bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Semi-Supervised Clustering for the Identification of Different Cancer Types Using the Gene Expression Profiles
Authors: Martín-Merino Manuel
Published: April 2013

DNA Microarrays allow for monitoring the expression level of thousands of genes simultaneously across a collection of related samples. Supervised learning algorithms such as k-NN or SVM (Support Vector Machines) have been applied to the classification of cancer samples with encouraging results. However, the classification algorithms are not able to discover new subtypes of diseases considering the gene expression profiles. In this chapter, the author reviews several supervised clustering algorithms suitable to discover new subtypes of cancer. Next, he introduces a semi-supervised clustering algorithm that learns a linear combination of dissimilarities from the a priory knowledge provided by human experts. A priori knowledge is formulated in the form of equivalence constraints. The minimization of the error function is based on a quadratic optimization algorithm. A L2 norm regularizer is included that penalizes the complexity of the family of distances and avoids overfitting. The method proposed has been applied to several benchmark data sets and to human complex cancer problems using the gene expression profiles. The experimental results suggest that considering a linear combination of heterogeneous dissimilarities helps to improve both classification and clustering algorithms based on a single similarity.
Cancer Gene Expression Data Analysis Using Rough Based Symmetrical Clustering
Authors: Sarkar Anasua , Maulik Ujjwal
Published: April 2013

Identification of cancer subtypes is the central goal in the cancer gene expression data analysis. Modified symmetry-based clustering is an unsupervised learning technique for detecting symmetrical convex or non-convex shaped clusters. To enable fast automatic clustering of cancer tissues (samples), in this chapter, the authors propose a rough set based hybrid approach for modified symmetry-based clustering algorithm. A natural basis for analyzing gene expression data using the symmetry-based algorithm is to group together genes with similar symmetrical patterns of microarray expressions. Rough-set theory helps in faster convergence and initial automatic optimal classification, thereby solving the problem of unknown knowledge of number of clusters in gene expression measurement data. For rough-set-theoretic decision rule generation, each cluster is classified using heuristically searched optimal reducts to overcome overlapping cluster problem. The rough modified symmetry-based clustering algorithm is compared with another newly implemented rough-improved symmetry-based clustering algorithm and existing K-Means algorithm over five benchmark cancer gene expression data sets, to demonstrate its superiority in terms of validity. The statistical analyses are also performed to establish the significance of this rough modified symmetry-based clustering approach.
Computational Methods for Identification of Novel Secondary Metabolite Biosynthetic Pathways by Genome Analysis
Authors: Anand Swadha , Mohanty Debasisa
Published: April 2013

Secondary metabolites belonging to polyketide and nonribosomal peptide families constitute a major class of natural products with diverse biological functions and a variety of pharmaceutically important properties. Experimental studies have shown that the biosynthetic machinery for polyketide and nonribosomal peptides involves multi-functional megasynthases like Polyketide Synthases (PKSs) and nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) which utilize a thiotemplate mechanism similar to that for fatty acid biosynthesis. Availability of complete genome sequences for an increasing number of microbial organisms has provided opportunities for using in silico genome mining to decipher the secondary metabolite natural product repertoire encoded by these organisms. Therefore, in recent years there have been major advances in development of computational methods which can analyze genome sequences to identify genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis and help in deciphering the putative chemical structures of their biosynthetic products based on analysis of the sequence and structural features of the proteins encoded by these genes. These computational methods for deciphering the secondary metabolite biosynthetic code essentially involve identification of various catalytic domains present in this PKS/NRPS family of enzymes; a prediction of various reactions in these enzymatic domains and their substrate specificities and also precise identification of the order in which these domains would catalyze various biosynthetic steps. Structural bioinformatics analysis of known secondary metabolite biosynthetic clusters has helped in formulation of predictive rules for deciphering domain organization, substrate specificity, and order of substrate channeling. In this chapter, the progress in development of various computational methods is discussed by different research groups, and specifically, the utility in identification of novel metabolites by genome mining and rational design of natural product analogs by biosynthetic engineering studies.
Improving PSI-BLAST’s Fold Recognition Performance through Combining Consensus Sequences and Support Vector Machine
Authors: Yan Ren-Xiang , Liu Jing , Tao Yi-Min
Published: April 2013

