bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fidelity of Bats to Forest Sites Revealed From Mist-Netting Recaptures
Authors: Perry Roger W.
Published: January 2011

Although site fidelity to permanent roost structures by bats is generally known, long-term fidelity to areas such as foraging or drinking sites is unknown. Furthermore, mist-net recaptures of bats over multiple years are rarely reported. Extensive mist-net surveys were conducted over the course of 8 y in the Ouachita National Forest of central Arkansas, United States to investigate long-term site fidelity and recapture rates of individually marked forest bats. Among eight species that were captured, five species were recaptured over spans ≥1 y, including eastern red bats Lasiurus borealis, Seminole bats L. seminolus, evening bats Nycticeius humeralis, tri-colored bats Lasiurus borealis, and northern long-eared bats Myotis septentrionalis. Some individuals were recaptured multiple times over multiple years, and the maximum span over which an individual was recaptured was 1 y for Seminole bats, 2 y for tri-colored bats, 3 y for evening bats, 4 y for eastern red bats, and 5 y for northern long-eared bats. These results indicate long-term site fidelity by multiple bat species to particular forest sites, primarily pools along small intermittent streams. Proximity to these sites should be considered when conducting management activities.
A Conceptual Framework Enabling Assessment of Software Flexibility in Business
Authors: Dyer Stephen L.
Published: January 2011

This chapter discusses the design of a technique for measuring the flexibility of business information systems. It argues that a technique for measuring software flexibility can be designed from existing principles using a qualitative approach. It then describes the design process undertaken to develop a software flexibility assessment technique that could be used to assess the adaptive capacity of business software applications. First, the author introduces the background to the subject and gives the justification for developing a suitable business-oriented measure of software flexibility. He then tackles the design issues and problems that arise when confronted with the complexities of qualitative measurement, before describing the steps of the design process. Afterwards, the stages in the application of the technique are described, with a worked example. Finally the benefits and weaknesses of the technique are discussed, and an opinion expressed as to the usefulness and applicability of the proposed technique.
Methods for Developing Flexible Strategic Information Systems
Authors: Eardley Alan , Shah Hanifa , Lazander-Reed June
Published: January 2011

This chapter begins by looking at the changing nature of business strategy as flexible strategies become more important in a changing business environment. It then reviews the phenomenon of strategic information systems that support such flexible strategies, and discusses the problems of developing such systems using existing systems development techniques. Some methods and techniques are described that have recently been put forward as possible solutions to these problems, but the main contention of the chapter is that long-standing frameworks, methods and techniques may offer a solution when used in combination. A range of candidate techniques from the business and IT domains is evaluated using a panel of domain experts, and a three-stage method is suggested that uses the chosen techniques in combination. These techniques are well established and in most cases have been used and proven in other contexts for more than a decade, but their application to the development of flexible strategic information systems is new.
Meta-Model Based Information Mediation
Authors: Zhao Luyin , Siau Keng
Published: January 2011

Information mediation is one of the major approaches to solve interoperability problems related to heterogeneous information integration. This paper first discusses the concept of information mediation and typical mediation architecture. Two major mediation research projects, TSIMMIS and MIX, and their limitations, are discussed. Meta-model, a way for exchanging meta-data, is then introduced for the purpose of improving information mediation. Finally, a meta-model based mediation approach is proposed.
On the Representation of Temporal Dynamics
Authors: March Salvatore T. , Allen Gove N.
Published: January 2011

Research in temporal database management has suggested that the Entity-Relationship model must be extended to compensate for its lack of constructs for representing the world’s dynamic nature. This claimed deficiency arises from the mistaken idea that Entity-Relationship diagrams represent only a snapshot of reality. Practitioners have long used Entity-Relationship diagrams without temporal extensions to design systems with rich support for temporality by using entities to represent the events that cause state changes, rather than by defining temporal attributes and relationships to record past states. While both approaches can represent temporality, only the event approach maintains modeling parsimony and represents why a particular state exists.
Towards Flexible Specification, Composition and Coordination of Workflow Activities
Authors: Liu Ling , Pu Calton
Published: January 2011

We introduce the ActivityFlow specification language for flexible specification, composition, and coordination of workflow activities. The most interesting features of the ActivityFlow specification language include (1) a collection of specification mechanisms allowing workflow designers to use a uniform workflow specification interface to describe different types (i.e., ad-hoc, administrative, or production) of workflows involved in their organizational processes (an objective of this feature is to help increase the flexibility of workflow processes in accommodating changes); (2) a set of activity modeling facilities, enabling workflow designers to describe the flow of work declaratively and incrementally, allowing reasoning about correctness and security of complex workflow activities independently from their underlying implementation mechanisms; (3) an open architecture that supports user interaction as well as collaboration of workflow systems of different organizations.
A Framework for Analyzing Mobile Transaction Models
Authors: Coratella Andrés , Felder Miguel , Hirsch Roberto , Rodriguez Eduardo
Published: January 2011

