Computer crimes: Taxonomy and prevention strategies

Computer and communications networks have greatly enhanced the effectiveness and efficiencies of organizations. They have, however, also created an opportunity for computer criminals. Computer crimes are committed for many reasons: 1) revenge by disgruntled employees, 2) desire for a challenge, 3) to cause mischief, and 4) money. In order to better understand the nature of computer crimes, a comprehensive taxonomy of computer crimes is developed in this paper. Strategies to effectively combat the various computer crimes are then presented. It is hoped that the information provided in this paper makes the readers more knowledgeable on this important topic and motivates them to deploy strategies to secure their organizational information resource from computer criminals

A multidimensional framework for group decision support system research and design

Groups are a fundamental and essential part of organizational decision making. A group decision support system (GDSS) attempts to use computer and communications technology to help a group make better decisions. In this paper, previous GDSS research is extended to develop a better framework for future GDSS research and design. Six situational factors are identified; group size, member proximity, task type, group environment, and group development stage; so that a given group decision making situation can be accurately described. To standardize the features across different GDSS, six different levels of GDSS features are also identified. The paper then presents a multidimensional framework for conducting future GDSS research, and argues that future GDSS research needs to identify the appropriate GDSS features for the appropriate group decision situation. It is also suggested that researchers take a long-term, holistic approach while analyzing the results of using a GDSS

Enhancing organizational performance via electronic customer relationship management

An Electronic Customer Relationship Management system or eCRM helps organizations shift from mass marketing of goods and services to customized marketing of personalized offers. As consumers are constantly getting more technologically savvy and sophisticated, eCRM systems allow businesses to tune-in to their customers\u27 needs and design appropriate personalized marketing campaigns. They not only allow more intelligent customer interactions and responses, but also do it in a cost effective manner. The primary purpose of this paper is to explain the eCRM concept and describe the major organizational benefits of eCRM

Telecommuting: A new business work style

Advances in computer and networking technologies now permit organizations to allow employees to work from home and thus relieve them of the daily commute. This new work style is known as telecommuting. This paper introduces the concept of telecommuting, and discusses its advantages and disadvantages to both employees and organizations. We finally suggest methods by which an employer can develop and manage a successful telecommuting program

Web-Services - The Next Evolutionary Stage of E-Business

Web-Services are a set of new technologies that promise to take service-oriented distributed computing to a whole new level, and eventually take e-business to the next evolutionary stage. Web-Services, in a nutshell, let organizations bridge communication gaps among their information systems, and build new software applications by stitching together existing ones. It is capable of integrating applications written in different programming languages, developed by different vendors, and running on different servers with dissimilar operating systems. Web- Services would enable companies to seamlessly connect their information systems and business processes with those of their partners and customers - thus ushering in a new service oriented distributed computing architecture. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of Web-Services, explain the essential concepts that enable Web- Services, and understand its major benefits and point out its shortcomings

A Faster Circular Binary Segmentation Algorithm for the Analysis of Array CGH Data

Motivation: Array CGH technologies enable the simultaneous measurement of DNA copy number for thousands of sites on a genome. We developed the circular binary segmentation (CBS) algorithm to divide the genome into regions of equal copy number (Olshen {\it et~al}, 2004). The algorithm tests for change-points using a maximal $t$-statistic with a permutation reference distribution to obtain the corresponding $p$-value. The number of computations required for the maximal test statistic is $O(N^2),$ where $N$ is the number of markers. This makes the full permutation approach computationally prohibitive for the newer arrays that contain tens of thousands markers and highlights the need for a faster. algorithm. Results: We present a hybrid approach to obtain the $p$-value of the test statistic in linear time. We also introduce a rule for stopping early when there is strong evidence for the presence of a change. We show through simulations that the hybrid approach provides a substantial gain in speed with only a negligible loss in accuracy and that the stopping rule further increases speed. We also present the analysis of array CGH data from a breast cancer cell line to show the impact of the new approaches on the analysis of real data. Availability: An R (R Development Core Team, 2006) version of the CBS algorithm has been implemented in the ``DNAcopy\u27\u27 package of the Bioconductor project (Gentleman {\it et~al}, 2004). The proposed hybrid method for the $p$-value is available in version 1.2.1 or higher and the stopping rule for declaring a change early is available in version 1.5.1 or higher

Effect of the Intrinsic Width on the Piezoelectric Force Microscopy of a Single Ferroelectric Domain Wall

Intrinsic domain wall width is a fundamental parameter that reflects bulk ferroelectric properties and governs the performance of ferroelectric memory devices. We present closed-form analytical expressions for vertical and lateral piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) profiles for the conical and disc models of the tip, beyond point charge and sphere approximations. The analysis takes into account the finite intrinsic width of the domain wall, and dielectric anisotropy of the material. These analytical expressions provide insight into the mechanisms of PFM image formation and can be used for quantitative analysis of the PFM domain wall profiles. PFM profile of a realistic domain wall is shown to be the convolution of its intrinsic profile and resolution function of PFM.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, 3 Appendices, To be submitted to J. Appl. Phy

Social Media in South India

One of the first ethnographic studies to explore use of social media in the everyday lives of people in Tamil Nadu, Social Media in South India provides an understanding of this subject in a region experiencing rapid transformation. The influx of IT companies over the past decade into what was once a space dominated by agriculture has resulted in a complex juxtaposition between an evolving knowledge economy and the traditions of rural life. While certain class tensions have emerged in response to this juxtaposition, a study of social media in the region suggests that similarities have also transpired, observed most clearly in the blurring of boundaries between work and life for both the old residents and the new. Venkatraman explores the impact of social media at home, work and school, and analyses the influence of class, caste, age and gender on how, and which, social media platforms are used in different contexts. These factors, he argues, have a significant effect on social media use, suggesting that social media in South India, while seeming to induce societal change, actually remains bound by local traditions and practices

Synthesis, Antiinflammatory and Antimicrobial Activities of Newer Series of 1,3,4-Oxadiazoles.

The study of an antimicrobial agent is anything that can kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria such as high heat or radiation or a chemical substance. The antimicrobial agents are broadly classified into antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiprotozoal, antiparasitic and anthelmintics. The antimicrobial agents act by interfering with cell wall synthesis, plasma membrane integrity, nucleic acid synthesis, ribosomal function and folate synthesis. Antibacterial agents are used in relatively low concentrations in or upon the bodies of organisms to prevent or treat specific bacterial diseases without harming the host organism. The most commonly used methods for determination of antimicrobial activity are cylinder plate or cup plate method, turbidimetric or tube assay method and disc diffusion method. Based on these reports, we have planned to synthesize the mannich bases of 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives and 2,5-disubstituted-1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives and screen for antiinflammatory and antimicrobial activities. The 2,5-disubstituted-1,3,4-oxadiazoles and mannich bases of 1,3,4- oxadiazoles shown moderate antibacterial and antifungal activities. Among the ten compounds synthesized only two were tested for antiinflammatory activity and it could show significant action compared to the standard. Hence less information is obtained in terms of antiinflammatory action for the synthesized compounds. On antimicrobial screening, though the compounds could show activities against bacterial and fungal strains but it is less compared to standard. Further research is needed to correlate the 1,3,4-oxadiazole with its antiinflammatory and antimicrobial activities