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One focal area of big data research is to identify ways to create and reap business value from big data. Studies in this area have been based on one of three perspectives: architectural, strategical management and knowledge management. While these perspectives have academic and practical merits in isolation, they fail to integrate unique features of big data. To fill this void in the extant literature, we propose an integrated framework, which we call a concentric framework that differentiates value-adding factors of big data from those that affect technological requirements of a big data infrastructure. The concentric framework consists of three layers: explicit characteristics at the outer layer, implicit elements at the middle layer, and synergistic value in the core. We illustrate each layer of the framework using examples and identify tools and methods that can aid decision makers to use the framework for leveraging big data to create business value.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical hierarchy process (AHP)‐based selection model for choosing a web analytics product/service that meets organizational needs.Design/methodology/approachThe research objective is achieved through modeling and empirical validation.FindingsWhile more criteria could be added, the proposed selection model provides a feasible approach to choosing a web analytics product/service. Cost‐ and risk‐related criteria are weighed heavier than those of technical capabilities. Tools based on the page tagging method are more popular than those based on transaction log file analysis. The level of technology savvy might play a role in the application of the selection model.Research limitations/implicationsThe development of web analytics products/service is still evolving. Thus, as the use of web analytics increases, more criteria might be identified and added to the model. The model is validated by groups for different sectors. In the future, it is suggested to conduct a similar study with one sector by different groups.Practical implicationsThe selection model provides a process in which practitioners can systematically evaluate pros and cons of web analytics products/services. The selection model includes a comprehensive list of criteria that vendors of web analytics products/services can use to benchmark their products. Following this model, an organization contemplating the use of web analytics will more likely find one product/service that accommodates organizational and technological characteristics.Originality/valueA sufficiently comprehensive list of qualitative and quantitative criteria for evaluating web analytics products/services was developed. Practitioners will be able to use the model to select a proper tool. In academia, the article fills a gap in literature that might bring academics' interests in this area.

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate the effect of compositions of managerial/demographic characteristics of the top management team (TMT) on the extent of information technology (IT) adoption in small businesses (SMEs), where such strategic decisions made by TMT have direct and significant influence on all aspects of business operations and its competitive position in a market.Design/methodology/approachBased on the upper echelon theory, the study formulated four hypotheses relating the compositions of TMT characteristics to the extent of IT adoption in different functional areas. Multiple regression analysis was employed to analyze the data.FindingsThe age average and the education average of TMT in small businesses are significant predictors of the extent of IT adoption. However, the group heterogeneity (either gender or ethnicity), contrary to the prediction, has negative impact on the extent of IT adoption.Practical implicationsThe research findings indicate that the age and education composition of managers as current/future top management is critical to facilitate the extent of IT adoption in SMEs.Originality/valueThe research contributes to the body of knowledge in IT adoption by complementing the results of prior research with the findings that the characteristic compositions of TMT affect the extent of IT adoption in SMEs, applying the upper echelon theory to examine issues surrounding IT adoption, and suggesting practical implications that SMEs could compose, educate, and rejuvenate their top management teams to achieve a high extent of IT adoption.

Achieving the goals of safe and cost effective space transportation systems requires the development of new methods and tools that allow leap-frog improvements in the conceptualization, design, development, production, and operation of these systems. This paper reports on a modeling methodology aimed at the knowledge based representation and operational assessment of space transportation systems to be used during early stages of design with the objective of improved design via estimation of their ground operations and performance. The model uses knowledge based logic and equations combined with a process database to determine the appropriate ground processes and their duration, allowing the estimation of operational measures of performance such as labor, cycle time, and flight rate.

This paper presents a case in which the College of Business (COB) at a state university in the southern United Sates has implemented an information system (IS) with a data mart. The system has been...

Proteinase A, excreted from yeast cells into beer during fermentation in the brewing process, has been shown to degrade foam-active proteins and to decrease foam stability. In order to improve the measurement of this enzyme in beer, a new fluorescent peptide, MOCAc-Ala-Pro-Ala-Lys-Phe-Phe-Arg-Leu-Lys (Dnp)-NH 2 , was synthesised and applied to the accurate and rapid estimation of proteinase A in commercial beer and fermenting wort. This novel substrate is several hundred times more sensitive to proteinase A than other previously reported synthetic substrates or native protein substrates. The concentration of proteinase A in beer is closely related to foam stability and proteinase A activity was found to increase gradually during fermentation. The concentration of proteinase A excreted from yeast cells is also closely related to the vitality of pitching yeast cells. This new method was successfully applied to the evaluation of yeast vitality and the development of optimum yeast handling procedures.