Profile-profile alignment may be the most sensitive and useful computational resource for identifying remote homologies and recognizing protein folds. However, profile-profile alignment is usually much more complex and slower than sequence-sequence or profile-sequence alignment. The profile or PSSM (position-specific scoring matrix) can be used to represent the mutational variability at each sequence position of a protein by using a vector of amino acid substitution frequencies and it is a much richer encoding of a protein sequence. Consensus sequence, which can be considered as a simplified profile, was used to improve sequence alignment accuracy in the early time. Recently, several studies were carried out to improve PSI-BLAST’s fold recognition performance by using consensus sequence information. There are several ways to compute a consensus sequence. Based on these considerations, we propose a method that combines the information of different types of consensus sequences with the assistance of support vector machine learning in this chapter. Benchmark results suggest that our method can further improve PSI-BLAST’s fold recognition performance.
Gene Expression Regulation underlying Osteo-, Adipo-, and Chondro-Genic Lineage Commitment of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Authors: Sotoca Ana M. , Weber Michael , van Zoelen Everardus J. J.
Published: April 2013

Human mesenchymal stem cells have a high potential in regenerative medicine. They can be isolated from a variety of adult tissues, including bone marrow, and can be differentiated into multiple cell types of the mesodermal lineage, including adipocytes, osteocytes, and chondrocytes. Stem cell differentiation is controlled by a process of interacting lineage-specific and multipotent genes. In this chapter, the authors use full genome microarrays to explore gene expression profiles in the process of Osteo-, Adipo-, and Chondro-Genic lineage commitment of human mesenchymal stem cells.
Quantum Computing Approach for Alignment-Free Sequence Search and Classification
Authors: Kotamarti Rao M. , Thornton Mitchell A. , Dunham Margaret H.
Published: April 2013

Many classes of algorithms that suffer from large complexities when implemented on conventional computers may be reformulated resulting in greatly reduced complexity when implemented on quantum computers. The dramatic reductions in complexity for certain types of quantum algorithms coupled with the computationally challenging problems in some bioinformatics problems motivates researchers to devise efficient quantum algorithms for sequence (DNA, RNA, protein) analysis. This chapter shows that the important sequence classification problem in bioinformatics is suitable for formulation as a quantum algorithm. This chapter leverages earlier research for sequence classification based on Extensible Markov Model (EMM) and proposes a quantum computing alternative. The authors utilize sequence family profiles built using EMM methodology which is based on using pre-counted word data for each sequence. Then a new method termed quantum seeding is proposed for generating a key based on high frequency words. The key is applied in a quantum search based on Grover algorithm to determine a candidate set of models resulting in a significantly reduced search space. Given Z as a function of M models of size N, the quantum version of the seeding algorithm has a time complexity in the order of as opposed to O(Z) for the standard classic version for large values of Z.
An Approach for Biological Data Integration and Knowledge Retrieval Based on Ontology, Semantic Web Services Composition, and AI Planning
Authors: Remli Muhammad Akmal , Deris Safaai
Published: April 2013

This chapter describes an approach involved in two knowledge management processes in biological fields, namely data integration and knowledge retrieval based on ontology, Web services, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) planning. For the data integration, Semantic Web combining with ontology is promising several ways to integrate a heterogeneous biological database. The goal of this work is to construct an integration approach for gram-positive bacteria organism that combines gene, protein, and pathway, thus allowing biological questions to be answered. The authors present a new perspective to retrieve knowledge by using Semantic Web services composition and Artificial Intelligence (AI) planning system, Simple Hierarchical Order Planner 2 (SHOP2). A Semantic Web service annotated with domain ontology is used to describe services for biological pathway knowledge retrieval at Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes (KEGG) database. The authors investigate the effectiveness of this approach by applying a real world scenario in pathway information retrieval for an organism where the biologist needs to discover the pathway description from a given specific gene of interest. Both of these two processes (data integration and knowledge retrieval) used ontology as the key role to achieve the biological goals.
An Optimization to Protein Coding Regions Identification in Eukaryotes
Authors: Ahmad Muneer , Abdullah Azween , Zaman Noor
Published: April 2013

Significant improvement in coding regions identification was observed over many real datasets, which were obtained from the national center for bioinformatics. Quantitatively, the authors monitored a gain of 80.5% in coding identification with the Complex method, 42.5% with the Binary method, and 15% with the EIIP indicator sequence method over Mus Musculus Domesticus (House rat), NCBI Accession number: NC_006914, Length of gene: 7700 bp with number of coding regions: 4. Continuous improvement in significance with dyadic wavelet transforms will be observed as a future expectation.
Use of SciDBMaker as Tool for the Design of Specialized Biological Databases
Authors: Hammami Riadh , Fliss Ismail
Published: April 2013

