This volume constitutes a first approximation for the use of systems approaches and dynamic performance management as tools for collaborative governance. The chapters examine models and simulations used in some specific systems approaches, which contribute to facilitating problem focus and collective understanding of collaborative governance, especially in the area of performance management. The explicit connection between resources and outcomes promoted by this view helps managers to understand better how to improve policy and to create positive outcomes that create public value.

This book analyses various models of value creation in projects and businesses by applying different forms of Artificial Intelligence in their products and services. First presenting the main concepts and ideas behind AI, Wodecki assesses different models of technology-based value creation based upon the analysis of over 400 case studies. This framework shows how AI may influence both value creation and competitive advantage (efficiency, creativity and flexibility) within a modern organization. Finally, a conceptual model is formulated to evaluate AI-supported in-company projects and new ventures and identify the key managerial and technical competencies required.

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.

In this groundbreaking book, two acknowledged experts explore the underlying principles of systems integration, and, with the help of numerous case studies show IT managers, systems analysts, and project managers how to apply those principles to solving complex business problems. The authors reveal the linkages between business processes and how they can be supported in enterprise-wide integrated systems. Rather than review specific products and tools, the authors use real-life examples to provides readers with a practical understanding of integrated system architectures and how they function within the framework of an Enterprise Planning System.

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.

Blockchain technology may have first emerged with bitcoin but its significance extends far beyond the financial sector: it is ushering in a whole new techno-economic paradigm. This book provides the first critical, in-depth examination of blockchain's transformative impact on the creative industries, including music, media, art and gaming. Drawing on interviews with 10 leading start-ups and a comprehensive review of the literature, the author examines blockchain's impact on business models, addresses the barriers and risks, and concludes with policy recommendations that will help unlock value in the UK's creative economy.

This book presents a new approach to the valuation of capital asset investments and investment decision-making. Starting from simple premises and working logically through three basic elements (capital, income, and cash flow), it guides readers on an interdisciplinary journey through the subtleties of accounting and finance, explaining how to correctly measure a project's economic profitability and efficiency, how to assess the impact of investment policy and financing policy on shareholder value creation, and how to design reliable, transparent, and logically consistent financial models. The book adopts an innovative pedagogical approach, based on a newly developed accounting-and-finance-engineering system, to help readers gain a deeper understanding of the accounting and financial magnitudes, learn about new analytical tools, and develop the necessary skills to practically implement them. This diverse approach to capital budgeting allows a sophisticated economic analysis in both absolute terms (values) and relative terms (rates of return), and is applicable to a wide range of economic entities, including real assets and financial assets, engineering designs and manufacturing schemes, corporate-financed and project-financed transactions, privately-owned projects and public investments, individual projects and firms. As such, this book is a valuable resource for a broad audience, including scholars and researchers, industry practitioners, executives, and managers, as well as students of corporate finance, managerial finance, engineering economics, financial management, management accounting, operations research, and financial mathematics. It features more than 180 guided examples, 50 charts and figures and over 160 explanatory tables that help readers grasp the new concepts and tools. Each chapter starts with an abstract and a list of the skills readers can expect to gain, and concludes with a list of key points summarizing the content.

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 covers several new areas in the growing field of analytics with some innovative applications in different business contexts, and consists of selected presentations at the 6th IIMA International Conference on Advanced Data Analysis, Business Analytics and Intelligence. The book is conceptually divided in seven parts. The first part gives expository briefs on some topics of current academic and practitioner interests, such as data streams, binary prediction and reliability shock models. In the second part, the contributions look at artificial intelligence applications with chapters related to explainable AI, personalized search and recommendation, and customer retention management. The third part deals with credit risk analytics, with chapters on optimization of credit limits and mitigation of agricultural lending risks. In its fourth part, the book explores analytics and data mining in the retail context. In the fifth part, the book presents some applications of analytics to operations management. This part has chapters related to improvement of furnace operations, forecasting food indices and analytics for improving student learning outcomes. The sixth part has contributions related to adaptive designs in clinical trials, stochastic comparisons of systems with heterogeneous components and stacking of models. The seventh and final part contains chapters related to finance and economics topics, such as role of infrastructure and taxation on economic growth of countries and connectedness of markets with heterogenous agents, The different themes ensure that the book would be of great value to practitioners, post-graduate students, research scholars and faculty teaching advanced business analytics courses.

