Information Technology Platform Research Articles

Adoption of electronic commerce by individuals in Bangladesh

With increased use of Internet and information technology platforms, e-commerce has experienced tremendous growth worldwide in the recent years. Although growing steadily in various digital services, Bangladesh has not been able to gain full advantages and benefits of e-commerce due to its poor adoption rate. This study aims at exploring the factors affecting e-commerce adoption in Bangladesh by applying an extended version of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model which includes perceived risk, perceived cost and personal awareness with perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, and facilitating conditions. This study applies a mixed methods research approach by combining qualitative field study and quantitative survey. A PLS based structural equation modeling is employed to a dataset of 253 individuals which are collected by applying a convenient sampling technique. The study results reveals that perceived usefulness, perceived cost, personal awareness and facilitating conditions affect consumer behavioral intention while facilitating conditions as well as behavioral intention have positive influence on actual use of e-commerce. This study also provides several implications that might be useful for the academic proponents, decision makers, and various stakeholders.

Group prenatal care and improved birth outcomes: Results from a type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation study

To compare birth outcomes for patients receiving Expect With Me (EWM) group prenatal care or individual care only, we conducted a type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial (Detroit and Nashville, 2014–2016). Participants entered care <24 weeks gestation, had singleton pregnancy, and no prior preterm birth (N = 2402). Mean participant age was 27.1 (SD = 5.77); 49.5% were Black; 15.3% were Latina; 59.7% publicly insured. Average treatment effect of EWM compared to individual care only was estimated using augmented inverse probability weighting (AIPW). This doubly-robust analytic method produces estimates of causal association between treatment and outcome in the absence of randomization. AIPW was effective at creating equivalent groups for potential confounders. Compared to those receiving individual care only, EWM patients did significantly better on three of four primary outcomes: lower risk of infants born preterm (<37 weeks gestation; 6.4% vs. 15.1%, risk ratio (RR) 0.42, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.29, 0.54), low birthweight (<2500 g; 4.3% vs. 11.6%, RR 0.37, 95% CI 0.24, 0.49), and admission to NICU (9.4% vs. 14.6%, RR 0.64, 95% CI 0.49, 0.78). There was no difference in small for gestational age (<10% percentile of weight for gestational age). EWM patients attended a mean of 5.9 group visits (SD = 2.7); 70% attended ≥5 group visits. Post-hoc analyses indicated EWM patients utilizing the integrated information technology platform had lower risk for low birthweight infants (RR 0.47, 95% CI 0.24, 0.86) than non-users. Future research is needed to understand mechanisms by which group prenatal care improves outcomes, best practices for implementation, and health systems savings.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.govNCT02169024.

Research on the Socialist Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics in Facing the Challenges of the New Economic Era

With the vigorous development of science and technology, emerging technologies such as big data, cloud computing, internet of things, and artificial intelligence have emerged. Driven by all these, the social economy in China is in the key stage of transformation into the new economic era. The international situation is also transforming, gradually changing from the economic system dominated by the traditional economy to the new economic system. Therefore, there is a need to conduct an in-depth analysis and research on the concept of “new economy”; that is, an economic form that integrates new technologies, industries, and models based on information technology or internet platforms. In combination of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it can be appreciated that with the arrival of the new economic era, there are great challenges to the productivity theory, labor value theory, and wealth theory under the traditional economic system. In order to effectively deal with the above challenges and adapt to the new economic development trend, there is a need to explore effective countermeasures from the perspective of the socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics in order to provide effective reference in predicting the trend of domestic economic development and docking with the new economic era.

