an important partnership for decades

Graesch, J. P., Hensel-Börner, S., & Henseler, J. (2021). Information technology and marketing: an important partnership for decades. Industrial Management and Data Systems, 121(1), 123-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-08-2020-0510Purpose: The enabling technologies that emerged from information technology (IT) have had a considerable influence upon the development of marketing tools, and marketing has become digitalized by adopting these technologies over time. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impacts of these enabling technologies on marketing tools in the past and present and to demonstrate their potential future. Furthermore, it provides guidance about the digital transformation occurring in marketing and the need to align of marketing and IT. Design/methodology/approach: This study demonstrates the impact of enabling technologies on the subsequent marketing tools developed through a content analysis of information systems and marketing conference proceedings. It offers a fresh look at marketing's digital transformation over the last 40 years. Moreover, it initially applies the findings to a general digital transformation model from another field to verify its presence in marketing. Findings: This paper identifies four eras within the digital marketing evolution and reveals insights into a potential fifth era. This chronological structure verifies the impact of IT on marketing tools and accordingly the digital transformation within marketing. IT has made digital marketing tools possible in all four digital transformation levers: automation, customer interaction, connectivity and data. Practical implications: The sequencing of enabling technologies and subsequent marketing tools demonstrates the need to align marketing and IT to design new marketing tools that can be applied to customer interactions and be used to foster marketing control. Originality/value: This study is the first to apply the digital transformation levers, namely, automation, customer interaction, connectivity and data, to the marketing discipline and contribute new insights by demonstrating the chronological development of digital transformation in marketing.authorsversionpublishe

Algorithms of numerical simulation of elastic waves propagating in dissipative environments

The simulation of propagating waves is of primary importance in many engineering applications, such as planning ultrasonic measurement procedures, monitoring of the structural integrity of pipelines by analyzing pressure pulses propagation, earthquake waves propagation and many other types of real-life applications. Traditionally, the computational methods of wave propagation analysis in geometrically complex structures and environments use the finite element or the finite difference approaches. However, inherent shortcomings arise due to huge dimensionalities of the models in cases when the length of the analyzed waves is much lesser than the linear dimensions of the structure. The limit situation is the infinite wave propagation environment in one or several directions, which actually is extremely difficult to simulate by traditional FEM because fictitious wave reflections form artificially introduced boundaries of the computational domain. The existing techniques within traditional FEM which enable to cope with the infinite domains are the non-reflecting boundary condition (suitable only for acoustic waves), scaled-boundary FEM techniques and perfectly matched layers. However, the latter approaches are approximate, and they also require significant computational resources, anyway. The semi-analytical approaches such as the SAFE method seem to be promising as they enable their users to avoid the discretization of the structures along the infinite direction. Even though the principles of SAFE have been well-known for several decades, the approach is still underdeveloped as perfectly as the traditional FEM – therefore, further research is still necessary. The guided waves in the waveguide (plate, bar, pipe, etc.) are described by their dispersion curves. The dispersion curves present the relationships of phase, group and energy velocities of the waves against the wave frequency. The SAFE method facilitates the calculation of dispersion curves for waveguides having uniform cross-section geometries along at least one direction. The finite element covers the discretization of the waveguide cross-section only. Along the wave propagation direction, the harmonic solutions in space and time are used. The expressions of such solutions use the exponential functions in the space of complex numbers. Similarly to the conventional FEM, the SAFEM enables to express forced time-dependent wave response analysis as a superposition of modal responses. While there are many researches addressing waveguides in vacuum, SAFE modeling of traveling waves in dissipative environments is still a challenging task. It is caused by the fact that the traditional SAFE analyses presume the amplitude decay of the traveling wave as negligible and, therefore, certain mathematical simplifications of the FE formulation are possible. In the case of higher damping, such simplifications would lead to considerable errors of the solution. In this research, the SAFE formulation is extended in order to treat the wave propagation problems in viscous environments. The energy dissipation model is presented via Rayleigh damping (i.e., energy dissipation caused by material damping) and via the leaky wave, where the waveguide immersed into the perfect fluid is considered

Enhancing hourly heat demand prediction through artificial neural networks: a national level case study

Meeting the goal of zero emissions in the energy sector by 2050 requires accurate prediction of energy consumption, which is increasingly important. However, conventional bottom-up model-based heat demand forecasting methods are not suitable for large-scale, high-resolution, and fast forecasting due to their complexity and the difficulty in obtaining model parameters. This paper presents an artificial neural network (ANN) model to predict hourly heat demand on a national level, which replaces the traditional bottom-up model based on extensive building simulations and computation. The ANN model significantly reduces prediction time and complexity by reducing the number of model input types through feature selection, making the model more realistic by removing non-essential inputs. The improved model can be trained using fewer meteorological data types and insufficient data, while accurately forecasting the hourly heat demand throughout the year within an acceptable error range. The model provides a framework to obtain accurate heat demand predictions for large-scale areas, which can be used as a reference for stakeholders, especially policymakers, to make informed decisions

Korreferentzia-ebazpena euskarazko testuetan.

