Хронический болевой синдром (ХБС) сложное, полиэтиологическое заболевание, трудно поддающееся лечению. Хотя спектр возможных причин ХБС достаточно широк, особое значение ХБС имеет в онкологической практике, так как ХБС может быть вызван как самим опухолевым процессом, так и побочными эффектами его лечения. Обезболивающая терапия является основным методом коррекции ХБС и эффективна примерно в 90% случаев. Тем не менее, пациенты, требующие назначения сильных опиоидов, для достижения клинического эффекта (III ступень «лестницы обезболивания» ВОЗ) сталкиваются с рядом трудностей, связанных с нежелательными явлениями (НЯ), такими как угнетение дыхательного центра, тошнота, рвота и запоры. Хотя сами по себе рвота и запоры подлежат терапевтической коррекции, при высокой выраженности они могут не только снизить качество жизни, но и потребовать смены схемы лечения, что может привести к утрате контроля за ХБС. Потребность в опиоидах с лучшим профилем безопасности и переносимости привело к созданию трансдермальных систем доставки фентанила, а также комбинированного препарата оксикодона и налоксона, что позволило добиться благоприятного, по сравнению с другими опиоидами, профиля безопасности и высокой эффективности. Таким образом, представляется целесообразным произвести сравнительную фармакоэкономическую оценку данных препаратов с целью установления наиболее экономически рационального из этих двух лекарственных средств в контексте здравоохранения РФ, чему и посвящён данный анализ. Цель. Оценить фармакоэкономические свойства комбинированного препарата оксикодон/налоксон (Таргин®) в сравнении с трансдермальной системой доставки фентанила (Фендивия®) у онкологических пациентов с ХБС. Методология. Данный фармакоэкономический анализ проводится с позиции организации здравоохранения РФ на федеральном и региональном уровне. Горизонт исследования составил 25 нед. В качестве препаратов сравнения выступили комбинированный препарат налоксона и оксикодона и трансдермальная система доставки фентанила. В качестве источника данных о безопасности и клинической эффективности использованы результаты рандомизированных клинических исследований, в которых изучалась эффективность, безопасность и переносимость опиоидных анальгетиков, включая препараты сравнения. Была построена модель Маркова, на основании которой был проведён расчёт затрат системы здравоохранения и исходов лечения. Число пациентов в каждой симулируемой группе составило 100 человек. В качестве критерия эффективности было выбрано количество пациентов, сохраняющих контроль за ХБС без потребности в смене режима терапии и увеличении дозы, так как данная «суррогатная» конечная точка является наиболее клинически релевантной и отражает способность препарата полностью контролировать болевой синдром. После этого результаты моделирования были использованы для проведения следующих видов фармакоэкономического анализа: анализ эффективности затрат (CEA), анализ «влияния на бюджет» (BIA), анализ фармакоэкономической целесообразности с позиции «готовности общества платить». Результат. Оксикодон/налоксон доминирует по показателю СЕА, его применение ассоциировано со снижением затрат (2,091 млн руб. у комбинации оксикодон/налоксон, 3,747 млн руб. у фентанила). Показатель CER для комбинации оксикодон/налоксон составил 51 218 руб., для трансдермального фентанила 317 409 руб. В ходе анализа «влияния на бюджет» было показано, что применение препарата оксикодон/налоксон приводит к снижению бюджетного бремени на 44% (что связано с резким снижением потерь ВВП ввиду нетрудоспособности). Анализ фармакоэкономической целесообразности показал, что оба сравниваемых препарата являются экономически приемлемыми в рамках системы лекарственного возмещения в РФ. Тем не менее, оксикодон/налоксон доминирует ввиду большего индекса WTP/CER (32,1 у оксикодон/ налоксон, 5,1 у трансдермального фентанила). Анализ чувствительности подтверждает устойчивость результата, доминирование оксикодон/налоксон в плане CEA и BIA сохранялось даже при повышении цены на препарат на +25%. Вывод. Установлено, что применение комбинированного препарата, содержащего оксикодон и налоксон является наиболее фармакоэкономически целесообразным, сопряжено с большей эффективностью расходования средств системы здравоохранения и существенной экономией бюджетных средств в целом ввиду снижения потерь от утраты полной нетрудоспособности, что приводит к экономии до 44% средств государственного бюджета.Chronic pain syndrome (CPS) is a complex, hard to treat polyetiological condition. While there is a wide array of possible causes for CPS, it is most important in oncological context, since within oncological setting it may be induced both by the tumor itself and by the treatment modalities used against it. Analgesic therapy is, according to WHO, the primary method of managing CPS, and is effective in approximately 90% of cases. However, patients requiring strong opioids for pain management (III step of WHO's "analgesic ladder") face a number of complications associated with adverse events (AE), such as inhibition of respiratory control center, nausea, vomiting, and constipation. While constipation and vomiting are themselves amenable to therapeutic management, they can both significantly reduce quality of life and even require alteration of analgesic medication regime, thus potentially compromising the management of chronic pain. This has necessitated the creation of painkiller medication that would have a more favorable gastrointestinal AE profile while maintaining analgesic efficacy, such as fentanyl transdermal delivery systems (TDS) and oral formulations combining oxycodone and naloxone. The pharmacoeconomic comparison of these two medications in order to determine which of them is more economically rational within context of Russian healthcare is thus justified, and is the subject of this research effort. Aim. To perform evaluation of pharmacoeconomic (PHe) properties of combined naloxone/oxycodone formulation (Targin®) compared to fentanyl TDS (Fendivia®) in Russian oncological patients with CPS. Methodology. This PHe is conducted perspective of public health organizations of the RF at federal and national levels. The modelling horizon was 25 weeks. Comparator drugs were Targin® and Fendivia®. Randomized controlled clinical trials investigating safety and efficacy of these drugs were used as data source on safety and efficacy. A Markov model was constructed in order to estimate healthcare costs and patients outcomes. Each simulated patient group contained 100 patients. Retention of patients with adequate pain management in main treatment regime without dose increase was used as efficacy criterion, since this surrogate endpoint is most clinically relevant, reflecting ability of a given modelled treatment regimen to control chronic pain. These modelling results were used to perform the following types of pharmacoeconomic analysis: carrying out cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), budget impact analysis (BIA), and evaluation of pharmacoeconomic expediency based on willingness-to-pay ratio (WTP). Result. Naloxone/oxycodone formulation dominates in CEA analysis (direct costs were 2,091 mln. rub. for naloxone/ oxycodone versus 3,747 mln. rub. for fentanyl TDS). The CER indicator for oxycodone/naloxone was 51 218 rub., while fentanyl TDS had CER of 317 409 rub. BIA revealed considerable budgetary burden reduction for oxycodone/naloxone, which was due to considerable reduction of GDP losses and expenses associated with disability and loss of working capacity. The resultant economy of government funds reached 44%. According to PHe analysis, both drugs are attractive for purposes of drug reimbursement system, but oxycodone/naloxone is dominant due to WTP/CER indicator of 32,1 (fentanyl TDS had WTP/CER of 5,1). Sensitivity analysis confirmed the robustness of these findings CEA and BIA results remained stable even in case of 25% oxycodone/ naloxone price increase. Conclusion. Oxycodone/naloxone combination has been determined to be most pharmacoeconomically attractive due to higher efficiency of healthcare spending (due to domination in terms of CER) and reduction of GDP losses associated with complete disability which resulted in government budgetary savings of up to 44%.
The crude oil constituents benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and the three xylene isomers (BTEX) are the dominating groundwater contaminants originating from surface spill accidents by oil production facilities and with gasoline and jet fuel. Thereby BTEX posing a threat to the world´s scarce drinking water resources due to their water solubility and toxicity. An active remediation cleanup involving a BTEX event proves not only to be very expensive but almost impossible when it comes to the complete removal of contaminants from the subsurface. A favoured and common practice is combining an active remediation process focussing on the source of contamination coupled together with the monitoring of the residual contamination in the subsurface (monitored natural attenuation; MNA). MNA include all naturally occuring biological, chemical and physical processes in the subsurface. The general goal of this work was to improve the knowledge of biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbons under anaerobic conditions in groundwater. For this groundwater and soil at the former military underground storage tank (UST) site Schäferhof – Süd near Nienburg/Weser (Niedersachsen, Germany) were sampled and analysed. The investigations were done in collaboration of the Umweltbundesamt, the universitys of Frankfurt and Bremen and the alphacon GmbH Ganderkesee. To investigate the extent of groundwater contamination, the terminal electron acceptor processes (TEAPs) and the metabolites of BTEX degradation in groundwater, six observation wells were sampled at regular intervals between January 2002 and September 2004. The wells were positioned in order to cover the upstream, the source area and the downstream of the presumed contamination source. Additionally, vertical sediment profiles were sampled and investigated with respect to spreading and concentration of BTEX in the subsurface. A large residual contamination involving BTEX is present in soil and groundwater at the studied locality. Maximum BTEX concentration values of 17 mg/kg were recorded in analysing sediment in the unsaturated zone. In the capillary fringe, values of 450 mg/kg were recorded (October 2004) and in the saturated zone maximum values of 6.7 mg/kg BTEX were detected. The groundwater samples indicate increasing BTEX concentrations in the groundwater flow direction (from 532 µg/l up to 3300 µg/l (mean values)). Biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbons under anaerobic conditions in the sub surface at contaminated sites is characterised by generation of metabolites. From the monoaromatic hydrocarbons BTEX metabolites such as benzoic acid (BA) and the methylated homologs and C1-and C2-benzyl-succinic acids (BSA) are generated as intermediates. A solid-phase extraction method based on octadecyl-bonded silica sorbent has been developed to concentrate such metabolite compounds from water samples followed by derivatization and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) of the extracts. The recovery rate range between 75 and 97%. The method detection limit was 0.8 µg/l. Organic acids were identified as metabolic by-products of biodegradation. Benzoic acid, C1-, C2- and C3-benzoic acid were determined in all contaminated wells with considerable concentrations. Furthermore, the depletion of the dominant terminal electron acceptors (TEAs) oxygen, nitrate, and sulphate and the production of dissolved ferrous iron and methane in groundwater indicate biological mediated processes in the plume evidently proving the occurrence of NA. A large overlap of different redox zones at the studied part of the plume has been observed. A important finding in this study is the strong influence of groundwater level fluctuations on the BTEX concentration in groundwater. A very dry summer in 2003 was recorded during the monitoring period, resulting on site in a drop of the groundwater level to 1.7 m and a concomitant increase of BTEX concentrations from 240 µg/l to 1300 µg/l. The groundwater level fluctuations, natural degradation and retention processes essentially influence BTEX concentrations in the groundwater. Groundwater level fluctuations have by far a stronger influence than the influence of biological degradation. Increasing BTEX concentrations are hence not a consequence of limited biological degradation. Another part of the study was to observe the isotopic fractionation of the electron acceptor Fe(III), due to biologically mediated reduction of Fe(III) to the watersoluble Fe(II) at the site and first field data are presented. Both groundwater and sediment samples were analysed with respect to their Fe isotopic compositions using high mass resolution Multi Collector-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). The delta56Fe -values of groundwater samples taken from observation wells located downstream of the source area were isotopically lighter than delta56Fe -values obtained from groundwater in the uncontaminated well. The Fe isotopic composition of most parts of the sediment profile was similar to the Fe isotopic composition of uncontaminated groundwater. Thus, a significant iron isotope fractionation can be observed between sediment and groundwater downstream of the BTEX contamination. ; In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden geochemische Prozesse zum biologischen Abbau von aromatischen Kohlenwasserstoffen im Grundwasser am Standort Schäferhof-Süd (Nienburg/Weser in Niedersachsen) untersucht. Hierzu wurden auf dem ehemals militärisch genutzten Gelände Grundwasser- und Bodenproben entnommen, umfangreich analysiert und ausgewertet. Die aromatischen Kohlenwasserstoffe Benzol, Toluol, Ethylbenzol und die Isomere des Xylols (BTEX) sowie Mineralölkohlenwasserstoffe (MKW) weisen ein hohes toxisches Potential auf. Durch Leakagen und dem unsachgemäßem Umgang mit Mineralölen und Mineralölprodukten kommt es häufig zu Kontaminationen des Bodens und Grundwassers, wodurch oft Trinkwasserressourcen bedroht werden. Aus diesem Zusammenhang heraus erfordern Mineralölschäden eine genaue Untersuchung bezüglich des Kontaminationsherdes und der Ausbreitung der Schadstoffe im Untergrund. Im Anschluss daran ist der Einsatz von aktiven und überwachenden Sanierungsmassnahmen erforderlich. Hier hat sich in der Vergangenheit der Ansatz des 'Kontrollierten Abbaus und Rückhalt von Schadstoffen' (Monitored Natural Attenuation; MNA) bewährt, welcher die natürlich ablaufenden biologischen, chemischen und physikalischen Prozesse im Untergrund berücksichtigt. Um die Kontamination durch BTEX und die biologischen Abbauprozesse im Grundwasser am ausgewähltem Standort zu untersuchen, wurden auf dem Areal insgesamt sechs Grundwassermessstellen über einen Zeitraum von drei Jahren (2002-2004) regelmäßig beprobt und analysiert. Bei den chemischen Analysen standen neben den Schadstoffen die chemischen Komponenten Sauerstoff, Nitrat, Eisen(II), Sulfat und Methan, sowie die Abbauprodukte von BTEX im Vordergrund. Im Bereich des vermuteten Haupteintragsherdes der Kontamination wurden mittlere BTEX-Konzentrationen von 532 µg/l im Grundwasser gemessen. Diese steigen in Grundwasserfließrichtung bis auf 3300 µg/l (Mittelwert) im oberen Bereich des Grundwasserleiters an, was auf zusätzliche, stromabwärts gelegene Eintragsquellen von BTEX hinweist. Der direkte Nachweis von biologischen Abbauprodukten (organische Säuren), welche durch den mikrobiellen Abbau von BTEX und von polyzyklischen aromatischen Kohlen-wasserstoffen (PAK) entstehen, ist eine gute und anerkannte Methode im Bereich NA zum Nachweis mikrobieller Abbauprozesse im Grundwasser. Die Analytik dieser organischen Säuren aus dem Grundwasser erfolgt durch Gaschromatographie gekoppelt mit Massenspektrometrie (GC/MS). Im Rahmen der Dissertation wurde ein Verfahren für die Festphasenextraktion entwickelt, welches den Arbeitsablauf der Extraktion von Metaboliten aus dem Grundwasser erheblich vermindert. Die Wiederfindungsraten der Methode liegen zwischen 75-97% und die Nachweisgrenzen bei 0,8 µg/l. Im Anstrom und in den tief verfilterten Bereichen des Grundwasserleiters wurden nur geringe Konzentrationen von Metaboliten nachgewiesen, welche natürlichen Hintergrundwerten entsprechen. In den flach verfilterten Abschnitten des Grundwasserleiters treten jedoch im kontaminierten Bereich erhöhte Konzentrationen von Benzoesäure und C1-C3-Benzoesäuren auf. Diese korrelieren mit den erhöhten Substratgehalten im Grundwasser. Weiterhin belegt die Zehrung der Elektronenakzeptoren O2, NO3-, Fe3+, SO42- und der Ablauf von Methanogenese im kontaminierten Grundwasser den mikrobiellen Schadstoffabbau unter anaeroben Milieubedingungen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass steigende BTEX-Konzentrationen im Grundwasser am Standort nicht die Folge eines eingeschränkten biologischen Abbaus sind. Als eine weitere wichtige Erkenntnis konnte eine intensive Abhängigkeit der BTEX-Konzentration im Grundwasser von der Änderung des Grundwasserstandes am Standort festgestellt werden. Im Bereich des Haupteintragsherdes von BTEX wurde eine negative Korrelation der Schadstoffkonzentrationen mit der Höhe des Grundwasserstandes beobachtet. Bedingt durch das sehr trockene Sommerhalbjahr 2003, kam es zu einer Absenkung des Grundwasserspiegels um 1,7 m im Vergleich zum vorhergehenden Winterhalbjahr, was zur Folge hatte, dass die BTEX-Konzentrationen am Ort des Eintrages der Kontamination von 240 µg/l auf 1300 µg/l im Grundwasser anstiegen. Die BTEX-Konzentrationen im Grundwasser werden von den natürlichen Abbau- und Rückhalteprozessen im Untergrund beeinflusst, jedoch ist am Standort der Einfluss von Grundwasserschwankungen deutlich stärker als die NA-Prozesse. Um die Erkenntnisse der im Boden ablaufenden Abbauprozesse zu erweitern, wurde der Zusammenhang der Fraktionierung von Eisenisotopen während der Reduktion von gebundenem Eisen(III) im Sediment zu wasserlöslichem Eisen(II) im Grundwasser untersucht. Es wurde festgestellt, dass unkontaminierte Grundwasserproben und kontaminierte Bodenproben ähnliche Isotopien aufweisen. Die delta56Fe Werte der kontaminierten Grundwasserproben, welche stromabwärts des vermuteten BTEX-Haupteintragsherdes genommen wurden sind isotopisch signifikant leichter als die kontaminierten Bodenproben. Die auseinandergehenden Isotopien der Grundwasser- und Bodenproben können Anhaltspunkte für die mikrobielle Aktivität im Grundwasserleiter geben.
