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The purpose of this paper is to review proposals for earthquake prediction and study using accelerometers incorporated in laptop computers. Also reviewed is a lecture by Stephen Wolfram, creator of the Mathematica software package, introducing a new venture called Wolfram Alpha that combines computation with access to real‐world data. Developments in neural imaging techniques and some findings are discussed, including a remarkable manifestation of neural plasticity.

The aim is to review developments on the internet, especially those of general cybernetic interest.

Use of accelerometers, incorporated in laptop computers for a different purpose, appears to offer valuable opportunities for earthquake prediction and study. Exactly what will emerge from the Wolfram‐Alpha initiative remains to be seen but it holds great promise. New neuroimaging techniques have shown their worth in producing new findings, including one that reveals interesting neural plasticity.

Earthquake prediction and study, especially by a means that can be implemented quickly and cheaply, is of obvious value in quake‐prone areas such as California. Wolfram Alpha may come to be as familiar a tool as search engines are today. A primary aim of cybernetics is unravelling the working of the central nervous system, and both ethical and practical considerations favour non‐invasive means of investigation such as new neuroimaging techniques that have already proved their worth.

It is hoped this is a valuable periodic review.

Following from the cutting-edge work of Stephen Wolfram in A New Kind of Science (2002), in this chapter we propose “a new kind of OB” (organizational behavior) based on the varient approach to theory building and testing. In particular, we offer four simple, yet comprehensive theories to account for individual behavior, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and collectivized processes in organizations. In each case, two constructs, their association, and the levels of analysis of their operation are proposed. While the four theories proposed here are simple notions, they can explain a variety of complex phenomena and behavior in organizations.

Mathematica is computer software from Wolfram Research, Inc. Mathematica provides an environment for manipulating mathematical ideas symbolically. For example, you can ask Mathematica to factor[X2−Y2]and Mathematica will return: (X−Y)(X+Y). You can as easily deal with the equation for a line in algebra as take the derivative of a function in calculus, or solve an elaborate mathematical model in engineering or economics. Mathematica, then, allows you to use the language of mathematics with about the same terms as in a textbook and about the same ease as doing arithmetic on a calculator.

Integrating laboratory work into interactive engineering eLearning contents augments theory with practice while simultaneously ameliorating the apparent theory-practice gap in traditional eLearning. The purpose of this paper is to assess and recommend media that currently fulfil this desirable dual pedagogical goal.

The qualitative approach compares the eLearner-content interactivity deriving from Mathematica’s Computable Document File (CDF) application, Pearson’s myLab and Lucas-Nuelle’s UniTrain-I. Illustrative interactive examples written in JavaScript and Java are thereby drawn from an engineering eLearning course developed at the University of Botswana (UB).

Based on its scientific rigour, wide application scope, engineering analytical depth, minimal programming requirements and cross-subject-cum-faculty application and deployment potential, the authors found the CDF to be a versatile environment for generating dynamically interactive eLearning contents. The UniTrain-I, blending a multimedia information and communication technology (ICT)-based interactive eLearner-content philosophy with practical laboratory experimentation, is recommended for meeting the paper’s dual eLearning goal as the most adept framework to-date, blending dynamic interactive eLearning content with laboratory hands-on engineering experimentation.

The lack of other competing frameworks limited the considerations to only the three mentioned above. Consequently, the results are subject to review as the ongoing research advances new insights.

The conclusions help eLearning designers plan ICT-based resources for integration into practical electrical engineering eLearning pedagogy and both CDF and UniTrain-I help dispel the prevailing apparent disquiet regarding the effectiveness of the eLearning-mediated electrical engineering pedagogy. In addition, the cited examples document an original electrical engineering eLearning course developed at the UB.

The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the leading competitors to Google in searching the world wide web.

This paper discusses six search engines that are alternatives to Google: Bing, Wolfram Alpha, Topsy, Scoopler, Scribd, and Data.gov

The paper finds that all but Bing among the six search tools have a narrower and more defined approach than Google. Each has value in context.

The paper provides an evaluation of when these more specialized tools would be useful to internet searchers.

Organizational technologies can be classified according to the roles they play as either commodity or strategic. Commodity technologies support common operations, while strategic technologies address perceived threats to competitiveness, often identified by strategic foresight. These must go through an adoption process before playing an effective role in strategy execution. The adoption process includes known activities, ranging from sourcing (itself from in-house development to turn-key acquisition) to operational integration. This paper aims to reveal strategic technology adoption risks that arise during strategy execution.

A gradually developed causal loop diagram model, supported by general literature, introduces three general classes of technology adoption risks: mismatched requirements, supplier dependence and unmanaged life cycles.

Rather than managed, these risks are incurred or avoided depending on decisions made during the adoption process.

Despite the scarce literature coverage for the approach, examples revealing the presence of adoption risks are nevertheless available in the well-documented history of enterprise resource planning (ERP).

Although ERP is presented as a general-purpose strategic technology, the unique business features of maritime container terminals pose serious challenges to its adoption, which provides additional support to the discussion and reinforces the conclusions.

The approach to identifying risks in strategic technology adoption departs from the current risk paradigm in two significant ways. First, it emphasizes policy decision-making rather than external events. Second, it views risks as systemic rather than occurring independently.

The purpose of this paper is to show that changes in social systems do not occur randomly. They are consistent with what has gone on before, with the history and identity of the system. As long as the organizing principles of a dominant culture remain unchallenged, behavior of all the social‐units originating from this culture will remain unchanged.

The concepts developed in this paper are the results of 30 years of real life experimentation with organizations and cultural transformations in different cultures. The paper demonstrates how an analytical culture, despite its well‐known shortcomings, keeps reproducing the same set of non‐solutions all over again.

To change, systems need to go through an active process of unlearning. Unlearning is an iterative and collective process of the second‐order learning. A participative and iterative design process with the aim of replacing the distorted shared images is the most effective learning tool to produce a second‐order learning and a desired change in the behavioral pattern of a social system.

The value is to appreciate the real source of resistance to change.