Web engineering security: essential elements

Security is an elusive target in today’s high-speed and extremely complex, Web enabled, information rich business environment. This paper presents the idea that there are essential, basic organizational elements that need to be identified, defined and addressed before examining security aspects of a Web Engineering Development process. These elements are derived from empirical evidence based on a Web survey and supporting literature. This paper makes two contributions. The first contribution is the identification of the Web Engineering specific elements that need to be acknowledged and resolved prior to the assessment of a Web Engineering process from a security perspective. The second contribution is that these elements can be used to help guide Security Improvement Initiatives in Web Engineering

Is Evaluating Visual Search Interfaces in Digital Libraries Still an Issue?

Although various visual interfaces for digital libraries have been developed in prototypical systems, very few of these visual approaches have been integrated into today's digital libraries. In this position paper we argue that this is most likely due to the fact that the evaluation results of most visual systems lack comparability. There is no fix standard on how to evaluate visual interactive user interfaces. Therefore it is not possible to identify which approach is more suitable for a certain context. We feel that the comparability of evaluation results could be improved by building a common evaluation setup consisting of a reference system, based on a standardized corpus with fixed tasks and a panel for possible participants.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, LWA Workshop 201

Implementing section 404 of the sarbanes oxley act: Recommendations for information systems organizations

Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act addresses the effectiveness of internal controls, which in most organizations are either fully or partially automated due to the pervasiveness and ubiquity of information technologies. Significant or material control deficiencies have to be reported publicly. The adverse impact on organizations declaring deficiencies can be severe, for example, damage to reputation and/or market value. While there are many practitioner-led manuals and methods for dealing with 404, there has been little published in the academic research literature investigating the role of Information Systems organizations in implementing Section 404. The paper addresses this gap in knowledge. We used institutional theory as the lens through which to examine the experiences of Section 404 implementation in three global organizations. We used the case study method and an abductive strategy to gather and analyze data respectively. Our findings are summarized in six recommendations. We found that institutional pressures play a critical role in the implementation of Section 404. In particular, organizations face coercive pressure to achieve Section 404 compliance, without which punitive sanctions can be imposed by regulators. Organizations tend to imitate one another in the methods they use so that each is perceived to be in line with their competitive environment. Organizations face normative pressures to act in ways that are socially acceptable, which is to achieve compliance. Failure to do so would be a signal to the market that the organization does not take controls seriously. We expand these findings in terms of power and influence tactics that IS organizations can use when implementing Section 404. Our findings provide directions for practice and lines of enquiry for further research

ICT adoption model of chinese SMEs

Chinese SMEs have played an important role in stimulating economic growth, increasing employment, expanding exports and promoting science and technology innovations. In 2005 there were more than 10 million SMEs registered in the Industry and Commerce Department, accounting for 99 per cent of all registered corporations (UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific; China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, 2006). Further development of the Chinese as well as of all modern economies is dependent on the speed and effectiveness of the implementation of ICT based solutions in businesses. While large companies have been quick to adopt ICT solutions and technologies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have had more serious problems with the requirements and challenges of e-business. A number of ICT, e-commerce adoption methodologies have been suggested through literature most of this research, has however, focused on developed countries where the structure of the economy is common. There are only few studies that shed some light on prescribing strategies of ICT adoption for SMEs in developing countries, especially Chine. Furthermore, despite the enormous attention given to encourage SMEs to adopt ICT there has been little systematic research into the factors influencing, enabling and inhibiting the adoption of ICT within SMEs. In this article, author developed a model of ICT adoption of Chinese SMEs, founded on premises that the adoption and the use of ICT represent the fundamental source of competitiveness and the basis for firms’ survival in the world market. By applying the Qualitative-Comparative Analysis (QCA) method and Boolean algebra, author proposed a model of necessary and sufficient factors for ICT adoption by SMEs in Chine.Keywords: adoption models; Boolean Algebra; SMEs; case studies; ICT; qualitative comparative analysis (QCA)

Applications of computer communications in education.

