ALBERT

Description: Nowadays, IT operations devolve many tasks in IT services to internal customers (i.e., IT self-service). The rationale for this service task devolvement is often to reduce the IT personnel’s workload. However, prior research has shown that IT operations often fail to achieve this goal. Existing methods for modeling and analyzing services fall short of supporting service providers in identifying and specifying service tasks suitable to be devolved to (internal) customers. This paper presents, therefore, the first method for devolving service tasks in IT services (DESERV IT). DESERV IT is a compound of four method components encompassing a joint meta-model, a visual notation for modeling IT services, and procedural recommendations. The DESERV IT meta-model extends the meta-model of service blueprinting by means of concepts required to analyze service task devolvement. DESERV IT is evaluated in four evaluation episodes. The results of the evaluation episodes show that DESERV IT is perceived as effective, useful, complete, and generalizable by experts in the IT service management and enterprise architecture discipline. This paper contributes to enterprise modeling by demonstrating the feasibility of DESERV IT in an example case and describing DESERV IT’s evolution during the evaluation episodes. DESERV IT supports practitioners (e.g., request fulfillment managers) in modeling and analyzing IT services.

Description: Online reviews, i.e., evaluations of products and services posted on websites, are ubiquitous. Prior research observed substantial variance in the language of such online reviews and linked it to downstream consequences like perceived helpfulness. However, the understanding of why the language of reviews varies is limited. This is problematic because it might have vital implications for the design of IT systems and user interactions. To improve the understanding of online review language, the paper proposes that consumers’ personality, as reflected in their political ideology, is a predictor of such online review language. Specifically, it is hypothesized that reviewers’ political ideology as measured by degree of conservatism on a liberal–conservative spectrum is negatively related to review depth (the number of words and the number of arguments in a review), cognitively complex language in reviews, diversity of arguments, and positive valence in language. Support for these hypotheses is obtained through the analysis of a unique dataset that links a sample of online reviews to reviewers’ political ideology as inferred from their online news consumption recorded in clickstream data.

Description: Geodesy utilizes state of the art data collection techniques such as GPS (Global Positioning System) to acquire locations of points. Traditionally, the coordinates of these points are estimated using the Least Squares (LS) method. Nevertheless, Robust Estimation (RE) yields more accurate results than LS method in the presence of blunders (gross errors) among the data set. For example, the Least Trimmed Squares (LTS) method and the Least Median Squares (LMS) method can be used for this purpose. The first method aims to minimize the sum of the squared residuals by trimming away observations with large residuals. On the other hand, the second method involves the minimization of the median of the squared residuals. Both methods can be implemented using an optimization method, i.e., Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm. The ABC algorithm is a swarm intelligence (a branch of artificial intelligence) technique that can be used for the solution of minimization or maximization problems. In this paper, using the LTS and LMS methods for GPS data by employing the ABC, a new approach is put forward. Firstly, some discussions about the theoretical principals of RE and ABC are given. Then, a numerical example is used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach. Numerical results show that application of the robust estimation to GPS data can easily be carried out by ABC and this approach helps to enhance the reliability of geospatial data for any application of geodesy.

Description: In the streams of the Mediterranean island of Crete (Greece), olive mill wastewater (OMW) has been reported to reduce biodiversity up to 85 %. Mere conduction of impact assessment based on pollutant concentrations, however, cannot reveal how impacted areas may be connected to the pollution sources. In this study, we developed a new methodology which allows for a dynamic cause-effect linking of pollution sources and impacted areas through the pathways of OMW. Risk is hierarchically assessed and mapped at three different scales and more specifically, at the source scale (targeting olive mill units and their waste tanks), at the receptor scale (targeting potential impacted sites in the streams) and at the watershed scale (which is the scale of overall water management). The approach is based mainly on remote sensing data without taking account of groundwater regimes or field measurements. Involvement of local experts for recognizing spatial features of interest and selecting appropriate risk parameters was proved necessary and efficient in order to model the stream pollution risk realistically. Potential impacted sites in the stream network were occasionally verified by a field survey. The results comprise a set of risk maps at the three different scales. The constructed digital geo-database can be updated or modified and thus is considered to be a dynamic tool for future environmental management in the service of the local community.

Description: This paper describes a technique to transform coordinates between map references based on NTv2 format grids. Using the grids rather than carrying out a transformation allows to avoid map archives doubling, thereby easing “on the fly” transformation between different map representations. The paper also includes a case-study on a highway stretch currently under construction, the ‘Pedemontana Lombarda’ highway.

Description: Decentralized renewable energy sources become more and more common. This leads to stability problems in power grids. Conventional energy sources are easy to control. In contrast, wind and solar power are much more difficult to forecast. Forecasts are only possible short term and are more imprecise. Producers and consumers of energy can try to help reducing stability problems. Contributions towards a decision support system are proposed and recommend how to alter the behavior of producers and consumers. On the producer side centrally controlled heat and power plants are able to shift load in a virtual power plant. The plant operator offers a load curve based on forecasts. The centrally controlled heat and power plants help to mitigate the effect of revised forecasts. An incentive based control on the consumer side is also proposed. Smart appliances react to pricing information. They alter their execution window towards the cheapest time slot, if possible. The exact behavior of appliances in the expected field experiment is still partially unknown. It is necessary to simulate the behavior of these appliances and to train an artificial neural network. The artificial neural network allows computing the pricing signal leading to a desired load shift.

Description: The telecommunication market is experiencing substantial changes. New business models, innovative services, and technologies require reengineering, transformation, and process standardization. Enterprise Architecture Frameworks support the transformation by specifying methods, procedures, and reference models. With the Enhanced Telecom Operation Map (eTOM), the TM Forum offers an international de facto reference process framework, based on specific features and requirements of the telecommunication industry. However, this reference framework only offers a hierarchical collection of processes on different levels of abstraction; a control view in terms of a sequential ordering of tasks and hence a real process flow as well as an end-to-end view on the customer are missing. In this paper, we extend the eTOM reference model by reference process flows, in which we abstract and generalize the knowledge about processes in telecommunication companies. With reference process flows, we aim to assist companies in achieving a structured and transparent re-structuring and re-design of their processes. We demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of our reference process flows in two case studies, and evaluate them by means of criteria for reference model evaluation. Our reference process flows have been accepted as a standard by the TM Forum and published as part of eTOM version 9. We further elaborate on those components of our approach which can be applied outside the telecommunication industry.

Description: In contrary to the numbers of qualitative studies, there is few quantitative studies have been done on defining climate zone boundaries and on illustrating differences inside a zone. In order to find quantitative methods to demarcate a physical geography boundary and to reveal the agro-climatic resources differences of the South Subtropical Zone in Fujian Province of China based on the data collected from limited and discrete weather stations, this research tries to develop models that use mathematics methods and Geographical Information System (GIS) technology. Three modeling methods - Discriminant Analysis, Trend-surface with Residual (TSR) Analysis, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were applied in the study to produce a distribution grid system of a set of indicators, and to define the spatial location of the zone boundary precisely. The results of the study show that the outputs of the models have very high significant level in statistical tests.

Description: With GLONASS completed its full constellation and the rapid increasing number of GNSS receivers, it is worthwhile to investigate the availability of GLONASS-only in positioning. In this paper, two networks of different baseline length, located in two different regions are analyzed. For both networks, GLONASS and GPS observations are processed respectively for 175 days since GLONASS recovered FOC. The RMS and STD of the coordinates minus those from the International GNSS Service weekly solutions are analyzed. The statistics over a long period empirically demonstrate that the averaged coordinate repeatabilities of GLONASS are slightly worse than that of GPS results. The estimated ZTDs of GLONASS is about 1–2 mm worse than GPS results. For both networks, the GLONASS coordinates show some systematic effect as a function of antenna + radome type, caused by the using of GPS derived PCC models. The systematic effect varied form several mm to 1 cm for different stations with different antenna + radome types, which indicates that GLONASS-specific PCC models are mandatory in GLONASS high precision positioning.

Description: Cellular Automata (CA) simulation models have been increasingly used in land use studies. However, neighborhood configuration, an essential element of CA model, remarkably impacts the accuracy of simulated results. Moreover, errors from data source may propagate through the CA modeling process. The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of neighborhood configuration to CA model and further on to explore its capacity of resisting disturbance from data source error. With statistic-based CA model and several neighborhood configurations respectively, the land use changes of Wuhan, China were analyzed. It is demonstrated that there are significant differences on the simulated results produced by different neighborhoods. Besides, different neighborhoods respond differently to data source error. In light of these results, we find out that (1) neighborhood configurations with larger neighborhood size and planar neighborhood type, introduced in this paper, contribute to higher prediction accuracy; and (2) the neighborhood configurations above also have higher capacity of resisting disturbance from data source error and give rise to more stable simulated results. This study provides a comprehensive basis for scale selection of CA model with a meaningful consideration of data source error and thus will improve the research on land use change.

