bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From Coder to Creator
Authors: Matthias Andreas
Published: May 2011

Creation of autonomously acting, learning artifacts has reached a point where humans cannot any more be justly held responsible for the actions of certain types of machines. Such machines learn during operation, thus continuously changing their original behaviour in uncontrollable (by the initial manufacturer) ways. They act without effective supervision and have an epistemic advantage over humans, in that their extended sensory apparatus, their superior processing speed and perfect memory render it impossible for humans to supervise the machine’s decisions in real-time. We survey the techniques of artificial intelligence engineering, showing that there has been a shift in the role of the programmer of such machines from a coder (who has complete control over the program in the machine) to a mere creator of software organisms which evolve and develop by themselves. We then discuss the problem of responsibility ascription to such machines, trying to avoid the metaphysical pitfalls of the mind-body problem. We propose five criteria for purely legal responsibility, which are in accordance both with the findings of contemporary analytic philosophy and with legal practise. We suggest that Stahl’s (2006) concept of “quasi-responsibility” might also be a way to handle the responsibility gap.
Technoethics in Schools
Authors: Pullen Darren
Published: May 2011

School students are used to digital technology-they blog, create movies for public viewing on the web, create and download music and use instant messaging to communicate with their friends and family. Whilst today’s students are technologically capable, perhaps more so than their teachers and parents, they might not know how to legally and ethically interpret and use digital resources and materials. Teachers need to understand the social, ethical, legal and human issues that surround the use of digital technology in schools and then apply that understanding to help students become technologically responsible, and so to ensure that they, the workers of tomorrow, have the critical thinking and communication skills to match their technical skill.
Ethical Issues in Web-Based Learning
Authors: McMahon Joan D.
Published: May 2011

If you were to survey course syllabi on your campus, you would probably find the standard syllabi to include: • Course title and number • Instructor’s name and contact information • Course objectives • A list of required and recommended readings/ materials • A detailed outline of the topics for consideration • Detailed descriptions of assignments and due dates • Percentage of final grade • A schedule of topics by date You would also find a campus curriculum or departmental committee that initially approves such courses. Once the course is approved, it is not usually subject to review or scrutiny by the campus, unless the department requests a course change. Meanwhile, faculty who teach the course change the syllabus at will based on new material in their discipline, changes in textbooks, and so forth. This is encouraged so that the students get the most up-to-date information in the discipline. If faculty switch courses, retire, or resign, then their syllabus is passed on to the successor to revise, again at will. There seems to be little or no systematic accounting of the legitimacy of the course originally approved to the course now taught. Department chairs are supposed to do this. Many take their responsibility for quality control seriously; many others delegate this to their capable administrative assistant who may not know enough about the subtleties of the curriculum to have recognized that an inconsistency exists.
Ethics of "Parasitic Computing"
Authors: Barger Robert N.
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the ethics of a proof-of-concept demonstration of “parasitic computing.” A “parasite” computer attempts to solve a complex task by breaking it up into many small components and distributing the processing of these components to remote computers that perform this processing without the knowledge or consent of those owning the remote computing resources. This is achieved through the use of the TCP/IP Internet protocol and, in particular, the checksum function of this protocol. After a discussion of similar exploits, the ethical issues involved in this demonstration are analyzed. The authors argue that harm should be the standard for determining if parasitic computing is unethical. They conclude that a revised notion of the rights of ownership is needed when dealing with the shared nature of the Internet. Suggestions for future research are offered.
Agile Information Technology Infrastructures
Authors: Alexopoulou Nancy , Kanellis Panagiotis , Martakos Drakoulis
Published: May 2011