The fundamental reason for the existence of any manufacturing organization is to generate wealth by adding value to the products and services it offers. In this new global industrial environment, value is generated from many sources, such as rapid and flexible fulfillment of orders, developing new innovative products and services, providing rapid and responsive product and service support, delivering innovative turn-key solutions to customers, and so on. In the 21st century most manufacturing organizations will have to respond to these challenges through innovative partnerships, by creating virtual enterprises, by operating in agile networks to generate value by exploiting their existing competencies in design, manufacturing, distribution and customer service, whilst building new competencies in information systems, communications and knowledge management. Just as no man is an island, so no business can operate without being part of a network of businesses, which we call the manufacturing value chain. This book brings together the works of leading researchers to present state-of-the-art research and development on the strategic management of the manufacturing value chain' in the broadest sense. The objectives of Strategic Management of the Manufacturing Value Chain are: To provide insights into potential strategies, methods, tools and techniques which could facilitate competitiveness through innovation agility and partnership. To explore the use of enabling technologies, such as IT, in meeting the challenges of the 21st century. To provide practical case studies which demonstrate the use of new approaches to the generation and management of value in manufacturing. Strategic Managementof the Manufacturing Value Chain is suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level courses of management and manufacturing, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry, commerce and government.

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 open access book explores the digital transformation of small and rural towns, in particular, how to measure the evolution and development of digital towns. In addition to access to resources, competition from urban and global markets, and population trends, rural communities present lesser access and use of digital technologies and have lower digital competencies and skills than their urban counterparts. Consequently, they experience less beneficial outcomes from increased digitalisation than urban areas. This book defines what a digital town is and explores digitalisation from the perspective of the four basic economic sectors in towns - individuals and households, businesses, the public sector, and civil society - and three types of enabling infrastructure - digital connectivity, education, and governance. Particular attention is paid to how digitalisation efforts are measured by intergovernmental and international organisations for each sector and enabling infrastructure. The book concludes with a Digital Town Readiness Framework that offers local communities, policymakers, and scholars an initial set of indicators upon which to develop digital town initiatives, and measure progress. For those ready to embrace the opportunity, this book is a pathfinder on the road to a more equitable and impactful digital society and digital economy.

Organisational Semiotics occupies an important niche in the research community of human communication and information systems. It opens up new ways of understanding the functioning of information and information resources in organised behavior.

Coordination And Communication Using Signs: Studies in Organisational Semiotics is a cutting-edge volume that bridges the gap between the technical and social aspects of information systems and information technology. The chapters in the book are divided into two major sections. The first section deals with Communication and Pragmatics, and Organisational Systems. In this section the following topics are examined:

• the semiotic framework and natural language;
• coordination and communication using natural language and other artifacts in a real-life setting;
• substantive-level issues of information systems and business processes from several theoretical perspectives;
• language as action;
• communication quality in the context of systems and business processes;
• organisational action and Greimas' semiotics.

Section Two concentrates on organisational systems, which may or may not include a computer system as a component and examines the following topics:

• semiotic strategies and semiotic models of organisational structures;
• the impact of information technology with instructive case studies;
• the impact of information technology with a particular focus on sense-making in the work floor context;
• the design of computer information systems;
• improving the design quality of agent-based information systems;
• the design ofinformation systems, in terms of capacity, and data scheme.

All the chapters in the volume have been submitted to a review process of discussants and peer reviews.