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF QUESTION AND ANSWER TECHNIQUE TO TEACH THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS IN WRITING RECOUNT TEXT IN MA MA'ARIF NU DRIYOREJO GRESIK Firasari Fajarwati English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Surabaya firsa.soetikno@yahoo.com Drs. H. Aswandi M.pd English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Surabaya Abstract As a productive skill, writing has an important role to help the students to be able to communicate especially in indirect communication. The teacher must be creative in teaching of writing. Question and answer technique is suggested to be used as a technique in teaching writing. The teacher used recount text. In this study, the research questions consist of two questions; they are (1) how is the implementation of question and answer technique to teach the tenth grade students' writing skill of recount text in MA Ma'arif Gresik? (2) how is the students' responses after the implementation of question and answer technique? A teacher can use questions whether it is oral or written questions. It is to stimulate thinking and light the way to productive learning and retention of content material (Vacca, 1981: 159). Questions encourage students to think. Thinking can arise the students' interest and questions can also be used to evaluate. As the result of this function, it is believed that questions can direct someone's choice of ideas and activities, and can transform the often different topics from a scattered survey of the subject, problem, or theme into logical, coordinated for attaining knowledge. Based on the reason above, the researcher conducts this research about the implementation of question and answer technique to develop the tenth grade students' writing ability to write recount text in MA Ma'arif NU Driyorejo, Gresik, especially in X-1 class. The research design of this study is descriptive qualitative. The purpose of research design is to describe the activities of the teacher and the students in teaching and learning process during the implementation of question and answer technique in writing class. To collect the data, the researcher observes the implementation of question and answer technique in teaching and learning process. Then, she got the result of students' writing in every meeting. And the last, she collect the students' responses from questionnaire. After that, she analyzes all data in every meeting based on phenomenon that happen in teaching and learning process. The result of data analyzed, it can be seen that the students of X-1 had done the assignments well in every meeting. In each meeting, the students improve their writing ability. Applying question and answer technique in writing class can make the students improve their writing, especially in writing recount text. It can be seen from the students' responses the questionnaire. Almost all students said that they can improve their ability and it can motivate them to learn a foreign language, especially in writing class. It can be concluded that question and answer technique can be recommended as one of an alternative techniques in teaching writing. Because it can help the students develop their writing ability and can reduce boring situation in teaching and learning process. Keywords: Writing, Question and Answer Technique, Recount Text, Tenth Grade INTRODUCTION One way of learning foreign language is through writing. Not many centuries ago, writing was a skill in educational or religious institutions. Nowadays, written language has many functions in everyday life. They are particularly for action, information and entertainment. Sokolik (2003: 88) in Practical English Language Teaching states that writing is both physical and mental act. Nunan (2003: 88) writes out the definition of writing as a series of contrast: It is both physical and mental act. Physical act deals with committing words or ideas to some medium. Whereas mental act deals with the ability to invent ideas, express them, and how to organize them into a good writing which is clear to the reader. Its purpose is both to express and impress. Writing has a purpose to express ideas or feeling to the readers in order that the readers will be impressed with a writer's thought. It is both a process and product. In writing, there are some processes that are involved including collecting ideas, organizing, drafting, editing, and reading. Those will be very helpful in producing a good writing product. The last definition brings us to the explanation of the writing process. Langan (2005: 64) explains that there are three main steps which can help a writer create a good composition: Pre-writing In this stage, a writer will be able to think on a paper and to gradually discover what ideas that will be developed. Langan explains further that there are five techniques that will help a writer to develop ideas; they are: (1) free writing, which is a brainstorming activity in which a writer can write out every phrase or sentence that come up into mind about possible topics, (2) questioning, which can be an effective way of getting a writer to think about a topic from a number of different angles, which includes What? Why? Where? When? Who? and How? This technique is the one which is studied by the researcher, (3) making a list, in which the writer collects the ideas and details related to the subjects and makes it as a list without trying to sort the major details from minor ones, (4) clustering, which is also known as diagramming or mapping to show the relationship among ideas and detail that occur, (5) making an outline, in which the writer thinks carefully about the point that she will make. Drafting This is the part where the writer starts writing the complete thought that has been collected composition, including the introductory, the body, and the conclusion. Revising Here, the writer begins to revise the composition that has already been made. This stage can be done by rewriting, building on what has already been done, in order to make it stronger. Furthermore, writing is an important part of people's life for communication. Kelly (1999: 84) states that writing which forever defines communication in the written words is the important form of communication because it can be a solution when spoken communication is not possible. Byrne (1990: 1) supports that writing is one of language skill, which is used for medium of communication, especially indirect communication. People usually use indirect communication because of some problems; for instance: distance, time, activity, etc. by using indirect communication, they can still deliver their message. The Indonesian government gives attention to teach writing by making the English curriculum properly. The curriculum clearly states writing is one skill of learning English (BNSP, 2006: 164). Moreover, writing is a basic language skill of learning English which is important. The students need writing skill to convey their ideas in writing reports, scientific writing, short stories, etc. in the educational field. Unfortunately, many students are not interested in writing because, according to them, writing is difficult. The difficulty comes from the limited time for such an assignment that takes a continuous thinking process. However, it is still an important skill that a learner needs to master. Bramer (1981: 4) states that writing will continue to be an important part of a student's life, especially in college course and in many careers and profession. It is a skill which can make someone be recognized by the society , the schools, and objective language studies. One genre of texts taught in senior high school is recount text. The social function of recount text is to retell an activity, situation, or event in the past. Language features used in recount text is past tenses, action verbs, adverb of past time. The researcher believes that teaching writing is far more difficult than mastering the writing skill itself. Healon (1991: w135) states that writing skill is complex and sometimes difficult to teach, requiring not only of grammatical and theoretical devices, but also it has conceptual and judgment elements. Based on this problem, the researcher suggested this question and answer technique which could improve the students' ability in writing. Dealing with teaching and learning process, a technique is essential. A technique that is needed in a writing class is the one that can ease and helps the students to produce a composition. The researcher believed that the best way to stimulate ideas of the students who are learning to make a composition is by giving questions. Questions are used as an indicator of people doubt, which has occurred in his reasoning. Some people can express their thought easily, but some others cannot. It is because each person has different experience. Another influence comes from the person's psychological state. We can always find a case in a classroom where there are some students who keep the questions for themselves for fear of decision. Questions and answers are essential components of teaching and learning. Asking a good question will help the teacher to motivate students' curiosity about the topic, and it will help the teacher assesses how well they understand the materials. When constructing sentences, the students were given a series of questions. The complete answers of the questions are then constructed in a certain way to make a well-organized recount composition. RESEARCH METHOD This research is a descriptive qualitative research. This design is used to examine the events or the phenomena that happened in teaching and learning process, especially to get the data about the implementation of question and answer technique to develop student's writing. The subjects of the study were the teacher and the tenth grade students of MA Ma'arif NU Driyorejo, Gresik. The teacher is Agus Setiono, S. Pd. And there were 30 students of class X-1. The researcher will use three instruments in this study; they are (1) observation checklist, which contains some indicators, such as the teaching and learning process, the topic, and the question and answer technique, (2) field notes, which is a brief note made by researcher to observe the teaching and learning process, and (3) questionnaire, which is useful for the researcher to gather the students' responses. The data gathered from the teaching and learning process in the subject's classroom. The data will be collected through non-participant observation. Therefore, the researcher will only observe and make documentation out of the teaching and learning activities. The data will be interpreted in a descriptive manner in which the researcher describes the information which are collected with the instruments. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION After analyzing all the data, the researcher presents the result and also the discussion which is based on the theories which the researcher was elaborated previously. The Implementation of Question and Answer Technique In the first and second meeting, the teacher started the class with opening session by greeting the students. The teacher then asked the students' feeling that day. He also checked the attendance list and asked the students to prepare the lesson. The teacher asked the students about their knowledge of kinds of texts, especially recount text. Then he continued to ask the students' prior knowledge and related information about recount text. In the first meeting, the students could not answer the teacher's questions completely, so the teacher needed to explain. The teacher explained everything about recount text; the definition, the generic structure, and the language use. In the second meeting, the teacher only reminded them at a glance because they had enough explanation on the first meeting. In the teaching and learning process, only in the first meeting the teacher introduced the technique used. Because it was the first time they applied this technique. He introduced the concept of question and answer technique in writing recount text. The teacher explained the procedure of the technique deliberately and the students paid attention. He also gave the example of how to elaborate the answers on whiteboard. In both meeting, the teacher gave the students question and answer paper. He asked the students to answer the questions on the paper and then elaborated the answer to make a recount text. The teacher asked the students to finish the task on time. The teacher controls the students' interaction in the teaching and learning process. He asked the students to do the task by themselves. He walked around and asked the students to do the task quietly. He also helped students who had difficulties. In the first and second meeting, the students had done all the steps of question and answer technique. However, in the first meeting, some students still find difficulties in writing recount text. It can be seen from the students who could not use time effectively. The teacher asked to submit their work, but some students had not finished yet. But in the second meeting, they could use time more effectively. Most of them got interested in writing recount texts based on their experiences. After the students submitted their works, the teacher corrected them. The teacher then showed their mistakes in their assignments. He also gave some corrections to the students. The teacher explained the students' mistakes in details. It means that he gives feedback to the students. The students paid attention to the teacher's explanation about their mistakes. They took some notes on their notebooks. From the data of the observation, it is obvious that the implementation of question and answer technique was very effective to teach writing recount text. It helps to motivate the students and bring and interest in teaching and learning process. Question and answer technique became a better way that provided a wide opportunity for the teacher and the students to interact each other in an enjoyable learning situation. The Students' Responses The students' responses towards the implementation of question and answer technique were positive from the result of the questionnaire. The percentage of the students who likes learning English is more than 50%.most of the students enjoy writing recount text by using question and answer technique. More than half of the students did not find any difficulties in writing recount text by using question and answer technique. They also did not find any difficulties in using vocabulary and language feature. The result of questionnaire showed that the application of question and answer technique was appropriate to overcome the students' difficulties in writing recount text. Based on the explanation above, it is clear that the students' ability had progressed in writing recount text. Most of the students could create a better composition than their previous composition. It showed that this technique is effective in improving the students' skill in expressing their ideas into written form. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion In general, the implementation of question and answer technique in teaching writing in every meeting was quite good. The students could enhance their language skill. This technique is the efficient way to learn about writing, especially in writing recount text. By using this technique, the students have the same opportunities to improve their writing and develop their ideas to write a recount text. It can be concluded that question and answer technique could bring interest to the students in composing a recount text. The response of the students toward the implementation of question and answer technique in teaching writing recount text was positive. The result of the questionnaire shows that most of the students are interested in this technique. They said that this technique was unique that it can reduce their boredom in the normal monotonous classroom activities. Most of the students admitted that they find themselves improving their ability in writing recount text. Suggestion After interpreting and analyzing all the data, the researcher has suggestions for several groups of readers who have similar interest. Using a variety of technique in teaching a foreign language will increase the students' interest in learning. It will also motivate them more to be actively involved in classroom activities. Therefore, English teachers should not be afraid of implementing every teaching technique provided by the experts. Being a creative teacher will bring effectiveness in teaching and learning process. However, it does not mean to neglect the process of choosing the appropriate materials for them. It will only disturb their confidence in completing every assignment given. This research is conducted to get to know deeper about a technique that has been developed by experts. Therefore, for other researchers who have an interest in investigating more about this technique, the researcher strongly recommends to conduct a research on this technique in different language skills or in different text genres. REFERENCES Abbot Gerry, Greenwood john, Mc Keating Douglas and Wingard Peter. 