Mara Nikolaidou, Dimosthenis Anagnostopoulos and Michael Hatzopoulos
Aims to present the authors' efforts towards the development of a digital library environment supporting research at the Medical School of Athens University, Greece.
Abstract
Purpose
Aims to present the authors' efforts towards the development of a digital library environment supporting research at the Medical School of Athens University, Greece.
Design/methodology/approach
The digital library facilitates access to medical material produced by laboratories for both research and educational purposes. As the material produced varies (regarding its type and structure) and the search requirements imposed by potential users differ, each laboratory develops its own collection. All collections must be bilingual, supporting both Greek and English. Extended requirements were imposed regarding the services offered by the digital library environment, due to the following reasons: end‐users actively participate in the cataloguing workflow; cataloguers should be able to create and manage multiple collections in a simplified manner; and different search requirements must be supported for different user groups. To formulate and then deal with these requirements, the authors introduced the term “dynamic collection management” denoting automated collection definition and unified collection management within an integrated digital library environment. Digital library components providing the desired functionality and the interaction between them are described. System performance, especially during collection search, and bilingual support are also explored.
Findings
Finds that Athens Medical School Digital Library facilitates access to medical material to researchers and students for both research and educational purposes.
Originality/value
The paper provides useful information on a digital library environment which supports research.
Details
Keywords
Norita Ahmad and Arief M. Zulkifli
This study aims to provide a systematic review about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impacts on happiness. It intends to serve as a platform for further research as it is…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide a systematic review about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impacts on happiness. It intends to serve as a platform for further research as it is sparse in in-depth analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
This systematic review initially observed 2,501 literary articles through the ScienceDirect and WorldCat search engines before narrowing it down to 72 articles based on subject matter relevance in the abstract and keywords. Accounting for duplicates between search engines, the count was reduced to 66 articles. To finally narrow down all the literature used in this systematic review, 66 articles were given a critical readthrough. The count was finally reduced to 53 total articles used in this systematic review.
Findings
This paper necessitates the claim that IoT will likely impact many aspects of our everyday lives. Through the literature observed, it was found that IoT will have some significant and positive impacts on people's welfare and lives. The unprecedented nature of IoTs impacts on society should warrant further research moving forward.
Research limitations/implications
While the literature presented in this systematic review shows that IoT can positively impact the perceived or explicit happiness of people, the amount of literature found to supplement this argument is still on the lower end. They also necessitate the need for both greater depth and variety in this field of research.
Practical implications
Since technology is already a pervasive element of most people’s contemporary lives, it stands to reason that the most important factors to consider will be in how we might benefit from IoT or, more notably, how IoT can enhance our levels of happiness. A significant implication is its ability to reduce the gap in happiness levels between urban and rural areas.
Originality/value
Currently, the literature directly tackling the quantification of IoTs perceived influence on happiness has yet to be truly discussed broadly. This systematic review serves as a starting point for further discussion in the subject matter. In addition, this paper may lead to a better understanding of the IoT technology and how we can best advance and adapt it to the benefits of the society.
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Abdulazeez Y.H. Saif-Alyousfi, Asish Saha and Rohani Md-Rus
The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the impact of oil and gas prices shocks on the non-performing loans (NPLs) of banks at the aggregate as well as at the level of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the impact of oil and gas prices shocks on the non-performing loans (NPLs) of banks at the aggregate as well as at the level of commercial and Islamic banks in Qatar over the period 2000-2016.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the West Texas Intermediate Database, BankScope Database, World Bank’s World Development Indicators Database, and International Monetary Fund Database, the authors use a one-step system generalized method of moments dynamic model to examine and compare the association between oil and gas prices shocks with NPLs in Qatari banks. The authors also test the hypotheses of direct and indirect impacts of oil price shocks and gas price shocks on bank NPLs.
