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In the fourth industrial revolution age, digital transformation is crucial to the sustainable development of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). This study suggests a hierarchical model based on the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) model with three main dimensions and nine sub-dimensions for SMEs that implemented digital transformation in the emerging economy. The fuzzy analytic hierarchical process methodology (Fuzzy AHP) was used to explore and rank determinants of the digital transformation adoption for SMEs. Data were collected by the questionnaires from 72 respondents, who were the leaders of SMEs in Vietnam. The results revealed that the environmental factor was ranked the most important factor in the pairwise comparisons of the hierarchical structure, and the sub-dimension of the customer experience was at the highest ranking of the relative pairwise comparisons of the digital transformation adoption for SMEs, followed by technological compatibility, government support, organizational support, and human resources. This research makes contributions to the topic of digital transformation from both theoretical and practical implications. The result stresses the critical significance of environmental factors in the successful adoption of digital technologies in SMEs, which adds to the perspective in the context of a growing nation.
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Advances in digital neuroimaging technologies, i.e., MRI and CT scan technology, have radically changed illness diagnosis in the global healthcare system. Digital imaging technologies produce NIfTI images after scanning the patient's body. COVID-19 spared on a worldwide effort to detect the lung infection. CT scans have been performed on billions of COVID-19 patients in recent years, resulting in a massive amount of NIfTI images being produced and communicated over the internet for diagnosis. The dissemination of these medical photographs over the internet has resulted in a significant problem for the healthcare system to maintain its integrity, protect its intellectual property rights, and address other ethical considerations. Another significant issue is how radiologists recognize tempered medical images, sometimes leading to the wrong diagnosis. Thus, the healthcare system requires a robust and reliable watermarking method for these images. Several image watermarking approaches for .jpg, .dcm, .png, .bmp, and other image formats have been developed, but no substantial contribution to NIfTI images (.nii format) has been made. This research suggests a hybrid watermarking method for NIfTI images that employs Slantlet Transform (SLT), Lifting Wavelet Transform (LWT), and Arnold Cat Map. The suggested technique performed well against various attacks. Compared to earlier approaches, the results show that this method is more robust and invisible.
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This study aims to determine factors impacting the intention of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in using fintech lending applications as an optional source of business financing using the technology acceptance model approach. The population in this study were MSMEs in Indonesia. Samples were taken by purposive sampling with the criteria of having used a licensed fintech lending application for business financing. The samples used were 171 samples. This study used structural equation model (SEM) as the analysis technique. The results of this study showed that Perceived Ease of Use had an impact on Perceived Usefulness but had no effect on Attitude Toward Using. The factor Perceived Usefulness had an effect on Attitude Toward Using, and Attitude Toward Using influences Behavioral Intention to Use. Fintech companies can play a role by providing education and empowerment to foster understanding of digital literacy for MSME stakeholders. The governments need to develop policy frameworks that can balance innovation and risk mitigation.
