Examining Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and System Usability Design Issues for E-Government Sites - A Study

The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) discipline is concerned with design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use. HCI and System Usability Design have greater significance in electronic government (e-government) as the usability problems can adversely affect millions of people. The goal of the study is to examine the extent of Interactive Web Applications in India, USA, Finland and China. In addition to measuring the number of websites and web portals, the study will determine if the design of those Interactive Web-applications base sites are effective from the HCI and system usability perspective. The present study will enhance ongoing research on the subject

Communities of Practice and Virtual Learning Communities – An Exploratory Study

The use of new information and communication tools such as; Web 2.0, social networks, wikis, blogs continues to grow for learning in higher education. More and more instructors worldwide have already started incorporating these tools for their course delivery and pedagogy. The growing literature suggests that virtual communities of practice (CoPs) and virtual learning communities (VLCs) are becoming common for collaboration and sharing resources due to the emergence of Web 2.0 tools and other social networks within higher education institutions. This exploratory study examines the existence of such communities of practice or learning communities in higher education particularly among business school instructors. The data is collected through phone and e-mail interviews with academic staff. The preliminary findings suggest that business schools professors have still not become part of CoPs and VLCs

Challenges in delivering a brand promise - focusing on municipal healthcare organisations

Purpose To investigate how healthcare professionals understand a new organisational brand and examine the ideas discussed in relation to it within health care organisations. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on a discursive approach that facilitates understanding how the informants perceived a new organisation brand and how that might shape their activities in the enterprise. Findings The study identified four distinct interpretative repertoires: the organisational brand as an economic solution, the magic wand, the factory, and a servant to the customer. The new brand was understood in terms of economic and business-like functions marked by external branding and its signs (logos etc.). The brand is not communicated to patients or colleagues, and the factory metaphor is applied to work practices. Hence, several potential dilemmas arise concerning the brand promise, customer expectations, economic and efficiency gains and the professional values of employees. Research limitations/implications Adoption of private-sector practices in semi-public or public-sector organisations is common. This study focuses on how private-sector ideas diffuse into the organisations and how they are translated within them. Practical implications We suggest a stronger emphasis on internal branding as a reconciliation to enhance legitimacy, high-quality customer service and staff wellbeing. Originality/value Theoretically, the unique contribution of the study is drawing upon health care branding, dilemma theory and discursive institutionalism in its interpretation. Consequently, it demonstrates how ideas about the brand and public health care are translated and communicated in the examined discourses and how those ideas reconstruct understanding and change behaviour within the organisations

Industrial amino acids in diets for piglets and growing pigs

Two production trials with piglets and one with slaughter pigs were carried out in order to investigate the effects of reducing the protein content in the diets followed by an addition of industrial amino acids on performance and health status. In the first piglet trial the crude protein content of the control diet was decreased from 20 to 18.3 % and in the second from 18.3 to 16.7 %. In the trial with growing pigs, the protein content of the control diet was decreased from 17.0 to 15.5 %. Industrial L-lysine, DL-methionine and L-threonine were added to the low protein diets to get the same levels of these amino acids as in the control diets. Piglet performance was similar on all treatments indicating equal availability of added and protein-bound amino acids. Health status of piglets on the low protein diets was considerably improved, indicating less predisposition to post weaning diarrhoea. Pigs on the low protein amino acid fortified diet tended to gain weight faster (788 vs. 743 g/day;

The effect of enzyme treatment of cooked barley and supplementation of piglet diets on the digestibility of barley and piglet performance

A digestibility trial, designed as a 5*5 Latin square, with growing pigs was conducted to investigate the effect of cooking and enzyme treatment of barley on digestibility and nitrogen utilization. In addition, two piglet performance trials were conducted to investigate the effect of hydrothermal processing of barley and soybean meal and enzyme supplementation of piglet feeds on performance and health status. Five pigs, averaging 40 kg LW, were fitted with T-shaped cannulas in the terminal ileum and fed the experimental diets for five consequtive 12-day experimental periods. Chromic oxide was used as marker. Cooking of barley significantly improved the apparent faecal digestibility (AD) of DM, OM, CP and EE (

Branding higher education: an exploration of the role of internal branding on middle management in a university rebrand

© 2019, The Author(s). Although research on branding in higher education has grown, a specific focus on internal branding in this sector is still scarce. Brand support by mid-level administrative staff and deans is a key element in internal branding of a university. This study explores the extent to which internal branding contributes to this group’s understanding of and engagement with a public institution’s rebranding campaign. It identifies challenges and practice insights for practice for internal branding activities when engaging these internal stakeholders, linking to wider brand management theory and practice. A qualitative case study approach was employed to understand the effectiveness of internal branding holistically, and in context. In 2016, nineteen depth interviews were conducted with a range of mid-level administrators and deans including those at the student union, regional campuses, directors of departments, and deans of faculties and schools at a large Canadian university. The data was analysed using Nvivo qualitative data analysis software. On the basis of the results, it is apparent that internal branding has a valuable role in relation to higher education brand management strategy. Results offer a holistic view of the rebranding process, and explore understanding of and engagement with the rebranding campaign. This paper addresses a gap in the public sector brand management literature and demonstrates theoretical and practical implications for improved understanding and brand management strategy

F1/F2 targets for Finnish single vs. double vowels

This paper explores the reason why Finnish single (short) vowels tend to occupy less peripheral positions in the F1/F2 vowel space compared to their double (long) counterparts. The results of two production studies suggest that the less extreme vowel quality of single vowels is best described as arising from undershoot of articulatory/acoustic targets due to their short durations, assuming single, context-free targets for phonemes.caslpub3942pub47

Dilemmas in Re-branding a University—“Maybe People Just Don’t Like Change”: Linking Meaningfulness and Mutuality into the Reconciliation

Reputation Institute and Springer Nature Limited. This study examines the implementation of a re-branding campaign in a public Canadian university. Data collection comprised 19 qualitative semi-structured interviews with key internal university stakeholders (Dean and Mid-level Administrators). The data revealed three core dilemma pairs: (1) new brand vs. previous brand; (2) voice at the organisational level vs. voice at the departmental level; and (3) voluntary down-up voicing vs. up-down voicing. Results suggest that successfully implementing the new brand should not exclusively rely upon internal marketing communication; instead, internal branding through handling ambiguities and addressing emerging dilemmas by enhancing engagement, building mutuality and unlocking the meaning in the re-branding can help improve success. This study reveals that implementing a re-branding campaign in higher education involves embracing the world of dilemmas by involving and empowering employees in dilemma reconciliation. The reconciliation of detected brand-related dilemmas with and by employees can be achieved by involving employees in the process of re-branding from the beginning. Indeed, this paper suggests the preparedness to detect and address dilemmas is central to successful re-branding. Our results indicate that traditional change management approaches produce unreconciled dilemmas that hinder the implementation of the new brand. We conclude that efforts to build employee engagement in re-branding do not build employee supportiveness towards the new brand unless core dilemmas are reconciled

The Blind Psychological Scientists and the Elephant: Reply to Sherlock and Zietsch

The Commentary by Sherlock and Zietsch (2018) raises important questions about how the science of human psychological development moves forward as researchers make dramatic strides in understanding the role of genetics. In this response, we return to these larger questions, but we begin by addressing Sherlock and Zietsch’s specific argument that “genetic contributions should almost always be considered when dealing with associations between parents’ behavior and their children’s behavior” (p. 156). In our 60-year study of the association between warmth of the childhood family environment and late-life security of attachment (Waldinger & Schulz, 2016), we did not mention the potential influence of genetic factors, and we regret this omission. Moreover, we acknowledge that in some places in the article, we used causal language that was not justified by the design of the study. Although we explicitly stated that the association between warmth of the childhood family environment and late-life security of attachment is correlational and not causal, we went on to interpret these findings as indications of support for the influence of childhood environment on well-being in adulthood. Although this is a plausible interpretation, Sherlock and Zietsch are justified in arguing that genetic influences could contribute to this link and that our article should have noted this. The editorial review process encourages investigators to highlight the implications of their work, and in our enthusiasm to convey the importance of an association that spans six decades, we did not adequately address possible alternative explanations for this association. Waldinger, R. J., & Schulz, M. S. (2016). The long reach of nurturing family environments: links with midlife emotion-regulatory styles and late-life security in intimate relationships. Psychological Science. 27.11. http://doi.org/10.1177/095679761666155