Alter ego, state of the art on user profiling: an overview of the most relevant organisational and behavioural aspects regarding User Profiling.

This report gives an overview of the most relevant organisational and\ud behavioural aspects regarding user profiling. It discusses not only the\ud most important aims of user profiling from both an organisation’s as\ud well as a user’s perspective, it will also discuss organisational motives\ud and barriers for user profiling and the most important conditions for\ud the success of user profiling. Finally recommendations are made and\ud suggestions for further research are given

Managerial Segmentation of Service Offerings in Work Commuting, MTI Report WP 12-02

Methodology to efficiently segment markets for public transportation offerings has been introduced and exemplified in an application to an urban travel corridor in which high tech companies predominate. The principal objective has been to introduce and apply multivariate methodology to efficiently identify segments of work commuters and their demographic identifiers. A set of attributes in terms of which service offerings could be defined was derived from background studies and focus groups of work commuters in the county. Adaptive choice conjoint analysis was used to derive the importance weights of these attributes in available service offering to these commuters. A two-stage clustering procedure was then used to explore the grouping of individual’s subsets into homogeneous sub-groups of the sample. These subsets are commonly a basis for differentiation in service offerings that can increase total ridership in public transportation while approximating cost neutrality in service delivery. Recursive partitioning identified interactions between demographic predictors that significantly contributed to the discrimination of segments in demographics. Implementation of the results is discussed

Innovative public governance through cloud computing: Information privacy, business models and performance measurement challenges

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze challenges and to discuss proposed solutions for innovative public governance through cloud computing. Innovative technologies, such as federation of services and cloud computing, can greatly contribute to the provision of e-government services, through scaleable and flexible systems. Furthermore, they can facilitate in reducing costs and overcoming public information segmentation. Nonetheless, when public agencies use these technologies, they encounter several associated organizational and technical changes, as well as significant challenges. Design/methodology/approach: We followed a multidisciplinary perspective (social, behavioral, business and technical) and conducted a conceptual analysis for analyzing the associated challenges. We conducted focus group interviews in two countries for evaluating the performance models that resulted from the conceptual analysis. Findings: This study identifies and analyzes several challenges that may emerge while adopting innovative technologies for public governance and e-government services. Furthermore, it presents suggested solutions deriving from the experience of designing a related platform for public governance, including issues of privacy requirements, proposed business models and key performance indicators for public services on cloud computing. Research limitations/implications: The challenges and solutions discussed are based on the experience gained by designing one platform. However, we rely on issues and challenges collected from four countries. Practical implications: The identification of challenges for innovative design of e-government services through a central portal in Europe and using service federation is expected to inform practitioners in different roles about significant changes across multiple levels that are implied and may accelerate the challenges' resolution. Originality/value: This is the first study that discusses from multiple perspectives and through empirical investigation the challenges to realize public governance through innovative technologies. The results emerge from an actual portal that will function at a European level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

WiFi Hot Spot Service Business for the Automotive and Oil Industries: A Competitive Analysis

While you refuel for gas, why not refuel for information or upload vehicle data, using a cheap wireless technology as WiFi? This paper analyzes in extensive detail the user segmentation by vehicle usage, service offering, and full business models from WiFi hot spot services delivered to and from vehicles (private, professional, public) around gas stations. Are also analyzed the parties which play a role in such services: authorization, provisioning and delivery, with all the dependencies modelled by attributed digraphs. Account is made of WiFi base station technical capabilities and costs. Five year financial models (CAPEX, OPEX), and data pertain to two possible service suppliers: multi-service oil companies, and mobile service operators (or MVNOs). Model optimization on the return-on-investment (R.O.I.) is carried out for different deployment scenarios, geographical coverage assumptions, as well as tariff structures. Comparison is also being made with public GPRS and 3G data services, as precursors to HSPA/LTE, and the effect of WiFi roaming is analyzed. Regulatory implications, including those dealing with public safety, are addressed. Analysis shows that due to manpower costs and marketing costs, suitable R.O.I. will not be achieved unless externalities are accounted for and innovative tariff structures are introduced. Open issues and further research are outlined. Further work is currently carried out with automotive electronics sector, wireless systems providers, wireless terminals platform suppliers, and vehicle manufacturers. Future relevance of this work is also discussed for the emerging electrical reloading grids for electrical vehicles.WiFi, Fuel Stations, Business Models, Oil Company, Mobile Operator, WiFi Services, Regulations, Professional Vehicles

WLAN Hot Spot services for the automotive and oil industries :a business analysis Or : "Refuel the car with petrol and information, both ways at the gas station"

While you refuel for gas ,why not refuel for information or download vehicle data ? This paper analyzes in extensive detail the user segmentation by vehicle usage , service offering , and full business models from WLAN hot spot services delivered to vehicles (private, professional , public) around gas stations . Are also analyzed the parties which play a role in such service authorization, provisioning and delivery , with all the dependencies modelled by attributed digraphs . Sevice planning is included as to WLAN base station capabilities . Five year financial models (CAPEX,OPEX) , and data pertain to two possible service suppliers : multi-service oil companies, and mobile service operators (or MVNO) . Model optimization on the return-on-investment (ROI) is carried out for different deployment scenarios ,geographical coverage assumptions, as well as tariff structures . Comparison is also being made with public GPRS data services ,as precursors for 3G services,and the effect of WLAN roaming is analyzed .Analysis shows that due to manpower costs and marketing costs , suitable ROI will not be achieved unless externalities are accounted for and innovative tariff structures are introduced . Open issues and further research are outlined . Further work is carried out,also with automotive electronics sector , wireless systems providers , wireless terminals platform suppliers , and vehicle manufacturers .WLAN services;WLAN;business models;fuel stations;mobile operator;oil company;professional vehicles

