Yinshan Tang

Methodology to model the energy and greenhouse gas emissions of electronic software distributions.

A new electronic software distribution (ESD) life cycle analysis (LCA) methodology and model structure were constructed to calculate energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In order to counteract the use of high level, top-down modeling efforts, and to increase result accuracy, a focus upon device details and data routes was taken. In order to compare ESD to a relevant physical distribution alternative, physical model boundaries and variables were described. The methodology was compiled from the analysis and operational data of a major online store which provides ESD and physical distribution options. The ESD method included the calculation of power consumption of data center server and networking devices. An in-depth method to calculate server efficiency and utilization was also included to account for virtualization and server efficiency features. Internet transfer power consumption was analyzed taking into account the number of data hops and networking devices used. The power consumed by online browsing and downloading was also factored into the model. The embedded CO(2)e of server and networking devices was proportioned to each ESD process. Three U.K.-based ESD scenarios were analyzed using the model which revealed potential CO(2)e savings of 83% when ESD was used over physical distribution. Results also highlighted the importance of server efficiency and utilization methods.

Knowledge Sharing Idiosyncrasies of University Students in Ghana

This study explored the factors affecting knowledge sharing behaviour of students in a higher institution of learning. Using a model derived from the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Reason Action, six hypotheses were tested from a cross-sectional data collected from 371 undergraduate students on a 4-year degree programme in the University of Ghana. Five out of the six hypotheses were supported. The results showed that the knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) of the students was significantly related to five of the human and environmental factors (F=639.9, df=5, 290, p<0.05) with a co-efficient of variation of R 2 =0.917 (91.7%). The knowledge sharing behavior of the students was, however, not significantly dependent on their personal characteristics. The study makes a case for increased attention in understanding the human and environmental factors of knowledge sharing since knowledge sharing is largely a people activity shaped by culture.

Impact of Office Productivity Cloud Computing on Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Cloud computing is usually regarded as being energy efficient and thus emitting less greenhouse gases (GHG) than traditional forms of computing. When the energy consumption of Microsofts cloud computing Office 365 (O365) and traditional Office 2010 (O2010) software suites were tested and modeled, some cloud services were found to consume more energy than the traditional form. The developed model in this research took into consideration the energy consumption at the three main stages of data transmission; data center, network, and end user device. Comparable products from each suite were selected and activities were defined for each product to represent a different computing type. Microsoft provided highly confidential data for the data center stage, while the networking and user device stages were measured directly. A new measurement and software apportionment approach was defined and utilized allowing the power consumption of cloud services to be directly measured for the user device stage. Results indicated that cloud computing is more energy efficient for Excel and Outlook which consumed less energy and emitted less GHG than the standalone counterpart. The power consumption of the cloud based Outlook (8%) and Excel (17%) was lower than their traditional counterparts. However, the power consumption of the cloud version of Word was 17% higher than its traditional equivalent. A third mixed access method was also measured for Word which emitted 5% more GHG than the traditional version. It is evident that cloud computing may not provide a unified way forward to reduce energy consumption and GHG. Direct conversion from the standalone package into the cloud provision platform can now consider energy and GHG emissions at the software development and cloud service design stage using the methods described in this research.

New advances in aircraft MRO services: Data mining enhancement

Aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) agencies rely largely on row-data based quotation systems to select the best suppliers for the customers (airlines). The data quantity and quality becomes a key issue to determining the success of an MRO job, since we need to ensure we achieve cost and quality benchmarks. This paper introduces a data mining approach to create an MRO quotation system that enhances the data quantity and data quality, and enables significantly more precise MRO job quotations. Regular Expression was utilized to analyse descriptive textual feedback (i.e. engineers reports) in order to extract more referable highly normalised data for job quotation. A text mining based key influencer analysis function enables the user to proactively select sub-parts, defects and possible solutions to make queries more accurate. Implementation results show that system data would improve cost quotation in 40% of MRO jobs, would reduce service cost without causing a drop in service quality.

