An observer’s information dynamics: Acquisition of information and the origin of the cognitive dynamics

Conventional information science considers an information process, but traditionally uses the probability measure for random states and Shannon’s entropy as the uncertainty function of these states.This paper presents a new approach, based on an integral information measure of the random process.An entropy functional (EF) on the trajectories of the process accumulates and encodes the process’ inner connections between the information states.The application of a variation principle (VP) to the EF determines the process’ information path functional (IPF), whose extremal trajectories describe the informational dynamics of this process.Information dynamics with the VP invariant relations evaluate the information content of a random process, expose its information code and reveal a conserved (hidden) information, produced at an acquisition of the process information.By introducing both objective and subjective information observers, we consider the observers information cognitive dynamics and neurodynamics, based on the EF–IPF approach.The universal nature of information process’ dynamics and regularities, discovered in the information observers, have many applications not only in cognitive and intelligent systems, but also in different biological, social and economic systems.     

Multi-dimensional students’ evaluation of e-learning systems in the higher education context: An empirical investigation

There has been little research on assessment of learning management systems (LMS) within educational organizations as both a web-based learning system for e-learning and as a supportive tool for blended learning environments. This study proposes a conceptual e-learning assessment model, hexagonal e-learning assessment model (HELAM) suggesting a multi-dimensional approach for LMS evaluation via six dimensions: (1) system quality, (2) service quality, (3) content quality, (4) learner perspective, (5) instructor attitudes, and (6) supportive issues. A survey instrument based on HELAM has been developed and applied to 84 learners. This sample consists of students at both undergraduate and graduate levels who are users of a web-based learning management system, U-Link, at Brunel University, UK. The survey instrument has been tested for content validity, reliability, and criterion-based predictive validity. The analytical results strongly support the appropriateness of the proposed model in evaluating LMSs through learners’ satisfaction. The explanatory factor analysis showed that each of the six dimensions of the proposed model had a significant effect on the learners’ perceived satisfaction. Findings of this research will be valuable for both academics and practitioners of e-learning systems.     

Where’s the competitive advantage in strategic information systems research? Making the case for boundary-spanning research based on the German business and information systems engineering tradition

During the last decades, strategic information systems (SIS) research has become an influential stream within the information systems discipline. The success story of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems provides strong evidence. Yet, we believe that there is still a lot of untapped potential in the interaction of SIS research and industry. Put bluntly, it is impossible that results of SIS research are publicly available, reconstructable by subject matter experts, and valid beyond the single or very few cases and at the same time constitute the foundation of competitive advantage. We argue that SIS researchers need to become boundary spanners who actively engage in industry collaboration to help create competitive advantage and who disseminate their insights later on to advance the scientific knowledge base. We outline challenges of boundary-spanning SIS research and provide some ideas and recommendations. Wherever sensible, we draw on our experiences from the traditionally strong industry collaboration of the business and information systems engineering community from the German-speaking countries.     

The digitization of a food package’s life cycle: Existing and emerging computer systems in the pre-logistics phase

Traditional design and production methods for food packages become less and less suitable to rapidly respond to ever-changing requirements and regulations. Computer systems applied in discrete manufacturing (ranging from computer-aided-technologies to image analysis systems) are now also specifically developed for and gradually adopted by the food package industry to improve efficiency in terms of material usage, operational costs, and food loss, and to allow the development of more performant and sustainable food packages. In this paper, an extensive overview is provided of such systems that, when combined, offer the perspective to realize a more holistic research, design and production approach that fits within the spirit of the fourth industrial revolution. Special attention is given to the importance of information from and knowledge about the logistics and post-logistics phase of a food package's life cycle in the manufacturing process. The main purpose of this review paper is to provide, for the first time, a complete and coherent overview of the digitization of a food package's life cycle that can be used as a blueprint for future research, development and discussion in this emerging research topic.     

The digitization of a food package’s life cycle: Existing and emerging computer systems in the logistics and post-logistics phase

At present, the food and food packaging industry is increasingly confronted with and gently forced by consumers and governmental organizations to resolve issues related to food fraud, counterfeit, theft, food quality and safety, and package reuse and recycling. This requires the development and/or integration of new or existing technologies such as intelligent food packages or wireless sensor networks to improve monitoring capabilities during logistics and sales and consumption, allow interaction with consumers, and improve the reuse or recycling of food packages. In this review paper, an extensive overview is provided of computer systems that are used in the logistics and post-logistics phase of a food package’s life cycle and that to a certain extent integrate the aforementioned technologies. These systems offer the perspective to improve the efficiency of logistics operations on food packages to reduce food loss, better inform consumers through food packages, and support package reuse and recycling. The main purpose of this review paper is to encourage the academia and engineers to tackle existing research challenges and resolve technical issues related to the development of new integrated computer systems.     

