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This paper draws on information infrastructures (IIs) in science and technology studies (STS), as well as on feminist STS scholarship and contemporary critical accounts of digital technologies, to build an initial mapping of the infrastructural mechanisms and implications of large language models (LLMs). Through a comparison with discriminatory machine learning (ML) systems and a case study on gender bias, I present LLMs as contested artefacts with categorising and performative capabilities. This paper suggests that generative systems do not tangibly depart from traditional, discriminative counterparts in terms of their underlying probabilistic mechanisms, and therefore both technologies can be theorised as infrastructures of categorisation. However, LLMs additionally retain performative capabilities through their linguistic outputs. Here, I outline the intuition behind this phenomenon, which I refer to as "language as infrastructure". While traditional, discriminative systems "disappear" into larger IIs, the hype surrounding generative technologies presents an opportunity to scrutinise these artefacts, to alter their computational mechanisms and introduce governance measures [1]. I illustrate this thesis through Sharma's [2] formulation of "broken machine", and suggest dataset curation and participatory design as governance mechanisms that can partly address downstream harms in LLMs (Barocas, et al., 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reasonable assessments of the impact of information infrastructure construction on entrepreneurship will support the development of the digital economy in China. Using nationwide data from 2005 to 2017, this paper analyzes the causal effect of the "Broadband China" pilot policy on entrepreneurship based on a difference-in-differences approach. We find that information infrastructure construction significantly enhances entrepreneurship, which is robust under different settings. A mechanism exploration suggests that constructing information infrastructure benefits information acquisition, knowledge spillovers, and risk-taking behavior, which illustrate the internal mechanism of promoting entrepreneurship. Taken together, this paper supports the positive role of the digital economy in the promotion of entrepreneurship in addition to providing new insights into the construction of information infrastructure to support entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bibliotheksdienst is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Information technology infrastructure (ITI) has gone through an exponential change due to the rapid evolution of digital technologies during the past few years. It is therefore relevant to identify the factors that push organizations towards the adoption of new technologies. This paper considers a specific case study of the higher education institutions (HEI) to present (i) the motivational factors that push HEIs toward the adoption of new technologies, and (ii) the key challenges HEIs face in the adoption of these technologies. The data was gathered after conducting 17 open-ended interviews with practitioners working at HEIs in Finland and Pakistan. Data analysis identified 10 motivational factors and 41 challenges faced by HEI in the adoption of the latest technologies. Furthermore, the data was further classified to identify broad themes and categories representing the challenges and motivation factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological growth is realizing an ever more intelligent and convenient future. However, is this future equal, and what role does service design play in addressing, or exacerbating, these inequalities? The relationship between technology and inequality is fluid, moving from the elimination of existing inequalities to the creation of new ones, and service design has the potential to impact this bidirectional relationship. On the other hand, the current literature fails to clearly identify service design’s contribution to the technology-inequality-design nexus. This paper develops a framework to do so. Drawing on the four dimensions of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) 4 model, this paper uses double diamond design process and methods, including user journey, problem framing, and prototyping, etc. to propose a novel framework incorporating four dimensions of service design and their links to inequality. The framework is then demonstrated through an application to autonomous vehicle technology. More broadly, the framework can be used by service designers and practitioners to identify different dimensions of hidden inequality within service design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the realm of healthcare digitalization, the advancement of patient-centred care models hinges crucially on the establishment of inter-organizational information infrastructures (IIs): intricate "systems of systems" designed to facilitate efficient data sharing, consolidation, and utilization. However, closed and siloed health information systems often fragment patient data across multiple repositories, resulting in inefficiencies and limitations in inter-organizational access and decision-making at the population level. Bridging these divides demands the integration of loosely coupled information systems within and across organizations. The ongoing evolution of these IIs is intricately shaped by the complex sociotechnical installed base governing their development. It can be difficult to engage potential participants in building and using an II that spans organisational boundaries particularly in contexts marked by diversity of mission, high organizational autonomy and lacking a single authoritative actor. Through a case study in England's National Health Service, this paper examines the intricate process of mobilizing autonomous organizations to collaborate in developing a shared II for integrated care. In non-hierarchical settings, lacking a clear organizing entity such mobilization requires strategic