The taste of beer was measured using a taste sensing system with eight kinds of lipid membrane. The output from the sensor has high discriminating power and high correlation with taste substances in beer and sensory test by human. The estimation of the concentration of taste substances by multiple regression analysis was fairly well. The taste sensor also well estimated the result of sensory test of many keywords concerning beer taste.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was used to quantify the range of foam-active protein found in malts produced in different geographic regions, and using different barley cult...

Beer proteins derived from malt are considered to be very important factors for foam and colloidal stability of beer. Foam proteins have to be retained as much as possible to realize good foam stab...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is produced by yeast during fermentation and is known as one of the young flavors of beer. The MET25 gene product [i.e., O-acetylhomoserine (OAH), O-acetylserine (OAS) sulfhy...

One of the major limiting factors in high-gravity brewing is a fermentation delay caused by glucose repression of maltose assimilation. The maltose assimilation is controlled by a MAL locus, which ...

Most of the ester compounds found in beer are produced by yeast during fermentation. They contribute significantly to beer flavor. Therefore, the control of their formation is very important to mai...

In the past few years, collaborative commerce (c-commerce) has been widely touted by practitioners and has caught researchers’ attention. The business press constantly reported successful stories of c-commerce in which companies in various industries employed collaborative technologies to reap potential benefits. A recent report on the software market for c-commerce indicated that software for creating c-commerce would be the next stage of growth in the enterprise application business (Bellini, Gravitt, & Diana, 2001). The report estimated that the size of the c-commerce market would grow from $5.8 billion in 1999 to $36.5 billion in 2004 (estimated by AMR and IDC). Another report (Ferreira, Schlumpf, & Prokopets, 2001) showed that about 60% of 356 survey respondents considered c-commerce as critically important to their businesses in the year of 2001-2002 and 78% of the companies planned to implement c-commerce to improve supplier and customer interaction. Meanwhile, findings of academic research on issues surrounding c-commerce have been sporadically reported. Welty and Becerra-Fernandez (2001) investigated the issue of managing trust and commitment in collaborative relationships. Kumar (2001) delineated the features of information and communication technologies for supporting c-commerce. Chuang and Nakatani (2004) identified different types of c-commerce and the driver for each type of c-commerce. Extending the concept of inter-organizational collaboration (Himmelman, 1996), Chuang and Nakatani (2004) defined c-commerce as an IT-enabled process in which organizations share information and resources, adjust their activities and augment each other’s capabilities in order to reap mutual benefits while assuming common responsibilities, risks, and rewards. Johnson and Whang (2002) used the term “e-collaboration” to refer to the collaborative activities between businesses; however, Johnson and Whang placed emphasis on the role of the Internet and the concept of sharing. It is worth noting that while there are overlappings between the boundaries of collaborative commerce and electronic commerce, the difference between both lies in the fact that c-commerce is focused on joint intellectual effort, but e-commerce is oriented to more transaction processing, such as selling/buying activities. Even though c-commerce could be considered as one of ramifications of electronically conducting commerce over the Internet, its emergence is most likely driven by the globalization of economy, the competition, the need for efficient customer response, and the advent of collaborative technology. From the managerial perspective, globalization means that decisions on allocation and/or acquisition of resources are considered and made on a global scale. Thus, international sourcing is commonly considered as an option for improving organizational performance, which subsequently necessitates the need for collaborative planning (Fliedner, 2003). The fierce competition on global economy spurs businesses on to create strategic partnership with complementary enterprises in which creating collaborative advantage is as, if not more, important as creating competitive advantage (Spekman, Kamauff, & Myhr, 1998). The proliferation of strategic partnerships has resulted in the appearance of competition between business networks or between supply chains (Kumar, 2001). In this context, paradoxically, the fiercer the competition is, the more important collaboration becomes. Meanwhile, fierce competition redirected businesses’ energies toward the fulfillment of customer’s needs and the reduction of operating cost accrued through the supply chain (Fliedner, 2003). Finally, the availability of greater bandwidth of telecommunication facilitates the use of network and the Internet to connect businesses and create a collaborative platform on which “advanced planning systems” are employed to analyze and optimize the flows of supply chain (Kumar, 2001). In brief, the emergence of c-commerce could be driven by business needs and sophisticated IT capability.

