Student-Centred Assessments and their Impact on Learning – An IS Case Study

In higher education, one can find many different assessment methods ranging from the most traditional examination based assessment to computer-based on-line assessment and many other innovative assessment practices. Yet, achieving a high level of positive impact of assessment on student learning is always a major concern among academic practitioners. Choosing the right set of assessment modes, designing the assessment activities and evaluating their impact on student learning are some of the major challenges. This challenge is more pronounced in the recently emerging Information Systems (IS) programmes as there is an ever-growing wide variety of assessment methods matching with the ever-changing tools and techniques that evolve in the computer hardware and software disciplines. In such a dynamic context, IS courses in higher education are faced with a very short life-cycle and hence do not have the luxury of experimenting different assessment modes from time to time. They need to arrive at the right combination of assessments based on the prevailing situation. It is therefore a question as to which assessment methods are the best to be adopted and what is the impact of such assessments on student learning. This paper proposes a pragmatic four-step student-centred approach to identify and design suitable assessment methods and to examine their impact on student learning. The student-centred approach is illustrated through a study conducted for a particular IS course in a higher education setting. Due to the generic nature of this approach, it could be adopted in courses from other areas as well

An adaptive framework for biometric systems

This paper provides guidelines to classify biometric systems based on the level of privacy and security risks associated with their transactions. The classification of biometric systems as Basic, Medium or Advanced details how the transactions make use of biometric information for one or more purposes, such as, authorisation, accountability and analysis of sensitive data. An adaptive framework proposed here considers this classification as the fundamental building block in providing a step-wise implementation procedure for implementing biometric systems. It is believed that by adopting such an adaptive framework, societies, businesses and government would be able to harness the benefits of biometrics. This would pave way for a significantly faster diffusion of biometric systems in many everyday life scenarios. © 2009 IEEE

The development of an information systems strategic plan : An e-government perspective

Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have been playing a major role in governments across the world to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of public services. However, ICT has been utilised only in a piecemeal fashion by different public sectors and, hence, many governments are keen to incorporate an integrated e-government strategy to achieve business and service excellence. This paper presents the development of an Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP) for a large government organisation as a case study. We discuss the evolution of an e-government strategy and examine its influence in the development of an information systems strategy within a state sector organisation in New Zealand. The findings from the case study analysis are used to measure the degree of alignment between the objectives of the e-government strategy and the organisation's ISSP strategy. We identify the challenges that face the organisation and propose a ten-point framework for the improvement of the ISSP alignment with the e-government strategy. Finally, we conclude with a summary of the outcomes of this study and the future research directions. © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

MapReduce neural network framework for efficient content based image retrieval from large datasets in the cloud

Recently, content based image retrieval (CBIR) has gained active research focus due to wide applications such as crime prevention, medicine, historical research and digital libraries. With digital explosion, image collections in databases in distributed locations over the Internet pose a challenge to retrieve images that are relevant to user queries efficiently and accurately. It becomes increasingly important to develop new CBIR techniques that are effective and scalable for real-time processing of very large image collections. To address this, the paper proposes a novel MapReduce neural network framework for CBIR from large data collection in a cloud environment. We adopt natural language queries that use a fuzzy approach to classify the colour images based on their content and apply Map and Reduce functions that can operate in cloud clusters for arriving at accurate results in real-time. Preliminary experimental results for classifying and retrieving images from large data sets were quite convincing to carry out further experimental evaluations. © 2012 IEEE