partnerships and a mix of skills. I introduce the term "collective mobilizer" to represent the collaborative coalition of entities with the capacity to garner sufficient interest among potential constituencies and align visions and resources. By unpicking the role of collective mobilizers, this paper offers insights into the challenges of bootstrapping II development in non-hierarchical contexts and how they may be overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many models have been proposed in the literature of traffic engineering to investigate the relations between the prominent traffic variables such as velocity, density, and flow. However, in a specific period and environment, the traffic variables do not follow the same pattern discovered by a model and the observations might have various behavioral patterns. This means that a wide range of tangled data must be investigated and the aforementioned diverse patterns should be extracted so that the future values of the traffic variables can be predicted. This paper proposes a new approach based on which the relations between the traffic variables in the tangled data are detected. To show the practical value of this study, different procedures of the proposed approach are carried out for the traffic data of a highway in Iran. To detect the existing patterns of the collected data, an optimization regression-based model is developed based on which the traffic observations are segregated. The objective of this model is minimization of the Mean Squared Error ( M S E) metric. The proposed approach fits multiple lines to the tangled data instead of a single one; therefore, the observations are segregated and diverse relations between the traffic variables will be revealed. The developed model is a mixed-integer non-linear mathematical formulation belonging to the class of NP-hard problems. Thus, two powerful meta-heuristics including the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) are used to solve the model and find the coefficients of the fitting lines. For a small number of observations, the outputs of the GA and PSO have been tested in terms of validity by comparing them to the optimal M S E values provided by the LINGO software. The GA and PSO could reach the optimal values in 77% and 64% of their runs, respectively. The validity of the results have also been confirmed by conducting one sample t-tests. The coefficient of determination R 2 has been utilized to evaluate the goodness of the fitting lines acquired by the GA and PSO. The outputs show that the R 2 values of all fitting lines are above 0.80; therefore, it can be concluded that the GA and PSO have been successful in delivering high-quality fitting lines. Having acquired high-quality fitting lines, it was proven that the proposed approach has been sufficiently efficient and effective in detecting various behavioral patterns existing in the traffic tangled data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban development has brought about the increasing saturation of urban traffic demand, and traffic congestion has become the primary problem in transportation. Roads are in a state of waiting in line or even congestion, which seriously affects people's enthusiasm and efficiency of travel. This paper mainly studies the discrete domain path planning method based on the flow data. Taking the traffic flow data based on the highway network structure as the research object, this paper uses the deep learning theory technology to complete the path weight determination process, optimizes the path planning algorithm, realizes the vehicle path planning application for the expressway, and carries on the deployment operation in the highway company. The path topology is constructed to transform the actual road information into abstract space that the machine can understand. An appropriate data structure is used for storage, and a path topology based on the modeling background of expressway is constructed to realize the mutual mapping between the two. Experiments show that the proposed method can further reduce the interpolation error, and the interpolation error in the case of random missing is smaller than that in the other two missing modes. In order to improve the real-time performance of vehicle path planning, the association features are selected, the path weights are calculated comprehensively, and the traditional path planning algorithm structure is optimized. It is of great significance for the sustainable development of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the functionality of mobile applications (apps) in flood disasters in China, their usefulness in flood emergency management, and their ability to enable coproduction between participating parties. By conducting a tri-fold analysis on twenty-three mobile apps used nationwide and within Zhejiang province during the 2020-21 flood seasons, this paper finds that mobile apps have established an interconnected, multi-layered, and multi-functional information infrastructure for flood emergency management in China. Mobile apps have the potential to contribute in their respective ways to the core elements and phases of emergency management. In addition, these apps are found able to create the conditions for coproduction across sectors, which was corroborated by some good practice examples from media reports. However, governmental apps are found less ready to engage in cross-sector coproduction although they show signs of cross-department coproduction within the sub-nation government units. It implies a tension between the current way the government facilitates mobile apps in emergency management and the citizen empowerment by the mobile apps. This research contributes to the fields of information and communication technologies (ICT), emergency management communication and collaboration as one of the few studies examining mobile apps in China from the standpoint of emergency management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various stages of highway project construction process involve text, image, audio, video