bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Networks and Young People
Authors: Ferreira Neuza
Published: February 2011

This paper aims at stating the main advantages and implications of Web 2.0 by analysing popular social networks in Portugal and addressing some examples of their utility. The authors present results of an empirical study applied to young people, aged between 12 and 20 years old, in a specific Portuguese region. In the first part of the study, main characteristics and differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are presented. In addition, results of empirical research and concluding remarks are presented and discussed. Achieved results seem to be particularly relevant for academics and industry professionals who might be interested in the application of new technologies for communication and socialization purposes.
Technological Dissemination in the Portuguese Payments System
Authors: Pinto Sara , Ferreira Fernando
Published: February 2011

Nowadays, few would contest that the contribution of ICT – Information and Communication Technologies – for the progress of the payments system in Portugal has been significant. The continuous irruption of new payment forms, as well as the emergence of more attractive and profitable offers, triggers countless changes. In fact, there has been an organizational restructuring of the banks, aiming at achieving higher efficiency levels, resulting from the use of ICT. In broad terms, the payments system in Portugal has been revealing high levels of modernity. However, is that adhesion to ICT similar in all the regions that are part of the Portuguese territory? The main goal of this study focuses on an empirical analysis which allows to investigate the degree of convergence, regarding the technological dissemination for banking purposes, between the region of Santarém and the national trends.
Learning in Networks of SMEs
Authors: Morandi Valentina , Sgobbi Francesca
Published: February 2011

This paper contributes to the debate on the participation of SMEs in voluntary business networks by framing the relationship between the different types of network-based learning. Learning about networking, which concerns the capability to set, manage, and terminate a strategic alliance, is opposed to learning by networking, which involves the sharing and the joint creation of technical knowledge. The proposed framework is tested in the case of a network of Italian SMEs in the ICT sector. Empirical evidence confirms that learning about networking enables learning by networking and helps to balance those tensions and conflicts that inevitably mark the existence of inter-firm networks. Learning about alliance management provides networked IT entrepreneurs with the capabilities to compete against larger competitors. As learning paths also drive the evolution of inter-firm alliances, networked entrepreneurs would benefit from choosing collective goals in line with their alliance management capabilities.
Facades of Attractive Employer in Indian IT Industry
Authors: Saraswathy R. , Thamaraiselvan N. , Senthilarasu B. , Sivagnanasundaram M.
Published: February 2011

Despite advances in technology and major shifts in economy, people remain an organizations most valuable resource. Human capital and intellectual assets make a difference to the competitive advantage of the firm in a knowledge based industry. Employer Attractiveness (EA) is the prerequisite to attract and retain superior quality talent. Employer attractiveness can be defined as the envisioned benefits that a potential employee sees in working for a specific organization. This study empirically examines the elements of employer attractiveness in Information Technology (IT) industry from the perspective of current employees and determines the most attractive employer in the Indian IT industry. Results show that Indian IT employees valued economic factors, global opportunities, development factors, and application factors. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was the most attractive employer, followed by Infosys, Wipro, Polaris Software Lab and Hexaware.
Interactive Rendering of Indoor and Urban Environments on Handheld Devices by Combining Visibility Algorithms with Spatial Data Structures
Authors: Silva Wendel B. , Rodrigues Maria Andréia F.
Published: February 2011

This work presents a comparative study of various combinations of visibility algorithms (view-frustum culling, backface culling, and a simple yet fast algorithm called conservative backface culling) and different settings of standard spatial data structures (non-uniform Grids, BSP-Trees, Octrees, and Portal-Octrees) for enabling efficient graphics rendering of both indoor and urban 3D environments, especially suited for low-end handheld devices. Performance tests and analyses were conducted using two different mobile platforms and environments in the order of thousands of triangles. The authors demonstrate that navigation at interactive frame rates can be obtained using geometry rather than image-based rendering or point-based rendering on the cell phone Nokia n82.
Effect of Personal Innovativeness, Attachment Motivation and Social Norms on the Acceptance of Camera Mobile Phones
Authors: Rouibah K. , Abbas H.
Published: February 2011

