Traditional engineering instruction is deductive, beginning with theories and progressing to the applications of those theories Alternative teaching approaches are more inductive Topics are introduced by presenting specific observations, case studies or problems, and theories are taught or the students are helped to discover them only after the need to know them has been established This study reviews several of the most commonly used inductive teaching methods, including inquiry learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, case-based teaching, discovery learning, and just-in-time teaching The paper defines each method, highlights commonalities and specific differences, and reviews research on the effectiveness of the methods While the strength of the evidence varies from one method to another, inductive methods are consistently found to be at least equal to, and in general more effective than, traditional deductive methods for achieving a broad range of learning outcomes

Inductive Teaching and Learning Methods: Definitions, Comparisons, and Research Bases

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Qualitative Research in Information Systems

Sensor networks, a new class of devices has the potential to revolutionize the capture, processing, and communication of critical data for use by first responders. CodeBlue integrates sensor nodes and other wireless devices into a disaster response setting and provides facilities for ad hoc network formation, resource naming and discovery, security, and in-network aggregation of sensor-produced data. We designed CodeBlue for rapidly changing, critical care environments. To test it, we developed two wireless vital sign monitors and a PDA-based triage application for first responders. Additionally, we developed MoteTrack, a robust radio frequency (RF)-based localization system, which lets rescuers determine their location within a building and track patients. Although much of our work on CodeBlue is preliminary, our initial experience with medical care sensor networks raised many exciting opportunities and challenges.

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Sensor networks for emergency response: challenges and opportunities

With an increasing emphasis on security, automated personal identification based on biometrics has been receiving extensive attention over the past decade. Iris recognition, as an emerging biometric recognition approach, is becoming a very active topic in both research and practical applications. In general, a typical iris recognition system includes iris imaging, iris liveness detection, and recognition. This paper focuses on the last issue and describes a new scheme for iris recognition from an image sequence. We first assess the quality of each image in the input sequence and select a clear iris image from such a sequence for subsequent recognition. A bank of spatial filters, whose kernels are suitable for iris recognition, is then used to capture local characteristics of the iris so as to produce discriminating texture features. Experimental results show that the proposed method has an encouraging performance. In particular, a comparative study of existing methods for iris recognition is conducted on an iris image database including 2,255 sequences from 213 subjects. Conclusions based on such a comparison using a nonparametric statistical method (the bootstrap) provide useful information for further research.

Personal identification based on iris texture analysis

Recent rapid advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have highlighted the rising importance of the Business Model (BM) concept in the field of Information Systems (IS). Despite agreement on its importance to an organization's success, the concept is still fuzzy and vague, and there is little consensus regarding its compositional facets. Identifying the fundamental concepts, modeling principles, practical functions, and reach of the BM relevant to IS and other business concepts is by no means complete. This paper, following a comprehensive review of the literature, principally employs the content analysis method and utilizes a deductive reasoning approach to provide a hierarchical taxonomy of the BM concepts from which to develop a more comprehensive framework. This framework comprises four fundamental aspects. First, it identifies four primary BM dimensions along with their constituent elements forming a complete ontological structure of the concept. Second, it cohesively organizes the BM modeling principles, that is, guidelines and features. Third, it explains the reach of the concept showing its interactions and intersections with strategy, business processes, and IS so as to place the BM within the world of digital business. Finally, the framework explores three major functions of BMs within digital organizations to shed light on the practical significance of the concept. Hence, this paper links the BM facets in a novel manner offering an intact definition. In doing so, this paper provides a unified conceptual framework for the BM concept that we argue is comprehensive and appropriate to the complex nature of businesses today. This leads to fruitful implications for theory and practice and also enables us to suggest a research agenda using our conceptual framework.

