bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Efecto de las condiciones de enfriamiento sobre la fracción y morfología de la fase primaria épsilon en una aleación comercial ACuZinc5TM
Authors: Jareño E. D. , Maldonado S. I. , Hernández F. A.
Published: January 2013

La fracción sólida de la fase primaria épsilon (ε) y su interrelación con la fase eta (η) influyen en las propiedades mecánicas de la aleación ACuZinc5TM. En este estudio se midió la fracción de fase épsilon primaria resultante de condiciones de enfriamiento similares a las que se utilizan en diferentes procesos de vaciado. Adicionalmente se realizó un análisis a partir de los cambios morfológicos de la fase primaria y de los resultados del análisis térmico para sugerir el momento probablemente adecuado para agitar el baño metálico durante procesos de vaciado en estado semisólido. A partir de estos resultados es posible diseñar ciclos térmicos experimentales para obtener una apropiada distribución de las fases ε y η en la microestructura final de las piezas vaciadas.
Obtención de aleaciones eutécticas PbLi mediante procesos de fusión
Authors: Barrena M. I. , Gómez de Salazar J. M. , Quiñones J. , Pascual L. , Soria A.
Published: January 2013

El desarrollo del reactor experimental termonuclear (ITER), cuyo objetivo es la producción de energía a partir de la fusión nuclear, ha suscitado el estudio de las aleaciones eutécticas Pb-Li, ya que éstas han sido seleccionadas para la fabricación de las envolturas regeneradoras del reactor (TBM). Sin embargo, durante el proceso de fabricación de las aleaciones Pb-Li se produce una pérdida de litio, que inhibe la formación de estructuras eutécticas. En el presente trabajo se han realizado fusiones partiendo de plomo y litio puros evaluando diferentes parámetros de proceso para la obtención de aleaciones eutécticas Pb-Li (17 % at.). Las aleaciones obtenidas fueron caracterizadas mediante calorimetría diferencial de barrido, microscopía SEM-EDX y microdureza. De estos estudios podemos señalar, que la utilización de hornos de inducción y los parámetros de proceso optimizados para la obtención de la aleación Pb-Li, permiten obtener lingotes completamente eutécticos y con gran homogeneidad química y microestructural.
Diversity Leadership
Authors: Lewis Joél , Surry Daniel W.
Published: January 2013

This introductory chapter covers the need for professionals in all sectors to embrace and adopt diversity leadership practices. This imperative outlook on how we use technology to connect, communicate, solve problems, and educate is explored in order to provide an overview of diversity leadership. It also addresses the main ideas of the chapters in the book.
Utilizing Technology to Communicate with Diverse Groups
Authors: Sanders Patricia F. , Cain Butler
Published: January 2013

The concept of diversity has become an issue at the forefront of discussions in all sectors of society. This includes the business centers and their workplaces, higher education, and non-profit institutions. As the world becomes more and more ethnically diverse, methods of communication also become even more relevant, critical even. One way in which organizations are finding it easier to engage with those within their walls and get their ideas across to one another is through technology and the availability of social media. Digital tools such as Facebook, Twitter, email, YouTube, smart phones, virtual conferencing, Skype, and an indispensible amount of downloadable software applications, have paved the way for easier communication and the ability to reach not only diverse groups but in a varied number of ways. Over the past couple of decades, the ability to communicate has rapidly transitioned away from traditional modes of communication in the vein of land-based telephone lines, written letters, and verbal communication. This chapter focuses on how two major areas of society communicate with their diverse constituencies utilizing these sundry technologies. Specifically, it examines successful strategies higher education and businesses employ to disseminate information to diverse groups.
Mentorship in Diversity Leadership in Higher Education
Authors: Packer-Williams Catherine L. , Evans Kathy M.
Published: January 2013

The purpose of this chapter is to 1) review the need for diversity leadership in higher education, 2) explore the challenges of diversity leaders, 3) specify the need for mentorship in diversity leadership, 4) share the authors’ successful e-mentoring experiences as women faculty of color engaged in diversity leadership, and 5) offer recommendations on how to incorporate technology as a tool for mentorship in diversity leadership in higher education. The term “diversity” can be considered as vast as it is vague. For the purpose of this chapter, diversity refers to the recruitment and retention of students and faculty of color in higher education as well as the incorporation of multiculturalism across disciplines and curricula.
The Ontology of the OSS Business Model
Authors: Lakka Spyridoula , Stamati Teta , Michalakelis Christos , Martakos Dracoulis
Published: January 2013

