The effects of usability and web design attributes on user preference for e-commerce web sites

This study examines the relationships among perceived usability before actual use, task completion time, and preference, and the effects of design attributes on user preference for e-commerce web sites. Nine online bookstore web sites were used by ten participants. Results indicate: (1) pre-use usability and task completion time were correlated; (2) the relationship between pre-use usability and preference was greater than that of task completion time and preference; (3) design attribute assessments after actual use were highly intercorrelated; and (4) organizational structure and layout had a greater effect on user preference than aesthetic aspects, such as color and typography. These findings can be used to construct a conceptual framework for understanding user preferences and to develop design guidelines to yield more highly preferred e-commerce web sites. Also, the methodology in this study can be applied to other computerized-applications.     

基于服务设计理念的B2C电子商务网站设计

在电子商务日益成熟的今天,互联网竞争尤为激烈,研究基于服务设计理念的B2C电子商务网站,在网站设计方面增强用户的吸引力,提升用户购物体验尤为重要。本文从服务设计理念中的服务接触点着手,以服务结合设计原则诠释B2C电子商务网站的设计,通过网站优化给予用户更为人性化的互联网购物体验,增强用户对B2C网站的认同感,提高B2C电子商务网站与用户之间的黏合度。     

The impact of perceived ease of use on Internet service adoption: The moderating effects of temporal distance and perceived risk

Perceived ease of use is found to affect consumer’s intention toward using an Internet-based service. However, to protect online transaction security, more security verification mechanisms are established which in turn increase the complexity and difficulty of using online services. This study proposed that the importance of perceived ease of use is depending on short- vs. long-term transaction expectation, product type, and whether security concern information is presented. In certain situations buyers or sellers of an Internet service may tolerate the inconvenience of using the Internet-based service. A 2 (verification requirement) × 2 (network externality) × 2 (short vs. long term) between-subject design was conducted on sellers of an auction site and a 2 (verification requirement) × 2 (product type) × 2 (with vs. without security concern information) between-subject design was conducted on buyers of an auction site. The results of two studies suggest that perceived ease of use increases the intention toward using online service when sellers expect that the Internet service usage is only for a short-term transaction or when buyers have no access of the security concern information on the website. In contrast, sellers prefer using an online service which requires a relatively high verification requirement when the purpose of using Internet service is for long-term transaction or when buyers have access of security concern information. The results also showed that perceived network externality positively affect sellers’ intention toward using an auction website.     

An empirical study of the factors affecting social network service use

Social network services are emerging as a promising IT-based business, with some services already being provided commercially such as Facebook, Cyworld and Xiaonei. However, it is not yet clear which potential audience groups will be key social network service participants. Moreover, the process showing how an individual actually decides to start using a social network service may be somewhat different from current web-based community services. Hence, the aims of this paper are twofold. First, we empirically examine how individual characteristics affect actual user acceptance of social network services. To examine these individual characteristics, we apply a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to construct an amended model that focuses on three individual differences: social identity, altruism and telepresence, and one perceived construct: the perceived encouragement, imported from psychology-based research. Next, we examine if the users’ perception to see a target social network service as human relationship-oriented service or as a task-oriented service could be a moderator between perceived constructs and actual use. As a result, we discover that the perceived encouragement and perceived orientation are significant constructs that affect actual use of social network services.     

一种基于移动服务的系统模型

本文以职业技能鉴定考核系统为研究背景,分析了移动设备与服务器几种传输方式,根据移动设备在系统中有在线和离线不同的应用场景,研究了适用于复杂环境下一种基于移动服务的系统模型。     

浅谈我院二级网站建设

分析了我院二级网站的现状和存在的问题,并提出了一些具体的看法和建议,与大家共同探讨。     

浅谈我院二级网站建设

分析了我院二级网站的现状和存在的问题,并提出了一些具体的看法和建议,与大家共同探讨.     

Assessing the impact of recommender agents on on-line consumer unplanned purchase behavior

Recommendation agents (RAs) have been used by many Internet businesses such as Amazon and Netflix. However, few authors have studied how consumer behavior is affected by those that make suggestions to online consumers based on their recent shopping behavior. Fewer still have examined the role that RAs play in influencing impulse purchasing decisions online. Our study developed a theoretical model to illustrate the impact of RAs on online consumer behavior. The model was tested through an online shopping simulation which used a collaborative filtering based product RA. Particular attention was paid to the effects of an RA on consumer behavior; we found that it increased promotion and product search effectiveness, user satisfaction with the website, and unplanned purchases. Results showed that our model provided insights into the impact of an RA on online consumer behavior and thus provided suggestions for implementing effective systems.     