The exponential growth of molecular biology research in recent decades has brought concomitant growth in the number and size of genomic and proteomic databases used to interpret experimental findings. Particularly, growth of protein sequence records created the need for smaller and manually annotated databases. Since scientists are continually developing new specific databases to enhance their understanding of biological processes, the authors created SciDBMaker to provide a tool for easy building of new specialized protein knowledge bases. This chapter also suggests best practices for specialized biological databases design, and provides examples for the implementation of these practices.
Does the Introduction of RFID Technology Improve Livestock Subsidy Management?
Authors: Rouibah Kamel , Al Ateeqi Abdulaziz , Rouibah Samia
Published: April 2013

While the expected benefits and challenges of RFID technology have been well studied in the manufacturing and service sectors at the private organization level, little understanding exists of these two issues when exploring RFID adoption in the agricultural field and at the public organizational level. Previous tracking programs in Kuwait have been unsuccessful in reducing illegal activities that lead to fraud and the wasting of public money in animal feed programs. To alleviate these problems, an RFID program, supported by information systems, was designed to help monitor and control feed distribution and animal tracking. Unlike previous studies, this case describes the application of RFID for the tracking and monitoring of livestock by the Kuwait Public Authority of Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources. It reviewed the subsidy process before and after RFID adoption and found a large reduction in the actual number of animals claimed after RFID adoption, which reduced fraud and increased animal accountability.
Legal Truth and Consequences for a Failed ERP Implementation
Authors: Austin Walter W. , Brennan Linda L. , Hunt James L.
Published: April 2013

This case is inspired by a complaint and response filed in the U.S. court system. One of the case’s authors served as an expert witness in the case. Because the suit settled before going to trial, some of the details of the case are not part of the public record; therefore, the names of the companies involved have been changed and certain details disguised to protect the identity of the litigants. However, the essentials of the case remain faithful to the actual circumstances and provide a basis for analysis of decision points and a discussion of costs and responsibilities for the issues in the case. A leading manufacturer of building materials in the United States selected an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to install on its existing hardware infrastructure. This case describes the ERP selection, implementation and migration challenges, impaired functionality, and the business and legal issues that ensued due to the software’s incompatibility with the hardware. With the software not performing as expected, the vendor withdrawing its software support, and costs escalating, the manufacturer sought legal counsel.
GPS
Authors: Robbins Jeff
Published: April 2013

This case examines GPS navigation as a case-in-point of what technology, sold on the promise of what it can do for society, is also doing to society. Conventional wisdom insists that there are better things to do than find directions from here to there without turn by turn directions. While it may be true that losing the ability to find one’s own way may be no great loss, as a tributary feeding into the river of what’s going on across the board of human skill erosion, it’s a symptom of far more serious summing going on.
Emerging Forms of Covert Surveillance Using GPS-Enabled Devices
Authors: Abbas Roba , Michael Katina , Michael M. G. , Aloudat Anas
Published: April 2013

This case presents the possibility that commercial mobile tracking and monitoring solutions will become widely adopted for the practice of non-traditional covert surveillance within a community setting, resulting in community members engaging in the covert observation of family, friends, or acquaintances. This case investigates five stakeholder relationships using scenarios to demonstrate the potential socio-ethical implications that tracking and monitoring will have on society. The five stakeholder types explored in this case include: (i) husband-wife (partner-partner), (ii) parent-child, (iii) employer-employee, (iv) friend-friend, and (v) stranger-stranger. Mobile technologies like mobile camera phones, global positioning system data loggers, spatial street databases, radio-frequency identification, and other pervasive computing can be used to gather real-time, detailed evidence for or against a given position in a given context. Limited laws and ethical guidelines exist for members of the community to follow when it comes to what is permitted when using unobtrusive technologies to capture multimedia and other data (e.g., longitude and latitude waypoints) that can be electronically chronicled. In this case, the evident risks associated with such practices are presented and explored.
Road Safety 2.0
Authors: Fink Dieter
Published: April 2013

The aim of this case study is first, to determine the extent to which web 2.0 can be the technology that would enable a strong relationship between government and its citizens to develop in managing road safety and second, to examine the endeavours of the WA Office of Road Safety (ORS) in fostering the relationship. It shows that in ORS’ road safety strategy for 2008-2020, community engagement is strongly advocated for the successful development and execution of its road safety plan but the potential of web 2.0 approaches in achieving it is not recognised. This would involve the use of blogs and RSS as suitable push strategies to get road safety information to the public. Online civic engagement would harness collective intelligence (‘the wisdom of crowds’) and, by enabling the public to annotate information on wikis, layers of value could be added so that the public become co-developers of road safety strategy and policy. The case identifies three major challenges confronting the ORS to become Road Safety 2.0 ready: how to gain the publics’ attention in competition with other government agencies, how to respond internally to online citizen engagement, and how to manage governmental politics.
Methodology and Software Components for E-Business Development and Implementation
Authors: Vrcek Neven , Magdalenic Ivan
Published: April 2013

