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| 2. |
- Abalo, Ernesto, 1982-, et al.
(author)
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Digitalisering och social exklusion : Om medborgares användning av och attityder till Arbetsförmedlingens digitala tjänster
- 2008
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Book (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This research report focuses on the users of e-government in a social science perspective. Our aim is to study how different social groups, registered at the Swedish Public Employment Service, relate to the internet, the agency and the services offered on its website (www.ams.se). The field of e-government research is dominated by studies that centre attention on the supply side (videlicet research investigating the entrance of IT in organizations and the implications that new technology have to these), while usercentred research (demand side) is still scarce. Our study, focusing on how citizens relate to the internet in general and e-government in particular, therefore helps to bridge a knowledge gap within the field. Our survey is based on a questionnaire sent to 2 000 randomly selected persons, all registered at the Swedish Public Employment Service. Of these, 762 job seekers responded, which gives us a frequency rate of 40 percent. The questions asked were related to the job seekers’ usage of and attitudes towards the internet in general and the agency’s webpage in particular, but also to their attitudes to the Swedish Public Employment Service. The main results show that social factors, particularly education, play a major role for the job seekers’ ability to use the web based services offered by the agency. People with a lower educational level are less inclined to use the agency’s website, and at the same time they experience the site as more complicated to use. We also found a strong link between the relations to the internet (access, usage, experience and attitudes) and the relations to the agency’s website. Those with advantaged internet relations – mostly well educated people, white collars and people living in bigger cities – also use the agency’s website more diligently and tend to have more positive attitudes towards it (and vice versa). Thus, its necessary to talk in terms of digitally well equipped and less well equipped groups. The unequal relations to the internet in general and the agency’s website in particular not only indicate that e-government is more suitable for the digitally well equipped, but that it in fact exclude those with less digital resources. This new kind of exclusion has great implications for the job seekers’ possibilities to enter the labour market, and to act their role as citizens. If e government also means a reformation of the citizen role – in the sense of increased individual responsibility towards the government - not bridging the digital divide will carry even more exclusion to those that’s already excluded.
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| 3. |
- Abalo, Ernesto, et al.
(author)
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Emerging Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion in the Era of E-government : A Study of Users of ‘Swedish Public Employment Service’ on the Internet
- 2008
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In: Media and Global Divides. - Stockholm : Organizing Committee for the IAMCR Congress 2008. - 918835430X ; , s. 44-45
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the area of governmental information for and services to citizens digitalization has certainly become a buzzword. Framed within the discourses on e-government or e-governance – or different mixtures of the two – various analyses have tried to point out, or even anticipate possible consequences of the appropriation of digital technologies, mainly the internet, in governmental services.On the one hand, these analyses have pointed out a great deal of opportunities connected to the incorporation of the internet into governmental information and services. Policy makers have been quick to point to the increased accessibility as a great opportunity for the citizens; in Sweden this vision of accessibility has even been referred to as ‘24:7-governmental agencies’. Academics, among others, have also suggested that the digitalization of information and services opens up new possibilities for citizen control of governments.On the other hand, a number of problems have also been identified. For instance, the digitalization of public registers holding personal information has been interpreted as a threat to the citizens’ integrity: Will digitalization bring a new surveillance society? The most frequently debated problem, however, at least within research, has been the fear of digital divides. Will the internet create digital cleavages between different groups of citizens?So far, however, neither the hopeful nor the dystopian analyses have made enough efforts to critically evaluate their claims. Such evaluations can start from different points of departure, and in this paper the starting point is the citizens as users of governmental information and services through the internet: What patterns of inclusion and exclusion emerge as a governmental agency digitalizes its information and services by making them increasingly internet based?The paper presents statistical data from a survey of 762 unemployed citizens using the Swedish Public Employment Service, a governmental agency that has come to rely specifically heavy on internet based information and service. The initial analysis of data reveals interesting differences between social groups in terms of both perception and use of the internet – in general – and the resources offered by SPES in particular. For instance, the users’ various degrees of education is a strong, determining factor when it comes to use of internet SPES’ services.The paper starts from a conceptual elaboration of various notions of e-government and e-governance. Thereafter, the survey data is described and elaborated on before moving into a discussion of the wider significance of the findings: What does data suggest in terms of patterns of inclusion in and exclusion from a society in which governmental agencies, to an increasing extent, use the internet for their information and services?
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| 4. |
- Abalo, Ernesto, 1982-, et al.
(author)
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Olika publiker, olika livsstilar : Om idrott, kultur och regional utveckling
- 2008
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Book (other academic/artistic)abstract
- I föreliggande rapport studeras vilka sociala värden som elitidrotten och kulturen genererar för invånarna i landsortspräglade län som Blekinge, Halland, Kalmar och Kronoberg. Studien syftar till att lämna ett bidrag till den samhällsvetenskapliga idrottsforskningen, och ge ökad kunskap om idrottens och kulturens betydelse för den regionala utvecklingen. Studiens material vilar på en postenkät skickad till 1500 slumpmässigt utvalda personer i respektive län. Det sammanlagda antalet besvarade enkäter uppgick till 3181 stycken, vilket ger en nettosvarsfrekvens på 54 procent. Rapporten visar bland annat att både idrott och kultur värderas relativt högt och konsumeras i relativt stor utsträckning. Beträffande idrott konsumeras främst breddidrottsliga evenemang, och vad gäller kultur besöks bibliotek och biografer oftare än exempelvis teatrar. Studien visar också att de kultur- respektive idrottsintresserade skiljer sig åt vad gäller demografi, men även vad gäller livsstil. De idrottsintresserade har en mer folklig och lantlig prägel, medan de kulturintresserade är att betrakta som en välutbildad kosmopolitisk grupp. Med tanke på de sistnämndas ökade rörlighet är satsningar på kultur ej att förringa. Denna typ av satsningar kan få denna resursstarka grupp att dels stanna kvar i landsorten, dels flytta in till densamma.