Description: Drought is a significant disaster in Beijing and it is important to find a method to assess the drought condition. First, this paper collected data of 85 soil monitoring stations in Beijing, such as soil dry bulk densities, saturated water contents, field capacities. Then, spatial variability characteristics of soil physics parameters were investigated by GIS and other three factors, 10 cm soil moisture content, organic matter and saturated water content which notably influenced soil moisture were extracted by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Furthermore, four different nonlinear methods were put forward to predict crop-root zone soil water. 15555 single daily data from 2011 were used in parameters determination, while 15470 double daily data were used to test. The result showed that the Least Square Support Vector Machine coupling Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (PSO-LSSVM) ( R 2  = 0. 875) did better than BP Neural Network ( R 2  = 0. 840), Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN) ( R 2  = 0. 850) and Wavelet Neural Network (WNN) ( R 2  = 0. 853). As so the POS-LSSVM method was used to evaluate the drought conditions from October 2010 to March 2011 of Beijing, and the result showed that from October 2010 to January 2011, the drought conditions were getting increasingly worse while later relieved from January 2011 to March 2011.

Description: This paper is intended to investigate the effect of Narmab storage dam on downstream inundated area for three reservoir operation scenarios. ArcView GIS was coupled with HEC-RAS to produce a flood map for flood discharge of different return periods. Google-Earth software was applied to depict the extent of floodplain in actual landscape. The inflow hydrographs for 4 return periods (50-, 100-, 500- and 1,000-year) were routed through Puls method in order to obtain the outflow hydrographs passing through dam spillway. Results show that, through the operation of reservoir, the downstream inundated area can be reduced up to 75.1 % as a function of reservoir available storage. Furthermore, calculations showed that the reduction rate of inundated area for 50-year floods is largely more than 1,000-year floods, implies the high ability of Narmab dam on flood control especially for floods with shorter return period.

Description:    Geological time description largely rests on an event based chronology based on the stratigraphical model . It uses a hierarchy of chronologically ordered geochronological units and boundaries . In order to be easily dealt with within large databases used by complex engineering systems, the geological time chronology must be formalized. Stratigraphical time successions should accordingly be described by using adequate semantic tools (ontologies) complemented by a set of logical rules. At present, geological time formalization mainly rests on the GeoSciML model. This model is fit for describing individual geological time scales but does not provide all the necessary tools for comparing various time successions and for operating full stratigraphic correlations. For complementing the GeoSciML model, we define two ontologies for geological time description and for geological dating. They extend the GeoSciML model, so that it becomes possible to fully use the Allen rules for operating time correlations between any couple of time scales or stratigraphic successions. We additionally propose a codification resting on the defined ontologies, which allows operating all age identification and correlation by means of simple computation rules. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s12145-011-0080-9 Authors Michel Perrin, Ecole des Mines de Paris, Paris, France Laura S. Mastella, Ecole des Mines de Paris, Paris, France Olivier Morel, Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières, Orléans, France Alexandre Lorenzatti, Institut Français du Pétrole, Rueil-Malmaison, France Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description: Evaluation of land cover/use change and its impact on hydrological design aspects plays a vital role in assessing the capacity of existing storm water conveyance systems and its capability towards the anticipated peak flow. This paper attempts to illustrate an application of Soil Conservation Service (SCS-CN) method for runoff estimation using continuous time series rainfall. And also, the present work proposes a Land use factor based on the Curve Number to correct the infiltration rate according to the prevailing land cover/use. Indian remote sensing (IRS) satellite data for the years 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010 are used to evaluate the growth of Tiruchirapalli city, India city and to assess its impact on surface runoff. The Geographical information system (GIS) is used to prepare the different layers belonging to various land covers identified from remotely sensed data. The sub-watersheds are created using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) prepared by ARC GIS software. The single storm event and 50-year return period rainfall data are used as a hydrological input to the model to evaluate the increase in runoff over the years due to change in the land cover of the study area. The study reveals that the impact of land cover/use change is more significant for longer duration storm than short duration storm at the same magnitude. Further, it is noticed from the study that the runoff depth and runoff co-efficient is large for short duration rainfall than long duration rainfall at the same magnitude.

Description: To use data proficiently and efficiently, scientists require comprehensive metadata. This is very difficult to reconstruct conceptually, positionally and temporally far from the time and place of data acquisition. The European Commission funded Eurofleets project, whose mission is to build an integrated European oceanographic research vessel fleet, is developing a system that aims to address this issue by capturing metadata in a uniform way at time of observation. As this is a European-wide initiative, the problems associated with the desired level of integration are also broad. Having so many partners, different paradigms, schools, practices and vocabularies must be taken into consideration. Assuming that this divergence is natural and even somehow positive in the perspective of adapting to a changing environment, we detail how bridging can take place using a systemic approach. In the Eurofleets experience, this relied on the definition of a boundary object: that is an artifact that can be used by each of the diverging communities, since it embeds the core, shared conceptual entities. The structure of the boundary object is based on an event model, its ontology and the controlled vocabularies linked to it. All conceptual entities, and indeed the structure of the boundary object itself, resulted from wide discussions among the divergent communities. These discussions, allowed the extension of meaning from a semantic perspective to the pragmatic scope, where theoretical and cultural matters can also be considered, so that, eventually, the knowledge represented by the boundary object is more likely to be understood across the divergent communities. To exploit the possibilities offered by the boundary object, specific software has been developed that, using the event model and ontology, allows easier deployment across the project partners of a system intended to address the heterogeneity of the research vessel fleet. In this paper we describe in detail the underlying ontology.

Description:    Many GIS-based landslide models require detailed datasets that are ideally collected from field measurements, which can incur high costs for carrying out surveys. Even when the data is on hand, implementing physics-based slope stability techniques can be difficult. Common research practice uses differential equations to characterize the dynamic flow of a landslide, but it is often laborious without making substantial simplifications. A possible solution is to implement a cellular automata modeling approach, which represents both spatial and temporal components, to simulate the dynamics of the landslide propagation process. In this study, a simplified cellular automata model is developed for the effective prediction of landslide runouts, where the data requirement is a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM). Parameters, such as slope and slope curvature features, are derived from the DEM and coupled with logistic regression. The developed model is implemented on the Patrick and Dawson-Chu Slide in North Vancouver, Canada. The results from this study site were favorable, given almost 90% agreement between simulated landslides and data obtained for real landslides. In addition, sensitivity analysis was performed on the initiation sites to test the model logic and outputs of the landslide flow. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s12145-011-0078-3 Authors Terence Lai, Spatial Analysis and Modeling Laboratory, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada Suzana Dragićević, Spatial Analysis and Modeling Laboratory, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description:    Establishing and successfully implementing new numerical computational technique(s) with simulation tool is one of the most important difficult tasks in order to carry out real time scientific astronomical and other sophisticated problems. The main focus and highlight of this paper is concerned with the introduction of a newly proposed simple embedded RKAHeM(4,4) technique to determine the distribution of thermodynamic variables inside protoplanets during pre-collapse stage, formed by gravitational instability, for protoplanetary masses between 0.3 to 10 Jupiter masses. The case of convection is a significant concern for transference of heat inside the protoplanet and the graphical solution demonstrates positively better performance by inducting the newly proposed effective RKAHeM(4,4) algorithm for any length of time in comparison with the results through Classical Runge–Kutta method. Furthermore, the analytic expression for local truncation error, global truncation error and error estimates are derived for better understanding. A viable quantitative analysis has been carried out to clearly visualize the goodness and robustness of the proposed RKAHeM(4,4) algorithm. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s12145-011-0093-4 Authors Sukumar Senthilkumar, School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, 11800 Penang, Malaysia Gour Chandra Paul, School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, 11800 Penang, Malaysia Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description:    As many sensor networks are currently being deployed for environmental monitoring, there is a growing need to develop systems and applications for managing, processing and retrieving massive amounts of data generated from those networks. In this research, a query answering system with pattern mining techniques is investigated specifically for marine sensor data. We consider three applications of pattern mining: similar pattern search, predictive query and query by clustering. In pattern mining for query answering, we adopt the dynamic time warping (DTW) method for similarity measurement. We also propose the use of a query relaxation approach that recommends users change parameters of a given query to get an answer. Finally, we show implementation results of pattern query answering in a marine sensor network deployed in the South East of Tasmania, Australia. Pattern query answering system benefits in accessing and discovering knowledge from sensor data for decision making purposes. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s12145-012-0095-x Authors Md. Sumon Shahriar, Tasmanian ICT Centre, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Castray Esplanade, Hobart, 7001 Australia Paulo de Souza, Tasmanian ICT Centre, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Castray Esplanade, Hobart, 7001 Australia Greg Timms, Tasmanian ICT Centre, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Castray Esplanade, Hobart, 7001 Australia Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description: ICT Providers: A Relevant Topic for Business and Information Systems Engineering? Content Type Journal Article Category Discussion Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0235-3 Authors Thomas Hess, Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik und Neue Medien, LMU München, Ludwigstrasse 28, 80539 München, Germany Peter Loos, IWi at DFKI, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Peter Buxmann Koray Erek Ulrich Frank Jürgen Gallmann Martin Gersch Rüdiger Zarnekow Peter Zencke Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description:    In this contribution a literature review is conducted to illustrate how national culture influences phases of the design of information systems. For this purpose, we review the literature in order to identify reliable and commonly approved findings as well as still open remaining questions. Fundamentally, our literature review is a comprehensive framework that sets typical dimensions of system design as well as main types of cultural research in relation to each other. The existing research results in the area of national culture are classified along the levels of system design and attributed to typical phases of the design of information systems. It thus becomes apparent that in the domain of culture and information system design it is often only the design subject or the design object that is addressed. Contributions that connect both levels rarely exist. In our review, only a limited number of publications could be identified that covered concrete phases of the development providing system design, implementation, as well as verification and validation. From a theoretical perspective, there is an obvious dominance of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions that well address single topics of the design, such as user interface and inter cultural problems in development teams. Other domains, however (e.g., technology and architecture), are inadequately explained. Further, a predominantly phenomenological focus becomes obvious. The observed cultural phenomena and the connected interpretations are usable in a limited way for concrete development initiatives. The contribution ends with the vision of a theory for the culturally sensitive design of socio-technical information systems that absorbs current scientific knowledge and unites it in a structured approach. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0236-2 Authors Tyge-F. Kummer, Institute of Information Systems School of Business and Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Spandauer Straße 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany Jan Marco Leimeister, Insitute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Mueller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland Markus Bick, Business Information Systems, ESCP Europe Campus Berlin, Heubnerweg 8-10, 14059 Berlin, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description:    The water and energy transfer of land surface is complex due to its large spatial and temporal variability. The modeling and simulation is an important means to study land water and energy transfer, but most selection and analysis of model parameters are empirical and qualitative. This paper has proposed a method of quantitatively identifying the most influential parameters of Common Land Model through Sobol’ sensitivity analysis. Considering sensible heat flux as the model output, the first order and total sensitivity indices of 25 model input parameters are estimated using an improved Sobol’ method. The simulated results are resampled using a bootstrapping method and the corresponding sensitivity indices are calculated. Confidence intervals for the bootstrapping sensitivity indices are estimated by using a percentile method. The results show that the parameters phi0 and porsl are the most important parameters, followed by ref(2,1), tran(2,1) and bsw. Five out of 25 parameters need to have an accurate evaluation, while the other parameters are fixed to a certain value. The sensitivity indices of parameters phi0 and porsl are decreasing after precipitation, while the sensitivity indices of parameters tran(2, 1) and ref(2, 1) are increasing after precipitation. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s12145-012-0105-z Authors Jianhui Xu, State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China 430079 Hong Shu, State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China 430079 Hongnan Jiang, Resource and Environmental Science College, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, China 830046 Lin Dong, State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China 430079 Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description:    This paper identifies three distinct data production paradigms for Earth science data, each having its own versioning structure: –  Climate data record production, used when the data producer’s dominant concern is providing a homogeneous error structure for each data set version, particularly when the data record is expected to cover a long time period –  Operational data set production, used when the producer must ensure low latency and service continuity with less attention to error homogeneity across the entire record –  Exploratory production, used for validation or research in which the producer decides which processes to apply by interacting with the data. In this paradigm, there may not be a common versioning structure from one production episode to another This paper then develops a mathematical framework for three provenance tracing activities that are important in long-term preservation of Earth science data: –  tracing the history of data production that created an item of Earth science data, with particular attention to the versioning structure of the data collections –  tracing the history of custody for an item –  tracing the history of Intellectual Property Rights transfers for an item Each of these activities has its own type of Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) underlying a particular kind of provenance. Provenance tracing is equivalent to performing a Breadth First Search on the appropriate DAG. Content Type Journal Article Category Software Article Pages 167-196 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0057-0 Authors Bruce R. Barkstrom, 15 Josie Lane, Asheville, NC USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 3

