bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Crossing Borders
Authors: Maynard Nicholas , McKethan Aaron , Luger Michael I. , Uppalapati Alekhya
Published: May 2010

In the United States, many chronically depressed counties are adjacent to their state’s border. This article explores how some non-urban counties that are contiguous but located in different states have worked with their state governments to develop institutional mechanisms to overcome the artificial barrier to technology-based economic development that state borders create. The story the authors tell can apply both to other countries that are also divided into states and to smaller countries within a federated region (such as the member states of the EU). The authors argue that political boundaries that transect otherwise integrated economic regions often impede economic development coordination and cooperation, in general, and for technology access, workforce training, and business innovation in particular. The authors use case study evidence from several successful cross-border efforts in the United States and internationally to demonstrate the critical success factors required to overcome political boundaries and initiate technology-based development. These success factors include the creation of diverse funding sources, effective leadership by a coordinated team, and the development of formal legal entities to confront legal and infrastructure challenges.
A Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of E-procurement
Authors: Garrido M. José , Gutiérrez Ana , San José Rebeca
Published: May 2010

The Internet is used by firm purchasers as a source of information in procurement. We propose a model of the determinants and consequences of Internet use in this process. We analyzed whether different Internet tools are used throughout all purchasing phases and whether the characteristics of the buying situation determined the use of the Internet in that process. We also proposed to analyze how Internet use in this process impacts companies from two different points of view: organizational and economical. Organizational consequences refer to the buying center structure in terms of size, participation, number of hierarchical levels, and functional areas. Economical consequences refer to purchase results in terms of efficacy and efficiency. Implications for business-to-business marketers and researchers are discussed.
Intermediaries in E-Commerce
Authors: Singh Nirvikar
Published: May 2010

Very early in the evolution of e-commerce, predictions were made that a significant degree of disintermediation would occur, i.e., that middlemen would be eliminated from the value chain through the use of the Internet. The reasoning was as follows. The economic benefit of middlemen, or intermediaries, is that they reduce transaction costs for functions that are outside the firm (Coase, 1937). Therefore, as digital technology reduced transaction costs in the open market, the role of these middlemen would be threatened (Tapscott, 1996; Downes & Mui, 1998). However, intermediaries have proven to be remarkably robust, even as they have transformed their roles and functions. The success of e-commerce firms like Amazon, eBay, and Yahoo is a testament to the continued value of intermediation. Even in an economy reshaped by digital technology, intermediaries still add value, and find new ways of doing so. This article examines the evolution and robustness of intermediation in e-commerce, by examining the fundamental economics of intermediation in terms of economies of specialization, scale, and scope. It considers ownership, transformation, and agency as different dimensions of intermediaries. It examines various intermediary roles, and how they are combined, driven by economies of scope and strategic attempts to capture value. It discusses how the various intermediary roles are changing in e-commerce, through the impact of digital technology. The specific case of financial intermediaries, at the forefront of digital technology usage, provides several examples (Singh, 2000). The conclusion is that intermediaries are important and varied enough that they will survive and thrive in the era of ecommerce. Disintermediation will not be a general outcome. Traditional intermediaries that perform manual tasks, or are part of slow or inefficient value chains are in danger, but the economic roles that intermediation plays are unchanged by e-commerce, and will be carried out in new ways.
A Framework for Identifying B2B E-Marketplace Strategies
Authors: Mangalaraj George , Amaravadi Chandra S.
Published: May 2010

Different types of Electronic Marketplace (EM) strategies have been articulated in the literature. EM strategies vary from public exchanges to private extranets. This chapter reviews existing literature and provides a parsimonious framework for classifying EMs. The proposed framework utilizes two dimensions: relationship and product’s level of value addition. Based on the framework, the research theoretically derives five dominant EM strategies. The authors also highlight the applicability of their framework by providing illustrative examples of current industry practices in the realm of B2B EM.
Business Model Renewal
Authors: De Coster Rebecca
Published: May 2010

Increasingly high technology firms are required to develop new products or solutions in emerging markets which are outside of their existing business operation. This may necessitate that firms realign themselves and their business model so that they are able to create value in a new and emerging market. This chapter develops a framework for business model renewal based on case study research into firms entering the emerging sector of mobile networking. The framework presented here is focused on innovation strategies and the associated enterprise realignment for managing technology and innovation. The theoretical basis for this work is from a synthesis of literature drawn from the fields of strategic management, entrepreneurship and innovation management. This framework recognises the importance of the legacy basis/expertise of firms both in terms of resources and market credibility.
Scenario Driven Decision Support
Authors: Ahmed M. Daud , Sundaram David
Published: May 2010

