The main aim of this thesis is is to analyze the influence of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the development of poor countries and to identify and clasify the particular mechanisms, through which ICT are beeing enforced. The particular resarched ICT are computers, internet and mobile phones. The thesis consists from two main chapters. In the first one is analyzed the relation between ICT and development on aggregated "macro" level (mostly level of countries). Based on the scientific literature, there are researched the general linkages between ICT and development, measuring possibilities of development and ICT and differences in use of ICT between countries. Part of this chapter is as well the quantitative analyze of the relationship between ICT and socioeconomic development. The second "micro" chapter is finding mechanisms through which the ICT in developing countries are enforcing. and which are the conditions of mentioned "macro" linkages. The systematic review of scientific literature is trying to clarify and uncover the relationship between ICT and development which is working on the micro-level of poor countries based on mechanisms between particular technologies and component particular sphere of development. Moreover of the two main chapters, there is also the third part which...

This research of teleconsultation services aims to improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment for rural cardiovascular patients through utilizing distant medical expertise. Equitable access to expert healthcare as well as improved medical management for these patients can assist in modifying cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and reduce morbidity and mortality in Saudi Arabia. The objectives were to design and develop a new care pathway for cardiovascular disease patients by utilizing teleconsultation technology, investigate factors and issues that might act as barriers to its adoption, and then evaluate the impact of this model on the stakeholders. A small scale pilot project was used to determine the issues of technology, processes and human resources required to deliver an effective service with the context of the research setting. Four primary healthcare centres, two regional hospitals, fifteen patients and sixty other participant stakeholders were included in this study. An approach using (PCP) patient care pathways was used to introduce the teleconsultation technology and integrate it within the healthcare delivery system. Compared to the traditional PCP, the modified PCP utilising teleconsultation technology improved the quality of healthcare through:  Improved access to medical care and quality of diagnosis by obtaining the expertise of a distant specialist.  More efficient medical evaluation and management.  Enhanced role of primary healthcare centres and participating hospitals by providing all levels of health services for patients.  Evidence-based referral (reduced waiting time, reduced burden on outpatient clinics). The telconsultation adoption barriers included:  Inadequacy of finance  Limited infrastructure  Legal and regularity difficulties.  Organization issues.  Literacy on technology. This study recommends the following for telemedicine implementation in the country:  Promote perception and readiness for ICT services with the healthcare community.  Enhance structural readiness including appropriate infrastructure and adequate funding, human resources and equipment.  Proactive policies to encourage growth of the telecommunication sector and to address concerns regarding privacy and security.

This dissertation contains three studies examining aspects of energy use by data centers and other information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure necessary to support the electronic services that now form such a pervasive aspect of daily life. The energy consumption of ICT in general and data centers in particular has been of growing interest to both industry and the public, with continued calls for increased efficiency and greater focus on environmental impacts. The first study examines the metrics used to assess data center energy performance and finds that power usage effectiveness (PUE), the de facto industry standard, only accounts for one of four critical aspects of data center energy performance. PUE measures the overhead of the facility infrastructure but does not consider the efficiency of the IT equipment, its utilization, or the emissions profile of the power source. As a result, PUE corresponds poorly with energy and carbon efficiency, as demonstrated using a small set of empirical data center energy use measurements. The second study lays out a taxonomy of indirect energy impacts to help assess whether ICT’s direct energy consumption is offset by its energy benefits, and concludes that ICT likely has a large potential net energy benefit, but that there is no consensus on the sign or magnitude of actual savings, which are largely dependent upon implementation details. The third study estimates the potential of dynamic load shifting in a content distribution network to reduce both private costs and emissions-related externalities associated with electricity consumption. Utilizing variable marginal retail prices based on wholesale electricity markets and marginal damages estimated from emissions data in a cost-minimization model, the analysis finds that load shifting can either reduce data center power bills by approximately 25%–33% or avoid 30%–40% of public damages, while a range of joint cost minimization strategies enables simultaneous reduction of both private and public costs. The vast majority of these savings can be achieved even under existing bandwidth and network distance constraints, although current industry trends towards virtualization, energy efficiency, and green powermay make load shifting less appealing.

