Quality management in service ecosystems

Service-oriented architectures and Web services mature and have become more widely accepted and used by industry. This growing adoption increased the demands for new ways of using Web service technology. Users start re-combining and mediating other providers’ services in ways that have not been anticipated by their original provider. Within organisations and cross-organisational communities, discoverable services are organised in repositories providing convenient access to adaptable end-to-end business processes. This idea is captured in the term Service Ecosystem. This paper addresses the question of how quality management can be performed in such service ecosystems. Service quality management is a key challenge when services are composed of a dynamic set of heterogeneous sub-services from different service providers. This paper contributes to this important area by developing a reference model of quality management in service ecosystems. We illustrate the application of the reference model in an exploratory case study. With this case study, we show how the reference model helps to derive requirements for the implementation and support of quality management in an exemplary service ecosystem in public administration.

Organizational support and enterprise web 2.0 adoption : a qualitative study

The emerging growth of Web 2.0 has been observed by users in the workplace, and has therefore encouraged organisations to introduce Web 2.0 technologies in their businesses. Although its adoption is beneficial, it could meets with employees resistance due to some organisational factors. The successful implementation of Enterprise Web 2.0 is based on employee adoption of such social technology. Using a qualitative study, this research explores how organizational support can influence employees’ adoption of Enterprise Web 2.0. The findings show that organisational support encourages and facilitates a smooth adoption. Such support can be provided by management and colleagues in several forms: developing a Web 2.0 strategy, providing required resources for such training, recognising and encouraging adopters, and involving managers in the adoption.

Self-management programs in stage 1-4 chronic kidney disease : a literature review.

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complex health problem, which requires individuals to invest considerable time and energy in managing their health and adhering to multifaceted treatment regimens. Objectives To review studies delivering self-management interventions to people with CKD (Stages 1–4) and assess whether these interventions improve patient outcomes. Design: Systematic review. Methods Nine electronic databases (MedLine, CINAHL, EMBASE, ProQuest Health & Medical Complete, ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health, The Cochrane Library, The Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database, Web of Science and PsycINFO) were searched using relevant terms for papers published between January 2003 and February 2013. Results The search strategy identified 2,051 papers, of which 34 were retrieved in full with only 5 studies involving 274 patients meeting the inclusion criteria. Three studies were randomised controlled trials, a variety of methods were used to measure outcomes, and four studies included a nurse on the self-management intervention team. There was little consistency in the delivery, intensity, duration and format of the self-management programmes. There is some evidence that knowledge- and health-related quality of life improved. Generally, small effects were observed for levels of adherence and progression of CKD according to physiologic measures. Conclusion The effectiveness of self-management programmes in CKD (Stages 1–4) cannot be conclusively ascertained, and further research is required. It is desirable that individuals with CKD are supported to effectively self-manage day-to-day aspects of their health.

Learning-based Relevance Feedback for Web-based Relation Completion

In a pilot application based on web search engine calledWeb-based Relation Completion (WebRC), we propose to join two columns of entities linked by a predefined relation by mining knowledge from the web through a web search engine. To achieve this, a novel retrieval task Relation Query Expansion (RelQE) is modelled: given an entity (query), the task is to retrieve documents containing entities in predefined relation to the given one. Solving this problem entails expanding the query before submitting it to a web search engine to ensure that mostly documents containing the linked entity are returned in the top K search results. In this paper, we propose a novel Learning-based Relevance Feedback (LRF) approach to solve this retrieval task. Expansion terms are learned from training pairs of entities linked by the predefined relation and applied to new entity-queries to find entities linked by the same relation. After describing the approach, we present experimental results on real-world web data collections, which show that the LRF approach always improves the precision of top-ranked search results to up to 8.6 times the baseline. Using LRF, WebRC also shows performances way above the baseline.

Patient perspectives of using a web based intervention program for patients with type 2 diabetes and acute coronary syndrome

Introduction Research highlights patients with dual diagnoses of type 2 diabetes and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have higher readmission rates and poorer health outcomes than patients with singular chronic conditions. Despite this, there is a lack of education programs targeted for this dual diagnosis population to improve self-management and decrease negative health outcomes. There is evidence to suggest that internet based interventions may improve health outcomes for patients with singular chronic conditions, however there is a need to develop an evidence base for ACS patients with comorbid diabetes. There is a growing awareness of the importance of a participatory model in developing effective online interventions. That is, internet interventions are more effective if end users’ perceptions of the intervention are incorporated in their final development prior to testing in large scale trials. Objectives This study investigated patients’ perspectives of the web-based intervention designed to promote self-management of the dual conditions in order to refine the intervention prior to clinical trial evaluation. Methods An interpretive approach with thematic analysis was used to obtain deeper understanding regarding participants’ experience when using web-application interventions for patients with ACS and type 2 diabetes. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken on a purposive sample of 30 patients meeting strict inclusion and exclusion criteria to obtain their perspectives on the program. Results Preliminary results indicate patients with dual diagnoses express more complex needs than those with a singular condition. Participants express a positive experience with the proposed internet intervention and emerging themes include that the web page is seen as easy to use and comforting as a support, in that patients know they are not alone. Further results will be reported as they become available. Conclusion The results indicate potential for patient acceptability of the newly developed internet intervention for patients with ACS and comorbid diabetes. Incorporation of patient perspectives into the final development of the intervention is likely to maximise successful outcomes of any future trials that utilise this intervention. Future quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention is being planned.