1981. The Teaching of English as an International Language: A Practical Guide. Great Britain. William Collin Sons and Co Ltd. Adam, Jager. 1998. Beginning to Write. USA: Massachusets, Institute of Technology. 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Grünland erfüllt eine Reihe von wichtigen Funktionen: Es liefert Biomasse für die Tier- und Futtermittelproduktion und stellt gleichzeitig viele Ökosystemfunktionen, wie die Erhaltung der Artenvielfalt, Kohlenstoffspeicherung, Wasserreinigung, Nährstoffrückhaltung und einen hohen Erholungswert für die Gesellschaft, zur Verfügung. Diese Multifunktionalität hängt allerdings stark von der Bewirtschaftungsintensität und von verschiedenen Umweltbedingungen ab. Grünlandbewirtschaftung spielt eine wichtige Rolle innerhalb der landwirtschaftlichen Produktionssysteme in Deutschland, besonders in der Rinderhaltung. In Norddeutschland reicht der Anteil des Grünlandes an der gesamten landwirtschaftlichen Nutzfläche auf Landesebene von 20 bis über 30 %. Die fortschreitende Intensivierung der Landnutzungssysteme mit immer höheren Anforderungen an die Milchleistungen pro Kuh führt zu einem immer höheren Bedarf an Energiegehalt im Tierfutter. Landwirte, die Grünland bewirtschaften, müssen sich diesem Trend anpassen um ihren Betrieb profitabel und wettbewerbsfähig zu erhalten. Diese Entwicklung führt zu einer Intensivierung der gesamten Futterproduktion. Für das Grünlandmanagement bedeutet dies höhere Stickstoffdüngergaben und eine erhöhte Nutzungsfrequenz. Es werden aber auch vermehrt Hochleistungsfuttermittel, insbesondere Mais, angebaut. Dies geschieht häufig auf Kosten von Dauergrünlandflächen. Da besonders extensiv bewirtschaftetes Dauergrünland neben der Produktionsfunktion sehr viele andere Ökosystemfunktionen bereitstellt, führt der Flächenverlust an Dauergrünland zu einer Schwächung der Multifunktionalität der Agrarlandschaft. Hinsichtlich dieser Ausgangssituation ging es im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit um die Einstellung und das Verhalten von Landwirten, die Grünland bewirtschaften, bezüglich der Agrarumweltmaßnahmen (AUM). Diese Maßnahmen wurden entwickelt, um eine extensive Bewirtschaftung von Dauergrünland zu fördern. Die Teilnahme an diesen Programmen ist freiwillig. Betriebe, die an AUM teilnehmen, bekommen staatliche Ausgleichszahlungen, wenn sie ihr Dauergrünland extensiv bewirtschaften. Innerhalb der Untersuchungen wurde ein standardisierter Fragebogen entwickelt, der von 82 Betriebsleitern von Grünland-Betrieben auf einem Gradienten von Westen nach Osten in Norddeutschland beantwortet wurde. Die Auswahl der Betriebe erfolge auf Basis von Zensus Daten, um ein repräsentatives Bild der Grünland-Betriebe der Untersuchungsregion zu bekommen. Es wurden Fragen zu persönlichen Daten, Betriebs- und Geschäftsmanagement sowie zu allgemeinen landwirtschaftlichen und naturschutzfachlichen Angelegenheiten gestellt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Mehrheit der befragten Betriebsleiter generell am Naturschutz interessiert ist. Die meisten Betriebsleiter vertraten die Ansicht, dass Landwirte die Aufgabe haben, die Natur aktiv zu schützen. Diese positive Einstellung zum Naturschutz korrelierte allerdings nicht mit einer positiven Einstellung zu AUM. Mit Hilfe des "farming style concepts" wurden alle befragten Betriebsleiter in vier Gruppen eingeteilt (Traditionalisten, Idealisten, Modernisierer und Ertragsoptimierer). Diese Gruppen unterschieden sich hinsichtlich Betriebsparametern wie Betriebsgröße, der generellen Einstellung zu landwirtschaftlichen Belangen und wirtschaftlichem Erfolg. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass sich diese vier Gruppen auch hinsichtlich ihrer Einstellung zum Naturschutz unterscheiden. Allerdings unterschieden sie sich nicht hinsichtlich der Nutzung von AUM und nannten zugleich unterschiedliche Gründe für eine Nichtteilnahme an den Maßnahmen. Die "farming styles" beschreiben Landwirte auf Grund einer Kombination von Betriebsparametern und der Art wie diese Landwirte denken und fühlen. Für Beratungsstellen, die AUM in die landwirtschaftliche Praxis integrieren möchten, könnte eine Kommunikation, die an die unterschiedlichen "farming styles" angepasst ist, von Vorteil sein. Die existierenden AUM sollten hinsichtlich der von den Betriebsleitern genannten Gründe für eine Nichtteilnahme überarbeitet werden. Der zweite Teil dieser Arbeit befasst sich mit der Überprüfung der Praxistauglichkeit einer Methode zur Untersuchung des Maisanteils im Futter von unterschiedlichen Rinderhaltungssystemen. Die 13C-Isotopensignatur in den Rinderschwanzhaaren war Gegenstand dieser Untersuchungen. Rinderhaare fungieren als Archiv für Isotopensignaturen und erhalten somit Informationen über die Zusammensetzung des aufgenommen Futters in der Vergangenheit. In dieser Untersuchung wurde zunächst die Verlässlichkeit der 13C-Isotopensignatur in den Rinderschwanzhaaren für die Überprüfung des Maisanteils im Futter analysiert. Weiterhin wurde untersucht, ob der Maisanteil im Futter über einen längeren Zeitraum auf Basis eines einzelnen Haares zurückverfolgt werden kann, ohne kostspielige und zeitaufwendige Umfragen und Untersuchungen auf den Betrieben durchführen zu müssen. Es wurde untersucht, ob durch die Analyse von unterschiedlichen Abschnitte von Rinderschwanzhaare Unterschiede im Maisanteil im Futter während der Sommer- und der Winterfütterung festgestellt werden können. Auf 23 Rinderbetrieben in Norddeutschland wurden Rinderschwanzhaare und Informationen zum Management und der Futterzusammensetzung gesammelt. Die Betriebe unterschieden sich hinsichtlich des durchschnittlichen jährlichen Anteils von Mais, Gras und anderem Kraftfutter in der Ration und in der Haltungsform der Rinder (Ganzjahresweide, Weidehaltung im Sommer, keine Weidehaltung). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die gemittelten 13C-Isotopensignaturen von zwei Haar-Abschnitten, welche isotopische Informationen über die Sommer und Winterfütterung enthalten, den durchschnittlichen jährlichen Maisanteil im Futter auf einem Betrieb verlässlich widerspiegeln. Kurzzeitige Änderungen in der Zusammensetzung der Ration (wenn über einen kurzen Zeitraum Mais gefüttert wurde) konnten ebenfallt aufgedeckt werden. Betriebe deren Maisanteil im Futter stark vom durchschnittlichen Maisanteil im Futter des jeweiligen Haltungssystems abwich, konnten ebenfalls mittels 13C-Isotopensignaturen in einem einzelnen Haar nachgewiesen werden. Demnach kann diese Methode in unterschiedlichen Rinderhaltungssystemen zur Überprüfung von Maisanteilen im Futter über einen Zeitraum von einem Jahr vor der Probenahme der Haare eingesetzt werden. Der dritte Teil dieser Arbeit befasst sich mit der Untersuchung der Potentiale und Risiken einer Landnutzungsintensivierung von ehemals extensiv genutzten Dauergrünlandflächen auf sandigen Böden in Norddeutschland. In einer 3-Jahres-Studie wurden vier typische Futtermittelproduktionssysteme mit steigender Intensität (moderat bewirtschaftetes Dauergrünland, intensiv bewirtschaftetes Dauergrünland, Ackergras, Mais) auf fünf Untersuchungsstandorten auf einem Klimagradienten (Temperatur und Niederschlag) untersucht. In dieser Untersuchung konnten keine höhen Stickstofferträge und Rohproteingehalte im Ackergras im Vergleich zum intensiv bewirtschafteten Dauergrünland nachgewiesen werden. Das intensiv bewirtschaftete Dauergrünland zeigte allerdings im Vergleich zum moderat bewirtschafteten Dauergrünland höhere Stickstofferträge, Rohproteingehalte und Energiedichten im Aufwuchs. Die Anzahl der Pflanzenarten wurde allerdings durch diese Intensivierung nicht verringert. Im Vergleich zu den anderen drei Intensitätsstufen der Futtermittelproduktion wurde beim intensiv bewirtschafteten Dauergrünland am wenigsten Variabilität bei allen aufgenommenen Parametern zwischen den fünf Standorten und den drei Untersuchungsjahren festgestellt. Die Trockenmasseerträge der drei Grünland Intensitäts-Stufen waren gering aber von guter Qualität hinsichtlich Energie- und Rohproteingehalt. Die Trockenmasseerträge des Maises lagen im zu erwartenden Bereich für die Untersuchungsregion, waren aber von eher schlechter Qualität. Wie zu erwarten zeigte sich beim Mais ein höheres Risiko für eine Stickstoffauswaschung im Herbst im Vergleich zum Dauergrünland und zum Ackergras. Dies bedeutet, dass ein moderat bis intensiv bewirtschaftetes Dauergrünland eine akzeptable Option der Futtermittelproduktion auf ungünstigen Standorten darstellt. Der Verlust von wichtigen Ökosystemleistungen wird im Vergleich zum Ackergras und zum Mais vermindert und gleichzeitig kann eine angemessene Futterqualität erzielt werden. ; Grassland is seen to fulfil a range of functions: Grasslands deliver biomass for livestock and energy production and provide several ecosystem services like biodiversity and wildlife protection, carbon sequestration, water purification, nutrient retention and also social benefits like recreation. This multifunctionality, however, strongly depends on the intensity of management and on environmental conditions. Grassland farming plays an important role among the agricultural production systems in Germany and grasslands are mainly used for cattle production. In northern Germany, the proportion of grassland of the total agricultural land ranges from 20 to over 30 %. There is an on-going trend towards an intensification of land-use and increasing milk yields which require higher energy contents in forage. Grassland farmers have to follow this trend if their enterprise is to remain profitable. This results in an intensification of grassland management – usually an increased N input and more cuts – with the extension of the cultivation of ley grass or the cultivation of the high energy crop maize for cattle fodder. As it is mainly extensively or moderately managed grassland that provides many ecosystems services, the intensification of grassland management can weaken its multifunctionality. The first aim of this dissertation was to analyzed farmer's attitude and behavior concerning voluntary Agri-environment measures (AEM). These measures tend to promote a more extensive grassland management by providing governmental support payments to farmers. A standardized questionnaire was developed to be answered face-to-face by 82 grassland farmers on a west to east gradient in northern Germany. The selection of farms was based on census data to achieve a representative picture of the area. Questions were asked concerning personal data, farm management and business management as well as on general agricultural and nature protection issues. The results indicate that the majority of grassland farmers is generally interested in nature conservation and believes it to be of concern for every farmer. In contrast, only a minority of the respondents is using the existing AEM to the full extend on their own farm. By applying the concept of farming styles, we classified farmers into four groups, namely Traditionalist, Idealist, Modernist, and Yield Optimizer. These farming styles groups differ in farm and management parameters, general attitudes towards agricultural issues, farming objectives and economic success. We found that in our survey the farming styles groups differ in their attitude towards nature conservation. However, they do not differ in the adoption of AEM and have different reasons for not taking part. We state that for a better implementation of AEM into agricultural practice a better communication, which is adapted to the different ways that farmers manage their farm and think and feel, is needed. Consequently, AEM need to be revised as well. The second aim was to find a simple method that can be used in practice to retrospectively check on mean maize contents in diet of different cattle production systems over a longer period without frequently and costly surveys on the farms. Sections from cattle hair serve as an isotopic archive - they contain information on diet from different time periods. We tested the reliability of 13C signatures (δ13C) in cattle tail switch hair to retrospectively trace back the annual mean dietary proportion of maize of different production systems without having to sample and analyze the feed. Furthermore, we investigated if differences in dietary proportion of maize during summer and winter feeding can be detected by sampling hair only once a year. We sampled hair and obtained information on management and annual mean composition of diets on 23 cattle farms in northern Germany. Farms differed in dietary proportions of maize, grass and other concentrates as well as in grazing regime (year-round grazing, summer grazing, no grazing). We found that the mean δ13C of two hair sections that contain the isotopic information of summer and winter feeding is a robust indicator for the annual mean proportion of maize in cattle diet on a farm. We could also demonstrate short term changes in the diet (when maize was added for some time) by comparing summer and winter δ13C. Farms whose dietary proportion of maize deviated from the average dietary proportion of maize of the respective grazing regime (in summer or winter feeding) could be detected via the δ13C of a single cattle hair. We conclude that the method can be used in different cattle production systems to check on dietary proportions of maize for a period of one year before sampling of hair. The third aim was to investigate the potentials and risks of land-use intensification on former extensively managed permanent grassland sites on sandy soils concerning productivity and other ecosystem services. We set up a three-year field experiment with four management intensity levels representing four typical forage production systems (moderate permanent grassland, intensive permanent grassland, ley grass, maize) on five sites on a climatic gradient (temperature and precipitation) in northern Germany. We found that ley grass had no higher N yields and crude protein concentrations than intensive permanent grassland. Intensive permanent grassland had higher N yields than moderate permanent grassland while the number of plant species was not lower. Of all treatments, intensive permanent grassland was least influenced by site and year effects on yield, forage quality and species number. The dry matter yields of all grassland treatments were small, but forage had good net energy contents and crude protein concentrations. Dry matter yields of maize were in a range of those of the farming practice in the respective regions, but nutritional quality was poor. Maize showed a higher risk of nitrogen leaching compared to the grassland treatments. We conclude that to avoid a loss of ecosystem services and to have a forage production system that delivers yields of adequate quality, a moderate or intensive management of permanent grassland can be a good option on sandy soils.
The Czech authorities invited the World Bank to provide an independent evaluation of the Government's draft plan for the merger of the Tax and Customs Administrations, and with an eye on the eventual integration of the collection of social contributions into a newly created revenue authority. In Volume I of this report, we present a preliminary examination of the Government's draft plan for tax and customs merger. Volume II does a preliminary assessment of the issues relating to integrating collection of social contributions within the tax administration.The assessment of the Government's plan in this report is intended to assist the Government in taking a more informed decision on this issue based on lessons learned from international experience. Integration and fundamental reforms are complex processes and require adequate time, financial resources and careful management of the change process itself in order to be successful. In the report, we have pointed out the key challenges and risks and how these can be overcome. We have flagged the major issues that the Government must consider, and highlighted the challenges that the Government must be aware of when designing the establishment of a modern, unified revenue administration. We have recommended a medium term strategy that will take into consideration the key issues and concerns.
Technical Report 2018-08-ECE-137 Technical Report 2002-09-ECE-006 Engineering of Enterprises a Transdisciplinary Activity Murat M. Tanik Ozgur Aktunc John Tanik This technical report is a reissue of a technical report issued September 2002 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Alabama at Birmingham August 2018 Technkal Report 2002-09-ECE-006 Engineering of Enter·prises A Transdisciplim•ry Activity Murat M. Tanik Ozgur Aktunc John Tanik TECHNICAL REPORT Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Alabama at Birmingham September 2002 ENGINEERING OF ENTERPRISES A TRANSDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITY OVERVIEW Contributed by: Murat M. Tanik, Ozgur Aktunc, and John U. Tanik This module is composed of two parts: Part I surveys and defines Enterprise Engineering in the context of transdiscipline. Part II introduces Internet Enterprise and addresses engineering implementation consider ations. PART I ENTERPRISE ENGINEERING ESSENTIALS 1 INTRODUCTION When Henry Ford rolJed out his first automobile assembly during 1913, he created the archetype of single-discipline enterprise. Ford's adventure was a self-contained and efficient exercise in mechankal engineering. With no competition, no regulatory constraints, and no pressing need for cross-disciplinary partnerships, from design development to process development, all ideas primarily originated from Ford's own engineers. The world is a different place today. Automobiles are complicated hybrids of mechanical, electrical, electronic, chemicaJ, and software components. Modern 4 manufacturers must now pay dose attention to new technological developments in hardware (mechanisms associated with physical world), software (mechanisms associated with computational world), netware (mechanisms associated with communications), and peopleware (mechanisms associated with human element). The changes experienced in the automotive industry exemplify the needs of the ever increasingly complex nature of today's modern enterprise. In other words, the ubiqui tous existence of the ";computing element" forces us to take into account disciplinary notions, ranging from psychology to ecology. In one word, the world is becoming transdisciplinary. In this world of transdisciplinary needs, we need to approach designing of enterprises as engineers, moving away from the traditional ad hoc approach of the past. This module expl ai n~ the changes to be made to current enterprise organization in order to be successful in the networked economy. A brief definition of Enterprise Engineering is given as an introduction, foJJowed by a summary of Enterprise Engineering subtopics, namely modeling, analysis, design, and implementation. In the last section of Part I, the definition of an intelJigent enterprise is made with an emphasis on knowledge management and integration using Extensible Markup Language (XML) technology [1]. 2 DEFINITION The Society for Enterprise Engineering (SEE) defined Enterprise Engineering as ";the body of knowledge, principles, and practices having to do with the analysis, design, implementation and operation of an enterprise" [2]. Enterprise Engineering methods include modeling, cost analysis, simulation, workflow analysis, and bottleneck analysis. 5 In a continually changing and unpredictable competitive environment, the Enterprise Engineer addresses a fundamental challen ge: ";How to design and improve all elements associated with the total enterprise through the use of engineering and analysis methods and tools to more effectively achieve itsgoals and objectives" [3]. Enterpr.ise Engineering has been considered as a disdpline after its establishment in the last decade of the 20th Century. The discipline has a wor]dvicw that is substantial enough to be divided into sub-areas, with a foundation resting on several reference disciplines. In the Enterprise Engineering worldview, the enterprise is viewed as a complex system of processes that can be engineered to accompli sh specific organizational objectives. Enterprise Engineering has used several reference disciplines to develop its methods, technologies, and theories. These reference disciplines can be listed as the following: Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, Business Process Reengineeling, Organizational Design, and Human Systems [2]. 2.1 Understanding Enterprise Engineering Like most engineering profession als, Enterprise Engineers work on four main areas: modeling, analyzing, design, and implementation. One important issue facing Enterprise Engi neering is the development of tools and techniques to support the work of analyzing, designing, and imp1ementjng organizational systems. These tools must assist enterprise engineers in the initial transformation of functional, often disjoint, operations into a set of integrated business processes replete with supporting information and control systems [4]. To develop new models of enterprises, the enterprise should be analyzed 6 using process analysis, simulation, activity-based analysis, and other tools. Also an abstract representation of the enterprise and the processes should be modeled in a graphical, textual, or a mathematical representation. The . design issues in Enterprise Engineering consist of developing vision and strategy, integration and improvement of the enterprise, and developing technology solutions. Lastly, implementation deals with the transformation of the entetprise, integration of corporate culture, strategic goals, enterprise processes, and technology. We will take a look at these areas in the fol1owing section: • Enterprise Engineering Modeling (EEM), • Analyzing Enterprises, • Design of Enterprises, and • Implementation. 2.2 Enterprise Engineering Modeling Enterprise Engineering Modeling (EEM) is basically dealing with the abstraction of engineering aspects of enterprises and connecting them to other business systems. The model encompasses engineering organizations' products, processes, projects, and, ultimately, the ";engineered assets" to be operated and managed. EEM coordinates design and deployment of products and assets at the enterprise level. It integrates engineering information across many disciplines, allows engineering and business data to be shared through the combinatjon of enterprise IT (information technology) and engineering IT, and simulates the behavior of intelligent, componentbased models [5). 7 The selection and design of enterprise processes for effective cooperation is a prime objective of Enterprise Engineering. Enterprise models can assist the goal of Enterprise Engineering by helping to represent and analyze the structure of activities and their interactions. Models eliminate the irrelevant details and enable focusing on one or more aspects at a time. Effective models also facilitate the discussions among different stakeholders in the enterprise, helping them to reach agreement on the key fundamentals and to work toward common goals. Also it can be a basis for other models and for different information systems that support the enterprise and the business. The enterprise model will differ according to the perspective of the pers.on creating the model, including the visions of the enterprise, its efficiency, and other various elements. The importance of an enterprise model is that it wm provide a simplified view of the business structure that will act as a basis for communication, improvements, or innovations and define the Information Systems requirements that are \ necessary to support the business. The term business in this context is used as a broad term. The businesses or the activities that can be represented with Enterprise Engineering models do not have to be profit making. For example, it can be a research environment with the properties of an enterprise. Any type of ongoing operation that has or uses resomces and has one or more goals, with positive or negative cash flow, can be referred to as a business [6]. The ideal business model would be a single diagram representing all aspects of a business. However this is impossible for most of businesses. The business processes are so complex that one diagram cannot capture all the information. Instead, a business model is composed of different views, diagrams, objects, and processes: A business 8 model is illustrated with a number of different views, and each captu~cs infmmation about one or more specific aspects of the businesses. Each view consists of a number of diagrams, each of which shows a specific part of the business structure. A diagram can show a ~1ructure (e.g., the organization of the business) or some dynamic collaboration (a number of objects and their interaction to demonstrate a process). Concepts are related in the diagrams through the use of different objects and processes. The objects may be physical such as people, machines, and products or more abstract such as instructions and services. Processes are the functions in the business that consume, refine, or use objects to affect or produce other objects. There are cunently hundreds of modeling tools for enterprises, and many modeling techniques such as Integrated Definition Language (IDEF), Petri-Net, Unified Mode1ing Language (UML), and meta-modeling. Modeling involves a modeling language and the associated modeling tools. Different enterprises may need different modeling tools according to the nature of the enterprise. Before selecting the modeling tool, a detailed analysis should be made to select the most appropriate modeling language and the tool. For the software industry, UML has become the standard modeJjng language [7]. 2.3 Enterprise Analysis The increasing complexity of enterprises has stimulated the development of sophisticated methods and tools for modeling and analysis of today's modern enterprises. Recent advances in information teclu1ology along with significant progress in analytical and computational techniques have facilitated the use of such methods in industry. 9 Applying Enterprise Analysis methods results in a documentation that supports a number of programs, which are as follows: strategic information resource planning, information architecture, technology and services acquisition, systems design and development, and functional process redesign. Most organizations have a wealth of data that can be used to answer the basic questions supporting strategic planning: who, what, where, and bow much. By modeling with these data using an Enterprise Analysis toolset, the enterptise models can be built incrementally and in less time. The most important use of Enterprise Analysis is that it presents the organization's own business, demographic, and workload data in a compelling manner to tell the story. Whether they are used to support programs for acquisitions, information architectures, or systems development, Enterprise Analysis studies are rooted in the business of the organization and thus are easily understood and supported by executive management. 2.4 Enterprise Design The design of an enterprise deaJs with many issues, including development of a vision and a strategy, the establishment of a corporate cu.lture and identity, integration and improvement of the enterprise, and development of technology solutions. Optimization of several perspectives within an enterprise is the objective of Enterprise Design. Examples of enterprise perspectives include quality, cost, efficiency, and agility ,. and management perspectives s uch as motivation, culture, and incentives. For example, consider the efficiency perspective. The modeling task will provide ontologies (i.e., object libraries) that can be used to construct a model of the activities of a process, such as its resource usages, constraints, and time. Based on these models the efficiency 10 perspective will provide tools to design, analyze, and evaluate organizational activities, processes, and structures. These tools will also be capable to represent and model the current status of an enterprise and to analyze and assess potential changes. One issue is wbetber there exists sufficient knowledge of the process of designing and optimizing business activities/processes to incorporate in knowledge-based tools. The main goal of an Enterprise Design application is to deveJ~p a software tool that enables a manager to explore alternative Enterprise Designs that encompass both the stmcture and behavior of the enterprise over extended periods of time. lssues such as motivation, culture, and incentives are explored, along with other relevant parameters such as organizational structure, functions, activity, cost, quality, and information [8]. 3 STRATEGY FORMULATION FORE-BUSINESS Electronic commerce is becoming a growing part of industry and commerce. The speed of technological change is enabling corporations large and small to transact business in a variety of ways. Today, it is routine practice to transact some aspect of business electronically from e-mail to exchanging data via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), World Wide Web (WWW), and various shades these technologies. Numerous benefits accrue to corporations when they use automated capabilities. In order to maximize such benefits, electronic enterprises must base their efforts on welJdeveloped strategies. In this manner, tbe probability of success is increased many folds. Embarking on electronic commerce or business should never be thought of as the sole quest of the information systems department. The following strategies are a synthesis of II best practices introduced to assist information systems departments to prepare the organization for the information age [9, 1 0]. 3.1 Strategy 1 - Improve Corporate System DeveJopment Skms In addition to developing technical skills, corporations must pay close attention to effective communication, eliminating cross-functional language barriers, and improving inadequate facilities in geographically dispersed systems. 3.2 Strategy 2 -Build a Proactive Infrastructure There must be a constant effort to keep up with technological changes. Frequently, these changes trickle down from the top as a result of various business strategies. For example, top managers may discover that they need video-conferencing capability, and the information technology people are under pressure to deliver it. This kind of approach will put the chief information officer(CIO) in a reactive posture, trying to put out fires as they appear. In putting out such fires, local resources may be used to satisfy higher level needs without any obvious benefits to local managers who may resent this fact and create barriers against success. CIOs should try to get the cooperation of all users in anticipating system needs. If users are not satisfied with an imposed system, they wiiJ try to build their bootleg systems for their own needs. Thus, project needs should be anticipated as far as possible and should be planned to meet both short-term goals of management and yield benefits for the development of the infrastmcture of the corporation in the Jong term. 12 3.3 Strategy 3 - Consolidate Data Centers A corporation embar1dng on developing an e-business system must realize that there do already exist semiautonomous data centers distributed throughout various geographical locations. There may have been a time when such data centers were desirable. Today, e-business demands integrated information systems, and the data centers must be consolidated. An integrated information system is far more effic ient in controlling corporate operations. Obviously, operating fewer facilities, maintaining minimum levels of inventory, and giving better service to customers will bring handsome returns to corporations. During the consolidation process, a number of problems of compatibility and standardization will occm, but tackling such problems is better than having semiautonomous data centers. 3.4 Strategy 4 - Standardize Data Structures As corporations grow, different data processing systems and data centers proliferate, especiaUy in transnational corporations. Consolidating data centers and systems as suggested in strategy 3 may not be sufficient. Corporations need to determine data needed at global levels and standarclize them. Standardization may not be possible for certain applications in an international setting since regulatory accounting of different countries may be a roadblock. However, this should not be taken as a signal for nonstandardization. Standardization will make useful information available throughout the corporation. For example, these days many corporations are adapting XML as part of data stmcture consolidation strategy. XML issues are addressed in the next section with more detail. 13 3.5 Strategy 5 - Accommodate Linkages with Cui-rent Strategic Allies and Provide Expansion for Future Str ategic Alliances Recent developments in globalization and Internet technology are spurring corporations to form sliategic alliances. Automobile manufacturers are, for example, forming alliances to influence prices and qualities of their raw materials and parts purchases. Similar alliances are growing at an accelerated pace in other industries. These alliances are designed to create not only purchasing power but also a variety of other mutual interests, from technological co-operation to joint production. 3.6 Strategy 6 - Globalize Human Resource Accounting As companies centralize their information systems through computerization, a global inventory of human skills should be developed. Frequent human resource problems arjse when Information Systems (IS) personnel focus locally rather than globally. Recmiting of specialists, for example, must be done not with a local perspective but with a global one. This will help eliminate possible redundancies with potential savings. 4 INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISES Enterprises competing in global markets assume complex organizational forms such as supply chain, virtual enterprise, Web-based enterprise, production network, e-business, and e manufacturing. Common traits of these organizations are willingness to cooperate, global distributed product development and manufacturing, and high coordination and communication. These traits have led the trend of transformation from 14 capital intensive to intelligence intensive entetprises [1 1]. Visions of the organization's future e-Business roles as an intelligent enterprise could be formulated as follows [12]: • Transparent - Intelligent enterprises will contain substantial amounts of information on capabilities, capacities, inventories, and plans that can be exchanged between tools, servers, and optimizing agents that will augment capabilities of their human masters. • Timely - Intelligent enterprises will be designed to meet a customer need exactly when the customer wants it. • Tuned - Through collaboration and sharing of knowledge, the intel1igent enterprise wiJl serve customer needs with a mjnimum of wasted effort or assets. 4.1 Knowledge Management and Integration with XML One important challenge for enterprises today is storing and reusing knowledge. For many organizations, up-to-dale knowledge of what is relevant and important to customers distinguishes their offerings. The challenge is to assimilate this rapidly changing knowledge about products and services quickly and distribute it rapidly to leverage it for improved performance and quality service. This means finding all knowledge that is embedded in and accessed through technologies and processes and stored in documents and external repositories and being able to share it quickly with the customers. The capital-based organization needs to transform into bigh-perforrn.ing, processbased, knowledge-based enterprises, characterized by agility, f lexibility, adaptability, and willingness to learn. To overcome the difficulties during the transformation, powetful tools are needed to manage the knowledge within the enterprise and to develop the 15 communication between the company and the customers. The key tool to be used within this process is XML, which will set the standards of communication and wm help to manage the knowledge [13]. To understand how XML will help us managing the knowledge, a def111ition of a knowledge-based business is needed. 4.2 Knowledge-Based Businesses The following six characteristics of knowledge-based business were defined in Davis and Botkin [14]. ~hese characteristics are actually guidelines for businesses to put their information to productive use. 4.2.1 The More You Use Knowledge-Based Offerings, The Smarter They Get This characteristic fits in the customer-defined offerings the companies give. For example, a credit card company can build a system that could understand the buying patterns of a customer that can protect the customer from fraud. A news agency can change the interface of its system to give the type of news that a newspaper or journal requests. Knowledge-based systems not only get smcuter but also enable their users to learn. For example, General Motors' computer-aided maintenance system not only helps novice mechanics to repair automobiles but also helps expe1t mechanics to refine their knowledge. As the technology advances, the amount of information that a mechanic needs to know expands rapidly. With tllis system a mechanic can leverage the knowledge of all mechanics using the system. As a result, the system continually improves, as does the service quality. 16 4.2.2 Knowledge-Based Products And Services Adjust To Changing Circumstances When knowledge is built into a product, the product may adjust itself in a smart manner to changing conditions. For example, a glass window that may reflect or transmit sunlight according to temperature is such a product. Producing tbese producl:s will not only be marketed well but also have important economical advantages. Tbe smart pr~ducts will guide their users as well. 4.2.3 Knowledge-Based Businesses Can Customize l1teir Offerings Knowledge-based products and servkes can determine customers' changing paltems, idiosyncrasies, and specific needs. For example, a smart telephony system can understand which language will be used on specific num bers~ also by using the voice recognition system, the need for telephone credit cards can be diminished. 