Transaction Streams: Definition and Implications for Trust in Internet-Based Electronic Commerce.

In this paper we analyze how transactions related to the exchange of goods and services are being performed on the Internet. The adoption of electronic markets in an industry has a disintermediation potential because it can create a direct link between the producer and the consumer (without the need for the intermediation role of distributors). Electronic markets lower the search cost, allowing customers to choose among more providers (which ultimately reduces both the costs for the customer and the profits for the producer). In this paper we contend that electronic markets on the Internet have the opposite effect, resulting in our increase in the number of intermediators. We introduce transaction streams, which model how transactions are being conducted and help explain the types of new intermediators that are appearing on the Internet. We also describe mechanisms by which companies are exploring ways of extending transaction streams. To illustrate the model and validate our findings, we analyze transaction streams in the insurance industry and review associated concepts such as trust and brands.transactions; electronic markets;

Steelscreen.com: Why IT is NOT Everywhere in B2B and the Role of the CEO in IT

This case is intended to serve as the basis for one or two sessions of an introductory information technology course at the MBA level or for one session in a senior executive program. The aim is to address what needs to be known by general managers in terms of technology and at the same time serve as an introduction for those that want to deepen their knowledge of business-to-business technologies. Thus, it is intended to cover basic technology principles and concepts essential for any CEO/MBA. It also covers key business concepts that are impacted by information technology such as industry convergence and B2B. The approach we suggest be taken with this case is an integrative one where both technology and business concepts are intermingled throughout the class discussion. An essential ingredient of this approach is to provide a business rationale for why technology matters, using this case in the first session before drilling-down into the more specific technology details of XML and metadata in a possible second session. We have worked on other cases to extend this approach to a full-scale introductory MBA/senior executive class. There are two unique features of this approach. First, it is neither technology centric nor business centric. Instead, it links executive decisions with solid information technology fundamentals. Second, our approach is concise, not requiring more than 200 pages of core case material for a full 25 session course. We believe this is an important feature because an MBA audience generally does not go into a CIO career path and will therefore not be able to afford the amount of time a longer approach would require

On the Forgetting of College Academice: at "Ebbinghaus Speed"?

How important are Undergraduate College Academics after graduation? How much do we actually remember after we leave the college classroom, and for how long? Taking a look at major University ranking methodologies one can easily observe they consistently lack any objective measure of what content knowledge and skills students retain from college education in the long term. Is there any rigorous scholarly published evidence on retention of long-term unused academic content knowledge? We have found no such evidence based on a preliminary literature review. Furthermore, findings in all research papers reviewed in this study were consistent with the following assertion: the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve [Ebbinghaus 1880-1885] is a fundamental law of human nature – in fact, of the whole animal kingdom and applies to memory of all types: verbal, visual, abstract, social and autobiographical. This fundamental law of nature, when examined within the context of academic learning retention, manifests itself as an exponential curve halving memory saliency about every two years (what we call "Ebbinghaus Speed"). This paper presents the research group’s initial hypothesis and conjectures for college level education programming and curriculum development, suggestions for instructional design enhancing learning durability, as well as future research directions.This work was supported by the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM), funded by NSF STC award CCF-1231216

Multi-Scale Vector-Ridge-Detection for Perceptual Organization Without Edges

We present a novel ridge detector that finds ridges on vector fields. It is designed to automatically find the right scale of a ridge even in the presence of noise, multiple steps and narrow valleys. One of the key features of such ridge detector is that it has a zero response at discontinuities. The ridge detector can be applied to scalar and vector quantities such as color. We also present a parallel perceptual organization scheme based on such ridge detector that works without edges; in addition to perceptual groups, the scheme computes potential focus of attention points at which to direct future processing. The relation to human perception and several theoretical findings supporting the scheme are presented. We also show results of a Connection Machine implementation of the scheme for perceptual organization (without edges) using color

Mid-Level Vision and Recognition of Non-Rigid Objects

We address mid-level vision for the recognition of non-rigid objects. We align model and image using frame curves - which are object or "figure/ground" skeletons. Frame curves are computed, without discontinuities, using Curved Inertia Frames, a provably global scheme implemented on the Connection Machine, based on: non-cartisean networks; a definition of curved axis of inertia; and a ridge detector. I present evidence against frame alignment in human perception. This suggests: frame curves have a role in figure/ground segregation and in fuzzy boundaries; their outside/near/top/ incoming regions are more salient; and that perception begins by setting a reference frame (prior to early vision), and proceeds by processing convex structures

Measuring the Impact of Information Technology on Value and Productivity using a Process-Based Approach: The case for RFID Technologies

There has been a lot of research addressing the relationship between Information Technology (IT) investments and productivity. Most of the work has been based on firm-level metrics such as total IT investment. We present what we believe is one of the first attempts to create a systematic methodology to assess the impact of IT in business process performance metrics. Our approach builds on the MIT Process Handbook as a basis to both guide the analysis and capture the resulting knowledge for future use. We will present preliminary results on how to use such methodology to analyze the impact of a given IT technology, namely RFID (radio frequency identification devices), in performance metrics of a consumer packaged goods company. We are interested in looking at how IT may impact performance metrics such as productivity, cost and value. We believe our methodology can help CPG companies prioritize their investments. We show results on how the specialization features of the MIT Process Handbook can incorporate performance metrics to help assess such investments in RFID

IT/Automation Cost Reduction in Intel’s Manufacturing Environment

Intel manufacturing relies heavily on IT and Factory Automation during the manufacturing processes. At Intel, everything from scheduling products on the floor and product delivery systems to statistical process control is done through automation systems. Shortly after an Intel meeting described in the case, a new position Computing Cost Reduction Manager - was created to lead a team within Factory Automation to drive cost reduction efforts which was a top priority for Intel in 2003. The computing cost reduction team s task was to come up with specific recommendations on how to achieve the cost goals established by and report out on a strategy in the next two weeks. In the case, the organization and business processes are examined and enough information is given to provide recommendations for cost reductio