Search

Background: User involvement is widely accepted as key for designing effective applied games for health. This especially holds true for children and young people as target audiences, whose abilities, needs, and preferences can diverge substantially from those of adult designers and players. Nevertheless, there is little shared knowledge about how concretely children and young people have been involved in the design of applied games, let alone consensus guidance on how to do so effectively. Objective: The aim of this scoping review was to describe which user involvement methods have been used in the design of applied games with children and young people, how these methods were implemented, and in what roles children and young people were involved as well as what factors affected their involvement. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search and selection across the ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Web of Science databases using State of the Art through Systematic Review software for screening, selection, and data extraction. We then conducted a qualitative content analysis on the extracted data using NVivo. Results: We retrieved 1085 records, of which 47 (4.33%) met the eligibility criteria. The chief involvement methods were participatory design (20/47, 43%) and co-design (16/47, 37%), spanning a wide range of 45 concrete activities with paper prototyping, group discussions, and playtesting being the most frequent. In only half of the studies (24/47, 51%), children and young people participated as true design partners. Our qualitative content analysis suggested 5 factors that affect their successful involvement: comprehension, cohesion, confidence, accessibility, and time constraints. Conclusions: Co-design, participatory design, and similar high-level labels that are currently used in the field gloss over very uneven degrees of participation in design and a wide variety of implementations that greatly affect actual user involvement. This field would benefit from more careful consideration and documentation of the reason of user involvement. Future research should explore concrete activities and configurations that can address the common challenges of involving children and young people, such as comprehension, cohesion, confidence, and accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations are increasingly concerned about ensuring that workers have sufficient sense of control over the information technology (IT) that they use. However, we know little about the antecedents of the end user's perceived behavioral control (PBC) with respect to IT. Drawing on Kurt Lewin's field theory, the present study responds to this concern by formulating and testing a model whereby individual, contextual, and social forces influence PBC directly and indirectly via computer anxiety. In order to test the model, a survey was conducted in France with IT end users enrolled in professional training programs. The results show that increasing autonomy, offering appropriate managerial support, reducing work overload, and perceived innovativeness with IT can together reduce computer anxiety and increase PBC. These findings emphasize the forces that managers can manipulate in order to foster users' feelings of control with respect to IT in the workplace. Following this, the paper makes three main contributions to research. First, it increases our knowledge of the nomological net surrounding PBC by shedding light on the joint influences of internal, external, and social forces on this variable. Second, it reveals the role of computer anxiety, emphasizing that it is an important conduit through which these forces influence workers' PBC. Third, the paper shows how Lewin's field theory can help to create richer and less fragmented models in order to capture more fully the determinants of IT adoption and adaptation. The practical implications regarding the actions that managers can take in order to increase workers' PBC are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A method for supporting debugging of trigger-action rules. • A tool supporting the debugging method with the possibility to simulate the corresponding contexts of use. • A solution integrated in the tool for detecting possible conflicts amongst the trigger-action rules. • An empirical validation that the tool allows users to identify and correct mistakes in their trigger-action rules more accurately. Abstract End users need tools to enable them to control and personalise Internet of Things (IoT) applications, which may involve hundreds of interconnected objects. Trigger-action programming has shown to be a useful support for this purpose because it allows users to easily associate dynamic events with the activation of desired effects. End User Development (EUD) tools aim to allow even users without programming experience to define the behaviour of IoT applications. However, users may define rules triggering various actions that may be in conflict, or may specify rules that do not result in the intended behaviour. Although such situations can often occur, there seems to be a lack of tools able to help users understand whether the specified rules actually bring about the desired behaviour and, if not, the reasons why they fail. We present an original solution for filling this gap, which takes into account the specific aspects of trigger-action rules. We describe the design and implementation of this debugging support, and then discuss the results of a first user test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of the relationship between end-user computing satisfaction (EUCS) and radical innovation, using organizational learning as an explanatory variable.Design/methodology/approach An empirical study was conducted in a population of 402 Spanish companies. A sample of 251 valid questionnaires was obtained. Structural equations were used to validate the proposed hypotheses.Findings Organizational learning capability fully mediates the relationship between EUCS and radical innovation.Research limitations/implications The sample of companies is heterogeneous in terms of size, sector, age and market share. The study uses single informants.Practical implications Results highlight the need to implement adequate information systems to promote radical innovation. In addition, it is necessary to facilitate organizational contexts that encourage dialogue, experimentation, risk-taking, participative decision-making and openness to the external environment.Originality/value This research contributes to the study of alternative antecedents of radical innovation by highlighting the importance of EUCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the treatment of uncertainty in expert system shells. A review of the modeling of uncertainty by expert system shells is presented. An experiment to replicate earlier work investigating the manner in which individuals manipulate certainty factors in comparison to commercial shells is discussed. Comparisons are made between seven commercial shells, both personal computer (PC) and mainframe based, and individuals. A significant difference between individuals and shells as well as among shells themselves is indicated. Some implications for both expert system and decision support system (DSS) methodologies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the psychometric properties of the short-form measure of user information satisfaction (UIS) proposed by Ives, Olson, and Baroudi [7]. Based on extensive testing, the questionnaire appears to be a reasonably valid and reliable measure. A framework for how this measure can be used to detect and diagnose problems with user satisfaction is presented and illustrated via two case studies. Finally, recommendations and suggestions are made regarding the future use of this and other measures of user information satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanophotonic devices, such as metasurfaces and silicon photonic components, have been progressively demonstrated to be efficient and versatile alternatives to their bulky counterparts, enabling compact and light-weight systems for the application of imaging, sensing, communication and computing. The tremendous advances in machine learning provide new design methods, metrology and functionalities for nanophotonic devices and systems. Specifically, machine learning has fundamentally changed automatic design, measurement and result processing of highly application-specific nanophotonic systems without the need of extensive expert experience. This trend can be well described by the popular concept of "software-defined" infrastructure in information technology, which can decouple specific hardware from end users by virtualizing physical components using software interfaces, making the entire system faster, more flexible and more scalable. In this review, we introduce the concept of software-defined nanophotonics and summarize the interdisciplinary research that bridges nanophotonics and intelligence algorithms, especially machine learning algorithms, in the device design, measurement and system setup. The review is organized in an application-oriented manner, showing how the software-defined scheme is utilized in solving both forward and inverse problems for various nanophotonic devices and systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A great deal has been written about the various socio-political, economic, and cultural reasons that information and communications technologies (ICTs) fail to achieve the potential they represent. Far less attention has been paid to the technology itself, and the role that the hardware plays in the success or failure of ICT4D. Along these lines, we find a disconnect between much of the scholarly ICT4D research and many of the needs and concerns of practitioners and intended beneficiaries. Using interviews and surveys, this article asks ICT4D practitioners and end-users about the technology and hardware needs and challenges they face in the field. These practitioners consistently suggest that electricity is the most important hardware-related concern, followed closely by cost, robustness/ruggedness, and ease of maintenance/repair. We argue for the inclusion of hardware and technology considerations in the planning and implementation of ICT4D projects. Failure to address these concerns may account for the underperformance of many technologies in the development context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Today, the interests of an organization cannot be obtained by a single company, because the companies try to focus their business on the activities which are worthwhile to be focused on and they outsource other activities. In this paper, we proposed a conceptual framework and examined it to find the effect of some of the individual, organizational, and technological factors on the usage of organizational project benefits management and its impact on the end user. The outsourcing of information technology has been posed seriously for a long time; therefore, the managers have to increase their knowledge on the subject of outsourcing of information technology and deciding methods. This article has been provided for the purpose of providing a quantitative model for ranking the outsourcing options of information technology which makes use of organizational project benefits management analysis and analytic net process. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is an important supporting tool and is usually used as a tool to systematically analyze the inner and outer environment of the organization. The analysis of organizational project benefits management makes it possible to determine the importance of criteria and the ability to evaluate the options to be decided. Analytic net process is suggested to determine the complex structure of outsourcing and determining the weight of the criteria and final stratification; furthermore, by applying this method the interdependence of the main criteria can be considered. The results of the studied case show that the consideration of the dependencies causes a decrease in the strengths and opportunities and increase in the weight of opportunities and threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the potential impact of the worldwide online survey for reanalysis users to the reanalysis in climate services. Topics discussed include contributory factors such as climate services end user community and delivering observational data, the survey scope which aimed at addressing user awareness and reanalyses and demographics and scientific discipline of work.

Purpose – This case study aims to describe the renovations and intended functions for rooms; explain the different design approaches implemented for the different end-user populations; provide an overview of traditional, new and non-library services for which spaces were designed; briefly explain training and planning; and describe the spaces and services that function well and those that do not. Indiana University Libraries completed two significant renovations in late 2014. They renovated the Learning Commons, which is a 27,000 square feet (SQF) facility designed to meet the needs of undergraduate students, and they created the Scholars’ Commons, which is a 15,000 SQF facility supporting graduate student and faculty research. Design/methodology/approach – Both spaces were thoughtfully designed to support new and traditional library services, as well as services supported by non-library units. Staff training and service planning took place during the construction process, with the goal of having outstanding services operating on opening day. Findings – The goal of creating flexible space was achieved, but it presents organizational and staffing challenges. Libraries seeking to create multifunctional environments must consider the practical implications of daily operation and use of such spaces. Research limitations/implications – This case study describes two library environments that are in their first year of operation and the assessment of the use and impact is underway. The stage of the work limits the research to be reported upon. Practical implications – The spaces described provide very practical information for other academic libraries that seek to renovate spaces and provide innovative services. Originality/value – Academic libraries that are in the planning stage of a learning space should take note of the variety of spaces, strategies for working with cavernous spaces, use of natural light and “bring-your-own-device” interior designs. In addition, the service hub model implemented in the Scholars’ Commons is a unique approach for digital scholarship centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network technologies have always been a crucial part of success for technologies like cloud computing. But due to the slow development of a scalable IT infrastructure, this can lead to issues in competitiveness. Software defined networking (SDN) can thereby counteract such issues by giving new functions to the whole network topology. With SDN, administrators have the possibility to abstract the underlying network infrastructure for applications and network services. The paper reports on the main outcomes of a systematic literature review on challenges and effects of SDN. It shows that most papers address the implementation of software defined networking as a challenge, including factors like vendor lock-in and the general risk of changing traditional network architectures. Attention is also given to security issues arising with software defined networks and the permanent high demand from the end-user combined with the fear of changing traditional networks. Issues dealing with specialized know-how were identified as another challenge category. Effects of SDN are discussed by defining unique features of SDN like decoupling hardware from the software and the global view of the whole network architecture. SDN furthermore affects the management of the network, including changes in deployment of policies, the programmability and maintenance of the network. Economic factors, such as cost efficiency and reduction of costs, are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main benefit of cloud computing lies in the elasticity of virtual resources that are provided to end users. Cloud users do not have to pay fixed hardware costs and are charged for consumption of computing resources only. While this might be an improvement for software developers who use the cloud, application users and consumers might rather be interested in paying for application performance than resource consumption. However there is little effort on providing elasticity based on performance goals instead of resource consumption. In this paper an autoscaling method is presented which aims at providing increased application performance as it is demanded by consumers. Elastic scaling is based on “statistical process monitoring and control” and “Western Electric rules”. By demonstrating the architecture of the autoscaling method and providing performance measurements gathered in an OpenStack cloud environment, we show how the injection of aspect-oriented code into cloud applications allows for improving application performance by automatically adapting the underlying virtual environment to pre-defined performance goals. The effectiveness of the autoscaling method is verified by an experiment with a test program which shows that the program executes in only half of the time which is required if no autoscaling capabilities are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless communication is a trend nowadays for the industrial environment. A number of different technologies have emerged as solutions satisfying strict industrial requirements (e.g., WirelessHART, ISA100.11a, WIA-PA). As the industrial environment presents a vast range of applications, adopting an adequate solution for each case is vital to obtain good performance of the system. In this context, the routing and scheduling schemes associated with these technologies have a direct impact on important features, like latency and energy consumption. This situation has led to the development of a vast number of routing and scheduling schemes. In the present paper, we focus on the WirelessHART technology, emphasizing its most important routing and scheduling aspects in order to guide both end users and the developers of new algorithms. Furthermore, we provide a detailed literature review of the newest routing and scheduling techniques for WirelessHART, discussing each of their features. These routing algorithms have been evaluated in terms of their objectives, metrics, the usage of the WirelessHART structures and validation method. In addition, the scheduling algorithms were also evaluated by metrics, validation, objectives and, in addition, by multiple superframe support, as well as by the redundancy method used. Moreover, this paper briefly presents some insights into the main WirelessHART simulation modules available, in order to provide viable test platforms for the routing and scheduling algorithms. Finally, some open issues in WirelessHART routing and scheduling algorithms are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies aim at supporting elderly and disabled people in their environment, with affordable, easy to use and meaningful ICT tools. Given the complexity of AAL, software platforms are needed to abstract and reuse typical functionalities. To this purpose, the universAAL project was established to create an open platform that provides a standardized approach making it technically feasible and economically viable to develop AAL solutions. In order to make AAL technologies widely accepted, high quality must be guaranteed, but measuring quality in AAL is difficult because of the variety of stakeholders, the wide set of needs addressed and the heterogeneity of the employed technologies. This paper proposes a methodological framework for evaluating AAL solutions with the aim of prioritizing evaluation needs, customizing assessment techniques and producing value for the project. The framework is based on empirical methods and on scientific-like theory building mixed with the standard ISO/IEC 25000 for software quality. It can be applied for both technical and non-technical (end-user) evaluations. To support the framework, the results of its application in universAAL are shown, i.e., how it was used at different stages of the project for assessing the results, for taking decisions and for building scientific knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of systems is considered an obstacle to the progress of the IT industry. Autonomic computing is presented as the alternative to cope with the growing complexity. It is a holistic approach, in which the systems are able to configure, heal, optimize, and protect by themselves. Web-based applications are an example of systems where the complexity is high. The number of components, their interoperability, and workload variations are factors that may lead to performance failures or unavailability scenarios. The occurrence of these scenarios affects the revenue and reputation of businesses that rely on these types of applications. In this article, we present a self-healing framework for Web-based applications (SHõWA). SHõWA is composed by several modules, which monitor the application, analyze the data to detect and pinpoint anomalies, and execute recovery actions autonomously. The monitoring is done by a small aspect-oriented programming agent. This agent does not require changes to the application source code and includes adaptive and selective algorithms to regulate the level of monitoring. The anomalies are detected and pinpointed by means of statistical correlation. The data analysis detects changes in the server response time and analyzes if those changes are correlated with the workload or are due to a performance anomaly. In the presence of performance anomalies, the data analysis pinpoints the anomaly. Upon the pinpointing of anomalies, SHõWA executes a recovery procedure. We also present a study about the detection and localization of anomalies, the accuracy of the data analysis, and the performance impact induced by SHõWA. Two benchmarking applications, exercised through dynamic workloads, and different types of anomaly were considered in the study. The results reveal that (1) the capacity of SHõWA to detect and pinpoint anomalies while the number of end users affected is low; (2) SHõWA was able to detect anomalies without raising any false alarm; and (3) SHõWA does not induce a significant performance overhead (throughput was affected in less than 1%, and the response time delay was no more than 2 milliseconds). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For organizations to achieve the benefits of new information technology (IT) systems, their users must adopt and then actually use these new systems. Recent models help to articulate the potentially different explanations for why some users will adopt and then continue using new technologies, but these models have not explicitly incorporated IT knowledge. This is particularly important in contexts where the user base may be non-IT professionals--i.e., the users may vary substantially in their basic IT knowledge. We draw on psychology to argue that in situations where there is a wide variance in actual IT knowledge, there will often exist a U-shaped relationship between actual and self-perceived IT knowledge such that the least knowledgeable believe themselves to be highly knowledgeable. We then draw on individual-level adoption theories to argue that users with high self-perceived IT knowledge will be more likely to adopt new technologies and do so faster. We also draw on individual-level continuance theories to argue that users with low actual IT knowledge will be more likely to discontinue using new technologies and do so faster. We test our expectations using a proprietary data set of 225 sales professionals in a large Indian pharmaceutical company that is testing a new customer relationship management system. We find strong support for our hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridging the gap between business needs and IT solutions is a major challenge in service-oriented computing. Recent research has emphasized the importance of including end users in the development of service-based applications. This article contributes to this problem by taking on a human-centered software engineering perspective. Based on an analysis of two different approaches--tangible and screen-based versions of tools--it discusses how end users can participate in the development of technical workflow models based on their perception of business processes. The evaluation results contribute to a better understanding of the needs and problems of end users and give an idea of future challenges for the design of tools that aim to support end user development in the domain of service-oriented computing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Co-adaptive training paradigms for event-related desynchronization (ERD) based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) have proven effective for healthy users. As of yet, it is not clear whether co-adaptive training paradigms can also benefit users with severe motor impairment. The primary goal of our paper was to evaluate a novel cue-guided, co-adaptive BCI training paradigm with severely impaired volunteers. The co-adaptive BCI supports a non-control state, which is an important step toward intuitive, self-paced control. A secondary aim was to have the same participants operate a specifically designed self-paced BCI training paradigm based on the auto-calibrated classifier. The co-adaptive BCI analyzed the electroencephalogram from three bipolar derivations (C3, Cz, and C4) online, while the 22 end users alternately performed right hand movement imagery (MI), left hand MI and relax with eyes open (non-control state). After less than five minutes, the BCI auto-calibrated and proceeded to provide visual feedback for the MI task that could be classified better against the non-control state. The BCI continued to regularly recalibrate. In every calibration step, the system performed trial-based outlier rejection and trained a linear discriminant analysis classifier based on one auto-selected logarithmic band-power feature. In 24 minutes of training, the co-adaptive BCI worked significantly (p = 0.01) better than chance for 18 of 22 end users. The self-paced BCI training paradigm worked significantly (p = 0.01) better than chance in 11 of 20 end users. The presented co-adaptive BCI complements existing approaches in that it supports a non-control state, requires very little setup time, requires no BCI expert and works online based on only two electrodes. The preliminary results from the self-paced BCI paradigm compare favorably to previous studies and the collected data will allow to further improve self-paced BCI systems for disabled users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents an approach to personal carbon allowance trading with RFID tags or barcodes. It introduces RFID tags as certificates for the rights to claim carbon allowances so that it enables buyers, including end-consumers, that buy products or services with carbon allowances to hold and claim these allowances. It also supports the simple intuitive trading of carbon allowances by trading RFID tags coupled to the allowances. The approach was constructed and evaluated with real customers and real carbon allowances in a real supply chain. It can also be used to encourage industries and homes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of RISTI: Iberian Journal on Information Systems & Technologies / Revista Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação is the property of Associacao Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informacao (AISTI) 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.)

Research problem: This study explores how established patterns, means, and services influence the users' first experience when encountering a novel self-service application. The application (DB Cairo) is a passenger information system for public transportation running on mobile phones. Research questions: Is the users' first experience with the application influenced by established communicative patterns, means, and services? Are they used as reference objects? Which attributes of the application are relevant? Is there a leading reference object (prototype)? Do reference objects vary depending on the personal factors age and gender? Literature review: Little is known about user experience in first contact situations regarding passenger information systems. For our investigations, we used a theoretical framework combining Linguistic Evaluation Theory, Prototype Theory, and Linguistic Genre Theory: Evaluations are regarded as an integral part of user experience. Evaluation is conceptualized as an act where a subject evaluates an object with a certain purpose at a certain time by comparing it with other objects. Every object has various attributes—some are relevant for the evaluation, and others are not. Communication quality is seen as a crucial complex attribute for the evaluation of communicative applications. Methodology: We conducted a qualitative study: Data from two user test series (n=12) with thinking-aloud protocols and retrospective interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis procedures. The participants were male and female, age 25–35 or 55–65, mobile-phone users, and multimodal travellers. The tests were conducted in a laboratory with a computer-based mobile-phone emulator. Results and conclusions: Results show that the participants explore the application by comparing its attributes with attributes of reference objects. Reference objects vary depending on attributes of the application. Regarding topic-related attributes, participants rely on established artifacts, which form a topic-related multimedia network. Within this network, the website of German Railways functions as prototype. Age- and gender-specific differences were not detected. The findings indicate that research into user experience and development practice could benefit from reconstructing and analyzing topic-related artifacts. Limitations of the study were a small sample size, the test location, and environment. Future challenges are the investigation of influencing factors and the development of new methods/tools for data collection in field studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the diffusion of cloud services, they are becoming an alternative to traditional information technology (IT). Despite the importance of cloud services, relatively few studies have been devoted to an empirical examination of the switching behavior from traditional IT to cloud services at the individual level. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the switching factors (i.e. switching enablers and switching inhibitors) and to empirically examine the relationships between those and users’ intention to switch to cloud services, based on the two-factor theoretic perspective. This study uses a longitudinal design to get survey data from undergraduate students at two universities in Korea in the context of IT switching to Google Apps settings. According to our findings, this study found that users’ switching intention to cloud services was not only positively influenced by expected switching benefits whose antecedents are omnipresence of cloud services and collaboration support, but also negatively influenced by expected switching costs whose antecedents are satisfaction with incumbent IT and breath use of inclement IT. The impacts of switching benefits and costs on switching intention were also positively moderated by end users’ personal innovativeness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Eduroam has become one of the main examples of network federations around the world, where hundred of institutions allow roaming end users to access the local network if they belong to any other eduroam member institution. In this context, this paper proposes how, once the end user is authenticated by the network, she can access additional federated application services (beyond the web) by means of Kerberos, without deploying additional cross-realm infrastructures. With the support of existing eduroam architecture, this proposal prevents the end user from being fully authenticated by her home institution again to access the application services, which do not need to be modified. Finally, optional advanced authorization can be used to provide added value services to end users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce functional assumptions of the distributed repository of visual data that are one of key aspects of SYNAT framework for digital libraries. The proposed system will provide innovative tools and extend capabilities of current repositories. Within this task, the personalized search system is discussed. Especially three different approaches were proposed for this system, such as: CF, CBF and DF. Idea behind personalization is that there is currently lack of such functionality whereas end users would benefit from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of Cloud Computing creates a wave of reluctance for specialists representing the information security field. This reluctance comes from end users as well, who think data stored on an internal infrastructure are much safer than those held on the servers of potential providers, and also from governments that apply different policies at the national level regarding the security of personal data. Non-acceptance and reluctance of cloud technologies also come from the impact of changing perceptions about infrastructure architectures, development and application delivery models that the emergence of these technologies had led to. Many of the technologies used for traditional security issues are no longer effective in the cloud. Meanwhile, other solutions were developed to put more focus on Governance in the Cloud. To successfully manage and ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of information technologies as a corporate resource, organizations have turned to what is IT governance. Rapid transition to cloud technologies fuel a critical issue regarding the success of information systems, communication and information security. As a consequence, the paper aims to identify, evaluate and clarify information security in the Cloud using three principles of security (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability) and to emphasize the importance of Governance in Cloud Computing at the business level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to protect end users from identity theft, policy makers have enacted numerous regulations that require organizations toacquire identity and access management (IAM) technologies. In this paper, the authors develop and validate a conceptual framework that captures the unique characteristics of information security regulations and their impact on demand for IAM technologies, and the innovation and market value of IAM firms. Using paired two-sample for means t-tests and the Chow test, the authors demonstrate that the annual changes in sales of IAM firms from 1998 to 2008 are higher than those of other information technology (IT) firms around the time that information security regulations were enacted. The vector autoregression analyses show that IAM innovation is demand-driven, consistent with Schmookler's "demand-pull" hypothesis, and has been positively valued by stock market investors. As such, our results demonstrate how policy makers can stimulate innovation and increase shareholder wealth by regulating IT consumers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In our Age of exponential technological advance, recent developments are determining an evolution of end users from passive information consumers into information producers. Users are increasingly willing and, indeed, determined to shape the software they use to tailor it to their own needs. Based on a brief review of research activities we performed in the last decade, this paper analyzes some challenges that software designers face to comply with the new roles of end users in the software life cycle, and discusses how to provide end users with software environments that empower them to become co-designers of their own tools and products. The examples reported in the paper show why and how end users are involved in design activities in various application domains. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The emergence of cloud computing is promising enormous benefits for small businesses, due to the dramatic reduction in IT costs caused by the service-oriented architecture. At the same time, the transition to a cloud ecosystem is more controversial for individual end users, as emerging business models can potentially affect both competition within and across layers, and the end-to-end nature of the Internet. The paper argues that policymakers should work on several fronts, including privacy, security and competition policy, before the transition to the cloud ecosystem can be seen as really conducive to a desirable outcomes for end users. Work in the direction of the inter-cloud architecture and a European partnership for cloud computing should thus be oriented towards an open, competitive environment, compatible with different levels of quality of service, and such that end users can still access a robust, best-effort Internet infrastructure, along with managed services with guaranteed QoS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Process of informatization of companies as well as common use of IT tools at work does not progress equally fast for all industries. In polish economy can be found branches, where introduction of modern IT services is very much postponed or has just begun. Many complicated operations are still handled manually, what in some cases due to lack of new technologies can lead to ecological and financial problems. Deficiencies of modern IT solutions come often from the high complexity of needed tools, high cost of design and introduction and because of the obsolete for the most part infrastructure. One of the branches that has that problem is water management, which in this article will be presented as the process of water production and distribution through the waterworks network. Author of this article will present a conception of Spatial Decision Support System designed to aid waterworks company and monitor whole water distribution infrastructure. Creation and implementation of proposed IT system will allow the waterworks company depreciation of water production costs and infrastructure service costs. It will also improve reaction time in case of failure of any part of the network, which is very important due to the additional costs that end users will have to pay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professionals and end users of computers often experience being constantly surrounded by modern technology. One side effect of modern technology is termed technostress, which refers to the 'negative impact on attitudes, thoughts, behaviors, or body physiology that is caused either directly or indirectly by technology' (Well and Rosen, 1997). Based on social cognitive theory, this study developed a conceptual model in which computer-related technostress was studied as consequences of computer self-efficacy and technology dependence. Results show that (a) employees with higher level of computer self-efficacy have lower level of computer-related technostress, (b) employees with higher level of technology dependence have higher level of computer-related technostress, and (c) employees under different individual situations may perceive different levels of technostress. Contributions of this research and implications for theory and managerial practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on systems usage and user adaptation to information technology (IT) through laboratory experiment. The study utilizes the Coping Model of User Adaptation (CMUA), by I. Benbasat and H. Barki, as basis in developing and testing measures for understanding systems usage. It also revealed that misalignment problems during IT implementation may contribute to inappropriate user adoption with IT.

Abstract: Despite the industrial need for the improvement of information-intensive business processes, few scientifically grounded approaches exist to support such initiatives. In this paper, we propose a new approach that builds on concepts that are part of a product-oriented view on process optimization. Essentially, this approach allows end users to flexibly decide on the best possible way to create an informational product within the limits that are imposed by regulations and logical dependencies. We argue that this provides various benefits in comparison to earlier work. To support end users in making sensible decisions, we describe two alternative approaches to provide them with recommendations to this end. We formalize these alternatives and discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses. The feasibility of the overall approach, which we refer to as Product-Based Workflow Support, is demonstrated by a workflow system that is realized using ProM and DECLARE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an extensive literature analysis, this paper examines user-centredness in the context of systems development as a multidimensional concept composed of four aspects: user focus, work-centredness, user involvement and system personalization. Each dimension loads user-centredness with different meanings. The four dimensions can be used for evaluating systems development methods and approaches as to what extent and in what sense they adhere to the ideals of user-centredness. To illustrate this, the dimensions are applied to the analysis of four allegedly user-centred systems development methods: Goal Directed Interaction Design, Contextual Design, Scenario-Based Design and Human-Centred Systems Development Life Cycle. The analysis shows considerable variation in how these methods address the four dimensions of user-centredness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]