Creating a legal framework for copyright management of open access within the Australian academic and research sector

This chapter analyses the copyright law framework needed to ensure open access to outputs of the Australian academic and research sector such as journal articles and theses. It overviews the new knowledge landscape, the principles of copyright law, the concept of open access to knowledge, the recently developed open content models of copyright licensing and the challenges faced in providing greater access to knowledge and research outputs.

Collaboration in Web N.0: Stigmergy and virtual pheromones

The aim of this project was to develop a general theory of stigmergy and a software design pattern to build collaborative websites. Stigmergy is a biological term used when describing some insect swarm-behaviour where 'food gathering' and 'nest building' activities demonstrate the emergence of self-organised societies achieved without an apparent management structure. The results of the project are an abstract model of stigmergy and a software design pattern for building Web 2.0 components exploiting this self-organizing phenomenon. A proof-of-concept implementation was also created demonstrating potential commercial viability for future website projects.

Submission for the Queensland Government Parliamentary Inquiry into personal health promotion interventions using telephone and web-based technologies

Telephone and web-based technologies such as SMS, smartphone apps, gamification, online/mobile games, online quizzes and tools can be used in personal health interventions in two ways: health promotion or social marketing. In response to the Queensland government's call for submissions to the parliamentary inquiry, a social marketing and design submission from four of the faculties at Queensland University of Technology was submitted. There appears to be a great deal of confusion in government circles about the terms ‘social marketing’ and ‘health promotion’ and often they are used interchangeably when they are actually significantly different approaches. Social marketing is the science and practice of behaviour change and involves goods and services that offer a value proposition, and which incentivises citizens to change their behaviour voluntarily. However, social marketing is often mistakenly used to describe advertising and communication or social media marketing. This submission contains an overview of how technology interventions need to be implemented to be successful, provides examples of the evidence that telephone and web-based interventions can effectively influence public health outcome. This submission poses seven critical factors.

Performative digital asset management: To propose a framework and proof of concept model that effectively enables researchers to document, archive and curate their non-traditional research data

This cross disciplinary study was conducted as two research and development projects. The outcome is a multimodal and dynamic chronicle, which incorporates the tracking of spatial, temporal and visual elements of performative practice-led and design-led research journeys. The distilled model provides a strong new approach to demonstrate rigour in non-traditional research outputs including provenance and an 'augmented web of facticity'.

Towards adaptive management of QoS-aware service compositions - Functional architecture

Service compositions enable users to realize their complex needs as a single request. Despite intensive research, especially in the area of business processes, web services and grids, an open and valid question is still how to manage service compositions in order to satisfy both functional and non-functional requirements as well as adapt to dynamic changes. In this paper we propose an (functional) architecture for adaptive management of QoS-aware service compositions. Comparing to the other existing architectures this one offers two major advantages. Firstly, this architecture supports various execution strategies based on dynamic selection and negotiation of services included in a service composition, contracting based on service level agreements, service enactment with flexible support for exception handling, monitoring of service level objectives, and profiling of execution data. Secondly, the architecture is built on the basis of well know existing standards to communicate and exchange data, which significantly reduces effort to integrate existing solutions and tools from different vendors. A first prototype of this architecture has been implemented within an EU-funded Adaptive Service Grid project. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.

Implementing process views in the web service environment

Web service and business process technologies are widely adopted to facilitate business automation and collaboration. Given the complexity of business processes, it is a sought-after feature to show a business process with different views to cater for the diverse interests, authority levels, etc., of different users. Aiming to implement such flexible process views in the Web service environment, this paper presents a novel framework named FlexView to support view abstraction and concretisation of WS-BPEL processes. In the FlexView framework, a rigorous view model is proposed to specify the dependency and correlation between structural components of process views with emphasis on the characteristics of WS-BPEL, and a set of rules are defined to guarantee the structural consistency between process views during transformations. A set of algorithms are developed to shift the abstraction and concretisation operations to the operational level. A prototype is also implemented for the proof-of-concept purpose. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Frequent (flier) frustration and the dark side of word‐of‐web: exploring online dysfunctional behavior in online feedback forums