Findings
The results indicate that oil price shocks and gas price shocks do not have directly affect NPLs of Qatari banks at the aggregate level, while they have indirect effects that are channeled through the country-specific macroeconomic and institutional factors. The authors find that oil and gas prices shocks affect NPLs of Qatari Islamic banks directly through extended oil and gas-related cash flows, while their impact on the NPLs of Qatari commercial banks is indirect. In other words, Islamic banks in Qatar greatly benefits from increased cash flow caused by the rise in the oil and gas prices, which make their NPLs, much lower than that in commercial banks. Better capital cushion, better managerial efficiency, better risk management, and liquidity management systems should be used by the Islamic banks in Qatar to expand their customer base. The authors also find that positive fiscal stance of the government reduces the NPLs in both commercial and Islamic banks.
Practical implications
The results of this study necessitate policy measures that can counter the effects of changes in oil and gas prices on the growth of bank NPLs.
Originality/value
It is widely recognized that oil and gas prices and the level of production are of great importance to the economic development of oil and gas-exporting countries. So far, however, no econometric study has been reported in the literature which analyses and compares the impact of oil and gas prices shocks on the NPLs of commercial and Islamic banks and also at the aggregate level in any of the oil economies. Thus, this study provides the first empirical evidence on distinct direct and indirect channels through which oil and gas prices shocks may affect bank NPLs.
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Surendran Cherukodan, G. Santhosh Kumar and S. Humayoon Kabir
The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of a digital library at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India, using DSpace open source…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of a digital library at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India, using DSpace open source software. The study covers the structure, contents and usage of CUSAT digital library.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines the possibilities of applying open source in libraries. An evaluative approach is carried out to explore the features of the CUSAT digital library. The Google Analytics service is employed to measure the amount of use of digital library by users across the world.
Findings
CUSAT has successfully applied DSpace open source software for building a digital library. The digital library has had visits from 78 countries, with the major share from India. The distribution of documents in the digital library is uneven. Past exam question papers share the major part of the collection. The number of research papers, articles and rare documents is less.
Originality/value
The study is the first of its type that tries to understand digital library design and development using DSpace open source software in a university environment with a focus on the analysis of distribution of items and measuring the value by usage statistics employing the Google Analytics service. The digital library model can be useful for designing similar systems.
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Gaohui Cao, Mengli Liang and Xuguang Li
This paper aims to clearly conceptualize the idea of the smart library and propose a holistic approach to building smart libraries, in accordance with recent practices and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to clearly conceptualize the idea of the smart library and propose a holistic approach to building smart libraries, in accordance with recent practices and state-of-the-art technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on an extensive review of existing literature and practice about library construction, this paper distinguishes between similar types of smart library and divides the concepts associated with smart library building into three dimensions: technology, service and human.
Findings
Traditional libraries can transform to smart libraries by strategic design and implementation of advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, data mining and artificial intelligence, but they also need to consider service building, user cultivation and librarian training.
Originality/value
Aligning to the three main dimensions of smart libraries (technology, service and human), this study clarifies the concept of the smart library and offers strategic principles: integration of infrastructures, construction of service and human learning. It provides guidelines and directions for public and academic libraries committed to becoming smart libraries.
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Keywords
This paper aims to explain the implementation procedure of DSpace at the Library of Independent University, Bangladesh. This paper shows how DSpace is promoting open educational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explain the implementation procedure of DSpace at the Library of Independent University, Bangladesh. This paper shows how DSpace is promoting open educational resources (OER) movement and demonstrates the ease of implementing DSpace in an institution. Moreover, the purpose of this paper is to encourage library professionals to participate in the OER movement by implementing DSpace in their libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
The requirements for implementing DSpace have been shown in this paper. It also describes the system model of an academic repository (DSpace)/digital library (DL). In addition, the paper describes the legal issues for submitting an item in DSpace and self-submission process of an item as well as shows impact of DSpace on OER.
Findings
Open source software and Open Access Institutional Repository software has a fundamental role in promoting OER. DSpace is perfect for building a DL or an institutional repository in libraries, especially for developing country libraries because this demands low cost and it is easy to implement in libraries as well as is user-friendly.
Originality/value
This paper will help to understand the role of the library community and librarians about OER. It will also show the impact of DL on OER. In addition, this paper encourages librarians to participate in OER movement.