Opening the Blackbox of ‘Fitness for Use’: The Role of IT Implementation in Perceiving Information Quality

This article explains the role of adoption and adaptation of information technology in shaping and constructing the perception of information quality by information consumers. A qualitative and interpretive study has been conducted among Iranian organizations that faced problems in implementing Western developed software applications in Iran’s institutional context. We have been exploring how the lack of institutional linkage between the technology developers and technology users which already made implementation process a challenging one for the users may affect their perception of information quality. Drawing on Social Studies of Technology and the theory of social learning, we have provided more insight into the mentioned dynamics. We conceptualize the impact of implementation of information technology on the dynamics of shaping perception of information quality by suggesting the following mechanisms: adapting and domesticating a generic type of information technology from other institutional contexts, experiencing context-specific information quality issues by using the appropriated information technology, and affecting the perception of information and its fitness to the context of use

Switzerland Report : Sustainable Governance in the Context of the COVID-19 Crisis

Switzerland was one of the first European countries to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. As with other countries that were affected early, Switzerland took longer to respond than countries that were affected later (Kohler et al. 2020; Wenger et al. 2020), because there were no best practice examples to copy (Plümper and Neumayer 2020). Measured in terms of controlling the coronavirus incidence rate (average number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants), the country’s response to the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath (March – April 2020) was extraordinarily successful. However, its response to the second wave, which began in late August and reached its preliminary peak in November 2020, was significantly poorer. During the first wave, Switzerland pursued a strict, time-consistent lockdown policy. However, the country’s approach to the second wave was hesitant, less strict and less time-consistent, with various temporary, light lockdowns pursued. In particular, during the first wave, efficient and pragmatic economic policies were implemented, including a light-handed lending program managed by private banks and fully guaranteed for loan defaults by the federal government, while a generous short-time work compensation program and several à fonds perdu payments (hardship cases) were introduced by cantonal and federal governments. At the end of the period under review, Switzerland’s economic growth, government deficit and unemployment rates appeared to have been relatively unaffected. This was due to very favorable conditions at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, namely Switzerland’s highly competitive economy, booming and flexible labor market, efficient infrastructure, reliable public administration, and sound public finances. In addition, the government recently enacted an ordinance regulating lockdown measures within the framework of the Swiss Epidemics Act (EpA 2012). By international standards, democracy in Switzerland has functioned well, and few restrictions have been placed on civil liberties and rights. As a federal state with a weak federal government due to sovereignty residing mainly in the cantons, policy responses to the coronavirus crisis involved complex coordination between cantons, and between cantons and the federal level. Consequently, policymaking was prone to conflict, slow and idiosyncratic, while policy actors were incentivized to avoid blame for policy failures. Policymaking has been strongly path dependent. With the exception of the emergency law period (“exceptional situation”), which increased federal government powers over the cantons, federal economic policy has been coordinated with cantonal policies and worked to a large extent by matching funds. The need for negotiations and compromise in policy formulation resulted in a sluggish process that ultimately delivered relatively inconsistent policies. Corporatist coordination between the state and economic actors continued to be highly effectively. The major achievement was the introduction of a program that entitled struggling firms to request credit from private banks, which would be guaranteed in case of default by the federal government. This program was designed and implemented within a few days by representatives of five major banks together with the Federal Ministry of Finance, and demonstrates the extent of mutual trust and familiarity between the banks and the ministry as well as the country’s pragmatic heterodox economic ideology. Beyond corporatist cooperation, economic interest groups (in particular small- and medium-sized enterprises) were highly successful in achieving their goals, provided there was no opposition from other economic elites or liberal counterparts of industry in the political systems. For example, representatives of the hospitality industry successfully lobbied to remove lockdown restrictions on hotels and restaurants earlier than planned during the first wave (Sager and Mavrot, 2020). However, their demands for a rent reduction program to support hotels and restaurants during the lockdown failed, as the proposal provoked opposition from economic-liberal politicians and other interest groups (e.g., landlords). Path dependence characterized the likelihood of interest groups’ success. While well-organized producer interests (particularly associations of employers and firm owners) could carry the day, weakly organized groups and employees were much less successful. It was only in December 2020 that short-time work compensation for low-wage employees was increased, as requested by trade unions. Meanwhile, the demands of nursing personnel for better working conditions were rejected by parliament in the fall of 2020. Finally, during the coronavirus pandemic, tensions between expert scientific advice and political decision-making became pronounced. It took several weeks following the start of the coronavirus pandemic for the Federal Council to institutionalize a scientific task force, and when it was formed it was composed mainly of life scientists and economists (with sociologists, psychologists and political scientists poorly represented). Scientific advice has been treated as one among many inputs and some politicians – in particular from the right-populist Swiss People’s Party – have made it clear that they do not appreciate scientific input into political decision-making

A critical realist approach to understanding the human resource management practices-organizational financial performance link:evidence from Nigeria's petroleum sector

Existing research on the HRM-P link has been unable to establish whether or not an HRM-P `link´ exists. Research reviewers have given factors such as inadequate theory, weak research design, and inappropriate methodology as responsible for the research problem. I argue that at the root of the problem is (a) a lack of theory underpinning research in the area, coupled with (b) a neglect of meta-theory. To overcome this, I integrate theories that may contribute to an explanation of the HRM-P `link´, and a meta-theory that might help gain some methodological clarity apropos data collection and data analysis. I argue for an alternative approach - a Critical Realist approach to solving the problem. Drawing mainly on Institutional approaches (comprising modified versions of Transaction Cost Economics theory, Social Exchange theory, Organisational Support theory, and the Resource-Based view; and Institutional theory) whose components constitute a newly developed integrated theoretical framework, I conduct empirical research to answer two questions, simply put: Is there a HRM-P `link´? ; If yes, what causal mechanisms mediate the link? Based then on a Critical Realist descriptive and interpretive crosssectional qualitative case study research design, survey data was collected by administering questionnaires on and interviewing employees and managers in a case study of three Nigeria-based petroleum companies with service capabilities. Data was analysed using an integration of existing Critical Realist data analysis frameworks with the core elements of a classical Grounded Theory data analysis technique. The empirical research finds that there is a HRM-P `link´, highlighting that human resource practices (HRPs) causally tend to influence organisational financial performance (OFP) and other HR outcomes. The causal mechanisms found operating to establish this `link´ are eight mediating mechanisms combining and interpenetrating one another, stimulating the perceptions and emotions of human actors (starting from employees but also influencing managers and clients). These empirical findings are at variance with extant research which suggests that a system of HR practices (SHRP) influences employees through a single-path influence on their skills and motivation and on organisational structures or through only employees’ perceived organisational support. Contributions to HR management practice and theory and future research directions are also discussed

Content And Multimedia Database Management Systems

A database management system is a general-purpose software system that facilitates the processes of defining, constructing, and manipulating databases for various applications. The main characteristic of the ‘database approach’ is that it increases the value of data by its emphasis on data independence. DBMSs, and in particular those based on the relational data model, have been very successful at the management of administrative data in the business domain. This thesis has investigated data management in multimedia digital libraries, and its implications on the design of database management systems. The main problem of multimedia data management is providing access to the stored objects. The content structure of administrative data is easily represented in alphanumeric values. Thus, database technology has primarily focused on handling the objects’ logical structure. In the case of multimedia data, representation of content is far from trivial though, and not supported by current database management systems

Evolutionary Expansions and Neofunctionalization of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors in Cnidaria

Reef ecosystems are composed of a variety of organisms, transient species of fish and invertebrates, microscopic bacteria and viruses, and structural organisms that build the living foundation, coral. Sessile cnidarians, corals and anemones, interpret dynamic environments of organisms and abiotic factors through a molecular interface. Recognition of foreign molecules occurs through innate immunity via receptors identifying conserved molecular patterns. Similarly, chemosensory receptors monitor the environment through specific ligands. Chemosensory receptors include ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs), transmembrane ion channels involved in chemical sensing and neural signal transduction. Recently, an iGluR homolog was implicated in cnidarian immunological resistance to recurrent infections of bacterial pathogens. I postulate that iGluRs in cnidarians may act as danger-sensing and/or pathogen recognition receptors adjacent to immune defense and nervous system signaling. In Chapter One, I explain the exploration of diversity and divergence within cnidarian iGluRs, complimented with predicted functions in the context of correlated response to biological and environmental signals, setting the groundwork for functional characterization. In Chapter Two, I characterized the divergence of cnidarian iGluRs in comparison to other metazoans through maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses, which revealed greater evolutionary expansion of cnidarian iGluR lineages, including a Cnidaria-specific class. Gene expression differentiation implies select iGluRs respond transcriptionally to bacterial challenge, supporting the hypothesis that cnidarian iGluRs respond to pathogen signals. In Chapter Three, I investigated a putative endogenous rhythm to iGluR expression, as chemosensory receptors may have the capacity to anticipate daily environmental fluctuations. While a circadian rhythm does not appear to be a primary contributor to biological rhythms in iGluR gene expression, symbiosis and diurnal fluctuations are implicated factors. In Chapter Four, I chromogenically localized Exaiptasia pallidaiGluR expression to the epidermis and concentrated within sensory tentacles, alongside cnidocytes. Expression of iGluRs in proximity of sensory cells is consistent with the putative function of iGluRs in cnidarian neural signaling. In the final chapter, I synthesized my research in its entirety; highlighting that cnidarian iGluRs expansions indicate cnidarian-specific neofunctionalization towards functions of chemosensory cnidarian-environmental signaling. New hypotheses and future research are presented to continue the study of iGluRs as chemosensory receptors within the cnidarian nervous system

