Hybrid Hierarchical Architecture for Integration and Interoperability of a One-Stop E-Government Portal

The main function of a one-stop e-government portal is to provide single access point to various e-government services for its users. It needs an effective architecture for integration and interoperability between a one-stop e-government portal and related e-government services. However, due to heterogeneous e-government service platforms and bad e-government service organization, a one-stop e-government portal may fail to provide its main function effectively. This study proposes an architectural approach to improve integration and interoperability among one-stop e-government portal, e-government applications, and e-government services using a service component architecture. The evaluation shows that the proposed approach could be successfully implemented in a prototype of a one-stop e-government portal

The Semantic Web … Sounds Logical!

The Semantic Web will be an enabling technology for the future because as all of life\u27s components continue to progress and evolve, the demand on us as humans will continue to increase. Work will expect more productivity; family will demand more quality time, and even leisure activities will be technologically advanced. With these variables in mind, I believe humans will demand technologies that help to simplify this treacherous lifestyle. As patterns already indicate, one of the driving forces of technological development is efficiency. Developers are consistently looking for ways to make life\u27s demands less strenuous and more streamlined. The benefits of the semantic web are two-fold. Conceptually, it will enable us to be productive at home while at work, and productive at work while at home. The Semantic Web will be a technology that truly changes our lifestyle. The Web has yet to harness its full potential. We have yet to realize that in addition to computers, other machines can actually participate in the decision-making process via the Internet. This will allow virtually all devices the opportunity to be a helpful resource for humans via the Web. It must be taken into consideration that the Semantic Web will not be separate from the World Wide Web, but an extension of it. It will allow information to be given a well-defined meaning, which will allow computers and people to work in cooperation. With this technology, humans will be able to establish connections to machines that are not currently connected to the World Wide Web. For the Semantic Web to function, computers must have access to structured collections of information and sets of inference rules that they can use to conduct automated reasoning (Scientific American: Feature Article: The Semantic Web, 3). Using rules to make inferences, choosing a course of action, and answering questions will add functional logic to the Web. Currently the Semantic Web community is developing this new Web by using Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Resource Description Framework (RDF) and ultimately, Ontologies

Internet of Things From Hype to Reality

The Internet of Things (IoT) has gained significant mindshare, let alone attention, in academia and the industry especially over the past few years. The reasons behind this interest are the potential capabilities that IoT promises to offer. On the personal level, it paints a picture of a future world where all the things in our ambient environment are connected to the Internet and seamlessly communicate with each other to operate intelligently. The ultimate goal is to enable objects around us to efficiently sense our surroundings, inexpensively communicate, and ultimately create a better environment for us: one where everyday objects act based on what we need and like without explicit instructions

The Implications of Applying Total Quality Management (TQM) On E-Learning in Egypt. “Suggested E-Learning Service Quality Model”

Egypt is seeking to accelerate comprehensive and sustainable development and to achieve higher growth rates for the interest of all classes and categories of society. According to what was published in 1/7/2013 by the public association for adult education AEA at the information and decision support centre in Egypt; 14.9% of population in age between 15 and 35 years old are illiterate. Here, we have to ask:" How a society where 14.9% of its young working power is illiterate can execute the mentioned adopted strategy of development?!"The Egyptian young working power is poor educated due to the bad education system ranking 131 out of 144 in the world. There is a need for a good High Educational system, affordable to those who does not have the opportunity to leave there jobs, from where they gain to live, in order to have a good education to improve their social life, and help them being part of the required development. Making benefit from the technological revolution and the excitement and passion of using it, can give the chance to offer an E-learning service through which a human development could be achieved. Then, strategies could be well adopted to improve society. In Organizations; Total Quality Management (TQM) has become most widely used management acronym and is considered as the buzz word in the management practices, keeping an eye on details. TQM is mainly concerned with continuous improvement in all work, from high level strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed execution of work elements on the shop floor. On the other hand, Enterprises find ways to set themselves apart in the hyper-competitive global marketplace by applying e-service. E-Service may provide the greatest return on investment (ROI) and sets the foundation for adding and integrating other E-Business functionality in the future. Customers can achieve the service through web page without a need to any help or support at any time. E-service and Total quality management (TQM) seek for same goals, but from different perspectives. Now, what if an organisation offers an E-service while applying Total quality management (TQM)? Hoping to achieve a good affordable High educational E-learning system, it was decided to study “The Implications of applying TQM on E-Learning in Egypt”. This is for the great impact of the E- learning quality on the education as main national issue in Egypt. E-Learning was implemented in the near past few years, through limited programs in national Universities, and the Egyptian E-learning University established in 2009. The Quality management were also taken as essential of management in the higher educational institutes there. This research take a track to suggest Total Quality management Model to improve E-learning service offered in one of the Higher Educational Institutes in Egypt. The suggested e-learning Model emphasize that the eight elements of TQM were engaged in the Baldrige criteria framework. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) the main tool of evaluation of all the processes. The Idea of this model is to use Quality function Deployment (QFD) to translate and plan the‖ voice of the customer‖ into the quality characteristique of the service before enter the market. QFD analyse the client‘s requirements,define how each requirement will be satisfied by the service,organize the needs,illustrate the relationship between the requirement of the customer in the market and the needs to fullfil them. The result will be transmitted to the leadership Management,who will deploy the quality ,and apply the eight Total Quality Management Principles going through the seven categories of the Baldrige Criteria. The result of all the model phases shall affect the learner through the afforded high quality E-learning service. The high qualified personnel educated through the high quality E-learning system, will affect the social culture and environment from where comes the ―voice of cutomer‖, to be analyzed through the QFD, to the leadership management, and the improvement cycle continue.The suggested E-learning service Quality Model represents required emerged recognised set of procedures for validation of quality framework

