bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Personality and Social Media Use
Authors: Correa Teresa , Bachmann Ingrid , Hinsley Amber W. , Gil de Zúñiga Homero
Published: May 2013

Research on digital media has mostly paid attention to users’ demographics, motivations, and efficacy, but with increasingly popular web tools like social media, it is important to study more stable psychological characteristics such as users’ personality traits, as they may significantly affect how people use the Web to communicate and socialize. Relying on the “Big Five Framework” as a theoretical approach, this chapter explores such relationships. Survey data from a national sample of U.S. adults show that more extraverted people are more likely to use social networking sites, instant messaging, and video chats, while those more open to new experiences tend to use social networking sites more frequently. Also, emotional stability is a negative predictor of social networking site use. That is, individuals who are more anxious and unstable tend to rely on these sites. When looking at a specific use of social media–to create political content—emotional stability was a negative predictor, whereas extraversion had a positive impact. These findings confirm the usefulness of combining explorations of personality and digital media usage.
Best Practices for Social CRM
Authors: Lorenzi Fabiana , Loh Stanley
Published: May 2013

This chapter presents a study of integration of traditional CRM systems with new social networking technologies available on the Web, such as Twitter, blogs, and communities, showing a set of the best practices on the use of these technologies to improve business relationships with customers. The authors present a set of best practices with guidance on how social networking technologies can help companies squeeze and improve the relationship with their customers.
The Transformative Effect of Social Media
Authors: Farmery Anna
Published: May 2013

Over the last decade, digital technology in general and social media in particular, has changed the way people interact and communicate. Current day marketers have embraced the technological tools to socialise with the customer but those tools are now spreading across e-business and breaking down the traditional business walls. It is argued in this chapter that social media is now transforming into a wider ‘`social business’ concept with marketing being just one element of the potential social relationship between business and consumer. Using the emergence of 3D printing as an example, this chapter highlight how the consumer is not only gaining the power of voice, but also the power of production. It discusses the potential effects on future commercial revenue streams and what business needs to do today to protect their economic value and business model of tomorrow. It argues that this transformative technology should not be seen as a threat to business but an opportunity to create a revolutionary social business model with the customer.
A Multi-Agent System for Improving the Resource Allocation on Programmes in Higher Education
Authors: Bodea Constanta-Nicoleta , Mogos Radu-Ioan
Published: May 2013

The chapter presents UNIRA, a multi-agent system developed by the authors for a Romanian university in order to improve the resources allocation for educational programmes and courses. Different types of resources are required to deliver programmes and courses. Considering a set of resources inquires, issued by programmes and courses, UNIRA system performs a transparent negotiation process between the managers of these resources, to find the solution for the allocation problem. During the initial stage of the multi-agent system deployment, only two types of resources are considered, professors and teaching rooms. The system is now in the validation phase. After the complete validation, the system will be integrated into the university management system. The UNIRA experience is relevant not exclusively for the academic resources management, but also for a large variety of domains, including the load distribution, production planning, computer scheduling, portfolio selection, and apportionment.
Exploring Evaluation Techniques for Children’s Websites
Authors: Kaiser Colleen , Butcher Ginger
Published: May 2013

Children are an important target group on the web and assessing their user experience presents a unique challenge. Special consideration when conducting sessions with children includes: their difficulty articulating their thoughts, getting shy children to open up, keeping their attention focused on the test activities, understanding their non-verbal cues, and providing enough encouragement without “leading” the participant. Additionally, children have a broad range of cognitive skills, reading skills, and vocabulary comprehension, which makes it difficult to ascertain whether they understand the given task and difficult to ensure their responses are valid. Usability tests for children not only need to be designed to effectively solicit subjective preferences and objective content comprehension, but also to assess how well they are able to use the site. Verifying their understanding of the task activities (to ensure the efficacy of their response) is critical for the validity of the data. This study reports on a two-phased testing approach and the lessons learned in redesigning an agency’s web portal for science content targeting 5-12 year olds.
Developing User Profiles for Interactive Online Products in Practice
Authors: Al-Nuaim Hana Abdullah
Published: May 2013

