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The study discussed in this article attempts to trace the research trends in information and communication technology (ICT) in top 10 countries during 1999-2018, as reflected by scholarly publications index in the Scopus database. During the mentioned time period, total 18,382 research papers were published. Of these, maximum 1622 (8.82%) records were published in 2017. The annual growth (- 11.07 to 51.30) and the compound annual growth (- 0.01 to 0.23) have shown a fluctuating trend. However, a considerable number of records (7345) were published in the field of computer science while 52.35% of the records (9623) were journal article-type publications. 'Information and communication technology' was the most significant keyword used in 4997 records while the average (145.3) publications were contributed by top 10 organizations in which Japan National Institute of Information and Communications Technology was the most productive organization with 256 records. The maximum contributing country was the United States, standing for 22% of the total publications produced. Toyoshima, M. is the most prolific author with 53 publications on a particular topic, that is, ICT. The overall relative growth has shown a decreasing trend (0.92 to 0.09) while during the period of study, the doubling time has shown an increasing trend (0.75 to 7.54). Out of the total 18,382 records, total 209,919 citations were recorded in which the maximum citations (20,548) were found in 2010. Out of the total 55,913 research papers, maximum (5058) records were contributed by two authors while the least number of publications (2186) came from four authors. The mean value of the degree of collaborations was 0.92 and the overall degree of collaboration has exhibited an increasing trend during the period of study. The average author's collaboration coefficient and modified collaboration coefficient was recorded to be 0.69 while collaborative index was recorded at 4.21. However, Lotka's law of authors' productivity shows, the authors observed are somehow unlike from the numbers of authors expected during the period of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to explore the impact of Information technology (IT) development on the legal concept of `signatures'. To what extent and in which way does it impact on the legal concept of `signatures'? This paper attempts to examine this issue from an international and comparative perspective. It was found that IT development has different levels of impact on the legal concept of `signatures' in different jurisdictions. In the Common Law system such as the UK and the US, it does not change the legal concept of `signatures'. However, it does put the legal concept on such an important position. On the contrary, IT development changes the legal concept of `signatures' in the Civil Law system such as Germany and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Increasing emphasis in performance-based payment, public reporting, and quality improvement (QI) has led to widespread interest in measuring and improving the quality of care. By 2014, hospice programs will be required to report quality data to the federal government or incur financial penalties. With this increased interest in quality reporting comes an opportunity to develop informatics tools to capture data that reflect the complex practices involved in palliative care (PC). Therefore, there is a need to disseminate information on developing tools that facilitate capturing data and fostering improved performance. The Veterans Health Care Administration, a national leader in health information technology (HIT) and PC, established the Quality Improvement Resource Center (QuIRC) to develop innovative HIT tools to standardize and improve PC practices throughout the 153 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers nationwide. Objective: The aim of the paper is to describe the development of the Palliative Care-National Clinical Template (PC-NCT) for documenting initial PC consults. Results: Domains of quality of life provided the foundation for this template. Principles of user-centered informatics design guided development activities. A national consensus panel of PC experts prioritized quality indicators as targets for QI. An interdisciplinary team of PC providers identified desired aspects of template functionality. QuIRC balanced PC providers' desired aspects of functionality against the feasibility within the VA HIT system. Formal pilot and usability testing contributed to numerous iterations of the PC-NCT currently piloted in five geographically distributed sites. Conclusion: This paper presents a robust approach to developing an informatics tool for PC practice. Data collected via the PC-NCT will bring variations in current practice into view and assist in directing resources at 'important targets' for QI. Although the development of HIT tools to quantify PC practice is complex, there is enormous potential to improve the quality of care for patients and families facing serious illnesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last twenty years has seen the development of demand for a new type of computing professional, which has resulted in the emergence of the academic discipline of Information Technology (IT). Numerous colleges and universities across the country and abroad have responded by developing programs without the advantage of an existing model for guidance. Efforts to define a model curriculum for IT began at the first Conference on Information Technology curriculum (CITC-1) in December 2001, which included representatives from 15 IT programs at four-year universities across the United States. Membership in SIGITE (Special Interest Group Information Technology Education) has grown to over 400 representing many of the four-year IT programs in the United States and abroad and