bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Minds and Machines
Authors: Fetzer James H.
Published: October 2011

Although distinctions can be drawn between relations of simulation, replication, and emulation, basic differences between digital machines and human beings render the strong forms of anticipation that are impossible in principle. Because the use of signs in affecting behavior is dependent on a context of preexisting motives, beliefs, ethics, abilities and capabilities, ontic and epistemic difficulties relative to the complex interaction of distinct variables and relevant conditions to which each person has been subjected in his or her unique life, makes non-trivial explanations and predictions—ones not involving stereotyped or scripted behavior—theoretically impossible, including for the weakest forms of simulation. Indeed, even stereotypical behavior may not be predicable on similar grounds for real, historical human beings, not only in general but even for each single case. This study may even be viewed as an essay about freedom of the will.
Solutions and Open Challenges for the Symbol Grounding Problem
Authors: Cangelosi Angelo
Published: October 2011

This article discusses the current progress and solutions to the symbol grounding problem and specifically identifies which aspects of the problem have been addressed and issues and scientific challenges that still require investigation. In particular, the paper suggests that of the various aspects of the symbol grounding problem, the transition from indexical representations to symbol-symbol relationships requires the most research. This analysis initiated a debate and solicited commentaries from experts in the field to gather consensus on progress and achievements and identify the challenges still open in the symbol grounding problem.
Building a Robotic, LEO-to-GEO Satellite Servicing Infrastructure as an Economic Foundation for 21st-Century Space Exploration
Authors: Horsham Gary A. P. , Schmidt George R. , Gilland James H.
Published: October 2011

The strategy for accomplishing civilian exploration goals and objectives is in the process of a fundamental shift toward a new approach called “Flexible Path.” In this paper, the authors present a strategically aligned, government-industry partnership focused on the commercial development of Low Earth Orbit to Geostationary Orbit (LEO-to-GEO (LTG)) space over the next quarter century. A LTG satellite-servicing infrastructure and architecture concept is presented along with a brief assessment of the key applicable technologies. The evolution of the communications satellite industry is also discussed within the context of an emerging commercial in-space servicing industry. Large-scale, robotic, LTG satellite servicing is considered an essential economic pre-condition and next parallel or sequential step on the road toward robust, capital intensive human-robotic exploration beyond LEO. Such a step might produce the necessary pre-requisite economic value that can be used by future decision makers to justify further investment in exploration. A high-level implementation plan is offered.
Research Essay
Authors: Onuki Misuzu
Published: October 2011

Fashion in space is a new phenomenon that has just come about as a result of the start of commercial human space flight. Space wear of government astronauts has been strictly practical based on safety and reliability even space casual wear on board has been just simple catalog ones, but now is the very age of space tourism. The general public can go to space to have an once-in-a-lifetime space experience. Naturally, these people will want to wear their “Sunday Best” or their favorite or unique designer garment that both enhances the space flight experience and expresses their personal enthusiasm. Fashion charms the general public and could make a huge market in addition to the original space market. Space development could become more fun using fashion power, so that popularization and commercialization of space will catch fire and be driven to greater success and mainstream awareness and enthusiasm.
Increasing Graduate Education Relevance Through Innovative Marketing
Authors: Wilson Lynn
Published: October 2011

The aim of this paper is to illustrate innovative interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary implications for marketing for an academically rigorous graduate program that serves the needs of employers in the emerging field of environmental policy. By linking interdisciplinary curriculum design to the transdisciplinary nature of environmental policy work, program design and marketing become interwoven.
The Voice of Isotretinoin
Authors: Elpern David
Published: October 2011

This paper is a joint patient and health professional narrative that emphasizes possible utilities of a persistent clinical encounter between patients and health professionals toward improving health outcomes. It illustrates one of the important objectives of “User Driven Healthcare” that notes an increasing influence of asynchronous email as well as electronic social networking between patients and health professionals as transformative toward the future of healthcare. The patient reports an important side effect of a drug hitherto under-reported in the literature as discovered by her physician after further web based searching. This experience led him to further reflect on possible causes of prior reported side effects of the drug such as suicidal ideation.
Health Professional ‘Web Based Conversational Learning’ on Unusual Forms of Lupus
Authors: Elpern David , Foong Henry
Published: October 2011

This article illustrates a web-based conversational learning system termed, “Virtual Grand Rounds in Dermatology” (VGRD), that was developed by two dermatologist colleagues from the United States and Malaysia, respectively, over the past decade. Two blog posts discussing the diagnostic uncertainty around possible dermatological manifestations of lupus are highlighted along with a few conversational comments from other health professionals. The posts, as they appear on VGRD are presented verbatim and illustrate a health professional narrated website that relies heavily on images and pattern recognition. We show that health professional learning may thrive on feedback from colleagues, even if minimal.
DMT Optimal Cooperative MAC Protocols in Wireless Mesh Networks with Minimized Signaling Overhead
Authors: Escrig Benoît
Published: October 2011

