ICE-B 2010 Abstracts

Area 1 - e-Business Applications

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	5
Title:	MOBILE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS TO THE YOUTH: An Analysis of the MXit platform
Authors:	Charmaine D. Plessis
Abstract:	This paper explores the various ways in which mobile marketing communications are available to the youth on a very popular South African mobile social network site known as MXit. The popularity of cellular phones has resulted in mobile-based brand advertising and promotions that specifically target the youth. The mobile medium is used by marketers as an additional channel to current marketing communications strategies. Because the mass market in South Africa does not use expensive cellular handsets, the format of mobile marketing communications is kept simple. MXit offers its subscribers effortless and accessible technology as well as appealing content, which is why it has become a prominent advertising platform. This is illustrated by examining two mobile marketing communication campaigns (one completed and one continuous) using MXit as an additional marketing communications channel to existing traditional marketing communications channels.
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Paper Nr:	28
Title:	PREFERENCES OF HANDWRITING RECOGNITION ON MOBILE INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN MEDICINE Improving handwriting algorithm on the basis of real-life usability research
Authors:	Andreas Holzinger, Bernhard Peischl, Martin Schlögl and Matjaz Debevc
Abstract:	Streamlining data acquisition in mobile health care in order to increase accuracy and efficiency can only benefit the patient. The company FERK-Systems has been providing health care information systems for various German medical services for many years. The design and development of a compatible front-end system for handwriting recognition, particularly for use in ambulances was clearly needed. While handwriting recognition has been a classical topic of computer science for many years, many problems still need to be solved. In this paper, we report on the study and resulting improvements achieved by the adaptation of an existing handwriting algorithm, based on experiences made during medical rescue missions. By improving accuracy and error correction the performance of an available handwriting recognition algorithm was increased. However, the end user studies showed that the virtual keyboard is still the overall preferred method compared to handwriting, especially among participants with a computer usage of more than 30 hours a week. This is possibly due to the wide availability of the QUERTY/QUERTZ keyboard.
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Paper Nr:	36
Title:	DEPENDABLE DISTRIBUTED TESTING – Can the Online Proctor be Reliably Computerized?
Authors:	Ariel Frank
Abstract:	Distributed Education (DE) enables education, both teaching and learning, anytime, anywhere, using any media or modality, at any pace. Assessment, especially testing, is a major component in the overall evaluation of an educational program. However, there still is an important component missing from most DE programs to enable its full realization in a distributed environment: dependable distributed testing (DDT). The paper presents a comprehensive risk analysis of dependable distributed testing that classifies seven (types of) risks, introduces the resultant DoDoT (Dependable observable Distributed online Testing) reference model, and examines its coverage by three commercial systems. However, these systems are not yet in use in most DE frameworks and do not have yet full DoDoT coverage. The vision of the DoDoT reference model is the continued pursuit and adaptation of new, innovative technologies and methods to make dependable distributed testing increasingly more computerized, reliable, affordable and prevalent.
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Paper Nr:	66
Title:	A Geographic Information System (GIS) to Define Indicators for Development and Planning in Jordan
Authors:	Bassam Saleh and Balqies Sadoun
Abstract:	The computerization and the creation of a digital data base is a must for the employment of many of the state of the art tools in the Optimal Planning process. This is easy made using Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS is an effective modern planning technique which gives the power to create maps, integrate information, visualize and solve problems, present future ideas and develop valuable solutions in basically no time while relating information to a geographic component. The planning challenges today are mainly due to overpopulation, pollution, deforestation and immigration, which definitely have a geographic dimension. The Departments of General Statistics/Census in all countries are considered the main source of data for governmental and private agencies. In this work, we are using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to create a database system for Jordan (a developing country) to be used for optimal planning purposes. The created GIS for the country by governorates (12 Governorates) cover all aspects of life including social, economical, resources, among others. All the departments’ data in addition to a large quantity of field data that we gathered are utilized to create GIS system. Results of many GIS analysis techniques are presented for demonstration purposes. Different kinds of data will allow concerned people to have proper planning, and development according to existing realities, and can aid in deciding on priorities of such plans. The digitizing of the data is a step will be a great step forward towards optimal and well informed decision making process in the country.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	8
Title:	E-Business Applications in Engineering Education
Authors:	Andreas Ahrens and Jelena Zascerinska
Abstract:	Contemporary engineers need to become more cognizant and more responsive to the emerging needs of the market for engineering and technology services. Engineering education has the potential to contribute decisively to the sustainable development of e-business applications or enterprise 2.0, which penetrate our society more thoroughly with the availability of broadband services. However, the success of e-business applications in engineering education requires needs analysis to be considered. Aim of the following paper is to analyze the student engineers' needs in e-business applications of Web 2.0 technologies within engineering education on the pedagogical discourse. The meaning of the key concepts of e-business applications, engineering education and needs analysis is studied. The study shows a potential model for development, indicating how the steps of the process are related following a logical chain: determining e-business applications → revealing e-business applications in engineering education → defining needs analysis → empirical study within a multicultural environment. The results reveal that needs analysis of e-business applications in engineering education contributes to the incorporation of business-driven topics in the curriculum of engineering science.
