Multitask Evolution with Cartesian Genetic Programming

We introduce a genetic programming method for solving multiple Boolean circuit synthesis tasks simultaneously. This allows us to solve a set of elementary logic functions twice as easily as with a direct, single-task approach.Comment: 2 page

Sir Temi Zammit

Dan l-editorjal jesprimi s-sogħba għat-telfa ta’ Sir Temi Zammit, membru li ta kontribut qawwi anke fil-letteratura speċjalment fil-Għaqda tal-Kittieba tal-Malti.N/

Organizational commitment and users’ perception of ease of use : a study among bank managers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the issue of perceived ease of use of a web-based customer relationship management system and consider the role of organizational commitment as a possible antecedent. Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study were collected from among managers of a major player in the community banking sector within the EU. A total of 274 valid responses were obtained from 398 managers. Findings – Results have been mixed and partially conditioned by service providers’ willingness to leverage the possibilities that the technology can provide. Research limitations/implications – The study was limited to a single organization and consequently the results should be generalized with caution. Replication studies with improved measures, in other countries and contexts are desirable. Practical implications – The results can be useful for management, since Web-based customer relationship management systems have been adopted by many service providers in their quest to offer better one-to-one marketing possibilities to their customers. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates the importance of fostering a sense of organizational commitment amongst key service providers, as this in turn seems to enable them to overcome many impediments pertaining to technology use.peer-reviewe

Are there excellent service firms, and do they perform well?

While the construct of business excellence, as defined in the very successful hook by Peters and Waterman, had a marked influence on managers in the 1980s, and in all likelihood in the 1990s, it met with some scepticism in academic circles. This was because the construct as conceptualised did not meet the more rigorous requirements of reliability and validity established by critical researchers, and also because many of the so-called excellent firms later showed themselves to be rather ordinary performers at best. Recently, an apparently successful instrument to measure the original Peters and Waterman excellence construct named EXCEL has been developed by Shama et al., in the United States. In this article the authors describe the use of EXCEL in a sample of large UK service firms and comment on its reliability and validity. Links are also established between excellence and overrall business performance in these firms.peer-reviewe

Industrial marketing and the internet : framework for assessing communication strategies

This paper discusses the role of the Web as a strategic communication tool for industrial marketers and its position in the business-to-business communication mix. Using the concepts of purchasing decision processes and hierarchy of effects models, the paper adapts the framework for the measurement of consumer web site efficiency developed by Berthon et al. (1996) to the industrial marketing setting. Examples are given of both large and small industrial organisations that are currently using their Web sites to achieve these objectives. The strategic implications of the framework and model are discussed.peer-reviewe

The state of theory in three premier advertising journals : a research note

Despite its importance, little is known about the prevalence of theory in the literature on advertising research. Utilising a content analysis of the three premier advertising journals over an 11-year period, it is found that only 17% of articles have made explicit use of theory. Psychology is the discipline from which the greatest number of articles drew their theoretical frameworks, followed by sociology and economics – indeed, theories from marketing and advertising are in the minority. Limitations are noted and implications of the results are discussed.peer-reviewe

Malliavin calculus for fractional heat equation

In this article, we give some existence and smoothness results for the law of the solution to a stochastic heat equation driven by a finite dimensional fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter $H>1/2$. Our results rely on recent tools of Young integration for convolutional integrals combined with stochastic analysis methods for the study of laws of random variables defined on a Wiener space.Comment: Dedicated to David Nualart on occasion of his 60th birthda