This study develops a model to assess the consumer acceptance of Camera Mobile Phone (CMP) technology for social interaction. While there has been considerable research on technology adoption in the workplace, far fewer studies have been done to understand the motives of technology acceptance for social use. To fill in this gap, this study develops a model that is based on the following theories: the technology acceptance model, the theory of reasoned action, the attachment motivation theory, innovation diffusion theory, and the theory of flow. The first research method used was a qualitative field study that identified variables that most drive CMP acceptance and build the research model using a sample of 83 consumers. The second method was a quantitative field study. Data was collected from a sample of 240 consumers in Kuwait and used to test the proposed model. The results reveal two types of use: “social use” and “use before shopping”, explaining 32.3% and 30% of the variance respectively. Most importantly, the study reveals that personal innovativeness, attachment motivation and social norms have an important effect on CMP acceptance. The implications of this study are highly important for both researchers and practitioners.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis to Establish Determinants of Wireless Technology in the Indian Healthcare
Authors: Gururajan Raj , Gurney Tiana , Hafeez-Baig Abdul
Published: February 2011

This study reports the determinants of wireless technology in the Indian healthcare validated by a second order regression model. In order to assert the determinants, a qualitative study was conducted with 30 physicians using interviews to arrive at a set of barriers and drivers. Further analysis of the qualitative data indicated that there is a third component emerging, namely, clinical influence. The interview data was used to develop a survey instrument and this was administered on the Indian clinicians with 200 completed surveys. This data was used to establish the sub-components of the three major determinants as identified in the qualitative study. This is reported in this article.
Adoption of Mobile Technology by Public Healthcare Doctors
Authors: Banderker Nesaar , Van Belle Jean-Paul
Published: February 2011

South African doctors working in the public healthcare sector are faced with the unique resource constraints prevalent in a developing country. Mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) hold the promise of improving the quality of healthcare, but this potential can only be unlocked if individuals decide to adopt the new technologies. Understanding the factors that influence the doctor’s adoption of a technology is therefore vital. This article reports on an investigation into the factors influencing the adoption of mobile devices by doctors in the public healthcare sector in the Western Cape, South Africa. The research methodology was shaped by qualitative enquiry and described through thematic analysis. The authors confirmed the key adoption factors identified in prior research: job relevance, usefulness, perceived user resources and device characteristics. However, some additional adoption factors were uncovered in this research, namely patient influence, support structures from national government and hospital administration, and unease in respect of malpractice legal suits.
Tele-Practice Technology
Authors: Miller Thomas W. , Morgan Robert D. , Woods Jennifer A.
Published: February 2011

Telehealth is viewed as the removal of time and distance barriers in the provision of health care and patient education to underserved populations. Examined is a twenty first century clinical consultation model of healthcare. Offered are specific applications within a broad spectrum of services utilizing telehealth technology. Important technology shifts for administrative paradigms, clinical models, and educational information technology for healthcare services through telehealth technology are examined. The future of telehealth and its interface with various critical components of society needs to examine the potential benefits over risks in providing healthcare consultations and services through the educational settings available. Addressed is a technology model, which demonstrates the capability of reducing time and distance barriers in the provision of health care and education through telehealth technology. The use of telehealth technology in rural settings is seen as a viable medium for providing needed diagnostic and clinical consultation for underserved and rural.
The Role for Knowledge Management in Modern Healthcare Delivery
Authors: Wickramasinghe Nilmini
Published: February 2011

As medical science advances and the applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to healthcare operations diffuse more data, information begins to permeate healthcare databases and repositories. However, given the voluminous nature of these disparate data assets, it is no longer possible for healthcare providers to process these data without the aid of sophisticated tools and technologies. The goal of knowledge management is to provide the decision maker with appropriate tools, technologies, strategies and processes to turn data and information into valuable knowledge assets. This paper discusses the benefits of incorporating these tools and techniques to the healthcare arena in order to make healthcare delivery more effective and efficient. To ensure a successful knowledge management initiative in a healthcare setting, the paper proffers the knowledge management infrastructure (KMI) framework and intelligence continuum (IC) model. The benefits of these techniques lie not only in the ability of making explicit the elements of these knowledge assets, and in so doing enable their full potential to be realized, but also to provide a systematic and robust approach to structuring the conceptualization of knowledge assets.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) Compliant Access Control Model for Web Services
Authors: Cheng Vivying S.Y. , Hung Patrick C.K.
Published: February 2011

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a set of rules to be followed by health plans, doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in the U.S. HIPAA privacy rules create national standards to protect individuals’ health information. Recently, there have been increasing demands and discussions about Web services-based healthcare applications. It is, therefore, necessary for HIPAA privacy rules to be standardized in Web services. However, so far no comprehensive solutions to the various privacy issues have been defined in this area. This paper summarizes the HIPAA privacy rules and surveys the topic of protecting health data privacy under the HIPAA. We propose a vocabulary-based Web services privacy framework with Role-based Access Control (RBAC) with privacy extensions and argue the HIPAA compliance for such framework. For illustration, we present the first two HIPAA rules in the extended RBAC model and embed into the HIPAA-compliant technical architecture for implementation of Web services.
Nurses' Perceptions of Using a Pocket PC for Shift Reports and Patient Care
Authors: Chang Karen , Lutes Kyle D. , Braswell Melanie L. , Nielsen Jacqueline K.
Published: February 2011

