bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Technology Intervention Perspective of Mobile Marketing
Authors: Lee Dennis , Muhlberger Ralf
Published: May 2011

In the last decade, the explosive growth and adoption of mobile phones has become commonplace in our everyday lives (Haghirian, Madlberger, & Tanuskova, 2005). In 1997, there were only 215 million people worldwide who used mobile phones as communication devices (Bauer, Barnes, Reichardt, & Neumann, 2005). Today, it is estimated that 2 billion people own a mobile phone worldwide and this number makes up a third of the entire human population (Wireless Intelligence, 2005). Mobile phones are no longer thought of as mere personal communication tools (Cheong & Park, 2005; Ito & Okabe, 2005). They have become a fashion symbol for teenagers and young adults (Katz & Sugiyama, 2005). Personalised ring tones, colours, display logos and accessories are individualised accordingly to suit individuals’ preferences (Bauer, Barnes, Reichardt, & Neumann, 2005). Furthermore, mobile phones are no longer just a platform for voice calls and sending and receiving text messages such as short messaging service (SMS). Photos, pictures and video clips can be attached as a multimedia message service (MMS) for communication purposes too (Okazaki, 2005a). With the recent introduction of 3G mobile technology, mobile phone users are able to perform more activities via their 3G enabled phone sets. They are able to browse the Internet fairly quickly, access online banking, play video games wirelessly, watch television programs, check for weather forecasts, allow instant messaging, and perform live video-conferencing (Okazaki, 2005b).
Design of an Enhanced 3G-Based Mobile Healthcare System
Authors: Navajas Julián Fernández , Bardají Antonio Valdovinos , Istepanian Robert S.H. , Moros José García , Mas José Ruiz , Navarro Eduardo Antonio Viruete
Published: May 2011

An enhanced mobile healthcare multi-collaborative system operating over Third Generation (3G) mobile networks is presented. This chapter describes the design and use of this system in different medical and critical emergency scenarios provided with universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) accesses. In these environments, it is designed to communicate healthcare personnel with medical specialists in a remote hospital. The system architecture is based on advanced signalling protocols that allow multimedia multi-collaborative conferences in IPv4/IPv6 3G scenarios. The system offers real-time transmission of medical data and videoconference, together with other non real-time services. It has been optimized specifically to operate over 3G mobile networks using the most appropriate codecs. Evaluation results show a reliable performance over IPv4 UMTS accesses (64 Kbps in the uplink). In the future, advances in m-Health systems will make easier for mobile patients to interactively get the medical attention and advice they need.
A Cooperative Framework for Information Browsing in Mobile Environment
Authors: Hua Zhigang , Xie Xing , Lu Hanqing , Ma Wei-Ying
Published: May 2011

Through pervasive computing, users can access information and applications anytime, anywhere, using any device. But as mobile devices such as Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), SmartPhone, and consumer appliance continue to flourish, it becomes a significant challenge to provide more tailored and adaptable services for this diverse group. To make it easier for people to use mobile devices effectively, there exist many hurdles to be crossed. Among them is small display size, which is always a challenge. Usually, applications and documents are mainly designed with desktop computers in mind. When browsing through mobile devices with small display areas, users’ experiences will be greatly degraded (e.g., users have to continually scroll through a document to browse). However, as users acquire or gain access to an increasingly diverse range of portable devices (Coles, Deliot, & Melamed, 2003), the changes of the display area should not be limited to a single device any more, but extended to the display areas on all available devices. As can be readily seen from practice, the simplest multi-device scenario is when a user begins an interaction on a first access device, then ceases to use the first device and completes the interaction using another access device. This simple scenario illustrates a general concern about a multi-device browsing framework: the second device should be able to work cooperatively to help users finish browsing tasks. In this article, we propose a cooperative framework to facilitate information browsing among devices in mobile environment. We set out to overcome the display constraint in a single device by utilizing the cooperation of multiple displays. Such a novel scheme is characterized as: (1) establishing a communication mechanism to maintain cooperative browsing across devices; and (2) designing a distributed user interface across devices to cooperatively present information and overcome the small display area limited by a single device.
Describing the Critical Factors for Creating Successful Mobile Data Services
Authors: Tseng Anne , Kallio Jukka , Tinnilä Markku
Published: May 2011

Mobile operators play a central role in the development of the mobile data services market. They have primary access to the customer relationship, a key source of revenue, and are responsible for how revenue is distributed to other participants in the value chain. As a result, a successful operatordriven business model is essential to the survival of the mobile data industry. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the critical factors that have influenced the results of operators based on countries that have been at the forefront of mobile data services innovation. Then, by comparing the key characteristics of operator-driven business models in these four cases around the world, we will describe the critical factors used in designing successful mobile data services.
Information Management in Mobile Environments Using a Location-Aware Intelligent Agent System
Authors: Vyas Amrish , Yoon Victoria
Published: May 2011

