Information Systems Research Education in Australia: Continuing the Past or Gearing up for the Future

As the information systems discipline grows, so do the number of programs offering graduate research degrees (GRD). In Australasia these include one year post-graduate (honors) programs with research components, masters by research degrees, and doctorate degree programs. Graduate students entering their first research program are faced with a quantum leap in expectations and required skills. The burden is significant: they need to find a referent discipline, select a research method and paradigm, defend the research relevance, and fulfil the requirements of adding to a body of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to inform discussion on the issue of graduate research skills. We identify the critical research skills needed and present two pragmatic models for teaching them. This provides a basis for a shared knowledge and discourse based on lessons learnt

Information Requirements for Customer Relationship Management: A Case Study in a New Zealand Bank

Customer Relationship Management is gaining importance as a business strategy. It seeks to select, cultivate and manage the most profitable customer relationships with a view to increasing long-term profitability, through understanding customers\u27 needs. This requires organisations to understand the information requirements of CRM implementation. Most published work to date focuses on management information requirements. Little published research has examined front-end sales agents\u27 information needs and yet they are arguably the most important group of users, with direct interaction with customers. This paper seeks to close the knowledge gap by surveying a group of branch and call centre sales agents within a bank to identify their information needs

A Services Science Major in a Bachelor of Science (IT) Program: The Case of UAE University

This paper presents a proposed design for a new undergraduate major in services science within a bachelor of science in information technology program. Potential students in the major will be Emerati nationals with strong verbal skills but sometimes weak writing, math and problem solving skills. Math and problem solving skill are essential in the new services dominated environment, so it is important that these skills be developed in students if the nation is to continue to lead the region in IT service provisioning. The curriculum proposes three new courses and inclusion of four existing course from related majors

Panel: Educating Future IS Researchers

As the information systems discipline grows, so do the number of programs offering graduate research degrees. These include honors (or fourth year) with research components, masters by research, and doctoral degree programs. Within these programs, we expect students to gain a deep understanding of developments and thinking about information systems and information management from both academia and practice. At the same time, we require them to obtain research skills and practice rigorous research. Thus students are faced with a quantum leap in expectations and required skills. In research, the onus on students is high: they need to find a referent discipline, select a research method and paradigm, defend the research relevance, and fulfil the requirements of adding to a body of knowledge. Frequently students are starting these programs with limited or no prior research training and with under-developed critical thinking skills. How do we maximize theses or dissertation completion rates? How can we structure programs to ensure that research is not forgotten on the library shelves, but rather forms the basis of a research career, that grows into a useful contribution to the body of knowledge? In posing these questions, we are suggesting that Ph.D. education is more than merely writing a thesis; it includes the initiation of scholars into the community of IS researchers

Practical Classification Guidelines for Diabetes in patients treated with insulin: a cross-sectional study of the accuracy of diabetes diagnosis.

Differentiating between type 1 and type 2 diabetes is fundamental to ensuring appropriate management of patients, but can be challenging, especially when treating with insulin. The 2010 UK Practical Classification Guidelines for Diabetes were developed to help make the differentiation.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Additional Link above to access the full-text via the publisher's site.Published (Open Access

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Quality improvement in the service sector : an expert support system (ESS) for continuous improvement

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 376-389).Microfiche.2 v. (xix, 389 leaves, bound) ill. 29 c

International students from non-English Speaking Backgrounds in the tertiary computing classroom: Some teaching strategies

The increasing number of international students from non-English speaking backgrounds (I-NESB) enrolling into classes in New Zealand tertiary institutions presents new challenges for tutors and students. This paper reports the results of an email survey of tutors, members of the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications (NACCQ), regarding problems encountered with increasing numbers of international students and strategies employed to overcome these problems. Respondents reported international students present in a variety of computing courses, none of which have restrictions on the number or proportion of international students able to enrol. Only one third of the tutors reported any, usually minimal, training in teaching I-NESB students and none had English for Speakers of Other language (ESOL) specialists present during classes. Despite this, most tutors reported no major problems. Not surprisingly, weak English skills, comprehension and oral and written communications, were the most frequently mentioned issues, with several also mentioning different learning cultures and impacts on the tutor and host country students. A variety of strategies were reported to overcome these problems including self-paced worksheets, forum discussion boards, forced culturally mixed project groups, use of examples from other cultures, and humour. Communication to international students was enhanced through multi-channelling, for example, use of the whiteboard to explain concepts and discussion boards. Some specialized tutorials and one-to-one tutoring was also employed