The Concept of a Smart Action – Results from Analyzing Information Systems Literature

In recent years, the term \u27smartness\u27 has entered widespread use in research and daily life. It has emerged with various applications of the Internet of Things, such as smart homes and smart factories. However, rapid technological development and careless use of the term mean that, in information systems (IS) research, a common understanding of smartness has not yet been established. And while it is recognized that smartness encompasses more than the use of impressive information technology applications, a unified conceptualization of how smartness is manifested in IS research is lacking. To this end, we conducted a structured literature review applying techniques from Grounded Theory. We found that smartness occurs through actions, in which smart things and individuals interact, process information, and make data-based decisions that are perceived as smart. Building on these findings, we propose the concept of a \u27smart action\u27 and derive a general definition of smartness. Our findings augment knowledge about how smartness is formed, offering a new perspective on smartness. The concept of a smart action unifies and increases understanding of \u27smartness\u27 in IS research. It supports further research by providing a concept for describing, analyzing, and designing smart actions, smart devices, and smart services

Social capital and utilization of HIV/ AIDS-related healthcare in rural Matabeleland South Province, Zimbabwe

This study examined the relationship between social capital and utilization of HIV/AIDSrelated healthcare amongst people living with HIV in rural Matabeleland South province of Zimbabwe. It also explored barriers to optimal HIV/AIDS-related healthcare utilization among this rural population. Grounded on the Andersen and Newman model of healthcare utilization and social capital theory, the study employed a mixed method research design. Using time-location sampling procedure, a total of 399 people living with HIV were interviewed using a survey questionnaire. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were also conducted with 40 purposively selected key informants that included healthcare workers, HIV/AIDS service providers and community leaders. A statistically significant association was found between social capital and healthcare utilization. The binary logistic regression model was statistically significant, χ² (11) =129.362, (p < .005), it correctly classified 80.20% of cases and explained 59.3% of the variance in healthcare utilization (Nagelkerke R-Square =59.30%). The 16 items of the social capital scale were subjected to principal compoments analysis (PCA). Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of sampling adequacy was 0.645 and Bartletts's Test of Spehericity reached statistical significance (χ² (120) = 128, p < .001), supporting the factorability of the correlation matrix. Social capital was a significant predictor of HIV/AIDS-related healthcare utilization (p<0.001). The results indicated that for a unit increase in social capital the odds of utilization of HIV/AIDS-related healthcare increased by a factor of 59.84. Other significant predictors of HIV/AID-related healthcare utilization amongst the study participants were gender (p<.05, odds ratio=3.4), discrimination (p<.05, odds ratio = 7.7) and household headship (p<.001, odds ratio = 4.3). Enabling factors such as membership in health insurance schemes and household income had no significant effect on HIV/AIDS-related healthcare utilization. Major barriers to HIV/AIDS-related healthcare utilization were food insecurity and reliance on informal sources of medication. This study contributed to understanding of the influences of social capital on the utilization of HIV/AIDS-related health care and underscored the need to integrate social capital in designing interventions to improve HIV/AIDS-related healthcare utilization in rural contexts

