Acceptance and leadership-hegemonies of e-commerce policy perspectives

This paper presents an analysis of the e-Commerce policies developed and implemented in the USA, Canada, Australia, Victoria, Finland, Norway, the UK, Ireland, the EU (by the OECD), Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region). The paper shows that e-Commerce policy adopted is generally trying to achieve two fundamental aims:<br /><br />1. to minimize regulatory environments for e-Commerce; and<br />2. to ease logistical problems in doing e-Commerce&mdash;i.e. in paying electronically, in deliver y of goods and in customs, tariffs and duties.<br /><br />These strategies are designed to create an environment where e-Commerce is adopted by business and government in these countries to achieve &lsquo;best practice&rsquo;, to become &lsquo;modern&rsquo;, to gain &lsquo;efficiencies&rsquo;, because &lsquo;it is the way to go&rsquo;, because &lsquo;we must have it, because everybody has it&rsquo;, and because they &lsquo;perceive the benefits of it&rsquo;. In essence it is being used to gain hegemony in the economic competitiveness of the geopolitical environment created by the Internet. This paper argues that differentiating types of policy is related to ideology and hegemony in the various countries.<br />

Well-being and menopause: an investigation of purpose in life, self-acceptance and social role in premenopausal, perimenopausal and postmenopausal women

Objectives: Many studies have investigated anxiety and depression during the menopausal transition. However, there is little understanding of positive aspects of well-being among menopausal women. This paper reports on two studies which investigated how menopausal stage and age accounted for how women felt about their purpose in life, self-acceptance and social role. Method: In Study One, 304 women from a community sample completed structured questionnaires which included questions relating to demographic background and two subscales of the Psychological Well-being Inventory: purpose in life and self-acceptance. In Study Two, 203 participants from Study One returned a follow-up structured questionnaire related to purpose in life and social role. Results: Study One found that the effects of age group and menopausal group could not be separated: All women felt they would be more positive about these well-being measures in the future than they had been in the past and at present. Study Two found that women who were perimenopausal and postmenopausal did not feel as positive about their role/s in life as premenopausal women, regardless of their age. Conclusions: The results suggest that the menopause may indicate to women that their role/purpose in life is changing. It is important that any understanding of the menopause incorporate psychosocial aspects of women''s lives. Further longitudinal studies are needed to explore well-being factors and the menopause.

Universal nonuniform random vector generator based on acceptance-rejection

The acceptance/rejection approach is widely used in universal nonuniform random number generators. Its key part is an accurate approximation of a given probability density from above by a hat function. This article uses a piecewise constant hat function, whose values are overestimates of the density on the elements of the partition of the domain. It uses a sawtooth overestimate of Lipschitz continuous densities, and then examines all local maximizers of such an overestimate. The method is applicable to multivariate multimodal distributions. It exhibits relatively short preprocessing time and fast generation of random variates from a very large class of distributions<br />

Change happens: acceptance of 'impermanence' and 'flow' in teachers' professional reflections on technology and change

For several years the authors of this paper have monitored the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in primary and secondary schools. In this paper they report on their work in progress, focusing particularly on data collected via teacher interviews in 2003. It is a 'good news' story that celebrates a shift in the way school teachers approach ICT, and that shows that teachers are a lot more comfortable with ICT than the authors have previously observed. The authors argue that a significant transition has occurred in the hardware, software and 'warmware', the people and how they can work with the hardware and software as part of their pedagogy. Existing research tends to construct change as something that has to be planned, prepared for and managed (eg. Fullan, 1997), and as something that teachers often resist (eg. Cuban, 1993; Grunberg &amp; Summers, 1992; Hodas, 1998). This paper is distinctive in drawing on Eastern approaches to understanding change. Through an examination of the concepts of &quot;impermanence&quot; and &quot;flow,&quot; and how they apply to ICT, schools and teachers' work, we seek to demystify change: Change happens, has happened and will continue to happen. We conclude that teachers' increased familiarity with, and increasingly relaxed approach to, ICT has led to a shift in their attentions, such that they are less concerned with obtaining and mastering particular software and hardware, and more concerned with pedagogy and student learning.<br /><br /><br />

User perceptions and acceptance of benevolent worms - a matter of fear?