Recent rise in the level of comfort and demand to access various types of information using mobile devices can be attributed to the advancements in wireless as well as Internet technologies. This demand leads us to the new era of mobile computing. Location-based services (LBS) are engendering new passion in mobile services utilizing users’ location information. Such spatio- temporal information processing entails the need for a dynamic middleware that accurately identifies changing user location and attaches dependent content in real-time without putting extra burden on users. Our work focuses on creating a distributed infrastructure suitable to support such scalable content dissemination. As a result this chapter offers a conceptual framework, location-aware intelligent agent system (LIA) in integration with publish/subscribe middleware to comprehensively address dynamic content dissemination and related issues. We discuss the operational form of our framework in terms of PUSH and PULL strategies.
Semantic Web Services for Smart Devices Based on Mobile Agents
Authors: Terziyan Vagan
Published: May 2011

Among traditional users of Web resources, industry has a growing set of smart industrial devices with embedded intelligence. Just like humans, they need online services (i.e., for condition monitoring, remote diagnostics, maintenance, etc.). In this paper, we present one possible implementation framework for such Web services. Such services should be Semantic Web enabled and form a Service Network based on internal and external agents’ platforms, which can host heterogeneous mobile agents and coordinate them to perform needed tasks. The concept of a “mobile service component” assumes not only exchanging queries and service responses, but also delivering and composition of a service provider. Mobile service component carrier (agent) can move to a field device’s local environment (embedded agent platform) and perform its activities locally. Service components improve their performance through online learning and communication with other components. Heterogeneous service components’ discovery is based on semantic P2P search.
A Virtual Community for Mobile Agents
Authors: Guan Sheng-Uei , Zhu Fangming
Published: May 2011

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is booming with the increasing accessibility of the Internet. E-commerce is revolutionizing the concept of carrying out business functions. By using a Web browser, buyers are able to access numerous e-commerce Web sites, where they can make purchases within a reasonable price range. Suppliers realize that e-commerce is essential to the success and competitiveness of their businesses. The benefits of conducting business online include reduction of the cost for many transactions and streamlining of operations. However, there are also some obstacles to the success of e-commerce. Firstly, buyers may be lost in the ocean of the items available. Secondly, it is a tedious task to search for a specific product through the Internet and it is difficult to bargain within the current infrastructure. Thirdly, some transactions are so complicated that they are too difficult to be dealt with. For instance, merchants often negotiate transactions with multiple issues of concern such as price, quantity, and method of delivery. Many strategies are adopted to accomplish these tasks, and both the negotiating counterparts and the environment can affect the choice of the strategies. However, in many existing auction Web sites, price is the main focus for both bidders and sellers. Bidders and sellers are seldom given a chance to negotiate the other issues, and many commercial opportunities are neglected. This chapter discusses SAFER for e-commerce (secure agent fabrication, evolution & roaming for e-commerce), which uses secure agents to alleviate problems in e-commerce.
Mobile Phone Based Augmented Reality
Authors: Henrysson Anders , Ollila Mark , Billinghurst Mark
Published: May 2011

Mobile phones are evolving into the ideal platform for augmented reality (AR). In this chapter, we describe how augmented reality applications can be developed for mobile phones and the interaction metaphors that are ideally suited for this platform. Several sample applications are described which explore different interaction techniques. User study results show that moving the phone to interact with virtual content is an intuitive way to select and position virtual objects. A collaborative AR game is also presented with an evaluation study. Users preferred playing with the collaborative AR interface than with a non-AR interface and also found physical phone motion to be a very natural input method. This results discussed in this chapter should assist researchers in developing their own mobile phone based AR applications.
M-Learning with Mobile Phones
Authors: So Simon
Published: May 2011

The Internet is a major driver of e-learning advancement and there was an estimate of over 1000 million Internet users in 2004. The ownership of mobile devices is even more astonishing. ITU (2006) reported that 77% of the population in developed countries are mobile subscribers. The emergence of mobile, wireless and satellite technologies is impacting our daily life and our learning. New Internet technologies are being used to support small-screen mobile and wireless devices. In a field marked by such rapid evolution, we cannot assume that the Web as we know it today will remain the primary conduit for Internet- based learning (Bowles, 2004, p.12). Mobile and wireless technologies will play a pivotal role in learning. This new field is commonly known as mobile learning (m-learning). In this article, the context of m-learning in relation to e-learning and d-learning is presented. Because of the great importance in Web-based technologies to bridge over mobile and wireless technologies, the infrastructure to support mlearning through browser-based technologies is described. This concept represents my own view on the future direction of m-learning. An m-learning experiment, which implemented the concept, is then presented.
China
Authors: Kshetri Nir , Williamson Nicholas , Bourgoin David L.
Published: May 2011

