Links and Hubs of Scientific Information – the Case of the MTMT

We present the Hungarian National Scientific Bibliography project: the MTMT. We argue that presently available commercial systems cannot be used as a comprehensive national bibliometric tool. The new database was created from existing databases of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, but expected to be re-engineered in the future. The data curation model includes harvesting, the work of expert bibliographers and author feedback. MTMT will work together with the other services in the web of scientific information, using standard protocols and formats, and act as a hub. It will present the scientific output of Hungary together with the repositories containing the full text, wherever available. The database will be open, but not freely harvestable, and only for non-commercial use.

Learning by Doing in the Context of Modern Information and Media Literacy of Students in “Library and Information Management” in ULSIT Using the Digital Collection “Bulgarian Revival”

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of learning by doing as a practical tool for managing the training of students in "Library Management" at the ULSIT, Sofia, Bulgaria, by using the creation of project 'Data Base “Bulgarian Revival Towns” (CD), financed by Bulgarian Ministry of Education, Youth and Science (1/D002/144/13.10.2011) headed by Prof. DSc Ivanka Yankova, which aims to create new information resource for the towns which will serve the needs of scientific researches. By participating in generating the an array in the database through searching, selection and digitization of documents from these period, at the same time students get an opportunity to expand their skills to work effectively in a team, finding the interdisciplinary, a causal connection between the studied items, objects and subjects and foremost – practical experience in the field of digitization, information behavior, strategies for information search, etc. This method achieves good results for the accumulation of sustainable knowledge and it generates motivation to work in the field of library and information professions.

Developing a tool to support communication of parental concerns when a child is in hospital

The involvement of parents in their child’s hospital care has been strongly advocated in paediatric healthcare policy and practice. However, incorporating parental worries about their child’s condition into clinical care can be difficult for both parents and healthcare professionals. Through our “Listening To You” quality improvement project we developed and piloted an innovative approach to listening, incorporating and responding to parental concerns regarding their child’s condition when in hospital. Here we describe the phases of work undertaken to develop our “Listening To You” communications bundle, including a survey, literature review and consultation with parents and staff, before findings from the project evaluation are presented and discussed.

Social construction of Geographic Information Systems. (Volumes I and II)

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an emerging information technology (IT) which promises to have large scale influences in how spatially distributed resources are managed. It has had applications in the management of issues as diverse as recovering from the disaster of Hurricane Andrew to aiding military operations in Desert Storm. Implementation of GIS systems is an important issue because there are high cost and time involvement in setting them up. An important component of the implementation problem is the "meaning" different groups of people who are influencing the implementation give to the technology. The research was based on the theory of (theoretical stance to the problem was based on the) "Social Construction of Knowledge" systems which assumes knowledge systems are subject to sociological analysis both in usage and in content. An interpretive research approach was adopted to inductively derive a model which explains how the "meanings" of a GIS are socially constructed. The research design entailed a comparative case analysis over two county sites which were using the same GIS for a variety of purposes. A total of 75 in-depth interviews were conducted to elicit interpretations of GIS. Results indicate that differences in how geographers and data-processors view the technology lead to different implementation patterns in the two sites.

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. ^

Understanding the dynamics of information technology implementation: The case of clinical information systems

The ultimate intent of this dissertation was to broaden and strengthen our understanding of IT implementation by emphasizing research efforts on the dynamic nature of the implementation process. More specifically, efforts were directed toward opening the "black box" and providing the story that explains how and why contextual conditions and implementation tactics interact to produce project outcomes. In pursuit of this objective, the dissertation was aimed at theory building and adopted a case study methodology combining qualitative and quantitative evidence. Precisely, it examined the implementation process, use and consequences of three clinical information systems at Jackson Memorial Hospital, a large tertiary care teaching hospital.^ As a preliminary step toward the development of a more realistic model of system implementation, the study proposes a new set of research propositions reflecting the dynamic nature of the implementation process.^ Findings clearly reveal that successful implementation projects are likely to be those where key actors envision end goals, anticipate challenges ahead, and recognize the presence of and seize opportunities. It was also found that IT implementation is characterized by the systems theory of equifinality, that is, there are likely several equally effective ways to achieve a given end goal. The selection of a particular implementation strategy appears to be a rational process where actions and decisions are largely influenced by the degree to which key actors recognize the mediating role of each tactic and are motivated to action. The nature of the implementation process is also characterized by the concept of "duality of structure," that is, context and actions mutually influence each other. Another key finding suggests that there is no underlying program that regulates the process of change and moves it form one given point toward a subsequent and already prefigured end. For this reason, the implementation process cannot be thought of as a series of activities performed in a sequential manner such as conceived in stage models. Finally, it was found that IT implementation is punctuated by a certain indeterminacy. Results suggest that only when substantial efforts are focused on what to look for and think about, it is less likely that unfavorable and undesirable consequences will occur. ^

``This is your brain on drugs'': The public policy of anti -drug programming. An exploratory analysis of media and other sources of drug information for adolescents

