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The notion of a genre system typically connotes sequences of interrelated communicative genres. This paper suggests that we can find other types of relationships among genres. Data from a field study in a large emergency room illustrate how doctors, nurses, and clerical staff routinely combine document genres not only in sequences but also in various accumulations achieved through proximity and movement. The combinations of genres add flexibility to the emergency room staff's genre use and allow them to employ individual genres for several purposes. The data allow us to explore how organizational members manage the tension between a need for continuity in communicative practices and a need for flexibility in managing a jumble of paper-based and digital information systems. In addition, it demonstrates how end users often tinker with genres' media and form in the process of altering combinations among specific genres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the benefits of Groupware, a generic term for network-based software design for student learning activities. Features of the software; Theoretical justification on the use of groupware; How to use the tool.

Today, a second generation of computer-based reengineering tools employs knowledge systems technology to automate and support key intellectual activities required for effective process redesign. But a central question remains as to the effectiveness of redesign through such knowledge systems. The research described in this paper is focused on testing the effectiveness of knowledge-based, process-redesign systems. We employ one such system, called "KOPeR-lite," as a platform for experimentation to assess the relative efficacy of redesigns generated by computer versus those developed by people. In this sense, we conduct a modified Turing Test to compare redesign performance of reengineering analysts with that of the knowledge system. KOPeR-lite performs comparatively well in certain respects, but human subjects outperform the machine in others. The results provide evidence to support claims of redesign efficacy through knowledge systems, and they offer insight into the relative strengths and weaknesses of people and software applications in the reengineering domain. This study further opens up new lines of research and highlights implications for process redesign and practice, including issues associated with leading adoption of knowledge system technology and extension of redesign automation systems such as KOPeR-lite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the use of electronic data tools to improve the writing skills of students. Integration of life-time skills in learning; Computer software programs used for student homework; Steps on the use of electronic data tools.

Educational use of the Internet forms one of the cornerstones of Labour government policy, primarily via the construction of the 'National Grid for Learning' which aims to connect every school in the UK to the Internet by 2002. In this paper we report on the extent to which schools are already buying into information and communications technology (ICT) and in particular the Internet, effectively examining the foundations upon which the Learning Grid is being constructed. Via an empirical study of 150 current school websites we will argue that schools adopt a variety of approaches to the Internet and Worldwide Web depending upon the technological and institutional capital of the school, and that far from being utilised solely for educational purposes, the Internet provides an additional tool through which schools seek to reaffirm or reconstruct their existing institutional identities with varying levels of success. The paper concludes by adopting a semiotic framework for analysing the differential use of the Internet by educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the vast and still growing availability of electronic documents from around the world, it is becoming increasingly important for managers of the information systems on which these documents are stored to sort or tag these documents so that their end users can most readily access those documents that are of most interest and use to them, which in our context means in a language they can understand. Linguini is a vectorspace-based categorizer tailored for high-precision language identification. This paper determines the functional dependencies of Linguini's performance and demonstrates that it can identify the language of documents as short as 5 to 10 percent of the size of average Web documents with 100 percent accuracy. It also describes how to determine if a document is in two or more languages, without incurring any appreciable extra computational overhead. This approach can be applied equally to subject-categorization systems to distinguish between cases where, when the system recommends two or more categories, the document belongs strongly to all or really to none. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision support systems (DSS) are becoming popular computer information system tools to assist in resolving strategic business problems. This paper reports the results of a laboratory study investigating the usefulness of DSS features for marketing problem solving. Marketers perceived DSS model interrogation features as most useful during decision making. Simulation capabilities and features enabling probabilistic specification of problem variables were considered least useful. Study results suggest that model building and decision training be included when introducing a DSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, open systems are needed for real time analysis and warnings on geo-hazards and over time can be achieved using Open Source Geographical Information System (GIS)-based platform such as GeoNode which is being contributed to by developers around the world. To develop on an open source platform is a very vital component for better disaster information management as far as spatial data infrastructures are concerned and this would be extremely vital when huge databases are to be created and consulted regularly for city planning at different scales, particularly satellite images and maps of locations. There is a big need for spatially referenced data creation, analysis, and management. Some of the salient points that this research would be able to definitely contribute with GeoNode, being an open source platform, are facilitating the creation, sharing, and collaborative use of geospatial data. The objective is development of an automated natural hazard zonation system with Internet-short message service (SMS) warning utilizing geomatics for sustainable societies. A concept of developing an internet-resident geospatial geohazard warning system has been put forward in this research, which can communicate alerts via SMS. There has been a need to develop an automated integrated system to categorize hazard and issue warning that reaches users directly. At present, no web-enabled warning system exists which can disseminate warning after hazard evaluation at one go and in real time. The objective of this research work has been to formalize a notion of an integrated, independent, generalized, and automated geo-hazard warning system making use of geo-spatial data under popular usage platform. In this paper, a model of an automated geo-spatial hazard warning system has been elaborated. The functionality is to be modular in architecture having GIS-graphical user interface (GUI), input, understanding, rainfall prediction, expert, output, and warning modules. A simplified but working prototype of the system without the GIS-GUI module has been already tested, validated, and reported. Through this paper, a significantly enhanced system integrated with webenabled- geospatial information has been proposed, and it can be concluded that an automated hazard warning system has been conceptualized and researched. However, now the scope is to develop it further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a report which presents data on the manuscripts passed for the journal "Technometrics" in 2009 and the trends in the contents of manuscripts. It says that the manuscripts submitted in 2009 explored several topics including statistical process control (SPC), reliability, and experimental design. It discusses the processes involved in manuscript operations such as one on the submission through the journal web site.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including outsourcing across the library and information science (LIS) profession, cataloguing in Australian libraries, and digital storytelling.

For purposes of identifying root causes of variation in multivariate manufacturing data, many studies employ a linear structured model. One paradigm involves modeling off-line a set of variation patterns and then attempting to detect the presence or absence of those specific premodeled patterns in a sample of on-line data. In another paradigm, which requires no premodeling, the objective is to discover the nature of any variation patterns that are present, based only on the on-line data sample. In this paper, we present a method that combines the two paradigms and mitigates some of the shortcomings of each. Instead of exhaustively premodeling all potential variation patterns, which is infeasible for many processes, one premodels only the patterns for which modeling is relatively easy. The characteristics of any unmodeled patterns that also happen to be present in the on-line data are discovered automatically, and they are treated in such a manner that their presence does not adversely affect the detection of the premodeled patterns. We illustrate the approach with an example from autobody assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines where students prefer to find information, and then matches survey results with students' assignments. Surveys showed that half the surveyed students used library databases (e.g. ProQuest) as their first preference to locate scientific information; however, of these students, one third did not have any journal articles cited in their assignment. Furthermore, of those students with no journal articles cited in their reference list, 65% claimed to feel comfortable using library databases, against a figure of 100% who felt comfortable using Google Scholar. This indicates a mismatch between students' expressed preferences and their actual ability to locate, evaluate, and include refereed journal articles in their assignments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the customer service and library staff benefits of using Vocera badges (www.vocera.com), a portable wireless technology (WiFi), to facilitate roving reference service. Use of portable voice communication devices allows help to be taken to the people and away from service desks. These communication technologies allow library staff to easily access the expertise of other staff. There is now an Australian library using this technology. The State Library of Victoria, after trialling Vocera in 2008, went live with a system for all reading rooms in January 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review of the literature around the library and information science (LIS) blogosphere, focusing on academic librarian bloggers who maintain their own blog outside of their library workplace. The differences between library and librarian blogs are defined, followed by a brief snapshot of the history, evolution and current landscape of the LIS blogosphere. The review aims to understand what challenges these librarian bloggers face in contentious areas of their blogging practice. Key challenges that emerged were self-presentation and identity, ethical issues, readership and privacy. Through a discussion of these key challenges, issues around anonymity, disclosure, accountability to the profession, the interactivity of blogs and self-censorship come into play. The blurred lines between the personal, public, private and professional in the world of blogs are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the emerging service economy, many traditional product manufacturing companies are seeking innovative ways to do business, focusing on product-service combinations. Development of these offerings requires the integration of a wider span of expertise from several companies, which poses new challenges in the way knowledge is captured and managed. On the basis of a case study from an aerospace supply chain, this paper first identifies the limitations of current knowledge-management systems in such a setting and then discusses the role of Web 2.0 technologies in managing knowledge across the knowledge life cycle. Web 2.0 technologies have potential to lower barriers to leveraging informal and unstructured knowledge, contextualized information, networks of connections, and collective creation and maintenance of knowledge assets, which could complement current knowledge-management systems in multicompany product development efforts. INSETS: How the Study Was Conducted;Web 1.0 versus Web 2.0. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes a case study oral history project involving high school students who interview elders and publish in full text and full digital video on a public Web site, www.tellingstories.org. Telling Their Stories: Oral History Archives Project (OHAP) is a combination of a high school elective history course at The Urban School of San Francisco, a digital video oral history production protocol, a public Web site, and a growing collaboration with other educational institutions from around the country. Students learn oral history technique, conduct two-hour long video-recorded interviews, complete the transcription, edit movies, and publish to the OHAP Web site. Most OHAP interviews deal with witnesses of key twentieth century events involving acts of discrimination, including survivors, witnesses and liberators of the Nazi Holocaust, Japanese American internees, and elders involved in the southern Civil Rights Movement. The paper also examines the preparation and efficacy of student-conducted oral histories via the OHAP model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a parallel machine scheduling problem with rework probabilities, due-dates and sequence- dependent setup times. It is assumed that rework probability for each job on a machine can be given through historical data acquisition. Since the problem is NP-hard in the strong sense, a heuristic algorithm is presented, which finds good solutions. The dispatching algorithm named MRPD (minimum rework probability with due-dates) is proposed in this paper focusing on the rework processes. The performance of MRPD is measured by the six diagnostic indicators: total tardiness, maximum lateness, mean flow-time, mean lateness, the number of reworks and the number of tardy jobs. A large number of test problems are randomly generated to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Computational results show that the proposed algorithm is significantly superior to existing dispatching algorithms for the test problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web sites are a major instrument for companies to transmit information to customers and conduct transactions in business markets. Differences in Web site design and content across companies can be explained by cultural factors (mainly high- or low-context communication, individualism, and power distance), characteristics of a company's home country, and corporate demographics. Based on a review of recent studies, mostly in B2C settings, this paper summarizes what is known about the impact of cultural dimensions on Web site design and content. Content analysis of 600 B2B Web sites in 57 countries confirms the interrelatedness of certain antecedent variables with Web site design and content. Some cultural orientations, especially high-context communication, may be detrimental to the design of Web sites, making them less clear, less attractive, and less interactive. Companies in countries characterized either by high-context communication, collectivism, or high power distance should strive for cultural adaptation of Web sites. Firm size and R&D intensity also have an impact on Web site design and content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their business value and return on investment, multi-enterprise integration projects are unbearably costly for many companies. With a view to realizing lower integration costs and resources, enterprises are seeking partner attributes that display the ease of B2B collaboration. This paper examines the relationship of B2B interoperability to integration effort. It breaks down enterprise interoperability into five layers (network, data, process, application, business) and investigates the particularity and effect of each. The research model is validated by a field study using data from 239 firms. Interoperability at the business, process, and data levels is found to be significantly but negatively associated with integration efforts. Interoperability at the application level showed little relation to integration efforts, and interoperability at the network level had a nonsignificant positive relationship with integration efforts. The research model and findings are a starting point for assessing interoperability with a potential partner at each layer and for estimating the involved integration effort, with a view to aiding e-partnership decisions and B2B integration management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Drug Sector Information Service is committed to supporting those who work to prevent or reduce the harm to individuals, families, communities and the nation caused by alcohol and other drugs. This paper describes a project to assist particular members of the alcohol and other drugs sector to improve quality and the transfer of research into practice, through information literacy training using the evidence-based practice process. The project was made possible by the Anne Harrison Award (http://www.alia.org.au/ awards/merit/anne.harrison/) and involved members of the Alcohol and Drug Librarians and Information Specialists (ADLIS) group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coming of the Web and the ease with which on-line history projects can be established has seen a wave of popular history websites that encourage personal reflections on an organisation or event from anyone with an opinion. This paper looks at one such project, established by Wagga Wagga City Library, to record memories of Radio Station 2WG's Women's Club which flourished in the Riverina area from the 1930s to the early 1960s, providing a valuable information and entertainment resource to this rural and regional community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than five hundred librarians have been experimenting with providing library services within Second Life, a Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) with over thirty thousand users online at any time. This paper outlines the advantages for librarians of experimenting in Second Life and the technical and managerial decisions librarians should make when considering setting up a library presence in a MUVE. There is an account of the evolution of the Australian Libraries Building within Second Life and a description of some of the scripted library objects created there, The conclusion describes how Second Life librarianship has evolved as librarians become more familiar with the interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The uneven diffusion of the Internet across countries reinforces social and economic inequalities. Correlation studies associate its uneven diffusion with such factors as competition, telephone infrastructure, literacy, economic development, access charges, and network reliability, but they do not reveal the mechanics of Internet diffusion because it is the interplay of different factors, not any factor in isolation, that generates diffusion behavior. This paper uses the system dynamics (SD) methodology to develop a causal model of Internet diffusion in a developing country. The SD methodology was selected because its basic construct, the feedback loop, is well suited to represent the mechanics driving dynamic processes. The proposed causal model is validated using Internet subscriber data from India. The technique of dominant loop analysis identifies the feedback loops that have the most influence on diffusion behavior. The model can be used to evaluate diffusion patterns resulting from different policy alternatives intended to foster Internet diffusion in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the use of WebQual 2.0 to evaluate Internet bookshop Web sites. Initially applied in the domain of information-intensive Web sites, WebQual 2.0 has been extended and refined to encompass an interaction-quality perspective on e-commerce Web sites. Its development draws on an analysis of the service-quality literature. WebQual assesses Web site quality from the “voice of the customer” perspective, an approach adopted in quality-function deployment. It is used to assess customer perceptions of on-line bookshops, one of the more mature areas of Internet commerce. Three UK-based Internet bookshops are assessed using a natural experiment. Data are collected from students using an on-line questionnaire. Analysis of the results demonstrates considerable variations in the offerings of the Web sites. The findings and their implications for e-commerce are discussed, and conclusions and directions for further research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet provides unparalleled opportunities for stakeholders to research the activities of corporations who increasingly find themselves operating in a `global goldfish bowl'. This paper researches 275 companies from 21 countries and 21 sectors which were analysed against content and design criteria to assess the effectiveness, as well as the accessibility of their environmental reporting websites, and underpinned by information from 100 environmental managers regarding the management of those websites. While this research clearly indicates that the Internet is transforming the task of corporate environmental reporting, the data nevertheless demonstrates that companies are still very much in the embryonic stages of exploiting its capabilities and, indeed, in many cases, they have not fully embraced the concept that the Internet is global. There is a need for the SCOPE of an environmental reporting website to be considered more fully in relation to Span, Costs, Opportunities, Policing and Evaluation. Furthermore, while benchmarking has moved on apace for hard-copy environmental reports, current approaches are not flexible enough to incorporate Internet-based environmental reporting, and a new methodology may be required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores high school students' responses to a technology-supported, problem-based U.S. history unit. Our investigation focused on how participants used a specially-designed multimedia environment, on what meaning this learning experience had for participants, and on how their responses and culminating understandings compared to students who studied the same topic without using the multimedia resources. We wished to explore whether a multimedia-supported learning environment might mitigate some of the identified learner obstacles to problem-based instruction: (1) lack of deep engagement with the topic; (2) failure to weigh competing perspectives, and (3) lack of domain-specific and metacognitive knowledge. Findings suggest that scaffolded multimedia may provide a more authentic context for learning that raises student interest, confronts students with alternative perspectives, and makes knowledge more available for application to social problems. However, expert guidance by the teacher seems to remain a crucial factor for nurturing the disciplined inquiry necessary for addressing social problems critically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer literature searching is becoming almost a necessity for researchers in art education because of the rapid expansion of available information and knowledge. This paper presents a set of guidelines for effectively retrieving bibliographic information through the computer by describing two basic modes of gaining access to the literature and by explaining the use of Boolean logical operators in structuring searches. In the last section of this paper some additional tactics are introduced for researchers who would like to construct more sophisticated types of search strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an introduction in which the editor discusses scholarly citation reference database "Emerging Sources Citation Index" by news publication company Thomson Reuters, on various accomplishment of the journal in the research field, and impact of research on the community.

The article discusses the changes and development in the layout of the journal "Hydrological Sciences Journal" (HSJ). According to the author, modernization is the main objective of the changes in every issue as depicted by the publication of issues electronically and the launch of an electronic manuscript processing system to support peer reviews. It also outlines the changes made for the publication which include the use of an online platform from Taylor and Francis Inc., the advancement of online publication ahead of the print issue, and the access to articles. Particular focus is also given to the reasons on why the image of Nile River is placed on the cover.

This paper presents a case study commissioned by the Spanish railway carrier Ferrocariles Españoles de Vía Estrecha for the annual rostering of work schedules for station personnel. A mixed rostering process is used. The first part of the process is carried out manually with the aid of a spreadsheet and Visual Basic, and consists of designing an initial graphic with 4-week patterns for each station, assigning those patterns in a rotating schedule over the year and factoring in vacation time. The second part consists of assigning relief shifts to cover those shifts left vacant in such a way as to minimize the distance travelled by personnel from other stations brought in for relief shift duty. To that end, basic programmes are designed using binary programming and a 4-week time frame. The results obtained are a clear improvement on the system previously used at FEVE and the company has decided to implement the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study of implementing online video-based tutorials to enhance student learning. Initially, these tutorials were developed using a software product, Camtasia, to mitigate learning differences between traditional-based classrooms versus online classes. Because online students often did not receive the same hands-on and visual learning modality that was available to students on traditional classroom settings, tutorials were assumed to level the playing field between these two groups. However, after two years of developing and integrating these tutorials into online classes, it was found that only a small minority of students were using them. Other issues were that tutorials took a long time to develop, and many lecturers felt they were ineffective. This case describes the reasons the tutorials were developed, the integration process, issues raised, and implications for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academics are increasingly looking at using virtual worlds for educational purposes, but the guidance for establishing a virtual presence is limited. This paper presents the results of an exploratory observational study on 95 virtual campuses in Second Life which has produced a framework that may assist staff or students in building their own campuses. The investigation first took place in 2007 and was repeated in 2009, so the results have been updated and comparisons drawn between the two reviews, highlighting what has changed and what activities appear to have taken place. Recommendations have been made regarding the design of a campus, bringing attention to building practices that might obstruct navigation and impede activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring the longevity of web-based information is a significant preservation issue with wide implications for the future of scholarship. This paper describes a longitudinal study of fifty websites through which the determination of survival rates of Australian web publications is attempted. It suggests that the Internet Archive may be serving Australia better than PANDORA in preserving the web component of its documentary heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries need to find their place in a network environment where individuals can access information content freely through the web. This paper looks at how the National Library of Australia is addressing this challenge through its website and through the planned new Kinetica search service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, researchers in the learning sciences are appealing to notions of community to shape the design of learning technologies and curricular innovations. Many of these designs, including those in the area of project-based science, show strong promise; but, it is a challenging matter to understand the influences of these innovations in a detailed enough fashion to refine them over time. This work demands sensitive, theoretically grounded ways to assess the depth to which particular facets of innovations help enculturate students into communities of discourse and practice. Taking genre theory and the sociology of science as points of departure, I demonstrate a unique approach to the problems of developing and assessing students' understanding of persuasive practices in the scientific community. The research I discuss revolves around students' use of a professional scientific genre of scientific writing, the Research Article or Introduction, Methods, Results, Discission (IMRD) report (Swales, 1990), as they compose reports about their own original research. Using data from an innovative project-based high school science class, I demonstrate how genre use provides a window on the effectiveness of a learning environment in helping use discipline-specific tools of persuasion. In the classroom studied here, students developed e-mail mentoring relationships with volunteer scientists across the United States and Canada. Working in partnership with the teacher, these "telementors" served not only as inquiry guides for students, but also as a critical audience that helped shape the arguments they made about their research. Detailed analysis of the final reports produced by teams of students in the class revealed a significant relation between their fulfillment of the customary persuasive functions of a scientific research article and sustained correspondence with their telementors. A significant relation was also observed between sustained dialogue with telementors and careful hedging of knowledge claims. I situate these findings within a body of theory that suggests the value of telementoring relationships consists not only the ongoing advice and guidance they furnish, but in the ways that a professional audience shapes students' ideas about the sorts of arguments that are called for in science class. Because the analysis of genre use is a relatively noninvasive way to examine students' understandings of scientific persuasion (as compared with survey instruments or pull-out interviews), this method can serve as a useful tool for reformers wishing to compare the outcomes from iterations or conditions of design experiments that aim to develop students' understanding of persuasive practices in the scientific community. It may also make a useful transfer measure for a wide range of classroom innovations that aim to cultivate scientific reasoning and persuasion, such as science-oriented tools for computer-supported collaborative learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients suffering from upper limb deficiency all experience a significant reduction in their ability to interact with their environment. The primary method used to restore this lost function is the implementation of a prosthesis. However, a significant proportion of users abandon their devices—citing reasons such as cost, weight, functional control and aesthetics. This paper will discuss the use of myoelectric control technology in the control of an additive manufactured myoelectric transradial prosthesis. This prosthesis should be low cost, lightweight, easily controlled and has a morphology that mimics a human hand. As a part of this study, a single channel electromyogram controlled hand model was developed using an Arduino Uno microcontroller to control a single degree of freedom. Preliminary testing and debugging has indicated that a single input channel is adequate for relatively simple open/close protocols. However, in order to allow for the more fine control desired by patients, new preprocessing boards will need to be developed for the Arduino in order to gain access to more input channels. This will allow us to truly explore the Arduino as a budget option for implementing higher complexity control structures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, the non-permutation flow shop scheduling problem with preemption-dependent processing times is considered. A mixed integer programming formulation is proposed to tackle the problem. The optimization objective considered is the minimization of the total tardiness. The model is tested against random instances. The results allow us to identify the effect of some parameters such as coefficient of preemption-dependent processing time, number of preemptions and the selected machine for preemption on the total tardiness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses the use of Internet in the selection and production of newsclips. Advantages of Internet use in education; Significance of newsclips to the objectives of learning; Steps in the selection of news items.

Using an extensive and unique data set that has been created to record the composition of the boards of directors of the top 250 British firms between 1904 and 2010, this article builds upon a previous study by the authors on the corporate network to 1976 by extending the study to 2010. The analysis revolves around three key observations: the nature and depth of the corporate network; the distinct stages in corporate connectivity between 1976 and 2010; and the 1980s watershed in the relationship between financial and other sectors, following which financial institutions withdrew from the corporate network. The article concludes with an analysis of how the data set has changed our perceptions of British corporate networks, wider changes in British business, and a discussion of implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information technology (IT) advances often create turmoil and disturb existing industry structures. In the travel industry, electronic distribution has existed for decades via the global distribution systems (GDSs), reservation systems that were introduced in the early 1980s on mainframe platforms. Yet with the Internet, new digital intermediaries have threatened the viability of these legacy GDSs. We examine this transformation of e-travel distribution to test the theory of newly vulnerable markets, which predicts how markets become vulnerable to fundamental changes triggered by IT. The tenets of newly vulnerable markets theory are supported. The GDS market became newly easy to enter due to a decrease in barriers to entry caused by the Internet and other technologies, attractive to attack due to their out-of-date and inefficient pricing mechanisms, which made opportunistic pickoff possible across customer profitability gradients, and difficult to defend due to their lack of vision and strategic inflexibility. We use our findings to expand the application of this theory to newly vulnerable e-markets, in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing online purchasing activities, the future role of the sales force in business-to-business marketing is uncertain. Little empirical research has investigated the Internet as a tool for industrial purchasing. Using a national sample of purchasing personnel, we explore this topic. Our findings indicate most buyers who report Internet usage are gathering information and placing routine orders. Buyers who perceived themselves as innovative and convenience- seeking reported greater intentions to purchase online. Additionally, organizational pressure to reduce costs, influence of others within the firm, and support from suppliers appear positively related to buyers' propensity to use the Internet for industrial purchasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses societal and ethical issues on information technology in higher education community. Censorship of indecent material versus freedom of speech; Electronic mail privacy; Educational value of Internet use. INSET: Resources.

The Electronic Brainstorming System (EBS) is a group support system (GSS) tool considered particularly productive in supporting idea generation. Unfortunately, as computer-supported groups are confronted with larger numbers of ideas and supporting comments to organize and evaluate, they may experience information overload. This study explores the problem of information overload within the context of an idea-organization task in a face-to-face electronic meeting. Integrative Complexity Theory provides the primary theoretical foundation, and an Information Overload Model for GSS is introduced. Results from a laboratory experiment provide support for the idea that effective GSS tools can be designed based on a theoretical understanding of information processing, in particular, how information is processed under conditions of high information load. Use of a GSS tool designed to regulate the flow of information, called an Idea Regulator, led subjects to organize ideas with higher levels of complexity, but they also reported higher levels of mental workload. This research suggests that particular attention to the problem of information overload, and research focused on finding theory-based solutions, can lead to more effective meetings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces the `Model Nuclear Weapons Convention,' a model convention designed to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Information on how long the abolition of nuclear weapons had been talked about; Purpose of the document according to the International Association of Lawyers; Web site that the summary of the convention can be found. INSET: Net working..

Various aspects of the design and use of Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS) have been investigated in laboratory and field studies, but until now no one has systematically investigated the role of EMS software on group performance. The current study compares two different EMS software tools in a controlled experiment. Dependent variables are decision quality, number of unique alternatives generated, satisfaction, and consensus. The study found that one software tool produced better quality solutions to a combination creativity and intellective task, but the other helped generate more unique alternatives. Each tool worked best on the task for which it was designed. The findings support the authors' premise that there should be a match between the EMS software tool and the task to be performed. The findings have several implications for the design of EMS software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models are a key component in the decision-making process. Model managers have been proposed to select and direct the use of models in a decision setting. A limitation of model managers is their inability to optimally integrate several models to arrive at a decision. A scheme to overcome this limitation is presented. By specifying input requirements to each model and outputs available from each model, a string of models may be developed. An implicit enumeration algorithm ensures a feasible string of models for a required output and composes the string in optimal form according to a user-defined objective. The algorithm may be used in conjunction with existing model management techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the major changes of the Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives (JCHIMP) website featuring easy view of recent published articles, the information and image carousel at the homepage center, and the new layout of individual articles.

Do the deviant acts carried out by the collective known as Anonymous qualify as vigilante activity, and if so, can they be justified? Addressing this question helps expose the difficulties of morally evaluating technologically enabled deviance. Anonymous is a complex, fluid actor but not as mysterious as popularly portrayed. Under a definition of vigilantism that includes reprobative punishment rather than violence as a key element, Anonymous are vigilantes. Many of its Ops can be justified in view of the mismatch between formal norm enforcement practice and Internet natives' experience of it. Anons are more like eco-warriors than terrorists. While their actions are contentious, their force is framed in a vision of common good that is not unreasonable. Engaging with online deviants is shown to be a productive way of identifying the weaknesses in concepts underpinning moral evaluation of Internet-enabled phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how contemporary referencing software, a tablet device and speech-recognition software were used to improve the traditional research workflow, referring primarily to the process of finding journal articles, downloading the bibliographical details with full text, then reading and annotating them in an as efficient way as possible. This was done using Third Street's Sente referencing software on an Apple Mac to manage the bibliographical database and to automatically synchronise with its companion application on the iPad, then using the built-in tools of the Sente application on the iPad to highlight any text in the article that is of particular interest. The highlighted passages were automatically synced back to the Apple Mac application, and the researcher then used Nuance's Dragon Dictate on the Apple Mac to dictate a summary of the article directly into the notes field in Sente or into the notepad of Dragon Dictate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]