Web-based Support Systems (WSS) are an emerging multidisciplinary research area in which one studies the support of human activities with the Web as the common platform,mediumandinterface.TheInternetaffectseveryaspectofourmodernlife. Moving support systems to online is an increasing trend in many research domains. One of the goals of WSS research is to extend the human physical limitation of information processing in the information age. Research on WSS is motivated by the challenges and opportunities arising from the Internet. The availability, accessibility and ?exibility of information as well as the tools to access this information lead to a vast amount of opportunities. H- ever, there are also many challenges we face. For instance, we have to deal with more complex tasks, as there are increasing demands for quality and productivity. WSS research is a natural evolution of the studies on various computerized support systems such as Decision Support Systems (DSS), Computer Aided Design (CAD), and Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE). The recent advancement of computer and Web technologies make the implementation of more feasible WSS. Nowadays, it is rare to see a system without some type of Web interaction. The research of WSS is classi?ed into four groups. • WSS for speci?c domains.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of 2 workshops of the 16th International Conference on Web-Age Information Management, WAIM 2015, held in Qingdao, China, June 8-10, 2015. The 9 revised full papers are organized in topical sections on the two following workshops: International Workshop on Heterogeneous Information Network Analysis and Applications (HENA 2015), and Second International Workshop on Human Aspects of Making Recommendations in and for Social Ubiquitous Networking Environments (HRSUNE 2015).

Evidence-Based Health Care Management introduces the principles and methods for drawing sound causal inferences in research on health services management. The emphasis is on the application of structural equation modeling techniques and other analytical methods to develop causal models in health care management. Topics include causality, theoretical model building, and model verification. Multivariate modeling approaches and their applications in health care management are illustrated. The primary goals of the book are to present advanced principles of health services management research and to familiarize students with the multivariate analytic methods and procedures now in use in scientific research on health care management. The hope is to help health care managers become better equipped to use causal modeling techniques for problem solving and decision making. Evidence-based knowledge is derived from scientific replication and verification of facts. Used consistently and appropriately, it enables a health care manager to improve organizational performance. Causal inference in health care management is a highly feasible approach to establishing evidence-based knowledge that can help navigate an organization to high performance. This book introduces the principles and methods for drawing causal inferences in research on health services management.

Science for Ecosystem-based Management: Narragansett Bay in the 21st Century addresses the broad problem of coastal nutrient pollution. In the U.S., approximately two thirds of the coastal rivers and bays are moderately to severely degraded from nutrient pollution. However, debates continue about how large a problem nutrient pollution is and what actions to take, and since effective management requires decisions at a local scale, an in-depth case study can provide valuable guidance. Narragansett Bay is one of the best-studied estuaries in the world. Rhode Island has been developing regulatory and management actions to reduce nutrient inputs, particularly those of nitrogen, to the waters of Narragansett Bay. This book was developed in response to a symposium addressing this mandate with coastal/estuarine scientists and environmental management agency personnel. The contributors use long-term data sets to discuss the interactions among biological, ecological, chemical, and physical processes, and discuss what is known about nutrient inputs to the bay ecosystem, the impacts related to nutrient inputs, and how the ecosystem might respond to a sudden reduction in these inputs.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on System Configuration Management, SCM-8, held in conjunction with ECOOP'98 in Brussels, Belgium, in July 1998. The volume presents 17 revised full papers carefully reviewed and selected for presentation; also included is a tutorial lecture; approximately half of the papers come from industry. The book is divided into sections on industrial experience, experimental systems, product data management and system configuration management, formal approaches, cooperative systems, and Web-based applications.