As almost no other technology, embedded systems is an essential element of many innovations in automotive engineering. New functions and improvements of already existing functions, as well as the compliance with traffic regulations and customer requirements, have only become possible by the increasing use of electronic systems, especially in the fields of driving, safety, reliability, and functionality. Along with the functionalities that increase in number and have to cooperate, the complexity of the entire system will increase.

Synergy effects resulting from distributed...

Chrisanthi Avgerou TC9 chair Professor of Information Systems London School of Economics c.avgerou@lse.ac.uk A conference to honour the professional life of Jacques Berleur has inevitably been a platform for debate on the most fundamental issues that pre-occupy the working groups of the IFIP Technical Committee 9 (TC9) on the 'Relationship between Computers and Society'. Jacques Berleur has of course been one of those few ICT experts who, since the 1970s, has tirelessly worked within the IFIP community to expose the nature of the ethical dilemmas of a society increasingly relying on the...

The virtual campus: Trends for higher education and trainingwas the theme of the IFIP Working Conference on which this book is based. lt was a joint event of Working Groups 3.3 and 3.6, Research and distance Education respectively, of IFIP Technical Committee 3 for Education. International dissemination and promotion of cooperation are IFIP aims that we particularly wanted to address. This is why we opened the event to non WG members and have established a virtual forum on the WEB that has been widely visited. The programme for the 27 to 29 November 97 in Madrid included invited speakers from...

Cooperative working environments and their development are becoming increasingly important and ever more frequent in different industrial sectors and this book provides a scientific approach for managing Team Engineering. Meta-cognitive knowledge and networks are identified as the key resources enabling engineering teams to work effectively and to reduce engineering time and this book illustrates how computer support can aid cooperative work within the context of practical methodologies and examples.
The fields covered in the book include:

• State-of-the-art research in...

In this global society, manufacturers compete in many ways, and information infrastructures play a critical role in ensuring the right information is available at the right time and the right place to support informed decision making. The traditional approach that assumes all information can be located on a single mainframe and accessed by everybody in the enterprise has fallen by the wayside, and new infrastructures supporting extended or virtual enterprises and globally distributed supply chains are becoming increasingly vital to successful, competitive organizations. Functions, data, and...

On November 9-11, 1998,85 participants, representing 17 countries, gathered in Aubum Hills, Michigan, at the Chrysler Tech Center, to attend a workshop "SSM'98" (or Sculptured Surface Machining '98) organized by IFIP Working Group 5.3. This was the first major workshop on sculptured surface machining since the CAM-I sponsored conference "Machining Impossible Surfaces" held in 1981. The purpose of the SSM'98 workshop, entitled "Machining Impossible Shapes," was to promote a cross-fertilization of ideas among three communities: industrial users, CAM software developers and academic researchers....

The short history of the International Working Conference on Educating Professionals for Network Centric Organizations is a good illustration of the tremendous rate of development of global networking, its impact and of its deep penetration into management of business, industty and administration. In 1996, when the theme and name of the conference had been set, there was yet no heavy use of networks in the fields just mentioned. However, it has been already established well enough to enable those with a visionary sense to feel that it will be an important subject and it could be an...

The fast progress in computer networks and their wide availability complemented with on one hand the "explosion" of the mobile computing and on the other hand the trends in the direction of ubiquitous computing, act as powerful enablers for new forms of highly dynamic collaborative organizations and emergence of new business practices. The first efforts in virtual enterprises (VE) were strongly constrained by the need to design and develop horizontal infrastructures aimed at supporting the basic collaboration needs of consortia of enterprises. Even pilot projects that were focused on specific...

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have already had a significant impact on education in many countries around the world. As the "Information Revolution" has an impact on world society, education is seen as a priority for the developed as well as the developing countries. It is an opportune moment to reflect on current practice and consider how schools can retain what is best, while changing to meet the needs and demands of the new world. This volume examines the many aspects of the integration of ICT into the school of the future. It describes the experiences of different...

Diffusing Software Product and Process Innovations addresses the problems and issues surrounding successful diffusion of innovations in software. Everett Rogers' classic text, Diffusion of Innovations, provides a valuable framework for evaluating and applying technology transfer methods. In today's new economy, the most important innovations may well be new software products and processes.
Topics covered in this valuable new book include:

• Implementation and coordination issues;
• New interpretations of diffusion theory;
• Diffusion of software...