Description:    The harmonic synthesis and analysis of the elements of gravitational tensor can be done in few minutes if a suitable programming algorithm is used. Vectorization is an efficient technique for such processes, but the size of matrices will increase when the resolution of synthesis or analysis is high; say higher than 0.5° × 0.5°. Here, we present a technique to manage the computer memory and computational time by excluding one computational loop from the matrix products and we call this method semi-vectorization. Based on this technique, we synthesize the gravitational tensor using the EGM96 geopotential model and after that we analyze the tensor for recovering the geopotential coefficients. MATLAB codes are provided which are able to analyze 224 millions gradiometric data, corresponding to a global grid of 2.5′ × 2.5′ on a sphere in 1,093 s by a personal computer with 2 Gb RAM. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 149-158 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0062-3 Authors Mehdi Eshagh, Division of Geodesy, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden Makan Abdollahzadeh, Division of Geodesy, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 3

Description:    Time Series Data Server (TSDS) is a software package for implementing a server that provides fast super-setting, sub-setting, filtering, and uniform gridding of time series-like data. TSDS was developed to respond quickly to requests for long time spans of data. Data may be served from a fast database, typically created by aggregating granules (e.g., data files) from a remote data source and storing them in a local cache that is optimized for serving time series. The system was designed specifically for time series data, and is optimized for requests where the longest dimension of the requested data structure is time. Scalar, vector, and spectrogram time series types are supported. The user can interact with the server by requesting a time series, a date range, and an optional filter to apply to the data. Available filters include strides, block average/minimum/maximum, exclude, and inequality. Constraint expressions are supported, which allow such operations as a request for data from one time series when a different time series satisfied a specified relationship. TSDS builds upon DAP (Data Access Protocol), NcML (netCDF Mark-up language) and related software libraries. In this work, we describe the current design of this server, as well as planned features and potential implementation strategies. Content Type Journal Article Category Software Article Pages 29-40 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0059-y Authors Robert S. Weigel, George Mason University Fairfax USA Doug M. Lindholm, University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics Boulder CO USA Anne Wilson, University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics Boulder CO USA Jeremy Faden, Cottage Systems Iowa City IA USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    Mercury is a federated metadata harvesting, search and retrieval tool based on both open source packages and custom software developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). It was originally developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the consortium now includes funding from NASA, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Mercury is itself a reusable software application which uses a service-oriented architecture (SOA) approach to capturing and managing metadata in support of twelve Earth science projects. Mercury also supports the reuse of metadata by enabling searches across a range of metadata specification and standards including XML, Z39.50, FGDC, Dublin-Core, Darwin-Core, EML, and ISO-19115. It collects metadata and key data from contributing project servers distributed around the world and builds a centralized index. The Mercury search interfaces allows the users to perform simple, fielded, spatial, temporal and other hierarchical searches across these metadata sources. This centralized repository of metadata with distributed data sources provides extremely fast search results (Table 1) to the user, while allowing data providers to advertise the availability of their data and yet maintain complete control and ownership of that data. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 87-94 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0050-7 Authors Ranjeet Devarakonda, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Environmental Science Division PO Box 2008 MS6407 Oak Ridge TN 37831 USA Giriprakash Palanisamy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Environmental Science Division PO Box 2008 MS6407 Oak Ridge TN 37831 USA Bruce E. Wilson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Environmental Science Division PO Box 2008 MS6407 Oak Ridge TN 37831 USA James M. Green, Information International Associates 1055 Commerce Park Drive, Suite 110 Oak Ridge TN 37831 USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    Autoplot is software developed for the Virtual Observatories in Heliophysics to provide intelligent and automated plotting capabilities for many typical data products that are stored in a variety of file formats or databases. Autoplot has proven to be a flexible tool for exploring, accessing, and viewing data resources as typically found on the web, usually in the form of a directory containing data files with multiple parameters contained in each file. Data from a data source is abstracted into a common internal data model called QDataSet. Autoplot is built from individually useful components, and can be extended and reused to create specialized data handling and analysis applications and is being used in a variety of science visualization and analysis applications. Although originally developed for viewing heliophysics-related time series and spectrograms, its flexible and generic data representation model makes it potentially useful for the Earth sciences. Content Type Journal Article Category Software Article Pages 41-49 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0049-0 Authors Jeremy B. Faden, Cottage Systems Iowa City IA USA Robert S. Weigel, Cottage Systems Iowa City IA USA Jan Merka, Cottage Systems Iowa City IA USA Reiner H. W. Friedel, Cottage Systems Iowa City IA USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    The growth of data volumes in science is reaching epidemic proportions. Consequently, the status of data-oriented science as a research methodology needs to be elevated to that of the more established scientific approaches of experimentation, theoretical modeling, and simulation. Data-oriented scientific discovery is sometimes referred to as the new science of X-Informatics, where X refers to any science (e.g., Bio-, Geo-, Astro-) and informatics refers to the discipline of organizing, describing, accessing, integrating, mining, and analyzing diverse data resources for scientific discovery. Many scientific disciplines are developing formal sub-disciplines that are information-rich and data-based, to such an extent that these are now stand-alone research and academic programs recognized on their own merits. These disciplines include bioinformatics and geoinformatics, and will soon include astroinformatics. We introduce Astroinformatics, the new data-oriented approach to 21st century astronomy research and education. In astronomy, petascale sky surveys will soon challenge our traditional research approaches and will radically transform how we train the next generation of astronomers, whose experiences with data are now increasingly more virtual (through online databases) than physical (through trips to mountaintop observatories). We describe Astroinformatics as a rigorous approach to these challenges. We also describe initiatives in science education (not only in astronomy) through which students are trained to access large distributed data repositories, to conduct meaningful scientific inquiries into the data, to mine and analyze the data, and to make data-driven scientific discoveries. These are essential skills for all 21st century scientists, particularly in astronomy as major new multi-wavelength sky surveys (that produce petascale databases and image archives) and grand-scale simulations (that generate enormous outputs for model universes, such as the Millennium Simulation ) become core research components for a significant fraction of astronomical researchers. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 5-17 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0055-2 Authors Kirk D. Borne, George Mason University Department of Computational and Data Sciences Fairfax VA USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    We present an application of uncertainty visualization to air parcel trajectories generated from a global meteorological model. We derive an approximation of advection uncertainty due to interpolation and incorporate this uncertainty into our visualization of trajectories. Our work enables efficient visual pruning of unlikely results, especially in regions of atmospheric shear, potentially reducing erroneous interpretations. Finally, we apply these methods to a real-world meteorological problem to demonstrate its use. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 119-126 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0052-5 Authors Ryan A. Boller, NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD USA Scott A. Braun, NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD USA Jadrian Miles, Department of Computer Science, Brown University, Providence, RI USA David H. Laidlaw, Department of Computer Science, Brown University, Providence, RI USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    SPASE—for Space Physics Archive Search and Extract—is a group with a charter to promote collaboration and sharing of data for the Space Plasma Physics community. A major activity is the definition of the SPASE Data Model which defines the metadata necessary to describe resources in the broader heliophysics data environment. The SPASE Data Model is primarily a controlled vocabulary with hierarchical relationships and with the ability to form associations between described resources. It is the result of many years of effort by an international collaboration (see http://www.spase-group.org ) to unify and improve on existing Space and Solar Physics data models. The genesis of the SPASE group can be traced to 1998 when a small group of individuals saw a need for a data model. Today SPASE has a large international participation from many of the major space research organizations. The design of the data model is based on a set of principles derived from evaluation of the existing heliophysics data environment. The development guidelines for the data model are consistent with ISO-2788 (expanded in ANSI/NISO Z39.19) and the administration for the data model is comparable to that described in the ISO standards ISO-11179 and ISO-20943. Since the release of version 1.0 of the data model in 2005, the model has undergone a series of evolutions. SPASE released version 2.0 of its data model in April 2009. This version presents a significant change from the previous release. It includes the capability to describe a wider range of data products and to describe expert annotations which can be associated with a resource. Additional improvements include an enhanced capability to describe resource associations and a more unified approach to describing data products. Version 2.0 of the SPASE Data Model provides a solid foundation for continued integration of worldwide research activities and the open sharing of data. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 67-73 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0053-4 Authors Todd King, University of California, Los Angeles Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Los Angeles CA USA James Thieman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 690.1 Greenbelt MD USA D. Aaron Roberts, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 672 Greenbelt MD USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    We describe a framework designed to simplify the acquisition and integration of data from multiple, diversely formatted, geographically distributed science data sets. Our domain is Heliophysics where measurements of magnetic fields, plasmas, and charged particles are often made in-situ, with the data made available in relatively low volume data sets consisting of time series tables. Data format diversity has proven to be a significant barrier to the type of integrated, multi-mission analysis that is now very important in Heliophysics. Therefore we have developed a Java framework capable of reading, interpreting, and providing uniform access to the science content of any distributed time series data set. The framework exposes data only through fully abstract interfaces that represent data content while hiding all access details such as file format, data file granularity and access protocols. Furthermore, specialized interfaces for representing measurement-specific details are also employed, so that our framework enables data sets to be recast into scientifically interoperable representations. The context of our efforts is an increasingly distributed Heliophysics data environment that employs a collection of discipline-specific Virtual Observatories (VOs), each providing data search and retrieval services for one Heliophysics sub-discipline. Our framework is bundled in a library that ultimately will serve as a universal reader for Heliophysics data, solving the formats problem and serving as key infrastructure for advanced, science-sensitive data manipulation services. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 75-86 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0044-5 Authors Jon Vandegriff, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd. Laurel MD 20723 USA Lawrence Brown, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd. Laurel MD 20723 USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    Reuse of software and related components can contribute to the development of systems for processing scientific data. The reuse of components, which can be from any stage of the development life cycle, provides opportunities to realize benefits such as reduced costs and learning curves. However, the reuse of existing components also comes with risks that must be recognized in order to be mitigated. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration established the Earth Science Data Systems Software Reuse Working Group to support software reuse among members of the community of Earth science data systems developers. This is done through a variety of activities, including research, education, and public outreach, which are conducted to help encourage and enable reuse within the community. Considerations for realizing the benefits of software reuse and minimizing risks are presented along with recent working group activities to improve reuse capabilities for the community of Earth science data systems developers. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 95-100 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0054-3 Authors James J. Marshall, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center INNOVIM/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Mailstop 614.9 Greenbelt MD 20771 USA Robert R. Downs, Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) 202 Geoscience, Lamont-Doherty Earth Obs. Palisades NY 10964 USA Shahin Samadi, INNOVIM/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, INNOVIM 7501 Greenway Center Drive, Suite 660 Greenbelt MD 20770 USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    From a scientist’s viewpoint a web site is one tool used to conduct research. From an artist’s viewpoint web sites are a form of visual composition. From a developer’s point of view a web site is a type of application. While web sites are a relatively new medium with a particular set of constraints, they do adhere to the same basic design principles that apply to other art forms. These design principles are the basic assumptions that affect the arrangement of elements within a composition. A successful design uses the principles and elements to achieve a visual goal in the composition. A web site designed for scientists has unique properties which are not shared by many other types of web sites. These properties influence the overall visual design of the web sites. Recently at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at UCLA undertook a re-design of a number of its websites. In the effort, the use of visual design principles combined with the properties of a science web site were put to the test. In all, six different web sites were designed each with a difference science focus. We describe the process used to design the web sites which involve forming teams of designers, scientists and developers. We present example pages from each design and conclude with a discussion of what was learned during the process. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 51-57 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0058-z Authors Kica Worrilow, Kica Design Marina Del Rey CA 90292 USA Todd King, University of California Los Angeles Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Los Angeles CA 90095 USA Raymond Walker, University of California Los Angeles Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Los Angeles CA 90095 USA Mark E. Rose, Research Center Perot Systems Government Services, Inc (PSGS) / NASA Ames Moffett Field CA 94035-1000 USA William Moore, University of California Los Angeles Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Los Angeles CA 90095 USA Steven Joy, University of California Los Angeles Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Los Angeles CA 90095 USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    Developments in information and communication technologies offer new opportunities to use and integrate scientific data that have been collected by researchers and scholars from diverse fields of inquiry. Data archives and digital repository systems are being developed to preserve current and legacy scientific data and technical information for use by others. However, capabilities are needed for data producers of various disciplines to easily and efficiently submit their data into archival systems for preservation. Analysis of digital preservation requirements has identified the requirements for services to support the submission and review of scientific data for preservation. Data submission and review processes are segmented into services, which are defined to support efficient preparation of scientific data for ingest into an archive or digital repository system. A model is proposed to inform the design of submission and workflow services for preserving interdisciplinary scientific data. Recommendations are offered for improving the design and evaluation of systems and services to prepare and preserve scientific data for new uses by interdisciplinary communities of users in the future. Improving the infrastructure that enables members of the scientific community to submit their data for archiving contributes to the scientific data stewardship and data curation capabilities needed to preserve scientific data for future generations of users. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 101-110 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0051-6 Authors Robert R. Downs, Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network 61 Route 9W Palisades NY 10964 USA Robert S. Chen, Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network 61 Route 9W Palisades NY 10964 USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description:    The recent Heliophysics Virtual Observatory (VxO) effort involves the development of separate observatories with a low overlap in physical domain or area of scientific specialization and a high degree of overlap in metadata management needs. VxOware is a content and metadata management system. While it is intended for use by a VxO specifically, it can also be used by any entity that manages structured metadata. VxOware has many features of a content management system and extensively uses the W3C recommendations for XML (Extensible Markup Language), XQuery (XML Query), and XSLT (Extensible Style Sheet Language Transformations). VxOware has features such as system and user administration, search, user-editable content, version tracking, and a wiki. Besides virtual observatories, the intended user-base of VxOware includes a group or an instrument team that has developed a directory structure of data files and would like to make this data, and its associated metadata, available in the virtual observatory network. One of the most powerful features of VxOware is the ability to link any type of object in the observatory to other objects and the ability for every object to be tagged. Content Type Journal Article Category Software Article Pages 19-28 DOI 10.1007/s12145-010-0048-1 Authors Robert S. Weigel, George Mason University 4400 University Drive Fairfax VA 22030 USA Mikhail Zhizhin, Geophysical Center Russian Academy of Sciences Molodezhnaya Str., 3 Moscow 119296 Russia Dmitry Mishin, Geophysical Center Russian Academy of Sciences Molodezhnaya Str., 3 Moscow 119296 Russia Dmitry Kokovin, Geophysical Center Russian Academy of Sciences Molodezhnaya Str., 3 Moscow 119296 Russia Eric Kihn, National Geophysical Data Center E/GC 325 Broadway Boulder CO 80305-3328 USA Jeremy Faden, Cottage Systems 1141 E. Court St. Iowa City IA 52240 USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Numbers 1-2

