A conceptual framework for a systematic mapping of layout design principles by using Yin and Yang theory

There are various principles for layout design such as balance, rhythm, unity and harmony, but each principle has often been introduced as a separate concept rather than within an integrated and systematic structure, so that designers and design students have to keep practices for the acquisition of skills. The paper seeks to develop a conceptual framework for a systematic mapping of layout design principles by using Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. Yin and Yang theory explains all natural phenomena with its own conceptual model and facilitates finding harmony and balance between the visual elements in terms of systematic and organic relations. Most common and well-known layout design principles are defined with 10 different resources such as design books and articles, and have been remapped following with the structure of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. A systematic framework explaining the relationships of design principles was created and 32 design students participated in its efficiency test. The outcome suggests there is a high possibility that the framework can be used in professional fields and design education.

An effective approach to verbose queries using a limited dependencies language model

Intuitively, any `bag of words' approach in IR should benefit from taking term dependencies into account. Unfortunately, for years the results of exploiting such dependencies have been mixed or inconclusive. To improve the situation, this paper shows how the natural language properties of the target documents can be used to transform and enrich the term dependencies to more useful statistics. This is done in three steps. The term co-occurrence statistics of queries and documents are each represented by a Markov chain. The paper proves that such a chain is ergodic, and therefore its asymptotic behavior is unique, stationary, and independent of the initial state. Next, the stationary distribution is taken to model queries and documents, rather than their initial distri- butions. Finally, ranking is achieved following the customary language modeling paradigm. The main contribution of this paper is to argue why the asymptotic behavior of the document model is a better representation then just the document's initial distribution. A secondary contribution is to investigate the practical application of this representation in case the queries become increasingly verbose. In the experiments (based on Lemur's search engine substrate) the default query model was replaced by the stable distribution of the query. Just modeling the query this way already resulted in significant improvements over a standard language model baseline. The results were on a par or better than more sophisticated algorithms that use fine-tuned parameters or extensive training. Moreover, the more verbose the query, the more effective the approach seems to become.

Business model construction : the importance of regime of appropriability strategies

To date, most theories of business models have theorized value capture assuming that appropriability regimes were exogenous and that the firm would face a unique, ideal-typical appropriability regime. This has led theory contributions to focus on governance structures to minimize transaction costs, to downplay the interdepencies between value capture and value creation, and to ignore revenue generation strategies. We propose a reconceptualization of business models value capture mechanisms that rely on assumptions of endogeneity and multiplicity of appropriability regimes. This new approach to business model construction highlights the interdependencies and trade-offs between value creation and value capture offered by different types and combinations of appropriability regimes. The theory is illustrated by the analysis of three cases of open source software business models

Validating the IS-Impact model : two exploratory case studies in China and Malaysia

For over a decade, IT expenditure in China and Malaysia has shown a significant increase, as organisations in these countries are increasingly dependent on information systems (IS) for achieving strategic advantages and business benefits. However, there have been numerous reports of dissatisfaction with IS, and in some cases the effectiveness of the information systems have yet to be reviewed. Two exploratory case studies reported in this paper are the first phase of an overall research in validating the IS-Impact model introduced by Gable, Sedera and Chan in two countries: China and Malaysia. This validation research aims to produce a standard measuring model across different contexts. The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary findings from two exploratory case studies, attempt to test the feasibility of the research design and to investigate applicability of the IS-Impact model in Chinese and Malaysian organisations. Twenty-nine respondents from a Chinese private company and seventeen respondents from a state government in Malaysia were involved in these studies. Findings indicated that most of existing IS-Impact measures are applicable in the study contexts, however, there are some new measures informed by the respondents. Feedback from the case studies also suggested necessary modifications to the Mandarin instrument.

Validating the IS-Impact Model At Queensland University Of Technology (QUT): Part A

The overall research aims to develop a standardised instrument to measure the impacts resulting from contemporary Information Systems (IS). The research adopts the IS-Impact measurement model, introduced by Gable et al, (2008), as its theoretical foundation, and applies the extension strategy described by Berthon et al. (2002); extending both theory and the context, where the new context is the Human Resource (HR) system. The research will be conducted in two phases, the exploratory phase and the specification phase. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of the exploratory phase. 134 respondents from a major Australian University were involved in this phase. The findings have supported most of the existing IS-Impact model’s credibility. However, some textual data may suggest new measures for the IS-Impact model, while the low response rate or the averting of some may suggest the elimination of some measures from the model.