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Paper Nr:	15
Title:	From Digital Archive to E-Business -- A case study of turning “Art” into “Business”
Authors:	Rungtai Lin and Chih-Long Lin
Abstract:	Along with the Information Technology progress, e-Business is becoming the most common concept in the Internet and electronic commerce world. However, in today’s intensely competitive business climate, innovative products become central in e-business development. Furthermore, changes in consumer perception regarding innovation are also important in e-business. Recently, creative industries are constantly emerging in electronic commerce and can become a key trend in the e-business. Understanding the e-business models for creative industries and helping designers how to design “culture” into products are important research issues, and those issues are not so well covered until now. Therefore, this paper proposes an ABCDE approach for illustrating how to transform “Archive” into “E-business”. For turning “Archive” into “Business”, we need “Creativity” and “Design”, then switch the results to “E-business.” Results presented herein create an interface for looking at the way e-business crosses over cultures, as well as illustrating the interwoven experience of e-business and cultural creativity in the innovation design process and electronic commerce world.
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Paper Nr:	27
Title:	Intelligent Mobile Safety System to Educational Organization
Authors:	Li-Shan Chen and Li-Shan Chen
Abstract:	This study aims to develop safety system, and let the system become intelligent. We adopt the swarm intelligence and active Ultra-High Frequency RFID for safety system, and develop friendly human-computer-interface software for users use the personal digital assistants. We program the system and software with Extensible Markup Language (XML) and C sharp language. If the users begin to search, the kernel safety system automatically communicates with other RFID readers by agents, and the agents can search the closer camera for users. This study’s result has successfully implemented to one educational organization, and it would be helpful for the paterfamiliases to hold all situations about their children at the educational organization. That will be great help in the grip of whole after-school remedial education, teaching and learning situation. We select 100 paterfamiliases to test this system and software. It is revealed that 93% of the paterfamilias are satisfied with the system (Strongly agree ：25/100 ; Agree：68/100 ; Disagree：5/100 ; Strongly disagree：2/100). The software searching correctness is 95% (Strongly agree ：30/100 ; Agree：65/100 ; Disagree：3/100 ; Strongly disagree：2/100).
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Paper Nr:	29
Title:	APPLYING MODEL-VIEW-CONTROLLER (MVC) IN DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Authors:	Andreas Holzinger, Karl H. Struggl and Matjaz Debevc
Abstract:	Information systems are supporting professionals in all areas of e-Business. In this paper we concentrate on our experiences in the design and development of information systems for the use in film production processes. Professionals working in this area are neither computer experts, nor interested in spending much time for information systems. Consequently, to provide a useful, useable and enjoyable application the system must be extremely suited to the requirements and demands of those professionals. One of the most important tasks at the beginning of a film production is to break down the movie script into its elements and aspects, and create a solid estimate of production costs based on the resulting breakdown data. Several film production software applications provide interfaces to support this task. However, most attempts suffer from numerous usability deficiencies. As a result, many film producers still use script printouts and textmarkers to highlight script elements, and transfer the data manually into their film management software. This paper presents a novel approach for unobtrusive and efficient script breakdown using a new way of breaking down text into its relevant elements. We demonstrate how the implementation of this interface benefits from employing the Model-View-Controller (MVC) as underlying software design paradigm in terms of both software development confidence and user satisfaction.
