Developing the egovernment research agenda

This paper presents an exploratory research project to determine the needs for future eGovernment research. The project aimed particularly at getting relevant stakeholder views as a contrast to the received academic wisdom or political rhetoric. This paper outlines the need for such fieldwork and discusses the methodology adopted to elicit the stakeholders’ views without influencing the debate. The VIEGO workshops have shown that an eGovernment research agenda will require a multi-disciplinary approach involving a combination of social, technological and organisational issues. The primary concerns of stakeholders are not to develop more novel IT but to acquire the means to cope with constant change, coordinate development and extend participation.UK’s Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)-(grant EP/ D043840/1

Electronic transformation of government in the U.K.: a research agenda

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory research project into future e-Government (electronic Government) initiatives. The Virtual Institute for Electronic Government Research (VIEGO) project aimed at identifying and further developing the research agenda of e-Government based on a solid practical ground. As such, the paper offers a novel methodology in identifying the road map for future e-Government initiatives based on a series of workshops organised around the U.K. hosting a mixture of stakeholders involving both academics and parishioners. The analysis of the VIEGO workshops depicted that an e-Government research agenda involves a combination of social, technological and organisational issues at both governmental and individual citizen level, ultimately driven by empirical case-based experience and active participation in e-Government processes. Unlike other propositions for the future of e-Government offered in the e- Government literature, raised research questions not only originated from an analysis of e-Government literature but also on the outcome of brainstorming, reflections and contemplations throughout the duration of the project

The IT performance evaluation in the construction industry

To date there has been limited published work in the construction management and engineering literature that has provided empirical evidence to demonstrate that IT can improve organizational performance. Without an explicit understanding about how IT can be effectively used to improve organizational performance, its justification will remain to be weak for managers. To ensure the continuous increase in IT based applications in the construction industry, sufficient evidence has to be provided for management in various professions of the construction industry to evaluate, allocate and utilize appropriate IT systems. In an attempt to explore the relationship between IT and productivity, an empirical investigation of 60 Professional Consulting Firms (PCF) from the Hong Kong construction industry was undertaken. A model for determining the organizational productivity of IT is proposed, and the methodology used to test the model is described. The findings are analyzed and a cross-profession comparison of the results indicated the differences in the use of IT. The research findings are discussed with similarities being drawn. The limitations of the research are then presented and discussed. The implications of the findings and conclusions then fully presented

Information systems evaluation: Mini-track introduction

abreast of technological innovations. Yet, companies are becoming more aware that a competitive advantage can not be achieved, or even maintained by utilizing the latest technology. Indeed, it is becoming more apparent that a strategic competitive advantage will not be achieved through embraced technology alone but, in the way companies approach the evaluation, management and exploitation of their human, organizational and technology based assets and infrastructure. In support of this, Sohal et al. (2001) reported the results of a large-scale survey that demonstrated the limited Information Technology (IT) enabled business benefits resulting in service and manufacturing sectors. The survey highlighted that many of the benefits achieved through adopting IT/IS were limited to improvements in productivity and cost alone. Clearly, such results are surprising given the emphasis the normative literature has placed on the strategic benefits achievable from IT/IS. As a result of the far reaching conclusions reported by Sohal et al. (2001), many organisational have begun to question the scope and depth of those IT-enabled business benefits that are not achieved by those companies proactively adopting IT/IS

Development of a curriculum for endoscopy nurse education in Iran

Abstract Introduction: Nursing as a discipline and a profession is following to meet the needs of clients in clinical settings. The nurse participation and cooperation in the programs of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy has not been recorded in Iran. On the other hand, health care system needs to provide specialized care for patients under endoscopy. The aim of this study was to develop a professional curriculum for endoscopy nurse education in Iran. Method: This was a study to approve the content and curriculum for endoscopy nurse education in Iran using the Delphi method. This study carried out in three phases; a review of the literature on endoscopy nursing courses and training program in the world; assessment of expert groups and individuals associated with gastrointestinal endoscopy; and finally, a consensus on the curriculum of nursing endoscopy and its implementation. Results: Based on the endoscopy nurse training needs, eight priorities for education endoscopy nurse including theory, practical, and clinical professional was determined. Total hours of training were 210 hours, including 140 hours for theoretical and practical courses and 70 hours of clinical training. Different strategies were used to teach the theoretical and practical subjects. For theoretical teaching, lectures, group work, and self-learning were applied. Role Playing and simulation were used for practical training; and for clinical training, endoscopy clinical practice settings were determined. Conclusion: This training program was based on a participant survey on the digestive endoscopy and educational needs. This educational curriculum involved learning different areas of knowledge, attitudes, and skills for nurses to train caring of patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy through an inter-professional education program. These special nursing educational programs can be contributed to the professional development of Iranian nurses

IT Evaluation Methods: Drivers and Consequences

The evaluation of information technology (IT) is a fundamental for the organisation. This paper discusses factors limiting the use of IT evaluation methods in industry. Drawing on literature review, three hypostases are presented to shed further light on the subject. They attribute budget limitations, the functionality of the IT system, and way an organisation decides on IT investments. Budget limitations are attributed to limit the decision makers ability to put the cost of the IT evaluation project ahead of the need to properly evaluate the project. Functionality of the IT system within the organisation can limit the use of specific evaluation methods if the system is heavily integrated within different departments. Finally, the ability of IT evaluation to influence the investment decision is discussed, as well as the effect of not using certain evaluation methods. This paper also suggests a plan for further research in this subject

Entanglement vs. gap for one-dimensional spin systems

We study the relationship between entanglement and spectral gap for local Hamiltonians in one dimension. The area law for a one-dimensional system states that for the ground state, the entanglement of any interval is upper-bounded by a constant independent of the size of the interval. However, the possible dependence of the upper bound on the spectral gap Delta is not known, as the best known general upper bound is asymptotically much larger than the largest possible entropy of any model system previously constructed for small Delta. To help resolve this asymptotic behavior, we construct a family of one-dimensional local systems for which some intervals have entanglement entropy which is polynomial in 1/Delta, whereas previously studied systems, such as free fermion systems or systems described by conformal field theory, had the entropy of all intervals bounded by a constant times log(1/Delta).Comment: 16 pages. v2 is final published version with slight clarification

Pathogenic potential of antibodies to the GABABreceptor

GABABreceptor (GABABR) autoantibodies have been detected in the serum of immunotherapy-responsive patients with autoimmune encephalitis. This study aimed to investigate the effect of immunoglobulin G (IgG) from a patient with GABABR antibodies on primary neuronal cultures and acute slices of entorhinal cortex. Primary hippocampal neuronal cultures were incubated with serum immunoglobulin from patients with GABABR or AMPA receptor (AMPAR) antibodies for up to 72 h to investigate their effect on receptor surface expression. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from layer III pyramidal cells of the medial entorhinal cortex were used to examine the effect on neuronal activity. GABABR surface expression was unaltered by incubation with GABABR antibodies. By contrast, after 24 h application of AMPAR antibodies, AMPARs were undetectable. However, acute application of GABABR IgG decreased both the duration of network UP states and the spike rate of pyramidal cells in the entorhinal cortex. GABABR antibodies do not appear to affect GABABRs by internalization but rather reduce excitability on the medial temporal lobe networks. This unusual mechanism of action may be exploited in rational drug development strategies