bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perceived Risk for Multiple Services in the Consumer Buying Cycle
Authors: Cunningham Lawrence F. , Gerlach James , Harper Michael D. , Kellogg Deborah L.
Published: April 2010

This study compares consumer perceived risk between five e-service delivery systems and their traditional (non-Internet) counterparts over each stage of the buying cycle. Using a survey methodology, the authors find that in general consumers perceive e-services as riskier than traditional services. The difference in perceived risk, which the authors define as the Internet risk premium, is significant for each service and each stage of the buying cycle. There is a spike in perceived risk at the purchase stage in the buying cycle for each of the five services. This pattern is also evident in the four services with traditional delivery systems. Perceived risk affects the consumer throughout the buying cycle and is not alleviated in the information search stage. Different risk factors drive perceived risk at various stages in the buying cycle. The authors provide both research and managerial implications of these findings.
Procurement Business Service Modeling in Service-Based Process Architecture of Equipping System
Authors: Galinec Darko
Published: April 2010

The procurement as business discipline and function of equipping process has started the process of transformation from an administrative competence and necessity to a strategic capability (Kyte, 2006). To be efficient its processes have to be interoperable in the processing, semantic and technological way with other functions and processes of the business system; end to end process integration of the business system should be obtained. It is important to fully understand and document user requirements before development of the procurement (business) process. This results in the need for the development of a defined, articulated, communicated and managed model of procurement process. On the level of conceptual system modeling (business process owner’s perspective) (ZIFA, 2006) this article shapes a new procurement model, in form of business service with appertaining processes, activities and other services necessary for its accomplishment. At logical and physical modeling level (designer’s and builder’s perspective) (ZIFA, 2006) service oriented perspective (SOA) has been considered, as well as Web services as technological concept for the implementation of the shaped procurement service model at the conceptual level of the system. Application of the shaped model requires organizational, process and system changes of the business system, that is, procurement function must develop the culture of service provider, avoiding the role of corporate purchasing controller. The position and the role of business service modeling within entire business process management (BPM) discipline has been established as well.
Temporal Aspects of Information Technology Use
Authors: Hauck Roslin V. , Thatcher Sherry M. B. , Weisband Suzanne P.
Published: April 2010

The dynamic nature of organizations and technologies require a comprehensive understanding of how organizational forms and information technology interact. While previous research and theories of information technology have investigated aspects such as organizational structure, individual and group behavior, and inter-organizational relationships, shift work, an important temporal aspect often found in service organizations, is surprisingly absent in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect that shift work has on employee use and satisfaction with information technology. The results of a field study of a police organization indicate that information technology systems are valued differently by workers on different shifts. The authors discuss how this research helps advance theories of technology use and effectiveness (such as task-technology fit and technology acceptance model) and present important practical implications of this study for strategic alignment of technology in the areas of systems design, implementation, addressing the needs of peripheral workers, and resource management.
Implementation Success Model in Government Agencies
Authors: Levy Yair , Danet Theon L.
Published: April 2010

A recent presidential directive mandated that all U.S. government agencies establish a centralized identification system. This study investigated the impact of users’ involvement, resistance, and computer self-efficacy on the implementation success of a centralized identification system. Information System (IS) usage was the construct employed to measure IS implementation success. A survey instrument was developed based on existing measures from key IS literature. The results of this study indicated a strong reliability for the measures of all constructs (user involvement, computer self-efficacy, user’s resistance, and IS usage). Factor analysis was conducted using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation. Results of the PCA indicate that items of the constructs measured had high validity, while Cronbach’s Alpha for each factor demonstrates high reliability for all constructs measured. Additionally, results of a structural equations modeling analysis using Partial Least Square (PLS) indicate that computer self-efficacy and user involvement had positive significant impact on the implementation success. However, the results also demonstrated that user’s resistance had no significant impact on IS usage, while end user involvement had a strong negative impact on user’s resistance.
SERREA
Authors: García-Crespo Ángel , Colomo-Palacios Ricardo , Gómez-Berbís Juan Miguel , Martín Fernando Paniagua
Published: April 2010

In the scenario of market competition in the Retail Real Estate Agencies (RREA) business, having exact information regarding properties in supply and their associated demand is a differentiating factor for organizations. The Semantic Web represents an opportunity to create extensible services that hold precise information concerning these types of markets. The objective of the current initiative is to use this market data as a competitive advantage for organizations. In this article, the authors propose SERREA, a management system for RREA based on semantics and constructed using Web Services, which has been implemented successfully in one of the leading agencies in Spain. The goal of this paper is to show how RREA benefits from using Semantic Technologies in the context of their business operations.
Police Operational Planning and Crime Detection through Adopting an Information Systems Approach
Authors: Kinloch Peter , Francis Hulya , Francis Michael , Taylor Mark
Published: April 2010