The Internet-enabled connectivity has created opportunities for businesses to conduct various forms of collaborative activities. However, the findings of several surveys indicate that the deficiencies in data quality might compromise the potential benefits of joint efforts. Global data synchronization (GDS), the process of timely updating product data to maintain the data consistency among business partners, is viewed as the key to materializing the benefits of ecollaboration in the global supply chain setting. In the paper, we present the need for data synchronization, discuss the evolution of technical standards of data identification schemes, and introduce the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), the platform on which global data synchronization is substantiated. We detail the structure of GDSN and the protocols for the process of GDS. Furthermore, we discuss business and management implications of GDS, different approaches to implementing GDS, and challenges to the implementation of GDS. The emergence of GDS and GDSN presents research opportunities on issues relating to the implementation of GDS, the relationship between GDSN and EPCglobal Network, the impact of GDS on inter-organizational relationships, the network effect of global standards, and evolution of complementary standards. We discuss these research opportunities. In brief, the article covers the history, present status, and future of GDS and GDSN, as well as their potentials, benefits, and implementation issues.

A challenge facing businesses establishing an effective customer relationship management (CRM) system is the need for integrating data from different sources. Many data integration approaches have been proposed and widely adopted to improve customer services. However, not all data integration approaches are suitable for utility service-based business due to its unique characteristics. The study explores the idea of using software agents to address the integration issue of building CRM systems for utility service-based businesses. The study proposes two simple agent interaction models, the request-response model and the subscription-publishing model as well as six categories of agents to meet the need. The utility and validity of the proposed approach are examined and verified in a real-world case. They are implemented with extensible markup language (XML) and applied to create an agent-based architecture for a CRM system for a telecommunication company in Taiwan.

Accreditation guidelines usually dictate that information technology resources and systems shall be essential components of the university infrastructure. But, what is the competitive advantage of universities born in the information-age and the Internet revolution? As Florida’s newest public university, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) is known for its strategic use of technology and innovation--including use of information technology for distance learning delivery as well as internal administration and student-service processes. At FGCU, information technology is intertwined with academic and administrative operations, such as curriculum-design, course-delivery, resource-allocation, and everyday decision-making. The objective of this paper is to examine the developmental decisions, including policy, computer hardware and software, communications networks, and user services that led to FGCU accreditation in record time. It illustrates sample technology-driven course-delivery tools like the WebClassroom of the Future. The paper examines the outcomes, problems and solutions and provides a framework for next-generation universities. Information Technology Association of America Nomination 2 Information Technology Dominance at Florida Gulf Coast University by W. Rodriguez, K. Nakatani, and P. Gray-Vickrey

As businesses transact globally, collaborative transaction management and collaborative supply chain management are two strategically important measures for improving the efficiency of business operations in the global scope. In such a setting, it is gradually becoming evident that the inefficiency of business operations can be, at least partially, attributed to the lack of quality data. Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN) was developed in the consumer-packaged goods industry as a global standard-based information system to address the critical issue of data quality. GDSN has many unique characteristics as an information system that is designed to be adopted internationally. This paper discusses how the global standard-based information system has been deployed and issues the governing organisation and businesses contemplating to join the network must address in order to facilitate the broader adoption of similar global information systems to be developed in the future.

Collaborative commerce (c-commerce) is an information technology-enabled process for organisations to share data and resources, adjust their activities, and augment each other's capabilities in order to reap mutual benefits. Data quality has long been an important issue that may compromise the potential of information systems. Assuring data quality is more critical in c-commerce than it is in intra-organisational information systems because of the need for extensive sharing and exchange of data among business partners. In order to better understand and then measure and manage data quality in c-commerce, this study points out that inter-organisational data integration, inter-organisational data synchronisation, and inter-organisational data transparency are the major data quality issues in c-commerce, and proposes the different levels of data integration, data synchronisation, and data transparency. This study also discusses how to use two global information networks in industry, Global Data Synchronization Network and the EPCglobal Network, to address the data quality issues in c-commerce.