Purpose Following the perspective of frustration theory customer frustration incidents lead to frustration behavior such as protest (negative word‐of‐mouth). On the internet customers can express their emotions verbally and non‐verbally in numerous web‐based review platforms. The purpose of this study is to investigate online dysfunctional customer behavior, in particular negative “word‐of‐web” (WOW) in online feedback forums, among customers who participate in frequent‐flier programs in the airline industry. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a variation of the critical incident technique (CIT) referred to as the critical internet feedback technique (CIFT). Qualitative data of customer reviews of 13 different frequent‐flier programs posted on the internet were collected and analyzed with regard to frustration incidents, verbal and non‐verbal emotional effects and types of dysfunctional word‐of‐web customer behavior. The sample includes 141 negative customer reviews based on non‐recommendations and low program ratings. Findings Problems with loyalty programs evoke negative emotions that are expressed in a spectrum of verbal and non‐verbal negative electronic word‐of‐mouth. Online dysfunctional behavior can vary widely from low ratings and non‐recommendations to voicing switching intentions to even stronger forms such as manipulation of others and revenge intentions. Research limitations/implications Results have to be viewed carefully due to methodological challenges with regard to the measurement of emotions, in particular the accuracy of self‐report techniques and the quality of online data. Generalization of the results is limited because the study utilizes data from only one industry. Further research is needed with regard to the exact differentiation of frustration from related constructs. In addition, large‐scale quantitative studies are necessary to specify and test the relationships between frustration incidents and subsequent dysfunctional customer behavior expressed in negative word‐of‐web. Practical implications The study yields important implications for the monitoring of the perceived quality of loyalty programs. Management can obtain valuable information about program‐related and/or relationship‐related frustration incidents that lead to online dysfunctional customer behavior. A proactive response strategy should be developed to deal with severe cases, such as sabotage plans. Originality/value This study contributes to knowledge regarding the limited research of online dysfunctional customer behavior as well as frustration incidents of loyalty programs. Also, the article presents a theoretical “customer frustration‐defection” framework that describes different levels of online dysfunctional behavior in relation to the level of frustration sensation that customers have experienced. The framework extends the existing perspective of the “customer satisfaction‐loyalty” framework developed by Heskett et al.

Australian patients using a cardiac-diabetes web-based intervention program: Contributions to person-centered clinical practice

Rationale, aims and objectives: Patients with both cardiac disease and diabetes have poorer health outcomes than patients with only one chronic condition. While evidence indicates that internet based interventions may improve health outcomes for patients with a chronic disease, there is no literature on internet programs specific to cardiac patients with comorbid diabetes. Therefore this study aimed to develop a specific web-based program, then to explore patients’ perspectives on the usefulness of a new program. Methods: The interpretive approach using semi-structured interviews on a purposive sample of eligible patients with type 2 diabetes and a cardiac condition in a metropolitan hospital in Brisbane, Australia. Thematic analysis was undertaken to describe the perceived usefulness of a newly developed Heart2heart webpage. Results: Themes identified included confidence in hospital health professionals and reliance on doctors to manage conditions. Patients found the webpage useful for managing their conditions at home. Conclusions: The new Heart2heart webpage provided a positive and useful resource. Further research on to determine the potential influence of this resource on patients’ self-management behaviours is paramount. Implications for practice include using multimedia strategies for providing information to patients’ comorbidities of cardiac disease and type 2 diabetes, and further development on enhancement of such strategies

The influence of pre-processing on the estimation of readability of web documents

This paper investigates the effect that text pre-processing approaches have on the estimation of the readability of web pages. Readability has been highlighted as an important aspect of web search result personalisation in previous work. The most widely used text readability measures rely on surface level characteristics of text, such as the length of words and sentences. We demonstrate that different tools for extracting text from web pages lead to very different estimations of readability. This has an important implication for search engines because search result personalisation strategies that consider users reading ability may fail if incorrect text readability estimations are computed.

Global banana disease management - getting serious with sustainability and food security

Much research in understanding plant diseases has been undertaken, but there has been insufficient attention given to dealing with coordinated approaches to preventing and managing diseases. A global management approach is essential to the long-term sustainability of banana production. This approach would involve coordinated surveys, capacity building in developing countries, development of disease outbreak contingency plans and coordinated quarantine awareness, including on-line training in impact risk assessment and web-based diagnostic software. Free movement of banana plants and products between some banana-producing countries is causing significant pressure on the ability to manage diseases in banana. The rapid spread of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense 'tropical race 4' in Asia, bacterial wilts in Africa and Asia and black leaf streak [Mycosphaerella fijiensis] in Brazil and elsewhere are cases in point. The impact of these diseases is devastating, severely cutting family incomes and jeopardising food security around the globe. Agreements urgently need to be reached between governments to halt the movement of banana plants and products between banana-producing countries before it is too late and global food security is irreparably harmed. Black leaf streak, arguably the most serious banana disease, has become extremely difficult to control in commercial plantations in various parts of the world. Sometimes in excess of 50 fungicide sprays have to be applied each year. Disease eradication and effective disease control is not possible because there is no control of disease inoculum in non-commercial plantings in these locations. Additionally, there have been enormous sums of money invested in international banana breeding programmes over many years only to see the value of hybrid products lost too soon. 'Goldfinger' (AAAB, syn. 'FHIA-01'), for example, has recently been observed severely affected by black leaf streak in Samoa. Resistant cultivars alone cannot be relied upon in the fight against this disease. Real progress in control may only come when the local communities are engaged and become actively involved in regional programmes. Global recommendations are long overdue and urgently needed to help ensure the long-term sustainable utilisation of the products of the breeding programmes.