In recent years the introduction and subsequent enhancements of information technology has seen the emergence of major opportunities for developing new approaches to improve information interchange. The provision of information provides opportunities to find resolutions to problem situations, and the power of providing relevant and accurate information through using information systems cannot be underestimated. However, the world of information systems thinking has, so far, experienced difficulty finding a methodology suitable for utilizing the full range of available current information technology. This situation in the real world shows itself predominantly as information starvation as current information systems struggle to bring order and structure to information technology developments. This article will discuss the issues relating to the development of a new generic framework. The novel aspect of this generic framework for planning information systems is that it integrates Soft Systems Methodology and Viable Systems Model in a coherent whole, whilst embracing the concepts of self-adaptation and autonomy. Further, the generic framework integrates the spatial analysis capabilities of a Geographical Information System. The generic framework will then be tested in real world problem situations in order to test its effectiveness, efficiency and efficacy with regards to finding suitable solutions to the problem of information starvation. The importance of focusing the framework on GIS functionality is related to the fact that in many organizations GIS is employed as the solution to information starvation because of its ability to display spatial information. This article will demonstrate the implementation of the generic framework in a UK Police Authority, a large emergency service that suffers from information starvation. In the context of a UK Police Authority the combination of Soft Systems Methodology and Viable Systems Model being supported by GIS functionality is seen as being a significant progression in relation to crime detection and operational planning.
Electronic Government
Authors: Al-Qirim Nabeel A.
Published: April 2010

This research is interested in unveiling the hype surrounding the Electronic Government (eGov) phenomenon and in shedding more light into the different issues surrounding its multifaceted perspectives. Unlike electronic commerce and the private sector, eGov sets at the heart of governmental services and represents a unique paradigm on its own with different constituents and objectives. The stakeholders involved in eGov are both diverse and heterogeneous—which makes the issue of eGov adoption and diffusion a challenging task for many countries. This research disentangles the issues impacting eGov highlighting different determinants and success factors. The research then depicts an agenda for eGov success at the national level.
Arabic Phonetic Dictionaries for Speech Recognition
Authors: Ali Mohamed , Elshafei Moustafa , Al-Ghamdi Mansour , Al-Muhtaseb Husni
Published: April 2010

Phonetic dictionaries are essential components of large-vocabulary speaker-independent speech recognition systems. This paper presents a rule-based technique to generate phonetic dictionaries for a large vocabulary Arabic speech recognition system. The system used conventional Arabic pronunciation rules, common pronunciation rules of Modern Standard Arabic, as well as some common dialectal cases. The paper gives in detail an explanation of these rules as well as their formal mathematical presentation. The rules were used to generate a dictionary for a 5.4 hour corpus of broadcast news. The rules and the phone set were tested and evaluated on an Arabic speech recognition system. The system was trained on 4.3 hours of the 5.4 hours of Arabic broadcast news corpus and tested on the remaining 1.1 hours. The phonetic dictionary contains 23,841 definitions corresponding to about 14232 words. The language model contains both bi-grams and tri-grams. The Word Error Rate (WER) came to 9.0%.
Parallelization and Performance Evaluation of an Edge Detection Algorithm on a Streaming Multi-Core Engine
Authors: Kidwai Hashir Karim , Sibai Fadi N. , Rabie Tamer
Published: April 2010

In the world of multi-core processors, the STI Cell Broadband Engine (BE) stands out as a heterogeneous 9-core processor with a PowerPC host processor (PPE) and 8 synergic processor engines (SPEs). The Cell BE architecture is designed to improve upon conventional processors in graphics and related areas by integrating 8 computation engines each with multiple execution units and large register sets to achieve a high performance per area return. In this paper, we discuss the parallelization, implementation and performance evaluation of an edge detection image processing application based on the Roberts edge detector on the Cell BE. The authors report the edge detection performance measured on a computer with one Cell processor and with varying numbers of synergic processor engines enabled. These results are compared to the results obtained on the Cell’s single PPE with all 8 SPEs disabled. The results indicate that edge detection performs 10 times faster on the Cell BE than on modern RISC processors.
Analysis and Modeling of H.264 Unconstrained VBR Video Traffic
Authors: Koumaras Harilaos , Skianis Charalampos , Kourtis Anastasios
Published: April 2010

