Facing the challenges of service automation: an enabler for e-commerce and productivity gain in traditional services

Business plan, psychological factors, and operational issues are three major reasons that Internet-based businesses fail. The paper considers why operational concerns occur and illustrates how they can be avoided, by demonstrating the application of techniques that were pioneered in manufacturing automation and service management. The use of process mapping and failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) can assist the development of e-commerce business processes in a manner similar to the way these tools have proven valuable in manufacturing. The use and value of process mapping and FMEA are demonstrated through the development of an online auction process.     

Multi‐robot Mapping Using Omnidirectional‐Vision SLAM Based on Fisheye Images

This paper proposes a global mapping algorithm for multiple robots from an omnidirectional‐vision simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) approach based on an object extraction method using Lucas–Kanade optical flow motion detection and images obtained through fisheye lenses mounted on robots. The multi‐robot mapping algorithm draws a global map by using map data obtained from all of the individual robots. Global mapping takes a long time to process because it exchanges map data from individual robots while searching all areas. An omnidirectional image sensor has many advantages for object detection and mapping because it can measure all information around a robot simultaneously. The process calculations of the correction algorithm are improved over existing methods by correcting only the object's feature points. The proposed algorithm has two steps: first, a local map is created based on an omnidirectional‐vision SLAM approach for individual robots. Second, a global map is generated by merging individual maps from multiple robots. The reliability of the proposed mapping algorithm is verified through a comparison of maps based on the proposed algorithm and real maps.     

Learning from the ‘wow’ factor — how to engage customers through the design of effective affective customer experiences

’I think ‘exceeds expectations’ is the most pitiful pair of words uttered in the English language. Our aspirations are too low. Think Cirque de Soleil, not Siegfried and Roy. Aim to put a shiver up your customers’ spines. That’s what you should even be trying to do with your call centers’, Tom Peters, Uber-Guru. In a survey by Shaw and Ivens [1], 85% of business leaders said that differentiation by price, product and service is no longer a sustainable business strategy. 71% of these leaders also stated that they believed that ‘customer experience’ is the new battleground. The same survey found that customers found 44% of customer experiences to be bland and uneventful. Yet only 15% of companies are actually starting to engage customers on both an efficient and emotionally engaging manner. The implication is that companies which start to leverage the power of emotion in the purchasing decision-making process, and leverage that power to improve the customer experience, are likely to succeed in an increasingly commoditised market. How do companies who are renowned for outstanding levels of customer experience, loyalty and advocacy achieve these levels? To find the answer to that question, this paper looks across organisations globally to find out how the best achieve effective affective customer experiences across all contact channels. A distinct pattern emerged.     

Creating Collaboration

Remember when the management gurus told you your job was to build teamwork? Now the in-word is collaboration, because innovation of all kinds requires high levels of interactivity, not only within teams but also across traditional boundaries. That includes integrating technology with business solutions, developing convergent product offerings, slashing transaction costs, and responding to disasters.     

A method for quality precoordination in a quality assuranceinformation system

A new concept is introduced of an information center for planning and controlling the quality of products and processes in a factory. This center is called the Quality Assurance Information System (QAIS), and its role is to tie together through quality related functions, design, manufacturing, distribution, sales and other factory management systems to optimize overall factory performance. The quality functions of QAIS as carried out through coordination and precoordination activities are considered. A formal approach for dealing with precoordination activities is presented and a methodology is proposed for the quantitative evaluation and selection of complex systems satisfying desired product or process quality requirements from a number of the factory's subsystems. Practical steps on how to implement precoordination are presented and the methodology is illustrated through a case example     

ICLAB: A computer simulated microelectronics laboratory for computer aided instruction in microelectronics

Microcomputers have had a significant effect on almost all aspects of daily life. Interestingly, one area that has not been strongly affected is the area of teaching people how to make the chips used to build the computer. ICLAB is a software package that provides useful support for computer aided instruction in the area of microelectronics manufacturing. The program was written to provide students with a simulated manufacturing laboratory which would allow them to “manufacture” a simple chip. Students use the program to carry out all of the steps needed to produce a chip in the same manner that would be used in a real laboratory except they never have to leave the computer. Processes that are used in a working laboratory are simulated in detail so the student actually processes the chip. Operations such as mask design, oxidation, diffusion, ion implantation, lithography and etching are included in the simulation.     

Digital cinema: a slow revolution

Digital cinema offers a high-quality image, unaffected by repeated showings. So why can't you see it at your local multiplex? The explanation for this apparent impasse is a combination of technical complexity and an industry structure that's fundamentally antipathetic to investment in digital technology. A lack of common standards is another major part of the answer. Resolution has become a big issue in the digital cinema debate, but in comparing digital cinema and conventional celluloid it's only part of a complex picture. Once the problem of standards has been overcome, the industry will be able to get down to the really big challenge: sorting out the business case. Digital cinema will produce sizeable savings, but will also require massive levels of investment. Digital cinema has suffered from hype in the past, and the technical and commercial barriers remain formidable, but a cautious optimism may now be justified as the UK and China prepare to invest in this new medium.     

