bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
What Is It Like to Be a Robot?
Authors: Warwick Kevin
Published: May 2011

It is now possible to grow a biological brain within a robot body. As an outsider it is exciting to consider what the brain is thinking about, when it is interacting with the world at large, and what issues cause it to ponder on its break times. As a result it appears that it will not be too long before we actually find out what it would really be like to be a robot. Here we look at the technology involved and investigate the possibilities on offer. Fancy the idea of being a robot yourself? Then read on!
A Framework for the use of Business Activity Monitoring in Process Improvement
Authors: Molloy Owen , Sheridan Claire
Published: May 2011

Process performance improvement initiatives can be significantly enhanced in terms of performance measurement and diagnosis by real-time performance, quality and traceability information. Currently available Business Intelligence (BI) and Business Process Management (BPM) systems struggle to provide sufficiently lightweight or flexible solutions for the needs of process improvement projects. In addition, current process modelling languages such as XPDL and BPEL provide little or no support for the inclusion of detailed process performance metrics. This paper describes a generic framework using event-based process modelling to support the definition and inclusion of performance metrics and targets within process models, and the calculation of process performance metrics at user-defined intervals. The iWise implementation of this framework is an XML and Web services-based infrastructure that uses this event-based model for enhancing process visibility using real-time process metrics. Users can adjust alert thresholds on key process metrics in real-time. iWise also evaluates events for outlier or out-of-bounds events as they are processed. It uses an integrated rules engine, leveraging semantic technologies to write rules which are tested as process-related events occur in real-time.
A New Meta-Heuristic Multi-Objective Approach For Optimal Dispatch of Dispersed and Renewable Generating Units in Power Distribution Systems
Authors: Sanseverino Eleonora Riva , Zizzo Gaetano , Scimemi Giuseppe Fileccia
Published: May 2011

The application of stochastic methods in engineering research and optimization has been increasing over the past few decades. Ant Colony Optimization, in particular, has been attracting growing attention as a promising approach both in discrete and continuous domains. The present work proposes a multi-objective Ant Colony Optimization for continuous domains showing good convergence properties and uniform coverage of the non-dominated front. These properties have been proved both with mathematical test functions and with a complex real world problem. Besides the second part of the chapter presents the application of the new algorithm to the problem of optimal dispatch of dispersed power generation units in modern electrical distribution networks. The issue is intrinsically multi-objective and the objectives are calculated based on the solution of the power load flow problem. The performances of the algorithm have been compared to those of the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II on all applications. The chapter is organized as follows, in the introductory part, the relevance of multi-objective optimization problems to modern power distribution operation is outlined. Then the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II is described as well as the proposed Multi-objective Ant Colony Optimization algorithm in details. Both approaches are compared on a test suite of mathematical test functions. Finally, an interesting case study in the field of modern electrical distribution systems management is proposed.
Output Stream of Binding Neuron with Feedback
Authors: Vidybida Alexander , Kravchuk Kseniya
Published: May 2011

The binding neuron (BN) output firing statistics is considered. The neuron is driven externally by the Poisson stream of intensity . The influence of the feedback, which conveys every output impulse to the input with time delay , on the statistics of BN's output spikes is considered. The resulting output stream is not Poissonian, and we look for its interspike intervals (ISI) distribution for the case of BN, BN with instantaneous, , and delayed, , feedback. For the BN with threshold 2 an exact mathematical expressions as functions of ,  and BN's internal memory,  are derived for the ISI distribution, output intensity and ISI coefficient of variation. For higher thresholds these quantities are found numerically. The distributions found for the case of instantaneous feedback include jumps and derivative discontinuities and differ essentially from those obtained for BN without feedback. Statistics of a neuron with delayed feedback has remarkable peculiarities as compared to the case of . ISI distributions, found for delayed feedback, are characterized with jumps, derivative discontinuities and include singularity of Dirac's -function type. The obtained ISI coefficient of variation is a unimodal function of input intensity, with the maximum value considerably bigger than unity. It is concluded that delayed feedback presence can radically alter neuronal output firing statistics.
Expert Guided Autonomous Mobile Robot Learning
Authors: Narvydas Gintautas , Raudonis Vidas , Simutis Rimvydas
Published: May 2011