Description: Interview with Phil Gilbert on “Business Process Management and Data Integration” Content Type Journal Article Category Profile Pages 1-3 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0226-4 Authors Michael zur Muehlen, Howe School of Technology Management, Stevens Institute of Technology, Castle Point on Hudson, 07030 NJ, Hoboken, USA Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: Business Process Management Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0228-2 Authors Jörg Becker, European Research Center for Information Systems, University of Münster, Münster, Germany Michael Rosemann, Information Systems School Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane Qld, 4000 Australia Maximilian Röglinger, FIM Research Center Finance & Information Management, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany Michael zur Muehlen, Howe School of Technology Management, Stevens Institute of Technology, Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description:    Today’s organizations are struggling with increasing business process complexity and face serious problems when standardizing business processes. A possible strategy seems to be to enhance standardization efforts in order to ensure standardization success. In this paper, we analyze the triangle relationship between standardization effort, business process complexity, and business process standardization. We test the hypotheses that higher business process complexity is related to higher standardization effort and lower business process standardization as well as that higher standardization effort is related to higher business process standardization. We report on the development and testing of a conceptual model that allows to understand the impact of business process complexity on business process standardization and standardization effort. Findings from a survey among 255 business process management experts are used to evaluate our hypotheses. Our results suggest that business process complexity has to be considered as an important driver of standardization effort and constrains business process standardization. Moreover, we show that higher standardization effort cannot compensate for higher business process complexity to ensure business process standardization. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0224-6 Authors Markus Schäfermeyer, Chair of Information Systems Engineering, Goethe University Frankfurt, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt Main, Germany Christoph Rosenkranz, Chair of Information Systems Engineering, Goethe University Frankfurt, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt Main, Germany Roland Holten, Chair of Information Systems Engineering, Goethe University Frankfurt, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt Main, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description:    IT executives entering into information technology (IT) outsourcing arrangements seek various strategic, economic, and technological benefits. However, although several cases of IT outsourcing are considered successful, cases of failure can also be observed. Problems and challenges associated with IT outsourcing often not only relate to the strategic decision whether or not to outsource, but to the operational level as well. Especially organizations with little experience of implementing larger IT outsourcing programs face problems with the steering of external outsourcing providers. In this paper, we propose a reference framework that structures the required processes for an effective steering of IT outsourcing relationships. The research is based on the design science paradigm in information systems research. In a first step, we derive a framework from related literature and knowledge in this particular area. We then undertake extensive fieldwork, including expert interviews and field studies to evaluate our framework and to develop it further. The suggested framework proves to be a viable instrument to support the systematic analysis of current processes and the definition of suitable target processes for the steering of IT outsourcing programs. This paper’s primary contribution therefore lies in providing an applicable instrument for practitioners as well as in extending the existing body of knowledge on IT outsourcing governance. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0231-7 Authors Nils Urbach, EBS Business School Institute of Research on Information Systems (IRIS), EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, Konrad-Adenauer-Ring 15, 65187 Wiesbaden, Germany Tobias Würz, Horváth & Partner GmbH, Cecilienpalais Cecilienallee 10, 40474 Düsseldorf, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description:    The availability of high-quality business process models is a central prerequisite for a successful process management. Nevertheless, in practice process models exhibit a large number of quality deficits, among them grammatical, content-related, and stylistic defects. In addition, there exist only very few approaches to determine the quality of business process models. In this paper, we present the 3QM-Framework, an analytical approach to systematically determine the quality of business process models. The 3QM-Framework makes three contributions: it provides quality marks, metrics, and measurement procedures to quantify the quality level as elements of a theoretically justified quality model. The applicability of the 3QM-Framework has been empirically evaluated in case studies. The results of a survey that was conducted among experts moreover attest its practical relevance. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0230-8 Authors Sven Overhage, Chair of Business Information Systems & Systems Engineering, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 16, 86159 Augsburg, Germany Dominik Q. Birkmeier, Chair of Business Information Systems & Systems Engineering, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 16, 86159 Augsburg, Germany Sebastian Schlauderer, Chair of Business Information Systems & Systems Engineering, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 16, 86159 Augsburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: Social Customer Relationship Management (Social CRM) Content Type Journal Article Category Catchword Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0225-5 Authors Rainer Alt, Information Systems Institute, University of Leipzig, Grimmaische Str. 12, 04109 Leipzig, Germany Olaf Reinhold, Information Systems Institute, University of Leipzig, Grimmaische Str. 12, 04109 Leipzig, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: BISE – Call for Papers Issue 1/2014 Content Type Journal Article Category Call for Papers Pages 1-8 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0227-3 Authors Martin Bichler, Decision Sciences & Systems Department of Informatics, TU München, Boltzmannstraße 3, 85748 Munich, Germany Thomas Hess, Institute for Information Systems and New Media, LMU Munich, Ludwigstraße 28, 80539 Munich, Germany Peter Loos, IWi at DFKI, Saarland University, Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Ramayya Krishnan, Management Science and Information Systems The Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890, USA Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description:    Corporate management in today’s international companies has become increasingly complex. To cope with the growing challenges, information technology (IT)-based management control systems (MCSs) covering reporting, planning, and consolidation have been deployed. Despite their tradition in management research, the ‘right’ setup of MCSs is still challenging. Maturity models (MMs) are an established instrument to identify strengths and weaknesses of certain domains. As existing MMs rather focus on single MCS domains, neglect an IT perspective and miss a sound methodical foundation, this paper outlines an empirically and algorithmically constructed MCS MM. The model consists of three partial MMs for reporting, planning, and consolidation, which are integrated into one holistic MCS MM. The five levels of the MCS MM guide MCS evolution from a basic, mandatory/external-driven MCS (level 1) to a balanced MCS (level 2), and a comprehensive MCS (level 3). Ultimately, MCSs show a strong strategic focus (level 4) and leverage the potentials of modern IT (level 5). Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0220-x Authors Frederik Marx, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland Felix Wortmann, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland Jörg H. Mayer, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: Comments on “In-Memory Databases in Business Information Systems” Content Type Journal Article Category Discussion Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0222-8 Authors Peter Loos, IWi at DFKI, Saarland University, Campus D3 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Stefan Strohmeier Gunther Piller Reinhard Schütte Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: Imprint Content Type Journal Article Category Imprint Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0223-7 Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: Open Educational Resources Content Type Journal Article Category Catchword Pages 1-4 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0219-3 Authors Jan M. Pawlowski, Digital Media – Global Information Systems, University of Jyväskylä, PL 35 (Agora), 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland Markus Bick, ESCP Europe Campus Berlin, Business Information Systems, Heubnerweg 8–10, 14059 Berlin, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: Imprint Content Type Journal Article Category Imprint Pages 177-178 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0218-4 Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 3

Description: Interview with Clemens Daeschle on “Management of Global Software Development at SAP AG” Content Type Journal Article Category Profile Pages 167-175 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0209-5 Authors Alexander Maedche, Chair of Information Systems IV Business School and Institute for Enterprise Systems (InES), University of Mannheim, 68131 Mannheim, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 3

Description:    Each year destructive events might cause loss of data in members of an archival federation. This paper provides a ‘back-of-the-envelope’ model for the fraction of the federated data collection that survives after a certain number of years. It also discusses some simple parameterizations of factors that contribute to the trade offs between cost and survival of information. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s12145-012-0100-4 Authors Bruce R. Barkstrom, 15 Josie Lane, Asheville, NC, USA Chris A. Mattmann, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description:    GIS and Remote Sensing have proved to be an indispensible tool in morphometric analysis. The identification of morphometric properties based on a geographic information system (GIS) was carried out in two watersheds in the Thrissur district of Kerala, India. These watersheds are parts of Western Ghats, which is an ecologically sensitive area. Quantitative geomorphometric analysis was carried out for the Chimmini and Mupily watersheds independently by estimating their (a) linear aspects like stream number, stream order, stream length, mean stream length, stream length ratio, bifurcation ratio, length of overland flow, drainage pattern (b) aerial aspects like circulatory ratio, elongation ratio, drainage density and (c) relief aspects like basin relief, relief ratio, relative relief and ruggedness number. The drainage areas of Chimmini and Mupily watersheds are 140 and 122 km 2 respectively and show patterns of dendritic to sub-dendritic drainage. The Chimmini watershed was classified as a sixth order drainage basin, whereas Mupily watershed was classified as a fifth order basin. The stream order of the basin was predominantly controlled by physiographic and structural conditions. The increase in the stream length ratio from lower to higher order suggests that the study area has reached a mature geomorphic stage. The development of stream segments is affected by rainfall and local lithology of the watersheds. The slope of both watersheds varied from 0° to 50° and 0° to 42° respectively and the slope variation is chiefly controlled by the local geology and erosion cycles. Moreover, these studies are useful for planning rain water harvesting and watershed management. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s12145-012-0101-3 Authors N. S. Magesh, Centre for Geotechnology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India 627012 K. V. Jitheshlal, Centre for Geotechnology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India 627012 N. Chandrasekar, Centre for Geotechnology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India 627012 K. V. Jini, Department of Geology and Environmental Science, Christ College, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur, Kerala, India 680125 Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description:    Isostatic hypotheses are used for different purposes in geophysics and geodesy. The Erath crustal thickness modelling is more complicated than the classical isostatic models. In this study we try to modify Airy-Hesiskanen model, utilizing a smoothing factor, to a model with regional or global isostatic model through a modern solution of the gravimetric-isostatic Vening Meinesz model and CRUST.0. In Airy-Hesiskanen’s theory there is no correlation between neighbouring crustal columns, while this must be the case in reality due to the elasticity of the Earth. The idea is to keep the simplicity of the Airy-Heiskanen model, because it needs only the topographic data, and change the model which becomes to a model with regional/global isostatic model. The isostatic assumption for compensating the topographic potential is incomplete, as there are other geophysical phenomena which should be considered. Using the isostatic hypothesis for determining the depth of crust causes some disturbing signals in the gravity anomaly (approximately 285 mGal), which influence the crustal thickness determination. In this paper a simple method use for removing these effects. Spherical harmonic potential coefficients of the topographic compensation masses are used for modifying Airy-Heiskanen’s model in a least-square adjustment procedure by estimating smoothing factor. The numerical analysis shows that below degree 10, the modified Airy-Hesiskanen and Vening Meinesz models are close together. Smoothing factors for modifying the Airy-Hesiskanen model vary from 0.75 to 0.64 between degrees 200 and 2159. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s12145-012-0099-6 Authors Mohammad Bagherbandi, Division of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description: Platform as a Service (PaaS) Content Type Journal Article Category Catchword Pages 381-384 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0183-3 Authors Daniel Beimborn, Faculty of Information Systems and Applied Computer Sciences, University Bamberg, Feldkirchenstr. 21, 96045 Bamberg, Germany Thomas Miletzki, Faculty of Information Systems and Applied Computer Sciences, University Bamberg, Feldkirchenstr. 21, 96045 Bamberg, Germany Stefan Wenzel, SAP Store & Commercial Infrastructure Solution Management, SAP AG, Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16, 69190 Walldorf, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6

Description:    Increasing regulatory requirements such as price cap regulation have increased the importance of strategic grid asset management. Empirical studies reveal that information supply and consolidation are error prone and long-term processes. The reason is the missing automation of extraction, transformation, and loading. The current gap does neither fulfill the requirements of regulatory nor the necessity of standardized reporting. Furthermore, a detailed planning is not enabled and the calculation of key figures is extensive. Currently, a framework that considers the coupling of financial and technical key figures, the coupling of strategic and operative key figures as well as the integration into information systems is not existent. Therefore, this paper addresses the design of a reference model as a recommendation for action to integrate the asset management within information systems. It is validated by expert interviews. Moreover, it provides information to integrate relevant financial and technical artifacts from distributed systems. Simultaneously, it provides recommendations for implementing a Business Intelligence architecture in the context of strategic decision support. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 15-29 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0198-9 Authors Carsten Felden, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Lessingstraße 45, 09599 Freiberg, Germany Johannes Jakob Buder, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Lessingstraße 45, 09599 Freiberg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 1

Description:    The German energy market is facing several challenges due to changes in regulation, technical advancements as well as increasing energy costs and climate achievements like CO 2 reduction. This results in changing requirements for companies in the energy market and thus business information systems, which support their core tasks and processes. Software product managers in energy and software developing companies in charge of driving the functional development of information systems have to deal with these challenges and need to develop new information systems or enhance existing ones. Conceptual models proved helpful to design and implement information systems within several industries. However, identification and management of models as well as impact analysis of model changes results difficult. This contribution describes methods to construct, use and maintain a domain specific reference model catalogue to support requirements analysis for software product manager in the German electricity and gas market. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 3-14 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0200-6 Authors José Manuel González Vázquez, FuE Bereich Energie, OFFIS Institut für Informatik, Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany Jürgen Sauer, Department für Informatik, Abteilung Business Engineering, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstr. 114–118, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany Hans-Jürgen Appelrath, FuE Bereich Energie, OFFIS Institut für Informatik, Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 1

Description: In-memory Databases in Business Information Systems Content Type Journal Article Category Discussion Pages 389-395 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0188-y Authors Peter Loos, IWi at DFKI, Saarland University, Campus D3 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Jens Lechtenbörger Gottfried Vossen Alexander Zeier Jens Krüger Jürgen Müller Wolfgang Lehner Donald Kossmann Benjamin Fabian Oliver Günther Robert Winter Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6

Description: Imprint Content Type Journal Article Category Imprint Pages 405-406 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0194-0 Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6

Description:    In recent years, manufacturing companies and service providers have moved towards offering customer-specific problem solutions. These integrated bundles usually consist of hardware, software, and service components and are called product service systems (PSS) or hybrid products. Since the success of the resulting solution depends on the understanding of all requirements, requirements engineering (RE) has become a key factor. The article analyzes the state of the art of RE for PSS based on an extensive literature review in the domains of product-, software-, and service engineering. For this, criteria are derived from the characteristics of PSS and from the task area of RE in the life cycle of PSS. Based on these criteria we analyze the most established RE approaches for their suitability for PSS. An important finding is that integrated/interdisciplinary approaches for RE are missing. Moreover, the maturity of RE approaches in the three domains varies significantly. All analyzed approaches heavily rely on concepts and solution characteristics of their own domain so that a transfer to other domains is hardly possible. This literature review lays the foundation for successful RE for PSS and especially for future research aiming at combining and integrating RE approaches and models of product-, software-, and service engineering. Such requirement models could connect concepts of single domains and enable an integrated and seamless RE for PSS. Content Type Journal Article Category State of the Art Pages 369-380 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0192-2 Authors Marina Berkovich, Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsinformatik, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany Jan Marco Leimeister, Fachgebiet Wirtschaftsinformatik, Universität Kassel, Nora-Platiel-Str. 4, 34127 Kassel, Germany Helmut Krcmar, Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsinformatik, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6

Description:    Platforms have become a core fundament of many technology industries. Platforms not only enable new products and services but have also been shown to influence strategies, shape business models, and even transform entire industries. Platforms play a particularly important role in the mobile ecosystem. The success of smartphones has led to an intense battle of mobile platforms, each looking for ways to become the system of choice for mobile device manufacturers, mobile network operators, and mobile application developers. Drawing on theories of platform markets, strategic networks, and business ecosystems, this paper uses a visualization approach to study the evolving global interfirm structure and examines strategies used in the mobile platform ecosystem over the past five years. We identify important differences between mobile platform strategies and discuss their implications for both mobile ecosystem participants and the future of the app economy. Content Type Journal Article Category State of the Art Pages 313-322 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0174-4 Authors Rahul C. Basole, Georgia Institute of Technology, Tennenbaum Institute, 760 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA Jürgen Karla, Institute of Business Information Systems, RWTH Aachen, Templergraben 64, 52062 Aachen, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 5

Description: Green IT: A Matter of Business and Information Systems Engineering? Content Type Journal Article Category Discussion Pages 245-252 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0165-5 Authors Peter Loos, IWi at DFKI, Saarland University, Campus B3 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Wolfgang Nebel Jorge Marx Gómez Helen Hasan Richard T. Watson Jan vom Brocke Stefan Seidel Jan Recker Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 4

Description: From Revolution to Participation: Social Media and the Democratic Decision-Making Process Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 195-198 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0166-4 Authors Hans Ulrich Buhl, FIM Research Center Finance & Information Management, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 12, 86159 Augsburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 4

Description:    Social Network Sites (SNSs) rely exclusively on user-generated content to offer engaging and rewarding experience to its members. As a result, stimulating user communication and self-disclosure is vital for the sustainability of SNSs. However, considering that the SNS users are increasingly culturally diverse, motivating this audience to self-disclose requires understanding of their cultural intricacies. Yet existing research offers only limited insights into the role of culture behind the motivation of SNS users to self-disclose. Building on the privacy calculus framework, this study explores the role of two cultural dimensions – individualism and uncertainty avoidance – in self-disclosure decisions of SNS users. Survey responses of US and German Facebook members are used as the basis for our analysis. Structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis results reveal the distinct role of culture in the cognitive patterns of SNS users. The authors find that trusting beliefs play a key role in the self-disclosure decisions of users from individualistic cultures. At the same time, uncertainty avoidance determines the impact of privacy concerns. This paper contributes to the theory by rejecting the universal nature of privacy calculus processes. The findings provide for an array of managerial implications for SNS providers as they strive to encourage content creation and sharing by their heterogeneous members. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0216-6 Authors Hanna Krasnova, Institute of Information Systems, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Spandauer Straße 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany Natasha F. Veltri, Information and Technology Management, The University of Tampa, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL 33606, USA Oliver Günther, Universität Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, Haus 09, 14469 Potsdam, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: High Frequency Trading Content Type Journal Article Category Discussion Pages 93-108 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0205-9 Authors Christoph Lattemann, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jacobs University Bremen, 28759 Bremen, Germany Peter Loos, IWi at DFKI, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Johannes Gomolka, Tempelhove Research, 10117 Berlin, Germany Hans-Peter Burghof Arne Breuer Peter Gomber Michael Krogmann Joachim Nagel Rainer Riess Ryan Riordan Rafael Zajonz Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 2

Description:    By means of service-oriented architectures the IT support of processes can be designed as a portfolio of individual IT services provided by different suppliers. The processes are designed based on selection decisions between IT services that potentially have to be included. Many companies formulate a multitude of requirements for investments in IT services at ever shorter intervals. However, the scope of the desired investments usually exceeds the available budget. Thus, companies face the challenge of allocating the limited budget to investments in the most promising combination of IT services. This is hardly possible without methodical support. In addition, the allocation is often done intuitively and subject to the decision-makers’ affinity with IT. Therefore, this paper develops a quantitative, multi-period procedure model for the purpose of maximizing the enterprise value in accordance with value based management, which considers the dependencies of the periodical selection decisions. In the following, a decision logic for the heuristic solution to the selection problem is presented and its application is demonstrated by means of an illustrative case example. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 71-83 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0203-y Authors Florian Probst, FIM Research Center Finance & Information Management Department of Information Systems Engineering & Financial Management, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 12, 86159 Augsburg, Germany Hans Ulrich Buhl, FIM Research Center Finance & Information Management Department of Information Systems Engineering & Financial Management, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 12, 86159 Augsburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 2