In future communication networks, video is expected to represent a large portion of the total traffic, given thatespecially variable bit rate (VBR) coded video streams, are becoming increasingly popular. Consequently, traffic modeling and characterization of such video services is essential for the efficient traffic control and resource management. Besides, providing an insight of video coding mechanisms, traffic models can be used as a tool for the allocation of network resources, the design of efficient networks for streaming services and the reassurance of specific QoS characteristics to the end users. The new H.264/AVC standard, proposed by the ITU-T Video Coding Expert Group (VCEG) and ISO/IEC Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG), is expected to dominate in upcoming multimedia services, due to the fact that it outperforms in many fields the previous encoded standards. This article presents both a frame and a layer (i.e. I, P and B frames) level analysis of H.264 encoded sources. Analysis of the data suggests that the video traffic can be considered as a stationary stochastic process with an autocorrelation function of exponentially fast decay and a marginal frame size distribution of approximately Gamma form. Finally, based on the statistical analysis, an efficient model of H.264 video traffic is proposed.
Speaker Discrimination on Broadcast News and Telephonic Calls Using a Fusion of Neural and Statistical Classifiers
Authors: Ouamour Siham , Sayoud Halim
Published: April 2010

This article describes a new Speaker Discrimination System (SDS), which is a part of an overall project called Audio Documents Indexing based on a Speaker Discrimination System (ADISDS). Speaker discrimination consists in checking whether two speech segments come from the same speaker or not. This research domain presents an important field in biometry, since the voice remains an important feature used at distance (via telephone). However, although some discriminative classifiers do exist nowadays, their performances are not enough sufficient for short speech segments. This issue led us to propose an efficient fusion between such classifiers in order to enhance the discriminative performance. This fusion is obtained, by using three different techniques: a serial fusion, parallel fusion and serial-parallel fusion. Also, two classifiers have been chosen for the evaluation: a mono-gaussian statistical classifier and a Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP). Several experiments of speaker discrimination are conducted on different databases: Hub4 Broadcast-News and telephonic calls. Results show that the fusion has efficiently improved the scores obtained by each approach alone. So, for instance, we got an Equal Error Rate (EER) of about 7% on a subset of Hub4 Broadcast-News database, with short segments of 4 seconds, and an EER of about 4% on telephonic speech, with medium segments of 10 seconds.
Mobile Application Benchmarking Based on the Resource Usage Monitoring
Authors: Rawassizadeh Reza
Published: April 2010

There are many mobile applications currently available on the market, which have been developed specifically for smart phones. The operating systems of these smart phones are flexible in order to facilitate the application development for programmers regardless of the lower layers of the operating system. Mobile phones like other pervasive devices suffer from resource shortages. These resources vary from the power (battery) consumption to the network bandwidth consumption. In this research we identify and classify mobile resources and propose a monitoring approach to measure resource utilization. The authors provide a monitoring tool, which generates traces about the resource usage. Then they propose a benchmarking model which studies traces and enables users to extract qualitative information about the application from quantitative resource usage traces. Results of the study could assist quality operators to compare similar applications from their resource usage point of view, or profile a single application resource consumption.
How It Started
Authors: Koblentz Evan
Published: April 2010

Internet access on cellular phones, after emerging as a new technology in the mid-1990s, is now a thriving activity despite the global economic recession. IDC reported smartphone sales of 1.18 billion units in 2008 (IDC, 2009), compared to the unconnected personal digital assistants approaching merely 1 million units per quarter in the second half of 2003.However, the concept of using handheld devices for wide area data applications began 25 years prior to the beginning of the end of PDAs
Always On
Authors: Taylor Carol A. , Samuels Nancy , Ramey Judith A.
Published: April 2010

Mobile data services offer a growing alternative means of accessing the Web and have drawn significant attention from the mobile industry. However, design efforts are hampered people’s motivations, behaviors, and contexts of use when they access the Web on their phones. To help address this need, we conducted a study to explore the following questions for U.S. mobile phone users: 1) What motivations lead people to access the Web on their mobile phones?; 2) What do they do?; and 3) Where do they do it? Based on the findings from Part One of the study, we constructed a taxonomy of behaviors, motivations, and contexts associated with mobile Web usage. In Parts Two and Three, we validated the taxonomy as well as compared iPhone versus non-iPhone user behaviors. We conclude this report by considering the design implications of our findings and future research directions.
Touch-Based Access to Mobile Internet
Authors: Isomursu Minna , Ervasti Mari
Published: April 2010

