Wearable Computing

Wearable computing is gaining more and more interest as new “wearables,” intended for both work and leisure, are introduced. This trend brings benefits and challenges; for instance, the potential to improve work processes and issues related to IT management and privacy. The introduction and use of wearable computing provides opportunities to improve and reengineer work processes in organizations but can at the same time introduce alignment problems, as users in organizations may adopt the new technology before organizations are prepared. Further, alignment problems posed by the emerging trend, “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD), are discussed. In addition, as in the cloud computing area, needed and necessary supportive legal frameworks have not yet fully addressed the new wearable computing technology. In the light of recent developments regarding global intelligence gathering, security and privacy concerns must be given careful consideration. Different alignment concepts for managing security challenges and legal aspects related to wearable computing, such as cultivation, care, hospitality, and care with hospitality, are discussed in the chapter.

A General Framework of Algorithm-Based Fault Tolerance Technique for Computing Systems

The Algorithm-Based Fault Tolerance (ABFT) approach transforms a system that does not tolerate a specific type of faults, called the fault-intolerant system, to a system that provides a specific level of fault tolerance, namely recovery. The ABFT philosophy leads directly to a model from which error correction can be developed. By employing an ABFT scheme with effective convolutional code, the design allows high throughput as well as high fault coverage. The ABFT techniques that detect errors rely on the comparison of parity values computed in two ways. The parallel processing of input parity values produce output parity values comparable with parity values regenerated from the original processed outputs and can apply convolutional codes for the redundancy. This method is a new approach to concurrent error correction in fault-tolerant computing systems. This chapter proposes a novel computing paradigm to provide fault tolerance for numerical algorithms. The authors also present, implement, and evaluate early detection in ABFT.

A Likelihood Ratio-Based Forensic Text Comparison in SMS Messages

This chapter is built on two studies: Ishihara (2011) “A Forensic Authorship Classification in SMS Messages: A Likelihood Ratio-Based Approach Using N-Grams” and Ishihara (2012) “A Forensic Text Comparison in SMS Messages: A Likelihood Ratio Approach with Lexical Features.” They are two of the first Likelihood Ratio (LR)-based forensic text comparison studies in forensic authorship analysis. The author attribution was modelled using N-grams in the former, whereas it was modelled using so-called lexical features in the latter. In the current study, the LRs obtained from these separate experiments are fused using a logistic regression fusion technique, and the author reports how much improvement in performance the fusion brings to the LR-based forensic text comparison system. The performance of the fused system is assessed based on the magnitude of the fused LRs using the log-likelihood-ratio cost (Cllr). The strength of the fused LRs is graphically presented in Tippett plots and compared with those of the original LRs. The chapter demonstrates that the fused system outperforms the original systems.

Technology-Related Risks in Virtual and Traditional Information Systems Projects

Technology is important to software development projects; however, virtual projects are more dependent on technology than traditional co-located projects due to communication and collaboration needs. Two research studies in this chapter sought to determine whether seven technology-related risks pose a greater danger to virtual projects than traditional projects and to determine if technology-related risks have a high impact on project success. Results indicate that two technology-related risks exhibited a significantly greater impact on virtual IT projects: (1) inexperience with the company and its processes and (2) inadequate technical resources. Project managers need to be aware that traditional project risks can have a greater impact on virtual projects. Additionally, technology-related risks in the second study were found to have low levels of impact on project success. Results indicate in cases where a majority of team members are experienced with the application, development technology, and project technology, the risk of technology-related issues seems to lessen.

The Influence of Trust in the UTAUT Model

This chapter tests the appropriateness of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model in the context of end user consumption by means of an online survey with 475 respondents (24% response rate). The study shows which factors have the greatest impact on the adoption process of VoIP technology in the US market in addition to the interactions of the main variables in the model (Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, and Behavioral Intention to Adopt) and whether Trust can improve the predictive value of the UTAUT model to explain intention to adopt. Partial Least Squares (PLS) is used to evaluate the interactions of the main variables. The model includes four moderator variables (Gender, Age, Experience, and Voluntariness of Use). The results support most of the relationships identified in the original UTAUT model. More specifically, Performance Expectancy appears to have the strongest influence on the Intention of a consumer to adopt a new technology. The study provides information about whether the inclusion of Trust can generate good results for industry.

