bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ICT Tools and Transform in Work
Authors: Järvenpää Eila , Immonen Stina
Published: August 2010

In this chapter, we consider ICT (information and communication technologies) as a tool that has significantly changed our work. We deal with the relationship between work and ICT, and changes in work due to the development of ICT, and their relationship with worker well-being and stress. Our aim is to consider major trends in research starting from studies about office work and computers and ending up to the use of ICT in knowledge work. We cover mainly a period from 1970’s to the end of 2000’s. Our main interest is on various types of information and knowledge processing work where implementation of new tools has clearly followed the general development of ICT solutions. The scope of the chapter is in the transition from traditional office work towards knowledge work from the viewpoint of worker well-being. Our research questions are 1) what connections and research trends can be identified between ICT supported work and stress and well-being at work and 2) what is the role and connection of ICT on knowledge work. Based on our literature study from electronic databases surprisingly few research articles focussing on ICT’s role on knowledge worker wellbeing or knowledge work as such were found. Only a surprisingly small fraction of the research concerning ICT or tools seems to integrate relations between technology, work and worker well-being. However, we know much about the physiological or psychological reactions of the use of VDT (visual display units) applications. This relatively narrow, even if important focus is not enough for workplace and job designers’ knowledge accumulation and exploitation. There is a risk that new researcher generations are maturing without being aware of the rich Northern European and German research tradition in developing the quality of work life. Thus, the existing body of knowledge is not fully exploited anymore. This also challenges our university teaching.
Information Integrity in the Information Age
Authors: Rogerson Simon
Published: August 2010

The converging technologies have changed the way we should look at information. Illustrations are used to discuss how we create, communicate and consume information in many different forms. The relationship between information and technology can be both beneficial and problematical. A set of fresh issues has been raised which needs to be fully explored and addressed if we are going to realise the full potential of the information society. The nature of information, the concept of information integrity and the use of information provenance are discussed. It is argued that in the information society there is a moral obligation to address information integrity. Information provenance offers a normative instrument for turning this moral obligation into ethical practice.
Community Informatics, Civil Society & Capability Approaches Converging to Cope With ‘Bifurcation Challenges’ in Current Societal Development
Authors: Crowley Peter
Published: August 2010

This chapter maps out various ‘bifurcation challenges’ to societal development, such as, (a) climate change (b) demographic change (c) the increasing urbanisation of society and (d) ‘food security.’ The research encapsulates a basic Human Rights approach to foster the acquirement of the necessary ‘capabilities’ to make informed discriminate choices, with regard to one’s personal development and to one’s community of reference. It further offers a concept of Civil Society of committed individuals, facilitating the discovery of new aspects of their identity, through their commitment to societal development. The three main concepts, in this chapter: 1. The ‘Community Informatics’ Concept, 2. The ‘Civil Society’ Concept and 3. The ‘Capabilities’ Concept, could, with the aid of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), converge, to cope with the current discernable bifurcation challenges to societal development.
The Community Event Research Method
Authors: Lastra Sarai
Published: August 2010

During the process of designing a community information system for my dissertation study using ethnographic and grounded theory methods in a Latino diasporic community from Paseo Boricua in Chicago, Illinois, between 1999 and 2001, I experienced the efficacy of community events as tools for educating me about the essence that was organizing a community’s way of life. The process of achieving the dissertation goal generated a new method based on the traditions of community informatics (CI) and participatory design (PD). This chapter presents the method—the Community Event Research Method (CERM)—and explores issues in developing and applying it. CERM reasons that community events are knowledge objects which embody social processes, cultural meanings and information needs of a community and that a selected set of community events, which are related in some larger cultural context (in one way or another), can serve as a valuable unit of analysis for systematically uncovering strong and weak voices in a community. The method not only focuses on understanding the community ethos, but also presents alternatives for recasting knowledge into design.
Why Do The Orders Go Wrong All The Time?
Authors: Mörtberg Christina , Stuedahl Dagny , Alander Sara
Published: August 2010