Cette thèse a pour objet l'étude des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (TIC) en tant que Technologie Générique (TG) ainsi que leur rôle dans l'évolution de la productivité du travail aux Etats-Unis et en Europe durant les dernières décennies. La thèse est constituée de trois parties axées chacune sur l'une des trois propriétés fondamentales des TG: le progrès rapide de la technologie, l'ubiquité de la technologie et la capacité à créer des opportunités technologiques. La première partie décrit, dans un premier chapitre, l'innovation dans le domaine des TIC, en commençant par un bref historique de ces technologies, suivie d'une analyse des données contemporaines sur l'innovation dans ce domaine. Elle montre en particulier comment les Etats-Unis ont été, jusqu'à présent, plus performants que les pays Européens dans le développement des TIC. Dans un deuxième chapitre, cette première partie inventorie les difficultés de mesures induites par la vitesse et la nature du changement généré par ces technologies. La seconde partie de la thèse traite de la nature ubiquitaire des TIC. Elle décrit d'abord la diffusion des TIC au cours du temps à travers les pays et les secteurs économiques, puis, établit une revue de la littérature sur la contribution directe de la diffusion des TIC à la croissance de la productivité du travail aux US et en Europe. Le second chapitre de cette partie s'intéresse au comportement de demande de facteurs de production dans les secteurs producteurs de TIC ou intensifs en utilisation des TIC. Enfin, la troisième partie de la thèse se concentre sur la capacité des TIC à générer des opportunités d'innovation. Pour cela elle identifie d'abord la nature des innovations complémentaires et les efforts menant à ces innovations. Elle montre alors la nécessité d'améliorer la comptabilité nationale afin de prendre en compte ces efforts comme des investissements. Cette partie révèle ensuite que, dans les onze pays européens étudiés, le problème est particulièrement concentré sur quelques pays qui investissent peu en TIC et en actifs innovants et que ces deux types d'efforts sont complémentaires. / This thesis aims to study Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a General Purpose Technology (GPT) and their role in the labor productivity evolution in the United States and Europe during recent decades. This thesis is organized in three parts corresponding to the fundamental GPT features: the wide possibilities for development, the ubiquity of the technology and the ability to create large technological opportunities. The first part depicts, at first, the innovation in ICT, beginning with a short historical review of ICT inventions followed by the analysis of current data on innovation in this field. In particular, it shows how the US was better than the European countries in inventing ICT until now. Second, this first part makes an inventory of measurement difficulties due to the rate and the nature of the change created by such technologies. The second part of the thesis deals with the ubiquitous nature of ICT. It first describes the ICT diffusion across countries and industries and reviews the economic literature on the direct contribution of ICT on labor productivity growth in the US and Europe. The next chapter studies the factor demand's behaviour in sectors that are either ICT producers or ICT intensive users. The third part focuses on the ICT ability to create opportunities for complementarity innovations. Firstly, it identifies the nature of ICT complementary innovations and the corresponding efforts. It shows, then, that national accounts must be improved in order to take these efforts into account as investments. Secondly, this part shows that, among the eleven European countries studied, the problem is highly concentrated in a few countries that invest less both in ICT and in innovative assets and that these two types of effort are complementary.

Thesis Purpose: The study aimed to explore how the use of ICT has influenced the leadership role and thus also in what ways this has been helping the practice of the role among middle managers.The study was exploratory as an attempt to understand how the leadership role has been influenced in the new digital era. Theoretical Perspective: Previous literature has been examined where different concepts have been chosen in reference to the study. ICT, its connection to leadership and the composition of the managerial role has been presented in this thesis. Methodology: A qualitative method has been used for this case study with the aim to gain an understanding of the studied area. Collected data was analyzed using an abductive approach which involved back-and-forth engagement with theory and empirical findings.  Empirical study: For this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews was made with four middle managers, all positioned at the case company.  Conclusion: The leadership role was found to be both facilitated and made more difficult due to the use of ICT. Communication as a part of the informational roles among leaders has been facilitated the most. The facilitation of the roles was also found to depend on the technological skills among middle managers and the organisational structure.