Operating in highly turbulent environments, organizations today are faced with the need to continually adjust their infrastructure and strategies in order to remain competitive. Globalization and continual technological evolution are the main drivers of this turbulence (Dove, 1999b). To adapt at the same pace as their changing environment, organizations have to be agile. Loosely defined, an agile enterprise is one that is characterized by change proficiency. Change profi- ciency is the defining characteristic of agility and denotes the competency in which an adaptive transformation occurs (Dove, Benson, & Hartman, 1996). In a more detailed definition, an agile enterprise is one that is characterized as a fast moving, adaptable, and robust business, which is capable of rapid adaptation in response to unexpected and unpredicted changes and events, market opportunities, and customer requirements (Henbury, 1996). According to Dove (1999b), agility is very much related to the ability to manage and apply knowledge effectively. Dove (1999b) felicitously associates agility with cats. A cat is both physically adept at movement and also mentally adept at choosing useful movement appropriate for the situation. If a cat has merely the ability to move quickly but moves inappropriately and to no gain (e.g., a cat on a hot tin roof), it might be called spastic or confused but never agile. On the other hand, a cat that knows what should be done but finds itself unable to move (e.g., a cat that’s got itself up a tree), might be called catatonic, confused, or paralyzed but never agile. This example implies that agility cannot be easily attained. It requires knowledge, experience, and skill. Enterprise agility depends on many factors such as personnel capabilities, information technology (IT) infrastructure, business strategy, and so forth. When an enterprise is agile, all its constituents are agile and vice versa. This article focuses particularly on IT infrastructure. It defines agility in IT infrastructure and explains how it contributes to enterprise sensing and response agility. Sensing agility is defined as a firm’s ability to rapidly discover and interpret the market opportunities through its information systems, and it concerns not only an ability to distinguish information from noise quickly, but also to transform apparent noise into meaning faster (Haeckel, 1999). Response agility relates to the organizational capability to quickly transform knowledge into action in response to the environmental signals (Haeckel, 1999).
Agile Knowledge Management
Authors: Levy Meira , Hazzan Orit
Published: May 2011

This article is based on the assumption that Knowledge Management (KM) is a vital part of any project. Based on this working assumption, the purpose of this article is to introduce the term Agile Knowledge Management (AKM) by illustrating how the Agile Software Development (ASD) approach is suitable for the introduction of KM processes. The ASD approach emerged over the past decade in response to the unique problems that characterize software development processes (Highsmith, 2002). In general, ASD emphasizes customer needs, communication among team members, short releases and heavy testing throughout the entire development process. These ideas are implemented quite variedly by the different ASD development methods. Knowledge Management (KM) and Agile Software Development (ASD) are two organizational processes that face common barriers when introduced and applied. This article suggests that because the field of KM presents a less disciplined approach compared with ASD, it is logical that KM practitioners should learn how ASD has coped with very similar barriers. We further illustrate how it is but natural to emphasize the concept of Agile Knowledge Management (AKM) in order to improve KM processes, because ASD already encompasses the organizational and cultural infrastructure needed for KM. The pairing of KM and ASD is not new; a connection between the two concepts has been acknowledged by various researchers. For related discussions, see, for example, Dove (1999) and Holz, Melnik and Schaaf (2003). This connection, however, is not surprising because both disciplines deal with organizational culture and change management. In what follows, we further highlight the connection between the two fields. First, we show that the two processes, KM and ASD, face the same barriers when introduced into an organization. We also include some suggestions for coping with such barriers. Second, we highlight the way in which KM is already embedded into ASD processes. Thus, in order to improve KM in such processes, it should be made more explicit. Accordingly, we introduce an agile KM manifesto.
Ant Colony Algorithms for Data Classification
Authors: Freitas Alex A. , Parpinelli Rafael S. , Lopes Heitor S.
Published: May 2011

Ant colony optimization (ACO) is a relatively new computational intelligence paradigm inspired by the behavior of natural ants (Dorigo & Stutzle, 2004). Ants often find the shortest path between a food source and the nest of the colony without using visual information. In order to exchange information about which path should be followed, ants communicate with each other by means of a chemical substance called pheromone. As ants move, a certain amount of pheromone is dropped on the ground, creating a pheromone trail. The more ants that follow a given trail, the more attractive that trail becomes to be followed by other ants. This process involves a loop of positive feedback, in which the probability that an ant chooses a path is proportional to the number of ants that have already passed by that path. Hence, individual ants, following very simple rules, interact to produce an intelligent behavior at the higher level of the ant colony. In other words, intelligence is an emergent phenomenon. In this article we present an overview of Ant-Miner, an ACO algorithm for discovering classification rules in data mining (Parpinelli, Lopes, & Freitas, 2002a, 2002b), as well as a review of several Ant-Miner variations and related ACO algorithms. All the algorithms reviewed in this article address the classification task of data mining. In this task each case (record) of the data being mined consists of two parts: a goal attribute, whose value is to be predicted, and a set of predictor attributes. The aim is to predict the value of the goal attribute for a case, given the values of the predictor attributes for that case (Fayyad, Piatetsky-Shapiro, & Smyth, 1996).
An Approach to Optimize Multicast Transport Protocols
Authors: Tegze Dávid , Orosz Mihály , Hosszú Gábor , Kovács Ferenc
Published: May 2011

