<p> The need for cyber ethics continues to grow at a staggering pace within the federal government and the private industry&rsquo;s code of conduct. However, the practice of cyber ethics in these environments has presented many challenges for the organizations. A few of them include: cyber ethics training for IT professionals and employees, a lack of sharing information between the federal government and private sector; and the difficulty of creating applicable and legal standards concerning cyber ethics. These challenges prove there is a great need for further research to address these issues, and while the research presented in this paper is still in its infancy there have been documented methodologies which have shown promise. The limitations however include people are vulnerabilities of cybersecurity; a cyber-ethics training plan is critical for federal government and private sector employees and there is a lack of a global code of conduct on cybersecurity. The results of a more comprehensive study into these issues may help to better inform and influence decision making by the federal government, as well as by IT and cybersecurity professionals.</p>

<p> Increased globalization and competition have forced companies to implement solutions at a rapid pace using new and evolving technology. As a result, companies are now initiating an increasing number of complex projects each year. Project management (PM) practitioners &ndash; the individuals responsible for leading a project team through the planning and implementation of these complex projects &ndash; need to understand the tools and techniques to implement a complex project successfully to meet the strategic goals of the organization. Emotional intelligence (EI) is a primary component of the leadership skills necessary to manage a complex project. The purpose of this study was to explore the EI competencies used by PM practitioners who managed a complex project as defined by Qureshi and Kang (2015). Using the Goleman model of EI, this study investigated 22 PM practitioners who managed a complex project and found the PM practitioner&rsquo;s ability to be adaptable, innovative, and trustworthy to be key personal competencies used in the management of a complex project. Furthermore, the ability to understand organizational politics and its effect on the team and the complex project, to maneuver around it, and to be influential, and deal with conflict are necessary social competencies when managing a complex project. These competencies are not limited to complex projects. This study also investigated EI competencies experienced in non-complex projects and found that trust, conflict management, influence, and political awareness were all EI competencies that held equal importance to PM practitioners when managing a non-complex project. People were the key. Findings from this study found that &ndash; although non-complex projects may not provide the innovative approaches or the need to adapt to change as found in a complex project &ndash; when people are involved, PM practitioners still need the ability to trust, resolve conflict, deal with and maneuver around the political climate, and influence the team.</p>

<p> Lack of information is a serious concern for clinicians. Information resources can address this problem, leading to improvements in decision making and patient outcomes. Genomics is an information-rich domain where searching for information can be complex. For example, most physicians agree that pharmacogenomics can be used to improve the quality of care, and there is evidence that many patients harbor actionable pharmacogenomic variation. However, surveys have shown that physicians feel their knowledge of pharmacogenomics to be inadequate. This represents an information need. A natural approach to meet this need is to provide context-aware access to the precise information needed. The Health Level 7 Context-Aware Knowledge Retrieval Standard, a.k.a the Infobutton, offers a modality to deliver context-aware knowledge into electronic health record (EHR) systems. OpenInfobutton is a reference implementation of this standard that offers an open-source instantiation. In this thesis, we aimed to provide insight into pharmacogenomics information needs and an automated mechanism for addressing these needs. Such work can aid the design of tools that support clinical decisions in genomics.</p>

D.Phil. / IT plays a vital role in most institutions, and decision-makers have to be concerned about ensuring that capital investment decisions pertaining to IT investments are efficient. This is even more crucial in the prevailing tough economic conditions. The intention of the study was to test the perceptions of IT decision-makers on the efficiency of capital investment decisions pertaining to IT within their various institutions. The management dilemma in this study was described as the inability by decision-makers to tell whether or not the IT investment would deliver the desired results. In order to resolve the management dilemma, a list of management questions was raised, for example:  Which factors had an impact on the efficiency of capital investment decisions pertaining to IT?  How did decision-makers quantify the financial and non-financial costs attributable to IT investments?  How did decision-makers quantify the financial and non-financial benefits attributable to IT investments? The primary objective of the research was to conduct a literature review on the identified research constructs and through scientific empirical research construct evidence in support (or otherwise) of the hypotheses that are put forward. The secondary objectives of the research were:  Identifying the factors that impact on the efficiency of capital investment decisions pertaining to IT;  Determining the levels of satisfaction by various stakeholders with regard to the value that IT investments add to their institutions;  Determining whether or not institutions were able to identify and quantify the financial and non-financial costs attributable to IT investments;  Determining whether or not institutions were able to identify and quantify the financial and non-financial benefits attributable to IT investments; iv  Determining whether or not IT investments created a competitive edge over other institutions;  Determining the applicability of risk management tools on IT investments within various institutions; and  Determining the extent to which current financial tools were utilised in evaluating capital investment decisions pertaining to IT.

Authority is a much contested concept often connected to notions of violence and control, and it emanates variably from class, institution, and now—as I argue—from digital convergence, which is the availability and shareability of information across multiple digital platforms at all times. This dissertation considers how digital convergence is responsible for taking what would otherwise be a difference of degree (simply more people sharing more information) and turning it into a difference of kind (people turning information sharing into knowledge making, previously the domain of institutions). Through the tools made available both online and on multiple technological platforms, individual users of the digitally converged network (though primarily users of the Internet) are building their own auctoritas. In the particular case of journalism, this threat primarily stems from individuals and groups of individuals sharing information online that both acts as news and critiques the mainstream media (MSM). Institutions are currently facing such a foundational threat through the platform-wide information availability and shareability of digital convergence and specifically through the topology and design of the network created by it (and which it simultaneously creates). This threat of digital convergence leads to a situation in which individuals and groups of individuals are empowered to create and maintain auctoritas outside the institutional structures that Western culture traditionally leans on for authority and knowledge creation. The individual auctoritas uniquely enabled through digital convergence acts as a valid challenge to the institution's structure, causing it to respond with proto-authorization and other tactics designed to limit individual auctoritas and maintain institution per se. The Fifth Estate, considered and defined in this dissertation, is a porous border across which the needs of American journalism consumers are met both by journalists and by consumer subjects moving into the journalism role just-in-time. Porousness of the border between production and consumption of cultural knowledge is a threat to an institution whose job traditionally has been considered to be cultural knowledge creation. In many ways, this movement across the porous border between news consumer and producer is neither a new concept nor a new practice. The difference is one of technology and performances. It is through the affordances of a globalized social structure and a global technological connection, as well as ubiquitous access to multiple platforms, that a Fifth Estate can become influential enough to need defining—that is, influential enough to bring American journalism back to its roots in citizen auctoritas. I use three sub-case studies to look at ways the Fifth Estate makes use of tools of digital convergence to cross this porous border and challenge the institutional authority of the Fourth Estate. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / October 26, 2015. / Authority, Digital, Internet, Journalism, Media, Rhetoric / Includes bibliographical references. / Kristie S. Fleckenstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Davis W. Houck, University Representative; Ned Stuckey-French, Committee Member; Kathleen Blake Yancey, Committee Member; Michael Neal, Committee Member.

Python Package Index (PyPI) is a repository that hosts all the packages ever developed for the Python community. It hosts thousands of packages from different developers and for the Python community, it is the primary source for downloading and installing packages. It also provides a simple web interface to search for these packages. A direct search on PyPI returns hundreds of packages that are not intuitively ordered, thus making it harder to find the right package. Developers consequently resort to mature search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo which redirect them to the appropriate package homepage at PyPI. Hence, the first task of this thesis is to improve search results for python packages. Secondly, this thesis also attempts to develop a new search engine that allows Python developers to perform a code search targeting python modules. Currently, the existing search engines classify programming languages such that a developer must select a programming language from a list. As a result every time a developer performs a search operation, he or she has to choose Python out of a plethora of programming languages. This thesis seeks to offer a more reliable and dedicated search engine that caters specifically to the Python community and ensures a more efficient way to search for Python packages and modules. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Computer Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester 2015. / November 13, 2015. / Python Code Search Engine, Python Module Search Engine, Python Package and Module Search Engine, Python Package Search Engine, Python Search Engine / Includes bibliographical references. / Piyush Kumar, Professor Directing Thesis; Sonia Haiduc, Committee Member; Margareta Ackerman, Committee Member.

<p> Executive decision-makers cannot always anticipate and fully understand the implications of information technology outsourcing (ITO) decisions for the long-term processes, capabilities, and performance of their organization, especially when considering ITO for cloud-based services. The purpose of this qualitative, holistic single-case study was to explore the decision-making process, particularly the criteria used by executive decision-makers in U.S.-based multinational corporations (MNCs), for identifying and selecting organizational competencies when engaging in ITO for cloud-based services. Participants included 15 executive decision-makers in U.S.-based MNCs who had participated in decision-making for at least one ITO engagement for cloud-based services. Data collected from individual in-depth interviews, a focus group interview, and document review supported nine dominant themes, including identification of organizational competencies; decision model; contingency and business continuity; communication; skills, knowledge, and speed to market; cost; technology and processes; financial models; and culture change. Findings indicate that executive decision-makers are unable to articulate decision-making criteria and to define processes used for identifying and selecting organizational competencies to consider as part of ITO engagements for cloud-based services. They intuitively understand organizational core competencies and recognize that their organizations should not outsource them. Findings further support that the more experience executive decision-makers have with ITO, the more successful the outsourcing engagement will be. Challenges associated with outsourcing are directly proportional to the amount of outsourcing experience an executive decision maker has with ITO, as the initial outsourcing engagement requires new frameworks and processes. Subsequent outsourcing engagements rely on the structure and lessons learned from prior engagements, thereby reducing the negative impact on the outsourcing process. Unexpected findings included differences between female and male participants on the perception of outcomes of their ITO engagements and the need for an updated financial model for ITO for cloud-based services. Future researchers should consider criteria for identifying and selecting organizational competencies to outsource, methods used to anticipate the long-term impact of ITO for cloud-based services, gender-based perception of success or failure of ITO for cloud-based services, and financial model changes when implementing ITO for cloud-based services.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting the use of information from business intelligence systems (BIS) on decision-making culture. The relationship between analytical decision-making culture and BIS success factors was measured by data integration, analytic capabilities, information content quality, information access quality, and use of information in business processes. A quantitative statistical analysis approach was utilized to answer one research question. The construct of critical success factors was measured using a predefined model developed by Popovic, Hackney, Coelho, and Jaklic (2012). Survey responses were collected from 227 participants who were decision makers. The responses to the survey indicated a high degree of data integration, analytical capabilities, information content quality, information access quality, use of information in business processes, and analytical decision-making culture within organizations. Notably, the uploaded data reflected that data integration, analytical capabilities, and information content quality were not significantly related to analytical decision-making culture. However, information access quality and use of information in business processes were significantly and positively related to the analytical decision-making culture. With the exponential growth of business intelligence, managers are facing extreme challenges with rapid analytical decision making. Therefore, this study is not only significant to practitioners and the scholarly literature, but it also provided crucial information on BIS success factors for organizations in the Midwestern state. </p><p>