In light of the recent discussion on whether Information Systems (IS) as a field should stay focused on its technology core, a survey of IS instructors was done to determine the current and growing emphases of the introductory fundamentals of IS courses. In general, topics relating to technology applied to business improvement are currently emphasised, while business topics are becoming increasingly important. Purely technological topics are currently seen as the least important and not gaining in importance.

As electronic commerce (EC) (e-commerce) booms, research on factors influencing the adoption of e-commerce has caught researchers' attention. The results of this research stream have facilitated our understanding of e-commerce adoption. However, the research results have been mixed. Furthermore, previous studies placed more focus on organisational factors than on owners' demographic factors. This research was initiated to resolve those conflicting findings and focused on the impact of owners' characteristics in ecommerce adoption. Data collected from 600 Small- and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) were analysed with one-way ANOVA and hierarchical regression to investigate the impacts of three organisational characteristics and four owner characteristics. The results revealed that those variables explained a small amount of variance in the extent of e-commerce adoption. The main findings include: (1) managerial experience has impact on the extent of e-commerce adoption and (2) the extent of e-commerce adoption varies across business types. This paper discusses these findings in the context of previous research and implications.

This paper reports the findings of implementing a cooperative learning method in an undergraduate "core" Management Information Systems course taken by business students with diverse backgrounds and interests. The results confirmed the effectiveness of cooperative learning but also showed interesting findings of students' perception of the method. The paper also reports factors identified by students that might be detrimental to the successful use of cooperative learning. When planning to employ cooperative learning in their teaching, instructors can take into account those factors to improve their implementation of cooperative learning.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for planning and deploying collaborative commerce between business partners. The framework consists of two dimensions: the type of inter-organisational relationship and the level of engagement. The level of engagement is derived from the evolution of organisational computing. The underlying assumption of the conceptual framework is that trust and commitment between business partners is the premise for establishing a long-term collaborative relationship and that existing inter-organisational relationships influence the way collaborative commerce is conducted. Successful cases of collaborative commerce are identified to support the conceptual framework.

炭素鋼は一般に炭素の他に多くの不純物を含んでいる。 そのため熱物性値は不純物の影響で複雑に変化する。 本研究では、 炭素含有量のみの影響を調べるため不純物のない鉄・炭素二元合金を作り、 その試料について熱拡散率、 比熱、 熱伝導率及び導電率の温度依存性と炭素含有量の影響について測定した。 そして熱伝導率と導電率との関係についても検討を加えた。

(1) An unusual accumulation of S-adenosyl-L-methionine in Chromatium D was associated with a marked growth inhibition by L-methionine. The inhibition was overcome by L-isoleucine, L-leucine, L-phyenylalanine, L-threonine, L-valine and putrescien. Based on their effects, these compounds are classified into 3 types. (2) L-Isoleucine, L-leucine, L-phyenylalanine and L-valine (Type I) inhibited the L-methionine uptake and consequently prevented the bacterium from the unusual accumulation of S-adenosyl-L-methionine even in the presence of L-methionine in the medium. Putrescine (Type II) stimulated the consumption of S-adenosyl-L-methionine, but did not influence the L-methionine uptake. Hence, the effect of putrescine would be explained by the action to diminish the intracellular level of S-adenosyl-L-methionine. L-Threonine (Type III) neither inhibited the L-methionine uptake nor affected the content of S-adenoxyl-L-methionine due to the addition of L-methionine. (3) The specific activity of homoserine kinase (EC 2.7.1.39) was greatly lowered by the addition of L-methionine under conditions in which Chromatium D unusually accumulates S-adenoxyl-L-methionine. Homoserine dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.3) activity was inhbitied by S-adenosyl-L-methionine (50% inhibition index, 3.5 mM). These facts strongly suggest that the growth inhibition by L-methionine is associated with the L-threonine deficiency caused by the unusual accumulation of S-adenosyl-L-methionine.

