Critical Information Technology Research Articles

A Quantitative Analysis of Information Security Management System Audit Results in Critical and Non-Critical Information Technology Infrastructure

A Quantitative Analysis of Information Security Management System Audit Results in Critical and Non-Critical Information Technology Infrastructure

Digital Transformation: An Emphasis Analysis of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Modules in Higher Education

Industry, and educational institutions in particular, regard digital transformation as a critical information technology. This is due to the fact that educational institutions are required to effectively respond to a multitude of changes, including those associated with digital transformation. This study aims to empirically analyze to the challenges associated with the process of digital transformation, this study examined pertinent scholarly publications, books, and journals. The utilization of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in this research endeavors to assess ERP system modules that may be implemented in academic establishments to facilitate the digital transformation process while increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of information resource and technology management. In pursuit of global educational excellence and benchmarks. ERP modules implemented in educational institutions include Competency and Certificate Management, Career Service Management, Student Information Management, Financial and Accounting Management, Asset Management, and E-Learning Management. It is anticipated that the implementation of an ERP system in academic institutions will improve visibility, adaptability, and the capacity to strategize, plan, and operate more effectively. It is crucial to note, however, that many factors must be considered when implementing ERP system modules in academic institutions, including elevated costs, adequate resources, and stakeholder support.

The digital divide: David vs. Goliath.

There is a global danger that hides in the shadows and is changing the way continuing care operators care for residents. Today, to provide that same historical level of resident care, a group of techno-soldiers are not just a nice-to-have, but are a must, to protect our critical Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. There is little doubt that technology has enabled us to provide better care. Electronic medical records, human resources information systems, and voice over internet communications systems have created great efficiencies in operations. However, global cybercriminals lurk in the same technologies that support us. Continuously attempting to rob our private information and hold us ransom, or play havoc with our IT systems impeding our provision of care. How can a continuing care operator, an already funding-challenged industry balance the costs of protecting their IT infrastructure against this growing massive threat? Compounding the issue, rising insurance expectations for continuing care operators to continuously enhance their IT safety controls against evolving cyberterrorism. This is the story of the Good Samaritan Society/Canada (Good Samaritan) digital transformation journey. Our digital roadmap sets Good Samaritan up to rise above the ongoing barrage of cyberattacks and loss of insurance. This is a digital divide story of David vs. Goliath.

Цифровая трансформация государственного управления как фактор достижения цифрового суверенитета в Российской Федерации

The aim of this paper is to examine theoretical approaches to understanding the phenomenon of digital sover-eignty, its structure and function in the conditions of creation and implementation of information and telecom-munication technologies in various sectors of the country’s economic activity and the active process of digital transformation of public administration, changing the boundaries and instrumental base of ensuring national sovereignty of the country. The object – the process of digital transformation of public administration in the Russian Federation. The subject of the study is the activities of digital transformation of public administration of various branches and levels of government, which have an impact on ensuring the digital sovereignty of the country. The paper analyzes the stages of penetration and use of digital technologies in public administration, basing on which the main directions and goals that are mandatory elements of ensuring the digital sovereignty of the country are defined, taking into account the increasing role of technology as an instrument of countries’ political confrontation in the international arena. Based on the results of the work, it is concluded that the active introduction of modern digital technologies in key areas of public administration and society requires ensuring state digital sovereignty, which, in turn, implies the creation of its own critical information and telecommunica-tion technologies, national independent infrastructure and information systems.

The Reliability and Exploitation Analysis Method of the ICT System Power Supply with the Use of Modelling Based on Rough Sets

The article describes a new approach to the reliability–exploitation analysis of the critical information and communications technology (ICT) system power supply. A classic approach based on statistical indicators and a new one founded on uncertainty modelling based on the rough set method is presented. The main advantage of the uncertainty modelling approach is the simplification of the calculations and the fact that, unlike statistical analysis, uncertainty modelling does not require complete information on the used data sets. An extensive study of world publications was carried out, proving that this is an entirely innovative approach to solving the problem of reliability and exploitation analysis. Calculations, analyses and syntheses are also exhibited in a specific example. A sample of the ICT system power supply was simulated, and the simulation results are shown. The simulations were prepared by one of the co-authors for the purposes of this article.