<p> Some independent software vendors might not endure the reduction in revenue and increased costs associated when they switch software license models. The lack of identified and prioritized complexities might lead to potential increased revenue loss or prevent small and medium-sized independent software vendors within the United States from migrating from perpetual software licensing to subscription-based models. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore, document, and describe organizational complexities and their prioritization in contributing to the failure or success of software license model migration. The research questions for this qualitative case study included a Primary Research Question: What complexities can senior management of small and medium-sized independent software vendors (ISV) encounter when migrating from a perpetual license model to a subscription-based licensing model? Supporting Research Question 1: What is the prioritization of the complexities determined to be a factor in the migration of software licensing models? Supporting Research Question 2: How do identifying and prioritizing complexities affect decision-making to mitigate potential initial revenue loss? For this study, eight managers were recruited from a small to medium sized independent software vendor. Specifically, participants in the sample were managers who have worked within the software industry for at least four years, had knowledge of the company&rsquo;s existing software license model, and were involved in the consideration of migrating from a perpetual license model to a subscription-based licensing model. The data collection methods for this research were face-to-face interviews, a focus group, and direct observations. The multi-criteria decision analysis theory and diffusion of influence theory served as the conceptual framework for this research. The framework provided a model for software vendor executives to identify and prioritize complexities and reduce the initial loss of revenue during license migration. Eight themes emerged: financial, go-to-market, infrastructure, reorganization, security, training, and unknown strategy. There was a consistency between the themes and literature. The data was consistent with the multi-criteria decision and diffusion of influence theories. The results indicated four key findings: support functions were less aware of complexities, no evidence of a clear strategic plan was present, the most significant complexity anticipated was the go-to-market complexity, and there was a direct effect on decision-making in identifying and prioritizing complexities. Exploring and understanding the totality of complexities an independent software vendor may encounter, the prioritization of those complexities, and adjusting decision-making to compensate for those complexities, while establishing and following a communicated strategic plan may significantly reduce the potential for financial loss, increase market positioning and competitive advantage. The results and limitations may provide areas for future research. Future studies should seek to conduct similar studies with multiple independent software vendors to provide additional levels of validation and reliability. Such studies should include independent software vendors who have successfully and unsuccessfully migrated license models.</p><p>

<p> Scientists widely accept that modern agriculture is unsustainable, but the best methods for addressing unsustainability are still contested (Constance, Konefal, and Hatanaka 2018). Grassroots sustainable agriculture communities have long participated in the exploration of solutions for agriculture unsustainability, and their momentum continues to grow in the technical age. Practitioners of grassroots sustainable agriculture use many information systems that were not originally built to support the design of agricultural systems. Based on ethnographic research with two grassroots sustainable agriculture communities, I show that participants&rsquo; personal and community values frequently clashed with those embedded in information systems, including ones used to look for and manage plant information. Furthermore, I demonstrate a range of information challenges that participants faced in the absence of tools designed to support their specific work. I argue that practitioners of grassroots sustainable agriculture need information systems tailored to their goals and values in order to productively address barriers to designing and building agroecosystems for their communities. </p><p> This dissertation provides an example of how to involve communities in the development of information technology artifacts and strengthen efforts to support sustainability via technological interventions. First, I engaged in two grassroots sustainable agriculture communities as a participant, experiencing their practices, values, and information challenges first hand. Then, I worked with the communities to create a plant database web application (SAGE Plant Database) that supports agroecosystem design in local contexts. Members of the communities participated in the design, development, and data population stages so that the SAGE Plant Database supports their design context and upholds their technological and holistic sustainability values. At the foundation of the database is a plant ontology grounded in the participants&rsquo; practice of designing agroecosystems. My comparative analysis of the design of the SAGE Plant Database to other databases demonstrates its relevance due to its emphasis on agroecological relationships among plants and between plants and the environment, the inclusion of ethnobotanical data, and the embedded community values. By engaging in this research, I seek to make progress towards transforming the technology-supported food system into one that furthers food security, food sovereignty, and holistic sustainability.</p><p>