203 p.Gaur egun, korreferentzia-ebazpen automatikoa gakotzat har dezakegu testuak ulertuahal izateko; ondorioz, behar-beharrezkoa da diskurtsoaren ulerkuntza sakona eskatzenduten Lengoaia Naturalaren Prozesamenduko (NLP) hainbat atazatan.Testu bateko bi espresio testualek objektu berbera adierazi edo erreferentziatzendutenean, bi espresio horien artean korreferentzia-erlazio bat dagoela esan ohi da. Testubatean ager daitezkeen espresio testual horien arteko korreferentzia-erlazioak ebazteahelburu duen atazari korreferentzia-ebazpena deritzo.Tesi-lan hau, hizkuntzalaritza konputazionalaren arloan kokatzen da eta euskarazidatzitako testuen korreferentzia-ebazpen automatikoa du helburu, zehazkiago esanda,euskarazko korreferentzia-ebazpen automatikoa gauzatzeko dagoen baliabide eta tresnenhutsunea betetzea du helburu.Tesi-lan honetan, lehenik euskarazko testuetan ager daitezkeen espresio testualakautomatikoki identifikatzeko garatu dugun erregelatan oinarritutako tresna azaltzen da.Ondoren, Stanfordeko unibertsitatean ingeleserako diseinatu den erregelatanoinarritutako korreferentzia-ebazpenerako sistema euskararen ezaugarrietara nolaegokitu den eta ezagutza-base semantikoak erabiliz nola hobetu dugun aurkezten da.Bukatzeko, ikasketa automatikoan oinarritzen den BART korreferentzia-ebazpenerakosistema euskarara egokitzeko eta hobetzeko egindako lana azaltzen da

An OMG model-based approach for aligning information systems requirements and architectures with business