Do developing economies require creative industries? Some old theory about new China.

This paper argues that media and communications theory, as with cultural and creative industries analysis, can benefit from a deeper understanding of economic growth theory. Economic growth theory is elucidated in the context of both cultural and media studies and with respect to modern Chinese economic development. Economic growth is a complex evolutionary process that is tightly integrated with socio-cultural and political processes. This paper seeks to explore this mechanism and to advance cultural theory from an erstwhile political economy perspective to one centred about the co-evolutionary dynamics of economic and socio-political systems. A generic model is presented in which economic and social systems co-evolve through the origination, adoption and retention of new ideas, and in which the creative industries are a key part of this process. The paper concludes that digital media capabilities are a primary source of economic development.

Measuring CRM and SCM benefits : a preliminary measurement model

Organizations invest heavily in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems, and their related infrastructure, presumably expecting positive benefits to the organization. Assessing the benefits of such applications is an important aspect of managing such systems. Considering the salient differences between CRM and SCM applications with other intra-organizational applications, existing Information Systems benefits measurement models and frameworks are ill-suited to gauge benefits of inter-organizational systems. This paper reports the preliminary findings of a measurement model developed to assess benefits of CRM and SCM applications. The preliminary model, which reflects the characteristics of the Analytic Theory, is derived using a review of 55 academic studies and 44 papers from the practice. Six hundred and six identified benefits were then synthesized in to 74 non-overlapping benefits, arranged under six dimensions.

Info-gap theory and robust design of surveillance for invasive species : the case study of Barrow Island

Surveillance for invasive non-indigenous species (NIS) is an integral part of a quarantine system. Estimating the efficiency of a surveillance strategy relies on many uncertain parameters estimated by experts, such as the efficiency of its components in face of the specific NIS, the ability of the NIS to inhabit different environments, and so on. Due to the importance of detecting an invasive NIS within a critical period of time, it is crucial that these uncertainties be accounted for in the design of the surveillance system. We formulate a detection model that takes into account, in addition to structured sampling for incursive NIS, incidental detection by untrained workers. We use info-gap theory for satisficing (not minimizing) the probability of detection, while at the same time maximizing the robustness to uncertainty. We demonstrate the trade-off between robustness to uncertainty, and an increase in the required probability of detection. An empirical example based on the detection of Pheidole megacephala on Barrow Island demonstrates the use of info-gap analysis to select a surveillance strategy.

Building partnerships as a key strategy in developing an event management model for an international dance event : a case study of the 2008 WDA (World Dance Alliance) Global Summit, Brisbane, Australia

With the increasing growth of cultural events both in Australia and internationally, there has also been an increase in event management studies; in theory and in practice. Although a series of related knowledge and skills required specifically by event managers has already been identified by many researchers (Perry et al., 1996; Getz, 2002 & Silvers et al., 2006) and generic event management models proposed, including ‘project management’ strategies in an event context (Getz, 2007), knowledge gaps still exist in relation to identifying specific types of events, especially for not-for-profit arts events. For events of a largely voluntary nature, insufficient resources are recognised as the most challenging; including finance, human resources and infrastructure. Therefore, the concepts and principles which are adopted by large scale commercial events may not be suitable for not-for-profit arts events aiming at providing professional network opportunities for artists. Building partnerships are identified as a key strategy in developing an effective event management model for this type of event. Using the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit (WDAGS) in Brisbane 13-18 July, as a case study, the level, nature and relationship of key partners are investigated. Data is triangulated from interviews with organisers of the 2008 WDAGS, on-line and email surveys of delegates, participant observation and analysis of formal and informal documents, to produce a management model suited to this kind of event.