Currently, mobile technology is undergoing a high growth stage, allowing an increasing plethora of mobile devices (handheld PCs, handsets, etc.) to access daily-distributed resources and information. This availability entails the requirement for transactional capabilities adapted to the specific characteristics of the mobile environment, without losing the consistency and reliability guarantees of traditional OLTP systems. This chapter surveys the definition and extension of transactional models to a mobile environment, starting with an explanation of this environment and a review of transactional systems applied to mobile computing. Afterwards, a framework for analyzing competing mobile models is defined. This framework allows for different constraints to be imposed on the most general “motion independence” requirement. Finally, existing mobile transaction proposals are assessed against the framework and classified, highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses in different situations.
Considering Mobility in Query Processing for Mobile Commerce Systems
Authors: Ke Chih-Horng , Lee Chiang
Published: January 2011

With the merge of mobile computing and electronic commerce technologies, millions of mobile users in the near future could carry a mobile device requesting services through the electronic commerce applications. While serving such a mobile user, the server should consider how to minimize the response time of the request. This chapter discusses the issue of data processing for mobile commerce systems. Due to the characteristics of a mobile commerce environment such as user’s mobility, the user may not be at the same site as where he/she issued the request when the request’s result is ready to deliver to the user. This chapter argues that conventional strategies for query processing are no longer adequate in a mobile commerce environment and introduces some query processing strategies considering mobility for the mobile commerce systems. All the strategies are presented along with a cost analysis as the theoretical basis. Last, some of outstanding and interesting issues are described.
Advances in Vision-Based Human Body Modeling
Authors: Sappa Angel , Malassiotis Sotiris
Published: January 2011

This chapter presents a survey of the most recent vision-based human body modeling techniques. It includes sections covering the topics of 3D human body coding standards, motion tracking, recognition and applications. Short summaries of various techniques, including their advantages and disadvantages, are introduced. Although this work is focused on computer vision, some references from computer graphics are also given. Considering that it is impossible to find a method valid for all applications, this chapter intends to give an overview of the current techniques in order to help in the selection of the most suitable method for a certain problem.
Camera Calibration for 3D Reconstruction and View Transformation
Authors: Lei B. J. , Hendriks E. A. , Katsaggelos Aggelos K.
Published: January 2011

This chapter presents an extensive overview of passive camera calibration techniques. Starting with a detailed introduction and mathematical description of the imaging process of an off-the-shelf camera, it reviews all existing passive calibration approaches with increasing complexity. All algorithms are presented in detail so that they are directly applicable. For completeness, a brief counting about the self-calibration is also provided. In addition, two typical applications are given of passive camera calibration methods for specific problems of face model reconstruction and telepresence and experimentally evaluated. It is expected that this chapter can serve as a standard reference. Researchers in various fields in which passive camera calibration is actively or potentially of interest can use this chapter to identify the appropriate techniques suitable for their applications.
Learning 3D Face Deformation Model
Authors: Wen Zhen , Hong Pengyu , Tu Jilin , Huang Thomas S.
Published: January 2011

This chapter presents a unified framework for machine-learning-based facial deformation modeling, analysis and synthesis. It enables flexible, robust face motion analysis and natural synthesis, based on a compact face motion model learned from motion capture data. This model, called Motion Units (Muss), captures the characteristics of real facial motion. The MU space can be used to constrain noisy low-level motion estimation for robust facial motion analysis. For synthesis, a face model can be deformed by adjusting the weights of Mus. The weights can also be used as visual features to learn audio-to-visual mapping using neural networks for real-time, speech-driven, 3D face animation. Moreover, the framework includes parts-based MUs because of the local facial motion and an interpolation scheme to adapt MUs to arbitrary face geometry and mesh topology. Experiments show we can achieve natural face animation and robust non-rigid face tracking in our framework.
Synthesis and Analysis Techniques for the Human Body
Authors: Karatzoulis Nikos , Davarakis Costas T. , Tzovaras Dimitrios
Published: January 2011

This chapter presents a number of promising applications and provides an overview of recent developments and techniques in the area of analysis and synthesis techniques for the human body. The ability to model and to recognize humans and their activities by vision is key for a machine to interact intelligently and effortlessly with a human inhabited environment. The chapter analyzes the current techniques and technologies available for hand and body modeling and animation and presents recent results of synthesis and analysis techniques for the human body reported by R&D projects worldwide. Technical details are provided for each R&D project and the results are discussed and evaluated.
An Introduction to Designing and Delivering Courses and Programs at a Distance
Authors: Dooley Kim E. , Linder James R. , Dooley Larry M. , Buford Jr. James
Published: January 2011

