Searching Success in a Successful IS Acquisition

In today’s business world, information systems (IS) are often acquired from an external vendor rather than being developed in-house. Although the number of studies related to the success of IS acquisitions has increased, there is limited understanding of the relationship between acquisition project success, the final IS success, and their role in defining whether the acquisition endeavor was ultimately successful. For instance, in public sector organizations, there is a tendency for the acquisition project to be conducted outside the acquiring unit. This means that success can be evaluated at multiple levels in the organization, and the different levels might not have identical aspirations related to the acquisition. This can cause organizational issues, especially when the evaluation of success is left in the hands of only one of these parties. In this paper, we study the facets of IS acquisition success by presenting differing aspects that are used in defining IS acquisition success, pointing out a contradiction between the formally measured success and the perceived success. As a result, we propose an IS acquisition success model. The study is conducted as a single case study of a public sector organization in Finland

Fostering Creative Thinking and Reflexive Evaluation in Searching: Instructional Scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development in Information Literacy Acquisition

Searching for information, which is not as easy as many students believe, requires creativity, formative evaluation, and persistence. Cultivating proficient and expert searches requires more than the vicarious and enactive experiences described by Bandura1 that are frequently employed in traditional library instruction: students need to be supported and coached in working in their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which stimulates learning.

Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag

It has been proposed that predators searching for prey acquire food according to a probabilistic framework, where success is based on ‘luck’ and the odds of success vary with prey abundance. If true, this has major ramifications for variation in the rates of energy acquisition within animal populations, which is particularly pertinent in offspring provisioning and breeding success, because smaller animals (the young) cannot starve for as long as the adults. However, despite much general speculation about rates of food acquisition, no study has measured whether food encounter is probabilistic in wild animals. We used animal-mounted cameras to document all prey captures by wild imperial shags Leucocarbo atriceps as they hunted underwater and show that, although they mostly do not have inter-prey acquisition time distributions that accord with a ‘luck-based’ framework assuming a constant probability of finding prey over time, there is no difference in the predicted amount of food captured between models that use the empirical data or theoretical Poisson-based fits of the data. We also noted considerable inter-individual differences in foraging success that far exceeded any differences between empirical and theoretical inter-prey acquisition time distributions. The data were used in a probabilistic foraging model that made explicit the mechanistic link between random prey encounters and food-dependent breeding success, indicating that ‘less lucky’ individuals could not provision their broods at rates commensurate with normal growth while the ‘lucky’ birds could do so easily. Given the nature of food encounter in these birds, coupled with substantial inter-individual variation in foraging success, we suggest that more successful individuals are particularly choosey about when, how and where to forage, which results in them operating with higher odds of success

Moth-inspired navigation algorithm in a turbulent odor plume from a pulsating source

Some female moths attract male moths by emitting series of pulses of pheromone filaments propagating downwind. The turbulent nature of the wind creates a complex flow environment, and causes the filaments to propagate in the form of patches with varying concentration distributions. Inspired by moth navigation capabilities, we propose a navigation strategy that enables a flier to locate a pulsating odor source in a windy environment using a single threshold-based detection sensor. The strategy is constructed based on the physical properties of the turbulent flow carrying discrete puffs of odor and does not involve learning, memory, complex decision making or statistical methods. We suggest that in turbulent plumes from a pulsating point source, an instantaneously measurable quantity referred as a "puff crossing time", improves the success rate as compared to the navigation strategy based on "internal counter" that does not use this information. Using computer simulations of fliers navigating in turbulent plumes of the pulsating point source for varying flow parameters: turbulent intensities, plume meandering and wind gusts, we obtained trajectories qualitatively resembling male moths flights towards the pheromone sources. We quantified the probability of a successful navigation as well as the flight parameters such as the time spent searching and the total flight time, with respect to different turbulent intensities, meandering or gusts. The concepts learned using this model may help to design odor-based navigation of miniature airborne autonomous vehicles

Integrating digital document acquisition into a university library : A case study of social and organizational challenges

In this article we report on the effort of the university library of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration to integrate a digital library component for research documents authored at the university into the existing library infrastructure. Setting up a digital library has become a relatively easy task using the current data base technology and the components and tools freely available. However, to integrate such a digital library into existing library systems and to adapt existing document acquisition work-flows in the organization are non-trivial tasks. We use a research frame work to identify the key players in this change process and to analyze their incentive structures. Then we describe the light-weight integration approach employed by our university and show how it provides incentives to the key players and at the same time requires only minimal adaptation of the organization in terms of changing existing work-flows. Our experience suggests that this light-weight integration offers a cost efficient and low risk intermediate step towards switching to exclusive digital document acquisition

Micro scalar patterning for printing ultra fine solid lines in flexographic printing process

This research focuses on the study of ultra-fine solid lines printing by using Micro-flexographic machine which is combination of flexography and micro-contact printing technique. Flexography is one of the famous and high speed roll to roll printing techniques that are possible to create graphic and electronic device on variable substrates. Micro-contact printing is a low cost technique that usually uses for micro to nano scale image especially in fine solid lines image structure. Graphene is nano material that can be used as printing ink which usually uses in producing micro to nano scale electronic devices. Lanthanum is a rare earth metal that has potential in printing industry. The combination of both printing techniques is known as Micro-flexographic printing has been successfully produced the lowest fine solid lines width and gap. The new printing technique could print fine solid lines image below 10 μm on biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) substrate by using graphene as printing ink. The Micro-flexographic printing technique has been successfully printed fine solid lines with 2.6 μm width. This study also elaborates the imprint lithography process in achieving micro down to nano fine solid lines structure below 10 μm. In an additional, the lanthanum target has been successful printed on variable substrates with good surface adhesion property. This research illustrates the ultra-fine solid lines printing capability for the application of printing electronic, graphic and bio-medical

Innovation in craft enterprises - Barriers and Success Factors

The economic structure of Germany is undergoing radical changes brought about by far-reaching alterations in the global division of labour, a weakening and modification of demand trends and by the dynamics of technological and organizational innovation. These structural changes affect the craft enterprises as well. In the past craft enterprises mastered these challenges in the competition, in the market and in the technology. Moreover, the craft enterprises are responsible for many innovative products, processes and services as well as for the preservation of jobs and the creation of a large number of new jobs. The aim of our research was to find out craft enterprises which have successfully mastered these challenges within the last years. Furthermore it is important to know something about the problems enterprises had with the adjustment to the structural changes. Discovering and analysing the weaknesses is the necessary condition to remove these weaknesses and to be successful on the markets in the future. Especially innovative enterprises are expected to have competitive advantages in opposition to enterprises that are not innovative. The paper is based on an empirical survey of 133 craft enterprises in the area of the Chamber of Handicrafts Reutlingen, a mainly rural region within Baden-Wuerttemberg. The craft enterprises in this area were examined with standardized questionnaires and interviews. The main focus in our survey was placed on variables, which describe the innovative behaviour and the information activities of the enterprises. The questionnaire included questions about process and product innovations, the product age and the three fundamental components in the strategic management of enterprises: The attitude to risk, which is proved by the choice of the growth strategy and the regional extension of sales markets. The innovative competence, i.e. the existence of activities in the areas of research and development, construction and design, business planning and staff development. The willingness to learn and the acquisition of knowledge, i.e. the employees' capability and readiness to take up know-how and to realize innovations with this know-how. The paper summarises the most significant results of the study. The examined craft enterprises were divided into two different groups: the especially successful enterprises and the less successful enterprises. Compared with the less successful enterprises, the especially successful enterprises have a stronger attitude to risk, more innovative competences and a higher willingness to learn. The differences are also emphasized by the fact that successful enterprises formulate questions - not only at the beginning of the renewal process but during all their activities. By doing so they question about themselves and their traditional way of solving problems. They organize a permanent knowledge exchange.