bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Managing Uncertainties in Image Databases
Authors: Picariello Antonio , Sapino Maria Luisa
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we focus on those functionalities of multimedia databases that are not present in traditional databases but are needed when dealing with multimedia information. Multimedia data are inherently subjective; for example, the association of a meaning and the corresponding content description of an image as well as the evaluation of the differences between two images or two pieces of music usually depend on the user who is involved in the evaluation process. For retrieval, such subjective information needs to be combined with objective information, such as image color histograms or sound frequencies, that is obtained through (generally imprecise) data analysis processes. Therefore, the inherently fuzzy nature of multimedia data, both at subjective and objective levels, may lead to multiple, possibly inconsistent, interpretations of data. Here, we present the FNF2 data model, a Non-First Normal Form extension of the relational model, which takes into account subjectivity and fuzziness while being intuitive and enabling user-friendly information access and manipulation mechanisms.
Improving Storage Concepts for Semantic Models and Ontologies
Authors: Weippl Edgar R. , Klemen Markus D. , Raffeiner Stefan
Published: May 2011

Ontologies are more commonly used today but still little consideration is given of how to efficiently store them. The proposed approach is built on reliable and efficient relational database management systems (RDBMS). It can be easily implemented for other systems and due to its vendor independence existing data can be migrated from one RDBMS to another relatively easy.
Open-Source Software Issues
Authors: Sahraoui Sofiane
Published: May 2011

Two major research publications have recently dedicated special issues to the emerging field of OSS (Research policy, 2003; Management Science, 2006). Likewise, major information systems conferences are starting to list OSS as a research track (IRMA2004, Working IFIP 8.6) translating the heightened importance of this phenomenon in the business world. Undoubtedly, OSS has been admitted as a legitimate field of study in the realm of business academics, but OSS research remains largely trailing the gigantic developments in the open-source industry.
FLOSSmole
Authors: Howison James , Conklin Megan , Crowston Kevin
Published: May 2011

This article introduces and expands on previous work on a collaborative project, called FLOSSmole (formerly OSSmole), designed to gather, share, and store comparable data and analyses of free, libre, and open source software (FLOSS) development for academic research. The project draws on the ongoing collection and analysis efforts of many research groups, reducing duplication, and promoting compatibility both across sources of FLOSS data and across research groups and analyses. The article outlines current difficulties with the current typical quantitative FLOSS research process and uses these to develop requirements and presents the design of the system.
Community of Production
Authors: Amoretti Francesco , Santaniello Mauro
Published: May 2011

There is no universal agreement regarding the meaning of the term “social software.” Clay Shirky, in his classic speech “A Group is its Own Worst Enemy,” defined social software as “software that supports group interaction” (Shirky, 2003). In this speech, this scholar of digital culture also observed that this was a “fundamentally unsatisfying definition in many ways, because it doesn’t point to a specific class of technology.”
Software Agent Technology
Authors: Georgakarakou Chrysanthi E. , Economides Anastasios A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides an overview of the rapidly evolving area of software agents and presents the basic aspects of applying the agent technology to virtual enterprises (VE). As the field of software agents can appear chaotic, this chapter briefly introduces the key issues rather than present an in-depth analysis and critique of the field. In addition to, this chapter investigates the application of agent technology to virtual enterprises and presents current research activity that focuses on this field serving as an introductory step. Furthermore, this chapter makes a list of the most important themes concerning software agents and the application of agent technology to virtual enterprises apposing some order and consistency and serve as a reference point to a large body of literature.
Automated Software Testing
Authors: Donegan Paula , Bandeira Liane , Matos Cristina , da Cunha Paula Luciana , Maia Camila
Published: May 2011

This chapter approaches paramount aspects related to test automation, introducing the importance of implementation in the software market and essential bases, such as adjustment to the organizational reality and establishment of an efficient strategy. Types of tools and directives for a successful implantation are presented. Test automation has been considered the main measure taken to enhance test efficiency — fundamental in the software-development process. Responsible for verifying and/or validating the quality of the executable product compared to performed documentation and client requirements. Therefore, with the chapter content here provided, we aim to provide the reader with an understanding of test automation and grant relevant orientations to assist implementing it.
A Comparison and Scenario Analysis of Leading Data Mining Software
Authors: Wang John , Hu Xiaohua , Hollister Kimberly , Zhu Dan
Published: May 2011

