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Online information vendors currently offer a variety of additional services; among these are alert services which present requested information on recent publications to registered users. This paper aims to investigate a variety of alert services provided by four online information vendors.

A comparison of the alert services of major online information providers (Ebsco, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, and Scopus) used by the Central Library of Tarbiat Modares University in Iran was undertaken. These alert services were evaluated using a check‐list and their structure and service were compared with regard to the quantity and quality of received alerts. The subject area of library and information science was used for the study.

No relative significance was found between the total alerts' relevance and the size of the databases of journal articles. ProQuest was found to have a more reliable alert system and it provided more relevant alert results than the other services. Users should recognise that additional services, such as alert services, are a useful help to their information‐seeking behaviour. Library managers should regard alert services as an effective tool for current awareness purposes. However, careful attention should be given to the differences and structures of the services offered. Alert quantity does not necessarily mean good performance.

University libraries and information centres pay a lot of money annually to online information providers. Alert systems could reduce the time users spend seeking for information by providing quick access to new information. Therefore, performing a study to investigate the functionality of the alert systems seems appropriate.

Short Message Service (SMS) is an application which is widely used in mobile telephony. SMS messaging through mobile phones is very popular among young and old. This study aims to look at how SMS technology can be very effectively used in library and information services with a glimpse into a pilot project conducted by University of Swaziland and Emerald Group Publishing Limited and the subsequent need for creating a prototype for the SMS‐based library alert services and marketing of library services.

Following the pilot project conducted by the University of Swaziland and Emerald Group Publishing Limited for a period of two months (March‐April 2009), the findings and the methodology used for the project prompted further research. Data and experience gained during the pilot project is predominantly used in the paper.

This study finds that the library users can be successfully motivated and engaged to use the resources through SMS messaging and have the potential to market library services. It also finds out that there is a need to have a prototype for essential services for the benefit of the users as well as to market the library resources.

The pilot project was a short project with specific user base. This project was not tested on heterogeneous user base. The prototype model also works on certain assumptions and limitations. At the prototype level different files are suggested and they are handled separately because of which an open ended script method is suggested. Longer SMSs, which cannot be sent by the SMS server, need to be either split up into several messages or stored in the server as a webpage and sent as a hyperlink in SMSs.

To implement the prototype, various steps highlighted in the paper are to be followed and since each action needs to be operated separately, it cannot be claimed as a single click SMS‐based alert service.

This study presents a method for implementing SMS‐based alert service in libraries. With the experience gained in a similar practical environment, an attempt has been made to create a prototype. This may serve as an important milestone in integrating such a service into the future integrated library services (ILS).

Security information management (SIM) has emerged recently as a strong need to ensure the ongoing security of information systems. However, deploying a SIM and the associated sensors is a challenge in any organization, as the complexity and cost of such a project are difficult to bear. This paper aims to present an architecture for outsourcing a SIM platform, and discuss the issues associated with the deployment of such an environment.

The paper is an overview of the typical SIM and a possible architecture for its outsourcing.

The paper explains that the day‐to‐day operation of a SIM is beyond the financial capabilities of all but the largest organizations, as the SIM must be monitored constantly to ensure timely reaction to alerts. Many managed security services providers (MSSP), therefore, propose outsourcing the alert management activities. Sensors are deployed within the customer's infrastructure, and the alerts are sent to the outsourced SIM along with additional log information.

The paper illustrates that intrusion detection and SIM as two important and active research domains for information systems security.

Short Message Service (SMS) is an application that is widely used by all types of mobile telephone users. Integration of these short messages for marketing different products and services has become a common practice in e‐commerce. This study aims to look at how SMS‐based mobile alerts can be effectively implemented in libraries for successfully marketing the library services and providing value‐added services. This study seeks to follow‐up an original pilot project conducted by the University of Swaziland and Emerald Group Publishing on SMS‐based alert services for a smaller group of users on Emerald's Intouch platform. In this new study the authors aim to try the same project with a combination of multiple databases and a heterogeneous user groups on an independent platform.

With the experiences gained from the UNISWA‐Emerald pilot project on SMS alerts a similar project with a wider scope was attempted at Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, India, where an attempt was made to see whether a similar content alert system, based on the prototype suggested in the pilot project, can be effectively implemented using the same technology on an independent platform with a semi‐automated system compared to the manual system of the pilot. The methodology, findings, data and the experience gained during the pilot project as well as the follow‐up project are predominantly used in this paper.