In this paper we discuss sustainability, particularly social and cultural sustainability, in relation to an e-commerce application used in the kitchen of a Swedish public school. The notion of sustainability got its public definition through the Brundtland Commission and the report Our Common Future in which ecological as well as economic and social dimensions were underlined. An additional dimension, culture, has recently unfolded. The data reported in this paper were collected in public school and pre-school meal production. This is a large, institutional, tax-funded activity in Sweden as all pre-schools, compulsory schools and most upper secondary schools serve free lunch to the children and students. We discuss how an e-commerce application complicated the daily routines in the school kitchen rather than making the ordering of food stuff easier or more flexible and how small things that mattered in the staff’s day-to-day activities shed light on the application’s problems and weaknesses. Following Agenda 21, we relate these shortcomings to sustainability and also to participation. The discussion builds on social and cultural sustainability and participatory design with a focus on the involvement of users in design and implementation of IT systems and services.
eHealth and Ethics
Authors: Whitehouse Diane , Duquenoy Penny
Published: August 2010

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is increasing rapidly in many spheres of contemporary life in Europe. The ethical use of ICT in all areas of its application is of growing importance. This is especially evident in the field of healthcare. The regional, national, and Europe-wide electronic aspects of health services and systems are related fundamentally to these two developments. This chapter explores the relevance of ethics to eHealth generally. It outlines two main contrasting ideas that have influenced ethical thought: Kantian ethics and consequentialism. It investigates the ways in which teaching and practice for ICT professionals and trainees can be enhanced and extended to increase the awareness of ethical issues in eHealth. It takes as examples two technological applications that are in increasing use in the eHealth field: electronic health records and radio frequency identification devices. The chapter ends with a brief discussion and conclusions about how this ethical awareness can be expanded beyond ICT professionals to other stakeholder groups, and to other eHealth technologies or applications.
Ethical and Social Issues of the Internet Governance Regulations
Authors: Berleur Jacques
Published: August 2010

In this paper we debate some fundamental normative issues of the Internet governance. This is addressed in terms of technical regulations, self-regulations, and the legal regulations; this debate gives rise to a set of social and ethical questions whose answers may impact our lives.
Moral Considerations for the Development of Information and Communication Technology
Authors: Haftor Darek M.
Published: August 2010

This text reports findings from an inquiry into the normativity inherent within the developmental work of Information and communication Technologies (IT). While IT has arrived to human affairs to stay, and may be used both for good and bad, it has an unparalleled potential to impact our world! There exists a considerable set of research contributions that address the normative aspects of IT-usage – which is important! However, the process of IT-development is also important as it may be regarded as foundational for the IT-usage – it is during the development that important normative decisions are made that will open and close possible kinds of IT-usage. Unfortunately, there are few research contributions that inquire the ethical considerations inherent in the developmental work of an IT-artefact. Further, the few contributions that exist seem to assume a particular moral stance and are typically articulated in terms of a moral code of conduct. Unlike such contributions, the present text advances a conceptual framework for the guidance of IT-professionals’ ethical considerations during the development of IT-artefacts. This framework offers a set of conceptual categories that support a formulation of specific questions, to help to unearth inherent moral norms. The proposed framework distinguishes between the typical kind of working phases when an IT-artefact is developed and the kind of stakeholders that both can make moral decisions and those that can be impacted buy such decisions.
Habits of the Mind
Authors: Strober Myra H.
Published: August 2010

The extraordinary complexity of knowledge in today’s world creates a paradox. On the one hand, its sheer volume and intricacy demand disciplinary specialization, even sub-specialization; innovative research or scholarship increasingly requires immersion in the details of one’s disciplinary dialogue. On the other hand, that very immersion can limit innovation. Disciplinary specialization inhibits faculty from broadening their intellectual horizons - considering questions of importance outside their discipline, learning other methods for answering these questions and pondering the possible significance of other disciplines’ findings for their own work. This article seeks to understand more fully the factors that enhance and impede cross-disciplinary conversations and the possible longer-term effects of those conversations. Based on 46 interviews with a sample of seminar participants, it examines the experiences of faculty members who ventured (voluntarily) into multidisciplinary waters and its implications for the organization of disciplines and universities.
Rediscovering Design Education as a Social Constructivist Foundation for Innovative Design Thinking
Authors: van der Merwe Johann
Published: August 2010

Design has been described by Bruno Latour as the missing masses, and tellingly as “nowhere to be said and everywhere to be felt” (2005: 73). Traditionally, not only objects, but design’s presence in general has gone largely unnoticed by the public, but that is changing, due, in considerable part, to the ubiquitous presence of computing technology. Design, as representative of unnoticed and neutral objects, is no longer feasible, but design, as a participative presence in the lives of its users, is fast gaining ground in our complex society. Designers are no longer fully in control of the design process, meaning design practice, and as a result design education must change to adapt to the increasing pace at which different social groups are evolving new ways of communicating and living.
Customer Involved Open Innovation
Authors: Weber Marcel , Geerts Simone A.M.
Published: August 2010