This study focuses on theory building providing a holistic conceptual framework that consists of an ontology based OSS business model and an OSS business model taxonomy. The study extends existing theory in OSS business models and corresponding taxonomies, based on the structured-case methodological approach. An exploratory study is conducted in two research cycles, for the identification, validation, and evaluation of the critical constructs of an OSS business model. Results reveal that OSS business models differ from traditional software business models, having specific features that affect the software value chain, the infrastructure, and the revenue model of an OSS oriented firm.
To Fork or Not to Fork
Authors: Nyman Linus , Mikkonen Tommi
Published: January 2013

A project fork occurs when software developers take a copy of source code from one software package and use it to begin an independent development work that is maintained separately. Although forking in open source software does not require the permission of the original authors, the new version competes for the attention of the same developers that have worked on the original version. The motivations developers have for performing forks are many, but in general they have received little attention. The authors present the results of a study of forks performed in SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net/) and list the developers’ motivations for their actions.
Analyzing OSS Project Health with Heterogeneous Data Sources
Authors: Sunindyo Wikan Danar , Moser Thomas , Winkler Dietmar , Biffl Stefan
Published: January 2013

Stakeholders in Open Source Software (OSS) projects need to determine whether a project is likely to sustain for a sufficient period of time in order to justify their investments into this project. In an OSS project context, there are typically several data sources and OSS processes relevant for determining project health indicators. However, even within one project these data sources often are technically and/or semantically heterogeneous, which makes data collection and analysis tedious and error prone. In this paper, the authors propose and evaluate a framework for OSS data analysis (FOSSDA), which enables the efficient collection, integration, and analysis of data from heterogeneous sources. Major results of the empirical studies are: (a) the framework is useful for integrating data from heterogeneous data sources effectively and (b) project health indicators based on integrated data analyses were found to be more accurate than analyses based on individual non-integrated data sources.
The Influence of Open Source Software Volunteer Developers’ Motivations and Attitudes on Intention to Contribute
Authors: Wu Chorng-Guang , Gerlach James H. , Young Clifford E.
Published: January 2013

This study differs from previous studies on open source software (OSS) developer motivation by drawing upon theories of volunteerism and work motivation to investigate the motives and attitudes of OSS volunteer developers. The role of commitment is specifically interesting, which is well established in the volunteerism and work motivation literature as a predictor of turnover and positively related to work performance, but has been overlooked by OSS researchers. The authors have developed a research model relating motivations, commitment, satisfaction, and length of service to intention to contribute to OSS projects in the future. The research model is evaluated using data from an online survey of 181 OSS volunteer developers. The research results and more discussion of these areas of interest will be evaluated and discussed further in the chapter.
Framework for Graphical User Interfaces of Geospatial Early Warning Systems
Authors: Hammitzsch Martin
Published: January 2013

An important component of Early Warning Systems (EWS) for man-made and natural hazards is the command and control unit’s Graphical User Interface (GUI). All relevant information of an EWS is concentrated in this GUI and offered to human operators. However, when designing the GUI, not only the user experience and the GUI’s screens are relevant, but also the frameworks and technologies that the GUI is built on and the implementation of the GUI itself are of great importance. Implementations differ based on their applications in different domains but the design and approaches to implement the GUIs of different EWS often show analogies. The design and development of such GUIs are performed repeatedly on some parts of the system for each EWS. Thus, the generic GUI framework of a geospatial EWS for tsunamis is introduced to enable possible synergistic effects on the development of other new related technology. The results presented here could be adopted and reused in other EWS for man-made and natural hazards.
Using Hybrid Attack Graphs to Model and Analyze Attacks against the Critical Information Infrastructure
Authors: Hawrylak Peter J. , Hartney Chris , Papa Mauricio , Hale John
Published: January 2013

The Smart Grid will incorporate computer networking technologies into the electrical generation, transmission, and distribution sectors. Thus, there will be an underlying Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) based on these network connections. This CII is vulnerable to traditional cyber or computer based attacks typically geared toward disabling devices or networks. However, the Smart Grid is also vulnerable to physical attacks where sensors are tricked into reporting false conditions that cause the control system to react in an inappropriate manner. Cyber-physical attacks blending both cyber and physical attack components are also a possibility. Techniques to model cyber-attacks exist, and this chapter presents a modeling methodology, termed hybrid attack graphs, to model cyber-physical attacks. The hybrid attack graph formalism can be applied to develop best practice guidelines and security patches for the Smart Grid. This formalism can also be applied to other cyber-physical domains as well to help bridge the gap between the physical, logical, and network domains.
Model-Based Evaluation of the Impact of Attacks to the Telecommunication Service of the Electrical Grid
Authors: Beccuti M. , Chiaradonna S. , Di Giandomenico F. , Donatelli S. , Dondossola G. , Franceschinis G.
Published: January 2013