Discriminating WirelessHART Communication Devices Using Sub-Nyquist Stimulated Responses

Reliable detection of counterfeit electronic, electrical, and electromechanical devices within critical information and communications technology systems ensures that operational integrity and resiliency are maintained. Counterfeit detection extends the device’s service life that spans manufacture and pre-installation to removal and disposition activity. This is addressed here using Distinct Native Attribute (DNA) fingerprinting while considering the effects of sub-Nyquist sampling on DNA-based discrimination. The sub-Nyquist sampled signals were obtained using factor-of-205 decimation on Nyquist-compliant WirelessHART response signals. The DNA is extracted from actively stimulated responses of eight commercial WirelessHART adapters and metrics introduced to characterize classifier performance. Adverse effects of sub-Nyquist decimation on active DNA fingerprinting are first demonstrated using a Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) classifier. Relative to Nyquist feature performance, MDA sub-Nyquist performance included decreases in classification of %CΔ ≈ 35.2% and counterfeit detection of %CDRΔ ≈ 36.9% at SNR = −9 dB. Benefits of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) processing are demonstrated and include a majority of this degradation being recovered. This includes an increase of %CΔ ≈ 26.2% at SNR = −9 dB and average CNN counterfeit detection, precision, and recall rates all exceeding 90%.

Healthcare Cybersecurity Threat Context and Mitigation Opportunities

With the rapid increase in cybersecurity incidents around the globe, no business or industry is hidden from cybercriminals' crosshairs. Cyber-attacks are evolving and becoming more complex each day, causing much damage to different financial and reputational sectors. The health sector (including healthcare technology) is increasingly digitized and continues to offer life-critical services. It continues to improve diagnosis, treatment, and patient care with state-of-the-art technologies. However, cybercriminals continue to exploit vulnerabilities and exfiltrate confidential patient data and other confidential information. The health care sector offers cybercriminals a rich source of confidential data and is very easy to exploit as the defense and security controls are weak. Because of the growing number of threats associated with the health sector, it is essential to understand how health care practitioners - along with concerned critical Information Technology (IT) teams - can take steps to improve the cybersecurity posture of this industry and help reduce the attack surface. Hence, this paper discusses a critical approach to analyze the current cybersecurity challenges faced by the health care sector and relevant mitigation and other scholarly articles and research papers.

Supporting Information Quality Management in Information and Communications Technology Systems with Uncertainty Modelling

Information quality management (IQM) is crucial in critical Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems since our lives and health often depend on the quality of information that the systems provide. Especially in the field of transport, we can speak about critical systems. Worldwide, a small number of scientists take on these problems. This is because information quality (IQ) measurement is a very complex process, and IQM is impossible without IQ measurement. In the article, the authors used a method for IQ measurement created by one of them. This method for IQ measurement makes it possible to create IQM and IQ assessment (IQA). This article proposes a method for IQA that makes IQM possible. The authors demonstrated the possibility of searching for IQ modelling imperfections and offered a computation example for a road traffic light power system. In the final section authors present simulation results for two models. The results of this research can be used to optimise information flow. Employing IQA to evaluate ICT systems will enable controlling the maintenance of adequate IQ, among others, after changes to an ICT system or locating the quality models’ weakest or improper elements. The novelty of the presented IQM method is using multi-layer IQA based on uncertainty modelling.

The state of lead scoring models and their impact on sales performance.

