Improving information in project appraisal using hedonic pricing : a case study of marina berthing charges

Hedonic pricing techniques can be used to generate quantitative information useful to the project appraiser at various stages of the project cycle, most notably project formulation and investment appraisal. To illustrate, a hedonic pricing model is applied to marina berthing charges in England and Wales. The technique determines the relevant marina facilities that are reflected in marina rental price. The contribution of the key marina facilities is expressed in monetary terms as the contribution to cost per overall rental price per foot.

The expert searcher's experience of information

Expert searchers engage with information in a variety of professional settings, as information brokers, reference librarians, information architects and faculty who teach advanced searching. As my recent research shows, the expert searcher’s information experience is defined by profound discernment of critical concepts about information, and a fluid ability to apply this knowledge to their engagement with the information environment. The information experience of the expert searcher means active and intentional participation with the processes and players that created that information environment. Expert searchers become an integral and seamless part of their information environment and also play a role in facilitating the information experiences of others. In this chapter, after discussing my understanding of the concept of information experience, I outline how I used threshold concept theory to explore the information experience of expert searchers. Through the findings, I identify four threshold concepts in the acquisition of search expertise that provide new perspectives on the information experience of the expert searcher. These new perspectives have implications for search engine design and how advanced search skills are taught. Finally, I consider how the fresh insights about the expert searcher’s experiences contribute to wider understanding about information experience.

A novel manoeuvering model based on low-aspect-ratio lift theory and Lagrangian mechanics

This paper proposes a physically motivated reappraisal of manoeuvring models for ships and presents a new model developed from first principles by application of low aspect-ratio aerodynamic theory and Lagrangian mechanics. The coefficients of the model are shown to be related to physical processes, and validation is presented using the results from a planar motion mechanism dataset.

Health Information Exchange in the wake of ‘big data’ paradigm – the theme is from ‘quality of information to quality of life’

Health Information Exchange (HIE) is an interesting phenomenon. It is a patient centric health and/or medical information management scenario enhanced by integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). While health information systems are repositioning complex system directives, in the wake of the ‘big data’ paradigm, extracting quality information is challenging. It is anticipated that in this talk, ICT enabled healthcare scenarios with big data analytics will be shared. In addition, research and development regarding big data analytics, such as current trends of using these technologies for health care services and critical research challenges when extracting quality of information to improve quality of life will be discussed.

Information and communication technologies transform the practice of medicine

Information and Communication Technologies are dramatically transforming Allopathic medicine. Technological developments including Tele-medicine, Electronic health records, Standards to ensure computer systems inter-operate, Data mining, Simulation, Decision Support and easy access to medical information each contribute to empowering patients in new ways and change the practice of medicine. To date, informatics has had little impact on Ayurvedic medicine. This tutorial provides an introduction to key informatics initiatives in Allopothic medicine using real examples and suggests how applications can be applied to Ayurvedic medicine.

The security and privacy of usage policies and provenance logs in an Information Accountability Framework

The potential benefits of shared eHealth records systems are promising for the future of improved healthcare. However, the uptake of such systems is hindered by concerns over the security and privacy of patient information. The use of Information Accountability and so called Accountable-eHealth (AeH) systems has been proposed to balance the privacy concerns of patients with the information needs of healthcare professionals. However, a number of challenges remain before AeH systems can become a reality. Among these is the need to protect the information stored in the usage policies and provenance logs used by AeH systems to define appropriate use of information and hold users accountable for their actions. In this paper, we discuss the privacy and security issues surrounding these accountability mechanisms, define valid access to the information they contain, discuss solutions to protect them, and verify and model an implementation of the access requirements as part of an Information Accountability Framework.

Information literacy and the serious leisure participant : variation in the experience of using information to learn

This thesis examines, by way of phenomenographic methodology, the qualitatively different ways in which people engaged in Serious Leisure activities (within the area of 'heritage') experience information literacy. The study identified the presence of four distinct categories of information literacy experience, each with variation in regard to the serious leisure participant's experience of learning and information. In addition it also identified the existence of a further dimension of variation pertaining to the way in which individual identity is experienced during engagement with a serious leisure activity.

Towards a theory of individual-level discontinuance of information systems use

I develop a model of individuals’ intentions to discontinue information system use. Understanding these intentions is important because they give insights into users’ willingness to carry out system tasks, and provide a basis for maintenance decisions as well as possible replacement decisions. I offer a first conceptualization of factors determining users’ discontinuance intentions on basis of existing literature on technology use, status quo bias and dual factor concepts. The model is grounded in rational choice theory to distinguish determinants of a conscious decision between continuing or discontinuing IS use. I provide details on the empirical test of the model through a field study of IS users in a retail organization. The work will have implications for theory on information systems continuance and dual-factor logic in information system use. The empirical findings will provide suggestions for managers dealing with cessation of information systems and work routine changes in organizations.

Practices and effectiveness of building information modelling in construction projects in China

Based on an investigation of 106 projects involving the use of building information modelling (BIM), this paper examines current BIM practices in China, and assesses how various practices alter their effectiveness. The results reveal that in current practice BIM is principally employed as a visualization tool, and how it is implemented is significantly associated with project characteristics. BIM use in the majority of the surveyed projects is seen to have positive outcomes, with the benefits of improved task effectiveness being more substantial than those related to efficiency improvement. The results also provide evidence that project characteristics significantly influence the success of BIM use; however, more substantial contributing factors to BIM effectiveness are the extent of integrated use and client/owner support. While indicating that current BIM practices involve both technological and organizational problems, the findings also provide insights into how the potential for BIM could be better exploited within the industry.

