The book serves as a connecting medium between various domains and Blockchain technology, discussing and embracing how Blockchain technology is transforming all the major sectors of the society. The book facilitates sharing of information, case studies, theoretical and practical knowledge required for Blockchain transformations in various sectors. The book covers different areas that provide the foundational knowledge and comprehensive information about the transformations by Blockchain technology in the fields of business, healthcare, finance, education, supply-chain, sustainability and governance. The book pertains to students, academics, researchers, professionals, and policy makers working in the area of Blockchain technology and related fields.

This book examines the shifting role of media trust in a digital world, and critically analyzes how news and stories are created, distributed and consumed. Emphasis is placed on the current challenges and possible solutions to regain trust and restore credibility. The book reveals the role of trust in communication, in society and in media, and subsequently addresses media at the crossroads, as evinced by phenomena like gatekeepers, echo chambers and fake news. The following chapters explore truth and trust in journalism, the role of algorithms and robots in media, and the relation between social media and individual trust. The book then presents case studies highlighting how media creates trust in the contexts of: brands and businesses, politics and non-governmental organizations, science and education. In closing, it discusses the road ahead, with a focus on users, writers, platforms and communication in general, and on media competency, skills and education in particular.

This book provides an overview of data mining methods demonstrated by software. Knowledge management involves application of human knowledge (epistemology) with the technological advances of our current society (computer systems) and big data, both in terms of collecting data and in analyzing it. We see three types of analytic tools. Descriptive analytics focus on reports of what has happened. Predictive analytics extend statistical and/or artificial intelligence to provide forecasting capability. It also includes classification modeling. Diagnostic analytics can apply analysis to sensor input to direct control systems automatically. Prescriptive analytics applies quantitative models to optimize systems, or at least to identify improved systems. Data mining includes descriptive and predictive modeling. Operations research includes all three. This book focuses on descriptive analytics. The book seeks to provide simple explanations and demonstration of some descriptive tools. This second edition provides more examples of big data impact, updates the content on visualization, clarifies some points, and expands coverage of association rules and cluster analysis. Chapter 1 gives an overview in the context of knowledge management. Chapter 2 discusses some basic software support to data visualization. Chapter 3 covers fundamentals of market basket analysis, and Chapter 4 provides demonstration of RFM modeling, a basic marketing data mining tool. Chapter 5 demonstrates association rule mining. Chapter 6 is a more in-depth coverage of cluster analysis. Chapter 7 discusses link analysis. Models are demonstrated using business related data. The style of the book is intended to be descriptive, seeking to explain how methods work, with some citations, but without deep scholarly reference. The data sets and software are all selected for widespread availability and access by any reader with computer links.

A much-needed addition to literature, this timely edited collection aims to provide clarity and understanding on how modern organizations work. The authors explore the characteristics of hybrid organizations in contemporary society, taking into account the complex societal challenges that face businesses today. Arguing that hybrid organizations are in fact not a new phenomenon, this thought-provoking collection goes beyond existing research and re-evaluates our traditional understanding of this concept. Scholars of organization, management and innovation will find this book an insightful read, as it sheds light on the fundamental aspects that shape today's hybrid organizations.

This book presents a new paradigm of software testing by emphasizing the role of critical thinking, system thinking and rationality as the most important skills for the tester. It thus approaches software testing from a different perspective than in past literature, as the vast majority of books describe testing in the context of specific tools, automation, documentation, particular test design techniques or test management. In addition, the book proposes a novel meta-approach for designing effective test strategies, which is based on recent advances in psychology, economics, system sciences and logic. Chapter 1 starts by introducing the fundamental ideas underlying software testing. Chapter 2 then describes meta-strategies in software testing, i.e. general approaches that can be adapted to many different situations that a software tester encounters. Next, Chapter 3 presents the concept of Thinking-Driven Testing (TDT). This approach utilizes the concepts discussed in the two previous chapters and introduces the main ideas that underlie a reasonable and optimal approach to software testing. Chapter 4 builds on this basis and proposes a specific approach to testing, called TQED, that makes it possible to increase creativity in the context of delivering effective, optimal test ideas. Chapter 5 provides an overview of different types of testing techniques in order to understand the fundamental concepts of test design, while Chapter 6 details various pitfalls a tester may encounter and that can originate from a wide range of testing process areas. Lastly, Chapter 7 puts all this into practice, as it contains several exercises that will help testers develop a number of crucial skills: logical thinking and reasoning, thinking out of the box, creativity, counting and estimating, and analytical thinking. By promoting critical, rational and creative thinking, this book invites readers to re-examine common assumptions regarding software testing and shows them how to become professional testers who bring added value to their company.

