Search results for "Adoption"
showing 10 items of 130 documents
Mobile e-Services
2015
E-services are services delivered over the Internet. Such services have different proper- ties and dimensions, e.g. targeting different sectors, being accessible through different channels, or intended for frequent or infrequent use. Throughout this article we address e-services from a mobility perspective. We do this by 1) positioning mobile e-services within the research field; 2) reviewing related work on mobile e-services; and 3) present- ing and examining existing difficulties and opportunities when combining mobility and e-services. We see mobile e-services as the next generation of internet-based services and discuss important focus areas and future directions, giving extra notion to…
Enterprise Architecture Adoption Challenges: An exploratory Case Study of the Norwegian Higher Education Sector
2016
Abstract IT is a challenge to implement Enterprise Architecture (EA) in an organisation. This is also the case in the public sector, like public universities and colleges. There is a very limited research on such issues. It is therefore important to investigate how AE is implemented in various sectors, which benefits are realised and which challenges are most prominent. This interpretive case study investigates the efforts taken towards a common EA in the Norwegian higher education sector. We find that the progress was severely impeded by the lack of top level directions from the ministry, the lack of an overarching architecture council, and the lack of EA competence at the top management l…
Barriers to the use of mobile sales force automation systems: a salesperson’s perspective
2015
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers associated with the adoption and use of mobile sales force automation (SFA) systems from a salesperson’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative investigation of two business-to-business companies was conducted. Data collected from ten semi-structured interviews with directors or sales managers were analyzed to understand the main barriers to SFA system adoption. Findings – The study confirms the existence of three barriers (customer knowledge, quality of information and the characteristics of mobile devices) to a mobile SFA system use and identifies two additional barriers: lack of time and optimization issues…
How Smart Cities Explore New Technologies
2019
The concept of smart city is considered as a new paradigm of urban development. Information and communication technologies are expected to transform cities into smart cities and improve the citizens’ quality of life. However, smart city initiatives still have difficulties to leverage value from technology opportunities. How smart city initiatives examine the possibilities of new technologies is therefore a highly interesting question. Based on a multiple case study we identify two different approaches and factors that influence the choice of approach: Cities either initially focus on use cases solving urban challenges, or on a systematic build-up of a technological platform for future use c…
Digital innovations in rural micro-enterprises
2020
Digitalization gives micro-enterprises and rural areas new possibilities and it can support their competitiveness. In this paper, we have presented one way of supporting the diffusion and adoption of digital innovations in rural micro-enterprises. First, we examined the challenges and digital competence of the micro-enterprises in the rural areas of Central Finland to better understand what they needed. The second step was to develop a workshop concept. Theories of innovation diffusion and adoption were used as a base for these workshops. The last step was to evaluate the developed concept, its effects and challenges. We found that the workshop concept worked well for spreading information,…
Why Do Teachers Use Game-Based Learning Technologies? The Role of Individual and Institutional ICT Readiness
2015
This paper investigates how different individual and institutional factors pertaining to ICT readiness influence teachers’ adoption of game-based learning technologies. The data were gathered from Finnish primary, lower secondary and upper secondary school teachers (N=1668) with an online survey. The results indicate that openness towards ICT, ICT attitude and the ICT compatibility with teaching positively influence the perceived value whereas openness towards ICT, supportive organizational ICT culture, ICT selfefficacy and ICT compatibility with teaching positively influenced the actual use of game-based learning technologies. However, the structural model could explain only little of the …
HUMAN HERPESVIRUS 8 SEROPREVALENCE AMONG INTERNATIONALLY ADOPTED CHILDREN COMING FROM EASTERN EUROPE
2009
The seroprevalence of Human Herpes Virus 8 (HHV8) and its transmission pattern were assessed testing serum samples of 120 internationally adopted children (aged 1-15 years) coming from Eastern Europe. Determinations of IgG antibodies against both latent and lytic HHV-8 antigens were performed by indirect immunofluorescence assay. Antibodies were detected only for lytic antigen of the virus in 12.5% of children with a seroprevalence significatively higher (19.6%) in young children (age 1-6). No correlation was observed between HHV8 seropositivity and serological markers for hepatitis A, B and C viruses and Human Immunodeficiency virus. In conclusion, our findings suggest that HHV8 infection …
Hepatitis B virus infection in native versus immigrant or adopted children in Italy following the compulsory vaccination.
2001
Background: Compulsory vaccination of children against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was introduced in Italy in 1991. Patients and Methods: To evaluate the current importance of pediatric HBV infection, we studied 359 HBsAg-positive children admitted to 16 centers in Italy from 1991 to 1998. 185 patients were natives of Italy and 174 (39 immigrants and 135 adopted) came from highly endemic countries (eastern Europe: 60.9%, Asia: 16.7%, Africa: 14.9% and Central and South America: 5.7%). Results: Transaminase levels were moderately altered in both Italian (mean 134 UI/l) and foreign children (mean 168 UI/l). In total, 77% of Italian children and 88% of foreign children tested HBeAg posit…
Communication Deviance in parents of families with adoptees at a high or low risk of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and its associations with attri…
2009
Communication Deviance (CD) in rearing parents is a known indicator of a psychopathology risk in the offspring, but the direction of the effects of these two factors on each other has remained an unresolved question. The purpose of the present study was to clarify this issue by assessing the relationship of CD in adoptive parents with certain attributes of the adoptee and adoptive parents themselves. The subjects were 109 adoptees at a high or low risk of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and their adoptive parents. Communication Deviance was measured in individual, spouse and family Rorschach situations. Thought disorders in the adoptees were assessed using the Thought Disorder Index. The v…
Immunization status of internationally adopted children in Italy
2006
An increasing number of internationally adopted children is coming to Italy, and their immunization status is unknown. We evaluated the immunization status of such children in Palermo, Italy. We searched for the presence of a BCG scar in 88 children, 49 boys and 39 girls (mean age 76+/-32 months), most of whom (98%) came from Eastern Europe. Presence of BCG scar was observed in 59 (67.1%) of them, included five children without any pre-adoptive medical records. Twenty-three out of 29 children without any evidence of BCG scar were tested by Mantoux. Seven (30.4%) of 23 were tuberculin positive and diagnosed as having latent tuberculosis infection. We also examined immunization status against…