bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anywhere Anytime Learning with Wireless Mobile Devices
Authors: van ‘t Hooft Mark , Brown-Martin Graham
Published: May 2011

We are increasingly mobile and connected. It is easier now than ever to access people or content using one of the many available wireless mobile devices. For example, global smartphone sales topped $69 million in 2006, with projected sales of $190 million by 2011. The number of cellular subscribers worldwide is expected to grow from 2 billion in 2005 to 3.2 billion by 2010. Europe and North America are reaching nearsaturation points, and China had the highest number of subscribers with 400 million at the end of 2005. In addition, the global market for mobile-phone content, including music, gaming, and video, is expected to expand to more than $43 billion by 2010 (Computer Industry Almanac, 2005, 2006). The evolution from mainframes to wired desktops and now wireless mobile devices has caused fundamental changes in the ways in which we communicate with others or access, process, create, and share information (e.g., Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, & Sey, 2007; Ito, Okabe, & Matsuda, 2005; Roush, 2005). Just like the introduction of the mechanical clock altered our perceptions of time and the invention of the magnetic compass changed our view of physical space, continuous and wireless access to digital resources is redefining the ways in which we perceive and use our dimensions of social time and space.
From Circuit Switched to IP-Based Networks
Authors: Chen Thomas M.
Published: May 2011

The founding of the Bell Telephone System, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), has evolved into a highly successful global telecommunications system. It is designed specifically for voice communications, and provides a high quality of service and ease of use. It is supported by sophisticated operations systems that ensure extremely high dependability and availability. Over the past 100 years, it has been a showcase for communications engineering and led to groundbreaking new technologies (e.g., transistors, fiber optics). Yet it is remarkable that many public carriers see their future in Internet protocol (IP) networks, namely the Internet. Of course, the Internet has also been highly successful, coinciding with the proliferation of personal computers. It has become ubiquitous for data applications such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, and peer-to-peer file sharing. While it is not surprising that the Internet is the future for data services, even voice services are transitioning to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). This phenomenon bears closer examination, as a prime example explaining the success of the Internet as a universal communications platform. This chapter gives a historical development of the Internet and an overview of technical and nontechnical reasons for the convergence of services.
Content Sharing Systems for Digital Media
Authors: Hughes Jerald , Reiner Lang Karl
Published: May 2011

In 1999, exchanges of digital media objects, especially files of music, came to constitute a significant portion of Internet traffic, thanks to a new set of technologies known as peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing systems. The networks created by software applications such as Napster and Kazaa have made it possible for millions of users to gain access to an extraordinary range of multimedia files. However, the digital product characteristics of portability and replicability have posed great challenges for businesses that have in the past controlled the markets for image and sound recordings. ‘Peer-to-peer’ is a type of network architecture in which the various nodes may communicate directly with other nodes, without having to pass messages through any central controlling node (Whinston, Parameswaran, & Susarla, 2001). The basic infrastructure of the Internet relies on this principle for fault tolerance; if any single node ceases to operate, messages can still reach their destination by rerouting through other still-functioning nodes. The Internet today consists of a complex mixture of peer-to-peer and client-server relationships, but P2P file-sharing systems operate as overlay networks (Gummadi, Saroiu, & Gribble, 2002) upon that basic Internet structure. P2P file-sharing systems are software applications which enable direct communications between nodes in the network. They share this definition with other systems used for purposes other than file sharing, such as instant messaging, distributed computing, and media streaming. What these P2P technologies have in common is the ability to leverage the combined power of many machines in a network to achieve results that are difficult or impossible for single machines to accomplish. However, such networks also open up possibilities for pooling the interests and actions of the users so that effects emerge which were not necessarily anticipated when the network technology was originally created (Castells, 2000). In a narrow sense, P2P file-sharing systems refer to applications that exchange content over computer networks where the nodes act both as client and server machines, requesting and serving files (e.g., Kazaa, BitTorrent). In a wider sense, P2P file-sharing systems also include any application that lets peer users exchange digital content among themselves (e.g., YouTube, Flickr).
Current Challenges in Intrusion Detection Systems
Authors: Kayacik H. Gunes
Published: May 2011