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Paper Nr:	42
Title:	REVIEWING THE E-COLLABORATION MARKETPLACE - A Survey of Electronic Collaboration Systems
Authors:	Bettina Schauer, Michael Zeiller and Doris Riedl
Abstract:	Electronic collaboration systems that support and enable communication, coordination and collaboration between people in shared projects, processes and teams within organisations and for cross-organisational use have significantly changed under the influence of Web 2.0 technologies and social software. The electronic collaboration marketplace is made up of numerous systems that offer a large variety of features. A classification approach is presented that classifies electronic collaboration systems and thus structures the diverse collaboration marketplace. Collaboration systems are evaluated and compared using a set of evaluation criteria that allow for the assessment of all major collaboration tasks. Thus completeness of systems as well as the main focus of applicability of individual collaboration systems is determined.
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Paper Nr:	49
Title:	A Case Study of the E-money Application in Japanese Public Transportation
Authors:	Shoichi Morimoto
Abstract:	Japan leads the world in the field of a rechargeable contactless smart card used as a fare card of public transportation. The card triggered off the spread of Japanese e-money, however, the e-money situation has various intricate problems to tackle. Therefore, we have surveyed the spread process of the e-money and special circumstances of Japanese public transportation. In this paper we describe the business success factors and background. We also analyze and propose the solution against the problems and objectives for globalization of the market.
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Paper Nr:	52
Title:	CAWP: A COMBINATORIAL AUCTION WEB PLATFORM
Authors:	Hurevren Kilic and Ibrahim Cereci
Abstract:	Online auctions, including online Combinatorial Auctions, are important examples of e-commerce applications. In this paper, a Combinatorial Auction Web Platform (CAWP) is introduced. The platform enables both product selling and buying capabilities that can be realized in a combinatorial way. CAWP supports a Sealed-Bid Single-Unit type of Combinatorial Auctions. Easy customization for any selected problem domain is a distinguished feature of CAWP. Platform users are not expected to have any technical knowledge about how to solve the Winner Determination Problem (WDP) known to be critical for profit maximization of the auctioneers in Combinatorial Auctions.
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Paper Nr:	60
Title:	A QUALITY OF CONTEXT DRIVEN APPROACH FOR THE SELECTION OF CONTEXT SERVICES
Authors:	Elarbi Badidi and Larbi Esmahi
Abstract:	As wireless networks and mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous, mobile users are increasingly requiring access to application services that can adapt to their context as they move to new locations, for example, in their corporate or partners' networks. The quality-of-context information (QoC) used by these application services is a determinant factor in the adaptation process. As application services typically receive context data from several context services, the selection of suitable context services is of paramount importance in providing mobile users with tailored services. In this paper, we describe our proposed framework for context management and our proposed QoC-based algorithm for the selection of context services. The algorithm takes into account the QoC requirements of application services for each context information to which they subscribe with the Context Broker, on which the framework is relying for context management.
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Paper Nr:	64
Title:	A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF SERIOUS GAMES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
Authors:	Rebecca Bulander
Abstract:	Educational computer games also known as serious games are a new method to teach students. Serious games are considered to be motivation in themselves especially for younger people and seem to be a suitable method to teach students in higher education. The authors of this paper present a conceptual framework of the computer game Innov8 – a business process modelling game to learn the notation BPMN and also how to model business processes. The purpose of the proposed framework is to measure the effectiveness of some aspects of the learning subject business process modelling. Therefore the authors describe the classification of serious games and give a summary about conducted studies in this area of research. After that they describe the framework itself. The paper concludes with a description of further steps of research in the context of a computer course at university.
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Paper Nr:	65
Title:	A Measurement Instrument for Individual Information Competency in an Enterprise Information Environment
Authors:	Chui Y. Yoon and Keon M. Lee
Abstract:	An instrument that can efficiently measure individual information competency is presented to develop and manage the information application ability of individual working in an enterprise information environment. The measurement items are extracted from the major components of a competency. By factor analysis and reliability analysis, a 14-item instrument is proposed to entirely measure individual information capability. The tool’s application and utilization are discussed through a case study and the presentation of its results.