In the 1980s, government agencies sought to utilize research on drug use prevention to design media campaigns. Enlisting the assistance of the national media, several campaigns were designed and initiated to bring anti-drug use messages to adolescents in the form of public service advertising. This research explores the sources of information selected by adolescents in grades 7 through 12 and how the selection of media and other sources of information relate to drug use behavior and attitudes and perceptions related to risk/harm and disapproval of friends' drug-using activities.^ Data collected from 1989 to 1992 in the Miami Coalition School Survey provided a random selection of secondary school studies. The responses of these students were analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques.^ Although many of the students selected media as the source for most of their information on the effects of drugs on the people who use them, the selection of media was found to be positively related to alcohol use and negatively related to marijuana use. The selection of friends, brothers, or sisters was a statistically significant source for adolescents who smoke cigarettes, use alcohol or marijuana.^ The results indicate that the anti-drug use messages received by students may be canceled out by media messages perceived to advocate substance use and that a more persuasive source of information for adolescents may be friends and siblings. As federal reports suggest that the economic costs of drug abuse will reach an estimated $150 billion by 1997 if current trends continue, prevention policy that addresses the glamorization of substance use remains a national priority. Additionally, programs that advocate prevention within the peer cluster must be supported, as peers are an influential source for both inspiring and possibly preventing drug use behavior. ^

Foundations of quantitative information flow: Channels, cascades, and the information order

Secrecy is fundamental to computer security, but real systems often cannot avoid leaking some secret information. For this reason, the past decade has seen growing interest in quantitative theories of information flow that allow us to quantify the information being leaked. Within these theories, the system is modeled as an information-theoretic channel that specifies the probability of each output, given each input. Given a prior distribution on those inputs, entropy-like measures quantify the amount of information leakage caused by the channel. ^ This thesis presents new results in the theory of min-entropy leakage. First, we study the perspective of secrecy as a resource that is gradually consumed by a system. We explore this intuition through various models of min-entropy consumption. Next, we consider several composition operators that allow smaller systems to be combined into larger systems, and explore the extent to which the leakage of a combined system is constrained by the leakage of its constituents. Most significantly, we prove upper bounds on the leakage of a cascade of two channels, where the output of the first channel is used as input to the second. In addition, we show how to decompose a channel into a cascade of channels. ^ We also establish fundamental new results about the recently-proposed g-leakage family of measures. These results further highlight the significance of channel cascading. We prove that whenever channel A is composition refined by channel B, that is, whenever A is the cascade of B and R for some channel R, the leakage of A never exceeds that of B, regardless of the prior distribution or leakage measure (Shannon leakage, guessing entropy leakage, min-entropy leakage, or g-leakage). Moreover, we show that composition refinement is a partial order if we quotient away channel structure that is redundant with respect to leakage alone. These results are strengthened by the proof that composition refinement is the only way for one channel to never leak more than another with respect to g-leakage. Therefore, composition refinement robustly answers the question of when a channel is always at least as secure as another from a leakage point of view.^

Sources of nutrition information for persons living in Trinidad and Tobago

Health consumers worldwide obtain nutrition information from various sources; however, the sources Trinidadians and Tobagonians accessed were unclear. This cross-sectional, descriptive study ascertained from which sources Trinidadians and Tobagonians obtained nutrition information. Participants (n = 845) were surveyed with questions regarding demographics and nutrition information sources. Nearly 100% agreed nutrition information was important. Persons 18-64 years old mainly accessed print media (p<0.01) and ≥ 65years old predominantly accessed the non-print media. Significantly more tertiary educated people, ≥ 35 years old, retrieved information from print media (p=0.001), health care professionals (p=0.001), food labels (p=0.006), and non-print media (p=0.03) when compared to those < 35 years with similar education. Tertiary educated people (67%), selected the Internet when compared to those with without tertiary education (33%) (p<0.001). Knowing the nutrition information sources accessed, dietitians will be able to provide consistent, accurate, age specific nutrition information and promote healthy eating among Trinidadians and Tobagonians.

Design and Development of Geographical Information System (GIS) Map for Nuclear Waste Streams

A nuclear waste stream is the complete flow of waste material from origin to treatment facility to final disposal. The objective of this study was to design and develop a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) module using Google Application Programming Interface (API) for better visualization of nuclear waste streams that will identify and display various nuclear waste stream parameters. A proper display of parameters would enable managers at Department of Energy waste sites to visualize information for proper planning of waste transport. The study also developed an algorithm using quadratic Bézier curve to make the map more understandable and usable. Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 were used for the implementation of the project. The study has shown that the combination of several technologies can successfully provide dynamic mapping functionality. Future work should explore various Google Maps API functionalities to further enhance the visualization of nuclear waste streams.

Prospects for probabilistic theories of natural information

Peer reviewed

The Communication of Inductive Inferences

Postprint

A timely reminder of technical limitations

Peer reviewed