Consequences of interorganizational information systems: An empirical investigation of the effects of EDI use on interorganizational relationships in the retail industry

This dissertation examines the consequences of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) use on interorganizational relations (IR) in the retail industry. EDI is a type of interorganizational information system that facilitates the exchange of business documents in structured, machine processable form. The research model links EDI use and three IR dimensions--structural, behavioral, and outcome. Based on relevant literature from organizational theory and marketing channels, fourteen hypotheses were proposed for the relationships among EDI use and the three IR dimensions.^ Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires from key informants in 97 retail companies (19% response rate). The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. The analysis supports the following hypothesis: (a) EDI use is positively related to information intensity and formalization, (b) formalization is positively related to cooperation, (c) information intensity is positively related to cooperation, (d) conflict is negatively related to performance and satisfaction, (e) cooperation is positively related to performance, and (f) performance is positively related to satisfaction. The results support the general premise of the model that the relationship between EDI use and satisfaction among channel members has to be viewed within an interorganizational context.^ Research on EDI is still in a nascent stage. By identifying and testing relevant interorganizational variables, this study offers insights for practitioners managing boundary-spanning activities in organizations using or planning to use EDI. Further, the thesis provides avenues for future research aimed at understanding the consequences of this interorganizational information technology. ^

Organizational response to employment under the ADA of workers with psychiatric disabilities: Four case studies

Title 1 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires all employers, public and private, with more than fifteen employees to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities if the accommodation would, within limits, allow the individual to perform the essential functions of the job. Seven years after Congress enacted the law and five years after the initial provisions became effective, little information is available about the experience of organizations faced with requests for workplace accommodation.^ The question addressed in this study is: How are organizations responding to the ADA mandate to fit individuals with psychiatric disabilities in the workplace? The data sources are three organizations that allowed access to this sensitive information, and a fourth that had two disability discrimination charges filed against it.^ A brute-force case method approach applied to the four organizations yields the following information: Attorneys are hesitant to allow inquiry into company policy owing to fear of litigation; workers are not disclosing and requesting accommodation; tacit accommodation of long-standing employees appears to be a regular practice; knowledge of the intent of the ADA makes a difference in terms of equality of treatment; and insensitivity to employee privacy results in an adversarial situation.^ Implications are relevant to the need to improve lines of communication between human resource, EEO, supervisory, and legal staff; consequences of failure to address accommodations on an explicit level; need for better understanding of the availability and use of outside resources for achieving accommodation; and improvement of self-advocacy and disclosure by the employees with disabilities. ^

Water resources assessment and geographic information system (GIS)-based stormwater runoff estimates for artificial recharge of freshwater aquifers in New Providence, Bahamas

The Bahamas is a small island nation that is dealing with the problem of freshwater shortage. All of the country’s freshwater is contained in shallow lens aquifers that are recharged solely by rainfall. The country has been struggling to meet the water demands by employing a combination of over-pumping of aquifers, transport of water by barge between islands, and desalination of sea water. In recent decades, new development on New Providence, where the capital city of Nassau is located, has created a large area of impervious surfaces and thereby a substantial amount of runoff with the result that several of the aquifers are not being recharged. A geodatabase was assembled to assess and estimate the quantity of runoff from these impervious surfaces and potential recharge locations were identified using a combination of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. This study showed that runoff from impervious surfaces in New Providence represents a large freshwater resource that could potentially be used to recharge the lens aquifers on New Providence.

Understanding the Diversity of User Requirements for Interactive Online Health Services

Peer reviewed

Integrated System Technologies for Modular Trapped Ion Quantum Information Processing

Although trapped ion technology is well-suited for quantum information science, scalability of the system remains one of the main challenges. One of the challenges associated with scaling the ion trap quantum computer is the ability to individually manipulate the increasing number of qubits. Using micro-mirrors fabricated with micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, laser beams are focused on individual ions in a linear chain and steer the focal point in two dimensions. Multiple single qubit gates are demonstrated on trapped 171Yb+ qubits and the gate performance is characterized using quantum state tomography. The system features negligible crosstalk to neighboring ions (< 3e-4), and switching speeds comparable to typical single qubit gate times (< 2 us). In a separate experiment, photons scattered from the 171Yb+ ion are coupled into an optical fiber with 63% efficiency using a high numerical aperture lens (0.6 NA). The coupled photons are directed to superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD), which provide a higher detector efficiency (69%) compared to traditional photomultiplier tubes (35%). The total system photon collection efficiency is increased from 2.2% to 3.4%, which allows for fast state detection of the qubit. For a detection beam intensity of 11 mW/cm2, the average detection time is 23.7 us with 99.885(7)% detection fidelity. The technologies demonstrated in this thesis can be integrated to form a single quantum register with all of the necessary resources to perform local gates as well as high fidelity readout and provide a photon link to other systems.