Why and how informatics and applied computing can still create structural changes and competitive advantage

Purpose In the new digital age, enterprises are facing an increasing global competition. In this paper, we first examine how Information Technology (IT) can play an important role in giving significant competitive advantage in the modern enterprises. The business value of IT is examined, as well as the limitations and the trade-offs that its applicability faces. Next, we present the basic principles for a successful IT strategy, considering the development of a long-term IT renovation plan, the strategic alignment of IT with the business strategy, and the adoption of an integrated, distributed, and interoperable IT platform. Finally, we examine how a highly functional and efficient IT organization can be developed. Design/methodology/approach Our methodological approach was based to the answers of the following questions: 1. Does IT still matter? 2. What is the business value created by IT along with the corresponding limitations and trade-offs? 3. How could a successful IT Strategy be build up? 4. How could an effective? T planning aligned with the business strategy be build up? 5. How could a homogenized and distributed corporate IT platform be developed? and finally, 6. How could a high-performance IT-enabled enterprise be build up? Findings The enterprises in order to succeed in the new digital area need to: 1. synchronize their IT strategy with their business strategy, 2. formulate a long-term IT strategy, 3. adopt IT systems and solutions that are implemented with elasticity, interoperability, distribution, and service-orientation. 4. keep a strategic direction towards the creation of an exceptional organization based on IT. Originality/value This paper is original with respect to the integrated approach the overall problem is examined. There is a prototype combined investigation of all perspectives for an effective enforcement of IT in a way that causes acceleration in competitive advantage when conducting business.

Digital Development: Comparison Analysis

The article reveals the role and features of the digital development in the economy. It examines and determines pros and cons of the digital economy in countries in the post-Soviet area. The peculiarities of the digital information presentation, the background, implementation and consequences of digitalization are considered. The advanced experience in the digital development in a number of post-Soviet countries has been considered. The forms and methods of assessing the degree of digitalization coverage in individual countries considered for obtaining new opportunities of digital technologies usage in business, the creation of information technology platforms, new values, benefits, and virtual services’ provision. It has proposed to intensify cooperation between IT companies of the post socialist countries. The important role of private business in stimulating the use of the results of the digital economy pointed out.

Collaborative governance in shared accommodation platform: Moderating role of perceived risk

Platform performance can be enhanced with efficient control; accordingly, control is a high-priority concern for information technology platforms. However, the influence of formal and informal controls on participation in platform governance continues to be undetermined. In this work, the participation of multiple participants in platform governance in shared accommodation platforms is empirically studied from the user and vendor perspectives. This research also investigates the role of governance intention in the value co-creation of these platforms. An online survey was carried out, which generated 343 user data and 134 vendor data. Results reveal that platform reputation and government regulation positively influence participation in platform governance through formal and informal controls. Meanwhile, the positive effects of management responses and online complaints on platform governance participation differ with the perceptions of groups. The moderating role of perceived risk partially influences platform governance participation and two forms of control (i.e., formal and informal). The outcomes of formal and informal controls vary depending on the perspective.

FORMATION OF AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM TO SUPPORT AND DEVELOP THE HOTEL BUSINESS

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES. The issue of providing the sphere of hotel business with information resources and improving the information support system is relevant, requires new solutions to increase the competitiveness of hotels and similar accommodation facilities at the national and international level.METHODS. Methods of scientific research are general scientific and special methods of the research: abstract-logical method – for substantiation and specification of basic positions of information support of hotel business development; at the analysis of social phenomena and specification of economic essence of categorical row, dialectical-logical – for determination of presence of synergy effect from forms of network organization of information-technological platform by adding various subjects to development of hotel business.FINDINGS. The hypothesis of the scientific research is to model the conceptual foundations for creating an information technology platform that aims to add to the development of the hotel business of different subjects.The aim of the research is to substantiate theoretically the elements of formation of the information-technology platform for support and development of the hotel business.CONCLUSION. It has been substantiated that as a result of using the platform, consumers will be able to access the necessary range of information about the hotel business. The proposed platform should include an element of an alternative booking system, where the consumer has the ability to independently select the necessary hotel or similar accommodation fixture, get reservation services, specify the type of room, date, book accommodation online and receive confirmation. In addition, guests (customers) will be able to communicate and exchange information, including everything that relates to specific requirements and personal needs. Hotels will be able to collect data and various information about their clients and to analyze their wishes, which will allow personalizing the services for each individual client. This can be the basis for the formation of a loyalty program for hotels and similar accommodation facilities, providing customers with an incentive to become a repeat customer and consumer of the hotel visited.