Though traditional DSS provide strong data management, modelling and visualisation capabilities for the decision maker, they do not explicitly support scenario management appropriately. Systems that purport to support scenario planning are complex and difficult to use and do not fully support all phases of scenario management. This research presents a life cycle approach for scenario management. The proposed process helps the decision maker with idea generation, scenario planning, development, organization, analysis, execution, and the use of scenarios for decision making. This research introduces scenario as a DSS component and develops a domain independent, component-based, modular framework that supports the proposed scenario management process.
Visual Merchandising in Online Retailing Based on Physical Retailing Design Principles
Authors: Pittarese Tony
Published: May 2010

Effective design guidelines aid in the creation of successful online stores. One possible resource to aid in formulating effective online store design guidelines is found in principles and practices of physical retailers. In particular, physical store merchandising techniques provide a significant body of research from which online store guidelines may be constructed. By examining the research literature and common practices of physical retailers, online retailers may glean new and interesting ideas upon which to base guidelines for online store design.
Internet Consumer Behavior
Authors: Richard Marie-Odile , Laroche Michel
Published: May 2010

This chapter concludes the model of internet consumer behavior by describing some key moderating variables such as gender, need for cognition (NFC) and optimum stimulation level (OSL)(Figure 1).
Third Party Internet Seals
Authors: Kerkhof Peter , van Noort Guda
Published: May 2010

Buying online is still perceived as risky. A key strategy of online marketers to increase consumer trust in online ordering is to display privacy and security seals on their web sites. Although research indicates that these Internet seals do not necessarily mean better safety for online consumers, findings of several other studies demonstrated that these safety cues do influence consumer responses. The goal of this chapter is to provide the reader with an overview of findings regarding the persuasiveness of Internet seals and to reflect upon possible explanatory mechanisms for these effects. Future research directions and managerial implications for e-business are provided.
The Neurocognitive and Evolutionary Bases of Sex Differences in Website Design Preferences
Authors: Stenstrom Eric , Saad Gad
Published: May 2010

Marketing managers habitually use sex as a form of segmentation since it satisfies several requirements for efficient implementation including profitability, identifiability, accessibility, and measurability (Darley & Smith, 1995). Nevertheless, sex differences in marketing remain under-researched and continue to be a source of confusion for managers (Hupfer, 2002). Sex differences in cognitive processing are particularly relevant to e-business managers given that online consumers must process various types of spatial and perceptual information while navigating online. Despite the large body of evidence documenting consistent sex differences in cognition (Kimura, 2004), there is a paucity of research exploring how male and female consumers respond differently to various website design aspects (Cyr & Bonanni, 2005; Moss, Gunn, & Heller, 2006; Simon, 2001). Moreover, the few studies that have examined sex differences in online preferences were not grounded in any consilient theoretical framework.
Exploring the Mobile Consumer
Authors: Varnali Kaan , Yilmaz Cengiz
Published: May 2010

The article provides insights into consumers’ experience with mobile marketing by presenting a review of the mobile consumer behavior literature in an organized framework. An important contribution of this study is that it compiles a list of prominent predictor variables that come into play in the process of consumer adoption and acceptance of mobile marketing. The resulting list is purported to be beneficial to both academics by providing a state-of-the-art and practitioners by providing a powerful item battery to be used in setting up effective mobile marketing campaigns.
Service Discovery Techniques in Mobile E-Commerce
Authors: Sidnal Nandini , Manvi Sunilkumar S.
Published: May 2010

With the rising number of web services in mobile E-commerce, service discovery has become an important feature in the future of E-commerce for mobile users. A service in the network can be any software or hardware entity that a user might be interested to utilize. Service discovery is the action of finding appropriate service provider for a requested service. When the location of the demanded service (typically the address of the service provider catering services such as shopping, auctions, edutainment, etc.) is retrieved, the user may further access the service and use it. Service discovery is an emerging field in the area of ubiquitous and pervasive computing owing to its mobile devices with limited resources. There are various service discovery techniques and protocols (proposed or/and already implemented) particularly tailored to specific set of objectives. With service discovery, devices may automatically discover network services including their properties, and services may advertise their existence in a dynamic way. This chapter discusses various mobile E-commerce issues with major focus on service discovery issue. It elaborates on syntax and semantic based various service discovery mechanisms and concludes with future directions to service discovery mechanism.
Perspectives on the Viable Mobile Virtual Community for Telemedicine
Authors: van ’t Klooster Jan-Willem , Pawar Pravin , van Beijnum Bert-Jan , Dulawan Chariz , Hermens Hermie
Published: May 2010

