The chaotic nature of healthcare information systems: The need for transdisciplinary collaboration

Copyright @ 2013 EMCIS.This paper demonstrates one of the challenges of the healthcare information systems development, namely the chaotic nature of healthcare systems. Although the reliable evidence demonstrating the positive effects of health information systems on safety and quality remains inconclusive (a growing body of research revealing the unintended consequences and potentially error producing effects of health information systems’ implementation. Different arguments from the literature concerning the chaotic nature of healthcare, including but not limited to the nature of patients and disease have been presented. The requirements of new ways of systems design and the need for transdisciplinary dynamic teams within the requirements engineering phase as a start has been discussed. These arguments have been investigated in the context of an exploratory case addressing one of the advanced oncology centres in the US. This paper concludes that there is an important need to rethink healthcare information systems development method, which has to be in a dynamic ongoing manner for some major issues

21st Century Ergonomic Education, From Little e to Big E

Despite intense efforts, contemporary educational systems are not enabling individuals to function optimally in modern society. The main reason is that reformers are trying to improve systems that are not designed to take advantage of the centuries of history of the development of today's societies. Nor do they recognize the implications of the millions of years of history of life on earth in which humans are the latest edition of learning organisms. The contemporary educational paradigm of "education for all" is based on a 17th century model of "printing minds" for passing on static knowledge. This characterizes most of K-12 education. In contrast, 21st Century education demands a new paradigm, which we call Ergonomic Education. This is an education system that is designed to fit the students of any age instead of forcing the students to fit the education system. It takes into account in a fundamental way what students want to learn -- the concept "wanting to learn" refers to the innate ability and desire to learn that is characteristic of humans. The Ergonomic Education paradigm shifts to education based on coaching students as human beings who are hungry for productive learning throughout their lives from their very earliest days.Comment: plain latex, 13 pages, 1 tabl

On the talent training mode of “new engineering” in local undergraduate colleges

Funding  source: Research on talent training mode of "new engineering" in local undergraduate colleges and universities (project code: 2019SJA2197) Abstract: With the development of China's new economy and emerging industries, new engineering construction comes into being. Facing the construction of new engineering, local undergraduate colleges and universities should deeply understand their own development trend, clarify the training mode of new engineering talents, and take the adjustment of specialty setting guided by regional industrial demand, the innovation of talent training mode based on the consensus of coordinated development, and the improvement of talent training quality as the main measures for local undergraduate colleges and universities to cultivate new engineering talents Key words: local; New engineering; Talent training mode DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-33-15 Publication date: November 30th 202

Barriers Against the Transfer of Knowledge Between Universities and the Industry in Newly-Industrialised Countries - An Analysis of the Regional Innovation System of Bangkok

This paper presents empirical evidence on university-industry relations (UIR) and knowledge transfer in the regional innovation system of Bangkok and broaches the issue of adapting well-established concepts for the analysis of innovation processes in newly industrialising countries. The potential for UIR is restricted due to 1) a weak and fragmented innovation system, 2) low technological and absorptive capacities in the industrial sector, and 3) slowly improving research capabilities in the scientific sector. Hence the level of UIR in the regional innovation system of Bangkok is mainly limited to occasional and personal modes. It is suggested to strengthen the knowledge transfer capabilities within both actors and to establish effective mechanisms for bridging institutional barriers between academia and industry.

U.S. Foreign Trade in Services: Trends and U.S. Policy Challenges

[Excerpt] This report provides background information and analysis on U.S. foreign trade in services. The focus of the report is an analysis of the policy challenges that the United States confronts, especially the challenge of negotiating a set of international disciplines on trade in services and dealing with the complexity of measuring trade in services. The report also focuses on emerging issues and current negotiations, especially those pertaining to the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement

Trialing project-based learning in a new EAP ESP course: A collaborative reflective practice of three college English teachers

Currently in many Chinese universities, the traditional College English course is facing the risk of being ‘marginalized’, replaced or even removed, and many hours previously allocated to the course are now being taken by EAP or ESP. At X University in northern China, a curriculum reform as such is taking place, as a result of which a new course has been created called ‘xue ke’ English. Despite the fact that ‘xue ke’ means subject literally, the course designer has made it clear that subject content is not the target, nor is the course the same as EAP or ESP. This curriculum initiative, while possibly having been justified with a rationale of some kind (e.g. to meet with changing social and/or academic needs of students and/or institutions), this is posing a great challenge for, as well as considerable pressure on, a number of College English teachers who have taught this single course for almost their entire teaching career. In such a context, three teachers formed a peer support group in Semester One this year, to work collaboratively co-tackling the challenge, and they chose Project-Based Learning (PBL) for the new course. This presentation will report on the implementation of this project, including the overall designing, operational procedure, and the teachers’ reflections. Based on discussion, pre-agreement was reached on the purpose and manner of collaboration as offering peer support for more effective teaching and learning and fulfilling and pleasant professional development. A WeChat group was set up as the chief platform for messaging, idea-sharing, and resource-exchanging. Physical meetings were supplementary, with sound agenda but flexible time, and venues. Mosoteach cloud class (lan mo yun ban ke) was established as a tool for virtual learning, employed both in and after class. Discussions were held at the beginning of the semester which determined only brief outlines for PBL implementation and allowed space for everyone to autonomously explore in their own way. Constant further discussions followed, which generated a great deal of opportunities for peer learning and lesson plan modifications. A reflective journal, in a greater or lesser detailed manner, was also kept by each teacher to record the journey of the collaboration. At the end of the semester, it was commonly recognized that, although challenges existed, the collaboration was overall a success and they were all willing to continue with it and endeavor to refine it to be a more professional and productive approach

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N

Open innovation development of private colleges in China

Since their large-scale emergence in the 1990s, private colleges in China have achieved significant development along with the transition of Chinese higher education from the elite stage to the universal stage. However, due to institutional deficiencies and resource constraints, private colleges cannot replicate the development model of public colleges and universities. Based on the needs for development and future competition, private colleges have to seek different development paths from public universities in order to break through resource constraints and improve their own development performance. We choose Tianfu College, a private college in China, as a research case, and adopt an inductive qualitative approach and an exploratory case study strategy based on grounded theory, with the development practice of knowledge production as the research subjects. The data is formed through semi-structured interviews, on-site observations, and the collection of secondary data. The research results show that 1) Private colleges in China can achieve good development performance in knowledge production through open innovation strategy. 2) Private colleges in China can adopt resource bricolage to break through resource constraints and achieve open innovation development performance in knowledge production. 3) Top management teams with high achievement needs and high ambiguity tolerance, entrepreneurial oriented organizational culture and organic organization help the private college in China achieve open innovation development performance in knowledge production. Our findings further expand the scope of open innovation research subjects, enrich the content of research on the development model of private colleges, and have positive practical implications for the development of private colleges in China.Desde a sua emergência em larga escala na década de 90 do século passado, as faculdades privadas na China alcançaram, no seu conjunto, um desenvolvimento significativo, que ocorreu juntamente com a transição do ensino superior chinês da fase elitista para a fase de popularização, e depois para a fase de universalização. Contudo, devido a deficiências institucionais e à limitação de recursos, as faculdades privadas não podem replicar o modelo de desenvolvimento das faculdades e universidades públicas. Com base numa necessidade de desenvolvimento realista e de concorrência futura, as faculdades privadas têm de procurar vias de desenvolvimento diferentes, de modo a ultrapassar as limitações de recursos e melhorar o seu próprio desempenho. Escolhemos Tianfu College, uma faculdade privada na China, como caso de investigação, e adotamos uma abordagem qualitativa indutiva e uma estratégia exploratória de estudo de caso baseada na Grounded Theory, sendo o tema de investigação a prática de desenvolvimento da produção de conhecimento. Os resultados da investigação mostram que 1) Um colégio privado na China pode alcançar um bom desempenho de desenvolvimento na produção de conhecimento através de uma estratégia de inovação aberta. 2) Um colégio privado na China pode adotar uma abordagem da bricolagem de recursos para quebrar as restrições de recursos e obter um desempenho de desenvolvimento de inovação aberta na produção de conhecimento. 3) Uma equipa de gestão de topo com elevada necessidade de concretização e elevada tolerância à ambiguidade, uma cultura organizacional orientada para o empreendedorismo e uma estrutura orgânica, são condições para se alcançar um elevado desempenho na produção de conhecimento através de inovação aberta. Os resultados permitem alargar o âmbito da investigação em inovação aberta, enriquecem o conteúdo da investigação sobre modelos de desenvolvimento das faculdades privadas, e têm implicações práticas positivas para o desenvolvimento das faculdades privadas na China

Linking Policy Research and Practice in 'STIG Systems': Many Obstacles, but Some Ways Forward

This paper reflects on the relevance of systems thinking about the interdependent policy issues bearing on the dynamics of science, technology and innovation in their relationship to economic growth. Considering the approach that characterizes much of the current economics literatures treatment of technology and growth policies, we pose the critical question: what kind of systems paradigm is likely to prove particularly fruitful in that particular problem-domain: Evolutionary, neo-Schumpeterian, and complex system dynamics approaches are conceptually attractive and we analyze their respective virtues while also acknowledging their more serious problematic features. Those become visible quickly when trying connect systems-relevant research with practical policy-making in this field. Not content to have simply identified some significant obstructions in the path toward that goal, the paper also suggests some potentially feasible ways forward.Techonological Change, systems paradigm, STIG systems,