In the control of autonomous mobile robots there exist two types of control: global control and local control. The requirement to solve global and local tasks arises respectively. This chapter concentrates on local tasks and shows that robots can learn to cope with some local tasks within minutes. The main idea of the chapter is to show that, while creating intelligent control systems for autonomous mobile robots, the beginning is most important as we have to transfer as much as possible human knowledge and human expert-operator skills into the intelligent control system. Successful transfer ensures fast and good results. One of the most advanced techniques in robotics is an autonomous mobile robot on-line learning from the experts’ demonstrations. Further, the latter technique is briefly described in this chapter. As an example of local task the wall following is taken. The main goal of our experiment is to teach the autonomous mobile robot within 10 minutes to follow the wall of the maze as fast and as precisely as it is possible. This task also can be transformed to the obstacle circuit on the left or on the right. The main part of the suggested control system is a small Feed-Forward Artificial Neural Network. In some particular cases – critical situations – “If-Then” rules undertake the control, but our goal is to minimize possibility that these rules would start controlling the robot. The aim of the experiment is to implement the proposed technique on the real robot. This technique enables to reach desirable capabilities in control much faster than they would be reached using Evolutionary or Genetic Algorithms, or trying to create the control systems by hand using “If-Then” rules or Fuzzy Logic. In order to evaluate the quality of the intelligent control system to control an autonomous mobile robot we calculate objective function values and the percentage of the robot work loops when “If-Then” rules control the robot.
Self-Tuning Control Systems
Authors: Burnham Keith J , Zajic Ivan , Linden Jens G
Published: May 2011

A concise technical overview of some of the key ‘landmark’ developments in self-tuning control (STC) are presented. The notion of two coupled sub-algorithms forming the basis of STC together with enhancements to produce adaptive on-line procedures is discussed as well as the potential limitations of such schemes. The techniques covered include optimal minimum variance, sub-optimal pole-placement and long range model-based predictive control. Based on the experiences of the authors in the industrial application of STC, extensions of the standard linear model-based approaches to encompass a class of bilinear model-based schemes, are proposed. Some on-going developments and future research directions in STC for bilinear systems are highlighted. These include the requirements for combined algorithms for control and fault diagnosis and the need for models of differing complexities.
A Knowledge-Based Approach for Microwire Casting Plant Control
Authors: Zaporojan S. , Plotnic C. , Calmicov I. , Larin V.
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents the main ideas and preliminary results of an applied research project concerning the development of an intelligent plant for microwire casting. The properties of glass-coated microwires are useful for a variety of sensor applications. On the other hand, the process of casting can be one of the methods of nanotechnology and advanced materials. In microwire continuous casting, the main control problem is to maintain the optimum thermal and flow conditions of the process, in order to fabricate the microwire of a given stable diameter. Unlike a conventional casting plant, we propose to use a video camera to take the picture of the molten drop and to control the casting process by means of a knowledge based system. For this reason, a model, that is capable of taking into account the current features of the process and of describing the shape of the drop at each time, is developed. The model presented here should allow us to estimate the geometry of the metal-filled capillary and predict the diameter of microwire at each time during the casting process.
Scalable Video Coding
Authors: Hellwagner Hermann , Kofler Ingo , Eberhard Michael , Kuschnig Robert , Ransburg Michael , Sablatschan Michael
Published: May 2011

This chapter covers the topic of making use of scalable video content in streaming frameworks and applications. Specifically, the recent standard H.264/SVC, i.e., the scalable extension of the widely used H.264/AVC coding scheme, and its deployment for adaptive streaming, the combined activities of content adaptation and streaming, are considered. H.264/SVC is regarded as a promising candidate to enable applications to cope with bandwidth variations in networks and heterogeneous usage environments, mainly diverse end device capabilities and constraints. The relevant coding and transport principles of H.264/SVC are reviewed first. Subsequently, a general overview of H.264/SVC applications is given. The chapter then focuses on presenting architectural/implementation options and applications of H.264/SVC for adaptive streaming, emphasizing the aspect of where, i.e., on which network node and on which layer in the networking stack, in the video delivery path the content adaptation can take place; also, methods of content adaptation are covered. This pragmatic perspective is seen as complementing more general discussions of scalable video adaptation issues in the existing literature.
Dirac Video Codec
Authors: Keong Kok , Tun Myo , Chang Yoong Choon
Published: May 2011