Many benefits from implementation of e-business solutions are related to network effects which means that there are many interconnected parties utilizing the same or compatible technologies. The large-scale adoption of e-business practices in public sectors and in small and medium enterprises (SMEs)-prevailing economic environments will be successful if appropriate support in the form of education, adequate legislative, directions, and open source applications is provided. This case study describes the adoption of e-business in public sectors and SMEs by using an integrated open source approach called e-modules. E-module is a model which has process properties, data properties, and requirements on technology. Therefore e-module presents a holistic framework for deployment of e-business solutions and such e-module structure mandates an approach which requires reengineering of business processes and adoption of strong standardization that solves interoperability issues. E-module is based on principles of service-oriented architectures with guidelines for introduction into business processes and integration with ERP systems. Such an open source approach enables the spreading of compatible software solutions across any given country, thus, increasing e-business adoption. This paper presents a methodology for defining and building e-modules.
Inter-Sector Practices Reform for e-Government Integration Efficacy
Authors: Stamati Teta , Karantjias Athanasios
Published: April 2013

Electronic services have become a critical force in service oriented economies introducing new paradigms like connected governance, ubiquitous and ambient public services, knowledge-based administration, and participatory budgeting. The success of e-Government integration requires the modernization of current governmental processes and services under three different perspectives, namely governmental business processes reengineering, legal framework reformation and technical solution effectiveness. The study proposes a knowledge guide for approaching, analyzing and defining government-wide architectural practices when building large scale enterprise governmental frameworks. A set of fundamental design and implementation principles are specified for increasing government organizations’ agility and ensuring that end-users perceive the quality of the provided services.
The FBI Sentinel Project
Authors: Olszewski Leah , Wingreen Stephen C.
Published: April 2013

In 2000, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated its Trilogy program in order to upgrade FBI infrastructure technologies, address national security concerns, and provide agents and analysts greater investigative abilities through creation of an FBI-wide network and improved user applications. Lacking an appropriate enterprise architecture foundation, IT expertise, and management skills, the FBI cancelled further development of Trilogy Phase 3, Virtual Case File (VCF), with prime contractor SAIC after numerous delays and increasing costs. The FBI began development of Sentinel in 2006 through Lockheed Martin. Unlike in the case of Trilogy, the FBI decided to implement a service-oriented architecture (SOA) provided in part by commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components, clarify contracts and requirements, increase its use of metrics and oversight through the life of the project, and employ IT personnel differently in order to meet Sentinel objectives. Although Lockheed Martin was eventually released from their role in the project due to inadequate performance, the project is still moving forward on account of the use of best practices. The case highlights key events in both VCF and Sentinel development and demonstrates the FBI’s IT transformation over the past four years.
Using Technology to Connect Students with Emotional Disabilities to General Education
Authors: Frank Alicia Roberts
Published: April 2013

This case follows a high-school special-education teacher who teaches in a program for students with emotional disturbance (ED) in a large, comprehensive high school. Many of her students cannot attend general-education classes because of anxiety or behavioral issues, but as a special educator, she does not have the subject-area expertise to provide them with the academic education they need to be prepared for life after high school. She hopes that through the use of a video connection to general-education classes her students can be exposed to the highly qualified content-area teachers while remaining in the safe environment of the ED classroom. She believes that virtual attendance in a class could help her students feel comfortable enough to make the move to the actual classroom and be included with their peers to gain academic knowledge and social skills.
Suspicions of Cheating in an Online Class
Authors: Davis Julia
Published: April 2013

Dr. John Dobson is an Assistant Professor of Education Leadership at Northern New England State University (NNESU) who teaches traditional classes and online classes for his department. As the level of state financial support has decreased, online classes have become increasingly important to NNESU. They are one of the few growing revenue streams at the institution. While teaching a summer online course, Dr. Dobson comes to believe that one of his students is cheating. In this case, Dr. Dobson attempts to navigate the process of proving that the student is cheating, holding the student accountable for his/her actions, and garnering the institutional support necessary to hold the student accountable.
Using Management Methods from the Software Development Industry to Manage Classroom-Based Research
Authors: Schneider Edd
Published: April 2013