European Information System for Organic Markets (EISFOM QLK5-2002-02400): WP 2: “Data collection and processing systems (DCPS) for the conventional markets” and WP 3: “Data collection and processing systems for organic markets” = Deliverable D2

European markets for organic products are developing fast. In Europe, as other parts of the world, more and more farm land is being converted to organic production. In order to adjust production and consumption levels, detailed market information is needed, especially where decisions with a long-term impact need to be taken, for example on converting specific land or livestock enterprises requiring high levels of investment in glasshouses, housing, processing facilities etc. Since public subsidies (regional / national / European) are heavily involved in these investments, valid, accurate and up-to-date information is essential not only for farmers and growers, but also for policy-makers, consultants, processing industry etc. EU-research projects such as OFCAP (FAIR3-CT96-1794) and OMIaRD (QLK5-2000-01124) have shown that regional or national data gathering takes place in many countries, but often only very basic data are reported, such as certified organic holdings, land areas and livestock numbers. Important market data, e.g. the amount of production, consumption, international trade or producer and consumer prices, do not exist in most European countries. In some European countries there are only rough estimates of the levels of production and consumption. There is no standardization and data are seldom comparable. Furthermore, detailed information on specific commodities is missing. Hence, investment decisions are taken under conditions of great uncertainty. Likewise, if politicians want to support organic agriculture, they do not know whether it would be better to support production or consumption or to address problems in the marketing channel. The EU concerted action EISfOM (QLK5-2002-02400) (European Information System for Organic Markets) is attempting to take the first steps in solving these problems. The aim of this concerted action is to build up a framework for reporting valid and reliable data for relevant production and market sectors of the European organic sector in order to meet the needs of policy-makers, farmers, processors, wholesalers and other actors involved in organic markets. In order to reach this aim, this action was split into several workpackages. This report describes the approach and results of workpackages 2 and 3. In this first chapter the objective and general approach of these work packages are described. Chapters 2 and 3 provide an overview of international statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain at the public and the private level. Chapter 4 describes national statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain. In Chapter 5, an analysis and appraisal is made of the results with regard to organic data collection and processing systems (DCPSs) and their integration into existing common DCPSs. Chapter 6 draws several general conclusions. Two substantial annexes complete the report, one with the country reports on the situation of data collection and processing in all investigated countries and the other with the first and the second stage questionnaires covering the different data collection levels

CHORUS Deliverable 2.1: State of the Art on Multimedia Search Engines

Based on the information provided by European projects and national initiatives related to multimedia search as well as domains experts that participated in the CHORUS Think-thanks and workshops, this document reports on the state of the art related to multimedia content search from, a technical, and socio-economic perspective. The technical perspective includes an up to date view on content based indexing and retrieval technologies, multimedia search in the context of mobile devices and peer-to-peer networks, and an overview of current evaluation and benchmark inititiatives to measure the performance of multimedia search engines. From a socio-economic perspective we inventorize the impact and legal consequences of these technical advances and point out future directions of research

Latent segmentation of older adults in the use of social networks and e-banking services

Introduction. This study analyses heterogeneity in the online behaviour of elderly people. Previous research has centred on the socio-demographic segmentation of the elderly regarding their Internet use. Method. The novelty that this study adds is in determining this segmentation through variables that have been especially chosen for studies of the elderly and which are related to their utilitarian use of e-banking, compared to the more hedonic nature of using online social networks. Analysis. The sample was collected using 474 students over 55 years old enrolled in a class of experience in a University in the South of Europe (Spain). We use a latent class cluster model which is appropriate in situations of a posterior segmentation. Results. In dealing with such behaviour in situations of the elderly using these technologies, we have detected the presence of five groups or segments with highly differentiated use-related profiles concerning the variables analysed: venturesomeness, technology anxiety and selfconfidence in information and communication technologies use. Conclusion. We discover the existence of heterogeneity in the behaviour of the elderly regarding services available in Internet. The results support the idea proposed. The stereotype of the elderly cut off from technology is mistaken, as is shown by the different segments found

The role of earth observation in an integrated deprived area mapping “system” for low-to-middle income countries

Urbanization in the global South has been accompanied by the proliferation of vast informal and marginalized urban areas that lack access to essential services and infrastructure. UN-Habitat estimates that close to a billion people currently live in these deprived and informal urban settlements, generally grouped under the term of urban slums. Two major knowledge gaps undermine the efforts to monitor progress towards the corresponding sustainable development goal (i.e., SDG 11—Sustainable Cities and Communities). First, the data available for cities worldwide is patchy and insufficient to differentiate between the diversity of urban areas with respect to their access to essential services and their specific infrastructure needs. Second, existing approaches used to map deprived areas (i.e., aggregated household data, Earth observation (EO), and community-driven data collection) are mostly siloed, and, individually, they often lack transferability and scalability and fail to include the opinions of different interest groups. In particular, EO-based-deprived area mapping approaches are mostly top-down, with very little attention given to ground information and interaction with urban communities and stakeholders. Existing top-down methods should be complemented with bottom-up approaches to produce routinely updated, accurate, and timely deprived area maps. In this review, we first assess the strengths and limitations of existing deprived area mapping methods. We then propose an Integrated Deprived Area Mapping System (IDeAMapS) framework that leverages the strengths of EO- and community-based approaches. The proposed framework offers a way forward to map deprived areas globally, routinely, and with maximum accuracy to support SDG 11 monitoring and the needs of different interest groups