31,570 research outputs found
The distance selling directive: consumer champion or complete irrelevance?
This paper investigates the origins, significant content, UK and EU implementation and outcomes of Directive 97/7/EC on distance selling, hereafter referred to as the Distance Selling Directive (DSD). The DSD has been implemented in national legislation by all EU Member States. In the UK this legislation was the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No. 2334), hereafter referred to as the CPDSR
Sweatfree Independent Monitoring Contract
This document is part of a digital collection provided by the Martin P. Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University, pertaining to the effects of globalization on the workplace worldwide. Special emphasis is placed on labor rights, working conditions, labor market changes, and union organizing.ilrf_sweatfree_independent_monitoring_contract.pdf: 210 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020
Library purchasing consortia in the UK: activity, benefits and good practice.
Following a brief introduction in Section 1, Section 2 sets out the operational context of library purchasing consortia. A range of key factors have shaped recent developments in the four LIS sectors under consideration (FE, HE, health and public libraries); some have exerted a common influence over all (e.g. information technology, European Commission purchasing directives, new central government, decline in bookfunds); some are sector-specific (e.g. purchasing arrangements, regional administrative frameworks, collaborative partnerships). The structure and markets of the book and periodical publishing industry in the UK are reviewed, with attention paid to historical as well as more recent practice that has had an impact on library supply. Although each component of the LIS purchasing consortia jigsaw displays individual characteristics that have evolved as a response to its own environment, the thread that links them together is constant change.
Section 3 presents the results of a survey of identified library purchasing consortia in the four library sectors. It treats common themes of relevance to all consortia arising from information gathered by seminar input, questionnaire and interview. These include models of consortium operation, membership and governance, ‘typical’ composition of consortia in each sector, and links to analogous practice in other library sectors. Common features of the tendering and contract management process are elicited and attention paid to any contribution of procurement professionals. Finally, levels of consortium expenditure and cost savings are estimated from the published statistical record, which readily demonstrate in financial terms the efficiency of the consortial purchase model for all types of library in the United Kingdom.
Section 4 presents the results of a survey of suppliers to libraries in the United Kingdom of books and periodicals, the two sectors most commonly represented in current contracts of library purchasing consortia. It sets out in some detail the operating context governing the highly segmented activities of library booksellers, as well as that pertaining to periodicals suppliers (also known as subscription agents). Detailed responses to questions on the effects of library purchasing consortia on suppliers of both materials have been gathered by questionnaire survey and selected follow-up interviews. Results are presented and analysed according to supply sector with attention given to the tendering process, current contracts under way, cross-sectoral clientele, and advantages and inhibitors of consortia supply. Further responses are reported on issues of how consortia have affected suppliers’ volume of trade, operating margins and market stability as perceived in their own business, the library supply sector and the publishing industry. Finally, overall conclusions are drawn and projections made as to future implications for both types of library suppliers.
Section 5 synthesises findings, details enabling and inhibiting factors for consortia formation and models of best practice amongst consortia. The scope for cross-sectoral collaboration is discussed and found to be limited at present. Pointers are given for future activity
Trusted operational scenarios - Trust building mechanisms and strategies for electronic marketplaces.
This document presents and describes the trusted operational scenarios, resulting from the research and work carried out in Seamless project. The report presents identified collaboration habits of small and medium enterprises with low e-skills, trust building mechanisms and issues as main enablers of online business relationships on the electronic marketplace, a questionnaire analysis of the level of trust acceptance and necessity of trust building mechanisms, a proposal for the development of different strategies for the different types of trust mechanisms and recommended actions for the SEAMLESS project or other B2B marketplaces.trust building mechanisms, trust, B2B networks, e-marketplaces
Specification of vertical semantic consistency rules of UML class diagram refinement using logical approach
Unified Modelling Language (UML) is the most popular modelling language use for
software design in software development industries with a class diagram being the
most frequently use diagram. Despite the popularity of UML, it is being affected by
inconsistency problems of its diagrams at the same or different abstraction levels.
Inconsistency in UML is mostly caused by existence of various views on the same
system and sometimes leads to potentially conflicting system specifications. In
general, syntactic consistency can be automatically checked and therefore is
supported by current UML Computer-aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools.
Semantic consistency problems, unlike syntactic consistency problems, there exists
no specific method for specifying semantic consistency rules and constraints.
Therefore, this research has specified twenty-four abstraction rules of class‟s relation
semantic among any three related classes of a refined class diagram to semantically
equivalent relations of two of the classes using a logical approach. This research has
also formalized three vertical semantic consistency rules of a class diagram
refinement identified by previous researchers using a logical approach and a set of
formalized abstraction rules. The results were successfully evaluated using hotel
management system and passenger list system case studies and were found to be
reliable and efficient
A framework and tool to manage Cloud Computing service quality
Cloud Computing has generated considerable interest in both companies specialized
in Information and Communication Technology and business context in general.
The Sourcing Capability Maturity Model for service (e-SCM) is a capability model for
offshore outsourcing services between clients and providers that offers appropriate strategies
to enhance Cloud Computing implementation. It intends to achieve the required
quality of service and develop an effective working relationship between clients and
providers. Moreover, quality evaluation framework is a framework to control the quality of
any product and/or process. It offers a tool support that can generate software artifacts to
manage any type of product and service efficiently and effectively. Thus, the aim of this
paper was to make this framework and tool support available to manage Cloud Computing
service quality between clients and providers by means of e-SCM.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RJunta de Andalucía TIC-578
Quality aspects of software product supply and support using the Internet
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering ,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Engineering.
Johannesburg, 1998.This project explores the use of the Internet to supply and support software
products within a quality management system. The Software Engineering
Applications Laboratory (SEAL) at the University of the Witwatersrand is in the
process of developing various software products that will be commercially
distributed in the near future. The SEAL has chosen to use the Internet to
supply and support these products. A system has been developed for this task
and has been named the Internet System for the Supply and Support of
Software (IS4).
The SEAL is committed to developing and supplying software within a quality
management system. Consequently an investigation was undertaken into the
quality characteristics and requirements based on the ISO 9001 standard for
quality assurance and the ISO/lEC JTG1/SC7 software engineering standards.
The investigation focused on quality requirements for processes related to
supplying and supporting software as well as on the quality characteristics of
the IS4 and the IS4 development process. These quality concerns have been
incorporated into the SEAL's quality management system, the design and
development of the IS4 and the development process for SEAL products.
Major technical issues that have influenced the design of the IS4 have been the
control of the supply and licensing of the supplied products and the transaction
processing of the on-line sales. To control the supply and licenSing of the
supplied products, various issues such as unlock keys, Internet based
registration, controlled access and hardware control have been investigated.
The advantages and disadvantages of each have been investigated and a
suitable lmplernentat'on has been used in the IS4. To process the on-line
transactions the IS4 will be developed to be compliant with the recently released
'Secure Electronic Transactions' (SET) standard.
The project has been managed in accordance with the SEAL's Quality
Management System (QMS) which is ISO 9001 compliant. The system contains
a Shopper Interface for purchasing of SEAL products and a Manager Interface
for administration of the system. The Microsoft BackOffice® set of software has
formed the foundation on which the system has been developed. One of the
focuses of the project was maintainability of the IS4. Documentation and
procedures have been developed to aid in administration and perfective
maintenance in the future
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