This case details a classroom-based research and development project facilitated with management approaches adapted from the software industry to the classroom, specifically a combination of the methods generally known as ‘Scrum’ and ‘Agile’. Scrum Management and Agile Software Development were developed in response to the difficulties of project management in the constantly changing world of technology. The on-going project takes a classroom of students and has them design and conduct research based on software tools they develop. An emphasis of the project is conducting research that involves all class members and makes students think critically about group management.
Combining ERP Systems with Enterprise 2.0
Authors: Wang Yucan , Greasley Andrew
Published: April 2013

The chapter discusses both the complementary factors and contradictions of adoption ERP-based systems with Enterprise 2.0. ERP is well known as IT’s efficient business process management. Enterprise 2.0 supports flexible business process management, informal, and less structured interactions. Traditional studies indicate efficiency and flexibility may seem incompatible because they are different business objectives and may exist in different organizational environments. However, the chapter breaks traditional norms that combine ERP and Enterprise 2.0 in a single enterprise to improve both efficient and flexible operations simultaneously. Based on multiple case studies, the chapter analyzes the benefits and risks of the combination of ERP with Enterprise 2.0 from process, organization, and people paradigms.
Building an Ontological Model for Software Requirements Engineering
Authors: Lima Joselice Ferreira , Garcia Bruno Paula , Caran Gustavo Miranda
Published: April 2013

This chapter is a work about the development of a model for the engineering requirement based on ontology. The development patterns are not used efficiently, especially for non-observance of the principles of requirements engineering. The overall objective of the chapter is to propose the use of an ontology based on the artifacts of software requirements engineering and can be used on any project developed in any organization. The method uses experimental procedures, which are held in experiments with real situations in a project in progress at a reputable company in the development of hardware, but that currently covers its business in the software services industry. As a result, there is an improved understanding of software requirements, as well as its trace within the scope of the project, i.e., one can easily traverse the model and identify all the artifacts impacted by the change.
ERP Post-Implementation
Authors: Hustad Eli , Olsen Dag H.
Published: April 2013

This exploratory study focuses on ERP post-implementation issues in Small-and-Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The authors conducted a case study in a small Norwegian retail company, which experienced a performance dip that lasted longer than expected. The case demonstrates how overwhelming the ERP competence requirements can be for an SME. Errors in the configuration of the ERP system and improper training led to frequent workarounds. The workarounds, in turn, led to significant problems and many errors in the database. This led to a general level of frustration with the system and a high stress level in the company. This study has implications for SMEs planning to implement ERP systems.
A New Methodology for Business Process Improvement
Authors: Martins Paula Ventura , Zacarias Marielba
Published: April 2013

Information flows across the organization are complex, and procedures employed to understand, share, and control organizational knowledge and experiences should be properly supported by collaborative environments. Nevertheless, few collaborative methodologies have been proposed to describe and evolve business processes. In the future, business processes models should be the result of cross-team and cross-departmental collaboration, with involved business people sharing their personal knowledge and formalizing it. This chapter focuses on a methodology for business process discovery and the importance of integrating local information into coherent and sound process definitions. Business Alignment Methodology (BAM) is a methodology that provides guidance about how organizational practices and knowledge are gathered to contribute to business process improvement against current BPM approaches.
Methods for Quality Assessment in Enterprise VoIP Communications
Authors: Neves Filipe , Soares Salviano , Assunção Pedro , Tavares Filipe , Cardeal Simão
Published: April 2013

In the last few years there has been a dramatic development in voice communications technology with a significant move towards Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP). However, since IP was primarily designed for best-effort networking technology, good quality conversation and intelligibility are not always guaranteed. In this chapter, the authors address the most relevant methods used to evaluate the voice quality in the communications context of modern enterprises, where VoIP is used as an emerging technology with impact in their activity. Relevant factors for service providers and enterprises using VoIP technology are described, such as those related to the measurement of intelligibility and with impact on the overall voice communications quality. In addition, the most important voice quality evaluation methods recommended by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) are presented in this chapter, along with the main features that can be used to improve voice communications. Fundamental concepts behind voice quality evaluation models are highlighted, such as intrusive, non-intrusive, objective, subjective, and parametric methods. After addressing the most relevant theoretical and methodological aspects, a recent application of voice quality monitoring for VoIP communications is described as the result of a research and development project. After its successful implementation, this monitoring system is now fully operational and integrated in voice quality assessment equipment currently in the market.
ChronoFindMe
Authors: Nogueira Ana Filipa , Silva Catarina
Published: April 2013