The article presents an approach to optimize the multicast transport protocols. The main constraint of this procedure is the orthogonality (linear independence) of protocol parameters. Protocol parameters are variables defined for protocol classes, where the possible values of each parameter are protocol mechanisms, which serve the same goal in the multicast transport protocol. A multi-dimensional hyperspace of protocol parameters is stated, as a mathematical model of the optimization process where every transport protocol is represented as an individual point. A multicast transport Simulator for multiCast (SimCast) has been developed to describe the performance of the transport protocols and to simulate the operation of these protocols for reliable multicasting. The simulator supports the protocol analysis in the hyperspace of protocol parameters.
Authentication Methods for Computer Systems Security
Authors: Erlich Zippy , Zviran Moshe
Published: May 2011

With the rapid growth of networked systems and applications such as e-commerce, the demand for effective computer security is increasing. Most computer systems are protected through a process of user identification and authentication. While identification is usually non-private information provided by users to identify themselves and can be known by system administrators and other system users, authentication provides secret, private user information which can authenticate their identity. There are various authentication approaches and techniques, from passwords to public keys (Smith, 2002). This article presents the three main authentication approaches, their technology and implementation issues, and the factors to be considered when choosing an authentication method.
Bonded Design
Authors: Large Andrew , Nesset Valerie
Published: May 2011

It is hardly controversial to argue for user involvement in the technology design process: the issue rather is the extent of that involvement and whether or not this is related to the kind of user. In particular, can young children play a meaningful role in design, and if so, what should it be? Several design methodologies advocate a range of roles for children within the design process; this article presents a new such methodology, Bonded Design. Essentially, Bonded Design assumes an intergenerational team comprising adult designers and young users working together to produce a low-tech prototype. This team employs a variety of design techniques?conducting a user needs’ assessment, evaluating existing technologies, brainstorming, discussing ideas as a group, prototyping (for example, through drawings), and consensus building?to achieve its goal. Bonded Design emerged in 2003 from a research study to investigate whether elementary school students (specifi- cally in grades three and six) could actively participate in designing Web portals. To accomplish this objective two intergenerational design teams were established, each including children alongside researchers, which produced two low-tech portal prototypes (Large, Beheshti, Nesset, & Bowler, 2004; Large, Nesset, Beheshti, & Bowler, 2006, 2007). These prototypes subsequently were converted into working portals that received high praise in their evaluations by elementary school students. Indeed, one of these portals, History Trek, is now operational on the Web, providing access to information in English and French on Canadian history (http://www.historytrek.ca).
Building Secure and Dependable Online Gaming Applications
Authors: Chen Bo , Zhao Wenbing
Published: May 2011

Online gaming has become a multibillion-dollar industry. The security and dependability of such games are critical for both the game providers and honest game players alike. Essential to all such applications is the use of random numbers; for example, random numbers are needed to shuffle cards. For obvious reasons, if the hands can be predicated, players could gain unfair advantages. The nature of this type of applications poses great challenges in increasing their availability while preserving their integrity (Arkin, Hill, Marks, Scjmod, & Walls, 1999; Viega & McGraw, 2002; Young & Yung, 2004). Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT; Castro & Liskov, 2002) is a well-known technique to tolerate various malicious attacks to online systems and it often involves state machine replication (Schneider, 1990). However, state machine replication assumes that all replicas are deterministic, which is not the case for online gaming applications. In this article, we elaborate how we address this dilemma using an online poker application that uses a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) to shuffle the cards as an illustrating example. We propose two alternative strategies to cope with the intrinsic application nondeterminism. One depends on a Byzantine consensus algorithm and the other depends on a practical threshold signature scheme. Furthermore, we thoroughly discuss the strength and weaknesses of these two schemes.
A Classification of Approaches to Web-Enhanced Learning
Authors: Klobas Jane E. , Renzi Stefano
Published: May 2011

The World Wide Web has become a mature platform for the support of learning at universities. Several patterns have emerged, both in the nature of use, and in understanding the conditions associated with successful adoption and application of web-enhanced learning (WEL). This article summarizes, in the form of nine scenarios, the ways in which the Internet is being used to enhance learning in traditional universities. It also discusses the changes needed if universities are to benefit more widely from WEL.
Communication Integration in Virtual Construction
Authors: Barima O.K.B.
Published: May 2011