Along with its numerous benefits, the Internet also created numerous ways to compromise the security and stability of the systems connected to it. In 1995, 171 vulnerabilities were reported to CERT/CC © while in 2003, there were 3,784 reported vulnerabilities, increasing to 8,064 in 2006 (CERT/CC©, 2006). Operations, which are primarily designed to protect the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of critical network information systems are considered to be within the scope of security management. Security management operations protect computer networks against denial-of-service attacks, unauthorized disclosure of information, and the modification or destruction of data. Moreover, the automated detection and immediate reporting of these events are required in order to provide the basis for a timely response to attacks (Bass, 2000). Security management plays an important, albeit often neglected, role in network management tasks. Defensive operations can be categorized in two groups: static and dynamic. Static defense mechanisms are analogous to the fences around the premises of a building. In other words, static defensive operations are intended to provide barriers to attacks. Keeping operating systems and other software up-to-date and deploying firewalls at entry points are examples of static defense solutions. Frequent software updates can remove the software vulnerabilities, which are susceptible to exploits. Firewalls provide access control at the entry point; they therefore function in much the same way as a physical gate on a house. In other words, the objective of a firewall is to keep intruders out rather than catching them. Static defense mechanisms are the first line of defense, they are relatively easy to deploy and provide significant defense improvement compared to the initial unguarded state of the computer network. Moreover, they act as the foundation for more sophisticated defense mechanisms. No system is totally foolproof. It is safe to assume that intruders are always one step ahead in finding security holes in current systems. This calls attention to the need for dynamic defenses. Dynamic defense mechanisms are analogous to burglar alarms, which monitor the premises to find evidence of break-ins. Built upon static defense mechanisms, dynamic defense operations aim to catch the attacks and log information about the incidents such as source and nature of the attack. Therefore, dynamic defense operations accompany the static defense operations to provide comprehensive information about the state of the computer networks and connected systems.
Digital TV as a Tool to Create Multimedia Services Delivery Platform
Authors: Hulicki Zbigniew
Published: May 2011

Digital TV-based communication systems provide costeffective solutions and, in many cases, offer capabilities that are difficult to obtain by other technologies (Elbert, 1997). Hence, many books and papers on digital television (TV) and content distribution networks have been published in recent years (Burnett, 2004; Collins, 2001; Dreazen, 2002; ETR, 1996; Hulicki & Juszkiewicz, 1999; Mauthe & Thomas, 2004; Scalise, Gill, & Faria, 1999; Seffah & Javahery, 2004; Whitaker & Benson, 2003). None of them, however, provide an exhaustive analysis of the service provision aspects at the application layer. Therefore, this contribution aims to fill that gap with a comprehensive view on the provision of services on digital TV platform which can serve as the multimedia service delivery platform (MSDP) that can provide a unified tool for the optimized exchange of services between users, operators, and service and content providers.
Digital Watermarking and Steganography
Authors: Chen Kuanchin
Published: May 2011

Sharing, disseminating, and presenting data in digital format is not just a fad, but it is becoming part of our life. Without careful planning, digitized resources could easily be misused, especially those that are shared across the Internet. Examples of such misuse include use without the owner’s permission, and modification of a digitized resource to fake ownership. One way to prevent such behaviors is to employ some form of copyright protection technique, such as digital watermarks. Digital watermarks refer to the data embedded into a digital source (e.g., images, text, audio, or video recording). They are similar to watermarks in printed materials as a message inserted into the host media typically becomes an integral part of the media. Apart from traditional watermarks in printed forms, digital watermarks may also be invisible, may be in the forms other than graphics, and may be digitally removed.
Dynamic Information Systems in Higher Education
Authors: Kettunen Juha
Published: May 2011

The management of creative knowledge work presents great challenges in higher education, where individuals and information systems play a significant role in attaining the strategic objectives of a higher education institution (HEI). It is argued in this article that an analysis of the information systems (IS) of an organization using the concept of information environments (IE) activates the organization’s awareness of the development needs of intellectual capital and ISs. A classification of information environments is introduced, developed, and successfully applied to the core processes of an HEI. The purpose of this article is to show that the ISs can be classified according to the IEs and the core processes of an organization. An analysis of information environments helps the educational management to develop the institution’s information systems in an innovative way. In particular, dynamic ISs are analyzed for the purpose of managing the intellectual capital in HEIs. A case study on the E-Learning Unit at the Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS) is presented. The findings of the study are useful for educational administrators, project managers, software developers, and usability specialists. The article is organized as follows: First, the IE approach, useful for analyzing an organization’s ISs, is introduced. Next, the concept of IEs is used to analyze the ISs used in the core internal processes of a HEI, which is the main focus of the article. Thereafter, a short case study of a dynamic IS is presented, including future trends. Finally, the results of the study are summarized and discussed in the concluding section.
Evolution of TD-SCDMA Networks
Authors: Chen Shuping
Published: May 2011

