To reveal is to critique:actor-network theory and critical information systems research

It has been suggested that, in order to maintain its relevance, critical research must develop a strong emphasis on empirical work rather than the conceptual emphasis that has typically characterized critical scholarship in management. A critical project of this nature is applicable in the information systems (IS) arena, which has a growing tradition of qualitative inquiry. Despite its relativist ontology, actor–network theory places a strong emphasis on empirical inquiry and this paper argues that actor–network theory, with its careful tracing and recording of heterogeneous networks, is well suited to the generation of detailed and contextual empirical knowledge about IS. The intention in this paper is to explore the relevance of IS research informed by actor–network theory in the pursuit of a broader critical research project as de? ned in earlier work.

Stepping Stones to Information Literacy: a PebblePad case study

Aston University has recently made PebblePad, an e-portfolio or personal learning system, available to all students within the University. The customisable Profiles within PebblePad allow students to self-declare their skills in particular areas, attaching evidence of their skills or an action plan for improvement to each statement. Formal Information Literacy (IL) teaching within Aston University is currently limited to Library & Information Services (LIS) Information Specialists delivering a maximum of one session to each student during each level of their degree. However, many of the skills are continually developed by students during the course of their academic studies. For this project, an IL skills profile was created within PebblePad, which was then promoted to groups of staff and students to complete during the academic session 2009-10. Functionality within PebblePad allowed students to share their IL skills profile, evidence, action plans or any other items they felt were appropriate with an LIS Information Specialist who was able to add comments and offer suggestions for activities to help the student to develop further. Activities were closely related to students’ coursework where possible: suggesting a student kept a short reflective log of their information searching and evaluating process for an upcoming essay, for example. Feedback on the usefulness of the IL Profile will be sought from students through focus groups and the communication tools in PebblePad. In this way, we hope to make students more aware of their IL skills and to offer IL skills support over a longer period of time than a single session can provide. We will present preliminary conclusions about the practicalities and benefits of a self-declaration approach to developing IL skills in students at Aston University.

New developments in library orientation and information literacy:regenerating library services for new students

Over the last six years, Aston University Library & Information Services Induction Team have worked on the Welcome experience for new and returning students to the Library.  The article provides an overview of the Induction programme and how it has evolved to engage students pre and post arrival to the University. 

An investigation of the relationship between temperature, forces and tool wear in turning and drilling

Developing a means of predicting tool life has been and continues to be a focus of much research effort. A common experience in attempting to replicate such efforts is an inability to achieve the levels of agreement between theory and practice of the original researcher or to extrapolate the work to different materials or cutting conditions to those originally used. This thesis sets out to examine why most equations or models when replicated do not give good agreements. One reason which was found is that researchers in wear prediction, their predictions are limited because they generally fail to properly identify the nature of wear mechanisms operative in their study. Also they fail to identify or recognise factors having a significant influence on wear such as bar diameter. Also in this research the similarities and differences between the two processes of single point turning and drilling are examined through a series of tests. A literature survey was undertaken in wear and wear prediction. As a result it was found that there was a paucity in information and research in the work of drilling as compared to the turning operation. This was extended to the lack of standards that exist for the drilling operation. One reason for this scarcity in information on drilling is due to the complexity of the drilling and the tool geometry of the drill. In the comparative drilling and turning tests performed in this work, the same tool material; HSS, and similar work material was used in order to eliminate the differences which may occur due to this factor. Results of the tests were evaluated and compared for the two operations and SEM photographs were taken for the chips produced. Specific test results were obtained for the cutting temperatures and forces of the tool. It was found that cutting temperature is influenced by various factors like tool geometry and cutting speed, and the temperature itself influenced the tool wear and wear mechanisms that act on the tool. It was found and proven that bar diameter influences the temperature, a factor not considered previously.

Risk management in enterprise resource planning implementation:a new risk assessment framework

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects are risky. But if they are implemented appropriately, they can provide competitive advantage to organisations. Therefore, ERP implementation has become one of the most critical aspects of today's information management research. The main purpose of this article is to describe a new ERP risk assessment framework (RAF) that can be used to increase the success of ERP implementation. In this article, through a case study based in a leading UK-based energy service provider, we demonstrate the new RAF, which has been shown to help identify and mitigate risks in ERP implementation. In contrast to other research, this RAF identifies risks hierarchically in external engagement, programme management, work stream and work package levels across technical, schedule, operational, business and organisational categories. This not only helped to develop responses to mitigate risks but also facilitates on-going risk control.