China is emerging as a global capital of m-commerce applications. China is the world’s biggest mobile market in terms of subscriber base and the fastest growing in the history of telecommunications. Although China currently lacks advanced mobile applications compared to Europe, North America, Japan and Korea, a number of mobile players are rapidly launching sophisticated mobile applications. Unique institutions and the nature of mobile market conditions in China, however, superimpose in a complex interaction that harbors a paradoxical nature. The Chinese m-commerce market is thus drastically different from that of the Western world. This chapter examines the Chinese m-commerce landscape and analyzes its drivers. We also examine the Chinese market from the CLIP perspective.
Mobile Commerce in South Africa
Authors: Singh Anesh Maniraj
Published: May 2011

The last decade has seen a rush among businesses to get onto the Internet. Since its introduction, e-commerce has grown in leaps and bounds. The frenzy to get online and be a part of the “new economy” was spurred on by media hype describing the Internet as the greatest technology this century. Organisations embarked on initiatives to change their business models, looking for e-strategies as a means of revolutionising their business. By mid 2000, many of the dot.coms were “dot.gones.” The primary reason for this sudden death was that businesses forgot the basic rule of business: creating economic value. Economic value as defined by Porter (1985) is the gap between price and cost—the larger the gap, the greater the economic value. According to Porter (2001), gaining a competitive advantage does not require a radical approach to business; it requires building on the principles of effective strategy. Businesses that went online should not have looked for e-strategies, but should have improved on their existing strategy to include an e-strategy. GPRS, wireless Web, handhelds, m-commerce, 2nd coming of the Internet, m-management, killer apps, 2G or 3G, always-on, have been the buzzwords in the media. Is this new hype really worth the fuss? M-commerce has failed in the United States and has made a brief appearance in South Africa. Therefore, this article asks the question “Is there potential to revive m-commerce in South Africa?” In attempting to answer this question, this article will examine issues such as uses of m-commerce, the benefits and challenges of mcommerce, trends in the wireless industry, and the technology underlying m-commerce. This article will also attempt to provide suggestions for harnessing the power of the wireless Web. Most of the discussions are based on universal experience supported with what the current situation is in South Africa; therefore, this article will not be separated into a universal section with a smaller subset focussing on South Africa.
Mobile Virtual Communities
Authors: Ferreira Glauber , Almeida Hyggo , Perkusich Angelo , Costa Evandro
Published: May 2011

The establishment of collective relationships is a native characteristic of individuals. Living in a recluse way cannot be considered part of human nature. Individuals have always been organized in communities in which they establish relationships with other individuals, which usually live in one particular area. Proximity among individuals is one of the characteristics that motivate the creation of communities. Communities are also created when individuals have common interests. Some examples are: religious communities, such as Catholic and Jewish ones; and communities that comprise people having the same job, such as scientific and medical communities. In these examples, the distance among individuals is not an obstacle to the creation of communities, since individuals have common interests. In spite of living in different places, members of these communities have periodic meetings in which collective relationships are established. The popularization of the Internet after the 1990s along with the well established use of personal computers have allowed the creation of a new form of community, the well known virtual communities. They have enabled individuals to communicate through e-mail, forums, instant messaging, and videoconference. People living in different countries have interacted and communicated through Internet enabled personal computers. Distance learning and software users groups such as Linux users and Java developers are some examples of relationships that have been improved by virtual communities. Mobile virtual communities are the most recent advance in the establishment of collective relationships, mainly due to the progress in mobile devices and wireless communication technologies. Connectivity among wireless mobile devices enables individuals to exchange information and knowledge, anytime and anywhere. These communities are created in an ad hoc way: individuals with common profiles, carrying connected mobile devices, can constitute a community and access/provide information according to their authorization degree. There are various applications of mobile virtual communities, such as workflow management, mobile learning, healthcare communities, personal assistants in academic conferences, and applications for communication among students on campus, among others. This article introduces the field of mobile virtual communities, describing the main issues that have culminated in the creation of this research area such as the Internet, personal computers, mobile devices and wireless communication technologies. Applications domains of mobile virtual communities and works that support the development of these applications are also presented.
Portals Supporting a Mobile Learning Environment
Authors: Crowther Paul , Beer Martin
Published: May 2011