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Paper Nr:	16
Title:	Integrating Mobile Agent and Context-aware Workflow Analysis for M-commerce Applications
Authors:	Jiazao Lin, Xining Li and Lian Li
Abstract:	Mobile commerce (M-commerce) is an attractive research area due to its relative novelty, rapid growth, and great potential in business applications. Unfortunately, there are a number of constraints effecting both performance and usability of mobile devices and network bandwidth. In addition, existing M-commerce applications are lack of fully automated business processes and still require significant manual effort. In this paper we present a general solution of integrating mobile agent and context-aware workflow analysis to implement automated trading task and compose services dynamically in real time to create a highly personalized assistant. Furthermore, the proposed context-aware model derives from a set of ontology of descriptive contextual attribute for knowledge sharing and logical inference. Instead of executing a fully defined process description, the composite workflow can be executed with forward or backward selection of services determined at run time. We have carried out an evaluation experiment. The results show that our proposed solution is feasible and viable.
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Paper Nr:	19
Title:	The Impact of Internet on Social Anxiety and Learning Adaptability for Young Adult Internet Users
Authors:	Hui-Jen Yang, Yun-Long Lay and Justin S. Lay
Abstract:	This research is to explore the factors affecting the social anxiety and learning adaptability for young adult Internet users. Results found that achievement expectancy, network self-efficacy, network usage rate and career awareness have significantly affected social anxiety. This result also displayed that achievement expectancy, network usage rate and career awareness have significantly influenced learning adaptability. Social anxiety has a negative effect on learning adaptability. The implications for the academic and educational bureau are also discussed within this paper’s closing.
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Paper Nr:	32
Title:	USE OF WIKI SYSTEMS IN ARCHAEOLOGY Privacy, Security and data protection as key problems
Authors:	Katharina Holzinger, Christian Safran, Edgar Weippl, Gabriele Koiner-Erath and Andreas Holzinger
Abstract:	Wikis are powerful, collaborative tools and can be used for educational purposes in many ways. The original idea of a Wiki is to make information accessible to all. However, it is very interesting that experiences in the use of Wikis in educational settings showed that security and data protection of wiki contents is definitely an issue. In this paper, we discuss problems and solutions on the basis of use cases from archaeological education. Interestingly, archaeologists are extremely worried about online accessible information due to the serious danger of archaeological looting. “Tomb raiders”, i.e. people who excavate artefacts of cultural heritage on the basis of information stored in Geowikis, so called archaeological looters, are not aware of the value of cultural heritage, are interested only in the artefacts and destroying the cultural context, which is of enormous interest for archaeological research. Consequently, the protection of archaeological information is one of the most urgent tasks in the preservation of cultural heritage.
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Paper Nr:	33
Title:	The influence of AJAX on Web Usability
Authors:	Wolfgang Slany, Andreas Holzinger, Wolfgang Slany, Matjaz Debevc and Stefan Mayr
Abstract:	In this paper we discusses some pros and cons of using AJAX for increasing the usability of Web applications. As AJAX allows Web applications look like desktop applications, it can increase the learnability of a Web application. Nevertheless, AJAX can also be the source of end user frustration if the XMLHttpRequest is not supported by the browser, Javascript is not available, or an Internet connection is missing. We also provide some workarounds for server response time gaps, for example by providing visible user feedback messages) and enabling the back button to work properly.
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Paper Nr:	34
Title:	SMES IN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TREADING SIMILAR PATHS TOWARDS ETRANSFORMATION
Authors:	Mahesha Kapurubandara, Ana Hol and Athula Ginige
Abstract:	The global economy has become increasingly reliant on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools and systems to process and exchange information. The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are yet to reap these benefits as obtaining such opportunities rests on their ability to integrate ICT into business tasks and processes. They need to transform their companies by implementing appropriate ICT in order to compete within a busy digital economy. The aim of this study was to see how SMEs from developed and developing countries follow their eTransformation journey and also to identify the differences and similarities businesses encounter in that process. Our research confirms that the eTransformation takes place as an incremental process for both groups and that the eTransformation pattern is similar in both worlds. However, we notice that in Australia, a developed country, SMEs are more aware of eTransformation and are demanded by customers and digital economy to change, where as in Sri Lanka eTransformation is still in its early stages of development.
