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Looks at the needs to begin planning for remote access to online public access catalogs (OPACs), and to consider the special needs of the remote user – beginning at the institutional level – for example, how well does the campus network match up to the ideal service level of easy access for every faculty member and student? Considers other possibilities, such as dial access, dedicated workstations or local area networks. Makes the point that the existence of the service must be advertised, potential users of remote services are unlikely to be aware of its existence if it has not been advertised outside of the library itself. Document delivery is another important issue that needs to be addressed if the remote user is to receive satisfactory service levels.

The paper intends to provide an overall picture how libraries use different tools, integrated to remote access facility and offer improved off-campus services.

Web content analysis was used as research method to collect data from academic libraries in four continents.

The results highlight that libraries use different types of online tools integrated to remote access facility; however, the techniques involved and purposes of use vary from library to library. Citing numerous examples, the paper approaches to draw a comparative figure of differential use of remote access tools across the continents.

The paper is the first of its kind and may guide library professionals to plan and implement online tools, integrated with remote access facility and support education, research and training of the parent institution.

This study aims to revisit and extends the work of Rosacker and Rosacker (2012) that called for increased interdisciplinary efforts to address and solve the critical issues (critical success factors) facing technologically-enabled remote-access voting platforms. It builds upon the background platform presented there, which included an historical timeline of information and communication technologies and an e-voting literature review, and extends that work by providing a state-of-the-art update and review of the rapidly changing voter environment from societal, technological and experiential studies over the past decade. Specific focus is directed at technology-enabled, remote-access voting, while also considering the important role technological advances can play in improving voter registration/confirmation procedures.

First, a brief review of significant societal and technological changes, including the rapid evolution of the internet of things, is undertaken to frame the discussion. Second, a sample of several technology-enabled, remote-access voting experiments are reviewed and critiqued. Third, currently available technical solutions targeting technology-enabled voter registration and vote casting are offered as the next step in the process that will ultimately lead to remote-access voting becoming widely deployed across smart devices. Finally, some contemporaneous conclusions are tendered.

Society and technology-enabled devices have each witnessed myriad changes and advancements in the second decade of the 21st century. These have led to numerous remote-access voting experiments across the globe that have overwhelmingly proven the concept of technology-enabled, remote-access voting to be viable while also identifying/reasserting issues (critical success factors) that continue to restrain its full implementation. Importantly, none of the problems identified is fatal to the concept.

This study considers the issue of technologically-enabled, remote-access voting focussing on the impacts associated with the portfolio of recent societal and technological advancements including the many vexing concerns and issues presented by the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing is limiting access to the traditional methods of in-person voting for both election officials and voters bringing into question the November 2020 US national election. Calls for expanded mail voting options and the requisite federal funding required to support these efforts are increasing, widespread and broadly persuasive. Wholly missing in this debate is an exhaustive consideration and discussion of technologically enhanced, remote-access voting systems and their role in filling the void.

An integrated Web engine (IWE) has been developed by the Internetworking program at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada to deliver remote learning experience to geographically remote Master's students. The University intends to increase its student base through online education, retaining the same quality of interactions as the onsite program. To this end, the IWE accommodates three technology‐enabled learning environments that correlate with the three pedagogical approaches and types of onsite interaction. Discusses the e‐learning metrics, pedagogical and technical considerations that influence the design and implementation of the IWE environment. The IWE uses de facto networking standards, commercial and broadband Internet connectivity to ensure real‐time secure interaction with equipment and deliver lectures respectively. A four‐tier role architecture, consisting of faculty, local, remote facilitators, and students, has been determined to be appropriate and adapted to maintain academic integrity and offer the same quality of interaction as the onsite program.

This column marks the first in a series dealing with networked access to online public access catalogs (OPACs). Networked and remote access can take many forms. A local user can access a local OPAC through a local campus network. A local user can access remote OPACs using the local OPAC as a gateway. Remote users can access the local OPAC through external networks such as the Internet.

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively explore the views and opinions of service users accessing remote therapy through a community forensic personality disorder service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A qualitative exploratory approach was adopted. Nine community forensic service users accessing virtual/telephone therapy through a community forensic mental health service were interviewed using semi-structed interviews. Data was analysed using Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis techniques.

Analysis resulted in three overall themes: experience of communication in the therapeutic relationship; impacts of the change to remote working and making the best of what we have. A further seven subthemes were developed. A range of advantages and disadvantages to remote therapy were highlighted.

This study was based on a small sample of service users accessing one community forensic service in England, and therefore caution should be taken when generalising the findings. All interviews were conducted remotely and thus may have only supported those who are able to engage in this way.

This paper has the potential to inform future remote therapy guidelines. Health services should consider keeping some elements of remote working and offering this as a choice to all service users.

This study is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first study that attempts to explore the experiences of individuals accessing remote therapy within a forensic population who have personality disorders or traits.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a timely discussion of the important topic of remote‐access voting technology.