Finding the right software is often hindered by different criteria as well as by technology changes. We performed an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis using Expert Choice to determine which data mining package was best suitable for us. Deliberating a dozen alternatives and objectives led us to a series of pair-wise comparisons. When further synthesizing the results, Expert Choice helped us provide a clear rationale for the decision. The issue is that data mining technology is changing very rapidly. Our article focused only on the major suppliers typically available in the market place. The method and the process that we have used can be easily applied to analyze and compare other data mining software or knowledge management initiatives.
Knowledge Management Toolkit for SMEs
Authors: Fink Kerstin , Ploder Christian
Published: May 2011

The discipline of knowledge management is no longer emerging in large organizations, but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are focusing on finding the right process that will allow them to make advantages of their intellectual capital. Using survey data from 219 small and medium-sized enterprises in Austria and Switzerland, this chapter illustrates the four key knowledge processes (1) knowledge identification, (2) knowledge acquisition, (3) knowledge distribution, and (4) knowledge preservation for SMEs and also reports the findings of the empirical study designed to allocate cost-efficient software products to each of the four knowledge processes. As a result a knowledge toolkit for SMEs that integrates knowledge processes, methods and software tool for decision support making is given. Finally, the social view of knowledge management to SMEs is discussed, showing that the use of information technology is currently far more important than the integration of a social-cognitive perspective.
Survey Tracker E-Mail/ Web Survey Software
Authors: Park Eun G.
Published: May 2011

This chapter offers an introductory description of SurveyTracker software. Comparisons are made to competitor software programs. The central focus is an explanation of the functions, features, and advantages of the software application.
Intelligent Software Agents with Applications in Focus
Authors: Jankovic-Romano Mario , Stankovic Milan , Krcadinac Uroš
Published: May 2011

Most people are familiar with the concept of agents in real life. There are stock-market agents, sports agents, real-estate agents, etc. Agents are used to filter and present information to consumers. Likewise, during the last couple of decades, people have developed software agents, that have the similar role. They behave intelligently, run on computers, and are autonomous, but are not human beings. Basically, an agent is a computer program that is capable of performing a flexible and independent action in typically dynamic and unpredictable domains (Luck, McBurney, Shehory, & Willmott, 2005). Agents are capable of performing actions and making decisions without the guidance of a human. Software agents emerged in the IT because of the ever-growing need for information processing, and the problems concerning dealing and working with large quantities of data.
The Migration of Public Administrations Towards Open Source Desktop Software
Authors: Ven Kris , Nuffel Dieter Van , Verelst Jan
Published: May 2011

Several public administrations (PA) have expressed an increasing interest in open source software in the past few years and are currently migrating to open source software on the desktop. Given the large impact such a migration has on the organization, there is a need for learning from the experiences of previous migrations. In this chapter, we deduct a number of recommendations and lessons learned from previous research conducted on the migration of PAs to open source desktop software. Next, we describe a case study on the migration of the Brussels-Capital Region towards OpenOffice.org, and compare their experiences to these recommendations. In general, our results are quite consistent with previous findings, but also indicate that additional research is still required in order to create a set of best practices—based on empirical research—for the migration towards open source software on the desktop.
Enterprise Resource Systems Software Implementation
Authors: Vaidyanathan Ganesh
Published: May 2011

Enterprise resource planning systems are complex yet single, integrated software programs that runs off a single database so that the various departments can easily share information and communicate with each other. The integrated approach can have a tremendous payback if companies implement the software correctly. This chapter illustrates the implementation steps as followed by major corporations in the United States, and provide an insight into the practical implementation issues. A business case for such systems is introduced in this chapter as well. The chapter provides seven ERP issues and elaborates these issues in the context of implementation. The implementation details during conceptualization, design, implementation, go-live, and operation stages are provided with a note to practitioners on ERP implementation.
Open Source Software Business Models and Customer Involvement Economics
Authors: Langdon Christoph Schlueter , Hars Alexander
Published: May 2011