Diagnóstico del rendimiento académico de estudiantes de una escuela de educación superior en México

El objetivo del artículo es realizar un diagnóstico sobre la percepción de los factores que intervienen en el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de cinco carreras universitarias en una escuela de educación superior en México, para así reconocer las áreas de oportunidad que permitan sugerir políticas y estrategias para elevar su rendimiento. Se utilizó una muestra de 1651 estudiantes, se obtuvieron los datos a partir de un cuestionario con treinta preguntas que estudian la percepción del rendimiento académico en escala tipo Likert. Se realizó un análisis factorial exploratorio que permitiera reducir los datos, facilitar la interpretación y validar el instrumento. Se identificaron tres factores: a) el rol de los profesores, b) la evaluación y c) la motivación de los estudiantes. Se llevó a cabo un análisis comparativo por carrera. Se encontró que los estudiantes perciben que la mayoría de los maestros no se preocupan por la condición de los jóvenes en situación de reprobación. Además, casi no motivan y carecen de expresiones de sentimientos de orgullo por los logros académicos de los estudiantes. La mitad de los participantes piensa que los docentes no cubren el temario en su totalidad. Se detectó que los estudiantes poseen una alta motivación siendo esto positivo porque son alumnos dedicados y responsables. Se concluye realizando una serie de sugerencias y explicando las implicaciones que tiene este trabajo para las instituciones de educación superior.

The Path between Pedagogy and Technology: Establishing a Theoretical Basis for the Development of Educational Game Environments

The power of computer game technology is currently being harnessed to produce “serious games”. These “games” are targeted at the education and training marketplace, and employ various key game-engine components such as the graphics and physics engines to produce realistic “digital-world” simulations of the real “physical world”. Many approaches are driven by the technology and often lack a consideration of a firm pedagogical underpinning. The authors believe that an analysis and deployment of both the technological and pedagogical dimensions should occur together, with the pedagogical dimension providing the lead. This chapter explores the relationship between these two dimensions, and explores how “pedagogy may inform the use of technology”, how various learning theories may be mapped onto the use of the affordances of computer game engines. Autonomous and collaborative learning approaches are discussed. The design of a serious game is broken down into spatial and temporal elements. The spatial dimension is related to the theories of knowledge structures, especially “concept maps”. The temporal dimension is related to “experiential learning”, especially the approach of Kolb. The multi-player aspect of serious games is related to theories of “collaborative learning” which is broken down into a discussion of “discourse” versus “dialogue”. Several general guiding principles are explored, such as the use of “metaphor” (including metaphors of space, embodiment, systems thinking, the internet and emergence). The topological design of a serious game is also highlighted. The discussion of pedagogy is related to various serious games we have recently produced and researched, and is presented in the hope of informing the “serious game community”.

Flooded with Information from Social Media: Effects of Disaster Information Source and Visuals on Viewers' Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Responses

While a variety of crisis types loom as real risks for organizations and communities, and the media landscape continues to evolve, research is needed to help explain and predict how people respond to various kinds of crisis and disaster information. For example, despite the rising prevalence of digital and mobile media centered on still and moving visuals, and stark increases in Americans’ use of visual-based platforms for seeking and sharing disaster information, relatively little is known about how the presence or absence of disaster visuals online might prompt or deter resilience-related feelings, thoughts, and/or behaviors. Yet, with such insights, governmental and other organizational entities as well as communities themselves may best help individuals and communities prepare for, cope with, and recover from adverse events. Thus, this work uses the theoretical lens of the social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC) coupled with the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP) to explore effects of disaster information source and visuals on viewers’ resilience-related responses to an extreme flooding scenario. Results from two experiments are reported. First a preliminary 2 (disaster information source: organization/US National Weather Service vs. news media/USA Today) x 2 (disaster visuals: no visual podcast vs. moving visual video) factorial between-subjects online experiment with a convenience sample of university students probes effects of crisis source and visuals on a variety of cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. A second between-subjects online experiment manipulating still and moving visual pace in online videos (no visual vs. still, slow-pace visual vs. still, medium-pace visual vs. still, fast-pace visual vs. moving, slow-pace visual vs. moving, medium-pace visual vs. moving, fast-pace visual) with a convenience sample recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (mTurk) similarly probes a variety of potentially resilience-related cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. The role of biological sex as a quasi-experimental variable is also investigated in both studies. Various implications for community resilience and recommendations for risk and disaster communicators are explored. Implications for theory building and future research are also examined. Resulting modifications of the SMCC model (i.e., removing “message strategy” and adding the new category of “message content elements” under organizational considerations) are proposed.

Aplicación de las herramientas de la web 2.0 a la enseñanza de la catalogación de documentos

En este trabajo se plantea la elaboración de un proyecto de intervención que se dirige a modificar la metodología de enseñanza para el procesamiento de documentos en el ámbito de la asignatura Procesamiento de Materiales Especiales de la carrera de Bibliotecología y Ciencia de la Información que se dicta en la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. A tal efecto se plantea introducir en el entorno de enseñanza aprendizaje las herramientas de las web 2.0 aplicadas a los entornos catalográficos, que en conjunto se denomina OPAC 2.0. Esta innovación en el entorno de la mencionada asignatura supone una innovación ya que hasta el momento este tipo de metodología, si bien desarrollada en el procesamiento de documentos en el ámbito del ejercicio profesional, no ha sido incorporada en la asignatura como parte del proceso de enseñanza

Aplicación de las herramientas de la web 2.0 a la enseñanza de la catalogación de documentos

En este trabajo se plantea la elaboración de un proyecto de intervención que se dirige a modificar la metodología de enseñanza para el procesamiento de documentos en el ámbito de la asignatura Procesamiento de Materiales Especiales de la carrera de Bibliotecología y Ciencia de la Información que se dicta en la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. A tal efecto se plantea introducir en el entorno de enseñanza aprendizaje las herramientas de las web 2.0 aplicadas a los entornos catalográficos, que en conjunto se denomina OPAC 2.0. Esta innovación en el entorno de la mencionada asignatura supone una innovación ya que hasta el momento este tipo de metodología, si bien desarrollada en el procesamiento de documentos en el ámbito del ejercicio profesional, no ha sido incorporada en la asignatura como parte del proceso de enseñanza

Aplicación de las herramientas de la web 2.0 a la enseñanza de la catalogación de documentos

En este trabajo se plantea la elaboración de un proyecto de intervención que se dirige a modificar la metodología de enseñanza para el procesamiento de documentos en el ámbito de la asignatura Procesamiento de Materiales Especiales de la carrera de Bibliotecología y Ciencia de la Información que se dicta en la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. A tal efecto se plantea introducir en el entorno de enseñanza aprendizaje las herramientas de las web 2.0 aplicadas a los entornos catalográficos, que en conjunto se denomina OPAC 2.0. Esta innovación en el entorno de la mencionada asignatura supone una innovación ya que hasta el momento este tipo de metodología, si bien desarrollada en el procesamiento de documentos en el ámbito del ejercicio profesional, no ha sido incorporada en la asignatura como parte del proceso de enseñanza

Layered Information Modeling and a Knowledge Organization Paradigm: Inherent Classification and the Design of Interoperable Systems

In knowledge technology work, as expressed by the scope of this conference, there are a number of communities, each uncovering new methods, theories, and practices. The Library and Information Science (LIS) community is one such community. This community, through tradition and innovation, theories and practice, organizes knowledge and develops knowledge technologies formed by iterative research hewn to the values of equal access and discovery for all. The Information Modeling community is another contributor to knowledge technologies. It concerns itself with the construction of symbolic models that capture the meaning of information and organize it in ways that are computer-based, but human understandable. A recent paper that examines certain assumptions in information modeling builds a bridge between these two communities, offering a forum for a discussion on common aims from a common perspective. In a June 2000 article, Parsons and Wand separate classes from instances in information modeling in order to free instances from what they call the “tyranny” of classes. They attribute a number of problems in information modeling to inherent classification – or the disregard for the fact that instances can be conceptualized independent of any class assignment. By faceting instances from classes, Parsons and Wand strike a sonorous chord with classification theory as understood in LIS. In the practice community and in the publications of LIS, faceted classification has shifted the paradigm of knowledge organization theory in the twentieth century. Here, with the proposal of inherent classification and the resulting layered information modeling, a clear line joins both the LIS classification theory community and the information modeling community. Both communities have their eyes turned toward networked resource discovery, and with this conceptual conjunction a new paradigmatic conversation can take place. Parsons and Wand propose that the layered information model can facilitate schema integration, schema evolution, and interoperability. These three spheres in information modeling have their own connotation, but are not distant from the aims of classification research in LIS. In this new conceptual conjunction, established by Parsons and Ward, information modeling through the layered information model, can expand the horizons of classification theory beyond LIS, promoting a cross-fertilization of ideas on the interoperability of subject access tools like classification schemes, thesauri, taxonomies, and ontologies. This paper examines the common ground between the layered information model and faceted classification, establishing a vocabulary and outlining some common principles. It then turns to the issue of schema and the horizons of conventional classification and the differences between Information Modeling and Library and Information Science. Finally, a framework is proposed that deploys an interpretation of the layered information modeling approach in a knowledge technologies context. In order to design subject access systems that will integrate, evolve and interoperate in a networked environment, knowledge organization specialists must consider a semantic class independence like Parsons and Wand propose for information modeling.

Educação ambiental, sustentabilidade e ciência: o papel da mídia na difusão de conhecimentos científicos

São problemas de ordem ambiental: aquecimento global, mudanças climáticas, escassez de recursos naturais, resíduo. Em resposta, têm sido gerados novos saberes no campo da ciência, tecnologia e educação chamada ambiental de modo a se proporem alternativas para que o homem possa relacionar-se com o ambiente de maneira sustentável, e a mídia tem contribuído sobremaneira na veiculação desses conhecimentos. Na imprensa escrita, revistas e jornais têm criado seções, suplementos, cadernos tematizando educação e meio ambiente. Produzida pela revista Carta Capital, desde 2006, a revista Carta na Escola busca difundir "atualidades em sala de aula", e de setembro de 2007 a agosto de 2008 publicou a série "Sustentabilidade na Escola", com dez artigos relacionando sustentabilidade, ciência e educação. A partir do referencial teórico-metodológico da análise dialógica do discurso, este artigo analisa o discurso da sustentabilidade baseado na difusão de conhecimentos científicos, proposto nessa série, e sua limitação enquanto estratégia de educação ambiental.

Students' collective knowledge construction in the virtual learning environment ""ToLigado - your school interactive newspaper""

Introduction. The ToLigado Project - Your School Interactive Newspaper is an interactive virtual learning environment conceived, developed, implemented and supported by researchers at the School of the Future Research Laboratory of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Method. This virtual learning environment aims to motivate trans-disciplinary research among public school students and teachers in 2,931 schools equipped with Internet-access computer rooms. Within this virtual community, students produce collective multimedia research documents that are immediately published in the portal. The project also aims to increase students' autonomy for research, collaborative work and Web authorship. Main sections of the portal are presented and described. Results. Partial results of the first two years' implementation are presented and indicate a strong motivation among students to produce knowledge despite the fragile hardware and software infrastructure at the time. Discussion. In this new environment, students should be seen as 'knowledge architects' and teachers as facilitators, or 'curiosity managers'. The ToLigado portal may constitute a repository for future studies regarding student attitudes in virtual learning environments, students' behaviour as 'authors', Web authorship involving collective knowledge production, teachers' behaviour as facilitators, and virtual learning environments as digital repositories of students' knowledge construction and social capital in virtual learning communities.

The notion of structure and the information records of the documentary systems

Assuming as a starting point the acknowledge that the principles and methods used to build and manage the documentary systems are disperse and lack systematization, this study hypothesizes that the notion of structure, when assuming mutual relationships among its elements, promotes more organical systems and assures better quality and consistency in the retrieval of information concerning users` matters. Accordingly, it aims to explore the fundamentals about the records of information and documentary systems, starting from the notion of structure. In order to achieve that, it presents basic concepts and relative matters to documentary systems and information records. Next to this, it lists the theoretical subsides over the notion of structure, studied by Benveniste, Ferrater Mora, Levi-Strauss, Lopes, Penalver Simo, Saussure, apart from Ducrot, Favero and Koch. Appropriations that have already been done by Paul Otlet, Garcia Gutierrez and Moreiro Gonzalez. In Documentation come as a further topic. It concludes that the adopted notion of structure to make explicit a hypothesis of real systematization achieves more organical systems, as well as it grants pedagogical reference to the documentary tasks.