This chapter is devoted to the study of the consequences of cyber-attacks to the telecommunication service of the electrical grid, which is an essential service for the grid control system. It is up to the control system to ensure that even very large power systems are kept in equilibrium even in presence of power contingencies. This chapter considers cyber-attacks of the Denial of Service (DoS) type, occurring while the electrical grid is already facing an electrical failure that requires a load shedding strategy. Using a model-based approach that uses the rich and flexible formalism provided by the tool Möbius, it is possible to investigate the interplay between an attack to the telecommunication service and the state of the grid in a number of different situations and for different characterizations of the DoS behaviour and severity. The formalism used allows to associate a (stochastic) duration and/or a probability to the events happening in the system, so as to take into account the variability in attacks’ behaviour, leading to a quantitative characterization of the impact of a DoS attack to the electrical grid.
Next Generation Information-Based Infrastructures
Authors: Luiijf Eric
Published: January 2013

Advancements of information and communication technologies (ICT) cause infrastructure owners to augment current infrastructures with such ICT. The creation of more efficient and effective end-user services provides economical benefits and increases customer satisfaction. Concurrently, ICT advancements allow governmental and industrial sectors to develop complete new infrastructures and infrastructure services, the so called Next Generation Infrastructures (NGI). NGI will offer new services to society, end-users and the supply-chain of organisations and linked, dependent infrastructural services. For over fifty years, the introduction of new ICT-based services and infrastructures has been tightly coupled with failures in ICT-security. This chapter on NGI discusses the root causes of these security failures. Based on historical experiences, this chapter predicts threats and cyber security failures alike for the envisioned NGI such as smart (energy) grids, smart road transport infrastructure, smart cities, and e-health. This prediction will become reality unless fundamental changes in the approach to security of ICT-based and ICT-controlled infrastructures are taken.
Leading the Technological Innovation in Healthcare Systems
Authors: Gullà Vincenzo
Published: January 2013

The adoption of Telematics medicine or Telemedicine marks an important structural change in the mode in which deployment of medical care is being routinely provided. It is not a matter of using more or less developed technologies but mainly a deep change to the way in which countries and governments decide to provide and manage their national health care system. There is definitely a new paradigm taking place. Thus, the telemedicine approach implies deeply changing the way healthcare is provided. The authors are aware that this will take time, as does any cultural revolution, but for the time being, we need to start adapting our mentality and our networks to integrate and allow the two methods to cohabit together. Technology is one of the leading tools to allow this to happen, and it is necessary to understand what requirements are needed to get the maximum success. Years of experience have dictated the main rules and guidelines exploited in detail in this chapter.
Remote Follow-Up of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators
Authors: Scher David L. , Naccarella Franco , Feng Zhang , Rinaldi Giovanni
Published: January 2013

In this chapter, the authors introduce some concepts about the remote follow-up of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD). Even if this type of remote monitoring system is relatively new, literature has demonstrated the utilization in clinical practice and during the last few years, the medical industry has provided different devices. Starting from the background, some models of utilizations are presented, focusing on the description of the main functions provided by some devices offered on the market. Next the motivations for which remote follow-up is needed are explored; a better management of the patient is described in several studies, and the integration of clinical information from monitoring devices in Electronic Medical Records is presented as the important step in order to provide comprehensive clinical information about the patient. Also, economic issues are shown. Then, some experiences realized in U.S. are explored, and at last, a number of questions are proposed to the discussion as contribution to the next research. Some Italian recent experiences in the field of remote monitoring and home care of patients with heart failure with and without implantable devices are reported.
Remote Electronic Monitoring in Chronic Pulmonary Diseases
Authors: Bella S. , Murgia F.
Published: January 2013

In this chapter the main aspects of telemonitoring are described and discussed in the field of chronic respiratory diseases. The authors describe the various challenges they faced, in the order in which they did. First, they face the problem of effectiveness of the method, then, the problems related to the economic viability, and finally, the problems related to the operating method. The authors conclude that remote monitoring is a promising method in terms of effectiveness of follow-up that must be performed under well controlled conditions. They still require further validation studies to improve the effectiveness and reduce the effects of new issues that arise.
Static Telecytological Applications for Proficiency Testing
Authors: Archondakis Stavros
Published: January 2013

In recent years, informatics and computer sciences have changed dramatically the practice of clinical cytopathology. New types of cameras and microscopes, connected to computers made possible image capture and transmission (telecytology). The wide implementation of telemedical systems in the field of cytopathology became a necessity dictated by the need of real-time results for therapeutic decisions. A telemedical application is a valuable tool for cytopathologists in order to manage and promote interlaboratory collaboration. The result is better cytological data management and sharing. ISO 15189:2007 for medical laboratories requires successful participation in proficiency testing programs. This chapter emphasizes on the necessity of developing a proficiency test for cytopathology labs wishing to be accredited according to ISO 15189:2007, and examines the feasibility of using low cost telemedical applications and solutions for this purpose. Furthermore, this chapter gives clear and comprehensive guidance concerning various financial, legal, professional, and ethical problems in this field.
Telemedicine R&D Influencing Incoming Strategies and Organization Models
Authors: Gabbrielli Francesco
Published: January 2013

