Internet-based Sources Research Articles

Implementation of a professional program in Finnish community pharmacies in 2000–2002

The aim was to assess implementation of a national 4-year project to promote professional strategy in Finnish community pharmacies during the 2.5 years of program's action in 2000–2002. A survey of random sample of 734 community pharmacists in Finland was conducted in 2002 (response rate 51%, n = 376). The questionnaire included an implementation scale and two open-ended questions on patient counselling. Many of the actions were not optimally implemented 2.5 years after starting the project. Some individual actions may have been taken, but the systematic long-term development process has not yet been started in many pharmacies. Future challenges in implementation will be a better commitment of the pharmacy owners to the goals of the national professional strategy and a better access to Internet-based drug information sources while counselling patients.

Africa Business and Economic Resource Index: Selected Internet Resources

SUMMARY Increasingly, the global business community is viewing Sub-Saharan Africa as a continent of rich business, trade, and investment opportunities. A major challenge to political and business leaders is access to accurate and time-critical information on business, economic, political, and social developments in the Sub-Saharan African countries. This resource guide will provide an organized collection of major African business and economic information resources available via the Internet. Additionally, it includes an appended selection of information sources available in print format. The information originates from multiple Internet-based sources, including African commercial and government agencies, U.S. commercial and government agencies, and international organizations engaging in economic, business, and trade issues in the Sub-Saharan African countries.

A picture from a thousand words [information visualization

Anyone engaged in scientific work knows how difficult it is to keep up with the latest scientific advances. The overwhelming volume of literature-related to the growing number of peer-reviewed print outlets and Internet-based sources - combined with cutting-edge science's increasingly interdisciplinary character means that scientists, educators, students, policy makers, and funding agencies need new methods to understand the structure and development of knowledge domains. To address this information glut, the author developed a visualization methodology that combines approaches from information science, computer science, and geography. In this article, the author presents results of a visualization of the geographic knowledge domain based on several thousand conference abstracts as well as a visualization of search results from a research grants database.

Introducing Real-Time AVHRR-APT Satellite Imagery in the Classroom Environment

A low-cost (US$350) satellite receiving station was assembled and operated within a classroom environment in Gainesville (Florida) on October 2001 for acquiring satellite data directly from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellites. The simplicity of the satellite signal makes this source of real-time satellite data readily accessible to the K-16 educational community. The educational strategy of this program sought to achieve pedagogical effectiveness within the sciences, mathematics, and technology through the cultivation of applied, critical, and analytical skills. The applied hands-on laboratory and lecture experiences aimed at enabling students to visualize and integrate the various concepts presented in the classroom. The characteristics of the satellite data provide students and educators with “live” visible and infrared images that allow for the visualization and exploration of dynamic scientific concepts, making the AHVRR-APT system a suitable educational tool for complementing the K-16 curricula. This educational experience relied on inexpensive radio equipment for accessing satellite data through the exploration of modern space technology. When compared to Internet-based sources of AVHRR data, the virtual nature of Internet portals cannot provide students with a “live” satellite data acquisition experience, such as that available through a classroom-based AVHRR-APT satellite receiving station.

The Institutional Design of Open Source Programming: Implications for Addressing Complex Public Policy and Management Problems

Recently, an exciting approach to solving complex problems has evolved out of computer science, called Open Source programming. In open source software development settings, programmers freely share their intellectual property ? their readable programming source code ? over the Internet. Some open source endeavors have resulted in very complex, high-quality software products, of which the best-known are the Linux operating system and the Apache Web server. A great advantage of an Internet-based open source approach is its potential to achieve global collective action toward developing robust solutions to complex programming problems. This paper argues that open source has potential application beyond computer programming. Open source principles could potentially be applied to almost any intellectual endeavor, and may be a very important innovation toward harnessing global collaboration toward solving complex public policy and management problems. Little research has been published outlining the details of how successful open source programming endeavors are achieved, such as how projects are initiated and organized over time, what rules for participation have been established, and how the methods for maintaining versions of new submissions have been managed. The institutional designs and management of open source projects could be critical for ensuring participants' willingness to collaborate and for recruiting new team members. This paper and the research program it describes, attempts to address this gap. It provides a summary of the "life cycle" of open source programming projects based on existing literature that is largely focused on high-profile open source projects like Linux and Apache Web Server. It then provides interim results from an on-going study of the institutional designs of open source programming projects. It concludes by presenting some examples of non-programming projects that are beginning to apply open source or licensing principles in areas outside of programming and by presenting an example of how these principles might be applied to complex problems beyond programming in the realm of environmental policy and management.

Internet-based open source software for learning about GPS

Internet-based open source software for learning about GPS

Family Business

‘Internet Review’ identifies relevant and useful Internet-based information sources and reviews Websites related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This issue's article reviews interesting Websites on family business. The greatest part of the wealth of the UK and the USA lies with manager-owned or family-controlled businesses. Family businesses comprise over 75% of all businesses in the UK and 80–90% of those in North America. Chinese family businesses also play a major role in the economic development of China and South-east Asia.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Minority Business

‘Internet Review’ identifies relevant and useful Internet-based information sources and reviews Websites related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This issue's article introduces Internet resources on immigrant entrepreneurship and minority business. Economic growth cannot be sustained without the inclusion of ethnic entrepreneurship and the infusion of capital into minority business. In the USA the minority population will account for nearly 90% of the total growth in the nation's population from 1995 to 2050. In the UK, the annual contribution of small businesses run by ethnic minorities to the nation's economy is almost £40 billion.