4.2.4 Knowledge-Based Products A11d Services Have Relatively Short Life Cycles Many knowledge-based products have short life cycles, because they depend on the existing market conditions; their viability is short-lived. For example, the foreign exchange advisory services offered by a commercial bank are highly specialized and customized for corporate clients. Such services should be constantly upgraded to keep the profits and the proprietary edge. 4.2.5 Knowledge-Based Businesses Enable Customers To Act In Real Time Information becomes more valuable when it can be acted on constantly. A system that will deliver the tour book information while you are driving the car will have a great 17 value. An interactivity. added to the system will make the product's value even higher. Knowledge-based products can also act in real time. For example, a copier machine that calJs the maintenance provider when an error occurs wiJJ have a great value in this sense. 4.3 XML's Role in Business Applications The smallest cluster of knowledge is data. These are basic building blocks of information that come in four particular forms: numbers, words, sounds, and images. Manipulation of the data determines its value. The arrangement of data into meaningful patterns is information. For example, numbers can be arranged in tables, which is information; a series of sounds, which is music, can also be considered as information. Today, an important challenge for Internet-based businesses is using the information efficiently and in a productive way that will upgrade the information to knowledge. Thus, we say that knowledge is the application and productive use of information. The shift from the information to knowledge age will be via technology. The new enabling technologies of software development such as XML, J2EE, and Visual Studio are forcing e-businesses to build knowledge-based businesses. Here we will explain the most important enabling technology, XML, within the development of e~businesses. XML can be used effecti~ely for exchanging of business documents and information over the Internet. XML is a standard language that simultaneously presents content for display on the Intemet and describes the content so that other software can understand and use the data. Therefore XML can be a medium through which any business application can share documents, transactions, and workload with any other 18 business application [15]. In other words, XML can become the common language of ebusi. ness and knowledge management. One impmtant property of XML is providing .information about the meaning of the data. Thus, an XML-Jonnatted document could trigger a software application at a receiving company to launch an activity such as shipment loading. But to provide that level of data integration, trading partners would have to agree on definiti ons for the various types of documents as well as standard ways of doing business. In addition to facilitating e-commerce, having common defini tions and uses for data also enable an enterprise to better leverage the .knowledge ctmenrly stored in information silos. XML supports the searching and browsing of such information sHos [16]. It structures documents for granularity, such as alJowing access to sections within documents and fine-tuning retrieval Also, it annotates documents, which enables users to not restrict themselves to what is in the document. XML organizes documents by classifying documents into groups and supports browsing them. AdditionaiJy, it has Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)-like linking options that help the information users to find the documents they arc seeking. Fig. I shows the tools that are common in the organization of information through XML. XML is the next evolution in knowledge management, and organizations are beginning to understand the potential of this technology to develop enterprise-wide information architectures. As a technology, XML does not bring any value to an organization. The value of XML wHI depend on how it js used within a company. The agreement on data definitions within an enterprise has always been a hard task. At rn.inlmum, XML should be implemented strategically within the organization. Ideally, the 19 Annotate Documents I RDF I Schemas J:: I XML I (.---, X-Poin- ter--, Fig. 1. Organization of information through XML. implementation should include strategic partners and other organizations that have a need to share data and information. XML is a majm advance in the standardization of information sharing across traditional information boundaries, both internal and external Information security and privacy issues are major concerns revolving around customer and corporate data flowing across wires. Successful knowledge management in a company often depends on having access to information outside the enterprise walls. XML can also be of value here by helping to improve the functioning of supply chains and the extranet. In conclusion, it becomes obvious that managing knowledge requires better tools. We need to create systems that manage documents, as people would do, and we know that better tools need better documents. Thus by building on a solid knowledge management strategy using XML, we believe an organization can gain competitive differentiation in the near future. 20 PART II INTERNET ENTERPRISE IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS 1 INTRODUCTION In the first section of this module we introduced essential elements of enterprise engineering in abstract and general terms. Building on the notions explored in the first section, we will address here, specifics concerning designing and implementation of Internet enterprises. In this section, a review is provided of the key concepts and concerns an Internet enterprise engineering (IEE) project would encounter and need to address. Business engineering fundamentals, technologies, and strategies for the lrlternet such as Unified Modeling Language, Cosmos Model, Enterprise Maturity Model, Web Business . Models, Methods of Electronic Transaction, Online Contracts, Security Protocols, selected integrated development tools, Next Generation Internet, and Internet2 arc covered. Over 20 occupational roles within IEE are identified and described separately. A technology implementation platform and strategy are introduced, along with marketing and customer retention technologies and strategies on the Internet A detailed overview is provided of the various Internet business tools, technologies, and terminology for the systematic construction of new ventures on the Internet l7]. For convenience, all these issues are summarized in table fmm at the end of this section. 2 BUSINESS ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS 2.1 UML: Officially introduced in November 1997, UML has quickly become the standard modeling language for software development [6]. It bas a business model approach that provides a plan for engineering an orchestrated set of business functions. It 21 provjdes a framework by which business is to be performed, allowing for changes and various improvements in the process. The model is designed to be able to anticipate changes in business function in order to maintain an edge on the competition. One of the advantages of modeling in UML is that it can visually depict functions, relationships, and paradigms. UML is a recommended tool for business analysts to break down a large-scale business operation into its constituent parts. Capturing a business model in one diagram is not realistic, so it should be noted that a business model is actually composed of a number of different views. Each view is designed to capture a separate purpose or function without losing any important overall understanding of the business operation. A view is composed of a set of diagrams, each of which shows a specific aspect of the business structure. A diagram can show a structure or a kind of dynamic collaboration. The diagrams contain objects, processes, rules, goals, and visions as defined in the business analysis. Objects contain information about mechanisms in the business, and processes are functions that use objects to affect or produce other objects. Objectoriented techniques can be used to describe a business. There are similar concepts in business functions that mn parallel to object-oriented techniques of designconceptualization. Another advantage of UML is derived from the ability of business modelers and software developers to use the same conceplualization tools and techniques to achieve a common business end. Additionally, the power of UML is derived :from its ability to transcend tbe standard organizational chart [ 17]. 22 2.2 Cosmos Model: A generic approach for a business to manage change is through a holistic framework as described by Yeh in his three-dimensional model called Cosmos (Fig. 1). One of the important aspects of this model is that three dimensions exist interdependently because each dimension behaves as an enabler and an inhibitor to the other dimensions. The ";activity structure" dimension covers how work is structured in an organization, factoring in the steps and tasks that are taken to achieve an appropriate level of workflow. The ";infrastructure dimension" covers how resources are allocated and factors in the assets of an enterprise. The ";coordination dimension" covers how information is created, shared, and distributed. The cultural aspects of the enterprise are factored in here. The Cosmos model provides a conceptual space bounded by concrete factors for successfully navigating from one point of an organizational situation to another. Infrastructure Long-term vs. short-term objectives Activity Structure Stability vs. Flexibility Target Coordination Structure Modu]arity vs. Interconnectedness Fig. l. Cosmos model--holistic framework for managing change. [13) 23 The Cosmos model is an abstract tool for managers to guide their company along the best possible path. The trade-offs between the three dimensions at each point in the journey along the path are what the manager must determine to be most effective and best for the organization as a whole. In the case of work structure, there is an inherent tradeoff between stability and flexibility. In the case of a coordination structure, there is a tradeoff between strictly aligning of human resources with company objectives and providing each operating unit with sufficient autonomy. More autonomous organizations are generally organized with a greater degree of modularity, allowing for the ability to make rapid decisions by adapting to changing market conditions. In the case of infrastlucture, there is a trade-off between seeking short-term gain versus long-term gain. Overall, the Cosmos mode] provides an executive or project manager with another technique to visualize the overaJJ situation and path of an organization by laking into account the three dimensions that correspond to the three main forces that affect its future [ 18]. 2.3 Enterprise Maturity Model: In order to characterize a business in terms of its level of maturity, focus, activity, coordination, and infrastructure, please refer to Table l, provided by Yeh [18]. The table provides an overview of the various levels of enterprise maturity. 2.4 Web Business Models: Entrepreneurs who wish to start e-businesses need to be aware of e-business models and how to implement them effectively. The combination 24 of a company's policy, operations, technology, and ideology defines its business model. Table 2 describes in more detail the types of business models in existence today [6, 19]. 2.5 IVIethods of Elech·onic Transaction: There are various methods and mechanisms that merchants can collect income through electronic transactions. Table 3 provides the types of transactions covered such as credit card, e-walJets, debit cards, digital currency, peer-to-peer, smartcards, micro-payments, and e-billing [19]. 2.6 OnJine Contracts: An online contract can be accomplished throt1gh the use of a digital signature. Digital signatures are the electronic equivalent of written signatures. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act of 2000 (E-sign Bi11) recently passed into law were developed for use in public-key cryptography to solve the problems of authentication and integrity. The purpose of a digital signature is for electronic authorization. The U.S. government's digital authentication standard is called the Digital Signature Algorithm. The U.S. government also recently passed digitalsignature legislation that makes digital signatures as legally bindiqg as handwritten signatures. This legislation is designed to promote more activity in e-business by legitimizing online contractual agreements. 2.7 Security Protocols: Netscape Communkations developed the SSL protocol, developed as a non-proprietary protocol commonly used to secure communication on the Internet and the Web. SSL is designed to use public-key technology and digital 25 certificates to authenticate the server. in a transaction and to protect private information as it passes from one party to another over the Tnternet. SSL can effectively protect information as it is passes through the Internet but does not necessarily protect private information once stored on the merchant's server. An example of private information would be credit card numbers. When a merchant receives credit-card information with an order, the information is often decrypted and stored on the merchant's server until the order is placed. An insecure server wi th data that are not encrypted is vulnerable to unauthorized access by a third party to that information. SET protocol was developed by Visa International and MasterCard and was designed speci.tically to protect e-commerce payment transactions [20]. SET uses digital certificates to authenticate each party in an e-commerce transaction, including the customer, merchant, and the merchant's bank. In order for SET to work, merchants must have a digital certificate and special SET software to process transactions. Additionally, customers must have complementary digital certificate and digital walJet software. A digital wallet is similar to a real wallet to the extent that it stores credit (or debit) card information for multiple cards, as well as a digital certificate verifying the cardholder's identity. Digital wallets add convenience to online shopping because customers no longer need to re-enter their credit card information at each shopping site. 2.8 Integrated Tool Example: Drumbeat 2000: Macromedia Drumbeat 2000 is a tool capable of accepting and delivering complex infmmation and functionality through a web-interface [21]. The tool aids a visually skilled Web designer in competitively building a website without necessarily having to do any coding, which is useful in the 26 initial prolotyping phase. It is a tool that can interact with the back-end database with the ability to build a user-friendly client-side using Active Server Page (ASP) Web technology. ASP technology enables a real-time connection to the database, so any changes made to the database are immediately re flected on the client side. Macromedia D1umbeat 2000 claims to provide everything needed to build dynamic Web applications and online stores visually at a fraction of the typical development time and expense. The designers of Drumbeat 2000 also cl aim that the development environment can keep up with continuously evolving web technology, thus making it a future-oriented technology. 2.9 NGI: This initiatjve is a mulli-agency Federal research and development program began on October 1, 1997 with the participation of the following agencies: DARPA, DOE, NASA, NIH, NIST, and NSF (Table 4). These agencies arc charged with the responsibility of developing advanced networking technologies and revolutionary applications that require advanced networkjng. 2.10 Internet2: The Intemet2 is a consortium of over 180 uruversit ies leading the way towards a partnership with industry and government to develop advanced network applications and technologies in order to accelerate formation of a more advanced Internet. The primary goals of Internct2 are to create a leading edge network capability for the national research community, enable revolutionary Internet applications, and ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications to the broader Internet community. Through Intemet2 working groups and initiatives, Internet2 members are 27 collaborating on advanced app.lications, middleware, new networking capabilities, advanced network infrastructure, partnerships, and alliances [22). 3 OCCUPATIONAL ROLES IN illE In order to build, deploy, and maintain an Internet Enterprise, certain roles and positions most be filled for the organization to be effective. Table 5 lists and describes many of the relevant roles required within an enterprise initiative, such as Chief Privacy Officer (CPO), in addition to the more traditional organizational roles such as Chief Executive Ofilcer (CEO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) [20, 23]. 4 TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION AND STRATEGY 4.1 Microsoft Dotsmart Initiative: There are various approaches to imp.lementing strategic planning and technology implementations. For illustrative purposes, Microsoft is considered in this thesis to be one such approach for enterprise planning. Once the overall conceptualization and business pattern is created and a.ll the necessary occupational roles within the organization are identified, it is necessary to identify exactly which technology to utilize in order to build and implement the business venture. As the requirements of a business are analyzed, a useful guide is the Microsoft Dotsmarl Initiative. This mode of business analysis will help determine which business engineering concepts to use and what kinds of personnel are needed to 1un the operation. Additionally, the Microsoft Dotsmatt Initiative provides key points to address when building an Intemet operation from scratch. 28 4.2 Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs): MTCs are areas designed for groups of entrepreneurs, Information Technology personnel, and businessmen for the rapid development. of robust e-commerce solutions. At these facilities, developers, entrepreneurs, and high-technology business persons use Microsoft Technology and the relevant knowledge to build enterprise solutions. The centers provide the essentials a team would need to develop an enterptise from the initial conception of the idea to launch. Microsoft provides essential equipment, support, and expe11ise, with an application of a ";best-practices" approach. These best practices have been tested before at MTCs, expediting the development progress and time to market. Laboratory sessions are designed to bring together an assortment of entrepreneurial individuals as they facilitate the development process using the latest Microsoft products. The MTCs offer customers wishing to capitalize on emerging Microsoft.NET technologies the service, infrastltlctme, and development environment to accelerate their projects and reduce thejr risk. The working laboratory is intended to help customers develop and test next-genera6on e-commerce technologies and demonstrate further the value of Windows platforms and other industry-standard systems for powering ebusiness. 4.3 Impact of XML: XML represents a more general way of defining text-based/ documents compared to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Both HTML and XML descend from Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). The greatest difference between HTML and XML is the flexibi lity of the allowable tag found in XML. An XMLbased document can define its own tags, in addition to including a set of tags defined by a 29 third-party. This ability may become very useful for those applications that need to deal with very complex data structures. An example of an XML-based language is the Wireless Markup Language (WML). WML essentially allows text pm1ions of Web pages to be displayed on wireless devices, such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). WML works with the Wireless AppHcation Protocol (W AP) to deliver this content. WML is similar to HTML but does not require input devi ces such as a keyboard or mouse for navigation. In the case of a PDA thal requests a Web page on the Intemet, a WAP gateway receives the request, translates it, and sends it to the appropriate Internet server. In response, the server replies by sending the requested WML document. The WAP gateway parses this document's WML and sends the proper text to the PDA. This introduces the element of device portability. 4.4 Microsoft.Net Initiative: Microsoft announced a new generation of software called Microsoft .NET. This software is intended to enable every developer, business, and consumer to benefit from the combination of a variety of new Internet devices and programmable Web services that characte1ize NGI. Microsoft is trying to create an advanced new generation of software that wiiJ drive NGI. This initiative is called Microsoft.NET and it.s key purpose is to make information available at any time, in any place, and on any device. 4.5 Microsoft BizTalk 0 1·chestration: For IEE purposes, BizTalk Server 2000 is the considered a nex t-generation software that plays an important role in forming the infrastructure and tools for building successful e-commerce communities. The core of 30 BizTalk Server offers business document routing, transformation, and tracking infras tructure that is mles based. BizTalk Server offers many services that allow for quickly building dynamic business processes for smooth integration of applications and business partners while utilizing pubJic standards to ensure interoperability. Essentially, BizTalk server provides a method to build dynamic business processes quickly. 4.6 Back-end Configurations Using Microsoft Technology: In the design of the backend of a website, special considerations must be given to security. This is done by providing a kind of safety buffer from the greater world of the Internet using a demiUtarized-zone (DMZ) strategy. The components of a DMZ such as the firewall, the front-end network, the back-end nelwork, and the secure network function as a security buffer from the outside world. 