This article reports user experience findings from two field trials where Mobile Internet access was supported through Near Field Communication (NFC)-based tag infrastructure. The authors’ results show that touch-based interaction can provide enhancement to the Mobile Internet user experience in: (1) content and service discovery, (2) Mobile Internet access, and (3) integrated situated and embodied experience. The problems related to service discovery can be solved by providing location-based access, and by using visual cues embedded into the environment for discovering content and services. Mobile Internet access through touch solves the problem of memorizing complicated URLs and the challenge of typing with a mobile device keypad. As touch-based access builds a semantic bridge between the physical context of use and the Mobile Internet experience, the user experience converges seamlessly into one where both the physical and digital worlds play a role.
Investigating the Effects of Distractions and Task Complexity on Knowledge Worker Productivity in the Context of Mobile Computing Environments
Authors: Nicholson Darren B. , Nicholson Jennifer A. , Parboteeah D. Veena , Valacich Joseph S.
Published: April 2010

Mobile wireless computing is changing the way in which people work, allowing work to occur in a broad range of environments on tasks that previously required fixed location-based, networked computing environments. Along with this greater work flexibility, it is also likely that these mobile work environments contain various types of distractions that could potentially affect the task performance of knowledge workers. Drawing on distraction-conflict theory, this research proposes a model of knowledge worker task performance within the context of a mobile wireless work environment. To test this model, a controlled laboratory experiment was conducted that contrasted task complexity and distraction levels on the task performance of individuals within a mobile wireless environment. Results indicate that regardless of task complexity, productivity losses will occur under both lower and higher levels of distraction. The implications of these results for future research and for the deployment of mobile technologies within organizations are discussed.
'Magic Wand'
Authors: Wu Mei , Lin Haiyun
Published: April 2010

Mobile telephony was first adopted by business people, specifically small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. Their use habits have thus contributed to the evolvement of the mobile and change in business practice. However, there are limited studies that examine individual business users, even fewer exploring the social roles of mobile phones for Chinese entrepreneurship. This study, applying social shaping of technology complemented with affordance theory and domestication theory, qualitatively analyses implications of the mobile phone constructed by entrepreneurs in Fujian Province, China. Findings indicate that mobile telephony has significantly transformed business practice of time and space by Fujian entrepreneurs. It changes time constraints by enabling a 24-hour business contact. It affects the spatial location with a ‘mobile office’. It becomes a platform for staging a tricky business performance. It interconnects business and private lives. Consequently it becomes the ‘magic wand’ -- the central axis around which the lives of Fujian entrepreneurs revolve.
A Deeply Embedded Sociotechnical Strategy for Designing ICT for Development
Authors: Dearden Andy , Rizvi Syed Mohammed Haider
Published: April 2010

Development is a social phenomenon. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are a technical phenomenon. Therefore, ICT for development is inescapably a socio-technical phenomenon. For this reason, ICT design efforts that frame themselves with development objectives, require an analysis of their intervention strategies in explicitly socio-technical terms. In this article, the authors reflect on the strategies adopted by the Rural e-Services project, which has been working with a co-operative of marginal farmers in rural India to design new software and new practices using mobile camera phones to communicate with their agricultural advisors. By combining approaches from participatory development practice and participatory methods of ICT design, the project was able to manage a sustainable socio-technical reconfiguration of the operations of the co-operative.
Exploring Meaning The Implications of a Hyphen for Socio-Technical Theory and Practice
Authors: Coakes Elayne , Coakes Jim
Published: April 2010

In this paper, the authors explore the hyphenated spelling variant on papers taken from the Business Source Complete (BSC) repository. This paper finds that the hyphenated spelling variant is popular with more recent authors and that in total, socio-technical article publishing has recently recovered from the relative decline of the 1980s and 1990s. Within the socio-technical area, the topics of Work and Technology are receiving increased attention and studies of Behaviour, Change and major Stakeholder Groups are waning. The authors have critiqued the articles that indicated in their BSC Subject terms that their contents are related to Methodology but have found that few actually consider the socio-technical methodologies. Systems and socio-technical theory papers are critiqued, including papers by Enid Mumford and her work. Also discussed are lessons learned when using online repositories, such as the need to save search results to manage the surprising level of volatility of such academic databases. Finally, opportunities for future analysis are discussed, including trends; changes of emphasis within topics; researching into other academic search engines; and US based analysis.
Achieving Best Practice Manufacturing Involving Tacit Knowledge through the Cautious Use of Mixed-mode Modelling
Authors: Nicholls Miles G. , Cargill Barbara J.
Published: April 2010