Nurses working in hospitals with paper-based systems often face the challenge of inefficiency in providing quality nursing care. Two areas of inefficiency are shift-to-shift communication among nurses and access to information related to patient care. An integrated IT system, consisting of Pocket PCs and a desktop PC interfaced to a hospital’s mainframe system, was developed. The goal was to use mobile IT to give nurses easier access to patient information. This paper describes the development of this system and reports the results of a pilot study: a comparison of time spent in taking and giving shift reports before and after the study and nurses’ perceptions of the mobile IT system. Results showed significant difference in taking shift reports and no significant difference in giving shift reports. Nurses stated that quick and easy access to updated patient information in the Pocket PC was very helpful, especially during mainframe downtime.
Nonparametric Decision Support Systems in Medical Diagnosis
Authors: Walczak Steven , Brimhall Bradley B. , Lefkowitz Jerry B.
Published: February 2011

Patients face a multitude of diseases, trauma, and related medical problems that are difficult to diagnose and have large treatment and diagnostic direct costs, including pulmonary embolism (PE), which has mortality rates as high as 10%. Advanced decision-making tools, such as nonparametric neural networks (NN), may improve diagnostic capabilities for these problematic medical conditions. The research develops a backpropagation trained neural network diagnostic model to predict the occurrence of PE. Laboratory database values for 292 patients who were determined to be at risk for PE, with almost 15% suffering a confirmed PE, were collected and used to evaluate various NN models’ performances. Results indicate that using NN diagnostic models enables the leveraging of knowledge gained from standard clinical laboratory tests, specifically the d-dimer assay and reactive glucose, significantly improving overall positive predictive value, compared to using either test in isolation, and also increasing negative predictive performance.
Computerization of Primary Care in the United States
Authors: Anderson James G. , Balas E. Andrew
Published: February 2011

The objective of this study was to assess the current level of information technology use by primary care physicians in the U.S. Primary care physicians listed by the American Medical Association were contacted by e-mail and asked to complete a Web-based questionnaire. A total of 2,145 physicians responded. Overall, between 20% and 25% of primary care physicians reported using electronic medical records, e-prescribing, point-of-care decision support tools, and electronic communication with patients. This indicates a slow rate of adoption since 2000. Differences in adoption rates suggest that future surveys need to differentiate primary care and office-based physicians by specialty. An important finding is that one-third of the physicians surveyed expressed no interest in the four IT applications. Overcoming this barrier may require efforts by medical specialty societies to educate their members in the benefits of IT in practice. The majority of physicians perceived benefits of IT, but they cited costs, vendor inability to deliver acceptable products, and concerns about privacy and confidentiality as major barriers to implementation of IT applications. Overcoming the cost barrier may require that payers and the federal government share the costs of implementing these IT applications.
Enhancing Cognitive Screening in Geriatric Care
Authors: Lichtenberg Peter A. , Schafer Johnson Amanda , Erlanger David M. , Kaushik Tanya , Maddens Michael E. , Imam Khaled , Barth Jeffrey , Webbe Frank M.
Published: February 2011

Cognitive screening measures for age-related cognitive impairment have been found to have only fair validity, and the risks of harm even may outweigh the benefits at this time (U.S. Preventative Service Task Force, 2003). A large-scale project designed to assess elder care in Primary Care Physician offices noted that dementia evaluation and treatment was one of the most overlooked aspects of care. Taken together, these studies cited the lack of time and technical expertise in test administration as the most prominent barriers to the accurate detection of dementia in Primary Care Physician offices. It was for these reasons that the Cognitive Screening Test (CST) was created. The CST requires no physician time or training to administer or interpret it. The current study investigated the clinical utility of this cognitive screening system by comparing the results of 102 patients to those of expert geriatricians, using consensus conference methods for diagnosis. Overall clinical utility demonstrated scores at .80 or above for sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive power. In contrast, the MMSE had only a .38 sensitivity. A Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analysis indicated a .863 accuracy rating for the predetermined cut score on the CST.
The Impact of Professional Certifications on Healthcare Information Technology Use
Authors: Hikmet Neset , Bhattacherjee Anol
Published: February 2011

This study examines the effects of professional certifications such as JCAHO on healthcare information technology (HIT) usage in healthcare organizations and user satisfaction with such usage. Using survey data collected from healthcare administrators in a nation-wide sample of 347 hospitals and long-term care facilities, we provide evidence that professional certifications do indeed enhance HIT usage and user satisfaction, at least within specialized user groups such as healthcare administrators. We further demonstrate that this increase in HIT usage due to professional certifications increases with facility size and is more prominent for larger hospitals than for smaller long-term care facilities, though the same cannot be said of user satisfaction. Our study suggests that professional certifications can be used as a valuable tool for motivating HIT usage, while also drawing attention to an under-examined area of HIT research.
A Preliminary Study toward Wireless Integration of Patient Information System
Authors: Al-Ali Abdul-Rahman , Ozkul Tarik , Landolsi Taha
Published: February 2011

This paper presents the results of a study toward generating a wireless environment to provide real-time mobile accessibility to patient information system. A trial system is set up where database, Internet, and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) are integrated in such a way that the medical professionals like physicians, nurses, and lab assistants can create, access, and update medical records using wireless PDAs from any location in the hospital, which is covered by wireless LAN. The same services, which can be carried out via fixed terminals with Internet connectivity, can be carried out using wireless PDAs. The implementation has used and integrated many technologies like Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic®, Structured Query Language (SQL) Server, ActiveSync®, IEEE802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology and wireless security concepts. The paper details the architectural aspects of technology integration and the methodology used for setting up the end-to-end system. The proposed architecture, its performance data, and the common implementation barriers are reported.
Implementation of an Error-Coding Scheme for Teleradiology System
Authors: Rekh Shobha , Rani Subha , Christinal Hepzibah , Selvan Easter
Published: February 2011

Teleradiology, sending of x-rays, is the most common application of telemedicine in use today. Mobile telemedicine is the latest area of research where the patient can be monitored remotely by a doctor. In this paper, we propose a teleradiology system whereby the communication is established via cellular networks and cell phones. Since the data is sent over a wireless channel, it is more prone to data loss due to the mobile environment. To prevent data from getting lost due to noise in the wireless channel, an error-coding scheme is applied. Turbo code is a powerful error coding technique employed nowadays in communication systems. In this paper we apply turbo codes to an x-ray image and an ECG image and simulate the transmission system by adding Gaussian noise to the image. The performance of Turbo codes, in terms of bit error rate is better than other error coding schemes even in the region where the signal strength is very low. The Quality of the image is retained in the receiving end by proper design of the error- coding scheme. An analysis has been done on various parameters considered in the design of turbo codes. The images obtained after decoding are found to be suitable for recognition and diagnosis by the doctors in their mobile phones. This novel technology will enhance the health care in rural area where the opinion of a specialized doctor is not available.
Entrepreneurial IT Governance
Authors: Wiggins Carla , Beachboard John , Trimmer Kenneth , Pumphrey Lela (“Kitty”)
Published: February 2011

Governance is traditionally viewed as a formal authority structure. Information Technology (IT) governance parallels this in that it refers to the patterns of authority over IT. However, traditional control theories of governance, particularly those applied to IT, may not apply in rural healthcare settings. Healthcare has significantly underinvested in IT. Even today, the vast majority of healthcare transactions occur via telephone, fax, paper, and EDI; much data is not captured, is captured incorrectly or inefficiently, and is difficult to retrieve and use. Employing an established IT governance framework, and working from the fundamental assumption that IT is a vital tool in the capture and use of healthcare data, the authors explore the appropriateness of the traditional IT governance framework within a rural healthcare setting. We present an innovative, non authoritative, relationship-oriented approach for those seeking successful adoption of IT as a means of improving healthcare in rural settings.
Benefits Derived from ICT Adoption in Regional Medical Practices
Authors: MacGregor R. C. , Hyland P. N. , Harvie C. , Lee B. C.
Published: February 2011

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are being used more and more by general practitioners (GPs) in their day-to-day activities. While a number of studies have shown that ICT adoption and use can provide real benefits to medical practices, there have been few studies to determine whether the perception of those benefits is uniform across the sector. This study examines whether differences in the perception of benefits exist between male and female GPs. The results suggest that the groupings and priorities of benefits arising from ICT use differ substantially between male and female GPs. Results also show, amongst other things, that male GPs are focussed on business efficiency, while female GPs are focussed on communication and practice expansion.
A Trusted System for Sharing Patient Electronic Medical Records in Autonomous Distributed Health Care Systems
Authors: Nepal Surya , Zic John , Jaccard Frederic , Kraehenbuehl Gregoire
Published: February 2011

The problem of assuring secure and confidential access and transfer of medical records in healthcare facilities can be partitioned into (a) secure storage and access of electronic records within a facility and (b) secure transfer of electronic records between facilities. To address the first issue, we propose a new tag-based data model for representation of electronic medical records along with patients’ policy statements. This model helps to categorize the patient information as well as express patients’ consent for a variety of domains, such as individual practitioner and facility. To address the second issue, this paper proposes a way of establishing a trust relationship between two interacting parties based on emerging trusted computing technologies, and describes its application and implementation in an electronic healthcare system. Our proposed solutions have been demonstrated by developing a prototype system utilizing trusted computing components.
Designing Clinical Decision Support Systems in Health Care
Authors: Raghupathi Wullianallur
Published: February 2011

Clinical decision support systems have historically focused on formal clinical reasoning. Most of the systems are rule-based and very few have become fully functional prototypes or commercially viable systems that can be deployed in real situations. The attempts to build large-scale systems without examining the intrinsic systemic nature of the clinical process have resulted in limited operational success and acceptance. The clinical function, another area of medical activity, has emerged rapidly offering potential for clinical decision support systems. This article discusses the systemic differences between clinical reasoning and clinical function and suggests that different design methodologies be used in the two domains. Clinical reasoning requires a holistic approach, such as an intelligent multiagent, incorporating the properties of softness, openness, complexity, flexibility, and generality of clinical decision support systems, while traditional rule-based approaches are sufficient for clinical function applications.
An Empirical Investigation
Authors: Medlin B. Dawn , Cazier Joseph A.
Published: February 2011

The purpose of this article is to examine the passwords selected by health care professionals and the security and privacy standards in relationship to those passwords as addressed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Examinations of these passwords have illustrated the connectivity between password length and strength and the need to educate employees as to the importance of their password choices. Through an empirical analysis, this article examines whether the passwords created by employees of a health care agency followed “strong” or “weak” password practices. The results should indicate to health care agencies the importance of comprehensive password policies and employee training.
Approximate Processing for Medical Record Linking and Multidatabase Analysis
Authors: Zhang Qing , Hansen David
Published: February 2011

In this article we investigate how approximate query processing (AQP) can be used in medical multidatabase systems. We identify two areas where this estimation technique will be of use. First, approximate query processing can be used to preprocess medical record linking in the multidatabase. Second, approximate answers can be given for aggregate queries. In the case of multidatabase systems used to link health and health related data sources, preprocessing can be used to find records related to the same patient. This may be the first step in the linking strategy. If the aim is to gather aggregate statistics, then the approximate answers may be enough to provide the required answers. At least they may provide initial answers to encourage further investigation. This estimation may also be used for general query planning and optimization, important in multidatabase systems. In this article we propose two techniques for the estimation. These techniques enable synopses of component local databases to be precalculated and then used for obtaining approximate results for linking records and for aggregate queries. The synopses are constructed with restrictions on the storage space. We report on experiments which show that good approximate results can be obtained in a much shorter time than performing the exact query.
HIPAA Compliant HIS in J2EE Environment
Authors: Wyne Mudasser F. , Haider Syed N.
Published: February 2011

This article presents the design and architecture of a health information system that takes into account various requirements posed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The recommendations made, primarily address Health Care Provider and Health Plans’ needs. It introduces the reader to common HIPAA terminology, then picks a specific enterprise technology stack, i.e. Java Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and delves into some of its relevant artifacts. The article makes recommendations for tools, techniques and design guidelines to facilitate the architecture of a HIPAA compatible information system. We focus primarily on Health-care Providers and a subset of Health Plans. These entities have one thing in common: they process or store health information, hence they fall under HIPAA’s purview. The architecture model that we are proposing will attempt to present a unified security model (e.g. security in client, application and database layers).
Predicting Voluntary Participation in a Public Health Program Using a Neural Network
Authors: Heilman George E. , Cain Monica , Morton Russell S.
Published: February 2011

Researchers increasingly use Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to predict outcomes across a broad range of applications. They frequently find the predictive power of ANNs to be as good as or better than conventional discrete choice models. This article demonstrates the use of an ANN to model a consumer’s choice to participate in North Carolina’s Maternity Care Coordination (MCC) program, a state sponsored voluntary public health service initiative. Maternal and infant Medicaid claims data and birth certificate data were collected for 59,999 births in North Carolina during the years 2000-2002. Part of this sample was used to train and test an ANN that predicts voluntary enrollment in MCC. When tested against a holdout production sample, the ANN model correctly predicted 99.69% of those choosing to participate and 100% of those choosing not to participate in the MCC program.
Informatics Application Challenges for Managed Care Organizations
Authors: Kudyba Stephan , Perry Theodore L.
Published: February 2011

Organizations across industry sectors continue to develop data resources and utilize analytic techniques to enhance efficiencies in their operations. One example of this is evident as Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) enhance their care and disease management initiatives through the utilization of population segmentation techniques. This article proposes a classification system for population segmentation techniques for care and disease management and provides an evaluation process for each. The three proposed operational areas for Managed Care Organizations are: 1) Risk Status: early identification of high-risk patients, 2) Treatment Status: compliance with treatment protocols, and 3) Health Status: severity of illness or episodes of care groupings, all of which require particular analytic methodologies to leverage data resources. By applying this classification system an MCO can improve its ability to clarify internal goals for population segmentation, more accurately apply existing analytic methodologies, and produce more appropriate solutions.
Putting the Content Into Context
Authors: Müller Henning , Kalpathy-Cramer Jayashree
Published: February 2011

Digital management of medical images is becoming increasingly important as the number of images being created in medical settings everyday is growing rapidly. Content-based image retrieval or techniques based on the query-by-example paradigm have been studied extensively in computer vision. However, the global, low level visual features automatically extracted by these algorithms do not always correspond to high level concepts that a user has in his mind for searching. The role of image retrieval in diagnostic medicine can be quite complex, making it difficult for the user to express his/her information needs appropriately. Image retrieval in medicine needs to evolve from purely visual retrieval to a more holistic, case-based approach that incorporates various multimedia data sources. These include multiple images, free text, structured data, as well as external knowledge sources and ontologies.
Alerts in Healthcare Applications
Authors: Chiu Dickson K.W. , Kwok Benny W.C. , Wong Ray L.S. , Kafeza Marina , Cheung S.C. , Kafeza Eleanna , Hung Patrick C.K.
Published: February 2011

Urgent requests and critical messages in healthcare applications must be delivered and handled timely instead of in an ad-hoc manner for most current systems. Therefore, we extend a sophisticated alert management system (AMS) to handle process and data integration in healthcare chain workflow management under urgency constraints. Alerts are associated with healthcare tasks to capture the parameters for their routing and urgency requirements in order to match them with the specialties of healthcare personnel or the functionalities of Web Services providers. Monitoring is essential to ensure the timeliness and availability of services as well as to ensure the identification of exceptions. We outline our implementation framework with Web Services for the communications among healthcare service providers together with mobile devices for medical professionals. We demonstrate the applicability of our approach with a prototype medical house-call system (MHCS) and evaluate our approach with medical professionals and various stakeholders.
Using Stakeholder Analysis to Identify Users in Healthcare Information Systems Research
Authors: McLeod Jr. Alexander J. , Clark Jan Guynes
Published: February 2011

Applying IS research to the healthcare context is an important endeavor. However, IS researchers must be cautious about identifying individual roles, the context of the setting, and postulating generalizability. Much of IS theory is rooted in organizations, their business processes, and stakeholders. It is not a simple matter to generalize healthcare IS research, assuming that it is equivalent to organizational IS research. Hospitals, emergency rooms, and laboratories are different from the “business environment”, and “healthcare sers” vary considerably in their roles. Therefore, IS researchers need to understand the healthcare setting before they can appropriately apply IS theory. Obviously, if we are studying the wrong person, or group of people, we cannot expect to get relevant results. In order to alleviate confusion regarding “who is the user?” in healthcare IS research, we provide examples of healthcare scenarios, perform simplified stakeholder analysis for each scenario, and identify the stakeholders.
Perceptions of an Organizing Vision for Electronic Medical Records by Independent Physician Practices
Authors: Reardon John L.
Published: February 2011

Adoption and usage rates of healthcare information technology (HIT) in general and electronic medical records (EMR) in particular are below expectations even though both show potential to help solve pressing problems plaguing the U.S. healthcare system. This research explores the role an organizing vision (OV) (Ramiller & Swanson, 2003) plays in shaping independent physician practices’ (IPP) perceptions of EMRs and hence their interest in adopting and using the technology. This paper reports on an OV for EMRs by using a mail survey of IPPs and uses factor analysis to examine structural properties and content of the OV among the practices. Contributions to theory include exploring the applicability of Ramiller and Swanson’s (Ramiller & Swanson, 2003) OV on HIT innovations in healthcare research. Contributions to practice include empowering HIT decision makers with a model for addressing the introduction of a technology innovation (EMR) into an independent physician practice.
On Sharp Boundary Problem in Rule Based Expert Systems in the Medical Domain
Authors: Olufunke Oladipupo O. , Charles Uwadia O. , Charles Ayo K.
Published: February 2011

Recently, the application of the conventional rule based expert system for disease risk determination in medical domains has increased. However, a major limitation to the effectiveness of the rule based expert system approach is the sharp boundary problem that leads to underestimation or overestimation of boundary cases, which ultimately affects the accuracy of their recommendation. In this paper, an expert driven approach is used to investigate the viability of a fuzzy expert system in the determination of risk associated with coronary heart disease with regards to the sharp boundary problem in rule based expert system.
The Introduction of an Electronic Patient Care Information System and Health Care Providers’ Job Stress
Authors: Wallace Jean E. , Friesen Steven P. , White Deborah E. , Gilmour Janet G. , Lemaire Jane B.
Published: February 2011

In this paper, the authors explore how the introduction of an electronic Patient Care Information System (PCIS) relates to changes in health care providers’ (HCPs’) perceptions of computer use, quality of patient care and job stress. Data were collected using a mixed-methods case study approach over a 20 month period following the introduction of this system. Initially stress levels appeared to increase, but over time declined significantly. After 3 months, the majority of HCPs reported they spent more time entering, retrieving and searching for patient information than before; however, these increases in computer use were unrelated to HCP stress. The potentially negative impact of the system on the quality of patient care was highly correlated with increased job stress. After 20 months, HCPs reported spending less time searching, entering and retrieving patient information, but these indicators of computer use were now highly correlated with stress. While some negative perceptions of the impact of the PCIS declined over time, HCPs reported ongoing stress related to concerns about quality of patient care even after 20 months of use.
Exploring the Perceived Usefulness of System Documentation
Authors: Rathnam Gene
Published: February 2011

The objective of this research is to determine whether there is a difference among computer system users in the perceived usefulness of online system documentation versus printed system documentation. Recent trends in the computer software industry have seen printed system documentation replaced by online system documentation. This has resulted in a debate among computer software system users with regard to whether or not they can successfully learn and use the software with only online system documentation. A survey was conducted of information systems professionals. The survey respondents completed a survey that asked them to rate online system documentation and printed system documentation for the mainframe and PC platforms and also for specific tasks. It was found that system developers on PC platforms had a strong preference for using online system documentation versus printed system documentation. On both PC platforms as well as mainframe platforms, there was a significant difference in the perceived usefulness between online documentation and printed documentation for performing specific tasks. For tasks that involved searching for specific information, users preferred the online documentation. For tasks that involved initial learning about the system, and for tasks that involved a significant amount of reading, the users preferred the printed documentation.
Who's Talking Online? A Descriptive Analysis of Gender & Online Communication
Authors: Hartsell Taralynn
Published: February 2011

This preliminary descriptive study investigated the association between gender and online communication and involved participants from an online graduate course. The study implemented a descriptive model in that “student involvement” was assessed by tabulating and recording the quantity and quality of student activity in the discussion threads. Quantity was recorded by the amount of times students posted online comments and the number of words that women and men used to make their responses. In addition, quality was examined by reviewing the content that women and men made concerning topics under discussion. In the end, a difference between the genders was found in that the amount (quantity) women contributed to the discussions exceeded that contributed by the men. Women were also more inclined to give supportive or encouraging remarks than men, and addressed their classmates by name to promote a sense of online community, all which support previous studies.
Evaluating the Learning Effectiveness of Using Web-Based Instruction
Authors: Chen Sherry Y.
Published: February 2011

The use of Web-based instruction is becoming widespread in higher education; however, much remains to be learned about how different learners react to such instructional programs. The study presented in this article evaluates students’ learning performance and their perceptions in a Web-based instructional program, which was applied to teach students how to use HTML in Brunel University’s Department of Information Systems and Computing. Sixty-one master’s students participated in this study. A number of interesting interactions were found. Students’ task achievements were affected by the levels of their previous system experience. On the other hand, the post-test and gain scores were positively influenced by their perceptions and attitudes toward the Web-based instructional program. The implications of these findings are discussed.
A New Generation Gap? Some Thoughts on the Consequences of Early ICT First Contact
Authors: Madden A. D. , Baptista Nunes J. M. , McPherson M. , Ford N. J. , Miller D. , Rico M.
Published: February 2011

One possible consequence of information and communication technology’s rapid rise will be a new ‘generation gap’ arising from differing perceptions of the learning technologies. The nature, causes, and consequences of this gap are of interest to educational practitioners and policymakers. This article uses data from an ongoing project, together with a synopsis of research, to describe the ICT-based generation gap that currently exists between students and their teachers and parents. It is argued that this gap may exist between students differing in age by as little as five years. Results from a related project exploring Networked Information and Communication Literacy Skills (NICLS) are used to introduce a discussion on the nature of any skills gap that must be addressed in light of this generation gap.
Enriching and International Program Graduate Offering
Authors: Wright Vivian H. , Beedle Jon , Stanford Ronnie
Published: February 2011

Portions of an international master’s program were designed for a blended, online delivery in one pilot course. This approach allowed students in Central and South America to interact with the professor and other students prior to instructor arrival on-site and after instructor departure. Student reactions to this blended approach were positive. Students indicated an increase in skills and knowledge using Web-based materials, and an increase in interaction with their peers and instructor.
Learning IT
Authors: McGill Tanya , Bax Samantha
Published: February 2011

Lectures are the traditional method of content delivery in undergraduate information technology degrees, yet concerns have been raised about their effectiveness. This paper addresses the role of lectures within information technology degree programs from a student perspective; it examines the factors that influence lecture attendance and student perceptions of the usefulness of a variety of possible lecture activities. Overall, the results suggest that students see the lecturer as contributing significant value to their learning experience through the lecture setting. Students appear to value the expertise of the lecturer and find activities that can best make use of the lecturer’s expertise the most useful. The results also suggest that students recognize the importance of active learning within the constraints of traditional learning settings.
Examining Perceptual Barriers to Technology
Authors: Robinson LeAnne K.
Published: February 2011

This study examines educators’ perceived barriers to technology integration and the relationship to education reform. Educators and administrators from four elementary schools in Washington State were interviewed in their classrooms during a three-month period. The schools differed in size, location, and social economic status and reported variances in their Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores. While all of the schools reported similar barriers to the use of educational technology, distinct differences appeared between those schools that had done long-range planning during the reform process and those that had not. Specifically, staff in the two schools that coordinated curricula, performance standards, and a variety of assessment tools while simultaneously allowing teachers the flexibility to alter the curricula, were more likely to state personal responsibility for student learning, and they also were more likely to have overcome barriers to the use of technology.
Integrating Writing into IT/MIS Courses
Authors: Merhout Jeffrey W. , Etter Stephanie J
Published: February 2011

As popular literature claims that college graduates are entering the workforce lacking sufficient writing skills, this paper argues that the integration of writing into the MIS/IT curriculum is an important and achievable goal necessary for the overall development of students in Information Technology or Management Information Systems degree programs. While traditional IT/MIS programs rely heavily on technology-based courses, it is argued that these technology courses also must promote effective writing habits needed for career growth in the IT/MIS fields. By providing examples of writing assignments currently used in several programs, this paper illustrates for all educators in an IT or MIS program how writing assignments can be used in most MIS/IT classes. Research papers, journaling, written exams, and micro-themed papers are some of the current methods used to incorporate writing into the IT/MIS curriculum.
An Empirical Study of the Effects of Training Sequences on Database Training Tasks and User Outcomes
Authors: Sanford Clive C. , Bhattacherjee Anol
Published: February 2011

This paper introduces the concept of IS training sequences and examines how sequencing of conceptual and procedural training impacts task and user outcomes. Building on assimilation theory, we propose four hypotheses, relating training sequences to task performance, satisfaction, and self-efficacy, and test them using a quasi-experimental study in a database design context. Our empirical results suggest that subjects trained in the conceptual-procedural sequence achieve better far-transfer and near-transfer task performance and higher self-efficacy than those trained in the reverse sequence, although user satisfaction is not significantly different between the two groups. Implications for IS training research and practice are discussed.
CAL Student Coaching Environment and Virtual Reality in Mechanical Engineering
Authors: Sidhu S. Manjit , Selvanathan N. , Ramesh S.
Published: February 2011

This work presents an extension of our study on multimedia patterns of interactions and development of computer aided-learning (CAL) engineering tools. We used four approaches in implementing the CAL tools for user visualization that is, that is, 2-D, 3-D, coach environment and desktop virtual reality. The designed CAL tools have been enhanced to enable the integration and investigation of visualization in various engineering problems for undergraduates with particular weak learners. Each problem was designed using different authoring tool. More significantly, we have enhanced some of the CAL tools to the degree where the user can interact and be coached independently. This dramatically increases the quality of the tools i.e. patterns of interactions, 2-D and 3-D views of synthetic models. In general the result shows that the CAL tools could alleviate the user interacting and instill a sense of learning and the user understand the engineering problem better.