B2B网上交易方案研究

B2B电子商务正成为众人瞩目的焦点，但目前完整的解决方案对国内许多企业而言是望尘莫及的。文中针对生产商和分销商之间的交易流程，探讨出一种基于WEB的安全电子支付模型，并且笔者设计了一个简单的B2B网上售药系统，成功实现了系统功能，为许多类似企业尽快开展电子商务提供了一个解决方案。     

Distinguishing the effects of B2B information quality,system quality,and service outcome quality on trust and distrust

Successful business-to-business (B2B) data exchanges can help firms improve inter-organizational cooperation and operational practices, thereby increasing competitive advantage. However, data exchange quality and trust are not assured. Further, although researchers have examined how trust in the exchange partner relates to data exchange system success, both trust and distrust may be important to consider. Using two-factor theory and trust theory, we examine the differential impacts of information quality, system quality, and service outcome quality on trusting and distrusting beliefs. We also study whether trusting and distrusting beliefs have differential influences on relationship commitment and perceived risk. Results from a laboratory experiment show that information quality, a process (i.e., motivating) factor, more strongly influences trusting beliefs than distrusting beliefs, whereas service outcome quality, an outcome (i.e., hygiene) factor, more strongly influences distrusting beliefs. Also, while trusting beliefs has a significantly stronger influence on relationship commitment, trusting and distrusting beliefs have equivalent effects on perceived risk. Implications and ways to expand this research are discussed.     

An empirical study of Web browsing behaviour: Towards an effective Website design

Prior studies have suggested that a good Website design which facilitates a user’s Web browsing behaviour would generally lead to better user performance. In this research, we examine user Website behaviour as a way to understand Website design using a “think aloud” protocol analysis. Main theoretical contributions of this research are the illustration of the flow of cognitive processes during the Website browsing and the establishment of Website design dimensions – the meaning and content implied by Website content, its outward form, and the structure and navigation – in relation to user performance.     

基于LabVIEW的虚拟仪器测试系统的I2C总线通讯设计

介绍了基于LabVIEW编程语言，采用虚拟仪器测试系统的两个数字通道，来模拟I^2C总线的数据通讯，实现测试系统对被测电路的控制数据传送。     

Simulation-based analysis of middleware service impact on system reliability: Experiment on Java application server

Being a popular runtime infrastructure in the era of Internet, middleware provides more and more services to support the development, deployment and management of distributed systems. At the same time, the reliability of middleware services has a significant impact on the overall reliability of the system. Different services have different impacts and different service fault-tolerance solutions have different costs and risks. Therefore, the identification of the services that greatly affect the whole system reliability is the major obstacle to achieving reliable middleware-based systems. In this paper, we present an analytical framework to automatically reason and quantify such impacts when deploying the target system. In this framework, faults are represented by exceptions in modern programming languages; service failures are simulated by software fault injection; reliability impacts are measured by scenarios. This framework is demonstrated on multiple JEE application servers, including JBoss, JonAS and PKUAS. The experiments on two JEE blueprint applications, namely JPS and ECperf, show the feasibility, the applicability and the usability of this framework.     

A case study to demonstrate the impact of quality design principles when restructuring existing software

The case study is about the System Monitor and Control Facility (SMCF) workstation product developed by a major telecommunications company that has been used to monitor MVS OS mainframe computer systems since 1983. In 1991, mainframe UNIX systems were added to the list of systems supported using software executing on the mainframe side. In 1994, an effort to develop a common interface using TCP/IP and Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) began with a product being developed in the C. The product, which was officially delivered in June of 1994, was coded using structured programming techniques. However, after the product had been in use for some time, maintaining and extending the code for additional functionality and portability was less than desirable.A decision was made by the programmers who support the host-side code to restructure (re-engineer) it such that certain software engineering principles be included into the product to make the product more maintainable and portable. This paper discusses the factors that led to the initial decisions of the designers and programmers, the evaluation of the existing code, and the resulting code with software engineering principles re-engineered into the existing code, and how the incorporation of these principles make maintenance simpler and how they may prevent or minimize defects in the future.     

