Introduction: Advances in E-Business Engineering

(First Paragraph) E-business is one of the most exciting and challenging research areas. Today, not only large companies, but also medium or small-sized companies are learning that e-business is a required component of doing business. E-business has rapidly evolved in the last decade and this trend will continue. In this rapid process, a variety of e-business engineering methods and techniques have been developed. There are many research issues needed to be addressed. As a result, there is a growing demand for insights into challenges, issues, and solutions related to the design, implementation, and management of e-business systems

Towards self-organized service-oriented multi-agent systems

The demand for large-scale systems running in complex and even chaotic environments requires the consideration of new paradigms and technologies that provide flexibility, robustness, agility and responsiveness. Multiagents systems is pointed out as a suitable approach to address this challenge by offering an alternative way to design control systems, based on the decentralization of control functions over distributed autonomous and cooperative entities. However, in spite of their enormous potential, they usually lack some aspects related to interoperability, optimization in decentralized structures and truly self-adaptation. This paper discusses a new perspective to engineer adaptive complex systems considering a 3-layer framework integrating several complementary paradigms and technologies. In a first step, it suggests the integration of multi-agent systems with service-oriented architectures to overcome the limitations of interoperability and smooth migration, followed by the use of technology enablers, such as cloud computing and wireless sensor networks, to provide a ubiquitous and reconfigurable environment. Finally, the resulted service-oriented multi-agent system should be enhanced with biologically inspired techniques, namely self-organization, to reach a truly robust, agile and adaptive system

Reimagining the Liberal Arts in an Age of Technoscientific Progress

The following study will investigate the impact of dismantling liberal arts curriculum during an era of dramatic technoscientific progress. I will explore the development of the posthuman focusing specifically on the areas of virtual reality and biomedicine. As I unravel the implications that virtual reality and biomedicine will have on society in the coming decades, I will describe how a new liberal arts curriculum must be entertained by educators in order to maintain innovation, play, and ethical considerations in posthuman developments. In order for our students to become contributing members of a global community, they must be given the opportunity to learn how to think critically through an immersion in a new curriculum that will focus on modern/postmodern art, literature, and film productions. This study will explore how the disciplines of the sciences and those of the liberal arts might coalesce for the betterment of our students and our society

Philosophical and Historical Foundations of the Concept of Innovation: Some Implications for Contemporary Higher Education as a Service Sector

The Australian higher education services sector has significantly increased its economic contribution to Gross Domestic Product in the twenty-first century. Innovation is highly prized in an increasingly competitive global knowledge economy. However, there is currently no theory of innovation in the higher education services sector. This factor is framed as the thesis research problem. The hypothesis of this thesis is that: based on an examination of the implications of the philosophical and historical foundations of the concept of innovation, contemporary higher education sector innovation can be meaningfully interpreted through a framework based on service sector innovation theory. Based on the findings of an extended investigation of the philosophical and historical foundations of the concept of innovation, implications are explored by ‘field-testing’ a potential theoretical framework for its ability to identify innovative trends in the higher education sector. Case studies of the finance service sub-sector are constructed and are used as a template to compare current practices in the ‘lagging’ higher education services sector. The thesis concludes that the hypothesis is supported and confirmed. That is, based on an examination of the implications of the philosophical and historical foundations of the concept of innovation, contemporary higher education sector innovation can be meaningfully interpreted through a framework based on service sector innovation theory

Calculation and Classification as Dimensions of Social Interaction

Cassirer interpreted the transition from medieval to modern theoretical thinking as an epistemological revolution which saw the concept of function to replace that of substance as a guide to knowledge. This article suggests that, in the practical world, classification into classes, types or genres is correlated to the concept of substance, while the concept of function is present in any practical calculation in the form of algorithmic procedures. The way in which algorithmic calculation and classification interact with each other has resulted in the preservation, expansion or loss of social interaction, understood as reciprocity between actors. The action of calculation and classification can then be used as epistemological coordinates to analyze social interaction. Such systematization results in a set of schemes presented in this paper along with ethnological studies supporting the theoretical model

Modeling of filament deposition rapid prototyping process with a closed form solution

ABSTRACT Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM™) or fused filament fabrication (FFF) systems are extrusion-based technologies used to produce functional or near functional parts from a wide variety of plastic materials. First patented by S. Scott Crump and commercialized by Stratasys, Ltd in the early 1990s, this technology, like many additive manufacturing systems, offers significant opportunities for the design and production of complex part structures that are difficult if not impossible to produce using traditional manufacturing methods. Standing on the shoulders of a twenty-five year old invention, a rapidly growing open-source development community has exponentially driven interest in FFF technology. However, part quality often limits use in final product commercial markets. Development of accurate and repeatable methods for determining material strength in FFF produced parts is essential for wide adoption into mainstream manufacturing. This study builds on the empirical, squeeze flow and intermolecular diffusion model research conducted by David Grewell and Avraham Benatar, applying a combined model to predict auto adhesion or healing to FFF part samples. In this research, an experimental study and numerical modeling were performed in order to drive and validate a closed form heat transfer solution for extrusion processes to develop temperature field models. An extrusion-based 3D printing system, with the capacity to vary deposition speeds and temperatures, was used to fabricate the samples. Standardized specimens of Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) filament were used to fabricate the samples with different speeds and temperatures. Micro-scanning of cut and lapped specimens, using an optical microscope, was performed to find the effect of the speed and the temperature on the geometry of the cross-sections. It was found that by increasing the speed of the extrusion printing, the area of the cross-section and the maximum thickness decrease, while the weld/bead geometry minimum thickness increases at higher speeds, although actual part strength appeared to plateau for speeds above 15mm/sec. Temperature effect was found to increase the geometry minimum thickness. In most cases, test results show that by increasing the speed and the temperature, the geometry strength increases. Non-Linear finite element based numerical modeling was performed to predict the strength of the samples. The geometry produced from the optical microscope scanning and typical PLA material properties were used to create the model. The finite element model was able to predict the strength of the tested samples at different speeds and temperatures. Analysis of resulting data and examination of tested samples offer favorable insights and opportunities for additional and continuing investigation