Mobile computing gives a learner the ability to engage in learning activities when and where they wish. This may be formal learning, where the learner is a student enrolled on a course in an institution, or informal learning, where they may be engaged in activities such as a visit to an art gallery. This entry emphasises the importance of portals to this learning environment, using the MOBIlearn project as an example. The MOBIlearn project intends to develop software that supports the use of mobile devices (smartphones, PDAs, Tablet PCs, and laptops with wireless network connection) for various learning scenarios, including noninstitutional learning. (MOBIlearn, 2005) The project has two primary objectives: • Develop a methodology for creating mobile learning scenarios and producing learning objects to implement them. • Develop the technology to deliver the learning objects to users via mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants, smart phones and tablet computers. The pedagogic aim of the system is to provide users with the ability to engage in formal, nonformal and informal learning in a personal collaborative virtual learning environment. To this end four scenarios were used as the basis of developing the requirements for the system. These were a formal university course and a related orientation activity, a nonformal health care scenario and an informal scenario based around museums and galleries. The philosophy behind the MOBIlearn system is that it provides a set of interoperable services. Services should be able to communicate asynchronously using unstable communication channels (MOBIlearn, 2005). The primary component of the system is the Main Portal component. Central to the Main Portal component was the Portal Service (PO_POS) that represents the single access point for the user to all the services provided by the MOBIlearn system. As well as the Portal Service there are six other services that make up the Main Portal component.
Mobile Code and Security Issues
Authors: Samundeeswari E. S. , Jane F. Mary Magdalene
Published: May 2011

Over the years, computer systems have evolved from centralized monolithic computing devices supporting static applications, into client-server environments that allow complex forms of distributed computing. Throughout this evolution, limited forms of code mobility have existed. The explosion in the use of the World Wide Web, coupled with the rapid evolution of the platform- independent programming languages, has promoted the use of mobile code and, at the same time, raised some important security issues. This chapter introduces mobile code technology and discusses the related security issues. The first part of the chapter deals with the need for mobile codes and the various methods of categorising them. One method of categorising the mobile code is based on code mobility. Different forms of code mobility, like code on demand, remote evaluation, and mobile agents, are explained in detail. The other method is based on the type of code distributed. Various types of codes, like source code, intermediate code, platform-dependent binary code, and just-in-time compilation, are explained. Mobile agents, as autonomously migrating software entities, present great challenges to the design and implementation of security mechanisms. The second part of this chapter deals with the security issues. These issues are broadly divided into code-related issues and host-related issues. Techniques, like sandboxing, code signing, and proof-carrying code, are widely applied to protect the hosts. Execution tracing, mobile cryptography, obfuscated code, and cooperating agents are used to protect the code from harmful agents. The security mechanisms, like language support for safety, OS level security, and safety policies, are discussed in the last section. In order to make the mobile code approach practical, it is essential to understand mobile code technology. Advanced and innovative solutions are to be developed to restrict the operations that mobile code can perform, but without unduly restricting its functionality. It is also necessary to develop formal, extremely easy-to-use safety measures.
Security Architectures of Mobile Computing
Authors: Grahn Kaj , Pulkkis Göran , Karlsson Jonny , Tran Dai
Published: May 2011

Mobile Internet users expect the same network service quality as over a wire. Technologies, protocols, and standards supporting wired and wireless Internet are converging. Mobile devices are resource constrained due to size, power, and memory. The portability making these devices attractive also causes data exposure and network penetration risks. Mobile devices can connect to many different wireless network types, such as cellular networks, personal area networks, wireless local area networks (WLANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), and wide area networks (satellite-based WANs). Wireless network application examples are e-mailing, Web browsing, m-commerce, electronic payments, synchronization with a desktop computer, network monitoring/management, and reception of video/audio streams.
Integrity Protection of Mobile Agent Data
Authors: Guan Sheng-Uei
Published: May 2011