Tese de Doutoramento (Programa Doutoral em Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação)The challenges involved in developing information systems (which are able to adapt to rapidly changing business and technological conditions) are directly related to the importance of their alignment with the business counterpart. These challenges comprise issues that cross management and information systems domains, relating and aligning them in order to attain superior performance for the organization, while identifying its strategy and tailoring its business processes. As this relation is increasingly intertwined its concepts are conducted to pragmatic methods, incorporating both management and information systems components, for how, when and where this alignment really matters. The related topics of the alignment between business and information systems comprise diverse paths of research, though with little common ground established inside the community, where problems arouse due to the fast moving business and technological environments. According to these circumstances, the process of developing information systems to support the alignment benefits from incorporating the use of structured and model-based approaches. So, as the development of evermore complex information systems presents a challenge for the currently available methods, the use of models to support the alignment with business stands as an increasingly important issue. Following those challenges, we set out to question how to develop solutions aligning information systems with business in a model-based approach. Accordingly, we support our research on the need to understand what are the perspectives involved in aligning information systems with business, and, moreover, to comprehend in what sense model adoption drives information systems development. So, the proposed goals for this thesis are: (1) set the basis for the elicitation of business requirements in order to support a well-grounded development of information systems; (2) provide for the generation of business models based on the business requirements, while assuring their alignment and traceability; and (3) arrange for the derivation of information system architectures from the business requirements, while attaining alignment and traceability for their mutual transformation and adaptation. Several issues surrounding these goals have already been described and approached in diverse ways by other researchers, where existing approaches and associated methods achieved good results. Nevertheless, these approaches are not without their shortfalls, sometimes failing to present a complete solution, others being unable to adapt to new challenges, or even incapable of reacting to recent trends. In order to tackle these issues we propose to build upon those approaches by adapting, evolving and innovating on solutions in each of the three proposed goals, respectively intertwining with perspectives from related standards and reference models. Answering the first goal, in what regards the main contributions of this thesis, we propose to broaden the elicitation of requirements by relating functional and nonfunctional requirements from business processes. So, we present a unified metamodel representation for those requirements, accompanied by a customizable method for their joint elicitation, based-on business-driven use-cases, goals and rules. This approach adopts the Rational Unified Process (RUP) development methodology and the Business Motivation Model (BMM) standard model language representation for business requirements. Moreover, the metamodel representation and method operationalization are accompanied by a prototype support tool that completes this first contribution. For the second goal, a more business-oriented one correlated to the higher-level requirements, we propose to generate business models directly from the inferred functional and nonfunctional requirements. So, we present a three-dimensional approach built on the relation of the referred requirements with the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) reference model, where an additional mapping to the Business Model Canvas (BMC) is also made available. This proposal provides an associated metamodel representation for the relation between the elements involved and a customizable method for their operationalization, all accompanied by a prototype support tool. On the third goal, focused on system architectures and connected to the lower-level requirements, we propose to derive service-oriented participants from the functional requirements, while aligning the nonfunctional requirements with the quality characteristics of the solution to-be. First, we present an evolution of an existing method for the derivation of a logical architecture, in order to adapt it to a service-oriented approach (SOA). Then, following on the existing relation between the nonfunctional and functional side of the low-level requirements, our approach is able to associate these last with its related services on the derived architecture, in another three-dimensional approach. Additionally, a mapping of the nonfunctional requirements with the system quality characteristics (CISQ) is made available. Once more, an associated metamodel, a customizable method and a prototype support tool are also provided. The development of these three approaches is supported through the execution of tasks which originate artifacts and lead to publications associated to their respective research and development efforts, all according to the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology. These are applied in ongoing projects involving experimental scenarios in industrial settings and associated to established research reference patterns, balancing the interests of both researchers and practitioners while focused both on technology and management audiences. The results obtained from their evaluation reflect the quality and depth of our findings, helping to validate the scientific contribution of this work.Os desafios implicados no desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação (que sejam capazes de se adaptar a condições tecnológicas