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- Abrahamsson, Kajsa H., 1956, et al.
(author)
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Patients´views on periodontal disease; attitutes to oral health and expectancy of periodontal treatment: a qualitative interview study
- 2008
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In: Oral Health & Preventive Dentistry. - New Malden, Surry : Quintessence Publishing Co. Ltd.. - 1602-1622 .- 1757-9996. ; 6:3, s. 209-216
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: The aim of the study was to explore and gain an understanding of patients' views on their periodontal conditions, their perceived impact of periodontitis on daily life, as well as their attitudes to oral health and expectations of treatment. Materials and Methods: The study subjects were patients with chronic periodontitis, who had been referred to a specialist clinic. The constant comparative method for grounded theory was used to collect and analyse the data. Audiotaped, open-ended interviews were conducted after periodontal examination, but before treatment. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and consecutively analysed in hierarchical coding processes and continued until saturation was reached (n = 17). In the analysis, a conceptual model that outlined the steps involved in the diagnosis of periodontitis was generated. The core concept of the model, keeping up appearance and self-esteem, was related to the following four additional categories and their dimensions; doing what you have to do - trying to live up to the norm, suddenly having a shameful and disabling disease, feeling deserted and in the hands of an authority, and investing all in a treatment with an unpredictable outcome. Results: The results illustrated that subjects diagnosed with chronic periodontitis felt ashamed and were willing to invest all they had in terms of time, effort and financial resources to become healthy and to maintain their self-esteem. However, they perceived a low degree of control over treatment decisions and treatment outcome. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the vulnerability of patients diagnosed with chronic periodontitis and emphasise the importance of communication in dentistry.
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| 7. |
- Aceto, Luca, et al.
(author)
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Lifting non-finite axiomatizability results to extensions of process algebras
- 2008
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In: Fifth Ifip International Conference On Theoretical Computer Science – Tcs 2008. - New York : Springer-Verlag New York. - 9780387096797 - 9780387096803 ; , s. 301-316
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper presents a general technique for obtaining new results pertaining to the non-finite axiomatizability of behavioral semantics over process algebras from old ones. The proposed technique is based on a variation on the classic idea of reduction mappings. In this setting, such reductions are translations between languages that preserve sound (in)equations and (in)equational proofs over the source language, and reflect families of (in)equations responsible for the non-finite axiomatizability of the target language. The proposed technique is applied to obtain a number of new non-finite axiomatizability theorems in process algebra via reduction to Moller’s celebrated non-finite axiomatizability result for CCS. The limitations of the reduction technique are also studied.
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| 8. |
- Achard, Paola Olimpia, et al.
(author)
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Risk Identification in the Infrastructure Construction Industry : A Supply Chain Case Study
- 2008
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In: International Journal of Logistics Economics and Globalisation. - Olney, Bucks : InderScience Publishers. - 1741-5373 .- 1741-5381. ; 1:3–4, s. 343-356
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The objective of this article is to describe the risk identification within a supply chain of an infrastructure construction project. This research is based on a case study of risk management within a supply chain in the infrastructure construction industry. Data have been collected from an international company emphasising the stage of risk identification. A particular view of risk management has been adopted. More specifically, a way to identify risk within the construction industry has been given. Technical and operational evidences have been revised and organised in order to take a first step in the direction of a systematic treatment. It has highlighted some crucial issues dealing with risk identification, while risk assessment and risk response provide an opportunity for further research. The article has underlined how risk management can be seen as the way to discover existing risks that are preventing firms from advancing their strategy. Main insights that emerged dealt with five categories: strategic objectives; critical success factors; environment and stakeholder influences; key performance indicators and principal risks; principal risk response strategies.
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| 9. |
- Al Shalabi, Ammar, et al.
(author)
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Processes and strategies of NPD : A survey of Malaysian Industry
- 2008
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In: International Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology. - Toledo, Ohio : Advanced Manufacturing Solutions Co.. - 1524-1548. ; 10:1, s. 91-95
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In recent years, there has been a considerable interest in Malaysian manufacturing firms in New Product Development (NPD) which is considered to be indirectly a booster for the success of a firm. The purpose of the study is to highlight the NPD processes and methods used in Malaysian industry. This paper focuses only on the formal NPD-processes and NPD-strategies. From the available database, it is found that there are 250 confirmed companies from automotive, chemical, and electrical industries, which have R&D facilities; out of which 36% have agreed to participate in the survey, and 29% questionnaires have been used. The results show that the best firms have their R&D and NPD departments either overseas or partially in Malaysia.
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