As the basic 3G choice in China, TD-SCDMA has been widely accepted and adopted. The performance of China Communication Standard Association (CCSA) N-frequency TD-SCDMA DCH (Dedicated Channel) -based services has been well testified in both the trial and real networks. It is no question that DCH-based TD-SCDMA is able to provide both voice service and some packet services. Nowadays, for the ever-increasing demand on the multimedia services, the evolution of TD-SCDMA networks has become a hot issue. Single carrier TDSCDMA HSDPA (TD-HSDPA for short) was introduced in 3GPP in the R5 version as the downlink evolution of TD-SCDMA networks. Multi-carrier TD-HSDPA, introduced by CCSA, is the enhancement version of the 3GPP single carrier TD-HSDPA, which adopts the multi-carrier to improve the system performance. It offers backward-compatible upgrades to both former N-frequency TD-SCDMA networks and single carrier TD-HSDPA systems. In 2006, 3GPP made its effort to standardize the uplink evolution of TD-SCDMA networks. Released by 3GPP R6 version, TD-SCDMA HSUPA (TD-HSUPA for short) is believed to be able to enhance the system uplink capacity significantly. In order to offer the backward-compatible upgrade to both the N-frequency TD-SCDMA and multi-carrier TD-HSDPA, CCSA started the standardization work of multi-carrier TD-HSUPA in August, 2007. Armed with both the downlink and the uplink evolution, TD-SCDMA is believed to be able to provide various multimedia services. This article aims at introducing key concepts of the evolution of TDSCDMA networks, including system architecture, key techniques, protocols, and channels. The article begins with the introduction of the basic characters of TD-SCDMA. Then, the downlink evolution of TDSCDMA networks is presented. After that, we present the uplink evolution of TD-SCDMA networks. Key principles of TD-SCDMA Long-Term Evolution (LTE TDD) are discussed at the end of the article.
Global Address Allocation for Wide Area IP-Multicasting
Authors: Orosz Mihály
Published: May 2011

The IP-multicast transmission is the IP level answer for the growing one-to-many content spreading needs in multimedia applications (Hosszú, 2005). Nevertheless the address allocation and service discovery is a problematic field of this technology. Despite of the efficiency of the IP-multicast it has not been deployed in the whole Internet. Especially the global address allocation is a problematic part of the Internet-wide multicasting. This article addresses such problems in order to review the existing methods and the emerging research results. The IP-multicasting uses a shared IPv4 address range. In Internet-wide applications the dynamic allocation and reuse of the addresses is essential. Recent Internet-wide IP-multicasting protocols (MBGP/ MSDP/PIM-SM) have a scalability or complexity problem. The article introduces the existing solution for the wide-area multicasting and also proposes a novel method, which overcomes the limitations of the previous approaches.
Honest Communication in Online Learning
Authors: Shumack Kellie A.
Published: May 2011

Online learning promises much for the present and the future of education because it bridges the gap of distance and time (Valentine, 2002). Students have doors opened wide because of online courses, and in many ways, these opportunities bring in an equalizing quality for those who want to be educated. The bottom line is that the “convenience of time and space” (Valentine, 2002, p. 2) makes online courses an appealing option. Online courses come under the general heading of “distance education.” Pallof and Pratt (2001, p. 5) define distance education as “an approach to teaching and learning that utilizes Internet technologies to communicate and collaborate in an educational context.” This definition is what online courses are today. Some common modes of delivery include WebCT, Blackboard, Convene, and eCollege. Technology or these authoring tools are “not the ‘be all and end all’ of the online course. [They] are merely the vehicle for course delivery” (Pallof & Pratt, 2001, p. 49). As with many things, there are also some potentially negative aspects possible with online learning. This progressive form of instruction is not impervious to problems with student cheating, and in fact, cheating is often considered easier in online courses (Rowe, 2004). The purpose of this paper is to examine plagiarism within the different elements of online learning courses and investigate what can be done about it. Before examining plagiarism, a case for integrity should be made.
Information Security Management in Picture Archiving and Communication Systems for the Healthcare Industry
Authors: Tong Carrison K.S. , Wong Eric T.T.
Published: May 2011