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Paper Nr:	35
Title:	FUZZY DECISION MAKING OF IT GOVERNANCE
Authors:	Sung E. Cho, Kyung-Il Moon and Lee Sanghyun
Abstract:	IT governance implies a system in which all stakeholders, including the board, internal customers and related areas such as finance, have the necessary input into the decision making process. IT governance is the preparation for, making of and implementation of IT-related decisions regarding goals, processes, people and technology on a tactical or strategic level. But, the concepts of IT governance are broad and ambiguous which in turn implicate difficult and inaccurate assessments. In particular, the traditional handling of IT management by board-level executives is that due to limited technical experience and IT complexity, key decisions are deferred to IT professionals. This paper presents a fuzzy reasoning model for assessing IT governance complexity based on an extensive literature study. This model can be used for a good understanding how the concerns of IT governance behave, how they interact and form the behavior of the whole system. The model for assessing IT governance is employed to compare how IT governance is defined in practitioners and Cobit.
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Area 2 - Enterprise Engineering

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	44
Title:	A Framework to derive Holistic Business Transformation Processes
Authors:	Bhuvan Unhelkar and Athula Ginige
Abstract:	This paper describes an approach to deriving a holistic business transformation process and its application in practice. When a business is transforming there needs to be changes to many aspects of its Enterprise Architecture (EA). The research has shown that often organisations are not aware of all the aspects that need to be changed to successfully implement a business transformation. This paper presents a holistic approach. It uses EA of the organisation now and what it should be after transformation to identify all aspects that need to under go transformation. It then uses a meta-model of a process to derive the required processes to achieve a holistic transformation of the businesses undertaking electronic transformations. This approach evolved with in the context of assisting business transformation is the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector within the Western Sydney region. This is demonstrated through a real-life example.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	11
Title:	Assessing business transaction standards and their adoption - A cross case analysis between the SETU and Vektis standards
Authors:	Wouter Berends, Erwin Folmer and Wouter Berends
Abstract:	Nowadays businesses increasingly want to be interoperable so that they can collaborate with other organizations. Interoperability can be achieved through the use of business transaction standards, by which the organizations that use the standards collectively form a value added network. However the effectivity of these standards is largely dependant on the number of organizations that have adopted it, and thus it is very important that the standard conforms to the conditions that organizations have towards adopting these standards. Building on recent literature describing technical standards (van de Kaa, 2009), we have constructed a model through which standard aspects can be compared with the adoption conditions that organizations have. Subsequently cross case analysis methods were used to identify important aspects that influence the adoption of business transaction standards, as well as the identification of methods by which the aspects can be adapted by an Standard Development Organization (SDO) so that higher standard adoption is achieved. This evaluation can give managers and SDO’s a higher understanding on standards itself and the domain it is supposed to function in. The cases demonstrated that early involvement of organizations with high market powers (preferably through a federation that represents these organizations) is important for adoption whereby the development and maintenance of the standard should preferably be funded by those organizations that have most to gain from broad standard adoption. Furthermore open characteristics, modularity and efficient business processes are perceived imperative for the adoption of business transaction standards.
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Paper Nr:	37
Title:	Designing Enterprise Architectures Based On Systems Theoretic Stability
Authors:	Philip Huysmans, David Bellens, Kris Ven and Dieter Van Nuffel
Abstract:	Contemporary organizations are operating in increasingly volatile environments. Hence, organizations must be agile in order to be able to quickly adapt to changes in their environment. This may be a complex process, since a change to one organizational unit may affect other units. Given the increasing complexity of organizations, it has been argued that organizations should be purposefully designed. Enterprise architecture frameworks provide guidance for the design of organizational structures. Unfortunately, current enterprise architecture frameworks do not seem to have a strong theoretical foundation and have a descriptive, rather than a prescriptive nature. In software engineering literature, the Normalized Systems approach has recently been proposed to provide such deterministic design principles for the modular structure of software. The Normalized Systems approach is based on the systems theoretic concept of stability to ensure the evolvability of information systems. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of extending the Normalized Systems design principles to the field of enterprise architecture. Our results show that such approach is feasible and illustrate how the systems theoretic concept of stability can be used on the organizational level.