This chapter is focused on the business economics of open source. From a strategic perspective, open source falls into a category of business models that generate advantages based on customer and user involvement (CUI). While open source has been a novel strategy in the software business, CUI-based strategies have been used elsewhere before. Since the success of e-commerce and ebusiness, CUI-based strategies have become far more prevalent for at least two reasons: Firstly, advances in information technology and systems have improved feasibility of implementation of CUI strategies and secondly, CUI-based economics appear to have often become a requirement for e-business profitability. This chapter presents a review of CUI-based competition, clearly delineates CUI antecedents and business value consequences, and concludes with a synopsis of managerial implications and a specific focus on open source.
Open Source Software
Authors: Papin-Ramcharan Jennifer
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents issues that relate to developing countries’ use of open source software (OSS) and the experience of these countries with OSS. Here the terms open source software (OSS), free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) and free software (FS) are used interchangeably. It describes the benefits of FLOSS including its superior quality and stability. Challenges to FLOSS use particularly for developing countries are described. It indicates that despite the greater benefits to developing countries of technology transfer of software development skills and the fostering of information and communication technology (ICT) innovation, the initial cost of acquiring FLOSS has been the key motivation for many developing countries adopting FLOSS solutions. It illustrates this by looking at the experience of a university in a developing country, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. Strategies for developing countries to benefit “fully” from FLOSS are presented including the implementation of formal organized programmes to educate and build awareness of FLOSS. The authors hope that by understanding some of the developing country issues that relate to OSS, solutions can be found. These countries could then fully benefit from OSS use, resulting in an increase in size of the global FLOSS development community that could potentially improve the quality of FLOSS and indeed all software.
Continuous Curriculum Restructuring in a Graduate Software Engineering Program
Authors: Rosca Daniela , Tepfenhart William , Wang Jiacun , Milewski Allen
Published: May 2011

The development, maintenance and delivery of a software engineering curriculum present special challenges not found in other engineering disciplines. The continuous advances of the field of software engineering impose a high frequency of changes reflected in the curriculum and course content. This chapter describes the challenges of delivering a program meeting the needs of industry and students. It presents the lessons learned during 21 years of offering such a program, and dealing with issues pertaining to continuous curriculum and course content restructuring, the influence of the student body on the curriculum and course content. The chapter concludes with our recommendations for those who are seeking to create a graduate program in software engineering, with a special note on the situations where an undergraduate and graduate program will need to coexist in the same department.
Combining Tailoring and Evolutionary Software Development for Rapidly Changing Business Systems
Authors: Eriksson Jeanette , Dittrich Yvonne
Published: May 2011

This article reports on a case study performed in cooperation with a telecommunication provider. The telecom business changes rapidly as new services are continuously introduced. The rapidly changing business environment demands that the company has supportive flexible software. The company’s continuous evolution of the ITinfrastructure makes it necessary to tailor the interaction between different applications. The objective of the case study was to explore what is required to allow end-users to tailor the interaction between flexible applications in an evolving ITinfrastructure. The case study followed a design research paradigm where a prototype was created and evaluated from a use perspective. The overall result shows that allowing end-users to tailor the interaction between flexible applications in an evolving IT infrastructure relies on, among other things, an organization that allows cooperation between users and developers that supports both evolution and tailoring.
Agile Practices in Project Management
Authors: Gómez John , Núñez Alejandro
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces agile project management as a way to improve the processes for software development in small organizations. The chapter contains a description of the main concepts and techniques used along with practical recommendations for their application in real situations. The chapter also analyzes the relationship between these practices and recognized process improvement models like the CMMI and the PMI PMBOK and presents case studies to illustrate implementation.
Integrating Quality Criteria and Methods of Evaluation for Software Models
Authors: Bobkowska Anna E.
Published: May 2011

Successful realization of the model-driven software development visions in practice requires high quality models. This chapter focuses on the quality of models themselves. It discusses context-free and context-dependent quality criteria for models and then moves on to methods of evaluation which facilitate checking whether a model is good enough. We use linguistic theories to understand groups of criteria and their impact on other models, software product and the process of software development. We propose a strict distinction of the impacts of visual modeling languages, models of the system and tools for quality criteria. This distinction is helpful when designing the methods of evaluation and making decision about the point in time, scope and personnel responsible for quality assessment. As the quality criteria and several methods of evaluation has usually been considered separately we propose a methodology which integrates them. Such an integrated approach provides the following benefits. It allows for designing methods of evaluation based on quality criteria and elements of the model (or modeling language) in the context of specific needs. It can be applied for management of the scope of evaluation with quality criteria as well as configuration of the method to a specific situation. It allows for flexible and efficient conduct of the evaluation with selection of the methods of evaluation. Finally, this chapter presents case studies which illustrate the approach.
Software Security Engineering
Authors: Zulkernine Mohammad , Ahamed Sheikh I.
Published: May 2011

