Various forms of partnerships have increasingly emerged among organizations, in both the manufacturing and service industry. In one type of structured partnership, called the Virtual Organization (VO), the member organizations share with each other a part of their capacities and capabilities, so that together they can seize a bigger market share and more opportunities. However, to excel the VO’s potential, the participating organizations must become fully informed about each other’s particular abilities and competencies, as represented by their shared business services (BSs). Our approach proposes the creation of a common shared pool of integrated BSs, and further optimizing it through consolidating similar and related BSs, to reduce the size of this shared pool and enhance its learning curve by the VO partners. To this end, we extend and adapt a Business Process merge technique to make it more suitable to BS consolidation and VO applicability. In this paper, a semiautomated methodology is introduced that creates an optimized, clean (i.e., anomaly-free consolidated model), and valid (i.e., approved by domain experts) set of consolidated BSs in the VO context. Design science principles are applied to this research, and a systematic literature review is also performed. Furthermore, a real case study from the construction industry is conducted to validate the introduced methodology.

This work investigates how social bots can phish employees of organizations, and thus endanger corporate network security. Current literature mostly focuses on traditional phishing methods (through e-mail, phone calls, and USB sticks). We address the serious organizational threats and security risks caused by phishing through online social media, specifically through Twitter. This paper first provides a review of current work. It then describes our experimental development, in which we created and deployed eight social bots on Twitter, each associated with one specific subject. For a period of four weeks, each bot published tweets about its subject and followed people with similar interests. In the final two weeks, our experiment showed that 437 unique users could have been phished, 33 of which visited our website through the network of an organization. Without revealing any sensitive or real data, the paper analyses some findings of this experiment and addresses further plans for research in this area.

Due to peculiarities and complexities embedded in complex service-enhanced products, e.g. automated buildings, these products are one-of-a-kind, largely customized, and may involve a large number of competitive / cooperative multi-stakeholders. Life cycle of complex products typically includes a substantially long creation phase, followed by its operation and evolution phases that last over decades. Although, the majority of complex product components (e.g. equipment and services) are specified gradually and by varied stakeholders during its creation stage, further specifications are also provided later on to support its evolution. This paper addresses challenges in both specification of varied and numerous components, and managing these specifications thought-out the complex product life cycle. We address reusability, modularity, and federated sharing requirements in the coopetition space of complex product specification, and within the context of Virtual organizations Breeding Environments (VBEs). Our developed product specification system, which is already alpha tested, addresses these identified requirements, and is described and exemplified.

The notion of service-enhanced product offers new perspectives for value creation and differentiation in manufacturing. In the case of complex and highly customized products, the inclusion of business services that add value to the product typically require the collaboration of multiple stakeholders. In order to facilitate the co-creation and delivery of composite services, a proper collaborative environment is needed. This paper introduces a cloud-based collaborative environment, designed to support a mix of collaborative enterprise networks involved in the solar energy sector.

We present an algorithm for multiclass Semi-Supervised learning which is learning from a limited amount of labeled data and plenty of unlabeled data. Existing semi-supervised algorithms use approaches such as one-versus-all to convert the multiclass problem to several binary classification problems which is not optimal. We propose a multiclass semi-supervised boosting algorithm that solves multiclass classification problems directly. The algorithm is based on a novel multiclass loss function consisting of the margin cost on labeled data and two regularization terms on labeled and unlabeled data. Experimental results on a number of UCI datasets show that the proposed algorithm performs better than the state-of-the-art boosting algorithms for multiclass semi-supervised learning.

In this paper we present a new Multiclass semi-supervised learning algorithm that uses a base classifier in combination with a similarity function applied to all data to find a classifier that maximizes the margin and consistency over all data. A novel multiclass loss function is presented and used to derive the algorithm. We apply the algorithm to animal behavior recognition from accelerometer data. Animal-borne accelerometer data are collected from free-ranging animals and then labeled by a human expert. The resulting data are used to train a classifier. However, labeling is not easy from accelerometer data only and it is often not feasible to observe animals fitted with an accelerometer. All current approaches to this behavior recognition task use supervised or unsupervised learning. Since unlabeled data are easy to acquire and collect, a semi-supervised approach seems appropriate and reduces the human efforts for labeling. Experiments with accelerometer data collected from free-ranging gulls and benchmark UCI datasets show that the algorithm is effective and compares favorably with existing algorithms for multiclass semi-supervised learning.

Recently, Semi-Supervised learning algorithms such as co-training are used in many domains. In co-training, two classifiers based on different subsets of the features or on different learning algorithms are trained in parallel and unlabeled data that are classified differently by the classifiers but for which one classifier has large confidence are labeled and used as training data for the other. In this paper, a new form of co-training, called Ensemble-Co-Training, is proposed that uses an ensemble of different learning algorithms. Based on a theorem by Angluin and Laird that relates noise in the data to the error of hypotheses learned from these data, we propose a criterion for finding a subset of high-confidence predictions and error rate for a classifier in each iteration of the training process. Experiments show that the new method in almost all domains gives better results than the state-of-the-art methods.