First, an introduction to the topic is offered; second the existing state of the art is considered; third, a brief history of electronic and internet voting methods is presented; and fourth, a short list of critical success factors for remote‐access voting is presented. Finally, a conclusion is offered surrounding how academics and practitioners can collaboratively proceed to address the salient issues and barriers that currently prohibit the advancement of remote‐access voting.

There is a brief and largely successful history involving applications of information communication technologies (ICTs) and computer technology to assist in data capture and tabulation of democratic elections. While several critical issues have been identified, none has been so significant that an end‐game strategy should be invoked rather than continued innovation. Concurrently, the business world has witnessed an expanding use of computer‐based infrastructures and enhanced ICTs to facilitate the processing of remote‐access commercial transactions. These advancements have provided a rich opportunity to seek out, identify, and address the substantive operational issues permitting the successful expansion of a variety of business methods, models, and processes. While these successes have provided a solid foundation upon which e‐government voting systems can be attempted, such a process improvement has been elusive to this date with many of the real issues and concerns seeming to be too large to resolve.

The paper considers the important issue of remote‐access voting as a means for supporting the expansion and refinement of democratic processes across the world through increased citizen participation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected most organisations' workplaces and productivity. Organisations have had to make provision for staff to operate remotely following the implementation of lockdown regulations around the world, because the pandemic has led to restrictions on movement and the temporary closure of workplace premises. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights from remote workers' experiences in South Africa about immediate conversion from the normal workplace environment to working remotely from home. The structuration theory was adopted to understand the social structural challenges experienced by staff working from home.

Data were collected using a Web-based survey, administered when the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in movement restrictions, using the judgemental sampling technique.

The results are presented using both external and internal features that are linked to the social structures experienced by remote workers who participated in the survey. The key findings indicate that despite the positive aspects of remote working using advances in technology, there are also negative aspects and risks attached to remote working such as work overload and pressures to perform timeously. This can pose severe threats to workers' routines and lifestyle, and the lack of interaction can impinge on their health and general well-being.

The online survey was carried out with first-time remote workers who were the target for the study. Some respondents may have had an affinity for remote working because of the novelty. The sample size may not be generalised, as the collected sample is moderately small, although the purpose of the paper was to report on a small sample size, given the rapidity of the study.

The paper seeks to highlight social structures that exist in South Africa, which accentuate the resource divide for remote workers. Also, the paper aims to encourage organisations (employers) to better understand challenges that workers encountered while working from their homes during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions.

The relevance of this paper is in its contribution to the structuration theory and remote working literature, as well as to the study of these topics in the context of South Africa.

This study aims to facilitate access to vascular disease screening for low-income individuals living in remote and conflict areas based on the results of a pilot trial in Colombia. Also, to increase the amount of diagnosis training of vascular surgery (VS) in civilians.

The operation method includes five stages: strategy development and adjustment; translation of the strategy into a real-world setting; operation logistics planning; strategy analysis and adoption. The operation plan worked efficiently in this study’s sample. It demonstrated high sensibility, efficiency and safety in a real-world setting.

The authors developed and implemented a flow model operating plan for screening vascular pathologies in low-income patients pro bono without proper access to vascular health care. A total of 140 patients from rural areas in Colombia were recruited to a controlled screening session where they underwent serial noninvasive ultrasound assessments conducted by health professionals of different training stages in VS.

The plan was designed to be implemented in remote, conflict areas with limited access to VS care. Vascular injuries are critically important and common among civilians and military forces in regions with active armed conflicts. As this strategy can be modified and adapted to different medical specialties and geographic areas, the authors recommend checking the related legislation and legal aspects of the intended areas where we will implement this tool.

Different sub-specialties can implement the described method to be translated into significant areas of medicine, as the authors can adjust the deployment and execution for the assessment in peripheral areas, conflict zones and other public health crises that require a faster response. This is necessary, as the amount of training to which VS trainees are exposed is low. A simulated exercise offers a novel opportunity to enhance their current diagnostic skills using ultrasound in a controlled environment.

Evaluating and assessing patients with limited access to vascular medicine and other specialties can decrease the burden of vascular disease and related complications and increase the number of treatments available for remote communities.

It is essential to assess the most significant number of patients and treat them according to their triage designation. This management is similar to assessment in remote areas without access to a proper VS consult. The authors were able to determine, classify and redirect to therapeutic interventions the patients with positive findings in remote areas with a fast deployment methodology in VS.

Access to health care is limited due to multiple barriers and the assessment and response, especially in peripheral areas that require a highly skilled team of medical professionals and related equipment. The authors tested a novel mobile assessment tool for remote and conflict areas in a rural zone of Colombia.

In the early 1980s, Luis Alvarez and his colleagues added a new dimension to Darwin's theory of evolution. With evidence from studies of the earth's crust between the cretacious and tertiary layers, they postulated that the traditional slow, gradual mutation of species over eons was also punctuated with occasional major changes, often catastrophic, that caused leaps in evolution in relatively short “moments” of history. The extinction of the dinosaurs and half the other animal species alive between the cretacious and tertiary periods of earth's history was one such momentous change, forever altering the evolution of animal species.