Technologies and Applications for Big Data Value

This open access book explores cutting-edge solutions and best practices for big data and data-driven AI applications for the data-driven economy. It provides the reader with a basis for understanding how technical issues can be overcome to offer real-world solutions to major industrial areas. The book starts with an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the book by positioning the following chapters in terms of their contributions to technology frameworks which are key elements of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the upcoming Partnership on AI, Data and Robotics. The remainder of the book is then arranged in two parts. The first part “Technologies and Methods” contains horizontal contributions of technologies and methods that enable data value chains to be applied in any sector. The second part “Processes and Applications” details experience reports and lessons from using big data and data-driven approaches in processes and applications. Its chapters are co-authored with industry experts and cover domains including health, law, finance, retail, manufacturing, mobility, and smart cities. Contributions emanate from the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the Big Data Value Association, which have acted as the European data community's nucleus to bring together businesses with leading researchers to harness the value of data to benefit society, business, science, and industry. The book is of interest to two primary audiences, first, undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in various fields, including big data, data science, data engineering, and machine learning and AI. Second, practitioners and industry experts engaged in data-driven systems, software design and deployment projects who are interested in employing these advanced methods to address real-world problems

Technologies and Applications for Big Data Value

This open access book explores cutting-edge solutions and best practices for big data and data-driven AI applications for the data-driven economy. It provides the reader with a basis for understanding how technical issues can be overcome to offer real-world solutions to major industrial areas. The book starts with an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the book by positioning the following chapters in terms of their contributions to technology frameworks which are key elements of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the upcoming Partnership on AI, Data and Robotics. The remainder of the book is then arranged in two parts. The first part “Technologies and Methods” contains horizontal contributions of technologies and methods that enable data value chains to be applied in any sector. The second part “Processes and Applications” details experience reports and lessons from using big data and data-driven approaches in processes and applications. Its chapters are co-authored with industry experts and cover domains including health, law, finance, retail, manufacturing, mobility, and smart cities. Contributions emanate from the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the Big Data Value Association, which have acted as the European data community's nucleus to bring together businesses with leading researchers to harness the value of data to benefit society, business, science, and industry. The book is of interest to two primary audiences, first, undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in various fields, including big data, data science, data engineering, and machine learning and AI. Second, practitioners and industry experts engaged in data-driven systems, software design and deployment projects who are interested in employing these advanced methods to address real-world problems

A facilities maintenance management process based on degradation prediction using sensed data

