Collaborative Shopping Networks: Sharing the Wisdom of Crowds in E-Commerce Environments

Social web services have gained enormous popularity over the past years because of a steadily increasing demand for user participation in the whole web sphere. Social networks like MySpace or Facebook and media sites like Flickr or YouTube clearly demonstrate the variety and functionality of social sites. Significantly affected by this trend, online retail and e-commerce environments rapidly changed within the last years. Users were integrated into existing e-shops and mutated from simple buyers to fully integrated customers. Thus, a modern shop visitor can recommend products, leave comments, rate vendors or publish wish lists. This recent phenomenon, called social commerce or social shopping, leads to more customer satisfaction, user participation and social interaction. Accordingly, there is a strong demand for innovative social commerce models and concepts like crowdsourcing, consumer generated content or live shopping. This paper shows the results of an extended analysis of collaborative shopping networks and demonstrates the development of a representative interaction model. An evaluation of social commerce models gave insights into functionalities, interactions and entities of successful social web applications. To create a collaborative shopping network model, conventional web services as well as selected best practice cases were analyzed in detail. To meet the demands of modern consumers, success factors are presented in the final part

Assessing the Feasibility of Developing a Federated ERP System

In past years ERP Systems have become one of the main components within the corporate IT structure. Several problems exist around implementing and operating these systems within companies. In the literature one can find several studies about the problems arising during the implementation of an ERP system. The main problem areas are around the complexity of ERP systems. One vision to overcome some of these problems is federated ERP. Federated ERP systems are built of components from different vendors, which are distributed within a network. All components act as one single ERP system from the user perspective. The decreased complexity of such a system would require lower installation and maintenance cost. Additional, only the components which are needed to cover the company's business processes would be used. Several theories around this concept exist, but a feasibility assessment of developing a federated ERP system has not been done yet. Based on a literary analysis of existing methods for feasibility studies, this paper is applying strategic planning concepts and referential data from the traditional ERP development to provide a first assessment of the overall feasibility of developing a platform for federated ERP systems. An analytical hierarchical approach is used to define effort and effect related criteria and their domain values. The assessment as the criteria is done in comparison to the development of a classical ERP system. Using the developed criteria, a net present value calculation is done. The calculation of the net present value is done on an overall, not company specific level. In order to estimate the weighted average cost of capital, the values from successful software companies are used as a baseline. Additional potential risks and obstacles are identified for further clarification

Citizen Empowerment on the Basis of the new Freedom of Information Act in Austria - Make Information Freedom Great Again

Austria is the only country in Europe that has official secrecy, so called “Amtsgeheimnis”, as a constitutional principle. In contrast to other countries, this has consequences for citizens in their dealings with the authorities. Information is therefore not free per se, but is only released under certain conditions. These are severely restricted. This leads to a number of problems, for example, Austria is already among the worst 10 countries in terms of freedom of information. A new Freedom of Information Act is intended to change this. In this paper, the authors present a prototype that enables query processing between citizens and government agencies. Cloud services are used, and the data does not leave the respective data sovereignty

SOCIAL ONLINE SHOPPING: NEUE FORMEN DER INTERAKTION UND KOLLABORATION IM ELECTRONIC COMMERCE DER ZUKUNFT

Der große Erfolg von etablierten Social Web Services wie Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia oder YouTube führte innerhalb der letzten Jahre zu einer massiven Transformation im gesamten Web. Bedingt durch den verstärkten Einsatz von interaktiven und kollaborativen Elementen entwickelte sich parallel dazu der Internetuser von einem passiven Informationskonsumenten zu einem aktiven Inhaltsdistributor. Der anhaltende Trend zur Integration von Social Web Funktionalitäten beinflusst auch maßgeblich die aktuellen Entwicklungen im B2C und C2C Electronic Commerce. Innovative Konzepte im Bereich des Social Online Shopping ermöglichen dem Konsumenten aktive Partizipation und Kommunikation innerhalb interaktiv vernetzter Shopping-Plattformen. Dieser Beitrag veranschaulicht ein innovatives Rahmenwerk für Social Online Shopping-Anwendungen. Die Grundlage für das hier vorgestellte Design bildete eine Analyse von 100 etablierten Services, wobei ein besonderer Schwerpunkt auf vielfältige Integrationsmöglichkeiten und leichte Skalierbarkeit des Modells gelegt wurde. Abschließend werden identifizierte Kernfunktionalitäten, erfolgsversprechende Erlösmodelle und signifikante Metadaten, abgeleitet aus den analysierten Services, präsentiert

