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We analyze the impact of information technology (IT) on the technical efficiency of firms in the context of their observed competitive settings. Because competition can be a driver of efficiency [...]

Information and communication technologies (ICT) offer innovative formats for promoting healthy lifestyles and reinforcing public health initiatives. They can be applied to large population segments without losing the functionality of being tailored to individual fluctuating needs. Advantages of ICT include real-time provision and adaptation of nutrition and health recommendations based on an individual's particular situation, the potential to combine assessment procedures with healthy lifestyle support and the ability to unify psychosocial and cultural dimensions to enhance adherence. Two pilot programs are presented that show the potential for applying ICT to the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity habits.

X party material flow (XPMF) is a new type of material flow (MF) under the emerging new information technology. Based on the theory of MF, this paper analyses the recent research progress that was made in XPMF from the angle of bio-evolution complexity including factor type primitive reconstruction driving type XPMF, enterprise primitive fractal synergetic type XPMF, adapting primitive swarm intelligence XPMF. Such progress has enriched and systematized the research of XPMF theory. Keywords X party material flow; PMF; supply chain; material flow mode; PMF fractal; PMF swarm intelligence; systems research, INTRODUCTION Based on the theory of material flow (MF) (Xu, 2002a, 2002b, 2003) and the theory of labour division and organization, the theory of X party material flow (XPMF) has [...]

The pathways of development and innovation in information technology involve interactions among a number of sciences and technologies and the social, political, and economic milieu in which they find themselves. No single factor will decisively determine the direction, the success or failure, or the competitiveness of one country relative to others, which makes grand strategies for specific technological development and innovation notoriously unreliable. Therefore, although growing technical capacity in developing countries helps their economic growth, the world is not quite flat. In fact, information technology may exacerbate national differences, rather than lead to international homogenization, and technological developments in general may be differentially affected by a nation's traditional regulatory and legal institutions. All of these issues reinforce the need to approach modern technological development and innovation as a systems problem with technical and social dimensions, not reducible to a separate consideration of its technical, government, and sociological parts. Keywords: Technology; innovation; complexity; systems approach

The adoption of enterprise-wide information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become a growing trend in a wide range of industries. Resistance has been identified as one of the most common reasons for unsuccessful implementations. Assuming technologies as fixed objects, many existing theories tend to reduce resistance to psychological mechanisms or structural misalignment. The purpose of this study is to retheorize resistance to ICTs by integrating a social constructionist perspective of technology and a framework of organizational tensions. By employing qualitative methods, a case study examined the adoption, implementation and use of an enterprisewide software system in a technology service organization. The in-depth case analysis revealed a tension-centered process model, which shows that resistance to ICTs is constituted in a dynamic, reflexive interplay between the ongoing construction of ICTs and organizational tensions. In this process, an ICT adoption brings into play various organizational tensions, which then shape the interpretations of the ICT in oppositional terms, and reactions to these tensions and oppositional interpretations result in various forms of resistance behaviors. This tension-centered process model offers a useful alternative to existing research on resistance to ICTs in the workplace. Keywords: Workplace Resistance; ICT Implementation; Social Construction of Technology; Organizational Tension; Technological Change

The potentials of using new free and low-cost technologies in library services are analyzed. Technologies such as podcasts, blogs, web conferencing, wikis and instant messaging have been proven to improve clients' access to and usage of the library and its collection. Examples of public libraries which make use of new technologies are given.

Twenty years of information technology (IT) innovation have transformed American higher education. From the introduction of personal computers to the spread of the Internet and e-mail, information technology innovation has [...]

ABSTRACT This paper explores the nature of a firm from an innovation perspective. An organization may be thought of as a collection of networked resources. Developments in information technology enable [...]

Byline: V. Grech (1) Keywords: Key words: Heart defects, congenital -- Information systems -- Databases, factual Abstract: Inexorable progress in information technology has been the driving force behind much of the progress that has been achieved in the fields of pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery since the inception of these two subspecialities during the middle of the 20th century. This article outlines the influences of the digital age and speculates on likely future developments in these two subspecialities. Author Affiliation: (1) Pediatric Department, St. Luke's Hospital, Guardamangia--Malta, MT

New information and communication technologies are spreading rapidly. What is their impact on regional development? They provide new opportunities, but also bring new constraints. Is access to these technologies wide? Do they have a multiplying effect on economic activities? Can they upgrade the delivery of public services? Being able to feed the webs with original content appears to be one of the major challenges for regional agents. Territorial anchoring of the specific knowledge developed in the regions is strategic in meeting this challenge. Key words: new information technologies, Internet, regional contents

Inventor Steve Mann is widely known for his wearable computer gadgets. Some of his notable inventions include the WearComp, a miniature computer with the capacity of an average desktop unit, and the WearTel, which is specifically used for real time audio transmission.

Since information technologies have become critical to business success as a tool for organizational innovation, successful implementation of information technology (IT) innovation is viewed as one of the most crucial tasks for many organizations. This paper examines the effects of the contextual factors on the implementation of the client/server system as an interrelated IT innovation. We clarify the concept of IT innovation by distinguishing between IT innovation object and IT innovation process and provide the conceptual framework for IT innovation process. Four types of IT innovation implementation were classified according to the dimensions of implementation scope and implementation pace. We developed a set of relevant propositions and examined them through multiple case studies following Yin's case-study methodology. Index Terms - Client/server, information technology, innovation, interrelated innovation, IT implementation, IT innovation.

Northern Telecom's operations research group provided the needed information-technology solutions for its Wireless Networks Raleigh manufacturing operation. The new solution system utilized three database systems to capture information and a set of reusable objects and scripts to interspace these data to the presentation interface using Netscape. The result was a real-time factory information system that translated into millions in revenues and increased customer satisfaction.

Now that intranets have become the new model for information technology systems, we can expect that more organizations will adopt online document review and editing procedures. This may be problematic for technical editors. Survey studies published in 1992 and 1995 found that most technical editors were still editing on paper most of the time even though an overwhelming percentage of them had access to computers and expressed a positive attitude toward using computers for editing-related tasks. In this article I review discussions of online editing in the technical communication literature to understand how online editing has been constructed within the discipline and why many technical editors remain loyal to traditional paper-based procedures. I discuss a recent call for emulating handwritten mark-up and author queries electronically and compare this 'technical fix' with the collaborative online editing affordances of the latest word processors. I then discuss studies of online reading and composition whose results suggest that the materiality of hard-copy editing procedures may contribute to some inherent advantages over online emulations of such procedures, or at least foster the widespread perception that certain advantages exist for hard-copy editing. I conclude by urging an open-minded and flexible but also critical perspective toward online editing technology. Such a perspective should help make the move to online editing a more positive experience for technical editors. It might also help them define a higher-level role for editing in the information and document development process.

Attewell's reconceptualization of diffusion theory (1992) was extended to examine the differences in the tendency of organizations to start and maintain the adoption of highly complex process technologies. The study sought to develop a profile of early and sustained software process innovation (SPI) assimilators to help potential technology adopters and suppliers become better innovators. It tested the hypotheses that innovation is more prevalent in firms with higher learning-related scale, greater related knowledge and more varied knowledge and activities because they are in a better position to acquire knowledge crucial to innovation, have less learning needs, and can better deal with learning costs. These hypotheses were supported by the research results.

A wide array of useful electronic resources for academic research in social and economic history is available to UK historians. Among developments in information technology that directly benefit historians are the Arts and Humanities Data Service, the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex and its holdings such as the Qualitative Data Archive and the Resource Centre for Access to Data on Europe. Two other data centers which are funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee are the Manchester Information, Datasets and Associated Services and the Edinburgh Data and Information Access.

Michael Vlahos errs when he compares the plight of mid-19th century France, which was at the peak of its global power, and the US in the 1990s. The parallelism does not hold true and the US is not bent on maintaining the status quo by suppressing advances in information technology. On the contrary, the US is an active participant to such an information revolution. The overly pessimistic portrait drawn up by Vlahos serves its purpose, nonetheless, as it should awaken Americans from the complacency for which they have long been guilty.

Journalism and mass communication students and professors feel that technological innovations in the mass media will require curricular changes for journalism courses. Q-sorting statements were used to determine four attitudinal types. The Champion of Change are excired about the changes and feel unthreatened by the developments. The Pessimistic Prophet feels there are moral problems connected to technology and that it is destructive to society. The Laid-Back Liberals think the new media will benefit individuals but will have a negative social impact. The Skeptical Optimist believes in technology's potential but is not convinced.

New information technology products and services are presented. Humanities OnLine (H-NET) has launched H-REVIEW, a network that gathers and distributes reviews of books and other materials to subscribers through electronic mail. 'History Reviews Online,' a quarterly electronic journal on the World Wide Web,' publishes historical reviews. Publication of historical databases has also been improved with search options and other user-friendly features.

A nationally integrated cheque processing system has been successfully implemented at Midland Bank in Britain. The latest information technology data processing system provides the bank's back office operation with innovative processing for district service centres. Other banks have declined to copy the processing, despite its cost effectiveness and efficiency improvements, because they have had pressing issues of debt management to address.