Towards Information Systems Design for Value Webs

In this paper we discuss the alignment between a business model of a value web and the information systems of the participating companies needed to implement the business model. Traditional business-IT alignment approaches\ud focus on one single company, but in a value web we are dealing with various independent businesses. Since a value web is actually a web of services, delivered by IT systems owned by different companies, to ensure alignment we need to\ud specify the services and their properties and then map them on the available IT support in the different companies. Such mappings have to be evaluated in terms of their impact on the profitability of participating in the value web of the different companies. We propose techniques to map services to IT support and show how to do commercial trade-offs

Structural and thermal performances of topological optimized masonry blocks

Structural topology optimization is the most fundamental form of structural optimization and receives an increasing attention from engineers and structural designers. The method enables the exploration of the general topology and shape of structural elements at an early stage of the design process and gives rise to inspiring and innovative improvements. In this paper, topology optimization as a principle is used to design new types of insulating masonry blocks. Two main objectives are addressed: maximizing the structural stiffness and minimizing the thermal transmittance. The first part of this paper uses these objectives to create new block topologies. A general problem is formulated and the influences of boundary conditions, external loading, and filter value on the resulting geometry are discussed. In general, maximizing the stiffness is in strong contrast to minimizing the thermal transmittance. This causes problems not encountered in conventional topology optimization. Nevertheless, by adjusting the interpolation schemes and adding multiple load groups, convergent solutions are found. An isotropic material model with an enforced solid-or-empty distribution is considered as the primary method. The optimized block topologies are then thoroughly analyzed to review their structural and thermal performance using the commercial finite element software Abaqus. The direct compressive strength of the block is a measure of the structural performance and the equivalent thermal conductivity gives an indication of the thermal performance. The second part then gives some thoughts on three-dimensional optimization and the incorporation of mesostructures in the design

Ensuring the reliability and performance criterias of crankshafts

The issues of efficiency improvement of manufacturing crankshafts in order to ensure their reliability and performance criteria are the priorities in modern production of internal combustion engines. Using the capabilities of modern special grinding machines can improve the quality of machining and obtain the necessary running characteristics of crankshafts. In work the questions connected with development of a method of calculation of rigidity of crankshafts for increase of accuracy of their machining, reliability and performance criteria’s are considered. Based on the proposed methodology, numerical calculations have performed and the possibility of determining the deflections and crankshafts rigidity in any section have been justified. The original construction of the following grinding steady rest for CNC grinding machines specified for machining the crankshaft main bearing journal and connecting rod journal is proposed. The construction design of the device allows for compensating the influence of the cutting force on the elastic strain of the part, depending on the change in its rigidity. The practical value of the research includes in develop recommendations for determining the optimal parameters for the round infeed grinding cycle of the crank pins from the point of view of productivity and accuracy

Applying Real Options Thinking to Information Security in Networked Organizations

An information security strategy of an organization participating in a networked business sets out the plans for designing a variety of actions that ensure confidentiality, availability, and integrity of company’s key information assets. The actions are concerned with authentication and nonrepudiation of authorized users of these assets. We assume that the primary objective of security efforts in a company is improving and sustaining resiliency, which means security contributes to the ability of an organization to withstand discontinuities and disruptive events, to get back to its normal operating state, and to adapt to ever changing risk environments. When companies collaborating in a value web view security as a business issue, risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis techniques are necessary and explicit part of their process of resource allocation and budgeting, no matter if security spendings are treated as capital investment or operating expenditures. This paper contributes to the application of quantitative approaches to assessing risks, costs, and benefits associated with the various components making up the security strategy of a company participating in value networks. We take a risk-based approach to determining what types of security a strategy should include and how much of each type is enough. We adopt a real-options-based perspective of security and make a proposal to value the extent to which alternative components in a security strategy contribute to organizational resiliency and protect key information assets from being impeded, disrupted, or destroyed

Considering Structural Properties of Inter-organizational Network Fragments during Business-IT Alignment

Value exchange models can be used to reason about possible networked business constellations. Such inter-organizational business settings are determined in most cases solely from a financial point of view, i.e. by assessing the economic sustainability of the constellation. In this paper we discuss also other criteria that are relevant and should additionally be considered, namely the structural properties of the inter-organizational constellation itself. The multitude of possible interorganizational business constellations – and underlying systems constellations respectively – makes it a necessary requirement to split such constellations into recurring structural patterns, which we call fragments. The structural properties are helping the designer to reason about quality related issues of the inter-organizational network, and may have an influence on design choices to be made. The paper suggests to design new e-business constellations not only on the basis of financial criteria, but to consider also quality issues of the inter-organizational network

Functional Integration of Ecological Networks through Pathway Proliferation

Large-scale structural patterns commonly occur in network models of complex systems including a skewed node degree distribution and small-world topology. These patterns suggest common organizational constraints and similar functional consequences. Here, we investigate a structural pattern termed pathway proliferation. Previous research enumerating pathways that link species determined that as pathway length increases, the number of pathways tends to increase without bound. We hypothesize that this pathway proliferation influences the flow of energy, matter, and information in ecosystems. In this paper, we clarify the pathway proliferation concept, introduce a measure of the node--node proliferation rate, describe factors influencing the rate, and characterize it in 17 large empirical food-webs. During this investigation, we uncovered a modular organization within these systems. Over half of the food-webs were composed of one or more subgroups that were strongly connected internally, but weakly connected to the rest of the system. Further, these modules had distinct proliferation rates. We conclude that pathway proliferation in ecological networks reveals subgroups of species that will be functionally integrated through cyclic indirect effects.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, Submitted to Journal of Theoretical Biolog

Reflective Argumentation

Theories of argumentation usually focus on arguments as means of persuasion, finding consensus, or justifying knowledge claims. However, the construction and visualization of arguments can also be used to clarify one's own thinking and to stimulate change of this thinking if gaps, unjustified assumptions, contradictions, or open questions can be identified. This is what I call "reflective argumentation." The objective of this paper is, first, to clarify the conditions of reflective argumentation and, second, to discuss the possibilities of argument visualization methods in supporting reflection and cognitive change. After a discussion of the cognitive problems we are facing in conflicts--obviously the area where cognitive change is hardest--the second part will, based on this, determine a set of requirements argument visualization tools should fulfill if their main purpose is stimulating reflection and cognitive change. In the third part, I will evaluate available argument visualization methods with regard to these requirements and talk about their limitations. The fourth part, then, introduces a new method of argument visualization which I call Logical Argument Mapping (LAM). LAM has specifically been designed to support reflective argumentation. Since it uses primarily deductively valid argument schemes, this design decision has to be justified with regard to goals of reflective argumentation. The fifth part, finally, provides an example of how Logical Argument Mapping could be used as a method of reflective argumentation in a political controversy

What is a networked business?

Due to increasing competitive pressure in their market, many enterprises are implementing changes to the way they conduct business. These changes range from implementing new IT, to redesigning the structure of the organization and entering into all kinds of cooperations with other enterprises, forming what we call a ‘networked business’. In this paper, we try to explain the origin of the networked business from three different, but related, perspectives: resource dependence, transaction cost and IT impact. We also explore some terms that are used to describe interorganizational structures to find their principal components in an attempt to determine relationships between them and find a broad and precise, new definition of the term ‘networked business’