Systems Analysis and Design for eBusiness: Implications for Research

Electronic business has fundamentally altered the way in which organizations attain and sustain competitive advantage. The goal of systems analysis and design is to develop a technical infrastructure that is tightly coupled with an organizations strategic plan. The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is a primary means to achieving this goal. The purpose of this paper is to view each step in the SDLC from an EBusiness perspective to gain insight into how this emerging environment is affecting the methods, techniques, and tools that are used to facilitate the steps within the SDLC. Current research is discussed as well as future research issues that are considered to be pertinent to the development of methods, techniques, and tools that will facilitate an EBusinessoriented SDLC methodology

The Effect of Website Quality on Information Disclosure: A Cue Utilization Theory Perspective

As shopping through e-commerce portals continues to grow, personal information disclosure is becoming morecommonplace. The proposed research employs Cue Utilization Theory (CUT) to better understand how extrinsic cues,intrinsic cues, or a combination of both, influence truthful consumer disclosure of personal demographic information. Thetwo relevant cues used in the study are security features (website seals and security statements) and website visual appeal(VAP). Two studies, a lab experiment and a field study utilizing a snowball sample, will expose subjects to mock-up ecommercesites that vary high and low components of the cues and present a shopping simulation to determine the cues’influence on truthful disclosure decisions. We posit that VAP will drive stronger predictive and critical values than securityfeatures, thereby having greater impact on truthful disclosure. Results from these two studies will be presented at theconference. Contributions and limitations of the proposed research are discussed

New Cooperative Development Issues

This article briefly reviews the increased interest in new cooperative development, factors for successful cooperative development, and strategies to improve the performance of new and emerging cooperatives. The article highlights issues identified by a panel of cooperative leaders, USDA specialists and academic expertsCooperatives, New Cooperatives, Developing Cooperatives, Agribusiness, P13, L22, L43,

Understanding the Role of Theory on Instrument Development: An Examination of Strengths and Weaknesses of Discriminant Validity Analysis Techniques

Numerous researchers have called attention to many important issues in instrument development throughout the relatively short history of the information systems (IS) academic research discipline (e.g., Petter, Straub, & Rai 2007; Straub, Boudreau, & Gefen 2004; Straub 1989). With the accumulation of knowledge related to the process of instrument development, it has now become necessary to take a closer look at specific aspects of this process. This paper focuses on construct validity, specifically discriminant validity, and examines some popular methods of supporting this type of validity when using cross-sectional data. We examine strengths and weaknesses of these analysis techniques with a focus on the role of theory and informed interpretation. We highlight the applicability of these techniques by analyzing a sample dataset where we theorize two constructs to be highly correlated. With this paper, we provide both researchers and reviewers a greater understanding of the highlighted discriminant validity analysis techniques

The Scottish invasion of pink salmon in 2017

No abstract available

Online Impulse Buying: Understanding the Interplay between Consumer Impulsiveness and Website Quality

With the proliferation of e-commerce, there is growing evidence that online impulse buying is an emerging phenomenon, which has been the focus of researchers from a variety of disciplines. This paper reports on two empirical studies that examine the interplay between a consumer’s inherent impulsiveness to buy and website quality. Specifically, consistent with past online impulse buying research, website quality manifests as an environmental cue that directly influences the likelihood that a consumer will experience an urge to buy impulsively. Further, highly impulsive consumers can be both positively and negatively influenced by varying degrees of website quality. Thus, while the objective quality of an e-commerce website is important, the inherent impulsiveness of a consumer is also a critical factor for understanding how and why individuals react impulsively to varying degrees of website quality. The implications of the results for both future research and the design of electronic commerce websites are discussed

Diagnosing and Managing Online Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Relationships: Toward an eCommerce B2C Relationship Stage Theory

The emergence of eCommerce has provided organizations with an unprecedented opportunity to take advantage of business-to-consumer (B2C) interactions. Generally speaking, relationships move through various stages, when a customer chooses to establish a relationship with a person or an organization. Likewise, when a customer forms an ongoing relationship with an online organization, it progresses through similar stages. Yet, the IT-mediated nature of B2C eCommerce interactions causes the manifestation of these stages to be different from offline B2C interactions. As such, this paper proposes a theoretical framework for examining stages of online B2C relationships, based on Stage Theory. The proposed eCommerce B2C Relationship Stage Theory (eB2C-RST) highlights three stages of eCommerce B2C relationships from the customer’s perspective: Attraction, Build-Up, and Continuance. This theoretical framework provides a foundation for both research and practice in the areas of interface design and online B2C customer relationship management

A Mechanical System for Soil Reconstruction

One of the most perplexing problems associated with reclaiming surface–mined lands is excessive compaction of soil due to the heavy earthmoving equipment used during the reclamation process. Over the years, some innovative material handling schemes have been devised to limit vehicle traffic during reclamation on reconstructed soil. However, final grading operations can often create root–limiting bulk densities, which affect plant growth and yield. The purpose of this article is to describe a mechanism designed at the University of Kentucky whereby mine soil can be reconstructed without introducing compaction caused by surface traffic in order for the soil to sustain desirable plant life. The soil handling process for this prototype mechanism is also described. The prototype soil forming mechanism is mounted on the front of a conventional bulldozer. Soil and other rooting media are placed atop graded spoil in long, narrow windrows by scrapers or trucks. As the bulldozer pushes its blade into the windrow, material rises up onto the blade and an auger grinds and displaces soil perpendicular to the direction of dozer travel. The agitated soil is then deposited and leveled in an adjacent berm by the auger. Successive parallel passes of the mechanism results in the construction of a non–compacted rooting layer. Preliminary testing of the prototype yielded a soil construction rate of 330 m3/h (430 yd3/h), which was 12% of the projected theoretical design capacity [2680 m3/h (3500 yd3/h)]. Though the measured capacity is much lower than anticipated, it is believed the actual capacity of the prototype can be increased to 900 m3/h (1177 yd3/h) which would be an acceptable soil forming capacity at most mine sites

Precision Electroweak Data and the Mixed Radion-Higgs Sector of Warped Extra Dimensions

We derive the Lagrangian and Feynman rules up to bilinear scalar fields for the mixed Higgs-radion eigenstates interacting with Standard Model particles confined to a 3-brane in Randall-Sundrum warped geometry. We use the results to compute precision electroweak observables and compare theory predictions with experiment. We characterize the interesting regions of parameter space that simultaneously enable a very heavy Higgs mass and a very heavy radion mass, both masses being well above the putative Higgs boson mass limit in the Standard Model derived from the constraints of precision electroweak observables. For parameters consistent with the precision constraints the Higgs boson physical eigenstate is typically detectable, but its properties may be difficult to study at the Large Hadron Collider. In contrast, masses and couplings are allowed for the physical radion eigenstate that make it unobservable at the LHC. A Linear Collider will significantly improve our ability to study the Higgs eigenstate, and will typically allow detection of the radion eigenstate if it is within the machine's kinematical reach.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures; revisions: typo correction for Feynman rules and 1 reference adde