One hindrance to the widespread adoption of mobile-agent technology is the lack of security. Security will be the issue that has to be addressed carefully if mobile agents are to be used in the field of electronic commerce. SAFER (secure agent fabrication, evolution and roaming) is a mobile-agent framework that is specially designed for the purpose of electronic commerce (Guan & Hua, 2003; Guan, Zhu, & Maung, 2004; Zhu, Guan, Yang, & Ko, 2000). Security has been a prime concern from the first day of our research (Guan & Yang, 2002; Yang & Guan, 2000). By building strong and efficient security mechanisms, SAFER aims to provide a trustworthy framework for mobile agents to assist users in conducting mobile or electronic-commerce transactions. Agent integrity is one such area crucial to the success of agent technology (Wang, Guan, & Chan, 2002). Despite the various attempts in the literature, there is no satisfactory solution to the problem of data integrity so far. Some of the common weaknesses of the current schemes are vulnerabilities to revisit attacks, when an agent visits two or more collaborating malicious hosts during one roaming session, and illegal modifi- cation (deletion or insertion) of agent data. The agent monitoring protocol (AMP; Chionh, Guan, & Yang, 2001), an earlier proposal under SAFER to address agent data integrity, does address some of the weaknesses in the current literature. Unfortunately, the extensive use of PKI (public-key infrastructure) technology introduces too much overhead to the protocol. Also, AMP requires the agent to deposit its data collected to the agent owner or butler before it roams to another host. While this is a viable and secure approach, the proposed approach, Secure Agent Data Integrity Shield (SADIS), will provide an alternative by allowing the agent to carry the data by itself without depositing them (or the data hash) onto the butler. Besides addressing the common vulnerabilities of current literature (revisit attacks and data-modification attacks), SADIS also strives to achieve maximum efficiency without compromising security. It minimizes the use of PKI technology and relies on symmetric key encryption as much as possible. Moreover, the data encryption key and the communication session key are both derivable from a key seed that is unique to the agent’s roaming session in the current host. As a result, the butler can derive the communication session key and data encryption key directly. Another feature in SADIS is strong security. Most of the existing research works focus on detecting integrity compromise (Esparza, Muñoz, Soriano, & Fomé, 2006) or bypassing integrity attacks by requiring the existence of a cooperating agent that is carried out within a trusted platform (Ouardani, Pierre, & Boucheneb, 2006). However, these works neglect the need to identify the malicious host. With SADIS, the agent butler will not only be able to detect any compromise to data integrity, but will identify the malicious host effectively.
Antecedents of Consumer Trust in B2C Electronic Commerce and Mobile Commerce
Authors: Kim Dan J.
Published: May 2011

Despite the importance of trust in electronic commerce including mobile commerce, there is insufficient theory and model concerning the determinants of consumer trust in business-to-consumer electronic commerce. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to (1) identify the major antecedents of a consumer’s trust in electronic commerce and mobile commerce contexts through a large-scale literature review, (2) develop an integrative trust antecedent reference model summarizing the antecedents of consumer trust, and (3) discuss six categories of mobile applications as future trends of technologies and key issues related to consumer trust area in electronic commerce. In addition, to provide the validity of the proposed reference model, this chapter also proposes a research model derived from the reference model and discusses the constructs of the proposed model in detail. The chapter concludes that building trust is not simply an issue related to consumertechnology- buyer, but it is a complex issue that involves the interactions of key elements (buyer, seller, third-party, technology, and market environment) at least.
Classification of 3G Mobile Phone Customers
Authors: Jain Ankur , Wangikar Lalit , Ahrens Martin , Rao Ranjan , Kundu Suddha Sattwa , Ghosh Sutirtha
Published: May 2011

In this article we discuss how we have predicted the third generation (3G) customers using logistic regression analysis and statistical tools like Classification and Regression Tree (CART), Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS), and other variables derived from the raw variables. The basic idea reflected in this paper is that the performance of logistic regression using raw variables standalone can be improved upon, by the use for various functions of the raw variables and dummies representing potential segments of the population
A Study on the Performance of IPv6-Based Mobility Protocols
Authors: Kong Ki-Sik , Roh Sung-Ju , Hwang Chong-Sun
Published: May 2011

The performance of IP mobility protocols is highly dependent on the change of mobile nodes’ (MNs’) mobility and traffic-related characteristics. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the effects of these characteristics and to conduct an in-depth performance study of these protocols. In this paper, we introduce a novel analytical approach using a continuous-time Markov chain model and hierarchical network model for the performance analysis of IPv6 mobility protocols: Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) and Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6). According to these analytical models, we derive the location update costs (i.e., binding update costs plus binding renewal costs), packet tunneling costs, and total signaling costs, which are generated by an MN during its average domain residence time, when MIPv6 or HMIPv6 is deployed under the same network architecture, respectively. In addition, based on these derived costs, we investigate the effects of various parameters, such as the average speed of an MN, binding lifetime period, the ratio of the network scale, and packet arrival rate, on the signaling costs generated by an MN under MIPv6 and HMIPv6. Moreover, we conduct the performance comparison between these two protocols by showing the relative total signaling costs under the various conditions. The analytical results show that as the average speed of an MN gets higher and the binding lifetime period is set to the larger value or as its packet arrival rate gets lower, the total signaling cost generated by an MN during its average domain residence time under HMIPv6 will get relatively lower than that under MIPv6, and that under the reverse conditions, the total signaling cost under MIPv6 will get relatively lower than that under HMIPv6.
Data Dissemination in Mobile Environments
Authors: Fouliras Panayotis
Published: May 2011

