Internet technologies, ECRM capabilities, and performance benefits for SMEs:An exploratory study

Research on large firms suggests that dedicated customer relationship management (CRM) software applications play a critical role in creating and sustaining customer relationships. CRM is also of strategic importance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but most of them do not employ dedicated CRM software. Instead they use generic Internet-based technologies to manage customer relationships with electronic CRM (eCRM). There has been little research on the extent to which the use of generic Internet technologies contributes to SME performance. The present study fills the gap, building upon the literature on organizational capabilities, marketing, and SMEs to develop a research model with which to explore the relationships between generic Internet technologies, eCRM capabilities, and the resulting performance benefits in the SME context. A survey across 286 SMEs in Ireland finds strong empirical evidence in support of the hypotheses regarding these benefits. The study contributes to managerial decision making by showing how SMEs can use generic Internet technologies to advance their customer relationships and contributes to theory development by conceptualizing eCRM capabilities in an SME context.

The influence of harvest and storage on the properties of and fast pyrolysis products from Miscanthus x giganteus

The research investigates the fuel property variations associated with the time of harvest and the duration of storage of Miscanthus x giganteus over a one year period. The crop has been harvested at three different times: early (September 2009), conventional (April 2010) and late (June 2010). Once harvested the crop was baled and stored. Biomass properties of samples taken from different storage zones were compared. The thermochemical properties have been investigated using a range of analytical equipment including thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS). In addition, bio-oil has been produced from the early, conventional and late harvest using a laboratory scale (300gh) fast pyrolysis unit. The potential organic liquid yield (ondry basis, also excluding the reaction water generated) based on the laboratory fast pyrolysis processing undertaken in this study, was found to vary between 2.82 and 3.18 dry tha for the early and the late harvest respectively. The bio-oil organic yield was reduced by approximately 11% (0.36tha) between the early and the late harvest. Char yield was also reduced by approximately 18% (0.61tha). The highest gas yield (18.03%-1.60tha) was observed for the conventional harvest. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the bio-oil shows that levoglucosan, methylbenzaldehyde and 1,2-benzenediol all increase as a consequence of delayed harvest. It was also observed that by delaying the harvest time the O:C atomic ratio is reduced and a more carbonaceous feedstock is produced. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Development of novel mass spectrometry methodology to detect post-translational modifications in oxidative stress and disease

This paper presented at the European Meeting of the Society-for-Free-Radical-Research-Europe 2007, discusses the development of novel mass spectrometry methodology to detect post-translational modifications in oxidative stress and disease.

Who is really in charge of contemporary education? People and technologies in, against and beyond the neoliberal university

This article reflects on the position of people in, against and beyond information and communication technologies. Firstly, using Jandrić and Kuzmanić’s work on digital postcolonialism, Raymond Williams's work on residual and emergent cultures, and Deleuze and Guattari's insights into the dynamics between territorialization, de-territorialization and re-territorialization, it develops a theoretical framework for inquiry into the hybrid identity of the contemporary university. Then, through critical discourse analysis (CDA), the article moves on to analyse the ways in which technology discourse resides in the dominating ideology of technological determinism and co-opts with neoliberal agendas by omitting humans from explicit mention in UK policy documents. It shows that true counter-hegemonic practice against dominating social practices is possible only through reinvigorating the central position of human beings in regards to information and communication technologies. Within the developed theoretical framework, it seeks openings to intervene subversively into current relationships between technologies, people, and (higher) education, and to identify opportunities for building a non-determinist identity of the contemporary university that reaches beyond the single-minded logic of techno-scientific development. In the process, it situates Paulo Freire's insights into critical pedagogy in the context of the network society, and places the relationships between human beings, language and information and communication technologies amongst central questions of today's (higher) education and society at large.

Education Complex "Multi-agent Technologies for Parallel and Distributed Information Processing in Telecommunication Networks"

The paper describes education complex "Multi-agent Technologies for Parallel and Distributed Information Processing in Telecommunication Networks".

In vivo characterization of myocardial tissue post myocardial infarction using combined fluorescence and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

Accurately assessing the extent of myocardial tissue injury induced by Myocardial infarction (MI) is critical to the planning and optimization of MI patient management. With this in mind, this study investigated the feasibility of using combined fluorescence and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to characterize a myocardial infarct at the different stages of its development. An animal study was conducted using twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats with MI. In vivo fluorescence spectra at 337 nm excitation and diffuse reflectance between 400 nm and 900 nm were measured from the heart using a portable fiber-optic spectroscopic system. Spectral acquisition was performed on (1) the normal heart region; (2) the region immediately surrounding the infarct; and (3) the infarcted region—one, two, three and four weeks into MI development. The spectral data were divided into six subgroups according to the histopathological features associated with various degrees/severities of myocardial tissue injury as well as various stages of myocardial tissue remodeling, post infarction. Various data processing and analysis techniques were employed to recognize the representative spectral features corresponding to various histopathological features associated with myocardial infarction. The identified spectral features were utilized in discriminant analysis to further evaluate their effectiveness in classifying tissue injuries induced by MI. In this study, it was observed that MI induced significant alterations (p < 0.05) in the diffuse reflectance spectra, especially between 450 nm and 600 nm, from myocardial tissue within the infarcted and surrounding regions. In addition, MI induced a significant elevation in fluorescence intensities at 400 and 460 nm from the myocardial tissue from the same regions. The extent of these spectral alterations was related to the duration of the infarction. Using the spectral features identified, an effective tissue injury classification algorithm was developed which produced a satisfactory overall classification result (87.8%). The findings of this research support the concept that optical spectroscopy represents a useful tool to non-invasively determine the in vivo pathophysiological features of a myocardial infarct and its surrounding tissue, thereby providing valuable real-time feedback to surgeons during various surgical interventions for MI.

In Vivo Characterization of Myocardial Tissue Post Myocardial Infarction Using Combined Fluorescence and Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy

Accurately assessing the extent of myocardial tissue injury induced by Myocardial infarction (MI) is critical to the planning and optimization of MI patient management. With this in mind, this study investigated the feasibility of using combined fluorescence and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to characterize a myocardial infarct at the different stages of its development. An animal study was conducted using twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats with MI. In vivo fluorescence spectra at 337 nm excitation and diffuse reflectance between 400 nm and 900 nm were measured from the heart using a portable fiber-optic spectroscopic system. Spectral acquisition was performed on - (1) the normal heart region; (2) the region immediately surrounding the infarct; and (3) the infarcted region - one, two, three and four weeks into MI development. The spectral data were divided into six subgroups according to the histopathological features associated with various degrees / severities of myocardial tissue injury as well as various stages of myocardial tissue remodeling, post infarction. Various data processing and analysis techniques were employed to recognize the representative spectral features corresponding to various histopathological features associated with myocardial infarction. The identified spectral features were utilized in discriminant analysis to further evaluate their effectiveness in classifying tissue injuries induced by MI. In this study, it was observed that MI induced significant alterations (p < 0.05) in the diffuse reflectance spectra, especially between 450 nm and 600 nm, from myocardial tissue within the infarcted and surrounding regions. In addition, MI induced a significant elevation in fluorescence intensities at 400 and 460 nm from the myocardial tissue from the same regions. The extent of these spectral alterations was related to the duration of the infarction. Using the spectral features identified, an effective tissue injury classification algorithm was developed which produced a satisfactory overall classification result (87.8%). The findings of this research support the concept that optical spectroscopy represents a useful tool to non-invasively determine the in vivo pathophysiological features of a myocardial infarct and its surrounding tissue, thereby providing valuable real-time feedback to surgeons during various surgical interventions for MI.

A simple and rapid approach to post-earthquake assessment of bridge condition and damage

Peer reviewed

Language, Logos, and Social Ontology: Naturalist and Post-Naturalist Narratives of Human Rationality and Social Reality

I distinguish two ways that philosophers have approached and explained the reality and status of human social institutions. I call these approaches “naturalist” and “post-naturalist”. Common to both approaches is an understanding that the status of mind and its relation to the world or “nature” has implications on a conception of the status of institutional reality. Naturalists hold that mind is explicable within a scientific frame that conceives of mind as a fundamentally material process. By proxy, social reality is also materially explicable. Post-naturalists critique this view, holding instead that naturalism is parasitic on contemporary science—it therefore is non-compulsory and distorts how we ought to understand mind and social reality. A comparison of naturalism and post-naturalism will comprise the content of the first chapter. The second chapter turns to tracing out the dimensions of a post-naturalist narrative of mind and social reality. Post-naturalists conceive of mind and its activity of thought as sui generis, and it transpires from this that social institutions are better understood as a rational mind’s mode of the expression in the world. Post-naturalism conceives of social reality as a necessary dimension of thought. Thought requires a second person and thereby a tradition or context of norms that come to both structure its expression and become the products of expression. This is in contrast to the idea that social reality is a production of minds, and thereby derivative. Social reality, self-conscious thought, and thought of the second person are therefore three dimensions of a greater unity.

Mobile Technologies: Expectancy, Usage, and Acceptance of Clinical Staff and Patients at a University Medical Center

BACKGROUND: Despite their increasing popularity, little is known about how users perceive mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs in medical contexts. Available studies are often restricted to evaluating the success of specific interventions and do not adequately cover the users' basic attitudes, for example, their expectations or concerns toward using mobile devices in medical settings. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to obtain a comprehensive picture, both from the perspective of the patients, as well as the doctors, regarding the use and acceptance of mobile devices within medical contexts in general well as the perceived challenges when introducing the technology. METHODS: Doctors working at Hannover Medical School (206/1151, response 17.90%), as well as patients being admitted to this facility (213/279, utilization 76.3%) were surveyed about their acceptance and use of mobile devices in medical settings. Regarding demographics, both samples were representative of the respective study population. GNU R (version 3.1.1) was used for statistical testing. Fisher's exact test, two-sided, alpha=.05 with Monte Carlo approximation, 2000 replicates, was applied to determine dependencies between two variables. RESULTS: The majority of participants already own mobile devices (doctors, 168/206, 81.6%; patients, 110/213, 51.6%). For doctors, use in a professional context does not depend on age (P=.66), professional experience (P=.80), or function (P=.34); gender was a factor (P=.009), and use was more common among male (61/135, 45.2%) than female doctors (17/67, 25%). A correlation between use of mobile devices and age (P=.001) as well as education (P=.002) was seen for patients. Minor differences regarding how mobile devices are perceived in sensitive medical contexts mostly relate to data security, patients are more critical of the devices being used for storing and processing patient data; every fifth patient opposed this, but nevertheless, 4.8% of doctors (10/206) use their devices for this purpose. Both groups voiced only minor concerns about the credibility of the provided content or the technical reliability of the devices. While 8.3% of the doctors (17/206) avoided use during patient contact because they thought patients might be unfamiliar with the devices, (25/213) 11.7% of patients expressed concerns about the technology being too complicated to be used in a health context. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in how patients and doctors perceive the use of mobile devices can be attributed to age and level of education; these factors are often mentioned as contributors of the problems with (mobile) technologies. To fully realize the potential of mobile technologies in a health care context, the needs of both the elderly as well as those who are educationally disadvantaged need to be carefully addressed in all strategies relating to mobile technology in a health context.