Benefits of integrating complementarity into priority threat management

Conservation decision tools based on cost-effectiveness analysis are used to assess threat management strategies for improving species persistence. These approaches rank alternative strategies by their benefit to cost ratio but may fail to identify the optimal sets of strategies to implement under limited budgets because they do not account for redundancies. We devised a multi objective optimization approach in which the complementarity principle is applied to identify the sets of threat management strategies that protect the most species for any budget. We used our approach to prioritize threat management strategies for 53 species of conservation concern in the Pilbara, Australia. We followed a structured elicitation approach to collect information on the benefits and costs of implementing 17 different conservation strategies during a 3-day workshop with 49 stakeholders and experts in the biodiversity, conservation, and management of the Pilbara. We compared the performance of our complementarity priority threat management approach with a current cost-effectiveness ranking approach. A complementary set of 3 strategies: domestic herbivore management, fire management and research, and sanctuaries provided all species with >50% chance of persistence for $4.7 million/year over 20 years. Achieving the same result cost almost twice as much ($9.71 million/year) when strategies were selected by their cost-effectiveness ranks alone. Our results show that complementarity of management benefits has the potential to double the impact of priority threat management approaches.

Australian Library and Information Association Course Accreditation Review 2013

This report has been prepared for the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) in response to the request to undertake a literature review and environmental scan to inform discussions of the issues associated with professional accreditation. ALIA is the peak body which develops and monitors the professional standards that ensure the high quality of graduates entering the library and information services (LIS) profession in Australia. The report presents a themed discussion of the issues identified in the literature review and environmental scan to build a full picture of the role of course accreditation in LIS education. This is set against developments in the wider context of quality assurance in Australian tertiary education, to analyse the implications of this changing environment for ALIA’s accreditation policies and ractices.

Simulated hyperopic anisometropia and reading, visual information processing, and reading-related eye movement performance in children

Purpose: This study investigated the impact of simulated hyperopic anisometropia and sustained near work on performance of academic-related measures in children. Methods: Participants included 16 children (mean age: 11.1 ± 0.8 years) with minimal refractive error. Academic-related outcome measures included a reading test (Neale Analysis of Reading Ability), visual information processing tests (Coding and Symbol Search subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) and a reading-related eye movement test (Developmental Eye Movement test). Performance was assessed with and without 0.75 D of imposed monocular hyperopic defocus (administered in a randomised order), before and after 20 minutes of sustained near work. Unilateral hyperopic defocus was systematically assigned to either the dominant or non-dominant sighting eye to evaluate the impact of ocular dominance on any performance decrements. Results: Simulated hyperopic anisometropia and sustained near work both independently reduced performance on all of the outcome measures (p<0.001). A significant interaction was also observed between simulated anisometropia and near work (p<0.05), with the greatest decrement in performance observed during simulated anisometropia in combination with sustained near work. Laterality of the refractive error simulation (ocular dominance) did not significantly influence the outcome measures (p>0.05). A reduction of up to 12% in performance was observed across the range of academic-related measures following sustained near work undertaken during the anisometropic simulation. Conclusion: Simulated hyperopic anisometropia significantly impaired academic–related performance, particularly in combination with sustained near work. The impact of uncorrected habitual anisometropia on academic-related performance in children requires further investigation.

Web professionals : how do they experience information literacy?

This phenomenographic research investigated variation in web professionals' understanding of information literacy. The outcome is of value for the education of practitioners both in the areas of information literacy, and web design and development. Analysis of 23 in-depth interviews with web workers from different stages of web design and development process revealed that they experience information literacy as staying informed, building a successful website, solving a problem or participating in a community of practice. The present research advances the existing understanding of the concept of information literacy, especially in an occupational context. Additionally, using the web professionals' world as the context of the study, the research also contributes to the field of website design and development by shedding light on less-researched experiences of people involved in this industry.

Privacy in the new era of visible and sharable energy-use information

A new era of visible and sharable electricity information is emerging. Where eco-feedback is installed, households can now visualise many aspects of their energy consumption and share this information with others through Internet platforms such as social media. Despite providing users with many affordances, eco-feedback information can make public previously private actions from within the intimate setting of the family home. This paper represents a study focussing specifically on the privacy aspects of nascent ways for viewing and sharing this new stream of personal information. It explores the nuances of privacy related to eco-feedback both within and beyond the family home. While electricity consumption information may not be considered private itself, the household practices which eco-feedback systems makes visible may be private. We show that breaches of privacy can occur in unexpected ways and have the potential to cause distress. The paper concludes with some suggestions for how to realise the benefits of sharing energy consumption information whist effectively maintaining individuals’ conceptions of adequate privacy.

Rethinking the value of simulation methods in the information systems research field : a call for reconstructing contribution for a broader audience

The impact of simulation methods for social research in the Information Systems (IS) research field remains low. A concern is our field is inadequately leveraging the unique strengths of simulation methods. Although this low impact is frequently attributed to methodological complexity, we offer an alternative explanation – the poor construction of research value. We argue a more intuitive value construction, better connected to the knowledge base, will facilitate increased value and broader appreciation. Meta-analysis of studies published in IS journals over the last decade evidences the low impact. To facilitate value construction, we synthesize four common types of simulation research contribution: Analyzer, Tester, Descriptor, and Theorizer. To illustrate, we employ the proposed typology to describe how each type of value is structured in simulation research and connect each type to instances from IS literature, thereby making these value types and their construction visible and readily accessible to the general IS community.