This study provides a framework for researchers who study the interactions of humans with computers to develop and evaluate user-centric user-interfaces by applying existing theories about telepresence, human-computer research, and characteristics of technology itself to produce social and spatial experiences similar to the ones computer users experience in the non-mediated world. An experiment...

Globally, the annual number of new infections among children (0-14 years) has almost halved since 2010 with a 47% reduction in new HIV cases.1 Since 1995, an estimated 1.6 million new HIV infections among children have been averted due to the provision of antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) to women living with HIV during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The vast majority of these infections (1.3 milli...

The current standards for meeting drug information (DI) requirements in American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)-accredited pharmacy practice residency (PPR) programs and the impact of changes in ASHP standards for the DI requirements were studied. In September 2002 a nine-question survey was e-mailed to the directors of all ASHP-accredited PPR programs listed with an available e-ma...

The selection of medicines is a skilled process that produces an essential medicines list (EML) and substantiates rational management of pharmaceutical services. This paper presents the selection of essential medicines in Brazilian states and municipalities. It discusses the perception of pharmaceutical services managers regarding the concept of essential medicines and strategies adopted for th...

Drug information (DI) services is an essential resource for pharmacists to provide counseling to patients and guide appropriate medication use. We devised a DI practical training course that incorporated an inquiry-based practical training program and evaluated its effectiveness. A total of 91 fifth-year students in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Fukuoka University took part in the following DI ses...

Research on information sharing has viewed this activity as essential for informing groups on content relevant to a decision. We propose and examine an alternate function of information sharing, i.e., the social construction of meaning. To accomplish this goal, we turn to social construction, social presence, and task closure theories. Drawing from these theories, we hypothesize relationships a...

Research into the effectiveness of online learning has yielded a number of potential models of online learning effectiveness but no verified theoretical frameworks (Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007). Extensive literature exists related to the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model, first proposed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) to describe the components of an ideal educational experience. The model ...

E-commerce diffusion has apparently taken different paths in different nations partially because of the implications of national technology and the political and economic environments. This paper examines both the diffusion and the impacts of e-commerce in China, based on results of a large-scale survey conducted in 10 countries including China. Findings lead to the conclusion that Chinese firm...

So far, research in computer-mediated collaboration has investigated various factors influencing the amount of social presence experienced in online settings. This experimental study broadens the perspective and investigates social presence as a causing factor on participants’ perception on task, medium and collaboration. Therefore an experiment with between subject design was conducted, with m...