Digital transformation of major scientific meetings induced by the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from the ESC 2020 annual congress.

As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) was forced to pivot the scientific programme of the ESC Congress 2021 into a totally new format for online consumption, The Digital Experience. A variety of new suppliers were involved, including experts in TV studio, cloud infrastructure, online platforms, video management, and online analytics. An information technology platform able to support hundreds of thousands simultaneous connections was built and cloud computing technologies were put in place to help scale up and down the resources needed for the high number of users at peak times. The video management system was characterized by multiple layers of security and redundancy and offered the same fluidity, albeit at a different resolution, to all user independently of the performance of their internet connection. The event, free for all users, was an undisputed success, both from a scientific/educational as well as from a digital technology perspective. The number of registrations increased by almost four-fold when compared with the 2019 record-breaking edition in Paris, with a greater proportion of younger and female participants as well as of participants from low- and middle-income countries. No major technical failures were encountered. For the first time in history, attendees from all around the globe had the same real-time access to the world’s most popular cardiovascular conference.

Challenges Faced by Malaysian Government School Teachers to Conduct Online Lessons for the Secondary School Students during Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many educational institutes across the world to change dramatically. Teaching and learning have been undertaken remotely and on various digital platforms. In Malaysia, schools were closed for more than 6 months in the second quarter of 2020 and again experiencing school closure in May 2021. Education Ministry of Malaysia (MOE) strongly encouraged all government schools, especially the teachers and students, to use various online communications platforms to ensure the educational process remains uninterrupted. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated considerable challenges for the teaching and learning in government schools especially in secondary schools while using such emerging technologies. This research has two main goals. First, this journal will be analysing whether the online learning platforms used by secondary school teachers to conduct lessons during the COVID-19 period have presented any challenges to their student’s learning. Secondly, the paper will then go on to address proposed solutions by developing a conceptual model to reduce the impact of such challenges. An exploratory qualitative approach will be carried out in this research, supported by literature review techniques. The data set for this journal was collected between May to June 2021 during the third wave of pandemics in Malaysia. The data gathered by interviewing various secondary school teachers in Selangor. A total of 10 teachers participated in this interview process. Those teachers interviewed disclosed various obstacles they faced when they began to use information technology platforms for their online lessons, especially the new technological platforms. These obstacles include (a) overloaded work and information. (b) unfamiliarity and inability to learn of the new online learning platform, and (c) personal health challenges related to stress and anxiety.

HerBChain, a blockchain-based informative platform for quality assurance and quality control of herbal products

The use of medicinal plants is popular worldwide. Correct herbal authentication is of paramount importance to the safety and best interest of consumers. On the market, there is no comprehensive blockchain-based system to track the processes from plantation to manufacturing and to the sale. With the advancement of information technology, an open and transparent blockchain-based platform, HerBChain, was created to enhance the quality control of herbal products. The implementation of blockchain technology is to minimize the manipulation of recorded information. HerBChain is an information platform for recording the six important processes of herbal product manufacturing and marketing, which include plantation base, TCM processing factory, TCM manufacturer, testing laboratory, distributor and retailer. By duly recording the parameters and data essential for product quality in manufacturing and supply chain, the traceability and reliability of the products can be ensured.

Effects of a nurse-led eHealth cardiac rehabilitation programme on health outcomes of patients with coronary heart disease: A randomised controlled trial

The uptake of and adherence to cardiac rehabilitation remain suboptimal despite its apparent health benefits in modifying risk factors and slowing disease progression. eHealth refers to the use of information and communication technologies for health-related purposes. It is a promising approach for improving participation in cardiac rehabilitation by enabling instant contact, hypermedia information delivery, technology-monitored functionalities and individualised progress monitoring. To evaluate the effects of a nurse-led eHealth cardiac rehabilitation (NeCR) system on health behaviours, cardiac self-efficacy, anxiety and depression, health-related quality of life, risk parameters and unplanned use of care services for people with coronary heart disease. A single-blinded randomised controlled trial design was used. The study randomly assigned 146 patients hospitalised for coronary heart disease to receive either the NeCR intervention or the usual care. Underpinned by social cognitive theory, the intervention commenced before hospital discharge with an in-person session by the nurse to identify individualised self-care needs, set goals and develop an action plan to enhance behavioural risk factor modification and orientate the patient to the use of the information and communication technology platform for cardiac rehabilitation. After discharge, the e-platform helped patients gain knowledge of disease management and monitor goal attainment for health behavioural changes. The nurse provided feedback on the patients' goal attainment and lifestyle modifications on a weekly basis in a small group format through the WeChat platform, thus also mobilising peer influence. Data for lifestyle behaviours, physiological risk parameters and clinical outcomes were collected at baseline and at 6 and 12 weeks post-intervention. At 6 weeks post-intervention, participants in the intervention group showed significant improvement in the number of steps/day (β=2628.48, p=.022), the number of minutes/week sitting (β=-640.30, p=.006) and their health-promoting lifestyle profile (β=25.17, p<.001) compared with the control group. Improvements in the number of steps/day (β=2520.00, p=.006), the number of minutes/week sitting (β=-719.73, p=.004) and health-promoting lifestyle (β=16.09, p<.001) were sustained until the 12-week post-intervention endpoint. Moreover, participants showed significantly greater improvement in self-efficacy (β=0.61, p=.005) and health-related quality of life (mean difference=0.56, p<.001) than the control group at the study endpoint. The findings of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of the NeCR intervention in modifying behavioural risk factors and improving health-related quality of life. These findings also provide insights into the application of eHealth nursing interventions to enhance the rehabilitation of patients with coronary heart disease. ChiCTR1800020411.

Application of Information Technology to Clinical Trial Evaluation and Enrollment: A Review.

As cancer treatment has become more individualized, oncologic clinical trials have become more complex. Increasingly numerous and stringent eligibility criteria frequently include tumor molecular or genomic characteristics that may not be readily identified in medical records, rendering it difficult to best match clinical trials with clinical sites and to identify potentially eligible patients once a clinical trial has been selected and activated. Partly because of these factors, enrollment rates for cancer clinical trials remain low, creating delays and increased costs for drug development. Information technology (IT) platforms have been applied to the implementation and conduct of clinical trials to improve efficiencies in several medical fields, and these platforms have recently been introduced to oncologic studies. This review summarizes cancer and noncancer studies that used IT platforms for assistance with clinical trial site selection, patient recruitment, and patient screening. The review does not address the use of IT in other aspects of clinical research, such as wearable physical activity monitors or telehealth visits. A large number of IT platforms (which may be patient facing, site or investigator facing, or sponsor facing) are now commercially available. These applications use artificial intelligence and/or natural language processing to identify and summarize protocol eligibility criteria, institutional patient populations, and individual electronic health records. Although there is an expanding body of literature examining the role of this technology, relatively few studies to date have been performed in oncologic settings. This review found that an increasing number and variety of IT platforms were available to assist in the planning and conduct of clinical trials. Because oncologic clinical care and clinical trial protocols are particularly complex, nuanced, and individualized, published experience with this technology in other fields may not be fully applicable to cancer settings. The extent to which these services will overcome ongoing and increasing challenges in cancer clinical research remains unclear.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE READINESS OF THE EMPLOYERS IN GEORGIA

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed a major challenge to the entire world. Even for the countries with big economics this challenge turned out to be hard to overcome. The “paused” world tried to fight against the most inexplicable economic crisis with the use of digital technologies. The era of digital technology development is a period of limitless possibilities for modern managers. Managing a company easily and efficiently is already unthinkable without information technology and digital platforms maintaining competitiveness in the market, relieving employees from routine tasks, optimizing processes, taking care of development - these are the minimum requirements, that are difficult to achieve in modern conditions without technological progress. The issue of information security and integration of modern technologies, in the management process, during the COVID-19 pandemic, became even more urgent and vital for some organizations, as many of them had to work remotely for quite a long time during the entire period. Every good project manager knows that one of the main tools for effectively developing a team and completing a project with the best results is fast and quality communication. To ensure this, companies use platforms where employees can centrally and transparently communicate with each other and monitor the progress of the work process. In the conditions of switching to remote work mode, it has become a daily necessity to hold meetings, trainings, conferences and lectures or lessons online, therefore, it is important to select programs tailored to the specifics of our activity, which are specially designed for this purpose. In this case, Georgia turned out to be quite ready, too. Within just couple of days the country managed to organize the transition of the state as well as private sector to the remote working mode, and got the 2nd place among the top 50 countries, where remote working is the most convenient and comfortable