Data dissemination today represents one of the cornerstones of network-based services and even more so for mobile environments. This becomes more important for large volumes of multimedia data such as video, which have the additional constraints of speedy, accurate, and isochronous delivery often to thousands of clients. In this chapter, we focus on video streaming with emphasis on the mobile environment, first outlining the related issues and then the most important of the existing proposals employing a simple but concise classification. New trends are included such as overlay and p2p network-based methods. The advantages and disadvantages for each proposal are also presented so that the reader can better appreciate their relative value.
A Bio-Inspired Approach for the Next Generation of Cellular Systems
Authors: El-Said Mostafa
Published: May 2011

In the current 3G systems and the upcoming 4G wireless systems, missing neighbor pilot refers to the condition of receiving a high-level pilot signal from a Base Station (BS) that is not listed in the mobile receiver’s neighbor list (LCC International, 2004; Agilent Technologies, 2005). This pilot signal interferes with the existing ongoing call, causing the call to be possibly dropped and increasing the handoff call dropping probability. Figure 1 describes the missing pilot scenario where BS1 provides the highest pilot signal compared to BS1 and BS2’s signals. Unfortunately, this pilot is not listed in the mobile user’s active list. The horizontal and vertical handoff algorithms are based on continuous measurements made by the user equipment (UE) on the Primary Scrambling Code of the Common Pilot Channel (CPICH). In 3G systems, UE attempts to measure the quality of all received CPICH pilots using the Ec/Io and picks a dominant one from a cellular system (Chiung & Wu, 2001; El-Said, Kumar, & Elmaghraby, 2003). The UE interacts with any of the available radio access networks based on its memorization to the neighboring BSs. As the UE moves throughout the network, the serving BS must constantly update it with neighbor lists, which tell the UE which CPICH pilots it should be measuring for handoff purposes. In 4G systems, CPICH pilots would be generated from any wireless system including the 3G systems (Bhashyam, Sayeed, & Aazhang, 2000). Due to the complex heterogeneity of the 4G radio access network environment, the UE is expected to suffer from various carrier interoperability problems. Among these problems, the missing neighbor pilot is considered to be the most dangerous one that faces the 4G industry. The wireless industry responded to this problem by using an inefficient traditional solution relying on using antenna downtilt such as given in Figure 2. This solution requires shifting the antenna’s radiation pattern using a mechanical adjustment, which is very expensive for the cellular carrier. In addition, this solution is permanent and is not adaptive to the cellular network status (Agilent Technologies, 2005; Metawave, 2005).
Component Agent Systems
Authors: Marques Paulo , Silva Luís
Published: May 2011

One central problem preventing widespread adoption of mobile agents as a code structuring primitive is that current mainstream middleware implementations do not convey it simply as such. In fact, they force all the development to be centered on mobile agents, which has serious consequences in terms of software structuring and, in fact, technology adoption. This chapter discusses the main limitations of the traditional platform-based approach, proposing an alternative: component-based mobile agent systems. Two case studies are discussed: the JAMES platform, a traditional mobile agent platform specially tailored for network management, and M&M, a component-based system for agent-enabling applications. Finally, a bird’s eye perspective on the last 15 years of mobile agent systems research is presented along with an outlook on the future of the technology. The authors hope that this chapter brings some enlightenment on the pearls and pitfalls surrounding this interesting technology and ways for avoiding them in the future.
From Ethnography to Interface Design
Authors: Paay Jeni
Published: May 2011

This chapter proposes a way of informing creative design of mobile information systems by acknowledging the value of ethnography in HCI and tackling the challenge of transferring that knowledge to interface design. The proposed approach bridges the gap between ethnography and interface design by introducing the activities of field-data informed design sketching, on a high level of abstraction, followed by iterative development of paper-based mock-ups. The outcomes of these two activities can then be used as a starting point for iterative prototype development— in paper or in code. This is particularly useful in situations where mobile HCI designers are faced with challenges of innovation rather than solving well-defined problems and where design must facilitate future rather than current practice. The use of this approach is illustrated through a design case study of a context-aware mobile information system facilitating people socialising in the city.
An Interactive Wireless Morse Code Learning System
Authors: Yang Cheng-Huei , Chuang Li-Yeh , Yang Cheng-Hong , Chang Jun-Yang
Published: May 2011

