Direct Selling: From Door To Door To E-Commerce

Direct selling is exhibiting substantial growth in sales revenues and number of salespeople involved. Also the acceptation of consumers is growing. During the last decade direct selling organizations (DSOs) are using the Internet more and more, either to communicate with the salespersons, either to promote the products and the business to the consumers. This research is aiming to contribute to a better understanding of how DSOs are using the Internet, for that we have interview 11 managers of DSOs operating in Portugal. Results show that DSOs use the Internet as a support to their main business. We then discuss aspects of importance for further extensions

Models of acceptance and use of technology research trends: Literature review and exploratory bibliometric study

Acceptance and Use of Technology Models suggest that some constructs predict behavioural intention towards the acceptance and use of technology. For this reason, these models are increasingly used by researchers around the world. At the same time, teachers of information technology and systems teach these models as part of the content of various courses. This study aims to analyse the publications of the last five years on Acceptance and Use of Technology Models. An exploratory bibliometric study was carried out, using the Proquest and Scopus platforms, in the period from 2014 to 2018, to find out which models are most used by researchers. The findings suggest that the number of articles into the top journals has increased, and that there is a wider array of journals publishing articles about this topic. Also, the study revealed that the most cited models were TPB and TAM.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

In-Home Shopping Through Internet: Consumer Satisfaction And Perceived Risk

The Internet/World Wide Web (Web) is an important way for the sharing of business information between retail firms and their customers. Although electronic commerce (e-commerce) has received considerable research attention, the literature reveals that the relationship between customer satisfaction and e-commerce has not yet been sufficiently studied. This research contributes to a better understanding of perceived risk and customer satisfaction arising from in-home shopping experience by using e-commerce in comparison with using other non store purchasing methods. This paper considers the role of perceived risk in consumer’s satisfaction and acceptance of e-commerce, and applies a quantitative approach attempts to provide some data on this relation. We then discuss aspects of importance for further extensions

Impact on organisations of changes in information systems: The case of two Lisbon universities

The acceptance of a new IS by users is not always easy, as people tend to be resistant to changes. This paper seeks to identify and evaluate the organisational impact of an IS change, having as subject of study the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL) and the University of Lisbon. The study was carried out based on a model that considers three perspectives: the quality of the system, the quality of information and the quality of service. For this study, interviews were conducted, and questionnaires were applied to some employees of the two universities to assess the impact of the SAP ERP implementation. The results confirm the importance of the quality of information and quality of the service provided, on learning and then on the organisational impact, through the benefits obtained and the impact on the end user.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The impact of mobile device applications in the improvement of public transportation

In order to achieve carbon emissions’ target imposed by the European commission, there were exceptional measures executed. The goal was to encourage the use of public transport in urban areas. It was assumed in this study that digitalization at the service of users and managers of public transport networks is a key instrument to improve their efficiency and attractiveness. Given the topicality and importance of the subject, it was pertinent to establish as the core goal of this work, not only the study of the currently used mobile applications within the urban areas of Lisbon and Porto, but also its impacts on the development of public transportation. Ultimately it was intended to identify among the users, the need for possible developments. As a methodology, an exploratory focus group was used at first. Therefore, it was possible to gain a comprehensive understanding on the users of public transports, their preferences, and which applications they most commonly use. Additionally, at the end of the focus group an inferential survey was also analyzed, amended and validated. This survey had the main objective of collecting the necessary data for analyzing the impact of an application for mobile devices, with the goal of improve the quality of public transport. After reviewing the results, it was possible to conclude that it exists a wide range of digital applications available on the market. In fact, these applications allow the mitigation of some transport problems/issues, thus improving the user experience of public means of transportation. This leads to the conclusion that it has a positive impact on the user. Finally, the need to improve current functions and even add new features was also identified.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Information and knowledge sharing in inter-organizational relationships under the process approach

This papers aims to contribute to the understanding of inter-organizational information and knowledge sharing by analyzing how the phenomenon is presented in the literature under the process approach. As results, it was possible to identify how the authors have labeled and measured the phenomenon, the contexts in which it has been investigated and what antecedents have been identified. Aspects that demand further studies were also highlighted. For networks and organizations the study provides lessons regarding the information and knowledge characteristics, firm's characteristics and channels used to share information and knowledge.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Press Consumption in the Digital Age: Habits and Needs Regarding Online Press

This paper addresses the topic of Online Press and the challenge that the press faces to maintain its predominance as a communication media, before a public with new aptitudes, access to new technologies and, above all, to a wider and more dynamic range of alternative communication sources. This study is based on the principle that the solution for a sustainable and attractive marketing strategy for the press, starts with the comprehension of the way its public perceives the products made available by the publishers, of its needs as for the information consumption, as well as of the familiarity it has with the information technologies. Resorting to an online questionnaire inquiry to 330 individuals, we gathered information about their newspaper and magazine reading habits, their consumption of press products and technological aptitudes

