Forecasting promising technology using analysis of patent information:Focused on next generation mobile communications

In order to forecast promising technologies in the field of next generation mobile communication, various patent indicators were analyzed such as citation per patent, patent family information, patent share, increase rate, and patent activity. These indicators were quantified into several indexes and then integrated into an evaluation score to provide promising technologies. As a result of the suggested patent analysis, four technologies out of twenty two in details classification were selected, which showed outstanding technology competitiveness, high patent share and increasing rates as well as high recent-patent-ratios and triad-patent-family-ratios. Each of the selected technologies scored more than 10 points in total, and the following four technologies were suggested as promising ones in the field of next generation mobile communication: 1) 3GPP based mobile communication, 2) beyond 4G mobile communication, 3) IEEE 802.16 based mobile communication, which are in medium classification of broadband mobile communication system, and 4) testing/certification system of mobile communication, which is in medium classification of mobile communication testing/certification system.

Mental Health Impacts of Information and Communication Technology Usage in South Africa

This study examined mental health issues affecting the group of individuals who are in the social media contact list of the researchers.This was done by administering a closed structured questionnaire,covering information from participants’demographic characteristics,duration of time spent on ICT usage,to their perceived health effects thereof.Male respondents,largely unemployed are active ICT users,addicted to the Internet,and also suf-fer from unspecified ailments.Aged 31–35 and above,half of men and all women participants spend more than 5 h per day.High-intensive ICT use is associated,in general,with concurrent symptoms of information overload,depression and Internet addiction.It is insignificantly associated with composite stress.Medium intensive ICT use is correlated with fatigue and depression in equal measure but in opposite direction.There are significant differ-ences in demographic attributes as they explain intensity of ICT Usage.The older the employed survey partici-pants are,the less they suffer from composite stress.However,black South Africans suffer significantly from composite stress,fatigue and depression,though negatively from internet addiction.The results also indicate that South African men have negative experiences of composite stress,depression and internet addiction.Educated South Africans have negative experiences of fatigue,but positive experiences of composite stress,depression and internet addiction.Low intensive use of ICT has no impact on composite stress,fatigue and depressive moods of survey participants.It impacts negatively on internet addiction.Medium intensive use of ICT impacts posi-tively on survey participants’experiences of fatigue,but negatively on composite stress,depression and internet addiction.High-intensive use of ICT impacts positively on survey participants’experiences of composite stress and depression.

The Effects of Information and Communication Technology on Health Service Delivery at Tafo Government Hospital

This study sought to find out the effects of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on health service delivery at Tafo Government Hospital. A descriptive survey design was used. Data were collected through the use of semi-structured questionnaire and administered to 50 respondents where stratified random sampling technique was used by ranking position as strata. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. From the findings, 56% of the respondents overwhelmingly agreed to the fact that the applications of ICT provide quicker medical diagnoses, reduced workload among users, improvement in patients’ waiting time and information accessibility. Nonetheless, 72% bemoaned lack of ICT infrastructure, poor ICT network concerns coupled with that insufficient knowledge on the use of ICT could impede the impact of ICT in quality service delivery. This could be deduced from the findings that ICT improves collaboration and clinical decision support in facilitating clinical work flow integration among nurses and other medical professionals. Moreover, the findings above affirm the fact that without electricity, ICT infrastructure, insufficient skills and technical knowledge in dealing with ICT innovations, it is impossible to successfully adopt ICT resources in health care delivery. The above findings show that the majority of healthcare professional generally had a positive attitude towards ICT prospects as they rated their skill as fairly well. The study recommends that the Ministry of Health plays a supporting role by investing in health care ICT.