Meeting the needs of today’s learners requires instructors and administrators to rethink delivery strategies and instructional methods. Many organizations are turning to distance education, because of its effectiveness, to help learners develop and improve their knowledge, skills, and abilities. The fact that you are reading this book leads us to assume that you have several questions about designing and delivering distance courses and programs. Our own experiences, research, and education have guided us in writing this book. We continue to question “What are the best practices for distance education?” “How do I assess meaningful learning?” and “How do I actively engage learners?”
Adult Learning Principles and Learner Differences
Authors: Dooley Kim E. , Linder James R. , Dooley Larry M. , Wilson Susan
Published: January 2011

A clear ideology for instructing and learning at a distance does not exist. An emerging belief by researchers and practitioners is that the use of andragogical principles and practices results in deeper and more meaningful learning by adults. We concur. As discussed in previous and subsequent chapters, how materials are delivered does not have an effect on learner achievement, but what methods are used to engage learners does. In chapter III, we explored models of learning and their application in distance education. In this chapter, we will introduce theory and practice that support the use of adult learning principles when instructing at a distance. We will also address strengths and weaknesses of andragogical and pedagogical methods. Questions to guide you in this reading include “What is the role of an educator when instructing at a distance?” and “How can educators foster deeper and more meaningful learning?”
Events of Instruction
Authors: Dooley Kim E. , Linder James R. , Dooley Larry M.
Published: January 2011

In previous chapters, we explored systematic instructional design, learner-centered instruction, and objective writing. Now we will give you some nuts and bolts on specific lesson planning and methods to gain attention and stimulate motivation in distance education. What are Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction and how do these events impact lesson planning? Why use icebreakers and openers in the lesson? How do you stimulate learner motivation? What kinds of things should be included in the closing segment of a lesson?
Multimedia Design
Authors: Dooley K.E. , Gazi Yakut
Published: January 2011

As you consider developing a course or training program online, a major question is about what multimedia to use, multimedia that will help you accomplish your instructional objectives. What content do you as an instructor want your audience to learn? After answering this question, a course can be developed that achieves the learning objectives and, at the same time, motivates and entices the learners. Understanding how to create material for a course that integrates multimedia is essential knowledge in the planning stages of course development. This integration should be thoughtful with the understanding of how to balance the techniques and tools for optimal learning potential.
Future Trends
Authors: Dooley Kim E. , Linder James R. , Dooley Larry M. , Aboukinane Chehrazade
Published: January 2011

In this book, so far, we have covered five major sections: Foundations of Instruction and Learning at a Distance, Adult Learning Theory, Systematic Instructional Design, Technology Knowledge and Skills, and Administrative Issues. We based the chapters in these sections on seminal and current research, as well as practical applications in higher education and human resource development. The final chapter of this book explores future trends and directions in the field of distance education. We know that technology continues to increase in power while decreasing in cost, so it is clear that the technological capabilities will change. But will adult learning theory and instructional design principles also change? We stressed that these fundamental principles will remain constant and serve as the foundation for effective instruction and learning, but who knows what the future holds? What major changes will occur in the field of distance education 10, 20, or even 50 years from now?
Designing to Change Users' Information Seeking Behaviour
Authors: Stelmaszewska Hanna , Blandford Ann , Buchanan George
Published: January 2011

Hypermedia systems allow information to be created, stored, accessed, and manipulated in a variety of ways. One example of such a system is a digital library (DL). DLs are typically difficult to learn and to use. One aspect of learnability is that novice users should be able to learn how to search effectively; one approach to this is having the system provide context-relevant help. We report on two studies: the first identifies novices’ difficulties, which informed design changes to integrate adaptive help into a DL system; the second illustrates how interface design can influence users’ information seeking behaviour. It focuses on strategies developed and applied by users in response to two types of ‘tips’. This study provides an indication of how the interface can improve inexperienced users’ interactions with DLs and help them develop more sophisticated information seeking strategies, while also creating more adaptive DLs.
Learning Adaptive Behaviour
Authors: Muller Martin E.
Published: January 2011

This chapter demonstrates the use of machine learning techniques in adaptive hypermedia systems. A generic machine learning scenario is described and related to an abstract definition of interactive software systems and adaptive hypermedia systems. In the main part of the chapter, numerous recent systems and employed techniques are described. The most important learning methods are introduced by examples, and their applicability in adaptive hypermedia is discussed. The chapter concludes with a comparison of all approaches one might consider when applying machine learning in adaptive hypermedia systems.
SCARCE
Authors: Garlatti Serge , Iskal Sébastien , Tanguy Philippe
Published: January 2011

