Informations- och kommunikationsteknologi som stöd för patienter med astma och kronisk obstruktiv lungsjukdom avseende egenvård. En litteraturstudie.

Bakgrund: Astma och KOL är två vanlig kroniska sjukdomar som är kopplade till stort sjukdomslidande och lägre livskvalité. Många personer som idag lever med sjukdomarna lever isolerat från andra. Idag har vi en ständig utveckling av sociala nätverk som öppnar en ny möjlighet för egenvård. Egenvård kan göra att patienter får en bättre vardag samt att det lättare kan få ett socialt umgänge. Syfte: Syftet är sammanställa befintlig litteratur och där undersöka hur informations- och kommunikationsteknologi underlättar egenvården för patienter med astma och KOL. Metod: Litteraturstudie där artiklarna söktes i databaser för omvårdnadsvetenskap så som Web Of Science, pubmed och Cinahl. Litteraturstudien baseras på 16 vetenskapliga artiklar som både är kvalitativa och kvantitativa. Artiklarna som valdes är inte äldre än 10 år gamla, skrivna på engelska och publicerade i en vetenskaplig tidning. Resultat: Resultatet som artiklarna påvisade är grundade på IKT i form av datorer, mobiltelefoner, surfplattor och web-baserad program. Artiklarna visar att egenvården kan förbättras genom ökad livskvalité, bättre kommunikation och bättre sjukdomsinsikt när man använder IKT. Slutsats: IKT är en viktig roll i våran hälso- och sjukvård idag. Det finns dock liten forskning på hur egenvården kring astma och KOL påverkas av IKT. Den forskning som finns pekar åt är att den förbättrar för patienter. Det behövs även mer forskning kring IKT som en resurs för egenvård kring ett omvårdnadsperspektiv.

Teachers’ Views on ICT as a Tool in English Teaching for Students with Dyslexia : An interview study with English teachers in grades 7-9

Information and communications technology (ICT) is a broad concept, which is often discussed in relation to the development of education. More specially, ICT can be seen as a tool to help teachers individualize students’ education. Students who have literacy difficulties, such as dyslexia, are in constant need of new techniques to help them learn and new tools to make their educational development easier. The aim of this thesis is to show what views teachers have regarding using ICT in English teaching at a sample of schools in the south of Sweden. A secondary part of the aim is to see what ICT tools, or other non ICT related methods, these teachers use to improve literacy skills for students with dyslexia.This empirical study is based on interviews with six participants. Previous research within the area is presented and different aspects of ICT within the National Agency for Education in Sweden, and the English syllabus, are also discussed. The results of this thesis show that ICT is seen as a helpful tool to make education easier for both students and teachers. Tools such as ViTal, Spell Right and Legimus are being used and the participants of the study also use iPads and Chromebooks in their teaching. According to the interviews, ICT can tribute to a fun way of learning and a more individualized education. Other non ICT related methods are also used to help students with dyslexia and these are often in terms of pictures in connection to words. These findings are based on a limited number of participants in a small area of south of Sweden. Therefore, further research is needed to see if the findings can be verified with more participants, in different parts of the country.

The case for selective ICT outsourcing : it`s easier for "green field" sites

This paper examines published research on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Outsourcing and uses this as a framework through which to examine the delivery of ICT services at the South West Alliance of Rural Hospitals, an environment not without challenges. Right from the beginning the CIO appointed to the Alliance decided to address these challenges by implementing a high speed telecommunications network to reduce the costs of data, voice and video communications within the Alliance. The emergence of the truly virtual health care network in Victoria’s South West supported by external service providers but managed by a small yet powerful central ICT team holds a number of useful lessons for the delivery of services in start up cooperative organizations, particularly regional, rural and remote (R3) organizations.

QTP in Victoria: listening to teachers leads to quality professional development

How do you get information and communication technology working for authentic learning across the curriculum? It depends on quality professional development. The author draws on her research and evaluation work on a Quality Teacher Program pilot project by the Victorian Department of Education and Training to explain why listening to teachers is leading to just that.

Australasia

Australia and New Zealand are home to some of the hungriest media consumers in the world. On a per capita basis newspaper and magazine readership in Australia is one of the highest in the world. Australian homes have an average of two television sets and five radios.
Internet penetration is high, with almost universal adoption in offices and almost 11 million people using the Internet from home, as of June 2007, in a population of 21 million. The Australian information and communications technology market was worth about US$38 billion in 2007, the third largest in the Asia Pacific region after Japan and China. New Zealand's information technology (IT) goods and services sector was estimated at almost US$9 billion. New Zealanders are also major media consumers. This chapter looks first at Australian media and journalism, and then New Zealand before looking briefly at the Pacific.

The impact of learning in the workplace policy on differing ICT degrees

At Victoria University, the release of a new Learning in the Workplace and Community (LiWC) policy has been introduced to ensure that graduates are job and career ready. The policy underlines the importance of workplace contextual learning in all course deliveries and is scheduled for progressive implementation by 2010. For each degree, the policy mandates that a minimum of 25% of program content and assessment must be related to work integrated learning.

Compliance with the 25% shift poses significant challenges for its implementation upon all undergraduate programs since the policy is expected to impact upon program structures, unit deliveries, assessment practices, and course administrations. In particular, there has been an extensive review of existing approaches to learning and teaching in the programs that deliver information and communications technology (ICT) degrees across business and science faculties. This paper describes the current Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Bachelor of Business in Information Systems programs identifying similarities and differences between the two offerings with respect to their learning in workplace components. It explores possible synergies between the two programs that could be capitalized upon to implement the LiWC policy and details the challenges to both faculties in mounting a coordinated response.

Research in action for community informatics : a matter for conversation

In this introduction to the special issue on research in action, we briefly outline an argument concerning the importance of conversation,suggesting that, first, conversational uses of ICTs make them most suitable for community informatic development, and second, that their effective adoption and research requires conversation for that process to be effective.

ICT Interventions for Schoolgirls Do Matter! Understanding the Factors Influencing ICT Career Intentions through Partial Least Squares Analysis.

Intervention programs aimed at promoting study and work opportunities in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) field to schoolgirls (Interventions) have been encouraged to combat a decline in the interest among girls to study ICT at school. The goal of our study is to investigate the influence of Interventions on schoolgirls’ intentions to choose a career in the ICT field by analysing the  comprehensive survey data (n = 3577), collected during four interventions in Australia, using the Partial Least Squares method. Our study is also aimed at identifying other factors influencing ICT career intentions. We found that the attitude towards interventions has an indirect influence on ICT career intentions by affecting interest in ICT. Our results also challenge several existing theoretical studies by showing that factors that had previously been suggested as influencers were found to have little or no impact in this study, these being same-sex education and computer usage.

ICT Interventions for girls : factors influencing ICT career intentions

Intervention programs aimed at promoting study and work opportunities in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) field to schoolgirls have been encouraged to combat a decline in the interest among girls to study ICT at school. The goal of our study is to investigate the influence of such interventions on schoolgirls’ intentions to choose a career in the ICT field by analysing comprehensive survey data (n = 3577), collected during four interventions in Australia, using the Partial Least Squares method. Our study is also aimed at identifying other factors influencing ICT career intentions. We found that the attitude towards interventions has an indirect influence on ICT career intentions by affecting interest in ICT. Our results also challenge several existing theoretical studies by showing that factors that had previously been suggested as influencers were found to have little or no impact in this study, these being same-sex education and computer usage.