With AI, cryptocurrency, and more in the news, it seems that being an entrepreneur means being in IT, but humanities graduates are launching new businesses every day, turning a profit and having social impact. This book explores how a humanities background can enable entrepreneurs to thrive. Across all levels of education, students are given the message that to change the world - or make money - the arts and humanities are not the subjects to study. At the same time, discussions of innovation and entrepreneurship highlight the importance of essential skills, such as critical thinking, storytelling, cultural awareness, and ethical decision-making. Here's the disconnect: the subjects that help to develop these vital skills are derided at critical points in any aspiring entrepreneur's education. This collection of perspectives from entrepreneurs in a range of fields and humanities educators illustrates what individuals, and the wider world, are missing when humanities are overlooked as a source of inspiration and success in business. Featuring a foreword by Sensemaking author Christian Madsbjerg, this is a thought-provoking guide for aspiring entrepreneurs in all sectors, and for educators, a window on the practical value of the humanities in an ever more mechanized world._

Electronic Business will create changes similar to those brought about by the Industrial Revolution. It will change our business, society, and governance. It is happening now!Electronic Business is the integration of information technology (IT) and particularly the Internet into business processes. In the past 30 years IT has made processes more effective and efficient, but it has not fundamentally transformed them. Now, Electronic Business changes everything. The Internet is the catalyst: its eventual impact will be as great as or greater than that of the printing press.The aim of this book is to point out the challenges and opportunities facing Europe and its companies. It is based on the authors' joint experience of over 40 years with IT in business, industry, and government.

What makes information useful? This seemingly simple and yet intriguing and complicated question is discussed in this book. It examines ways in which the quality of information can be improved in knowledge-intensive processes (such as on-line communication, strategy, product development, or consulting). The book proposes a conceptual framework to manage information quality for knowledge-based content, presenting four proven principles to apply the framework to a variety of information products. Five in-depth company case studies show how information quality can be managed systematically in order to increase the satisfaction of knowledge workers and information consumers. The book uses frequent diagrams and tables, as well as diagnostic questions and summary boxes to make its content actionable.

Cases on Information Technology Planning, Design and Implementation brings together a variety of real-life experiences showing how other companies and organizations have successfully, or not so successfully, planned, designed, and implemented different applications using information technology. Cases included in this publication present a wide range of issues related to systems development, design and analysis of modern information systems applications without pitfalls. Professionals and educators alike will find this collection of cases very useful in learning about challenges and solutions related to the planning, design and implementation of information technology applications. ""Cases on Information Technology Planning, Design and Implementation"" provides an outstanding collection of current real-life situations associated with the effective utilization of IT, with lessons learned included in each case.

Workflow management systems (WFMS) are enjoying increasing popular ity due to their ability to coordinate and streamline complex organizational processes within organizations of all sizes. Organizational processes are de scriptions of an organization's activities engineered to fulfill its mission such as completing a business contract or satisfying a specific customer request. Gaining control of these processes allows an organization to reengineer and improve each process or adapt them to changing requirements. The goal of WFMSs is to manage these organizational processes and coordinate their execution. was demonstrated in the first half The high degree of interest in WFMSs of the 1990s by a significant increase in the number of commercial products (once estimated to about 250) and the estimated market size (in combined $2 billion in 1996. Ensuing maturity product sales and services) of about is demonstrated by consolidations during the last year. Ranging from mere e-mail based calendar tools and flow charting tools to very sophisticated inte grated development environments for distributed enterprise-wide applications and systems to support programming in the large, these products are finding an eager market and opening up important research and development op portunities. In spite of their early success in the market place, however, the current generation of systems can benefit from further research and develop ment, especially for increasingly complex and mission-critical applications.

