , Musacchio Maria Teresa , Palumbo Giuseppe
Published: May 2018

After Kiraly (2000) introduced the collaborative form of translation in classrooms, Pavlović (2007), Kenny (2008), and Huertas Barros (2011) provided empirical evidence that testifies to the impact of collaborative learning. This chapter sets out to describe the collaborative forms of learning at different stages in the translation processes in the Trans-Atlantic and Pacific Project, a long-term cross-cultural virtual team. It describes the forms of collaborative learning practised in this multilateral international project in technical communication and translator training programmes and explores the empirical data that the project may provide for future research into learning translation.
Assessing Sustainable Tourism and Crisis Situations
Authors: Batabyal Debasish
Published: May 2018

Sikkim is the 22nd state situated in the Himalayas. It is a small, but beautiful state with endless potentialities for tourism. Tourism is estimated to contribute to around eight per cent of the state gross domestic product (GDP) in Sikkim and its importance has been increasing day by day. This beautiful alpine Himalayan state has a very relevant performance in exploring the quality of public life. At the same time, this distinctive bio-geographic region is fragile and prone to earthquake and other ecological problems arising from out of climate change and increasing industrialization. This chapter is an attempt to analyze the positive and negative socio-economic conditions on the backdrop of disaster management perspective in the state. Based on review of literature on crisis situations and possible disastrous effects exhibiting from out of tourism activities in similar destinations, socio-economic issues have been dealt with through investigation of secondary data and opinion survey.
Knowledge Management in Tourism Services
Authors: Teixeira Sérgio Jesus
Published: May 2018

This chapter aims to discuss the knowledge management in the travel services, since it has mobilized a variety of fields that seek to uncover the complexity of the process and the application contexts. In the era of globalization in which we live, the main factors that differentiate the companies and organizations depend increasingly on the quality of human capital management and knowledge management quality. This chapter analyzes how an organization of tourist services manages its knowledge. The methodology used was a qualitative analysis by applying an interview to a case study.
Tourists Becoming Increasingly Aware of Green Tourism
Authors: Ramchurjee Nichola A. , Ramchurjee Esther P.
Published: May 2018

The continual development of the hospitality industry has led to negative impacts on the environment. However, the development of green hotels could be a solution to this problem. As more tourists are becoming gradually concerned about environmentally friendly products and services, it is crucial for the hotel industry to take an interest and participate in the green initiative. A questionnaire method was used to collect data from 209 participants using the intercept approach in several main tourist sites in Bangalore, India. The analysis showed that tourists staying in hotels in Bangalore give substantial influence on their intention to choose green hotels and thus environmentally friendly services and products. Therefore, it is of primary importance for green hotel operators/managers to continuously educate their guests about the importance of being environmentally friendly and the environmental impacts of their behaviors.
Habermas and the Meaning of the Post-Secular Society
Authors: Welton Michael R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter uses Jurgen Habermas' controversial and contested term “post-secular” to examine how we, the citizens of the world, might live reasonably amicably in a globalized, conflict-ridden world where some form of religious decline has taken place, where globalization has disrupted this decline to some extent, and where religions do, in fact, undergo renewal in modernity. This chapter examines how we might deepen inter-faith dialogue as well as our understanding of how secular and non-secular citizens can speak openly and learn from and with each other.
Critical and Transformational Perspectives on Career and Technical Education in the Twenty-First Century for Urban Adult Learners
Authors: Adkisson Anthony C. , Monaghan Catherine H.
Published: May 2018

Critical theory points out that cultural norms do not reflect the experiences of a large portion of adult learners, particularly urban adult learners. As adult educators in this context, are there ways we might improve or change our instruction by developing a critical understanding of the transitional and transformational events in the lives of adult learners entering into career and technical education program? What is the role of alternative approaches to transformative learning for these learners? Specifically, what is the role of alternative approaches to learning for urban adult learners transitioning into a career and technical education classroom, after years of disengagement with formal learning institutions and the need to update their technology skills? In this chapter, the authors discuss the need to use alternative conceptions of transformative learning and critical theory to understand this population of learners as they make the decisions to participate in more formal education programs. They also explore the key issues for adult education practitioner including implications for practice.
Online Learning
Authors: Murray Mary M. , Wooldridge Deborah G. , Smith Sheila M. , Lierheimer Kristin S.
Published: May 2018

Bowling Green State University partnered with the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI) to develop and provide an online autism spectrum disorder certificate and graduate degree program. The development of the program curriculum was created around OCALI's numerous online autism spectrum disorder learning modules that were developed by experts in the field of autism. Today, over 300 individuals have completed the comprehensive certificate, or graduate Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) program, through Bowling Green State University. Online delivery is an alternative for ASD professionals and allows for a diversity of learners and learning styles. Selecting the right learning management system provides a more interactive on-line learning environment. This program is one example of how technology has broadened the outreach of educational preparation in ASD from local to national and international audiences, as well as met the needs of working professionals.
Transformative Learning and the Power of Storytelling
Authors: Ellington Linda
Published: May 2018

Stories provoke learning, promote discovery, encourage exploration, fuel re-imagination, and help in subsequent learning. Storytelling is much more than just a strategy that engages or connects students to their learning; it helps evoke emotions and stimulate the intellect. Tools of transformative pedagogy cultivate the development for critical reflection and create a classroom experience that is particularly enriching and potentially, long term. The belief that storytelling is a necessary and beneficial art of our times has sparked a renaissance of transformative learning, which has room in the scholarship for fire-birds and microchips. This chapter explores transformative learning and the power of storytelling.
Detection of Leading Experts from ResearchGate
Authors: Ben Ahmed Eya
Published: May 2018