Although lead scoring is an essential component of lead management, there is a lack of a comprehensive literature review and a classification framework dedicated to it. Lead scoring is an effective and efficient way of measuring the quality of leads. In addition, as a critical Information Technology tool, a proper lead scoring model acts as an alleviator to weaken the conflicts between sales and marketing functions. Yet, little is known regarding lead scoring models and their impact on sales performance. Lead scoring models are commonly categorized into two classes: traditional and predictive. While the former primarily relies on the experience and knowledge of salespeople and marketers, the latter utilizes data mining models and machine learning algorithms to support the scoring process. This study aims to review and analyze the existing literature on lead scoring models and their impact on sales performance. A systematic literature review was conducted to examine lead scoring models. A total of 44 studies have met the criteria and were included for analysis. Fourteen metrics were identified to measure the impact of lead scoring models on sales performance. With the increased use of data mining and machine learning techniques in the fourth industrial revolution, predictive lead scoring models are expected to replace traditional lead scoring models as they positively impact sales performance. Despite the relative cost of implementing and maintaining predictive lead scoring models, it is still beneficial to supersede traditional lead scoring models, given the higher effectiveness and efficiency of predictive lead scoring models. This study reveals that classification is the most popular data mining model, while decision tree and logistic regression are the most applied algorithms among all the predictive lead scoring models. This study contributes by systematizing and recommending which machine learning method (i.e., supervised and/or unsupervised) shall be used to build predictive lead scoring models based on the integrity of different types of data sources. Additionally, this study offers both theoretical and practical research directions in the lead scoring field.

Technical comparison of hybrid renewable energy systems for Information Technology services

Several energy generations options that mitigate fossil fuel burning is currently being considered across the globe by various researchers to reduce atmospheric and environmental pollution, thus reducing the menace of negative climate change. There is a critical need for a technical comparison of an eco-friendly, cost effective, and near zero carbon foot-print for power solutions. Solar, wind and its hybrids can explored to meet the ever-increasing load demand of electrical power consumers especially in information technology (IT) services. Critical IT services and infrastructure are becoming unsustainable with a single power source hence the need for hybrid solutions. To overcome this problem, this research considers the efficiency of solar, wind and hybrid power. The novelty of this work is the information technology backup power requirement considered in the technical comparison. The experimental result showed the input/output peak and off-peak voltages for solar, wind, and solar-wind hybrid energy DC-Volts are 12.67V/12.02V / 12.47V/11.61V, 12.53V / 11.90V / 12.48V / 11.87V, and 12.78V / 12.09V / 12.57 / 11.95V respectively signifying a significant increase from the on-load peak period while the on-load off-peak period is seen to be lower. The results also show that a hybrid solar-wind system tested at 5 minutes time intervals gives a superior output voltage regulation and efficiency when compared to the solar or wind individual systems. It was concluded that the hybrid system of solar and wind energy source is an ideal standalone renewable energy power option in the university.

Antecedents and consequences of supply chain agility: a competence-capability-performance paradigm

PurposeAn agile supply chain (SC) is critical in achieving competitive advantages in the vulnerable environment. Based on the competence–capability–performance paradigm, this study aims to investigate how information technology (IT) usage and employee multi-skilling influence internal, supplier and customer agility that are the three dimensions of SC agility. It further explores relationships between SC agility dimensions and SC performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a survey method to collect primary data and sampled 216 Chinese manufacturing firms in different industries. Construct validity and reliability were confirmed. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses.FindingsThe findings indicate that internal agility is the baseline of SC agility, which improves supplier and customer agility. IT usage is more important than employee multi-skilling in facilitating SC agility. The former improves all three dimensions, whereas the latter only improves internal agility. Both internal and supplier agility can improve SC performance, whereas customer agility has no significant effect.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the SC agility literature in two folds. On the one hand, based on the dynamic capability perspective, this research clarifies three dimensions of SC agility and their interrelationships. On the other hand, integrating competence–capability–performance paradigm with information processing view, this research investigates the antecedent and outcome of SC agility. In addition, to date, this is one of the first studies to simultaneously examine the effect of two critical competencies, namely, IT usage and employee multi-skilling on SC agility.

Prioritizing IT Management Issues and Business Performance

ABSTRACT We use a novel dataset extracted from the Society of Information Management's (SIM) survey of chief information officers (CIOs) and top information technology (IT) executives to examine organizations' most critical IT management issues during 2014–2017 and their effect on firm profitability. According to the SIM surveys, the top two IT issues management prioritizes are security/cybersecurity/privacy and IT alignment with the business. We find that firms that prioritize these two IT management issues exhibit higher profitability than firms that do not. Our study contributes to the Information Systems (IS) and Accounting Information Systems (AIS) literature on IT business value by providing empirical evidence on IT-business alignment—and to some extent IT security—positively affecting firm financial performance.

A Review of Liposomes as a Drug Delivery System: Current Status of Approved Products, Regulatory Environments, and Future Perspectives.