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 combines, for the first time, the operations management and operations research concepts in lean and agile supply chain management (SCM) for achieving decreased uncertainty, increased productivity, and sustainability through the use of quality engineering techniques (QETs). The book serves as a beneficial supplementary read for supply chain management and logistics courses in operations management/operations research for industrial engineering or management departments as the book uses practical examples of QET applications in SCM in a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, international shipping, and services. By reading this book, a wide range of audiences from general readers to students in industrial engineering or management fields will learn practical skills that can be utilized in the application of quality engineering techniques in lean and agile SCM.

In an article for Wired Magazine in 2006, Jeff Howe defined crowdsourcing as an idea for outsourcing a task that is traditionally performed by a single employee to a large group of people in the form of an open call. Since then, by modifying crowdsourcing into different forms, some of the most successful new companies on the market have used this idea to make people's lives easier and better. On the other hand, software testing has long been recognized as a time-consuming and expensive activity. Mobile application testing is especially difficult, largely due to compatibility issues: a mobile application must work on devices with different operating systems (e.g. iOS, Android), manufacturers (e.g. Huawei, Samsung) and keypad types (e.g. virtual keypad, hard keypad). One cannot be 100% sure that, just because a tested application works well on one device, it will run smoothly on all others.Crowdsourced testing is an emerging paradigm that can improve the cost-effectiveness of software testing and accelerate the process, especially for mobile applications. It entrusts testing tasks to online crowdworkers whose diverse testing devices/contexts, experience, and skill sets can significantly contribute to more reliable, cost-effective and efficient testing results. It has already been adopted by many software organizations, including Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. This book provides an intelligent overview of crowdsourced testing research and practice. It employs machine learning, data mining, and deep learning techniques to process the data generated during the crowdsourced testing process, to facilitate the management of crowdsourced testing, and to improve the quality of crowdsourced testing.

This concise yet comprehensive one-volume guide, the first to encompass the interrelated functions of information and records management, is designed to meet the needs of office records and information decision-makers, planners, and administrators. Focusing equally on theory and practice, it offers complete instruction on how to assess an organization's systeM's requirements, plan and develop an information and records management system, select vendors and equipment, set the system in motion, and use it effectively. Emphasizing the importance of the systeM's long-term effectiveness, the author provides guidelines on monitoring procedures, keeping abreast on industry and information-processing trends, and avoiding obsolescence. He includes many useful examples, forms, and other illustrative materials reflecting current business practice.

The production and consumption of information and communication technologies (or ICTs) are becoming deeply embedded within our societies. The influence and implications of this have an impact at a macro level, in the way our governments, economies, and businesses operate, andat a micro level in our everyday lives. This handbook is about the many challenges presented by ICTs. It sets out an intellectual agenda that examines the implications of ICTs for individuals, organizations, democracy, and the economy. Explicity interdisciplinary, and combining empirical research with theoretical work, it is organised around four themes covering the knowledge economy; organizational dynamics, strategy, and design; governance and democracy; and culture, community and new media literacies. It provides a comprehensive resource for those working in the social sciences, and in the physical sciences and engineering fields, with leading contemporary research informed principally by the disciplines of anthropology, economics, philosophy, politics, and sociology.

The digital traces that people leave behind as they conduct their daily lives provide a powerful resource for businesses to better understand the dynamics of an otherwise chaotic society. Digital technologies have become omnipresent in our lives and we still do not fully know how to make the best use of the data these technologies could harness. Businesses leveraging big data appropriately could definitely gain a sustainable competitive advantage. With a balanced mix of texts and cases, this book discusses a variety of digital technologies and how they transform people and organizations. It offers a debate on the societal consequences of the yet unfolding technological revolution and proposes alternatives for harnessing disruptive technologies for the greater benefit of all. This book will have wide appeal to academics in technology management, strategy, marketing, and human resource management.

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.