In recent times the use of the virtual and allied concepts in the delivery of tasks in the construction industry has received attention in literature (Barima, 2003). However it appears there is the lack of integrated models to support the study and practice of communication in the physical world (the place) and the virtual realms (the space) in the construction industry. This chapter seeks to evolve frameworks which integrate communication paths in the traditional construction place with that of the construction space. This approach may provide an integrated perspective to support the study and practice of communication in the place and space in the construction industry. First, a review of traditional communication theories is done, and then integrated models of the construction place and space are presented, before an integrated matrix of potential communication paths across likely construction work scenarios is given. The suggestions for future studies and the conclusions to this chapter are preceded by a map of the potential communication conflicts (or agreements) in both realms (i.e., physical and virtual).
Complex Organizations and Information Systems
Authors: Warne Leoni , Hasan Helen , Linger Henry
Published: May 2011

In modern organizations, information, and particularly knowledge, is known to be the most strategically important resource. The defining characteristics of modern organizational forms are purported to be flatter hierarchies, decentralized decision making, greater capacity for tolerance of ambiguity, permeable boundaries, capacity for renewal, self-organizing units, continual change, and an increasingly complex environment (Daft & Lewin, 1993; Warne, Ali, Bopping, Hart, & Pascoe, 2004). Yet, many systems that are developed to support organizational activities continue to fail at an alarming rate (Hart & Warne, 2005; Warne, 2002). Many explanations have been offered for such failures (e.g., DeLone & McLean, 1992; Fortune & Peters, 2005; Lyytinen & Hirschheim, 1987; Sauer, 1993; Warne, 2002), but contradictions and stresses continue to confound organizations and their use of information and communications technology (ICT). The challenge for information systems (IS) research and practice is to articulate an organizational paradigm, including its structures, forms, and systems, that will enable the organization to be agile, innovative, and have the capacity to learn. This article discusses some of the parameters for a new contemporary model for organizations.
Computer Attitude and Anxiety
Authors: Blignaut Pieter , Burger Andries , McDonald Theo , Tolmie Janse
Published: May 2011

Computers in the workplace are a given. Although the advantages of computers are well-known and proven, many people still try to avoid using them. It is extremely important to find out which factors influence the success of end-user computing. What are the reasons that some people excel on a computer while others have problems and even build up a resistance toward the use of computers? This chapter provides a literature-based overview of computer attitude and computer anxiety as factors that influence a user’s resistance, commitment, and achievement. A graphic model, according to which the interactions between computer attitude and anxiety, their causes, indicators, and impacts may be understood, is proposed. It is put forth that external strategies to deal with anxiety and a negative attitude are imperative to break down a snowballing effect of cause and effect and to ensure effective end-user computing.
Computing Curriculum Analysis and Development
Authors: Scime Anthony
Published: May 2011

Information technology (IT) is an umbrella term that encompasses disciplines dealing with the computer and its functions. These disciplines originated from interests in using the computer to solve problems, the theory of computation, and the development of the computer and its components. Professionals from around the world with similar interests in IT came together and formed international professional organizations. The professional organizations span the disciplines of computer engineering (CE), computer science (CS), software engineering (SE), computer information systems (CIS), management information systems (MIS), and information technology (IT) (Freeman & Aspray, 1999). Note that information technology is both an umbrella term and a specific discipline under that umbrella. These organizations exist to promote their profession and one method of promotion is through education. So, these professional organizations defined bodies of knowledge around the computer, which have been formalized and shaped as model curriculums. The organizations hope that colleges and universities will educate students in the IT disciplines to become knowledgeable professionals. Because of the common interest in computing, there is a basic theory and a common technical core that exists among the model curricula (Denning, 1999; Tucker et al., 1991). Nevertheless each of the model curricula emphasizes a different perspective of IT. Each fills a different role in providing IT professionals. It falls upon the colleges and universities to select and modify the corresponding curriculum model to fit their needs.
Creating Superior Knowledge Discovery Solutions
Authors: Wickramasinghe Nilmini
Published: May 2011