Biometrics in banking security : A case study

Purpose - To identify and discuss the issues and success factors surrounding biometrics, especially in the context of user authentication and controls in the banking sector, using a case study. Design/methodology/approach - The literature survey and analysis of the security models of the present information systems and biometric technologies in the banking sector provide the theoretical and practical background for this work. The impact of adopting biometric solutions in banks was analysed by considering the various issues and challenges from technological, managerial, social and ethical angles. These explorations led to identifying the success factors that serve as possible guidelines for a viable implementation of a biometric-enabled authentication system in banking organisations, in particular for a major bank in New Zealand. Findings - As the level of security breaches and transaction frauds increase day by day, the need for highly secure identification and personal verification information systems is becoming extremely important especially in the banking and finance sector. Biometric technology appeals to many banking organisations as a near perfect solution to such security threats. Though biometric technology has gained traction in areas like healthcare and criminology, its application in banking security is still in its infancy. Due to the close association of biometrics to human, physical and behavioural aspects, such technologies pose a multitude of social, ethical and managerial challenges. The key success factors proposed through the case study served as a guideline for a biometric-enabled security project called Bio-Sec, which is envisaged in a large banking organisation in New Zealand. This pilot study reveals that more than coping with the technology issues of gelling biometrics into the existing information systems, formulating a viable security plan that addresses user privacy fears, human tolerance levels, organisational change and legal issues is of prime importance. Originality/value - Though biometric systems are successfully adopted in areas such as immigration control and criminology, there is a paucity of their implementation and research pertaining to banking environments. Not all banks venture into biometric solutions to enhance their security systems due to their socio-technological issues. This paper fulfils the need for a guideline to identify the various issues and success factors for a viable biometric implementation in a bank's access control system. This work is only a starting point for academics to conduct more research in the application of biometrics in the various facets of banking businesses

An optimal transportation routing approach using GIS-based dynamic traffic flows

This paper examines the value of real-time traffic information gathered through Geographic Information Systems for achieving an optimal vehicle routing within a dynamically stochastic transportation network. We present a systematic approach in determining the dynamically varying parameters and implementation attributes that were used for the development of a Web-based transportation routing application integrated with real-time GIS services. We propose and implement an optimal routing algorithm by modifying Dijkstra’s algorithm in order to incorporate stochastically changing traffic flows. We describe the significant features of our Web application in making use of the real-time dynamic traffic flow information from GIS services towards achieving total costs savings and vehicle usage reduction. These features help users and vehicle drivers in improving their service levels and productivity as the Web application enables them to interactively find the optimal path and in identifying destinations effectively

Role of mobile technology in the construction industry - A case study

The construction industry is facing a number of pressures to decrease costs, improve productivity and have a competitive edge in terms of quality of service and customer satisfaction. Recent advancements in mobile technology provide new avenues for addressing this situation. This paper presents the role of emerging mobile technologies and, in particular, the development of a mobile facsimile solution that assists collaborative communications between parties on or away from the construction site. This paper first identifies potential use cases for mobile technologies in the construction industry and highlights the issues that would hamper their adoption. It discusses the modelling of the problems related to the workflow of a construction process with the aid of a focus group formed with various construction industry representatives in New Zealand. The various problem-solving processes adopted by the industry practitioners at different functional levels are analysed and the findings summarised. Finally, this paper describes the development of one such mobile solution, called ClikiFax, which could address some of the issues and pressures prevailing in the context of the New Zealand construction industry. Copyright © 2009, Inderscience Publishers

The role of emotional intelligence on the resolution of disputes involving the electronic health record

Numerous authors have expressed concerns that the introduction of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) will lead to an escalation of disputes. Some disputes will concern the accuracy of the record whereas others will arise simply due to greater access to health care records. Online dispute resolution (ODR) programs have been successfully applied to cost-effectively help disputants resolve commercial, insurance and other legal disputes, and can also facilitate the resolution of health care related disputes. However, we expect that health differs from other application domains in ODR because of the emotional engagement patients have with their health and those of loved ones. In this study we will be looking at whether the success of an online negotiation is related to how people recognise and manage emotions, and in particular, their Emotional intelligence score

Towards understanding malware behaviour by the extraction of API calls

One of the recent trends adopted by malware authors is to use packers or software tools that instigate code obfuscation in order to evade detection by antivirus scanners. With evasion techniques such as polymorphism and metamorphism malware is able to fool current detection techniques. Thus, security researchers and the anti-virus industry are facing a herculean task in extracting payloads hidden within packed executables. It is a common practice to use manual unpacking or static unpacking using some software tools and analyse the application programming interface (API) calls for malware detection. However, extracting these features from the unpacked executables for reverse obfuscation is labour intensive and requires deep knowledge of low-level programming that includes kernel and assembly language. This paper presents an automated method of extracting API call features and analysing them in order to understand their use for malicious purpose. While some research has been conducted in arriving at file birthmarks using API call features and the like, there is a scarcity of work that relates to features in malcodes. To address this gap, we attempt to automatically analyse and classify the behavior of API function calls based on the malicious intent hidden within any packed program. This paper uses four-step methodology for developing a fully automated system to arrive at six main categories of suspicious behavior of API call features. © 2010 IEEE