In the real world, ‘optimal’ solutions for many production process problems do not exist. In such circumstances, ‘best practice’ is the realistic outcome for which practitioners aim. The reasons for this stem from many causes, including that data associated with production processes are often corrupted and/or missing. These types of processes usually rely heavily on the subjective input of the process workers on the shop floor (tacit knowledge). This paper outlines how the use of mixed-mode modelling has been utilised to help solve these types of problems. The industry examples used in the paper incorporate the concept of Communities of Practice (CoPs) in the mixed-mode models that are developed as a means of capturing tacit knowledge and incorporating it into the solution process. Additionally, CoPs need to sit comfortably within the culture and values of the organisation and employee groups, and must be clearly owned and facilitated by the community of workers whose knowledge is to be shared. Finally, CoPs should be presented as opportunities to share, compare, and learn so that a ‘craft’ is not lost or diminished.
Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy – the Case of Botswana A Discussion Article
Authors: Bwalya Kelvin Joseph
Published: April 2010

Botswana is keen to position itself as a knowledge-based economy as early as 2016 due to the realisation that to compete on a global scale, efficient knowledge value chains must be put in place, which includes indigenous knowledge management systems. This realisation is primarily caused by falling demand in the price of diamonds (due to the world’s recession), which is the country’s current economic mainstay. Today, Botswana is pushing for further economic liberalisation and diversification by employing and encouraging novel frontiers of knowledge with emphasis placed on research and efficient knowledge management as a vital resource for national development. In Botswana, the role of scientific and technical knowledge is being emphasized as the main driver of sustainable development, but not forgetting the potential contribution of indigenous and mythological knowledge to this aim. Several initiatives have been devised or implemented by both the government and the public sector to position Botswana as a knowledge-based economy. This paper surveys the fundamental concepts on which this paradigm shift is based and brings out the different initiatives that have been undertaken while emphasizing the role of research and efficient knowledge management paradigms in shaping Botswana as a knowledge-based economy.
On Visual Semantic Algebra (VSA)
Authors: Wang Yingxu
Published: April 2010

A new form of denotational mathematics known as Visual Semantic Algebra (VSA) is presented for abstract visual object and architecture manipulations. A set of cognitive theories for pattern recognition is explored such as cognitive principles of visual perception and basic mechanisms of object and pattern recognition. The cognitive process of pattern recognition is rigorously modeled using VSA and Real-Time Process Algebra (RTPA), which reveals the fundamental mechanisms of natural pattern recognition by the brain. Case studies on VSA in pattern recognition are presented to demonstrate VAS’ expressive power for algebraic manipulations of visual objects. VSA can be applied not only in machinable visual and spatial reasoning, but also in computational intelligence as a powerful man-machine language for representing and manipulating visual objects and patterns. On the basis of VSA, computational intelligent systems such as robots and cognitive computers may process and inference visual and image objects rigorously and efficiently.
A Generic Framework for Feature Representations in Image Categorization Tasks
Authors: Csapo Adam , Resko Barna , Lind Morten , Baranyi Peter
Published: April 2010

The computerized modeling of cognitive visual information has been a research field of great interest in the past several decades. The research field is interesting not only from a biological perspective, but also from an engineering point of view when systems are developed that aim to achieve similar goals as biological cognitive systems. This article introduces a general framework for the extraction and systematic storage of low-level visual features. The applicability of the framework is investigated in both unstructured and highly structured environments. In a first experiment, a linear categorization algorithm originally developed for the classification of text documents is used to classify natural images taken from the Caltech 101 database. In a second experiment, the framework is used to provide an automatically guided vehicle with obstacle detection and auto-positioning functionalities in highly structured environments. Results demonstrate that the model is highly applicable in structured environments, and also shows promising results in certain cases when used in unstructured environments.
Linked Data - The Story So Far
Authors: Bizer Christian , Heath Tom , Berners-Lee Tim
Published: April 2010

The term “Linked Data” refers to a set of best practices for publishing and connecting structured data on the Web. These best practices have been adopted by an increasing number of data providers over the last three years, leading to the creation of a global data space containing billions of assertions— the Web of Data. In this article, the authors present the concept and technical principles of Linked Data, and situate these within the broader context of related technological developments. They describe progress to date in publishing Linked Data on the Web, review applications that have been developed to exploit the Web of Data, and map out a research agenda for the Linked Data community as it moves forward.
Community-Driven Linked Data Authoring and Production of Consolidated Linked Data
Authors: Shakya Aman , Takeda Hideaki , Wuwongse Vilas
Published: April 2010