The rapid development and expansion of network based applications have changed the computing world in the last decade. However, this overwhelming success has an Achilles’ heel: almost every software controlled system faces threats from potential adversaries both from internal and external users of the highly connected computing systems. These software systems must be engineered with reliable protection mechanisms, while still delivering the expected value of the software to their customers within the budgeted time and cost. The principal obstacle in achieving the above two different but interdependent objectives is that current software engineering processes do notprovide enough support for the software developers to achieve security goals. In this chapter, we reemphasize the principal objectives of both software engineering and security engineering, and strive to identify the major steps of a software security engineering process that will be useful for building secure software systems. Both software engineering and security engineering are ever evolving disciplines, and software security engineering is still in its infancy. This chapter proposes a unification of the process models of software engineering and security engineering in order to improve the steps of the software life cycle that would better address the underlying objectives of both engineering processes. This unification will facilitate the incorporation of the advancement of the features of one engineering process into the other. The chapter also provides a brief overview and survey of the current state of the art of software engineering and security engineering with respect to computer systems.
Improving Credibility of Machine Learner Models in Software Engineering
Authors: Boetticher Gary D.
Published: May 2011

Given a choice, software project managers frequently prefer traditional methods of making decisions rather than relying on empirical software engineering (empirical/machine learning-based models). One reason for this choice is the perceived lack of credibility associated with these models. To promote better empirical software engineering, a series of experiments are conducted on various NASA datasets to demonstrate the importance of assessing the ease/difficulty of a modeling situation. Each dataset is divided into three groups, a training set, and “nice/nasty” neighbor test sets. Using a nearest neighbor approach, “nice neighbors” align closest to same class training instances. “Nasty neighbors” align to the opposite class training instances. The “nice”, “nasty” experiments average 94% and 20% accuracy, respectively. Another set of experiments show how a ten-fold cross-validation is not sufficient in characterizing a dataset. Finally, a set of metric equations is proposed for improving the credibility assessment of empirical/machine learning models.
A Metamorphic Testing Approach for Online Testing of Service-Oriented Software Applications
Authors: Chan W. K. , Cheung S. C. , Leung Karl R.P.H.
Published: May 2011

Testing the correctness of services assures the functional quality of service-oriented applications. A service-oriented application may bind dynamically to its supportive services. For the same service interface, the supportive services may behave differently. A service may also need to realize a business strategy, like best pricing, relative to the behavior of its counterparts and the dynamic market situations. Many existing works ignore these issues to address the problem of identifying failures from test results. This article proposes a metamorphic approach for online services testing. The off-line testing determines a set of successful test cases to construct their corresponding follow-up test cases for the online testing. These test cases will be executed by metamorphic services that encapsulate the services under test as well as the implementations of metamorphic relations. Thus, any failure revealed by the metamorphic testing approach will be due to the failures in the online testing mode. An experiment is included.
Semantic Integration for B2B Service Assurance
Authors: Duke Alistair
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes an approach to support operational support system (OSS) integration across organisation boundaries. The requirement for such business-to-business (B2B) interfaces is expected to increase as is the need to carry out integration in much more flexible way. Existing approaches for integration tend to be implementation specific, operate at the syntactic level and are realised by programme code. Consequently they are inflexible due to their highly coupled nature and are costly to setup and maintain. An approach to decouple B2B interfaces is introduced, which allows them to be flexibly coupled as required with the use of scalable, semantic mediation. An initial prototype is described based on an Assurance Integration scenario for BT Wholesale’s B2B gateway.
A Case Study in Building Semantic eRecruitment Applications
Authors: Simperl Elena , Mochol Malgorzata
Published: May 2011

Ontology-based technology has achieved a level of maturity which allows it to become a serious candidate for the resolution of several major IT problems in contemporary businesses, be that enterprise application integration, data modeling or enterprise search. As it implies considerable additional efforts, building and deploying ontologies at industrial level has to be supported by elaborated methodologies, methods and tools, which are available to a large extent and at feasible quality to date. However, sophisticated methods alone are not sufficient for the industrial purposes. They have to be accompanied by extended case studies and comprehensive best practices and guidelines, which are of benefit in particular in real-world situations and in the absence of deep knowledge engineering expertise. In this chapter we report our practical experiences in building an ontology-based eRecruitment system. Our case study confirms previous findings in ontology engineering literature: (1) building ontology-based systems is still a tedious process due to the lack of proved and tested methods and tools supporting the entire life cycle of an ontology; and (2) reusing existing ontologies within new application contexts is currently related to efforts potentially comparable to the costs of a new implementation. We take this study a step further and use the findings to further elaborate existing best practices towards a list of recommendations for the eRecruitment domain, which, far from claiming completeness, might speed-up the development of similar systems.
Towards an Operational REA Business Ontology
Authors: Gailly Frederik
Published: May 2011