Social networks such as Facebook have grown exponentially over the past decade. This growth led to the exploration of new services that could enhance users’ experiences and constitute a driver for even more followers. With the proliferation of smartphones and the increasing search for applications that enable the sharing of experiences, social networks became eager to integrate into mobile devices, taking advantage of their impressive omnipresence and panoply of sensors. Amongst the sensors, the most notable are the localization sensors (GPS) that allow for the development of location-based services that use the geographical position to enrich user experiences in a variety of contexts, including location-based searching and location-based mobile interaction. ChronoFindMe enhances location-based services by adding a temporal component not present in current approaches. The authors allow information about past and future locations to be considered by defining an architecture that provides location-based services to users of social networks. This information includes data about time and space, which can be accessed through the social network or a specific mobile application, using privacy policies to assure users’ privacy.
ALBIS
Authors: Aversano Lerina , Grasso Carmine , Tortorella Maria
Published: April 2013

The evaluation of the alignment level existing between a business process and the supporting software systems is a critical concern for an organization, as the higher the alignment level is, the better the process performance is. Monitoring the alignment implies the characterization of all the items it involves and definition of measures for evaluating it. This is a complex task, and the availability of automatic tools for supporting evaluation and evolution activities may be precious. This chapter presents the ALBIS Environment (Aligning Business Processes and Information Systems), designed to support software maintenance tasks. In particular, the proposed environment allows the modeling and tracing between business and software entities and the measurement of their alignment degree. An information retrieval approach is embedded in ALBIS based on two processing phases including syntactic and semantic analysis. The usefulness of the environment is discussed through two case studies.
Risk Management Model in ITIL
Authors: Vilarinho Sarah , Mira da Silva Miguel
Published: April 2013

ITIL is considered a framework of Best Practice guidance for IT Service Management, and it is widely used in the business world. In spite of this, ITIL has some gaps in Risk Management specification. This chapter approaches this problem in ITIL and compares IT risk management in ITIL to other IT Governance Frameworks. Despite ITIL stating that risk should be identified, measured, and mitigated, it is not clear on how to proceed (no concrete process is defined on how to deal with risk). To solve this, the authors propose to map the M_o_R risk management framework in ITIL, mapping every M_o_R process in ITIL, therefore adopting a strong risk management in ITIL, based on concrete guidelines, without changing the framework. In this chapter, the authors summarize the necessary guidelines and show a planning for future work.
E-Government Simulation Tool for Accounting Education
Authors: Pedrosa Diogo , Trigo Antonio , Varajão João , Silva Pedro Sá
Published: April 2013

This chapter describes a simulator used by accounting students to mimic the official process of filling out a Personal Income Tax form. According to the Portuguese law, this form describes the amount of the employees’ Personal Income Tax withheld within a company, which must be submitted periodically to the Portuguese Tax Administration. This process is accomplished through an E-government tool accessed by only authorized company staff, which makes it impossible for accounting students to use it. This presents an obstacle for students who are learning about accounting because they cannot experiment with the “real” process in the courses they are studying. By using the proposed simulator that imitates the behavior and interface of the official tools, students can “learn by doing.”
Theoretical Foundations for Information Systems Success in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Authors: Devos Jan , Van Landeghem Hendrik , Deschoolmeester Dirk
Published: April 2013

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) in order to achieve business goals and obtain net benefits. However, adopting IT/IS into an existing organizational structure is a complex and risky task. Many investments in IT/IS, outsourced as well as in-sourced, never fully reach the intended objectives and are therefore considered as not being successful. In this chapter, the authors focused on IS success in small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs) in order to find theoretical foundations. They explain four well-known theories, often used in IS research, which constitute the basics of their thinking. These theories are the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the DeLone & McLean IS success model (D&M), and the transaction cost economy (TCE) model. The authors weaved the constructs of these theories into a compound framework that delivers explanatory and predicting power for the successful adoption of IT/IS in SMEs. This framework is also consistent with the nomological IS network established by Benbasat and Zmud (Benbasat & Zmud, 2003). In order to validate the framework, the authors examined the extent to which the theoretical model could provide support for the Cobit framework, often used by practitioners as an IT governance framework, and also suitable for SMEs. Findings show that the framework offers surprising coherence and proposes a strong theoretical foundation for the normative directions of the methods used in Cobit by IT practitioners.
Creativity in Action
Authors: Calvey David
Published: April 2013