Worms and other forms of malware have been considered by IT Security firms and large companies for many years as one of the leading threats to the integrity of their data and security. However, several researchers over recent years have been working on creating worms which, instead of causing harm to machines which they infect, or the networks on which the machines reside, actually aid the network and systems administrators. Several uses of these worms have been proposed by these researchers, including, but not limited to, rapid remote patching of machines, network and system administration through use of their unique discovery and propagation methods, actively hunting, and defending against, other forms of malware such as &quot;malevolent&quot; worms, viruses, spyware, as well as increasing reliable communication of nodes in distributed computing. However, there has been no hint of commercial adoption of these worms, which one researcher has described as being due to a fear factor'. This paper concentrates on assessing and delivering the findings of user attitudes towards these worms in an attempt to find out how users feel about these worms, and to try and define and overcome the factors which might contribute to the fear factor'.<br />

Explaining and predicting information systems acceptance and success: an integrative model

This paper proposes a new model &ndash; the Information Systems Acceptance (ISA) model - to explain and predict IS acceptance. Drawing on previous literature, and the results of a series of case studies, the ISA model integrates four sets of factors influencing IS acceptance: (i) technology characteristics; (ii) management actions; (iii) service quality; and (iv) system use, user satisfaction and system outcomes. These sets of factors are drawn from well-established frameworks. Building on established theories, the model incorporates previous research, overcomes some of the limitations associated with these individual theories, and assembles IS acceptance factors into a comprehensive and useable conceptual framework.<br />

Testing the design for Web-based electronic services acceptance model (E-SAM)

This paper reports on the design and testing of a model, which evaluates the relationship components of a Web-based EServices Acceptance Model (E-SAM). The paper proposes that user experience, user motivation, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use that may determine user acceptance of web-based eServices. The model is tested in a university environment where students and staff use services that have moved from an old paper-based to Web-based eService system. The results of data analysis highlight that user experience is strongly related to perceived ease of use; and perceived usefulness to user motivation in user acceptance of Web-based eServices. The strength of these relationships and the lack of strong relationships between other components suggest that the model's application to eServices is able to highlight the complexity of the eService process and the need for researchers to seek additional components in studying technology acceptance on the World Wide Web.<br />

The Chihuahua sustainability practice: lots of shivering but no real action. Practical sustainability acceptance is low in German and New Zealand firms

<b>Purpose &ndash; </b>This paper aims to describe the extent to which corporate organizations in Germany and in New Zealand have included sustainability practices as part of their strategic planning process.<br /><b><br />Design/methodology/approach &ndash; </b>Current literature is reviewed to make a case for sustainability to be a driver behind corporate decision making and long-term performance. The results of surveys of several hundred firms in both Germany and New Zealand, countries with a publicly stated commitment to sustainability, are reviewed to compare the adoption rates of sustainability practices.<br /><br /><b>Findings &ndash;</b> There is a significant difference between what firms do and what their managers think is important. Managers largely consider sustainability practices an important factor for their future careers, while firms to a large extent do not include sustainability as part of their strategic or operational planning process.<br /><b><br />Research limitations/implications &ndash;</b> The International Sustainability Acceptance Measurement (ISAM) collects data in several countries through local-language versions of the same online survey tool (www.worldreply.com). The findings in this report are specific only to New Zealand and Germany.<br /><b><br />Practical implications &ndash; </b>The paper points academics, corporate executives and sustainability fanatics to an alarming inconsistency between what is publicly reported as commitment to sustainability and what is practically achieved.<br /><br /><b>Originality/value &ndash;</b> This paper adds value to the discussion of how sustainability practices have migrated into the operation of firms.<br />

They talk the talk, but do they walk the walk? sustainability acceptance is low in German and New Zealand firms

Through the International Sustainability Acceptance Measurement (ISAM), we intend to better understand the level of acceptance of sustainability as a practical management tool in business around the world (www.worldreply.com). It was observed by others that sustainability concepts often stay on a rather general level where it is hard to identify specific indicators and the potential for future development.i In an effort to contrast the level of sustainability in the ISAM countries, the participating universities analyze their respective country data and then co-operate to benchmark and compare this information around the globe. This makes the ISAM work one of the few world-spanning efforts to look at the practical implementation of sustainability.<br />