some of the two-year IT programs in the United States. Continued development of the curriculum and subsequent funding by the Education Board of ACM enabled the completion of a first draft of the model curriculum for IT establishing program outcomes and a body of knowledge defining the discipline. This paper presents an overview of the process followed and the results achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to define IT curriculum and accreditation standards began at the first Conference on Information Technology Curriculum (CITC-1) in December 2001, which included representatives from 15 Information Technology (IT) programs at four-year schools in the United States, and representatives from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Since this conference, this work has been ongoing at CITC-2 (April 2002), CITC-3 (September 2002), and CITC-4 (October 2003), and through committee work which has progressed between these conferences. The three main thrusts of this work have been to define standards for accreditation of IT programs, to define a model curriculum for IT programs, and to distinguish IT programs from the most closely-related academic programs, such as Information Systems and Computer Science. Membership in SIGITE (Special Interest Group on Information Technology Education) of the ACM is now over 300 members and represents most 4-year IT programs and several 2-year IT programs in the United States; the outcome of these three main thrusts should therefore be of wide interest to all those in related programs or at institutions considering forming a similar program. This paper gives some of the details of the results of the work on these three thrusts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Irvine School refers to an intellectual perspective on information technology in complex organizational settings that emerged at the University of California in Irvine, California (UCI), over the last three decades of the 20th century. In many ways, the rise of the Irvine School was synonymous with the rise of researcher Rob Kling's influence on the international community of scholars who would eventually form what Kling called social informatics. This article reflects on Kling's role in the creation of the Irvine School. Kenneth Kraemer, an architect and city planner by training, had joined the UCI Graduate School of Administration in 1967. He was one of the first scholars to begin careful empirical study of the effect of computerization in government agencies, and soon started a research program on information technology and local government at UCI's Public Policy Research Organization. In the early 1970s, researchers Jim Danziger and Rob Kling joined him in this endeavor. Danziger had been trained in political science and public administration. Kling had been trained in electrical engineering and computer science, and had done important work at the intersection of fuzzy logic and planning systems in the area of symbolic artificial intelligence.

The article presents a discussion on domain-driven development frameworks in the U.S. It is said that with the help of these frameworks such as Naked Objects for java, changes to an application's core functionality propagate automatically to the user interface and persistence layers. Moreover, the paper also presents a clever yet practical approach that will drive readers to focus on the most essential part of the development efforts which is the domain layer.

This is a study of a well-known controversy in computer science, between artificial intelligence and neural networks researchers. It examines claims made by participants in the field that the controversy was triggered, shaped and finally resolved in connection to activities of state research agencies, particularly the US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). In contrast to these claims, this account concludes that, although ARPA's relations to the controversy among researchers were important, they were indirect. This study thus brings the analytical resources of studies of scientific controversy to bear on a domain which has so far gone largely unexamined in studies of 20th-century controversies— namely, state research policy and management. The account is based on contemporary documents, historical literature, and interviews with researchers and ARPA officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic disease in the United States, with more women dying from this cancer than all gynecological cancers combined. Ovarian cancer has been termed the “silent killer” because some patients do not show clear symptoms at an early stage. Currently, there is a lack of approved and effective early diagnostic tools for ovarian cancer. There is also an apparent severe knowledge gap of ovarian cancer in general and of its indicative symptoms among both public and many health professionals. These factors have significantly contributed to the late stage diagnosis of most ovarian cancer patients (63% are diagnosed at Stage III or above), where the 5-year survival rate is less than 30%. The paucity of knowledge concerning ovarian cancer in the United States is unknown. Methods: The present investigation examined current public awareness and knowledge about ovarian cancer. The study implemented design strategies to develop an unbiased survey with quality control measures, including the modern application of multiple statistical analyses. The survey assessed a reasonable proxy of the US population by crowdsourcing participants through the online task marketplace Amazon Mechanical Turk, at a highly condensed rate of cost and time compared to traditional recruitment methods. Conclusion: Knowledge of ovarian cancer was compared to that of breast cancer using repeated measures, bias control and other quality control measures in the survey design. Analyses included multinomial logistic regression and categorical