The information age has made information communication technology (ICT) a necessity for conducting business. This in turn has led to the exponential increase in the electronic capture of data and its storage in vast data warehouses. In order to respond quickly to fast changing markets, organizations must maximize these raw data and information resources. Specifically, they need to transform them into germane knowledge to aid superior decision-making (Wickramasinghe & von Lubitz, 2006). To do this effectively not only involves the analysis of the data and information but also requires the use of sophisticated tools to enable such analyses to occur. Knowledge discovery technologies represent a spectrum of new technologies that facilitate the analysis of data to find relationships from the data to finding reasons behind observable patterns (i.e., transform the data into relevant information and germane knowledge). Such new discoveries can have a profound impact on decision making in general and the designing of business strategies. With the massive increase in data being collected and the demands of a new breed of intelligent applications like customer relationship management, demand planning, and predictive forecasting, these knowledge discovery technologies are becoming competitive necessities for providing a high performance and feature rich intelligent application servers for intelligent enterprises. Knowledge management (KM) tools and technologies are the systems that integrate various legacy systems, databases, ERP systems, and data warehouse to help facilitate an organization’s knowledge discovery process. Integrating all of these with advanced decision support and online real time events enables an organization to understand customers better and devise business strategies accordingly. Creating a competitive edge is the goal of all organizations employing knowledge discovery for decision support (Thorne & Smith, 2000). The following provides a synopsis of the major tools and critical considerations required to enable an organization to successfully effect appropriate knowledge sharing, knowledge distribution, knowledge creation, as well as knowledge capture and codification processes and hence embrace effective knowledge management (KM) techniques and advanced knowledge discovery.
Credit Risk Assessment and Data Mining
Authors: Ponce de Leon Ferreira de Carvalho André Carlos , Portela Gama João Manuel , Ludermir Teresa Bernarda
Published: May 2011

The widespread use of databases and the fast increase of the volume of data they store are creating a problem and a new opportunity for credit companies. These companies are realizing the necessity of making an efficient use of the information stored in their databases, extracting useful knowledge to support their decision-making process. Nowadays, knowledge is the most valuable asset a company or nation may have. Several companies are investing large sums of money in the development of new computational tools able to extract meaningful knowledge from large volumes of data collected over many years. Among such companies, companies working with credit risk analysis have invested heavily in sophisticated computational tools to perform efficient data mining in their databases. The behavior of the financial market is affected by a large number of political, economic, and psychological factors, which are correlated and interact among themselves in a complex way. The majority of these relations seems to be probabilistic and non-linear. Thus, these relations are hard to express through deterministic rules. Simon (1960) classifies the financial management decisions in a continuous interval, whose limits are non-structure and highly structured. The highly structured decisions are those where the processes necessary for the achievement of a good solution are known beforehand and several computational tools to support the decisions are available. For non-structured decisions, only the managers’ intuition and experience are used. Specialists may support these managers, but the final decisions involve a substantial amount of subjective elements. Highly non-structured problems are not easily adapted to the computer-based conventional analysis methods or decision support systems (Hawley, Johnson, & Raina, 1996).
Current Practices in Electroencephalogram- Based Brain-Computer Interfaces
Authors: Palaniappan Ramaswamy , Syan Chanan S. , Paramesran Raveendran
Published: May 2011

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is the electrical activity of the brain recorded by electrodes placed on the scalp. EEG signals are generally investigated for the diagnosis of mental conditions such as epilepsy, memory impairments, and sleep disorders. In recent years there has been another application using EEG: for brain-computer interface (BCI) designs (Vaughan & Wolpaw, 2006). EEG-based BCI designs are very useful for hands-off device control and communication as they use the electrical activity of the brain to interface with the external environment, therefore circumventing the use of peripheral muscles and limbs. Some current applications of BCIs in communication systems are for paralyzed individuals to communicate with their surroundings through character/menu selection and in device control such as wheelchair movement, prosthetics control, and flight and rehabilitative (assistive) technologies. For the general public, some of the possible applications are hands-off menu selection, flight/space control, and virtual reality (entertainment). BCI has also been applied in biometrics (Palaniappan & Mandic, 2007).
Data Mining
Authors: Chen Sherry Y. , Liu Xiaohui
Published: May 2011

There is an explosion in the amount of data that organizations generate, collect, and store. Organizations are gradually relying more on new technologies to access, analyze, summarize, and interpret information intelligently. Data mining, therefore, has become a research area with increased importance (Amaratunga & Cabrera, 2004). Data mining is the search for valuable information in large volumes of data (Hand, Mannila, & Smyth, 2001). It can discover hidden relationships, patterns, and interdependencies and generate rules to predict the correlations, which can help the organizations make critical decisions faster or with a greater degree of confidence (Gargano & Ragged, 1999). There is a wide range of data mining techniques, which has been successfully used in many applications. This article is an attempt to provide an overview of existing data mining applications. The article begins by explaining the key tasks that data mining can achieve. It then moves to discuss applications domains that data mining can support. The article identifies three common application domains, including bioinformatics, electronic commerce, and search engines. For each domain, how data mining can enhance the functions will be described. Subsequently, the limitations of current research will be addressed, followed by a discussion of directions for future research.
Design and Applications of Digital Filters
Authors: Dolecek Gordana Jovanovic
Published: May 2011