This study confirms that the prototype suggested in the pilot project can be implemented on an independent platform with multiple databases by using the same parameters. It proves that a successful SMS‐based alert service similar to a SDI service can be implemented using the SMS messaging and have the potential to successfully market library services to its patrons.

This project is a second in the sequence where the authors have tried a heterogeneous user group and mobile alerts consists of the different databases subscribed to by the university library. The alerts were dependent on the effective e‐mail‐based alerts provided by the publishers. The keywords used were generalized and the users provided the keyword based on their personal needs. The major limitation was the manual transmission of the SMS, which needs to be automated with a script. Another limitation was the maximum size of SMS texts. Whenever the texts exceeded 140 characters, only hyperlinks were sent with the actual content being kept as a webpage in the server.

This project can be implemented as it is since it generalizes the process of implementing a result‐oriented SMS‐based alert service.

This study presents a method for implementing an SMS‐based alert service in libraries. With the experiences gained in a series of practical environments the authors have attempted to document the practical experience, which can be implemented in its present form. With mobile alerts gaining prominence in library services and very little material are available on SMS‐based alert services in libraries this may serve as an important milestone in integrating such a service into the future integrated library services.

Wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies are now available to implement real time temperature monitoring systems in food supply chains. The aim of this paper is to examine different types of methods and criteria to establish alerts in decision support systems in perishable food supply chains.

Logistic and temperature mapping was performed in cod supply chains to obtain data to establish criteria for temperature alerts. Data were collected for both ambient temperature and temperature of products packed in expanded polystyrene boxes.

Alerts based on single criterion for ambient temperature resulted in false alerts when compared to criteria for product temperature. More complex methods that took into account both temperature abuse and the severity of the abuse resulted in more relevant alerts for the chilled cod supply chain.

The research is based on mapping of cod supply chains with a limited number of iterations.

The scope of the research is the application of WSN in an actual supply chain of chilled cod transported from Iceland to Europe, which has relevance in assisting management decision making in the supply chain to prevent losses of quality and minimize waste.

Failure to maintain a low temperature occurs frequently at handover points where alert systems are usually not in place. The theoretical implication of this paper is the development of a conceptual framework for setting up temperature criteria for real time decision support systems in food supply chains.

As organizations globalize, they are facing twin challenges of (1) how to develop actionable intelligence from the vast amount of data flowing into their organization and (2) how to effectively manage the increasing risks to their supply chain. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to bring these two issues on a single platform to understand how firms can effectively predict supply chain risk by developing and using BDA capabilities, through an automated risk alert tool.

The authors used a questionnaire-based survey methodology supported by secondary data to collect information related to managerial perceptions on how firms can develop a risk alert tool by improving BDA capabilities. A database of 213 senior and middle-level managers was developed and used to test the proposed hypothesis. Using econometric techniques, the authors identify the conditions necessary for such an automated risk management tool to be effective.

The results suggest that if organizations focus on developing an effective IT infrastructure supported by a strong BDA capability, they will be able to leverage these capabilities to develop an effective risk management tool. Moderating influences of Upstream and Downstream Supply Chain IT Infrastructure capabilities were also observed on different types of BDA capabilities within a firm. In conclusion, it was argued that the effectiveness of a risk alert tool is dependent on how well firms harness big data analytics capability.

The value of the research stems from the fact that it uses managerial surveys to identify specific BDA capabilities that can enable firms to develop risk resilience capabilities. In addition, the article is one of the few empirical studies that aims to identify how firms can use BDA capabilities within a supply chain context to develop an automated risk alert tool. The article, therefore, contributes to the literature that identifies the value of BDA capabilities within the context of supply chain risk management.

This study introduces the concept of audiovisual alerts and warnings as a way to reduce phishing susceptibility on mobile devices.

This study has three phases. The first phase included 32 subject matter experts that provided feedback toward a phishing alert and warning system. The second phase included development and a pilot study to validate a phishing alert and warning system prototype. The third phase included delivery of the Phishing Alert and Warning System (PAWS^TM mobile app) to 205 participants. This study designed, developed, as well as empirically tested the PAWS^TM mobile app that alerted and warned participants to the signs of phishing in emails on mobile devices.