Like other information systems in banking and commercial companies, information security is also an important issue in the health care industry. It is a common problem to have security incidences in an information system. Such security incidences include physical attacks, viruses, intrusions, and hacking. For instance, in the USA, more than 10 million security incidences occurred in the year 2003. The total loss was over $2 billion. In the health care industry, damages caused by security incidences could not be measured only by monetary cost. The trouble with inaccurate information in health care systems is that it is possible that someone might believe it and do something that might damage the patient. In a security event in which an unauthorized modification to the drug regime system at Arrowe Park Hospital proved to be a deliberate modification, the perpetrator received a jail sentence under the Computer Misuse Act of 1990. In another security event (The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, 2003), six patients received severe overdoses of radiation while being treated for cancer on a computerized medical linear accelerator between June 1985 and January 1987. Owing to the misuse of untested software in the control, the patients received radiation doses of about 25,000 rads while the normal therapeutic dose is 200 rads. Some of the patients reported immediate symptoms of burning and electric shock. Two died shortly afterward and others suffered scarring and permanent disability. BS7799 is an information security management standard developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) for an information security management system (ISMS). The first part of BS7799, which is the code of practice for information security, was later adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as ISO17799. The ISO 27002 standard is the rename of the existing ISO 17799 standard. It basically outlines hundreds of potential controls and control mechanisms, which may be implemented. The second part of BS7799 states the specification for ISMS which was replaced by The ISO 27001 standard published in October 2005. The Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS; Huang, 2004) is a clinical information system tailored for the management of radiological and other medical images for patient care in hospitals and clinics. It was the first time in the world to implement both standards to a clinical information system for the improvement of data security.
Interaction between Mobile Agents and Web Services
Authors: Karoui Kamel
Published: May 2011

With the interconnection of computers in networks, particularly through the Internet, it becomes possible to connect applications on distant computers. An application works perfectly whether it isdistant or local. Moreover, a distant applicationallows us to benefit from the following additional advantages: • Data and processes can be stored on a remote server that has a bigger storage capacity than the local host. Data can be shared between users using, for example, Remote Procedure Call (RPC), Remote Method Invocation (RMI), Java Message Service (JMS), and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) (Frénot, 2000): • Distant application can be used at the same time by several users; • Updating data and processes can be done only in one host; • Flexibility on distribution of the load: An application can be executed on the available machine; and • High availability: A faulty machine does not affect the others. Many approaches have been proposed and developed for communication between distant hosts on a network such as Message Passing (MP), Remote Evaluation (REV), Remote Object Invocation (ROI), Mobile Agents (MA), Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Web Services (WS), RPC, and RMI (Dejan, LaForge, & Chauhan, 1998). In this article, we will focus on two particular paradigms: The Web Services and the Mobile Agents. WS defines a standard to invoke distant applications and to recover results across the Web. Its invocation is made in synchronous mode. MA has the faculty to move easily between a network’s hosts to execute user requests. MA communication is made in asynchronous mode. The fusion of these two complementary technologies will solve many problems. This article is composed of the following sections: In the first two sections, we introduce the concepts of WS and MA, their advantages and disadvantages. In the third section, we present different kinds of interaction between MA and WS. Finally, we study an example in the last section.
Interactive Digital Television
Authors: Pagani Margherita
Published: May 2011

Interactive television (iTV) can be defined as the result of the process of convergence between television and the new interactive digital technologies (Pagani, 2000a; 2000b; 2003). Interactive television is basically domestic television boosted by interactive functions that are usually supplied through a ‘back channel.’ The distinctive feature of interactive television is the possibility that the new digital technologies give the user to interact with the content that is on offer (Flew, 2002; Owen, 1999; Pagani, 2000a; 2000b; 2003). The evolution towards interactive television has not an exclusively technological, but also a profound impact on the whole economic system of digital broadcaster—from offer types to consumption modes, and from technological and productive structures to business models. This article attempts to analyze how the addition of interactivity to television brings fundamental changes to the broadcasting industry. The article first defines interactive transmission systems and classifies the different services offered according to the level of interactivity determined by two fundamental factors such as response time and return channel band. After defining the conceptual framework and the technological dimension of the phenomenon, the study analyzes the new types of interactive services offered. The Interactive Digital Television (iDTV) value chain will be discussed to give an understanding of the different business elements involved.
Introducing Digital Case Library
Authors: Carroll John M.
Published: May 2011

