The language we use forms an important part of our sense of who we are – of our identity. This book outlines the relationship between our identity as members of groups – ethnic, national, religious ...and gender – and the language varieties important to each group. What is a language? What is a dialect? Are there such things as language 'rights'? Must every national group have its own unique language? How have languages, large and small, been used to spread religious ideas? Why have particular religious and linguistic 'markers' been so central, singly or in combination, to the ways in which we think about ourselves and others? Using a rich variety of examples, the book highlights the linkages among languages, dialects and identities, with special attention given to religious, ethnic and national allegiances.
•An information processing and use perspective on the impact of Business Analytics.•Business Analytics improves environmental scanning that in turn enhances innovation.•Business Analytics enhances ...data-driven culture and hence environmental scanning.•Data-driven culture enhances the impact of Business Analytics on innovation.
Advances in Business Analytics in the era of Big Data have provided unprecedented opportunities for organizations to innovate. With insights gained from Business Analytics, companies are able to develop new or improved products/services. However, few studies have investigated the mechanism through which Business Analytics contributes to a firm's innovation success. This research aims to address this gap by theoretically and empirically investigating the relationship between Business Analytics and innovation. To achieve this aim, absorptive capacity theory is used as a theoretical lens to inform the development of a research model. Absorptive capacity theory refers to a firm's ability to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends. The research model covers the use of Business Analytics, environmental scanning, data-driven culture, innovation (new product newness and meaningfulness), and competitive advantage. The research model is tested through a questionnaire survey of 218 UK businesses. The results suggest that Business Analytics directly improves environmental scanning which in turn helps to enhance a company's innovation. Business Analytics also directly enhances data-driven culture that in turn impacts on environmental scanning. Data-driven culture plays another important role by moderating the effect of environmental scanning on new product meaningfulness. The findings demonstrate the positive impact of business analytics on innovation and the pivotal roles of environmental scanning and data-driven culture. Organizations wishing to realize the potential of Business Analytics thus need changes in both their external and internal focus.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been in existence for over six decades and has experienced AI winters and springs. The rise of super computing power and Big Data technologies appear to have ...empowered AI in recent years. The new generation of AI is rapidly expanding and has again become an attractive topic for research. This paper aims to identify the challenges associated with the use and impact of revitalised AI based systems for decision making and offer a set of research propositions for information systems (IS) researchers. The paper first provides a view of the history of AI through the relevant papers published in the International Journal of Information Management (IJIM). It then discusses AI for decision making in general and the specific issues regarding the interaction and integration of AI to support or replace human decision makers in particular. To advance research on the use of AI for decision making in the era of Big Data, the paper offers twelve research propositions for IS researchers in terms of conceptual and theoretical development, AI technology-human interaction, and AI implementation.
Candida auris is an emerging, multi-drug resistant, health care-associated fungal pathogen. Its predominant prevalence in hospitals and nursing homes indicates its ability to adhere to and colonize ...the skin, or persist in an environment outside the host-a trait unique from other Candida species. Besides being associated globally with life-threatening disseminated infections, C. auris also poses significant clinical challenges due to its ability to adhere to polymeric surfaces and form highly drug-resistant biofilms. Here, we performed bioinformatic studies to identify the presence of adhesin proteins in C. auris, with sequence as well as 3-D structural homologies to the major adhesin/invasin of C. albicans, Als3. Anti-Als3p antibodies generated by vaccinating mice with NDV-3A (a vaccine based on the N-terminus of Als3 protein formulated with alum) recognized C. auris in vitro, blocked its ability to form biofilms and enhanced macrophage-mediated killing of the fungus. Furthermore, NDV-3A vaccination induced significant levels of C. auris cross-reactive humoral and cellular immune responses, and protected immunosuppressed mice from lethal C. auris disseminated infection, compared to the control alum-vaccinated mice. The mechanism of protection is attributed to anti-Als3p antibodies and CD4+ T helper cells activating tissue macrophages. Finally, NDV-3A potentiated the protective efficacy of the antifungal drug micafungin, against C. auris candidemia. Identification of Als3-like adhesins in C. auris makes it a target for immunotherapeutic strategies using NDV-3A, a vaccine with known efficacy against other Candida species and safety as well as efficacy in clinical trials. Considering that C. auris can be resistant to almost all classes of antifungal drugs, such an approach has profound clinical relevance.