An emerging – Social and emerging computing enabled philosophical paradigm for collaborative learning systems: Toward high effective next generation learning systems for the knowledge society

The vast evolution of Social Computing in the last years and the tremendous improvement of novel technologies including cloud computing, open source technologies, recommender systems, personalized knowledge management systems, Big Data Systems, and Open Educational Resources approaches set a challenging context for the establishment of novel high effective approaches to Collaborative learning in both Business and Academia.This editorial provides an overview of a magnificent top quality research collection of articles related to the New Generation Collaborative Learning Systems. It is an opportunity for a scientific debate for the enabling technologies and the required adjustments in Academic Programs and Executives Training programs worldwide. It is a bold contribution to a new philosophical paradigm for the need to promote flexible, open, collaborative learning beyond time, personality, and place constraints. It seems that the old fashioned classroom based learning has to be enriched or in some cases replaced by technological learning innovations fostering collaboration between learners.Another important contribution of this special issue is the in depth discussion of a variety of requirements for next generation learning systems. This can be extremely useful for researchers interested on future research on the domain. Two more special issues on prestigious journals have been confirmed on similar topics for the next year in order to provide a continuity on this fascinating research domain that is directly linked to the vision of the Knowledge Society.     

An emotion-aware music recommender system: bridging the user’s interaction and music recommendation

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In emotion-aware music recommender systems, the user’s current emotion is identified and considered in recommending music to him. We have two motivations...     

Rationality-based beliefs affecting individual’s attitude and intention to use privacy controls on Facebook: An empirical investigation

Online social networking sites like Facebook provides a fast and easy way to connect with friends and family. Users need to post and share their personal information in order to get the best possible experiences on Facebook. However, the spreading of private information can also lead to serious and harmful issues. Therefore, privacy becomes an important component in the use of Facebook and it is the user’s responsibility to protect his or her profile. This study draws upon the theory of planned behavior and the rational choice theory to investigate the rationality-based beliefs affecting individual’s attitude and intention to use privacy controls on Facebook. The results show that individual’s attitude toward using privacy controls is influenced by benefit of using privacy controls, cost of using privacy controls, and cost of not using privacy controls. Further, benefits of using privacy controls is shaped by beliefs regarding intrinsic benefit and resource safety; cost of not using privacy controls is shaped by beliefs regarding resource vulnerability, threat severity, privacy risk and privacy intrusion; and cost of using privacy controls is shaped by beliefs about intrinsic cost and work impediment. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed in the paper.     

“It’s Not Who You Know,but Who You Add:” An investigation into the differential impact of friend adding and self-disclosure on interpersonal perceptions on Facebook

This research seeks to understand how people perceive and respond to structural factors and different types of disclosure on Facebook when evaluating the profile of someone they have never met offline. Using a 2 × 3 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, this research explored the relationship between friend adding (add; no add), levels of self-disclosure (low, medium, high), and sex of the Facebook profile owner (male; female) on feelings of interpersonal liking, future behavioral intentions to interact, and homophily. Results indicated that friend adding and higher levels of self-disclosure led to greater feelings of interpersonal liking and homophily amongst both male and female participants. In addition, males tended to view other male profiles with moderate amounts of disclosure and female profiles with the highest amount of disclosure most favorably. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Generalization of the Firm’s Profit Maximization Problem: An Algorithm for the Analytical and Nonsmooth Solution

In this paper we present a generalization of the classic Firm’s profit maximization problem, using the linear model for the production function, considering a non constant price and maximum constraints for the inputs. We formulate the problem by previously calculating the analytical minimum cost function. This minimum cost function will be calculated for each production level via the infimal convolution of quadratic functions and the result will be a piecewise quadratic function. To solve this family of optimization problems, we present an algorithm of quasi-linear complexity. Moreover, the resulting cost function in certain cases is not $C^{1}$ and the profit maximization problem will be solved within the framework of nonsmooth analysis. Finally, we present a numerical example.     

Understanding determinants of information systems users’ behaviour: a comparison of two models in the context of integrated accounting and budgeting software

This study examines determinants that affect the behaviour of information systems (IS) users, and influence of the users’ decisions to continue using IS by two models: the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the expectation-confirmation model of IS continuance (ECM-IS). The behaviour of professionals who utilise complex software solutions for performing their working tasks has been in the focus of this research. Based on data gathered from questionnaires filled-out by users of the integrated accounting and budgeting software (IABS), the confirmatory factor analysis has shown that both models demonstrate good factor, convergence and discriminatory validity, respectively. The comparison of the obtained results has been performed, and it shows that ECM-IS has a larger explanatory power (R²) over TAM, explaining 49% of the dependent variable (IS continuance intention) in relation to 29%. The IS continuance intention is determined by the users’ satisfaction and perceived usefulness. The user satisfaction is influenced by perceived usefulness and confirmation. The confirmation of the user's expectations has had a positive influence on perceived usefulness. The perceived ease of use has not exerted a significant influence on the user's intention of IS continuance.     