Description: Information Systems and Culture Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0211-y Authors Armin Heinzl, University of Mannheim Schloss, 68131 Mannheim, Germany Dorothy E. Leidner, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, P.O. Box 98005, Waco, TX 76798-8005, USA Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description:    This paper contributes to a better understanding and to mitigate negative consequences of cultural diversity in multinational IT project teams. Our research explores how culture-specific behaviors impact social capital among team members and how firms can manage the strains. In the existing IS culture literature, culture-specific behaviors are – if at all – traced back to single culture dimensions. In contrast, the approach proposed in this article goes one step further suggesting that it is necessary to combine several culture dimensions to better understand a certain culture-specific behavior and consequently be able to better manage resulting relationship problems in multinational settings. Conducting exploratory case studies in six multinational IT projects, two exemplary cultural behavior patterns (face maintenance in India and post-communism in the Czech Republic) are identified, and management actions to avoid project performance problems are derived. The results contribute to a better understanding and management of the negative impact of culture-specific behaviors in IT project teams and corroborate that research based on culture dimensions, such as those conceptualized by Hofstede or House et al., is valuable for understanding multi-country IS projects. The findings in particular suggest that aggregating these dimensions to cultural behavior patterns improves their explanatory power and consequently the management’s capability to mitigate the negative consequences of cultural diversity. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0214-8 Authors Alexander von Stetten, Department of Information Systems and Services, University of Bamberg, Feldkirchenstr. 21, 96052 Bamberg, Germany Daniel Beimborn, Department of Information Systems and Services, University of Bamberg, Feldkirchenstr. 21, 96052 Bamberg, Germany Tim Weitzel, Department of Information Systems and Services, University of Bamberg, Feldkirchenstr. 21, 96052 Bamberg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: The Contribution of Business and Information Systems Engineering to the Early Recognition and Avoidance of “Black Swans” in IT Projects Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 55-59 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0206-8 Authors Hans Ulrich Buhl, FIM Research Center, Finance & Information Management, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 12, 86159 Augsburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 2

Description:    Emerging cyber-collective social movements (CSMs) have frequently made headlines in the news. Despite their popularity, there is a lack of systematic methodologies to empirically study such movements in complex online environments. Using the Al-Huwaider online campaign as a case to illustrate our methodology, this contribution attempts to establish a rigorous and fundamental analysis that explains CSMs. We collected 150 blogs from 17 countries ranging between April 2003 and July 2010 with a special focus on Al-Huwaider’s campaigns capturing multi-cultural aspects for our analysis. Bearing the analysis upon three central tenets of individual, community, and transnational perspectives, we develop novel algorithms modeling CSMs by utilizing existing collective action theories and computational social network analysis. This article contributes a methodology to study the diffusion of issues in social networks and examines roles of influential community members. The proposed methodology provides a rigorous tool to understand the complexity and dynamics of CSMs. Such methodology also assists us in observing the transcending nature of CSMs with future possibilities for modeling transnational outreach. Our study addresses the lack of fundamental research on the formation of CSMs. This research contributes novel methodologies that can be applied to many settings including business, marketing and many others, beyond the exemplary setting chosen here for illustrative purposes. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0210-z Authors Nitin Agarwal, Department of Information Science, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock, AR 72204, USA Merlyna Lim, Consortium of Science, Policy and Outcomes (CSPO) and School of Social Transformation – Justice and Social Inquiry, Arizona State University, 1120 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AR 85287, USA Rolf Wigand, Departments of Information Science and Management, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: Imprint Content Type Journal Article Category Imprint Pages 53-54 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0202-z Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 1

Description:    Despite the positive impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on an individual, organizational, and societal level (e.g., increased access to information, as well as enhanced performance and productivity), both scientific research and anecdotal evidence indicate that human-machine interaction, both in a private and organizational context, may lead to notable stress perceptions in users. This type of stress is referred to as technostress. A review of the literature shows that most studies used questionnaires to investigate the nature, antecedents, and consequences of technostress. Despite the value of the vast amount of questionnaire-based technostress research, we draw upon a different conceptual perspective, namely neurobiology. Specifically, we report on a laboratory experiment in which we investigated the effects of system breakdown on changes in users’ levels of cortisol, which is a major stress hormone in humans. The results of our study show that cortisol levels increase significantly as a consequence of system breakdown in a human-computer interaction task. In demonstrating this effect, our study has major implications for ICT research, development, management, and health policy. We confirm the value of a category of research heretofore largely neglected in ICT-related disciplines (particularly in business and information systems engineering, BISE, as well as information systems research, ISR), and argue that future research investigating human-machine interactions should consider the neurobiological perspective as a valuable complement to traditional concepts. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 61-69 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0207-7 Authors René Riedl, Department of Business Informatics – Information Engineering, University of Linz, Altenberger Str. 69, 4040 Linz, Austria Harald Kindermann, School of Management, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Wehrgrabengasse 1-3, 4400 Steyr, Austria Andreas Auinger, School of Management, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Wehrgrabengasse 1-3, 4400 Steyr, Austria Andrija Javor, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Linz General Hospital, Krankenhausstrasse 9, 4021 Linz, Austria Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 2

Description: Software Ecosystems Content Type Journal Article Category Catchword Pages 41-44 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0199-8 Authors Christoph Burkard, Information Systems/Software Business & Information Management, TU Darmstadt, Hochschulstr. 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany Thomas Widjaja, Information Systems/Software Business & Information Management, TU Darmstadt, Hochschulstr. 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany Peter Buxmann, Information Systems/Software Business & Information Management, TU Darmstadt, Hochschulstr. 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 1

Description: BISE – Call for Papers Issue 3/2013 Content Type Journal Article Category Call for Papers Pages 399-404 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0193-1 Authors Martin Spann, Institute of Electronic Commerce and Digital Markets, LMU Munich, 80539 Munich, Germany Oliver Hinz, Professur für Wirtschaftsinformatik – Electronic Markets, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany Vandana Ramachandran, Operations and Information Systems, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, 84112 Salt Lake City, USA Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6

Description:    Platforms for SaaS-based enterprise applications are prospering and the number of on-demand ERP vendors is increasing. We combine both phenomena for the first time and illustrate how the integration of a sustainability benchmarking service into an on-demand ERP platform provides added value beyond pure cost savings. By applying a qualitative system dynamics approach we identify self-reinforcing mechanisms which allow a faster and more comprehensive market penetration compared to providing these services separately. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 359-367 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0187-z Authors Thomas Koslowski, Institute of Computer Science and Social Studies, Department of Telematics, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Friedrichstraße 50, 79098 Freiburg, Germany Jens Strüker, Institute of Computer Science and Social Studies, Department of Telematics, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Friedrichstraße 50, 79098 Freiburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6

Description: The Role of Business and Information Systems Engineering in E-Government Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 341-344 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0182-4 Authors Hans Ulrich Buhl, FIM Research Center Finance & Information Management, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 12, 86159 Augsburg, Germany Markus Löffler, McKinsey & Company, Inc., Birkenwaldstraße 149, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6

Description: Comments on “Green IT: A Matter of Business and Information Systems Engineering?” Content Type Journal Article Category Discussion Pages 397-397 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0190-4 Authors Andreas Gadatsch, Professor of Business Information Systems, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Grantham-Allee 20, 53757 Sank Augustin, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6

Description: The Future of Telecommunications Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 265-267 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0178-0 Authors Udo Bub, Deutsche Telekom Laboratories & European Center for Information and Communication Technologies (EICT), Ernst-Reuter Platz 7, 10587 Berlin, Germany Arnold Picot, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Ludwigstr. 28, 80539 München, Germany Helmut Krcmar, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748 Garching, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 5

Description: BISE – Call for Papers Issue 01/2013 Content Type Journal Article Category Call for Papers Pages 255-262 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0164-6 Authors Stefan Kirn, University of Hohenheim, Schwerzstr. 35, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany Nilmini Wickramasinghe, School of Business IT and Logistics, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 4

Description:    The paper examines the current state of research as regards the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) by using the literature review methodology. The results show that an empirical-quantitative research design is used most of the time. The contributions vary in substance in terms of research on XBRL and research with XBRL. Research with XBRL focuses on the development of conceptual XBRL extensions. Work on XBRL considers, for example, the changes in reporting as a result of XBRL as well as the acceptance and enforcement of financial reporting standards. The results point to open issues and are relevant for research and practice. Content Type Journal Article Category State of the Art Pages 231-239 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0169-1 Authors André Gräning, Faculty of Business and Economics, Technische Universität Dresden, Helmholtzstraße 10, 01069 Dresden, Germany Carsten Felden, Faculty of Business Administration, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Lessingstraße 45, 09599 Freiberg, Germany Maciej Piechocki, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, Cannon Street 30, EC4M 6XH London, United Kingdom Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 4

Description:    We present a method to estimate the difference between quasigeoid and geoid heights globally from the Earth Gravitational Model EGM08 and a related topographic model. The numerical computations with the standard topographic density of 2.67 g/cm 3 show that the maximum and minimum of the separations are estimated to 5.47 m and −0.11 m on the Tibet plateau and in the Indian Ocean, respectively. These estimates do not consider possible topographic density variations, which result in topographic bias changes proportional to the topographic elevation squared. Assuming such density changes of 10% from the standard value, the separation may change up to 5 dm. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s12145-012-0098-7 Authors L. E. Sjöberg, Division of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden M. Bagherbandi, Division of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden Journal Earth Science Informatics Online ISSN 1865-0481 Print ISSN 1865-0473