Digital signal processing (DSP) is an area of engineering that “has seen explosive growth during the past three decades” (Mitra, 2005). Its rapid development is a result of significant advances in digital computer technology and integrated circuit fabrication (Jovanovic Dolecek, 2002; Smith, 2002). Diniz, da Silva, and Netto (2002) state that “the main advantages of digital systems relative to analog systems are high reliability, suitability for modifying the system’s characteristics, and low cost”. The main DSP operation is digital signal filtering, that is, the change of the characteristics of an input digital signal into an output digital signal with more desirable properties. The systems that perform this task are called digital filters. The applications of digital filters include the removal of the noise or interference, passing of certain frequency components and rejection of others, shaping of the signal spectrum, and so forth (Ifeachor & Jervis, 2001; Lyons, 2004; White, 2000). Digital filters are divided into finite impulse response (FIR) and infinite impulse response (IIR) filters. FIR digital filters are often preferred over IIR filters because of their attractive properties, such as linear phase, stability, and the absence of the limit cycle (Diniz, da Silva & Netto, 2002; Mitra, 2005). The main disadvantage of FIR filters is that they involve a higher degree of computational complexity compared to IIR filters with equivalent magnitude response (Mitra, 2005; Stein, 2000).
Diffusion of E-Learning as an Educational Innovation
Authors: Askar Petek , Halici Ugur
Published: May 2011

Most of the discussions related to education are about technological innovations. Indeed as Rogers (1995) stated, we often use the word “innovation” and “technology” as synonyms. Technology is regarded as an agent of change in educational settings, and a quick analysis of the educational projects all over the world shows us that it is not possible to define a future vision of education without technology, especially e-learning, which brings two important concepts together: technology and learning. Therefore as a form of distance learning, e-learning has become a major instructional force in the world. Besides the technological developments, the last two decades have brought a tremendous increase in knowledge in education, particularly in learning. The emerging views of learning which should be taken into consideration for every learning environment could be stated as follows: personalized, flexible, and coherent (learning is connected to real-life issues); not bounded by physical, geographic, or temporal space; rich in information and learning experiences for all learners; committed to increasing different intelligences and learning styles; interconnected and collaborative; fostering interorganizational linkages; engaged in dialogue with community members; accountable to the learner to provide adaptive instructional environments (Marshall, 1997). WWW is an environment that fits the new paradigm of learning and facilitates “e-learning” which faces a challenge of diffusion. Diffusion is defined by Rogers (1995) as the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. Therefore the adoption of WWW as a learning environment is influenced by the following set of factors: 1) the individuals’ perception of the attributes of e-learning, 2) the nature of the communication channels, 3) the nature of the social system, and 4) the extent of the change agents’ efforts in the e-learning. These are the variables that affect the diffusion of e-learning in the schools and countries.
Distance Education Initiatives Apart from the PC
Authors: Pazos-Arias José Juan , López-Nores Martín
Published: May 2011

Developed countries have long been interested in distance education. This interest is growing due to the advance toward a global economy, because education is commonly regarded as the best way to maintain a region’s competitiveness. Thus, we have recently witnessed a great development of e-learning (taken as a synonym for Web-based learning, or learning through an Internet-enabled computer) to the point that using the Internet to deliver educational material has practically displaced the early initiatives based on postal mail, radio, or television. The initial evolution of the Internet led to envisaging a massive adoption of e-learning solutions. However, as proved by data from Internet World Stats (http://www.internetworldstats. com), the penetration of the Internet in homes has been rather limited (around 35% in Europe and 67% in the USA), so it follows that the penetration of e-learning has been limited too. This is indeed one consequence of the socalled digital divide, that is, the separation between people who make frequent use of the information technologies and those who have no access to them or, even having access, lack the necessary knowledge to use them. A divide in the access to technology can lead to inequalities in the access to knowledge and education, posing risks of social exclusion. To prevent that, public administrations have launched large-scale initiatives, like the World Summit on the Information Society and the i2010 plan, that aim at making technology available to everyone, at anytime and from anywhere. As a cornerstone, these initiatives promote the development of access platforms different from the PC, with special interest in harnessing the interactive features of devices that have attained greater penetration in society. This includes the new digital TV set-top boxes, which bear the term t-learning, and the modern mobile devices (e.g., mobile telephones and media players), which set the foundations for m-learning. The vision, as represented in Figure 1, is that the information technologies, combined with suitable pedagogical and andragogical approaches, will enable a scenario of ubiquitous and lifelong learning, freeing people from time and place constraints, and offering flexible learning opportunities to individuals and groups. This article describes technical, methodological, and educational issues that make t-learning and m-learning substantially different from previous works on e-learning. We also review developments in both areas to finally discuss problems that may be the subject of much research in the near future.
E-Commerce Taxation Issues
Authors: Raisinghani Mahesh S. , Petty Dan S.
Published: May 2011

