bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Situation Approach as Success Factor of Mobile Marketing
Authors: Link Jörg , Seidl Franziska
Published: May 2012

The success of Mobile Marketing is to a large extent dependent on two factors: (1) the situation appropriateness, where demands are made on the ability of the supplier to process all the central characteristics of a customer situation and turn them into an offer that is appropriate to the situation; (2) the economic success of the supplier depends on the economic potential of the situation and his accurate appraisal of it. The supplier therefore has to model both the specific features and the profit potential of the various customer situations at the right time and in the right way. This chapter is going to demonstrate that the success of Mobile Marketing measures can be guaranteed by a synergic interplay of market and result orientation. On the one hand customer situations are systemized and placed in the context of an integrated Customer Relationship Management system; on the other hand the evaluation of situations, reference object hierarchies, and the various levels of situation profit and loss statements are shown.
Using Bibliometrics and Text Mining to Explore the Trends of E-Marketing Literature from 2001 to 2010
Authors: He Wu , Chee Thad , Chong Dazhi , Rasnick Elizabeth
Published: May 2012

This paper describes a hybrid approach, using bibliometrics and text-mining, used to analyze longitudinal trends in the literature of e-marketing research from 2001 to 2010. The abstracts of 888 articles from six leading marketing journals were analyzed. The analysis identifies several core topics and themes of e-marketing research and reveals trends occurring in this growing area. The study reveals that combing bibliometrics with text-mining is a useful way to identify themes and trends for a topic in the literature and can produce meaningful results to help researchers achieve a deeper understanding of an area of interest.
A Fuzzy Logic Approach for the Assessment of Online Customers
Authors: Werro Nicolas , Stormer Henrik
Published: May 2012

A key challenge for companies in the e-business era is to manage customer relationships as an asset. In today’s global economy this task is becoming simultaneously more difficult and more important. In order to retain the potentially good customers and to improve their buying attitude, this chapter proposes a hierarchical fuzzy classification of online customers. A fuzzy classification, which is a combination of relational databases and fuzzy logic, allows customers to be classified into several classes at the same time and can therefore precisely determine the customers’ value for an enterprise. This approach allows companies to improve the customer equity, to launch loyalty programs, to automate mass customization, and to refine marketing campaigns in order to maximize the customers’ value and, this way, the companies’ profit.
A Fuzzy Segmentation Approach to Guide Marketing Decisions
Authors: Casabayó Mònica , Agell Núria
Published: May 2012

The aim of this chapter is to present a fuzzy segmentation model that combines statistical and Artificial Intelligence techniques to identify and quantify multifaceted consumers. One of the primary challenges faced by companies is getting to know their consumers. The latter are increasingly complex, versatile, ever-changing, and even contradictory; in other words, they are multifaceted. There is thus a need for techniques and tools to be able to segment this type of consumer in order to provide companies with the realistic information they need to make the appropriate marketing decisions. A real case study from the Spanish energy industry is included in this chapter to demonstrate the potential of the segmentation model being proposed.
Search Engine Marketing in Small and Medium Companies
Authors: Alby Tom , Funk Burkhardt
Published: May 2012

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is one of the most effective online advertising channels which let companies efficiently acquire new and reactivate existing customers at low acquisition costs. In this chapter the authors briefly review the scientific literature on SEM with respect to managerial decision problems along the levers of SEM, mainly bid optimization, keyword selection, and adCopy creation. Based on a case study they discuss challenges of SEM campaigns operated by small and medium enterprises (SME). After briefly describing the technical requirements for effectively controlling SEM campaigns the authors focus on keyword selection and how to address the long tail issue in SEM. A/B-Tests are shown to be an appropriate measure for optimizing the combination of ad copies and landing pages. Finally they discuss bid optimization at a keyword level taking into account spill-over effects between keywords.
E-Novation Curriculum (Communication and Education)
Authors: Freeder Daphne
Published: May 2012

Generic labelling of consumers does not demonstrate sophisticated marketing and does not reflect the level of analysis that can be done to target appropriate or one to one marketing. On an ethical level, marketers need to focus on permission based marketing and apply co-creation models which have the potential to address the bottom line and shareholder returns without compromising the interests and wellbeing of consumers. Emotion remains the key brand response from consumers, but the new online research environment offers opportunities for marketers to apply analytical diversity and the use of creative and lateral thinking (Cooke & Buckley, 2007), rather than just intrusive marketing practices enhanced by technological capabilities. Improved practice, together with ethics, should be represented in marketing and business training and in the profession. All of this is influenced by technology and its flawed or decent application reflects human intervention as always. How much protection or care then should marketers exercise towards consumers in their environments especially since consumers are deemed to be more sophisticated? Educative systems should also ensure that sustainability practices are a promise of future marketing.
Marketing a Blended University Program
Authors: Ley Kathryn , Gannon-Cook Ruth
Published: May 2012

