Abstract
The emergence of Near Field Communication technology added more functionality to mobile phones. People can now access to new mobile services such as payment, ticketing, couponing, and control access to cars, homes and hotels. Although these services seem to complement each other, most studies have focused on the development and evaluation of each mobile service individually. In this paper, we propose an integrated mobile service solution payment, ticketing and couponing - based on NFC. This solution was evaluated in a two-phase user study, which was run in real environment. Participants have largely appreciated the integration of tickets and discount coupons on the payment process. However, despite the integration of services being one of the strongest points of the solution, it also revealed to be one of the main challenges that any payment systems may have to address. Findings suggest that adding additional services to a solution may become very complex from a cognitive perspective.

Abstract
Mobile payments still remain essentially an emerging technology, seeking to fill the gap between the envisioned potential and widespread usage. In this paper, we present an integrated mobile service solution based on the near field communication (NFC) protocol that was developed under a research project called MobiPag. The most distinctive characteristic of Mobipag is its open architectural model that allows multiple partners to become part of the payment value-chain and create solutions that complement payments in many unexpected ways. We describe the Mobipag architecture and how it has been used to support a mobile payment trial. We identify a set of design lessons resulting from usage experiences associated with real-world payment situations with NFC-enabled mobile phones. Based on results from this trial, we identify a number of challenges and guidelines that may help to shape future versions of NFC-based payment systems. In particular, we highlight key challenges for the initial phases of payment deployments, where it is essential to focus on scenarios that can be identified as more feasible for early adoption. We also have identified a fundamental trade-off between the flexibility supported by the Mobipag solution and the respective implications for the payment process, particularly on the users' mental model.

Abstract
This paper presents an approach accounting for the classification of the main knowledge resources related to the new Science of Service. The main knowledge categories are defined as concepts integrated in an extended Service Science ontology. The ontology derived from several sources was captured using UML and Protege, and then, through a RDF/OWL transformation, a semantically annotated wiki has been directly implemented offering an execution of the ontology together with implemented use cases. Further, a dedicated application was developed - the Service Science Knowledge Environment (SSKE) in order to grant user access to different knowledge categories created along with the proposed ontology. The SSKE is a cloud based collaborative software service, aiming at providing co-created knowledge resources shared by academia, industry and government organizations. This application can be accessed through the Web (http://sske.cloud.upb.ro/) and it can be used for managing service related knowledge.

Abstract
In the context of globalization of contemporary service economies there is an increasing need for interoperability, standardization and submission of service processes to common norms and regulations. This stimulates the research effort in elaboration of generic, unified approaches in service processes design. Service Science emerged in the past decade as an interdisciplinary specialization of systems theory, but there is still lack of consensus on its theoretical foundations. Starting from the comparative analysis of some relevant generic service models reported in the literature, the paper raises some specific questions regarding the research effort in this area and, based on a Service Science worldview of a service system and on the generic phases of a business process, deduces a generic model of a service process lifecycle, including part of the ISPAR states. Finally, a simple example from the educational service sector is discussed.

Abstract
Service innovation represents a challenge that has to be supported by specific actions of the higher education professionals. At European level, it was promoted by platforms developed under the Europe INNOVA and other initiatives, and it is now an important priority of the Europe 2020 strategy. Therefore, the academic environment should get aligned to this trend and prepare students for the complex character of the future service systems. This paper presents best practices and platforms to support an action programme for getting aligned to the European trends in service innovation, undertaken within the ESF / POSDRU project INSEED (Strategic Programme for promoting Innovation in Services by Open and Continuous Education). The programme has five main objectives, described here through their specific actions and their applied practices, like comprehending the strategies, programmes and organisms related to the European Commission, or analyzing the knowledge gaps. An important result of this programme is the Service Engineering Master (SEM) from the Automation and Computer Science Faculty, University Politehnica of Bucharest, which is related to other educational programmes on service science from Europe. As support for creating a global educational environment, the paper also presents the INSER@SPACE collaborative platform developed by INSEED, with its three components: (i) a learning management system dedicated to educational courses concerning services; (ii) a semantic wild on service science for creating an international community based on a clearly defined knowledge environment; (iii) educational resources provided as a service, with configurations dedicated to learning new technologies for service innovation.

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to characterize the competitive positioning of the construction industry companies and evaluate their financial performance. The methodology proposed involves three major stages., The first stage concerns the identification of the competitive positioning of companies within the construction sector. This is achieved using a hierarchical clustering algorithm suitable for large datasets and mixed type variables. The second stage is the analysis of performance of the different clusters. This is done using the Data Envelopment Analysis technique. To characterize in detail the main performance features of each cluster, a decision tree is used to extract the main rules concerning the performance spread within each cluster and the gap between the cluster best practices and the national benchmarks. The third stage concerns the analysis of the strengths, weaknesses and areas of potential improvement for contractors in each competitive positioning. This required the analysis of benchmark companies of each cluster. The methodology proposed was applied for the analysis of performance of all contractors that operate in the Portuguese construction industry.