This article is designed to give the reader a balanced perspective on some of the issues surrounding the current discussions related to state and local taxation of Internet access fees and sales transactions. It attempts to express the issues being discussed and presents several viewpoints. The proponents of Internet taxation are searching for technological and administrative system to meet their goal. After much deliberation, the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce released its final recommendations to Congress in April 2000. Major emphasis is being placed on simplification, neutrality, avoiding double taxation and accepting the existing tax rules with no new taxes. The United States economy has benefited tremendously by e-commerce. This escalation has created numerous highly skilled jobs, providing the consumer with goods and services at competitive prices. The Internet Tax Fairness Coalition and many other groups feel that implementing taxes on the Internet transaction can have an adverse affect on the businesses. According to the Supreme Court of United States, a vendor has a sales tax obligation only when the buyer and seller are in the same state or has a physical presence (nexus) in the buyer’s state. These coalitions feel that entry barriers for new and old companies, who have yet to exploit the e-commerce, will slow the growth in this sector. With over 30,000 taxing jurisdictions, tax collection and payment can be a complex process. Many street retailers collect at a single rate, and prepare and file a single tax return at one place. Taxation of online transactions would require the vendor to identify and send forms to all taxing jurisdictions. Under the present circumstances, the ever-changing maze of state and local tax policies makes application of a single Internet transaction tax policy virtually impossible. The complicated, complex and ever changing maze of state and local tax policies and laws make application of a sensible, fair and easily understood Internet transaction tax policy virtually impossible under the present circumstances. James Plummer, a policy analyst at Consumer Alert wrote, “Nefarious new taxes and regulations will kill many new start-up e-businesses before they even start up; denying consumers their chance to find the specialized products and services for their needs” (Plummer, 2000). The anti-tax community and coalitions have a strong adversary in the National Governor’s Association. The State is worried that the brick and mortar stores are jeopardized by the popularization of Internet commerce, which is taxfree. The Governors suggest that government tax policy offers a competitive advantage to Internet stores. Major brick and mortar retailers such as Sears and Wal-Mart are concerned that if unresolved, this issue may gain much public resistance, thus making the taxing of e-commerce politically impossible.
Efficient Multirate Filtering
Authors: Milic Ljiljana D.
Published: May 2011

A multirate filter can be defined as a digital filter in which the input data rate is changed in one or more intermediate points. With the efficient multirate approach, computations are evaluated at the lowest possible sampling rate, thus improving the computational efficiency, increasing the computation speed, and lowering the power consumption. Multirate filters are of essential importance for communications, image processing, digital audio, and multimedia. The role of multirate filtering in modern signal processing systems is threefold: Firstly, they are used whenever there is a need to preserve the signal properties when connecting two systems operating at different sampling rates. Secondly, multirate techniques are used for constructing filters with stringent spectral constraints that are very difficult, even impossible, to be solved otherwise. Thirdly, multirate filters are used in constructing multirate filter banks.
Free and Open Source Software
Authors: AlMarzouq Mohammad , Rong Guang , Grover Varun
Published: May 2011

Free and open source software (F/OSS) is emerging as a promising alternative to proprietary software. The interest in F/OSS solutions is growing as firms realize that it could help reduce IT expenditures. Unfortunately, despite the heightened interest, F/OSS solutions remain misunderstood, and a number of myths regarding this approach still prevail. F/OSS has been described as simply software, or even software specific for the Linux operating system, with hardly any reliable support available. Some have considered it a silver bullet solution that will always create superior quality software at lower or no cost (Wheatley, 2004). The purpose of this article is to demystify these misconceptions surrounding F/OSS and provide an understanding of its basic concepts. Then, based on these concepts, we try to illustrate how companies can benefit from F/OSS. Our hope is that this article would assist interested observers to better understand F/OSS and help managers make more informed decisions regarding F/OSS solutions.
Gender and Computer Anxiety
Authors: Kase Sue E. , Ritter Frank E.
Published: May 2011