In the modern medicine and surgery, innovations arise from interdisciplinary work. Therefore, to analyse how telemedicine R&D is influencing strategies and organizational models in healthcare systems we have to study how ICT and robotics innovations can interact with structured healthcare services on a large scale. The problem is interdisciplinary, and the answer has to be on different levels: economical, technological, and organizational. Overall, change needs of two paradigms from telemedicine to telematic medicine and surgery and from financial strategies for saving to lean thinking for innovations. The innovation of value can be obtained when healthcare organization combines innovative telematic medicine and surgery services with utility, prices, and costs. To work on these innovations without rearranging the whole organizational flow around the future e-health service means inducing the healthcare organization to generate wastes and face unnecessary expenses attached to future healthcare processes with such high and probably unsustainable costs.
Virtual Carer
Authors: Dragoni Aldo Franco
Published: January 2013

In view of the rapidly progressive increase in the average population age, “Ambient Assisted Living” (AAL) defines the actions and policies needed to promote the improvement of living conditions within domestic spaces to foster autonomy, safety, and social inclusion for the elderly or disabled. The idea is to design an innovative and comprehensive information system for AAL, an ICT-based “Virtual Caregiver,” which is informed, intelligent and friendly, and which constantly monitors the health warning, informing and advising the elderly while controlling the environment and then asking for help when needed. The system will have the ability to establish interactive communication with the person but also extend it automatically outside the house in times of need. Virtual Caregiver will be able to enable the software protocols that activate the emergency phone calls to the family, medics or even first aid in emergencies.
Intellectual Property Rights in Semi-Conductor Industries
Authors: Tiwari Satish Chandra , Gupta Maneesha , Khan Mohammad Ayoub , Ansari A. Q.
Published: January 2013

Fundamentals of intellectual property rights are provided. In addition, the trends of patenting and patented technologies in India in different areas of semi-conductor technologies are analyzed. The authors discuss many aspects of the patents and patentability. They present patent practices in India covering required forms needed to be filled in order to file a patent. Finally, the importance of patenting and its growth is shown with few year wise statistics.
Defect Trend Analysis of MI-172 Helicopters through Maintenance History
Authors: Hussain Mudassir , Manarvi Irfan Anjum , Iqbal Assad
Published: January 2013

MI-172 helicopters are a variant of MI-17/171 helicopters. These helicopters were inducted in the organization, which was originally designed and tuned to the MI-17/171 series helicopters. Since the induction was not premeditated, it resulted in diverse problems that have accumulated over a period of 3 years. This chapter focuses on the defect trend analysis and identification of root causes of the accumulated problems. Technical and flying data is collected from the user Squadron and analyzed by statistical tools. The chapter is helpful in eradicating the existing problems and suggesting pragmatic solutions for an overall improvement of the maintenance setup.
Management Practices in Exploration and Production Industry
Authors: Saeed Kashif , Ziegler Georg , Yaqoob Muhammad Kashif
Published: January 2013

This chapter is divided into three main sections; project management, HSE management, and quality management. A focus description of the different elements of exploration and production industry along with implementation of management practices on each of these elements including asset/portfolio, resources, time, project planning and scheduling, and proactive risk management are presented. Health safety and environment and quality management are dealt with as separate sections.
Media Management in Disaster Events
Authors: Benecchi Eleonora , De Masi Vincenzo
Published: January 2013

According to a survey by Goo Research (April 2011), the average Japanese person appears to have relied primarily on television news for gathering information in times of disaster, and as unlike a lot of overseas media, the public broadcaster NHK’s news broadcasts were defined as very calm and measured. This chapter focuses on the NHK coverage of the earthquake and nuclear crisis in March 2011 compared with private channels’ and specific websites’ coverage with regard to specific events. The aim is to enlighten the ways and the tools through which Japanese Public Television played a double role: on one side it became a primary source of information for hard news and played a “service” role for the population in need; on the other side and with special regard to the coverage of the nuclear crisis, the duty to inform was balanced by the duty to reassure the public and promote harmony so that NHK privileged government and corporate statements about the Fukushima situation. The authors corroborate their study through an analysis of NHK’s programming and private channels’ changing schedules and advertising during the recent disaster. This chapter provides a concrete example of the potential television role in disaster mitigation, taking into account both the positive and critical aspects.
Website Performance Measurement
Authors: Alsmadi Izzat
Published: January 2013

