1,720,989 research outputs found
Booth 2002: Mary Josephine Booth (1876-1965)
No full textThis 6 minutes and 14 seconds video focuses on the biography and background of Mary Josephine Booth, EIU Librarian from 1904 until 1945.https://thekeep.eiu.edu/booth_library_videos/1001/thumbnail.jp
The use of decision support systems in making strategic decisions in local authorities : a comparative study of Egypt and the UK
No full textThe application of a modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to determine the
factors affecting the use of Decision Support Systems (DSS) in strategic decisionmaking
in local authorities in both the UK and Egypt was the main core of this
research. Although the use of DSS has become widespread in recent years for
operational control its use in strategic decision-making has only rarely been seen. This
research explores the problems which cause decision-makers not to use DSS
effectively in making strategic decisions. Both the UK and Egypt have long histories
of implementing IT in general and DSS in particular in local government. Although
the UK has longer experience in adopting IT, both countries have failed to achieve the
goals from this technology in a strategic context; however its operational use is quite
good.
The results of this research showed that the percentage of DSS usage in both the UK
and Egypt were 40% and 30% respectively which means more than half of the
investments in this kind of technology have not yet been used properly. This research
has examined the strategic use of DSS and defined the most severe problems that
could face decision makers when they use DSS strategically.
To define the factors that affect DSS usage in making strategic decisions the
researcher used the TAM which was first introduced in 1986 by F. Davis. This model
enjoys a rich base of academic acceptance. Many subsequent studies have proven
reliability of the measures and validity of the constructs and overall model. This study
argues that TAM could be applicable to the context of the strategic use of DSS in local
government in developing countries as it is successfully applied in developed
countries in different kinds of technologies.
This dissertation outlines a framework for the different factors that affect the strategic
use of DSS in both the UK and Egypt. Also this research tries to find answers to the
following questions:
1. What are the problems related to DSS usage in making strategic decisions?
2. What is the relative severity of these problems in both the UK and Egypt?
3. What are the differences between the UK and Egypt relating to the problems that
decision-makers encounter?
The hypotheses of this research were tested using a questionnaire as the main datagathering
instrument in addition to interviews made mainly to validate and support the
results of the quantitative approach. Rigorous validation procedures and statistical
analysis methods were performed on the data, including face and content validity,
alpha Chronbach and Factor analysis. The questionnaire was tested for reliability and
validity and proved to be highly valid and reliable. The results of the analysis
supported all hypothesised relationships.
The results of this research showed that Perceived Usefulness (PU) made a significant
direct effect on DSS usage in the UK group while Perceived Ease of Use (PEU)
showed no significant effect in both countries in all variables apart from the internal
support which was significant in the UK group. Also the results of this research
showed that there was some similarity in both countries regarding the problems of
strategic use of DSS, which were: absence of training for decision-makers to use DSS
and failure to commit the required resources. These results indicate that if DSS is to be
effectively used strategically by decision makers, local government in both developed
and developing countries needs to apply greater funds to training, to making top-level
decision makers comfortable with the use of DSS in hybrid (quantitative/qualitative)
problem contexts and to providing those decision makers with DSS which target
mainly strategic problems
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Adapting tam and ECT: continuance intention of e-shopping in Saudi Arabia
Get PDFThe objective of this study is to clarify the theoretical problem and identify factors that could explain the level of continuance intention of e-shopping in context of Saudi Arabia. The study proposes a revised technology acceptance model that integrates expectation confirmation theory to measure age differences with regard to continuance online shopping intentions. Structural equation model confirms model fit. The research findings confirm that Perceived
usefulness, enjoyment, and subjective norms are determinants of online shopping continuance. The structural weights are mostly equivalent between the young and old groups, but the regression path from subjective norms to perceived usefulness is not invariant, with that relationship being stronger for the younger respondents.
This research moves beyond online shopping intentions and includes factors affecting online shopping continuance. The model explains 65% of the intention to continue shopping online. The research findings suggest that online strategies cannot ignore either the direct and indirect effects on
continuance intentions
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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