Both research and practice have shown that preexistence of long-term associations/clusters of active and competitive organizations, the so-called virtual organizations breeding environments (VBEs), can greatly enhance dynamic creation of virtual organizations (VOs). During the past decade, a number of VBEs are formed worldwide, mostly among organizations located in a common region that, in principle, have common business culture and other similarities, and primarily focus on static lines of activities. The second-generation VBEs addressed in this paper; however, aim to focus on associations/clusters that are not bound to geographical regions or static lines of activities, and wish to act as well recognized and competitive entities in the society/market, facilitating time/cost effective and fluid configuration, and establishment of dynamic VOs. The proposed VBEs apply supporting information and communication technology infrastructures, tools, and services that provide common grounds for the interaction and cooperation among their member organizations. Furthermore, these multiregional VBEs assist with the needed evolution of VOs, introducing new approaches and mechanisms to build trust, define the needed collaboration business culture, and establish the common value systems and working/sharing principles among their independent organizations, among others. The paper introduces a number of models, methodologies, and tools that are designed and developed supporting both the management as well as successful operation of the second-generation VBEs.

The emergence of increasing number of collaborating organizations has made clear the need for supporting interoperability infrastructures, enabling sharing and exchange of data among organizations. Schema matching and schema integration are the crucial components of the interoperability infrastructures, and their semi-automation to interrelate or integrate heterogeneous and autonomous databases in collaborative networks is desired. The Semi-Automatic Schema Matching and INTegration (SASMINT) System introduced in this paper identifies and resolves several important syntactic, semantic, and structural conflicts among schemas of relational databases to find their likely matches automatically. Furthermore, after getting the user validation on the matched results, it proposes an integrated schema. SASMINT uses a combination of a variety of metrics and algorithms from the Natural Language Processing and Graph Theory domains for its schema matching. For the schema integration, it utilizes a number of derivation rules defined in the scope of the research work explained in this paper. Furthermore, a derivation language called SASMINT Derivation Markup Language (SDML) is defined for capturing and formulating both the results of matching and the integration that can be further used, for example for federated query processing from independent databases. In summary, the paper focuses on addressing: (1) conflicts among schemas that make automatic schema matching and integration difficult, (2) the main components of the SASMINT approach and system, (3) in-depth exploration of SDML, (4) heuristic rules designed and implemented as part of the schema integration component of the SASMINT system, and (5) experimental evaluation of SASMINT.

The stability of a virtual organization breeding environment (VBE) requires the right balance of trust level among its members. Particularly for industry-based large-size VBEs and considering the global economy, organizations are now faced with the growing: value of information, uncertainties, and risks surrounding most businesses. As a result, creating a virtual organization (VO) within the VBE environment is becoming challenging and difficult. Establishing trust relationships among organizations in the VBE is now a promising facilitator for fluid VO creations. A priori to establishing trust relationships among member organizations however, trust levels of involved organizations must be properly assessed. In order to properly assess trust level of organizations in VBEs, trust elements and trust relationships must be thoroughly characterized. This paper presents a three-stage approach for identifying and analyzing trust elements. It also presents the general trust elements for three main trust objectives in VBEs, namely for creating trust: among VBE members, of the member to the VBE administration, and of the external stakeholder (e.g., a customer) to the VBE

Abstract Collaborative networked organizations are complex entities whose proper understanding, design, implementation, and management require the integration of different modeling perspectives. A comprehensive modeling framework is therefore proposed as a first step towards the elaboration of a reference model for collaborative networks. Modeling tools and theories developed in other disciplines are also analyzed in terms of their potential applicability in this domain. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

A main characteristic of a Virtual organization Breeding Environment (VBE) is the set of competencies that it can offer to the market and society. The VBE competencies are defined in this paper through the competencies of three main VBE information components, such as the VBE member, the Virtual Organization (VO) formed in the VBE, and the VBE itself. Typically competencies appear as a part of the VBE members’ profiles. VO’s competencies need to be obtained through the VOs’ profiles, during the operating stage of the VBE. The competencies of the VBE itself need to be carefully defined at each VBE and are contained in the VBE profile. These three kinds of profiles are addressed in this paper. The management of profiles and competencies within a VBE shall be supported by a special subsystem of the VBE Management System (VMS) - Profiling and Competency Management System (PCMS) specified in this paper. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