Some tasks will be easier to implement and test, and others will either be un-applicable or difficult to test and implement in comparison with testing in traditional software development environments. For engineering management, product and process quality evaluation are important assessment tools by which managers can have significant indicators of the evaluated project or product. There are many ways and characteristics by which websites can be evaluated. Quality attributes can be external or internal. They can be measured based on the developed product (i.e. the website) or the developing process. In this chapter, the author describes in detail some of the product and process metrics by which websites can be evaluated. They are described based on the major classification: process and product metrics. In each one of those two major classes, the author describes possible measurements, how they can be evaluated, and examples of attributes and tools used in this measurement. Values of measurements can in combination provide useful information for project management and planning. Focusing on only one or two attributes can possibly be insufficient or misleading.
Teacher Professional Development Using Mobile Technologies in a Large-Scale Project
Authors: Shrestha Prithvi
Published: January 2013

Mobile technologies have been influencing the field of education including language learning for almost a decade. The literature on mobile technologies for education reports a number of case studies that examine various aspects of mobile learning. However, the use of mobile technologies for teacher professional development, particularly in developing economies, is rarely reported. This paper presents a case study of the English in Action (EIA) project, a UK government funded English language development project in Bangladesh, and its use of mobile technologies which not only provides teachers with the ‘trainer in the pocket’ that helps them achieve pedagogical changes in the classroom but also serves as a tool for improving their own English language competence. The paper, in particular, reports on the design and implementation of audio and video teacher professional development materials for MP3 players and mobile phones. It also highlights implications for similar projects intending to deploy mobile technologies.
A New Approach to Evaluate Defects in Metallic Plates Based on Computing with Words and Fuzzy Entropy
Authors: Cacciola Matteo , Calcagno Salvatore , Laganà Filippo , Morabito Francesco Carlo , Pellicanò Diego , Palamara Isabella , Versaci Mario
Published: January 2013

Eddy-Current Techniques for non–destructive testing and evaluation of conducting material are one of the most known application oriented field in electromagnetics research. According to the Italian PRIN Project (proj. 2009TCLKNF_002), the Authors, in this work, propose a novel approach based on soft computing domain to characterize defects in metallic plates in terms of depth and shape starting from a set of experimental measurements. The problem is solved by means of a classification system based on computation with words and fuzzy entropy extracting information on the specimen under test from the measurements carried out in Non Destructive Tests Laboratory of “Mediterranea” University. Whereas, fuzzy entropy minimization module is based on traditional fuzzy inference system due to intrinsic characteristics of data the main advantage of the proposed approach is the introduction of computation with words in order to improve the data characterization.
About Processing of Exponentially Damped Signals
Authors: Maris Pasquale , Cacciola Matteo , Laganà Filippo , Pellicanò Diego
Published: January 2013

Exponentially damped signals, generally provided by specific sensors, are of great interest because they are used in various applications (e.g., laser detectors, biomedical devices, particle physics, study of vibrations). The aim of this work is to design, build and characterize a small device (the use of the term “board” would be very reductive) which can acquire and process this kind of signals. Within the actual framework of devices for this purpose, the innovation the authors introduce is related to the “intelligence” included within the device, based on inherent requirements associated with their use. The current proposal, opportunely tuned, could be also applied to a number of different applications. The above signals are generally processed using both hardware and software features. But hardware procedure allows to process large data-based signals. One of the most advantage of their work is related to the use of such a board for portable apparatuses.
Review of Key Risk and Uncertainty Theories Influencing Contemporary Financial Economics
Authors: Read Colin
Published: January 2013

Ironically, the 2008 credit crisis and the subsequent global financial meltdown were brought about by efforts of those whose stated purpose was to manage risk. Somehow, the efforts of financial regulators to manage and contain uncertainty created the greatest downside risk experienced since the Great Depression. At this juncture in financial history, it is purposeful to examine the meaning of risk and uncertainty, how it is priced, the assumptions one makes when one uses market-priced risk hedges, and the degree to which the modern science of financial risk management informs or obfuscates the very nature of risk. This paper performs such a retrospective analysis of key risk theories and how they impact financial markets, through the developments of innovators: Daniel Bernoulli, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Louis Bachelier, Jacob Marschak, Harry Markowitz, William Sharpe, Paul Samuelson, Fischer Black, and Myron Scholes. This paper makes an additional contribution to the literature by identifying unresolved issues that require additional research to improve risk management in financial markets. In particular, this paper concludes that while the author have numerous tools to manage risk, they have few tools to manage uncertainty, the latter of which is where future research should be undertaken.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Cloud Computing Framework
Authors: Tsirmpas Charalampos , Giokas Kostas , Iliopoulou Dimitra , Koutsouris Dimitris
Published: January 2013