A virtual community is an electronically supported social network: it can be seen as a group of people who have regular social interaction, independent of time and space, because of a common interest such as a problem, task, or feeling exchange (Eysenbach, Powell, Englesakis, Rizo, & Stern, 2004; Rheingold, 1993). When independence of time and space is achieved through the use of mobile devices and wireless communication technologies, such a virtual community is called a Mobile Virtual Community (MVC). Existing research interests in the MVC domain are grouped into technology-centered interest, user-centered interest and businesscentered interest (El Morr & Kawash, 2007). The technology-centered aspects include issues such as platform design, development framework, mobile network bandwidth limits and intelligent agents. The user-centered issues include user interface, behavior, personalization, privacy, data security and trust. Business-centered aspects include marketing, investment and business models.
Policy Driven Negotiation to Improve the QoS in Data Grid
Authors: Belalem Ghalem
Published: May 2010

Data grids have become an interesting and popular domain in grid community (Foster and Kesselmann, 2004). Generally, the grids are proposed as solutions for large scale systems, where data replication is a well-known technique used to reduce access latency and bandwidth, and increase availability. In splitting of the advantages of replication, there are many problems that should be solved such as, • The replica placement that determines the optimal locations of replicated data in order to reduce the storage cost and data access (Xu et al, 2002); • The problem of determining which replica will be accessed to in terms of consistency when we need to execute a read or write operation (Ranganathan and Foster, 2001); • The problem of degree of replication which consists in finding a minimal number of replicas without reducing the performance of user applications; • The problem of replica consistency that concerns the consistency of a set of replicated data. This consistency provides a completely coherent view of all the replicas for a user (Gray et al 1996). Our principal aim, in this article, is to integrate into consistency management service, an approach based on an economic model for resolving conflicts detected in the data grid.
Web 2.0 Concepts, Social Software and Business Models
Authors: Fleck Matthes , von Kaenel Andrea , Meckel Miriam
Published: May 2010

This article provides an overview of the most prominent definitions, basic concepts and applications of the term Web 2.0. In addition to the seven principles outlined by O`Reilly, this article will investigate Anderson’s long tail concept, issues of transparency and the effects of an interconnected user base on E-Business. Later, the focus will shift from the concepts of Web 2.0 towards the social software applications of this new Web era. Blogs, social network sites, wikis, folksonomies and virtual worlds will be explained and their (potential) relevance to e-business will be outlined. The article closes with a brief discussion about the future research directions of Web 2.0 for successful E-Business.
Blog Marketing
Authors: Gurau Calin
Published: May 2010

In the last ten years blogs have become a familiar feature of the Internet landscape, and the number of blogs multiplied exponentially. A blog is a specific form of online community, organised, coordinated and moderated by a person or an organisation, which attracts a number of participants/members, because of the specific topics posted and discussed on the blog web site. The interest of marketers for blog communities was quickly translated in a number of methods designed to enhance online marketing campaigns (Cohen, 2005).
IT and the Transmission of the SME Culture of Nonprofit Theatres
Authors: Kendall Julie E. , Kendall Kenneth E.
Published: May 2010

It is often assumed in the MIS literature and in practice that only large organizations are capable of transmitting culture and information technology (IT) to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The authors use the framework provided by the metaphor of the third space as proposed by Bhabha (1994 and 1996) to gain insights that refute these popular misconceptions, by demonstrating that dominant powers and former colonies exchange cultural artifacts such as information and communication technologies (ICTs) and best management practices in mutually influential ways. The authors’ research furthers their understanding of the initial relationships (termed mimicry) between small and medium-sized nonprofit theatres and commercial productions (symbolized by Broadway productions) as well as their current and future exchanges facilitated by hybridity in the third space. The authors discover that both groups possess unique cultural competencies that open the door to using Web 2.0 technologies for staging and promoting productions, building relationships with theatre patrons; and numerous other management issues where their expertise can be usefully exchanged.
The Dual Lens Method
Authors: Marshall Peter , Willson Phyl , Young Judy , de Salas Kristy
Published: May 2010