This case study describes a successful marketing effort to recruit prospective graduate students for a blended program delivered to a culturally diverse urban and suburban adult nontraditional population. An effectiveness evaluation analyzed and measured program and per class enrollment from the marketing plan from inception through the first three years. The authors detail a plan grounded in simple marketing principles and revealed through analyses based on memoranda, documents, program enrollment data, and planning and meeting notes. A collaborative team developed, implemented and analyzed how the effort increased enrollments by over a third in less than two years.
Strategies for Marketing an Academic Library in an African Setting
Authors: Ogola Sylvia A. , Otike Japhet
Published: May 2012

Marketing of library services varies from one environment to another. This chapter discusses the kind of strategies that a librarian manning a university library in Africa needs to come up with to realize a successful marketing programme. The limited resources and an adverse working environment characteristic of the African situation are highlighted. It is observed that a successful marketer is one who has the right personal qualities, sensitive to the needs of the users, knowledgeable about the product, and promoting it with passion. The chapter also looks at issues that affect the marketing capabilities of academic libraries in Africa. It concludes that academic libraries in Africa have very tight budgets, and most cannot afford to earmark any funds towards marketing their services. The chapter is significant in that not much literature is available for marketing of academic libraries in an African setting, and it provides some solutions that can be applied without extra funding. Students in Africa rely on mobile phones and social networking sites to communicate, and it is recommended that the use of social media for marketing can be very effective in Africa today
Fishermen on the Batinah Coast in Oman
Authors: Belwal Shweta , Belwal Rakesh , Al-Shizawi Fadhil
Published: May 2012

Fishing is common among the inhabitants in every coastal region. Oman’s Al-Batinah coast accounts for 20% of the national catch. However, poor uptakes of improved fishing technologies and practices, weak management, inefficiency and ineffective marketing have resulted in Al-Batinah fishermen securing low earnings (Al-Zabri, 2008). This study assesses the situation of the fishermen on the Batinah coast of Oman. It uncovers the reasons behind their leading a subsistence life. This study also explores their difficulties and concerns, and devises some policy implications that offer them a better life. The study utilizes both qualitative and quantitative data collected from fishermen using questionnaires and interviews in an organized form of field survey. The majority of the fishing activity takes place in the traditional sector, where small fishermen run it as their family business. Expenditures surpass fishermen’s income and restrict their savings and growth. The Omani Government has provided infrastructure; however, there is a need for officials to be more observant and concerned about the not so well off fishermen. Facilitators such as training institutes and banks need to provide concentrated measures to improve fishermen’s skills and productivity. Altogether all the facilitators and the fishermen need to come together and share a common platform to advance fishing activity and its scope in the region.
Online Advertising in Relation to Medicinal Products and Health Related Services
Authors: Tzoulia Eleni
Published: May 2012

This study examines special issues of online advertising in relation to medicinal products and health related services. It demonstrates that the marketing of medicinal products over the internet puts consumers at a number of risks related to both their privacy and their health. It endeavours to answer the question whether the existing EU legislation can efficiently protect the individual, who may be induced to disclose his/her health related information to and be involved in transactions with entities of questionable origin for the purchase of medicinal products online.
Important Issues in Online Education
Authors: Hismanoglu Murat
Published: May 2012

In our times, many educational institutions are providing online degree programs for learners by supplementing their traditional offline class with web-based online educational devices. This chapter aims at stressing important issues in online education with reference to e-pedagogy and marketing of online education programs. It defines online learning, assesses the benefits and challenges of online education, and illustrates sub-categories of online degree programs to show the richness of these programs in the world of education today. It also expounds the characteristics of successful online learners and instructors as well as the principles of effective online instruction. Further, it places emphasis on the marketing of online education programs. Lastly, it offers some valuable tips for better marketing of online education programs.
Trust and Public Services in E-Government Based on Customer Orientation
Authors: Chiang Li-chun
Published: May 2012