Research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Management in the field of ICT Policy and Regulation, University of the Witwatersrand, 2012. / Universal Service Obligations (USOs) have been used, for over a decade, as a regulatory mechanism to bridge the digital divide in South Africa. For USOs to be effective and efficient in bridging the digital divide, it requires close coordination between various impacted and interested stakeholders, such as mobile network operators (MNOs), the ICT regulatory authority (the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa), and the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa in order to extend the number of beneficiaries of the USOs. Furthermore, this requires stakeholders to understand the full impact, as well as the costs and benefits (financial and non financial) before imposing the USOs. The evidence from this research confirms that there was no monitoring and evaluation of USOs for MNOs during their implementation. More importantly, the Regulatory Impact Assessment (as a regulatory tool) was never used by ICASA in respect of the USOs initiative. This led to the failure of the initiative in achieving most of its objectives. Such failure can be attributed to lack of understanding by ICASA of the general impact of imposing the USOs upon MNOs, given that no impact assessment was done before such imposition. Recommendations arising from the research include the need for a shared vision on the USOs initiative, the need for clearly identified and defined roles for all stakeholders with an interest in the initiative, the need for a properly analysed and know ICT access gap, the need to balance the use of market and non market mechanisms in respect of USOs, the to ensure a proper funding mechanisms for USOs, and the need to identify effective regulatory governance in respect of USOs.

Abuse of Dominant Position in the ICT Sector: A European Perspective Abstract The concept of abuse of dominant position refers to business practices in which a dominant market player may engage in order to maintain or strengthen its position in the market, and are prohibited under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This master's thesis provides insight into theory and decisional practice of abuse of dominant position within the EU with particular focus on the area of information and communication technologies (ICT). The ICT industry belongs among the fastest developing, with many new powerful market players emerging, often creating entirely new markets for themselves. This is where a potential risk for an abuse of dominance occurs and why many of the breakthrough cases in the previous years have been related to this sector. Since not only their products but also their business models are innovative, the competition policy must advance accordingly. This thesis firstly introduces the economic background and the policy objectives of contemporary EU competition rules. It is followed by a step-by-step examination of the assessment on the position of the investigated firm in the relevant market and the legality of the practice in question. Highlighted are the aspects which have...

Knowledge is a crucial resource in modern business environments. The proper management of an organization’s internal knowledge assets can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. Literature on knowledge management has identified a large number of factors that influence the transfer of knowledge within organizations. The purpose of this study is to investigate how internal knowledge assets are managed in the R&D department of a large company in the high-tech healthcare industry, what informal and formal organizational factors influence the transfer of knowledge, and to explore possible requirements and success factors for ICTs in knowledge transfer. A qualitative case study approach is adopted and semi-structured interviews with a total of ten members of the research and development departments are performed. A theoretical framework is used with elements from the knowledge-based view of the firm, dimensions of knowledge strategies, operational knowledge management practise, knowledge transformation models, and social exchange theory. The results of the empirical research show a knowledge-heavy company that engages in personalization, as well as codification strategies with the support of ICTs. Socialisation, combination, externalisation, and internalization are identified and related to the organization’s processes and practises. In addition, drivers, such as a friendly, cooperative atmosphere and the complexity of task, as well as deterrents of knowledge transfer, such as lack of time and weaknesses of ICTs, are identified. Interviewees identified several requirements for ICTs, above all low thresholds and the attainment of critical mass, as well as the demand for standardization and formalization. It was also found that employees are willing to document their knowledge in a technological knowledge management system if they can retrieve knowledge for themselves from the same system. This study provides a relevant example of knowledge management and transfer processes and practises, as well as influences on internal knowledge exchange.