User-generated content can help the growth of linked data. However, we lack interfaces enabling ordinary people to author linked data. Secondly, people have multiple perspectives on the same concept and different contexts. Thirdly, not enough ontologies exist to model various data. Therefore, we propose an approach to enable people to share various data through an easy-to-use social platform. Users define their own concepts and multiple conceptualizations are allowed. These are consolidated using semi-automatic schema alignment techniques supported by the community. Further, concepts are grouped semi-automatically by similarity. As a result of consolidation and grouping, informal lightweight ontologies emerge gradually. We have implemented social software, called StYLiD, to realize our approach. It can serve as a platform motivating people to bookmark and share different things. It may also drive vertical portals for specific communities with integrated data from multiple sources. Experimental observations support the validity of our approach.
Searching Linked Objects with Falcons
Authors: Cheng Gong , Qu Yuzhong
Published: April 2010

Along with the rapid growth of the data Web, searching linked objects for information needs and for reusing become emergent for ordinary Web users and developers, respectively. To meet the challenge, we present Falcons Object Search, a keyword-based search engine for linked objects. To serve various keyword queries, for each object the system constructs a comprehensive virtual document including not only associated literals but also the textual descriptions of associated links and linked objects. The resulting objects are ranked by considering both their relevance to the query and their popularity. For each resulting object, a query-relevant structured snippet is provided to show the associated literals and linked objects matched with the query. Besides, Web-scale class-inclusion reasoning is performed to discover implicit typing information, and users could navigate class hierarchies for incremental class-based results filtering. The results of a task-based experiment show the promising features of the system.
A URI is Worth a Thousand Tags
Authors: Passant Alexandre , Laublet Philippe , Breslin John G. , Decker Stefan
Published: April 2010

Although tagging is a widely accepted practice on the Social Web, it raises various issues like tags ambiguity and heterogeneity, as well as the lack of organization between tags. We believe that Semantic Web technologies can help solve many of these issues, especially considering the use of formal resources from the Web of Data in support of existing tagging systems and practices. In this article, we present the MOAT—Meaning Of A Tag—ontology and framework, which aims to achieve this goal. We will detail some motivations and benefits of the approach, both in an Enterprise 2.0 ecosystem and on the Web. As we will detail, our proposal is twofold: It helps solve the problems mentioned previously, and weaves user-generated content into the Web of Data, making it more efficiently interoperable and retrievable.
Web Services Discovery with Rough Sets
Authors: Li Maozhen , Yu Bin , Sahota Vijay , Qi Man
Published: April 2010

Web services are emerging as a major technology for building service-oriented distributed systems. Potentially, various resources on the Internet can be virtualized as Web services for a wider use by their communities. Service discovery becomes an issue of vital importance for Web services applications. This article presents ROSSE, a Rough Sets based Search Engine for Web service discovery. One salient feature of ROSSE lies in its capability to deal with uncertainty of service properties when matching services. A use case is presented to demonstrate the use of ROSSE for discovery of car services. ROSSE is evaluated in terms of its accuracy and efficiency in service discovery.
A Multi-Facet Analysis of Factors Affecting the Adoption of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
Authors: Lin Judy Chuan-Chuan , Hsu Chin-Lung
Published: April 2010

Mobile applications such as multimedia messaging service (MMS) promises a new way to share rich content of information that enhances its users’ personal connectivity experiences as well as productivity. However,the adoption of MMS seems to be unexpectedly slow (Bonte, 2008). As mobile phones become ever smarter (or complex) in functions, understanding the adoption behaviors of complex mobile services such as MMS becomes utterly important to both practitioners and academic. This paper introduces a multi-facet model for MMS adoption by integrating the well-known behavioral models such as TAM and TPB with other factors including intrinsic motivation, personal innovativeness and critical mass. An internet survey of 213 subjects with prior experience in MMS usage found strong support for the proposed model. The results show that the adopter’s attitude toward MMS is the most dominating factor in shaping his/her intention to use MMS, followed by subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. Moreover, the results further suggest adopter’s intrinsic motivation is the most important motivating factor for attitude toward using MMS. Implications of these findings are discussed for researchers and practitioners.
Usability in the Context of e-Learning
Authors: Zaharias Panagiotis
Published: April 2010