data analysis procedures such as correspondence analysis, among other statistics. We confirmed the relatively poor public knowledge of ovarian cancer among the US population. The simple, yet novel design should set an example for designing surveys to obtain quality data via Amazon Mechanical Turk with the associated analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The northeastern United States is a predominately-forested region that, like most of the eastern U.S., has undergone a 400-year history of intense logging, land clearance for agriculture, and natural reforestation. This setting affords the opportunity to address a major ecological question: How similar are today's forests to those existing prior to European colonization? Working throughout a nine-state region spanning Maine to Pennsylvania, we assembled a comprehensive database of archival land-survey records describing the forests at the time of European colonization. We compared these records to modern forest inventory data and described: (1) the magnitude and attributes of forest compositional change, (2) the geography of change, and (3) the relationships between change and environmental factors and historical land use. We found that with few exceptions, notably the American chestnut, the same taxa that made up the pre-colonial forest still comprise the forest today, despite ample opportunities for species invasion and loss. Nonetheless, there have been dramatic shifts in the relative abundance of forest taxa. The magnitude of change is spatially clustered at local scales (<125 km) but exhibits little evidence of regional-scale gradients. Compositional change is most strongly associated with the historical extent of agricultural clearing. Throughout the region, there has been a broad ecological shift away from late successional taxa, such as beech and hemlock, in favor of early- and mid-successional taxa, such as red maple and poplar. Additionally, the modern forest composition is more homogeneous and less coupled to local climatic controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local and regional-scale knowledge of climate change is needed to model ecosystem responses, assess vulnerabilities and devise effective adaptation strategies. High-resolution gridded historical climate (GHC) products address this need, but come with multiple sources of uncertainty that are typically not well understood by data users. To better understand this uncertainty in a region with a complex climatology, we conducted a ground-truthing analysis of two 4 km GHC temperature products (PRISM and NRCC) for the US Northeast using 51 Cooperative Network (COOP) weather stations utilized by both GHC products. We estimated GHC prediction error for monthly temperature means and trends (1980–2009) across the US Northeast and evaluated any landscape effects (e.g., elevation, distance from coast) on those prediction errors. Results indicated that station-based prediction errors for the two GHC products were similar in magnitude, but on average, the NRCC product predicted cooler than observed temperature means and trends, while PRISM was cooler for means and warmer for trends. We found no evidence for systematic sources of uncertainty across the US Northeast, although errors were largest at high elevations. Errors in the coarse-scale (4 km) digital elevation models used by each product were correlated with temperature prediction errors, more so for NRCC than PRISM. In summary, uncertainty in spatial climate data has many sources and we recommend that data users develop an understanding of uncertainty at the appropriate scales for their purposes. To this end, we demonstrate a simple method for utilizing weather stations to assess local GHC uncertainty and inform decisions among alternative GHC products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We examined temporal trends, spatial variation, and gender differences in rates of hospitalization due to acute myocardial infarction. Methods: We used data from the Centers for Disease Control National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network to evaluate temporal trends, geographic variation, and gender differences in 20 Environmental Public Health Tracking Network states from 2000 to 2008. A longitudinal linear mixed effects model was fitted to the acute myocardial infarction hospitalization rates for the states and counties within each state to examine the overall temporal trend. Results: There was a significant overall decrease in age-adjusted acute myocardial infarction hospitalization rates between 2000 and 2008, with most states showing over a 20% decline during the period. The ratio of male/female rates for acute myocardial infarction hospitalization rates remained relatively consistent over time, approximately two-fold higher in men compared to women. A large geographic variability was found for age-adjusted acute myocardial infarction hospitalization rates, with the highest rates found in the Northeastern states. Results of two ecological analyses revealed that the NE region remained significantly associated with increased AMI hospitalization rates after adjustment for socio-demographic factors. Conclusions: This investigation is one of the first to explore geographic differences in AMI age adjusted hospital rates in individuals 35+ years of age for 2000–2008. We showed a decreasing trend in AMI hospitalization rates in men and women. A large geographic variability in rates was found with particularly higher rates in the New England/Mid-Atlantic region of the US and lower rates in the mountain and Pacific states of the tracking network. It appeared that over time this disparity in rates became less notable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social movements rely in large measure on networked communication technologies to organize and disseminate information relating to the movements’ objectives. In this work we seek to understand how the goals and needs of a protest movement are reflected in the geographic patterns of its communication network, and how these patterns differ from those of stable political communication. To this end, we examine an online communication network reconstructed from over 600,000 tweets from a thirty-six week period covering the birth and maturation of the American anticapitalist movement, Occupy Wall Street. We find that, compared to a network of stable domestic political communication, the Occupy Wall Street network exhibits higher levels of locality and a hub and spoke structure, in which the majority of non-local attention is allocated to high-profile locations such as New York, California, and Washington D.C. Moreover, we observe that information flows across state boundaries are more likely to contain framing language and references to the media, while communication among individuals in the same state is more likely to reference protest action and specific places and times. Tying these results to social movement theory, we propose that these features reflect the movement’s efforts to mobilize resources at the local level and to develop narrative frames that reinforce collective purpose at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the relationship of gender perception towards computing with computer anxiety and computer self-efficacy among female and male students in the U.S. It examines the impact of the two psychological factors on gender assessment concerning computing-related education and careers between American male and female students. It further investigates the same relationship among Indian students wherein female participation in the field is rapidly intensifying due to the growing demand for information technology (IT) outsourcing worldwide.

The under representation of women and minorities in undergraduate computer science and information systems programs is a pervasive and persistent problem in the United States. Needed is a better understanding of the background and psychosocial factors that attract, or repel, minority students from computing disciplines. An examination of these factors is the focus of this multimethodological study that has been conducted over three phases with three separate populations. During phase 1, a survey was administered to students, who were non computer science or information systems majors, enrolled in computer applications courses at both a public and a private Historically Black Universities located in Maryland. The purpose was to examine whether a correlation existed between institutional type and access, education, counseling, and exposure to computing and/or information systems. Analysis of the data found that the participating students came to college with little information about computer science (CS) and information systems (IS) as fields of study. However, a significant disparity was found when institutional type was considered. According to the findings the students attending the private minority-serving institution reported greater access to technology, skill levels, and computing studies prior to entering college. In the second phase of the study, a satisfaction survey was administered, to students majoring in computer science at the public Historically Black University. The purpose was to examine the pre-college preparedness of minority students and whether differences would exist between the responses of the male and female participants. The respondents reported that they did not come to college with the adequate programming skills and/or prior training to succeed as a CS major, with females found to be less prepared than males. In the third phase of the study, a focus group was held with CS students in order to consider changes that would increase the enrollment and retention of underrepresented students. The participants suggested that the addition of bridge programs, increased scholarship opportunities, and greater academic support would increase the enrollment, success, and retention of underrepresented students in CS and IS majors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article describes the results of a survey of professional workers that was designed to explore the underlying reasons for the widely documented underrepresentation of women in information technology (IT) jobs. Our analysis suggests that it is different occupational personalities between men and women rather than the demanding nature of IT work that is largely responsible for the relatively few women in IT occupations. We discuss the implications these results have for policies that are designed to create greater gender equity in the rapidly growing IT industries. ( JEL J08, J24, J70) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As computing makes the world a smaller place there will be an increase in the mobility of information technology workers and companies. The European Union has recognized the need for mobility and is instituting educational reforms to provide recognition of worker qualifications. Within computing there have been a number of model curricula proposed in Europe and in the United States. This analysis of these curriculum models and example computing programs finds that in computing worker mobility is also possible across the Atlantic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the furor surrounding the offshoring phenomenon, there is little empirical research examining global IT sourcing (GITS) and its potential impacts on the individual, the organization, and society. This article presents the results of a study of the perceived direction of GITS in the United States and its implications for business. Based on information collected from structured interviews with senior information systems executives at ten medium to large corporations in the region, the study specifically examines their perceptions