Developing a model of technology appropriation: A Marxian perspective

This paper explores the philosophical origins of appropriation of Information Systems (IS) using Marxian and other socio-cultural theory. It provides an in-depth examination of appropriation and its application in extant IS theory. We develop a three-tier model using Marx’s foundational concepts and from this generate four propositions that we test in an empirical example of IS in anesthesia. Using Marxian theory, this paper seeks common ground among existing theories of technology appropriation in IS research. This work contributes to IS research by (1) opening philosophical discussions on appropriation and the human ↔ technology nexus, (2) drawing on these varying perspectives to propose a general conceptualization of technology appropriation and (3) providing a starting point towards a general causal model of technology appropriation.

The development and evaluation of an innovative nursing practice model to improve undergraduate nursing students' competence in paediatric physical assessment

Introduction The purpose of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate the impact of an educational intervention, comprising an innovative model of clinical decisionmaking and educational delivery strategy for facilitating nursing students‘ learning and development of competence in paediatric physical assessment practices. Background of the study Nursing students have an undergraduate education that aims to produce graduates of a generalist nature who demonstrate entry level competence for providing nursing care in a variety of health settings. Consistent with population morbidity and health care roles, paediatric nursing concepts typically form a comparatively small part of undergraduate curricula and students‘ exposure to paediatric physical assessment concepts and principles are brief. However, the nursing shortage has changed traditional nursing employment patterns and new graduates form the majority of the recruitment pool for paediatric nursing speciality staff. Paediatric nursing is a popular career choice for graduates and anecdotal evidence suggests that nursing students who select a clinical placement in their final year intend to seek employment in paediatrics upon graduation. Although concepts of paediatric nursing are included within undergraduate curriculum, students‘ ability to develop the required habits of mind to practice in what is still regarded as a speciality area of practice is somewhat limited. One of the areas of practice where this particularly impacts is in paediatric nursing physical assessment. Physical assessment is a fundamental component of nursing practice and competence in this area of practice is central to nursing students‘ development of clinical capability for practice as a registered nurse. Timely recognition of physiologic deterioration of patients is a key outcome of nurses‘ competent use of physical assessment strategies, regardless of the practice context. In paediatric nursing contexts children‘s physical assessment practices must specifically accommodate the child‘s different physiological composition, function and pattern of clinical deterioration (Hockenberry & Barrera, 2007). Thus, to effectively manage physical assessment of patients within the paediatric practice setting nursing students need to integrate paediatric nursing theory into their practice. This requires significant information processing and it is in this process where students are frequently challenged. The provision of rules or models can guide practice and assist novice-level nurses to develop their capabilities (Benner, 1984; Benner, Hooper-Kyriakidis & Stannard, 1999). Nursing practice models are cognitive tools that represent simplified patterns of expert analysis employing concepts that suit the limited reasoning of the inexperienced, and can represent the =rules‘ referred to by Benner (1984). Without a practice model of physical assessment students are likely to be uncertain about how to proceed with data collection, the interpretation of paediatric clinical findings and the appraisal of findings. These circumstances can result in ad hoc and unreliable nursing physical assessment that forms a poor basis for nursing decisions. The educational intervention developed as part of this study sought to resolve this problem and support nursing students‘ development of competence in paediatric physical assessment. Methods This study utilised the Context Input Process Product (CIPP) Model by Stufflebeam (2004) as the theoretical framework that underpinned the research design and evaluation methodology. Each of the four elements in the CIPP model were utilised to guide discrete stages of this study. The Context element informed design of the clinical decision-making process, the Paediatric Nursing Physical Assessment model. The Input element was utilised in appraising relevant literature, identifying an appropriate instructional methodology to facilitate learning and educational intervention delivery to undergraduate nursing students, and development of program content (the CD-ROM kit). Study One employed the Process element and used expert panel approaches to review and refine instructional methods, identifying potential barriers to obtaining an effective evaluation outcome. The Product element guided design and implementation of Study Two, which was conducted in two phases. Phase One employed a quasiexperimental between-subjects methodology to evaluate the impact of the educational intervention on nursing students‘ clinical performance and selfappraisal of practices in paediatric physical assessment. Phase Two employed a thematic analysis and explored the experiences and perspectives of a sample subgroup of nursing students who used the PNPA CD-ROM kit as preparation for paediatric clinical placement. Results Results from the Process review in Study One indicated that the prototype CDROM kit containing the PNPA model met the predetermined benchmarks for face validity and the impact evaluation instrumentation had adequate content validity in comparison with predetermined benchmarks. In the first phase of Study Two the educational intervention did not result in statistically significant differences in measures of student performance or self-appraisal of practice. However, in Phase Two qualitative commentary from students, and from the expert panel who reviewed the prototype CD-ROM kit (Study One, Phase One), strongly endorsed the quality of the intervention and its potential for supporting learning. This raises questions regarding transfer of learning and it is likely that, within this study, several factors have influenced students‘ transfer of learning from the educational intervention to the clinical practice environment, where outcomes were measured. Conclusion In summary, the educational intervention employed in this study provides insights into the potential e-learning approaches offer for delivering authentic learning experiences to undergraduate nursing students. Findings in this study raise important questions regarding possible pedagogical influences on learning outcomes, issues within the transfer of theory to practice and factors that may have influenced findings within the context of this study. This study makes a unique contribution to nursing education, specifically with respect to progressing an understanding of the challenges faced in employing instructive methods to impact upon nursing students‘ development of competence. The important contribution transfer of learning processes make to students‘ transition into the professional practice context and to their development of competence within the context of speciality practice is also highlighted. This study contributes to a greater awareness of the complexity of translating theoretical learning at undergraduate level into clinical practice, particularly within speciality contexts.