To smooth the cooperation within a VBE, and to facilitate the partner selection for VOs configured in VBEs, the VBE member organizations need to trust each other. Among others, lack of trust relationships among organizations, negatively affects their information exchange and resources sharing. In small-size VBEs, organizations have the chance to get to know each, and thus can individually make their judgment on trustworthiness level of others. For large-size VBEs however, new approaches and mechanisms are required to be designed for measuring/assessing the trustworthiness level of other organizations. This paper first addresses this problem area and its challenges and then classifies it into three focus areas. It then introduces an approach for measuring the trustworthiness level of other organizations, based on both the trust criteria defined by the trustor and the past performance of the trustee. Three trust perspectives pentagon, square, and triangle, are then defined addressing the three problem focus areas. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Schematic and semantic heterogeneity are two important types of heterogeneities that need to be resolved in order to enable interoperability and exchange of data among distributed and heterogeneous databases in a collaborative network of biodiversity nodes. This paper describes the SASMINT system, which performs schema matching and integration among databases. SASMINT identifies syntactic/semantic/structural similarities between two schemas as automatically as possible, resolving their heterogeneity and creating mappings among the pairs of matched components. Unlike other systems that are typically limited to specific algorithms, SASMINT combines a number of algorithms from the NLP and graph theory domains. After obtaining the user-input on validation/enhancement of matching results, SASMINT exploits the results of schema matching to automatically generate an integrated schema. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The wide dissemination and effective materialization of the foreseen benefits of dynamic virtual organizations require a holistic approach to understand, model, and develop the needed infrastructures and tools to support the full life cycle of this organizational paradigm. Under this scope, the ECOLEAD integrated project was launched with the aim of creating the necessary foundations and mechanisms for establishing an advanced network-based industry society. The main underlying concepts, approach and preliminary results of this ongoing initiative are briefly summarized. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Effectiveness of the virtual organization (VO) creation process is the base for the possibility of having truly dynamic VOs in response to collaboration opportunities. A realistic approach to materialize agility in VO creation is the assumption of a VO Breeding Environment. In this context, a discussion of the process and suggested functionalities towards a VO creation framework are presented. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

To remain competitive in the aggressive global market, the tourism industry and service providers face the need to collaborate and share their expertise and resources, as well as their costs and risks. The paradigm of the virtual enterprise addresses the necessary horizontal infrastructure needed to support such a collaboration framework. Designing a Web-based Tourism Information System (WTIS) as a virtual enterprise requires the proper infrastructure that supports the enterprises' inter-operation, task sharing, and federated information management. This paper addresses the main requirements and research challenges, and describes a reference architecture for the WTIS, focusing on a novel horizontal infrastructure to support the Virtual Tourism Enterprises and provide the necessary basis for vertical value-added-services developed on top of the infrastructure.

For distributed computing environments, required for computer integrated manufacturing and other engineering applications, it is most important to support the sharing and exchange of complex objects among cooperating sites, while preserving their autonomy. Specification of complex objects and their object boundaries in a federated database are described. Each database, as well as the entire federation, is modeled as a collection of related objects. Complex objects are defined as subgraphs of the entire object base and are specified by a root object and a collection of paths. A complex object can be distributed over several sites. A method is described that ensures referential integrity while maintaining the autonomy of each database. Different linearization techniques of complex objects are supported to enable applications to retrieve complex objects as single entities. This model is implemented in PEER, a federated, object-oriented database system developed for engineering applications.>

In a network of autonomous cooperating agents, complex distributed objects can be shared and exchanged. The novel feature presented in this paper is handling complex distributed objects, that we claim to be essential for cooperating teams of engineers e.g. in CIM, and in an environment that supports the integration of a group of expert systems. A model is presented here for the creation, retrieval, and modification of complex objects that are distributed in a federation of cooperating agents. The information that agents are willing to share with others in the federation is uniformly represented as inter-related objects. This defines a distributed object graph that spans over the entire federation of agents. Complex objects form a connected subgraph of this distributed object graph. To support safe cooperation and sharing of complex objects, while preserving agents’ autonomy, agents can bilaterally negotiate the access rights and deletion policies on distributed complex objects and when necessary these rights are propagated. Since the access rights are negotiated among agents, and not imposed by a central authority, the autonomy of each agent is fully maintained. To enable application programs to define and retrieve a complex object as a single entity, a linearization mechanism is introduced in the paper. The model described here has been developed as a part of the PEER system. PEER is a federated objectbase, designed and implemented as part of the Archon abstract machine, which provides an environment for the integration of heterogeneous cooperating expert systems.

A complex object-oriented database system constructed using a physical database which is record oriented is described. The data model includes behavioral and timing information, and is comprehensive, covering the entire design process. The use of a commercial record-oriented database allowed rapid implementation of the system, supported schema changes, and provided a multiuser environment with database control support functions. Using such a database to support high-level synthesis activities is novel.>

The 3-Dimensional Information Space (3DIS) is an extensible object-oriented framework for information management. It is specifically oriented toward supporting the database requirements for data-intensive information system applications in which (1) information objects of various levels of abstraction and modalities must be accommodated, (2) descriptive and structural information (metadata) is rich and dynamic, and (3) users who are not database experts must be able to design, manipulate, and evolve databases. In response to these needs, the 3DIS provides an approach in which data and the descriptive information about data are handled uniformly in an extensible framework. The 3DIS provides a simple, geometric, and formal representation of data which forms a basis for understanding, defining, and manipulating databases. Several prototype implementations based upon the 3DIS have been designed and implemented and are in experimental use.