Attitudes towards computers and information technology at three universities in Germany, Belgium, and the U.S.

Students' interest in computers and information technology is both a prerequisite and a goal of successful qualification programs. The present study was conducted to search for intercultural differences or cross-cultural consistency of attitudes in this field, based on the Computer and Information Technology Attitude Inventory (CITAI; Weinsier & Leutner, 1988). This instrument was developed to overcome theoretical and methodological problems of usual Likert-type questionnaires by (a) hiding the object of measurement from the responding student and (b) by using a factorial or facet design for constructing 72 items (titles of university short courses with and without reference to computers or information technology). Data on 529 students were collected at three universities in Germany, Belgium, and the U.S. Multidimensional scalings indicated high similarity of the interitem correlation structures across the three samples based on both point-to-point correspondences and facet theoretic regional analysis of the spaces. This cross-cultural consistency underlines the construct validity of the questionnaire design. However, some intercultural differences were found — for instance, that European students have a strong preference/or noncomputer as opposed to computer courses, whereas U.S. students do not have any preference. The results are discussed with regard to the initial hypothesis that an object loses its feature of being a controversial theme with strong effects on attitudes if that object becomes more and more a component of the normal environment.     

The rise and fall of the competitive local exchange carriers in the U.S.: An institutional perspective

The debacle of the telecommunications industry at the turn of the millennium resulted in significant consequences for investors, workers, financial institutions, telecom companies, and the economy in general worldwide. In the midst of the telecom bubble, the CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers) adopted similar or identical business plans and saturated the market, which resulted in destructive competition. In this study, we investigate the isomorphic business models of the CLECs from the perspectives of the new institutional theory. We argue that the combined coercive, mimetic, and normative institutional forces exerted on the companies by the actors who controlled the funding, managed the business, and provided the information fashioned the isomorphic CLEC business models, which in turn contributed to the demise of these companies and thus the burst of the telecom bubble. Evidence of the institutional influences on CLECs and the actors exerted the influences are presented and their consequences are discussed. Qing Hu is Professor of Information Systems in the Department of Information Technology & Operations Management at Florida Atlantic University. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Information Systems from the University of Miami. His research interests include economics of information technology (IT), IT strategy and management, and information security. His work has been published in leading academic journals including Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Communications of the AIS, California Management Review, and IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. He also serves as associate and guest-editors for a number of IS journals and major conferences. C. Derrick Huang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Technology & Operations Management in the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University. Previously, as a practitioner, he held executive-level positions in the area of marketing and strategic planning in a number of high-tech companies. Dr. Huang’s research interest lies in the business value and strategic impact of information technology in organizations, and his current focus is on the economics and management of information security investments. He holds Ph.D. from Harvard University.     

Alternative Approaches to Modeling time Variation in the Case of the U.S. Real Interest Rate

This paper compares three approaches for modeling time variation in the U.S. real interest rate: a three-state Markov switching model as estimated by Garcia and Perron (1994), a random-walk model with two-state Markov switching variance, and a time-varying parameter model with two-state Markov switching variance. The findings are generally supportive of modeling continual change in the mean of the real rate process rather than employing a model that limits variation in the mean to a specified number of states.     

An assessment of AVHRR/NDVI-ecoclimatological relations in Nebraska,U.S.A.

Research designed to better define relations between 1-km multitemporal AVHRR-derived NDVI data and selected climatological parameters, soil hydrological properties and land cover characteristics is summarized. Bi-weekly maximum value composite NDVI data and concurrently measured meteorological data acquired in 1990 and 1991 for Nebraska were utilized to study relations between NDVI and accumulated growing degree days,soil temperature, precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. Temporal change in NDVI was found to be closely linked with the temperature regime. NDVI-precipitation and NDVI-potential evapotranspiration relations exhibited time lags, although the length of lag varied with land cover type, precipitation, and soil hydrologic properties. NDVI response to precipitation was stronger in natural grasslands and grassland/wet meadows than in areas of irrigated cropland and mixed crop/ grass. NDVI-climate relations were strongest where vegetation was developed on soils with low root zone available water capacity and high permeability. Relations derived by using NDVI values over 3 pixel by 3 pixel windows showed little difference from those using single 1 km pixel. This may reflect both the relatively homogeneous land cover characteristics of the study area and the effect of off-nadir viewing geometry on AVHRR data acquisition.     

Economic and technical assessment of rooftop solar photovoltaic potential in Brownsville,Texas, U.S.A

Localized assessment of solar energy economic feasibility will benefit the structuring of residential solar energy deployment globally. In the U.S. growing interest in rooftop residential solar among city managers has spurred the development of photovoltaic (PV) feasibility maps of the technical and economic solar potential within cities. The City of Brownsville, Texas was interested in evaluating solar feasibility for their city but lacked information to make informed policy decisions on PV development. This paper presents novel and systems approaches for determining the technical and economic feasibility of solar development for homes in the Brownsville using LiDAR and local information. Residential technical and economic potential was assessed by optimizing the internal rate of return (IRR) and an average residential building demand profile to determine ideal size and placement of solar arrays. Results showed that residential structures in Brownsville have the technical potential to generate approximately 11% of the total energy provided by the local utility; however, average IRR was only 2.9% with a payback period of over 15 years. Five neighborhoods in the City of Brownsville were identified with spatially clustered homes that had relatively higher IRRs compared with other areas in the city. Despite the high technical potential, modeled results indicate that perspective home owners interested in solar development may require additional incentives to improve the economic feasibility of PV in Brownsville. This study provides a demonstration of an interdisciplinary systems approach and methodology that can be adopted internationally to evaluate the feasibility of solar development in other areas.     