e de negócios em rápida mutação) estão diretamente relacionados à importância do seu alinhamento com a contraparte do negócio. Esses desafios envolvem questões que cruzam os domínios da gestão e dos sistemas de informação, relacionando-os e alinhando-os com o intuito de alcançar um desempenho superior para a organização, ao mesmo tempo que identificam a sua estratégia e adequam os seus processos de negócio. Como esta relação está cada vez mais interligada, os seus conceitos são canalizados para métodos pragmáticos, incorporando ambos os componentes de sistemas de informação e de gestão, para saber como, quando e onde este alinhamento realmente interessa. Os tópicos relacionados com o alinhamento entre negócio e sistemas de informação abrangem diversos caminhos de pesquisa, embora com poucos alicerces em comum estabelecidos dentro da comunidade, onde os problemas surgem devido às rápidas mudanças nos negócios e nos ambientes tecnológicos. De acordo com estas circunstâncias, o processo de desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação para apoiar o alinhamento beneficia de incorporar o uso de abordagens estruturadas e baseadas em modelos. Assim, dado que o desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação cada vez mais complexos apresenta um desafio para os métodos atualmente disponíveis, o uso de modelos para apoiar o alinhamento com o negócio destaca-se como uma questão cada vez mais importante. Em linha com esses desafios, estabelecemos a questão de como desenvolver soluções para alinhar sistemas de informações com o negócio numa abordagem baseada em modelos. Neste sentido, apoiamos a nossa pesquisa na necessidade de compreender quais são as perspetivas envolvidas no alinhamento dos sistemas de informação com o negócio, e, além disso, de compreender em que sentido a adoção de modelos capacita o desenvolvimento desses sistemas. Assim, os objetivos propostos para esta tese são: (1) definir as bases para o levantamento de requisitos de negócio a fim de suportar um desenvolvimento bem fundamentado de sistemas de informação; (2) disponibilizar a geração de modelos de negócio baseados nos requisitos de negócio, garantindo o alinhamento e a rastreabilidade entre ambos; e (3) estruturar a derivação de arquiteturas de sistema de informação a partir dos requisitos de negócio, preservando o alinhamento e rastreabilidade para a sua mútua transformação e adaptação. Várias questões envolvendo estes objetivos foram já descritas e tratadas de diversas maneiras por outros investigadores, tendo as abordagens existentes e os métodos associados alcançado bons resultados. No entanto, essas abordagens têm as suas lacunas, umas vezes falham em apresentar uma solução completa, noutras são ineficientes ao se adaptarem a novos desafios, ou mesmo incapazes de reagir às novas tendências. Para lidar com estas questões, propomo-nos apoiar nessas abordagens, adaptando, evoluindo e inovando em soluções para cada um dos três objetivos propostos, intersetando-as, respetivamente, com perspetivas de modelos de referência e padrões relacionados. Relativamente ao primeiro objetivo, no que concerne aos principais contributos desta tese, propomos alargar o levantamento de requisitos, relacionando os requisitos funcionais e nãofuncionais dos processos de negócios. Assim, apresentamos um meta-modelo para a representação unificada desses requisitos, acompanhado por um método personalizável para o seu levantamento conjunto, baseada em casos-de-uso, metas e regras orientadas a negócio. Esta abordagem adota a metodologia de desenvolvimento do Rational Unified Process (RUP) e a representação padrão do modelo de linguagem do Business Motivation Model (BMM), para os requisitos de negócio. Além disso, a representação meta-modelo e a operacionalização do método são acompanhados por um protótipo de uma ferramenta de suporte que completa esta primeira contribuição. Quanto ao segundo objetivo, mais orientado ao negócio e correlacionado com os requisitos de nível superior, propomos gerar modelos de negócio a partir dos requisitos funcionais e não-funcionais inferidos. Assim, apresentamos uma abordagem tridimensional, construída sobre a relação dos referidos requisitos com o modelo de referência do Balanced Scorecard (BSC), em que um mapeamento adicional para o Business Model Canvas (BMC) é também disponibilizado. Esta proposta inclui um meta-modelo para representação da relação entre os elementos envolvidos e um método personalizável para a sua operacionalização, tudo acompanhado por um protótipo de uma ferramenta de suporte. No terceiro objetivo, focado em arquiteturas de sistema e ligado aos requisitos de nível inferior, propomos derivar participantes orientados-a-serviços desde os requisitos funcionais, alinhando os requisitos não-funcionais com as características de qualidade da solução a obter. Primeiro, apresentamos uma evolução de um método existente para a derivação de uma arquitetura lógica, adaptando-o a uma abordagem-orientada-a-serviços (SOA). Assim, prosseguindo a relação existente entre o lado não-funcional e funcional dos requisitos de baixo nível, a nossa abordagem associa estes últimos com os serviços relacionados na arquitetura derivada, numa outra abordagem tridimensional. Além disso, um mapeamento dos requisitos não-funcionais com as características de qualidade do sistema (CISQ) é disponibilizado. Mais uma vez, um meta-modelo associado, um método personalizável e um protótipo da ferramenta de suporte são disponibilizados. O desenvolvimento destas três abordagens é suportado pela execução de tarefas, as quais dão origem a artefatos e levam a publicações associadas aos seus esforços de pesquisa e desenvolvimento respetivamente, tudo de acordo com a metodologia DSR. Estas são aplicadas a projetos em andamento, os quais envolvem cenários experimentais em ambientes industriais e associados a padrões de investigação de referência, equilibrando os interesses de investigadores e profissionais assim como dos diferentes públicos de tecnologia e gestão. Os resultados obtidos na sua avaliação refletem a qualidade e a profundidade dos nossos resultados, ajudando a validar a contribuição científica deste trabalho