Research on the Synergy Mechanism of Project Management Based on Bim

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a modern information technology platform that can realize the design, construction and operation management of construction projects by creating and using digital models. It is integrated, intelligent, digitized, and model information. The relevance and other characteristics have created an information platform that facilitates communication for all parties involved in construction projects. In recent years, BIM technology has received increasing attention and practical application in the domestic construction industry, and has provided effective modern information technology support for the research and exploration of new construction project collaborative management models and related systems and mechanisms. This selection of “project management coordination mechanism based on BIM technology application environment” for targeted research has important practical significance and value.

Role of Information Technology in COVID-19 Vaccination Drive: An Analysis of the COVID-19 Global Beliefs, Behaviors, and Norms Survey.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, information technology has played a critical role in healthcare. A broad spectrum of information technology tools and applications played an essential role to create awareness of the COVID-19 vaccination drive and its health benefits. Research conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in collaboration with information technology platforms like Facebook with inputs from World Health Organization (WHO), John Hopkins University (JHU), and Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) shows that 65.06% of people all over the globe are willing to get vaccinated. Vaccine acceptance depends upon social norms and human behavior. These organizations conducted the global survey in over 60 countries with a sample size of 437,236 responses. The international survey was organized using a pre-registered randomized experiment demonstrating the role of technology in reaching out to people based in diverse communities and evaluating their beliefs, behavior, and social norms. The study shows that vaccine acceptance can vary due to descriptive norms. All the respondents in the study were adults with access to the internet. Moreover, a large proportion of the population thinks that the COVID-19 pandemic is a viable threat to the community and preventive measures need to be taken including vaccination drives to eradicate the menace. The survey consisted of five blocks involving questions related to healthcare, demographics, vaccines, knowledge, and information exposure. Sampling and weighting were done using a pool of 3,000 respondents over two weeks, and weights were provided per respondent to represent the target population as a whole. It reduces the representation error and minimizes non-response biases.

Power Quality Improvement in Distribution Grids via Real-Time Smart Exploitation of Electric Vehicles

Integration of electric vehicles into electric power system brings both challenges and solutions in the operation of power grids. On the one hand, simultaneously charging a large number of electric vehicles causes branch congestion or large voltage drop. Operating the electric vehicles in the discharging mode, on the other hand, introduces the provision of several ancillary services like peak power shaving and spinning reserves. From the electric vehicles operation point of view, thus, the distribution system operators require a real-time monitoring infrastructure to capture the states of electric vehicle chargers and accordingly operate their grids in the safe mode with respect to the power quality standards (e.g., EN 50160). In this context, the real-time smart charging and storage platform of the EU Horizon 2020 “MEISTER” project, based on the information and communication technology, manages the availability of electric vehicles as a potential source of energy in the need of one or more flexibility services demanded by low voltage distribution system operators. In addition to the implemented information and communication technology platform, this paper presents how the smart use of the electric vehicle resources supports the power quality of the distribution system in terms of system voltage support, bidirectional power flow management, harmonic alleviation and power factor control.

A Wearable System for the Estimation of Performance-Related Metrics during Running and Jumping Tasks

Athletic performance, technique assessment, and injury prevention are all important aspects in sports for both professional and amateur athletes. Wearable technology is attracting the research community’s interest because of its capability to provide real-time biofeedback to coaches and athletes when on the field and outside of more restrictive laboratory conditions. In this paper, a novel wearable motion sensor-based system has been designed and developed for athletic performance assessment during running and jumping tasks. The system consists of a number of components involving embedded systems (hardware and software), back-end analytics, information and communications technology (ICT) platforms, and a graphical user interface for data visualization by the coach. The system is able to provide automatic activity recognition, estimation of running and jumping metrics, as well as vertical ground reaction force (GRF) predictions, with sufficient accuracy to provide valuable information as regards training outcomes. The developed system is low-power, sufficiently small for real-world scenarios, easy to use, and achieves the specified communication range. The system’s high sampling rate, levels of accuracy and performance enables it as a performance evaluation tool able to support coaches and athletes in their real-world practice.