Because of both technological developments on the internet and user preferences, user or customer involvement in NPD is becoming more popular and receives broad attention from both academia and businesses. One of the major advantages of involving the customer in product development is that user needs and preferences can be implemented at an early stage of NPD, therefore enhancing the chance on acceptance and adaptation of the new product in the user market. This advantage leads to firms and companies wanting to involve their customers in the innovation process at every possible moment. But then questions arise on when, in which phases, which customers to involve, and which tools to use to support the involvement. This chapter addresses these questions by providing guidelines for customer involvement in NPD.
Research Project Future of the Present
Authors: Rech Sandra Regina , Chinchilha Gabrielle Stockey
Published: August 2010

This article has the purpose to describe and to report the methodology used by the research project “Future of the Present: an area to analysis and observation of signs”. It will clear up in detail the process of observation, analysis, and interpretation of signs and how new trends are possible to comprehend. It’s necessary to analyze and research different sections, at the same time that the human behavior is studied and also its lifestyle into the most various cultures. Understood as a language, the exploration of the signals issued by the society is a cross-behavioral study guide which enables tangible recommendations for all levels of the market supported by the irrational and emotional trend phenomenon and synthesized in images. It is a very detailed process that requires a lot of work and sensibility in order to see the evidences that the zeitgeist sends and to change them into fashion trends.
Design for Desirability
Authors: Goellner Mark , Warell Anders , Adank Rodney , Garrett Lyn , Parker Tony
Published: August 2010

This chapter outlines an innovative and collaborative design research project that connects New Zealand SME manufacturers with advanced design thinking about affective design. This project was developed and implemented by the centre for affective design research (Affect) at Massey University. Design researchers and five NZ companies have collaborated to foster ‘design-for-desirability’ thinking and develop capabilities by means of knowledge sharing, enterprise training and individualised projects. This created visionary product concepts utilizing the perceptual product experience framework (Warell, 2008). The chapter provides a novel model for collaboration between industry and academia that focuses on implementing ‘design-for-desirability’ thinking in SME companies with the aim of improving their international competitiveness. Well-designed, functional products are expected in today’s competitive global markets. Gaining success in global markets requires a step beyond this level of usability in order to develop products that are desirable and appeal to the users on emotional, social and intuitive levels.
The Emerging Value of Social Computing in Business Model Innovation
Authors: Knol Peter , Spruit Marco , Scheper Wim
Published: August 2010

The value of Social Computing and its application in business has largely remained unclear until now. However, this chapter reveals that Social Computing principles may have important business value, as they can help lower transaction costs. This makes the Social Computing development here to stay, instead of another hype. This chapter describes Social Computing with nine technological and social principles, obtained by comparing both Internet and academic sources in this field, being Open Platform, Lightweight Models, Enabling Services, Intuitive Usability, Long Tail, Unbounded Collaboration, Collective Intelligence, Network Effects, and User Generated Content. The results show that Social Computing provides most support in those aspects of business where connections with the environment exist; the relations with partners and customers. This chapter will explain what Social Computing is, and how one can use it to increase business value.
Business Continuity Planning in Business-Aligned IT Service Management
Authors: Wan Stewart H. C.
Published: August 2010

This chapter aims at presenting the common planning issues in service-oriented Information Technology (IT) management. They include the following aspects - the key issues for implementing ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) based IT service management in practical case, how to improve the understandings of business services in IT operations as well as the role of business continuity planning (BCP) processes in IT service management. In commercial operations, it is common for IT functions to have different focus with business functions. Business-aligned IT management forms one of the missions for senior management especially the IT manager. The exercises in initiating and implementing BCP provide a platform for an organization’s management to realize the mapping of IT and business operations, which kick-off the campaign of business-aligned IT services.
Convergence of Old Media in New Media
Authors: Oji Majority
Published: August 2010

Information communication technologies (ICTs) have continued to evolve at very rapid rate. The advancement in ICTs impacted greatly on the practice of journalism and blurred the distinct values that separate radio, television and newspapers in the old media. It is now possible to accessed radio, television and newspaper from one source in the new media. However, there is no clear-cut law or regulation that addresses this convergence of the old media in the new media in Nigeria. The chapter takes a look at the various media laws in the country and notes their point of convergence or divergence if any. The chapter further explores the nation’s media laws for their places in the country’s ICTs policy or the reverse order where such media laws cover or take care of certain ICTs operations. It found there are gaps in ICTs regulations in the country. It recommends a unification of policies or extant laws to address the new order where the old media have been rolled into one. The study draws on the historical and archival methods. Data gathered through observations and reviews of available relevant literatures were analyzed qualitatively.
ICTs and Border Security Policies in the United States and the European Union
Authors: Shields Peter
Published: August 2010