Organizational Learning （OL） and Organizational Innovation （OI）： The Case of Information and Communication Technology （ICT） Industry in Malaysia

The progression through which a person acquires ,;kills, understanding, and opinions regarding a particular organization or company is called organizational learning （OL）. In this study, the connection between organizational innovation （OI） and OL within the inf3rmation and communication technology （ICT） industry in Malaysia is surveyed. These relationships are examined, because various previous inquiries have shown that an imperative precursor to firm performance is OL. Two hundred and seventy-eight surveys were completed by small and medium organizations across Malaysia. The connections existing between the causes of OL and the causes of OI were ascertained by using structural equation modeling （SEM）. Amongst the Malaysian small- and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） that participated in fire study, OI and OL are considerably linked.

Information Communication Technology(ICT信息传播技术)Rules

ICT,including the Internet and e-mail,is provided for students as part of their learning.Parents'permission is required.Remember that access(准入)is a privilege(特别待遇),not a right,and thataccess requires responsibility.

Telecentres in Mountain Regions-A Peruvian Case Study of the Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on Remoteness and Exclusion

Communities in developing country mountain areas,in part due to their remoteness,find themselves excluded from social,political and economic systems; and excluded from access to resources. This paper aims to study the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on remoteness and exclusion. It utilises two models - the resource movement framework,and the "information chain" - to analyse a telecentre in one district of mountainous Huancavelica,Peru's poorest region,set in the high Andes. It finds ICTs enabling new and positive resource flows for the two key user groups:teenaged school students and young farmers. These help to maintain social networks. They also support information searches that have improved agricultural practice where other information chain resources have been available. But non-use and ineffective use of the telecentre are found where information chain resources are lacking. ICTs have some impacts on intangible elements of remoteness. In this particular example,they also offer access to some previously-excluded resources. But they have not really addressed the systematic exclusions faced by mountain communities. And they so far appear to be a technology of inequality; favouring those residents who begin with better resource endowments.The paper concludes by offering some recommendations for mountain ICT project practice.

A Culturally-Sensitive Model for CME Distance Learning Demonstratesa Way Forward： Kenya＇s Experience with ACME-IT （Advancing Continuing Medical Education Through Information Technology）

A distance learning Continuing Medical Education （CME） project based on live interactive presentations and a group participatory model demonstrated that important strides can be made in the quality of CME available to health care professionals in African rural settings. Implementers choose a communication model consistent with the fundamental orality of Kenyan and other sub-Saharan African countries. The project involved four hospitals and one training institution in rural Kenya. The testing of learners and focus group discussions with learners, facilitators and presenters indicated that the project＇s methodologies, that strove to be culturally and work place friendly, contributed to gains in knowledge, competencies including case management, the continuity of patient care, team work, staff morale and other issues of expressed importance to the hospital healthcare work force and hospital administrators. The learning system, known as Advancing Continuing Medical Education through Information Technology （ACME-IT）, was implemented by the Kenyan Ministry of Medical Services, EC Associates and the US-funded Aphia2 Western initiative implemented by PATH. The findings of this pilot suggests that the ACME-IT methodology that set up learning centers at the participating institutions is a promising viable alternative to the traditional and relatively expensive workshop training that characterizes much of CME in lower and middle income countries.

Cloud Computing Applications in Global Logistics Information System Infrastructure

Information and communication technology （ICT） and systems are essential for every business. They can be used in retail, manufacturing and other industries. Nevertheless, new and innovative ideas and solutions are constantly emerging and introducing new possibilities for the reorganization of traditional logistics processes. Particularly, attention is given to basic concept of CC （cloud computing） service models and opportunities in logistics. This paper provides comprehensive review and comparison of different ICT solutions and CC applications. As a new and cutting-edge technology, CC is changing the form and function of information technology infrastructures making supply chain information collaboration easy and feasible. It can also be an enabler of fully electronic logistics management systems. Adoption of CC concept involves strong hardware support, good internet connectivity and implied reorganization of traditional business activities.