Case-based learning is one of the major pedagogical approaches applied in formal and informal teaching and learning. This article introduces an interactive digital case library which supports a full range of case study activities, such as case authoring, browsing, and annotating. Digital case libraries differ from common digital libraries in that resources of common digital libraries usually come from centralized sources, which are provided by the owners of digital libraries, such as university libraries, or publishers who run those digital libraries. Furthermore, cases usually come from distributed sources (i.e., course instructors, students, or real-world practitioners). Many cases are developed as by-products of teaching practice. For example, an instructor creates several cases for the class he or she teaches, and after created, these cases can be used for many years or shared with other instructors. Most case libraries currently available, however, do not support case authoring in such a distributed manner. This causes a version of “tragedy of the commons” in that users do not have means and motivation to contribute to the resources of digital library, and hence the value of digital case library and benefits of using it will be impaired greatly. One solution to this dilemma is to make the users perceive their contribution and authorship in explicit manners, provide convenient means enabling their contribution, and at the same time make the users experience the benefit of using the system. The interactive digital case library presented here plays two major roles. First, the digital case library is a Web application system, providing supports for participatory activities and case use; second, the system is a digital repository, collecting, storing, and retrieving cases. The idea is to provide services for community members to contribute and use what they have contributed. In this way, the value of the digital case library will increase and the community will be rewarded over time.
Methodological Framework and Application Integration Services in Enterprise Information Systems
Authors: Galinec Darko , Vidovic Slavko
Published: May 2011

For integration of two business functions or two business systems it is necessary to connect their business processes with application support and data exchange. Processes appertaining to one application system create data which will be used by another application system. First, and the key reason for the integration of business systems’ applications, are user business needs for business processes and information flow, and changes in business processes occurring during business transactions. The next integration reason is related to the technological differences by means of which applications are constructed. Integration should be carried out to connect technologically different applications. Because of process complexity which includes breakdown of the existing business processes and applications, business processes change on the basis of business needs and user requirements, modeling of such processes, and new applications and their connection, it is necessary to shape methodological framework. The use of this framework should result in the successful completion of EAI projects.
Mobile Web Services for Mobile Commerce
Authors: Dhar Subhankar
Published: May 2011

In recent years, Web services have gained popularity in terms of applications and usage. A copious volume of literature has been published that describes the potential benefits of this technology (Chu, You, & Teng, 2004; Gehlen & Pham 2005; Pasthan, 2005; Yoshikawa, Ohta, Nakagawa, & Kurakake, 2003). The business community has slowly started to realize how this technology can be used to solve various business problems (Tilley, Gerdes, Hamilton, Huang, Muller, Smith, & Wong, 2004). The idea of a Web service stems from the fact that different applications developed in heterogeneous technology platforms can be seamlessly integrated together via some common standard protocols over World Wide Web (Chu, et al., 2004; Pasthan, 2005). This will facilitate reusable software component development, enterprise application integration (EAI), and distributed application development. A new emerging area that is currently under development is mobile Web services, which will be quite useful in terms of capability and applications. There are numerous business benefits in using these mobile services, but these new technological developments pose various challenges. In this article, we discuss emerging mobile commerce applications and then present an open mobile Web services framework that will support various mobile commerce applications.
Multimedia Encryption
Authors: Li Shujun
Published: May 2011

Multimedia technology becomes more and more popular in today’s digitized and networked world. Many multimedia-based services, such as pay-TV, remote video conferencing, medical imaging, and archiving of government documents, require reliable storage of digital multimedia files and secure transmission of multimedia streams. In addition, in course of the recent booming of diverse multimedia functions/services provided by consumer electronic devices and digital content providers, more and more personal data are created, transmitted, and stored in multimedia formats, which also incur increasing concerns about personal privacy (i.e., multimedia data security). To fulfill such an overwhelming demand, encryption algorithms have to be employed to secure multimedia data. Apart from concerns about data security, there also exist serious concerns about copyright protection issues, which are mainly raised by multimedia content providers as a hope to protect their multimedia products or services from pirate copies and unauthorized distributions. Digital watermarking is the main technique to realize such a function, by embedding digital patterns in multimedia products to be detected. Multimedia encryption and digital watermarking constitute the kernel of digital rights management (DRM) systems. Recently, a lot of efforts have been made to define DRM systems for multimedia encoding standards. Two ISO/IEC standards have officially been released in the past three years: JPSEC (Security Part of JPEG2000) in 2004 and MPEG-4 intellectual property management and protection (IPMPX, eXtensions) in 2006. To ensure flexibility and renewability, both standards define only a framework and interfaces between different modules so that any available tool can be freely chosen by the content providers/owners in a real implementation. In this way, a malfunctioning encryption or watermarking component can be replaced by a new one without changing other parts of a system. In recent years, some surveys have been published about multimedia encryption (Furht & Kirovski, 2004; Furht, Muharemagic, & Socek, 2005; Uhl & Pommer, 2005; Zeng, Yu, & Lin, 2006). In this article, we will also introduce some very new results that are not covered in previous surveys.
Status and Future Trends of Multimedia Interactivity on the Web
Authors: El-Gayar Omar , Chen Kuanchin
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides a brief overview of Web interactivity. It highlights current research findings on interactivity from several academic disciplines and offers insights on current and future development of Web interactivity. A framework to examine multimedia and Web interactivity is provided. The chapter concludes with future trends and suggestions for future research directions.
Web 2.0 and Beyond-Participation Culture on the Web
Authors: Scheer August-Wilhelm
Published: May 2011