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) are two non-invasive techniques that are increasingly being used to identify and quantify biochemical markers associated with certain diseases, e.g., choline in the case of cancer. The associating of MRI/MRS images, patient’s electronic health record, genome information, and environmental factors increase the precision of diagnosis and treatment. The authors present a collaboration framework based on Cloud Computing which allows analysis of MRI/MRS data based on advanced mathematical tools, advanced combination, and link discovery between different data types, so as to increase the precision and consequently avoid non-appropriate therapy and treatment plans.
A Web Architecture Based on Physical Data Separation Supporting Privacy Protection in Medical Research
Authors: Sliwa Jan , Benoist Emmanuel
Published: January 2013

In this paper, the authors present a novel Web based architecture of a medical registry with enhanced protection of personal data of the patients. The goal of a medical registry is to gather experience from clinical practice concerning a disease or treatment (e.g., hip replacement) and to improve the future treatments by applying adequate methods and selecting optimal products. The processing of health data is strictly regulated by laws protecting patients’ privacy. The presented solution is based on the physical separation of identity related data and clinical data and combining the information from both sources on the screen of the user, according to their permissions. The anonymized clinical data can be used for research whereas the risk of de-anonymizing the patient is significantly reduced. This solution has been verified by an operation of a deployed real-life application.
Customer Perceptions on Service Satisfaction with Third Party Logistics (3PL) Service
Authors: Moschuris Socrates J. , Velis George F.
Published: January 2013

Today, more firms are focusing on core competencies and turning to external specialists (Third Party Logistics – 3PLs) for sophisticated logistics solutions. The 3PL service industry is characterized by customer relationships that can extend over several years, involving multiple instances of service delivery. Customers’ satisfaction level has a profound impact on attracting new customers and customer retention. This research investigates customer perceptions regarding the service offered by a medium-sized 3PL operating in Greece. Results indicate that customers are satisfied with the outfit of personnel, adequacy of knowledge, speed of service, quality of services offered, and politeness of personnel at the point of sales as well as during the delivery. The major problem stated by the respondents was the long hold on time at the call center, which causes intensity and confusion among the customers.
Coordinating Multi-Channel Pricing of Seasonal Goods
Authors: Basu Preetam
Published: January 2013

Advancement in information technology has opened new avenues for traditional retailers to expand their operations. Pricing, which has been a critical issue, is more important than ever before as traditional retailers pursue multi-channel sales. In this paper the author studies the pricing problem of a retailer selling a seasonal product simultaneously in a ‘brick and mortar’ store as well as online. Optimal prices are derived and different product-market conditions are determined under which different combinations of channel adoptions are profitable for the retailer. Impact of various factors such as consumers channel preference, seasonality of the product and additional off-line holding and displaying costs on the optimal prices and profits are examined to provide critical managerial insights. Their results indicate that more “seasonal” a product more is the relative efficiency of the online channel. The author also finds that even if the market strongly favors the ‘bricks and mortar’ store, the profits for the retailer are boosted if the online shopping preference for the customer population are positively influenced. The author’s analysis also demonstrates that inter-channel and inter-temporal discounts increase as the seasonality of the product increases.
Improved Feature Selection by Incorporating Gene Similarity into the LASSO
Authors: Gillies Christopher E. , Gao Xiaoli , Patel Nilesh V. , Siadat Mohammad-Reza , Wilson George D.
Published: January 2013

Personalized medicine is customizing treatments to a patient’s genetic profile and has the potential to revolutionize medical practice. An important process used in personalized medicine is gene expression profiling. Analyzing gene expression profiles is difficult, because there are usually few patients and thousands of genes, leading to the curse of dimensionality. To combat this problem, researchers suggest using prior knowledge to enhance feature selection for supervised learning algorithms. The authors propose an enhancement to the LASSO, a shrinkage and selection technique that induces parameter sparsity by penalizing a model’s objective function. Their enhancement gives preference to the selection of genes that are involved in similar biological processes. The authors’ modified LASSO selects similar genes by penalizing interaction terms between genes. They devise a coordinate descent algorithm to minimize the corresponding objective function. To evaluate their method, the authors created simulation data where they compared their model to the standard LASSO model and an interaction LASSO model. The authors’ model outperformed both the standard and interaction LASSO models in terms of detecting important genes and gene interactions for a reasonable number of training samples. They also demonstrated the performance of their method on a real gene expression data set from lung cancer cell lines.
“M-Learning Not an Extension of E-Learning”
Authors: Hewagamage K. P. , Wickramasinghe W.M.A.S.B. , Jayatilaka A. De S.
Published: January 2013

