This research investigated whether the buyer-seller interorganizational relationship (IOR) differed between a firm and two classes of customers. The first class used electronic data interchange (EDI) with the firm and the second class used the traditional paper-based purchasing system. IOR characteristics included reputation, skill, direct power, indirect power, reciprocity, and efficiency.

by Yau Mun-Yee. / Includes questionnaire. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-53). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Research Objective --- p.2 / Organization --- p.3 / Chapter II. --- ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI) --- p.5 / Definition --- p.5 / History --- p.5 / Classification --- p.7 / Chapter III. --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.9 / Chapter IV. --- RESEARCH METHOLOGY --- p.13 / Research Hypotheses --- p.13 / Measurement of EDI Usage --- p.15 / Choice of Trading Partner --- p.17 / Methodology --- p.19 / Chapter V. --- DATA ANALYSIS --- p.21 / Testing of First Hypothesis HI --- p.23 / Testing of Second Hypothesis H2 --- p.27 / Testing of Third Hypothesis H3 --- p.30 / Chapter VI. --- INTERVIEW STUDY --- p.37 / EDI Implementation Strategy of the Company --- p.37 / EDI Connection Strategy of the Company --- p.41 / Chapter VII. --- CONCLUSION --- p.45 / Summary --- p.45 / Limitation of this Research --- p.46 / Suggestion for Future Research --- p.47 / Managerial Implication --- p.47 / APPENDIX A Covering Letter --- p.50 / APPENDIX B Research Questionnaire --- p.51 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.52

The purpose of this dissertation is to explicate the meaning of information systems (IS) success in the realm of a dynamic hierarchical structure model of IS success. Through an empirical study of 382 firms using internal and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems, different characteristics of this model are examined via four hypotheses. / First, using linear structural modelling techniques, it is shown that successful information systems share certain properties common to all systems, in addition to certain properties specific to each class of systems. Four generic factors influencing IS success are identified as (i) output reliability, (ii) system's characteristics, (iii) efficiency outcomes, and (iv) users' requirements. Second, the role of time in the IS adoption and assessment process is explored. By comparing firms that have adopted EDI with those that have not adopted EDI, it is shown that the decision maker's perception of IS success changes during different stages of the adoption and assessment process. Third, the role of stakeholders in the assessment process is examined by comparing perceptions of different managerial groups based on their educational background, management echelon, and functional area. It is shown that different stakeholders evaluate the success of IS differently. Finally, through an examination of various types of evaluation functions, it is shown that IS success is a multi-dimensional construct. / Overall, cross-group comparisons of the dynamic hierarchical structural model of IS success provide sufficient evidence regarding the instability of IS success across time, type of system, and stakeholders involved in the evaluation process. / In addition to the major hypotheses, two corollaries have also been examined. It is shown that user involvement in an IS project has a positive effect on the system's success. Further, the results of the study indicate that respondents in smaller companies are more satisfied with the support and services of the MIS department than their counterparts in larger companies. / Finally, by comparing three versions of the questionnaire used in the study, it is shown that question order has a significant effect on responses. The implications of this finding for survey studies are discussed.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

No description available.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Historically, different aspects of the configuration of an airborne instrumentation system were specified in a variety of different software applications. Instrumentation setup software handled the definition of measurements and PCM Formats while separate applications handled pre-flight checkout, calibration and post-flight data analysis. This led to the manual entry of the same data multiple times. Industry standards such as TMATS strive to address this problem by creating a data-interchange format for passing setup information from one application to another. However, a better alternative is to input all of the relevant setup information about the sensor and the measurement when it is initially created in the instrumentation vendor’s software. Furthermore, an additional performance enhancement can be achieved by adding the ability to perform sensor calibration and engineering unit conversions to pre-flight data visualization software that is tightly coupled with the instrumentation setup software. All of the setup information can then be transferred to the ground station for post-flight processing and data reduction. Detailed reports can also be generated for each measurement. This paper describes the flow of data through an integrated airborne instrumentation setup application that allows sensors and measurements to be defined, acquired, calibrated and converted from raw counts to engineering units. The process of performing a sensor calibration, configuring engineering unit conversions, and importing calibration and transducer data sheets will also be discussed.

