Ontology acquisition and exchange of evolutionary product-brokering agents

Agent-based electronic commerce (e-commerce) has been booming with the development of the Internet and agent technologies. However, little effort has been devoted to exploring the learning and evolving capabilities of software agents. This paper addresses issues of evolving software agents in e-commerce applications. An agent structure with evolution features is proposed with a focus on internal hierarchical knowledge. We argue that knowledge base of agents should be the cornerstone for their evolution capabilities, and agents can enhance their knowledge bases by exchanging knowledge with other agents. In this paper, product ontology is chosen as an instance of knowledge base. We propose a new approach to facilitate ontology exchange among e-commerce agents. The ontology exchange model and its formalities are elaborated. Product-brokering agents have been designed and implemented, which accomplish the ontology exchange process from request to integration

Electronic agents on the Internet: A new way to satisfy the consumer?

Our purpose in this article is to present the concept of electronic agent used in e-commerce and its impact on consumer satisfaction. Electronic agents represent the future of electronic business. They help the consumers in an environment where all the information is available but hard to deal with. We try to study the electronic agent in a consumer decision process perspective and to examine the different sort of agents depending on their relationships with vendors and consumers. Our final aim is to understand the role of electronic agent onconsumer satisfaction. For that purpose, we conducted a little empirical study which consist in presenting two types of agents to consumers: a good one and a bad one and to evaluate the level of consumer satisfaction.Electronic agents, consumer behavior, satisfaction, e-commerce.

The EPS as an e-commerce enabler: The Macedonian perspective

The payment system represents a sum of instruments, procedures and infrastructure for money transfer. It is of great importance for all economic agents since it enables fast and efficient payments in the national economy as well as internationally. Electronic payment system functionality is measured through analysis of the transactions committed, structure of the electronic instruments available within a country, and payment instruments used during payment of purchased or ordered products or services. The use of Electronic Payment Instruments in Macedonia is growing steadily, which shows that the EPS system in this country is continually growing and is in some extend well organized, people are friendly to ICT and conduct electronic transactions easily. E-banking activities in Macedonia started, but remain in low levels; which is a fact for e-commerce activities in general.e-commerce, Electronic Payment Systems, Electronic Payment Instruments

Use of the Web for Electronic Commerce in Real Estate

In this paper, we will explore the ways in which electronic commerce, the World-wide Web (WWW) in particular, is affecting the real estate industry. Real estate is a promising setting for studying electronic commerce because it is an information-intensive and information-driven industry; transaction-based, with high value and asset-specificity; market-intermediary (agents and brokers connect buyers and sellers rather than buying or selling themselves); and experiencing on-going information technology (IT) related changes. In this paper, we apply a coordination theory framework to suggest where IT might change the process of buying or selling a house. Electronic commerce applications have the potential to drastically change current practices in the real-estate industry, including the disintermediation of agents. Web-based commerce is eroding the long-enjoyed information monopoly of real-estate agents. We illustrate this potential by reviewing a number of existing real estate websites that demonstrate the possible impact of electronic commerce on this industry

The Electronic Payment System as an e-commerce enabler: The Macedonian perspective

The payment system represents a sum of instruments, procedures and infrastructure for money transfer. It is of great importance for all economic agents since it enables fast and efficient payments in the national economy as well as internationally. Electronic payment system functionality is measured through analysis of the transactions committed, structure of the electronic instruments available within a country, and payment instruments used during payment of purchased or ordered products or services. The use of Electronic Payment Instruments in Macedonia is growing steadily, which shows that the EPS system in this country is continually growing and is in some extend well organized, people are friendly to ICT and conduct electronic transactions easily. E-banking activities in Macedonia started, but remain in low levels; which is a fact for e-commerce activities in general.e-commerce, Electronic Payment Systems, Electronic Payment Instruments

Simulating Electronic Commerce:A Game Environment Utilizing Software and Human Agents

Electronic Commerce [EC] is still in the developmental stages. Neither the technological nor the cultural constructs have solidified. The result is that there is no way of predicting what applications of EC will prosper [Kala-96]. We propose a simulation environment, that incorporates software agents and human agents in a game format to create a quasi-natural setting, for evaluating aspects of electronic commerce

Market-Enabling Internet Agents

The growth of the Internet offers a vision of ubiquitous electronic commerce. A particularly exciting feature of Internet commerce is the ability to automate the search for price or other product information across multiple suppliers by using an “agent” to retrieve the relevant information. The use of such agents has the potential to dramatically reduce buyers’ search costs. We argue that such agents effectively transform a diverse set of offerings into an economically efficient market and that their use should therefore be analyzed in these terms. In this paper, we present a simple model of the competitive effects of agents used to support purchasing. The model suggests that agents can be successful for diversified goods but resisted for commodities and near- commodities. We illustrate our model by analyzing the situation of current electronic commerce ventures on the Internet