Applications of computer communications can be used in many ways in education. An overview is given of a number of categories of computer communications applications in learning-related activities. Particular attention is given to a new type of system called a course-support environment. In this type of system a database is integrated with Web-based tools and applications, and used to generate a course-support environment accessed via a standard Web browser. Some examples are given. The article moves on to an overview of various issues confronting the acceptance of computer communication systems in educational settings, and indicates some of the ways in which computer communications engineers will have to deal with those issue

Supporting Organisational Critical Activities From Web Sites: An Evaluation Methodology Development

quot; Organisational critical activities quot; (OCAs) are activities which must be conducted by the organisation constantly in order to be successful in the industry. They are recognised as being essential to short, medium, and long-term success in that industry, have been significantly resourced and receive regular senior management monitoring and direction. Although these activities are extremely important, some empirical studies have shown that they are not well supported by organisations, particularly in the area of Web support. This thesis develops an evaluation methodology called the quot;organisational critical activity Web support evaluation methodology quot; (OCAWSEM) which can be utilised to elicit OCAs from organisations, evaluate whether an organisation acutes; OCAs are being supported by its Web site, and provide guidance on how the organisation can improve its Web site. To develop the OCAWSEM, this thesis reviews the relevant literature and proposes a prototype OCAWSEM. A new iterative case design (ICD) approach has been used in order to further develop the prototype, and then to test the improved OCAWSEM. The selected field cases were eight universities in New Zealand. In total, 43 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior teams, middle level managers, and Web teams. A systematic review of these universitiesacute Web sites was performed from the provideracutes, rather than the useracutes perspective. The outcome shows that the Developed OCAWSEM is a valid and reliable methodology for the evaluation of the support for OCAs from Web sites in the universities in New Zealand. This thesis provides useful lessons, drawn from the development and testing processes, as the basis from which to develop more specific OCAWSEMs for use in other organisational and industry contexts. Both practitioners and academicians can gain a deeper understanding of the notion of OCAs, better elicit OCAs from management, conduct Web site evaluations, and discuss the support of the Web sites for the OCAs

Description and Experience of the Clinical Testbeds

This deliverable describes the up-to-date technical environment at three clinical testbed demonstrator sites of the 6WINIT Project, including the adapted clinical applications, project components and network transition technologies in use at these sites after 18 months of the Project. It also provides an interim description of early experiences with deployment and usage of these applications, components and technologies, and their clinical service impact

PLC CONTROLLED AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE (AGV)

A programmable logic controller (PLC) is a specialized computer and designed to be used in industrial for control purpose. In general, an automated guided vehicle (AGV) is a kind of transportation that mostly used in material handling system. It is self-propelled (driverless) vehicles guided along defined pathways and controlled by a computer. The objective of the project is to design an AGV vehicle prototype which is controlled by PLC for industrial application (material handling). Most of the AGV used in industries are controlled by a microprocessor. In this project the main focus is to have a reliable design, easier maintenance and advanced PLC controlled automated guided vehicle (AGV). The significant part of the project is of using sensors to guide the vehicle along the pre-determined path instead of using embedded wire guided method. The initial stage of the project involves feasibility studies of the PLC controlled automated guided vehicle (AGV) which includes the ability of the PLC and the automated guided vehicle system (AGVS). The AGV design requires the determining of the type of hardware needed, for example PLC (CPM2A), sensors (metal), rechargeable battery, power window motors and others. The design of AGV and its path are implemented. The AGV prototype is built part by part and then assembled. Two safety features are added on the prototype, i.e., the emergency reset and obstacles detection by using sensor. The ladder diagram for controlling the AGV is designed base on the path design and tested with PLC CPMlA training kit. The input and output components and the rechargeable battery is interfaced with the PLC on the AGV. Finally, the PLC controlled AGV was tested and some modification is required on the ladder diagram and also on the AGV. The project is successfully executed by using a PLC to control the AGV to find its route in a predefined path