Bus-based Park and Ride (P&R) schemes have become increasingly popular over the past 40 years in the UK, as a result of them being considered a positive traffic reduction policy by many, not least local authorities. There have nevertheless been concerns over the true effects of P&R. For instance, surveys of P&R users have long since revealed that up to a third transfer from conventional public transport. This induces car travel for the access portion of the P&R trip, which is generally large compared to the bus portion, owing to the edge-of-town location of P&R sites. Combined with the mileage effects of high-frequency bus services, evidence has suggested that P&R may thus result in an increase, compared to alternative travel behaviour, in the mean vehicle miles travelled (VMT) of its users. This thesis aims to investigate how UK bus-based P&R may be developed to reduce users VMT. As such, it applies to P&R the Characteristics Approach to Consumer Demand and delineates the attributes of interchange from which users derive utility. The research also develops this approach to consider the characteristics that affect the traffic impacts of P&R. The characteristics of P&R are adjusted to provide alternative concepts of interchange that aim to reduce VMT. These concepts are then examined to understand the level of utility that they are likely to provide. Local authorities perceptions of utility are examined initially, through a national survey which also looks at general attitudes towards P&R, its effects and its future. The city of Cambridge (UK) is selected as a case study in which an in-depth document analysis and interview survey of local stakeholders is carried out to understand the role of P&R in local policy and the implications of the implementation of alternative concepts of interchange. In this context, a survey of P&R users is also undertaken which considers the VMT effects of the current and alternative concepts of P&R as well as the change in the level of utility that would be derived from using them. It is concluded that local authorities generally consider P&R to be an effective policy in reducing car use whilst also playing important roles in the local economy and political arena. Yet the evidence on the Cambridge P&R scheme suggests that VMT is increased to a higher degree than previously proven. Alternative concepts of interchange are shown to offer some potentially significant benefits by reducing the VMT of users. Furthermore, some of the alternative concepts are also shown to offer benefits in terms of the utility that they may provide to the user, and the perceptions on this by local authorities. The VMT and utility results are combined to suggest that future implementation of interchange should consider operating feeder bus services into interchange sites (an intermediate solution offering some VMT benefits with relatively small resource requirements) or, operating a series of small interchange sites along main access routes to host cities (likely to require more resources but providing significant VMT benefits).

This study is an effort to add to the body of evidence for or against the validity of the concept of Interchange Compatibility as a factor in the goal achievement and cohesion of a group.

A epilepsia é uma patologia caracterizada como sinal ou sintoma de uma desordem neurológica que se manifesta por breves descargas de neurotransmissores neuronais, decorrentes de distúrbios nas funções elétricas cerebrais levando a ocorrência de crises. Entre os medicamentos disponíveis no mercado, a lamotrigina (LTG) tem sido amplamente utilizada, principalmente devido a sua maior tolerabilidade e menor índice de interação farmacológica com outros fármacos antiepilépticos (DAEs). A maioria dos DAEs, e particularmente os mais novos, são de elevado custo financeiro para o paciente, portanto o sistema de saúde oferece aos seus usuários a possibilidade os receberem, porém, uma mesma regional de saúde pode variar o fornecimento de um princípio ativo entre os seus equivalentes terapêuticos disponíveis no mercado. Assim sendo, esse estudo tem a finalidade de avaliar as conseqüências clínicas e laboratoriais relacionadas à utilização de diferentes equivalentes terapêuticos da LTG (referência e similares). O estudo foi dividido em três períodos de 42 dias cada, um para cada formulação onde se realizaram atendimentos médico e farmacêutico e foram coletados dados sobre a freqüência de crises, a ocorrência de eventos adversos, dosagem plasmática de LTG e qualidade de vida dos nove pacientes incluídos no estudo. As formulações A e B são medicamentos similares e a C é o medicamento referência. Com relação ao número médio de crises foi de 3,22; 7,17 e 5,75 para as formulações A, B e C, respectivamente, no entanto essa diferença não é estatisticamente significante. Também não houve diferença significativa entre as concentrações plasmáticas de LTG. Com relação à ocorrência de reações adversas houve três casos com a formulação C e nenhum com as demais, com significância estatística (p<0,05). Quanto a qualidade de vida não houve uma diferença significativa quando se comparou todas as formulações entretanto a formulação A aumentou significativamente a qualidade de vida dos pacientes durante de sua utilização. Assim sendo, concluí-se que os medicamentos similares apresentaram resultados satisfatórios quando comparado ao medicamento de referência, entretanto a substituição das formulações pode dificultar o controle das crises epilépticas e ao manejo da epilepsia. / Epilepsy is a condition characterized as a sign or a symptom of a neurological disorder manifested by brief discharges of neuronal neurotransmitters, resulting from disturbances in electrical brain fuctions leading to crises. Among the drugs available to patients, lamotrigine (LTG) has been widely used, mainly due to their greater tolerability and lower rate of drug interactions with other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Most of the AEDs, and particularly the newest, have high cost to patient, so the health system offers to users the possibility to receive then, but, the same regional health can change the supply of a drug within available therapeutic equivalents in the market. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the clinical and laboratory consequences related to use of different therapeutic equivalents of LTG (reference and similar drugs). The study was divided into three periods of 42 days, one for each formulation which held medical and pharmaceutical care, and data about the frequency of seizures, the occurrence of adverse effects, measurement of plasma LTG and quality of life were collected. The formulations A and B are similar drugs and C is the reference drug. Regarding the average number of seizures it was 3.22, 7.17 and 5.75 for formulations A, B and C, respectively, however, this difference is not statistically significant. There was no significant difference between plasma concentrations of LTG. Also, regarding the occurrence of adverse reactions three patients has one kind each one with the formulation C and none with the others, with statistical significance (p <0.05). Regarding quality of life there was no significant difference when comparing all formulations however the formulation A significantly increased the quality of life of patients on the period its use. Therefore, it is concluded that similar drugs showed satisfactory results when compared to the reference product, however the replacement of the formulations may hamper the control of seizures and epilepsy management.