Impacts of the Global Health Crisis on the Use of Information Technologies

The 2020 novel coronavirus pandemic has impacted our lives in many ways. This article examines the rapid adoption and use of traditional and state-of-the-art information technologies intended to help cope with the pandemic. People and organizations have adopted and used IT tools for collaboration, communication, surveillance and monitoring, remote working, and cloud-based applications for one major reason – necessity. There is no viable alternative to maintain our civilized society. These and other information technologies have helped people continue to work, to socialize, to communicate, to entertain, to visit doctor’s office, to shop, and live. Experience with these technology adaptations has demonstrated that we need more and better IT solutions, more technology literacy, better public health surveillance, and better preventative measures to minimize harms from health crises to find a new normal. In the future, many people will likely choose to work and learn remotely, and organizations and governments must upgrade their digital capabilities and the skills of employees. IT can increase the robustness and adaptability of our economic and social systems as well as our well-being

Transforming Agriculture: Exploring Precision Farming Research Needs

Information Technology, Information Systems, Decision Support and analytics play an increasingly important role in the practice and science of agriculture. Precision farming or precision agriculture uses tools like sensors, the global positioning system (GPS), Cloud data storage, and analytics and decision support tools to increase efficiency and effectiveness of land, labor and machines used in farming. JMWAIS publishes a wide mix of scholarship and research related to Information Systems and Information Technology. Given our origins in the Midwest United States we also encourage and publish articles especially relevant to our region. Precision farming is an important topic for Midwest US

Modern Information Systems: Expanding the Boundaries

The phenomenon called information systems has changed and evolved. This note examines and proposes definitions that can guide editorial decision making. The boundaries of the phenomenon are expanding and both public and private information systems are easily accessible. Modern information systems are complex, socio-technical systems with a global reach and a wide range of purposes

Management Information Systems (MIS) Curricula Development, Management, and Delivery - Possible Sharing Economy Solutions

Effective use of information systems and modern business processes in private, public, and not-for-profit organizations is essential for them to become and remain successful enterprises. Higher education institutions often face challenges in keeping curriculum up-to-date as well as recruiting qualified faculty who can rapidly develop and deliver curriculum that prepares graduates who can utilize newer technologies, business models and processes. When developing new curriculum, we need to focus on our two main stakeholders – students and employers. Our evolving workforce needs and requires lifelong learning. Academic institutions need to adapt to these rapid changes and be agile and flexible in curriculum development and delivery. Several studies have looked at the knowledge and skill set of the current MIS graduates and future MIS professionals. Issues of rapid updating of curriculum and securing qualified faculty are a bit murkier and not addressed adequately in the MIS curriculum related literature. The current gap in expectations is difficult to fill with the traditional curriculum development and implementation cycle. We address these critical issues and suggest possible solutions

Implications of the Sharing Economy for Online and Blended Education

The sharing economy phenomenon is disrupting traditional organizations. Sharing concepts coupled with e-Learning can and likely will disrupt higher education. We explore the sharing phenomenon and compare and contrast it with online and blended education. We conclude more effective use of sharing technologies and better course content, innovative instructional technology, and good teaching can help accredited institutions of higher education provide better learning environments as well as stronger degree programs and certifications

Managing the Scientific Literature Overload: Digital Object Identifiers and Scopus

JMWAIS is part of the growing expansion of digital publishing. JMWAIS is encouraging active researchers to share their scholarship widely. The Journal of the Midwest Association for Information Systems (JMWAIS) is contributing to the expansion of scholarly publication and to the scientific literature overload. JMWAIS editors also seek to participate in possible solutions to better managing, finding, and disseminating scholarly communications. To further this goal, in Fall 2017, JMWAIS editors created Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) for all previously published articles. Future JMWAIS articles will also be assigned individual DOI. Digital knowledge can be filtered and managed

Technology Adoption and Disruption -- Organizational Implications for the Future of Work

Effective use of various technologies in organizations is key to success in this age of rapid technological innovation. In particular, during the last 20-30 years we have seen that the pace of technical innovation has significantly increased. Many of these technologies have created substantial and positive disruptions in organizational processes and operations. Some organizations have been struggling with this rapid technological disruption. Managers are uncertain about when and under what conditions they should adopt a new technology. A Technology Acceptance Model was developed by Fred Davis in 1985 as his Ph. D. dissertation submitted to the Sloan School of Management at M. I. T. Since then, other researchers have developed and applied various versions of this model and similar models for adopting new technologies in organizations. In this commentary, we briefly review the history of technology adoption models and discuss disruptions created by these technologies. We summarize organizational implications and describe the technology adoption curve. During a Global health crisis and pandemic, it is timely to think about the impact of technology adoption and the implications for the future of work

Onboard Plasmatron Hydrogen Production for Improved Vehicles

A plasmatron fuel reformer has been developed for onboard hydrogen generation for vehicular applications. These applications include hydrogen addition to spark-ignition internal combustion engines, NOx trap and diesel particulate filter (DPF) regeneration, and emissions reduction from spark ignition internal combustion engines First, a thermal plasmatron fuel reformer was developed. This plasmatron used an electric arc with relatively high power to reform fuels such as gasoline, diesel and biofuels at an oxygen to carbon ratio close to 1. The draw back of this device was that it has a high electric consumption and limited electrode lifetime due to the high temperature electric arc. A second generation plasmatron fuel reformer was developed. It used a low-current high-voltage electric discharge with a completely new electrode continuation. This design uses two cylindrical electrodes with a rotating discharge that produced low temperature volumetric cold plasma., The lifetime of the electrodes was no longer an issue and the device was tested on several fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and biofuels at different flow rates and different oxygen to carbon ratios. Hydrogen concentration and yields were measured for both the thermal and non-thermal plasmatron reformers for homogeneous (non-catalytic) and catalytic reforming of several fuels. The technology was licensed to an industrial auto part supplier (ArvinMeritor) and is being implemented for some of the applications listed above. The Plasmatron reformer has been successfully tested on a bus for NOx trap regeneration. The successful development of the plasmatron reformer and its implementation in commercial applications including transportation will bring several benefits to the nation. These benefits include the reduction of NOx emissions, improving engine efficiency and reducing the nation's oil consumption. The objective of this program has been to develop attractive applications of plasmatron fuel reformer technology for onboard applications in internal combustion engine vehicles using diesel, gasoline and biofuels. This included the reduction of NOx and particulate matter emissions from diesel engines using plasmatron reformer generated hydrogen-rich gas, conversion of ethanol and bio-oils into hydrogen rich gas, and the development of new concepts for the use of plasmatron fuel reformers for enablement of HCCI engines