C22 BxNy(x+y=2)全部异构体和分子离子芳香性的研究

用拓扑共振能(TRE)和百分拓扑共振能(%TRE)方法,研究从富勒烯C24(D6)产生异质富勒烯C22N2,C22B2和C22BN的所有异构体,研究阳离子和阴离子的芳香性.分析C22BxNy中杂原子取代位置和稳定性之间的关系.结果,中性状态和阳离子状态中,各异构体的TRE都为负数具有反芳香性.但它们的高价阴离子的TRE都为正数则有芳香性.中性状态中,稳定性顺序为:C22N2(1-19)>C22BN(39-64)>C24>C22B2(20-38).形成闭壳层结构时稳定性顺序为:C22B8-2(20-38>C6-24>C22BN6-(39-64)>C22N4-2(1-19).无论在中性状态还是闭壳层结构,当N原子取代C2类碳原子,B原子取代C1类碳原子时最稳定.理论上,预测C22BxNy的高价阴离子有合成的可能性.     

基于排队论的Web服务社区最优服务数设置

Web服务社区是将功能类似的Web服务集中到一起为用户提供服务,当大量用户同时访问社区时,会出现排队现象。用户在社区中排队时会占用一部分资源,从而会产生一部分额外的成本。为此研究了如何设置最优的服务数使得这部分的额外成本最小。给出Web服务社区的定义,将在服务社区中排队的问题映射成排队论问题,确定排队模型为M/M/n。计算在稳定状态时用户的排队长度,得出在社区中排队的用户数量。结合Web服务社区中的成本因素确定成本函数,结合经济学中的边际分析法求出最佳的服务数。实验表明：该方法可以有效地找出最优的服务数,且效率较高。     

A study of B2B e-market in China: E-commerce process perspective

In China, B2B electronic markets are still in their early stages of development. The lack of basic business infrastructures has delayed the development of e-markets. The intervention and support of government and IT firms was needed to provide technical support and services to e-markets. We developed a conceptual model to aid in evaluating value creation strategy in B2B e-market; it can also be used to determine the complexity of such activities in Chinese B2B e-markets. Based on a case study of two Chinese e-markets, a process-oriented approach was found to be more suitable in modeling the value creation and therefore was selected. The model addressed two major factors: the transaction process and controlling complexity. The crucial value creation activities and strategies in the four phases of the transaction process are identified, and the controlling complexity of these activities is evaluated in the model. Our results offer an approach for studying the dynamic structure of e-commerce processes while focusing on the special issues of e-market development in China.     

The impact of perceived risk on the capital market’s reaction to outsourcing announcements

Outsourcing is a widely accepted option in strategic management, which, like every business venture, bears opportunities and risks. Supplementing the popular area of research on the merits of outsourcing, this paper examines how stockholders rate corporate sourcing decisions with regard to the risk they associate with this transaction. Using event study methodology and multivariate cross-sectional OLS-regression, we analyze a sample of 182 outsourcing transactions in the global financial services industry between 1998 and 2004 in order to investigate the risk-specific drivers of excess returns to shareholders. The analysis studies the impact of risk-specific independent variables, including transaction size, length, outsourced business functionality, and experience with outsourcing. Our findings indicate that risk-mitigating strategies have significant explanatory power, indicating that the capital market’s reaction to an outsourcing announcement might at least partly be forecast. Results show a positive correlation between market reaction and business process outsourcing by financial services companies. We also find strong evidence indicating that capital markets react positively to relatively large transactions compared to the market capitalization of the outsourcing firm. For service providers our results show that traditional IT-related sourcing projects or the insourcing of administrative processes have a significant positive correlation with market reaction.     

A cross-cultural analysis of the effect of language on perceived risk online

This paper investigates whether perceived risk online is affected by the language in which a user browses a given website. In order to achieve this objective and test the proposed hypotheses, a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design was chosen, using two independent variables with two levels each, namely: culture (Spanish vs. British) and processing language (Spanish vs. English). The final sample comprised 491 individuals (264 Spanish and 227 British). Half the sample browsed in their mother tongue, and the other half in a second language. The results showed that Spanish users perceive less risk when browsing in English than in Spanish, while for the British there was no difference, in terms of perceived risk, between browsing in Spanish or English. Another interesting finding is the moderating effect of message involvement on the processing of information from the website, and thus its effect on the user’s perception of risk.