Listen to your data [signal processing applications]

This paper gives emphasis on the importance of testing the performance of signal processing algorithms with real data and learning from the data. The discussion is made primarily within the context of a patient monitoring research. The author suggests six steps on how to test with and learn from real data. These steps are: (1) minimize measurement uncertainty so your physiological phenomenon is consistently observable, (2) understand your data, (3) acquire a significant number of appropriate training and testing sets, (4) construct high-performance validation criteria, (5) design algorithms that can generalize in the clinical environment, and (6) test and learn from your data. Results show that this process is also applicable to other fields as well.     

Re-engineering basics: One of three, new, special tools for management, quality and all other professionals

This is probably one of the ‘hottest’ topics for present management. Re-engineering is a major effort to modify how business—manufacturing and service and government—is done so that it is done better, faster, and at lower cost. Some organizations have simplistic viewpoints or limited viewpoints for the potential of re-engineering. The author will provide re-engineering basics, tools and a workable methodology! Re-engineering achieves breakthrough business results through the rapid and radical redesign of critical core processes and the systems, policies, and organizational structures that support them. Programs like re-engineering are necessary because the business world is changing too fast for more traditional incremental improvement techniques to keep up. Breakthrough suggests that the results are completely beyond the realm of possibility now. Re-engineering is different from other improvement programs, such as reorganization, downsizing, or total quality management (TQM): while re-engineering addresses and improves certain critical core work processes, TQM fixes all work processes across the board; while re-engineering seeks single breakthrough improvements, quality programs such as TQM makes continuous incremental improvements; while re-engineering fixes the work, reorganization fixes the organization; while re-engineering fixes the work, downsizing fixes the firm's size.Re-engineering is not downsizing! Re-engineering differs from other improvement programs in several essential ways: re-engineering is not just ‘another’ quality improvement program; while quality programs seek incremental adjustments spread across the entire enterprise, re-engineering seeks breakthrough improvements based on a few ‘high-value’ processes through a radical redesign of those processes; in re-engineering, the employees become even more indispensable; re-engineering is not just restructuring. Restructing changes the way the firm is organized to do work. Re-engineering changes the organization of work.     

What do I do now: suggestions for the frustrated mid-career professional

Librarians, like most professionals, may arrive at a stage in their careers when they start questioning themselves about their job satisfaction and importance. The reasons are many, from not being challenged by their work to abrupt changes in the workplace dictated by management and the economy. At this stage, professionals may begin to feel unappreciated by management and not in control of their work environment. In this piece, I offer some suggestions that could help mid-career librarians to re-energize themselves and survive in a workplace that is in constant flux. How you react to the anxiety of "job disconnect" will affect the rest of your career life. Should you become more proactive at your job, increasing your responsibility and value to your institution? What does your personality have to do with how you adjust to management changes? Does tenure fit into this equation? Should you even think about changing your job at this stage of your career? What other factors could "spice" up your career? Specific strategies and options for each of these questions will be discussed.     

How to make networking an art...not an accident

Networking is more than a business buzzword. It's your vital connection to potential clients, new opportunities, business resources, and career support. Cultivating a circle of contacts makes your job a whole lot easier as well as a lot more fun and profitable. You need to know how to make contacts. Otherwise, your creativity, your career, and your professional growth will stagnate. So find out what's going on and who's doing what in your field. The social skills described in the following article may be the most neglected factors in your career     

Mission-critical and safety-critical development

The concern in mission-critical and safety-critical systems is that you develop them thoughtfully and carefully. They need traceable evidence for every detail. Like a good journalist, you and your team must establish the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" in everything you do. Development of mission- and safety-critical systems requires a temporal progression, regardless of the development model. Generally, there are five phases to development. These are: concept; planning and scheduling; design and development; controlled release; commercial release. Another issue in mission- and safety-critical system is people. People make processes work or not work. Good, disciplined people can struggle, even under wretched conditions, and produce good results. Add reasonable processes, and these same people can produce great results. Unfortunately, outstanding processes cannot rescue a project from unruly and undisciplined people.     

一种软件开发新方法--过程模式

目前,软件开发的复杂性不断提高,过程模式为减少软件开发过程中的复杂性提供了一个很好的工具,为给定的任务提供了一个结构化的方法.文中首先阐明了过程、模式,以及过程模式的定义,接着描述了过程模式的3种类型:任务过程模式,步骤过程模式,阶段过程模式.过程模式是实践验证的软件开发方法,软件开发机构可用它来提高软件的质量、可维护性和可扩展性.     