Towards a model of understanding strategic decision-making in micro-firms : exploring the Australian information technology sector

This study explores strategic decision-making (SDM) in micro-firms, an economically significant business subsector. As extant large- and small-firm literature currently proffers an incomplete characterization of SDM in very small enterprises, a multiple-case methodology was used to investigate how these firms make strategic decisions. Eleven Australian Information Technology service micro-firms participated in the study. Using an information-processing lens, the study uncovered patterns of SDM in micro-firms and derived a theoretical micro-firm SDM model. This research also identifies several implications for micro-firm management and directions for future research, contributing to the understanding of micro-firm SDM in both theory and practice.

A constraints-led perspective to understanding skill acquisition and game play: A basis for integration of motor learning theory and physical education praxis?

Background: In order to design appropriate environments for performance and learning of movement skills, physical educators need a sound theoretical model of the learner and of processes of learning. In physical education, this type of modelling informs the organization of learning environments and effective and efficient use of practice time. An emerging theoretical framework in motor learning, relevant to physical education, advocates a constraints-led perspective for acquisition of movement skills and game play knowledge. This framework shows how physical educators could use task, performer and environmental constraints to channel acquisition of movement skills and decision making behaviours in learners. From this viewpoint, learners generate specific movement solutions to satisfy the unique combination of constraints imposed on them, a process which can be harnessed during physical education lessons. Purpose: In this paper the aim is to provide an overview of the motor learning approach emanating from the constraints-led perspective, and examine how it can substantiate a platform for a new pedagogical framework in physical education: nonlinear pedagogy. We aim to demonstrate that it is only through theoretically valid and objective empirical work of an applied nature that a conceptually sound nonlinear pedagogy model can continue to evolve and support research in physical education. We present some important implications for designing practices in games lessons, showing how a constraints-led perspective on motor learning could assist physical educators in understanding how to structure learning experiences for learners at different stages, with specific focus on understanding the design of games teaching programmes in physical education, using exemplars from Rugby Union and Cricket. Findings: Research evidence from recent studies examining movement models demonstrates that physical education teachers need a strong understanding of sport performance so that task constraints can be manipulated so that information-movement couplings are maintained in a learning environment that is representative of real performance situations. Physical educators should also understand that movement variability may not necessarily be detrimental to learning and could be an important phenomenon prior to the acquisition of a stable and functional movement pattern. We highlight how the nonlinear pedagogical approach is student-centred and empowers individuals to become active learners via a more hands-off approach to learning. Summary: A constraints-based perspective has the potential to provide physical educators with a framework for understanding how performer, task and environmental constraints shape each individual‟s physical education. Understanding the underlying neurobiological processes present in a constraints-led perspective to skill acquisition and game play can raise awareness of physical educators that teaching is a dynamic 'art' interwoven with the 'science' of motor learning theories.