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Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan city, China. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, to restrict the spread of virus, the Government has imposed strict measures with subsequent lockdowns as a result the home environment has become a workplace for many. Of all sectors the software domain is the most affected. Limited resource facility, work - engagement, work-life balance, family conflicts, stress management have been the challenges faced by these IT professionals working from home Aim: To analyze the impact of Covid 19 on health status and quality of life among software professionals in Covid pandemic through validated online questionnaires using google forms. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional e-survey was conducted using validated questionnaires through google forms following approval of the Institutional Ethics Committee. The questionnaire consisted of 4 open ended and 21 close ended questions.Job-stress, physical and mental well-being, work life balance, work engagement was assessed.The google form was posted in social media channel groups of software professionals for a period of 2 weeks following which the data was collected.Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software version 22.0. Results: A total of 154 software professionals participated in the study. Of which 80 were females and belonged to the 26-30 years age group. 83% software professionals preferred working in hybrid mode. This study shows that working hours increased with increased work pressure in a home-based work setting (61%). Both work life balance and work engagement were fair in a home-based work setting (p-0.0001). Anxiety, depression and emotional problems affected work engagement and work life balance. Some professionals developed physical ailments such as hair fall, vision problems and back ache in a home-based work set up. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggests that emotional well-being, sleep quality,decision latitude,limited resource facilities and job stress affected work engagement and work life balance. Hence undertaking appropriate measures proactively to enhance these factors under crisis conditions may mitigate the negative consequences of home-based work setting and improve the quality of life of software developers in the covid pandemic. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results is the property of ResearchTrentz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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COVID-19 refocused the importance of social responsibility awareness and social performance measurement of health care. Hospitals must carry out social accountability behaviors while still providing adequate facilities and services. However, any analysis of social performance still contains many ambiguities and can differ in its reference points depending on the nature of the different stakeholders. The study uses an explanatory study to measure the social performance of hospitals in Indonesia and examine the indicators and dimensions that influence social performance in hospitals the most. Data of 752 accredited hospitals were obtained from the Indonesian Commission on Accreditation of Hospital (ICAHO) in Indonesia. Data analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Model (SEM) methodology and SPSS AMOS software. The study found a significant and positive effect of environmental forces and information technology resources on social performance. Further, the study found that intrapreneurship (entrepreneurship efforts within established institutions) in hospitals mediated the effects of organizational architecture, environment forces, and information technology toward/in favor of social performance. This study contributes to improving the quality healthcare by demonstrating novelty for how social performance can be measured and better efforts adopted to produce more social value-based healthcare through the use of organizational architecture, environmental forces, and information technology.
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The case "SIMO Research" documents the journey of an engineer-entrepreneur who created an enterprise providing safety, quality and consultancy solutions to some of the most prominent cryogenic industry and the oil and gas sector. The case also mentions roadblocks faced, business strategies and tactical interventions made, thus providing with insight as to how a budding entrepreneur may succeed in any kind of market. The researchers attempt a recommendation, to continue business excellence, guided by Porter's Five Forces Model.
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In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the globe. The viral outbreak was followed by rapid changes in people's everyday and working lives. Because of the wide-scale societal restrictions that took place to prevent the pandemic, social work was forced to take a digital leap. In this article, we examine Finnish social workers' experiences of extending the use of digitally mediated social work (DMSW) in working with clients during the first wave of the pandemic, the spring of 2020. The data consist of 33 social workers' personal diaries, which are analysed using a qualitative theory-based content analysis. Henri Lefebvre's theory of spatial triad will be utilised in theorising how social workers represent DMSW through three dimensions of space, that is, how they perceive, conceive and live digital spaces when encountering their clients and how physical, mental and social spaces are embodied in the representations. The results suggest that the three dimensions of space 1) basis of, 2) conceived and 3) lived DMSW intertwine closely together. The results reveal how the physical space, including IT infrastructure, its functionality and applicability, along with the organisational contexts, form a bedrock for the social workers' DMSW practice and had a decisive impact on their experiences. Second, the conceived space consists of workers' cognitive and emotional elements, such as competencies, preconceptions and attitudes towards ICT. Finally, the third dimension of spatiality concludes with the social and relational aspects of the user experiences and encounters between clients and social workers.
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The unexpected outbreak of the Corona virus (COVID-19) disrupted schools and universities around the world. Traditional classes were canceled, forcing schools and universities to switch to online learning. While developed countries have already adopted e-learning and online learning into their teaching practices, which made the transition relatively easy during the COVID-19 crisis, other developing countries continue to struggle with problems of electricity and information technology infrastructure. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges of online learning faced by students and teachers at the Faculty of Sciences Ain Chock, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Morocco. Thus, two anonymous structured Google Forms questionnaires were sent to participants via email. 498 responses were returned from students and 105 from teachers. We use descriptive statistics to better understand the distribution of study participants. The study reveals that the faculty during the lockdown ensured educational continuity and offered a reliable online learning in terms of digital and educational materials. However, technical problems such as the slow speed of the Internet connection, lack of knowledge about the use of information and communication technologies to teach and learn, low motivation of students, were significant challenges to students' and teachers' use of the digital tools. © 2023, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning. All Rights Reserved.