The issue of e-learning quality remains prominent on end users’ (the learners’) agenda. It is no surprise that many non-motivated adult learners abandon prematurely their e-learning experiences. This is attributed in a great extent to the poor design and usability of e-learning applications. This paper proposes a usability framework that addresses the user as a learner and extends the current e-learning usability practice by focusing on the affective dimension of learning, a frequently neglected issue in e-learning developments. Motivation to learn, a dominant affective factor related with learning effectiveness, has been similarly neglected. Usability and instructional design constructs as well as Keller’s ARCS Model are being employed within the framework proposed in this work upon which new usability evaluation methods can be based. This framework integrates web usability and instructional design parameters and proposes motivation to learn as a new type of usability dimension in designing and evaluating e-learning applications.
Communication and Education in a Virtual World
Authors: Mon Lorri
Published: April 2010

Education within Second Life frequently recapitulates the “sage on the stage” as students sit their avatars down in chairs in the virtual world and listen to or read an instructor’s lecture while watching a slideshow. This conceptual article explores alternative active learning techniques supporting independent and collaborative learning within virtual worlds. Within Second Life, educators can utilize a variety of scripted tools and objects as well as techniques of building and terra-forming to create vibrant virtual personal learning environments and learning experiences that are engaging and responsive to individual learners. Issues of embodiment in an avatar are discussed in terms of social presence, and student learning styles are considered as well as approaches to problem-based learning, games, role play, and immersive virtual world environments.
Mechanics Simulations in Second Life
Authors: Black Kelly
Published: April 2010

This paper examines the use of the 3-D virtual world Second Life to explore basic mechanics in physics. In Second Life, students can create scripts that take advantage of a virtual physics engine in order to conduct experiments that focus on specific phenomena. The paper explores two particular examples of this process: 1) the movement of an object under the influence of gravity, and 2) the movement of an object using simple forces. Findings suggest that Second Life offers a flexible and wide range of possibilities for simulations in mechanics; paradoxically, however, the environment also presents challenges for effective use by instructors and learners. Any implementation making use of the Second Life application requires technical knowledge of the system and a wide range of pedagogical and learner skills related to building, scripting, and educational design.
Development of an Interactive Virtual 3-D Model of the Human Testis Using the Second Life Platform
Authors: Danforth Douglas R.
Published: April 2010

One of the strengths of a virtual environment is the ability to immerse the occupant into an environment that would otherwise be impossible. The primary focus of the author’s project in Second Life is to take advantage of this opportunity to explore novel approaches to medical education. Second Life can be used to model doctor-patient interaction, clinical diagnosis skills, and three dimensional molecular and cellular modeling of objects from individual molecules to whole organ systems, both healthy and diseased. Using the powerful building and scripting tools of the Second Life platform, the author has created a model of the human testis that students can fly through and interact with to understand how the anatomy and physiology of the testis work together to regulate sperm production. The anatomical and physiological interactions occurring during these processes are described in accompanying audio and text. The development of educational tools within the Second Life context is in its infancy. As the technology matures, the opportunities for education within Second Life will continue to expand as an important adjunct to traditional pedagogical approaches.
Virtual Speed Mentoring in the Workplace - Current Approaches to Personal Informal Learning in the Workplace
Authors: Hamilton Chuck , Langlois Kristen , Watson Henry
Published: April 2010

Informal learning is the biggest undiscovered treasure in today’s workplace. Marcia Conner, author and often-cited voice for workplace learning, suggests that “Informal learning accounts for over 75% of the learning taking place in organizations today” (1997). IBM understands the value of the hyper-connected informal workplace and informal learning that comes through mentoring. This case study examines a novel approach to mentoring that is shaped only by virtual space and the participants who inhabit it. The authors found that virtual social environments can bridge distances in a way that is effective, creative and inexpensive. Eighty-five percent of virtual speed mentoring attendees reported that this approach achieved their learning objectives. Participants also reported that virtual social spaces like Second Life® are suitable delivery vehicles for mentoring, and that connecting with people was much easier than via telephone or web conferencing.
Integrating XML Technologies and Open Source Software for Personalization in E-Learning
Authors: Lee Hsun-Ming , Davis Robert A. , Chi Yu-Liang
Published: April 2010

E-learning that emphasizes learner-centered activity and system interactivity provides a pedagogic opportunity to deliver a context for individual learning options. In the past decade, e-catalog standards based on learning object models have facilitated the design of e-learning systems. This study addresses issues for e-learning in a professional setting to foster the development of computer skills in students. In particular, personalized templates generated according to student and learning object models are proposed for instructors to provide practice exercises. Standardized XML technologies and open source software are integrated to create information filters and user interfaces to achieve personalization. The students use open source software that acts as a new type of Web client other than a browser. A case study that applies personalized templates for the learning of computer programming students with different skill levels is presented.
Teaching Adult Learners in Online Career and Technical Education
Authors: Hernández-Gantes Victor M.
Published: April 2010