A survey of information technology in the U.K. service sector

Relationships between the use of information technology and organizational variables have been analysed using a sample of 638 business organizations in the service sector in the U.K. Data for the study were collected through a mail survey. Among the results presented here are the variation of the proportions of managers and information workers with size of organization, and the relationship between the use of computers and profitability. Discriminant analysis was used to distinguish between organizations using computers and those not using them. The study shows that organizations using computers tend to have more formality in communications, a higher growth rate and a higher proportion of information workers than organizations not using computers. The variation of computer capacity with size of organization is also examined.     

The integration of optical and radar data to characterize mineralogy and morphology of surfaces in Death Valley,California, U.S.A.

AVIRIS, TIMS, and AIRSAR data were integrated to provide a better understanding of surface variations in Death Valley, California, U.S.A. Inversion models were used to obtain quantitative measures of surface mineralogy and morphology from the data. The data inversion results were integrated for an alluvial fan site showing that the fan morphology is affected by the mineralogy of the surface. A more accurate geologic map and the relative ages of the fan surfaces were determined. Integrating the inversion results for a portion of the salt flats showed morphological and mineralogical variations that were caused by surface washing and flooding.     

Exploring relationships of spring green-up to moisture and temperature across Wyoming,U.S.A

Vegetation green-up signals the timing of available nutritious plants and shrubs providing high-quality forage for ungulates. In this study, we characterized spatial and temporal patterns of spring phenology and explored how they were related to preceding temperature and moisture conditions. We tested correlations between late winter weather and indicators of the onset and the length of the spring growing period with 250-m resolution time-series satellite data (2001 – 2013) for Wyoming, USA. In western Wyoming mountains, drier and warmer conditions during late winter were associated with earlier spring green-up onset of growth in forests, shrubs, and grasses. In the northeast mountains, onset of spring correlated positively with preceding warmer temperatures, but not with precipitation. In most basin and plains shrublands and grasslands, spring onset was not correlated with temperature, although earlier onset of spring was correlated with drier conditions in 25% of shrub/scrub areas. Results about the length of spring were less definitive, with warmer temperatures related to longer green-up time for 12–30% of the land cover in western mountains but to shorter green-up time periods for 10–20% of the grasses and shrubs in basins and plains. Complex phenological patterns are likely to affect ungulate foraging behaviour on a local scale.     

The causes of age dependent changes in the spectral response of lavas,Craters of the Moon,Idaho, U.S.A

The Craters of the Moon basaltic lavas erupted between about 15000 and 2000 years ago in short periods occurring about every 2000 years. On LANDSAT MSS imagery the appearance of pahoehoe flows with ‘Blue Dragon’ crusts, which has previously been used as an aid to mapping and correlation across the lava field, changes systematically with age. The overall brightness and the slope of the reflectance curve between band 4 and band 7 both increase with age. In situ measurements of the bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) of natural rock surfaces in the area shows that this ageing of the remotely sensed spectral response is a combination of (1) a change in the spectral response of the rock surface due lo weathering, (2) growth of lichen and moss over the rock surface, both factors causing little further change after about 8000 years, and (3) settling of windblown sand and establishment of vascular plants (grasses and shrubs), which continues with age. The relative importance of the last factor is not directly assessable from ground based radiometer measurements; however both weathering and lichen produce similar, complementary changes in BRF which can account for much of the spectral evolution seen on MSS images.     

Estimating the age and structure of forests in a multi-ownership landscape of western Oregon,U.S.A.

Forests of the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S.A. are part of an ongoing political debate that focuses on the trade-offs between commodity and non-commodity values. A key issue in this debate is the location and extent of closed canopy mature and old-growth forest remaining in the region. Remote sensing can play a major part in locating mature and old-growth forests, but. several challenges must be overcome to do so with acceptable accuracy. Conifer forests of the region have high leaf area indices. Thus, most incident solar energy is absorbed, making these forests difficult targets for discrimination of classes. Additionally, spectral characteristics can be affected more by the effects of steep topography than condition of the closed canopy forest.

Experimenting with a number of techniques, we estimated and mapped forest age and structure in 1988 over a 1 237 482 ha area on the west side of the Oregon Cascade Range with an overall accuracy of 82 per cent. Unsupervised classification enabled several forest classes to be defined in terms of per cent cover: open (0-30 per cent), semi-open (30-85 per cent), closed mix (> 85 per cent, of which at least 10 percent is comprised of non-conifer species), and closed conifer (> 85 per cent, of which less than 10 per cent is non-conifer). These classes represented nearly distinct spectral groups. Within the closed canopy conifer class, between two and three age and structural classes could be distinguished using regression analysis (e.g., young, mature, and old-growth). Defining more classes seriously degraded map accuracies. The Tasseled Cap wetness index was not sensitive to topography, and yielded more accurate results in closed canopy conifer stands than Tasseled Cap brightness or greenness, even when regression models using these indices were based on solar incidence angle stratification.

The multi-ownership study area consisted of 76 per cent forestland. Of the total forestland, 70 per cent was closed canopy conifer, with 42 per cent being in a mature or old-growth state. Forests administered by the USD1 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the USDA Forest Service, but protected by congressional and administrative mandates from harvest, were 10 per cent of the total forestland. Of the protected category, only 60 per cent was mature and old-growth forest, Unprotected BLM and Forest Service lands accounted for 53 per cent of the forestland in this study (8 and 45 per cent, respectively). Of the unprotected category, the BLM had 63 per cent, and the Forest Service had 49 per cent, respectively, of their holdings in a pre-canopy closure and young conifer condition. Thirty-five per cent of the forestland was privately owned, and consisted of 73 per cent pre-canopy closure and young conifer forest stands. Of all mature and old-growth forest, 22 per cent was found on private land, 7 per cent on unprotected BLM land, 55 per cent on unprotected Forest Service land, and 15 per cent on protected land.