This book focuses on the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT has caught the imagination as a transformational technology that will positively impact a large and diverse array of socio-economic activities. This book explores this impact, beginning with a chapter highlighting the promises and complexities of the IoT. It then explores these in greater detail in subsequent chapters. The first of these chapters explores the patenting activity of leading companies and is followed by a discussion of the challenges faced by the growth of 'unicorns' within Europe. The fourth chapter outlines a methodology for determining when investments in IoT should occur and is followed by a discussion of how the data generated by IoT will change marketing related decisions. The scope and complexity of the regulatory and governance structures associated with the IoT are then explored in the sixth chapter. These issues are brought together in the final chapter, which identifies the opportunities and challenges emanating from the IoT and how these may be tackled. This book will be valuable reading to academics working in the field of disruptive technology, innovation management, and technological change more broadly.

This book offers students an introduction to the concepts of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) and their applications in the business world. It answers questions such as what are the main concepts of artificial intelligence and big data? What applications for artificial intelligence and big data analytics are used in the business field? It offers application-oriented overviews and cases from different sectors and fields to help readers discover and gain useful insights. Each chapter features discussion questions and summaries. To assist professors in teaching, the book supplementary materials will include answers to questions, and presentation slides.

This book examines the factors that shape the adoption and continuous usage of new technology by employees in organizations. While within an organization new technology adoption has evolved from its traditional role to a more strategic one, the appropriate adoption of new technology can only add value to organizations. Identifying the factors that influence this adoption process is crucial for successful adoption of new technology in organizations. The study presented in this book focuses on individual, organizational, social, and industrial factors and uses those to offer a comprehensive model of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application adoption. It contributes towards understanding employees' acceptance and adoption of enterprise-level technological innovation, allowing organizations to create a work environment conducive to individual implementation and acceptance of new technology. It appeals to researchers interested in studying the adoption of ERP and other innovative technologies in organizations.

For one-semester business statistics courses. A focus on using statistical methods to analyse and interpret results to make data-informed business decisions Statistics is essential for all business majors, and Business Statistics: A First Course helps students see the role statistics will play in their own careers by providing examples drawn from all functional areas of business. Guided by the principles set forth by major statistical and business science associations (ASA and DSI), plus the authors' diverse experiences, the 8th Edition, Global Edition, continues to innovate and improve the way this course is taught to all students. With new examples, case scenarios, and problems, the text continues its tradition of focusing on the interpretation of results, evaluation of assumptions, and discussion of next steps that lead to data-informed decision making. The authors feel that this approach, rather than a focus on manual calculations, better serves students in their future careers. This brief offering, created to fit the needs of a one-semester course, is part of the established Berenson/Levine series.

This book studies mathematical theories of machine learning. The first part of the book explores the optimality and adaptivity of choosing step sizes of gradient descent for escaping strict saddle points in non-convex optimization problems. In the second part, the authors propose algorithms to find local minima in nonconvex optimization and to obtain global minima in some degree from the Newton Second Law without friction. In the third part, the authors study the problem of subspace clustering with noisy and missing data, which is a problem well-motivated by practical applications data subject to stochastic Gaussian noise and/or incomplete data with uniformly missing entries. In the last part, the authors introduce an novel VAR model with Elastic-Net regularization and its equivalent Bayesian model allowing for both a stable sparsity and a group selection.