The emergence of what we call today the World Wide Web, the WWW, or simply the Web, dates back to 1989 when Tim Berners-Lee proposed a hypertext system to manage information overload at CERN, Switzerland (Berners-Lee, 1989). This article outlines how his approaches evolved into the Web that drives today’s information society and explores its full potentials still ahead. The formerly known wide-area hypertext information retrieval initiative quickly gained momentum due to the fast adoption of graphical browser programs and standardization activities of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). In the beginning, based only on the standards of HTML, HTTP, and URL, the sites provided by the Web were static, meaning the information stayed unchanged until the original publisher decided for an update. For a long time, the WWW, today referred to as Web 1.0, was understood as a technical mean to publish information to a vast audience across time and space. Data was kept locally and Web sites were only occasionally updated by uploading files from the client to the Web server. Application software was limited to local desktops and operated only on local data. With the advent of dynamic concepts on server-side (script languages like hypertext preprocessor (PHP) or Perl and Web applications with JSP or ASP) and client-side (e.g., JavaScript), the WWW became more dynamic. Server-side content management systems (CMS) allowed editing Web sites via the browser during run-time. These systems interact with multiple users through PHP-interfaces that push information into server-side databases (e.g., mySQL) which again feed Web sites with content. Thus, the Web became accessible and editable not only for programmers and “techies” but also for the common user. Yet, technological limitations such as slow Internet connections, consumer-unfriendly Internet rates, and poor multimedia support still inhibited a mass-usage of the Web. It needed broad-band Internet access, flat rates, and digitalized media processing to catch on.
Enterprise Investing in Remote Access Technology
Authors: Andriole Stephen J.
Published: May 2011

This is a case of enterprise investing in a specific technology to improve the way its employees communicate and transact business with their customers. The company involved was Prudential Fox Roach/Trident (PFRT) realtors, an independently owned and operated member of the Prudential Real Estate Affiliate, Inc. PFRT is the fourth-largest provider of real estate services in the U.S., with nearly $16 billion in annual sales. The company operates 70 offices in the Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey area; there are 900 employees. Prudential Fox & Roach/Trident also contracts with more than 3,300 independent sales agents who work on commission. These agents were the focus of the technology investment.
Venture Investing in E-Mail Trust Solutions
Authors: Andriole Stephen J.
Published: May 2011

This is an example of venture investing in an e-mail trust solution developed by Postiva, a company that provided “e-mail trust solutions” and also had a complementary line of business in privacy education and consulting services. “E-mail trust solutions” are best-of-breed information technology products and services that uniquely combine aspects of e-mail content security (e.g., antispam, antivirus), authentication, and customer relationship management technologies. In short, the company’s products enabled e-mail sender authentication and accountability, more efficient e-mail processing, and filtering capabilities for ISPs and recipients and heightened privacy, security, confidence, and control to consumers as they wade through increasingly cluttered and danger-filled e-mail in-boxes. This example discusses the company’s business plan and then filters the investment opportunity—from the perspective of a venture investor—with the 15 due diligence criteria.
Tools of the Trade
Authors: Andriole Stephen J.
Published: May 2011

There are several approaches, methods, and tools that will enhance the technology due diligence process. Three will be discussed here: • Technology trends analysis methodology • Off-the-shelf tools for due diligence analysis • Due diligence project management • A due diligence template
Education of Ethics of Science and Technology Across Cultures
Authors: Macer Darryl
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines some of the cultural variation in the ethical factors associated with the use of science and technology. The issues discussed include access to technology, social justice, professional ethics, and value systems. The appropriate implementation of international standards in ethics of science and technology and bioethics is considered. There is global agreement that persons should be taught the ethics of science and technology, and discussion of new materials and methods is made. The goals of ethics education as explained in the Action Plan for Bioethics Education developed at the 2006 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Conference on Bioethics Education include knowledge, skills and personal moral development. The International Bioethics Education Network was initiated in 2004, and the creation of networks linking research into policy is a cornerstone of efforts for education of ethics at all levels, from local to regional. In the future the use of principles as expressed in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005) will also be analyzed to broaden the description of bioethical reasoning. There needs to be extension of the evaluation methods and tools.
Social and Ethical Aspects of Biomedical Research
Authors: Fortwengel Gerrhard
Published: May 2011