of offshoring trend, its implications for the IT workforce, and steps that must be taken to remain competitive in the global marketplace. Nine of the ten company executives interviewed indicated a slow but steady growth in the level of such offshore engagements and an increasing commitment to strategic partnerships with global information service providers. The primary drivers of offshoring partnerships were cost, access to expertise, and domestic headcount stabilization. Significant concerns were expressed as to the nature of computer science education in the United States and a need to shift from technical skills to those that focused on business domain knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented growth, development and implementation of information technology (IT) driven by e-commerce and other technological advances have resulted in an increased demand of technology skilled workers (Reichgelt, Zhang, & Price, 2002; United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005). In response to degree-dependent employment requirements, academic institutions have fallen prey to the laws of supply and demand. The increased interest in obtaining IT-related positions has prompted students to enroll in IT-related degree programs. The government has supported universities interested in developing such programs by providing grants to build schools and colleges of information sciences and technology (IST). Furthermore, as IST programs grow by leaps and bounds, universities and accreditation organizations have been working to develop guidelines by which to monitor and maintain academic standards. This study identifies national standards for IST baccalaureate programs in the United States. A survey containing 138 IST standard criteria grouped in 15 categories was sent to 50 individuals affiliated with five IST-related accrediting bodies in the United States: the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) (2006); the American Library Association (ALA) (2003); American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) (2002); the Business Accreditation Committee (BAC) (2002); and the Computer Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB) (2001), who served as a panel of experts in the area of IST to identify a theoretical framework for IST degree programs. The results of the survey revealed that all respondents agreed with the IST program standards outlined in this study. The IST standards categories outlined in this study may be utilized by any academic organization interested in developing, implementing, evaluating, or improving their IST degree program. Future studies could be conducted to identify degree requirements for virtual or online IST degree programs, graduate degree programs, and/or continuing education IST programs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The link between information technology and productivity is clear. Yet how computers affect productivity is not well understood Ours is the first study using data for approximately 30,000 U S. manufacturing plants to examine the effect of computer networks on productivity. We find a positive and significant relationship between computer networks and plant labor productivity. Plants with lower productivity in earlier periods are also more likely to have a computer network, supporting the hypothesis that plants use networks to catch up. The positive network effect remains significant when we account for endogenous computer networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the 1990s saw many cities clamoring to become the next silicon haven. When the digital economy encountered major setbacks in 2000, the bursting of the information technology bubble prompted localities to wonder if tying their economies to such an industry was a sound economic-development policy. All indicators thus far suggest that the information technology (IT) industry is still beneficial to the economy of a region. A recent government report explains that the IT industry not only accounted for nearly one-third of economic growth in the U.S. between 1995 and 2000, but with the industry's rebound, it also contributed to over one-third of U.S. growth in 2003.

Discusses degree trends and policy implications among women of color in information technology in the U.S. Definition of terms concerning minorities; Science and engineering bachelor's degrees.

Pundits of information technology stress that the Internet opens new arenas for nonprofits through the ability to share information both locally and globally. New technology also changes funders' and other evaluators' expectations regarding proposals. Although new technology makes life easier for organizations with budgets, time, and familiarity with technology to buy and use these new tools, nonprofits that lack these resources fall even further behind in their quest to support and improve their programs. Based on ethnographic research in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this article explores the role of changing technology in the ability of small nonprofits to succeed in implementing their organizational mission. Using case studies, this article compares the experience of nonprofits and church mission projects based in the African American and Latino communities in this small city to that of two mainstream organizations in gaining funding and the general perception of those agencies in the local community. The article argues that expectations about the use of technology increase the gaps between a community's haves and have-nots. Kenosha organizations based in communities of color are particularly at risk due to already low funding and lack of staff familiar with new technologies. The article demonstrates that the key is often not access to technology or technical assistance but the time to make the best use of available technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]