Factors Affecting Application of ICT by Managers in the Nigerian Public Sector

The global revolution in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) experienced in the last two decades paved way for massive improvements in the manner management functions are executed worldwide. This study evaluates the impact and impediments to maximum utilization of ICT in enhancing management functions in the Nigerian Public Sector. With the aid of a questionnaire survey covering senior civil servants in the public sector and analysis of their responses, the paper empirically investigated causes of the officers’ inabilities to adopt ICT adequately in performing their functions.Among the findings one should mention that poor state of infrastructure, lack of technical know-how and non-availability of latest technology hinder the use of ICT in performing managerial functions in the Nigerian Public Secto

Talking theatre: an audience development programme for regional Queensland and the Northern Territory 2004-2006

Talking Theatre was a three year research project funded by the Australian Research Council, NARPACA, Arts Queensland, Arts Northern Territory, and the Queensland University of Technology. Talking Theatre sought to build new audiences both in the short and long term for the fourteen regional performing arts centres associated with the project. The research endeavoured to develop a profile of non-theatregoers in regional areas, to understand their reasons for non-attendance, and to discover their reactions to live performances, and to the performing arts centres who presented them

Application of finite-element-based solution technologies for viscoplastic structural analyses

Finite-element solution technology developed for use in conjunction with advanced viscoplastic models is described. The development of such solution technology is necessary for performing stress/life analyses of engineering structural problems where the complex geometries and loadings make the conventional analytical solutions difficult. The versatility of the solution technology is demonstrated by applying it to viscoplastic models possessing different mathematical structures and encompassing isotropic and anisotropic material. The computational results qualitatively replicate deformation behavior observed in experiments on prototypical structural components

Technology, outsourcing, and the demand for heterogeneous labor: Exploring the industry dimension

It has become common within the literature of skill-biased technological change to look at technologies, as well as their impact on the demand for labor as homogeneous across industries. This paper challenges this view. Using a linked employer-employee panel of Germany differentiated by industries for the period 2001-2005, we investigate substitution effects between labor of different skills (tasks) on the one hand, and technology as well as outsourcing on the other. Our findings are at odds with the idea of economy-wide homogeneity of substitution patterns. We find that in some industries IT capital substitutes for labor, while it complements it in others. However, substitution patterns are symmetric across labor types. Outsourcing often correlates negatively with the demand for labor performing explicit and problem-solving tasks. It is mainly uncorrelated or positively correlated with the demand for labor performing interactive tasks. The outsourcing-related results support the offshoring theory proposed by Blinder (2006).demand for skills, technology, outsourcing

Transnational experience and high-performing entrepreneurs in emerging economies: evidence from Vietnam

Do high-performing entrepreneurs in the technology sector in emerging economies have more, or different, transnational experience than the founders of high-performing non-technology businesses? Employing Vietnam as a case study, we find that they do; the founders of high-performing technology-oriented businesses are 15 times more likely to have transnational experience in the U.S. compared to their non-technology peers, and are 35 times more likely to be graduates of American universities compared to founders of high-performing, non-technology-oriented business. The founders of high-performing non-technology businesses are more ‘place-based’, as they have predominantly lived and studied in Vietnam. Our data and methods are comprised of a logistic regression analysis of the biographical details of Vietnam's 143 highest-performing entrepreneurs; the founders of the 76 Vietnam's (non-technology-based) companies with the highest market capitalizations and the 67 founders of Vietnam's highest performing technology-oriented companies, in terms of private equity fundraising, as of April 2020. The paper's theoretical contribution is the advance it makes in analytical explanations of why technology-based entrepreneurs have more transnational experience, especially in the U.S., than high-performing founders of businesses in other sectors; this helps extend theory on the relationship between social and human capital and entrepreneurial performance, specifically in the technology sector

EMBRACE@Nancay: An Ultra Wide Field of View Prototype for the SKA

A revolution in radio receiving technology is underway with the development of densely packed phased arrays for radio astronomy. This technology can provide an exceptionally large field of view, while at the same time sampling the sky with high angular resolution. Such an instrument, with a field of view of over 100 square degrees, is ideal for performing fast, all-sky, surveys, such as the "intensity mapping" experiment to measure the signature of Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations in the HI mass distribution at cosmological redshifts. The SKA, built with this technology, will be able to do a billion galaxy survey. I will present a very brief introduction to radio interferometry, as well as an overview of the Square Kilometre Array project. This will be followed by a description of the EMBRACE prototype and a discussion of results and future plans.Comment: to appear in proceedings of the INFIERI Summer School INtelligent Signal Processing for FrontIEr Research and Industry, Paris 201

Adoption of robotic assisted partial nephrectomies: a population-based analysis of U.S. surgeons from 2004-2013

The advent of minimally invasive and robotic techniques has resulted in the rapid adoption of this novel technology, with the field of urology at the forefront. Since the first Robotic‐Assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy (RALP) was performed in 2000 using  the da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA), surgeons have rapidly incorporated robotic technology for the use of radical prostatectomies for prostatic carcinoma. Prior to 2005, only a minority of surgeons‐‐fewer than 2.5%‐‐performing radical  prostatectomies utilized robotic assistance.  However, robotic assistance has become the predominant approach for radical prostatectomies, increasing from 22% to 85% between the years 2002 to 2013, representing a nearly five‐fold increase in utilization

Cogeneration Technology Alternatives Study (CTAS). Volume 2: Analytical approach

The use of various advanced energy conversion systems were compared with each other and with current technology systems for their savings in fuel energy, costs, and emissions in individual plants and on a national level. The ground rules established by NASA and assumptions made by the General Electric Company in performing this cogeneration technology alternatives study are presented. The analytical methodology employed is described in detail and is illustrated with numerical examples together with a description of the computer program used in calculating over 7000 energy conversion system-industrial process applications. For Vol. 1, see 80N24797