and other related data sources involving many participants, forming a huge amount of data. Accurately tracing the source of responsibility, refining and applying the unbalanced data in the highway project archives is of great significance for realizing the intelligent transformation of highway construction project management. This paper firstly sorts out the construction process of highway projects and the main data sources, constructs a data association network between construction entities and construction process, as well as a knowledge map of highway construction data. Then, according to the highway construction stage, an index system based on 12 key data is constructed by using the entropy weight cloud model method, and the importance of the data is evaluated. Thirdly, based on the unbalanced characteristics of highway project data, a method of mining big data in highway project archives using classification evaluation indexes is proposed, and the accuracy of this method is verified by case calculation. Finally, taking the Shizong Qiubei Expressway in China as an example, the intelligent management and control suggestions for key data of transportation projects are proposed. It is found that the key data with special importance rate in highway construction include construction data, supervision data and completion data. Boosting algorithm is more accurate than the traditional SMOTE algorithm for unbalanced data mining, which helps to save the project construction cost and improve the quality of data extraction in the project archives. This study provides a theoretical reference for key data traceability of highway project intelligent management and control platform and the improvement of intelligent management efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for radiology has accelerated in the past decade, but its deployment in radiology practices has been slow. We take a sociotechnical approach and suggest that the limited use of AI in radiology practices can be attributed to a recurring tension between planned and emergent change. The paper contributes with a conceptualization and understanding of the tension during the procurement of AI for radiology. To balance this tension, we suggest that health organizations need to redefine the concept and scope of traditional procurement projects, with well-defined goals and project time. Instead, we propose that health organizations need to conceptualize their procurement and implementation projects of AI technology as evolving change processes. The study is based on an interpretive research approach and informed by the Information Infrastructure framework. Empirically, we study the procurement of AI solutions for radiology at a large health trust in Norway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a synthetization of three classic approaches to analyze infrastructures as interconnected compositions that subtly distribute power and governance. We draw upon conceptualizations within large technological systems (LTS), Internet governance, and information infrastructures (II) and connect them to our own extensive research in energy infrastructure and systems spanning over a decade. This combination serves as the bedrock for our methodological work, which we establish here as pivotal signposts for the study of governance by infrastructures. Rooted empirically in energy research, we advocate for scholars to expand these methodologies to other infrastructures, such as the Internet and II, to illustrate how governance operates across diverse infrastructural networks and their intersections. Our empirical examples draw from studies in smart grids and smart energy technologies, electricity supply management and markets, and energy computer modeling. These diverse cases are utilized to inform the proposed methodological approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "infrastructure" has evolved to span a wide range of disciplines, reflecting its diverse applications and conceptualizations. This paper argues that information infrastructures (II) represent a distinct and increasingly significant socio-material form, crucial for understanding governance by infrastructure. We examine the origins and evoluIon of II, emphasizing the socio-material differences between II and other technological forms such as systems and online platforms. We highlight particularities of II innovation and implementation process and consider their implications for the politics of technology and governance by infrastructures. Our analysis is grounded on examination of several II in our increasingly digitised information societies, spanning the Internet, social security, platforms, financial infrastructures, energy systems and infrastructures, and health information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development and implementation of Current Research Information Systems (CRIS) is one of the most transparent and practical approaches to curate research information on a national level. The process of building and implementing such systems is a complex and time consuming where successful results heavily depend on the established research information infrastructure of a country, the interoperability of the systems and the quality of the information which reside in them. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the existing Ukrainian Research Information Infrastructure and identify which databases could be reused and integrated with a national Ukrainian Current Research Information System (URIS). The analysis showed that there are functional databases and registries that collect data on research activities and could be used as a data sources for the URIS. In particular, the Unified State Electronic Database on Education is a potential data source on higher educational institutions, the National Repository of Academic Texts — on metadata on research output, internal database of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine and database on research projects maintained by Ukrainian Institute of Scientific Technical and Economic Information — on projects. Secondly, it was identified that Ukrainian research infrastructure lacks complete, up-to-date registry on researchers. Finally, we discussed the challenges and solutions for further steps in building national CRIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The platform economy--a phenomenon attracting public and academic attention alike--is perceived as a tremendous novelty. The Internet and other IT technologies that bring such platforms alive are said to determine their innovative and modern label. This paper argues otherwise. The role of information infrastructure cannot be properly analysed without discovering the content of labour relations behind it. From the perspective of this paper, the latter is similar to the historical putting-out system. The system that arose in the 18th century and whose participants came from the ranks of formally free, home base labour was strikingly congruous with the modern work-on-demand system. The paper analyzes the features of the contemporary gig economy and points out similarities and differences between the historical putting-out system and its digital incarnation. In conclusion, the paper makes some predictions regarding work on platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Polemos is the property of Croatian Sociological Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Highway concessionaires in Malaysia spend considerable assets in collecting, analysing and controlling different forms of data during highway projects' life cycle. Considering this massive investment, nowadays the data use and information system reliability is becoming the key concern in terms of delivering value to consumers as opposed to the amount generated. The data generated is extensive and heterogeneous. This paper provides a new paradigm for integrating green highway performance data with carbon footprint data for green highway assessment. This framework is used to improve the active use of data in the generation of information and to assist comprehensively in decision-making at all levels of management. The network approach used in this study is the main component for interlinking data with knowledge and decisions, identifying the parameters of data integration for green highway assessment, determining the criteria data for integration, and assessing the overall performance of data usage. Real-time green highway data scenarios are used to demonstrate the applicability of this framework. A new monitoring performance measure called the MyGHI-Dashboard is proposed to control green highway assessment processes and evaluate the level of data usage, which will serve as a green highway performance scorecard. Through data-driven insights, this new paradigm can be used as a benchmarking model by highway authorities to make efficient and accurate decisions. This study is expected to become the central reference to mitigate the challenge associated with the use of highway performance data in real-time for Malaysian highway development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the highway risk classification and accidents prediction using machine learning models. First, highway facilities data are collected in the form of numbers and text. The facilities information is then processed by encoding and digitalization. Second, stochastic optimization algorithm is used to select features for modeling the risk. Supervised information is provided by human expert. Third, two types of customized convolutional neural networks are introduced to highway road risk modeling. Different feature combinations are evaluated. Finally, experiments are carried out for risk classification, accidents number regression and feature set evaluation. The results show that the proposed highway risk model is effective and may contribute considerably to road risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate whether information infrastructure can improve air quality, this paper presents an empirical study based on urban data for 2015 to 2018. To analyse regional differences in the impact of information infrastructure on air pollution, we used full sample and subsample data to make estimates respectively. The results show that information infrastructure can significantly reduce air pollution. However, there are regional differences in this effect, which is only significant in the eastern part of China. Information infrastructure can reduce air pollution in two ways: improving the quality of traditional infrastructure and improving energy efficiency In addition, the robustness test results are consistent with the above results. Finally, we put forward some suggestions for the future construction and application of information infrastructure. • Measuring information infrastructure with the technological index. • Information infrastructure can significantly reduce urban air pollution. • Traditional infrastructure and energy efficiency can act as influence mechanisms. • Information infrastructure has different effects on air quality in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supported by digital systems, closed loop medication management (CLMM) is considered an essential method to improve the quality of medication management in hospitals. This includes electronic ordering, verifying, preparing and administering medication. However, healthcare has so far seen very few fully working solutions of CLMM. We therefore pose the research question: What is the nature, challenges and consequences of CLMM in hospitals? We find that CLMM is highly resource demanding and implies a lot of engagement and workaround by health personnel. While some workaround are expected, we find that others may jeopardize patient safety. The paper contributes with an understanding and conceptualization of CLMM and proposes socio-technical strategies for using digital tools to increase the quality of the medication management process. Theoretically, we draw on the concept of information infrastructures, work practice perspectives and work system theory. Empirically, we present a study of the