Injuries and the 'poor' worker

It is commonly assumed that occupational injuries are less of a problem in developing countries because there is less industrialization. Spot studies reveal, however, that injuries are a serious problem among miners, agricultural workers, and industrial workers in most countries

Each nation differs greatly in its level of industrialization, laws, working conditions, and range of products. Those with lower per capita incomes and lower levels of industrialization are likely to have more decentralized production which is less likely to be controlled effectively. Workers in developing countries are more likely to be injured; injuries are more likely to be disabling; and rehabilitation services more likely to be unavailable. Workers' transiency makes it more difficult for them to appreciate hazards which operate over long periods. Finally, workers' social status and level of organization in many cases greatly reduces their power to promote change

In this paper, an attempt is made to understand which experiences of the rich industrialized nations are valid for other nations and what new research needs to be done.     

Software export from developing nations

It is shown that software export is an attainable goal for developing nations, especially when government policies are favorable, and that the industrialized nations dominating the worldwide market can expect some serious competition. Examples of the efforts of developing nations to export software to North America and Europe are cited     

Aid agencies and information technology development

Aid organizations represent an important source of funding for projects involving information technology (IT) in developing countries. However, few of these organizations see information technology as a new and important sector in development, despite the fact that numerous developing countries are themselves committing large human and capital resources to information technology development. This situation may change, given some new initiatives by a few organizations to begin helping developing countries build their own capacity in information technology. This article is a report on these initiatives, and is also a brief analysis of the role of the World Bank in information technology transfer.     

Global information technology: a meta analysis of key issues

Recently, there has been an increasing number of studies and articles that have identified and ranked global information technology (IT) issues in various parts of the world. The objective of this article is to aggregate the results of these studies and explore the possibility of linkage of these key IT issues to environmental and organizational factors. An organizing framework for global IT issues is developed and one of the factors in the framework, the level of economic development of the country, is analyzed to observe its impact on the ranking of key IT issues. Cluster analysis on a sample of ranked IT issues from 16 different regions indicates a linkage between the level of economic development of a region and the ranking of various types of IT issues. The analysis provides stronger support for the three-way classification of regions into developed, developing, and under-developed rather than the more recent four-way classification of developed, newly industrialized, developing, and under-developed.     

Design for the elderly: a biological perspective

In past times growing old has been synonymous with increasing disability, so that the old have been seen as sans everything. But it is argued here that old age no longer needs to be a time of greater disability, especially if the lifestyles of children and adults are made as healthy as those in less industrialized nations. Design for old age should consder the effects of ageing tissues and common chronic diseases, but, more importantly, should empower the elderly person so that they may continue a dignified, productive life.     

Perspectives on development: why does studying information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) matter?

ABSTRACT

The concept of development has been used by scholars and practitioners to demonstrate changes for the better in the lives of individuals, communities, nations and regions. Historically, the practice of development has been associated with interventions and categorizations that have had the opposite effect in countries and regions deemed to be developing. Current notions of development predicated on respect for individual rights, human freedoms, environmental sustainability, health and well-being and education have been more successful in achieving improvements in the lives of people. Yet, historic notions of development persist and continue to drive failing projects. This editorial explores the historical notions of development that persist to this day and offers a view of contemporary perspectives on development. As a growing set of development interventions and papers in this issue involve Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the question of why Information and Communication Technology for Development matters? is addressed in the light of development perspectives.     

Measurement of forces applied to handgrips and pedals for a sample population of Mexican males

Equipment design requirements for newly industrializing nations often differ from those of highly industrialized nations. In order to develop a 'culturally relevant' technology in Mexico, this paper reports the results of a study, conducted in Guanajuato state, designed to measure the maximum static forces exerted on pulling handgrips and pedals by seated male subjects. The project included the design and construction of an adjustable measuring apparatus. Handgrip measurements were taken with left and right arms at five different elbow angles; pedal measurements with left and right legs at three different knee angles. The arm data indicate that the relationship between appendage angle and force is similar for these data and those previously reported for a US sample, although there are some significant differences in magnitude. Implications of these results for machinery design are discussed.     