Drivers for Inter-city Innovation Networks Across Chinese Cities:Modelling Physical Versus Intangible Effects

Cross-region innovation is widely recognized as an important source of the long-term regional innovation capacity.In the recent past,a growing number of studies has investigated the network structure and mechanisms of cross-region innovation collaboration in various contexts.However,existing research mainly focuses on physical effects,such as geographical distance and high-speed railway connections.These studies ignore the intangible drivers in a changing environment,the more digitalized economy and the increasingly solidified innovation network structure.Thus,the focus of this study is on estimating determinants of innovation networks,especially on intangible drivers,which have been largely neglected so far.Using city-level data of Chinese patents(excluding Hong Kong,Macao,and Taiwan Province of China),we trace innovation networks across Chinese cities over a long period of time.By integrating a measure on Information and Communications Technology(ICT)development gap and network structural effects into the general proximity framework,this paper explores the changing mechanisms of Chinese innovation networks from a new perspective.The results show that the structure of cross-region innovation networks has changed in China.As mechanisms behind this development,the results confirm the increasingly important role of intangible drivers in Chinese inter-city innovation collaboration when controlling for effects of physical proximity,such as geographical distance.Since digitalization and coordinated development are the mainstream trends in China and other developing countries,these countries'inter-city innovation collaboration patterns will witness dramatic changes under the influence of intangible drivers.

Evaluation of Technical Education by Using a Modern Structured MOODLE Laboratory Course, in Relation to Recent Data

E-learning platforms support education systems worldwide, transferring theoretical knowledge as well as soft skills. In the present study high-school pupils’, and adult students’ opinions were evaluated through a modern structured MOODLE interactive course, designed for the needs of the laboratory course “Automotive Systems”. The study concerns Greek secondary vocational education pupils aged 18 and vocational training adult students aged 20 to 50 years. The multistage, equal size simple random cluster sample was used as a sampling method. Pupils and adult students of each cluster completed structured 10-question questionnaires both before and after attending the course. A total of 120 questionnaires were collected. In general, our findings disclosed that the majority of pupils and adult students had significantly improved their knowledge and skills from using MOODLE. They reported strengthening conventional teaching, using the new MOODLE technology. The satisfaction indices improved quite, with the differences in their mean values being statistically significant.

Spatio-temporal Fragmentation of Leisure Activities in Information Era： Empirical Evidence from Nanjing, China

Activity fragmentation provides a new approach for understanding the transformation of urban space and function in the information era. Numerous theoretical and empirical studies have been conducted on activity fragmentation, but few studies have focused on the fragmentation of leisure activities. This study was intended to extend the extant literature by: 1) analysing the spatio-temporal fragmentation of physical and virtual leisure activities by using a dataset collected in Nanjing, China, and 2) evaluating the reasons of leisure activity fragmentation, as well as the potential spatial effect of activity fragmentation. The results indicated that virtual leisure activities are more fragmented than physical leisure activities, but the fragmentation of physical and virtual leisure activities varies on weekday and weekend, as well as in various locations and urban districts. In addition, the results suggested that sociodemographic factors and information and communication technology(ICT) variables distinctly affect the fragmentation of leisure activities. Meanwhile, the fragmentation of virtual leisure activities may enhance the transformation of traditional urban space by reallocating leisure activity times and locations.

Improving wellbeing of community-dwelling people with mild cognitive impairment: the SENIOR (SystEm of Nudge theory based ICT applications for OldeR citizens) project

Population aging with longer life expectancy represents one of the most relevant challenges of the next future,also because of a significant proportion of older adult people may present with dementia.Motivating senior citizens with mild cognitive impairment to maintain their independence and functional abilities,improve health status and quality of life as well as social interactions,constitutes the main target of preventive medicine.According to a nudge theoretical approach,the SENIOR(SystEm of Nudge theory based ICT applications for OldeR citizens)project–developed thanks to the collaboration among Catholic University of the Sacred Heart,Bicocca University and IRCCS Auxiologico Institute in Milan(Italy)–has been designed to adopt an advanced information and communication technology coaching system able to collect and integrate physiological,psychological and behavioral data,with the final aim of interacting with community-dwelling elderly people suffering from mild cognitive impairment and of providing them personalized feedback on lifestyle management.The SENIOR project proposes to use a smart-watch app for alerting family doctors,sharing information with family members in specific cases and monitoring patients at higher risk in hospital Units,in order to ameliorate health of senior citizens with mild cognitive impairment.

A multi-user decision support system for online city bus tour planning

Tourism is rapidly becoming a sustainable pathway toward economic prosperity for host countries and communities. Recent advances in information and communications technology, the smartphone, the Internet and Wi-Fi have given a boost to the tourism industry. The city bus tour （CBT） service is one of the most successful businesses in the tourism industry. However, there exists no smart decision support system determining the most efficient way to plan the itinerary of a CBT. In this research, we report on the ongoing development of a mobile application （app） and a website for tourists, hoteliers and travel agents to connect with city bus operators and book/purchase the best CBT both in terms of cost and time. Firstly, the CBT problem is formulated as an asymmetric sequential three-stage arc routing problem. All places of interest （PoI） and pickup/dropout points are identified with arcs of the network （instead of nodes）, each of which can be visited at least once （instead of exactly once）. Secondly, the resulting pure integer programming （IP） problem is solved using a leading optimization soft- ware known as General Algebraic Modeling System （GAMS）. The GAMS code developed for this project returns： （1） the exact optimal solution identifying the footprints of the city bus relative to all the arcs forming the minimal cost network; （2） the augmenting paths corre- sponding to the pickup stage, the PoI visiting stage and the drop-off stage. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of the mobile app/website via a pilot study in the city of Melbourne （Australia）. All the computations relative to the initial tests show that the ability of the app to answer users＇ inquiries in a fraction of a minute.

GIS as an Information Infrastructure for Recovery and Reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake

This study considers the regional characteristics of the Tohoku region and the extent of the damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and makes proposals for recovery and reconstruction of the areas affected by this disaster as well as for a reduction of the impact of natural disasters that may occur in the future with GIS （geographic information systems） as a social infrastructure positioned at the heart of the information infrastructure. Due to the fact that social media that used ICT （information and communication technology） was useful in the days directly after the disaster, it can be said that it is necessary to investigate the provision of an information infrastructure that uses ICT to reduce the impact of disasters. Therefore, this study proposes the construction of a geographical information database using GIS and the provision and sharing of information using social media GIS after discussion of the relationship between the development of the computerization of Japan and GIS as a valid example of using information systems for recovery and reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

A Methodology to Measure the Environmental Impact of ICT Operating Systems across Different Device Platforms

A new methodology was created to measure the energy consumption and related green house gas （GHG） emissions of a computer operating system （OS） across different device platforms. The methodology involved the direct power measurement of devices under different activity states. In order to include all aspects of an OS, the methodology included measurements in various OS modes, whilst uniquely, also incorporating measurements when running an array of defined software activities, so as to include OS application management features. The methodology was demonstrated on a laptop and phone that could each run multiple OSs, results confirmed that OS can significantly impact the energy consumption of devices. In particular, the new versions of the Microsoft Windows OS were tested and highlighted significant differences between the OS versions on the same hardware. The developed methodology could enable a greater awareness of energy consumption, during both the software development and software marketing processes.

Role of Wireless Handheld Technology by Nurses in Healthcare Environment

One of the emerging technologies is wireless handheld technology. Implication of these devices is enormous for business community and healthcare domain is not an exception to this phenomena. This research paper provides some useful findings about the use of PDA＇s in the healthcare environment through actual usage of PDA in the healthcare ward. A qualitative and quantitative approach is adopted to explore these phenomena due to the exploratory nature of the research. Findings of this study identify some of the motivators and issues associated with the wireless handheld technology in healthcare environment. Furthermore, it is also found that these wireless handheld devices can help to improve the quality of care through better decision making processes. This study is limited to only one sate of Australian and further research is needed to see the implication of the findings to wider community and other domains in the Australian environment.