Provides answers to key questions affecting the future of electronic data interchange (EDI) and its impact on the business community as a whole. This evolving technology is cheaper than fax, easier to use than electronic bulletin boards and faster than the postal services. It contains practical information and alerts the reader to the level and types of controls necessary to protect data handled through the EDI system interface.

This book investigates solutions incorporated by architecture boards in global enterprises to resolve issues and mitigate related architecture risks, while also proposing and implementing an adaptive integrated digital architecture framework (AIDAF) and related models and approaches/platforms, which can be applied in companies to promote IT strategies using cloud/mobile IT/digital IT. The book is divided into three main parts, the first of which (Chapters 1-2) addresses the background and motivation for AIDAF aligned with digital IT strategies. The second part (Chapter 3) provides an overview of strategic enterprise architecture (EA) frameworks for digital IT, elaborates on the essential elements of EA frameworks in the digital IT era, and advocates using AIDAF, models for architecture assessment/risk management, knowledge management on digital platforms. In turn, the third part (Chapters 4-7) demonstrates the application and benefits of AIDAF and related models, as shown in three case studies. "I found this book to be a very nice contribution to the EA community of practice. I can recommend this book as a textbook for digital IT strategists/practitioners, EA practitioners, students in universities and graduate schools." (From the Foreword by Scott A. Bernard) "In this new age of the digital information society, it is necessary to advocate a new EA framework. This book provides state-of-the art knowledge and practices about EA frameworks beneficial for IT practitioners, IT strategists, CIO, IT architects, and even students. It serves as an introductory textbook for all who drive the information society in this era."(From the Foreword by Jun Murai)

This textbook grew out of notes for the ECE143 Programming for Data Analysis class that the author has been teaching at University of California, San Diego, which is a requirement for both graduate and undergraduate degrees in Machine Learning and Data Science. This book is ideal for readers with some Python programming experience. The book covers key language concepts that must be understood to program effectively, especially for data analysis applications. Certain low-level language features are discussed in detail, especially Python memory management and data structures. Using Python effectively means taking advantage of its vast ecosystem. The book discusses Python package management and how to use third-party modules as well as how to structure your own Python modules. The section on object-oriented programming explains features of the language that facilitate common programming patterns. After developing the key Python language features, the book moves on to third-party modules that are foundational for effective data analysis, starting with Numpy. The book develops key Numpy concepts and discusses internal Numpy array data structures and memory usage. Then, the author moves onto Pandas and details its many features for data processing and alignment. Because strong visualizations are important for communicating data analysis, key modules such as Matplotlib are developed in detail, along with web-based options such as Bokeh, Holoviews, Altair, and Plotly. The text is sprinkled with many tricks-of-the-trade that help avoid common pitfalls. The author explains the internal logic embodied in the Python language so that readers can get into the Python mindset and make better design choices in their codes, which is especially helpful for newcomers to both Python and data analysis. To get the most out of this book, open a Python interpreter and type along with the many code samples.

This book provides state-of-the-art descriptions of smart service innovations in the industry, supported by novel scientific approaches. It gathers findings and insights presented at the fourth Smart Services Summit, held in Zurich, Switzerland, in October 2021, which primarily focused on how smart services have enabled companies to adapt during and to the COVID-19 pandemic. The book includes examples of remote and collaborative working that actively involve customers in service processes, requiring a change in mindset for more traditional firms. Moreover, it explores how services can be delivered faster and more affordable with the aid of new technologies and in collaboration with the customers, leading to new value propositions and business models and thus an evolution of smart services. Given its scope, the book offers an essential guide for practitioners and advanced students alike.

The Internet is already more widely deployed than any other computing system in history and continues to grow rapidly. New technologies, including high speed wide area network and improved software support for distribution, promise to make the Internet much more useful for general purpose distributed computing in the future. Web Information Systems is dedicated to the new era of information systems on web environments, due to not only the growing popularity of the web technology but also the roles that web technology play in modern information systems. The major elements of web information systems include web semantics, XML technologies, web mining and querying, web-based information systems, information extraction, and web semantics.

