Supply Chain Management (SCM) deals with the planning and coordination of resource procuring, product marketing, production scheduling, and end product delivering across multiple organizations. This thesis considers the problems posed by e-Marketplace development and the design of intelligent trading agents for supply chain management in e-Marketplaces. The primary contribution of this thesis is its detailed analysis of the characteristics and properties of a typical e-Marketplace environment, its exploration of optimal trading agent strategies and its discussions of possible enhancements for the state-of-the-art e-Marketplace development and trading agent design. This research is stimulated by the recently introduced Trading Agent Competition for Supply Chain Management (TAC SCM) game scenario, which is a representation of typical e-Marketplaces. TAC SCM is the only competition-based e-Marketplace simulation system that captures the real challenges present in an integrated procurement, production and customer-bidding environment. The game was designed jointly by a team made up of researchers from the e-Supply Chain Management Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Minnesota, and the Swedish Institute of Computer Science (SICS), with tremendous inputs from the research community. This thesis starts with a detailed analysis of TAC SCM e-Marketplaces. We present an abstract model of the game, which consists of the market demand and market supply models. A series of experimental results that indicate the correctness and effectiveness of the strategies will then be presented, followed by the presentation of a new negotiation mechanism for the TAC SCM component market and the presentation of a new supplier model to demonstrate how negotiation strategies can be applied in automated negotiation. We explore the areas where the current TAC SCM scenario can be improved, followed by an outline of proposed enhancements to the TAC SCM e-Marketplace mechanism. Finally the thesis concludes with a discussion of future research directions. / Master of Science (Hons.)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

iii ABSTRACT TRUST AND SELF-DISCLOSURE IN THE CONTEXT OF COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION Erdost, T&uuml / rk&uuml / ler M. S., Department of Psychology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bengi &Ouml / ner &ndash / &Ouml / zkan April 2004, 120 pages This study was aimed to shed light on the effects of computer mediated communication on self-disclosure and trust which appear to be the two important concepts within interpersonal relations. To what extent the computer mediated communication differs from or similar to face-to-face communication in terms of trust and self-disclosure which play a key role in the establishment, development and maintenance of relationships was explored. Results were obtained from 100 people who participated in synchronous communication via Internet. Computer administered multi scaled questionnaire was used for data collection. Results of 2 (communication medium: face-to-face vs. computer mediated communication) X 2 (intimacy of relationship: trust vs. self-disclosure) repeated measures of ANOVA revealed a significant main effect for communication medium and intimacy of relationship indicating that subjects reported more intimate relationships for face-to-face communication and the reported levels of self-disclosure were found to be higher than the reported levels of trust. Also an interaction was found for communication medium and intimacy of relationship. Although in terms of face-to-face communication no significant differences were found between trust and selfdisclosure scores, trust scores were found to be significantly lower when people communicate via Internet. In addition, findings revealed that both measures of trust and self-disclosure were significantly lower in computer mediated communication condition than in face-to-face communication. Findings which did not completely but partially supported the hypothesis of the study were discussed within the context of literature and in terms of their theoretical as well as practical implications. Limitations and possible confounds were also mentioned for their potential influence on the results. Keywords: Internet, Computer Mediated Communication, Self-Disclosure, Trust.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-145). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2006. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-157). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 72-73).

Thesis (M.S.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by Shan Suthaharan; submitted to the Dept. of Computer Science. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Aug. 25, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-67).

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-135). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1999. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.