Prevention of accidents and injuries in developing countries

Available data show that injuries at the workplace are a serious and growing problem in developing compared to industrialized countries. A major factor responsible for this state of affairs is the fact that largely illiterate and impoverished peasants are being transformed into wage-earning industrial workers. Others include hazardous working environments, effects of heat and humidity, inadequacy or absence of mechanization, and a multiplicity of small-scale enterprises. Preventive measures must be based on the understanding of these factors and their relative importance. Recommendations are made for accident and injury prevention in developing countries based on methods that have been tried and found effective in industrialized countries. Three approaches are advocated: (a) improvements at workplaces aimed at hazard elimination and a positive approach to health and safety at work; (b) national efforts (legislation and enforcement); and (c) international cooperation between industrialized and developing countries. The role of such bodies as the World Health Organisation (through its Global Accident Prevention Programme), the International Labour Organisation, and other regional groupings (e.g. The Organisation for African Unity) in the prevention of accidents and injuries at work the world over are highlighted.     

The computerization,of Burina

Abstract

The information industry is becoming a major source of wealth for many nations; the software industry, in particular, can play an important role in the economies of the developing nations. The Arab countries have a large number of university graduates in computer‐related disciplines; however, the status of the information industry in these countries is far below expectations. One obstacle to the proliferation of computer technology in the Arab societies has been the language barrier. Efforts to Arabize the technology, be it Arabization of software, hardware, user manuals or textbooks and references, are very weak and cannot cope with the rate of advancement in the technology. Furthermore, most Arab countries do not have clear computerization policies, and this has often resulted in the following: nonexistence of serious computer literacy programs, low utilization of information technology in the society, unawareness of the economic and strategic importance of the technology, weak support from higher authorities, weak R &; D efforts and hesitation of the private capital to venture into the information technology sector.     

The role of research for the social shaping of new technologies: Designing a research strategy

With increasing flexibility of technology and a shift towards competence being the core of competitive edge in worklife, the need for new organizational concepts or models which givejoint optimization across human and technological dimensions has been acknowledged in leading, innovative enterprises. National crossdisciplinary research based productivity programmes are appearing in several countries. Due to internationalization and the general shortcomings of bureaucratic organizational forms, regional networks of enterprises in cooperation with public R&D institutions seem to provide answers to needs of regions to remain competitive. The paper discusses the possible role of social science in a multilevel, participative strategy for developing new, democratic and productive organizational forms in worklife. Aspects of national productivity programmes in Scandinavia, Germany and Australia are discussed in connection with the situation in Italy as analyzed through some recent research projects.     

The challenges of technology research for developing regions

The work we've done in the world's developing regions has been immensely rewarding and helped make us all strong advocates for technology. The first reward is simply the experience of these countries, their surprising happiness, and the technology insights that come from being there. The deeper reward is of course actually helping people by creating new options through technology. However, we encountered a wide range of technical, environmental, and cultural challenges that are outside the scope of typical computer science research. In this article, we share some of our experiences with the hope of increasing understanding of these issues. We also hope to help others, particularly researchers from outside these regions, to avoid our mistakes. We document real challenges, try to generalize them, and suggest steps that might at least mitigate the problems.     

Digital Libraries for the Next Millennium: Challenges and Research Directions

The unprecedented growth of Internet technologies has made resources on the World Wide Web instantly accessible to various user communities through digital libraries. Since the early 1990s, there have been several digital library initiatives sponsored by government agencies and/or private organizations all over the world. A digital library is a networked system environment that provides diverse user communities with coherent, seamless and transparent access to large, organized, and digitized information resources. This article provides a comprehensive overview of major digital library projects that are currently being undertaken across the globe. We also identify and discuss major challenges and research issues to be addressed in the design and implementation of digital libraries for the next millennium. We believe that digital libraries are ripe with research opportunities, offer many challenges, and will continue to grow in the next several years.     

基于文化的设计与发展

不同的民族有着不同的文化,文化涉及人们生活的方方面面,设计作为一种文化形式,具有文化性。基于文化的设计才能发掘人们的真正需求,才有可能成功。文化具有普遍性的同时还有着差异性,这导致设计文化在不同地区各具特色。中华民族有着深厚的文化底蕴,中国的设计要在世界设计之林立足,当务之急就是处理好"本土化"和"国际化"的关系,善待传统,研究本民族文化的内在,做出具有中国文化特色之美的优秀设计。     

WEB数据库操作技术

数据库是Web网络技术的一个重要组成部分 ,如何对Web数据库进行操作已成为广大网络开发应用人员所必须掌握的技术。这里提出了Web数据库的操作流程 ,论述了Web数据库的几种操作技术、适应平台及操作核心 ,利用上述这些技术 ,可以方便地对网络数据库进行各种操作 ,从而满足大信息量的存储和读取     