New Library Services in the Framework of Digital Humanities Projects: Foreign Experience

Integration of information and communication technology platforms is one of the incentives for the development of Digital Humanities (DH) projects abroad in their increasingly close interaction with academic, primarily University libraries. The purpose of the article is to analyze the deepening interaction of libraries with DH projects within the single digital paradigm, as well as to analyze new services for project management, data curation, organization of online publications, preservation and exchange of databases, etc. In the era of digital convergence, large scientific libraries abroad are actively developing new models of cooperation with DH projects, forming special service packages for continuous servicing of scientists on the basis of the integrated approach.The article discusses the new concept of library services for DH projects, draws attention to the problem of classification and ranking of library services in order to streamline the work and improve its efficiency, describes the existing multi-level service models developed in the library systems of the major US Universities. In the context of formation of the new package of library services within the framework of DH projects, the article considers the new practices and operational models on which they are based. The author describes the experience of University libraries in the Netherlands and Canada. Under the innovation pressure in the field of library technologies, the service package offered by scientific libraries in developed countries is constantly expanding and modernizing. It includes not only digitization of printed materials, computer assistance, but also management of databases, preservation and exchange of scientific data, organization of digital publications, consultations in the field of copyright protection, etc. Development of new practices in the field of digital services management changes the organizational paradigm of library work, puts forward new standards of professional activity, which require continuous training to meet, i.e. launches an institutional rebranding of the library.

New Library Services in the Framework of Digital Humanities Projects: Foreign Experience

Integration of information and communication technology platforms is one of the incentives for the development of Digital Humanities (DH) projects abroad in their increasingly close interaction with academic, primarily University libraries. The purpose of the article is to analyze the deepening interaction of libraries with DH projects within the single digital paradigm, as well as to analyze new services for project management, data curation, organization of online publications, preservation and exchange of databases, etc. In the era of digital convergence, large scientific libraries abroad are actively developing new models of cooperation with DH projects, forming special service packages for continuous servicing of scientists on the basis of the integrated approach.The article discusses the new concept of library services for DH projects, draws attention to the problem of classification and ranking of library services in order to streamline the work and improve its efficiency, describes the existing multi-level service models developed in the library systems of the major US Universities. In the context of formation of the new package of library services within the framework of DH projects, the article considers the new practices and operational models on which they are based. The author describes the experience of University libraries in the Netherlands and Canada. Under the innovation pressure in the field of library technologies, the service package offered by scientific libraries in developed countries is constantly expanding and modernizing. It includes not only digitization of printed materials, computer assistance, but also management of databases, preservation and exchange of scientific data, organization of digital publications, consultations in the field of copyright protection, etc. Development of new practices in the field of digital services management changes the organizational paradigm of library work, puts forward new standards of professional activity, which require continuous training to meet, i.e. launches an institutional rebranding of the library.

Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Environment: Utilizing OMOP-CDM and OHDSI Software Stack to Integrate EHR Data.

Information Technology (IT) and specialized systems could have a prominent role towards the support of drug safety processes, both in the clinical context but also beyond that. PVClinical project aims to build an IT platform, enabling the investigation of potential Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs). In this paper, we outline the utilization of Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership - Common Data Model (OMOP-CDM) and the openly available Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) software stack as part of PVClinical platform. OMOP-CDM offers the capacity to integrate data from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) (e.g., encounters, patients, providers, diagnoses, drugs, measurements and procedures) via an accepted data model. Furthermore, the OHDSI software stack provides valuable analytics tools which could be used to address important questions regarding drug safety quickly and efficiently, enabling the investigation of potential ADRs in the clinical environment.