In this paper, a cooperative protocol is proposed for wireless mesh networks. Two features are implemented: on-demand cooperation and selection of the best relay. First, cooperation is activated by a destination terminal when it fails in decoding the message from a source terminal. Second, a selection of the best relay is performed when cooperation is needed. The robustness of wireless links are increased while the resource consumption is minimized. The selection of the best relay is performed by a splitting algorithm, ensuring a fast selection process, the duration of which is now fully characterized. Only terminals that improve the direct link participate in the relay selection and inefficient cooperation is avoided. The proposed protocol is demonstrated to achieve an optimal diversity-multiplexing trade-off. This study focuses on Nakagami- wireless channel models to encompass a variety of fading models in the context of wireless mesh networks.
Doubly Cognitive Architecture Based Cognitive Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Kumar Sumit , Singhal Deepti , Murthy Garimella Rama
Published: October 2011

Scarcity of spectrum is increasing not only in cellular communication but also in wireless sensor networks. Adding cognition to the existing wireless sensor network (WSN) infrastructure has helped. As sensor nodes in WSN are limited with constraints like power, efforts are required to increase the lifetime and other performance measures of the network. In this article, the authors propose Doubly Cognitive WSN, which works by progressively allocating the sensing resources only to the most promising areas of the spectrum and is based on pattern analysis and learning. As the load of sensing resource is reduced significantly, this approach saves the energy of the nodes and reduces the sensing time dramatically. The proposed method can be enhanced by periodic pattern analysis to review the strategy of sensing. Finally the ongoing research work and contribution on cognitive wireless sensor networks in Communication Research Centre (IIIT-H) is discussed.
An Integrated Strategic Framework for E-Government Initiatives
Authors: Saghafi Fatemeh , Zarei Behrouz , Abadi Akbar Kary Dolat , Shahkooh Kolsoom Abbasi
Published: October 2011

The widespread applications of information and communication technologies have attracted many countries to e-government. Nonetheless, setting appropriate goals for e-government initiatives is an important factor for the success of these projects. This study provides a context-based framework for understanding e-government initiatives in different countries, including degree of e-government readiness, degree of transparency, and level of democratization. According to these determinants, 141 countries are categorized using Parson’s generic strategy of IT. Classification of countries in this framework shows significant correlations between these determinants and GDP index, which is an important outcome for country performance. This framework provides a roadmap for policymakers to formulate goals for their e-government initiatives commensurate with their respective environments.
Integrating OLAP/SOLAP in E-Business Domains
Authors: Ali Ben , Mouakket Samar
Published: October 2011

E-business domains have been considered killer domains for different data analysis techniques. Most researchers have examined data mining (DM) techniques to analyze the databases behind E-business websites. DM has shown interesting results, but this technique presents some restrictions concerning the content of the database and the level of expertise of the users interpreting the results. In this paper, the authors show that successful and more sophisticated results can be obtained using other analysis techniques, such as Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Spatial OLAP (SOLAP). Thus, the authors propose a framework that fuses or integrates OLAP with SOLAP techniques in an E-business domain to perform easier and more user-friendly data analysis (non-spatial and spatial) and improve decision making. In addition, the authors apply the framework to an E-business website related to online job seekers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The results can be used effectively by decision makers to make crucial decisions in the job market of the UAE.
The Evolution of the Massively Parallel Processing Database in Support of Visual Analytics
Authors: Willson Ian A.
Published: October 2011

This article explores the evolution of the Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) database, focusing on trends of particular relevance to analytics. The dramatic shift of database vendors and leading companies to utilize MPP databases and deploy an Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) is presented. The inherent benefits of fresher data, storage efficiency, and most importantly accessibility to analytics are explored. Published industry and vendor metrics are examined that demonstrate substantial and growing cost efficiencies from utilizing MPP databases. The author concludes by reviewing trends toward parallelizing decision support workload into the database, ranging from within database transformations to new statistical and spatial analytic capabilities provided by parallelizing these algorithms to execute directly within the MPP database. These new capabilities present an opportunity for timely and powerful enterprise analytics, providing a substantial competitive advantage to those companies able to leverage this technology to turn data into actionable information, gain valuable new insights, and automate operational decision making.
Understanding Critical Distance Learning Issues
Authors: Callaway Stephen K. , Alflayyeh Saad M.
Published: October 2011