At the beginning of this section the authors provide a definition of biomedical research and an interpretation of the meaning of ethics and social values of research. They continue with the introduction of the risk-benefit approach as basic requirement for any biomedical research involving human subjects and illustrate the need for uniformity with respect to social and ethical issues. The differences and similarities between social and ethical research are described in the core section; social and ethical aspects are presented according to central and peripheral dimensions. In reference to specific areas of research in biomedical science it is exemplary shown that more general principles are not sufficient to cover all types of research, and that depending on research characteristics, the techniques used and the purpose of the research, other specific aspects might need to be considered as well. The chapter ends with a short conclusion calling for continued reflection and review of social and ethical issues speeding an age of fast changes in science and technologies to thereby ensure proper protection of the individual and the best future for society.
Ethical Aspects of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Authors: Fait Stefano
Published: May 2011

In assessing the ethical implications of genomics and biotechnology, it is important to acknowledge that science, technology, and bioethics do not exist in a vacuum and are not socially, politically and ethically neutral. Certain technologies have a greater social impact, may require the State to intervene in the private sphere, and may be differentially accessible to users. Also, science and technology can change our relationship with other people and with our environment. Hence the importance of ethnographic, historical, and cross-cultural studies for the analysis of today’s thorniest bioethical controversies. This chapter discusses some of the most controversial issues surrounding the use of genetic technology in human procreation and gene patenting, including eugenics, genetic consumerism, animal-human hybrids (chimeras), the commodification of life, disability and genetic testing.
The Ethics of Gazing
Authors: Ibrahim Y.
Published: May 2011

This chapter situates the current debates on pornography in the virtual realm and its ethical and legal implications for users and researchers. It examines the ethics of gaze and politics of looking and how these acts of consumption can pose new moral and ethical dilemmas for societies and communities. Debates on online pornography have to integrate and reconcile dialectical elements and values such as aesthetics, privacy, rights, taboos, private pleasures and community standards while acknowledging the intrinsic features which define the Internet as a liminal space between the private and public and between individual consumption and infringement of societal norms. Beyond the legal and ethical paradigm, the chapter explores the issues of empowerment associated with online pornography as well as the epistemological and ontological problems which can face researchers.
In Vitro Fertilization and the Embryonic Revolution
Authors: Jones D. Gareth
Published: May 2011

The advent of in vitro fertilization (IVF) marked a watershed in the scientific understanding of the human embryo. This, in turn, led to a renaissance of human embryology, accompanied by the ability to manipulate the human embryo in the laboratory. This ability has resulted in yet further developments: refinements of IVF itself, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, the derivation and extraction of embryonic stem cells, and even various forms of cloning. There are immense social and scientific pressures to utilize the artificial reproductive technologies in ways that have little or no connection with overcoming infertility. As the original clinical goals of IVF have undergone transformation ethical concerns have escalated, so much so that they are condemned by some as illustrations of ‘playing God’, while any babies born via some of these procedures are labelled as ‘designer babies’. Both terms reflect the fear and repugnance felt by some at the interference with the earliest stages of human life by the artificial reproductive technologies. It is at these points that bioethical analyses have an important contribution to make.
Podcasting and Vodcasting in Education and Training
Authors: Schnackenberg Heidi L.
Published: May 2011

On the cutting edge of current technologies are portable media, where users can download information and take it with them to digest it anytime, anywhere. Some of the newest ways of sharing portable information using the Internet are podcasting and vodcasting. Podcasts are a distribution of audio files such as radio programs or music videos, over the web. A derivative of the term (and idea) of podcast is “vodcast,” also commonly referred to as a video podcast. A vodcast functions in much the same way as a podcast, except that instead of users downloading only audio files, they also download corresponding video files to their portable media players. While one might think that podcasting and vodcasting have the ability to revolutionize education and training, these advances are not stand-alone panaceas. However they do offer an incredible educational advantage in that their multimedia aspects attend to a variety of learning needs.
Actionable Knowledge Discovery
Authors: Cao Longbing
Published: May 2011