The results of this study indicated audio alerts and visual warnings potentially lower phishing susceptibility in emails. Audiovisual warnings appeared to assist study participants in noticing phishing emails more easily and in less time than without audiovisual warnings.

This study's implications to mitigation of phishing emails are key, as it appears that alerts and warnings added to email applications may play a significant role in the reduction of phishing susceptibility.

This study extends the existing information security body of knowledge on phishing prevention and awareness by using audiovisual alerts and warnings to email recipients tested in real-life applications.

This research aims to identify some requirements for supporting user interactions with electronic current‐awareness alert systems based on data from a professional work environment.

Qualitative data were gathered using contextual inquiry observations with 21 workers at the London office of an international law firm. The analysis uses CASSM (“Concept‐based Analysis of Surface and Structural Misfits”), a usability evaluation method structured around identifying mismatches, or “misfits”, between user‐concepts and concepts represented within a system.

Participants were frequently overwhelmed by e‐mail alerts, and a key requirement is to support efficient interaction. Several misfits, which act as barriers to efficient reviewing and follow‐on activities, are demonstrated. These relate to a lack of representation of key user‐concepts at the interface and/or within the system, including alert items and their properties, source documents, “back‐story”, primary sources, content categorisations and user collections.

Given these misfits, a set of requirements is derived to improve the efficiency with which users can achieve key outcomes with current‐awareness information as these occur within a professional work environment.

The findings will be of interest to current‐awareness providers. The approach is relevant to information interaction researchers interested in deriving design requirements from naturalistic studies.

This paper aims to introduce a framework for optimizing rule-based anti-money laundering systems with a clear economic interpretation, and the authors introduce the integral representation method.

By using a microeconomic model, the authors reformulate the threshold optimization problem as a decision problem to gain insights from economics regarding the main properties of the optimum. The authors used algorithmic considerations to find an efficient implementation by using a kind of weak mode estimate of the distribution and the authors extend this approach to classes of alerts or cases.

The method provides a new and efficient alternative for the sampling method or the multidimensional optimization technique described in the literature to decrease the bias emanating from multiple alerts by smoothing the number of alerts across classes in the optimum and decrease the overlapping between scenarios at the case level. Using the method for real bank data, the authors were able to decrease the number of false positives cases by about 18% while retaining almost 98% of the true-positive cases.

The model assumes that alerts from different scenarios are indifferent to the bank. To include scenario-specific preferences or constraints demands further research.

The new framework presented in the paper is a flexible extension of the usual above-the-line method, which makes it possible to include bank preferences and use the parallelization capabilities of modern processors.

As the internet has become the biggest virtual library of digital libraries and publishers have become the e‐agents of online knowledge, large integrated online databases have been developed. On the other hand, most libraries put their library systems on their parent organizations' server to facilitate direct use by end‐users of the sytem to which libraries subscribe. With such a transformation, information services such as the SDI have been changed, becoming e‐type services using e‐mail to inform readers and databases' indexes when matching users' interests as reflected by searching subjects. Moreover, users themselves find from these e‐sources, specifically e‐journals, the most important, up‐to‐date sources of information where they can browse and retrieve the contents from their desktop connection through the organization's servers. The current study aims to explore the following: how far do researchers at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) use e‐journals and databases available at the University libraries? The paper also seeks to explore whether researchers are knowledgeable about these services and choose to use them.

To determine the respondents' experience with the main e‐journals features as related to alert services and whether or not they are using them, as well as the level of their usage, a questionnaire was adopted from the Stanford E‐Journal User Survey and modified to fit the purposes of the research. The questionnaire was then distributed to 100 SQU faculty members who were relatively familiar with electronic journals and the alert services available through the databases to which SQU libraries subscribed and its system on the local area network.

The results indicate that 50 percent of researchers depend on the University libraries' subscriptions, while only 19 researchers subscribe personally to e‐journals related to their field for free access to full‐text articles published in these journals. According to those who have not yet subscribed to new e‐journal functions (basically an alerting service), they would rather use general purpose search engines such as Google and Yahoo! This group of respondents suffers from numerous, irrelevant, and uninteresting results.

The study provides a comprehensive overview of researchers' perspectives towards the use of e‐journals and e‐services provided by Sultan Qaboos University.