Campus Management Systems as Administrative Software Systems

Spitta T, Grechenig T, Brune H, Carolla M, Strobl S. Campus-Management Systeme als Administrative Systeme. Working Papers in Economics & Management. Vol 06-2014. Bielefeld: Bielefeld University, Department of Business Administration and Economics; 2014.Ein von der Politik ausgelöster Bruch in den deutsprachigen Ländern – der sog. Bologna Prozess – löste eine große Nachfrage nach neuen Informationssystemen aus, die die akademischen Prozesse Lehre und Forschung unterstützen konnten. Die Software ist in der notwendigen Qualität am Markt nicht verfügbar. Einige Systeme sind große Pilotprojekte in Universitäten, die die Rolle von Pionieren spielen. Weil die Universitäten – im Gegensatz zu Wirtschaftsunternehmen – wenig Erfahrung mit solchen Projekten und dem Systembetrieb haben, erscheint es hilfreich, die wesentlichen Eigenschaften organisatorischer Informationssysteme grundsätzlich zu betrachten. Nach Lehmanns Definition vor 35 Jahren über Embedded Software haben wir es mit sehr komplexen und großen Systemen zu tun, die in eine Organisation als Umwelt eingebettet sind. Die Komplexität dieser Systeme liegt in der Datenbasis, die von den Benutzern erzeugt und gepflegt wird. Wir diskutieren aus der Sicht dieser originären Daten, welche Funktionen zum Kern eines Campus- Management Systems (CaMS) gehören und welche nicht. Z. B. gehören E-Learning und Bibliothek nicht dazu, benötigen allerdings sichere und effiziente Schnittstellen. Weil CaMS groß und teuer sind, sollten sie evolutionär in die Organisation implementiert werden.Caused by a politically initiated break in German speaking European countries – the so-called Bologna Process – we observe a huge demand for new information systems supporting the academic processes of teaching and research. The software qualitatively demanded is not available on the market. Some systems are large projects of pilot-systems in pioneer universities. Because universities – in contrast to enterprises – have little experience in implementing and operating such systems, it seems to be worth while to examine the essentials of organizational information systems basically. After Lehman's definition of embedded systems 35 years ago, we look at very complex systems, embedded into large organizations. The complexity of such system's software stems from its database, created and maintained by the the organization's users. We argue, from our basic view at original data, which functions are part of the core of a campus management system (CaMS) and which are not. E. g. E-learning or library do not belong to this core, but need secure and efficient interfaces to it. Because CaMS are large and expensive they should be implemented into an organization evolutionary

Accessory muscle in the forearm: a clinical and embryological approach

Muscular variations of the flexor compartment of forearm are usual and can result in multiple clinical conditions limiting the functions of forearm and hand. The variations of the muscles, especially accessory muscles may simulate soft tissue tumors and can result in nerve compressions. During a routine dissection of the anterior region of the forearm and hand, an unusual muscle was observed on the left side of a 65-year-old male cadaver. The anomalous muscle belly arose from the medial epicondyle approxiamately 1 cm posterolateral to origin of normal flexor carpi ulnaris muscle (FCU), and from proximal part of the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle. It inserted to the triquetral, hamate bones and flexor retinaculum. Passive traction on the tendon of accessory muscle resulted in flexion of radiocarpal junction. The FCU which had one head, inserted to the pisiform bone hook of hamate and palmar aponeurosis. Its contiguous muscles displayed normal morphology. Knowledge of the existence of muscle anomalies as well as the location of compression is useful in determining the pathology and appropriate treatment for compressive neuropathies. In this study, a rare accessory muscle has been described

The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study

AIM: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery. METHODS: This was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin. RESULTS: Overall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4 weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, P = 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, P < 0.001). After adjustment, delay was not associated with a lower rate of complete resection (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.90-1.55, P = 0.224), which was consistent in elective patients only (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69-1.27, P = 0.672). Longer delays were not associated with poorer outcomes. CONCLUSION: One in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease

Elective cancer surgery in COVID-19-free surgical pathways during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: An international, multicenter, comparative cohort study

PURPOSE As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19–free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19–free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19–free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19–free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score–matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19–free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks