The penetration of mobile phones and mobile technologies in developing countries has led to innovative developments of various m-Health applications. These applications have proven the potential of mobile technologies for improving the quality of health care service in general and the fight against HIV/AIDS in particular. However, to achieve greater impact on the ground level (e.g. in an antiretroviral (ARV) treatment clinic) in a developing country's context, these applications have to be adopted and their utilization sustained. A study was undertaken to investigate sustainability and scalability challenges of mobile phone-based applications/projects for HIV/AIDS care in developing countries and the adoption and sustainability prospects of such m-Health applications in an ARV clinic in Pretoria. The findings presented here, are that from a care givers' and patients' perspective, adoption and sustainability of these applications is not merely dependent on the proposed technology's capabilities to enhance service delivery. Adoption and sustainability is however, mostly dependant on: (1) the care givers and patients' willingness and capability to incur any technological adoption and continuous use costs and, (2) their pre-conceived notions of government or sponsor-supported service provision.These technologies have the potential to improve access to health care services [43] particularly in developing countries where mobile phones are more prevalent than ICTs such as landlines, telephones and the internet [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. In these regions the healthcare system constantly faces challenges such as infrastructural deficit, resources shortages, tropical diseases and the burden of widespread diseases such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic [43]. The magnitude of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in developing countries combined with the contextual healthcare provision factors in many ARV clinics has raised the need to develop innovative ways to tackle the complexity that involves the provision of adequate health care in such circumstances.The exploration of the potential of mobile phones in the fight against HIV/AIDS has led to the establishment of mobile phone-based projects for HIV/AIDS care and the development of mobile phone-based applications for health care in developing countries such as South Africa, India, Rwanda, Peru, Uganda, etc [39]. These applications fall in the following utilisation areas: Education and Awareness, Remote Data Collection, Remote Monitoring, Communication and Training for healthcare workers, Disease and Epidemic Outbreak Tracking, and Diagnostic and treatment support [39]. White [42] and Fynn et al [11] note that these applications take advantage of the mobility and flexibility that mobile phones provide, in combination with other ICT technologies such as the internet and database technologies, the potential to overcome many of the barriers of distance and cost facing developing countries.Although these applications have proven the potential ...
Free / Libre open source software (FLOSS/OSS) has gained increasing popularity and utilisation in commercial and governmental organisations. Universities like Harvard and Stanford now offer courses on open source as a business and also on how businesses can compete with open source firms. However, very little research has been published in regards to the influence of OSS on business strategies; the use of OSS as a viable business or its value proposition within a commercial entity. The business model, a powerful tool for extracting economic value from the potential of technological innovation, clearly plays an important role in the success of a business. In this paper we investigate the role of open source in the business models of Red Hat and IBM and describe how OSS has contributed to their success. A framework recently developed by some of the authors is used to evaluate and identify the key factors important to the integration of OSS strategies into traditional business models.
Although technology is a significant aspect for most businesses, it has also proven to increase productivity, reduce other costs and eventually improve a company's bottom line. Small, Medium and Micro enterprises (SMMEs) do not usually have adequate funds to acquire ICT infrastructure. They do not require the infrastructure on a daily basis .Therefore it is not economically viable for them to purchase their own infrastructure. It is for this reason that they have to take advantage of Cloud computing capabilities. Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable resources are provided as a virtualised service. The Cloud is an emerging concept derived from a servicecentric view. All capabilities and resources of a Cloud are provided to users as a service to be accessed through the Internet without any knowledge, expertise, or control over the underlying technology infrastructure that supports them. Users are billed on a pay-per-use basis or through subscription. To provide on demand service, the Cloud adopts virtualisation, a service-oriented architecture, infrastructure scalability, the web and utility computing as the underlying concepts. This paper focuses on the implementation of virtual enterprises (VE), to enable SMMEs to respond quickly to customers' demands and market opportunities. The virtual enterprise model is based on the ability to create temporary co-operations and to realise the value of a short term business opportunity that the partners cannot (or can, but only to a lesser extent) capture on their own. The duration of the alliances vary depending on the actual goal. There are alliances made for a single business opportunity and which are dissolved at the end of such process, and long-term alliances that last for an indefinite number of business processes or for a specified time span.The model of virtual enterprise is made possible by means of virtualisation technology which is one of the building blocks of Cloud computing. To achieve a common goal, enterprises integrate resources, organisational models, and process models. Through a virtual business operating environment offered by Cloud computing, the SMMEs will be able to increase productivity and gain competitive advantage due to the cost benefit incurred.We propose a virtual enterprise enabled cloud enterprise architecture based on the concept of virtual enterprise at both business and technology levels. The business level comprises of organisational models, process models, skills, and competences while technology level comprises of IT resources.
Small, Medium, and Micro enterprises (SMMEs) usually do not have adequate funds to acquire ICT infrastructure and often use cloud computing. In this paper, the authors discuss the implementation of virtual enterprises (VE) to enable SMMEs to respond quickly to customers’ demands and market opportunities. The virtual enterprise model is based on the ability to create temporary co-operations and realize the value of a short term business opportunity that the partners cannot fully capture on their own. The model of virtual enterprise is made possible through virtualisation technology, which is a building block of cloud computing. To achieve a common goal, enterprises integrate resources, organisational models, and process models. Through the virtual business operating environment offered by cloud computing, the SMMEs are able to increase productivity and gain competitive advantage due to the cost benefit incurred. In this paper, the authors propose a virtual enterprise enabled cloud enterprise architecture based on the concept of virtual enterprise at both business and technology levels. The business level comprises of organisational models, process models, skills, and competences whereas the technology level comprises of IT resources.
Abstract. The evaluation of tissue perfusion in various parenchymatous organs is important in the diagnosis and determination of the severity of ischemic disease. Contrast ultrasound perfusion imaging can be used for this purpose. This paper describes a method that identifies different areas of perfusion in a contrast ultrasound perfusion study. Pixels in an image sequence are automatically classified into different classes, by analysing their distinct temporal relationships. A novel method is presented that uses a Bayesian Factor Analysis Model set in a Markov Random Field framework; utilising both the temporal and spatial characteristics of the pixels for classification. Preliminary results are demonstrated for simulated data, and a myocardial perfusion in-vivo dataset.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.