Optimising route comfort indices for neonatal transfers by road

The risk of severe brain injuries in sick premature infants increases when transferred between hospitals. Causality is uncertain, but stress levels are elevated during ambulance journeys; potentially due to excessive levels of noise and vibration. It has been proposed that reducing these levels would reduce the risk, with one prospective method being comfort-optimised navigation. An Android app was developed that logs noise level, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and location data during journeys, sampling at the fastest rates possible depending on the hardware and firmware. The smartphone used during development was found to sample noise levels accurate to 0.3 dB up to 80 dB(A) and accelerations accurate to 10\% up to 40~Hz, although considerable jitter was present in the IMU sampling. Recorded data were shown to be repeatable for multiple passes over the same stretch of road (acceleration interquartile range (IQR): 0.14ms^{-2}; noise IQR: 2.8 dB). Data were influenced by both supplementary audio and the smartphone model so an initial idea of gathering data through public engagement was determined unsuitable. Controlled collection of data was planned, utilising the neonatal ambulances operated by CenTre Neonatal Transport (CenTre). A new smartphone model was identified that was capable of sampling accelerations at a sufficient rate to comply with the "Evaluation of human exposure to whole-body vibration" standard, ISO 2631. This model also had greater processing power than the previous model used during initial testing, resulting in reduced jitter, and was found to provide more accurate accelerations (within 5% up to 55 Hz). Logging of periods before and after each journey was added along with meta-data describing each journey. Journeys performed by CenTre were recorded over the course of 12 months. Recorded variables were supplemented by calculation of ISO-weighted vibration parameters. The final dataset comprises 1,487 journeys over 81,901 km and 1,318 hours. Strong similarities between meta-data and officially reported transport data suggested there was no bias in the journeys that the staff recorded. Roads driven between Nottingham City Hospital (NCH) and Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) were chosen as a case study. Data from 588 journeys contributed towards the analysis. A range of metrics, derived from previous studies and adult standards, were used to assess the roads of the NCH to LRI network. Both speed and road classification were found to influence vibration and noise level, however the influence could not be separated due to the inherent link between both parameters. All routes involved either use of motorway or a concrete A-road, with the latter producing worse vibration. Although individual road sections varied, differences were reduced between the routes. Assessments were also performed of the metrics at each of the 42 hospitals (36 departing; 38 arriving) present in the data. Results were similar between hospitals, but differed between loading and unloading phases. High magnitude shocks were more abundant during the loading phases, whereas low impact vibrations were more frequent during unloading. Both phases registered greater shocks than those found during journeys. In summary, this work provides a low-cost method of obtaining large amounts of data describing the ambulance environment without requiring any technical knowledge to operate. The theory that the physical environment could be altered through routing has also been confirmed. The data collected during this work could be utilised in the future to aid determination of neonatal responses and subsequently establish optimal routes

Optimising route comfort indices for neonatal transfers by road

The risk of severe brain injuries in sick premature infants increases when transferred between hospitals. Causality is uncertain, but stress levels are elevated during ambulance journeys; potentially due to excessive levels of noise and vibration. It has been proposed that reducing these levels would reduce the risk, with one prospective method being comfort-optimised navigation. An Android app was developed that logs noise level, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and location data during journeys, sampling at the fastest rates possible depending on the hardware and firmware. The smartphone used during development was found to sample noise levels accurate to 0.3 dB up to 80 dB(A) and accelerations accurate to 10\% up to 40~Hz, although considerable jitter was present in the IMU sampling. Recorded data were shown to be repeatable for multiple passes over the same stretch of road (acceleration interquartile range (IQR): 0.14ms^{-2}; noise IQR: 2.8 dB). Data were influenced by both supplementary audio and the smartphone model so an initial idea of gathering data through public engagement was determined unsuitable. Controlled collection of data was planned, utilising the neonatal ambulances operated by CenTre Neonatal Transport (CenTre). A new smartphone model was identified that was capable of sampling accelerations at a sufficient rate to comply with the "Evaluation of human exposure to whole-body vibration" standard, ISO 2631. This model also had greater processing power than the previous model used during initial testing, resulting in reduced jitter, and was found to provide more accurate accelerations (within 5% up to 55 Hz). Logging of periods before and after each journey was added along with meta-data describing each journey. Journeys performed by CenTre were recorded over the course of 12 months. Recorded variables were supplemented by calculation of ISO-weighted vibration parameters. The final dataset comprises 1,487 journeys over 81,901 km and 1,318 hours. Strong similarities between meta-data and officially reported transport data suggested there was no bias in the journeys that the staff recorded. Roads driven between Nottingham City Hospital (NCH) and Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) were chosen as a case study. Data from 588 journeys contributed towards the analysis. A range of metrics, derived from previous studies and adult standards, were used to assess the roads of the NCH to LRI network. Both speed and road classification were found to influence vibration and noise level, however the influence could not be separated due to the inherent link between both parameters. All routes involved either use of motorway or a concrete A-road, with the latter producing worse vibration. Although individual road sections varied, differences were reduced between the routes. Assessments were also performed of the metrics at each of the 42 hospitals (36 departing; 38 arriving) present in the data. Results were similar between hospitals, but differed between loading and unloading phases. High magnitude shocks were more abundant during the loading phases, whereas low impact vibrations were more frequent during unloading. Both phases registered greater shocks than those found during journeys. In summary, this work provides a low-cost method of obtaining large amounts of data describing the ambulance environment without requiring any technical knowledge to operate. The theory that the physical environment could be altered through routing has also been confirmed. The data collected during this work could be utilised in the future to aid determination of neonatal responses and subsequently establish optimal routes