This chapter describes the development and testing of a method for information systems (IS) strategy formulation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A case study describing a practical experience with the method is presented. Essentially the method is comprised of two complementary analyses: an externally focused strategic analysis and an internally focused business process analysis. The method draws on the work of Levy and Powell (1999, 2000). The method is simple and clearly prescribed and does not require, as does the approach of Levy and Powell (1999, 2000, 2005), the selection of approaches from a range of applicable techniques. However, before assessing IS strategy formulation approaches for SMEs, including the work of Levy and Powell (1999, 2000, 2005) the authors will seek to justify the need for an IS Strategy Formulation Method for SMEs and then reflect on the importance of relevance and practicality, as two features of the approach which are important considerations in terms of establishing the method in practice.
Performance-Enhancing Techniques
Authors: Konstantinos E. Parsopoulos , Michael N. Vrahatis
Published: May 2010

This chapter presents techniques that have proved to be very useful in enhancing the performance of PSO in various optimization problem types. They consist of transformations of either the objective function or the problem variables, enabling PSO to alleviate local minimizers, detect multiple minimizers, handle constraints, and solve integer optimization problems. The chapter begins with a short discussion on the filled functions approach, and then presents the stretching technique as an alternative for alleviating local minimizers. Next, we present the deflection and repulsion techniques, as a means for detecting multiple global minimizers with PSO, followed by a penalty function approach for constraint handling. The chapter closes with the description of two rounding schemes that enable the continuous, real-valued PSO to solve integer programming problems. All techniques are thoroughly described and graphically illustrated whenever possible.
The Structure of Theory and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Authors: Wallis Steven E.
Published: May 2010

From a Kuhnian perspective, a paradigmatic revolution in management science will significantly improve our understanding of the business world and show practitioners (including managers and consultants) how to become much more effective. Without an objective measure of revolution, however, the door is open for spurious claims of revolutionary advance. Such claims cause confusion among scholars and practitioners and reduce the legitimacy of university management programs. Metatheoretical methods, based on insights from systems theory, provide new tools for analyzing the structure of theory. Propositional analysis is one such method that may be applied to objectively quantify the formal robustness of management theory. In this chapter, I use propositional analysis to analyze different versions of a theory as it evolves across 1,500 years of history. This analysis shows how the increasing robustness of theory anticipates the arrival of revolution and suggests an innovative and effective way for scholars and practitioners to develop and evaluate theories of management.
A Client Perspective on E-Health
Authors: van Dijkum Cor , Vegter Laura
Published: May 2010

After the Second World War democratization, information technology and globalization changed healthcare. Democratization made that clients from an object of treatment by professionals became active participants in taking care of health. Globalization brought the free market place closer to choices clients made for services. Information technology accelerated the way knowledge was accumulated and communicated by medical sciences, medical practitioners and clients. In research studies indications are found that healthcare facilitated by information technology (E-health) improved the care. However the evidence was not quite strong, also because the used research designs were not always suited for E-health. An overview of research designs leads to the conclusion that action-research is more suited for E-health, particularly when clients are taken serious as partners in healthcare. An example of action-research in mental healthcare in the Netherlands illustrates this. It also shows that a partnership between professionals and clients can be beneficial for both actors.
Medical Informatics
Authors: Übeyli Elif Derya
Published: May 2010

Information services, medical decision support systems and telemedicine are becoming important tools for medical professionals and also people who are interested in health related information. Medical decision support aims at providing healthcare professionals with therapy guidelines directly at the point of care. Telemedicine is the use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT) for the provision of clinical care to individuals at a distance and transmission of information to provide that care. The chapter intends to an integrated view of the medical informatics and preventive medicine applications via telemedicine. The chapter includes technological perspectives in e-health and telemedicine. The author suggests that the content of the chapter will assist to the people in gaining a better understanding of the technological perspectives in e-health and telemedicine and preventive medicine applications.
Current State of Critical Patient Monitoring and Outstanding Challenges
Authors: Otero A. , Félix P. , Barro S.
Published: May 2010

Technological advances in the fields of electronics and computer science have given rise to a considerable increase in the number of physiological parameters available to clinical staff for interpreting a patient’s state. However, owing to the limitations and flaws in current commercial monitoring devices, this has not resulted in a corresponding increase in healthcare quality. This chapter analyses the reasons why clinical staff are not making full use of information from the monitoring devices currently in use in critical care units; a review is made of the most salient proposals from the scientific literature in order to address the imbalance existing between the amount of data available and the improvement in healthcare; and those problems for which suitable solutions have yet to be found and which have, up until now, hindered the applications of said proposals to clinical routine are analysed.
Healthcare Process Development with BPMN
Authors: Rolón Elvira , García Félix , Ruíz Francisco , Piattini Mario , Calahorra Luis
Published: May 2010