Dealing effectively with job loss-a unique approach to rebuilding your life

Are you one of the growing army of unemployed? Or are you afraid you might be soon? If so, you are one of millions in today's business world whose emotional structure has either collapsed or is in danger of collapsing. Your ability to cope, to function optimally, and to enjoy your life may, indeed, be in danger in the current business scene. In times like these, it is normal to feel a great sense of loss. As a result, you may even feel depressed. In order to pull yourself out of the doldrums and get on with your life, you'll need to find a way to regain some measure of stability so that you can replenish your confidence in yourself. This is a vital step that must be taken before you go out to find another job... the right job. If you don't pull yourself together, you will jeopardize the very result you want so badly: to get back into the workforce and reestablish your identity as a responsible, earning, worthwhile individual. The author briefly outlines a concept from her book 'Dealing effectively with job loss' on rebuilding the emotional and physical structure of your life.     

Bringing the common whiteboard into the digital age

Most of us have attended a lecture or a meeting in which a whiteboard was an integral part of the learning and communication process. Whether you are an educator explaining some finer point of a lesson or you are simply conveying an idea to a colleague, whiteboards provide a way to augment the fidelity of your communication. This is particularly true when text alone will not do the trick. Wouldn't it be great if the common dry-erase whiteboard could digitally store all your handwritten text and sketches? How about if you could engage in the same free-style, creative, problem-solving discourse with other participants who are not in the same room with you? What if you could review the notes written on a whiteboard from a meeting that you could not attend?     

Information risk management and compliance — expect the unexpected

This paper sets out to demonstrate how establishing an effective information risk management programme is a key element in an enterprise’s overall operational risk and governance programme. Establishing such a programme provides a golden opportunity to rationalise and align a number of processes and disciplines into an overall effective risk and compliance programme. This paper provides the opening steps for establishing such a programme to open up the possibility of such an opportunity. The business need has been created through legislation and regulation, accounting standards, best practice or contractual commitments for effective governance and appropriate risk management while meeting the need to generate profit and be cost effective. Aspects of financial risk, e.g. credit risk, are supported through mature processes and there is wide commercial experience in many of these finance related areas; however, other aspects of risk may be of such low frequency that little or no experience has been accumulated. For some risks the processes have not been developed to manage the risk — or where a risk management process is present, they are either immature or ineffective.     

Survival of the fittest [technical skills development]

Occupational health is similar to physical health-you have to keep working at it and looking ahead, and not put off responding till symptoms of trouble are obvious. The authors discuss a six step skill development process based on the analogy between physical and technical fitness, will force you to take the initiative and work with management to align its needs with yours. The six steps are: identify your skill objectives; set skill priorities; get your management to agree to your list of priorities; generate learning options; get a commitment of organisational support and resources; and finally, implement the plan     

Combining Artificial Neural Network Models, Geostatistics, and Passive Microwave Data for Snow Water Equivalent Retrieval and Mapping

A new modeling framework combining neural-network-based models, passive microwave data, and geostatistics is proposed for snow water equivalent (SWE) retrieval and mapping. Brightness temperature data from the seven-channel special sensor microwave/imager and the interpolated minimum temperature are the inputs of a multilayer feedforward neural network (MFF). Kriging with an external drift algorithm is applied to ground-based SWE data to produce gridded SWE data that are used as the target of the neural network. An optimal division of the sample of available pixels is achieved by a self-organizing feature map. Prediction error is used for model selection and is assessed by bootstrap. It is shown that a committee of a network containing neural networks with different architectures can provide consistent SWE retrievals. This modeling framework is applied for SWE retrieval and mapping over La Grande River basin in north eastern Quebec (Canada). The results are very promising for operational purposes particularly for SWE mapping during periods with no ground measurements and operational streamflow forecasting.     

Merging Occupancy Grid Maps From Multiple Robots

Mapping can potentially be speeded up in a significant way by using multiple robots exploring different parts of the environment. But the core question of multirobot mapping is how to integrate the data of the different robots into a single global map. A significant amount of research exists in the area of multirobot mapping that deals with techniques to estimate the relative robots poses at the start or during the mapping process. With map merging, the robots in contrast individually build local maps without any knowledge about their relative positions. The goal is then to identify regions of overlap at which the local maps can be joined together. A concrete approach to this idea is presented in form of a special similarity metric and a stochastic search algorithm. Given two maps m and m', the search algorithm transforms m' by rotations and translations to find a maximum overlap between m and m'. In doing so, the heuristic similarity metric guides the search algorithm toward optimal solutions. Results from experiments with up to six robots are presented based on simulated as well as real-world map data.     

STE Equipment for Chinese semiconductor market

Hello,Mr.Alexeev.It's my pleasure to talk about"Semiconductor Technologies and Equipment" Joint Stock Company with you.First of all,please,could you give us a brief introduction about your company and your future business plan in China?