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Consumption and production of digital goods and services have increased in Indonesia for the past ten years. A fast-growing e-commerce sector and an increase in digital payments supported the strong growth of the digital economy. Although Internet and digital transactions emerged in the late 1980s, the regulatory framework governing digital activities was only introduced in 2008 with the enactment of the Law on Electronic Information and Transactions. The government of Indonesia has relaxed foreign capital restrictions and provided fiscal incentives for digital businesses. Indonesia has also made commitments related to digital business in recent trade agreements in terms of the mutual recognition of consumer protection and cross-border data transfer. To encourage the use of ICT in public service, Indonesia introduced the 100 Smart City programme and has begun the implementation of electronic-based public service and operation (e-government). The government accelerated digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic by increasing the budget allocations for ICT in 2020 and 2021. To further accelerate digital transformation, the government needs to focus on digital literacy, nationwide integrated infrastructure, regulatory and institutional mechanisms and the innovation ecosystem.
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Purpose: This paper examined the evaluation of the virtual internship program for KAU IT students during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 summer. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-method survey was utilized for the data collection. Out of 164 enrolled students in the 2020 summer training program, 147 students opted to participate. This gives a response rate of 89.6% of the total students' number who could participate. In addition to collecting quantitative data, qualitative data were collected. The sources for qualitative data were survey open questions, weekly reflective writing and video recordings. Findings: The quantitative result showed that the students were satisfied with their virtual internship. These results were further qualitatively explored and discussed under five themes: information and knowledge, work experience, live interaction, the comfort of achieving tasks and soft skills. The outcomes showed that the plan which offered students opportunities to be trained online with real companies accomplishing real work tasks was the best in fulfilling the requirements of the internship. Thus, it emphasized the importance of a strong alliance with the industry to provide useful virtual internship opportunities. Research limitations/implications: Though this study made a novel contribution to the timely literature on the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not without its limitations. The difference in the three sample sizes makes it difficult to get in-depth comparative analysis. For future research, it is highly recommended to study the impact of online training with real existing companies on a relatively larger sample number. Practical implications: In order for a higher educational institute to successfully adopt the proposed plans for the virtual internship, here are the reflections and lessons learned from our three plans. (1) Emphasize your efforts on extending your partnership with the private sector and computing industry. (2) The MCIT training focuses on developing technical skills;therefore, it is great to be offered to students in the computing field as extracurricular activities but not as the fulfillment of the internship program. (3) Blackboard training sessions, which cover nontechnical skills, are good to be offered prior to the internship. Social implications: For governmental human resource agencies, it is highly recommended to further develop and invest in manpower to develop online platforms. In normal situations, these platforms act as an extra training resource. In abnormal situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, they act as useful source for online training. For students, this sudden unexpected transition from normal to online training should enrich them with the ability to be flexible and adaptive, tune them with opportunities for independent and innovative creative work, encourage them to take risks and provide them with opportunities to do things differently. As an outcome, students will enhance their self-efficacy and capabilities. Originality/value: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not only classes and internship programs have been done remotely but increasingly jobs have also gone in that direction. A virtual internship today might be good preparation for the virtual/remote work of tomorrow. For this reason, this study was conducted to add a novel contribution to the virtual internship literature. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines/adverse effects , COVID-19/prevention & control , Consumer Health Information/standards , Internet , 2019-nCoV Vaccine mRNA-1273/adverse effects , Ad26COVS1/adverse effects , Adolescent , BNT162 Vaccine/adverse effects , ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/adverse effects , Humans , Risk Assessment , SARS-CoV-2 , United KingdomABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, panic buying, price inflation, and the pollution of production processes led to economic and social unrest. In response to the current situation, the current research takes less account of the subjective perception of public panic buying and the lack of reference to the reality of effective governance. First, this paper uses prospect theory to portray the public's perceived value of goods in panic buying and non-panic buying situations. Then, drawing on the experience of effective governance in China, a tripartite evolutionary game model of local government, the public and green smart supply chain enterprises is constructed under the reward and punishment mechanism of the central government. Then, this paper analyzes the strategic choices of each game player and the stability of the system equilibrium. The structure of the study suggests the following. (1) Improving local government subsidies and penalties, the cost of positive response and the probability of response can lead to an evolutionary direction where the public chooses not to panic buy and green smart supply chain enterprises choose to ensure a balance between supply and demand and increase pollution control in the production process. (2) Our study yields three effective combinations of evolutionary strategies, of which an ideal combination of evolutionary strategies exists. Non-ideal evolutionary strategy combinations can occur due to improper incentives and penalties of local governments and misallocation of limited resources. However, we find four paths that can transform the non-ideal evolutionary strategy combination into an ideal evolutionary strategy combination. (3) The central government's reward and punishment mechanism is an important tool to stabilize the tripartite strategy, but the central government cannot achieve effective governance by replacing incentives with punishment.