Distance education has been the topic of a substantial amount of research. However, prior studies have shown mixed results when trying to determine if a difference exists in student satisfaction between students in distance courses versus traditional courses. Prior empirical studies have been too narrow in scope, and a more comprehensive model is needed to better explain the factors influencing student satisfaction. Therefore, the current study includes student demographic factors, comprehensive measures of student motivation, and course format, as well as specific course features included, to fully explain student satisfaction. Structural equation modeling is used to test the model. Results indicate a positive association between demographics and motivation, between motivation and course format, between one demographic factor and course format, between course format and preferred features, between course format and satisfaction, and between course features and satisfaction.
Australia-China and Stern Hu
Authors: Mascitelli Bruno , Chung Mona
Published: October 2011

China’s economic growth over the last decade has been spectacular and Australia has been a beneficiary of this growth in terms of China’s demand for resources and the strength of Chinese exports. Pundits even suggest that Australia avoided the global recession as a result of this strong trade relationship. Trade relations between Australia and China resulted in China becoming Australia’s key trading partner. The arrest and charging in 2009/10 of four Rio Tinto executives (including Stern Hu the head of Rio’s operation in China) based in China raised fears of posing a strain on this vital economic relationship. Moreover China’s inability to takeover Rio Tinto and the significance and consequences of this incident are at the core of this paper. How do these events reflect the uncertainties of doing business in China or do these events demonstrate China’s sovereign right to enforce anti-corruption legislation? While China has embraced the international business community, to what extent has the arrest and imprisonment of Stern Hu changed the Australian-China trade relations including doing business in this thriving and buoyant market?
Development of Human Factors Ontology for Business Knowledge Management
Authors: Philippart Monica , Karwowski Waldemar
Published: October 2011

Employee knowledge and cognitive skills are key assets to achieving business success, yet are often mismanaged. By promoting the human-centered design approach, the discipline of human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) can significantly contribute to optimizing business processes through effective management of employee knowledge. However, a comprehensive methodology is needed to help organizations integrate the HF/E principles across various business processes. This paper introduces a novel method for integrating HF/E principles into business processes through the application of HF/E ontologies.
The Globalisation of Firms as a Social Evolutionary Process
Authors: Borghoff Thomas
Published: October 2011

From a social systems theory perspective, globalisation can be conceptualised as an evolutionary social process. By fusing systems theories, evolutionary theories, and organisation theories, globalisation becomes apparent as a historical social process, which encompasses the emergence and reproduction of social systems such as firms or other organisations within the wider process of the globalisation of society. The conceptualisation of firms as social systems also opens new perspectives on methodological issues such as how to study their globalisation process.
Forecasting Inflation in India
Authors: Pradhan Rudra P.
Published: October 2011

This paper presents an application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to forecast inflation in India during the period 1994-2009. The study presents four different ANN models on the basis of inflation (WPI), economic growth (IIP), and money supply (MS). The first model is a univariate model based on past WPI only. The other three are multivariate models based on WPI and IIP, WPI and MS, WPI, and IIP and MS. In each case, the forecasting performance is measured by mean squared errors and mean absolute deviations. The paper finally concludes that multivariate models show better forecasting performance over the univariate model. In particular, the multivariate ANN model using WPI, IIP, and MS resulted in better performance than the rest of other models to forecast inflation in India.
On Dependability Issues in Ambient Intelligence Systems
Authors: Cinque Marcello , Coronato Antonio , Testa Alessandro
Published: October 2011

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is the emerging computing paradigm used to build next-generation smart environments. It provides services in a flexible, transparent, and anticipative manner, requiring minimal skills for human-computer interaction. Recently, AmI is being adapted to build smart systems to guide human activities in critical domains, such as, healthcare, ambient assisted living, and disaster recovery. However, the practical application to such domains generally calls for stringent dependability requirements, since the failure of even a single component may cause dangerous loss or hazard to people and machineries. Despite these concerns, there is still little understanding on dependability issues in Ambient Intelligent systems and on possible solutions. This paper provides an analysis of the AmI literature dealing with dependability issues and to propose an innovative architectural solution to such issues, based on the use of runtime verification techniques.
An Abstract User Interface Framework for Mobile and Wearable Devices
Authors: Ahlrichs Claas , Lawo Michael , Iben Hendrik
Published: October 2011

In the future, mobile and wearable devices will increasingly be used for interaction with surrounding technologies. When developing applications for those devices, one usually has to implement the same application for each individual device. Thus a unified framework could drastically reduce development efforts. This paper presents a framework that facilitates the development of context-aware user interfaces (UIs) with reusable components for those devices. It is based on an abstract description of an envisioned UI which is used to generate a context- and device-specific representation at run-time. Rendition in various modalities and adaption of the generated representation are also supported.
A Fast Boosting Based Incremental Genetic Algorithm for Mining Classification Rules in Large Datasets
Authors: Vivekanandan Periasamy , Nedunchezhian Raju
Published: October 2011