Actionable knowledge discovery is selected as one of the greatest challenges (Ankerst, 2002; Fayyad, Shapiro, & Uthurusamy, 2003) of next-generation knowledge discovery in database (KDD) studies (Han & Kamber, 2006). In the existing data mining, often mined patterns are nonactionable to real user needs. To enhance knowledge actionability, domain-related social intelligence is substantially essential (Cao et al., 2006b). The involvement of domain-related social intelligence into data mining leads to domaindriven data mining (Cao & Zhang, 2006a, 2007a), which complements traditional data-centered mining methodology. Domain-related social intelligence consists of intelligence of human, domain, environment, society and cyberspace, which complements data intelligence. The extension of KDD toward domain-driven data mining involves many challenging but promising research and development issues in KDD. Studies in regard to these issues may promote the paradigm shift of KDD from data-centered interesting pattern mining to domain-driven actionable knowledge discovery, and the deployment shift from simulated data set-based to real-life data and business environment-oriented as widely predicted.
The Adoption of IS/IT Evaluation Methodologies in Australian Public Sector Organizations
Authors: Lin Chad , Huang Yu-An
Published: May 2011

Information systems/information technology (IS/IT) represents substantial financial investment for many organizations (Lin, Huang, & Tseng, 2007; Standing, Guilfoyle, Lin, & Love, 2006). However, IS/IT managers have found it increasingly difficult to justify rising IS/IT expenditures (Lin & Pervan, 2003; Serafeimidis, & Smithson, 2003) and are often under immense pressure to find a way to measure the contribution of their organizations’ IS/IT investments to business performance, as well as to find reliable ways to ensure that the business benefits from IS/IT investments are actually realized (Luftman, Kempaiah, & Nash, 2006). This problem has become more complex as the nature of IS/IT investments and the benefits they can deliver have changed rapidly (Murphy & Simon, 2002). Furthermore, evaluation of these IS/IT investments is an extremely complicated process, and it is often avoided or dealt with ineffectively, especially in the public sector (Cilek, Fanko, Koch, Mild, & Taudes, 2004). Given the complexity of the decisions and the large expenditure involved, a better understanding of the basis and practice of IS/IT investment and evaluation in the public sector organizations is essential. The difficulties of evaluation and benefits realization processes are often the determining factors in the application of any formal methodology, and must be addressed if the processes are to be understood (Counihan, Finnegan, & Sammon, 2002; Love, Irani, Standing, Lin, & Burn, 2005). bacKground The IS/IT investment evaluation and benefits realization process is a complex but critical function in both private and public organizations. The need to justify expenditure, to assess the effectiveness of a project, and to ensure that expected benefits are eventually delivered are crucial elements in the IS/IT investment evaluation and benefits realization process. The main purpose of IS/IT evaluation is an important factor in determining how the process should be carried out. However, the IS/IT investment evaluation and benefits realization process itself is an extremely complicated and difficult process, and is not often carried out by both private and public organizations.
Advanced Techniques for Object-Based Image Retrieval
Authors: Zhang Yu-Jin
Published: May 2011

Along with the progress of imaging modality and the wide utility of digital images (including video) in various fields, many potential content producers have emerged, and many image databases have been built. Because images require large amounts of storage space and processing time, how to quickly and efficiently access and manage these large, both in the sense of information contents and data volume, databases has become an urgent problem. The research solution for this problem, using content-based image retrieval (CBIR) techniques, was initiated in the last decade (Kato, 1992). An international standard for multimedia content descriptions, MPEG-7, was formed in 2001 (MPEG). With the advantages of comprehensive descriptions of image contents and consistence to human visual perception, research in this direction is considered as one of the hottest research points in the new century (Castelli, 2002; Zhang, 2003; Deb, 2004). Many practical retrieval systems have been developed; a survey of near 40 systems can be found in Veltkamp (2000). Most of them mainly use low-level image features, such as color, texture, and shape, etc., to represent image contents. However, there is a considerable difference between the users’ interest in reality and the image contents described by only using the above low-level image features. In other words, there is a wide gap between the image content description based on low-level features and that of human beings’ understanding. As a result, these low-level featurebased systems often lead to unsatisfying querying results in practical applications. To cope with this challenging task, many approaches have been proposed to represent and describe the content of images at a higher level, which should be more related to human beings’ understanding. Three broad categories could be classified: synthetic, semantic, and semiotic (Bimbo, 1999; Djeraba, 2002). From the understanding point of view, the semantic approach is natural. Human beings often describe image content in terms of objects, which can be defined at different abstraction levels. In this article, objects are considered not only as carrying semantic information in images, but also as suitable building blocks for further image understanding. The rest of the article is organized as follows: in “Background,” early object-based techniques will be briefly reviewed, and the current research on object-based techniques will be surveyed. In “Main Techniques,” a general paradigm for object-based image retrieval will be described; and different object-based techniques, such as techniques for extracting meaningful regions, for identifying objects, for matching semantics, and for conducting feedback are discussed. In “Future Trends,” some potential directions for further research are pointed out. In “Conclusion,” several final remarks are presented.