46 research outputs found
Supply Chain Management meets Auto-ID Management: A Structured Approach
No full textNowadays, firms need to support e-business through solutions that guarantee, on the one hand, the supply chain management (SCM) and, on the other, products’ identification and traceability (ID automation). These two
aspects have been faced, up until now, in a separate manner and adhered to the definition of established standards. Thus, we propose an approach that allows the integration of SCM and ID-automation software architectures and, at the same time, guarantees the separation of concerns. In this paper, we also present an implementation that uses two systems: the data interchange system based on the ebXML standard and the traceability system based on the EPCglobal standard. According to this approach, we propose a preliminary implementation experience for the pharmaceutical sector
B2B Interoperability using Business-Driven Integration: Conceptual Framework and Case Study
No full textThe interoperability among companies and the business-to-business (B2B) message exchange are key aspects of the growth of businesses: in the next years the companies that are able to cooperate with each other will be winners. The use of B2B messages modifies a company’s method of operation and, of course, its internal business process. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework to solve the two types of problems that arise in the B2B field: one is more methodological, aimed at choosing guidelines oriented to the integration of business processes and the definition of business messages; the other is more technological, aimed at choosing an infrastructural solution more suitable for the development of message exchanges. The paper also defines a case study in order to show the feasibility of the conceptual framework. Using a specific case study, the paper will show the methodological and technological choices and how ontologies are the glue for different standards and notations involved in business-driven integration problems. Using BPMN notation, we design in this paper a business process that involves different business messages. The paper also presents a REST implementation of the business message exchange
Fast Prototyping of Learning Experiences: An Attempt of Modelling
No full textThere are already several examples of Enhanced Learning Management System (ELMS) that use 3D Virtual Worlds as a novel visual metaphor to catch the young student’s attention, to convey concepts and to develop their competences in a learning-by-doing and collaborative fashion. However, their main weak point is the lack of flexibility in the design of the virtual environment and in the customization of the learning experience. Moreover, the number of users potentially involved in each learning session, the variety of learning strategies and the amount of learning objects already available, require the ability of fast prototyping each virtual learning experience, generating, sometimes hundreds, of customized sessions starting from the same “general format”. The need to simplify the customization, open also to non-technical skilled people like teachers, have led us to focus the attention on the simplification of the authoring process of the learning experience and to develop OpenWebTalk, a general-purpose, flexible framework for the fast prototyping of collaborative 3D learning experiences that represents also a first approach to the structured modelling a learning session
A conceptual framework for business driven integration
No full textThe interoperability among companies and the Business to Business (B2B) message exchange are key aspects for the growth of the business: companies can efficiently interact each other over the web and so can improve its own business capability. The use of the B2B messages modify the way of operate of a company and, of course, the internal business process. The problems that may arise in the B2B message exchange are of two types: one is more methodological, aimed at choosing guidelines oriented to the integration between the business process and the definition of business messages; the other is more technological, aimed at choosing an infrastructural solution more suitable for development of message exchange. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework to solve the two types of problem. The conceptual framework wants to help companies to define a proper B2B system for message exchange through a business integration solution. It is based on three layers (conceptual, logical and technological) and it covers two separate aspects (methodological and technological) and uses the semantic web idea to link together the three different layers
Collaborative Learning through Flexible Web CVE: The Experience of WebTalk
No full textThis chapter describes the technological platform of the authors’ learning experiences and its evolution through the years, providing insights into the reasons that led to significant design choices and offering guidelines on how to deal with technological issues
A Framework to Generate 3D Learning Experiences
No full textA Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) is a computer-based virtual space that supports collaborative work and social interplay. In a 3D CVE, a ‘hosting’ 3D world is the necessary
ingredient: within it users provided with graphical embodiments called avatars that convey their identity (presence, location, movement etc.), can meet and interact with other users,
with agents or with virtual objects. Even if graphics hardware and 3D technologies are rapidly evolving and the increased Internet connection speed allows the sharing of amounts of data and information among geographically distributed users, the development of networked three-dimensional applications is still complicated and requires expert knowledge. Although some collaborative 3D Web technologies and applications have already been developed, most of them are particularly concerned with offering a high level realistic representation of the
virtual world since increasing the level of detail increases the sense of ‘virtual presence’ in the 3D world. However, these developments have not, at the same time supported a high
level, non-expert authoring process and the concepts of programming flexibility and component re-use have rarely been taken into account.