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Paper Nr:	46
Title:	MODEL-BASED SERVICE INTEGRATION FOR EXTENSIBLE ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS WITH ADAPTATION PATTERNS
Authors:	Markus Heller and Matthias Allgaier
Abstract:	The integration of services into business applications within enterprise services is needed in on-premise settings as well as in upcoming on-demand enterprise settings. Today, it is typically performed in manual integration projects by highly skilled integration experts on the consumer side. As consumers demand flexible and adaptable enterprise systems with lower total cost of ownership (TCO), enterprise system vendors need to provide efficient mechanisms to integrate services within business applications. For this less explored but promising area of service-oriented architecture (SOA) research, a service integration framework with a pattern-based modeling approach is presented that allows for the integration of services into business applications at a later stage in the software-lifecycle - especially after shipment.
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Paper Nr:	50
Title:	TOWARDS ONTOLOGY BASED E-BUSINESS STANDARDS
Authors:	Bahareh R. Heravi, David Bell, Stephen D. Green, David Snelling and Mark Lycett
Abstract:	E-Business standards are recognised as one of the most important drivers of Business to Business Integration. These standards seek to provide unambiguous specifications for error-free exchange of documents and information between trading partners. These standards are however, syntax based and do not guarantee semantic interoperability between partners. This paper proposes the utilisation of semantic web technologies in the standards development process, aiming at developing more robust and at the same time flexible e-Business standard. In order to extract the requirements of an ontology based standard, a combined top down and bottom up approach has been adopted. This resulted in developing two ontologies: one for e-Business standards in general and one for ebXML Business Process Specification Schema (ebBP) as a specific e-Business standard. The challenge is to address the distance between these two ontologies and explore how ontologies can be utilised in developing next generation e-Business standards. It is believed that ontology based e-Business standards will enhance interoperability between organisations involved in value networks and also may facilitate the standard development process itself.
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Paper Nr:	38
Title:	BUSINESS PROCESS FLEXIBILITY: EVALUATION CRITERIA AND GUIDELINES
Authors:	Christina Tsagkani
Abstract:	The business environment of most enterprises comprises of fluid requirements, and emergent behaviour that cause continuous changes across the enterprises’ business processes. Thus, Process Management Systems (PMSs) able to handle such changes become a necessity for businesses in order to effectively respond in this volatile environment. However, despite the plethora of available PMS, dynamic process change is hardly being addressed in most of them. Therefore, the task of selecting a PMS that supports flexible business processes effectively and in this way face the volatile nature of the business environment is not easy. This task is being addressed in this paper by proposing a set of evaluation criteria for flexible PMS. In addition, a business case scenario from the banking sector and selection guidelines have been employed, in order to demonstrate how the proposed criteria framework may be applied practically during the selection of the ‘best-fit’ PMS.
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Paper Nr:	39
Title:	SLA BUSINESS TERMS: Model for a Telecom Operator Business View of SLA
Authors:	Carlos Bueno, Oscar Dueñas, Juan Lambea, Alfonso Castro and Beatriz Fuentes
Abstract:	The rapidly growing service-oriented economy has highlighted key challenges and opportunities in IT-supported service and product lifecycle management. From a service consumer point of view there is no standardized way to locate, evaluate, negotiate and monitor services. Composition of third party services is fraught with uncertainty due to absence of definitive SLAs. Moreover, there is a lack of a standardized, homogenized and extended-used model for a set of business terms for SLAs that allows an automatic negotiation of products with customers and with third parties. So, from the service provider perspective, creating customized service offerings, negotiating with individual customers, and translating from business requirements into specific internal provisioning manifestations consumes valuable time and resources. Furthermore, there is no mean to create attractive products composed by several different services coming from different domains and consolidate the underlying SLAs in a business customer-faced SLA. Ultimately, the service marketplace is frustrating and cumbersome for both service providers and consumers: a significant opportunity has arisen for a holistic SLA-management framework, able to understand and manage such a set of integrated and homogenized set of business parameters.