Morse code has been shown to be a valuable tool in assistive technology, augmentative and alternative communication, and rehabilitation for some people with various conditions, such as spinal cord injuries, non-vocal quadriplegics, and visual or hearing impairments. In this article, a mobile phone human-interface system using Morse code input device is designed and implemented for the person with disabilities to send/receive SMS (simple message service) messages or make/respond to a phone call. The proposed system is divided into three parts: input module, control module, and display module. The data format of the signal transmission between the proposed system and the communication devices is the PDU (protocol description unit) mode. Experimental results revealed that three participants with disabilities were able to operate the mobile phone through this human interface after four weeks’ practice.
A Mobile Computing Framework for Passive RFID Detection System in Health Care
Authors: Mohammadian Masoud , Jentzsch Ric
Published: May 2011

The cost of health care continues to be a world wide issue. Research continues into ways and how the utilization of evolving technologies can be applied to reduce costs and improve patient care, while maintaining patient’s lives. To achieve these needs requires accurate, near real time data acquisition and analysis. At the same time there exists a need to acquire a profile on a patient and update that profile as fast and as possible. All types of confidentiality need to be addressed no matter which technology and application is used. One possible way to achieve this is to use a passive detection system that employs wireless radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. This detection system can integrate wireless networks for fast data acquisition and transmission, while maintaining the privacy issue. Once this data is obtained, then up to date profiling can be integrated into the patient care system. This article discussed the use and need for a passive RFID system for patient data acquisition in health care facilities such as a hospital. The development of profile data is assisted by a profiling intelligent software agent that is responsible for processing the raw data obtained through RFID and database and invoking the creation and update of the patient profile.
Matching Dynamic Demands of Mobile Users with Dynamic Service Offers
Authors: Holtkamp Bernhard , Weißenberg Norbert , Wojciechowski Manfred
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the use of ontologies for personalized situation-aware information and service supply of mobile users in different application domains. A modular application ontology, composed of upper-level ontologies such as location and time ontologies and of domain-specific ontologies, acts as a semantic reference model for a compatible description of user demands and service offers in a service-oriented information- logistical platform. The authors point out that the practical deployment of the platform proved the viability of the conceptual approach and exhibited the need for a more performant implementation of inference engines in mobile multi-user scenarios. Furthermore, the authors hope that understanding the underlying concepts and domain-specific application constraints will help researchers and practitioners building more sophisticated applications not only in the domains tackled in this chapter but also transferring the concepts to other domains.
A Multi-Agent System Approach to Mobile Negotiation Support Mechanism by Integrating Case-Based Reasoning and Fuzzy Cognitive Map
Authors: Lee Kun Chang , Lee Namho
Published: May 2011

This chapter proposes a new type of multi-agent mobile negotiation support system named MAMNSS in which both buyers and sellers are seeking the best deal given limited resources. Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is now on the verge of explosion in many countries, triggering the need to develop more effective decision support systems capable of suggesting timely and relevant action strategies for both buyers and sellers. To fulfill a research purpose like this, two artificial intelligence (AI) methods such as CBR (casebased reasoning) and FCM (fuzzy cognitive map) are integrated and named MAM-NSS. The primary advantage of the proposed approach is that those decision makers involved in m-commerce regardless of buyers and sellers can benefit from the negotiation support functions that are derived from referring to past instances via CBR and investigating inter-related factors simultaneously through FCM. To prove the validity of the proposed approach, a hypothetical m-commerce problem is developed in which theaters (sellers) seek to maximize profit by selling their vacant seats to potential customers (buyers) walking around within reasonable distance. For experimental design and implementation, a multi-agent environment Netlogo is adopted. A simulation reveals that the proposed MAM-NSS could produce more robust and promising results that fit the characteristics of m-commerce.
Mobile Speech Recognition
Authors: Schnelle Dirk
Published: May 2011

This chapter gives an overview of the main architectures for enabling speech recognition on embedded devices. Starting with a short overview of speech recognition; an overview of the main challenges for the use on embedded devices is given. Each of the architectures has its own characteristic problems and features. This chapter gives a solid basis for the selection of an architecture that is most appropriate for the current business case in enterprise applications.
Environmental Drivers of E-Business Strategies Among SMEs
Authors: Arbore Alessandro , Ordanini Andrea
Published: May 2011

In front of traditional interpretations of the digital gap based on endogenous conditions of the firms, this chapter intends to emphasize the importance that some external pressures may have on the ebusiness strategy of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The environmental factors analyzed here are market position, competitive intensity, and institutional pressures. SMEs have been grouped according to their level of e-business involvement, in relation to the number of e-business solutions adopted so far. Three layers are proposed: excluded, tentative, and integrated e-business SMEs. A multinomial logistic regression was used to predict these strategies. A general conclusion is that different models seem to explain exclusion and involvement. Specifically, two factors among those analyzed reveal to be more suitable in explaining e-business exclusion. They are the size of a SME and a lack of institutional pressures to adopt. On the other hand, e-business involvement seems to be primarily prompted by a selective competitive environment and not by imitative behaviors, as in the previous case.
E-Business Planning and Analysis Framework
Authors: Clegg Ben , Tan Boon
Published: May 2011