Exploring the relationship of a file’s history and its fault-proneness: An empirical method and its application to open source programs

ContextThe knowledge about particular characteristics of software that are indicators for defects is very valuable for testers because it helps them to focus the testing effort and to allocate their limited resources appropriately.ObjectiveIn this paper, we explore the relationship between several historical characteristics of files and their defect count.MethodFor this purpose, we propose an empirical approach that uses statistical procedures and visual representations of the data in order to determine indicators for a file’s defect count. We apply this approach to nine open source Java projects across different versions.ResultsOnly 4 of 9 programs show moderate correlations between a file’s defects in previous and in current releases in more than half of the analysed releases. In contrast to our expectations, the oldest files represent the most fault-prone files. Additionally, late changes correlate with a file’s defect count only partly. The number of changes, the number of distinct authors performing changes to a file as well as the file’s age are good indicators for a file’s defect count in all projects.ConclusionOur results show that a software’s history is a good indicator for ist quality. We did not find one indicator that persists across all projects in an equal manner. Nevertheless, there are several indicators that show significant strong correlations in nearly all projects: DA (number of distinct authors) and FC (frequency of change). In practice, for each software, statistical analyses have to be performed in order to evaluate the best indicator(s) for a file’s defect count.     

The impact of psychological contract under- and over-fulfillment on client citizenship behaviors in Enterprise systems projects: From the client’s perspective

This study focuses on examining client citizenship behaviors (CCBs) from a psychological contract perspective in enterprise systems (ES) vendor–client relationships. Using polynomial modeling to capture the discrepancy between expected obligations and delivered fulfillments, this stud unpacks psychological contract and investigates the impacts of psychological contract under-fulfillment, fulfillment, and over-fulfillment on CCBs. The results show that both under-fulfillment and over-fulfillment of psychological contract are negatively related to CCBs. CCBs are shown to be higher when expected obligation and delivered fulfillment are both high than when both are low. The theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.     

It’s complicated: explaining the relationship between trust,distrust, and ambivalence in online transaction relationships using polynomial regression analysis and response surface analysis

Trust and distrust are considered crucial elements affecting online relationships – particularly those involving electronic transactions. Although some studies propose that they are distinct, others claim that they are merely opposite ends of one continuum. Further adding to the debate is the possibility of ambivalence, a topic that has not been examined in electronic transaction relationships. Unfortunately, current models of trust and distrust have limitations that impede explanations of how – or even if – ambivalence is generated by feelings of trust and distrust and how these two constructs can best coexist. We thus propose a hybrid model which considers the limitations and strengths of previous models. Namely, we posit that trust and distrust can coexist as separate components with related continua. We use polynomial regression analysis (PRA) and response surface analysis (RSA) to test these complex relationships. Using an empirical study of online consumer behaviour with 521 experienced online consumers, strong empirical validation is found for the model. We examine the effects of ambivalence on the truster’s intentions towards a website and find a small positive effect which increases such intentions. PRA and RSA confirm that trust and distrust are most likely separate components – not opposite ends of a continuum – with related continua. The continua within the subconstructs of trust and distrust likely have more complex and interesting relationships than have been considered previously. These findings lead to interesting future research opportunities on trust, distrust and ambivalence using advanced techniques such as PRA and RSA.     

Turing’s Imitation Game: Still an Impossible Challenge for All Machines and Some Judges––An Evaluation of the 2008 Loebner Contest

An evaluation of the 2008 Loebner contest

Theognis of Megara and the Divine Creating Power in the Framework of Semiotic Textology: An Application of János Sándor Pet?fi’s Theory to Archaic Greek Literature

This paper is a demonstration of an application of Semiotic Textology to a limited case study. The main aspects of Semiotic Textology, the theory elaborated by Pet?fi, are presented; secondly the linguistic aspects of the interpretation of lines 133?C134 of the Theognis of Megara??s poem, analysed in the framework of said theory, are presented. All the relevant syntactic, semantic, pragmatic information involved in text processing have been considered. Through fixed steps, it is shown that text processing is not exclusively a grammatical activity, because within a theoretical interpretation an Interpreter needs a number of contextual hypotheses, in order to understand the author??s ontology.     

An empirical study of the relationships among employee’s perceptions of HR practice,human capital,and department performance: A case of AT & T Subordinate telecoms company in Taiwan

The telecom industry in Taiwan began to enter a vigorous development stage after Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan enacted the three major telecommunications laws in 1996. After 2003, the number of mobile phone subscribers began to shrink after reaching a climax penetration rate of 111%. The problems which were ignored during the high growth period began to appear. This research discusses which human practices are effective in developing human capital and whether they will influence the performance of the telecom industry. Human capital is used as a mediate variable between human resources and department performance. Through a questionnaire survey, an analysis by mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation is performed. A causal multivariable analysis by structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test the causal relationship among these factors.