Do organisational and environmental factors moderate the effects of Internet-based interorganisational systems on firm performance?

We developed a model of the relationships among several organisational, interorganisational and technological factors, the adoption of Internet-based interorganisational systems (IBIS) and various measures of firm performance. We used structural equation modelling to empirically test these relationships. The findings showed that adopting IBIS indirectly improves the operational performance of firms through business process performance. The positive effect on financial performance of adopting IBIS is not direct, but through the mediating effects of operational performance and business process performance. We also utilised multiple group analysis to test some of the model relationships across firms using several organisational and environmental factors as moderators. The organisational factors tested are firm type, age and ownership type. The environmental factors consisted of dynamism, complexity and hostility. We found that the organisational factors are significant moderators and that complexity and hostility are not significant moderators. However, the effects of dynamism as a moderator are less clear.     

Managing as designing: ‘opportunity knocks’ for the IS field?

In response to anxieties about our discipline's decline, this opinion piece ‘looks to the future’, arguing a strong prospectus for the IS field, based on its direct relevance to general management practice. The thesis set out is inspired by the recent upsurge in interest in ‘managing as designing’. Reformulating management as design, I argue that we have a formidable knowledge-base of tools, theories and critique relevant to any manager, not just the MIS-inclined specialist. A case study of yet another failed information system (in U.K. children's services) is presented to show just how uniquely relevant our discipline is, in the workplace of today. Other pertinent issues are explored, such as synergies with the growing vogue for evidence-based management. The paper concludes by considering implications for research, including the need for a less exclusive approach to publishing and dissemination emphasising the need to make our work more accessible to lay practitioners.     

My social networking profile: copy,resemblance, or simulacrum? A poststructuralist interpretation of social information systems

This paper offers an introduction to poststructuralist interpretivist research in information systems, through a poststructuralist theoretical reading of the phenomenon and experience of social networking websites, such as Facebook. This is undertaken through an exploration of how loyally a social networking profile can represent the essence of an individual, and whether Platonic notions of essence, and loyalty of copy, are disturbed by the nature of a social networking profile, in ways described by poststructuralist thinker Deleuze's notions of the reversal of Platonism. In bringing a poststructuralist critique to such hugely successful and popular social information systems, the paper attempts to further open up the black box of the computer ‘user’, extend interpretive approaches to information systems research to embrace poststructuralism, and explore how notions of the Self might be reflected through engagement with information system (IS), and how an IS appreciation of the phenomenon of global social networking may benefit from embracing such a poststructuralist approach.     

Empirical validation of object-oriented metrics for predicting fault proneness models

Empirical validation of software metrics used to predict software quality attributes is important to ensure their practical relevance in software organizations. The aim of this work is to find the relation of object-oriented (OO) metrics with fault proneness at different severity levels of faults. For this purpose, different prediction models have been developed using regression and machine learning methods. We evaluate and compare the performance of these methods to find which method performs better at different severity levels of faults and empirically validate OO metrics given by Chidamber and Kemerer. The results of the empirical study are based on public domain NASA data set. The performance of the predicted models was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. The results show that the area under the curve (measured from the ROC analysis) of models predicted using high severity faults is low as compared with the area under the curve of the model predicted with respect to medium and low severity faults. However, the number of faults in the classes correctly classified by predicted models with respect to high severity faults is not low. This study also shows that the performance of machine learning methods is better than logistic regression method with respect to all the severities of faults. Based on the results, it is reasonable to claim that models targeted at different severity levels of faults could help for planning and executing testing by focusing resources on fault-prone parts of the design and code that are likely to cause serious failures.     

Architecture analysis of enterprise systems modifiability: a metamodel for software change cost estimation

Enterprise architecture models can be used in order to increase the general understanding of enterprise systems and specifically to perform various kinds of analysis. The present paper proposes a metamodel for enterprise systems modifiability analysis, i.e. assessing the cost of making changes to enterprise-wide systems. The enterprise architecture metamodel is formalized using probabilistic relational models, which enables the combination of regular entity-relationship modeling aspects with means to perform enterprise architecture analysis. The content of the presented metamodel is validated based on survey and workshop data and its estimation capability is tested with data from 21 software change projects. To illustrate the applicability of the metamodel an instantiated architectural model based on a software change project conducted at a large Nordic transportation company is detailed.     

