An internationalized approach to European perspectives for the safety and security in port industry

The increased internationalized competition as well as the evolvement of the transport industry as a whole, has a significant effect on quality and safety management for the ports around the world and more specifically in Europe. Quality is a complex and subjective concept, incorporating at any given time the expressed and implied needs of all those involved. Over the last two decades, new security and safety risks have been introduced by the European Union for the ports in Europe. These include new safety and security regulations for environmental as well as for other important aspects of the port operations. This paper explores ideas involved in quality and safety EU policies through a qualitative review of the literature. The qualitative analysis aims at a. to investigate contemporary issues for quality and safety/security systems integration within European port industry and b. to provide evidence for the interrelation and integration of quality and safety/security standards. Furthermore, benefits and pitfalls of the different quality and safety approaches are discussed while further study directions are provided.peer-reviewe

Theoretical and applied issues on the impact of information on musical creativity: an information seeking behaviour perspective.

This century is an era of information and knowledge intensification. Novel information systems and services are developing through modern online information technologies. The rapid changes in the online information environment have greatly affected the way in which individuals search for music information and engage with musical creativity, within different music domains and for different purposes which involve composition, performance and improvisation, analysis and listening. The aim of this book chapter is to investigate the theoretical and practical issues relating to the impact of music information on musical creativity from an information seeking behavior perspective. Musical creativity is perceived as an intentional process which acts as a motivator for information seeking, leading to the utilization of different information resources and to the development of specific information seeking preferences. The chapter highlights the implications for research in this area and presents a research agenda for the interrelation between music information seeking and musical creativity

The impact of information needs satisfaction on the creativity of visual art teachers.

The aim of this study is to investigate how the information needs satisfaction of visual art teachers affects their creativity. Visual art teachers' information seeking behaviour and specifically the association of information needs satisfaction with creativity has been an understudied area, despite competent information seeking being considered essential for high quality practices of art teachers. A questionnaire survey was developed addressing the information seeking behaviour of art teachers, informed by Wilson's model (1981), including visual art teachers' information needs, information resources, obstacles faced while seeking information and the perceived impact of information needs satisfaction on visual art teachers' creativity. The study included 298 visual art teachers in Greece. The results demonstrated that the key information needs of art teachers were mainly related to materials' properties, techniques for creating artwork, and artwork promotion methods. Online information sources were the preferred sources of art information, followed by colleagues, personal collections, and visits to galleries and museums Our study identified lack of time, lack of specialized libraries, and copyright, as the main barriers to information seeking. Information about art plays a substantial role in visual art education, while visual art teachers' information needs satisfaction positively influences their creative endeavours. There is a need to further explore the digital information needs of visual art teachers

The role of personality in musicians' information seeking for creativity.

Introduction. This paper explores the relationship between musicians' information seeking behaviour and their personality traits within the context of musical creativity. Although previous research has addressed different sociotechnological and behavioural aspects of music information seeking, the role of personality characteristics around creative activities has been an under-researched area. Method. The research was conducted by means of a questionnaire survey administered to Greek musicians. The survey questions were developed based on theory from the domains of information behaviour (Wilson 1981) and musical creativity (Webster 2002). Different personality characteristics were measured using the Core Self-Evaluations Scale (CSES) (Judge et al., 2003) based on self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control and neuroticism. the Core Self-Evaluations Scale (CSES) Analysis. The questionnaire survey provides empirical evidence of the associations between personality traits, music information seeking and musical creativity based on descriptive and inferential nonparametric statistical analysis for group differences. Results. The results indicate that information plays a significant role in different creative activities of musicians. Musicians utilised a variety of information sources but encountered important obstacles in information seeking. A significant connection was also found between musicians' personality characteristics and different types of information seeking aspects, creativity, as well as demographic differences. Conclusions. Overall, musicians' personality and in particular self-efficacy is associated with scholarly information seeking and analysis

Information seeking behaviour of parents of paediatric patients for clinical decision making: the central role of information literacy in a participatory setting.

Introduction. This study investigated the information seeking behaviour and needs of parents of paediatric patients and their motives for seeking Internet-based information. Method. A questionnaire survey of 121 parents was conducted in a paediatric clinic of a Greek university hospital. Analysis. The data were analysed using SPSS; descriptive statistics were used to summarise the data and non-parametric Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis test statistics were performed to identify differences in reported information seeking behaviour. Results. Parents sought further information than that provided by their paediatrician and searched on the Internet to reduce their anxiety and cope better with their children's medical condition. The Internet was the second most important information source used after the paediatrician. The main obstacles parents encountered were the volume and unreliability of Internet health information and the infrequency of visits to the doctor. Conclusions. Informed participation of patients and paediatricians in clinical shared decision-making requires the development of information literacy in both parties. Health information professionals may act as information literacy instigators and educators for parents and paediatricians by means of offering information literacy prescriptions and other information decision aids