Dirac was started off by British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) in 2003 as an experimental video coding system based on wavelet technology, which is different from that used in the main proprietary/standard video compression systems. Over the years, Dirac has grown out of its initial development and it is now on offer as an advanced royalty-free video coding system designed for a wide range of users, from delivering low-resolution web content to broadcasting high-definition (HD) and beyond, to near-lossless studio editing. The Dirac’s video coding architecture and algorithms are designed with the “keep it simple” mindset. In spite of that the Dirac seems to give a two-fold reduction in bitrate over MPEG-2 for HD video and broadly competitive with state-of-the-art video codecs. This chapter introduces the architecture of Dirac video encoder. The overall encoding structure is discussed followed by the detail description of motion estimation, Overlapped Block-based Motion Compensation (OBMC), Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Rate Distortion Optimization (RDO) quantization and entropy coding. The Dirac’s bitstream syntax for compressed video data storage and streaming is described. Besides that, the coding performance of Dirac in terms of compression ratio, PSNR, SSIM and VQM in comparison with H.264 as a reference are discussed. Related issues such as transcoding and streaming over packat erasure channel are also discussed.
Robust Video Streaming over MANET and VANET
Authors: Fleury Martin , Qadri Nadia N , Altaf Muhammad , Ghanbari Mohammed
Published: May 2011

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are a further step towards wireless networks with no or limited infrastructure and Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) extend this concept, introducing diverse mobility patterns but removing the need for battery power conservation. Video streaming and multimedia applications in general have become an engine of growth in wireless networking and this Chapter shows how video streaming can take place in this challenging environment. Error resilience and path diversity are presented as the key to robust streaming. The Chapter shows that simplified forms of multiple description coding are a practical route to take, with redundant frames in the temporal domain or Flexible Macroblock Ordering in the spatial domain offering preferred solutions. As a form of management of streaming, distributed sourcing via peer-to-peer streaming is experimented within VANET simulations. Error resilience methods, peer-to-peer streaming, and multi-path routing are reviewed. The Chapter considers the exploitation of path diversity over a MANET and a VANET. Path diversity allows the merging of the peer-to-peer concept with ad hoc networks. Future research directions are reviewed.
Video Delivery in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Guo S. , Little T.D.C.
Published: May 2011

Recent advances in wireless communications technology and low-power, low-cost CMOS imaging sensors stimulate research on the analysis and design of ubiquitous video sensing and delivery in wireless sensor networks. However, scalable deployments remain limited or impractical. Critical challenges such as radio interference, limited channel capacity, and constrained energy resources are still barriers to large-scale deployment of these wireless video sensor networks. The solution space can be explored in several dimensions including data compression, video image analysis and extraction, and intelligent data routing. In this chapter we focus on the analysis of video delivery and data routing techniques for wireless video sensor networks. Our work is intended to inspire additional efforts leading to video routing techniques optimized to different topologies, the physical medium, network channels, and energy constraints.
A Conceptual Framework for Developing and Evaluating ERP Implementation Strategies in Multinational Organizations
Authors: Kelzenberg Kai , Wagner Thomas , Reimers Kai
Published: May 2011

The chapter develops generic strategies for the specification and implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in a multinational company. After the presentation of a framework for categorizing companies by their global business orientation, ERP strategies corresponding to each category are derived. Subsequently, various implementation strategies are developed for each type of ERP strategy; they provide decision makers with a high degree of freedom in specifying an implementation strategy in accordance with a company’s strategic goals. The results are summarized in a phase model; the overall approach is illustrated by two polar cases.
Integrated Research and Training in Enterprise Information Systems
Authors: Cheng Chen-Yang
Published: May 2011

The success of implementing Enterprise Information System (EIS) depends on exploring and improving the EIS software, and EIS software training. However, the synthesis of the EIS implementation approach has not been investigated. In this chapter, the authors propose an integrated research and training approach for students and employees about enterprise information systems (EIS) that are encountered in an organization. Our integrated approach follows the different stages of a typical EIS project from inception to completion. These stages, as identified, are modeling, planning, simulation, transaction, integration, and control. This ensures that an employee who is trained by this plan has an acquaintance with the typical information systems in an organization. Further, for training and research purposes the authors developed prototype information systems that emulate the ones usually found in organizations. This ensures the EIS software logic is consistent with the business logic. This chapter also discuss some of the case studies conducted with the prototype systems.
Enterprise Information System Security
Authors: Mazumdar Chandan
Published: May 2011