ICT-related initiatives have dominated the border security strategies of the United States and the European Union in recent years. One set of surveillance systems fortifies the borderline. Another set is creating new frontiers away from the traditional boundary. The objectives of this chapter are to provide a detailed mapping and critical assessment of this two-pronged approach. With respect to the assessment, two arguments are made. First, there are good reasons to believe the approach is not enabling the authorities to deter identified border threats. Second, the approach is contributing to a border management regime that is having an increasingly divergent impact on the mobility and life chances of different groups and populations. In conclusion, it is suggested the inefficacy of the approach is due to contradictions and blind spots embedded in policy maker’s approaches to security issues. Remarks are offered as to why US and EU decision makers emphasize the role of ICTs as they seek to reconstitute their respective borders.
Integration of Policies and Regulatory Frameworks for the Convergent ICT Industry in Nigeria
Authors: Olatokun Wole Michael
Published: August 2010

This chapter commenced with a background to the concept of convergence particularly how it has brought about various opportunities in different aspects of life and led to the blurring of the boundaries between IT and telecommunications in the last two decades. It then discussed the various dimensions of convergence notably– technological, technical and content and later reviewed the digital revolution and the ICT environment in the context of Nigeria and considered the various contending interests and issues in broadcasting, telecommunications and other information industries in Nigeria in form of policies, ICT legislations and governmental organs. It made proposals towards the final emergence of one regulatory body to administer these convergent technologies. The chapter, as the way forward, canvassed for addressing convergence through appropriate ICT policy and regulatory mechanisms, unified licensing as parts of a broader strategy to promote growth and better position Nigeria within regional and global information environments.
Internet Governance
Authors: Movius Lauren
Published: August 2010

As the Internet has spread globally, and its economic, political, and cultural influences have increased, it is necessary to develop appropriate policy to govern it, in order to manage and protect it’s presence in our lives. While national governments apply their laws on the Internet, the Internet presents many issues that span national jurisdictions, and therefore requires global governance. Early Internet governance was self-regulatory and involved organizations and a community of users that made decisions through rough consensus. ICANN and the technical issue of domain name and addressing began debates over the issue of Internet governance. Larger issues of Internet governance emerged during the World Summit on the Information Society, whose existence illustrates the shift towards accepting the need for a global, more formal framework of governance. This chapter explores Internet governance and covers the following themes: understanding the challenge of governing the Internet; frameworks and definitions of Internet governance; and the evolution of the Internet governance debate. As there is much disagreement about what Internet governance is, this chapter synthesizes the main issues and debates and provides an overview of Internet governance.
Knowledge Management Policy
Authors: Yadav Avadh Narayan
Published: August 2010

In the knowledge economy of present times, managing knowledge has become the prime concern of almost all the organizations in the world. The organizations in this recessionary time are realizing that the optimum utilisation of knowledge and knowledge resources could help them sail over the current economic crisis. The thrust is on creating, using, transferring and collaborating knowledge within the organization. This chapter aims to present a practitioner overview of the challenges and growing strategic importance of knowledge management (KM) in the organizations. The introduction of the chapter provides reasoning for adoption of KM and explores the concept of knowledge and KM, followed by outlining the framework of KM for implementation by the organization. A section in this chapter also provides detail of the KM policy framework and generalized approach for KM policy adoption. The chapter includes explanation on the tools and technology for KM with recommendation and suggestions for its successful implementation. The chapter closes by providing focus on future trends in KM.
Policy for Mobile Devices to Access Grid Infrastructure
Authors: Munir Kashif , Mohammed Lawan A.
Published: August 2010

Mobile devices are gradually becoming prevalent in our daily life, enabling users in the physical world to interact with the digital world conveniently. Mobile devices increasingly offer functionality beyond the one provided by traditional resources processor, memory and applications. This includes, for example, integrated multimedia equipment, intelligent positioning systems, and different kinds of integrated or accessible sensors. For future generation grids to be truly ubiquitous we must find ways to compensate for the limitations inherent in these devices and integrate them into the grid, in order to leverage available resources and broaden the range of supplied services. On the other hand, most of mobile devices do not have the sufficient capabilities to be either direct clients or services in the grid environment. The existing middleware platforms like Globus do not fully address mobility, yet extending the potential of the Grid to a wider audience promises increase in its flexibility and productivity. This chapter looks into design architecture for mobile computing environment. Focus is given to security and its policies that will enhance the performance of grid computing in terms of secure design, architecture, accessibility, and mobility.
Role of Social Culture in Evaluation of Internet Policies
Authors: Tsatsou Panayiota
Published: August 2010