Description: Crowdsourcing Content Type Journal Article Category Catchword Pages 1-4 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0215-7 Authors Larissa Hammon, JP Direct Marketing, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany Hajo Hippner, JP Direct Marketing, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description:    The cooperation of public and private sector organizations is a viable option for decision makers in the public sector for improving information technology (IT) infrastructures, acquiring innovation, and increasing management know-how. Effective partnering in public-private partnerships (PPP) is difficult though, because the involved stakeholder groups have divergent interests and organizational cultures. Using institutional logics as meta-theoretical lens, this exploratory, interpretive case study analyzes an IT PPP in Germany. The results reveal public- and private-side organizational culture differences and how the partners aligned their cultural differences by the development and legitimization of a partnership norm as well as the necessary partnership practices. The case analysis also illustrates how public sector and private sector organizations succeeded with the transition of public sector and private sector employees into a partnership organization and the management of different organizational cultures. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0213-9 Authors Oliver Marschollek, Institute of Information Systems, Goethe University Frankfurt, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Roman Beck, Institute of Information Systems, Goethe University Frankfurt, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202

Description: Imprint Content Type Journal Article Category Imprint Pages 339-340 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0179-z Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 5

Description: Interview with Marvin Ammori and Christof Weinhardt on “Network Neutrality and the Future of Telecommunication” Content Type Journal Article Category Profile Pages 327-338 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0180-6 Authors Arnold Picot, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Ludwigstr. 28, 80539 Munich, Germany Helmut Krcmar, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748 Garching, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 5

Description: Smart Metering Information Management Content Type Journal Article Category Catchword Pages 323-326 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0173-5 Authors Ullrich C. C. Jagstaidt, Chair of Information Management, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, 37073 Göttingen, Germany Janis Kossahl, Chair of Information Management, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, 37073 Göttingen, Germany Lutz M. Kolbe, Chair of Information Management, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, 37073 Göttingen, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 5

Description:    Cross-sector competition in the information and communications technology sectors (ICT sectors) constitutes a key strategic challenge for telecommunications companies. Due to increasing convergence, value creation is resulting in a greater degree of interaction. The diversification potential of telecommunications businesses is therefore changing with respect to associated ICT sectors, such as hardware, software and media. The article analyses cross-sector competition in the telecommunications industry on the basis of the diversification activities of ICT companies. A concentration of competitive interdependence in the ICT sectors is demonstrated using a cluster analysis of 34,142 companies. The cross-sector activities of telecommunications companies are investigated using contingency and dependency analyses, and the diversification-related competition in the telecommunications sector is also analysed. With regard to the telecommunications sector, particularly high level cross-sector competition with the media industry is identified, as well as strong diversification activities in the software sector. The results are used to derive the potentials and risks that have a significant bearing on the structure of the cross-sector competitive environment of telecommunications companies. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 289-298 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0177-1 Authors Jochen Wulf, Chair of Information and Communication Management Sekr. H 93, Berlin Institute of Technology (TU Berlin), Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany Rüdiger Zarnekow, Chair of Information and Communication Management Sekr. H 93, Berlin Institute of Technology (TU Berlin), Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 5

Description: Imprint Content Type Journal Article Category Imprint Pages 263-264 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0171-7 Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 4

Description:    This article develops 11 hypotheses on impacts of six customer characteristics on an individual’s willingness to use mobile location based services (LBS). Hypotheses are tested in a sample of 217 mobile communications customers in Germany who participated in a standardized online-survey. PLS analysis suggests that reported frequency of “on the move” information needs, perceived assessment of LBS in a customer’s social environment and extent of past use of other mobile data services have statistically as well as practically significant effects on adoption intentions for pull LBS. Data privacy risks and cost/bill size concerns are only weakly or not related to such intentions. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 279-287 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0176-2 Authors Torsten J. Gerpott, Chair of Strategic and Telecommunications Management Mercator School of Management, University of Duisburg-Essen, Lotharstr. 65, 47057 Duisburg, Germany Sabrina Berg, Chair of Strategic and Telecommunications Management Mercator School of Management, University of Duisburg-Essen, Lotharstr. 65, 47057 Duisburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 5

Description:    This article summarizes the results of an empirical study among large German enterprises regarding the value potentials and challenges of service-oriented architectures (SOA). The 21 value potentials and 13 challenges examined were identified and structured based on an advancement of SOA value models already existing in literature as well as on a series of expert interviews. Key results regarding the implementation and evaluation of the SOA-Concept are: The majority of the users only run one or a few SOA-based applications and the share of services in their IT-landscape is on average about 10%. Among the design principles proposed in literature, especially loose coupling and good documentation of interfaces are implemented. Clear capsulation of functionality and the definition of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), however, are hardly applied. The interviewed companies assess the relation of the value of a SOA introduction compared to its cost currently as slightly negative, but with a positive trend for the upcoming years. It is shown that the assessment of the overall value positively correlates with the duration of SOA usage. Among the 21 examined value potentials, optimization of business processes, increased agility and cost reduction due to parallel re-use of services receive the highest ratings. According to the interviewed experts, the main challenges are operation (performance/security) and the management (governance) of the architecture. These challenges hinder value realization and lead to a moderately positive assessment of the overall concept. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 199-210 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0167-3 Authors Alexander Becker, Chair of Information Systems, Technical University Darmstadt, Hochschulstraße 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany Thomas Widjaja, Chair of Information Systems, Technical University Darmstadt, Hochschulstraße 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany Peter Buxmann, Chair of Information Systems, Technical University Darmstadt, Hochschulstraße 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 4

Description:    Many companies increasingly rely on licensed standard software for system software and applications. In addition to the regulation of usage conditions, software licensing agreements increasingly include services, such as software upgrades and user training, as a part of the contract or these are optional for a fee, which can be made use of by the licensee during the term of the contract at a reduced price or as a free service. This benefit entitlement is called a discount option and must be valued during the selection and designing of a contract. This paper describes the basic valuation issues as well as some weaknesses of previous approaches, and subsequently presents a model which, on the basis of the real option theory, enables an assessment of the discount options using mathematical methods. As the value of discount options can in many cases only be estimated by using analytical methods under certain conditions, a practical solution method is explained on the basis of numeric backwards induction. The procedure for applying the model and the achieved advances in knowledge are illustrated with an example. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 221-230 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0170-8 Authors Daniel Gull, Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH, Bürgermeister-Ulrich-Str. 100, 86199 Augsburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 4

Description: Interview with Peter Tauber on “Internet Anonymity: Human Right or Protection for Criminals?” Content Type Journal Article Category Profile Pages 89-91 DOI 10.1007/s12599-012-0204-x Authors Roman Beck, Endowed Chair for Business Administration, E-Finance and Services Science, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 2

Description: Internet of Energy Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0197-x Authors Hans-Jürgen Appelrath, Fakultät II, Department für Informatik, Universität Oldenburg, Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany Orestis Terzidis, Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften Institut für Entrepreneurship, Technologie-Management und Innovation (EnTechnon), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engesser Str. 9, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany Christof Weinhardt, Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften Institut für Informationswirtschaft und -management, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Englerstraße 14, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 1

Description:    The introduction of smart meter technology is a great challenge for the German energy industry. It requires not only large investments in the communication and metering infrastructure, but also a redesign of traditional business processes. The newly incurring costs cannot be fully passed on to the end customers. One option to counterbalance these expenses is to exploit the newly generated smart metering data for the creation of new services and improved processes. For instance, performing a cluster analysis of smart metering data focused on the customers’ time-based consumption behavior allows for a detailed customer segmentation. In the article we present a cluster analysis performed on real-world consumption data from a smart meter project conducted by a German regional utilities company. We show how to integrate a cluster analysis approach into a business intelligence environment and evaluate this artifact as defined by design science. We discuss the results of the cluster analysis and highlight options to apply them to segment-specific tariff design. Content Type Journal Article Category Research Paper Pages 31-39 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0201-5 Authors Christoph Flath, Research Center for Information Technology, Haid-und-Neu-Str. 10–14, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany David Nicolay, Research Center for Information Technology, Haid-und-Neu-Str. 10–14, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany Tobias Conte, Research Center for Information Technology, Haid-und-Neu-Str. 10–14, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany Clemens van Dinther, Research Center for Information Technology, Haid-und-Neu-Str. 10–14, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany Lilia Filipova-Neumann, Research Center for Information Technology, Haid-und-Neu-Str. 10–14, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 1

Description: Interview with Henning Kagermann on “Smart Grids – Information and Communication Technology as a Key Factor in a Future Energy System” Content Type Journal Article Category Profile Pages 45-46 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0196-y Authors H.-Jürgen Appelrath, OFFIS – Institut für Informatik, Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 4 Journal Issue Volume 4, Number 1

Description: Overview of BISE Articles Published in 2009, 2010, and 2011 Content Type Journal Article Category Abstracts Pages 1-47 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0191-3 Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Supplement 1

Description: Business Process Management in the Large Content Type Journal Article Category Catchword Pages 385-388 DOI 10.1007/s12599-011-0181-5 Authors Constantin Houy, Institute for Information Systems (IWi) at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) GmbH and Saarland University, Campus D3 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Peter Fettke, Institute for Information Systems (IWi) at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) GmbH and Saarland University, Campus D3 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Peter Loos, Institute for Information Systems (IWi) at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) GmbH and Saarland University, Campus D3 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Wil M. P. van der Aalst, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e), Den Dolech 2, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands John Krogstie, Department of Computer and Information Science, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet (NTNU), Sem Sælandsvei 7-9, 7491 Trondheim, Norway Journal Business & Information Systems Engineering Online ISSN 1867-0202 Journal Volume Volume 3 Journal Issue Volume 3, Number 6