There has been an unprecedented thrust in employing Computers and Communication technologies in all walks of life. The systems enabled by Information Technology are becoming more and more complex resulting in various threats and vulnerabilities. The security properties, like confidentiality, integrity, and availability, are becoming more and more difficult to protect. In this chapter, a life-cycle approach to achieve and maintain security of enterprises has been proposed. First, enterprise information systems are looked at in detail. Then, the need for enterprise information system security and problems associated with security implementation are discussed. The authors consider enterprise information system security as a management issue and detail the information security parameters. Finally, the proposed security engineering life-cycle is described in detail, which includes, Security Requirement Analysis, Security Policy Formulation, Security Infrastructure Advisory Generation, Security Testing and Validation, and Review and Monitoring phases.
An Overview of Executive Information Systems
Authors: Moynihan Gary P.
Published: May 2011

An executive information system (EIS) is a software system designed to support the informational needs of senior management. The EIS is characterized by an easy to use and maintainable graphical user interface; integrated capabilities for data access, analysis, and control; analysis and report generation across multiple files; and on-request “drill down” capability. Most existing management information systems provide an enormous quantity of detailed status reports. However, they lack the capability of providing summarized levels of information, in an appropriate format, for higher levels of management. This problem has continued despite the emergence of enterprise resource planning systems. By understanding the concept and functionality of traditional executive information systems, readers will also be able to better understand how EIS has adapted to meet the requirements of senior management in an enterprise system environment.
Enterprise Information Systems
Authors: Kidd Paul T.
Published: May 2011

The implementation of Enterprise Information Systems is a difficult task, even for large companies. It can be even more so for Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs), for most are seriously constrained in terms of time, money and skills. The key to successful implementation lies in achieving an alignment between strategy, technology, organization and people, and also in achieving commitment to the new technologies. An implementation method called HiSTOP, which stands for High Integration of Strategy, Technology, Organization and People, is described. This method provides a means of adjusting all four elements so that each is appropriate and also so that all four elements fit together. Although the method was initially designed with SMEs in mind, the method is also suitable for larger companies, hence the chapter considers both types of enterprises. The method places emphasis on development of internal implementation competencies. The key foundational principles of the method are discussed along with some key findings from early trials.
Designing Data Marts from XML and Relational Data Sources
Authors: Hachaichi Yasser , Feki Jamel , Ben-Abdallah Hanene
Published: May 2011

Due to the international economic competition, enterprises are ever looking for efficient methods to build data marts/warehouses to analyze the large data volume in their decision making process. On the other hand, even though the relational data model is the most commonly used model, any data mart/ warehouse construction method must now deal with other data types and in particular XML documents which represent the dominant type of data exchanged between partners and retrieved from the Web. This chapter presents a data mart design method that starts from both a relational database source and XML documents compliant to a given DTD. Besides considering these two types of data structures, the originality of our method lies in its being decision maker centered, its automatic extraction of loadable data mart schemas and its genericity.
A Voice-Enabled Pervasive Web System with Self-Optimization Capability for Supporting Enterprise Applications
Authors: Chang Shuchih Ernest
Published: May 2011

Other than providing Web services through popular Web browser interfaces, pervasive computing may offer new ways of accessing Internet applications by utilizing various modes of interfaces to interact with their end-users, and its technology could involve new ways of interfacing with various types of gateways to back-end servers from any device, anytime, and anywhere. In this chapter, mobile phone was used as the pervasive device for accessing an Internet application prototype, a voice-enabled Web system (VWS), through voice user interface technology. Today’s Web sites are intricate but not intelligent, so finding an efficient method to assist user searching is particularly important. One of these efficient methods is to construct an adaptive Web site. This chapter shows that multimodal userinterface pages can be generated by using XSLT stylesheet which transforms XML documents into various formats including XHTML, WML, and VoiceXML. It also describes how VWS was designed to provide an adaptive voice interface using an Apache Web server, a voice server, a Java servlet engine, and a genetic algorithm based voice Web restructuring mechanism.
Enterprise Specific BPM Languages and Tools
Authors: Brahe Steen
Published: May 2011