Genetic algorithm is a search technique purely based on natural evolution process. It is widely used by the data mining community for classification rule discovery in complex domains. During the learning process it makes several passes over the data set for determining the accuracy of the potential rules. Due to this characteristic it becomes an extremely I/O intensive slow process. It is particularly difficult to apply GA when the training data set becomes too large and not fully available. An incremental Genetic algorithm based on boosting phenomenon is proposed in this paper which constructs a weak ensemble of classifiers in a fast incremental manner and thus tries to reduce the learning cost considerably.
Parallel Single and Multiple Objectives Genetic Algorithms
Authors: Mishra B. S. P. , Dehuri S. , Mall R. , Ghosh A.
Published: October 2011

This paper critically reviews the reported research on parallel single and multi-objective genetic algorithms. Many early efforts on single and multi-objective genetic algorithms were introduced to reduce the processing time needed to reach an acceptable solution. However, some parallel single and multi-objective genetic algorithms converged to better solutions as compared to comparable sequential single and multiple objective genetic algorithms. The authors review several representative models for parallelizing single and multi-objective genetic algorithms. Further, some of the issues that have not yet been studied systematically are identified in the context of parallel single and parallel multi-objective genetic algorithms. Finally, some of the potential applications of parallel multi-objective GAs are discussed.
The Volatility for Pre and Post Global Financial Crisis
Authors: Wei Shih-Yung , Yang Jack J. W. , Chen Jen-Tseng , Samuelson Hong Wei-Chiang
Published: October 2011

The asymmetric volatility, temporary volatility, and permanent volatility of financial asset returns have attracted much interest in recent years. However, a consensus has not yet been reached on the causes of them for both the stocks and markets. This paper researched asymmetric volatility and short-run and long-run volatility through global financial crisis for eight Asian markets. EGARCH and CGARCH models are employed to deal with the daily return to examine the degree of asymmetric volatility (temporary volatility and permanent volatility). The authors find that after global financial crisis asymmetric volatility is lower (expect Hong Kong), and the long-run effect is more than the short-run effect. The empirical results for the short-run show that, after global financial crisis, there is significant decreasing in China and Taiwan but not in Japan; the others are significantly increasing. For the long-run, there is significant decreasing (except Thailand and Korea).
Using Soclab for a Rigorous Assessment of the Social Feasibility of Agricultural Policies
Authors: Adreit Françoise , Roggero Pascal , Sibertin-Blanc Christophe , Vautier Claude
Published: October 2011

This paper presents a theoretical and methodological framework to take into consideration the social dimension in a sustainable development project. To do this, the authors have developed the SocLab software environment, which implements a formalization of a well-established sociological theory, and enables the modeling of social organizations, to analyze their properties and to simulate social actors’ behaviors. SocLab was used to assess the social acceptability of new agricultural practices more in line with the preservation of water resources and natural environments, in a well defined context. The paper shows how it was used and presents the main results.
Relating Transportation Quality Indicators to Economic Conditions in the South-Central U.S.
Authors: Comer Jonathan C. , Graham Amy K. , Brown Stacey R.
Published: October 2011

Investment in transportation infrastructure is widely assumed to spur economic growth, a belief that persists among both the general public and government officials. However, research has provided inconsistent evidence to date, and many researchers believe that good transportation is a necessary but insufficient condition for regional growth. This study examines the issue from a different perspective than the majority of past research, using spatial regression techniques to explore the relationship between transportation quality and regional economic development at an intermediate spatial resolution. Using federal highway statistics on pavement roughness and bridge quality, this research examines the relationship between measurable results of transportation spending, as evidenced by better quality roads and bridges, and various indicators of economic health. This relationship is examined in the South-Central U.S. (Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas) at the county level and uncovers moderate to weak regression coefficients overall but with notable spatial variations across the study area.
A Neural Network for Modeling Multicategorical Parcel Use Change
Authors: Lu Kang Shou , Morgan John , Allen Jeffery
Published: October 2011

This paper presents an artificial neural network (ANN) for modeling multicategorical land use changes. Compared to conventional statistical models and cellular automata models, ANNs have both the architecture appropriate for addressing complex problems and the power for spatio-temporal prediction. The model consists of two layers with multiple input and output units. Bayesian regularization was used for network training in order to select an optimal model that avoids over-fitting problem. When trained and applied to predict changes in parcel use in a coastal county from 1990 to 2008, the ANN model performed well as measured by high prediction accuracy (82.0-98.5%) and high Kappa coefficient (81.4-97.5%) with only slight variation across five different land use categories. ANN also outperformed the benchmark multinomial logistic regression by average 17.5 percentage points in categorical accuracy and by 9.2 percentage points in overall accuracy. The authors used the ANN model to predict future parcel use change from 2007 to 2030.
Using Volunteered Geographic Information to Assess the Spatial Distribution of West Nile Virus in Detroit, Michigan
Authors: McKnight Kevin P. , Messina Joseph P. , Shortridge Ashton M. , Burns Meghan D. , Pigozzi Bruce W.
Published: October 2011