It is widely recognized that ontologies can be used to support the semantic integration and interoperability of heterogeneous information systems. Resource Event Agent (REA) is a well-known business ontology that was proposed for ontology-driven enterprise system development. However, the current specification is neither sufficiently explicit nor formal, and thus difficult to operationalize for use in ontology- driven business information systems. In this chapter REA is redesigned and formalized following a methodology based on the reengineering extension of the METHONTOLOGY framework for ontology development. The redesign is focused on developing a UML representation of REA that improves upon existing representations and that can easily be transformed into a formal representation. The formal representation of REA is developed in OWL. The chapter discusses the choices made in redesigning REA and in transforming REA’s UML representation into an OWL representation. It is also illustrated how this new formal representation of the REA-ontology can be used to support ontology-driven supply chain collaboration.
Pathway Biology Approach to Medicine
Authors: Ghazal Peter
Published: May 2011

An increasing number of biological experiments and more recently clinical based studies are being conducted using large-scale genomic, proteomic and metabolomic techniques which generate high-dimensional data sets. Such approaches require the adoption of both hypothesis and data driven strategies in the analysis and interpretation of results. In particular, data-mining and pattern recognition methodologies have proven particularly useful in this field. The increasing amount of information available from high-throughput experiments has initiated a move from focussed, single gene and protein investigations abstract Systems biology provides a new approach to studying, analyzing, and ultimately controlling biological processes. Biological pathways represent a key sub-system level of organization that seamlessly perform complex information processing and control tasks. The aim of pathway biology is to map and understand the cause-effect relationships and dependencies associated with the complex interactions of biological networks and systems. Drugs that therapeutically modulate the biological processes of disease are often developed with limited knowledge of the underlying complexity of their specific targets. Considering the combinatorial complexity from the outset might help identify potential causal relationships that could lead to a better understanding of the drug-target biology as well as provide new biomarkers for modelling diagnosis and treatment response in patients. This chapter discusses the use of a pathway biology approach to modelling biological processes and providing a new framework for experimental medicine in the post-genomic era.
Computational Models for the Analysis of Modern Biological Data
Authors: Pham Tuan D.
Published: May 2011

Computational models have been playing a significant role for the computer-based analysis of biological and biomedical data. Given the recent availability of genomic sequences and microarray gene expression, and proteomic data, there is an increasing demand for developing and applying advanced computational techniques for exploring these types of data such as: functional interpretation of gene expression data, deciphering of how genes, and proteins work together in pathways and networks, extracting and analysing phenotypic features of mitotic cells for high throughput screening of novel anti-mitotic drugs. Successful applications of advanced computational algorithms to solving modern life-science problems will make significant impacts on several important and promising issues related to genomic medicine, molecular imaging, and the scientific knowledge of the genetic basis of diseases. This chapter reviews the fusion of engineering, computer science, and information sciences with biology and medicine to address some latest technical developments in the computational analyses of modern biological data: microarray gene expression data, mass spectrometry data, and bioimaging.
Function and Homology of Proteins Similar in Sequence
Authors: Meinel Thomas
Published: May 2011

The function of proteins is a main subject of research in systems biology. Inference of function is now, more than ever, required by the upcoming of novel protein sequences in consequence of the discovery of new proteomes. The calculation of sequence similarity is an easily feasible way to compute protein comparisons. The comparison of complete proteomes touches one of the earliest topics in bioinformatics; the biologically meaningful organization of proteins in protein families. Several approaches that interpret function or evolutionary aspects of proteins from sequence similarity are reviewed, which in particular reflects the arsenal of techniques introduced until now. Phylogenetic profiling, a method that compares a set of genes or proteins by their presence or absence across a given set of organisms, is also presented in this chapter. Proteins in a functional context, for example, a pathway or a protein complex, are represented by identical or similar phylogenetic profiles. The detection of functional contexts by phylogenetic profiling is also playing a prospective role as an analytic tool in systems biology. Already established tools for phylogenetic profiling as well as particular biological examples based on the SYSTERS protein family data set are presented.
Systems Biology Applied to Cancer Research
Authors: Seigneuric R. , van Riel N.A.W. , Starmans M.H.W. , van Erk A.
Published: May 2011