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Area 3 - Mobility

Short Papers

Paper Nr:	23
Title:	A STUDY ON THE USAGE OF MOBILE DEVICES IN COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS VS DESKTOPS -
Authors:	Steven Abrantes and Luis B. Gouveia
Abstract:	In order to evaluate the use of mobile devices (laptops) and desktops and the potential of mobile devices in collaborative environments vs desktops, it was performed an experiment involving one hundred and twelve students of higher education. This study has the main objective to validate if the students that use laptops or desktops are in the flow experience and which of them are more in the flow experience. This study is based on the flow experience introduced by Csikszentmihalyi (1975). The main purpose of this study is to establish whether the user is in the flow experience when using Google Groups when using laptops or desktops. In the context of this study, information has been gathered through a survey, applying the five dimensions of the flow state. The sample used consisted on one hundred and twelve students. At the end of the study, after analyzing the gathered information, it was possible to conclude that students have experienced the flow state and it had a positive effect on their learning experiences both by students using laptops or desktops, but having the students that used the laptops a more positive effect in the flow experience than the students that used desktops.
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Area 4 - Business Collaboration & e-Services

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	30
Title:	Getting Help in a Crowd: A Social Emergency Alert Service
Authors:	Andreas Geyer-Schulz, Michael Ovelgoenne and Andreas Sonnenbichler
Abstract:	This paper presents the conceptual design of an emergency alert service which addresses the problem of getting help in a crowd. The design is based on the results of more than 30 years of research in social psychology on the bystander effect and it addresses the obstacles for helping by directing an alert directly to the members of the victim's social group who happen to be near the location of the emergency event. The proposed emergency recommender design combines the general availability of geo-location services with social clusters available either from the analysis of social web-sites or from communication analysis. For this purpose, two recently developed innovative clustering methods are used. The feasibility of the design is evaluated by simulating emergency events on the MIT reality mining data set.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	18
Title:	SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY OF E-SERVICES IN COLLABORATIVE NETWORKED ORGANIZATIONS
Authors:	Dimitris Apostolou, Nikos Papageorgiou, Yiannis Verginadis, Dimitris Apostolou and GREGORIS MENTZAS
Abstract:	Semantic interoperability is a crucial issue in industrial enterprises when they participate in Virtual Organizations (VOs), i.e. when they dynamically form network-based collaborative alliances of a temporary nature. Addressing semantic heterogeneities aims to ensure that the meaning of information exchanged by VOs is interpreted in the same way by all communicating parties and their systems. In this paper we examine how ontologies can be employed by a system of services for delivering interoperability to enterprises, independent of particular IT deployments. In order to support interoperability service utilities in VOs, this paper presents a top-level ontology for collaborative networked organizations (code named OCEAN). The OCEAN ontology is designed as a lightweight top-level ontology that provides a common terminological reference in terms of VOs. We demonstrate how the usage of such an ontology enables shared understanding in knowledge-intensive collaborations presenting concrete examples from the pharmaceutical industry.
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Paper Nr:	22
Title:	PROFILING USER-CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN THE CONTEXT OF VIRTUAL REALITY ON THE WEB
Authors:	Ioannis Krasonikolakis, Adam Vrechopoulos and Athanasia N. Pouloudi
Abstract:	The purpose of using the internet has been thoroughly studied in the context of “traditional” web. This exploratory study aims to illustrate the profile of users visiting Virtual Worlds (VWs) through the Web. The findings confirm VWs’ social origin and highlight entertainment as one of the most attractive purposes of entering to this virtual world. The study also contributes to our understanding of virtual reality retailing dynamics and sets the further research agenda.