West Nile Virus is a vector-borne flavivirus that affects mainly birds, horses, and humans. The disease emerged in the United States in 1999 and by 2001 had reached Michigan. In clinical human cases, the most common symptoms are fever, weakness, nausea, headache, and changes in mental state. The crow is the most common wildlife host in the life cycle of the virus. The state of Michigan, through the Michigan Department of Community Health, collected the spatial locations of over 8,000 dead birds (Corvidae), statewide, during 2002. The large number of samples made spatial and temporal hotspot detection possible. However, the volunteer reporting method produced a dataset with a direct correlation between the numbers and locations of the dead birds and human population density and accurately identifying hotspots remains a challenge. Geographic variation in dead bird intensity was modeled using both global and local spatial clustering algorithms. Statistical models identified overall spatial structure and local clustering. Identification of hotspots was confounded by limited information about the collection procedures, data availability and quality, and the limitations of each method.
Visualizing Plant Community Change Using Historical Records
Authors: Brister Evelyn , Hane Elizabeth , Korfmacher Karl
Published: October 2011

Ecological data from land surveys from 1811 for the 100,000-acre Connecticut Tract in western New York were transcribed and then analyzed using ArcGIS and IDRISI GIS software. The surveys contained both witness tree data and line descriptions, which were analyzed for species composition and community type. Results illustrate that many changes have occurred in species composition. Possible causes of these changes to the mature forests may include introduced pests and diseases or anthropogenic land-use change. Comparisons to the National Wetlands Inventory Database reveal that while some of the wetlands that were present in 1811 still exist today, particularly in the Byron-Bergen Swamp and in the wetlands along the Lake Ontario shoreline, other original wetlands have been lost while new wetlands have replaced some upland forests. This study helps elucidate past causes of temporal and spatial variability, and it provides a reference point for land managers who need to understand the effects of land-use history for ongoing restoration efforts.
Streamlining Knowledge Map Construction for an Online Auction House Using Automatic Term Filtering
Authors: Venkatsubramanyan Shailaja
Published: October 2011

Organizations are building automated technical support software that can help both consumers and field support engineers with problem resolution. The goal of the automated technical support system is reducing operational cost and increasing customer satisfaction. This paper examines the set of challenges that knowledge engineers face in building automated technical support software. This paper uses a technical services engagement with a major online auction house with tens of millions of users to highlight the challenges and present an automated knowledge map generation technique. The objective of this automated technique was to improve the quality of expressions extracted from documents, which would reduce the burden on knowledge engineers to construct knowledge maps. The technique was run on large corpora of documents in the online auction house and found a significant increase in the quality of the knowledge map. Further experimentation showed that the technique works well for other domains as well.
Building an Expert-System for Maritime Container Security Risk Management
Authors: Boukachour Jaouad , Fredouet Charles-Henri , Gningue Mame Bigué
Published: October 2011

Until lately, transportation risk management has mostly dealt with natural or man-made accidental disasters. The September 11th tragedy has made transportation operators, as well as shippers and public authorities, aware of a new type of risk, man-made and intentional. Securing global transportation networks has become an important concern for governments, practitioners and academics. In the current time-based competition context, securing transportation operations should not be sought at the expense of time effectiveness in physical and informational flow processing. In this paper, the authors describe a project for the design of an expert-system dedicated to maritime container security risk management, present a literature review on decision-support systems dedicated to transportation risk management, and discuss the various steps of expertise modeling in a transportation risk management context.
Research of Supply Quality Control and Optimization Under Multi-Period Dynamic Game
Authors: Hu Jun , Fei Yulian , Hua Ertian
Published: October 2011

To control quality in supply chain, this paper presents multi-period, dynamic game models in principal-agent theory, which are opposite to static, single period game models. The research comes from industrial practice and the conclusions are more operational and feasible in theory. Finally, the research is applied into two famous companies in different industries and shows good effectiveness.
A Critical Assessment of Environmental Degeneration and Climate Change
Authors: Ploberger Christian
Published: October 2011

China and its population are confronted with fundamental environmental challenges, as both, environmental degeneration and the impact of climate change, exhibit critical social, economic and political implications for their future development. Among the various environmental challenges China faces, pollution issues, soil erosion, acid rain, and sea-level rise are identified. This variety of environmental issues increases the underling complexity of how best to address these challenges, especially as China’s growth strategy has the potential to exacerbate the negative impact on the environment further. The strategic decision which development strategy China will follow – a ‘growth first and clean up later’ or ‘cleaning up while growing’ – carries serious implications not only for the environmental situation in China itself, but for the global community as well.
The Firm Boundary Decision for Sustainability-Focused Companies
Authors: Özcan Ozan , Reeves Kingsley Anthony
Published: October 2011

This paper examines the vertical integration level of environmentally sustainable and non-sustainable companies. The first part develops the theoretical foundation for linking sustainability strategies to organizational structure. The second part empirically examines the vertical integration level of 144 sustainability-focused companies in 9 different industries. The results demonstrate that sustainability-focused companies in the Health Care Industry and the Industrials Industry tend to have more vertically integrated organizational structures than their industry competitors that are not pursuing such a strategy since these two industries are production oriented and they have closer relationships with their suppliers. There was no significant difference in the vertical integration level of sustainability-focused versus non-sustainability-focused companies for the other seven industries studied. Research shows the linkage between environmental strategies and vertical integration has not been thoroughly examined. This study’s results are useful to researchers and managers who are interested in corporate sustainability behavior.
Study on Low-Carbon Economy Model and Method of Chinese Tourism Industry
Authors: Mu Zhang , Jing Luo , Xiaohong Zhang , Lei Tang , Xiao-na Feng , Shan Chen
Published: October 2011

Recent years saw the global wave of new low-carbon economy which is a strategic measure to cope with global warming, and it has gained concerns from many governments. As the representatives of developing countries, China is responsible for “common but distinguishing duty for global climate change.” Many policies have been made to develop low-carbon economy with the hope to advocate and innovate low-carbon economy in some industries and cities during these years. Therefore, it is a theoretical and innovative project to find a low-carbon economical model for various industries and carry out the experiments of low-carbon economy in some cities. Hence, guided by low-carbon economy theory, choosing booming Chinese tourism industry as the object, this paper constructs an operation framework system of low-carbon tourism development from the advantage of low-carbon tourism to the proposal of low-carbon tourism definition so as to conclude an execution scheme of “six elements” of low-carbon tourism with selecting OCT East (Chinese national ecotourism demonstration district) and Mt. Danxia (World Geo-park) as demonstration districts to discuss about models and methods of low-carbon economy in tourism.
Utilizing SMS/3G Networks for Better and Reliable Communications between Yard Cranes and Server
Authors: Cheng C. D. , Ko C. C. , Huang W. J.
Published: October 2011

In a normal port operation, yard cranes are used to move containers from one location to another for import, export or relocation purposes. In order to locate the positions of containers, a database is set up in the office server to store the current locations of existing containers within the yard. Whenever the Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) crane operator moves a container around, the database has to be updated via a program installed in the Vehicle Mounted Terminal (VMT) fitted to the crane. This requires the establishment of a communication channel between the server and the crane VMT. The current practice is to make use of wireless networks, even though these are susceptible to attenuation and interferences in rugged surroundings as in a port. This paper describes and explores another alternative, that of using 2G/SMS for short messages and 3G networks for real-time scenarios. These methods are more reliable as major telecommunication service providers normally expend substantial resources in infrastructure development. They also provide a cheaper alternative in terms of reducing maintenance expenses.
Hölder's Inequality and Related Inequalities in Probability
Authors: Yeh Cheh-Chih
Published: October 2011

In this paper, the author examines Holder’s inequality and related inequalities in probability. The paper establishes new inequalities in probability that generalize previous research in this area. The author places Beckenbach’s (1950) inequality in probability, from which inequalities are deduced that are similar to Brown’s (2006) inequality along with Olkin and Shepp (2006).
Resource Distribution Strategies for Mitigation of Cross-Regional Influenza Pandemics
Authors: Uribe-Sanchez Andres , Savachkin Alex
Published: October 2011

As recently acknowledged by the Institute of Medicine, the existing pandemic mitigation models lack dynamic decision support capabilities. This paper develops a simulation optimization model for generating dynamic resource distribution strategies over a network of regions exposed to a pandemic. While the underlying simulation mimics the disease and population dynamics of the affected regions, the optimization model generates progressive allocations of mitigation resources, including vaccines, antivirals, healthcare capacities, and social distancing enforcement measures. The model strives to minimize the impact of ongoing outbreaks and the expected impact of the potential outbreaks, considering measures of morbidity, mortality, and social distancing, translated into the cost of lost productivity and medical expenses. The model was implemented on a simulated outbreak involving four million inhabitants. The strategy was compared to pro-rata and myopic strategies. The model is intended to assist public health policy makers in developing effective distribution policies during influenza pandemics.
An Autonomous Multi-Agent Simulation Model for Acute Inflammatory Response
Authors: Wu John , Ben-Arieh David , Shi Zhenzhen
Published: October 2011