Complex diseases such as cancer have multiple origins and are therefore difficult to understand and cure. Highly parallel technologies such as DNA microarrays are now available. These provide a data deluge which needs to be mined for relevant information and integrated to existing knowledge at different scales. Systems Biology is a recent field which intends to overcome these challenges by combining different disciplines and provide an analytical framework. Some of these challenges are discussed in this chapter.
The Breadth and Depth of BioMedical Molecular Networks
Authors: de Bono Bernard
Published: May 2011

From a genetic perspective, disease can be interpreted in terms of a variation in molecular sequence or expression (dose) that impairs normal physiological function. To understand thoroughly the knockon effect such pathological changes may have, it is crucial to map out the physiological relationship affected genes maintain with their functional neighbors. The goal of the Reactome project is to build such a network knowledgebase for all human genes. Constructing a map of such extent and scope requires a considerable range of expertise, so this project collaborates with field experts to integrate their pathway knowledge into a single quality-checked human model. This resource dataset is systematically cross-referenced to major molecular and literature databases, and is accessible to the community in a number of well-established formats. As an evolving network systems resource, Reactome is also starting to provide increasingly powerful and robust tools to investigate tissue-specific biology and steer targeted drug design.
Multisourcing Networks
Authors: Lee Laurence Lock
Published: May 2011

So how did multisourcing networks come about? It is worth taking some time to trace the evolution in business that has brought us to this point of multisourcing networks. In terms of sourcing, one can look through the three eras of pre-industrial, industrial and information/knowledge identified in Figure 8. This helps the reader to gain some insight into the overall trends that are taking place, and therefore hopefully helps to predict what actions one will need to take, to be successful.
Guidelines for IT Governance and Multisourcing in the Networked Economy
Authors: Lee Laurence Lock
Published: May 2011

It is argued that the intangible elements are growing in importance as the world’s economies become increasingly interdependent. Therefore the time is right to extend IT Governance practices to incorporate the management of the intangible aspects of your business or organisation.
Application of Web Services in the Context of E-Procurement
Authors: Oliver Stanley
Published: May 2011

This chapter highlights the importance of e-procurement and the barriers affecting its widespread adoption in the context of small and medium enterprises. The chapter takes a technical perspective and critically analyzes the importance of information systems in the procurement domain and the integration challenges faced by SMEs in today’s digitally networked economy. Next, the role of XML-based Web services in solving the integration challenges faced by SMEs is discussed. Subsequently, a procurement transformation framework enabled by Web services which provides a clear methodology of the way in which information systems should be introduced in the procurement domain is discussed. The chapter concludes by a discussion of the measures that must be undertaken by various stakeholders like the government and universities in increasing the awareness levels of SMEs to the latest e-business mechanisms.
E-Business in Developing Countries
Authors: Raven Peter V.
Published: May 2011

The Internet has changed the way many companies do business, but has also tended to increase the disparity between firms in developed countries and those in developing countries. As the digital divide seems to grow, the question becomes how will developing countries catch up? We examine two large developing countries, China and India, in an attempt to understand their approaches to developing e-business. While both countries had access to the technology at about the same time, each has taken a different path to utilizing it. These approaches are based on a number of factors, including government initiatives and focus, infrastructure building, experience and understanding of business operations, and culture, among others. China appears to be ahead of India in the mechanics and infrastructure, but India is ahead in e-readiness. Both countries are poised for rapidly increasing e-business, however, they have huge problems of poverty and inequality between urban and rural connectivity must be resolved to really take advantage of e-business.
Evaluating E-Business Leadership and its Links to Firm Performance
Authors: Quan Jing
Published: May 2011

Electronic business (e-business) has been popularly lauded as “new economy.” As a result, firms are prompted to invest heavily in e-business related activities such as supplier/procurement and online exchanges. Whether the investments have actually paid off for the firms remain largely unknown. Using the data on the top 100 e-business leaders compiled by InternetWeek, the leaders are compared with their comparable counterparts in terms of profitability and cost in both the short-run and long-run. It is found that while the leaders have superior performance based on most of the profitability measurements, such superiority is not observed when cost measurements are used. Based on the findings, managerial implications are offered accordingly.
Business Networking
Authors: Chituc Claudia-Melania
Published: May 2011