4.7 Rapid Economic Justification (RE.fl: The REJ framework makes it possible for IT and business executives to demonstrate how specific investments in IT will eventually benefit the business, ensuring in the process that the IT projects are aligned with the specific business strategies and priorities. IT investments play a critical role in Internet enterprises. Important decision-making at the early stages of any venture does require an effective methodology to identify the best strategic IT investments. Leaders in the upper echelon of organizations such as CEOs, CTOs, and CFOs are being overwhelmed with complex information. REJ may prove to be a reliable method to quickly evaluate the true value worth and potential of a company by taking into consideration its intangible IT assets. 31 In the past, companies developed metrics for the valuation of IT investments on the basis of cost improvements. Metric methodologies have focused on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), whereas the strategic role of IT in boosting new opportunities for business has been largely ignored. Understandably, the benefits of IT can be traced to ways of measuring business value the traditional way. Unfortunately, current business practices are not necessarily adequately equipped to handle the complexities of the New Economy. Although the economic justification of IT projects has been researched extensively in the past decade, the problem is that these metiJods and techniques require too much data-crunching power and time to prepare. These unwieldy research techniques need to be replaced by a new and practical approach to quantify swiftly and accurately the true value of IT investments. 5 MARKETING AND CUSTOMER RETENTION 5.1 Online Marketing: The Internet provides marketers with new tools and convenience that can considerably increase the success of their marketing efforts. An Internet marketing campaign such as advertising, promotions, public relations, partnering and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are all an integral prut of the marketing process. Table 6 describes the various techniques at the marketer's disposal when using the Internet as the medium of customer information delivery [19]. 5.2 CRM Systems: CRM is a general but systematic methodology using both business and technological techniques to maintain and grow a business's customer base. CRM systems enable a business to keep detaj led records on the activity of its c ustomers 32 by using new, sophisticated tracking systems on the Internet. Table 7 shows various areas where CRM technology and CRM business techniques can assist in managing a customer base [19]. 5.3 Web Design Technology Example: Dreamweaver Technology: Macromedia Dreamweaver is Web technology for building websites on the Internet without the need for programming directly in HTivlL [21]. Also, Web designers are easily able to create Web-based leaming content with Dreamweaver 4.0. A Web designer has the ability to create site maps of the website that can be easily maintained and enhanced. This is a very popular technology available on the market that can be used to make professional quality websites for marketing and promotional purposes. 5.4 Web Enhancement Technology Example: Flash Technology: Macromedia Flash is a multimedia technology for applications on the Web. This technology gives the user, especially one not artistically talented, the ability to develop interactive animations that can look quite impressive. A flash movie can be embedded into a Web site or run as a standalone program, and Flash is compatible with Dreamweaver. Flash movies can be made with sound and animation, so it is useful as a software tool to produce demonstrations at the user-interface. Flash can be used on CD-ROMs and allows for the construction of cross-platform audio/video animations and still jmages. 33 \ 6 SUMI\-IARY TABLES We would like to reiterate emphasis areas for Electronic Enterprise as listed in the introduction of this module. These are a) hardware (mechanisms associated with physical world), b) software (mechanisms associated with computational world), c) netware (mechanisms associated with communications), and d) peopleware (mechanisms associated with human element) [23, 24]. Following tables provide a useful Jist in all these areas. For convenience, we include all summary tables in following order: Table 1 Enterprise Maturity Levels Table 2 Web Business Models Table 3 Electronic Transactions Table 4 NGI Participating Agencies Table 5 Occupational Roles in lEE Table 6 Marketing Techniques on the Internet Table 7 Customer Relationship Management 34 Table 1 Enterprise Maturity Levels Levels Focus Activity Coordination Infrastructure 5. Whole Human-society Process Self-directed teams Long-term oriented; in engineering dominate orientation, harmony with methodology workplace; toLal personal mastery, nature, people institutionalized; alignment; open, heavy investments routinely do the Flexible and honest in IT, continuous right things: predictable communication improvement change is second process, right the channels institutionalized nature first time, value- throughout adderl activities only 4. Wise Stakeholders and Process monitored Organjzational Organi:z.ation community automatically for structure based on competency oriented in high performance; cross-trained case management; harmony with dominated by teams; vision continuing community; value-added al igned with the education; team-people routinely activities; high needs of the based structure; doing things right. degrl:e of society tenm-oriented HR Changes are concurrency; few policy planned and handoffs mannged 3. Mature Customer oriented; Process defined Vision defined Integrated customer's needs and is measured with extensive capacity, are anticipated; buy-ins, multi- con sol ida ted people are proud to functional project function; work here teams exist; investment in participatory training and work culture with force planning; managers as flattened coaches organization 2. Stable Competition- Process under Internal focus, Short-term focus, oriented reactive statistical control; control oriented, fragmented bench-marking as functional division capacity, little IT, a result of reaction, hierarchical, inflexible process, difficult to get has many information, no handoffs and a formal HR policy substantial number of non-value-added tasks I . Ignorant Disoriented- Fire-fighting Ad- No clear vision, Don' t know where chaotic hoc, unpredictable, resources exist fragmented Rumor mill rampant 35 e-Business Model Storefront Model Auction Model Portal Model Dynamic Pricing Model Comparison Pricing Model Demand-Sensitive Pricing Model Table 2 Web Business Models Description The~ storefront model is what many persons think of when they bear the word ebusiness. The storefront model combines transaction processing, security, online payment and information storage to enable merchants to sell their products on lhe web. This is a basic form of e-commcrce where the buyer and seller interact directly. To conduct storefront c-commerce, merchants need to organize an online catalog of products, take orders through their Web sites, accept pnyments in a secure envi ronment, send merchandise to customers, and manage customer data. One of the most commonly used e-commercc enablers is the shopping cart. This order-processing technology allows customers to accumulate items they wish to buy as they continue to shop. www.amazon.com is a good example. Forrester Research reveals that an estimated $3.8 billion will be spent on online person-to-person auctions in the year 2000 alone. This number is expected to rise to $52 billion for Business-to-Business (B2B) auctions. Usually auction sites act as forums through which Internet users can log-on and assume the role of either bidder or seller. As a seller, you are able to post an item you wish to sell, the minimum price you require to sell it, your item, and a deadline to close the auction. As a bidder, you may search the site for availability of the item you are seeking, view lhe current bidding activity and place a bid. They usually do not involve themselves in payment and delivery. www.ebay.com is a good example. Portal sites give visitors the chance to find almost everything they are looking for in one place. They often offer news, sports, and weather, as weU as the ability to search the Web. Search engines are h01i zontal portals, or portals that aggregate information on a broad range of topics. Yahoo! at www.yahoo.com is an example of a horizontal portal. America Online (AOL) www.aol.com is an example of a vertical portal because it is a community-based site. The Web has changed the way business is done and the way products are priced. Companies such as Priceline (www.pricelinc.com) and Imandi (www.imandi.com) have enabled customers to name their prices for travel, homes, automobiles, and consumer goods. The name-your-price model empowers customers by allowing them to choose their price for products and services. The comparison pricing model allows customers to polJ a variety of merchants and find a desired product or service at the lowest price (i.e. www.bottomdollar.com). The Web has enabled customers to demand bener, faster service at cheaper prices. It has also empowered buyers to shop in large groups to achieve a group rate (i.e., www.rnercata.com). Customers become loyal to Mercata because it helps them save money. 36 e-Business Model Bartering Model Advertising Model Procurement Model B2B Service Provider Model · Online Trading Model Online Lending Model Online Recruiting Model Online Travel Service Model TabJe 2 (Continued) Description A popular method of conducting e-business is bartering, offering one item in exchange for anotiier. If a business is looking to get rid of an overstocked product, iSolve ~isolve.com) can help sell it PotenHal customers send their pricing pre ferences to the merchant who evaluates the offer. Deals are often part barter and part cash. Examples of items typically bartered are overstocked inventory items, factory surplus, and unneeded assets. Forming business models around advertising-driven revenue streams is the advertising model. Television networks, radio stations, magazines, and print media usc advertising to fund their operations and make a profit. www.Iwon.com is a portal site that rewards users with raffle points as they browse the site's content. www.freemerchant.com offers free hosting, a free store builder, a free shopping cart, free traffic logs, free auction tools and all the necessary elements for running an e-commerce storefront. Frccmerchanl makes money from its strategic partnerships and referrals. The procurement model means acquiring goods and services with effective supply chain management via a B2B Exchange. ICG Commerce Systems (www.icgcommerce.com) is a site that enables businesses, customers, suppliers, purchasers, and any combination of these to interact and conduct transactions over the Internet. The system supports B2B, B2C, and all variations of these models. · B2B service providers make B2B transactions on the Internet easier. These e-businesscs help other businesses improve policies, procedures, customer service, and general operations. Ariba (www.ariba.com) is a B2B service provider. The online trading model is essentially securities trading on the Internet. Trading sites allow you to research securities and to buy, sell, and manage all of your investments from your desktop; they usually cost less. Charles Schwab (www.schwab.com) is a notable example. Companies are now making loans online. E-loan (www.eloan.com) offers creditcard services, home equity loans, and the tools and calculators to help you make educated borrowing decisions. Recruiting and job searching can be done effectively on the Web whether you are an employer or a job seeker. Refer.com (www.refer.com) rewards visitors for successful job referrals. Web surfers can search for and arrange for all their travel and accommodations online, and can often save money doing so. Cheaptickets (www.cheaptic kets.com) .is a similar site that helps customers find discount fares for airl.ine tickets, hotel rooms, cruise vacations and rental cars. 37 e-Business Model Online Entertainment Model Energy Distribution Model Braintrust Model Online Learning Model Click-and-Mortar Model Table 2 (Continued) Description The entertainment industry has recognized this and has leveraged its power to sell movie tickets, albums and any other entertainment-related content they can fit on a Web page. ICast.corn (www.icast.com) is a multimedia-rich entertainment site. A number of companies have set up energy exchanges where buyers and sellers come together to corrununicate, buy, sell, and distribute energy. These companies sell crude oil, electricity, and the products and systems for distributing them. Altranet (_www.altranet.com) also sells energy commodities. Companies can buy patents and other intellectual property online. Yet2 (www.yct2.com) is an e-business designed to help companies raise capital by selling intellectuaJ property such as patents and trademarks. Universities and corporate-training companies offer high-quality distance education directly over the Web. Click2learn ~www.click2 1earn.com) has created a database of products and services to elp mdtvtdunls and companies fi.nd the education they need. Brick-and-mortar companies who wish to bring their businesses to the Web must determine the level of cooperation and integration the two separate entities will share. A company that can offer its services both offline and o nline is called click-and-mortar, such as Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com). 38 Electronic Transaction T e Credit Card Transactions E-wallets Debit cards Digital Currency Table 3 Electronic Transactions Descrjption Merchant must have a merchant. account with a bank. Specialized Internet merchant accounts have been established to handle online credit card transactions. These transactions are processed by banks or third-party services. To faci litate the credit card process, many companies are introducing electronic wallet services. E-wallets allow you to keep track of your billing and shipping information so it can be entered with one click. Banks and businesses are also creating options for online payment that do not involve credit cards. There are many forms of digital currency; digital cash is one example. It is stored electronically and can be used to make online electronic payments. Digjtal cash is often used with other payment technologies such as digital wallets. Digital cash allows people who do not have credit cards to shop online, and merchants accepting digital-cash payments avoid creditcard transaction fees. 39 Examples Companies like Cybercnsh (www.cybercash.com) and ICat (www.icat.com) enable merchants to accept credit card payments online like www.Charge.com. www. visa.com offers a variety of ewallets. Entrypoint.com offers a free, personalized desktop toolbar that includes an e-wallct to facltitate one click shopping at its affiliate stores. In order to standardize e-wallet technology and gain wider acceptance among vendors, Visa, Mastercard, and a group of e-wallet vendors have standardized the technology with the Electronic Commerce Modeling Language (ECML), unveiled in June 1999 and adopted by many online vendors. Companies such as AroeriNet allow merchants to accept a customer's checking-account number as a valid form of payment. AmeriNet provides authorization and account settlement, handles distribution and shipping (fulfi11ment), and manages customer service inquiries. E-Cash Technologies (www.ccas.b.com) is a secure digitalcash provider that allows you to withdraw funds from your traditional bank account. Gift cash is another form of digital currency that can be redeemed at leading shopping sites. Web. Flooz (www.Jlooz.wm) is an example of gift currency. Some companies offer points-based rewards. www.beenz.com is an international, points-based currency system. Electronic Transaction Peer-to-peer Smart Cards Micropaymenls Table 3 (Continued) Description Peer-to-peer transactions allow online monetary transfers between consumers. A card with a computer chip embedded on its face is able to hold more information than an ordinary credit card with a magnetic strip. There are contact and contactless smartcards. Similar to smart cards, ATM cards can be used to make purchases over the Internet. Merchants must pay for each credit card transaction that is processed. The cost of some items could be lower than the standard transaction fees, causing merchants to incur losses. Micropayments, or payments that generally do not exceed $10.00, offer a way for companies offering nominal.ly priced products and services to generate a profit. 40 Examples cCash runs a peer-to-peer payment services that allows the transfer of digital cash via email between two people who have accounts at eCashcnablcd banks. Pay Pal offers a digital payment system known as X payments. PayPal allows a user to send money to anyone with an email nddress, regardless of what bank either person uses or whether the recipient is pre-registered with the service. EConnect has technology in the form of a device that connects to your computer and scrambles financial data, making it secure to send the data over the Internet. EpocketPay is another product developed by eConnect that allows a consumer to make secure purchases from the ePocketPay portable device. This device acts as a cell phone with a card reader built into it and will allow you to make secure purchases anywhere. Millicent js a micropayment technology provider. Millicent handles all of the payment processing needed for the operation of an e-busi ness, customer support, and distribution services. Millicent's services are especially useful to companies that offer subscription fees and small pay-per-download fees for digjtal content. c-Billi ng Electronic llill Presentment and payment (EllPP) offers the ability to present a company's bill on multiple platforms online. Payments arc generally electronic transfers from consumer checking accounts. 41 The Automated Clearing House (ACH) is the current method for processing electronic monetary transfers. Table4 NGI Participating Agencies _A~c~ro~t~1Y~n_l_ _~ E_x~p_a_n_si~n --- ~ --- ~--~ --- DARPA Defense Advnnced Research Projects Agency DOE Department of Energy (beg inning in PY 1999) NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NIH National Insti tutes of Health NIST National Institute of Standards and Tec hnology NSF National Science Foundation 42 Occupation Entrepreneur e-Commerce Program Manager Enterprise Architect Business and Infonnation Architect Table 5 Occupational Roles in illE Descdptjon An entrepreneur on the Internet is usually the person with the initial idea for the entire business and is involved in its early stages of inception before official management takes over. e-Commerce Program Managers are involved in enterprise-wide ecommerce initiatives and projects, managing e-cornmerce integration and overall business and technology architecture and infrastn1cture. Usually, they arc senior-level line managers who are effective at uniting the business and technology front by coordinating units within an organization and across the extended enterprise. Enterprise Arc hitects are involved in the definition, alignment, and refinement of the overall ente rprise architecture. Their responsibilities include seeing to it that many of the tasks of program management are can·ied out properly. More important, they must provide guidance so individual projects can make optimal use of infrastructure resources for e-Cornmerce. A balancing act between business requirements and tcchnologicnl capabilities is accomplished through their efforts . Enterprise Architects have a duty to identify the requirements, goals, and constraints of the project. They allocate responsibilities for each of the architectural elements. They are also responsible for lhe coordination of the modeling and design activities for the overall enterprise architecture. They are the chief e-commerce architects because they coordinate the work information, infrastructure and application architects. All architects and modelers should be completely capable in design patterns common to the many facets of business and technology. The design pattern movement has affected all aspects of analysis, design, and implementation of componentbased systems. Design patterns are the reusable material of architecture and have an important role in the complex distributed information systems lhat are conceived and developed today. Business and Information Architects have business domain knowledge, including business processes and logical information structures. They coordinate the work of business and technology analysts and modelers who develop abstract representations or business object models of the subjects, rules, roles, events, tasks, activities, and policies of the business domain. Application-neutral models that are built enable the reuse of business engineering analysis and design patterns and artifacts 43 Occupation Infrastructure Architect Application Architect Humru1 Factors Engineer Business Manager Internet Commerce Architect Table 5 (Continued) Description Infrastructure Architects identify the technical services required of the technology infrastructure to empower and support the logical busi ness and information architecture. They evaluate existing infrastructure services, s\~l ect those appropriate to a given project and acquire (via build or buy) new components needed in the infrastructure. They oversee the work of technical specialists in modeling the service architecture of the technical infrastmcturc. They maintain the technical components of the development repository. Application Architects coordinate the business process modeling activities across multiple projects and business domains. They coordinate the work of domain modelers and maintain the repository of business and component models. They evaluate existing business component services, sclectthose appropriate to a given project and (via build or buy) new components needed in the evolving business model. They maintain the business application components of thC development repository. Most importantly. tl1ey guide solution developers in blending the business object model with the infrastruchJre services needed to implement the models in an e~com merce platform. Human Factors Engineers are needed to design the next generation of user interfaces. While the graphical user Interface (GUD is recognized as the enabler of wide-spread personnl computing, task centered user interfaces provide assistance to end-users and can be a boon to productivity in the world of e-commerce. E-commerce transactions can involve a multitude of complex steps and processes. Well-designed user interfaces can help navigate and guide the user through these tasks, keeping track of the progress, and picking up where users leave off when transactions span multiple sessions of work. The Business Manager is responsible for the business approach on the Internet, creating and operating the Internet presence for the business, deciding what products and services are sold online, determining pricing, and establishing the key business relationships needed lo make a venture successful. This is primarily a business role, with particular attention paid to the success of the online business and bottom line. The Internet Commerce Architect is generally a systems analyst who turns the business requirements into a system design that incorporates the creation and management of content, the tnmsaction processing, fulfillment, and technical aspects of customer service 44 Occupation Solution Developer Content Designer Content Author Implementor Database Administrator Internet Sales and Marketing Customer Service Representative T~lble 5 (Continued) Description Solution Developers are application developers. They develop the use cases for the specific application at hand, compose solutions through extensive use of business object models, and use repositories. They assemble application components to implement c-commercc application. Unlike conventional programmers or programmer/analysts, they do not build or pmgram components. Instead, they assemble or glue together business solut ions from prefabricated components. They use highly integrated development environments (IDEs) such as IBM's VisuaiAge, Symantec's Visual Caf6, Sybase's PowcrJ, and Inprise's Jbuilder. Emerging Computer Assisted Software Engineering (CASE) tools and related methods will likely appear that tighten the link between business modeling and software development. Tools for understanding and managing business processes, such as Inte11icorp's LiveModel allows solution developers to build logical business that can automate the configuration and management of the SAP/R3 ERP system. The Content Designer is responsible for the look and feel of an Internet commerce system, including the graphic design, page layout, and user experience. The Content Author creates or adapts product information into a form that can be used for internet commerce, working within the design laid out by the content designer. The Impleme::ntor is responsible for creating any programs or software extensions needed to make the Internet commerce system work. For example, an Implementor might write the software or construct an ASP page using Drumbeat 2000 that takes product information from a database and dynamically renders it into a Web page. In the case that a database is used in the back-end, the Database Administrator (DBA) manages the creation and operation of the database to ensure its reliability, integrity, and performance. The Sales and Marketing team is responsible for focused efforts in promoting Internet-based commerce. Customer Service Representatives answer questions about products, assist buyers with registration or the purchasing of goods and services. 45 Occupation Component Developer Operations Manager System Supervisor System Administrator Security Officer Fulfillment Agent CPO Internet Lawyer Internet Accountant Table 5 (Continued) Description Component Developers usually build components in the form of coding projects. They are masters of component technology and know the intricacies of composition, delegation, and object-oriented systems analysis and design. They are proficient in component development languages (such as Java and C++), modeling standards (such as UMLand XMI), and distributed computing platforms (such as CORBA, DCOM, EJB). They understand and think in terms of architectural design patterns. In the meanti me, they will close the gap between business requirements and available components. Component developers must be highly qualified software engineers since quality'components do not just happen. They are carefully constructed using quality soflware engineering disciplines. Component Developers, therefore, must be highly trained specialists and masters of software quality processes such as CMM and ISO, as well as masters of component-based development methods. The Operations Manager is responsible for managing all service activities for the Internet commerce system. The System Supervisor manages the system staff. The System Administrator is responsible for the technical operations of the computer systems and networks. The Security Officer ensures that appropriate security measures have been taken in the design and implementation of the Internet commerce system. The Fulfillment Agent is responsible for shipping and handling of physical goods or delivery of services. In the case of digital goods, the fulfillment agent is responsible for overseeing the operation of the fulfillment system. The Chief Privacy Officer is io charge of measures for ensuring the security of vital company information, such as customer credit card numbers remains secure within the company network. An Internet Lawyer is a legal expert for Internet fu nctions. The .importance of this position cannot be overstated, because new laws and regulations could ki ll a company without legal assistance, prevention, or intervention. The Internet Accountant is responsible for ensuring that the proper accounting procedures have been followed for Internet-based transactions. 46 Technique Domain name FAQ Forum Networking Faci litation Promotions c-Business advertising Pay-per-click Pay-per-lead Pay-per-sale Webcasting Interactive Advertising Public Relations and press releases Trade shows Table 6 Marketing Techniques on the Internet Description The Universal Resource Locator (URL) represents the address of the domain name, which must be chosen with care because it reflects the company's values immediately and connotes immediate meaning to customers with its first impression. One can purchose a domain name at www.networksolutions.com. A frequently asked questions (FAQ) section contributes to a userfiiendly site. An onli ne forum on the website enables customers to congregate at a pre-de~ign at cd place on the site to post comments and to share ideas. This promotes site activi ty. It is important to make it easy for the customer to recommend a site to a friend. This can be accomplished with a quick button that brings up an email exchange. c-Business promotions can attract visitors to your s ite and can influence purchasing. Netcenlives.com is a company that can provide your business with customer reward programs. P ublicizing through traditional channels such as television slots, movies, newspapers, and magazines is effective. Pay-per-click is a mode of operation that calls for paying the host according to the number of click-throughs to a site. Pay-per-lead is a mode of operation that pays the host for every lead generated from the advertisement. Pay-per-sale is a mode of operation that pays the host for every sale resulting from a click through. Webcasting is a broadcasting technique on the Web that uses streaming media to broadcast an event over the Web. Interactive Advertising involves consumers in the advertising campaign. An example is WebRIOT, a game show on MTV. The game is aired on television, and viewers can join in the game at the same time by playing online. Public Relations (PR) and press releases keep customers and your company's employees current on the latest information about products, services, and intemal and external issues such as company promotions and consumer reactions. Trade shows arc excellent opportunities to generate site interest by speaking at conferences, which increases brand awareness 47 Table 7 Customer Relationship Management CR.M:Area Handling Sales tracking Transaction support Data-mining Call center Log-file analysis Cookie Customer registrntion Personalization One-to-one marketing Onsite Search engine Registering with Internet search engines Partnering Afffiiate Programs Culture management Description Handling is essentially the maintenance of out-bound and in-bound calls from customers and service representatives. Sales tracking is the process of tracing and recording all sales made. Transaction support entails technology and personnel used for conducting transactions. Data-mini ng is a wny to analyze information collected from visitors. Data-mining uses algorithms and statistical tools to find patterns in data gathered from customer visits. A call center gathers customer-service representatives who can be reached by an 800 number or through email, online text chatting, or real-time voice communications. A log-file analysis is a useful way to keep track of your visitors in tenns of site visits, including each visitor's location, IP address, time of visit, frequency of visits, and other key indicators. A cookie is a technology that keeps a profile on each visitor. Customer registration is an excellent method to create customer profiles because visitors fi ll out a form with personal information. Personalization technology can help a company understand the needs of its customers and the effectiveness of its website, thereby catering to the whims of the customer. One-to-one marketing such as e-mails confirms purchases and offers new products, showing customers that the business appreciates their patronage. Onsite Search engines allow people to find information relative to a subject of interest amidst the large amounts of information available on a personal website. Registering with Internet search engines is important because there are reportedly over 400 se::arch engines in usc on the Internet. This process makes a website known to the world by submitting the website as a searchable domain name in a sea of domain names. Partncring is a way of forming a strategic union with another company. Generally, legal contracts are usually written to define the relationship in a wf'ly to help a company provide customers with complimentary services and product<;. An Affiliate Program is an agreement between two parties that one will pay the other a commission based on a designated consumer action. Affi liate programs establish new income streams for companies and individuals that host the advertising affili ate websites. Culture management is the ability to understand and cater lo a target audience's patronage and culture, especially in global enterprises. 48 LIST OF REFERENCES [1] 0. Aktunc, ";The Role of Component Technologies on Enterprise Engineering,"; Masters Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2002. [2] D.H. Liles, M.E. Johnson, L.M. Meade, and D.R. Underdown, ";Enterprise Engineering: A Discipline?"; Society for Ente1prise Engineering Conference Proceedings, June 1995. [3] L. Whitman, Enterprise Engineeiing IE8801 class webpage, http://webs.twsu. edu/enteng, 2002. [4] W.D. Barnett and M.K. 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Energy efficiency (EE) is critical to help Turkey continue its trajectory of economic growth in a sustainable manner. The Government of Turkey recognizes this and has placed EE as a key component of its energy strategy and National Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. Over the past 5-10 years, it has made considerable advances in establishing a strong policy and legal framework, creating a robust institutional set-up and developing programs to support EE implementation. Institutionally, the General Directorate of Electric Power Resources Survey and Development Administration (EIE) had been mandated with EE policy making, implementation and promotion since 1981, and an Energy Efficiency Coordination Board (EECB) was established under the 2007 EE Law to coordinate various EE policies, programs and other efforts. In November 2011, EIE was converted into the General Directorate for Renewable Energy (GDRE) and absorbed within the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MENR). The World Bank conducted an EE institutional review in consultation with the Turkish Government with the objective to enhance their ability to more effectively manage EE policies and programs and thus contribute to helping meet its stated national EE targets. The review consisted of a detailed assessment of the current institutional set-up, including roles and responsibilities for EE in Turkey, along with a comparison with international experience and best practices. A final set of institutional options and recommendations are provided at the end of the report.
The problem of a healthcare workforce shortage is present on a global scale, as evidenced by the World Health Organization's estimate that by 2035, there will be a global deficit of 12.9 million healthcare workers (Campbell et al., 2013). Previous research indicates that the emigration of highly qualified professionals is relatively under-researched within the Croatian scientific community. Some studies have focused on surveys among student populations and their inclinations towards emigration as a form of potential emigration (Golub, 2003; Šverko, 2005; Mlikota and Prelas Kovačević, 2013; Bojanić, Bojanić and Likić, 2015; Mrkonjić et al., 2019; Troskot, Prsaklo and Šimić Banović, 2019; Šlibar, Oreški and Klačmer Čalopa, 2023). According to existing research, the most common reasons contributing to the inclination to-wards migration among healthcare workers in Croatia include issues in the organisation of the healthcare system and working conditions, low financial compensation, issues in the education and specialisation process, nepotism and political favouritism in the healthcare system, as well as the general political climate in society. This study is part of the first author's research for her doctoral dissertation on the topic "Key Factors in the Emigration of Healthcare Workers from the Republic of Croatia." The general aim of this research was to map the relevant reasons for the emigration of healthcare workers from Croatia from their perspective and based on their statements, and to identify the key reasons for emigration, i.e., those that prevail in the decision-making process regarding emigration. The research questions were defined as follows: What are all the factors that influenced the decision of emigrated physicians to leave Croatia? Which of these factors are more important than others, i.e., prevail in decision-making? How can we explain the differences in the importance of these factors? The research was conducted using qualitative methodology as the optimal framework considering the research topic. The study included 45 healthcare workers, both emigrated and non-emigrated. We interviewed members of the two largest groups of healthcare workers, nurses/medical technicians and physicians, but in this paper, we present preliminary results obtained from one of the researched subsamples: emigrated physicians. Some of the results presented here were obtained from research on a sample from the population of physicians who emigrated from Croatia, constituting a subsample of the total sample of emigrated healthcare workers, with a total of 18 interviews conducted (13 women, and 5 men). The research was initiated in September 2021 and completed in February 2023, with all interviews conducted online due to the pandemic context. Regarding the method of data analysis and processing, we opted for a thematic analysis approach, specifically a variant of thematic analysis developed by King (2004), called pattern analysis. We argue that this approach is particularly suitable for studies aimed at comparing different perspectives of actors in a phenomenon within a specific context. Through the process of inductive and deductive thematic analysis and in accordance with the initial theoretical-conceptual framework of this research, we established three main themes that describe and encompass important groups of reasons for the emigration of physicians from Croatia: 1. Professional aspirations of physicians. This type of motivation represents a key or significant reason for the decision to emigrate, or it is indirectly related to that decision. It may involve a desire for training that is not offered in Croatia at all, or if it is, the quality of education is perceived as inadequate, i.e., some physicians strive for higher-quality education. Physicians who want to educate themselves and/or specialise in narrowly specialised areas can only acquire their knowledge in countries with larger healthcare systems. Furthermore, reasons related to the possibility of obtaining the desired specialisation are mentioned, as well as the perception of fairness in the competition process, i.e., the perception of corruption and nepotism in these processes. 2. Organisational context of the Croatian healthcare system. This theme is crucial when discussing the reasons for the emigration of physicians from Croatia. Emigrated physicians uniformly express a high degree of dissatisfaction with various aspects of working in the Croatian public healthcare system, and in the vast majority of cases, they cite this as the key reason for deciding to emigrate. These aspects include interpersonal relationships (along with the theme of mobbing), overtime work and excessive workloads, high levels of politicisation of the profession (including the themes of corruption and nepotism in the healthcare system), and management of the healthcare system (at both higher and lower levels) along with the related theme of the system's structure and organisation. 3. General/broader social context. The theme of quality of life did not emerge as one of the decisive reasons for emigration, but the theme of the broader social context, i.e., the perception of the general socio-political atmosphere in Croatia, appeared important for some physicians, and for a smaller number, as one of the decisive reasons for emigration. We believe this broader context is associated by interlocutors with the context of working in the healthcare system. The politicisation of the profession/ system and the phenomenon of corruption and nepotism in the system are recognised as part of the broader socio-political context in which corruption and nepotism are important features of the general socio-political climate. We contend that, for a small portion of interviewed physicians, the inability to realise their professional aspirations in Croatia is an important push factor for emigration. However, we believe that our research provides grounds to conclude that this concerns a very small number of physicians, and that the phenomenon of emigration would not represent any burden to the healthcare system if other important push factors were not present. The organisational context of the public healthcare system, i.e., various aspects of the experience of working in that system, takes precedence in our analysis in terms of key push factors for emigration. In this group of reasons, there is no simple answer, as the aspects of this issue are multiple and intertwined. A large portion of emigrated physicians speak of poor interpersonal relationships as one of the most important reasons for emigration. This theme is often associated in their statements with the theme of excessive politicisation of the profession, forming opposing groups ("us/our" and "them/theirs"), which directly harms cooperation. In the context of the theme of interpersonal relationships, we notice that there are two types of mobbing, individual cases of abuse of power, and systemic mobbing, where the system accepts and legitimises it to some extent since there are no sanctions for instances of abuse. We recognise the second type mostly in relation to younger physicians, especially specialists, in the undermining of work standards and norms manifested in the frequency of overtime work, overloading with work tasks, and problems in interpersonal relationships and in managing work organisation. We also observed a specific type of systemic mobbing characterised by gender-discriminatory abusive behaviour and the use of positions of power within the system for inappropriate and disturbing practices by superiors towards staff. The overall picture we describe points to an organisational climate that tolerates, or even encourages, but most importantly conceals problems in its functioning. These issues are addressed inadequately or not at all, and there are no adequate mechanisms for sanctioning (or they exist but are not applied, and when they are, they often have little real effect for the victim). Other possible factors contributing to emigration were mentioned, such as individual and family reasons that facilitate decision-making about migration and most often increase the likelihood of emigration. In addition, factors include active recruitment by foreign agencies, changes in regulatory frameworks that facilitate mobility, recognition and evaluation of qualifications, perception of favourable conditions for immigration and integration at the destination, better opportunities for the education of children, desire for change and openness to new experiences, among others. The limitations of this research relate to the predominant focus on the physicians' reminiscences of reasons for emigration, which may sometimes be post-hoc rationalisations of their decisions. Another limitation concerns the method of conducting interviews, which, although initially planned to be face-to-face, were ultimately conducted remotely and virtually due to the circumstances of the global COVID-19 pandemic. From the presented results, we can conclude that the emigration of physicians from Croatia is shaped by numerous interconnected factors. Without investment in education and training, and the retention of the medical workforce, there is a risk of potential degradation in treatment standards due to a shortage of necessary professionals. Therefore, research on the emigration of physicians is relevant for various national stakeholders involved in the creation and implementation of public policies, especially healthcare, migration, and educational policies related to healthcare worker education and specialisation, among others.