Many enterprises use their own domain concepts when they model business processes. They may also use technology in specialized ways when they implement the business processes in a Business Process Management (BPM) system. In contrast, BPM tools often provide a standard business process modeling language, a standard implementation technology and a fixed transformation that may generate the implementation from the model. This makes the tools inflexible and difficult to use. This chapter presents another approach. It applies the basic model driven development principles of direct representation and automation to BPM tools through a tool experiment in Danske Bank. We develop BPM tools that capture Danske Banks specific modeling concepts and use of technology and which automate the generation of code. An empirical evaluation reveals remarkable improvements in development productivity and code quality. We conclude that BPM tools should provide flexibility to allow customization to the specific needs of an enterprise.
Semantic Business Process Mining of SAP Transactions
Authors: Ingvaldsen Jon Espen , Gulla Jon Atle
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces semantic business process mining of SAP transaction logs. SAP systems are promising domains for semantic process mining as they contain transaction logs that are linked to large amounts of structured data. A challenge with process mining these transaction logs is that the core of SAP systems was not originally designed from the business process management perspective. The business process layer was added later without full rearrangement of the system. As a result, system logs produced by SAP are not process-based, but transaction-based. This means that the system does not produce traces of process instances that are needed for process mining. In this chapter, we show how data available in SAP systems can enrich process instance logs with ontologically structured concepts, and evaluate techniques for mapping executed transaction sequences with predefined process hierarchies.
QoS-Oriented Grid-Enabled Data Warehouses
Authors: de Carvalho Costa Rogério Luís , Furtado Pedro
Published: May 2011

Globally accessible data warehouses are useful in many commercial and scientific organizations. For instance, research centers can be put together through a grid infrastructure in order to form a large virtual organization with a huge virtual data warehouse, which should be transparently and efficiently queried by grid participants. As it is frequent in the grid environment, in the Grid-based Data Warehouse one can both have resource constraints and establish Service Level Objectives (SLOs), providing some Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation for each group of users, participant organizations or requested operations. In this work, we discuss query scheduling and data placement in the grid-based data warehouse, proposing the use of QoS-aware strategies. There are some works on parallel and distributed data warehouses, but most do not concern the grid environment and those which do so, use best-effort oriented strategies. Our experimental results show the importance and effectiveness of proposed strategies.
EIS Systems and Quality Management
Authors: Gerritsen Bart H.M.
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the support of quality management by Enterprise Information Systems. After a brief introduction in ISO9001, one of the principle and widest-spread quality management frameworks, this chapter discusses the design and implementation of a typical QMS and in particular of key performance indicators, indicating the present state of performance in the organization. While analyzing design and implementation issues, requirements on the supporting EIS system will be derived. Finally, the chapter presents an outlook onto future developments, trends and research. This chapter reveals that key performance indicators can be well integrated in EIS systems, using either relational or objectoriented storage technology.
Towards Identifying the Most Important Attributes of ERP Implementations
Authors: Soja Piotr
Published: May 2011

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have been implemented in various and diverse organizations. The size of companies, their industry, the environment, and the number of implemented modules are examples of their heterogeneity. In consequence, a single procedure which leads to the success of implementation does not appear to exist. Therefore, there have been many implementations that have failed during, and also after, the implementation process. As a result, a considerable amount of research has been trying to identify issues influencing ultimate project success and also to recognize the best implementation projects. The aim of this work is to identify the most important characteristics of ERP implementation which affect project success. This study builds on data gathered using a questionnaire directed toward people playing leading roles in ERP implementations in a few dozen companies. Twelve attributes were identified and divided into three sets representing: effort, effect, and the synthetic measure of success calculated on the basis of the obtained data. Two agglomeration methods were employed to identify exemplar and anti-exemplar groups and objects. These elements were thoroughly analyzed, which led to identifying the most and the least desired attributes of an ERP implementation project. The findings are discussed and related with the results of prior research. Finally, implications for practitioners and concluding remarks summarise the chapter.
Multiple-Step Backtracking of Exception Handling in Autonomous Business Process Management
Authors: Wang Mingzhong , Chen Jinjun , Ramamohanarao Kotagiri , Unruh Amy
Published: May 2011

This chapter proposes a multiple-step backtracking mechanism to maintain a tradeoff between replanning and rigid backtracking for exception handling and recovery, thus enabling business process management (BPM) systems to operate robustly even in complex and dynamic environments. The concept of BDI (belief, desire and intention) agent is applied to model and construct the BPM system to inherit its advantages of adaptability and flexibility. Then, the flexible backtracking approach is introduced by utilizing the beneficial features of event-driven and means-end reasoning of BDI agents. Finally, we incorporate open nested transaction model to encapsulate plan execution and backtracking to gain the system level support of concurrency control and automatic recovery. With the ability of reasoning about task characteristics, our approach enables the system to find and commence a suitable plan prior to or in parallel with a compensation process when a failure occurs. This kind of computing allows us to achieve business goals efficiently in the presence of exceptions and failures.
Enterprise Systems, Control and Drift
Authors: Ignatiadis Ioannis , Nandhakumar Joe
Published: May 2011