This chapter discusses the role of social culture in the evaluation of ICT policies and specifically of Internet policies. It draws on the case of the Greek Information Society and on the exceptionally low levels of Internet adoption in the country, exploring the role of social culture in the ways in which Internet users and non-users in Greece evaluate Internet policies and the role of these policies in their decision to adopt the Internet or not. The chapter reports on the findings obtained from surveying 1,000 Greek users and non-users of the Internet in 2007. It finds that social culture and, more specifically, everyday culture and people’s resistance to Internet technologies influence significantly their evaluation of Internet policies, explaining to a certain degree the picture of low Internet adoption in Greece. The first section introduces the scope and aim of the chapter, while background information on the main trends in the Greek Information Society is provided in the section that follows. In the third section, the chapter takes a decision-making perspective and discusses policies in the Information Society of the country, so as to understand better the context in which policy initiatives receive evaluations that derive from social culture. Then, the chapter reports on the main empirical findings obtained from a survey. The survey finds that a culture of resistance is dominant in Greece, with non-users uninterested and in no need to use the Internet. Non-users in particular seem to identify themselves with established traditions and settings of life, thinking that the Internet may put their work, personal and moral status at risk. On the other hand, the survey finds that Greek people are generally dissatisfied with national Internet policies. The modelling analysis shows that social culture and specifically people’s values and culturally-driven perceptions of Internet technologies do influence the ways in which Internet users and non-users evaluate Internet policies. These findings can provide recommendations for policy-makers in the field as well as insights for researchers who aim to conduct comparative research or envisage looking at other countries’ ICT policies and social cultures.
Satellite Communication Policy in India
Authors: Elangbam Natasha , Naorem Mohen
Published: August 2010

This chapter on satellite communication policy in India aims to deliver first hand information and gives insight into the satellite invasion in the country. The Government passed cable bill from time to time to regulate the operation of cable television networks, seeing the haphazard mushrooming of cable television networks all over the country. In the last few years, foreign television network started to enter India. This has been perceived as a ‘cultural invasion’ in many quarters since the programs available on these satellite channels is predominantly western and totally alien to Indian cultures. This chapter briefly studies the communication policy in India and intends to answer some pertinent questions like –the question of autonomy of Doordarshan, the policy of expansion of television network, the software policy for television, the need for setting up new broadcasting regulations to meet the global media trends. As a part of conclusion, we try to come out with a solution for proper balance of information sharing and development of satellite communication in India.
The Evolutionary Path of Legal Responses to Cybercrime Threats Over the Last Decade
Authors: Petrova Krassie , Medlin B. Dawn , Romaniello Adriana
Published: August 2010

Information and communication technologies have transformed our lives. In the United States, we have become more dependent on these technologies and more of our sensitive information is stored and transferred in electronic form, thus requiring greater attention to the privacy and security of that information. To protect an individual‘s information, laws and regulations that are designed to impact cybercrime activities have been enacted. From the study of American laws we can observe an evolutionary process in relation to computer crimes. In this chapter, the authors explore the growth of cybercrime threats that have grown over the last decade as well as their legislative responses.
The Policy of Uses of ICTs in Developing Countries
Authors: Habhab-Rave Saida
Published: August 2010

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the policy of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the development of countries, especially on Tunisia. The first part of the article summarizes the evolution of the definition of ICTs policy. In the second part, the authors assess the contribution of ICT to the development of Tunisia. Tunisian’s response to these ICT challenges is discussed from three viewpoints. Firstly, the ways ICTs are impacting on the business, management and development. Secondly, what is being done with regard to ICT policies, especially for all sectors of the society. Thirdly, the impact the broader vision of policy has. In the final part, the relationship between policies of ICTs and sustainable development is discussed. On the basis of the technology-knowledge-innovation-economic development cycle, individual participation is thought to begin with general, ICT and business. The fascinating case history of the Finnish Information Society which lends significant tangible support to this and other models is summarized.
National Interoperability Frameworks
Authors: Lampathaki Fenareti , Tsiakaliaris Christos , Stasis Antonis , Charalabidis Yannis
Published: August 2010