This chapter presents SCARCE, a flexible adaptive hypermedia environment based on virtual document and the semantic Web. After a short state of the art, the authors describe the design principles and the environment, which relies on three composition engines according to the three views of a document (semantic, logical, and layout). It also relies on the four stages of virtual documents: selection, organisation and filtering specified at a semantic level, and assembly. These specifications are parameters of the composition engine. Thus, this approach leads to a composition engine which has great flexibility. Consequently, it becomes easier to maintain and design an adaptive virtual document because it is possible to specify its main mechanisms. Such engine is obviously limited by core principles underlying the specification and which cannot be overcome.
User Modelling and Personalisation of Knowledge Management Systems
Authors: Razmerita Liana
Published: January 2011

This chapter focuses on the role of user models and user modelling for enhanced, personalised user support within knowledge management systems (KMSs). Personalisation can bring a utility function as well as a conviviality function with “high touch” impact for the users. From this utility and conviviality perspective, various personalised services enable KMSs to adapt their functionality, structure, and content to match the needs and preferences of users based on a user model that is stored and updated dynamically. The chapter presents a set of examples, different types of adaptations and personalised services specific to KMSs.
Personalisation of Advertisements in the Digital TV Context
Authors: Lekakos George D. , Giaglis George M.
Published: January 2011

In this chapter, we discuss personalisation of advertisements in the digital TV environment and propose an effective personalisation approach, taking into account unique domain requirements. The proposed approach combines the widely used Pearson-based collaborative filtering technique, applied on numerical ratings with the user’s lifestyle, a stable characteristic drawn from consumer behaviour theory. We claim that users with similar lifestyles are reliable neighbours and can be utilised for the recommendation of advertisements for any member of their lifestyle neighbourhood. We focus on an inherent limitation of collaborative filtering methods that occurs when few ratings are available for each user and demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively manages this problem. Indeed, the hybrid approach combines the ability of the Pearson-based approach to accommodate rapid changes in user needs and make predictions upon one-click interactions and the advantage of the lifestyle-based approach to handle sparse data, which significantly affects the performance of collaborative filtering prediction methods.
Evaluating Usage of Dynamic Web Site Structures Through Visualisation
Authors: Sobol Stephen , Stones Catherine
Published: January 2011

Web-based content is increasingly delivered via dynamic methods. Visualisation tools are required which reveal how users interact with such data structures in order to improve site design and structure, and to form the basis of adaptation rules. Using our DMASC system we describe a method for logging and visualising individual user paths through a database-driven Web site. We outline the visualisation challenges posed in representing dynamic data structures and representations of user movements within those structures. We introduce two new terms to describe approaches to visualising dynamic structures, template structure and served structure. We present a series of maps generated from real usage data and, through these, identify anticipated and unanticipated surf patterns. Through the presentation of case study material, we argue that visualisations are a useful part of good adaptive multimedia strategies and help form user model attributes.
Introduction to Data Mining in Bioinformatics
Authors: Hsu Hui-Huang
Published: January 2011

Bioinformatics uses information technologies to facilitate the discovery of new knowledge in molecular biology. Among the information technologies, data mining is the core. This chapter first introduces the concept and the process of data mining, plus its relationship with bioinformatics. Tasks and techniques of data mining are then presented. At the end, selected bioinformatics problems related to data mining are discussed. Data mining aims at uncovering knowledge from a large amount of data. In molecular biology, advanced biotechnologies enable the generation of new data in a much faster pace. Data mining can assist the biologist in finding new knowledge from piles of biological data at the molecular level. This chapter provides an overview on the topic.
Intelligent Organizations
Authors: Tripodi G. D.
Published: January 2011

This chapter is focused in conceptualizing and getting results on topics that contribute to the understanding of the Society of Knowledge, focused in the area of Computer Administration of Knowledge and with the purpose of obtaining sustainable Intelligent organizations. The development introduces us to how we could approach organizations to carry out methodologically a diagnostic and outline of solutions. The contents are related with the information and obtaining of knowledge through tools of the Intelligence of Business and Technologies of Administration. The purpose is to facilitate the tools and concepts needed to recognize the strategic value of information, counting on the tools in effective form to achieve prospective results. This is gotten by a technologically appropriated structure of knowledge with Human Resources that crosses the organization in an integral and integrated form.
Analyzing and Designing Technology-Based Instruction
Authors: Petrina Stephan
Published: January 2011