first hospital in Norway to have implemented CLMM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the 21st century is crowded with disruptive technologies and ground-breaking innovations, this study will take a step back and explore basic digital competence, such as navigating a spreadsheet or using word processing tools and e-mail to conduct tasks at work. Based on a case study approach where data is derived from iterative testing of 213 employees in the banking sector and 10 semi-structured interviews, we contribute to the literature of information infrastructure and knowledge management by addressing the basic digital level of competence amongst employees. We found that the level of basic digital competence was surprisingly low, especially regarding spreadsheets; however, our analysis revealed that the skills can be quickly improved. The challenge is rather to make employees aware of the possibilities and benefits of improvement. This paper presents insights that should be useful for employees and managers in banks and similar industries. It also reminds researchers within information systems to pay attention to basic digital competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information technology (IT) service management is an essential part for development of a company's IT. This case study discusses how to convalesce IT services using the information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) framework and measure service level management (SLM) using Fuzzy ITIL (FITIL) approach. This paper aims to obtain an appropriate model for the measurement of IT service management by using fuzzy approach. Besides that, this paper aims to be able to provide an improving recommendations and IT governance based on current value (as is) and expected value (to be). The research method functioned is by measuring maturity level using best practice of ITIL v3 to condition before and after of improving process based on a questionnaire that has been performed. After obtaining the value of the maturity level for each cycle within ITIL, then the value will be created as an input for FITIL. The manufacture of FITIL is done in 4 stages, namely fuzzification, knowledge base, inference, and defuzzification. The results of the conditions before and after of the improving process have been successful in increasing the level of maturity in each ITIL cycle. The case study indicates an improvement in the increased level of maturity in SLM with FITIL approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the functionality, scalability, and cost of implementing and maintaining a suite of open source technologies, which have supported hundreds of thousands of learners in the past year, on an information technology infrastructure budget of less than US$10,000 per year. In addition, it reviews pedagogical opportunities offered by a fully open digital learning ecosystem, as well as benefits for learners and educators alike. The Open Education Resource universitas (OERu) is an international consortium made up of 36 publicly funded institutions and the OER Foundation. The OERu currently offers first-year postsecondary courses through OER-based micro-courses with pathways to gain stackable micro-credentials, convertible to academic credit toward recognised university qualifications. The OERu, adhering to open principles (Wiley, 2014b), has created an open source Next Generation Digital Learning Ecosystem (NGDLE) to meet the needs of learners, consortium partners, and OERu collaborators. The NGDLE--a distributed, loosely coupled component model, consisting entirely of free and open source software (FOSS)--is a global computing infrastructure created to reach learners wherever they are. All OERu services are hosted on commodity FOSS infrastructure, conferring significant advantages and creating opportunities for institutions adopting any of these services to enhance education opportunities at minimal cost. The NGDLE can also increase technological autonomy and resilience while providing exceptional learning opportunities and agency for learners and educators alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, continuing our research on designing a Network Security Intelligence Center (NSIC) as a combination of a Security Intelligence Center and a Network Operations Center, we applied the PDCA approach to its development in accordance with the requirements, which we formulated for its operations and self-protection. Following the Plan stage of this approach, we proposed a five-layered NSIC's infrastructure (including platform, software, service delivery, access and management layers) and its high-level zone security infrastructure with four zones: demilitarized, trusted, restricted and management zones. All of them are briefly described in the paper. The main area of short-term further work concludes the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The smart city emerges as an innovation-driven strategy to achieve green development. While a large body of existing literature has assessed the environmental performance of the smart city, rarely does literature investigate the effect of smart city on green technological innovation, an essential part of and path to green development. This paper analyzes the impact of the smart city on green technological innovation through the Multi-period DID approach, using a dataset of Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2003 to 2016. The baseline results show that smart city can promote green technological innovation. The heterogeneous tests show that the smart city's green technological innovation effects are heterogeneous by geographic location, urban population size, economic development level, and information facilities infrastructure. Moreover, the paper explores the role of green technological innovation as an essential mechanism of the other aspects of green development. The mediating effect analyses show that smart city can promote urban industry structure upgrading and green efficiency through green technological innovation. • Smart city can