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In this study, we proposed a GIS-based approach to analyzing hospital visitors from January to June 2019 and January to June 2020 with the goal of revealing significant changes in the visitor demographics. The target dates were chosen to observe the effect of the first wave of COVID-19 on the visitor count in hospitals. The results indicated that American Indian and Pacific Islander groups were the only ones that sometimes showed no shift in visitor levels between the studied years. For 19 of the 28 hospitals in Austin, TX, the average distance traveled to those hospitals from home increased in 2020 compared with 2019. A hospital desert index was devised to identify the areas in which the demand for hospitals is greater than the current hospital supply. The hospital desert index considers the travel time, location, bed supply, and population. The cities located along the outskirts of metropolitan regions and rural towns showed more hospital deserts than dense city centers.
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Components of artificial intelligence (AI) for analysing social big data, such as natural language processing (NLP) algorithms, have improved the timeliness and robustness of health data. NLP techniques have been implemented to analyse large volumes of text from social media platforms to gain insights on disease symptoms, understand barriers to care and predict disease outbreaks. However, AI-based decisions may contain biases that could misrepresent populations, skew results or lead to errors. Bias, within the scope of this paper, is described as the difference between the predictive values and true values within the modelling of an algorithm. Bias within algorithms may lead to inaccurate healthcare outcomes and exacerbate health disparities when results derived from these biased algorithms are applied to health interventions. Researchers who implement these algorithms must consider when and how bias may arise. This paper explores algorithmic biases as a result of data collection, labelling and modelling of NLP algorithms. Researchers have a role in ensuring that efforts towards combating bias are enforced, especially when drawing health conclusions derived from social media posts that are linguistically diverse. Through the implementation of open collaboration, auditing processes and the development of guidelines, researchers may be able to reduce bias and improve NLP algorithms that improve health surveillance.
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The adoption of digital technology by nurses accelerated during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, not all nurses were familiar with the various digital systems used in their organisations and there were reports of digital technology not being fit for purpose. This article describes a service evaluation that used an online survey to obtain nurses' feedback on the digital systems used to support patient care during the pandemic. Fifty-five respondents provided details about 85 separate digital systems. The usability of these systems varied significantly across technology types, while barriers to their use included nurses' lack of digital literacy and inadequate access to IT infrastructure. However, most of the nurse respondents felt that digital technology had supported effective patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Technostress is a psychosocial phenomenon associated with the use of technologies to the detriment of health, the same one that during the pandemic was accelerated in the work considering home confinement. This work aims to systematize the main research on the impact of technostress at work during the severe confinement stage of the pandemic, between the years 2020 and 2021, with the purpose of identify and evaluate its main determining factors. A systematic review of the literature was carried out during COVID-19, using the words "technostress work COVID-19." The works found focus mainly on analyzing the creators and inhibitors of technostress in workers, as well as the main consequences of the materialization of this technological risk associated with work performance during the stage of confinement by COVID-19. Techno invasion and techno overload were identified as the main techno stressors, with the main type of technostress appreciated in the literature being techno fatigue. Technostress is identified as a problem that had direct and relevant effects during the season of severe confinement and remote work at home due to COVID-19; highlighting techno fatigue as the most frequent type of stress, and techno stressors such as techno invasion and overload as the ones that presented the highest incidence.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increase in the use of e-learning software. From the perspective of the decision-makers (school/university administration), it is crucial to understand what characteristics of the software are perceived by the users (teachers) as necessary for a task (e-learning). A popular method of determining these characteristics is a technology acceptance model. In this paper, the authors aim to understand the technology acceptance of Microsoft (MS) Teams by applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. The authors also analyze acceptance in two distinctive groups of teachers: schoolteachers and academic teachers, to better understand differences in e-learning software acceptance and implementation. The results show that MS Teams is a well-accepted software and the users' intention to use MS Teams in e-learning is the same regardless of the teacher's group. There are significant differences in the perception of software characteristics between different groups. The authors analyze the potential causes of these differences and suggest practical implications for improving the quality of e-learning. The intent is not to validate UTAUT as a general technology acceptance model but to understand its practical importance in explaining use behavior in e-learning.