Information Privacy Concerns and Workplace Surveillance

Consumers' privacy concerns have escalated in parallel with our increasing dependence on technology and its pervasiveness into social and work environments. Many of these concerns emanate from the paradox that is the willingness of consumers to provide personal information in order to achieve a specific outcome, whilst equally harbouring the contradictory desire for such personal information to be treated as private. Although examinations of information privacy have tended to focus on the transaction environment, the computer-mediated work environment has emerged as a new and significant area of concern due to increased awareness of the ways in which technologies are now being used to monitor employee email, Internet interactions, and work productivity. Such surveillance concerns are likely to negatively impact employee morale and consequent productivity. However, little attention has been paid to this issue to date. This chapter examines a number of emerging issues concerning technology-enabled workplace surveillance and considers whether the privacy concerns of employees can be successfully balanced against managements' justification for the employment of such technologies in the workplace. In doing so, it provides a balanced perspective that will be of assistance to academics and practitioners alike in dealing with this emerging and contentious issue.

Critical Path Stability Region

Models transform the managerial inputs into useful information for managerial decision. The Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is the most widely used model for project management. However, it requires three estimates for the duration of each activity as its input. This uncertainty in the input requirement makes the Critical Path (CP) unstable, causing major difficulties for the manager. A linear programming formulation of the project network is proposed in this chapter for determining a CP based on making one estimate for the duration of each activity. Upon finding the CP, Sensitivity Analysis (SA) of Data Perturbation (DP) is performed using the constraints of the dual problem. This largest DP set of uncertainties provides the manager with a tool to deal with the simultaneous, independent, or dependent changes of the input estimates that preserves the current CP. The application of DP results to enhance the traditional approach to PERT is presented. The proposed procedure is easy to understand, easy to implement, and provides useful information for the manager. A numerical example illustrates the process.

Control Mechanism of Identity Theft and Its Integrative Impact on Consumers' Purchase Intention in E-Commerce

There are many collection and application sources of identity theft. The Internet is one of the vulnerable medias for identity theft and is used, especially, as an application source of identity theft. This current chapter has twofold objectives. As the first objective, it develops a conceptual framework to prevent/control identity theft of E-Commerce (EC) in conjunction with different sources if identity theft. From this framework and shedding light on the recent literature of sources of identity theft, the authors identify global laws, controls placed on organizations, publications to develop awareness, technical management, managerial policy, risk management tools, data management, and control over employees are the potential measuring items to prevent identity theft in EC. All EC organizations are struggling to control identity theft. This chapter argues that control mechanism of identity theft has both positive and negative impact on EC. This chapter sets its second objective to explore the integrative effect of overall identity theft control mechanism on consumer trust, the cost of products/services, and operational performance, all of which in turn contribute to a purchase intention using E-Commerce (EC). A case study in banking sector through a qualitative approach was conducted to verify the proposed relations, constructs, and measuring items.

Authenticity in Online Knowledge Sharing

Authenticity means that the closeness of observation matters for acceptance of new knowledge. The social norm of authenticity can have positive effects of colleagues to appreciate “better” knowledge within opportunity structures for knowledge sharing. However, how ICTs influence authenticity in knowledge sharing needs more attention in research on knowledge sharing through online networks. This chapter discusses recent findings of how ICTs (here the interactive tool GoToMeeting™) facilitate authenticity.

Methods on Determining the Investment in IT Security

Setting aside capital to invest in Information Technology (IT) security is critical in the current digital age. In almost all large (or small) corporations, it is prudent to allocate a sufficient amount of resources to IT infrastructure. However, it is often difficult to determine at what level it is appropriate to invest in IT security in addition to the point at which the rate of return of this investment begins to diminish. This chapter examines methods to help determine the appropriate investment allocation to IT security in addition to how to apply these methods. It also looks at some of the assumptions and pitfalls of each.