The importance of the analysis, modelling and management of a business process is not restricted to a specific enterprise sector. In the field of health management, as a result of the nature of the service offered, health institutions’ processes are also the basis for decision making which is focused on achieving their objective of providing quality medical assistance. In this work, the authors shall present the application of business process modelling to the processes of a health sector institution, using the BPMN standard notation. The objective of this work is to show the experience obtained in the creation of the conceptual models of certain hospital processes which can be used as a basis for others in collaboration with hospitals in order to model their processes using BPMN. Hospital processes are highly complex, and their graphical visualization facilitates their management and improvement by means of the understanding and detection of possible failures.
Technology in Education
Authors: Anomneze Hyacinth Eze
Published: May 2010

As the global economy moves into a complete dependence on information and technology, the United States has to revisit how information technology is used in schools. Schools no longer imply the actual building with administrative halls and student centers, but also distance learning possibilities. Distance learning is still encountering skepticism from some educators, both in the secondary and post secondary stages of learning. This untamed skepticism is the product of the remains from traditional educators who are yet to answer the what, where, when, who, why and how of modern technology in the classroom. Traditional education wants to teach technology as a core curriculum, to be assessed as such. The universal reality, on the other hand, is that technology is a global culture and language. American students, to some extent, determine how this culture and language is used and spoken, but the fear is that they are doing this outside of the classroom. The goal of technology education must be to make technology so comfortable that its transition to distance learning will be smooth. This is done by recognizing and using technology to motivate learners to want to learn and succeed.
When Twentieth Century Minds Design for Twenty-First Century Distance Learning
Authors: Wright Robert D.
Published: May 2010

This chapter examines the changes that twentieth century minds must undergo if they are to successfully design for today’s distance learners. Traditional classroom practices must be adapted to accommodate the interactive and distributed nature that defines effective contemporary distance learning. The learning theories, cognitive processes, and educational media that shaped the minds of instructional developers, technologists, and teachers who were born in the twentieth century differ from those required for twentyfirst century learning. Raised and educated before computers were personal, in an era when distance learning consisted of adult education correspondence courses or head-in-a-box instructional television, and when instruction delivery was teacher-centered, educational professionals must now utilize theories, strategies, practices, and resources that are foreign to their learning backgrounds and experiences. Just as important, they must overcome views of interactive media and distance learning that differ greatly from those they seek to educate.
Employing Technology to Create Authentic Learning Environments
Authors: Polly Drew
Published: May 2010

The increased access to technologies in schools has opened avenues to explore non-traditional styles of teaching and learning. Educational theorists and researchers have long been calling for learnercentered instruction that situates learners in activities that allow them to explore concepts and construct understanding. However, as constructivist theorists and researchers continue to show the benefits of situating learning in meaningful tasks, many barriers still prevent the use of technology-enhanced authentic activities in classrooms (Ertmer, 2005; Shaw, 2003). This chapter aims to analyze the underlying theories of authentic learning and propose methods to support classroom teachers with the design, implementation and assessment of authentic activities.
Lecture Capture
Authors: McCord S. Alan , Drummond William H.
Published: May 2010

This chapter provides faculty members and distance learning administrators with a broad overview of the options available to capture, store, edit, distribute, and re-purpose in-class lectures. The authors propose three dimensions to guide the selection of lecture capture systems, review existing technologies for enterprise and individual lecture capture, and discuss the technical and pedagogical challenges associated with implementing lecture capture solutions. They close by considering the emerging trend of community captured audio and video and its impact on how students interact with lecture materials.
Screencasts
Authors: Mooney Matthew E. , Spitzer Bruce Alan
Published: May 2010

Screencasts allow a learner to experience a computer-based demonstration again and again at the learner’s pace. This means students can review a complicated process or look-up which menu option was selected to get a certain window. Historically, there has been a strong reliance on paper-based support materials. Yet static screen captures don’t always tell a learner what steps were taken to get to the window that is shown. Screencasts show exactly what a learner needs to do to complete a given task. Additionally, screencasts are affordable to create and distribute. This chapter will outline the equipment necessary to create screencasts. A selection of software applications will be discussed, and practical tips will be provided to help the reader quickly begin creating screencasts.
Instructional Challenges in Higher Education Online Courses Delivered through a Learning Management System by Subject Matter Experts
Authors: Joeckel III George L. , Jeon Tae , Gardner Joel
Published: May 2010

The authors are Instructional Designers developing online courses in higher education. These courses are facilitated by Subject Matter Experts and delivered through a Learning Management System. They propose that instructional alignment with pedagogic beliefs is the best instructional foundation for original course designs in this instructional context, and examine three factors unique to this context. They propose new instructional design models and a new instructional system of design to address the instructional challenges specific to their learning system context.
Structure and Change in E-learning
Authors: Shaw Julia Penn , Chacon Fabio
Published: May 2010