cii Student Papers - 2021

In this collection of papers, we, the Research Group Critical Information Infrastructures (cii) from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, present nine selected student research articles contributing to the design, development, and evaluation of critical information infrastructures. During our courses, students mostly work in groups and deal with problems and issues related to sociotechnical challenges in the realm of (critical) information systems. Student papers came from four different cii courses, namely Emerging Trends in Digital Health, Emerging Trends in Internet Technologies, Critical Information Infrastructures, and Digital Health in the winter term of 2020 and summer term of 2021

Mind the Gales:An attention-based view of startup investment arms

This dissertation takes the corporate perspective, and seeks to understand inconsistencies in decision making enacted by corporate venture capital (CVC) investment units. CVC units are often portrayed as rational instruments deployed to obtain corporate innovation and to achieve renewal goals, by gaining privileged access to external startups’ knowledge resources. However, the dissertation proposes a behavioral framework, based on the attention-based view, that demonstrates how the selective attention of CVC units subsequently affects the availability of particular organizational moves. This implies that certain issues and answers are (deliberately or non-deliberately) attended to, while others are ignored. Patterns of selective attention in conjunction with sequential decision-making processes signify that future decisions or organizational moves are highly dependent on the attentional structures of prior decisions. The first study of the dissertation explains why the observed variance in a CVC unit’s selective focus of attention (measured as variance in evaluation durations) results from the unit’s interpretation of a corporate firm’s renewal goals. The second study explains how a CVC unit’s investment behavior can slow down (measured as the number of investments), no matter how many prospective external opportunities are scouted through syndication networks. Finally, the third study explains how CVC units differ in their abilities to transfer and integrate external knowledge embedded in their CVC portfolios. Altogether, the dissertation highlights behavioral characteristics of corporate innovation, and in particular, how CVC units’ selective focus of attention is conditioned by social and emergent factors that in turn shape the particular set of opportunities that a corporate firm can use in pursuit of innovation and strategic renewal

2011 GREAT Day Program

SUNY Geneseo’s Fifth Annual GREAT Day.https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/program-2007/1005/thumbnail.jp

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

Emergent Behaviors in a Resilient Logistics Supply Chain

This PhD dissertation addresses vulnerabilities in logistics supply chains, such as disruptions from pandemics, natural disasters, and geopolitical tensions. It underscores the complexity of supply chains, likening them to socio-technical systems where resilience is key for managing unexpected events and thriving amidst adversity. The focus is on leveraging smart business objects—exemplified by “smart pallets” with sensing and computational capabilities—to augment real-time decision-making and resilience in supply chains. When strategically positioned within the supply network, these smart pallets can provide key insights into the movement of goods, enabling a rapid response to disruptions through real-time monitoring and predictive analytics. The dissertation investigates centralized, decentralized, and hybrid approaches to decision-making within these networks. Centralized methods ensure uniformity but may neglect local specifics, while decentralized ones offer adaptability at the risk of inconsistency. A hybrid model seeks to balance these extremes, combining broad guidelines with local autonomy for optimal resilience. This research aims to explore how such smart objects can anticipate and react to emergent behaviors, thereby augmenting supply chain resilience beyond mere performance indicators to actively managing and adapting to disruptions. Through various chapters, the dissertation offers an exploration, from designing resilient architectures and evaluating business rules in real-time to mining these rules from data and adapting them to evolving circumstances. Overall, this work presents a nuanced view of resilience in supply chains, emphasizing the adaptability of business rules, the importance of technological evolution alongside organizational practices, and the potential of integrating novel techniques such as process mining with multi-agent systems for better decision-making and operational efficiency