The rapid evolution of information and communication technologies, the changing client’s demands, and market conditions impelled enterprises to adapt their way of undertaking business, from traditional practices to e-business, and to participate in new forms of collaboration, such as networked organizations. In this context, standards, frameworks, technologies, and infrastructures supporting collaborative business, in a networked environment, become key factors in achieving environments with a desired high level of collaboration and inter- and intra-organization business processes alignment. The aim of this chapter is to underline the main issues, trends, and opportunities related to business integration from a technological perspective, analyzing and discussing the most relevant (existing and still under development) business integration reference models, frameworks, standards, technologies, and supporting infrastructures, and to briefly present relevant research projects in the area of business networking. A special emphasis is made on frameworks such as ebXML and RosettaNet, and the importance of papiNet, BPLE4WS, and freebXML is underlined. Challenges regarding self-forming networked organizations are also advanced.
Designing a Resilient and High Performance Network
Authors: Al Ajeeli Abid
Published: May 2011

This article describes the detailed configuration and LAN infrastructure design at the University of Bahrain (UOB). The article describes the configuration based on the new setup and migration requirements and indicates how the design satisfies those requirements. The article explains the detailed configuration of the design process of the distribution layer switches and shows how these switches can be configured in the final implementation. The article also discusses the modifications that occurred during the implementation/migration phase. The design of the network at UOB campuses incorporates resiliency into the network core in order to manage problems effectively. This will enable user access points to remain connected to the network even in the event of a failure. This incorporation aims to provide services and benefits to users without impediments.
Distributed Resources Management in Wireless LANs
Authors: Kbar Ghassan , Mansoor Wathiq
Published: May 2011

This paper introduces a new radio resource management technique based on distributed dynamic channel assignment, and sharing load among Access Points (AP). Deploying wireless LANs (WLAN) on a large scale is mainly affected by reliability, availability and performance. These parameters will be a concern for most managers who want to deploy WLANs. In order to address these concerns, a new radio resource management technique can be used in a new generation of wireless LAN equipment. This technique would include distributed dynamic channel assignment, and load sharing among Access Points (AP), which improves the network availability and reliability compared to centralized management techniques. In addition, it will help to increase network capacities and improve performance, especially in large-scale WLANs. Analysis results using normal and binomial distribution have been included which indicate an improvement of performance resulting from network balancing when implementing distributed resources management at WLANs.
Supporting Real-Time Service in Packet-Switched Wireless Networks
Authors: Ma Maode
Published: May 2011

The requirement of providing real-time data service by wireless networks is a critical issue in the design of current wireless networks. Distributed Queueing Request Update Multiple Access (DQRUMA) has been proposed as a demand assignment medium access control (MAC) protocol to efficiently control the medium sharing by multiple mobile users. With the help of a packet transmission policy, DQRUMA has a potential to provide QoS service for the time-constrained burst data traffic. In this article, we study the problem of providing real-time service to fixed-size packets with or without time constraints in wireless networks. In particular, we propose a novel scheduling scheme for the DQRUMA protocol to control the packet transmission in packet-switched wireless networks. We have conducted extensive simulation experiments to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm and to compare its real-time performance with those of other packet transmission policies. This study proves that the new algorithm is an efficient transmission policy for the DQRUMA to support real-time service in wireless networks.
Searching for Value in Researching the Adoption and Use of M-Services
Authors: Standing Craig , McManus Patricia , Standing Susan , Karjaluoto Heikki
Published: May 2011

Mobile services (m-services) have become an important part of the e-commerce landscape. Although research has been conducted on which services people use and the benefits they attach to those services, the values associated with the adoption and use of m-services at the individual level is still unclear. This article addresses the question of why and how individuals adopt and appropriate m-services with a particular focus on m-communication? In the information systems field, various technology adoption models have been proposed and validated in relation to technology adoption within an organisational setting, but personal adoption and use of technology is less researched. We propose the use of means-end chains and laddering techniques to determine the basic primitive values that are fulfilled for the individual by using various m-services. The examples presented show that mobile services often fulfill such basic needs as self-esteem, achievement, individuality, belonging, and well-being. Exploring the realization of values as a theoretical framework offers researchers a way forward in environments characterised by individual technology decisions.
Multi-Agent Patterns for Deploying Online Auctions
Authors: Jureta Ivan , Kolp Manuel , Faulkner Stéphane
Published: May 2011