Longitudinal evaluation of ICT intervention programs for girls

Intervention programs creating awareness among girls about the wide range of career opportunities in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) field are conducted in many countries to tackle the problem of female under-representation in ICT. The long-term effects of these programs, however, are rarely evaluated which hinders the understanding of how they could be improved, their value and success factors. The goal of this study is, therefore, to investigate the longitudinal influence of one such program held biennially in Australia since 2006, by analysing survey data both quantitatively and qualitatively (n = 153). The results show that continuous study of an ICT subject at school by girls positively influences both their intention to choose a career in ICT and the actual choice of ICT as a university major. Moreover, the attitude towards the intervention program has a weak, but significant positive effect on the decision to study ICT at school.

governo eletrônico como propiciador da reforma do estado: o caso do leilão reverso na web para licitação pública

A presente dissertação versa sobre o uso da Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação aplicada aos processos de gestão pública à luz dos conceitos de eficácia, eficiência e accountabítlity. Para tanto, este estudo se funda sobre dois marcos teóricos. O primeiro trata do desenvolvimento científico-tecnológico e suas implicações na construção de uma sociedade resultante da interação da microeletrônica, da informatização e da telecomunicação. O segundo diz respeito à reforma do Estado Brasileiro, num contexto em que se discute a necessidade de torná-lo mais ágil, flexível e mais responsável perante a sociedade. Metodologicamente, valemo-nos do estudo de caso múltiplo, no qual analisamos o Pregão Eletrônico utilizado pelo Governo Federal para aquisição de bens e serviços nos moldes do leilão reverso do mercado de flores de Amsterdã. Especificamente, trata-se do Pregão 21/2001, realizado pelo Ministério da Previdência e Assistência Social, para compra de medicamentos. Este estudo contempla não só os diferentes aspectos do comércio eletrônico, como o procurement, mas também descreve o processo tradicional de licitações públicas. Ao final, concluímos que a adoção da tecnologia da informação aplicada à gestão pública, em especial como ferramenta para aquisição de bens e serviços, mostrouse eficiente ao promover uma redução de custos, tanto dos processos governamentais, quanto dos produtos adquiridos, fato extremamente relevante se considerarmos a realidade orçamentária brasileira. Ficou também comprovada a sua eficácia, evidenciada pela redução do tempo necessário à realização do procedimento, uma vez comparado ao processo tradicional de licitações pública. Por outro lado, podemos afirmar que a iniciativa amplia o grau de transparência das informações do setor público brasileiro, reconfigurando as relações EstadoSociedade.

Um estudo sobre os fatores organizacionais que influenciam a gestão de portfólio de projetos de TIC

A Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação (TIC) permite que as empresas realizem suas operações de maneira mais eficiente, alavanquem suas estratégias de negócio e tragam assim as vantagens competitivas necessárias para o sucesso e perenidade do empreendimento. É constante nos meios acadêmicos e empresariais o questionamento sobre o valor que a TIC efetivamente traz ao negócio dados os altos investimentos necessários para sua aquisição, implementação e manutenção. A partir da proposição seminal de Markowitz sobre a Análise de Portfólio (que tratou especificamente dos investimentos financeiros), outros autores estenderam este conceito para realizar a avaliação, seleção e priorização de projetos, criando o que atualmente se denomina de Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos. A Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos, por sua vez, foi posteriormente estendida para os projetos de TIC e foi proposta então a abordagem de Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos de TIC. Além das questões meramente técnicas ou metodológicas, vários fatores organizacionais estão presentes na execução deste processo e podem influenciá-lo. Este trabalho identifica os fatores organizacionais que envolvem a Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos de TIC e analisa as influências que estes fatores trazem sobre o processo citado. A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa, de caráter exploratório e descritivo e é operacionalizada através da realização de estudos de caso múltiplos em 3 (três) bancos médios comerciais brasileiros. A principal contribuição deste trabalho é a proposição de uma estrutura conceitual que representa os diversos fatores organizacionais que influenciam a Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos de TIC em uma organização. Há indícios de que os fatores organizacionais têm grande influência sobre este processo dadas as respostas obtidas nas entrevistas com os profissionais dos bancos analisados.

