-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Re: [AISWorld] Journal of IT Case and Application Research (JITCAR), Volume 21, Number 1 Published (included in SCOPUS) Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2019 20:57:22 +0000 From: Shailendra Palvia Shailendra.Palvia@liu.edu To: aisworld@lists.aisnet.org aisworld@lists.aisnet.org, AISWorld aisworld-bounces@lists.aisnet.org (aisworld-bounces@lists.aisnet.org) aisworld-bounces@lists.aisnet.org CC: Bansal, Gaurav bansalg@uwgb.edu, Joshi, Kailash joshi@umsl.edu

Dear Colleagues around the world:

It is my pleasure to present the second 2019 JITCAR issue. The contents of this issue are: Editorial Preface article by Dr. Edward Roche; Research Case article one co-authored by Dr. Nikolaus Obwegeser, Mr. Peter Danielsen, Mr. Kenneth Hansen, Mr. Mads Helt, and Mr. Lasse Nielsen; Research Case article two co-authored by Dr. Fernando Almeida, Mr. Emanuel Miranda, and Mr. João Falcão; Expert Opinion report by Dr. Jack Becker and Dr. Daniel Peak; and Book Review by Dr. Vijay Vemuri. Summary information of these items is as follows.

In the editorial preface article titled, "The Search for Global Cyber Stability", the author focuses on how the world is moving away from traditional arms or nuclear conflicts to cyber conflicts. Nations are increasingly striving to build cyber arms for defensive as well as offensive purposes. Such cyber security measures will clearly impact individual privacy in spite of "norms" being developed by United Nations to minimize such impact. Civil society, corporations and nations will have a huge role in the future conflicts among nations.

First research article is titled, "Selection and training of super-users for ERP implementation projects." This article explores the role of super-users in implementation of ERP projects. How should these super-users be selected and trained is the focus of this article. In the context of a case study at Vestas, the world's largest manufacturer of wind turbines, the authors improve an existing widely accepted skill measurement model to develop a systematic process of super-user selection and training. The article goes on to highlight the specific skills required in different phases of the selection and training process.

Second research is titled, "Challenges and Facilitators Practices for Knowledge Management in Large-Scale Scrum Teams." It is a study addressing challenges faced by large-scale scrum teams in sharing and managing knowledge. Widely known knowledge management practices typically address only team level collaboration, which are not easily scalable to multiple scrum teams. This article conducts an empirical study at one of the largest information technology companies operating in Portugal, in which multiple scrum teams working locally and in remote offices develop e-commerce solutions for the African market.

The Expert Opinion report documents interview by Dr. Jack Becker and Dr. Daniel Peak with Mr. Rich Giuss, VP and CIO of Atmos Energy Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, is country's largest, fully-regulated, natural-gas-only distributor, serving over three million natural gas distribution customers in over 1,400 communities in eight states. His responsibilities include leading Atmos' enterprise-wide information technology strategy, architecture, project delivery, and operations/service delivery functions. He also focuses on company's strategic initiatives, including service excellence and operational effectiveness. Before joining Atmos Energy, Rich spent more than two decades at Baxter International, Allegiance Healthcare and Cardinal Health and rose through the career path to senior leadership roles. In 2003, he was named by Computerworld Magazine as a Premier 100 IT Leader. At Allegiance Healthcare, his IT team developed its ValueLink JIT supply chain business application which was recognized in 1997 by CIO Magazine's Application Hall of Fame as one of the 12 most influential business applications of the past decade. Before joining Baxter, he held positions in both marketing and technology at Boise Cascade Corporation from 1979 to 1982. Mr. Gius earned a BS in computer science from Northern Illinois University and an MBA in Finance and Operations Management from the University of Chicago - Booth School of Business. Questions posed to Mr. Rich Gius are: (a) Would you please describe your role as VP and CIO at Atmos Energy Corporation? (b) You have held the top IT/IS leadership position at Atmos Energy for nearly 12 years, which speaks volumes to your success as a VP and CIO; during this time, have you reported to the CEO (or other C-level officers) and how has this relationship changed and evolved over this time? (c) What are the challenges you face in meeting the higher customer demands in the very competitive energy industry? (d) Please elaborate on a few of the most successful projects you have overseen or initiated. (e) Can you expound on examples of the geospatial information system (GIS)? (f) We note that you have managed IT services in the office products industry, the health care industry, and now the energy distribution business across the United States - how has your IT management role evolved during your career? (g) Toward what is IT management evolving? (h) What were some of the most important lessons learned during each period of your career in different industries? (i) In what areas of your firm are you using Big Data analytics? (j) What tools have you found to be most beneficial for Data Analytics? (k) What have been your major challenges with Big Data? (l) Can you please discuss some of the performance improvement and cost saving benefits from your Business-data analytics applications? (m) Can you please share some of the lessons learned from the new role of Business Intelligence (BI)? (n) Which IT developments have been the most disruptive to your role, to employees, and to clients since you assumed the role of CIO? (o) How is social media affecting customer relations with your firm? (p) How does Atmos integrate social media with employee responsibilities? (q) Often, the energy industry is seen as posing a nation-wide cyber-security danger; what experiences can you share of potential threats and the means by which the industry deterred these threats in the past? (r) You have done some fairly innovative things during your career, as evidenced by the prestigious CIO awards you have received; we understand that you are now delving into the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve customer service - can you please elaborate on some of those projects? (s) can you think of any other important IT/IS issues that you would like to raise for our readers? (t) From an IT perspective, where do you see the Atmos Energy Corporation in five years?

