The Role of Electronic Commerce in the Global Business Environments

This chapter presents the role of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in the global business environments, thus describing the overview of e-commerce, the strategy of e-commerce, the applications of e-commerce, the barriers to e-commerce adoption, the value chain of e-commerce, and the benefits of e-commerce. E-commerce is one of the most recognized forms of electronic technology applied to businesses. The effectiveness of e-commerce is significant for modern organizations that seek to serve suppliers and customers, improve business performance, foster competitiveness, and acquire routine success in global business. Thus, it is necessary for modern organizations to explore their e-commerce applications, expand a strategic plan to analyze their feasible advancements, and directly respond to e-commerce needs of customers. Applying e-commerce in the global business environments will significantly enhance organizational performance and achieve business goals in the digital age.

Quality Analysis of VoIP in Real-Time Interactive Systems over Lossy Networks

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems have been spreading massively during the recent years. However, many challenges are still facing this technology among which is the lossy behavior and the uncontrolled network impairments of the Internet. In this chapter, the authors design and implement a VoIP test-bed utilizing the Adobe Real-Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP) that can be used for many voice interactive applications. The test-bed was used to study the effect of changing some voice parameters, mainly the encoding rate and the number of frames per packet as function of the network packet loss. Several experiments were conducted on several voice files over different packet losses, concluding in the best combination of parameters in low, moderate, and high packet loss conditions to improve the performance of voice packets measured by the Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) values.

Ubiquitous Learning Supporting Systems

Ubiquitous learning features intuitive ways of identifying appropriate learning collaborators and right learning contents and services at the right place and at the right time. Consequently, there are many aspects that must be considered in designing computing applications that support this kind of learning. In this chapter, ubiquitous learning is introduced and characterized, the challenges that must be faced by those in charge of designing and developing such applications are reviewed, and the state of the art of this recently initiated line of research at the Informatics and Information System Research Institute of the National University of Santiago del Estero are presented. The developments achieved to date as well as the future guidelines are also shown.

Time-Windows

A large percentage of computing tasks in our contemporary environment are spatial problems carried out on mobile or spatially distributed computing devices. In this chapter, the authors evaluate if and how the commonly established metaphor of a windowed user interface may be adapted in order to suit contemporary usability needs. The study observes user behavior and interactions with a set of large-format touch screens in order to assess user's ability to integrate their interpretation and operation with the displayed information across multiple, spatially distributed screens.

Lookable User Interfaces and 3D

A new philosophy of user interface design is described. Named the “Lookable User Interface,” or LUI, the approach is based on the concept of a Personal Reality (PR) system. Here the computer adapts to the user's worldview in a personalized way, and according to the specific requirements, behaviors, and perceptive skills of the individual. Typically, a PR system creates and adjusts (in real-time) 3D perspective view(s) of a data-set, including (potentially) the field of view of a scene and the apparent distance and scale of objects, whilst also creating an aesthetic “eye-friendly” context for computing operations. A Lookable User Interface (LUI) affords the maximum degree of visual accessibility to digital content. The authors examine the results of testing a Lookable User Interface. Spectasia is one example of a Personal Virtual Reality (PVR) that can be used to visualize links between universals and particulars within digital worlds.

Synechism in the Video Games Design

The authors present an analysis of the first set of elements belonging to the interactive design categories: layout (naturalness of metaphor) and content (storytelling), which make up synechism in video game design. In addition, they examine the evolution of the notion of the video game in relation to the advance of the software and hardware. Finally, the authors include in that analysis the changes in storytelling, due to the greater or lesser presence of the dynamic means and the static means of hypermedia communication.

E-Commerce for Italian Textile Manufacturers

In the current chapter, the authors intend to present the strengths and the weaknesses from the standpoint of graphic computing, managing and productive computing, and the human factors that prevent boosting on-line sales. They analyze the reality of several businesses or industries, which are gathered under the word “group” and belong to the textile sector with high profits because of the high volume of invoicing, a hundred-year-old tradition, with important customers of the European, American, and Asian international fashion, etc. in a northern Italian region known as Lombardy. Paradoxically, the textile sector in that region, like others in Europe, is one of the environments where computing and the breakthroughs and the advantages in new technologies are difficult to introduce these days. The human factor is the main cause because of organizational structures of a vertical and/or family type.

Methods of Skull Implants Modeling with Use of CAx and Haptic Systems

This chapter deals with four exemplary methods of virtual skull implants modeling. These methods combine simultaneous usage of three modeling systems: reverse engineering system, surface modeling system, and haptic modeling system, and their characteristic modeling methods and techniques. Using three different modeling systems, the authors obtain a synergy effect of the implant shape and model quality increasing. The target virtual model of the implant is always well suited to the coastline of bone lack in the skull. Additionally, time of the virtual model developed is very short compared to use of only one of the standard engineering CAx systems. The chapter describes four original methods developed by the author.

Phaneroscopy for Video Games

The authors present a first study for the classification of the video games from a synchronic and diachronic perspective, in relation to the notion of phaneroscopy. The chapter analyzes categories of interactive design and communicability. In addition, there is a constant interrelation among the components of the multimedia systems aimed at entertainment in the late 20th century with the so-called “Z generation,” in the era of the expansion of communicability, and through the latest video game technologies, which allow the functioning of those interactive systems.

Model for Effective Collaborative Learning in Virtual Worlds with Intelligent Agents

The predecessors of virtual worlds are the multiplayer online role playing games; they appeared in the mid-nineties and have been studied since then. Virtual worlds are part of the shared spaces technologies and are applied to strengthen the weaknesses of teamwork, allowing identifying a direct relationship with the intellectual capital. Theoretical models have attributes that differentiate them from other digital media and allow getting more effective team collaboration. A feature of virtual worlds that allows such collaboration is that unlike 3D games, virtual world's user actions lie on their interests, which vary from meeting people to manage business. Based on the information about virtual worlds, intellectual capital, collaborative knowledge management, intelligent agents, and MPLM3D platform, this work proposes a model through which to demonstrate how the interaction with intelligent agents allow to achieve an effective collaborative learning into a controlled distributed computer environment using the platform Second Life.