This chapter aims to identify the role of risk perception and trust in civil servants’ intention to deliver e-services in e-government. The research method is based on theories on perceived behaviors and technology acceptance. The research uses questionnaires to examine civil servants’ intention to adopt digitalized services in e-government and seeks to measure perceived usefulness of e-services, subjective norm, self-efficacy, technology facilitating conditions, trust towards Information Systems, and perceived risk from the perspective of service marketing (e.g., SSTs, self-service technologies). Structural equation modeling is used to further analyze the data and to design a theoretical model predicting the individual’s intention to trust e-services in e-government. The research results indicate that perceived usefulness cannot directly influence behavioral intention without an attitude of acceptance towards digitalized administration. Further, civil servants do not have high risk perception in using online public services.
Citizen Marketing
Authors: Brown Ruth E.
Published: May 2012

This chapter explores citizen marketing, which refers to consumers voluntarily posting product information based on their knowledge and experience. The product information may take the form of opinions, reviews, videos, ads, or entire websites; it is persuasive in that it meets a consumer need for credible peer review of products. Research into information spread by word-of-mouth provides the theoretical foundation for citizen marketing. Because it is found on the Internet where word spreads quickly, citizen marketing empowers individuals to bring change in the form of product design or price. The chapter examines how mainstream marketers are trying to channel citizen marketing through various means, including unfiltered peer-to-peer interaction on product websites.
Gender and E-Marketing
Authors: Özdemir Erkan
Published: May 2012

The increasingly widespread use of the Internet and the increasing participation of females in business have been significant changes leading to society today. As females have begun to have a more important role in business life, in addition to their crucial role within the family in the decision-making process of making purchases, they have had more financial independence. Additionally, the gap in Internet use in favor of males has also begun to narrow. This makes it necessary for e-marketers that carry out some or all of their transactions online to be fully aware of the effects of gender differences in online purchasing behaviors. This chapter consists of a literature review on the subject of Internet usage and online purchasing behaviors with a focus on gender-based differences. Accordingly, the aim of this chapter is to explore gender-based differences in Internet usage and online purchasing behavior and to suggest some e-marketing strategies for e-marketers. Additionally, this chapter provides a foundation on which to build future studies.
Modeling Customer Behavior with Analytical Profiles
Authors: Surma Jerzy
Published: May 2012

Contemporary companies try to build customer relationship management systems based on the customer social relations and behavioral patterns. This is in correspondence with the current trend in marketing that is to move from broadcast marketing operation to a one-to-one marketing. The key issue in this activity is predicting to which products or services a particular customer was likely to respond to. In order to build customer relationship management systems, companies have to learn to understand their customer in the broader social context. The key hypothesis in this approach is that the predictors of behavior in the future are customers behavior patterns in the past. This is a form of human behavioral modeling. The individual customer behavior patterns can be used to build an analytical customer profile. This will be described in section “Introduction” and “Customer profiling”. Based on this profile a company might target a specific customer with a personalized message. In section “Critical examples” the authors will focus in particular on the importance of the customer social relations, that reflects referrals influence on the marketing response. In the end in section “Market of analytical profiles” they will discuss the potential business models related to market exchange of analytical profiles.
Cyberethics of Business Social Networking
Authors: Rodrigues Dário Elias Félix Oliveira
Published: May 2012

The digital technologies open a virtual world where making successful business over the Internet and especially on social networks imply unusual ethical dilemmas. This chapter will seek to handle this problem, characteristic of the information age, highlighting ethical challenges surrounding the participation in a new electronic dimension which quickly became ubiquitous. In the same line of the marketing model entitled “Marketing-mix”1, a new mnemonical model is presented. This model will be designated as “Cyberethics2-mix”, and is composed by four elements, all of them having the initial letter “P”. These elements represent the following ethical issues that should be carefully taken into account when practicing business on the Internet: Property of intellectual rights over digitized contents; Precision of the content and data made available on the www 3; Possibility to access the on-line information flow; Privacy of personal data on Internet networking /
Expanding TAM and IDT to Understand the Adoption of E-Marketing by Small Business Enterprises
Authors: El-Gohary Hatem
Published: May 2012

This paper aims to explore, analyze and develop a clear understanding of the different factors affecting the adoption of e-marketing by trading industrial UK small business enterprises which will build on the current body of knowledge in the field of e-marketing. This paper systematically reviews and categorises the literature related to e-marketing adoption, the use of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) to understand the adoption of e-marketing by small business enterprises. Based on this review and depending on the Hanson (2001) Internet marketing framework, a three stage methodology was implemented to determine, analyze and review the different factors affecting the adoption of e-marketing from a small businesses perspective by using focus groups and survey research strategies as well as Structure Equation Modelling to analyse the data collected.
Exploring the Potential of e-CRM in SME Marketing Practice
Authors: McMahon Fiona , O’Donnell Aodheen
Published: May 2012

Despite such constraints, it is posited that by exploring the components of e-CRM in the unique context of SME business and marketing practice that a natural synergy exists between e-CRM and SME marketing in the creation of value propositions. Specifically this is addressed through the two contributing constructs of SME marketing; namely entrepreneurial marketing and network marketing (Carson & Gilmore, 2000).
A Knowledge Management Approach to Marketing and the Advent of Customer Knowledge Management
Authors: Mjahed Samiha , Triki Abdelfattah
Published: May 2012

This chapter is intended to give an overview of knowledge management (KM), and to explore its extension to the marketing discipline. It is basically aimed to set the stage for the conceptualisation of knowledge-based complaint management rather than to provide a thorough and exhaustive literature review of the KM theory per se. Therefore the contribution of the chapter in hand lies in the fact that it integrates the concept of customer knowledge in the field of complaint management.
Business-to-Consumers eCommerce
Authors: Karakaya Fahri
Published: May 2012

This chapter focuses on the effective use of the Internet for marketing products and services. The chapter starts by presenting statistics about Internet usage and online sales in the USA and around the world. It then examines the evolution of web sites from a static format to an interactive format with the start of Web 2.0. As a plus to small businesses, the chapter also briefly outlines the steps involved in starting an online business and the advantages and disadvantages of having one. Special emphasis is placed on developing an eMarketing strategy, drawing on the marketing mix, online marketing research, and search engine optimization, as well as social media marketing. The chapter ends by showcasing Amazon.com’s marketing tools as excellent examples of effective eBusiness.
Social Networking and Privacy
Authors: Ortmann Steffen , Langendörfer Peter , Maaser Michael
Published: May 2012

Social networks recently came under severe criticism for easy-going handling of user data. Millions of users voluntarily release private and business data without considering potential impacts on their real life that may come along with that. Used for personalized advertising or attendee profiling, user data are of utmost importance for economic success of the maintaining network. Hence, platform providers exploit all promising options to gather data while privacy and data security seem partially to be a pain for them. Dozens of security lacks and data thefts have emerged for almost every available platform. In addition, techniques and methods exist to secretly gather more user data, e.g., by proper fusion of miscellaneous information, analysis of visited websites, or social games. Even worse, misuse or rather sale of user data might be part of the marketing concept. This chapter analyzes the business networks LinkedIn and Xing, and the more leisure time related social communities Facebook and StudiVZ. In particular, differences in collecting and handling of user data are of interest. Based on that, we present and analyze reported criticism based on published and on own investigated data. Then we evaluate whether that criticism is justified, hypercritical, or understatement. On behalf of analyzing potential threats and pitfalls, we finally work out existing and potential privacy risks as well as resulting consequences for the real life of community members.
How Much is Too Much?
Authors: Robinson Nicholas P. , Ensign Prescott C.
Published: May 2012

A marketeer’s point of view is presented in this chapter. Although legal restrictions safeguard processes and restrict annoying intrusive techniques, protecting customers, it can be argued that responsible privacy practices in the marketing profession will add value for consumers. As businesses compete with greater intensity to provide the customer with control over areas such as product offerings, services provided, and account management, privacy standards, being an important part of the customer-company relationship, formulate the grounds upon which businesses compete to provide greater customer control.
Mobile Business and Mobile TV
Authors: Garito Marco
Published: May 2012

This chapter provides an overview about traditional mobile marketing and mobile TV, describing how those interact and how business can be affected in some crucial areas: platform interoperability and revenue models. Some real examples of mobile initiatives are also provided.
Brand Driven Mobile Marketing
Authors: Quente Christopher
Published: May 2012

On the basis of five theses it is illustrated how the mobile phone becomes the essential building block within commercial multi-channel concepts. One key issue being the telling of ‘brand stories’, told across various media or ‘stages’. If the stories being told are compelling enough one can convert brand supporters into brand addicts, who in the best case scenario wouldn’t want to miss a single performance of their favorite brand.
Social Computing and the New Market
Authors: Caudill Jason G.
Published: May 2012

Social computing has revolutionized the way individuals connect with one another and manage their personal lives. The technology has launched billionaire entrepreneurs and influenced presidential elections. For businesses the same technology has meant a revolution in online marketing. Different types of social computing applications offer different opportunities for marketing, but all relate to the opportunity for companies to improve their connections with current and potential customers. This chapter will explore both the history of marketing and social computing and how the two fields have come together to revolutionize online marketing today.
Perspectives on Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computing
Authors: Wang Yingxu , Baciu George , Yao Yiyu , Kinsner Witold , Chan Keith , Zhang Bo , Hameroff Stuart , Zhong Ning , Hunag Chu-Ren , Goertzel Ben , Miao Duoqian , Sugawara Kenji , Wang Guoyin , You Jane , Zhang Du , Zhu Haibin
Published: May 2012

