The public service potential of videotex and teletext

There are many public service applications for videotext such as closed captioning, librabry resources, educational aids, and dissemination of agricultural, community, and government information. Because videotext developed in a commercial environment, these applications have not yet been fully realized. However, a number of small scale experiments are being conducted in several countries. The author reviews the most noteworthy of these experiments. He also raises a number of policy questions concerning future use of vodeotext for public service.     

Videotex for news and business data: Comparison of user response to two information retrieval applications

An empirical comparison of user response to two information services offered by a prototype videotex system indicated that the business (ie farm market data) service was rated as more efficient and that users browsed more in that service than in the consumer (ie news) service. Further, both efficiency ratings and amount of browsing were more strongly correlated with amount of service use, ratings of service value and ratings of dependence upon the service for the business service than for the consumer service. Browsing thus seems to be a utitarian surveillance behaviour rather than a communication play behaviour in this setting.     

Mobile gaming: Industry challenges and policy implications

Mobile games are a prime example of a successful mobile application and demonstrate the increasing range of platforms for the media and entertainment industries. Against this convergent background, this paper introduces the basic features of the mobile gaming market and its industrial ecosystem together with its main actors and activities. The focus of the paper lies in the challenges ahead for the evolution of mobile applications into a potentially dominant game platform and the possible disruptions along this road. The deep personal relationships between users and their mobile devices are considered to further explore the link between mobile games, players’ strategies and pending techno-economic developments. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of some policy options to assist with the development of this domain.     

Public policy and technical change in Latin American agriculture

The article analyses and interprets the modernization and technical change of Latin American agriculture over the past two decades. The innovation process is analysed through eight case studies of various products in a variety of countries and method of production. Through these empirical studies, the authors provide a general interpretation of technical change and the public policy process in Latin American agriculture.     

The Iowa communications network: The policy implications of publicly funded infrastructure

The Iowa communications network is a statewide fiber backbone, designed primarily for distance education. The network also handles long-distance telephone traffic for state government, and administrative meetings are conducted using the network’s two-way full-motion video capabilities. State law prohibits the use by private parties, but some private users have been able to have access by partnering with educational institutions. Those institutions can reserve the use of the network without justifying the purpose or explaining the nature of the use. As one might expect, Iowa private telephone companies are extremely frustrated with the situation.     

绿色建筑材料的界定与评价

绿色建筑材料作为绿色建筑的重要因素之一在建筑业的可持续发展中起着重要的作用。但是，目前在我国关于绿色建筑材料还没有形成统一的认识，绿色建筑材料的评价体系还不完善。本依据工业生态学基本原理和IS014000的核心思想——生命周期，研究了绿色建筑材料含义和标准，并利用生命周期评价方法建立绿色建筑材料的评价体系，这样可以保证评价的科学性和透明性，有利于相关方做出适合环境的建筑材料的选择和使用。     

National information security policy and its implementation: A case study in Taiwan

Cyberspace is no longer safe. From business organizations to countries, the requirements of information security and assurance have become one of the most important functions to ensure continued operations. The goal of this study is twofold. First, we introduce the information security policy of the Taiwanese government and its current status. Then we present a successful example of governmental institute that self-adopted the information security management system (ISMS), British Standard 7799 (ISO27001). The results of this research indicate that past successful experiences, availability of documents, cost constraints, organization learning and organizational culture are important motivations of self-implementation of ISMS. Past experience of other standards, level of documentation and standardization, degree of understanding the clauses, procedures of risk management, top management support, culture of organization, existing auditing infrastructure, awareness of information security, education and compatibility with the existing procedures are the key factors of successful self-implementation of ISMS.     

国际油价波动的周期模型及其政策含义

第二次世界大战以来,世界石油市场经历了三次大的油价波动周期,目前国际油价处于高油价周期当中。用多重均衡模型对油价波动的周期进行解释,油价波动的原因来自于供给曲线的特殊性和多重均衡的存在。多重均衡模型的最大用处在于可以对油价均衡拐点提前作出判断。高油价均衡向低油价均衡转化需要具备两个条件：1）需求受到明显抑制,增长幅度下降;2）产量增长幅度开始超过需求增长幅度。低油价周期向高油价周期转化的拐点条件则相反。遏制国际油价暴涨要么增加供给（及其幅度）,要么减少需求（及其幅度）。本轮高油价周期向低油价周期转换的拐点可能发生在：1）世界经济总体放缓;2）全球应对气候变化已经从一种政治思潮落实到各国行动上。未来的油价走势充满不确定性,但做出判断好过不做任何判断。     

The rise of consortia in the information and communication technology industries: emerging implications for policy

Over the past decade, consortia have become a structural feature of technology and market co-ordination in the information and communication technology industries. This paper examines some of the policy issues raised by the consortia phenomenon by examining its origins and structures critically and reviewing consortia interactions with standardisation processes. The findings are that consortia fulfil a complex role in today’s market structure that is aimed at creating technologically integrated business communities, that ‘efficiency’ rationales may not be the prime rationale for participation in consortia technical committees, and that consortia now operate as a global system. Policy implications are drawn in terms of access asymmetries, industrial policy, user participation, and the future role of the officially recognised standards organisations.     

The U.S. National Broadband Map: Data limitations and implications

The 2011 release of the National Broadband Map (NBM) has generated significant interest from the telecommunications policy community. The NBM is a multiagency effort, including the National Telecommunications Administration (NTIA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories, to collect and disseminate information on broadband provision and quality of service for the United States. From a geographic perspective, the NBM represents a marked departure from previous broadband data efforts. Specifically, instead of disseminating FCC Form 477 data on providers at the ZIP code or Census tract level, the NBM reports provision information at the Census block level—the smallest geographic unit in which the Census bureau tabulates survey information. While this increased level of geographic data resolution is a welcome change, there are several notable limitations to these data that are important to consider when conducting spatial econometric analysis for public policy evaluation. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, this paper explores the salient characteristics of Census block geographic base files, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses as summary units of spatial analysis. This also includes a brief discussion on how the NBM treats geographically large blocks and their use of road segments for aggregating provider data. Second, this paper examines the impacts of empty blocks (i.e. blocks that have no household information associated with them) for the spatial analysis of broadband. Finally, this paper provides a short overview of how these data limitations can impact public policy evaluation and provides a blueprint for improving the National Broadband Map.     

Bibliometric assessment of research performance in Flanders: policy background and implications

We illustrate the use of bibliometric tools in the evaluation of scientific research conducted at Flemish universities and publicly funded research organisations, and in the assessment of scientific-technological performance in Flanders in the field of information technology. We sketch the policy background of a number of studies conducted during the past 6 years in Flanders. These studies have provided useful information to evaluators and policy makers in Flanders, and have generated indirect effects on policy decisions, as their outcomes were used in the policy debate to raise relevant questions, clarify concepts or distinctions, question assumptions or to substantiate impressions.     

Understanding beliefs and concerns towards palm oil: Empirical evidence and policy implications

Over the last years palm oil has become a controversial product, due to its alleged harmful environmental and health effects. As a consequence, many food companies have taken concrete actions for meeting growing concerns. In this respect, a field survey was carried out amongst a sample of 607 Italian respondents, in order to highlight the potential effect of consumers’ attitudes towards health, social and environmental worries referred to palm oil consumption. Individual responses were statistically processed by means of a mixture model which allows for the detection of agreement and heterogeneity among respondents with respect to a given item. The results of this study suggest that respondents are worried for the current discussion on palm oil issues. This preoccupation affects both decision of purchasing and interest in further accurate knowledge. Overall, the consumer envisioned by the present study gives some hope on the effectiveness of consumer social responsibility in helping tackle food system sustainability concerns.     

Westernization of Asian diets and the transformation of food systems: Implications for research and policy

Rapid economic and income growth, urbanization, and globalization are leading to a dramatic shift of Asian diets away from staples and increasingly towards livestock and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, and fats and oils. While the diversification of diets away from the traditional dominance of rice with rising incomes is expected and observed, current food consumption patterns are showing signs of convergence towards a Western diet. The diet transition is characterized by increased consumption of: wheat; temperate fruit and vegetables and high protein and energy dense food. Globalization and the consequent global interconnectedness of the urban middle class, is the driving force behind the convergence of diets. The rapid spread of global supermarket chains and fast food restaurants is reinforcing the above trends.     

Privacy,confidentiality and computers: National and international implications of US information policy

The author assesses what the USA has been doing or not doing in recent years to develop information policies for personal record information to deal with the rapidly changing record-keeping world of public and private organizations. He reviews how well these policies have been implemented and enforced in the context of the US system of government, and compares the experience of European countries with US efforts, especially in the light of the serious debate which is emerging over restraints placed on transborder data flows by the privacy protection efforts of various countries.     

The dynamics of factors affecting the adoption of innovations

An abundance of IT innovations are constantly struggling for market acceptance. Various models have been proposed in the literature in order to aid understanding of the principles behind the adoption of IT innovations, but most of them implicitly assume that the factors explaining adoption decisions do not change over time. This study challenges that assumption and adds to the existing literature by investigating the dynamics of the factors influencing adoption. Our general proposition is that the driving factors in adopting innovations will change as the diffusion of the innovation in the market progresses. A large-scale empirical study was carried out among medium-sized companies in a variety of European countries and industries concerning the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The findings strongly indicate that the factors affecting late adoption of ERP differ significantly from the factors explaining early adoption. At early stages of the diffusion process adoption tends to be especially driven by a combination of internal strategic drives and attitudes of the firm together with external forces like industry competition and supplier activities. Later on, the mix of adoption stimulating factors seems to be focusing more on implementation issues such as the scalability of the system, the number of seats and the yearly available budget. The study leads to both new methodological insights and substantive conclusions that also have practical implications.     

Innovation patterns and policy implications of ADSL penetration in Korea: A case study

Korea has been leading the world in broadband Internet access services since 1999. Based on an in-depth case analysis of the penetration of asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) in Korea, the present study explores the patterns of decision making and interactions among key innovation actors, such as the government, Internet service providers, equipment providers, and content providers, using a conceptual framework wherein models of innovation systems and decision making under uncertainty are combined. The results revealed that the Korean government played a pivotal role in the creation of the ADSL-based Internet service market by providing a strong vision for this emerging service, building a coalition among various key actors, and stimulating initial market needs and supply of necessary equipment during the early period of higher uncertainty. As the level of uncertainty decreased with market evolution, however, the role of industrial actors and their market competition became more important to the rapid growth of the ADSL market. Based on these findings, policy and managerial implications are proposed.     

Economic and policy implications of spectrum license fee payment methods

This paper argues that “Do auctions raise consumer prices?” is a misleading question. License fee payment methods, rather than spectrum assignment methods, are key factors that bring forth different market outcomes in the wireless telecommunication industry. This paper analyzes and discusses the effects of three spectrum license fee payment methods—upfront lump-sum fees, royalties, and profit sharing—on economic efficiency, spectrum supply, and government revenue. Royalties create distortions in product and factor markets but can induce the government to increase spectrum supply and encourage firms’ investments. A caveat is that the analyses are based on the model assuming monopoly market and information certainty.     

中国绿色增长评价指标体系的构建与实证研究

本文在解析绿色增长内涵的基础上,以经济生产全过程绿色化为核心,从自然资源基础投入、 增长过程绿色化、经济和社会产出3个方面构建绿色增长评价框架体系,运用相关--模糊 粗糙集方法对初选指标进行定量筛选,最终确定了评价绿色增长的15个指标。运用熵权法对 指标赋权并对中国2000～2012年间的绿色增长水平进行评价,实证结果表明：中国2000～20 12年间的绿色增长水平整体呈上升趋势,2012年中国绿色增长水平得分最高,2000年得分最 低,且自2006年后绿色增长水平显著提高;经济与社会发展程度和政府规制是加快发展绿色 增长水平的关键因素。该指标体系可用于监测并指导我国绿色增长进展。