An information processing model of pattern perception has been constructed and applied to computer recognition of hand-written numerals. Patterns are picked up in the form of 32 × 32 binary array and orthogonally transformed by mutual additions and substructions among the elements. The Hadamard power spectra are defined as the feature variates to make distribution memories of the patterns which are called engram. Discriminations are performed through template matching by Euclid distance minimization method. A clusteing method has been introduced as the learning process to rewrite the engram. It is possible to identify the patterns correctly, not only for their position shift but also for their changes of parts or inclination to some extent. Multidimensional scaling method is used for the appreciation of effectiveness of the model.

l-Methionine strongly inhibited the growth of Chromatium D when added at a low concentration to the growth medium containing both sulfide and thiosulfate. S-Adenosyl-l-methionine inhibited the growth, irrespective of the coexistence of sulfide and thiosulfate. Upon addition of l-methionine to the growth media, the presence of both sulfide and thiosulfate in the media stimulated the in vivo conversion of l-methionine to S-adenosyl-l-methionine, and consequently increased the intracellular level of S-adenosyl-l-methionine. From these data, it was strongly suggested that the unusual accumulation of S-adenosyl-l-methionine in the cells of Chromatium D is responsible for the growth inhibition by l-methionine.The level of S-adenosyl-l-methionine synthetase (ATP: l-methionine S-adenosyltransferase, EC 2.5.1.6) was significantly enhanced by adding l-methionine, sulfide and thiosulfate to the growth medium.

The law of categorical judgment was applied to data on subjective weight in order to eliminate the possible biases. Conditions D, C, and a new approximation method were used. Stimuli were two series of plastic cylinders weighing 40 to 200 gm. The results indicate that linearity in the relationship between scale values R and stimulus values S increases as the number of assumptions decreases. When Scheffé's method is used, the relationship can be given by R = 2.5 S − 3.1, which is similar to that obtained by the new method of the law of categorical judgment.

This paper presents several lines of evidence indicating that the synthesis of vitamin-B12-dependent 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine transmethylase (“methionine synthetase”) is closely correlated to the intracellular level of vitamin B12 in manners different between bacteria which do and do not produce vitamin B12. 1. The intracellular level of vitamin B12 in Rhodospirillum rubrum was reduced to one fifth that of the normal cells when the organism was cultivated in a medium lacking cobalt. In accord with the decrease in vitamin B12 production, the specific activity of methionine synthetase was lowered to about 50%. It was of much interest that the enzyme was always present as the holoenzyme and the apoenzyme could not be detected even in the vitamin-B12-deficient cells containing a markedly decreased level of the holoenzyme. When the vitamin-B12-deficient cells were incubated in a cyano-cobalamin-supplemented medium, the specific activity of methionine synthetase began to increase after 2 h lag time and reached the maximum in about 6 h. This enhancement of the specific activity was suppressed if an appropriate inhibitor of protein synthesis was added to the medium. These facts strongly suggest that synthesis of protein de novo is essential for the enhancement of the specific activity by incubation with cyanocobalamin. Similar results were obtained in other vitamin B12 producers such as Streptomyces olivaceus and Corynebacterium simplex. 2. Chromatium D which is known to form cobalt-free corrinoids but not produce complete vitamin B12, was found to possess methionine synthetase as apoenzyme. When the vitamin-B12-free cells were incubated in the presence of cyanocobalamin, all the apoenzyme was readily converted to the holoenzyme within 2 h. As the formation of the holoenzyme proceeded, the level of the total enzyme (holo + apo) increased to a certain degree. The enhancement, however, was not affected by the inhibitors of protein synthesis, indicating that the increment could not have resulted from de novo synthesis of protein. A similar phenomenon was observed in Escherichia coli which does not produce vitamin B12 but possesses apoprotein of methionine synthetase. It is suggested that vitamin B12 synthesis is closely correlated to that of methionine synthetase in bacteria producing the vitamin, such as Rhodospirillum rubrum, Streptomyces olivaceus and Corynebacterium simplex. On the contrary, the apoprotein of the enzyme is synthesized independently of vitamin B12 in bacteria not producing the vitamin, such as Chromatium D and Escherichia coli.