Construction organisations are increasingly focussing their energies, resources, and aspirations to the development of strategy. In this context, information technology (IT) is progressively being used as a core tool and enabler of the business strategy (BS), particularly in areas of strategic analysis and knowledge management. However, two major issues should be considered concerning the use of IT; the first of which relates to the technology itself - specifically how this can be used (and evaluated) to support the business; and the second issue concerns implementation - the details of which naturally embraces many aspects, including the provision of (and support for) IT training. From an IT perspective therefore, organisations should endeavour to match opportunity with corporate capability, the edict of which requires appropriately trained and skilled workforce to deliver IT capability (to match skills with demand). Training can be considered an investment, the remit of which aims to prepare organisations to adapt to the changing business environment (to meet current and future business needs). Whilst the provision of training can often lead to improved performance, organisations must however engage appropriate mechanisms to evaluate (and assess) the impact of IT training on the business performance gap. Organisations are therefore increasingly using 'process' to improve business performance, the concepts of which focus on activities (how things are done), rather than the product ('what' is produced). Many large construction organisations are now using maps and protocols to deliver business benefits. In this context, the process approach to IT (and its link with the BS) could therefore enable process users to more readily appreciate (and assess) the impact of IT training on the business performance gap. This research introduces a Generic Assessment Process Protocol model for IT training (GAPP-IT) for specific use in the construction business environment. It engages the Process Protocol (PP) methodology to identify the key sequential stages (gates) and issues required to satisfy (or close) the business performance gap.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, June, 1997. / Title from PDF t.p.

The dawn of Technology Age was marked by the mainframe. The tipping for lock stock societal change has been The Internet.This Technological progress has changed everything in business since. Information Technology has fed the winds of the Schumpeterian Gale, increasing the rate of creative destruction and upending business models are rate never seen before.Now more than ever the importance of managing an organisations technological capability is critical for business survival. Organisations require their Chief Technology Officers to go further, creating competitive advantage through astute technological management.The purpose of this study was to ascertain the strategic responsibilities of a Chief Technology Officer and what skills are required to meet these responsibilities.The findings of this research are underscored by the works of respected scholars and explored through the development of a Skills and Responsibilities Matrix developed through the research. This research highlights the importance of the CTO role as an executive of the business and the importance of having the correct individual. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Once convicted, always doomed, How Lexbase emerged, disappeared and reappeared, by Fanny Krafft and Per Rosander, is a case study based on the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) perspective. The study deals with the controversial service Lexbase and how the reaction in the media highlights the phenomenon as very critical in line with our society. The study intends to explain what the phenomenon Lexbase is an expression of, based on the media's reactions in the newspaper through a content analysis. This analyze of the reactions, shall be able to answer the problem statement. This is;how can the appearance of a service like Lexbase explained? In order to answer the problem statement, intends the study to manage a variety of literatures that are systematically selected for the study purpose and question. The literature will explain how Lexbase could occur.   The purpose of this study is to try to investigate how Lexbase has been made possible and what underlying factors existed to create the service.To study the phenomenon will the study use STT as theoretical framework, as well as other theories that are considered relevant to handle. The study will also assume the causal factors that made Lexbase available in the market such as internets condition, Swedish legislation and entrepreneurship among others.   The result shows that Lexbase has occurred by society interactions with technology, which has opened up a glade in the market. In the empirical evidence clearly shows that the community is critical to the service, but because it is legally legitimate are the discussions about the basis of an ethical and moral perspective.

M. Ed.

Purpose: Toileting is an activity of daily living that is often difficult to perform independently for rehabilitation patients, which can be detrimental to the patient’s self-esteem and hygiene. Technology-Assisted Toilets (TATs) are commercially-available toilet seats which clean the user with a stream of water, and have a fan for drying. TATs are operated by a wall-mounted remote control. This thesis investigated whether TATs could improve stroke and geriatric rehabilitation patients’ ability to clean themselves independently after a bowel movement, and improve psychosocial outcomes when toileting. Methods: Stroke rehabilitation participants answered the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scales (PIADS) to assess the psychosocial impact of their regular toileting, then used the TAT for a bowel movement on three occasions. In geriatric rehabilitation, participants completed two bowel movement trials; one using regular toileting and one using the TAT. In both studies, participants answered the PIADS and were visually assessed for cleanliness after each trial. Results: Stroke rehabilitation patients had significantly higher PIADS when using the TAT. TATs cleaned participants completely in 73% of BM trials. In geriatric rehabilitation, participants gave TATs higher PIADS scores than regular toileting, but the difference was not statistically significant. Cleanliness level was equal between TAT and regular toileting. Conclusions: These pilot studies show that TATs have the potential to be useful assistive devices for stroke and geriatric rehabilitation patients who have difficulty cleaning themselves independently in the bathroom. PIADS scores in both studies suggest that participants would be unlikely to abandon using TATs.