This chapter explores the concept of communities of practice (CoP), with reference to ethnographic data from a range of creative multi-media SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) in Manchester in the UK. The central argument is that many of these communities are profoundly mediated by the interplay of competitive commercial imperatives with professional obligations and constructions of identity. Hence, the concept of community is a more fragmented and fractured one. Ultimately, CoP is a robust metaphor to analysis organisational life but more descriptive detail of situated lived practices and mundane realities of various work settings is called for. Ethnographic data is drawn on to demonstrate the participant’s accounts of their lived experiences, which include reflections on the process of creativity, collaborative negotiations with clients and organisational learning. Ethnomethodology, a form of sociological analysis, is then used to suggest alternative ways to analyse the situated nature of practice, learning and community.
An Agent-Based Operational Virtual Enterprise Framework enabled by RFID
Authors: Ünver H. Özgür , Sadigh Bahram Lotfi
Published: April 2013

The Virtual Enterprise (VE) is a collaboration model between multiple business partners in a value chain that aims to cope with turbulent business environments, mainly characterized by demand unpredictability, shortening product lifecycles, and intense cost pressures. The VE model is particularly viable and applicable for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and industry parks containing multiple SMEs that have different vertical competencies. As small firms collaborate effectively under VE model, it will be only possible to emerge products by joining their diverse competencies and mitigate the effects of market turbulence by minimizing their investment. A typical VE model has four phases; opportunity capture, formation, operation, and dissolution. The goal of this chapter is to present a conceptual Virtual Enterprise framework, focusing on operation phase. The framework incorporates two key technologies Multi Agent Systems (MAS) and Radio Frequency Identification Systems (RFID) which are emerging from research to industry with a great momentum. First, state of the art for Virtual Enterprises and the two key enabling technologies are covered in detail. After presenting conceptual view of the framework, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) view is also given to enhance technical integration with available industry standards and solutions. Finally, process views of how a virtual enterprise can operate utilizing agent based and RFID systems in order to fulfill operational requirements, are presented.
A Benchmarking Study on Organizational Creativity Practices in High Technology Industries
Authors: Sousa Fernando , Monteiro Ileana
Published: April 2013

Twenty two interviews were conducted with top management in these organizations. The interviews were made by telephone addressing specific strategies in three domains: creative management, creative people management, and creativity management. Results indicate that high technology organizations, dependent upon financial support, do not seem to concentrate on corporate innovation, and do not have alternatives to budget reductions made in R&D, due to the present financial crisis, in order to innovate. The remaining companies provided several suggestions as to the way corporate innovation systems can be built and sustained within the framework of the future European innovation policies, devoted to workforce development, the service sector and the SMEs.
Green Manufacturing Practices and Performance among SMEs
Authors: Ramayah T. , Mohamad Osman , Omar Azizah , Marimuthu Malliga , Leen Jasmine Yeap Ai
Published: April 2013

Due to the rise in environmental awareness, green technologies and practices have become the conscientious imperative expected from all manufacturing industries. Consequently, environmental initiatives are becoming an essential part of the strategic planning in organizations, including the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Thus, the objectives of this study were to determine the extent of implementation in green manufacturing practices among the SMEs as well as to examine the relationship between those practices and manufacturing performance. Data was collected via a survey from 544 SMEs across all types of industries located throughout Malaysia. Results of the analysis showed that there is an encouraging level of implementation in green practices among the SMEs, with the optimization of processes to reduce solid waste being the top practice. The results also revealed that green practices within the inbound and production phase of the manufacturing lifecycle significantly affected manufacturing performance but not practices within the outbound phase.
Protected Health Information (PHI) in a Small Business
Authors: Suleiman James , Huston Terry
Published: April 2013

Compliance with regulatory guidelines and mandates surrounding information security and the protection of privacy has been under close scrutiny for some time throughout the world. Smaller organizations have remained “out of the spotlight” and generally do not hire staff with the expertise to fully address issues of compliance. This case study examines a project partnership between an information-technology (IT) consultant who specializes in small business and a diminutive medical practice that sought support with compliance issues surrounding a research study it was conducting. Other small medical practices were contributing to the research; consequently, information sharing while concurrently adhering to the regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 was a significant aspect of the project. It was also critical that numerous other security and privacy legislative requirements were met. The issue of data security is often neglected in IT instruction. This case study provides a foundation for examining aspects of information security from the perspective of the small-business IT consultant.
Sustainability for SMEs
Authors: Pandya Kaushik V.
Published: April 2013