This chapter provides a view of e-learning from the perspective of ecological systems with nested levels of structure, organizing principles, and emergent properties for use in accomplishing at least three goals: to evaluate emergent patterns in the development of e-learning; to assess current threats and enablers at any level; and to plan for successful growth within determinate niches. E-learning is structured into four levels: the International/National level; the Institutional level; the Class/Community level; and the Learning Object level. Within each level, and between them, there are organizing principles of integration and differentiation contributing to their stability or decay. Those that the authors have identified include: transactional distance in delivery of learning; industrialization of learning functions; functional equivalence of learning experiences; virtualization of knowledge; technological convergence of learning media; developmental growth of learning systems; and requisite variety in learning strategies. For administrators, practitioners, and faculty whose institutions have an identity within the ecology, the authors introduce the GEMS process to better control the Goals, Engagement, Management and Support of system elements between and across their levels of e-learning structures. Both the broad ecological view upon e-learning -and the specific tools of GEMS useful within it- are applied to existing structures in e-learning, such as open courseware and course management systems, and to e-learning innovations, such as mobile learning, meta-worlds, and virtual gaming.
End-to-End Quality of Service in Evolved Packet Systems
Authors: Wu Wei , Choi Noun
Published: May 2010

The recent emergence of new IP-based services that require high bandwidth and low service latency such as voice over IP (VoIP), video sharing, and music streaming have motivated the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to work on the all IP-based cellular networks called Evolved Packet System (EPS). It is challenging for EPS not only to meet the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of new services but also to make sure the QoS of existing services not impacted. In this chapter, the authors will first present an overview of EPS, and then focus on the aspects of QoS principles and mechanisms in EPS. End-to-end QoS models have been developed to analyze the application performance in EPS. Simulation results have shown that VoIP service requires resource reservation to guarantee its QoS requirement, and e-mail service does not experience significant performance degradation even when assigned a low service priority and the system experiences short period congestion. However, web browsing performance may not be improved proportionally to the network bandwidth increase due to the inherent network probing procedure of the transport protocol.
The Influence of Supply Chain Collaboration on Process, Relational and Product Innovations
Authors: Cassivi Luc , Hadaya Pierre , Lefebvre Elisabeth , Lefebvre Louis A.
Published: May 2010

This chapter focuses on the impact of strategic and tactical collaborative actions as well as e-collaboration tools efficiency on process and relational innovations which in turn should influence product innovations. The results of this study show that tactical collaborative actions are more geared to lead firms to innovate rather than strategic actions. Findings also suggest that relational innovation has an effect on product innovation for the upstream perspective, whilst process innovation influences product innovation for the downstream perspective.
A Case Study of Augmented Reality Serious Games
Authors: Liarokapis Fotis , de Freitas Sara
Published: May 2010

The study introduced in this paper examines some of the issues involved in the design and implementation of serious games that make use of tangible AR environments. Our motivation is to understand how augmented reality serious games (ARSG) can be applied to some very difficult problems in the real gaming world. Emphasis is given on the interface and the interactions between the players and the serious games themselves. In particular, two case studies are presented, ARPuzzle and ARBreakout. Results from both case studies indicate that AR gaming has the potential of revolutionizing the way that current games are played and used as well as that it can help educate players while playing.
Authentic Tasks
Authors: Reeves Thomas C. , Herrington Jan
Published: May 2010

Regardless of whether one thinks of today’s higher education students as “digital natives” or members of “Generation Me,” it is obvious that traditional instructional methods are failing to engage them adequately in developing the kinds of higher order learning outcomes necessary in the 21st Century. These outcomes should encompass the conative learning domain as well as the traditional cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. This chapter describes a set of ten authentic tasks learning design principles that can be used to create and support the kind of engaging learning experiences that today’s learners must have if they are to achieve a full range of cognitive, affective, conative, and psychomotor outcomes for the 21st Century. A case study of a graduate level online course that exemplifies these design principles is described. Responding to the needs of Generation Me learners requires far more of a pedagogical revolution than it does the widespread adoption of Web 2.0 technologies.
E-Learning Challenges for Polytechnic Institutions
Authors: Burkle Martha
Published: May 2010