Enterprise Systems are widespread in current organizations and seen as integrating organizational procedures across functional divisions. An Enterprise System, once installed, seems to enable or constrain certain actions by users, which have an impact on organizational operations. Those actions may result in increased organizational control, or may lead to organizational drift. The processes that give rise to such outcomes are investigated in this chapter, which is based on a field study of five companies. By drawing on the theoretical concepts of human and machine agencies, as well as the embedding and disembedding of information in the system, this chapter argues that control and drift arising from the use of an Enterprise System are outcomes of the processes of embedding and disembedding human actions, which are afforded (enabled or constrained) by the Enterprise System.
The Impact of Enterprise Systems on Business Value
Authors: Mathrani Sanjay , Rashid Mohammad A. , Viehland Dennis
Published: May 2011

A significant investment in resources is required for implementation of integrated enterprise systems as technology solutions while the effectiveness of these systems to achieve business value remains unclear and empirically largely unexplored. Enterprise systems integrate and automate business processes, but unarguably, the real business value can only be achieved from improvements through the transformation of enterprise systems data into knowledge by applying analytic and decision making processes. This study explores a model of transforming ES data into knowledge and results by comparing two case studies that examine the impact of enterprise systems information on organizational functions and processes leading to realization of business value.
Challenges in Enterprise Information Systems Implementation
Authors: Singla Ashim Raj
Published: May 2011

Enterprise Information Systems are the most integrated information systems that cut across various organizations as well as various functional areas. Small and medium enterprises, competitor’s behavior, business partner requirement are the identified and established dimensions that affect these systems. Further it has been observed that such enterprise wide software systems prove to be a failure either in the design or its implementation. A number of reasons contribute in the success or failure of such systems. Enterprise information systems inherently present unique risks due to tightly linked interdependencies of business processes, relational databases, and process reengineering, etc. Knowledge of such risks is important in design of system and program management as they contribute to success of overall system. In this chapter an attempt has been made to study the design and implementation risks factors for ERP systems in large scale manufacturing organizations. Based on the model used to study ERP risks and thus the findings, various recommendations have been put forward to suggest a strategy so as to mitigate and manage such risks.
Analyzing Diffusion and Value Creation Dimensions of a Business Case of Replacing Enterprise Systems
Authors: Cua Francisco Chia , Garrett Tony C.
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the Firm-Level Value Creation Model as a means of planning Information Systems projects based on their potential for generating business value. It presents a review of economic literature on firm-level value creation based on the premise that ex-ante economic inefficiencies embedded in the firm processes are the key enabler of effectiveness in IT project implementations. After presenting a detailed case study in the banking industry to discuss the argument, the chapter describes how to implement a practical assessment of the potential effectiveness of any IT project. By presenting the underlying theoretical foundations of the business value generation mechanism, the author intends to contribute to the academy by bringing the economic theories to the center of the analysis of IT value generation. On the other hand, the chapter also assists practitioners by presenting a tool that can identify projects more likely to deliver value.
Sizing ERP Implementation Projects
Authors: Janssens Guy , Kusters Rob , Heemstra Fred
Published: May 2011

ERP implementation projects affect large parts of an implementing organization and lead to changes in the way an organization performs its tasks. The costs needed for the effort to implement these systems are hard to estimate. Research indicates that the size of an ERP project can be a useful measurement for predicting the effort required to complete an ERP implementation project. However, such a metric does not yet exist. Therefore research should be carried out to find a set of variables which can define the size of an ERP project. This paper describes a first step in such a project. It shows 21 logical clusters of ERP implementation project activities based on 405 ERP implementation project activities retrieved from literature. Logical clusters of ERP project activities can be used in further research to find variables for defining the size of an ERP project.
Preparing for the Worst
Authors: Handfield Rob
Published: May 2011

The economic crisis has taken a major toll on almost every industry, as well as key customers and suppliers in all sectors of the economy. Supply chain managers are increasingly concerned about the financial impact on key customers and suppliers, deferred commitments and outstanding accounts. In an effort to probe into the underlying assumptions that their actions are based upon, the author surveyed supply chain executives, identifying key patterns that are beginning to emerge across industries and countermeasures that are being taken in response. Three key themes emerged. First, buyers and suppliers are co-dependent, and they should think within this context when faced with financial stress. Second, there is a need to better understand the warning signs and establish channels of communication, to address the key risks related to financial stress. Finally, managers should emphasize the need to better manage supplier relationships through modeling and event analysis, allowing them to take preventive actions before problems occur. These themes are discussed and developed into a set of propositions, as a foundation for future research.
Supplier Integration in the Chinese Automotive Industry
Authors: Lockström Martin , Harrison Norma , Moser Roger , Malhotra Manoj , Schadel Joachim
Published: May 2011

