Duanning Zhou

An exploratory study of the extent of information technology adoption in SMEs: an application of upper echelon theory

Purpose – The 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/approach – Based 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.Findings – The 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 implications – The research findings indicate that the age and education com...

Collaborative assessment in education: An application of a fuzzy GSS

Abstract Educators are increasingly pressed to deal effectively and efficiently with multiple criteria evaluation in a variety of circumstances as students become more actively involved in assessment. This paper demonstrates that a “fuzzy set” collaborative assessment approach implemented with a group support system (GSS) can be successfully applied in university classroom contexts. Student learning was significantly enhanced, as was satisfaction, when a collaborative assessment approach was taken. This approach has broad-based applicability in dealing with assessment complexity encountered in a wide variety of business and government contexts, as well as educational institutions.

A Clustering Algorithm for Time Series Data

In the intelligent traffic system, the research about the analysis of time series of traffic flow is important and meaningful. Using clustering methods to analyze time series not only can find some typical patterns of traffic flow, but also can group the sections of highway by their different flow characteristics. In this paper, we propose an encoded-bitmap-approach-based swap method to improve the classic hierarchical method. Experiments show that the proposed method has a better performance on the change trend of time series than classic algorithm

Structure of 3-infix-outfix maximal codes

Abstract This paper proves that a 3-infix-outfix code is a maximal code if and only if it is a group code, or equivalently, if and only if, it is a full uniform code. Thus, the structure for 3-infix—outfix code being a maximal code can be completely determined.

Data quality in collaborative commerce

Collaborative commerce (c-commerce) is an information technology-enabled process for organisations to share data and resources, adjust their activities, and augment each others 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.

k -p-Infix codes and semaphore codes

Abstract In this paper we introduce the concepts of k -p-infix codes, n - k -ps-infix languages, n - k -infix-outfix codes, and n - k -prefix-suffix languages, which are natural generalizations of our previous work on k -prefix codes, k -infix codes and so on. We obtain several properties of k -p-infix codes and semaphore codes. The relations and hierarchies of k -p-infix codes, n - k -ps-languages, and n - k -prefix-suffix languages, and their operations of these classes of languages are also investigated.

A new method for student project assessment using fuzzy sets

The aim of this paper is to give a generalized approach for student project assessment in which criterion-referenced assessment techniques are often used. In order to provide the flexibility in assessment using criterion-referenced techniques, the proposed approach allows evaluators to express assessment information within different formats in different assessment criteria. Then the assessment information is unified and aggregated, and the raking of the projects is obtained. The mark distribution of student projects is awarded based on the ranking of the projects.

Integrating object-oriented analysis with action logic for model building

Decision models play an important role in decision-making, and supporting model-building is one of the most important functions of model management in decision support systems. As concepts at different abstract levels have to be used in the process of model-building, representing these concepts in a coherent way has been recognized as a key research topic. In this paper, a model-building framework is proposed which integrates object-oriented analysis with action logic as the representation tool. This model-building framework can provide representations for concepts at different abstract levels and can describe the process of abstracting decision models from decision situations or problems represented in lower abstract level concepts.