Liposomes have been considered promising and versatile drug vesicles. Compared with traditional drug delivery systems, liposomes exhibit better properties, including site-targeting, sustained or controlled release, protection of drugs from degradation and clearance, superior therapeutic effects, and lower toxic side effects. Given these merits, several liposomal drug products have been successfully approved and used in clinics over the last couple of decades. In this review, the liposomal drug products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) are discussed. Based on the published approval package in the FDA and European public assessment report (EPAR) in EMA, the critical chemistry information and mature pharmaceutical technologies applied in the marketed liposomal products, including the lipid excipient, manufacturing methods, nanosizing technique, drug loading methods, as well as critical quality attributions (CQAs) of products, are introduced. Additionally, the current regulatory guidance and future perspectives related to liposomal products are summarized. This knowledge can be used for research and development of the liposomal drug candidates under various pipelines, including the laboratory bench, pilot plant, and commercial manufacturing.

ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN UZBEKISTAN

This artikl focuses the role of Information technology (IT) in supply chain management in Uzbekistan und digital transformation it. It also creating a supply chain for the supply of agricultural products highlights the contribution of IT in helping to restructure the entire distribution set up to achieve higher service levels and lower inventory and lower supply chain costs. The broad strategic directions which need to be supported by the IT strategy are increasing of frequency of receipts/dispatch, holding materials further up the supply chain and crashing the various lead times. Critical IT contributions and implementations are discussed. Fundamental changes have occurred in today's economy of Uzbekistan. These changes alter the relationship we have with our customers, our suppliers, our business partners and our colleagues. It also describes how IT developments have presented companies with unprecedented opportunities to gain competitive advantage. So IT investment und supply chain management is the pre-requisite thing for each firm in order to sustain in the market.

SYSTEM OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATIVE LITERACY FORMATION FOR FUTURE MEDICAL WORKERS THROUGH THE PRISM OF LANGUAGE TRAINING.

The aim of the study is to analyze the formation of professional communicative literacy of future medical workers, which includes a personal development component provided by independent language preparation for the use of medical terminology. Materials and methods: The diagnostic stage, which was conducted in 2019-2020, included 400 students from four higher educational institutions: I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Ivano-Frankivsk National University, Uzhhorod National University. These are students who completed the study of such disciplines as "Latin language and basics of medical terminology", "Human anatomy", "Histology", "Pharmacology" in the 1st year of studying. Results: The comparative analysis shows that this determined the level of formation of the students' motivational sphere in the direction of speech preparation for the use of medical terminology in Latin language classes, and the following results were obtained. With regard to the main motivating points for Latin classes, it was established that 115 (28.75%) young people study it with great interest, strive to improve their knowledge of medical terminology further, as they are sure that they will definitely need it in their future professional activities. Conclusions: Research and experimental verification of the effectiveness of pedagogical conditions and the structural-functional model of professional language training of future doctors for the use of medical terminology took place during the training of first-year-students at the higher educational establishment. Innovative methods of developing critical thinking, information and interactive technologies were used.Positive changes in the results of professional and language training of CG students (increase in average figure from 3.51 to 3.69 points) are caused by the natural influence of the traditional educational process, and changes in average figures in EG (from 3.51 to 3.92 points) show the effectiveness of implementation of defined pedagogical conditions.

Information security threats encountered by Malaysian public sector data centers

<span>D</span><span lang="EN-AU">ata centers are primarily the main targets of cybercriminals and security threats as they host various critical information and communication technology (ICT) services. Identifying the threats and </span><span>managing the risks associated with data centers have become a major challenge as this will enable organizations to optimize their resources to focus on the most hazardous threats to prevent the potential risks and damages. The objective of this paper is to identify major ICT security threats to data centers in the Malaysian public sector and their causes. The data for this study was collected through interview sessions. A total of 33 respondents from various government organizations were interviewed. The results revealed that the technical threats, </span><span lang="EN-MY">spyware, phishing, bluesnarfing threats, social engineering and virus, trojan, malware, ransomware, viral websites threats are the major categories of threats often encountered by the malaysian public sector organizations. The</span><span> causes for these threats </span><span lang="EN-MY">are lack of budget, competent personnel, and manpower for security tasks, user awareness; lack of </span><span>compliances and monitoring; insufficient security policies and procedures as well as deliberate cyber attacks. The outcome of this study will give a greater degree of awareness and understanding to the ICT security officers, who are entrusted with data center security.</span>