This article describes how thanks to the technological development, social media has propagated in recent years. The latter describes a range of Web-based platforms that enable people to socially interact with one another online. Several types of social media appeared. In this context, the author focuses on scientific social network which connects the researchers and allow them to communicate and collaborate online. In this paper, we, particularly, aim to detect the scientific leaders through firstly detect communities in social network then identify the leader of each group. To do this, the author introduces a new hierarchical semi-supervised clustering method based on ordinal density. The results of carried out experiments on real scientific warehouse have shown significant profits in terms of accuracy and performance.
Towards Identifying Multicriteria Outliers
Authors: Rouba Baroudi , Nait-Bahloul Safia
Published: May 2018

This article tackles the problem of outlier detection in the multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) field. The authors propose an outlier detection method based on binary outranking relations and Local Outlier Factor (LOF) algorithm. The outlier is detected by applying LOF algorithm on the distribution of the outranking relations generated by a multicriteria outranking method. The proposed approach is illustrated on an artificial example and evaluated on a real life financial problem, the country risk problem.
Human Resources Management and Information Systems Trend Analysis Using Text Clustering
Authors: Sohrabi Babak , Vanani Iman Raeesi , Abedin Ehsan
Published: May 2018

Human resources management has seen a significant change by the emergence of information systems from a traditional or popularly called personnel management to the modern one. The purpose of this article is to study the trends of information systems in the field of human resources management in combination with information systems through text mining approaches on a broad exploration of internationally published papers. Among text analytics methods for extracting trends, text clustering has been applied to the dataset of highly-ranked information systems journals. The data set was obtained from Scopus database for the period of 2013 to 2017. Afterwards, text clustering algorithms were applied and validated on the titles, abstracts and keywords. The results present practical and intuitive information which can help practitioners and scholars to grasp a useful overview and provides them with the opportunity to focus on trends in information systems in the field human resources management.
An Examination of the Boundary Between Work and Home for Knowledge Workers
Authors: McCloskey Donna Weaver
Published: May 2018

This article describes how knowledge workers no longer have physical and time boundaries between their work and personal lives. The boundary theory integration-segmentation continuum does not account for variations in both schedule flexibility and work and home boundary permeability. It is possible for an employee to have a flexible but not permeable boundary and vice versa. Furthermore, permeability may vary for the work boundary and home boundary. This article examines the impact of these three boundary characteristics (flexibility, permeability of home boundary and permeability of work boundary) on the work-family conflict of knowledge workers. Additionally, role identity is examined as a potential moderating variable. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Emotional Intelligence and Personality Traits as Predictors of Job Performance of IT Employees
Authors: Dhani Priyam , Sharma Tanu
Published: May 2018

The chief aim of this article is to examine the emotional intelligence (EI) and personality traits as the predictors of job performance of IT employees in India. To obtain this, the data was collected from 158 middle management employees working in Indian IT sector through random sampling method with the help of three scales such as DKEIT, JPI, and MPI. After data collection, the study carried out a different statistical analysis which includes frequency, correlation and regression analysis through SPSS 23.0 version. The study findings reported that both EI and Personality Traits impact the performance of job of IT employees, i.e. both Personality Traits and EI operate as a predictor of Job Performance of Indian IT employees. Based on which, the article gives few recommendations to future researchers.
Applying Agile Principles in Teaching Undergraduate Information Technology Project Management
Authors: Budu Joseph
Published: May 2018

This article describes how the traditional teaching and learning activities over the years have been challenged to be agile - easily adaptable to changing classroom conditions. Despite this new phenomenon, there is a perceived paucity of agile-in-teaching research. Available studies neither focus on the use of agile principles beyond delivering software developmental courses. Research in this area has not provided longitudinal insights into the evolution of agile implementation in teaching and learning. Further, they lack a comprehensive evaluation of teaching and learning activities using agile principles. This article responds using an account of how agile principles guided the delivery of an IT Project Management course to three different student cohorts over three academic years. An evaluation of these activities demonstrates skillful adaptation of the principles to achieve learning outcomes. Implications of agile-in-the-classroom research are discussed.
Securely Communicating with an Optimal Cloud for Intelligently Enhancing a Cloud's Elasticity
Authors: Kirthica S. , Sridhar Rajeswari
Published: May 2018

One of the principle features on which cloud environments operate is the scaling up and down of resources based on users' needs, called elasticity. This feature is limited to the cloud's physical resources. This article proposes to enhance the elasticity of a cloud in an intelligent manner by communicating with an optimal external cloud (EC) and borrowing additional resources from it when the cloud runs out of resources. This inter-cloud communication is secured by a model whose structure is similar to the Kerberos protocol. To choose the optimal EC for a particular request of a user, a list of parameters, collectively termed as RePVoCRaD, are enumerated. Once chosen, trust is established with the chosen EC and inter-cloud communication begins. While existing works deal with third parties to establish or secure inter-cloud communication, this work is novel in that there is absence of third parties in the entire process, thereby reducing security threats and additional costs involved. Evaluating this work based on turnaround time and transaction success rate, in a real-time cloud environment, it is seen that the cloud's elasticity is so enhanced that it successfully accommodates its users' additional demands by the fastest means possible.