In this paper, the authors present work that was carried out to develop an m-learning extension to a Moodle based VLE at the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) and its initial evaluation. They believed this new development could bring a value added service to learners and describe how mobile browsing, mobile applications and Short Message Service (SMS) were used to access learning resources and activities to interact with other users who were facilitating or following on-line courses. However, in their investigation, the authors discovered that m-learning cannot be promoted as a value added service for the current e-Learning based framework. Learners do not receive a significant benefit compared to the cost they incur to interact with the learning service. Both pedagogy and technical infrastructure must be considered together, not as an extension of existing services but to provide a new learning service for m-learning.
A Triad of Crisis Communication in the United States
Authors: Eid Mahmoud , Slade Jenna Bresolin
Published: January 2013

The United States experienced a core-shaking tumble from their pedestal of superpower at the beginning of the 21st century, facing three intertwined crises which revealed a need for change: the financial system collapse, lack of proper healthcare and government turmoil, and growing impatience with the War on Terror. This paper explores the American governments’ and citizens’ use of social network sites (SNS), namely Facebook and YouTube, to conceptualize and debate about national crises, in order to bring about social change, a notion that is synonymous with societal improvement on a national level. Drawing on democratic theories of communication, the public sphere, and emerging scholarship on the Right to Communicate, this study reveals the advantageous nature of SNS for political means: from citizen to citizen, government to citizen, and citizen to government. Furthermore, SNS promote government transparency, and provide citizens with a forum to pose questions to the White House, exchange ideas, and generate goals and strategies necessary for social change. While it remains the government’s responsibility to promote such exchanges, the onus remains with citizens to extend their participation to active engagement outside of SNS if social change is to occur. The Obama Administration’s unique affinity to SNS usage is explored to extrapolate knowledge of SNS in a political context during times of crises.
Succulent Sins, Personalized Politics, and Mainstream Media’s Tabloidization Temptation
Authors: Mackay Jenn Burleson , Bailey Erica
Published: January 2013

This study uses an experiment to analyze how mainstream journalism’s use of tabloid writing techniques affects online credibility. Participants read four news stories and rated their credibility using McCroskey’s Source Credibility Scale. Participants found stories written with a tabloid style less credible than more traditional stories. Tabloidized soft news stories were more credible than tabloidized hard news stories. Results suggest that online news media may damage their credibility by using tabloidized writing techniques to increase readership. Furthermore, participants were less likely to enjoy stories written in a tabloidized style. An application of act utilitarianism suggests that tabloidization is an unethical method for increasing news readership.
An Approach to Data Confidentiality Protection in Cloud Environments
Authors: Yau Stephen S. , An Ho G. , Buduru Arun Balaji
Published: January 2013

In current cloud computing systems, because users’ data is stored and processed by computing systems managed and operated by various service providers, users are concerned with the risks of unauthorized usage of their sensitive data by various entities, including service providers. The current cloud computing systems protect users’ data confidentiality from all entities, except service providers. In this paper, an approach is presented for improving the protection of users’ data confidentiality in cloud computing systems from all entities, including service providers. The authors’ approach has the following features: (1) separation of cloud application providers, data processing service providers and data storage providers, (2) anonymization of users’ identities, (3) grouping cloud application components and distributing their execution to distinct cloud infrastructures of data processing service providers, and (4) use of data obfuscation and cryptography for protecting the sensitive data from unauthorized access by all entities, including service providers. The proposed approach ensures that users’ sensitive data can be protected from their service providers even if the users do not have full cooperation from their service providers.
Pathogenesis of Modoc Virus (Flaviviridae; Flavivirus) in Persistently Infected Hamsters
Authors: Adams A. Paige , Travassos da Rosa Amelia P. A. , Nunes Marcio R. , Xiao Shu-Yuan , Tesh Robert B.
Published: January 2013

The long-term persistence of Modoc virus (MODV) infection was investigated in a hamster model. Golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) were infected by subcutaneous inoculation with MODV, in which fatal encephalitis developed in 12.5% (2 of 16). Surviving hamsters shed infectious MODV in their urine during the first five months after infection, and infectious MODV was recovered by co-cultivation of kidney tissue up to eight months after infection. There were no histopathologic changes observed in the kidneys despite detection of viral antigen for 250 days after infection. Mild inflammation and neuronal degeneration in the central nervous system were the primary lesions observed during early infection. These findings confirm previous reports of persistent flavivirus infection in animals and suggest a mechanism for the maintenance of MODV in nature.
Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis Misting for Control of Aedes in Cryptic Ground Containers in North Queensland, Australia
Authors: Jacups Susan P. , Rapley Luke P. , Johnson Petrina H. , Benjamin Seleena , Ritchie Scott A.
Published: January 2013