National Interoperability Frameworks (NIFs) have been established during the last years as the governmental policy cornerstones for deploying joined-up information systems and providing one-stop services to citizens and businesses all over the world. In order to meet the rising expectations of their stakeholders, to cope with technological evolutions in the future internet era, and to achieve efficient resolution of the evolving interoperability problems, NIF’s developers face new challenges: The scope of the frameworks needs to be extended, including service composition and discovery, development and management of semantic elements, certification mechanisms and authentication standards. Moreover, a shift from a paper-based specification towards a repository of services, data schemas, process models and standards is needed, in order to serve the ever-changing requirements of governments under transformation. Going beyond an analysis of relevant frameworks at an international level, this chapter illustrates the best practices and the future directions for NIF’s, proposing an infrastructure that can meet the demands for modelling, storing, managing and transforming vast numbers of service descriptions, XML hierarchies, as well as specific technical, semantic, organisational and legal interoperability standards.
e-Government Interoperability Framework in Lithuania
Authors: Gatautis Rimantas , Vitkauskaite Elena , Kulvietis Genadijus , Sarantis Demetrios
Published: August 2010

An e-Government Interoperability Framework (eGIF) is one way to achieve e-Government interoperability. An eGIF is a set of standards and guidelines that a government uses to specify the preferred way that its agencies, citizens and partners interact with each other. In order to come up to the expectations of their stakeholders and to achieve real resolution of the evolving interoperability problems, the scope of the eGIFs needs to be extended, including service composition and discovery, development and management of semantic schemas for governmental documents, certification mechanisms and authentication standards. Moreover, a shift from a paper-based specification towards a repository of services, data schemas and process models is needed, in order to serve the ever-changing nature of governments under transformation. Upon conducting a state of the art analysis of relevant frameworks at a pan-European and national level, lessons learnt from the pioneers UK eGIF, German SAGA and Greek eGIF are presented. The proposed Lithuanian eGIF model describes new approach, outlines the technical, semantic and organization dimensions and stresses the importance of political interoperability. It also provides three layers model moving from only standards and specifications based approach to systems and coordination support elements. Finally the chapter tackles the issues that rose within stakeholders’ community in the e-Government interoperability context.
Evolutionary Bayesian Belief Networks for Participatory Water Resources Management under Uncertainty
Authors: Farmani R. , Savic D.A. , Henriksen H.J. , Molina J.L. , Giordano R. , Bromley J.
Published: August 2010

A participatory integrated (social, economic, environmental) approach based on causal loop diagram, Bayesian belief networks and evolutionary multiobjective optimisation is proposed for efficient water resources management. The proposed methodology incorporates all the conflicting objectives in the decision making process. Causal loop diagram allows a range of different factors to be considered simultaneously and provides a framework within which the contributions of stakeholders can be taken into account. Bayesian belief networks takes into account uncertainty by assigning probability to those variables whose states are not certain. The integration of Bayesian belief network with evolutionary multiobjective optimisation algorithm allows analysis of trade-off between different objectives and incorporation and acknowledgement of a broader set of decision goals into the search and decision making process. The proposed methodology is used to model decision making process for complex environmental problems, considering uncertainties, addressing temporal dynamics, uncovering discrepancies in decision analysis process (e.g. completeness or redundancy of the model based on utility function) and generating policy options that trade-off between conflicting objectives. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is examined in several water resources management problems. The case studies include optimum water demand management, UK; management of groundwater contamination of Copenhagen source capture zone areas, Denmark and simultaneous optimum management of four overexploited aquifers in Spain. It is shown that the proposed methodology generates large number of management options that trade-off between different objectives. The remaining task is to choose, depending on the preference of decision makers, a group of solutions for more detailed analysis.
Improving Spatio-Temporal Rainfall Interpolation Using Remote Sensing CCD Data in a Tropical Basin
Authors: Alemaw Berhanu F. , Moges Semu A.
Published: August 2010