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Developing a unified framework of the business model concept

The application of neural networks to the optimum routing problem in packet-switched computer networks, where the goal is to minimize the network-wide average time delay, is addressed. Under appropriate assumptions, the optimum routing algorithm relies heavily on shortest path computations that have to be carried out in real time. For this purpose an efficient neural network shortest path algorithm that is an improved version of previously suggested Hopfield models is proposed. The general principles involved in the design of the proposed neural network are discussed in detail. Its computational power is demonstrated through computer simulations. One of the main features of the proposed model is that it will enable the routing algorithm to be implemented in real time and also to be adaptive to changes in link costs and network topology. >

Neural networks for shortest path computation and routing in computer networks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which accessibility is taken into account in the assessment and ranking of e-government web sites through the lens of a specific study related to Dubai e-government. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers a case study related to Dubai e-government and it evaluates the accessibility of each of the 21 Dubai e-government web sites, based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and using an automated accessibility testing tool. A bivariate correlation analysis is performed to assess the correlation between web site ranking and accessibility score. Findings – The research reveals that contrary to common intuition and some earlier studies, there is a weak correlation between e-government web site ranking score and web site accessibility. Research limitations/implications – The paper uses an accessibility metric that is a proxy indicator of web accessibility and is not a real assessment of accessibility as experienced by a ...

Accessibility as an integral factor in e-government web site evaluation : The case of Dubai e-government

Traditionally Business Process Management (BPM) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) have been pursued as two independent initiatives. Recently, the BPM-SOA combination is being advocated as the best approach, enterprises have, to bring a closer alignment between business processes and IT resources and reach the desired business agility and responsiveness to changing business requirements. This article takes a closer look to the BPM-SOA convergence trend. It recognizes that the convergence landscape is not as smooth as many believe. The article then tries to sketch a roadmap to further facilitate a broader BPM-SOA adoption, while identifying the main hurdles standing in the BPM-SOA convergence landscape.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1241854.1247273

A roadmap towards the convergence of business process management and service oriented architecture

The rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as smart meters and water valves, into industrial critical infrastructures and control systems has put stringent performance and scalability requirements on modern Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. While cloud computing has enabled modern SCADA systems to cope with the increasing amount of data generated by sensors, actuators and control devices, there has been a growing interest recently to deploy edge datacenters in fog architectures to secure low-latency and enhanced security for mission-critical data. However, fog security and privacy for SCADA-based IoT critical infrastructures remains an under-researched area. To address this challenge, this contribution proposes a novel security “toolbox” to reinforce the integrity, security, and privacy of SCADA-based IoTcritical infrastructure at the fog layer. The toolbox incorporates a key feature: a cryptographic-based access approach to the cloud services using identity-based cryptography and signature schemes at the fog layer. We present the implementation details of a prototype for our proposed Secure Fog-based Platform (SeFoP) and provide performance evaluation results to demonstrate the appropriateness of the proposed platform in a real-world scenario. These results can pave the way towards the development of more secured and trusted SCADA-based IoT critical infrastructure, which is essential to counter cyber threats against next-generation critical infrastructure and industrial control systems. The results from the experiments demonstrate a superior performance of SeFoP, which is around 2.8 seconds when adding 5 virtual machines (VMs), 3.2 seconds when adding 10 VMs, and 112 seconds when adding 1000 VMs compared to Multi-Level user Access Control (MLAC) platform.

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A Secure Fog-based Platform for SCADA-based IoT Critical Infrastructure

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an enabling technology that can provide organizations with unprecedented improved visibility and traceability of items throughout their journey in the value chain. This paper explores how RFID can impact traditional business models or create new ones. In particular, we propose an RFID business model framework and use it to show how value can be created for organizations, suppliers, customers, and business partners. We also identify the major dynamic phases of RFID and their corresponding impact on RFID business models. A taxonomy of 12 specific RFID business models is also presented, reflecting the wide spectrum of potential directions and applications of the technology. Finally, we present a case study to test the practical and theoretical relevance of our conceptual models. The paper outlines the need for technology managers to take a holistic approach to RFID business model innovation, taking into account the interrelated technical, strategic, organizational, and external environmental factors.

/pdf/rethinking-the-business-model-with-rfid-489yci7ie0.pdf

Faouzi Kamoun

Papers

Neural networks for shortest path computation and routing in computer networks

Accessibility as an integral factor in e-government web site evaluation : The case of Dubai e-government

A roadmap towards the convergence of business process management and service oriented architecture

A Secure Fog-based Platform for SCADA-based IoT Critical Infrastructure

Rethinking the Business Model with RFID