Understanding the complexity of electronic government: Implications from the digital divide literature

Theoretically and practically E-Government and the digital divide are intertwined social phenomena. Using sophisticated information technologies (IT) in government has little social value if citizens are not able to use services or interact in political processes in meaningful ways. Similarly, understanding the development and use of IT in government without incorporating a demand perspective would potentially lead to partial explanations of a complex social reality. This article argues that studies about E-Government and the digital divide, which have been relatively disconnected research areas, have important parallels and potential intersections. These parallels may be useful in understanding E-Government projects and policies in a more comprehensive way and, consequently, for developing effective digital strategies. The paper reviews trajectories in E-Government and digital divide research and suggests potential implications drawn from the digital divide literature for E-Government research and practice, including model and theory development, understanding users, and some determinants of demand.     

Giftedness and social adjustment: evidence supporting the resilience approach in Spanish‐speaking children and adolescents

Do gifted students adjust poorly to their social environment? There are currently two competing positions: one that sustains that giftedness is by itself a risk factor for social adaptation, and another that holds that high cognitive abilities involve distinctive features that are protective and hence increase individual resilience. Empirical support has been provided for both positions. This paper provides data from a study performed with 50 Spanish‐speaking gifted children and adolescents using a comparison group of 50 average‐ability peers matched by sex and chronological age. The results show no significant differences between gifted students and their peers on global measures of adjustment. Instead, they suggest that gifted students are neither significantly more poorly nor better adjusted than their peers during different age periods. Our analysis of the results provides moderate support for the resilience position.     

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN ANALOGY ACTIVITY IN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ CONCEPTUAL CHANGE FOR SOLUTION CHEMISTRY CONCEPTS

This paper reports on an investigation on the use of an analogy activity and seeks to provide evidence of whether the activity enables students to change alternative conceptions towards views more in accord with scientific views for aspects of solution chemistry. We were also interested in how robust any change was and whether these changes in conceptual thinking became embedded in the students’ long-term memory. The study has its theoretical basis in an interpretive paradigm, and used multiple methods to probe the issues in depth. Data collection consisted of two concept test items, one-on-one interviews, and student self-assessment. The sample consisted of 44 Grade 9 students selected from two intact classes (22 each), from Trabzon, Turkey. The interviews were conducted with six students selected because of evidence as to their significant conceptual change in solution chemistry. The research findings revealed statistically significant differences in pre-test and post-test scores, and pre-test and delayed post-test scores (p<0.05), but no differences between post-test and delayed test scores (p>0.05). This suggests that the analogy activity is helpful in enhancing students’ conceptual understanding of solution chemistry, and that these changes may be stored in the students’ long-term memory.     

消费者交互作用对网络外部性市场技术演化的影响

在考虑局部网络效应基础上,从多种技术同时扩散的视角出发,采用仿真模型分析消费者交互作用对网络外部性市场技术演化的影响。研究表明:消费者交互作用所形成的聚集效应是驱动网络外部性市场技术演化的重要因素,在一定程度上决定了技术演化的均衡结果呈现为赢家通吃或多种技术共存。聚集效应使得消费者选择出现"局部偏差",即采用的技术并非是整体市场中占有率最高的。当消费者交互作用的聚集效应越强,技术演化均衡结果往往是多种互不兼容技术共存;当消费者交互作用的聚集效应越弱,技术演化则趋向于赢家通吃。此外,这种聚集效应还会影响企业扩大安装基础和加强市场沟通这两种技术竞争策略的效果。     

技术创新、产业绩效与环境规制——基于长三角的实证分析

利用1995～2008年长三角经济区域的面板数据,在SCP分析框架下,测算环境规制对技术创新和产业绩效的具体影响,结果显示:环境规制通过技术创新产生的正向效应超过了成本增加引起的负向效应,最终导致产业绩效的增加;环境规制在即期和滞后期都能够显著促进技术创新和产业绩效,且在即期促进效果最好,环境规制每提高1%,技术创新和产业绩效分别增加2.902%和1.385%;长三角技术创新能力和科技转化能力较强,环境规制对技术创新和产业绩效的影响显示了完全的同步规律。     

Credit card incidents and control systems

Credit and debit cards have spread and skyrocketed all around the world to become the most popular means of payments in many countries. Despite their enormous popularity, cards are not free of risk. Technology development and e-commerce have exponentially increased internal credit card incidents. This paper identifies and quantifies the different types of credit card fraud and puts into question the effectiveness of the role assigned to cardholders in its detection.     

Potential adverse cardiac remodelling in highly trained athletes: still unknown clinical significance

Moderate endurance exercise has long been considered an essential element to maintain cardiovascular health, and sedentary behaviour in the general population has been related to a significant increase in all-causes of mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality and cardiovascular disease incidence. However, a growing group of people performs an intense exercise that leads to multiple heart adaptive changes that are collectively called “athlete’s heart”. In this review, we discussed the evidence of cardiac remodelling process secondary to repetitive and strenuous exercise in some predisposed athletes that produces intense and probably deleterious changes in cardiac morphology and function with no clear clinical significance in long-term follow-up. Moreover, we also discussed the individual biological response to exercise assessed by myocardial damage, inflammation, oxidative stress, fibrosis and ventricular hypertrophy biomarkers showing different intensities with equivalent exertion.     

The Attitudes of Different Partners Involved in Higher Education towards Students with Disabilities

In this article we analyse the inclusion of students with disabilities in the field of university attendance, emphasising the importance of attitudes of teachers as well as the rest of the university community as a whole for inclusion to be successful. The effect of variables of gender, education and training and contact with students with disabilities on these attitudes is also detailed. A scale was applied to assess attitudes towards disabilities to 2671 participants, including students with and without disabilities, teachers and administrative and services staff from the Faculty of Education in a University in Southern Spain. The results show that in general, the university community has positive attitudes towards students with disabilities, with differences according to the group, with university teachers having the most favourable attitudes. The results are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Integrating Computational Science Tools into a Thermodynamics Course

Computational tools and methods have permeated multiple science and engineering disciplines, because they enable scientists and engineers to process large amounts of data, represent abstract phenomena, and to model and simulate complex concepts. In order to prepare future engineers with the ability to use computational tools in the context of their disciplines, some universities have started to integrate these tools within core courses. This paper evaluates the effect of introducing three computational modules within a thermodynamics course on student disciplinary learning and self-beliefs about computation. The results suggest that using worked examples paired to computer simulations to implement these modules have a positive effect on (1) student disciplinary learning, (2) student perceived ability to do scientific computing, and (3) student perceived ability to do computer programming. These effects were identified regardless of the students’ prior experiences with computer programming.