Review of misfit issues between ERP principles and organisations

ERP is designed to improve data exchange among different functional areas of an organisation with the primary aims of improving management efficiency and business benefit. However in practice, for some companies this benefit does not always balance with cost. Effective data and information exchange relies upon business standardisation which, has also caused a misfit between implementing non-standardised organisation processes and ERP systems. Many solutions have been proposed, however ERP implementation still remains difficult and troublesome. In this paper, we have discussed the mismatch between the pragmatic requirements and the semantic capabilities of existing ERP systems. The current process-oriented ERP system does not provide a flexible business solution and easy implementation. We proposed a new ERP design principle to ensure seamless data exchange under current organisation structure. Instead of developing ERP according to the functional structure, we extended the concept of workflow management and proposed the concept that the ERP application should be based on product outputs. Each application is made to facilitate the creation of a product and can easily be configured for a new product line and modified for changing production flow. A product-level information sharing structure can potentially solve current ERP implementation issues and therefore be the subject for further research.

Knowledge sharing among employees in Ghanaian Industries The role of transformational leadership style and communal organizational culture

This study investigates the effects of organizational culture (OC) and transformational leadership (TL) style on knowledge sharing (KS). The presence of transformational culture and communal culture in industries in Ghana was ascertained. Survey research design was used. The simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample size of the study. Questionnaire was used for the data collection. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression. The findings show presence of communal culture in industries in Ghana. Again, it was found that OC is a significant predictor of KS. The study also found that leadership in industries lack TL qualities. Furthermore, TL insignificantly contributes to KS.

A Logical Pattern for Integrating Business Intelligence into Information Systems Design

In this paper, we review, literature concerning the relationship between the requirements for information systems design and business intelligence (BI). This is to provide a basis for discussion on the need for the integration of BI into information systems design. Literature on the current design patterns for information systems and BI were reviewed to identify design trends that are contributing to the use of BI that are based on only the data extracted from source information systems. We observe three main layers of logical design pattern for computer-supported information systems, namely, information presentation layer, domain model layer and information source layer. We classified according to the design purpose of each layer, which are, purposeful use of information presentation (Pragmatics design layer), meaning and understanding of information within particular business domains (Semantics design layer) and storage of signs for information captured and encoded into data (Syntactic design layer). We propose LOPIBIS as a logical pattern for integrating BI into information systems design, which is to support the use of a single version of business rules (SVOBR) to capture, process and recall same sets of data in source information systems. Subsequently enabling to the use of BI that are based on not just the data extracted from source information systems, but data with the contexts of business actions.

The Role of Language in Human Information Interaction: A Social Semiotic View

Human information interaction is a dynamic and complex process and is affected by various factors including social and cognitive factors. This study provides a new approach to study human information interaction from a social semiotic perspective and views human information interaction as a social semiotic process. Language, as a most important information carrier, is viewed as a social semiotic system and plays a key role in human information interaction. It not only carries and stores information, but also construes information. This study analyzes the role of language in human information interaction by exploring human judgment in native language and foreign language, which implies that language affects human judgement and thinking that conducts human information activities. The effect depends on the natural logic which limits the meaning-making process of language. Language, to an extent, affects the meaning creation at information interface through which human interact with information content and process information.

E-Leadership for SMEs in the Digital Age

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of economy for many countries. With a business climate currently being transformed by digital technologies, an economy driven by SMEs can be an ideal catalyst to make the most of the potential of digital technologies. One of the main challenges that the leaders of SMEs face today is how business and information technology can be aligned in an optimal manner in their organizations to fully leverage the potential of digital technologies, where e-leadership plays an essential role. This chapter provides an insight into how e-leadership drives the successful alignment between business and IT by drawing organizational semiotics and business-IT alignment theory. This chapter provides a broad perspective on how SMEs can leverage technological potentials to maximize business competitiveness and growth. Furthermore empirical evidences from SMEs across Europe gathered on the basis of the theoretical model will also provide an insight on how SME decision makers perform effective e-leadership in driving effective business and IT alignment toward sustained competitiveness.

Towards the Design of a Unified Recording and Querying Model for OLTP and OLAP Systems

To improve efficiency of processing transactions, data duplications in information stored need to be minimised. A variety of data modeling techniques are adopted to help achieve these objectives during OLTP systems design. Making the use of OLAP systems to recall information stored in OLTP systems inefficient or in some cases unsuitable. These gives rise to the need to extract, cleanse, transform and load data from OLTP systems’ databases into databases design for OLAP purposes. This paper reviews the modeling of information stored in OLTP systems as facts with operational context. A unified model for designing information recording and querying is proposed. The design model enables OLTP systems to record and store data with execution of business rules; to allow for use of OLTP and OLAP systems to query data with business rules used to capture data. Ensuring information recalled via OLAP systems preserves the context of original information captured.