Mobile technology use is a major issue in higher education institutions, and one that is increasing daily. While the new generation of students (the “digital natives”) move across programs and courses, their learning expectations have started to emerge. It is with these expectations and needs in mind that educators around the world are recognizing the advantages of using mobile technologies to engage with students and make learning a more collaborative, interactive activity that can be engaged in at anytime, anywhere. Using a case study approach, this chapter explores the challenges of transforming static curricula into a mobile experience, and the ways in which these challenges were overcome within a polytechnic institution where hands-on learning takes place inside the classroom or the lab. In addition to presenting a literature review on the use of mobile technologies for teaching and learning, and an analysis of the relevance of connectivism theory to analyze students learning in the digital age, this chapter also includes an analysis of student surveys and interviews, as well as further opportunities for research.
Instructional Design for Virtual Worlds
Authors: Ojstersek Nadine , Kerres Michael
Published: May 2010

This paper gives an overview of the didactic elements relevant to foster learning in virtual worlds. The specific requirements of learning in virtual worlds are investigated in detail using the C3-model of didactic components. Following this model, the specifications of virtual worlds are illustrated with regard to the components “content”, “communication” and “construction”. The use of virtual worlds is often connected with the hope for stronger immersion, which is encouraged by the possibility of three-dimensionality and the representation of the learner by a virtual representative (“avatars”). However, learning-/teaching processes are not automatically improved by the use of virtual worlds. The possibilities offered by virtual worlds can only be honoured when a dedicated didactical concept is implemented. This means a complex composition process which has to take into consideration the specific features of virtual worlds.
Lecturing Tomorrow
Authors: Czerwionka Thomas , Klebl Michael , Schrader Claudia
Published: May 2010

This chapter presents a survey methodology addressing learners’ requirements, their expectations and experiences regarding challenges in the implementation process of new educational technology in educational institutions. The presented methodology was devised and applied during the pilot use of a web conferencing system (in its educational form as a virtual classroom) in distance education, and combines the evaluation of usability, acceptance and expected benefits in order to generate statements and to substantiate decisions on educational technology at an early stage of its institutional introduction. The methodical procedure, survey instruments and results from its exemplary exertion are described. The overall objective of this chapter is to prove the appropriateness of this multi-perspective and user centered approach towards the examination of utility, resulting in a pragmatic and transferable tool for the evaluation of the three named factors.
Virtual Experiments in University Education
Authors: Hartog Rob J.M. , van der Schaaf Hylke , Beulens Adrie J.M. , Tramper Johannes
Published: May 2010

A university curriculum in natural and engineering sciences should provide students enough time and adequate facilities to design and carry out experiments and to analyze and interpret experimental results. However, laboratory facilities require considerable investments, and the experiments themselves can also be very expensive. Furthermore, in many universities, scheduling laboratory practice can be quite constrained. It is often difficult to realize learning scenarios in which experimentation is an integral component. Finally, alignment of actual laboratory classes and assessment is seldom satisfactory. This chapter discusses potential benefits of and limitations to virtual experiment environments or virtual laboratories in university education. In addition, we aim to identify feasible objectives for faculty-based projects on design, realization and use of virtual experiments in university education.
Rapid Development of Adaptable Situation-Aware Service-based Systems
Authors: Yau S.S. , Mukhopadhyay S. , Davulcu H. , Huang D. , Bharadwaj R. , Shenai K.
Published: May 2010

Service-based systems have many applications, such as collaborative research and development, e-business, health care, military applications and homeland security. In these systems, it is necessary to provide users the capability of composing appropriate services into workflows offering higher-level functionality based on declaratively specified goals. In a large-scale and dynamic service-oriented computing environment, it is desirable that the service composition is automated and situation-aware so that robust and adaptive workflows can be generated. However, existing languages for web services are not expressive enough to model services with situation awareness (SAW) and side effects. This chapter presents an approach to rapid development of adaptable situation-aware service-based systems. This approach is based on the a-logic and a-calculus, and a declarative model for SAW. This approach consists of four major components: (1) analyzing SAW requirements using our declarative model for SAW, (2) translating the model representation to a-logic specifications and specifying a control flow graph in a-logic as the goal for situation-aware service composition., (3) automated synthesis of a-calculus terms that define situation-aware workflow agents for situation-aware service composition, and (4) compilation of a-calculus terms to executable components on an agent platform. An example of applying our framework in developing a distributed control system for intelligently and reliably managing a power grid is given.
A Reservation-Based Extended Transaction Protocol for Coordination of Web Services within Business Activities
Authors: Zhao Wenbing , Kart Firat , Moser L. E. , Melliar-Smith P. M.
Published: May 2010