This book takes an in-depth look at the economics of digital transformation. Presenting a variety of perspectives from experts, it deals with the socioeconomic changes associated with the digital transformation of production systems. The chapters also address the impacts of digital transformation on the sustainable functioning of socioeconomic and environmental systems. Select chapters also investigate the consequences of adopting intelligent learning systems, both in terms of replacing the human labor force. and their effects on the smart digital management and security of cities, places, and people. Lastly, chapters discuss important questions regarding innovations leading to sustainable change.

This book highlights interdisciplinary insights, latest research results, and technological trends in Business Intelligence and Modelling in fields such as: Business Intelligence, Business Transformation, Knowledge Dissemination & Implementation, Modeling for Logistics, Business Informatics, Business Model Innovation, Simulation Modelling, E-Business, Enterprise & Conceptual Modelling, etc. The book is divided into eight sections, grouping emerging marketing technologies together in a close examination of practices, problems and trends. The chapters have been written by researchers and practitioners that demonstrate a special orientation in Strategic Marketing and Business Intelligence. This volume shares their recent contributions to the field and showcases their exchange of insights.

This book provides comprehensive guidance on leveraging SAP IBP technology to connect strategic (to be understood as long term SC&O), tactical and operational planning into one coherent process framework, presenting experience shared by practitioners in workshops, customer presentations, business, and IT transformation projects. It offers use cases and a wealth of practical tips to ensure that readers understand the challenges and advantages of IBP implementation. The book starts by characterizing disconnected planning and contrasting this with key elements of a transformation project approach. It explains the functional foundations and SAP Hybris, Trade Promotion Planning, Customer Business Planning, ARIBA, and S/4 integration with SAP IBP. It then presents process for integrating finance in IBP. Annual planning and monthly planning are taken as examples of explain Long term planning (in some companies labeled as strategic). The core of the book is about sales and operations planning (S&OP) and its process steps, product demand, supply review, integrated reconciliation and management business review, illustrating all steps with use cases. It describes unconstrained and constrained optimized supply planning, inventory optimization, shelf life planning. We explain how to improve responsiveness with order-based allocation planning, sales order confirmation, and big deal / tender management coupled with simultaneous re-planning of supply. The book closes with a chapter on performance measurement, measurement of effectiveness, efficiency, and adherence.

E-government faces huge challenges in achieving interoperability and integration, taking into account differences in laws, regulations, services, administrative processes and languages across regions and countries. On the other hand, issues like service, data and process integration have been researched by the Semantic Web community for several years now, and in the last two to three years we have witnessed the first applications of semantic technologies in real, operational e-government systems in both Europe and the US which address exactly these challenges.

With this book, the editors present the latest research results on how to use semantic technologies in order to improve or even revolutionize the use of ICT in public administration systems. The contributions are organized into three parts: architectures and process integration, ontologies and interoperability, and portals and user interactions. They give a broad overview of how semantic technologies have been applied in different e-government projects funded from the European program for ICT Research and Development, and they cover a wide spectrum of semantic technologies such as development of domain and service ontologies, semantic enhancements of business process models, semantic Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs) based on Semantic Web Services (SWS) frameworks, and ontology-based knowledge management.

In this volume, researchers of Semantic Web technologies will find a wealth of challenging real-world scenarios to stimulate new fields of research, while developers of e-government systems as well as other stakeholders in public administration will appreciate the detailed presentations and discussions of numerous applications in areas such as e-government portals, personalization of Web-based public services, or integration and orchestration of public administration processes.

This book is comprised of presentations delivered at the 5th Workshop on Biostatistics and Bioinformatics held in Atlanta on May 5-7, 2017. Featuring twenty-two selected papers from the workshop, this book showcases the most current advances in the field, presenting new methods, theories, and case applications at the frontiers of biostatistics, bioinformatics, and interdisciplinary areas. Biostatistics and bioinformatics have been playing a key role in statistics and other scientific research fields in recent years. The goal of the 5th Workshop on Biostatistics and Bioinformatics was to stimulate research, foster interaction among researchers in field, and offer opportunities for learning and facilitating research collaborations in the era of big data. The resulting volume offers timely insights for researchers, students, and industry practitioners.