Energy efficiency and user comfort have recently become priorities in the Facility Management (FM) sector. This has resulted in the use of innovative building components, such as thermal solar panels, heat pumps, etc., as they have potential to provide better performance, energy savings and increased user comfort. However, as the complexity of components increases, the requirement for maintenance management also increases. The standard routine for building maintenance is inspection which results in repairs or replacement when a fault is found. This routine leads to unnecessary inspections which have a cost with respect to downtime of a component and work hours. This research proposes an alternative routine: performing building maintenance at the point in time when the component is degrading and requires maintenance, thus reducing the frequency of unnecessary inspections. This thesis demonstrates that statistical techniques can be used as part of a maintenance management methodology to invoke maintenance before failure occurs. The proposed FM process is presented through a scenario utilising current Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology and innovative contractual and organisational models. This FM scenario supports a Degradation based Maintenance (DbM) scheduling methodology, implemented using two statistical techniques, Particle Filters (PFs) and Gaussian Processes (GPs). DbM consists of extracting and tracking a degradation metric for a component. Limits for the degradation metric are identified based on one of a number of proposed processes. These processes determine the limits based on the maturity of the historical information available. DbM is implemented for three case study components: a heat exchanger; a heat pump; and a set of bearings. The identified degradation points for each case study, from a PF, a GP and a hybrid (PF and GP combined) DbM implementation are assessed against known degradation points. The GP implementations are successful for all components. For the PF implementations, the results presented in this thesis find that the extracted metrics and limits identify degradation occurrences accurately for components which are in continuous operation. For components which have seasonal operational periods, the PF may wrongly identify degradation. The GP performs more robustly than the PF, but the PF, on average, results in fewer false positives. The hybrid implementations, which are a combination of GP and PF results, are successful for 2 of 3 case studies and are not affected by seasonal data. Overall, DbM is effectively applied for the three case study components. The accuracy of the implementations is dependant on the relationships modelled by the PF and GP, and on the type and quantity of data available. This novel maintenance process can improve equipment performance and reduce energy wastage from BSCs operation

E-Governance: Strategy for Mitigating Non-Inclusion of Citizens in Policy Making in Nigeria

The Nigerian federation that currently has 36 states structure adopted the Weberian Public Administrative system before now as an ideal way of running government, which was characterized with the traditional way of doing things without recourse to the deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Today e-governance is seen as a paradigm shift from the previous way of governance. Research has shown that, the adoption and implementation of e-governance is more likely to bring about effective service delivery, mitigate corruption and ultimately enhance citizens’ participation in governmental affairs. However, it has been argued that infrastructure such as regular electricity power and access to the Internet, in addition to a society with high rate of literacy level are required to effectively implement and realize the potentials of e-governance for improved delivery of services. Due to the difficulties currently experienced, developing nations need to adequately prepare for the implementation of e-governance on the platform of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Hence, this study seeks to examine whether the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the context of Nigeria would mitigate the hitherto non-inclusion of citizens in the formulation and implementation of government policies aimed at enhanced development. To achieve the objective of the study, data were sourced and analyzed majorly by examining government websites of 20 states in the Nigerian federation to ascertain if there are venues for citizens to interact with government in the area of policy making and feedback on government actions, as a way of promoting participatory governance. The study revealed that the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the country is yet to fully take place. This is due to lack of infrastructure, low level of literacy rate and government inability to provide the necessary infrastructure for e-governance to materialize. The paper therefore, recommends among others the need for the Federal Government to involve a sound and clear policy on how to go about the adoption and implementation of egovernance through deliberate effort at increasing budgetary allocation towards infrastructural development and mass education of citizens

The Impact of e-Democracy in Political Stability of Nigeria

The history of the Nigerian electoral process has been hitherto characterized by violence stemming from disputes in election outcomes. For instance, violence erupted across some states in Northern Nigeria when results indicated that a candidate who was popular in that part of the country was losing the election leading to avoidable loss of lives. Beside, this dispute in election outcome lingers for a long time in litigation at the electoral tribunals which distracts effective governance. However, the increasing penetrating use of ICTs in Nigeria is evident in the electoral processes with consequent shift in the behavior of actors in the democratic processes, thus changing the ways Nigerians react to election outcomes. This paper examines the trend in the use ICT in the Nigerian political system and its impact on the stability of the polity. It assesses the role of ICT in recent electoral processes and compares its impact on the outcome of the process in lieu of previous experiences in the Nigeria. Furthermore, the paper also examines the challenges and risks of implementing e-Democracy in Nigeria and its relationship to the economy in the light of the socio-economic situation of the country. The paper adopted qualitative approach in data gathering and analysis. From the findings, the paper observed that e-democracy is largely dependent on the level of ICT adoption, which is still at its lowest ebb in the country. It recognizes the challenges in the provision of ICT infrastructure and argues that appropriate low-cost infrastructure applicable to the Nigerian condition can be made available to implement e-democracy and thus arouse the interest of the populace in governance, increase the number of voters, and enhance transparency, probity and accountability, and participation in governance as well as help stabilize the nascent democrac