This chapter reports on a framework that has been successfully used to analyze the e-business capabilities of an organization with a view to developing their e-capability maturity levels. This should be the first stage of any systems development project. The framework has been used widely within start-up companies and well-established companies both large and small; it has been deployed in the service and manufacturing sectors. It has been applied by practitioners and consultants to help improve e-business capability levels, and by academics for teaching and research purposes at graduate and undergraduate levels. This chapter will provide an account of the unique e-business planning and analysis framework (E-PAF) and demonstrate how it works via an abridged version of a case study (selected from hundreds that have been produced). This will include a brief account of the three techniques that are integrated to form the analysis framework: quality function deployment (QFD) (Akao, 1972), the balanced scorecard (BSC) (Kaplan & Norton, 1992), and value chain analysis (VCA) (Porter, 1985). The case study extract is based on an online community and dating agency service identified as VirtualCom which has been produced through a consulting assignment with the founding directors of that company and has not been published previously. It has been chosen because it gives a concise, comprehensive example from an industry that is relatively easy to relate to.
B2C Failures
Authors: Pandya Anil M. , Dholakia Nikhilesh
Published: May 2011

This article uses concepts derived from the investigation of product and services innovation failures to develop a strategic market framework to help understand why so many Internet-based business-to-consumer (B2C) companies failed to fulfill their initial promise. B2C crashes, viewed collectively, may be seen as representing an initial wave of failure of an entirely new class of technology- driven services. Such services sought to inform, promote, sell, and deliver B2C items in radically unfamiliar ways. Research shows B2C firms failed because they did not follow timetested business precepts, but does not tell us why. In addressing this question, this article argues that unsuccessful B2C firms failed to realize they were marketing innovative services. It focuses on the difficulty of marketing innovative services by developing an integrated framework using the continuum of need-solution context, in conjunction with the notion that seller/buyer perceptions about the scope of innovations are not necessarily concordant. Matched perceptions lead to success, but not always because sellers and buyers can both misjudge the nature and scope of an innovation. Using secondary sources, the article illustrates the explanatory power of the framework and contributes to e-commerce management issues by clarifying why, despite resource availability, most B2C firms failed in the initial round.
Econometric Simulation for E-Business Strategy Evaluation
Authors: Ha Lidan , Forgionne Guisseppi
Published: May 2011

Effective and efficient e-business strategy development is crucial to achieve a competitive advantage in the electronic marketplace. However, e-business strategy evaluation constitutes complex and dynamic challenges for business management. This paper offers assistance for the evaluation process by applying a computer simulation that uses an econometric model delivered through a decision making support system. The major econometric simulation logic and methodology introduced here covers multidisciplinary areas and is among the first attempts to identify and establish a comprehensive, quantitative tool to support the strategy development processes of e-businesses. The authors hope to shed some lights on e-business strategy research through this paper.
Conceptualizing Competences in E-Services Adoption and Assimilation in SMEs
Authors: Scupola Ada
Published: May 2011

This article investigates the competences deemed necessary both at top managerial and individual levels for the successful adoption and assimilation of business-to-business e-services in small and medium size enterprises. To this end, an in-depth case study of a business-to-business e-service system, a Web-based travel reservation system, was conducted. The results show that three main competences, namely vision, value and control, are important at top management level for the primary adoption of e-services. For secondary adoption and assimilation, three categories of competences were identified as being important either to have or to develop at the individual level, namely technical, interpersonal and conceptual skills.
Adoption of Mobile Technology in the Supply Chain
Authors: Doolin Bill , Ali Eman Al Haj
Published: May 2011

The increasing utilization of mobile commerce technologies in e-business raises the question of their use in supply chain integration and management. This article presents a multiple case study investigation of the adoption of mobile technology in the supply chain. A technology-organization- environment framework of the contextual influences on technological innovation adoption is used to inform an analysis of three companies’ adoption and use of mobile data solutions for sales automation, freight tracking, and service support. Analysis of the three case studies found that the relative advantage of the technological innovation and the information intensity of the company were the most important factors influencing adoption. Other factors that appeared to influence adoption included the compatibility of the technology with the company’s business approach, the presence of top management support, and the degree of organizational readiness. Environmental factors such as competition within the industry or business partner influence seemed less influential for these pioneers of mobile technology use in supply-side activities.