On the identifiability, parameter identification and fault diagnosis of induction machines

PhD ThesisDue to their reliability and low cost, induction machines have been widely utilized in a large variety of industrial applications. Although these machines are rugged and reliable, they are subjected to various stresses that might result in some unavoidable parameter changes and modes of failures. A common practice in induction machine parameter identification and fault diagnosis techniques is to employ a machine model and use the external measurements of voltage, current, speed, and/or torque in model solution. With this approach, it might be possible to get an infinite number of mathematical solutions representing the machine parameters, depending on the employed machine model. It is therefore crucial to investigate such possibility of obtaining incorrect parameter sets, i.e. to test the identifiability of the model before being used for parameter identification and fault diagnosis purposes. This project focuses on the identifiability of induction machine models and their use in parameter identification and fault diagnosis. Two commonly used steady-states induction machine models namely T-model and inverse Γ- model have been considered in this thesis. The classical transfer function and bond graph identifiability analysis approaches, which have been previously employed for the T-model, are applied in this thesis to investigate the identifiability of the inverse Γ-model. A novel algorithm, the Alternating Conditional Expectation, is employed here for the first time to study the identifiability of both the T- and inverse Γ-models of the induction machine. The results obtained from the proposed algorithm show that the parameters of the commonly utilised Tmodel are non-identifiable while those of the inverse Γ-model are uniquely identifiable when using external measurements. The identifiability analysis results are experimentally verified by the particle swarm optimization and Levenberg-Marquardt model-based parameter identification approaches developed in this thesis. To overcome the non-identifiability problem of the T-model, a new technique for induction machine parameter estimation from external measurements based on a combination of the induction machine’s T- and inverse Γ-models is proposed. Results for both supply-fed and inverter-fed operations show the success of the technique in identifying the parameters of the machine using only readily available measurements of steady-state machine current, voltage and speed, without the need for extra hardware. ii A diagnosis scheme to detect stator winding faults in induction machines is also proposed in this thesis. The scheme uses time domain features derived from 3-phase stator currents in conjunction with particle swarm optimization algorithm to check characteristic parameters of the machine and detect the fault accordingly. The validity and effectiveness of the proposed technique has been evaluated for different common faults including interturn short-circuit, stator winding asymmetry (increased resistance in one or more stator phases) and combined faults, i.e. a mixture of stator winding asymmetry and interturn short-circuit. Results show the accuracy of the proposed technique and it is ability to detect the presence of the fault and provide information about its type and location. Extensive simulations using Matlab/SIMULINK and experimental tests have been carried out to verify the identifiability analysis and show the effectiveness of the proposed parameter identification and fault diagnoses schemes. The constructed test rig includes a 1.1 kW threephase test induction machine coupled to a dynamometer loading unit and driven by a variable frequency inverter that allows operation at different speeds. All the experiment analyses provided in the thesis are based on terminal voltages, stator currents and rotor speed that are usually measured and used in machine control.Libya, through the Engineering Faculty of Misurata- Misurata Universit

Improvement of outpatient service processes: A case study of the university of Hong Kong-Shenzhen hospital

Purpose: This work presents a case study of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH), which was the first to implement an outpatient appointments registration system. The research question is to determine which factors influence patient satisfaction most. Methods: The study provides an anatomy of the hospital outpatient process through various methods and theories, including a literature review, field research, expert consultation, business process improvement (BPI) theory and information technology, with the aim of identifying the objectives and strategies of the hospital for improving its outpatient process. A quantitative analysis was performed using a questionnaire survey to identify the defects and weaknesses of the current model. The principles, methods and techniques of BPI theory are used to analyse various problems existing in the outpatient process and the extent of their influence. A structural equation model has been established for scientific and quantitative analysis, which can help identify the goals of optimization and measure improvement in the outpatient process and patient satisfaction. Results: It was determined the source of inefficiency of the current outpatient service process. By means of outpatient process improvement, the study aims to increase the hospital’s efficiency and raise the level of patient satisfaction so that it may enhance its comprehensive competence. In addition, an effective and operable methodology will be generated, which is expected to serve as a reference for other hospitals to improve their operation and management. Conclusions: It was found that service attitude, service value and waiting time have a significant influence on patient satisfaction.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Technology acceptance: Does the users accept the change of operating system of their smartphone?

The main objective of this study was to understand how the users accepts the change of their operating system. Objectives were defined, like clarifying each of the operating systems, understand the preference of consumers’ choice through a questionnaire and understand whether or not there is difficulty for users to change their operating system. Thus, a questionnaire was carried out to 204 participants aged between 16 and 72 years in the region of Lisbon. The main criteria were being over 12 years old and having a smartphone. Throughout the study, it was possible to understand that most people have a smartphone, that the satisfaction with the operating system they are currently using is quite high, that older consumers have more difficulty in changing operating system, and that product features are what most influences consumers to switch from an Android to an iOS or vice versa.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio