Imagining futures: A collaborative policy/device design for wearable computing

The rapidly expanding market for wearable computing devices (wearables), driven by advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), wireless access, and public acceptance of a design aesthetic, is indicative of the near limitless potential for changing the relationship of users to information context(s). As the adoption of wearable devices spreads, there are cultural and social impacts that represent both barriers and opportunities, with subsequent policy ramifications. All too often designers, technologists, and policymakers operate independently developing products that are out of sync, lack interoperability, or are hindered by well meaning, but obstructive policy. This paper proposes a futures-based, iterative policy-informed design framework for developing wearable devices that guides interdisciplinary collaborators early in the process of designing a research & development plan. This approach allows for the development of “images of the future” through which various potential implications and effects of device design in social, technological, and regulatory contexts can be explored.     

Turn to the material: Remote diagnostics systems and new forms of boundary-spanning

To learn and adapt, organizations engage widely in Information Technology (IT)-mediated boundary-spanning. This involves making sense of a swath of peripheral information made available by digital means so as to expand local knowledge. Prior research on boundary-spanning has paid scant attention to material differences between IT systems in enabling or constraining such activity. In this article, we argue that material features do matter: features afforded by IT systems have a significant impact on the form and content of boundary-spanning. We analyze material features and related affordances provided by remote diagnostics systems – a family of ubiquitous IT systems. These features allow remote diagnostics systems to collect, store, and continuously analyze data about the state of machinery and related production processes across space, time and organizational boundaries. Organizations use these systems to determine when maintenance intervention is needed, or to improve their production processes. Often, these systems are run by external service providers at remote sites, which become the new ears and the eyes of a focal organization’s production processes. Building on a longitudinal multi-site case study of two organizations, we explore the impacts of remote diagnostics systems on boundary-spanning. We observe that material features afforded by the remote diagnostics led the organizations to change their boundary-spanning in contradictory ways. On one hand, they reinforced existing boundaries. On the other hand, they crossed or cut down others, or created new ones. This suggests that the material features of these systems, when combined with new knowledge creation and sharing practices, within and between the local and the remote sites generate richer, multi-faceted inter-organizational knowledge flows. We surmise that IT’s new material features will continue to significantly shape organizing logics that determine where and when organizational boundaries are drawn and crossed. Future boundary-spanning will increasingly be shaped by socio-technical assemblages brought together by increasingly pervasive IT capabilities.     

Investment evaluation of cloud computing in the European business sector

The importance of cloud computing is acknowledged both at national and entrepreneurial level. Its potential in business has been already described in many studies (Dillon et al., 2010; Bayrak et al., 2011; Nuseibeh, 2011; Repschlaeger et al., 2013). However, many European countries do not exploit it much in spite of many positive responses made by respected consulting companies. The reasons for this are a very low level of changes in companies, ignorance of opportunities of the given technology and, consequently, an inability to count the return of investment. Therefore, the aim of this article is to introduce a tool for the investment evaluation of cloud computing, which corresponds to the needs of the European business environment and to the properties of this technology. Furthermore, the cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) method is explored. This method is adjusted for cloud computing on the basis of companies’ requirements, which were collected from quantitative and qualitative surveys and from the interviews with experts in cloud computing from academic and business environments. In addition, individual stages of the CBA method used in cloud computing are described.     

云计算环境下的图书馆数字资源共建共享研究

概述云计算产生的契机、概念及其发展现状。分析影响当前我国图书馆数字资源共建共享工作的主要障碍,并基于云计算技术,探讨了解除图书馆数字资源共建共享障碍的对策。     

国内和欧美手机银行业务发展的实践与创新

结合手机银行发展的新趋势,本文选取了美国银行等3家欧美银行和工商银行等4家国内银行为研究样本,围绕服务模式、产品功能、安全性和业务发展等纬度进行对比分析.跟欧美同业相比,国内手机银行针对智能手机的特色服务体系尚待进一步完善,但产品功能更丰富,安全防范层级更高,即将进入快速成长期.因此,国内手机银行应充分把握发展机遇,大...     

中小港口企业云计算模型的构建

首先简要介绍了云计算的概念并分析其特点,然后在详细分析了中小港口企业作业管理方式的基础上,对中小港口企业的信息化建设方式进行了分析,指出了传统信息化建设方式在中小港口企业应用方面的不足。并结合广州黄埔港公司、新港公司、石化公司和东莞海昌公司信息化建设实例,应用云计算解决方案,提出了港口企业新的信息化建设方案,构建了基于云计算的港口管理信息系统模型。     

浅议推动新一轮企业信息化建设的关键技术——云计算

中小企业应用云计算模式进行信息化建设的基本框架可以在信息化建设流程的基础上进行改进,主要包括以下几个模块:信息化的需求分析;云计算信息化的选择策略;云计算模式的分析;云计算的实施和运行操作。这几个模块的规划和设计都应该是基于诺兰阶段模型分阶段进行的,不能逾越。     

浅探云计算于电子商务的影响及未来应用

云计算被视为科技业的下一次革命,它将带来工作方式和商业模式的根本性改变,其与电子商务的结合也将对企业的方方面面产生重大影响。本文首先对云计算进行了简单的介绍,然后分析了云计算对电子商务的影响,在此基础上对云计算未来在电子商务中的应用作了简要的探究。     

双线性有限元Monte Carlo方法

本文构造了矩形有限元的概率算法,应用这种方法可以直接求出有限元解在一个或少数几个网格点的近似值。     

云服务在港口物流企业中的应用研究

近两年来,基于云服务的相关研究和应用成为了人们热议的话题,云服务所具有的便捷性、高性能、通用性、资源动态共享等优势,对于港口物流企业24小时动态集港等业务具有非常大的帮助。笔者设计了一套云服务平台,实现了办单、作业、计费、费收等不同业务系统的数据互联互通,规范了业务流程,提高了工作效率,形成了"事找人"而不是"人找事"的办公模式,提升了港口物流企业的整体运营效率。