Customer Service is important for a myriad of reasons, such as retaining customers, building customer loyalty, getting customer referrals, improving employee happiness, and remaining competitive. However, as a company grows, the focus may be on sales and production, with customer service efficiency and effectiveness being seen as an overhead…

Conceptual modeling of databases is a complex cognitive activity, particularly for novice database designers. The current research empirically tests a new pedagogy for this activity. It examines an instructional approach that stresses visualizing gradual transitions between levels of abstraction in different hierarchic levels of a relational…

Design tasks are difficult to teach, due to large, unstructured solution spaces, underspecified problems, non-existent problem solving algorithms and stopping criteria. In this paper, we comment on our approach to develop KERMIT, a constraint-based tutor that taught database design. In later work, we re-implemented KERMIT as EER-Tutor, and…

This paper explores possibilities for marrying data visualization to online archival finding aids, which have continually suffered from usability issues in their long history. This paper describes a project in which two different data visualization models were built to replace sections of an archival finding aid. Users were then shown the models,…

This work is intended to introduce a database design method to resolve the two-dimensional complexities inherent in the relational data model and its resulting performance challenges through abstract multidimensional constructs. A multidimensional constraint is derived and utilized to implement an indexed Multidimensional Key (MK) to abstract a…

An E-learning system based on a multi-agent (MAS) architecture combined with the Dynamic Content Manager (DCM) model of E-learning, is presented. We discuss the benefits of using such a multi-agent architecture. Finally, the MAS architecture is compared with a pure service-oriented architecture (SOA). This MAS architecture may also be used within…

This research report presents a summary of research and development efforts devoted to creating scoring models for automatically scoring spoken item responses of a pilot administration of the Test of English-for-Teaching ("TEFT"™) within the "ELTeach"™ framework.The test consists of items for all four language modalities:…

Based on a review of the existing literature on database design, this study proposed a unified database model to support corporate technology innovation. This study assessed potential support for the model based on the opinions of 200 technology industry executives, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Knowledge Officers and Chief Learning…

The increasing interdisciplinarity of scientific research creates both challenges and opportunities for librarians. The liaison model may be inadequate for supporting campus research that represents multiple disciplines and geographically dispersed departments. The identification of units, researchers, and projects is a first step in planning and…

Introduction: The IFLA functional requirements for bibliographic records model has had a major impact on cataloguing principles and practices over the past fifteen years. This paper evaluates the model in the light of changes in the wider information environment (especially to information resources and retrieval) and in information seeking…

In this study, we develop a theoretical model to investigate the association between social network properties, "content richness" (CR) in academic learning discourse, and performance. CR is the extent to which one contributes content that is meaningful, insightful and constructive to aid learning and by social network properties we…

The usability of Identity Management (IdM) systems is highly dependent upon design that simplifies the processes of identification, authentication, and authorization. Recent findings reveal two critical problems that degrade IdM usability: (1) unfeasible techniques for managing various digital identifiers, and (2) ambiguous security interfaces.…

Introduction: To provide valuable services in the future, libraries will need to create better information systems and set up an infrastructure more in line with the current technologies. The "Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records" conceptual model provides a basis for this transformation, but there are still a number of…

In the process of textbook management of universities, the flow of storage, collection and check of textbook is quite complicated and daily management flow and system also seriously constrains the efficiency of the management process. Thus, in order to combine the information management model and the traditional management model, it is necessary…

Conceptual models are applied as the first step in software design methodologies for collecting the semantics involved in the universe of discourse. Nevertheless, the abstraction process creates some misunderstandings for novice designers, such as difficulties in modeling some constructs and in understanding the semantics that they represent. This…