Recently, restaurant employees exposing to cooking oil fume with potential lung cancer was highly concerned, indicating cooking oil fume emitted from restaurants might cause tremendous hazard to human health. This study combined photocatalytic oxidation and ozone oxidation technology to decompose VOCs from the exhaust of cooking oil fume from restaurants. Firstly, this study selected three different types of restaurants to implement air pollutant measurements in the indoor dinning room and stack emission. Indoor TVOCs continuous monitoring data showed that the highest TVOCs concentration was generally observed in the dining peak time. In this study, photocatalyst coated fiberglass filter was prepared by impregnation procedure and its characteristics was analyzed by SEM and XRD. Experimental results showed that the particle size of photocatalyst ranged from 25 to 50 nm and had high percentage of Anatase, suggesting that it had high photocatalytic reactivity. This study designed a continuous-flow reaction system combined nano-sized TiO2 photocatalysis with ozone oxidation technology to decompose VOCs from cooking oil fume. After passing through a fiberglass filter to remove oil droplets, the cooking oil fume then coated with nano-sized titanium oxide (UV/TiO2) fiberglass filter purification system, and then injected ozone into the system to decompose residual VOCs. This study further investigated the influences of operating parameters, including TVOCs initial concentration, O3 injection concentration, and reaction temperature on the decomposition efficiency of TVOCs by using the UV/TiO2/O3 technology. When the photocatalytic reaction temperature was 35~50¢J, the TVOC decomposition efficiency slightly increased with reaction temperature, however, when the reaction temperature went up to 55¢J, the TVOC decomposition efficiency increased only slightly, but did not increased linearly. Combination of photocatalysis and ozone oxidation system performance test results showed that ozone could decompose approximately 34% VOCs, and followed by the photocatalytical reaction of residual pollutants, achieving an overall decomposition efficiency of about 75%; while photocatalytic reaction can remove 64% of TVOCs and followed by O3 for the decomposition of residual pollutants, achieving an overall decomposition efficiency up to 94%. It showed that the combined UV/TiO2+O3 system could effectively remove VOCs in the cooking oil fume from the exhaust of restaurants. By using GC/MS to qualitatively analyze the speciation of TVOCs from cooking oil fume before and after UV/TiO2/O3, the results showed that the composition of VOCs had a decreasing trend. The peak area and dilution factor were applied to estimate the decomposition efficiency of different VOCs species. The decomposition efficiencies of pentane, 2-acrolein, acrolein, heptane, pentanal, hexanal, 2-hexenal, heptanal, heptenal and ethylhexenal were 56.21%, 72.88%, 51.33%, 32.23%, 59.04%, 69.22%, 73.53%, 41.37%, 92.57%, and 96.02%. Finally, a Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model was applied to simulate the photocatalytic decomposition efficiency with the initial concentration of cooking oil fume. Model simulation results showed that the reaction rate increased with the initial TVOCs concentration. However, when TVOCs concentration increased gradually, the reaction rate became constant since the activated sites on the photocatalyst¡¦s surface was limited and cannot allow more VOC molecules diffuse to the activated sites for further photocatalytic reaction.

Artificiell intelligens inom kundtjänst blir allt vanligare med chatbottarnas framfart. Företagen använder sig allt mer av chatbottar för att hantera sina konsumenters ärenden vilket ställer höga krav på en bra implementation av ny teknik för att kunderna ska ta till sig denna. Tidigare forskninghar visat på att accepterandet av ny teknik i stor grad beror av den förväntade nyttan personen ser sig ha utav tekniken samt hur användarvänlig den är. När det gäller just chatbottar och system som hanterar personlig information bör det även finnas ett inslag av hur pass mycket personen litar på tekniken eller företagen bakom tekniken. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka just hur tillit påverkar konsumenters acceptans av en ny teknik samt hur det påverkar deras syn på företagen som använder sig av tekniken. En enkät undersökning genomfördes för att mäta konsumenters tillit till företag gällande chatbottar samt för att undersöka om tillit kan ingå som en förklarande variabel i technology acceptance modellen. Resultaten visar på att tillit har en viss påverkan men att den förväntade nyttan och erbjudande om annan service med chatbottar som tillägg eller komplement är det som konsumenterna värnar mest om.

This field study presents mobile rescue robots as a way of augmenting communication in distributed teams through a remote shared visual presence (RSVP) consisting of the robot's view. It examines the effects of RSVP on team mental models, team processes, and team performance in collocated and distributed Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) technical search teams, and tests two models of team performance. Participants (n=50) were US&R task force personnel drawn from high-fidelity training exercises held in California (2004) and New Jersey (2005). Data were collected from the 25 dyadic teams as they performed a 2 x 2 repeated measures search task entailing robot-assisted search in a confined space rubble pile. Team communication was analyzed using the Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue coding scheme (RASAR-CS). Team mental models were measured through a team-constructed map of the search process. Ratings of team processes (communication, support, leadership, and situation awareness) were made by onsite observers, and team performance was measured by number of victims (mannequins) found. Multilevel regression analyses were used to predict team mental models, team process, and team performance based upon use of RSVP (RSVP or no-RSVP) and location of team members (distributed or collocated). Results indicated that the use of RSVP technology predicted team performance (Ã?=-1.322, p = 0.05), but not team mental models or team process. Location predicted team mental models (Ã?=-0.425, p = 0.05), but not as expected. Distributed teams had richer team mental models as measured by map ratings. No significant differences emerged between collocated and distributed teams in team process or team performance. Findings suggest RSVP may enhance team performance in US&R search tasks. However, results are complicated by differences detected between sites. Support was found for both models of team performance, but neither model was found sufficient to describe the data. Further research is suggested in the use of RSVP technology, the exploration of team mental models, and refinement of a modified model of team performance in extreme environments.