Abstract: This paper explores the effectiveness of approaches used for the implementation of technology within central governments specifically Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It examines the extent to which various strategies to GIS implementation and its roll out to users within an organization is crucial for its long term assimilation. Depending on the contextual requirements, various implementation strategies exist spanning from the most revolutionary to the most evolutionary, which have an influence on the success of GIS projects and the realization of resulting business benefits within the central governments. This research compares between two strategies of GIS implementation within the Lebanese Municipalities. The first strategy is the “Technological Approach” which is focused on technology acquisition, overlaid on existing governmental frameworks. This approach gives minimal attention to capability building and the long term sustainability of the implemented program. The second strategy, referred to as the “Ecological Approach”, is naturally oriented to the function of the organization. This approach stresses on fostering the evolution of the program and on building the human capabilities. The Union of the Joumeh Municipalities will be presented as a case study under the “Ecological Approach” and the role of the GIS Center at the University of Balamand will be highlighted. Thus, this research contributes to the development of knowledge on technology implementation and the vital role of academia in the specific context of the Lebanese public sector so that this experience may pave the way for further applications.
Abstract: This paper presents the development of a mobile
application for students at the Faculty of Information Technology,
Rangsit University (RSU), Thailand. RSU upgrades an enrollment
process by improving its information systems. Students can
download the RSU APP easily in order to access the RSU substantial
information. The reason of having a mobile application is to help
students to access the system regardless of time and place. The objectives of this paper include: 1. To develop an application
on iOS platform for those students at the Faculty of Information
Technology, Rangsit University, Thailand. 2. To obtain the students’
perception towards the new mobile app. The target group is those
from the freshman year till the senior year of the faculty of
Information Technology, Rangsit University. The new mobile application, called as RSU APP, is developed by
the department of Information Technology, Rangsit University. It
contains useful features and various functionalities particularly on
those that can give support to students. The core contents of the app
consist of RSU’s announcement, calendar, events, activities, and ebook.
The mobile app is developed on the iOS platform. The user
satisfaction is analyzed from the interview data from 81 interviewees
as well as a Google application like a Google form which 122
interviewees are involved. The result shows that users are satisfied
with the application as they score it the most satisfaction level at 4.67
SD 0.52. The score for the question if users can learn and use the
application quickly is high which is 4.82 SD 0.71. On the other hand,
the lowest satisfaction rating is in the app’s form, apps lists, with the
satisfaction level as 4.01 SD 0.45.
Abstract: Wind energy is rapidly emerging as the primary
source of electricity in the Philippines, although developing an
accurate wind resource model is difficult. In this study, Weather
Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, an open source mesoscale
Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model, was used to produce a
1-year atmospheric simulation with 4 km resolution on the Ilocos
Region of the Philippines. The WRF output (netCDF) extracts the
annual mean wind speed data using a Python-based Graphical User
Interface. Lastly, wind resource assessment was produced using a
GIS software. Results of the study showed that it is more flexible to
use Python scripts than using other post-processing tools in dealing
with netCDF files. Using WRF Model, Python, and Geographic
Information Systems, a reliable wind resource map is produced.
Abstract: Adoption of Information Systems (IS) is receiving
increasing attention such that its implications have been closely
monitored and studied by the IS management community, industry
and professional gatekeepers. Building on previous research
regarding the adoption of technology, this paper develops and
validates an integrated model of the adoption of mobile banking. The
model originates from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and
the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). This paper intends to offer a
preliminary scrutiny of the antecedents of the adoption of mobile
banking services in the context of a developing country. Data was
collected from Pakistan. The findings showed that an integrated TAM
and TPB model greatly explains the adoption intention of mobile
banking; and perceived behavioural control and its antecedents play a
significant role in predicting adoption Theoretical and managerial
implications of findings are presented and discussed.
Abstract: At the present time, awareness, education, computer
simulation and information systems protection are very serious and
relevant topics. The article deals with perspectives and possibilities of
implementation of emergence or natural hazard threats into the
system which is developed for communication among members of
crisis management staffs. The Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute
with its System of Integrated Warning Service resents the largest
usable base of information. National information systems are connected to foreign systems,
especially to flooding emergency systems of neighboring countries,
systems of European Union and international organizations where the
Czech Republic is a member. Use of outputs of particular information
systems and computer simulations on a single communication
interface of information system for communication among members
of crisis management staff and setting the site interoperability in the
net will lead to time savings in decision-making processes in solving
extraordinary events and crisis situations. Faster managing of an
extraordinary event or a crisis situation will bring positive effects and
minimize the impact of negative effects on the environment.
Abstract: This paper presents an application of a “Systematic
Soft Domain Driven Design Framework” as a soft systems approach
to domain-driven design of information systems development. The
framework use SSM as a guiding methodology within which we have
embedded a sequence of design tasks based on the UML leading to
the implementation of a software system using the Naked Objects
framework. This framework have been used in action research
projects that have involved the investigation and modelling of
business processes using object-oriented domain models and the
implementation of software systems based on those domain models.
Within this framework, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is used as
a guiding methodology to explore the problem situation and to
develop the domain model using UML for the given business
domain. The framework is proposed and evaluated in our previous
works, and a real case study “Information Retrieval System for
academic research” is used, in this paper, to show further practice and
evaluation of the framework in different business domain. We argue
that there are advantages from combining and using techniques from
different methodologies in this way for business domain modelling.
The framework is overviewed and justified as multimethodology
using Mingers multimethodology ideas.
Abstract: In present study, it was aimed to determine potential
agricultural lands (PALs) in Gokceada (Imroz) Island of Canakkale
province, Turkey. Seven-band Landsat 8 OLI images acquired on
July 12 and August 13, 2013, and their 14-band combination image
were used to identify current Land Use Land Cover (LULC) status.
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to three Landsat
datasets in order to reduce the correlation between the bands. A total
of six Original and PCA images were classified using supervised
classification method to obtain the LULC maps including 6 main
classes (“Forest”, “Agriculture”, “Water Surface”, “Residential Area-
Bare Soil”, “Reforestation” and “Other”). Accuracy assessment was
performed by checking the accuracy of 120 randomized points for
each LULC maps. The best overall accuracy and Kappa statistic
values (90.83%, 0.8791% respectively) were found for PCA images
which were generated from 14-bands combined images called 3-
B/JA.
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 15 m spatial resolution
(ASTER) was used to consider topographical characteristics. Soil
properties were obtained by digitizing 1:25000 scaled soil maps of
Rural Services Directorate General. Potential Agricultural Lands
(PALs) were determined using Geographic information Systems
(GIS). Procedure was applied considering that “Other” class of
LULC map may be used for agricultural purposes in the future
properties. Overlaying analysis was conducted using Slope (S), Land
Use Capability Class (LUCC), Other Soil Properties (OSP) and Land
Use Capability Sub-Class (SUBC) properties.
A total of 901.62 ha areas within “Other” class (15798.2 ha) of
LULC map were determined as PALs. These lands were ranked as
“Very Suitable”, “Suitable”, “Moderate Suitable” and “Low
Suitable”. It was determined that the 8.03 ha were classified as “Very
Suitable” while 18.59 ha as suitable and 11.44 ha as “Moderate
Suitable” for PALs. In addition, 756.56 ha were found to be “Low
Suitable”. The results obtained from this preliminary study can serve
as basis for further studies.
Abstract: PhilSHORE is a multi-site, multi-device and multicriteria
decision support tool designed to support the development of
tidal current energy in the Philippines. Its platform is based on
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which allows for the
collection, storage, processing, analyses and display of geospatial
data. Combining GIS tools with open source web development
applications, PhilSHORE becomes a webGIS-based marine spatial
planning tool. To date, PhilSHORE displays output maps and graphs
of power and energy density, site suitability and site-device analysis.
It enables stakeholders and the public easy access to the results of
tidal current energy resource assessments and site suitability
analyses. Results of the initial development show that PhilSHORE is
a promising decision support tool for ORE project developments.
Abstract: This article discusses event monitoring options for
heterogeneous event sources as they are given in nowadays
heterogeneous distributed information systems. It follows the central
assumption, that a fully generic event monitoring solution cannot
provide complete support for event monitoring; instead, event source
specific semantics such as certain event types or support for certain
event monitoring techniques have to be taken into account.
Following from this, the core result of the work presented here is
the extension of a configurable event monitoring (Web) service for a
variety of event sources. A service approach allows us to trade
genericity for the exploitation of source specific characteristics. It
thus delivers results for the areas of SOA, Web services, CEP and
EDA.
Abstract: Dengue outbreaks are affected by biological,
ecological, socio-economic and demographic factors that vary over
time and space. These factors have been examined separately and still
require systematic clarification. The present study aimed to investigate
the spatial-temporal clustering relationships between these factors and
dengue outbreaks in the northern region of Sri Lanka. Remote sensing
(RS) data gathered from a plurality of satellites were used to develop
an index comprising rainfall, humidity and temperature data. RS data
gathered by ALOS/AVNIR-2 were used to detect urbanization, and a
digital land cover map was used to extract land cover information.
Other data on relevant factors and dengue outbreaks were collected
through institutions and extant databases. The analyzed RS data and
databases were integrated into geographic information systems,
enabling temporal analysis, spatial statistical analysis and space-time
clustering analysis. Our present results showed that increases in the
number of the combination of ecological factor and socio-economic
and demographic factors with above the average or the presence
contribute to significantly high rates of space-time dengue clusters.
Abstract: Information technology and information systems are
currently at a tipping point. The digital age fundamentally transforms
a large number of industries in the ways they work. Lines between
business and technology blur. Researchers have acknowledged that
this is the time in which the IT/IS organisation needs to re-strategize
itself. In this paper, the author provides a structured review of the IS
and organisation design literature addressing the question of how the
digital age changes the design categories of an IT/IS organisation
design. The findings show that most papers just analyse single
aspects of either IT/IS relevant information or generic organisation
design elements but miss a holistic ‘big-picture’ onto an IT/IS
organisation design. This paper creates a holistic IT/IS organisation
design framework bringing together the IS research strand, the digital
strand and the generic organisation design strand. The research
identified four IT/IS organisation design categories (strategy,
structure, processes and people) and discusses the importance of two
additional categories (sourcing and governance). The authors findings
point to a first anchor point from which further research needs to be
conducted to develop a holistic IT/IS organisation design framework.
Abstract: In its efforts to utilize the information and
communication technology to enhance the quality of public service
delivery, national and local governments around the world are
competing to introduce more ICT applications as tools to automate
processes related to law enforcement or policy execution, increase
citizen orientation, trust, and satisfaction, and create one-stop-shops
for public services. In its implementation, e-Government ICTs need
to maintain transparency, participation, and collaboration. Due to this
diverse of mixed goals and requirements, e-Government systems
need to be designed based on special design considerations in order
to eliminate the risks of failure to compliance to government
regulations, citizen dissatisfaction, or market repulsion.
In this article we suggest a framework with guidelines for
designing government information systems that takes into
consideration the special requirements of the public sector. Then we
introduce two case studies and show how applying those guidelines
would result in a more solid system design.
Abstract: With increasingly more mobile health applications
appearing due to the popularity of smartphones, the possibility arises
that these data can be used to improve the medical diagnostic process,
as well as the overall quality of healthcare, while at the same time
lowering costs. However, as of yet there have been no reports of a
successful combination of patient-generated data from smartphones
with data from clinical routine. In this paper we describe how these
two types of data can be combined in a secure way without
modification to hospital information systems, and how they can
together be used in a medical expert system for automatic nutritional
classification and triage.
Abstract: The present paper summarizes the analysis of the
request for consultation of information and data on industrial
emissions made publicly available on the web site of the Ministry of
Environment, Land and Sea on integrated pollution prevention and
control from large industrial installations, the so called “AIA Portal”.
As a matter of fact, a huge amount of information on national
industrial plants is already available on internet, although it is usually
proposed as textual documentation or images.
Thus, it is not possible to access all the relevant information
through interoperability systems and also to retrieval relevant
information for decision making purposes as well as rising of
awareness on environmental issue.
Moreover, since in Italy the number of institutional and private
subjects involved in the management of the public information on
industrial emissions is substantial, the access to the information is
provided on internet web sites according to different criteria; thus, at
present it is not structurally homogeneous and comparable.
To overcome the mentioned difficulties in the case of the
Coordinating Committee for the implementation of the Agreement
for the industrial area in Taranto and Statte, operating before the
IPPC permit granting procedures of the relevant installation located
in the area, a big effort was devoted to elaborate and to validate data
and information on characterization of soil, ground water aquifer and
coastal sea at disposal of different subjects to derive a global
perspective for decision making purposes. Thus, the present paper
also focuses on main outcomes matured during such experience.
Abstract: In this paper we describe one critical research
program within a complex, ongoing multi-year project (2010 to 2014
inclusive) with the overall goal to improve the learning outcomes for
first year undergraduate commerce/business students within an
Information Systems (IS) subject with very large enrolment. The
single research program described in this paper is the analysis of
student attitudes and decision making in relation to the availability of
formative assessment feedback via Web-based real time conferencing
and document exchange software (Adobe Connect). The formative
assessment feedback between teaching staff and students is in respect
of an authentic problem-based, team-completed assignment. The
analysis of student attitudes and decision making is investigated via
both qualitative (firstly) and quantitative (secondly) application of the
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with a two statistically-significant
and separate trial samples of the enrolled students. The initial
qualitative TPB investigation revealed that perceived self-efficacy,
improved time-management, and lecturer-student relationship
building were the major factors in shaping an overall favorable
student attitude to online feedback, whilst some students expressed
valid concerns with perceived control limitations identified within the
online feedback protocols. The subsequent quantitative TPB
investigation then confirmed that attitude towards usage, subjective
norms surrounding usage, and perceived behavioral control of usage
were all significant in shaping student intention to use the online
feedback protocol, with these three variables explaining 63 percent of
the variance in the behavioral intention to use the online feedback
protocol. The identification in this research of perceived behavioral
control as a significant determinant in student usage of a specific
technology component within a virtual learning environment (VLE)
suggests that VLEs could now be viewed not as a single, atomic
entity, but as a spectrum of technology offerings ranging from the
mature and simple (e.g., email, Web downloads) to the cutting-edge
and challenging (e.g., Web conferencing and real-time document
exchange). That is, that all VLEs should not be considered the same.
The results of this research suggest that tertiary students have the
technological sophistication to assess a VLE in this more selective
manner.
Abstract: The study of organisations’ information security
cultures has attracted scholars as well as healthcare services industry
to research the topic and find appropriate tools and approaches to
develop a positive culture. The vast majority of studies in Saudi
national health services are on the use of technology to protect and
secure health services information. On the other hand, there is a lack
of research on the role and impact of an organisation’s cultural
dimensions on information security. This research investigated and
analysed the role and impact of cultural dimensions on information
security in Saudi Arabia health service. Hypotheses were tested and
two surveys were carried out in order to collect data and information
from three major hospitals in Saudi Arabia (SA). The first survey
identified the main cultural-dimension problems in SA health
services and developed an initial information security culture
framework model. The second survey evaluated and tested the
developed framework model to test its usefulness, reliability and
applicability. The model is based on human behaviour theory, where
the individual’s attitude is the key element of the individual’s
intention to behave as well as of his or her actual behaviour. The
research identified a set of cultural and sub-cultural dimensions in SA
health information security and services.
Abstract: Reverse Logistics (RL) Network is considered as
complex and dynamic network that involves many stakeholders such
as: suppliers, manufactures, warehouse, retails and costumers, this
complexity is inherent in such process due to lack of perfect
knowledge or conflicting information. Ontologies on the other hand
can be considered as an approach to overcome the problem of sharing
knowledge and communication among the various reverse logistics
partners. In this paper we propose a semantic representation based on
hybrid architecture for building the Ontologies in ascendant way, this
method facilitates the semantic reconciliation between the
heterogeneous information systems that support reverse logistics
processes and product data.
Abstract: Enterprise Architecture (EA) is employed by
enterprises for providing integrated Information Systems (ISs) in
order to support alignment of their business and Information
Technology (IT). Evaluation of EA implementation can support
enterprise to reach intended goals. There are some problems in
current evaluation methods of EA implementation that lead to
ineffectiveness implementation of EA. This paper represents current
issues on evaluation of EA implementation. In this regard, we set the
framework in order to represent evaluation’s issues based on their
functionality and structure. The results of this research not only
increase the knowledge of evaluation, but also could be useful for
both academics and practitioners in order to realize the current
situation of evaluations.
Abstract: This paper presents a comparison between using a
desktop web application and a mobile application for students
enrolling in courses at Rangsit University, Thailand. In addition,
Rangsit University has enhanced the enrollment process by
leveraging its information systems, which allows students to choose
to enroll in courses online. In order to use the system, students must
provide their identification and personal documents for registration.
The reason to have a mobile application is to support students’ ability
to access the system at anytime, anywhere and anyplace. The
objective of this paper was to: 1. Evaluate the success of developing a
user friendly mobile device system and 2. Measure user interest in
future mobile development.
Abstract: The article is proposing a base plan for the future Patient Care Information Systems in a changing health care environment where it is necessary to assure quality patient care services and reducing cost and where new technology trends give the opportunities to develop clinical applications and services patient focused according to new business objectives.