Cognitive informatics is a transdisciplinary enquiry of computer science, information sciences, cognitive science, and intelligence science that investigates the internal information processing mechanisms and processes of the brain and natural intelligence, as well as their engineering applications in cognitive computing. Cognitive computing is an emerging paradigm of intelligent computing methodologies and systems based on cognitive informatics that implements computational intelligence by autonomous inferences and perceptions mimicking the mechanisms of the brain. This article presents a set of collective perspectives on cognitive informatics and cognitive computing, as well as their applications in abstract intelligence, computational intelligence, computational linguistics, knowledge representation, symbiotic computing, granular computing, semantic computing, machine learning, and social computing.
The Cognitive Process of Comprehension
Authors: Wang Yingxu , Gafurov Davrondzhon
Published: May 2012

Comprehension is an ability to understand the meaning of a concept or an action. Comprehension is an important intelligent power of abstract thought and reasoning of humans or intelligent systems. It is highly curious to explore the internal process of comprehension in the brain and to explain its basic mechanisms in cognitive informatics and computational intelligence. This paper presents a formal model of the cognitive process of comprehension. The mechanism and process of comprehension are systematically explained with its conceptual, mathematical, and process models based on the Layered Reference Model of the Brain (LRMB) and the Object-Attribute-Relation (OAR) model for internal knowledge representation. Contemporary denotational mathematics such as concept algebra and Real-Time Process Algebra (RTPA) are adopted in order to formally describe the comprehension process and its interaction with other cognitive processes of the brain.
Logical Connections of Statements at the Ontological Level
Authors: Cao Cungen , Sui Yuefei , Sun Yu
Published: May 2012

In the classical formal logics, the negation can only be applied to formulas, not to terms and predicates. In (frame-based) knowledge representation, an ontology contains descriptions of individuals, concepts and slots, that is statements about individuals, concepts and slots. The negation can be applied to slots, concepts and statements, so that the logical implication should be considered for all possible combinations of individuals, concepts, slots and statements. In this regard, the logical implication at the ontological level is different from that at the logical level. This paper attempts to give such logical implications between individuals, concepts, slots, statements and their negations.
Learning Hierarchical Lexical Hyponymy
Authors: Zhou Jiayu , Wang Shi , Cao Cungen
Published: May 2012

Chinese information processing is a critical step toward cognitive linguistic applications like machine translation. Lexical hyponymy relation, which exists in some Eastern languages like Chinese, is a kind of hyponymy that can be directly inferred from the lexical compositions of concepts, and of great importance in ontology learning. However, a key problem is that the lexical hyponymy is so commonsense that it cannot be discovered by any existing acquisition methods. In this paper, we systematically define lexical hyponymy relationship, its linguistic features and propose a computational approach to semi-automatically learn hierarchical lexical hyponymy relations from a large-scale concept set, instead of analyzing lexical structures of concepts. Our novel approach discovered lexical hyponymy relation by examining statistic features in a Common Suffix Tree. The experimental results show that our approach can correctly discover most lexical hyponymy relations in a given large-scale concept set.
A New Quantum Evolutionary Algorithm with Sifting Strategy for Binary Decision Diagram Ordering Problem
Authors: Layeb Abdesslem , Saidouni Djamel-Eddine
Published: May 2012

In this work, the authors focus on the quantum evolutionary quantum hybridization and its contribution in solving the binary decision diagram ordering problem. Therefore, a problem formulation in terms of quantum representation and evolutionary dynamic borrowing quantum operators are defined. The sifting search strategy is used in order to increase the efficiency of the exploration process, while experiments on a wide range of data sets show the effectiveness of the proposed framework and its ability to achieve good quality solutions. The proposed approach is distinguished by a reduced population size and a reasonable number of iterations to find the best order, thanks to the principles of quantum computing and to the sifting strategy.
A Robust Facial Feature Tracking Method Based on Optical Flow and Prior Measurement
Authors: Wang Guoyin , Yang Yong , He Kun
Published: May 2012

Cognitive informatics (CI) is a research area including some interdisciplinary topics. Visual tracking is not only an important topic in CI, but also a hot topic in computer vision and facial expression recognition. In this paper, a novel and robust facial feature tracking method is proposed, in which Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) optical flow is taken as basis. The prior method of measurement consisting of pupils detecting features restriction and errors and is used to improve the predictions. Simulation experiment results show that the proposed method is superior to the traditional optical flow tracking. Furthermore, the proposed method is used in a real time emotion recognition system and good recognition result is achieved.
Giving Personal Assistant Agents a Case-Based Memory
Authors: Chen Ke-Jia , Barthès Jean-Paul A.
Published: May 2012