This chapter looks at how interpolated annual and monthly rainfall variation can be improved by developing a geostatistical model that uses remotely-sensed cold cloud duration (CCD) data as a background image for a typical tropical basin, the Rufiji basin in Tanzania. We explored the Kriging model and its variants, and found it to be a good estimator in spatial interpolation mainly due to the inclusion of the non-stationary local mean during estimation. Model parameter sensitivity analysis and residual analysis of errors were used to test model adequacy and performance. They revealed that the parameter values of the variogram namely, the nugget effect, the range, sill value and maximum direction of continuity, as long as they are in acceptable ranges, have low effect on model efficiency and accuracy. Instead interpolation was found to improve when remotely-sensed CCD data was used as a background image as compared to estimation using observed point rainfall data alone. This improvement was revealed in terms of the Nash-Sutcliffe model performance index (R2). Although Kriging model application seems to be data intensive and time consuming in nature, it results in improved spatio-temporal interpolated surfaces so long as interpolated results can be interpreted with confidence and with prudent judgement of the model users.
Assessing Environment-Climate Impacts in the Nile Basin for Decision-making
Authors: El-Daoushy Farid
Published: August 2010

Assessing the environmental and climatic impacts in the Nile Basin is imperative for appropriate decision and policy making on national and regional levels. Tracer techniques provide basic spatio-temporal tools for quantifying ongoing and past, and for predicting future, environmental and climatic impacts in whole Nile Basin. These tools allow the sustainable use of the natural resources through developing appropriate large-scale and long-term management and planning strategies. Radiotracers, for example, have diverse properties, unique sources and cycles in the environment. They provide powerful approaches to understand the behaviour of atmospheric processes, and the role of dry and wet-deposition on transfer of matter from the atmosphere to the earth’s surface. They are, also, useful for assessing the present status and evolution, as well as for quantifying the functioning and metabolism, in complex aquatic and land-water systems through appropriate definition of the spatio-temporal scales forcing their interactions with the environment and climate. They yield rich data on sources, pathways and flow-rates of matter (e.g. nutrients and pollutants) within and between landscape units and at the critical boundaries of the hydrosphere with the lithosphere, ecosphere and the atmosphere. Mitigation and adaptation strategies for coupled environment-climate policies require records and observations supported by model and forecasting infra-structures that can simulate the impacts of coupled environment-climate changes both on local and landscape scales. Impacts of global warming are not straightforward to predict unless reasonable scales can be used to compile and collate the diverse climatic and environmental data. Coordinated studies and observations of complex river-, lake-catchment, land-water and delta-coastal systems can provide a wide-range of information on human and climate impacts through using radiotracers as common time and space indicators for assessing the flow of matter on earth’s surface. In this context, the Nile Basin can serve as a model for coupled environment-climate impact studies in complex aquatic systems where sustainable management policies, e.g. use of natural resources, protection and rehabilitation, are needed.
Structure –Activity Relationships by Autocorrelation Descriptors and Genetic Algorithms
Authors: Consonni Viviana , Todeschini Roberto
Published: August 2010

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSARs) are models relating variation of molecule properties, such as biological activities, to variation of some structural features of chemical compounds. Three main topics take part of the QSAR/QSPR approach to the scientific research: the representation of molecular structure, the definition of molecular descriptors and the chemoinformatics tools. Molecular descriptors are numerical indices encoding some information related to the molecular structure. They can be both experimental physico-chemical properties of molecules and theoretical indices calculated by mathematical formulas or computational algorithms. In the last few decades, much interest has been addressed to studying how to encompass and convert the information encoded in the molecular structure into one or more numbers used to establish quantitative relationships between structures and properties, biological activities or other experimental properties. Autocorrelation descriptors are a class of molecular descriptors based on the statistical concept of spatial autocorrelation applied to the molecular structure. The objective of this chapter is to investigate the chemical information encompassed by autocorrelation descriptors and elucidate their role in QSAR and drug design. After a short introduction to molecular descriptors from a historical point of view, the chapter will focus on reviewing the different types of autocorrelation descriptors proposed in the literature so far. Then, some methodological topics related to multivariate data analysis will be overviewed paying particular attention to analysis of similarity/diversity of chemical spaces and feature selection for multiple linear regressions. The last part of the chapter will deal with application of autocorrelation descriptors to study similarity relationships of a set of flavonoids and establish QSARs for predicting affinity constants, Ki, to the GABAA benzodiazepine receptor site, BzR.
Learning and Prediction of Complex Molecular Structure-Property Relationships
Authors: Singh Rahul
Published: August 2010