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Area 5 - Technology Platforms

Short Papers

Paper Nr:	21
Title:	Middleware Integration Platforms: A New Challenge to the Business Models of ICT Companies (Unleashing the Business Potential of Horizontalization)
Authors:	Markus Eurich and Boutellier Roman
Abstract:	Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has the potential to transform business on different levels. Changes in the ICT market, the technology and its dynamics, and of customers’ demands and needs will challenge the current business models of ICT companies. If middleware integration platforms integrate presently isolated networks, organizations may have to re-define their role and their business scope; especially if the assumptions hold true that middleware platforms foster disintermediation and enable new players to enter the market. In this paper, the business potential of reusing sensing, actuation and processing services for different applications - termed horizontalization - is described. It provides insights to the design and architecture of middleware integration platforms designed to enable horizontal services and gives examples of e-business opportunities that can be realized on top of middleware integration platforms.
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Paper Nr:	53
Title:	SHARE VS. OWN Software reuse using Product Platform
Authors:	Paul Abraham, Vishal Sikka and Gordon Simpson
Abstract:	SAP is a complex multi-national development organization with a large number of diverse products and changing target markets. Effective allocation of resources is a difficult at the best of times. Of late, the target markets, and supporting technologies, change every couple of years exponentially increasing the complexity, necessitating a way of recalibrating that keeps pace with new realties. SAP, with a mature understanding of functional, software and technical relationships, has adopted platform approach covering both functional and technology capabilities. However, a variety of factors, many in the management space, prevent that from being effective. This paper will explain why product-line/platform is a better strategy than platform or custom product strategies, in a way that can be understood, proven and adopted by management and developers alike. Specific recommendations of practices for delivering reuse effectively are also provided.
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Paper Nr:	56
Title:	THE COMETA E-INFRASTRUCTURE A Platform for Business Applications in Sicily
Authors:	Emanuele Leggio, Marcello I. Manno, Marco Fargetta, Roberto Barbera, Pietro Di Pietro, Gianluca Passaro, Emanuele Leggio, Giuseppe Andronico, Riccardo Bruno, Emidio Giorgio, Giuseppe L. Rocca, Salvo Monforte, Diego Scardaci and Fabio Scibilia
Abstract:	The COMETA e-Infrastructure running in Sicily is compliant with the EGEE middleware and specifications offering a great computing power and huge storage capacity. Since its beginning one of the main goals has been to extend the adoption of Grid paradigm from the academic to business world. Several software and hardware extensions have been implemented in order to enhance the infrastructure performances; they include a new low-latency net layer reserved to heavy parallel applications; some modifications to the parallel job submission and execution procedures for a better support of MPI-based applications; new tools for job monitoring and file catalogue interaction; a scheduling policy tailored on the requirements of a complex environment hosting heterogeneous jobs; the GridLM license server able to grant access to commercial software only to authorised users; finally, the Secure Storage Service defends from insider abuse and completes a very high security level environment. The proposed business model includes a wide range of services collectively defined as Infrastructure-as-a-Service. All the above components result in a powerful and flexible platform, easy to use for any applications and open to further developments.
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Paper Nr:	12
Title:	SOA BASED E-BUSINESS SYSTEMS DESIGN
Authors:	Edzus Zeiris, Maris Ziema, Edzus Zeiris and Maris Ziema
Abstract:	The development of e-business promotes the creation of new e-services; consequently, ways of fast and quality designing of e-services are required. When developing e-services in SOA, it is very important to build the architecture of e-business system that makes the e-service compliant with all and any quality criteria (QoS) specified for it, which would expand its usability; furthermore, it is necessary to implement any changes swiftly and in good quality to be able to adjust to the rapidly changing business environment. This means that effective design methods should be used in creating e-business systems and e-services, which would ensure the building of an acceptable e-business system architecture. A drawback of the existing methods is the subjective opinion of the system’s architect, and that may not always lead to the best solution. Therefore, it is possible to apply the Quality Attributes Driven Design method for web services that is based on the use of formal optimisation methods. Initially the e-service is described as an algorithm graph, and by segmenting its vertices in all possible ways the web service graphs are obtained. The segmentation of the algorithm graph means that all the possible solutions that can affect the quality of the e-service system architecture are dealt with. Using multi-criteria optimisation, a Pareto optimality set is obtained from all the web service graphs. Web service graphs of the obtained Pareto optimality set can serve as the basis for selecting an acceptable e-business system architecture.
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