stimulate green technological innovation as a part of green development performance. • Smart city's green technological innovation effects are heterogeneous by cities' characteristics. • Smart city can achieve green efficiency improvement and industry structure upgrading via green technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia y Sociedad (01218417) is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y Economicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Learning Analytics (LA) and tools for intelligent analysis of data accumulated in the information systems used in higher education institutions (HEIs) allow quality experts to increase the effectiveness of processes for monitoring, quality assurance and evaluation of training. The paper presents LA model and a correspondent software tool designed for the needs of quality experts in Bulgarian higher education institutions. The tool allows them to monitor and improve the learning process. However, the experiments presented here show that the tool can also significantly assist in the preparation of selfassessment reports for internal and external quality assessment in HE. Research and experiments with the model and the LA tool under consideration are conducted on the basis of the information infrastructure of a typical Bulgarian university - University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the possibilities provided by smart grids in terms of communication infrastructure and information acquisition, there are new options on how to use the signals coming from meters to locate short circuits that occur in the system. This paper presents a framework for fault location in radial distribution systems based on machine learning algorithms and a multistage approach. A methodology in order to segment the system for proper identification of the outage region is presented. Studies are carried out involving the variation of the fault impedance, the fault incidence angle and the number and position of the meters. The IEEE 34-bus bar distribution feeder was considered for the tests. The results so far are promising, attesting and validating the presented methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information integration and analysis is the field of IT science established since the first data storages were created, and it keeps being a question of current interest for many researchers and developers all over the world in different business areas. This paper discusses approaches to the question, being developed and used for the management of mega-science experiment metadata, characterized by wide variety, vast volumes and continuously evolving structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning of information technology is one of the concerns for new organizations. This paper is the result of a research project in the field of IT strategic planning in Kermanshah Electric Power Distribution Company. Based on the common view of all strategic planning models, one of the important steps is to determine the status of the organization in the area in question. Given the notifications of upstream documents, such as the Tavanir Information Technology perspective document and the e-government document that are necessary to implement, as well as governance approach in this documents, this approach in the service sector has used as Kermanshah Electric Power Distribution Company vision. Based on the vision, Capability Maturity Model Integration and Information Technology Infrastructure Library best practices have been used to determine the current statues. To achieve the purpose of the article, four phases are considered. In the first phase which is the phase of recognition, business processes are recognized. The second phase is the matching of business processes with standard processes of Information Technology Infrastructure Library. For this purpose, initially, business processes were examined form the standpoint of information architecture and then the match was done by conducting specialized interview based on the process. In the next phase, organizational maturity is determined in two ways. In the first method, initially, descriptive phrases are determined by extracting the features of ITIL best practices and delivered to process officials in the form of 27 questionnaires for 27 processes. In the second method that has its own standard questionnaire, the questionnaire is completed for all of ITIL processes. The results of examining the existing situation using best practices as well as standard processes of maturity model indicate the maturity level of the processes based on the percentage and provides the ability to compare the two methods. In addition, based on a comparative analysis of these two methods, the weaknesses and strengths of the organizational processes adapted to the processes of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library were determined, and some recommendations and suggestions for future research in this area were presented. The results show that service desk, event management, request fulfilment, configuration management, and contractor management processes as organizational strengths and change management, knowledge management, information security management, release and deployment management processes as organizational weaknesses issues can be investigated and were not regularly seen in other processes such as service level management, demand management, capacity management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Information -- Wissenschaft und Praxis is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology. Social Sciences Edition / Haerbin Gongye Daxue Xuebao. Shehui Kexue Ban is the property of Harbin Institute of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Companies today track people's browsing activity and collect their personal information. Amazon transactions cover 50% of the online transactions in the USA, and Google and Facebook cover most of the digital advertising. However, a significant disconnect exists between how the data is being used, sold, or