Databases for outcomes research: what has 10 years of experience taught us?

This paper describes how the mission of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is being executed through the many programs that it has developed and implemented. The Evidence-based Practice Center program was developed to provide systematic reviews on common and expensive conditions and health technologies and to ensure that this information is used to improve health care outcomes and costs. The National Guidelines Clearinghouse provides an internet-based source of clinical practice guidelines that are produced by clinical specialty organizations for the primary purpose of improving health care delivery and outcomes. Relevant to this symposium on databases, AHRQ has supported the development of databases to track hospital utilization on a state-by-state basis. The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) allows comparisons between states and within regions of individual states. New initiatives have been launched to evaluate interventions across systems rather than focusing on the individual patient (Translating Research into Practice--TRIP). The Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) program was developed to conduct real world evaluations to better understand the benefits and risks of single and combined therapy. Both programs further the mission of the AHRQ to improve the outcomes and quality of health care, with additional focus on the cost-effectiveness, patient safety, and increasing access to care for all. Information on programs developed by the AHRQ is available in more detail at the Agency Web site http://www.ahrq.gov.

Internet Review

‘Internet Review’ identifies relevant and useful Internet-based information sources and reviews Websites related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This issue's article focuses on franchising.

Innovation

‘Internet Review’ identifies relevant and useful Internet-based information sources and reviews Websites related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This issue's article focuses on innovation.

Investigating the practices of student researchers: patterns of use and criteria for use of internet and library sources

For college writers, a key element of academic literacy is the ability to locate, select, evaluate, synthesize, and cite outside sources in their own writing. This study surveyed 543 college students to identify (a) their preferred criteria when evaluating Internet-based and library-based sources and (b) types of instruction students typically receive in evaluating those sources. Students writing research reports (63% of students) generally ranked most highly sources that were easy to use and easy to find, whether those sources were library-based or Internet-based ( r = 0.700, p < .01). Nearly 60% of all students received library training, which came most frequently from high school teachers. Nearly 29% of all students received Internet training, which came most frequently from student peers.

E-Commerce

‘Internet Review’ identifies relevant and useful Internet-based information sources and reviews Websites related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This issue's article looks at e-commerce.

Discussion Lists and Newsgroups

‘Internet Review’ identifies relevant and useful Internet-based information sources and reviews Websites related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This issue's article focuses on Listservs and Usenet groups, identifying useful groups and sites. We also offer a selection of conference Websites for readers to visit.

Primatology directory

This is a very useful information resource for primatologists. Its production represents a notable international effort. The directory is divided into five main sections and has four indexes. The main sections provide data on organizations, field studies, populationmanagement groups, primate societies, and information resources. There are indexes for organizations, species, subjects, and names of individuals. Three hundred and seven organizations are listed and, for each, data are provided on contact addresses and telecommunication numbers, the mission, research programmes, species supported, key personnel, training opportunities provided, and other aspects. The section on populationmanagement groups lists all the studbook and species programmes and includes a recent ISIS abstract containing data (numbers, sexes, locations) on all the primates kept in ISIS registered zoos and primate centres throughout the world. If you want to know, for example, where and how many Callithrix geoffroyi are maintained in captivity, this is a good place to start. The primate societies section contains the names and addresses of all the members of the International Primate Society and data on 27 other primate societies, including contact names and addresses, and details of their missions and activities. The final main section provides data on various primate information resources: information centres, resources for animal exchange and animal care supplies, details of internet-based information sources (Primatetalk, AskPrimate, and others), primatology web sites, journals and newsletters. The indexes make the directory very easy to use. Although there is much here of relevance to the subject, welfare is, regrettably, not listed as a subject heading in the index. This will be a valuable tool for many primatologists and would-be primatologists, and the price is very reasonable.

Planned NLM/AHCPR large-scale vocabulary test: using UMLS technology to determine the extent to which controlled vocabularies cover terminology needed for health care and public health.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) are sponsoring a test to determine the extent to which a combination of existing health-related terminologies covers vocabulary needed in health information systems. The test vocabularies are the 30 that are fully or partially represented in the 1996 edition of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus, plus three planned additions: the portions of SNOMED International not in the 1996 Metathesaurus Read Clinical Classification, and the Logical Observations Identifiers, Names, and Codes (LOINC) system. These vocabularies are available to testers through a special interface to the Internet-based UMLS Knowledge Source Server. The test will determine the ability of the test vocabularies to serve as a source of controlled vocabulary for health data systems and applications. It should provide the basis for realistic resource estimates for developing and maintaining a comprehensive "standard" health vocabulary that is based on existing terminologies.

Internet as clinical information system: application development using the World Wide Web.

Clinical computing application development at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center has been limited by the lack of a flexible programming environment that supports multiple client user platforms. The World Wide Web offers a potential solution, with its multifunction servers, multiplatform clients, and use of standard protocols for displaying information. The authors are now using the Web, coupled with their own local clinical data server and vocabulary server, to carry out rapid prototype development of clinical information systems. They have developed one such prototype system that can be run on most popular computing platforms from anywhere on the Internet. The Web paradigm allows easy integration of clinical information with other local and Internet-based information sources. The Web also simplifies many aspects of application design; for example, it includes facilities for the use of encryption to meet the authors' security and confidentiality requirements. The prototype currently runs on only the Web server in the Department of Medical Informatics at Columbia University, but it could be run on other Web servers that access the authors' clinical data and vocabulary servers. It could also be adapted to access clinical information from other systems with similar server capabilities. This approach may be adaptable for use in developing institution-independent standards for data and application sharing.