The user profile is one of the tools that usability engineering designers use to focus their design efforts on a particular target population. This chapter presents a qualitative case study on the effectiveness of creating user profiles from data collected through questionnaires administered to target users as a basis for design. During a three-year period, computer science students in the final year of their undergraduate program who had an extensive background in programming and software engineering were asked to create user profiles for their graduating software development projects. This research found that designers must have the skills and experience to develop, administer, and interpret questionnaires that collected accurate data from respondents. A high investment in user profile questionnaire development only produced general usability requirements, which should be the goal of designers for every user interface. Therefore, these requirements were not effective and failed to provide the students (designers) with ideas on which to base their user interface designs. In his book, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, Cooper (1999) argued that programmers and engineers actually in charge of software development create products and processes that waste significant amounts of money, squander customers’ loyalty, and erode competitive advantages—a process that allows talented people to continuously design bad software-based products. Software engineers have their own techniques and tools for managing the software development process instead of integrating usability and its related engineering techniques into existing software engineering (SE) methods to maximize the benefits gained (Seffah et al., 2005).
Integrating Project Strategy for Sustainable Development
Authors: Keeys Lynn A. , Huemann Martina , Turner Rodney
Published: May 2013

This chapter proposes a conceptual framework for integrating project strategy for Sustainable Development (SD) within the context of corporate sustainability strategy. Project SD strategy is the missing link between SD at the corporate level and project level. The framework draws on a literature review of concepts, definitions, and theories in strategic management, corporate sustainability, and projects. The conceptual framework presented in this book chapter has six key components. These are: (1) corporate sustainability strategy; (2) project understanding of SD and SD business case; (3) strategizing at project initiation stage; (4) project autonomy to negotiate and adapt in the project context; (5) project capability to translate corporate SD strategy to project SD strategy; and (6) project capability in stakeholder management. The premise of the framework is the compatibility of the socially constructed realities of the project and SD, as indicated in SD and project literature. The aim is to help develop new knowledge and insight into how business can integrate SD principles into core business operations such as projects from a process perspective, rather than sustainability content perspective. This chapter is based on doctoral dissertation research by the lead author.
Sustainability in Project Management Processes
Authors: Silvius Gilbert
Published: May 2013

Sustainability is one of the most important challenges of our time. How can we develop prosperity, without compromising the life of future generations? Companies are integrating sustainability in their marketing, corporate communication, annual reports, and in their actions. The concept of sustainability has more recently also been linked to project management. This chapter explores the concept of sustainability and its application to project management processes. It aims to provide guidance on how the standards of project management should integrate the concepts and principles of sustainability. After a review of the relevant literature on sustainability, its leading principles are identified and applied to the standards for project management processes.
Project Success by Integrating Sustainability in Project Management
Authors: Adriana Tiron-Tudor , Ioana-Maria Dragu
Published: May 2013

There is great concern for social and environmental sustainability. Innovative solutions are needed in addressing the 21st century challenges of globalization, population growth, climate change, and resource scarcity. Corporations become more aware of the importance of sustainable practices by successfully integrating them within non-financial reporting. In the circumstances of the 21st century challenges, corporations start to reconsider both their sustainability and project management approaches. Even though two distinct key-elements of an organization, with importance attributable to the performance of a company, they are interrelated, and sustainability can be integrated within project management. In order to demonstrate this fact, the authors make use of a specific methodology that implies measurement of sustainability integration level, determination of the degree of the project success, and ultimately, computation of Pearson Coefficient for a sample of 35 integrated reports.
Re-Thinking Project Initiation and Project Management by Considering Principles of Sustainable Development
Authors: Gareis Roland
Published: May 2013

Project initiation and project management are specific processes of the project-oriented company. In order to improve the performance of these processes in their descriptions as well as in the design of the methods to be applied, the principles of sustainable development can be considered. Templates for some project initiation and project management methods considering SD principles are provided. This chapter is based on the results of the Research Project: SustPM, which was completed in May 2012. The overall research results are published by PMI in the book Project Management & Sustainable Development Principles by Roland Gareis, Martina Huemann, and André Martinuzzi (all WU Vienna)1.
Sustainability in Project Management
Authors: Tharp Jennifer
Published: May 2013

As organizations evolve to embrace sustainability objectives, the operations of a company need to evolve to support those new objectives. Since project management is how strategy is executed within an organization, project management’s evolution is key to this new reality. In this chapter, the author examines aspects of a sustainability program, common goals between project management and sustainability, and pragmatic implementation guidelines, which help the project manager integrate sustainability into his practices. Special emphasis is placed on each process area of project management, from inception through execution and control. The objectives of this chapter are: (1) translate the fundamental aspects of sustainability to the corporate environment and broader community; (2) understand the risk of ignoring sustainability aspects in projects, as expectations change, both in terms of direct financial loss and longer-term impact; and (3) explore how to integrate sustainability practices into project management knowledge areas.
Sustainability in Project Management
Authors: Goedknegt Debby
Published: May 2013

When the project sponsor is responsible for the definition of the content of the project and the project manager for delivering this content, who then is responsible for incorporating sustainability in the process? Which project governance role has which responsibility to incorporate sustainability aspects in the project management process? This chapter shows how a project manager can influence the way sustainability is implemented in the project and the project management process. This perception is based on the notion that the project manager is intrinsically motivated to work on a sustainable project, and to achieve sustainable results.
Sustainability Assessment for Project Managers
Authors: Tam Gilman C. K.
Published: May 2013

In the two decades since the Earth Summit in 1992, an increasing number of projects have built sustainability considerations into project design and implementation. Project managers without knowledge and guidance on sustainability assessment would find it difficult to drive projects and programs contributing towards a sustainable society. The purpose of this chapter is to devise an assessment tool for project managers incorporating the concept of pillar-based and principles-based sustainability approaches as well as the EIA-driven and objectives-led assessment methodologies. The definitions of sustainability in project management and program management are discussed as basis for the establishment of sustainability evaluation framework. The views of project management community regarding the role of project manager in handling project related sustainability activities are discussed. This chapter contributes to devising a practical assessment tool for project managers in managing project sustainability.
Changes of Projects by Considering the Principles of Sustainable Development Case Study
Authors: Gareis Roland
Published: May 2013

Permanent organizations, such as companies, divisions, profit, and cost centres, as well as temporary organizations, i.e. projects and programmes, change. Reasons for changes might be new values of organizations such as transparency, empowerment, stakeholder participation, risk-orientation, etc., which are values on which sustainable development is based. Different change types, namely organizational learning, further developing, transforming, and radical re-positioning can be identified and can be described by specific chains of processes. For performing change processes of permanent organizations projects and programmes can be applied. The processes for managing the different changes of projects, in which the principles of SD might be considered, are described. The focus is on the management of transforming a project. The case study: Transforming the Project Hospital North is based on a comprehensive analysis of this project transformation in the book Project Management & Sustainable Development Principles by Roland Gareis, Martina Huemann, and André Martinuzzi (all WU Vienna) published by PMI (Gareis et al. 2013).
Application of Sustainability Considerations in Practice
Authors: Schipper Ron , Nedeski Snezana
Published: May 2013

Many articles have called attention to the concept of sustainability in project management. However, it still remains a challenge to tie all these very important principles to practice. In this chapter, the main issues with the practical application of sustainability to an actual project are identified, and a method for analysis is presented. Through this method, the authors answer the main question of this chapter: “How can a project and its project management be analyzed for sustainability and how can adequate actions be selected?” The proposed method is then applied to an actual case. In the analysis, an explicit distinction is made between the internal project view of sustainability and external view of sustainability. From the analysis, various conclusions can be drawn.
Instruments and Methods for the Integration of Sustainability in the Project Management
Authors: Janeš Aleksander , Faganel Armand
Published: May 2013

The purpose of this chapter is to propose a framework that is supporting achievement of the sustainable strategy of the organization. The research frames the methodology that integrates project management and Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in the management system of the organization. In this applicative project research, the authors identified and analyzed the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that significantly contribute to the benefits of the business processes exploitation. The involved company executes monitoring of its business performance in the four perspectives of the BSC. With this case study, the authors attempted to get deeper understanding, and to clarify and evaluate the causalities between strategic goals and their respective KPIs. For this purpose, they developed an Error Correction Model with which they performed application on the KPIs and estimated short and long term effects between them. The developed model also supports improvements of the performance management system and monitoring of projects.
New Media and the Question of African Democracy
Authors: Douai Aziz , Olorunnisola Anthony A.
Published: May 2013

This introductory chapter maps out the trajectory of democratization in Africa and how old and new forms of mass media remain embedded in these efforts. Drawing on decades of media and political science research, the authors argue that no genuine democracy may exist without a vibrant media environment. Democracy thrives on “transparency” and “difference,” and the media offer the platforms most suitable to ensure their existence and proliferation. The authors provide a theoretical grounding in order to further delineate the democracy media nexus, and review recent approaches to a systematic study of how communication technologies further or reverse the cause of social and political change. The authors conclude with a synoptic look at the important contributions published in this volume.
Press Freedom, Media Regulation, and Journalists’ Perceptions of their Roles in Society
Authors: Kasoma Twange
Published: May 2013

Given their unparalleled histories and the dichotomous media regulatory frameworks that Zambia and Ghana have, the two countries make for an interesting pedagogical coupling for examining press freedom and the role of the media in African society. That is what this chapter strives to do. Methodologically, a textual analysis of pertinent documents as well as in-depth interviews with journalists was conducted. Some similarities and distinct differences are noted in the two countries’ media regulatory landscapes. For example, both countries continue to lapse where passage of Freedom of Information legislation is concerned. Ghana, however, exhibits more progress than Zambia. The enabling laws Ghana has instituted in the past decade are telling. Ghana’s progress is also evident in how journalists perceive their role in society in comparison to their Zambian counterparts. The former puts more emphasis on the media’s agenda setting role than the latter.
When the History Turns Stronger than the Rhetoric
Authors: Kivikuru Ullamaija
Published: May 2013

The 1990s brought radical changes to Sub-Saharan Africa. In the rhetoric, the ownership mode appeared as a crucial marker of freedom. However, neither the access to the media nor the media content has changed much. The media mode, inherited from previous phases of social history, seems to change slowly. Old modes reproduce themselves in new media titles disregarding ownership mode. In this chapter, empirical evidence is sought from Namibia and Tanzania. The empirical evidence is based on two sets of one-week samples (2007, 2010) of all four papers. In this material, a government paper and a private paper from one particular country resemble each other more than when ownership modes are compared. Bearers of the journalistic culture seem to be to a certain extent media professionals moving from one editorial office to another, but the more decisive factors are the ideals set for journalism. The “first definition of journalism” reflects old times.
The Changing State of the South African Nation
Authors: Turner Irina
Published: May 2013

The colonization of discourses (Chilton & Schäffner, 2002) is a wide-spread phenomenon of globalization and naturally affects politics. The power of business-speak over politics and the media seems to be steadily increasing. Most vulnerable to that development, which the author calls businification, seem to be countries in transition that have to assert themselves rhetorically on a global scale while keeping traditional voters content at home. In an application of critical discourse analysis, the chapter seeks to trace this businification by comparing three presidential state-of-the-nation-addresses (SoNA) of three South African presidents after one year in office (1995, 2000, and 2010). Through contextualizing these texts with their media reception from a corpus of 15 newspaper articles reporting on the speeches, the outer influences on the core text become transparent. The findings suggest a parallelism between a growing professionalism in politics and the businification of political rhetoric whose development cannot be viewed as exclusively negative.
Twitter Frames
Authors: Douai Aziz , Ben Moussa Mohamed
Published: May 2013

This chapter reports preliminary findings from a larger investigation of the role of social media and communication technologies in the “Arab Democracy Spring.” The goal of the study is to analyze how Egyptian activists used Twitter during the 2011 protests. This stage of the project specifically outlines ways of identifying and classifying some of the most influential Egyptian Twitter users during these events. In addition to profiling the “influentials,” this study applies a framing perspective to understanding Twitter’s use among Egyptian activists.
A Grassroots Approach to the Democratic Role of the Internet in Developing Countries
Authors: Ben Moussa Mohamed
Published: May 2013

This chapter explores the role of the Internet in collective action in Morocco, and examines the extent to which the medium has empowered civil society and social movements in the North African country. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with activists belonging to key social movement organizations, the article analyzes how the appropriation of the Internet in activism is mediated through the socioeconomic and political structures proper to Morocco as a semi-authoritarian and developing country. In so doing, it sheds light on various intersections between technology diffusion, social movements’ organizational structures, and multiple forms of power relationships among social and political actors. The article argues that the Internet has certainly transformed collective action repertoire deployed by Moroccan social movements; nevertheless, it also demonstrates that the impact of the Internet is conditioned by multiple forms of digital divides that are significantly shaping its implications for social and political change in the country.
Use of New ICTs as “Liberation” or “Repression” Technologies in Social Movements
Authors: Martin Brandie L. , Olorunnisola Anthony A.
Published: May 2013

Participants in varying but recent citizen-led social movements in Kenya, Iran, Tunisia, and Egypt have found new voices by employing new ICTs. In some cases, new ICTs were used to mobilize citizens to join and/or to encourage use of violence against other ethnicities. In nearly all cases, the combined use of new ICTs kept the world informed of developments as ensuing protests progressed. In most cases, the use of new ICTs as alternative media motivated international actors’ intervention in averting or resolving ensuing crises. Foregoing engagements have also induced state actions such as appropriation of Internet and mobile phone SMS for counter-protest message dissemination and/or termination of citizens’ access. Against the background of the sociology and politics of social movements and a focus on the protests in Kenya and Egypt, this chapter broaches critical questions about recent social movements and processes: to what extent have the uses of new ICTs served as alternative platforms for positive citizens’ communication? When is use of new ICTs convertible into “weapons of mass destruction”? When does state repression or take-over of ICTs constitute security measures, and when is such action censorship? In the process, the chapter appraises the roles of local and international third parties to the engagement while underscoring conceptual definitions whose usage in studies of this kind should be conscientiously employed. Authors offer suggestions for future investigations.
New Media and the Changing Public Sphere in Uganda
Authors: Javuru Kennedy
Published: May 2013

This chapter gives an exploratory overview of the emergence and growth of new media in Uganda and how the alternative nature of new media is scaffolding the notion of citizenship and deliberative democracy. The chapter also suggests that despite the new found vigour, it is too early to say whether the Ugandan new media landscape have so far become a true alternative or complementary participatory space or a genuine platform for the distribution of uncensored information. It concludes that Ugandans use new media more for social interaction and dissemination of information (in a limited way) than as an alternative political public sphere. However, there are signs that online media is emerging and the anecdotes presented in this chapter indicate the potential of this media to be a place of participation and deliberation and reducing the authoritarian control of the communicative space.
Reference
Authors: Cordell Rosanne M
Published: May 2013

Reference services in libraries in the United States were first described and organized in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. However, these first attempts at formalizing “reader’s assistance” were in public libraries. Academic libraries lagged behind public libraries in the appointment of reference librarians and in the recognition of the need for reference services for their library users. The appointment of academic librarians became more common in the first quarter of the twentieth century. As academic library faculty and staff increased, so too did the use of technologies for reference services. The digitization of reference sources ushered in an era of re-evaluation and revitalization of reference services, as well as the transition to online sources and virtual services.
Library Instruction in the 21st Century
Authors: Cordell Rosanne M
Published: May 2013

The adoption of Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) information literacy standards, the rapid development of teaching and learning technologies, and the movement toward assessment of academic programs have shaped library instruction programs as formal, conceptual areas of study with increasingly greater presences in their institutions.
The Right Format of Internet Advertising (RFIA)
Authors: Hanafizadeh Payam , Behboudi Mehdi
Published: May 2013

This study was designed to provide some insights into how Iranian marketers can find the right format of Internet advertising. Recent negative trends in Internet advertising, such as “banner blindness” and extremely low click-through rates, make it imperative to study various factors affecting the right format of Internet advertising. Therefore, this study builds a comprehensive theoretical model explaining how marketers are able to find the right format of Internet advertising. Accordingly, seven latent variables related to the right format of Internet advertising were examined: objective ad features, subjective ad features, product type, user types, ad types, advertising strategy, and ICT condition. It was found that these constructs successfully explain how marketers can find the right format of Internet advertising. Product involvement is found to be the most significant antecedent explaining the right format of Internet advertising.
What is CTE?
Authors: Fletcher Edward C. , Lasonen Johanna L. , Hernandez-Gantes Victor M.
Published: May 2013

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to capture the perspectives of 13 masters’ students, who are also practitioners in Career and Technical Education (CTE), regarding how they conceive of the field. A few recurring themes emerged: (a) transitional identity as the field tries to distance itself from the stigma of vocational education; (b) purpose of CTE reflecting the tension between narrow and broad preparation for work; and (c) perspectives on new directions in the field viewing CTE as an integral component of education for all students aligned with calls for more rigorous integration of academic and CTE. Curricular recommendations for CTE graduate programs are articulated, including implications to develop coherent and shared consensus regarding the purpose and mission of the field to provide programmatic direction and vision.
Critical Attributes of Public-Private Partnerships
Authors: Pillay Hitendra , Watters James J. , Hoff Lutz
Published: May 2013

The term ‘partnership’ is increasingly used by governments, industry, community organisations and schools in supporting their daily businesses. Similar to the terms ‘ICT’ and ‘learning’, ‘partnerships’ are now ubiquitous in policy discourse. Yet, the term remains ill-defined and ambiguous. This study reviews and reflects on a government led industry-school partnership initiative in the state of Queensland, Australia, to understand how the term is used in this initiative. Given the frequent use of Public Private Partnership (PPP) language, PPP was used as a framework to review this initiative. The methodology of this qualitative case study involved consultations with stakeholders and an analysis of Gateway schools documents, policy documents, and literature. The review suggests that despite the use of terminology akin to PPP projects in Gateway school and policy documents, the implicit suggestion that this initiative is a public-private partnership is untenable. The majority of principles shaping a PPP have not been considered to a significant extent in the Gateway project. Although the review recognises the legitimate and sincere purpose of the Gateway schools initiative, the adoption of a PPP framework during the design, monitoring, or evaluation stages could have strengthened the initiative in terms of outcomes, benefits, and sustainability.
Electronic Education and Lifelong Learning
Authors: Wang Viktor , Russo Marianne Robin , Dennett Susan
Published: May 2013

Due to de-institutionalization and open system, it is inappropriate to equate education with youth education. In the new century, education has been delivered electronically to accommodate lifelong learning. It has become a reality that the four walled classrooms have been used to complement and supplement E-learning. No need to argue that electronic education has become the norm for most universities and organizations including governmental agencies. For any providers of education to remain highly competitive, they must engage in electronic education by “breaking down” the four walls of the traditional classroom. Lifelong learning has become the impetus resulting in the extensive and intensive application of electronic education.
Utilizing Business Intelligence to Enhance Online Education at For-Profit and Non-Profit Institutions
Authors: Aimiuwu Ehi , Bapna Sanjay
Published: May 2013

With the increase in the demand of online education, especially for working people, there is a need for institutions that offer online education to identify, target, and market their services to people who are in need of furthering their education or who would be interested in using online education to advance their careers. The aim of this paper is to explore how Business Intelligence (BI) can be utilized to enhance online education for profit and non-profit organizations. The goal is to identify, target, and market online education to an audience who may not have thought of online education, but will appreciate the opportunity.
A Conceptual Modeling Personalization Framework for OLAP
Authors: Garrigós Irene , Pardillo Jesús , Mazón Jose-Norberto , Zubcoff Jose , Trujillo Juan , Romero Rafael
Published: May 2013

OLAP (On-line Analytical Processing) technologies rely on multidimensional models to provide decision makers with appropriate structures allowing them to intuitively analyze data. However, these multidimensional models may be potentially large, thus becoming too complex to be understood at a glance. Current approaches for OLAP design are focused on providing analysts with a single multidimensional schema derived from their previously stated information requirements, but this is not sufficient to lighten the complexity of the decision making process. To overcome this drawback, the authors propose personalizing multidimensional models for OLAP technologies according to the continuously changing user characteristics, context, requirements and behavior. In this paper, they present a new approach for personalizing OLAP systems at the conceptual level based on the underlying multidimensional model, a user model and a set of personalization rules. Transformations are defined by means of a model-driven strategy to assist in the process of obtaining the corresponding personalized OLAP schemas from these models.
A Survey Study of Influential Factors in the Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
Authors: Farzaneh Mandana , Vanani Iman Raeesi , Sohrabi Babak
Published: May 2013

Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) play a significant role in the management of businesses processes. Determining the influential factors that are positioned behind a successful ERP implementation is critical to gain the most value-added from competitive potentials of such systems. The driver of current research is to gain a deeper understanding of the various subjective criteria to measure ERP implementation success with the aim of enhancing the chance success through investigating ERP implementation performance indicators. By exploring the international literature, a comprehensive list of potential success factors of ERP systems is identified which are complementary and critical to the ERP projects. Subsequently, reliability analysis and factor analysis were conducted to categorize the preliminary list into a final set of critical success factors for each of the primary factors. Therefore conducting an Exploratory Factor Analysis, three final factors were proposed as the main factors for evaluating the success of ERP implementation which are social, intellectual, and technical factors. The rest of indicators have been grouped under these categories. The result of current research is a firm basis for the interested scholars and practitioners to formulate their empirical attempts upon and proceed with every aspect of the ERP project according to the guidelines provided.
Critical Success Factors in the Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems in Small and Midsize Businesses
Authors: Kini Ranjan B. , Basaviah Savitri
Published: May 2013

Use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems has been the mainstay of large enterprises since 1990s. Only recently has there been significant interest in the use of ERP in small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). Since then scholars have been studying the applicability of research results of successful implementation of ERPs in large enterprises to implementation in SMBs. In this research, the authors study the available research to discern the various ERP systems and Critical Success Factors (CSF) of ERP implementations, and delve into the real life experiences of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) that have installed Microsoft Dynamics Navision (NAV). Except for the CSF “management of risk” being found not as important almost all SMBs in the study found all CSFs found important by large businesses also important and indicated that CSF “user training” the most important.
Critical Success Factors for Positive User Experience in Hotel Websites
Authors: Sambhanthan Arunasalam , Good Alice
Published: May 2013

This research presents the development of a critical success factor matrix for increasing positive user experience of hotel websites based upon user ratings. Firstly, a number of critical success factors for web usability have been identified through the initial literature review. Secondly, hotel websites were surveyed in terms of critical success factors identified through the literature review. Thirdly, Herzberg’s motivation theory has been applied to the user rating and the critical success factors were categorized into two areas. Finally, the critical success factor matrix has been developed using the two main sets of data.
E-Mail as an Official Communication Tool in Bahrain
Authors: Awad Wasan Shaker , Zolait Ali Hussein
Published: May 2013

This research studies the acceptance of e-mail for communicating official messages among citizens in Bahrain. It also examines the relationships between citizens’ age, educational level, gender, occupation, and organization type and e-mail as an official communication channel. A descriptive and quantitative research approach was applied to test hypotheses pertaining to the idea of using e-mail as an official and reliable communication tool. The findings show that e-mail can be used as an official and reliable tool to communicate information between citizens and the government in Bahrain. The findings also show that e-mail will be more widely used when specific security requirements are met. Thus, reliable electronic mail can provide an advanced means of communication and enhance the recently developed e-Government program. This study contributes to existing research by proposing new construct for examining the acceptance of email as an official communication tool.
The Rise of MP3 as the Market Standard
Authors: den Uijl Simon , de Vries Henk J. , Bayramoglu Deniz
Published: May 2013

Previous research has shown how various technologies became the market standard. This paper presents some refined models and applies them to the case of compressed audio formats. The authors analyze the rise of MP3 as the market standard and identify several key factors that contributed to its success. First, a process of formal standardization reduced the number of competing compressed audio formats. Secondly, enabling technologies, in particular the rise of the Internet, contributed significantly to the success of compressed audio formats. The timing of market entry was important in the sense that when the rise of the Internet took place, MP3 was one of the few fully developed compressed audio formats. MP3 offered technological superiority (high fidelity at low data rate) versus its initial competitors. The technology also benefitted from dedicated sponsors that promoted market adoption. Due to the weak regime of appropriability, audio files in the MP3 format managed to spread quickly over the Internet. Lastly, the availability of complementary assets for MP3 fuelled its market adoption and strengthened network externalities on both sides of the platform-mediated network.
A Methodology for Enhancing Mobile Learning Through Content Semantics
Authors: Dimitrios Glaroudis , Athanasios Manitsaris , Isabella Kotini
Published: May 2013

Mobile learning is becoming increasingly popular. Educational web sites can be used as supporting learning tools for students who wish to supplement their knowledge without restrictions of time and place. The continuously increasing demand for enhanced remote and mobile services, as well as the difficulty in easily incorporating current learning services for mobile users, renders essential the adaptation of educational material for these requirements. The objective of this work is to present and evaluate a methodology for producing content semantics from learning material. The proposed approach results in recommending links, which are relevant to the mobile users’ interests, by exploiting the recorded usage of an educational portal and the semantics of the learning content. The implementation results reveal enhanced capabilities in mobile learners’ web experience and usability.
A Numerical Methods Course Based on B-Learning
Authors: Cepeda Francisco Javier Delgado
Published: May 2013

Information and communication technologies advance continuously, providing a real support for learning processes. Learning technologies address areas which previously have corresponded to face-to-face learning, while mobile resources are having a growing impact on education. Numerical Methods is a discipline and profession based on technology. In its education, technology has been included in the curricula as a basic tool given the complexity of applied mathematical problems. This paper presents a blended learning design for a Numerical Methods course for engineers, combining class, online and mobile activities to strengthen and to develop different abilities related to it. Mobile activities have been incorporated into the latest design, including an e-book with online resources prepared specially for this course. The follow up for the last three years shows a meaningful impact due to growing use of technology compared with previous practice.
Assessing ERP Learning (Management, Business Process, and Skills) and Attitudes
Authors: Cronan Timothy Paul , Douglas David E.
Published: May 2013

Critical to successful implementation and maximizing the potential benefits of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are knowledgeable and skilled users. Effective training for the required knowledge and skills is both difficult and challenging. Focusing on the assessment of ERP learning, this research develops learning constructs based on Kang and Santhanam’s (2003-4) collaborative application learning model. A valid and reliable ERP learning instrument that can be used to measure ERP learning and attitudes toward ERP is presented. The ERP learning instrument consists of three constructs (16 items) to measure ERP learning (business process knowledge, enterprise systems management knowledge, and transaction skills) as well as measures of attitudes toward ERP (instrument available from the authors at no cost) . The results of the study indicate that an ERP simulation game enhanced student learning and influenced student attitudes toward an ERP system.
Measuring Efficiency in Price Space with an Application to Japanese Securities Firms
Authors: Färe Rolf , Fukuyama Hirofumi , Grosskopf Shawna , Weber William L.
Published: May 2013

The authors exploit the duality between the directional output price distance function and the maximal revenue function to estimate the price efficiency of Japanese securities firms during 2000 to 2007, a period in which securities firms faced greater competitive pressures. The directional output price distance function gives the maximum feasible addition to output prices, given inputs and a revenue target. Output supply functions are theoretically derived from the directional output price distance function. The model estimates indicate that brokerage services are overproduced relative to underwriting services. In addition, they find that if securities firms were to become more efficient they could increase the prices charged for brokerage services and for underwriting securities, although the amount prices could be increased depends on the directional path used to inflate actual prices to the output price frontier.
Managing Risk in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Supply Chains’ Using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Approach
Authors: Faisal Mohd. Nishat
Published: May 2013

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is the process of risk mitigation in supply chains achieved through collaboration, coordination and application of risk management tools among the partners, to ensure continuity coupled with long-term profitability of the supply chain. Supply chain risks emanate from multiple sources and similarly risk mitigation in supply chains is dependent on several variables. The most difficult part of supply chain risk management is prioritizing risks and an understanding of the relationships among various types of risks and risk mitigation variables. Drawing from the standard framework, in this research a modified house of quality is developed to understand the relationships between various supply chain risks and risk mitigation variables. It helps to prioritize various risks and understand the current status of the supply chain and the deficient areas with regard to risk mitigation capabilities. The structured QFD process provides the supply chain managers a conceptual map that enables the improvement of planning and control of various risks that could impact a supply chain.
Successful Orthotopic Liver Transplantation in an Adult Patient with Sickle Cell Disease and Review of the Literature
Authors: Blinder Morey , Geng B. , Lisker-Melman Mauricio , Crippin Jeffrey S. , Korenblat Kevin , Chapman William , Shenoy Shalini , Field Joshua J.
Published: May 2013

Sickle cell disease can lead to hepatic complications ranging from acute hepatic crises to chronic liver disease including intrahepatic cholestasis, and iron overload. Although uncommon, intrahepatic cholestasis may be severe and medical treatment of this complication is often ineffective. We report a case of a 37 year-old male patient with sickle cell anemia, who developed liver failure and underwent successful orthotopic liver transplantation. Both pre and post-operatively, he was maintained on red cell transfusions. He remains stable with improved liver function 42 months post transplant. The role for orthotopic liver transplantation is not well defined in patients with sickle cell disease, and the experience remains limited. Although considerable challenges of post-transplant graft complications remain, orthotopic liver transplantation should be considered as a treatment option for sickle cell disease patients with end-stage liver disease who have progressed despite conventional medical therapy. An extended period of red cell transfusion support may lessen the post-operative complications.
Giant negative T-wave: always coronary artery disease?
Authors: Dall’Orto F. , Reverzani A. , Maselli F. , Gambarati G. , Chesi G.
Published: May 2013

CLINICAL CASE We describe a 82 years old patient with giant negative T waves in anterior and inferior leads at electrocardiogram (ECG) after pace-maker (PM) implantation because of total atrioventricular block, and we discuss about different cause of negative T waves at ECG. CONCLUSIONS Particularly, we remark that, after a long period of PM stimulation, a negative T waves at ECG without myocardial ischemia, defined as “electrical memory”, may appear if a spontaneous sinus rhythm occurs. The same phenomena is present in patients affected by intermittent left bundle-branch block.
Internal Medicine in the hospital of the third millennium from the viewpoint of a CEO of ten-years
Authors: Santagati Giuseppe
Published: May 2013

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