The problem of modeling and predicting complex structure-property relationships, such as the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of putative drug molecules is a fundamental one in contemporary drug discovery. An accurate model can not only be used to predict the behavior of a molecule and understand how structural variations may influence molecular property, but also to identify regions of molecular space that hold promise in context of a specific investigation. However, a variety of factors contribute to the difficulty of constructing robust structure activity models for such complex properties. These include conceptual issues related to how well the true bio-chemical property is accounted for by formulation of the specific learning strategy, algorithmic issues associated with determining the proper molecular descriptors, access to small quantities of data, possibly on tens of molecules only, due to the high cost and complexity of the experimental process, and the complex nature of bio-chemical phenomena underlying the data. This chapter attempts to address this problem from the rudiments: the authors first identify and discuss the salient computational issues that span (and complicate) structure-property modeling formulations and present a brief review of the state-of-the-art. The authors then consider a specific problem: that of modeling intestinal drug absorption, where many of the aforementioned factors play a role. In addressing them, their solution uses a novel characterization of molecular space based on the notion of surface-based molecular similarity. This is followed by identifying a statistically relevant set of molecular descriptors, which along with an appropriate machine learning technique, is used to build the structure-property model. The authors propose simultaneous use of both ratio and ordinal error-measures for model construction and validation. The applicability of the approach is demonstrated in a real world case study.
Sound Source Localization
Authors: Günel Banu , Hacihabiboglu Hüseyin
Published: August 2010

Automatic sound source localization has recently gained interest due to its various applications that range from surveillance to hearing aids, and teleconferencing to human computer interaction. Automatic sound source localization may refer to the process of determining only the direction of a sound source, which is known as the direction-of-arrival estimation, or also its distance in order to obtain its coordinates. Various methods have previously been proposed for this purpose. Many of these methods use the time and level differences between the signals captured by each element of a microphone array. An overview of these conventional array processing methods is given and the factors that affect their performance are discussed. The limitations of these methods affecting real-time implementation are highlighted. An emerging source localization method based on acoustic intensity is explained. A theoretical evaluation of different microphone array geometries is given. Two well-known problems, localization of multiple sources and localization of acoustic reflections, are addressed.
Tensor Factorization with Application to Convolutive Blind Source Separation of Speech
Authors: Sanei Saeid , Makkiabadi Bahador
Published: August 2010

Tensor factorization (TF) is introduced as a powerful tool for solving multi-way problems. As an effective and major application of this technique, separation of sound particularly speech signal sources from their corresponding convolutive mixtures is described and the results are demonstrated. The method is flexible and can easily incorporate all possible parameters or factors into the separation formulation. As a consequence of that fewer assumptions (such as uncorrelatedness and independency) will be required. The new formulation allows further degree of freedom to the original parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) problem in which the scaling and permutation problems of the frequency domain blind source separation (BSS) can be resolved. Based on the results of experiments using real data in a simulated medium, it has been concluded that compared to conventional frequency domain BSS methods, both objective and subjective results are improved when the proposed algorithm is used.
On the Inherent Segment Length in Music
Authors: Jensen Kristoffer
Published: August 2010

In this work, automatic segmentation is done using different original representations of music, corresponding to rhythm, chroma and timbre, and by calculating a shortest path through the selfsimilarity calculated from each time/feature representation. By varying the cost of inserting new segments, shorter segments, corresponding to grouping, or longer, corresponding to form, can be recognized. Each segmentation scale quality is analyzed through the use of the mean silhouette value. This permits automatic segmentation on different time scales and it gives indication on the inherent segment sizes in the music analyzed. Different methods are employed to verify the quality of the inherent segment sizes, by comparing them to the literature (grouping, chunks), by comparing them among themselves, and by measuring the strength of the inherent segment sizes.
FastNMF
Authors: Li Le , Li Le , Zhang Yu-Jin , Zhang Yu-Jin
Published: August 2010

Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is a more and more popular method for non-negative dimensionality reduction and feature extraction of non-negative data, especially face images. Currently no NMF algorithm holds not only satisfactory efficiency for dimensionality reduction and feature extraction of face images but also high ease of use. To improve the applicability of NMF, this chapter proposes a new monotonic, fixed-point algorithm called FastNMF by implementing least squares error-based non-negative factorization essentially according to the basic properties of parabola functions. The minimization problem corresponding to an operation in FastNMF can be analytically solved just by this operation, which is far beyond existing NMF algorithms’ power, and therefore FastNMF holds much higher efficiency, which is validated by a set of experimental results. For the simplicity of design philosophy, FastNMF is still one of NMF algorithms that are the easiest to use and the most comprehensible. Besides, theoretical analysis and experimental results also show that FastNMF tends to extract facial features with better representation ability than popular multiplicative update-based algorithms.