Information Technology (IT) has been put forth as a reasonable way to sustain visitor interest and encourage visit repetition in museums. Therefore, IT is becoming more common in museum settings and professionals express their need for more information about how their visitors interact with these systems. This dissertation is an attempt to answer this call. We propose three essays that deal with different aspects of museums and IT from a user-centered perspective. The first essay is an attempt to determine with a free simulation experiment how IT and more particularly websites can arouse interest for museological content. The second essay relies on a field study to analyze the influence of IT on affective and cognitive reactions during a museum visit, namely perceived enjoyment, perceived authenticity and learning. In the third essay, we use focus groups and questionnaires to explore visitor expectations towards a phenomenological experience and the role played by IT in visitor experience of the past. This dissertation contributes to research by (1) advancing our knowledge of IT dedicated to the cultural heritage area, and (2) identifying and understanding visitor perceptions of hedonic systems. By proposing a set of key dimensions that could be used for IT evaluation in the cultural heritage, this dissertation also offers actionable advices to museum professionals.

This research takes steps towards developing a new theory of organizational information management based on the ideas that, first, information creates ordering effects in transactions and, second, that there are multiple centers of authority in organizations. The rationale for developing this theory is the empirical observation that hospitals have great difficulty in managing information relating to transactions with patients. The research illustrates the detailed workings of an initial conceptual framework based on an action research project into the revenue cycle of a hospital. The framework facilitates a deeper understanding of how information technology can help to transform information management practices in complex organizations, such as hospitals. At the same time, this research adds to the literature on Polycentricity Theory by linking its two core concepts—multiple nested centers of decision making and context-dependent governance—with Transaction Cost Theory and information management theories to establish a new foundation for understanding the role of information technology in organizational contexts.

This is a critical study of F. Scott Fitzgerald‟s Tender Is the Night focusing primarily on the lack of examination and criticism surrounding the women characters. Included are reviews of Fitzgerald‟s personal and professional life from the publication of his critically acclaimed The Great Gatsby until the publication of his last complete novel, Tender Is the Night, discussion of the contemporary and current criticism of the novel, and a feminist reading of the novel in order to focus more significant critical attention upon the women characters in order to create a fuller understanding of Fitzgerald‟s novel.

This thesis analyzes the persecution of Baha&rsquo / is in Iran within its historical and contemporary background. The thesis will give examples from the other minority groups in Iran and through this, the grounds behind the persecution of Baha&rsquo / is in Iran will be more elaborated in the light of state-religion, state-minority relations and also it will analyze the &ldquo / persecution&rdquo / phenomena in identity formation of Baha&rsquo / is.

The Marine's Hymn. It has graced countless battlefields since its creation in the 19th century, bolstering confidence and lifting spirits. Still a mainstay in the modern Marine Corps' esprit de corps and a constant presence to those attempting to earn the title of United States Marine, the Hymn reflects the emphasis the Marine Corps places on its extensive and impressive historical record. While the Marine Corps has been immortalized in film and fiction for their dogged assault across the Pacific in World War II, their perseverance in Korea and Vietnam, and their most recent service in the Middle East as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, few can identify the true cradle of the modern Marine Corps. In the first four decades of the 20th century, the Marine Corps were constantly engaged across the Pacific and Caribbean, fighting multiple insurgencies simultaneously against determined and skilled guerillas. As the Corps faces a similar situation today in the Middle East, these formative years beg further analysis. No individual is more suited to broach the subject than one of the Marine Corps' most revered heroes, Major General Smedley D. Butler.

In Tender Is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald retells the story of the Fall from Genesis through psychologist Dick Diver and his wife and patient Nicole, drawing poetic and thematic inspiration from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. This essay traces the progression of the Divers’ fall and ultimate separation through the novel’s three books and considers how the highly autobiographical foundation of the novel, which has drawn considerable critical attention, may in fact allow Fitzgerald to craft a work that aligns with and simultaneously expands upon Milton’s interpretation of the Fall.

Today’s computing vision makes users to access services, applications via lightweight portable devices instead of powerful personal computers (PC). Since today’s applications and services need strong computing power and data storage, raising question will be “Who will provide these 2 attributes if users do not?” Cloud computing trend moves computing power and data storage from users’ side to application infrastructure side. The services that traditionally stored in users’ own computers will move into cloud computing platform and delivered by the Internet to its users. This new platform comes with its own benefits and design characteristics. Since all information data will move into another platform than individual computers, information visualization will be an opportunity field to analyze and maintain the cloud system structure as well as delivering abstract data into meaningful way to end users.

Syfte med vårt arbete är att identifiera och analysera framgångsfaktorer vid en kommuns förändringsarbete mot en modern, effektiv och medborgarorienterad förvaltning, en så kallad 24-timmarskommun. För att nå detta syfte har vi valt att göra en fallstudie av Mjölby kommuns arbete med utvecklingen av 24-timmarskommun. Fältarbetet har utförts med hjälp av kvalitativa semistandardiserade intervjuer med ämnesområdets relevanta personer inom kommunen. Analys av empiridata har genomförts med hjälp av förändringsanalys enligt SIM-metoden. Resultat av vår undersökning visar att införande av 24-timmarskommun bör ses som en del av kommunens förändringsarbete mot en modern förvaltning. För att detta arbete ska vara framgångsrikt krävs det strategiskt ledarskap som ska ta fram, förankra och kommunicera visioner och målbilder av den moderna förvaltningen i organisationens alla delar. Samarbete, systematisk process- och brukarorienterad verksamhetsutveckling och den professionella kompetensen utgör en garanti att uppställda målen och visioner for 24-timmarskommun kan förverkligas. I detta sammanhang bör IT ses som en strategisk resurs och den gemensamma nämnaren för alla ovan nämnda förändringsfaktorer vid utvecklingen av 24-timmarskommun.

In recent years, the use of option pricing models to support IT investment decisions has been proposed in the MIS literature. In this paper, we discuss the practical advantages of such techniques for the selection of a software platform. First, we argue that traditional quantitative approaches to a cost-benefit analysis give only a partial picture of such decision situations: due to the long planning horizon required because of the time-consuming and resource-intensive implementation process, it is not possible to exactly predict which applications will, in fact, run on the system over time. Thus, the investor is faced with the problem of valuing "implementation opportunities". We then compare different valuation techniques for this task and discuss their respective advantages and drawbacks. The practical advantages of employing such models are demonstrated by describing a real-life case study where option pricing models were used for deciding whether to continue employing SAP R/2 or to switch to SAP R/3. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers SFB "Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management Science"

Limited research has been conducted on how system administrators actually can affect information systems (IS) after they have been implemented; hence, this study examines how system administrators can affect IS success in an implemented IS. The study identified a system administrator´s affect on the three IS quality dimensions in the DeLone and McLean IS success model. The empirical findings was based on a single case study where the data was collected through interviews with the system administrator and the system assistants, but also through a questionnaire answered by the users of the IS. The empirical findings suggested that the system administrator can affect IS success through the IS quality dimensions both directly and indirectly. The system administrator´s affect on IS success proved to be highly dependent on the external system vendor and the structure of the internal support unit.