This volume discusses digital diplomacy and artificial intelligence within the context of global governance and international security. Rapid digitalization has changed the way international actors interact, offering new opportunities for international and bilateral cooperation and reinforcing the role of the emergent actors within global governance. New phenomena linked to digitalization and artificial intelligence are emerging and this volume brings a multidisciplinary, mixed-methods approach to studying them. Written by globally recognized experts, each chapter presents a case study covering an emerging topic such as: international regulation of the web and digital diplomacy, the interplay of artificial intelligence and cyber diplomacy, social media and artificial intelligence as tools for digital diplomacy, the malicious use of artificial intelligence, cyber security, and data sovereignty. Incorporating both theory and practice, quantitative and qualitative analysis, this volume will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in international relations, diplomacy, security studies, and artificial intelligence, as well as diplomats and policymakers looking to understand the implications of digitalization and artificial intelligence in their fields.

The Mind under the Axioms reviews two basic ingredients of our understanding of human decisions - conative aspects (preferences) and cognitive aspects (beliefs). These ingredients are axiomatized in modern decision theory in the view to obtain a formally and empirically tractable representation of the decision-maker. The main issue developed in this book is the connection between realistic and testable psychological features and the descriptive component of abstract axioms of rationality. It addresses three main topics for which the interaction between axiomatization and psychology leads to potential new developments in experimental decision-theory and puts strictures on the standard revealed preference methodology prevailing in that field. The possibility of a cardinal representation of preferences is discussed. Different ways of accounting for incomplete preferences, and in which sense, are analysed. Finally, the conditions of separability between preferences and beliefs, such as prescribed by axioms of state-independence, are submitted to actual and potential tests. The book offers a bridge between the disciplines of decision-theory, psychology, and neuroeconomics. It is thus relevant for those, in psychology and cognitive sciences, who are sometimes put off by the high degree of formalism and abstraction in decision-theory, that seems to lie beyond the reach of psychological realism. It also aims to convince those in decision-theory for whom psychological realism and empirical testability should not constrain the modelling enterprise that conceptual clarification can come from attempted experimentation.

This book responds to the increasing speed with which the domain of electronic procurement has been evolving, as well to the significant advances predicted to take place in the near future. Covering the fundamentals of electronic procurement as well as advanced applications, the main focus is on the critical importance of information technology for modern supply management professionals. Tracing the evolution of electronic procurement over the last 20 years, the book illustrates how the concept has evolved from a novel idea into a standard approach that cannot be neglected, fundamentally transforming business as usual. The transformation is highlighted by the evolution of online reverse auctions, as well as the ensuing expansion of technology to virtually all aspects of strategic sourcing in the form of integrated electronic sourcing suites. Several advances and new applications of electronic procurement are presented, with an emphasis on how social media can be leveraged for supply management and its associated significant potential.

An idea is the first step in the process of creating a business. Most ideas, no matter how brilliant they may seem, never actually end up becoming a business. This book explains how to: Look for new small business ideas. Evaluate ideas for their commercial potential. Unlock the strategies that turn an idea into a business. English's focus is on finding the seed of an idea and the process of developing it into a genuine business opportunity. He includes practical diagnostic 'reality tests' developed in his small business workshops. He also includes an analysis of changes in the Australian small business environment as result of Covid-19. The practical, slim volume is ideal for any budding entrepreneur looking for guidance on how to evaluate a business opportunity and build a commercial strategy around it. It will also be an ideal secondary reading for books on entrepreneurship and small business courses.

This book presents the many facets, concepts and theories that have influenced knowledge management and the state of practice concerning strategy, organization, systems and economics. The second edition updates the material to cover the most recent developments in ICT-supported knowledge management. It also provides a more coverage of its theoretical foundation including a new account of knowledge work, discusses the potentials and challenges of process-oriented knowledge management, adds a new chapter on modelling that plays an important role in knowledge management initiatives and contrasts architectures for centralized and distributed or peer-to-peer knowledge management systems.