Spätestens, wenn die vermeintlich einwandfreie fristlose Kündigung eines Mitarbeiters vom Arbeitsgericht nicht anerkannt wird, zeigt sich: Grundkenntnisse im Arbeitsrecht sind ein absolutes Muss für jeden, der Führungsverantwortung im Unternehmen zu tragen hat. Gerade junge Führungskräfte sind in vielen Fragen unsicher: o Was ist bei einer Stellenausschreibung zu beachten? o Was muss, was darf ins Arbeitszeugnis? o In welche Prozesse und Entscheidungen muss ich den Betriebsrat einbeziehen? Übersichtlich und informativ zeigen Jan Schultze-Melling und Volker Bartelt, worauf es aus juristischer Sicht bei der Personalführung ankommt.
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In face of growing concern related to climate change, green technology entrepreneurs are critically needed to develop the businesses and ideas behind climate mitigation in developing countries - but they frequently collide with challenges endemic to such environments. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the role that connections can play in helping green technology entrepreneurs innovate and scale up in developing countries, so as to inform the design of new public sector programs. Green technology entrepreneurs in developing countries need connection platforms for people, ideas, business models, transactions, as well as membership of expert communities. This study shows how cheaper, quicker, and more efficient connections can be created among stakeholders of green technology innovation in developing countries. This is done through drawing insights from a variety of public and private programs that seek to promote connections between entrepreneurs in green technology and other sectors. The report is based on 14 case studies of different programs spanning more than 80 countries. The general findings are presented in part one and insights from the individual case studies can be found in part two.
Ensuring access to essential medicines is a key objective of all health systems, and is an integral component of the progress towards universal health coverage (UHC). Despite global and national efforts to improve access and affordability of medicines, millions of people – particularly in low- and middle-income countries – still remain without access to quality-assured and affordable medicines. This study aims to contribute to existing knowledge on regulatory systems and harmonization efforts in Southeast Asia. Focusing on five member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, an Vietnam – this study gives an overview of pharmaceutical markets and key pharmaceutical policies in the region, provides a cross-country comparison of medicines regulatory systems, and details harmonization efforts, opportunities, and challenges.
Acrylamide is a monomer which has a molecular formula of C3H5NO (CH2=CH-CONH2) and has a molecular weight of 71.08 g, is colorless, odorless and has crystalline form (IARC, 1994).The acrylamide used in the production of polyacrylamide is also extremely used in the treatment of drinking and waste water, paper production, petroleum industry, the production of mine, mineral, asphalt and the treatment of land and soil. Moreover, it is also commonly used as an additive in cosmetic industry, in electrophoresis, the production of photographic film, the manufacturing of adhesive, varnish and dye and in the preparation of some alloys in dentistry European Union Risk Assessment Report (EURAR, 2002).In early 2002, high concentrations of acrylamide were reported in certain fried, baked, and deep-fried foods Swedish National Food Agency (SNFA, 2002). This discovery dramatically increased the interest in no industrial sources of acrylamide exposure to the general public. Subsequent research in many European countries and the United States determined that acrylamide is formed primarily in carbohydrate-rich foods prepared or cooked at high temperatures (i.e., >120°C) (Tareke et al., 2000 and 2002). Acrylamide has neurotoxic and genotoxic properties (Capuano and Fogliano, 2011). The contents of acrylamide vary among different types of food. Fried potato chips, coffee and toasted chicory contain much higher levels of acrylamide than other high temperature-processed foods (Delatour et al., 2004 as well as Capuano and Fogliano, 2011). The levels of acrylamide varies considerably between single foodstuffs within food groups, with crisps and chips generally containing high levels 1000 µg/kg and 500 µg/kg respectively (Kelly, 2003).Factors affecting acrylamide formation and degradation in foods are acrylamide precursors such as free amino acids (mainly asparagine), reducing sugars and processing conditions, (baking time and temperature, moisture content and matrix of product).The obvious toxicological implications of food-borne acrylamide has initiated substantial public and scientific concern (World Health Organization Meeting, 2002 June and United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) meeting, 2002 September) and has significantly increased interest in the toxic effects of acrylamide.The importance of acrylamide in food was mentioned for the first time by Tareke et al. (2002) who showed that feeding rats with fried feed led to a large increase in the level of the haemoglobin adduct, which was concluded to be N-(2-carbamoyl methyl) valine.In human, acrylamide has some mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. Hence, it is classified in class 2A of carcinogenic materials as an agent that increases the probability of endometrial, pulmonary, and pancreatic cancers (El-Kholy et al., 2012 as well as LoPachin and Gavin, 2012). Studies indicated that liver, kidney, brain and erythrocyte GST have significant binding capacity with acrylamide, with liver GST is three times more efficient in conjugating acrylamide compared to brain GST in rats (Alturfan et al., 2011).Acrylamide have significant binding capacity to liver, kidney, brain and erythrocyte (Sumner et al., 1997). The other additional toxicological effects reported are depletion of adipose tissues, decreased liver and kidney, mottled lungs, atrophy of skeletal muscle, distension of urinary bladder, thickening of stomach and decrease in red blood cell (RBC) count and packed cell volume (PCV) (Miller et al., 1982), making it an important researchable substance.The neurotoxic effects of acrylamide can be observed at low dose with long exposures (Erkekoglu and Baydar, 2014), suggesting that dietary acrylamide is harmful to humans, especially children. The presence of acrylamide in food remains a health risk. According to WHO, the mean margin of exposure (MOE) value based on the carcinogenic effect of acrylamide in mammary glands is 300 -310 (Pedreschi et al., 2014), which is lower than 10,000, a criterion regarded as low health concern. Moreover, the detected concentrations of acrylamide and glycidamide haemoglobin adducts in Canadian teenagers indicate the need to reduce acrylamide exposure in the population (Brisson et al., 2014).Grape (Vitis vinifera ) leaves have been used in medicine due to various biological activities including stop bleeding, inflammation, and pain (Baytop, 1999), hepatoprotective, spasmolytic, hypoglycemic and vasorelaxant effects, as well as, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, antiviral and particularly antioxidant properties (Xia et al., 2010). In addition, Orhan et al. (2009) reported that V. vinifera leaves have role in the formulation of dietary antioxidant supplements.The objective of the present study is to estimate acrylamide levels in some different food samples obtained from Egyptian local market and to determine the levels of acrylamide formation during different processing conditions, in addition, to investigate the effects of pre-frying treatments on acrylamide reduction of acrylamide in some Egyptian foods. Thus an investigation of acrylamide effects on biochemical and pathological effects become vital. In present studies, investigation of the effect of acrylamide formed in fried rice and different concentrations in drinking water. The monitoring of the thyroid hormone levels and hematological values in the plasma collected from the experimental animals. The preventive effect of feeding grape leaves as a source of antioxidant was also studied.b. Material and MethodSurvey of acrylamide levels in some Egyptian foods. Samples were taken from the Egyptian market, prepared and homemade samples, i.e., Potato, Toast, Coffee, Peanut, Fried onion, Falafel, Fried noodles, Fried rice and Cooked Rice .Then evaluation effect of different temperatures and/or times on acrylamide formation in fried rice and fried potatoes. From previous results showed significant increases in the concentrations of acrylamide in rice compared with potatoes. Frying rice is one of the methods used by Egyptians, so we went to study the effect of temperatures and time on the rice in more details. Several treatments were carried out on rice before frying on reduction of acrylamide formation of fried rice at 180 °C for 10 min, i.e., (1) Untreated rice was used as a control. (2) Rice was washed under tap running water for 2 min. (3) Rice was washed and soaking in water for 20 min. (3) Soak rice in citric acid (1%) for 20 min. (4) Soak rice in acetic acid (1%) for 20 min. (5) Soaking rice in water "resulting from grape leaves soaking" for 20 min. (6) Soaking rice in water "resulting from grape leaves boiling" for 20 min. (7) Soaking rice in water "resulting from poached grape leaves soaking" for 20 min. Determination of acrylamide in foods performed using GC /MS technique.SamplesDifferent types of market samples (potato samples, toast samples, coffee samples and peanut sample) were purchased from local markets. Prepared samples were divided into two brands, first brand is used in Egyptian popular prepared meals i.e. "onion in Koushari" and "Falafel", second brand is used in Egyptian homemade meals i.e. fried noodles, fried rice and cooked rice.Determination of acrylamide by GC/MSSamples were allowed to swell adding water in an amount normally corresponding to 3 times the weight of the sample (more for exceptionally dry samples). Taking into consideration homogeneity and availability of the sample, often 25 g of sample and 75 ml of water were combined in a 150 ml beaker glass. After mixing, the homogenate was allowed to swell during 30 min at 70 °C in a water bath (GFL, German). The glass beaker was covered by aluminium foil to prevent evaporation of water.Ten grams of the homogenate was weighed into a 100 ml centrifuge glass with a screw cap and thoroughly mixed with 40 ml of 1-propanol at 4000 rpm for 10 min (Sigma, German). When the solids form lumps, mixing was supported by a blender (Polytron). 10 ml (8.4 g) of the supernatant (possibly after centrifugation of about 12 ml of turbid supernatant) was transferred to a 25 ml pointed flask. Fifteen droplets (about 200 mg) of a vegetable oil were added and the water/propanol removed in a rotary evaporator at about 50 Torr (unit) and 60-70 °C in a water bath. Evaporation was stopped as soon as no liquid was left. The residue from the evaporation, consisting of fat/added oil and often much salt, was extracted with acetonitrile and defatted with hexane. 3 ml acetonitrile and 20 ml hexane were added and mixed with the sample with the help of an ultrasonic bath for 15 min (JEIOTECH, Canada). The acetonitrile (lower) phase was transferred into a 10 ml reagent glass with screw cap by means of a Pasteur pipette, losing acetonitrile rather than carrying along hexane. The acetonitrile phase was extracted by another 5 ml hexane, now transferring 1.5 ml of the acetonitrile phase (assumed to be half) into a 1.5 ml autosampler vial (Biedermann et al., 2002). The samples were analyzed in Organic Pollutants Laboratory, Regional Centre for Food and Feed, Agriculture Research Centre, Giza.Chemical examination of grape leavesGrape leaves and its ethanolic extract preparation The leaves were cleaned and dried in shade at room temperature for 3 days then coarsely powdered with the help of a hand-grinding mill. 20 g dried powder of plant leave was weighed and transferred into a beaker. 100 mL of ethanol 70% was added into the beaker and the mixture was shaken using mechanical shaker (Thermo, Canada) for 12 h at room temperature. The extract was filtered using Whatman No.1 filter paper. The filtrate was collected and the residue was re-extracted twice. Then 0.2 ml of the mixture was diluted with 2 ml of ethanol and injected in the GC/ MS/ MS. The sample was analyzed in Organic Pollutants Laboratory, Regional Centre for Food and Feed, Agriculture Research Centre, Giza.GC/ MS analysis programThe analysis of the grape leaves extract was using preference mention GC/MS above. The carrier gas was helium with the linear velocity of 1ml/min. The oven temperature was set at 55 oC for 3 min and then programmed until 280 oC at a rate of 11 oC/min. The injector and detector temperatures were 220 oC and 220 oC respectively. Injection mode, splitless, volume injected 1 μl. The MS operating parameters were as follows: ionization potential 70 eV, interface temperature 280 oC. Selected ion monitoring (Scan) mode was applied used m/z at start mass 35 and end mass 600.The identification of components was based on a comparison of their mass spectra and retention time with those of the authentic compounds and by computer matching with NIST and WILEY library as well as by comparison of the fragmentation pattern of the mass spectral data with those reported in the literature (Santana et al., 2013).Evaluation of radical scavenging activityThe free radical scavenging effect of grape leaves ethanolic extract was assessed by the decolouration of a methanolic solution of 1, 1 –diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical (violet colour) according to the method of Blois (1958).Various concentration of test solution in 0.1ml was added to 0.9 ml of 0.1 mM solution of DPPH in methanol. Methanol only (0.1ml) was used as experimental control. After 30 minute of incubation at room temperature, the reduction in the number of free radical was measured, reading the absorbance at 517nm. Ascorbic acid was used as reference standard by concentration of 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 ppm. The scavenging activity of the samples corresponded and to the intensity of quenching DPPH.Preparation of blood samplesFive blood samples were collected from rats of each group from eye plexus after 28 days in clean dry sterile and labeled centrifuge tubes. Each collected sample was divided in to two parts, one for serum was collected in heparinized tube and the other for plasma was collected in non- heparinized tube .Rats were fasted for 12 h, and then slightly anaesthetized with carbon dioxide gas. Separating serum was done by centrifugation at 1500 r.p.m for 5 min. Organs of rats were weighted and extracted for dissection.
Man-made climate change is affecting water infrastructure in all regions of the world, affecting large numbers of people in their daily life and the development of their societies. As part of the World Bank Water Anchor's analytical and advisory work on water and climate change, consultants have investigated how private sector services to infrastructure may address the challenges related to climate change while, at the same time, improving development opportunities for people. This report, which is one of the outcomes of the work, addresses the role of private providers of non-financial climate change-related services with relevance for water infrastructure. This report investigates to need for additional services with regard to climate change and analyzes the potential for the private sector in providing these services. The analysis focuses on the water sectors likely to be affected by climate change, that is, water resources management, irrigation and drainage, hydropower, coastal protection, flood protection, urban water supply, and sanitation as well as water quality. In addition, opportunities for mutual engagement of public and private agencies are analyzed and the perspectives of market development are explored. The central aim of the report is to deepen our understanding of the opportunities for engaging private providers of climate change services in climate change adaptation combined with socioeconomic development opportunities.
"Fake News" bilden seit Menschengedenken ein zentrales Problem für die individuelle und öffentliche Meinungsbildung. Dabei wird die Wirkung verbreiteter Desinformation heutzutage durch die technischen Möglichkeiten im Bereich der Online-Kommunikation, etwa durch die Echokammern in sozialen Netzwerken oder den Einsatz künstlicher Meinungsverstärker, mitunter noch verstärkt. Effekte von einmal geäußerter Desinformation lassen sich aus kognitionswissenschaftlicher Perspektive nur noch sehr schwer korrigieren. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich daher mit dem (kommunikations-)grundrechtlichen Schutz vo...
"Fake News" bilden seit Menschengedenken ein zentrales Problem für die individuelle und öffentliche Meinungsbildung. Dabei wird die Wirkung verbreiteter Desinformation heutzutage durch die technischen Möglichkeiten im Bereich der Online-Kommunikation, etwa durch die Echokammern in sozialen Netzwerken oder den Einsatz künstlicher Meinungsverstärker, mitunter noch verstärkt. Effekte von einmal geäußerter Desinformation lassen sich aus kognitionswissenschaftlicher Perspektive nur noch sehr schwer korrigieren. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich daher mit dem (kommunikations-)grundrechtlichen Schutz vo...