A great irony in this age of information technologies is that communication skills for many people have atrophied. Students take low levels of communication and high levels of information overload for granted. This state of affairs has dire consequences for education, where clear, cogent communication is a prerequisite to learning. While it is tempting to “get with the times” by reducing communication to brief, sloppy exchanges, our challenge as teachers is to contradict these trends by modeling formal communication and information skills. This chapter begins with a description of an effective teacher to remind us that teaching involves a wide range of dispositions, knowledge, and skills. The remainder of the chapter focuses on demonstrations, lesson planning, and instructional objectives. Lesson plans and objectives are fundamental tools for demonstrating the applications, explanations, and implications of technologies to your students. Demonstrations are the single most effective method for technology teachers. Organization and communication are the keys to effective demonstrations. The intent of this chapter is to provide you with the instructional tools that ground the practice of teaching technology studies. Communication, demonstrations, and lesson planning. These are the tools that will help you to immerse yourself in the craft of teaching. Recalling the model of reflective practice explained in the preface, this book takes the form of cycles that begin with you as a teacher. Over the first four chapters, you will be challenged to identify with certain instructional practices and techniques, and to choose among those with which you most identify. This chapter provides the tools for scaffolding a wide range of curriculum and instructional dispositions, knowledge, and skills. The operative word in this chapter is practice. Practice, practice, practice!
Curriculum and Instruction Design
Authors: Petrina Stephan
Published: January 2011

Who should design the curriculum that technology educators teach? Should curriculum be developed by governments and ministries of education? Should curriculum design be privatized and limited to commercial vendors? Should teachers design their own curriculum? Who should design the instructional materials? Should all materials be professionally designed by a vendor? As we noted in the previous chapter, technology teachers have had a century of freedom in designing and customizing their curriculum and instruction to suit themselves, their community, or the students. This had its advantages in diversity. The disadvantages, as we noted, related to the inconsistencies from school to school, even in the same district. When the teacher departed from a school, he or she typically departed with the curriculum and instructional materials. New teachers often began their first school year with little more than what they carried with them from their teacher preparation programs and student teaching experiences. One major problem was that when it came time for governments to identify priorities in the schools, technology studies was overlooked because of its incoherent curriculum. As indicated in Chapter VIII, the international trend is quickly shifting toward standards and unified curriculum in design and technology—the trend is toward a consistent scope and sequence of content for the study of technology. Common curriculum and goals along with content and performance standards are the trends. From a perspective of professional vitality and political finesse, these trends are healthy. These trends offer the potential for long-term sustainability of technology studies in the schools. Nevertheless, given that all curricula are fallible and have shortcomings, teachers will always have a need for dispositions toward, or skills and knowledge in, curriculum and instructional design.
Integrating Technology to Transform Pedagogy
Authors: Graham John E. , Semich George W.
Published: January 2011

In a previous article, the authors illustrated a three-step staff development program for linking technology training with theory to transform pedagogy. Essentially, the model identified three key phases: the training phase, application phase, and the integration phase. The focus of this paper is to update the research on the three-phase model and to highlight the progress Robert Morris University has made to transform the teacher-centered classroom into a technology rich, learner-centered environment. This transformation process will be explained and illustrated for the reader.
CareerQuesting Revisited
Authors: White Karen S. , Wasburn Mara H.
Published: January 2011

This paper develops an educational strategy to foster the interest and persistence of middle school girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, using existing websites. Criteria are specified that enable middle school teachers to evaluate websites as supplemental learning activities within prescribed curricula. In particular, the evaluative criteria help evaluate sites that provide materials appealing to boys and girls, allowing teachers to adopt them without concern that they are providing an unfair advantage to girls.
A Measurement Ontology Generalizable for Emerging Domain Applications on the Semantic Web
Authors: Kim Henry M. , Sengupta Arijit , Fox Mark S. , Dalkilic Mehmet
Published: January 2011

This paper introduces a measurement ontology for applications to semantic Web applications, specifically for emerging domains such as microarray analysis. The semantic Web is the next-generation Web of structured data that are automatically shared by software agents, which apply definitions and constraints organized in ontologies to correctly process data from disparate sources. One facet needed to develop semantic Web ontologies of emerging domains is creating ontologies of concepts that are common to these domains. These general, “common-sense” ontologies can be used as building blocks to develop more domain-specific ontologies. However most measurement ontologies concentrate on representing units of measurement and quantities, and not on other measurement concepts such as sampling, mean values, and evaluations of quality based on measurements. In this paper, we elaborate on a measurement ontology that represents all these concepts. We present the generality of the ontology, and describe how it is developed, used for analysis and validated.
Towards Code Reuse and Refactoring as a Practice within Extreme Programming
Authors: Sugumaran Vijayan , DeHondt Gerald
Published: January 2011

