Capacity building in economics : education and research in transition economies

The development of the institutional capacity to create and evaluate economic policies remains a critical need-and constraint-in most transition economies if they are to complete the successful passage to fully functioning market economies. To take an active role in the transition process, economic policymakers, business leaders, government officials, and others need a thorough grounding in market-based economics. This requires strengthening economics education and providing support for qualified economists to teach economics at all levels and to carry out high-quality research and policy analysis. Although the education systems in a handful of countries have already risen to the challenge, in many other transition countries, the structure of educational and research institutes remains grounded in the Communist model. This paper presents findings from a comprehensive study assessing the state of economics education and research in 24 countries in East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. While 20 countries were initially included because preliminary assessments showed that they lacked the capability to offer high-quality economics education, four additional countries-the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, and Ukraine-were included to highlight five centers of excellence that they already host. Based on the experience of these successful centers, the study's findings, and information gathered from a series of donor meetings in Berlin, New York, and Washington, D.C., this paper presents an approach to building new indigenous capacity for teaching and research on market-based economics in regions where the need is particularly critical-the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Southeast Europe.Curriculum&Instruction,Decentralization,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Teaching and Learning,Public Health Promotion,Tertiary Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Teaching and Learning,Curriculum&Instruction

NASA-UK STAP: A technology applications program to aid government and industry in Kentucky

There is a need for a well-defined partnership between universities, and the business and industrial community to promote the transfer of technology. In an effort to foster such a partnership, the Space Systems Program, administered by NASA, has established information dissemination centers in cooperation with various universities throughout the country. As a result of limited success in the transfer of technology to state and local units of government NASA felt that new stimuli and new approaches were needed in the public sector area. NASA selected the University of Kentucky, a land grant institution with a significant research dissemination and service role, as the site for the new program. An annual report of this program at the University of Kentucky is presented

The CGIAR and National Agricultural Research Systems

A consultant study presented at TAC 76 by Hans Gregersen, after wide consultation, on relationships between CGIAR centers and national agricultural research systems (NARS). The latter were broadly defined to include not only national agricultural research institutes (NARIs), but also universities, NGOs, the private sector, extension agencies, and various farmers organizations. Gregersen pointed out that NARS differed greatly among themselves, as did the relationships among the various institutions within any country. He considered various relationships including but not limited to, partnerships.The report recommended that TAC further assess CGIAR-NARS collaborative research efforts, including appraisal of the various modalities of collaboration, assessment of the relative strengths of NARS and of the comparative advantage of centers, differing priorities between centers and NARS, and improvements of information flows. The role of regional organizations, and CGIAR systemwide activities should be considered. Gregersen urged preparation of a TAC strategy paper on promising avenues for strengthening relationships, taking account of changing research management and funding environments

User interface design and development: the role of open source systems

Open Source movement has tremendously influenced Information industry, in particular the Digital Library Environment where the Information Systems and services are inevitable. This has helped the Library and Information Centers in developing User Interface to render web based services to the patrons. Wherever the network infrastructure and the target users are in place, the design and development of IR user interface using Open Source system for a specific application is very much possible. This paper highlights the role of Open Source Systems in detail and explains a prototype IR User Interface which was developed in-house at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam

An evaluation of role of the informational components in decision-making process of health systems’ managers based on World Health Organization’s standards

Background:Objective of current study was to enhance the effectiveness of the organization its goals, health system managers must possess sufficient knowledge about health information systems which are regarded as the basis of decision-making at different managerial levels. The present research tried to explore the extent of meeting the information management components and evaluate its role in decision-making of health systems' managers.Methods:Descriptive-analytical in nature, this study intended to examine the urban and rural health centers as well as health system. Data were collected through a self-designed checklist produced based on the World Health Organization’s standards which include the information presentation (6 components), information interpretation (5 components) and using information in decision-making process (1 component) for urban and rural health centers. The checklist designed for health system included needs-analysis and information collection, presentation, processing and interpretation components. The gathered data were then put into SPSS version of 13 and analyzed using independent t-test.Results:The findings of the study revealed that compared to urban centers, the rural health centers had a higher level in meeting the components in 3 main areas i.e. information presentation, information interpretation and information use in decision-making process (P <0.05). As far as sub-measures were concerned, the rural health centers gained a higher mean score for data presentation in the health system and other interpretation-related components (P <0.05). The level of meeting data presentation components revealed that the mean score for using data for decision-making purposes was high while the mean score for data processing was found to be low.  Conclusion: Proper processing and appropriate use of data in the decision-making by the managers and public policy-makers are the missing requirements which must be taken into account.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the IS Context: A Research Agenda

n organizations in general, cooperative behavior across functional units is increasingly essential with the adoption of total quality initiatives and self-managed work groups. Within the Information Systems (IS) function, cooperation across and within functional boundaries remains critical. In today\u27s organizations, Information Systems personnel (ISP) and users collaborate in a variety of ways (e.g., business process reengineering, shared responsibility for information centers or end-user computing, joint application development, development of chargeback schemes, and distributed computing). Information Systems personnel routinely contribute to team projects that span departments. For example, informationengineers, database administrators, and systems analysts work together during various stages of database application projects. Within IS, the frequency of day-to-day activities that span departmental or functional boundaries (e.g., teamwork, shared responsibilities, and consultative activities) is unusually high. In these boundary-spanning activities, ISP need to exhibit a high degree of behavior not explicitly detailed in formal job descriptions; this type of behavior is labelled extra-role . Additionally, many IS positions, comprised of a wide range of activities, offer unique opportunities for extra-role behavior because these jobs, often professional in nature, operate under significant autonomy. Given this combination of high need and latitude for extra-, or pro-, role behavior in IS, we argue that it is imperative to understand this behavior. To support research in this area, this paper defines the construct, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, which has been used in organizational research of extra-role behavior, discusses how this construct could describe behavior in the IS work setting, and poses research questions about the predictors and outcomes of such behavior

Learning Organizations and Their Role in Achieving Organizational Excellence in the Palestinian Universities

The research aims to identify the learning organizations and their role in achieving organizational excellence in the Palestinian universities in Gaza Strip. The researchers used descriptive analytical approach and used the questionnaire as a tool for information gathering. The questionnaires were distributed to senior management in the Palestinian universities. The study population reached (344) employees in senior management is dispersed over (3) Palestinian universities. A stratified random sample of (182) workers from the Palestinian universities was selected and the recovery rate was (69.2%). Statistical analysis (SPSS) program was used for analysis and processing the data. The research found the following results: there is a fair degree of approval on "cognitive dimension", there is a high approval about the importance of "organizational dimension", there is moderately consent of the importance of "Community dimension", there is a large degree of consent about the importance of axis of the "leadership excellence", there is a large degree of consent about the importance of axis of the "service-excellence", there is a fair degree approval about the importance of the axis of "cognitive excellence", and there is a moderately consent of the importance of "Organizational Excellence". The research found a group of recommendations including: the need to develop appropriate strategies for the University, employ modern technology in information systems, in addition to provide appropriate environment that achieve learning organizations, develop technological infrastructure, adopt universities for knowledge management in the academic and administrative departments because knowledge is the core of the work of these departments, create technological incubators in universities to adopt excellence academic research projects, and protected them, support them, and market them. Establishing of centers of excellence for scientific research in the university.The need for cooperation and coordination between local, Arab and international universities for the exchange of knowledge, information, and participation programs and training courses, as it provides an opportunity to develop the capabilities and skills of personnel and expertise

The Structure of Management Information System and its Impact on the Management of the Corona Crisis in Jordanian Universities

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the impact of structuring management information systems in managing the Corona crisis in Jordanian universities.   Theoretical Framework: This paper discusses the impact of structuring management information systems in Jordanian universities in managing the Corona crisis. In addition, how has the organizational and administrative structure of Jordanian universities impacted the management of the Corona crisis? and the role of technical structuring in Jordanian university crisis management?   Design/methodology/approach: The population of this study include all public and private Jordanian universities, and the sample consisted of (384) respondents from the deans of academic faculties, heads of departments, and members of the teaching staff in these universities, this paper considered one of the field research in which the researcher followed the descriptive analytical method,  The data were analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences  program, and the hypotheses were tested using arithmetic means, standard deviation, and multiple and simple linear regression analysis.   Findings: The results showed a statistically significant effect of the elements of the structuring of management information systems (organizational, administrative and technical structuring) in managing the Corona crisis in Jordanian universities, and it was found that the universities responded immediately to contain the Corona crisis by the way of distributing tasks in a short period when it occurs, and as periodic meetings were held to prepare to deal with the Corona crisis.   Research, Practical &amp; Social implications: The structuring of management information systems plays a major role in the growth and development of the global economy. Therefore, management information systems and its various tools have become the mainstay and technical base for advancement in the field of e-business, telecommunications, e-commerce, and e-government.     Originality/value: This study sheds light on the degree to which Jordanian private universities (student community) keep up with contemporary administrative systems, concepts, and models, in particular with regard to the impact of structuring management information systems in managing the Corona crisis in Jordanian private universities, which are regarded as one of the interdisciplinary research centers in the world

Current Trends in Child Abuse Prevention and Fatalities: The 2000 Fifty State Survey

This survey takes a closer look at two pressing needs. The first is the important role of prevention, specifically at the most effective prevention programs and how they are funded. The second need, based on feedback from PCA America Chapters and other prevention experts, is to better understand child fatalities and the kind of prevention strategies that can best reduce fatalities. This survey differs from previous surveys, as it did not attempt to gather data on child abuse and neglect reports or substantiations. Instead, the National Center on Child Abuse Prevention Research, the research arm of PCA America, is working with the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure that our nation has the best systems available for gathering and tracking child maltreatment incidences. This report's highlights and findings are based on responses from 50 states and the District of Columbia, although all states have not responded to all questions. The results are reported in two main sections: Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, and Child Maltreatment Fatalities. At the beginning of each are highlights followed by the complete findings for that section. Estimating procedures for child maltreatment fatalities should be used when interpreting the results for child maltreatment fatalities. In addition, throughout the document are references and links to sites containing additional information on the topics cited

Research Exchange - December 1, 2020 How to Navigate a Revise and Resubmit with Paul Pavlou and Wai Fong Boh

One of the most challenging aspects of publishing research is the revise and resubmit process. Join Paul Pavlou and Wai Fong Boh as they dive into the topics of engaging with the peer-review process with colleagues, gaining clarity from revision requests, creating workflow processes to address reviewer comments, and improving communication with editors. Paul A. Pavlou, a prominent researcher and expert on data analytics and digital business strategy, joined Bauer College as Dean and Cullen Distinguished Chair at the University of Houston in 2019. Pavlou previously served as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Research, Doctoral Programs, and Strategic Initiatives at the Fox School of Business at Temple University, where he was also the Milton F. Stauffer Professor and Co-Director of the university-wide Data Science Institute. In his administrative role at the Fox School, Pavlou was responsible for overseeing all research activities and centers, including the development and mentoring of research faculty and Ph.D. students. During his tenure, five of the school’s disciplines were among the Top 10 in the nation in terms of research productivity. Pavlou initiated and implemented a strategic plan to enhance the school’s research visibility and showcase the broader impact of research on academia, industry, practice, the classroom, and public policy and society. Wai Fong Boh is Professor of Information Systems at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. She is currently the Deputy Dean of Nanyang Business School (NBS), Head of the Division of Information Technology and Operations Division, and Director of Information Management Research Centre at NBS. She received her PhD from the Tepper School of Business at the Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests are in the areas of knowledge and innovation management and entrepreneurship. She has published in leading IS and management journals, including Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Association Information Systems, Research Policy, and Information & Organization. She has also won multiple awards, including an award for the Top Five IS Publications of the Year 2007. She is currently a Senior Editor of MIS Quarterly, and is currently on or has been previously on the editorial board of multiple journals, including Journal of Management Information Systems, Management Science, Information Systems Research, Organization Science, and Information & Organization