Linux and the developing world

The impact of Linux on the developing world is, in many ways, even greater than on industrialized nations. The authors have used Linux productively in Pakistan in both academia and industry; here they detail what they learned in setting up an 84-seat Linux lab for undergraduate teaching, and how an ISP provider in Pakistan is using Linux to improve its services     

A Java application for tissue section image analysis

The medical industry has taken advantage of Java and Java technologies over the past few years, in large part due to the language's platform-independence and object-oriented structure. As such, Java provides powerful and effective tools for developing tissue section analysis software. The background and execution of this development are discussed in this publication. Object-oriented structure allows for the creation of "Slide", "Unit", and "Cell" objects to simulate the corresponding real-world objects. Different functions may then be created to perform various tasks on these objects, thus facilitating the development of the software package as a whole. At the current time, substantial parts of the initially planned functionality have been implemented. Getafics 1.0 is fully operational and currently supports a variety of research projects; however, there are certain features of the software that currently introduce unnecessary complexity and inefficiency. In the future, we hope to include features that obviate these problems.     

Are ICT investments paying off in Africa? An analysis of total factor productivity in six West African countries from 1995 to 2002

In the past two decades, we have seen increasing debate about information and communication technology (ICT) as an engine of growth that could lift developing nations out of poverty. Many African nations have implemented market liberalization and invested huge sums of money into their ICT sectors. But few studies have been conducted to assess the effectiveness of these investments. Demonstrating ICT sector performance is especially important because of challenges of the development of ICT policy and the United Nations agencies inability to state firmly if there are benefits to these investments. In this article, we investigated the total factor productivity (TFP) of the ICT sectors in six West African countries from 1995 to 2002. While the findings demonstrate positive growth in TFP, there is cause for concern. TFP growth in the ICT sector has been declining, and these countries are not yet able to take advantage of scale efficiencies. Careful attention must be given to future ICT investment strategies and performance management of existing ICT infrastructure if continued growth is to be achieved. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ergonomics and technology transfer into small and mediumsized enterprises

The role of ergonomic interventions is discussed in relation to technology transfer into small and medium-sized enterprises within an economy and from industrialized to industrially developing countries. In view of the flexibility and other advantages of these enterprises, there is a growing potential to develop ergonomics interventions adjusted to their technology transfer needs. Recent positive experiences in technology transfer situations in small and medium-sized enterprises have shown that successful ergonomics interventions have some common features. These features include building on local practice, looking at multiple needs together and focusing on practicable solutions. Advances are further seen in action-oriented procedures where participation is especially important and in a range of low-cost solutions. It is essential to develop an integrated change strategy emphasizing (1) enabling methods that can lead people to immediate action in multiple aspects of work, (2) participatory steps with active participation of local people, and (3) flexible use of support tools and techniques and training about how and when to use these tools and group work techniques. Particular efforts are needed in utilizing effective support tools and techniques for finding work design alternatives and training to facilitate their appropriate use. Sharing design processes of such 'field ergonomics' with a focus on local and innovative action in this direction will be important.     

A system planning method based on templates for large-scale manufacturing information systems

In the field of manufacturing, there is a need to develop large-scale manufacturing information systems. This is especially true in the Japanese steel manufacturing industry where CIM is the core management technology. But developing such systems requires large amounts of time and manpower, and furthermore, these type of projects are very difficult to manage. Therefore, in order to ease the process of analysis and design, we propose procedures based on a two-dimensional template with specific criteria for large-scale manufacturing IS architectures. In each manufacturing system, there are two important elements that correspond to the two dimensions of the template. One is a functional category and the other is a management structure. We show here the effectiveness of applying this method to system planning of large-scale IS in one representative steel manufacturing plant.     

一种基于JFreeChart的Web统计图表

互联网技术的飞速发展使得基于Web的应用越来越普遍,同时也更加复杂。基于Web的动态统计图表就是一个典型的实例。随着开发技术的不断发展,一些开源项目凭借其公开、自由以及免费等众多优势产生了越来越大的影响,很多项目都采用了开源技术。文中介绍了一种开源的基于Java的报表开发组件JFreeChart引擎,阐述了其图表显示原理。基于JSP和JavaBean技术的B/S开发模式已经成了目前开发基于Java技术的Web应用系统的主导,文章通过在Web上实现动态统计图表,给出了一种典型的应用,并结合一个实际项目中的例子进行了分析,探索出了一种开发Web动态报表的方法。