Examining the core competencies for success in the hotel industry: The case of Cyprus

This paper investigates the necessary core competencies for a successful career in the hotel industry. For this purpose, two survey questionnaire instruments were administered to collect data based on the views of both educators and hospitality professionals in Cyprus. Utilizing the exploratory factor analysis technique six-core competency factors were identified: Leadership and Critical Thinking, Information Technology and Financial Analysis, Human Relations -Communication, Interpersonal Communication-Cultural Diversity, Human Resource Management and Professional Image-Operational Knowledge. Consequently, a model emerged for identifying and developing core competencies required by the hotel industry that is useful for educators, as well as hotel industry professionals.

The role of data and information security governance in protecting public sector data and information assets in national government in South Africa

Background: The deployment of information and communications technology (ICT) in the public sector, has been exposed to increasing security breaches and cyber-related crimes that have resulted in unauthorised access, theft, fraud and misuse of highly confidential, classified and sensitive public sector data and information (PSDI) assets. The government, as one of the biggest collectors and distributors of PSDI assets, needs to be constantly aware of the risks associated with the collection, classification, storage and dissemination of critical PSDI assets. The lack of sufficient data and information security measures could pose significant security risks that could impact on state security, thus causing national working relationships to be strained, which presents gaps and opportunities for external intruders to capitalise on the mistrust of the government to infiltrate further attacks on critical Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and systems. In order to mitigate and counteract critical and sensitive data and information-related crimes, the government must understand and analyse the importance of data and information security governance (DISG) and how it should be institutionalised through an integrated approach to improve and protect PSDI assets. Aim: The aim of this article is to analyse the institutionalisation of DISG measures government has implemented towards the protection of PSDI assets. Setting: The research setting is in three national government departments, namely the Department of Energy (DoE), the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). This study investigates how the strategic combination of data governance (DG) and information security governance (ISG) practices and principles could be implemented and incorporated as one of the various approaches in public sector institutions to improve the DISG management functions of an organisation’s overall data and information systems and processes. Methods: The research approach is qualitative, and the research methodology includes a multiple case study design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and was triangulated with literature review. Primary data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The research findings are presented according to the McKinsey 7S model, which served as the analytical framework in the study. The research findings indicate that the institutionalisation of DISG management practices and functions in the South African public sector context are very limited, and there is a dominant focus on IT and IT security. It was also identified that DISG policies, practices, and systems have been found to be lacking in public sector management and governance functions. Conclusion: The study concludes that there is currently a lack of sufficient DISG policies, management practices and systems, particularly in the national sphere of government.

Global Competition for Leadership Positions in Standards Development Organizations

Increasing participation of Chinese companies in many global Standard Development Organizations (SDO) has fueled global competition for influence over the development of critical Information and Communication Technology (ICT) standards. SDOs face increasing expectations to increase the representation of Chinese and other non-Western nationals in their leadership. Many Western governments and stakeholders, however, view the rapidly rising influence of Chinese firms, and especially Huawei, as a source of growing concerns. These tensions highlight the importance of the impartiality of global SDOs' leadership for the trustworthiness of ICT standards. Our empirical analysis reveals that while attendees have become increasingly diverse, traditional incumbent stakeholder categories and Western nationals occupy an outsized proportion of SDO leadership positions. Affiliates of Huawei and other leading competitors for leadership in ICT standardization are also more likely to be appointed to leadership positions. Huawei furthermore rapidly catches up with its Western competitors, in part through recruiting large numbers of experienced SDO participants. Individuals are appointed to leadership positions because of their experience and individual qualifications, not because of their affiliation. While the importance of individual experience and social ties within an SDO community may act as a check on commercial stakeholders' influence within SDOs, preventing individual companies or groups of aligned interests to acquire outsized influence over SDOs requires explicit provisions for the balancing of different interests.

Using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model to describe critical care nursing during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (2020).

Using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model to describe critical care nursing during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (2020).