In this introduction, we discuss our research experience in the field of Collaborative Virtual Environments. We will outline our approach which has been based on both multi-channel
integration and on high performances issues
Loading and Rendering Optimization for Networked Virtual Worlds
No full textInternet-based collaborative virtual environments allow users to explore and interact with many virtual worlds containing a very large number of objects that are downloaded in real time rather than been pre-distributed. Client’s bandwidth fluctuation during the enjoyment of particularly complex environments, can produce a bottleneck that generates very long downloading and rendering time. This bottleneck can compromise the correct enjoyment of collaborative virtual environments, arising synchronization and shard state consistency problems that are keys factors in these applications. To avoid too much long waiting times during objects’ download, we have developed a method to reduce bandwidth congestion. This is possible thanks to the download of only the exact portion of geometries that is necessary for rendering, according to its own field of view and to the semantic rules defined by the designer during the phase of contents population. Such approach consists in the use of a data structure that is based on different levels of priority and allows in this way a selective download. We have applied this solution to WT04 framework which is a research project whose aim is to achieve a framework for generating and enjoining 3D collaborative virtual experiences. WT04 framework supports collaborative rules definitions suitable to perfectly govern virtual experiences
Collaborative Process Management for the Networked Enterprise: A Case Study
No full textThe ability to quickly identify and rapidly apply effective business practices makes the difference between companies that manage to remain competitive even in crisis situations and companies that suffer from short-term market changes. To seize the opportunity to adapt their business practices according to emerging organizational forms (Extended Enterprise, Virtual Enterprise) and to improve the workspace of knowledge workers who are central to an organization's success, however, companies are required to face several challenges. This paper presents a case study to support the activities of knowledge workers, increasing their productivity and their ability to find the information they need, and enabling collaboration with colleagues without changing their habits. The paper presents a set of design patterns useful in resolving emerging organizational issues. Also it briefly describes a software prototype that enables companies to introduce the business patterns in the networked workplace, integrating existing information management tools in an overall Enterprise 2.0 environment
A Framework to Support Interoperability and Multi-channel Delivery Among Heterogeneous Systems: TRAME Project
No full textThe e-commerce has become a point of strength for the companies that desire to increase their billing enlarging their clients park and reducing the management costs. Therefore the demand has been born to use platforms able to support the interoperability between heterogeneous systems and the multi-channelling with variegated devices to access different services in reliable manner and to allow, so, a spread of the market toward partner with particular needs. Furthermore, many available services have been typically designed for a single channel the web one. In a real world scenario, an ever-growing number of users take advantage of different kind of communication channel and devices. In this paper we propose a B2B oriented framework able to support the interoperability among heterogeneous systems developed according to the ebXML reference model for the business messages interchange suitable to any B2B marketplace that foresees the commercial interaction among partners with different roles and profiles (including channel and device). Such framework has been developed and experimented for the TRAME research project that has as objective to create a room of district compensation of the peaks of productive ability demands within the Textile/Clothing sector and to give the needed infrastructure for the business messages exchange among the partners of the productive spinneret
WebTalkCube: a Framework to Add One Dimension to eLearning
No full textE-Learning is gaining increasing momentum as a teaching approach, both within universities and in general within funded courses, in Italy and abroad. It is in these specific learning environments, that vast numbers of students encounter eLearning as a mean to cut times and costs of lesson-going, capitalizing their time and their efforts for a better preparation. Enterprise-wide eLearning, used in companies and associations, is also perceived as a key instrument to train human resources reducing costs. However, especially in the range of funded courses directed to a lesser educated audience in respect to undergraduates, post-docs, or highly-motivated employees within an enterprise, sustaining the trainee’s attention for eLearning courses of long duration (e.g. entire ECDL preparation courses given in eLearning format, or history courses in intermediate schools) may be a problem, reducing the effectiveness and the benefits of the eLearning approach. Starting from these issues, the problem of which teaching methodologies are to be applied to eLearning is currently one the most debated at the moment. In this paper, we advocate the necessity to intermingle the present eLearning approach, mainly based on bi-dimensional multimedia presentation of the contents (with varying degrees of exploitation of sound, graphics and interactivity), with new types of eLearning, based on the exploitation of 3D representation, thus adding one dimension to the current way of thinking eLearning. The paper will show our early experiments on the subject, and how we used 3D and networking technologies to leverage collaboration between students that are working on the same eLearning modules in different places, thus creating blended, distributed eLearning activities, and extending the current concept of eLearning (today mainly perceived as “remote learning”). After having commented the results we obtained within two of our main experiments, we elaborate on a new framework which would support better this new eLearning paradigm, we describe its architectural structure, and the directions of our future work