Electroplating of nickel films at ultra low electrolytic temperature

In this paper, we have demonstrated a successful electroplating process of nickel (Ni) in a sulfamate electrolyte bath at ultra low electrolytic temperatures of 273–278 K. The potentiostatic mode is essential for the electroplating process rather than galvanostatic mode. The reason is that diffusion-limited current can be easily obtained by applying a specific potential which is higher than reduction potential. On the contrary, galvanostatic mode can not identify the diffusion-limited current and the reduction will suspend while the setting current is higher than diffusion-limited current ranged in hundreds of μA. The microstructure, morphology and hardness of the Ni electrodeposits were characterized using grazing incidence x-ray diffractometer, atomic force microscopy and nano-indentation test were performed. The hardness of Ni film was much enhanced to around 6.37 GPa at 273 K to 6.18 GPa at 278 K compared with that around 4.11 GPa at 288 K to 4.01 GPa at 293 K. The normal hardness of pure nickel is about 4 GPa. The enhanced hardness of Ni at ultra low temperature is attributed to both mechanisms of reduced grain size strengthening and residual compressive stress hardening.     

Preventive maintenance scheduling for repairable system with deterioration

Maintenance as an important part in manufacturing system can keep equipment in good condition. Many maintenance policies help to decrease the unexpected failures and reduce high operational cost such as conventional preventive maintenance. But these conventional preventive maintenance policies have the same time interval T that may easily neglect system’s reliability, because the system deteriorates with increased usage and age. Hence, this study has developed a reliability-centred sequential preventive maintenance model for monitored repairable deteriorating system. It is supposed that system’s reliability could be monitored continuously and perfectly, whenever it reaches the threshold R, the imperfect repair must be performed to restore the system. In this model, system’s failure rate function and operational cost are both considered by the effect of system’s corresponding condition, which helps to decide the optimal reliability threshold R and preventive maintenance cycle number. Finally, through case study, the simulation results show that the improved sequential preventive maintenance policy is more practical and efficient.     

A telebiometric system mechanism model and biometric network protocol for the security of networked manufacturing

Networked manufacturing changes conventional enterprise activities. With a networked manufacturing system, enterprises are able to perform a range of activities, such as product planning, design, production, and marketing, in collaboration with international partners, regardless of geographical location. However, strict security measures are required, as the authentication and information transfers for networked manufacturing are conducted over a network. With the development of biometric technology, more and more enterprises are using the unique biometric data of individuals to verify the identity of users, in order to restrict and provide access to technology research centers or factory facilities. This paper analyzes the vulnerabilities of the biometric system used for access control and the authentication of access to confidential information in the networked manufacturing system. In addition, the biometric systems that can be built in an open network environment are classified into 9 general models, and a biometric network protocol is suggested that is secure and compatible with international standards.     

The multi-agent programming contest from 2005–2010

The Multi-Agent Programming Contest is an annual international event on programming multi-agent systems: Teams of agents participate in a simulated cooperative scenario. It started in 2005 and is organised in 2010 for the sixth time. The contest is an attempt to stimulate research in the area of multi-agent system development and programming by (i) identifying key problems in the field and (ii) collecting suitable benchmarks that can serve as milestones for testing multi-agent programming languages, platforms and tools. This article provides a short history of the contest since it started and reports in more detail on the cows and cowboys scenario implemented for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 contest editions. We briefly discuss the underlying technological background and conclude with a critical discussion of the experiences and lessons learned.     

A method for automatic calibration of 3D vision systems by means of high-resolution data

Calibration of the digital projector is a necessary procedure for many 3D scanners. The proposed method for automatic calibration of a projector uses binary color templates and searches for the most stable points for minimization of decoding errors. The camera resolution must significantly exceed the projector’s resolution. The method can be easily adapted for operation with black-and-white templates.