Software reuse has been discussed in the literature for the past three decades and is widely seen as one of the major areas for improving productivity. Agile development techniques were first developed in the mid-1990s as a code-oriented method of software development that seeks to improve upon the traditional plan-based methodologies. Both approaches bring value to the software development process. The purpose of this chapter is to propose a framework that will integrate the strengths of code reuse into the Extreme Programming methodology. It is believed that this approach will lead to a more effective method of software development.
Retrieval Optimization for Server-Based Repositories in Location-Based Mobile Commerce
Authors: Wyse James E.
Published: January 2011

Location-based mobile commerce (LBMC) incorporates location-aware technologies, wire-free connectivity, and server-based repositories of business locations to support the processing of location-referent transactions (LRTs) between businesses and mobile consumers. LRTs are transactions in which the location of a business in relation to a consumer’s actual or anticipated location is a material transactional factor. Providing adequate support for LRTs requires the timely resolution of queries bearing transaction-related locational criteria. The research reported here evaluates and extends the author’s location-aware method (LAM) of resolving LRT-related queries. The results obtained reveal LAM’s query resolution behavior in a variety of simulated LBMC circumstances and confirm the method’s potential to improve the timeliness of transactional support to mobile consumers. The article also identifies and evaluates a heuristic useful in maintaining optimal query resolution performance as changes occur in the scale and scope of server-based repositories.
Design of a Data Model for Social Networks Applications
Authors: Mitra Susanta , Bagchi Aditya , Bandyopadhyay A. K.
Published: January 2011

A social network defines the structure of a social community like an organization or institution, covering its members and their inter-relationships. Social relationships among the members of a community can be of different types like friendship, kinship, professional, academic etc. Traditionally, a social network is represented by a directed graph. Analysis of graph structure representing a social network is done by the sociologists to study a community. Hardly any effort has been made to design a data model to store and retrieve a social network related data. In this paper, an object-relational graph data model has been proposed for modeling a social network. The objective is to illustrate the power of this generic model to represent the common structural and node-based properties of different social network applications. A novel multi-paradigm architecture has been proposed to efficiently manage the system. New structural operators have been defined in the paper and the application of these operators has been illustrated through query examples. The completeness and the minimality of the operators have also been shown.
Orthogonal Discriminant Analysis Methods
Authors: Zhang David , Song Fengxi , Xu Yong , Liang Zhizhen
Published: January 2011

In this chapter, we first give a brief introduction to Fisher linear discriminant, Foley- Sammon discriminant, orthogonal component discriminant, and application strategies for solving the SSS problems. We then present two novel orthogonal discriminant analysis methods, orthogonalized Fisher discriminant and Fisher discriminant with Schur decomposition. At last, we compare the performance of several main orthogonal discriminant analysis methods under various SSS strategies.
Two Novel Facial Feature Extraction Methods
Authors: Zhang David , Song Fengxi , Xu Yong , Liang Zhizhen
Published: January 2011

In this chapter, we introduce two novel facial feature extraction methods. The first is multiple maximum scatter difference (MMSD) which is an extension of a binary linear discriminant criterion, i.e. maximum scatter difference. The second is discriminant based on coefficients of variances (DCV) which can be viewed as a generalization of N-LDA. At last, we give a summery of the chapter.
Tensor Linear Discriminant Analysis
Authors: Zhang David , Song Fengxi , Xu Yong , Liang Zhizhen
Published: January 2011

Linear discriminant analysis is a very effective and important method for feature extraction. In general, image matrices are often transformed into vectors prior to feature extraction, which results in the curse of dimensionality when the dimensions of matrices are huge. In this chapter, classical LDA and its several variants are introduced. In some sense, the variants of LDA can avoid the singularity problem and achieve computational efficiency. Experimental results on biometric data show the usefulness of LDA and its variants in some cases.
Tensor Independent Component Analysis and Tensor Non-Negative Factorization
Authors: Zhang David , Song Fengxi , Xu Yong , Liang Zhizhen
Published: January 2011

In this chapter, we describe two tensor-based subspace analysis approaches (tensor ICA and tensor NMF) that can be used in many fields like face recognition and other biometric recognition. Section 10.1 gives the background and development of the two tensor-based subspace analysis approaches. Section 10.2 introduces tensor independent component analysis. Section 10.3 presents tensor nonnegative factorization. Section 10.4 discusses some potential applications of these two subspace analysis approaches in biometrics. Finally, we summarize this chapter in Section 10.5.
Other Tensor Analysis and Further Direction
Authors: Zhang David , Song Fengxi , Xu Yong , Liang Zhizhen
Published: January 2011