Online education is becoming an important component of career and technical education (CTE) in teacher preparation and at the graduate level. In the midst of such growth, and in response to questions about quality compared with traditional learning, there is a consensus that online courses and programs should be designed based on the needs of adult learners. However, much of the literature in online CTE lacks implicit connections to emerging notions of adult development and learning. This article provides an overview of the status of online education in CTE at the postsecondary level, discusses related issues and current research focus, and highlights adult learning developments and the implications for curriculum design, instruction, and use of technology. The article concludes with an outline of emerging trends bridging adult learning and online education relevant to career and technical education.
Comparing the Principles of Adult Learning with Traditional Pedagogical Teaching in Relation to the Use of Technology
Authors: Ahedo Manuel
Published: April 2010

The traditional principles of adult learning are being subject to critical reconsideration from new adult teaching approaches and a growing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). ICTs in adult learning have an ambivalent effect. On the one hand, they offer potential improvement in online communicative activities and the transmission of codified or explicit knowledge. On the other hand, they can reduce socially and interactive-mediated tacit teaching and learning. Thus, the crucial criterion for effective and complementary use of ICTs in adult andragogy is whether they enable time and social space for the tacit dimension of teaching and learning. This article analyzes these issues by comparing how two young universities in Spain have dealt with these effects of ICTs in relation to the tacit dimension of learning and teaching.
Extending the Technology Acceptance Model to Evaluating Students' Perceptions toward Using Technology in the Classroom
Authors: Liu Ying Chieh
Published: April 2010

A classroom interactive technology, Interactive Response System (IRS) such as NXTudy, is getting popular in the campus. However, little research has explored how students feel regarding to using IRS, and less solid models have been established to depict students’ behaviors systematically. This study developed a model to formulate university students’ perceptions, attitudes and actionable feedback in terms of using IRS by extending Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A survey was conducted to examine the proposed model and confirm the factor “perceived usefulness” is the most important factor. Instructors should explain the importance of using technology before the class starts and repeat the benefits of technology constantly to enhance students’ understandings, making students recognize the usefulness of the technology to boost the intention to use, satisfaction and the willingness of recommending others to use the technology.
Creating Successful Portals with a Design Framework
Authors: Lamantia Joe
Published: April 2010

Portal designers and managers face the difficulties of creating effective information architectures for portals, dashboards, and tile-based platforms for delivering business information and functionality using only flat portlets. This article introduces the idea of a system of standardized building blocks that can simplifies portal design and management, and effectively support growth in content, functionality, and users over time. In enterprise and other large scale social settings, using standardized components allows for the creation of a library of tiles that can be shared across communities of users. It then outlines the design principles underlying the building block system, and the simple guidelines for combining blocks together to create any type of tile-based environment.
Architecture of the Organic.Edunet Web Portal
Authors: Manouselis Nikos , Kastrantas Kostas , Sanchez-Alonso Salvador , Caceres Jesus , Ebner Hannes , Palmer Matthais
Published: April 2010

The use of Semantic Web technologies in educational Web portals has been reported to facilitate users’ search, access, and retrieval of learning resources. To achieve this, a number of different architectural components and services need to be harmonically combined and implemented. This article presents how this issue is dealt with in the context of a large-scale case study. More specifically, it describes the architecture behind the Organic.Edunet Web portal that aims to provide access to a federation of repositories with learning resources on agricultural topics. The various components of the architecture are presented and the supporting technologies are explained. In addition, the article focuses on how Semantic Web technologies are being adopted, specialized, and put in practice in order to facilitate ontology-aided sharing and reusing of learning resources.
Web Service Enabled Online Laboratory
Authors: Yan Yuhong , Liang Yong , Roy Abhijeet , Du Xinge
Published: April 2010

Online experimentation allows students from anywhere to operate remote instruments at any time. The current techniques constrain users to bind to products from one company and install client side software. We use Web services and Service Oriented Architecture to improve the interoperability and usability of the remote instruments. Under a service oriented architecture for online experiment system, a generic methodology to wrap commercial instruments using IVI and VISA standard as Web services is developed. We enhance the instrument Web services into stateful services so that they can manage user booking and persist experiment results. We also benchmark the performance of this system when SOAP is used as the wire format for communication and propose solutions to optimize performance. In order to avoid any installation at the client side, the authors develop Web 2.0 based techniques to display the virtual instrument panel and real time signals with just a standard Web browser. The technique developed in this article can be widely used for different real laboratories, such as microelectronics, chemical engineering, polymer crystallization, structural engineering, and signal processing.