shared, and what the user actually may want. Currently, no law or regulation encompasses how data brokers should handle private information. Several incidents, as Snowden revelations, Brexit, Cambridge Analytica scandal influencing on the United States election vote in 2016, are an example where Big Data collection of personal data is misused. Online users are adopting criminal like behavior to protect their own information. Considering the collection of personal information to be unfair, users are withholding personal data or giving false information. This paper proposes a Design Science Research study methodology to assess if falsifying personal data in online forms prevent the leak of personal information. It is very important to educate students to protect information infrastructure at their future work place and also keep the same practices when it comes to their private information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The evolution of smart city services and applications requires a more efficient wireless infrastructure to provide the needed data rate to users in a high-density environment with high mobility, satisfying at the same time the request for high-connectivity and low-energy consumption. To address the challenges in this new network scenario, we propose to opportunistically rely on the increasing number of connected vehicles in densely populated urban areas. The idea is to support the macro base station (BS) with a secondary communication tier composed of a set of smart and connected vehicles that are in movement in the urban area. As a first step towards a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of this architecture, this paper considers the case where these vehicles are equipped with femto-mobile access points (fmAPs) and constitute a mobile out-of-band relay infrastructure. We first study this network system with a continuous time model, in which three techniques to select an fmAP (if more than one is available) are proposed and the maximal feasible gain in the data rate is characterized as a function of the vehicle density, average vehicle speeds, handoff overhead cost, as well as physical layer parameters. We then introduce a time slotted model, in which we consider a more realistic communication channel, with an exponential path loss model, and we investigate the tradeoff between energy consumption and expected data rate, as a function of the system parameters. The analytical and simulation results, with both the continuous and time slotted models, provide a first benchmark characterizing this architecture and the definition of guidelines for its future realistic study and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research” is reviewed in terms of its significance to academic literature linking Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and tourism. Ten years after its publication in 2008, we revisit this paper with a view to observing the main changes in eTourism over these years, analysing the strategic lines that are driving its evolution, and verifying the fulfilment of the tendencies anticipated by Buhalis and Law. Their diagnosis has been very accurate and, given the rapidity of the technological changes, it is appropriate to highlight the changes that this sector has experienced since then. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to study differences in the adoption of e-commerce associated with the level of managers/owners' innovativeness. The background utilized to estimate the respondents' favorable reception of e-commerce is a model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, which has been extended to include perceived drivers and obstacles as antecedents of attitude toward e-commerce acceptance. Small and medium enterprises in Chile participated in the study. A Partial Least Squares multi-group test was employed to note differences between groups. The main conclusions of the study are: (1) the level of managers/owners' innovativeness differentiates between adopters and non-adopters of e-commerce of small and medium enterprises in Chile; (2) the Theory of Planned Behavior has been successfully used to explain the process of adoption of e-commerce among Chilean managers/owners; (3) there are significant relationships between both drivers and obstacles and attitude toward using e-commerce; (4) a strong and significant relationship exists between attitude and intention to use e-commerce. Results can be used by small and medium enterprises in developing countries to boost e-commerce adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of information infrastructures for international trade to improve supply chain visibility and security has gained momentum due to technological advances. An information infrastructure is a shared, open, and evolving assemblage of interlinked information systems providing distinct information technology capabilities. Examples of information infrastructures are the internet, electronic market places and music platforms. Information infrastructures can be highly beneficial as shown by the aforementioned examples, yet often fail to deliver expected benefits. This research focuses on the cultivation of information infrastructures which refers to a softer, less disruptive design approach compared to traditional design approaches in which systems are defined through specified functional requirements within strict boundaries. Drawing on different stakeholder views within a European Union project for international trade, this research provides a taxonomy of twelve cultivation challenges and four engagement reasons one can expect in the design phase of information infrastructures. Organizational theory is used to discuss underlying explanations. The paper concludes that the cultivation of an information infrastructure for international trade could be highly rewarding, yet is a challenging and long-lasting endeavor which requires multi-disciplinary expertise. Practitioners can use the insights provided by this research to increase their understanding of information infrastructure cultivation to ultimately increase adoption rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water utilities are transforming as cyber-physical-human systems (CPHSs) with increasing interconnections and interdependencies between physical assets, cyber systems and human-social interactions. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of the nature and complexity of the evolution of water utilities, including the existing methodologies to model the changes and the knowledge gaps that must be addressed. This research found that technological, social, environmental, economic, regulatory and operational factors influence water utilities. New challenges are emerging around using legacy IT systems, aging infrastructure, environmental impact and sustainability, data management, data analytics and cybersecurity knowledge and skills, customer and community engagement, government reporting requirements and regulatory compliance. Water utilities are continuing to respond to influencing factors and address emerging challenges, and as a result, system interconnections are increasing, resulting in complexity and uncertainty. Methodological gaps exist in representing water utilities from a broader lens as a CPHS to identify and evaluate multiple influencing factors, their interconnections and impacts and evolving risks for supporting decision-making. Gaps also exist in strategic planning for technology adoption and data management. Future research requires a focus on identifying and mapping increasing system interconnections, modelling their emergent behaviour and understanding the implications of water utilities evolving as CPHSs. • This study provides a literature review on the nature and complexity of the evolution of water utilities. • Water utilities are influenced by a range of factors, such as technology, social, environmental, economic and regulatory. • Water utilities are transforming into complex cyber-physical-human systems (CPHSs) and are facing emerging challenges. • Methodological gaps exist in representing water utilities as CPHSs and identifying system interconnections and impacts. • Future research should identify and map system interconnections and model emergent behaviour to identify evolving risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The user role in the design of information systems is increasingly portrayed as active and complex, and the relationships between users and developers are portrayed as blurry. Information systems have become ubiquitous in most work processes, and users typically rely on several large scale information systems tightly integrated into other information systems, machines and work practices. In this paper we propose the notion of generativity as a framework to assess generative socio-technical characteristics of such systems, conceptualized as information infrastructures. Further, the paper will discuss the role these characteristics play in users' involvement by exploring the ways in which users can contribute as designers and thereby expand on the conceptual views of users and design processes of generative information infrastructures. Empirically, this paper presents the evolution of an information system for cooperation between general practice and hospital laboratories, where users in both settings participated in the design process. The system was designed using agile methods, and design and implementation were continuous and iterative co-existing processes. The case showed that a high degree of generativity in the system itself is a necessary condition for users to make changes. However, in an integrated and complex setting the flexibility of the existing and integrated systems will heavily influence the possibility to make changes. The paper also provides an in-depth illustration of how user and designer roles evolve together with circumstances and relationships. However, we argue that this type of evolvement requires dedicating a considerable amount of time and effort to achieve a climate in which such evolvement can take place. Finally, design is more than just the development of technology. It is also the development of work practices in which users' contributions are decisive. Designing work practices alongside the design of the technology has given rise to insights that feed directly into the design process. Acknowledging users' substantial contributions in design processes can aid in refining conceptualizations of users and developers along with bolstering efforts to facilitate appropriate user involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A grid is an infrastructure for resource sharing. At present, many scientific applications require high computing power in processing, which can only be achieved by using the computational grid. For the selection and allocation of grid resources to current and future applications, grid job scheduling is playing a very vital role for computational grids. They constitute the building blocks for making grids available to the society. The efficient and effective scheduling policies, when assigning different jobs to specific resources, are very important for a grid to process high computing intensive applications. This paper presents an agent based job scheduling algorithm for efficient and effective execution of user jobs. This paper also includes the comparative performance analysis of our proposed job scheduling algorithm along with other well known job scheduling algorithms considering the quality of service parameters like waiting time, turnaround time, response time, total completion time, bounded slowdown time and stretch time. We also conducted the QoS based evaluation of the scheduling algorithms on an experimental computational grid using real workload traces. Experimental evaluation confirmed that the proposed grid scheduling algorithms posses a high degree of optimality in performance, efficiency and scalability. This paper also includes a statistical analysis of real workload traces to present the nature and behavior of jobs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]