We consider Personal Assistant (PA) agents as cognitive agents capable of helping users handle tasks at their workplace. A PA must communicate with the user using casual language, sub-contract the requested tasks, and present the results in a timely fashion. This leads to fairly complex cognitive agents. However, in addition, such an agent should learn from previous tasks or exchanges, which will increase its complexity. Learning requires a memory, which leads to the two following questions: Is it possible to design and build a generic model of memory? If it is, is it worth the trouble? The article tries to answer the questions by presenting the design and implementation of a memory for PA agents, using a case approach, which results in an improved agent model called MemoPA.
An Evaluation Method of Relative Reducts Based on Roughness of Partitions
Authors: Kudo Yasuo , Murai Tetsuya
Published: May 2012

This paper focuses on rough set theory which provides mathematical foundations of set-theoretical approximation for concepts, as well as reasoning about data. Also presented in this paper is the concept of relative reducts which is one of the most important notions for rule generation based on rough set theory. In this paper, from the viewpoint of approximation, the authors introduce an evaluation criterion for relative reducts using roughness of partitions that are constructed from relative reducts. The proposed criterion evaluates each relative reduct by the average of coverage of decision rules based on the relative reduct, which also corresponds to evaluate the roughness of partition constructed from the relative reduct,
Supporting Public Decision Making
Authors: Salles Maryse
Published: May 2012

This paper discusses a number of results from the CAVALA project, a project which was set up to design a method for defining assessment indicators in relation to territorial economic development policies. An analysis of the particularities of the field and the specific context is proposed. With these particularities in mind, we preferred a progressive approach in the implementation of decision-making tools and we included the construction of an ontology as a prerequisite. The phases leading up to the design of this ontology are explained. An analysis of the texts that set out the Regional Council’s policy on economic development allowed us to identify the existence of competing visions of the world (doxai). The co-existence of these doxai made it necessary for us to construct a polydoxical ontology, that is, integrating several discrete doxai. This choice generated specific methodological problems for which we are able to provide an insight. An illustration is given via an excerpt from the ontology consisting of two doxai for the concept of “territory.”
Deploying Decision Support Systems Using Semantic Web Technologies
Authors: Ludwig Lars , O’Sullivan David
Published: May 2012

Decision support systems are deployed in a wide variety of business applications using a variety of core technologies and programming languages. One of the more promising technologies to evolve in recent year has been the semantic web. The semantic web aims to create more intelligent and machine readable web pages and online applications. The technologies, programming languages and methods of the semantic web are now maturing and standards have emerged that allow semantic web technology to be deployed broadly across information technology industry and the programming community in particular. This paper outlines a set of requirements for programmers considering the development of decision support systems using semantic web technology. Current strategies across the research community are surveyed that deploy semantic web applications. From the discussion of these strategies, ten basic requirements are derived. These requirements combine technological, psychological and philosophical research ideas. By crossing traditional research boundaries, a broad perspective on deploying decision support systems that utilize semantic web technologies is created.
Using the Rhizomer Platform for Semantic Decision Support Systems Development
Authors: García Roberto
Published: May 2012

Decision support systems get more useful as they manage to make decisions more informed. However, the cost of information and of combining and making it available in the appropriate context make this a tricky trade-off. Fortunately, Semantic Web technologies make it possible to easily publish and reuse data. But this is not simple data, it is semantic data, which makes it easier to query, browse and combine it. Apart from semantic data, it is also important a user interface that carries all this potential to the user. Rhizomer is a framework for semantic data publishing and user interaction that facilitates building semantic dashboards. It is possible, for instance, to build a simple dashboard on top of semantic data generated from financial reports and incorporate web services that provide specialised ways to interact with semantic data, like showing geo-located resources in a map or events in a timeline.
Application of Selected Software Tools for Data Collection and Analysis in Library Management and Their Effectiveness Assessment
Authors: Górski Marek , Marcinek Marzena
Published: May 2012