Book review report by Dr. Vijay Vemuri provides a detailed critique of the 2016 book titled, "Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning," authored by Christopher M. Bishop https://smile.amazon.com/Nicholas-D.-Evans/e/B001IYVE4I/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1492661110&sr=8-1 and published in 2006 by Springer Science+Business Media. Even though published nearly 12 years ago, this comprehensive book still remains relevant, as it is either required, or a recommended textbook in many machine learning, and related courses in leading universities. Though PRML is primarily targeted for engineering and computer science programs, it is potentially useful for management information systems (MIS) and decision support systems (DSS) instructors. Because of its thorough and rigorous coverage of machine learning concepts and algorithms, this book should be studied with care and rejoiced in its details. The book covers various aspects of this theme in 14 chapters and four appendices that provide prerequisite mathematical background. The fourteen chapters focus on (a) elementary statistical concepts, decision theory and information theory, and Bayesian estimation; (b) several probability distributions relevant in frequentist and Bayesian statistics, and an introduction to nonparametric statistics; (c) linear methods for regression including penalty function methods, and Bayesian regression; (d) linear models of classification (also known as discriminant analysis), Bayesian logistic regression; (e) neural networks; (f) kernel methods; (g) sparse kernel machines; (h) graphical models, Bayesian networks, conditional independence, and Markov random fields; (i) mixture models and Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm; (j) Approximate inference; (k) Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) method of estimating posterior densities in a Bayesian context; (l) continuous latent variables using principal component analysis; (m) Hidden Markov models (HMM) and linear dynamic systems; and (n) methods to integrate all regression and classification models into one overall model.

Routledge, in line with the ongoing trends, has published this journal online for the last five years since 2014. The website to find all JITCAR issues is: http://www.tandfonline.com/utca. All authors and reviewers are encouraged to start using Routledge's online manuscript submission and reviewing system http://www.editorialmanager.com/jitcar/. I urge all our current and future authors and reviewers to familiarize themselves with this system. I hope you all know that JITCAR is included in the SCOPUS index.

I hope you will enjoy reading all the items in this issue. With best regards,

Sincerely

Dr. Shailendra Palvia Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar 2016-17 Professor of MIS, College of Management Long Island University Post, Brookville, NY 11801. Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Nomination from LIU Post in 2012 and 2016 http://liu.edu/CWPost/Academics/Faculty/Faculty/P/Shailendra-Palvia?rn=Facul... Editor-in-Chief, Journal of IT Case and Application Research (JITCAR) Phone #: 732-983-7034 Thou shall not hurt anybody by action, speech or thought directly or indirectly, consciously or subconsciously and if you do, ask for forgiveness. Please consider well being ! Of not just human beings !! But all living beings !!!

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