Impactos da desoneração da folha de pagamantos sobre o nível de emprego no mercado de trabalho brasileiro: um estudo a partir dos dados da RAIS

A desoneração da folha é constituída pela eliminação da contribuição previdenciária patronal incidente sobre a folha de pagamento dos funcionários e pela adoção de uma nova contribuição previdenciária sobre a receita bruta das empresas. Um dos objetivos desta mudança, listados pelo Governo Federal do Brasil no programa Brasil Maior, é reduzir os custos de produção dos setores beneficiados através da diminuição da carga tributária, contribuindo, assim, para a geração de empregos e formalização de mão de obra. O objetivo deste trabalho, portanto, é estimar o impacto desta medida sobre a geração de empregos formais e também sobre o salário médio dos trabalhadores nos primeiros setores beneficiados, que foram, principalmente, Tecnologia da Informação (e Comunicação), Couro e Calçados, Vestuário e Têxtil, Hotéis e Call Center. Para isto, aplicou-se a metodologia econométrica difference-in-differences nos dados da Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS), disponibilizados pelo Ministério do Trabalho. Os resultados sugerem principalmente que a desoneração da folha de pagamentos parece ter gerado empregos apenas para o setor Tecnologia da Informação (e Comunicação), assim como aumento do salário médio dos empregados deste setor. Outro resultado interessante é que para o setor de Call Center o impacto em termos de emprego não foi significativo, mas a lei parece ter contribuído para um aumento do salário no setor.

Strategies for measuring the knowledge economy in the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Report on the implementation of the ECLAC work programme subregional activities for the Caribbean 2006-2007 biennium [Covering the period 1 Janurary 2006- 31 December 2007]

The focus of the activities of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (ECLAC/CDCC) secretariat during the 2006-2007 biennium continued to be on assistance to member governments of the subregion with policy-making and development strategies, especially on issues relevant to the promotion of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of development in the Caribbean. The Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean worked closely with member countries of the CDCC in an effort to ensure the relevance of outputs which would inform policy options. This involved the strengthening of partnerships with both regional and subregional institutions and relevant agencies of the United Nations system working in the Caribbean. A major decision was taken to refocus the operational aspects of the secretariat to ensure that they were relevant to the development goals of its members. This involved the introduction of a thematic approach to the work of the office. One of the changes resulting from this was the restructuring and renaming of the Caribbean Documentation Centre. The Caribbean Knowledge Management Centre (CKMC), as it is now known, has changed its emphasis from organizing and disseminating documents, and is now a more proactive partner in the research undertaken by staff and other users of the service. The CKMC manages the ECLAC website, the public face of the organization. Newsletters and all other documents, including Information and Communications Technology (ICT) profiles of selected countries, prepared by the secretariat, are now available online at the ECLAC/CDCC website www.eclacpos.org . The Caribbean Knowledge Management Portal was launched at a meeting of information specialists in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2007. In addition to reaching a wider public, this measure was introduced as a means of reducing the cost of printing or disseminating publications. In spite of the unusually high vacancy rate, at both the international and local levels, during the biennium, the subregional headquarters accomplished 98 per cent of the 119 outputs earmarked for the period. Using vacant positions to carry out the assignments was not an easy task, given the complexity in recruiting qualified and experienced persons for short periods. Nevertheless, consultancy services and short-term replacement staff greatly aided the delivery of these outputs. All the same, 35 work months remained unused during the biennium, leaving 301 work months to complete the outputs. In addition to the unoccupied positions, the work of the subprogramme was severely affected by the rising cost of regional and subregional travel which limited the ability of staff to network and interact with colleagues of member countries. This also hampered the outreach programme carried out mainly through ad hoc expert group meetings. In spite of these shortcomings, the period proved to be successful for the subprogramme as it engaged the attention of member countries in its work either through direct or indirect participation. Staff members completed 36 technical papers plus the reports of the meetings and workshops. A total of 523 persons, representing member countries, participated in the 18 intergovernmental and expert meetings convened by the secretariat in the 24-month period. In its effort to build technical capacity, the subprogramme convened 15 workshops/seminars which offered training for 446 persons.