A pattern language for evolution reuse in component-based software architectures

Context: Modern software systems are prone to a continuous evolution under frequently varying requirements and changes in operational environments. Architecture-Centric Software Evolution (ACSE) enables changes in a system’s structure and behaviour while maintaining a global view of the software to address evolution-centric trade-offs. Lehman’s law of continuing change demands for long-living and continuously evolving architectures to prolong the productive life and economic value of software. Also some industrial research shows that evolution reuse can save approximately 40% effort of change implementation in ACSE process. However, a systematic review of existing research suggests a lack of solution(s) to support a continuous integration of reuse knowledge in ACSE process to promote evolution-off-the-shelf in software architectures. Objectives: We aim to unify the concepts of software repository mining and software evolution to discover evolution-reuse knowledge that can be shared and reused to guide ACSE. Method: We exploit repository mining techniques (also architecture change mining) that investigates architecture change logs to discover change operationalisation and patterns. We apply software evolution concepts (also architecture change execution) to support pattern-driven reuse in ACSE. Architecture change patterns support composition and application of a pattern language that exploits patterns and their relations to express evolution-reuse knowledge. Pattern language composition is enabled with a continuous discovery of patterns from architecture change logs and formalising relations among discovered patterns. Pattern language application is supported with an incremental selection and application of patterns to achieve reuse in ACSE. The novelty of the research lies with a framework PatEvol that supports a round-trip approach for a continuous acquisition (mining) and application (execution) of reuse knowledge to enable ACSE. Prototype support enables customisation and (semi-) automation for the evolution process. Results: We evaluated the results based on the ISO/IEC 9126 - 1 quality model and a case study based validation of the architecture change mining and change execution processes. We observe consistency and reusability of change support with pattern-driven architecture evolution. Change patterns support efficiency for architecture evolution process but lack a fine-granular change implementation. A critical challenge lies with the selection of appropriate patterns to form a pattern language during evolution. Conclusions: The pattern language itself continuously evolves with an incremental discovery of new patterns from change logs over time. A systematic identification and resolution of change anti-patterns define the scope for future research

Undergraduate and Graduate Course Descriptions, 2008 Summer

Wright State University undergraduate and graduate course descriptions from Summer 2008

Undergraduate and Graduate Course Descriptions, 2007 Fall

Wright State University undergraduate and graduate course descriptions from Fall 2007

Economic performance of product and process firms

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-175).This dissertation refines the understanding of economic performance of firms, using data and practical insights from the automotive supplier industry. Firms in this industry are characterized as either product or process firms, reflecting the importance of technological capabilities in manufacturing industries. Specialized capabilities in product markets define product firms, whereas capabilities in materials processing and manufacturing technologies define process firms. A measure of technological coherence is introduced, which expresses the relatedness of capabilities of a firm. The measure is based on a concentration index and a hierarchical classification of products and processes in the automotive supplier industry. Using this measure of coherence, analysis shows that firms with stronger coherence are able to better exploit corporate synergies and therefore achieve superior economic performance. That is, firms focusing on a specialized and related set of capabilities are able to outperform less coherent firms. Analysis further reveals a significant difference in performance between product and process firms. Product firms in the automotive supplier industry exhibit negative returns to scale, whereas process firms exhibit positive returns to scale. These differences are attributed to the underlying corporate logic of product and process firms, supported with studies of value creation in corporate acquisitions and interviews with corporate executives. The findings have implications for strategic choices of firms, such as choosing between product and process focus, and choosing between focus and diversification. The dissertation contributes to strategic management theory with a framework of product and process firms that is based on a technological view of the firm, and with a measure of technological coherence that facilitates empirical research of corporate coherence.by Patrick P. Steinemann.Ph.D

Undergraduate and Graduate Course Descriptions, 2007 Winter

Wright State University undergraduate and graduate course descriptions from Winter 2007

A principal components analysis of the UK term structure and the influence of fiscal policy

This study examines the use of principal component techniques in analysing term structures of interest rates. It employs original methods of estimating B-Spline models with endogenous knot positions and applies the method of Dierckx (1981) to generate new data sets for the study. The variability of the knots suggests that natural market boundaries do not exist in the UK gilts market. Few, if any, of the previous studies of term structures using principal components have subjected the components to statistical testing. This is remedied in this thesis. The results suggest that only two components, a level and a slope component, are required to describe most of the variability in the term structures irrespective of the data used, but these components are not stable over time. The thesis extends the method to include partial common principal components, and using this method demonstrated the difference in the major components of selected data sets. The thesis found that changes in the principal component scores could not be accounted for by regularly published economic news, including news about the PSBR. A macromodel was estimated. This showed that the term structures in the sample were altered by changes in government spending but the movement in interest rates would depend upon how this was funded and what maturity of interest rates was studied. The model also showed that significant changes would take a long time to manifest themselves and that there was evidence that some forms of funding had unstable effects. These results provide an explanation of why news effects are difficult to discern and why there is no consensus on whether or not fiscal variables affect the term structure

Undergraduate and Graduate Course Descriptions, 2006 Fall

Wright State University undergraduate and graduate course descriptions from Fall 2006