This research proposes an agent-based simulation model combined with the strength of systemic dynamic mathematical model, providing a new modeling and simulation approach of the pathogenesis of AIR. AIR is the initial stage of a typical sepsis episode, often leading to severe sepsis or septic shocks. The process of AIR has been in the focal point affecting more than 750,000 patients annually in the United State alone. Based on the agent-based model presented herein, clinicians can predict the sepsis pathogenesis for patients using the prognostic indicators from the simulation results, planning the proper therapeutic interventions accordingly. Impressively, the modeling approach presented creates a friendly user-interface allowing physicians to visualize and capture the potential AIR progression patterns. Based on the computational studies, the simulated behavior of the agent–based model conforms to the mechanisms described by the system dynamics mathematical models established in previous research.
BDD-Based Synthesis of Reversible Logic
Authors: Wille Robert , Drechsler Rolf
Published: October 2011

Reversible logic became a promising alternative to traditional circuits because of its applications in emerging technologies such as quantum computing, low-power design, DNA computing, or nanotechnologies. As a result, synthesis of the respective circuits is an intensely studied topic. However, most synthesis methods are limited, because they rely on a truth table representation of the function to be synthesized. In this paper, the authors present a synthesis approach that is based on Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs). The authors propose a technique to derive reversible or quantum circuits from BDDs by substituting all nodes of the BDD with a cascade of Toffoli or quantum gates, respectively. Boolean functions containing more than a hundred of variables can efficiently be synthesized. More precisely, a circuit can be obtained from a given BDD using an algorithm with linear worst case behavior regarding run-time and space requirements. Furthermore, using the proposed approach, theoretical results known from BDDs can be transferred to reversible circuits. Experiments show better results (with respect to the circuit cost) and a significantly better scalability in comparison to previous synthesis approaches.
DIMMA
Authors: Yaghini Masoud , Akhavan Rahim
Published: October 2011

Metaheuristic algorithms will gain more and more popularity in the future as optimization problems are increasing in size and complexity. In order to record experiences and allow project to be replicated, a standard process as a methodology for designing and implementing metaheuristic algorithms is necessary. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no methodology has been proposed in literature for this purpose. This paper presents a Design and Implementation Methodology for Metaheuristic Algorithms, named DIMMA. The proposed methodology consists of three main phases and each phase has several steps in which activities that must be carried out are clearly defined in this paper. In addition, design and implementation of tabu search metaheuristic for travelling salesman problem is done as a case study to illustrate applicability of DIMMA.
An Ant Colony System Algorithm for the Hybrid Flow-Shop Scheduling Problem
Authors: Khalouli Safa , Ghedjati Fatima , Hamzaoui Abdelaziz
Published: October 2011

An integrated ant colony optimization algorithm (IACS-HFS) is proposed for a multistage hybrid flow-shop scheduling problem. The objective of scheduling is the minimization of the makespan. To solve this NP-hard problem, the IACS-HFS considers the assignment and sequencing sub-problems simultaneously in the construction procedures. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated by numerical experiments on benchmark problems taken from the literature. The results show that the proposed ant colony optimization algorithm gives promising and good results and outperforms some current approaches in the quality of schedules.
Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization for the Multi-Level Lot-Sizing Problem
Authors: Deroussi Laurent , Lemoine David
Published: October 2011

This paper presents a Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (DPSO) approach for the Multi-Level Lot-Sizing Problem (MLLP), which is an uncapacitated lot sizing problem dedicated to materials requirements planning (MRP) systems. The proposed DPSO approach is based on cost modification and uses PSO in its original form with continuous velocity equations. Each particle of the swarm is represented by a matrix of logistic costs. A sequential approach heuristic, using Wagner-Whitin algorithm, is used to determine the associated production planning. The authors demonstrate that any solution of the MLLP can be reached by particles. The sequential heuristic is a subjective function from the particles space to the set of the production plans, which meet the customer’s demand. The authors test the DPSO Scheme on benchmarks found in literature, more specifically the unique DPSO that has been developed to solve the MLLP.
DIMMA-Implemented Metaheuristics for Finding Shortest Hamiltonian Path Between Iranian Cities Using Sequential DOE Approach for Parameters Tuning
Authors: Yaghini Masoud , Momeni Mohsen , Sarmadi Mohammadreza
Published: October 2011