In Australia, dengue is not endemic, although the vector mosquito Aedes aegypti is established in far north Queensland (FNQ). Aedes albopictus has recently invaded the Torres Strait region, but is not established on mainland Australia. To maintain dengue-free, public health departments in FNQ closely monitor introduced dengue infections and confine outbreaks through rigorous vector control responses. To safeguard mainland Australia from Ae. albopictus establishment, pre-emptive strategies are required to reduce its breeding in difficult to access habitats. We compare the residual efficacy of VectoBac WDG, Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) formulation, as a residual treatment when misted across a typical FNQ bushland using a backpack mister (Stihl SR 420 Mist Blower) at two dose rates up to 16 m. Semi-field condition results, over 16 weeks, indicate that Bti provided high mortality rates (> 80%) sustained for 11 weeks. Mist application penetrated 16 m of dense bushland without efficacy decline over distance.
Prevalence of Asymptomatic Parasitemia and Gametocytemia among HIV-Infected Ugandan Children Randomized to Receive Different Antiretroviral Therapies
Authors: Ikilezi Gloria , Achan Jane , Kakuru Abel , Ruel Theodore , Charlebois Edwin , Clark Tamara D. , Rosenthal Philip J. , Havlir Diane , Kamya Moses R. , Dorsey Grant
Published: January 2013

In a recent randomized controlled trial, the use of protease inhibitor (PI)-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) was associated with a significantly lower incidence of malaria compared with non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based ART in a cohort of human immunodeficiency virus-infected Ugandan children living in an area of high malaria transmission intensity. In this report, we compared the prevalence of asymptomatic parasitemia and gametocytemia using data from the same cohort. The prevalence of asymptomatic parasitemia did not differ between the two ART treatment arms. The PI-based arm was associated with a lower risk of gametocytemia at the time of diagnosis of malaria (6.6% versus 14.5%, P = 0.03) and during the 28 days after malaria diagnosis (3.4% versus 6.5%, P = 0.04). Thus, in addition to decreasing the incidence of malaria, the use of PI-based ART may lower transmission, as a result of a decrease in gametocytemia, in areas of high malaria transmission intensity.
Development and deployment of a point‐source digital inline holographic microscope for the study of plankton and particles to a depth of 6000 m
Authors: Bochdansky Alexander B. , Jericho Manfred H. , Herndl Gerhard J.
Published: January 2013

A point‐source digital inline holographic microscope (DIHM) was designed for the imaging of particles from 50 µm to several millimeters in size. The DIHM operates autonomously without connection to external recording devices or power sources and delivers 4.2 megapixel images at a rate of approximately 7 images s−1, each image representing a snapshot of 1.8 mL seawater. Reliance on largely off‐the‐shelf components, and simplification in its construction makes this camera system adaptable to various particle size ranges and environments, and easy‐to‐operate for nonexpert users. The DIHM produced sharp images of protists with skeletal structures (e.g., acantharians, tintinnids, dinoflagellates), mesoplankton (e.g., copepods, appendicularians, medusae), Trichodesmium colonies and marine snow particles while descending in the water column at 1 m s−1, a typical velocity for deployments of tethered instruments and samplers from oceanographic vessels. To validate the usefulness of the new instrument in an oceanographic context, data are presented of the surface distribution of Trichodesmium spp., and of the vertical frequency distribution of fecal pellets and other particles in the deep sea. The point‐source DIHM has the potential to become a standard instrument on the CTD rosette (i.e., on the basic oceanographic instrument and sampling frame) in the future providing a permanent archival record of the water column that can be mined for specific target particles in the future.
Comparison of two techniques to separate physical‐ and biological‐mediated pCO2 in seawater
Authors: Pätsch “Johannes , Lorkowski Ina
Published: January 2013

In this methodical work, we investigate the applicability of two approaches to determine the biologically induced variations of marine pCO2. The first method was proposed by Takahashi et al. (1993), who used data of temperature and pCO2 in the North Atlantic to linearize the temperature dependency of pCO2. We compare the Takahashi method with a superposition approach by using model results. The superposition approach assumes that biological, chemical and physical influences on the partial pressure of carbon dioxide are adding up. Thus, the biologically induced pCO2 variations are calculated as the difference between a standard run with an ecosystem model and a run in which only physical and chemical processes are taken into account. Both methods agree reasonably for a station in the northern North Sea, characterized by weak dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) gradients and moderate biological production. The deviations between both approaches are larger for a station in the southern North Sea, characterized by stronger DIC gradients and higher biological activities. In this area, the Takahashi approach has not only the problem that sinks and sources of DIC mask the biologically induced pCO2 variations but also that the constant for the linearization (lp = 0.0423) has to be changed. We show that during strong events which increase the pH (> 8.3) the pCO2 could not be determined correctly with this method. In all other cases, the use of the Takahashi constant is valid. Locally and temporally calculated constants, which substitute lp, lead to deviations in the calculated pCO2 smaller than 2 µatm.