Today, a high volume of goods and services is being traded using online auction systems. The growth in size and complexity of architectures to support online auctions requires the use of distributed and cooperative software techniques. In this context, the agent software development paradigm seems appropriate for their modeling, development, and implementation. This article proposes an agent-oriented pattern analysis of best practices for online auctions. The patterns are intended to help both IT managers and software engineers during the requirement specification of an online auction system while integrating benefits of agent software engineering.
The Future of M-Commerce
Authors: Yen David C.
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the growing significance of m-commerce with special focus on Bluetooth and WiMax. There is a detailed investigation of the components involved with, and the marketplace for, m-commerce transactions. The chapter concludes with the future opportunities and obstacles for m-commerce. The authors hope that the reader will gain a better understanding of, not only of m-commerce, but the impact of Bluetooth and WiMax.
An Overview of Learning Object Repositories
Authors: Tzikopoulos Agiris , Manouselis Nikos , Vuorikari Riina
Published: May 2011

Learning objects are systematically organised and classified in online databases, which are termed learning object repositories (LORs). Currently, a rich variety of LORs is operating online, offering access to wide collections of learning objects. These LORs cover various educational levels and topics, and are developed by using a variety of different technologies. They store learning objects and/or their associated metadata descriptions, as well as offer a range of services that may vary from advanced search and retrieval of learning objects to intellectual property rights (IPR) management. Until now, there has not been a comprehensive study of existing LORs that will give an outline of their overall characteristics. For this purpose, this chapter presents the initial results from a survey of 59 well-known repositories with learning resources. The most important characteristics of surveyed LORs are examined and useful conclusions about their current status of development are made. A discussion of future trends in the LORs field is also carried out.
A Database Project in a Small Company (or How the Real World Doesn't Always Follow the Book)
Authors: Mallach Efrem
Published: May 2011

This case describes the development of a database system used to track and analyze press comments by experts on the information technology industry. The system was developed in a haphazard fashion, without the benefit of professional developers, originally based on a loosely organized collection of data assembled by a staff member, with little visibility into its ultimate uses. Design decisions made early in the project without careful consideration were difficult to change, or were never changed later, even after their negative impact was evident. The system provided real value to its users, but use of proper development disciplines could possibly have reduced some problems while not reducing that value.
Significance and Success Factors of E-Commerce in China and Russia
Authors: Decker Reinhold
Published: May 2011

This chapter outlines and discusses current empirical findings and conceptual ideas concerning the status quo and future prospects of e-commerce in emerging markets, with a special focus on China and Russia. Besides two own online-surveys covering business companies from different industries as well as management consultancies acting in these countries, we also refer to the results of recent studies dealing with the topic of interest in a meta-analytical sense. The resulting managerial implications are primarily based on those factors which determine the success of e-commerce activities and on the corresponding value creation.
Cultural Differences, Information Technology Infrastructure, and E-Commerce Behavior
Authors: Genis-Gruber Ahu
Published: May 2011

E-commerce has been a widely used mean to purchase goods and services all over the world. This study investigates the role of cultural differences and information technology infrastructure on usage of e-commerce in developed and developing countries. As shown in Genis-Gruber and Tas (2007) cultural differences are expected to play a major role on e-commerce behavior especially in developing economies. In order to identify cultural differences, we use Hofstede’s classification. We classify the countries according to these indices and their technological and economic development. We make several cultural comparisons among various countries and we empirically investigate whether these cultural differences play a significant role on e-commerce behavior. We implement OLS and fixed effect regression methods. Using dummy variables and interaction variables, we estimate the effect of cultural differences on e-commerce purchases and other e-commerce variables. Besides the effects of cultural factors, we also investigate the effects of information infrastructure and education level of the countries. We conclude that cultural dimensions play an incremental role on e-commerce and relationship between infrastructure and e-commerce. We control for several other factors like information infrastructure and education level, and use different econometric techniques to achieve our results.
An Economic Framework for the Assessment of E-Commerce in Developing Countries
Authors: Yousefi Ayoub
Published: May 2011

This study presents a theoretically-based model for economic analysis of electronic commerce in developing countries. The Porter diamond model is adopted for proper economic examination of the factors that affect e-commerce. The model not only captures the factors as the driving forces of e-commerce, but also facilitates the assessment of e-commerce and identification of the global competitive advantages of the firms. The new model can be used as a framework for better policymaking by the public and private sectors and to predict changes in the rapidly expanding e-commerce in the global environment, especially in developing countries.