In this paper, the authors present the results of research on the use of software tools for data collection and analysis in strategic and current library management. Special attention has been paid to StatuS and Performance Analysis for Polish Research Libraries (AFBN) — the tools most frequently used by Polish academic librarians. StatuS is used by the academic libraries of Krakow Library Group and several other libraries in Poland. Performance Analysis of Polish Research Libraries (AFBN) is a national project. Its main objective is to create standards for Polish libraries based on a set of performance indicators. AFBN consists of the e-survey, a database and special software for the collection and analysis of data. The surveys are submitted by academic and public research libraries once a year. The research on the application of selected software tools for data collection and analysis in library management in Polish academic libraries was conducted in February and March 2009. Results of the research reflect attitudes of managers toward usability of such tools to support various aspects of managerial processes.
Using Transaction Logs to Study the Effectiveness of Librarian Behaviors on User Satisfaction in a Virtual Setting
Authors: Kwon Nahyun , Gregory Vicki L.
Published: May 2012

Chat reference is becoming more common and it is important to be able to effectively judge user satisfaction with the results they receive. The behaviors the reference librarian should use to ensure that users are satisfied with chat reference sessions must also be determined. In this paper, the authors indicate that many of these behaviors could be mapped to the virtual environment with great success. The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the methodology, which is a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods, to allow others to adapt this methodology to their own situations.
User’s Behaviour inside a Digital Library
Authors: Scarnò Marco
Published: May 2012

CASPUR allows many academic Italian institutions located in the Centre-South of Italy to access more than 7 million articles through a digital library platform. The behaviour of its users were analyzed by considering their “traces”, which are stored in the web server log file. Using several web mining and data mining techniques the author discovered a gradual and dynamic change in the way articles are accessed. In particular there is evidence of a journal browsing increase in comparison to the searching mode. Such phenomenon were interpreted using the idea that browsing better meets the needs of users when they want to keep abreast about the latest advances in their scientific field, in comparison to a more generic searching inside the digital library.
Examining the Implications of Process and Choice for Strategic Decision Making Effectiveness
Authors: Drnevich Paul L. , Brush Thomas H. , Chaturvedi Alok
Published: May 2012

Most strategic decision-making (SDM) approaches advocate the importance of decision-making processes and response choices for obtaining effective outcomes. Modern decision-making support system (DMSS) technology is often also needed for complex SDM, with recent research calling for more integrative DMSS approaches. However, scholars tend to take disintegrated approaches and disagree on whether rational or political decision-making processes result in more effective decision outcomes. In this study, the authors examine these issues by first exploring some of the competing theoretical arguments for the process-choice-effectiveness relationship, and then test these relationships empirically using data from a crisis response training exercise using an intelligent agent-based DMSS. In contrast to prior research, findings indicate that rational decision processes are not effective in crisis contexts, and that political decision processes may negatively influence both response choice and decision effectiveness. These results offer empirical evidence to confirm prior unsupported arguments that response choice is an important mediating factor between the decision-making process and its effectiveness. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings and the application of agent-based simulation DMSS technologies for academic research and practice.
An Integrated Decision Support System for Intercropping
Authors: Sodiya A. S. , Akinwale A. T. , Okeleye K. A. , Emmanuel J. A.
Published: May 2012

Intercropping, which is the agricultural practice of growing two or more crops in the same land area, is not currently yielding adequate results in Africa. Despite the advantages of intercropping like improved soil fertility, protection against pests and diseases and eventual increase in farm yield, this farming practice is faced with challenges—inadequate planning, bad crop management and lack of required intercropping expertise. Consequently, this has resulted in inadequate reward for farmers and a general decline in crop production. In this regard, the authors present an Intelligent and Integrated Intercropping Decision Support System for Intercropping (IDSS-I) for improved crop production. The design adopts a forecasting component that provides farmers with the estimated yield and income depending on the size of land, soil type and weather condition. Although the implementation was carried out using JAVA and SQL, usability testing revealed 85% acceptance of the tool among the contacted 10 large scale farmers. It was also confirmed that the system provided 95% diagnosis information for 90% common Africa crop diseases.
E-Government
Authors: Yannacopoulos Denis , Manolitzas Panagiotis , Spyridakos Athanasios
Published: May 2012

Governments across the European Union (EU) face the challenge of responding to public demand for more responsive, efficient and effective services. E-Government based on the principle of providing services via internet to citizens and companies. The rapid growth of electronic government gave the EU the ability to correspond more effectively to the needs of citizens and provide more valuable services. In this paper the authors analyze the web based services that have been developed by EU member states. A comparative measurement of the progress of online services delivery is presented using a Multi-criteria INteractive Ordinal Regression Analysis (MINORA) system. The paper demonstrates the importance of Multicriteria Analysis and the use of reliable methods that allowed the development of a function of total utility dynamically modified depending on the evolution of e-government services.
EBDMSS
Authors: Wang Fen , Lupton Natalie , Rawlinson David , Zhang Xingguo
Published: May 2012