Immigration in Portugal： An Approach to ＂Lusophone＂ Media System

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the ＂Lusophone＇＇l media system, inside the ＂Lusophone＂ migration system, from the perspective of data collected in an empirical work. For this purpose, we discuss the concept of ＂Lusophone＂ and ＂Lusophone＂ migration system, and we present the context of immigration in Portugal. The empirical work involved 14 in-depth interviews2 and started by presenting, in broad strokes, some important aspects relating to the history of ＂Lusophone＂. The analysis of the interviews was sustained in the theories of economic and political ＂world-system＂ developed by Braudel （1949） and Wallerstein （2004） and extended to the concept of migration systems of Kritz and Zlotnik （1992）. Their proposals were further developed by the Portuguese sociologist Baganha （2009） who defended the particularity of a ＂Lusophone＂ migration system. Based on those concepts, we describe the theoretical and empirical research and methodological procedures, stressing the trajectories of migration, social mobility and consumption of media and Information Communication Technologies （ICT）. We analyze the interviews, highlighting the similarities and differences, regarding the uses and consumptions of media and ICTs, between Brazilians and Finally based on the results, we discuss the characteristics the citizens from Portuguese-speaking African Countries of this ＂Lusophone＂ media system.

Challenges and Possibilities for the Household Medicine Lease （HML） System Viewed in Light of CRM： HML-Based Everyday Self-Medication in Ubiquitous Network Society

Household medicine lease （HML） industry originated way back in the Edo period （17C-19C）, when it was promoted by the local fiefdom government to revitalize the economy. Accumulations of wealth, acquired thereafter from everywhere outside the region, have culminated in the formation of the present-day industrial cluster in Toyama, the largest in the whole area facing the Sea of Japan. Today an adaptation of the quasi-CRM （customer relationship management） business model of the HML system has proved to be a success in Mongolia. This fact seems to offer the authors some clues for dealing with those problems that healthcare and medical services in Japan and elsewhere are riddled with. In this paper, focusing on the common critical success factors （CSFs） behind the success of the authors＇ prototype HML system and its recent successful application in Mongolia, the authors will analyze these factors from the perspective of CRM. The authors will then clarify the following： （1） the usefulness of the business model for ensuring primary healthcare for people in developing countries; （2） the usefulness in our ubiquitous network society of applying ICT to the HML system; （3） possible contributions that the use of the system can make toward improving the quality of our everyday healthcare and medical services in our prominently aging society; and the authors will also suggest （4） the importance of elevating ＂individual self-medication＂ to ＂community-based self-medication＂.

Introduction to ZTE Communications

ZTE Communications is a quarterly peer-reviewed technical magazine ISSN （1673-5188） and CODEN （ZCTOAK）. It is edited, published and distributed by ZTE Corporation. The magazine focuses on hot topics and cutting edge technologies in the telecom industry. It has been listed in the UIrich＇s Periodicals Directory, Index of Copernicus （IC）, and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts （CSA）. ZTE Communications is distributed to telecom operators, science and technology research institutes, and colleges and universities in more than 140 countries.

Teachers' Self-Development in Applying Information Communication Technology

This paper reports a case study of my self-development in applying Information Communication Technology （ICT） to teaching. I analyzed my own growth from three perspectives： technical confidence and competence, pedagogical development and self-efficacy. Classroom observation, interviews, reflective journals and questionnaires were used to explore how professional self-development occurred when I changed my teaching belief in teaching, and how I understood the development as a practicing teacher in learning by teaching. I participated in various projects based on action research in order to meet the challenges of the teaching reform in the new era. The results indicate that teachers can develop their informational quality and professional competence in applying ICT in teaching.