Building and applying a concept hierarchy representation of a user profile

Term dependence is a natural consequence of language use. Its successful representation has been a long standing goal for Information Retrieval research. We present a methodology for the construction of a concept hierarchy that takes into account the three basic dimensions of term dependence. We also introduce a document evaluation function that allows the use of the concept hierarchy as a user profile for Information Filtering. Initial experimental results indicate that this is a promising approach for incorporating term dependence in the way documents are filtered.

Random distributed feedback fibre lasers

The concept of random lasers exploiting multiple scattering of photons in an amplifying disordered medium in order to generate coherent light without a traditional laser resonator has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. This research area lies at the interface of the fundamental theory of disordered systems and laser science. The idea was originally proposed in the context of astrophysics in the 1960s by V.S. Letokhov, who studied scattering with "negative absorption" of the interstellar molecular clouds. Research on random lasers has since developed into a mature experimental and theoretical field. A simple design of such lasers would be promising for potential applications. However, in traditional random lasers the properties of the output radiation are typically characterized by complex features in the spatial, spectral and time domains, making them less attractive than standard laser systems in terms of practical applications. Recently, an interesting and novel type of one-dimensional random laser that operates in a conventional telecommunication fibre without any pre-designed resonator mirrors-random distributed feedback fibre laser-was demonstrated. The positive feedback required for laser generation in random fibre lasers is provided by the Rayleigh scattering from the inhomogeneities of the refractive index that are naturally present in silica glass. In the proposed laser concept, the randomly backscattered light is amplified through the Raman effect, providing distributed gain over distances up to 100km. Although an effective reflection due to the Rayleigh scattering is extremely small (~0.1%), the lasing threshold may be exceeded when a sufficiently large distributed Raman gain is provided. Such a random distributed feedback fibre laser has a number of interesting and attractive features. The fibre waveguide geometry provides transverse confinement, and effectively one-dimensional random distributed feedback leads to the generation of a stationary near-Gaussian beam with a narrow spectrum. A random distributed feedback fibre laser has efficiency and performance that are comparable to and even exceed those of similar conventional fibre lasers. The key features of the generated radiation of random distributed feedback fibre lasers include: a stationary narrow-band continuous modeless spectrum that is free of mode competition, nonlinear power broadening, and an output beam with a Gaussian profile in the fundamental transverse mode (generated both in single mode and multi-mode fibres).This review presents the current status of research in the field of random fibre lasers and shows their potential and perspectives. We start with an introductory overview of conventional distributed feedback lasers and traditional random lasers to set the stage for discussion of random fibre lasers. We then present a theoretical analysis and experimental studies of various random fibre laser configurations, including widely tunable, multi-wavelength, narrow-band generation, and random fibre lasers operating in different spectral bands in the 1-1.6μm range. Then we discuss existing and future applications of random fibre lasers, including telecommunication and distributed long reach sensor systems. A theoretical description of random lasers is very challenging and is strongly linked with the theory of disordered systems and kinetic theory. We outline two key models governing the generation of random fibre lasers: the average power balance model and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation based model. Recently invented random distributed feedback fibre lasers represent a new and exciting field of research that brings together such diverse areas of science as laser physics, the theory of disordered systems, fibre optics and nonlinear science. Stable random generation in optical fibre opens up new possibilities for research on wave transport and localization in disordered media. We hope that this review will provide background information for research in various fields and will stimulate cross-disciplinary collaborations on random fibre lasers. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Public libraries and the right to the [smart] city

The future of public libraries has been threatened by funding cuts and new digital technologies which have led many people to question their traditional role and purpose. However, freedom of information, ready access to knowledge and information literacy in all its digital and analog guises are more important than ever. Thus, public libraries remain significant spaces and places where people can socially interact and learn. In many countries public libraries are reinventing themselves and part of this process has been the redesign of library services and the design and construction of new library building and facilities that articulate the values, purpose and role of what has been termed 'the next library'. Following discussion of new library developments in London, Birmingham and Worcester in the UK, Aarhus in Denmark and Helsinki in Finland, the article concludes that public libraries are now both social and media spaces as well as being important physical places that can help city dwellers decide what type of urban world they want to see.