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At present, blockchain technology is becoming widespread in logistics, because it can enhance the efficiency of supply chains. This issue became particularly important because of Covid-19 pandemic which has led to serious disruption in goods supply around the world. This paper investigates the feasibility and aspects of blockchain technology implementation. On the basis of received information, a theoretical model was created. A secondary methodology is used in this research. Through this method, previous studies carried out in the same area are analyzed and evaluated to justify the implementation of blockchain within contemporary supply chain systems. It is assessed that a blockchain model can indeed be theoretically implemented with supply chains. However, its implementation can cause various unprecedented issues. In the case of timely resolution of issues, the application of such model can be successful. Proposed theoretical model is sustainable for long term solutions to minor issues that can occur. It can exponentially speed up the material transport and approval processes. It was determined that the model can increase supply chain efficiency by 30%. With such a rate of efficiency ready at the disposal of industrial organizations, they can avoid the potential pitfalls and challenges created by the pandemic's effects on operations and personnel.
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Measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have caused many employees to work from home;a novel situation in which individuals used information systems (IS) more intensively to stay in touch with co-workers. This novel IS use situation affected individuals differently and resulted in both positive and negative outcomes. Recent calls for research advocate for clarification regarding the conceptualisation of appraisal, which explains different individual responses to objectively equal environments. In particular, challenge-hindrance-research does not differentiate between primary and secondary appraisal. Therefore, it remains unclear how individual capability beliefs, such as self-efficacy, affect challenge and hindrance IS use appraisal. We conduct an empirical study with 1,553 German employees to investigate these relationships and the positive and negative outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that challenge and hindrance IS use appraisal, and remote working self-efficacy are interconnected, yet different constructs. We find that self-efficacy is related to challenge IS use appraisal, rather than hindrance IS use appraisal. Further, challenge IS use appraisal is a driver for performance in a remote working environment. We conclude that there are stressful aspects of IS use that are not influenced by an individual's belief in their abilities. Our study emphasises the importance of remote working self-efficacy and IS use appraisal to mitigate techno-distress and increase performance during remote work.
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Introduction: rapid spread of the coronavirus infection caused restrictions that have affected all areas of social relations. Russian legal proceedings have also changed significantly. The new context revealed problems in ensuring the work of the courts and administration of justice. The purpose of the article is to analyze the problems of the justice system during the pandemic, in particular, the inability to exercise the right to protection, lack of access to justice, violation of procedural deadlines, technical unpreparedness of courts for the implementation and use of information technologies in justice. Methods: general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, comparison and classification, ion and axiomatic method);statistical methods;special legal methods such as content analysis of legal acts and interpretation of laws. Results: we have analyzed legislation and compared Russian experience with the level of digitalization of judicial systems in foreign countries. The study indicates a low level of digital transformation of Russian legal proceedings and poor quality of the changes that have taken place. The realization of the right to judicial protection appears to be the most urgent problem. Conclusions: the pandemic showed unreadiness of the Russian judicial system for the rapid implementation of information technologies. However, it seems likely that in the short term, due to the information technology development, it will become possible in some cases to abandon the practice of face- to-face hearings on a wide range of cases.