A Hamiltonian path is a path in an undirected graph, which visits each node exactly once and returns to the starting node. Finding such paths in graphs is the Hamiltonian path problem, which is NP-complete. In this paper, for the first time, a comparative study on metaheuristic algorithms for finding the shortest Hamiltonian path for 1071 Iranian cities is conducted. These are the main cities of Iran based on social-economic characteristics. For solving this problem, four hybrid efficient and effective metaheuristics, consisting of simulated annealing, ant colony optimization, genetic algorithm, and tabu search algorithms, are combined with the local search methods. The algorithms’ parameters are tuned by sequential design of experiments (DOE) approach, and the most appropriate values for the parameters are adjusted. To evaluate the proposed algorithms, the standard problems with different sizes are used. The performance of the proposed algorithms is analyzed by the quality of solution and CPU time measures. The results are compared based on efficiency and effectiveness of the algorithms.
Performing Actor-Network Theory in the Post-Secondary Classroom
Authors: Quinlan Andrea , Quinlan Elizabeth , Nelson Desiree
Published: October 2011

Teaching innovative schools of thought call for innovative methods of instruction. This article investigates the challenges associated with teaching Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and proposes a creative pedagogical approach of ‘performing’ ANT in the classroom. This article presents a small case study of an instance where this theatrical method was employed in an undergraduate classroom to teach Annemarie Mol’s The Body Multiple. Based on the qualitative data collected from reflections of students and the professor, it investigates the successes of this creative pedagogical approach to teach ANT. This article argues that it is only through innovative teaching methods that ANT can be effectively explored in the classroom.
Agents Network for Automatic Safety Check in Constructing Sites
Authors: Aversa Rocco , Di Martino Beniamino , Di Natale Michele , Venticinque Salvatore
Published: October 2011

Compliance with safety standards in constructing sites is a mandatory activity that helps prevent a high number of fatalities during working activities. Unfortunately, because of negligence or limited resources, safety checks are not performed with regularity and this causes a high number of accidents. This paper proposes a distributed solution for automated checking of safety rules, secure logging of violations, and real-time execution of reactions. The constructing site is modeled as a pervasive environment where software agents, executing on smart devices, can detect and interact with people, machineries, and safety equipment to check the compliance of common behaviors with the safety plan designed for that site. The design is presented as a working prototype of a three layered software/hardware architecture.
Multi-Agent Negotiation Paradigm for Agent Selection in B2C E-Commerce
Authors: Mazumdar Bireshwar Dass , Basak Swati , Modanwal Neelam
Published: October 2011

Multi agent system (MAS) model has been extensively used in the different tasks of E-Commerce such as customer relation management (CRM), negotiation and brokering. The objective of this paper is to evaluate a seller agent’s various cognitive parameters like capability, trust, and desire. After selecting a best seller agent from ordering queue, it applies negotiation strategies to find the most profitable proposal for both buyer and seller. This mechanism belongs to a semi cooperative negotiation type, and selecting a seller and buyer agent pair using mental and cognitive parameters. This work provides a logical cognitive model, logical negotiation model between buyer agent and selected seller agent.
Leading Pedagogical Change with Innovative Web Tools and Social Media
Authors: McLoughlin Catherine
Published: October 2011

Today, in a globalised, digital world, leadership challenges in the adoption and integration of emerging social software tools to support learning abound. Today’s students, who have grown up in technology saturated environments, have never known a world without the internet, mobile phones, video on demand and personal computers. Leaders and educators must know their students, and cater for their diverse needs. Educational institutions in the 21st century must learn how to adopt social software tools and apply sound pedagogical strategies to add value to existing practices and enhance the learning process. ICT supplements and enhances learning and student engagement through access to global learning communities and rich resources, requiring educators to be conversant with the technology, able to lead by example and capable of creating authentic contexts and environments for learning. Educators in today’s media rich society must be ready to grapple with the significant pedagogic, cultural and social changes associated with technological innovation.
Literacy Level and Vocational Training for Substance-Using Hispanic Adults
Authors: Wood Michele M. , Fisher Dennis G. , Reynolds Grace L. , Guzman Yesenia , Pedersen William C.
Published: October 2011

The Hispanic population has become the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. To successfully incorporate this population in adult vocational training, social service, and health programs, it is essential that programs design and implement materials at a reading level appropriate for the population served. This study determines the reading level in a population of Hispanic adult substance users receiving HIV prevention services in Long Beach, California. One hundred seven Spanish speakers were administered the Spanish Reading Comprehension Test. Spanish reading ability was determined to be at the third grade level for this sample. Results suggest that substance-using subpopulations of Spanish speakers in the Southwest United States face considerable language and literacy barriers. Findings have implications for adult vocational training as well as social service and health programs that include Hispanic subpopulations, and highlight the importance of designing materials that do not exceed the reading abilities of target populations.