Supplier integration has become an important concept for improving supply chain performance in networked industries, such as the automotive industry. The aim of this chapter is to identify factors that facilitate and inhibit supplier integration in the context of the Chinese automotive industry. An inductive approach, based on grounded theory, was chosen as the research methodology, where data was collected through 30 case interviews conducted with automotive companies in China and through which data was collected accordingly. The results suggest that buyer-side leadership is an important antecedent for building motivation, trust and commitment among suppliers and for shaping their mindsets. This, in turn, facilitates strategic alignment and enables suppliers to build collaborative capabilities, which are shown to be a key enabler for successful supplier integration.
Integration in Global Supply Chains
Authors: Vickery Shawnee , Droge Cornelia
Published: May 2011

Supply chain management (SCM) demands a holistic view of the functions and processes required to bring a product or service to market. It assumes that optimization of subsystems does not necessarily lead to global optimization and that the supply chain should be strategically managed as a single entity in order to effectively and efficiently deliver the desired results. SCM requires supply chain integration, both internal integration (for example, across functions) and integration with suppliers, customers, and/or other concerned channel members. The key recurring themes characterizing integration research as applied to business processes concern connectivity and simplification. Connectivity implies seamless linkages (internally or externally) and encompasses coordination, collaboration, cooperation, and interaction. Simplification is the common manifestation of system optimization. The most important specific mechanisms for achieving integration are teams (or integration via human interaction) and IT (or information integration); these two are central to the evolution of knowledge integration into a collaborative “culture” of joint decision-making and knowledge management. The literature suggests that integration in a supply chain and firm performance are positively linked. Although a lot of research in a variety of research domains has addressed cross-functional teams or IT (internal integration) and firm performance, less work has been done on the interaction of integration mechanisms or on the impact of integration mechanisms conditional on other factors, such as environmental turbulence. Furthermore, empirical research with a holistic supply chain orientation is in its infancy. For example, neither second tier suppliers and customers nor recyclers are typically considered. The chapter concludes by suggesting several avenues for future research in global supply chain integration.
Offshoring Process
Authors: Slepniov Dmitrij , Wæhrens Brian , Katayama Hiroshi
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to contribute to the knowledge on how production offshoring and international operations management vary across cultural contexts. The chapter attempts to shed light on how companies approach the process of offshoring in different cultural contexts. In order to achieve this objective, the authors employ a qualitative methodology and compare three Danish and three Japanese manufacturing companies. On the basis of this comparative investigation, the authors find that the parent companies from both contexts employ offshoring as a remedy for the challenges of globalisation. Yet there are clear differences in how offshoring is conducted in Denmark and Japan. The main differences are outlined in a framework and explained employing cultural variables. The findings lead to a number of propositions suggesting that the process of offshoring is not simply a uniform technical-rational calculation of the most efficient organisation of activities across national borders, but it is rather specific to the parent companies’ national contexts.
Impact of Strategic Outsourcing on Operational Control
Authors: Dekkers Rob
Published: May 2011

Many studies using the theories of Transaction Cost Economics and the Resource-Based View together with the core competencies approach have confirmed that strategic outsourcing might be an effective means for efficient exploitation of available resources. Additionally, for companies, outsourcing provides access to resources beyond the reach of the intrinsic capabilities of an organisation. In theory, such strategies should fuel competitiveness and operational efficiency. Five cases – all characterised by Make-to-Order or Engineering-to-Order for processing orders – have been reviewed, to explore the operational issues that result from strategic decision-making on outsourcing. From this evaluation, it appears that these companies perform weakly on the control of the outsourced activities. Furthermore, it seems that the (manufacturing) strategy is disconnected from outsourcing practices and that outsourcing is not perceived as contributing to competitive advantage. Finally, traditional criteria and behaviour for decision-making, i.e. a cost-driven perspective, prevail, which does not address the operational challenges for the cases. This chapter indicates that, based on these three theories, strategic decision-making on outsourcing insufficiently accounts for operational issues that emerge later during manufacturing.
A Multi-Agent Approach to Allocate Orders to Distribution Centres in a Highly Dynamic Environment
Authors: Renna Paolo
Published: May 2011