Recommender systems

The ongoing rapid expansion of the Internet greatly increases the necessity of effective recommender systems for filtering the abundant information. Extensive research for recommender systems is conducted by a broad range of communities including social and computer scientists, physicists, and interdisciplinary researchers. Despite substantial theoretical and practical achievements, unification and comparison of different approaches are lacking, which impedes further advances. In this article, we review recent developments in recommender systems and discuss the major challenges. We compare and evaluate available algorithms and examine their roles in the future developments. In addition to algorithms, physical aspects are described to illustrate macroscopic behavior of recommender systems. Potential impacts and future directions are discussed. We emphasize that recommendation has great scientific depth and combines diverse research fields which makes it interesting for physicists as well as interdisciplinary researchers. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

WSRF-based modeling of clinical trial information for collaborative cancer research

The CancerGrid consortium is developing open-standards cancer informatics to address the challenges posed by modern cancer clinical trials. This paper presents the service-oriented software paradigm implemented in CancerGrid to derive clinical trial information management systems for collaborative cancer research across multiple institutions. Our proposal is founded on a combination of a clinical trial (meta)model and WSRF (Web Services Resource Framework), and is currently being evaluated for use in early phase trials. Although primarily targeted at cancer research, our approach is readily applicable to other areas for which a similar information model is available.

ALEX:mobile language assistant for low-literacy adults

Basic literacy skills are fundamental building blocks of education, yet for a very large number of adults tasks such as understanding and using everyday items is a challenge. While research, industry, and policy-making is looking at improving access to textual information for low-literacy adults, the literacy-based demands of today's society are continually increasing. Although many community-based organizations offer resources and support to adults with limited literacy skills, current programs have difficulties reaching and retaining those that would benefit most from them. To address these challenges, the National Research Council of Canada is proposing a technological solution to support literacy programs and to assist low-literacy adults in today's information-centric society: ALEX© – Adult Literacy support application for EXperiential learning. ALEX© has been created together with low-literacy adults, following guidelines for inclusive design of mobile assistive tools. It is a mobile language assistant that is designed to be used both in the classroom and in daily life, in order to help low-literacy adults become increasingly literate and independent.

Classroom implications of recent research into literacy development: from predictors to assessment

We outline how research into predictors of literacy underpins the development of increasingly accurate and informative assessments. We report three studies that emphasize the crucial role of speech and auditory skills on literacy development throughout primary and secondary school. Our first study addresses the effects of early childhood middle ear infections, the potential consequences for speech processing difficulties and the impact on early literacy development. Our second study outlines how speech and auditory skills are crucially related to early literacy in normally developing readers, whereas other skills such as motor, memory and IQ are only indirectly related. Our third study outlines the on-going impact of phonological awareness on reading and wider academic achievement in secondary-school pupils. Finally, we outline how teachers can use the current research to inform them about which assessments to conduct, and how to interpret the results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tale of two studies:challenges in field research with low-literacy adult learners in a developed country

Efforts to address the problems of literacy are often focused on developing countries. However, functional illiteracy is a challenge encountered by up to 50% of adults in developed countries. In this paper we reflect on the challenges we faced in trying to design and study the use of a mobile application to support adult literacy with two user groups: adults enrolled in literacy classes and carpenters without a high school education enrolled in an essential skills program. We also elaborate on aspects of the evaluations that are specific to a marginalized, functionally illiterate, group in a developed country - aspects that are less frequently present in similar studies of mobile literacy support technologies in developing countries. We conclude with presenting the lessons learnt from our evaluations and the impact of the studies' specific challenges on the outcome and uptake of such mobile assistive technologies in providing practical support to low-literacy adults in conjunction with literacy and essential skills training.

Action research: minimising the impact of disruptive incidents for rail passengers through improved sharing of information

This paper reports on an action research project based in the UK rail industry; it used a novel type of Soft Systems Methodology (known as PrOH Modelling) to facilitate change in a major Train Operating Company (TOC). The project looked at a number of different disruptive incidents to compare and contrast practice via the Mitigate, Prevent, React and Recover (MPRR) Framework. One incident is detailed in depth. The paper also looks at the general process of conducting action research. This work will be of interest for researchers in the rail sector and for those conducting operations action research projects.