In the past decade, or so, sustainability has become important for businesses. It is not just the preserve of the private sector anymore. Sustainability has been followed by organizations in all industrial sectors. This is not because it is a buzzword, but because it offers genuine competitive advantage to private organizations and green credentials to other. This is true especially to SMEs where, in the current economic climate, their survival relies on any advantage they get, no matter how small. In this chapter on sustainability, various definitions are offered. A discussion is undertaken on the consequences of not considering sustainability as part of strategy and/or operations in an SME. These are not just green, but extended to economic as well. It is proposed that sustainability be part of SME’s strategy, with details of potential benefits. A discussion on the performance indicators for the implementation is shown. It is considered that an agent would be most appropriate to lead the implementation as s/he would be ideal in considering the stake holders requirements. In the chapter, regular questions enable the readers to link the issues in the paper to their organization of work or an organization they are familiar with.
Optimising Customers as Knowledge Resources and Recipients
Authors: Heavin Ciara , Adam Frederic
Published: April 2013

Undoubtedly, customers play an integral role in the Knowledge Management (KM) approach of small to medium sized software enterprises (SMEs); in fact in the role of customer knowledge is reciprocal in nature. From an SME perspective, it is essential to identify customer knowledge that is valuable to the business and how this knowledge can be leveraged as an external knowledge resource. In doing this, consideration must be attributed to the knowledge activities (KAs), such as knowledge acquisition, codification, storage, maintenance, transfer, and creation, which utilise customer knowledge to facilitate organisational objectives such as new product development. The extent to which an SME effectively leverages customer knowledge directly impacts the customer. In an optimum situation, as knowledge recipients customers should be provided with a product or service that is fit for purpose based on their original knowledge contribution. Using a qualitative analysis approach in five Irish software SMEs, this chapter identifies how these organisations leverage their customers as external knowledge resources and the KAs, with particular emphasis on knowledge acquisition, in which customers play a part.
Measuring Utilization of ERP Systems Usage in SMEs
Authors: Jonas Hedman , Björn Johansson
Published: April 2013

Since deployment of Enterprise Systems (ES) such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) within enterprises, both Large Enterprises (LEs) as well as Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) have increased and continue to increase, making it increasingly desirable to measure the degree of utilization of ERP systems in enterprises. One reason for this interest is that no benefits are realized if the systems are not used; since ERPs are massive investments, they need to show benefits, or at least be able to measure the benefits. However, to be able to do so, there is a need to explain ERP systems utilization and the factors that influence ERP utilization. This chapter provides an explanation of factors influencing ERP systems utilization by testing a research model building on four dimensions: volume, breadth, diversity, and depth. The contributions of the research are: First, it provides support for the notion of diffusion found in the theory of network externalities where a critical mass is necessary to achieve benefits. This can be used to better understand failures in ERP projects. Second, the use of volume, breadth and depth provide insights for use as a construct and the need to treat it more rigorously. Third, the study contributes to our understanding of the many aspects of use of IT, such as ERPs, and potentially contributes to value and firm performance from ERP utilization.
XKFilter
Authors: Yang Weidong , Fang Fei , Li Nan , Lu Zhongyu (Joan)
Published: April 2013

Most existing XML stream processing systems adopt full structured query languages, such as XPath or XQuery, but they are difficult for ordinary users to learn and use. Keyword search is a user-friendly information discovery technique that has been extensively studied for text documents. This paper presents an XML stream filter system called XKFilter, which is the first system for supporting keyword search over XML stream. In XKFilter, the concepts of XLCA (eXclusive Lowest Common Ancestor) and XLCA Connecting Tree (XLCACT) are used to define the search semantic and results of keywords, and present an approach to filter XML stream according to keywords. The prototype XKFilter is implemented in the experiments.
On the Design and Implementation of Interactive XML Applications
Authors: Brown Jeff , Brown Rebecca , Velado Chris , Vetter Ron
Published: April 2013

This paper describes issues and challenges in the design and implementation of interactive client-server applications where program logic is expressed in terms of an extensible markup language (XML) document. Although the technique was originally developed for creating interactive short message service (SMS) applications, it has expanded and is used for developing interactive web applications. XML-Interactive (or XML-I) defines the program states and corresponding actions. Because many interactive applications require sustained communication between the client and the underlying information service, XML-I has support for session management. This allows state information to be managed in a dynamic way. The paper describes several applications that are implemented using XML-I and discusses design issues. The software framework has been implemented in a Java environment.