Nowadays, competition takes place in an environment characterized by high market shifting, rapid new technology development and introduction, global competition and customers who need focalization. Therefore, supply chain networks are becoming more dynamic and turbulent than ever before. The Distribution Centre (DC) is an important node in a supply chain network in maintaining the flow of goods and materials among manufacturers and customers. The capability of the DC to maintain the same level of performance in a highly dynamic scenario allows improvement of the competitiveness of the supply chain network. The focus of this chapter is on the allocation of customers to the DCs in very dynamic environments. A Multi-Agent System (MAS) is designed, in order to implement an architecture that is capable of rapid response to changing market conditions. A negotiation approach is proposed for coordinating the involved agents in the architecture: customers and distribution centres. The implementation of the MAS architecture was developed using the JAVA development kit; this platform was used to perform a discrete event simulation and test the proposed approach. Several scenarios are investigated, in scenarios ranging from static to highly dynamic market conditions. The simulation results highlight that the cooperation approach allows obtaining significant growth of performance in several different types of environment.
Collaborative Video Surveillance for Distributed Visual Data Mining of Potential Risk and Crime Detection
Authors: Wang Chia-Hui , Chang Ray-I , Ho Jan-Ming
Published: May 2011

Thanks to fast technology advancement of micro-electronics, wired/wireless networks and computer computations in past few years, the development of intelligent, versatile and complicated video-based surveillance systems has been very active in both research and industry to effectively enhance safety and security. In this chapter, the authors first introduce the generations of video surveillance systems and their applications in potential risk and crime detection. For effectively supporting early warning system of potential risk and crime (which is load-heavy and time-critical), both collaborative video surveillance and distributed visual data mining are necessary. Moreover, as the surveillance video and data for safety and security are very important for all kinds of risk and crime detection, the system is required not only to data protection of the message transmission over Internet, but also to further provide reliable transmission to preserve the visual quality-of-service (QoS). As cloud computing, users do not need to own the physical infrastructure, platform, or software. They consume resources as a service, where Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and pay only for resources that they use. Therefore, the design and implementation of an effective communication model is very important to this application system.
Mining Climate and Remote Sensing Time Series to Improve Monitoring of Sugar Cane Fields
Authors: Romani Luciana , de Sousa Elaine , Ribeiro Marcela , de Ávila Ana , Zullo Jurandir , Traina Caetano , Traina Agma
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses how to take advantage of computational models to analyze and extract useful information from time series of climate data and remote sensing images. This kind of data has been used for researching on climate changes, as well as to help on improving yield forecasting of agricultural crops and increasing the sustainable usage of the soil. The authors present three techniques based on the Fractal Theory, data streams and time series mining: the FDASE algorithm, to identify correlated attributes; a method that combines intrinsic dimension measurements with statistical analysis, to monitor evolving climate and remote sensing data; and the CLIPSMiner algorithm applied to multiple time series of continuous climate data, to identify relevant and extreme patterns. The experiments with real data show that data mining is a valuable tool to help agricultural entrepreneurs and government on monitoring sugar cane areas, helping to make the production more useful to the country and to the environment.
Study of Potential Climate for Sugarcane Production in the State of Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil, By Means of Geoprocessing
Authors: Soares Fernando , Alba José , Sebem Elódio , Wrege Marcos
Published: May 2011

A potential climate study for sugarcane of a sector of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil is presented here. GIS technology was applied for evaluation of the risk of frost and for integration of spatial data. The problem was focused in regional scale and in local scale (Municipality of Jaguari). Results showed that cultivation can be programmed in order to obtain physiological maturity before the period of risk of frost, thus avoiding low production. Spatial analysis of the information allows rapid perspective for productivity of sugarcane in a specific territory. The Municipality of Jaguari has large potential for cultivation of sugarcane because of the absence of the risk of frost. Its productivity allows for expansion into suitable neighboring areas. Also, geoprocessing combined with the study of climate and soil appears as a significant tool for interpreting the areas with aptitude for production of sugarcane or for the industry of sugar and alcohol.
The Value of Life of the Embryo Observed from Two Different Lenses
Authors: Ignovska Elena
Published: May 2011

The chapter deals with moral deliberation over the status of the embryo, observed from two perspectives, namely the inner context of physical and biological composition including the argument of potentiality as a driving force of development, and the external context within lived and experienced practices in which an embryo is inevitably embedded. Both components are integral parts of what constitutes the life of the embryo, and therefore any separated observation is biased and does not fulfill the demands of the universal truth. Hence, the usual argument that focuses exclusively on the embryo itself, whether the embryo deserves moral right as a result of its potentiality for autonomy, is misguided.