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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of mobile learning in a nursing course at The Open University of Hong Kong, and identify the potentials of, and constraints on, introducing mobile technologies in the instructional design of nursing education. The paper also considers the pedagogical implications of the expansion of mobile learning in the field of nursing.

The research adopts a qualitative approach to obtain the students’ and teacher’s experiences, opinions, and expectations on mobile learning. Two focus groups with 20 student participants were conducted and an in-depth interview with the course teacher was arranged. The Framework for the Rational Analysis of Mobile Education (FRAME) model was used as the research framework to support data collection and analysis.

The aspects of device usability, interaction learning, and social technology as suggested in the FRAME model were partly fulfilled in the study. Mobile technology enhanced the portability and accessibility of learning information, and networking tools facilitated interaction among students and between students and the teacher. However, the readability of text was limited due to constraints on the user interface and screen size, and concerns over the reliability of learning content were also raised, given the abundance of unfiltered online information. The difficulty in updating the content of multimedia materials and sourcing videos of an appropriate level, together with the problem of device networking, also limited the usefulness of mobile learning. Attention should also be paid to the perceptual differences between students and the teacher on the nature and functions of mobile learning.

This empirical study provides a detailed evaluation of the delivery of mobile learning in a nursing course. The findings reveal the strengths and limitations of using mobile technologies to support the nursing education.

The measure of companies' Innovation Performance is fundamental for enhancing the value and decision-making processes of firms. The purpose of this paper is to present a new measure of Innovation Performance, called Innovation Patent Index (IPI), which makes it possible to quantitatively summarize different aspects of firms' innovation.

In order to define the IPI, a secondary source, i.e. patent data, has been used. The five dimensions of IPI, i.e. efficiency, time, diversification, quality and internationalization have been defined both analyzing the literature and applying three different machine learning algorithms (regularized least squares, deep neural networks and decision trees), considering patent forward citations as a proxy of the innovation performance.

Results show that the IPI index is a very useful tool, simple to use and very promptly. In fact, it is possible to get important results without making time consuming analysis with primary sources. It is a tool that can be used by managers, businessmen, policymakers, organizations, patent experts and financiers to evaluate and plan future activities, to enhance the innovation capability, to find financing and to support and improve innovation.

Patent data are not widely used in all the sectors. Moreover, the pure number of forward citations is not the only forward looking indicator suggested by the literature.

The demand for a useable Innovation Performance tool, as well as the lack of tools able to grasp different aspects of the innovation, highlight the need to develop new instruments. In fact, although previous studies provide several measures of Innovation Performance, these are often difficult for managers to use, do not appreciate different aspects of the innovation and are not forward looking.