Because of their ability to enhance productivity, computers have become ubiquitous in the workplace. By the early 1990s the use of computers in the workplace reached a per capita penetration that the telephone took 75 years to achieve (Webster & Martocchio, 1992). During the past several decades, there has been both speculation and hard research related to the psychological effects of computer technology. More recently the role of attitudes towards computers in influencing the acceptance and use of computer-based management information systems (MIS) has been highlighted by a growing number of MIS researchers. Generally, these studies focus on the negative attitudes towards computers and concerns about the impact of MIS on individual performance in the workplace. Computer anxiety has been reported to be associated with negative attitudes towards computers. As computers play a pervasive role in MIS and decision support systems, these findings emphasize the need for additional empirical research on the determinants of computer anxiety and attitudes towards computers. Furthermore, with the increasing participation of women in information technology professions, important questions are whether men and women differ with regard to computer anxiety and attitudes towards computers, and what factors explain such differences where they exist, and how to ameliorate anxiety where it occurs.
Global Digital Divide
Authors: Kshetri Nir , Dholakia Nikhilesh
Published: May 2011

Despite rapidly falling costs of hardware, software and telecommunications services, a wide gap persists between rich and poor nations in terms of their capabilities of accessing, delivering, and exchanging information in digital forms (Carter and Grieco, 2000). According to a report published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 2006, a person in a high-income country was more than 22 times likely to use the Internet than someone in a low-income country (UNCTAD, 2006). The ratios were 29 times for mobile phones and 21 times for fixed phones. An estimate suggested that more than 95% of e-commerce transactions in 2003 were industrialized countries (Tedeschi, 2003). Another estimate suggested that 99.9% of business-to-consumer e-commerce in 2003 took place in the developed regions of North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific (Computer Economics, 2000). This is a form of commercial divide (UN Chronicle, 2003). Another estimate suggests that 80 percent of the global trade in high technology products originates from Europe, the U.S., and Japan (Bowonder, 2001) and 92 % of the patents granted in the world are owned by the members of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (Archibugi and Iammarino, 2000). Whereas high-income countries have income 63 times that of low-income countries, the respective ratios are 97 for PCs, 133 for mobile phones, and over 2,100 for Internet hosts (Dholakia and Kshetri, 2003). While reliable data on e-commerce transactions are not available, the ratio is likely to be even higher for e-commerce transactions since e-commerce is virtually non-existent in many developing countries. The pattern indicates that the gap between developed and developing countries is wider for more recent technologies such as PC, mobile phone, and the Internet than for technologies which were introduced earlier. This article provides an assessment of three computer networks that redefine the conventional definition of market value by allowing developing nations and communities (Brooks, 2001) reap the benefits of modern ICTs: Global Trade Point Network (GTPNet) and Little Intelligent Communities (LINCOS).
Government Intervention in SMEs E-Commerce Adoption
Authors: Scupola Ada
Published: May 2011

Innovation and technological change has been considered an important factor for economic development. Information technology has been among the fastest growing innovations in both production and use in the second half of the last century. In the last decade, a particular type of information technology, the Internet, has been changing business processes, organizational and industrial structures and given form to new communication and business forms as for example e-commerce. The institutional environment created by governments in the form of policies and interventions is very important for the economic development of developed as well as developing nations (e.g., North, 1990). The external environment, and especially the role of government, has been very important in the adoption and diffusion of technological innovations such as telecommunications and more recently e-commerce (e.g., Tornatzky & Fleischer, 1990). Government intervention is and has been especially important at sustaining technological development in SMEs (Rothwell, 1994). Recently, many governments and international organizations are taking initiatives to foster the adoption of electronic commerce in small and medium size enterprises (OECD, 1999). For example the American government has set up a set of guidelines to foster the diffusion of electronic commerce in SMEs and the European Union has approved a series of “Directives” aiming at guaranteeing free availability of products and services for electronic signatures, copyright protection, taxation policy, and so forth (http://europa. eu.int/). This study provides insights into small and medium size enterprises’ perception of government intervention in e-commerce adoption in Southern Italy. The research question addressed is: “How do SMEs perceive government intervention in adoption and diffusion of e-commerce and what do they believe government intervention should focus on?” This study does not however differentiate between different types of governments, such as local, regional and national governments. The research was designed as a case study (Yin, 1994) and was conducted in Southern Italy. The chapter is structured as follows. The next section provides a background of the institutional roles in adoption and diffusion of IT. The following section presents the research methodology. This is followed by the main thrust of the chapter that presents the major findings. Finally the last two sections discuss future trends and give some concluding remarks and suggestions for further research respectively.