In this chapter, we describe tensor-based classifiers, tensor canonical correlation analysis and tensor partial least squares, which can be used in biometrics. Section 11.1 gives background and devolvement of these tensor methods. Section 11.2 introduces tensor-based classifiers. Section 11.3 gives tensor canonical correlation analysis and tensor partial least squares. We summarize this chapter in Section 11.4.
Feature Level Fusion
Authors: Zhang David , Song Fengxi , Xu Yong , Liang Zhizhen
Published: January 2011

This chapter introduces the basis of feature level fusion and presents two feature level fusion examples. As the beginning, Section 13.1 provides an introduction to feature level fusion. Section 13.2 describes two classes of feature level fusion schemes. Section 13.3 gives a feature level fusion example that fuses face and palm print. Section 13.4 presents a feature level fusion example that fuses multiple feature presentations of a single palm print trait. Finally, Section 13.5 offers brief comments.
Decision Level Fusion
Authors: Zhang David , Song Fengxi , Xu Yong , Liang Zhizhen
Published: January 2011

With this chapter, we first present a variety of decision level fusion rules and classifier selection approaches, and then show a case study of face recognition based on decision level fusion, and finally offer a summary of three levels of biometric fusion technologies. In a multi-biometric system, classifier selection techniques may be associated with the decision level fusion as follows: classifier selection is first carried out to select a number of classifiers from all classifier candidates. Then the selected classifiers make their own decisions and the decision level fusion rule is used to integrate the multiple decisions to produce the final decision. As a result, in this chapter, we also introduce classifier selection by showing a classifier selection approach based on correlation analysis. This chapter is organized as follows. Section 15.1 provides an introduction to decision level fusion. Section 15.2 presents several simple and popular decision level fusion rules such as the AND, OR, RANDOM, Voting rules, as well as the weighted majority decision rule. Section 15.3 introduces a classifier selection approach based on correlations between classifiers. Section 15.4 presents a case study of group decision-based face recognition. Finally, Section 15.5 offers some comments on three levels of biometric fusion.
Object-Oriented Database Benchmarks
Authors: Darmont Jerome , Schneider Michel
Published: January 2011

We present in this chapter an overview of the benchmarks aimed at evaluating the performances of Object-Oriented Databases (OODBs). We particularly focus on the Object-Clustering Benchmark (OCB), which is both generic and originally designed to specifically evaluate the performances of clustering policies within OODBs. OCB is generic because its sample database may be customized to fit any of the databases introduced by the main previous benchmarks, e.g., Object Operation 1 (OO1) or OO7. The first version of OCB was purposely clustering-oriented due to a clustering-oriented workload, but OCB has been thoroughly extended to be able to suit other purposes. Eventually, OCB’s code is compact and easily portable. OCB has been validated through two implementations: one within the O2 OODB and another one within the Texas persistent object store. The performances of two different clustering policies implemented in Texas, Dynamic, Statistical, Tunable Clustering (DSTC) and Detection & Reclustering of Objects (DRO), have also been compared with OCB.
Algorithm Development, Simulation Analysis and Parametric Studies for Data Allocation in Distributed Database Systems
Authors: Chin Amita Goyal
Published: January 2011

In a distributed database system, an increase in workload typically necessitates the installation of additional database servers followed by the implementation of expensive data reorganization strategies. We present the Partial REALLOCATE and Full REALLOCATE heuristics for efficient data reallocation. Complexity is controlled and cost minimized by allowing only incremental introduction of servers into the distributed database system. Using first simple examples and then, a simulator, our framework for incremental growth and data reallocation in distributed database systems is shown to produce near optimal solutions when compared with exhaustive methods.
Using Weakly Structured Documents at the User-Interface Level to Fill in a Classical Database
Authors: Laforest Frederique , Flory Andre
Published: January 2011

Electronic documents have become a universal way of communication due to Web expansion. But using structured information stored in databases is still essential for data coherence management, querying facilities, etc. We thus face a classical problem–known as “impedance mismatch” in the database world; two antagonist approaches have to collaborate. Using documents at the end-user interface level provides simplicity and flexibility. But it is possible to take documents as data sources only if helped by a human being; automatic document analysis systems have a significant error rate. Databases are an alternative as semantics and format of information are strict; queries via SQL provide 100% correct responses. The aim of this work is to provide a system that associates document capture freedom with database storage structure. The system we propose does not intend to be universal. It can be used in specific cases where people usually work with technical documents dedicated to a particular domain. Our examples concern medicine and more explicitly medical records. Computerization has very often been rejected by physicians because it necessitates too much standardization and form-based user interfaces are not easily adapted to their daily practice. In this domain, we think that this study provides a viable alternative approach. This system offers freedom to doctors; they would fill in documents with the information they want to store, in a convenient order and in a freer way. We have developed a system that allows a database to fill in quasi-automatically from documents paragraphs. The database used is an already existing database that can be queried in a classical way for statistical studies or epidemiological purposes. In this system, the document fund and the database containing extractions from documents coexist. Queries are sent to the database, answers include data from the database and references to source documents.
How Complex is the Unified Modeling Language?
Authors: Siau Keng , Cao Qing
Published: January 2011