This paper describes a Web-based intelligent decision making support system (DMSS) to deliver balanced scorecard (BSC) based modelling and analysis in support of strategic E-business management. This framework supports E-business managers during the strategy making process in a comprehensive, integrated, and continuous manner. The paper demonstrates how practitioners can use this system to deliver a wide range of embodied E-business strategy expertise in support of real-time decision making.
Engineering e-Collaboration Services with a Multi-Agent System Approach
Authors: K.W. Dickson , Cheung S.C. , Leung Ho-fung , Hung Patrick , Kafeza Eleanna , Hu Hua , Wang Minhong , Hu Haiyang , Zhuang Yi
Published: May 2012

With recent advances in mobile technologies and e-commerce infrastructures, there have been increasing demands for the expansion of collaboration services within and across systems. In particular, human collaboration requirements should be considered together with those for systems and their components. Agent technologies have been deployed in order to model and implement e-commerce activities as multi-agent systems (MAS). Agents are able to provide assistance on behalf of their users or systems in collaboration services. As such, we advocate the engineering of e-collaboration support by means of MAS in the following three key dimensions: (i) across multiple platforms, (ii) across organization boundaries, and (iii) agent-based intelligent support. To archive this, we present a MAS infrastructure to facilitate systems and human collaboration (or e-collaboration) activities based on the belief-desire-intension (BDI) agent architecture, constraint technology, and contemporary Web Services. Further, the MAS infrastructure also provides users with different options of agent support on different platforms. Motivated by the requirements of mobile professional workforces in large enterprises, the authors present their development and adaptation methodology for e-collaboration services with a case study of constraint-based collaboration protocol from a three-tier implementation architecture aspect. They evaluate our approach from the perspective of three main stakeholders of e-collaboration, which include users, management, and systems developers.
A Service Oriented SLA Management Framework for Grid Environments
Authors: Pouli V. , Marinos C. , Grammatikou M. , Papavassiliou S. , Maglaris V.
Published: May 2012

Traditionally, network Service Providers specify Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to guarantee service availability and performance to their customers. However, these SLAs are rather static and span a single provider domain. Thus, they are not applicable to a multi–domain environment. In this paper, the authors present a framework for automatic creation and management of SLAs in a multi-domain environment. The framework is based on Service Oriented Computing (SOC) and contains a collection of web service calls and modules that allow for the automatic creation, configuration, and delivery of an end-to-end SLA, created from the merging of the per-domain SLAs. This paper also presents a monitoring procedure to monitor the QoS guarantees stipulated in the SLA. The SLA establishment and monitoring procedures are tested through a Grid application scenario targeted to perform remote control and monitoring of instrument elements distributed across the Grid.
ODACE SLA
Authors: Fakhfakh Kaouthar , Chaari Tarak , Tazi Said , Jmaiel Mohamed , Drira Khalil
Published: May 2012

The establishment of Service Level Agreements between service providers and clients remains a complex task regarding the uninterrupted growth of the IT market. In fact, it is important to ensure a clear and fair establishment of these SLAs especially when providers and clients do not share the same technical knowledge. To address this problem, the authors started modeling client intentions and provider offers using ontologies. These models helped them in establishing and implementing a complete semantic matching approach containing four main steps. The first step consists of generating correspondences between the client and the provider terms by assigning certainties for their equivalence. The second step corrects and refines these certainties. In the third step, the authors evaluate the matching results using inference rules, and in the fourth step, a draft version of a Service Level Agreement is automatically generated in case of compatibility.
Two Heads Are Better Than One
Authors: Sharma Ravi S. , Tan Dwight , Cheng Winston
Published: May 2012

This paper examines how Web 2.0 may be used in organizations to support business intelligence activities. Five leading professional services firms in the Energy, IT, software and health industries were used as the field research sites and action research performed on their Web 2.0 tools and environment. Business intelligence was the most significant driver of service value to their clients. From the data, five key findings were observed on the strategic use of Web 2.0 in the leading services firms. Firstly, the firm is aware that social networking tools can improve employees’ performance. Secondly, there are more tools for tacit-to-tacit and tacit-to-explicit knowledge transfer than explicit-to-explicit and explicit-to-tacit. Thirdly, the firm has a higher number of tools where knowledge flows within itself and almost none for external knowledge flows. Fourthly, social network is part of normal work responsibilities. Finally, among KM tools that were most recognized as assisting social network use were of the Web 2.0 genre such as wikis, RSS feeds and instant messaging and blogging. The authors show that using Web 2.0 improves social networking and may be linked to a service professional’s individual performance.