This chapter describes a novel reservation-based extended transaction protocol for coordination of tasks within a business activity. With the advance of Web Services, it is anticipated that the implementation of business activities as Web Services, and the automation of business activities across multiple enterprises over the Internet, will become a reality. Classical extended transaction protocols are not well suited for this new breed of business activity, because of their use of compensating transactions. The reservation-based extended transaction protocol, described in this chapter, eliminates the need for compensating transactions by using an explicit reservation phase and an explicit confirmation/cancellation phase. This chapter provides a mapping of the reservation-based extended transaction protocol onto the Web Services Coordination Specification, and describes an implementation of the protocol.
A Fault Tolerant Decentralized Scheduling in Large Scale Distributed Systems
Authors: Pop Florin
Published: May 2010

This chapter presents a fault tolerant framework for the applications scheduling in large scale distributed systems (LSDS). Due to the specific characteristics and requirements of distributed systems, a good scheduling model should be dynamic. More specifically, it should adapt the scheduling decisions to resource state changes, which are commonly captured through monitoring. The scheduler and the monitor are two important middleware pieces that correlate their actions to ensure the high performance execution of distributed applications. The chapter presents and analyses agent based architecture for scheduling in large scale distributed systems. Then the user and resources management are presented. Optimization schemes for scheduling consider the near-optimal algorithm for distributed scheduling. The chapter presents the solution for scheduling optimization. The chapter covers and explains the fault tolerance cases for Grid environments and describes two possible scenarios for scheduling system.
Electronic Business Contracts Between Services
Authors: Miles Simon , Oren Nir , Luck Michael , Modgil Sanjay , Meneguzzi Felipe , Faci Nora , Holt Camden , Vickers Gary
Published: May 2010

Electronic contracts mirror the paper versions exchanged between businesses today, and offer the possibility of dynamic, automatic creation and enforcement of restrictions and compulsions on service behaviour that are designed to ensure business objectives are met. Where there are many contracts within a particular application, it can be difficult to determine whether the system can reliably fulfil them all, yet computer-parsable electronic contracts may allow such verification to be automated. In this chapter, the authors describe a conceptual framework and architecture specification in which normative business contracts can be electronically represented, verified, established, renewed, and so on. In particular, they aim to allow systems containing multiple contracts to be checked for conflicts and violations of business objectives. They illustrate the framework and architecture with an aerospace aftermarket example.
Agent-Based Infrastructure for Dynamic Composition of Grid Services
Authors: Adigun Matthew , Iyilade Johnson , Kabini Klaas
Published: May 2010

The service-oriented computing paradigm is based on the assumption that existing services can be put together in order to obtain new composite services. This chapter focuses on how peer-to-peer architectures based on multi-agent systems can be used to build highly dynamic and reconfigurable infrastructure that support dynamic composition of grid services. The chapter starts by providing an overview of key technologies for SOC. It then introduces dynamic service composition and challenges of composing grid services. The authors further motivate for Multi-agent system approach in SOC and why it becomes important in service composition. They then present our research effort, AIDSEC, an agent-based infrastructure for dynamic service composition, describing its architecture, implementation and comparison with some related work in the literature. In addition, the chapter raises some emerging trends in SOC and the particular challenges they pose to service composition. They conclude by suggesting that a solution based on multi-agent system is required for composing services that possess capabilities of autonomy, reliability, flexibility, and robustness.
Fednets
Authors: Ibrohimovna Malohat , Heemstra de Groot Sonia
Published: May 2010

A personal network (PN) is a network of a user’s personal devices and services, cooperating with each other independently of their geographical location to provide ubiquitous services to the user. PNs can be the producers and consumers of the services, content and resources. They can also export the subsets of their personal resources and services to other PNs. In such cases, PNs may form a group-oriented secure network called a Federation of Personal Networks (Fednet). A Fednet is a temporal, ad-hoc opportunity or purpose driven network of PNs, in which PNs collaborate with each other to share resources and services in a peer-to-peer manner. A Fednet is a pervasive and ubiquitous computing technology that enables the users to enjoy cooperation and promises exciting opportunities for different applications in various fields, such as education, healthcare, entertainment, business and emergency.In this chapter, the authors discuss PN technology expanding on the concept of Fednet. They provide example scenarios for Fednets, showing their potential impact to the quality of life of their users. Furthermore, they present the architecture and lifecycle of a Fednet. They explain the interactions of the main architectural components during its lifecycle and present a framework for the secure access control and management for a Fednet. The framework provides a controlled collaboration of PNs, where each PN controls the access to its resources and services. Finally, the authors provide a brief overview of some of the existing resource sharing group-oriented networks related to Fednets.