Unified Modeling Language (UML) has emerged as the software industry’s dominant modeling language. It is the de facto modeling language standard for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the components of software systems. Despite its prominence and status as the standard modeling language, UML has its critics. Opponents argue that it is complex and difficult to learn. Some question the rationale of having nine diagramming techniques in UML and the raison d’être of those nine techniques in UML. Others point out that UML lacks a comprehensive methodology to guide its users, which makes the language even more convoluted. A few studies on UML can be found in the literature. However, no study exists to provide a quantitative measure of UML complexity or to compare UML with other object-oriented techniques. In this research, we evaluate the complexity of UML using complexity metrics. The objective is to provide a reliable and accurate quantitative measure of UML complexity. A comparison of the complexity metrical values of UML with other object-oriented techniques was also carried out. Our findings suggest that each diagram in UML is not distinctly more complex than techniques in other modeling methods. But as a whole, UML is very complex–2-11 times more complex than other modeling methods.
The Difference in the Service Fairness, Customer’s Participation Behavior, Relationship Quality and Relationship Performance by Consumer According to the Type of Clothing Store (Clothing Stores in Department Store versus Dongdaemun Fashion Town)
Authors: Park Jae Ok , Hwang Jeong In , Oh Gyeong Eun
Published: January 2011

The purpose of this study is to find out the difference in the service fairness, customer’s participation behavior, relationship quality and relationship performance perceived by consumer according to the type of clothing store (department store versus Dongdaemun Fashion Town). The subjects of the research were men and women in their 20s and 30s who were residing in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do and who had the experience of purchasing clothing product at department store or Dongdaemun Fashion Town. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey, and a total of 424 questionnaires were used for final analysis: 213 questionnaires from the consumers who used department store, plus 211 questionnaires from those who used Dongdaemun Fashion Town. The result of this research showed that there was significant difference in all of service fairness (procedure and outcome), customer’s participation behavior (emotional participation, information participation and physical participation), relationship quality (satisfaction and trust) and relationship performance (repurchase intention, and positive word-of-mouth) perceived by consumer, according to the type of clothing store (clothing stores in department store versus Dongdaemun Fashion Town). Especially, the consumers who used the clothing stores in department store showed better perception of all the service fairness, customer’s participation behavior, relationship quality and relationship outcome. It is considered, therefore, that clothing enterprises need to establish differentiated service strategy for consumer, through the improvement of store environment and the education of salesperson that can induce more comforTable and active purchasing activity of consumers who visit store.
Study on Silk Fibroin Gelation: Effect of Polyalcohol
Authors: Zhang Qiang , Cheng Ying Dong , Liu Yu , Yan Shu Qin , Li Ming Zhong
Published: January 2011

The Bombyx mori silk fibroin gel with three dimensional structures is an important form to be developed for tissue engineering materials. In this paper, silk fibroin gels were prepared with adding polyalcohol into silk fibroin solution. The gel structure was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results demonstrated that when adding more than 100% of polyalcohol, both of glycerol and polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400) can accelerate the gelation process markedly. With the increase of the percentage of PEG400 and glycerol, it promoted silk fibroin molecules to cluster rapidly and inhibit silk fibroin molecules transforming from the random coil or α-helix to β-sheet in a ratio of 900% especially. Silk fibroin gels containing 100% of polyalcohol had more uniform morphology and the pores distributed uniformly.
Study on Hydrolysis-Aging Characteristics of Silk
Authors: Wang Guo He , Sun Li Ping , Ma Shu Ming , Zhou Jian Fang
Published: January 2011

Habotai silk was hydrolysis-aged by HCl and NaOH to study the change of its crystallinity, orientation, tensile mechanical properties, weight loss rate etc. The results show that the hydrolysis-aging degree of silk by HCl was slight, but that by NaOH was significant. Both the crystallinity and orientation were reduced significantly by NaOH but slightly by HCl. The weight loss rate of silk samples rose like the parabola with the increase of alkali concentration, and it rose linearly against time. The breaking strength of silk fibers was affected significantly by the alkali hydrolysis aging, particularly in the initial stage and its weight loss rose linearly with the increase of alkali concentration. The PH values of the hydrolysis solution both by HCl and NaOH were close to neutral.