Orientador: Mariangela Braga Norte / Banca: Cleide Antonia Rapucci / Banca: Dagoberto Buim Arena / Resumo: A presente pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, teve por objetivo observar nas relações que graduandos e professores estabelecem com as Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs), suas crenças em relação ao uso das TICs durante o processo de formação de professores de língua estrangeira. Para tanto, buscamos no curso de Letras a disciplina Laboratório de Línguas como ambiente para levantamento das crenças dos graduandos e da professora em relação ao discurso e ao uso das TICs. Buscou-se, também, propiciar à professora e aos alunos participantes atividades práticas com propósito de observar possíveis mudanças das crenças dos envolvidos em relação ao discurso e ao uso das TICs. Assim, adotamos uma abordagem contextual (Barcelos, 2001) para o estudo das crenças e, para tal, o contexto histórico, político, ideológico, cultural e social dos envolvidos. A coleta de dados ocorreu durante a disciplina Laboratório de Línguas ministradas no curso de Letras durante dois semestres de trinta e seis horas aulas cada. Os participantes desta pesquisa foram 16 alunos da disciplina e a professora que ministrou as aulas. Como instrumento para coleta de dados recorrermos à aplicação de questionários, autobiografias, entrevistas semi-estruturadas realizada com os alunos e com a professora todas gravadas em áudio, observação de aulas, sessão de visionamento, diário do pesquisador, gravação de aulas em vídeo e áudio. Os dados revelam que os graduandos e a professora possuem crenças em comum relação à disciplina Laboratório de Línguas, pois ora reconhecem a importância das TICs numa sociedade altamente tecnológica, ora apresentam contradições entre discurso e prática em relação e ao uso das TICs. No entanto, é possível notar mudanças positivas nos discurso que apontam mudanças nas relações dos graduandos e da professora frente às TICs / Abstract: The present research by qualitative nature had the aim to observe the relations of the pupils and professors establish with the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), their beliefs regarding to the use of ICTs during the graduation process as a Foreign Language Teachers. Therefore, we searched in the Language Degree course the Language Laboratory discipline as environment to raising the pupils and professor beliefs in relation to the speech and use of ICTs. We searched as well, provide to the professor and pupils practice activities with the purpose to observe possible changes in the students‟ beliefs regarding to the speech and use of ICTs. Thus, we adopted a contextual approach (Barcelos, 2001) to the study of beliefs and the historical, political, ideological, cultural and social context of the students. The data were collected during the Language Laboratory disciplines taught in the Language Degree course during two semesters of thirty six hours each. The participants of this research were sixteen students of this discipline and the teacher that taught them. The data were collected through questionnaires, autobiography, semi-structured interviews realized with the pupils and professor all recorded in audio, observation in class, viewing sessions, researcher diary, and audiovisual classes recordings. Data reveals that the pupils and professor have their own beliefs in common relation to the Language Laboratory discipline; therefore they know the importance of ICTs in a highly technological society, and however they present contradictions between speech and practice in relation and use of ICTs. Nevertheless, it is possible to notice positive changes in the speech that points to changes in the student and professor‟s relation front ICTs / Mestre

A assimilação das TICs pelas diferentes sociedades desponta como a mais nova fronteira de debate sobre as diferenças entre pobres e ricos e sobre a capacidade dos indivíduos se inserirem de forma autônoma, como sujeitos ativos da construção de sua história. As tecnologias quando não difundidas ao conjunto amplo da sociedade, acabam por aprofundar um já existente problema de divisão social. Caberiam, então, ações de políticas públicas para minimizar os efeitos negativos acarretados pelos processos de transformação tecnológica, promovendo ações de inclusão digital. Assim, neste contexto, o presente trabalho se propõe a pesquisa a política de inclusão digital promovida pela prefeitura de São Paulo através do Programa de Telecentros Comunitários. Tendo como perspectiva a visão dos profissionais que trabalham no atendimento e orientação aos usuários de cada unidade. / The assimilation of ICTs in different societies is viewed as the newest frontier of debate on the differences between rich and poor and on the ability of individuals were entering so autonomous, as assets subject of the construction of its history. The technologies when not pushed to the broad set of society, ultimately deepen an existing problem of social divide. In this case is obligation of the govern shares of public policies to minimize the negative effects forward by the process of technological transformation by promoting actions of digital inclusion. Thus, in this context, this work is proposed to search the policy of digital inclusion promoted by the mayor of Sao Paulo through the Program of Community Telecenters. With the prospect the vision of professionals working in the care and guidance to users of each unit.