In this opinion paper, I consider research at the overlap between information management and knowledge management. Although there is much research that could fit into this area, the boundary of the ...overlap is poorly defined, and prior work specifically addressing the two topics is more likely to look at their differences than their similarities. Treating this lack of precision as an opportunity, I identify six aspects of the intersection of knowledge management and information management: people, processes, technology, culture, structure and performance/measuring outcomes. These inspire six proposed directions for future research: the extent to which apparently tacit knowledge can be made explicit; the usefulness of semi-formal or informal processes; how to discourage fake content; the implications of working from home; knowledge management and information management in project-based organisations; and how to measure the impact of knowledge management and information management. Suggestions about appropriate theories and approaches for each direction are offered.
•The overlap between knowledge management and information management is poorly defined.•Previous work concentrates on differences rather than commonalities.•The overlap is represented by six aspects.•Identifies six future research directions (one headlining each aspect).•Proposes mixed methods as probably the most fruitful research approach.
While using artificial intelligence (AI) could improve organizational decision-making, it also creates challenges associated with the “dark side” of AI. However, there is a lack of research on ...managers' attitudes and intentions to use AI for decision making. To address this gap, we develop an integrated AI acceptance-avoidance model (IAAAM) to consider both the positive and negative factors that collectively influence managers' attitudes and behavioral intentions towards using AI. The research model is tested through a large-scale questionnaire survey of 269 UK business managers. Our findings suggest that IAAAM provides a more comprehensive model for explaining and predicting managers' attitudes and behavioral intentions towards using AI. Our research contributes conceptually and empirically to the emerging literature on using AI for organizational decision-making. Further, regarding the practical implications of using AI for organizational decision-making, we highlight the importance of developing favorable facilitating conditions, having an effective mechanism to alleviate managers’ personal concerns, and having a balanced consideration of both the benefits and the dark side associated with using AI.
•A new model (IAAAM) integrates technology acceptance, avoidance and personal concerns.•IAAAM explains 62% of the variance in intention to use artificial Intelligence (AI).•Attitude has a significant positive effect on intention to use AI.•Personal concerns have a significant negative effect on intention to use AI.•Firms wishing to adopt AI should develop favorable facilitating conditions.
We sought to define protective mechanisms of immunity to Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans bloodstream infections in mice immunized with the recombinant N-terminus of Als3p (rAls3p-N) ...vaccine plus aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH(3)) adjuvant, or adjuvant controls. Deficiency of IFN-gamma but not IL-17A enhanced susceptibility of control mice to both infections. However, vaccine-induced protective immunity against both infections required CD4+ T-cell-derived IFN-gamma and IL-17A, and functional phagocytic effectors. Vaccination primed Th1, Th17, and Th1/17 lymphocytes, which produced pro-inflammatory cytokines that enhanced phagocytic killing of both organisms. Vaccinated, infected mice had increased IFN-gamma, IL-17, and KC, increased neutrophil influx, and decreased organism burden in tissues. In summary, rAls3p-N vaccination induced a Th1/Th17 response, resulting in recruitment and activation of phagocytes at sites of infection, and more effective clearance of S. aureus and C. albicans from tissues. Thus, vaccine-mediated adaptive immunity can protect against both infections by targeting microbes for destruction by innate effectors.
Mucormycosis is a fungal infection of the sinuses, brain, or lungs that causes a mortality rate of at least 50% despite first-line therapy. Because angioinvasion is a hallmark of mucormycosis ...infections, we sought to define the endothelial cell receptor(s) for fungi of the order Mucorales (the fungi that cause mucormycosis). Furthermore, since patients with elevated available serum iron, including those with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), are uniquely susceptible to mucormycosis, we sought to define the role of iron and glucose in regulating the expression of such a receptor. Here, we have identified glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) as what we believe to be a novel host receptor that mediates invasion and damage of human endothelial cells by Rhizopus oryzae, the most common etiologic species of Mucorales, but not Candida albicans or Aspergillus fumigatus. Elevated concentrations of glucose and iron, consistent with those seen during DKA, enhanced GRP78 expression and the resulting R. oryzae invasion and damage of endothelial cells in a receptor-dependent manner. Mice with DKA, which have enhanced susceptibility to mucormycosis, exhibited increased expression of GRP78 in sinus, lungs, and brain compared with normal mice. Finally, GRP78-specific immune serum protected mice with DKA from mucormycosis. These results suggest a unique susceptibility of patients with DKA to mucormycosis and provide a foundation for the development of new therapeutic interventions for these deadly infections.
DNA methylation and DNA methyltransferases Edwards, John R; Yarychkivska, Olya; Boulard, Mathieu ...
Epigenetics & chromatin,
05/2017, Letnik:
10, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The prevailing views as to the form, function, and regulation of genomic methylation patterns have their origin many years in the past, at a time when the structure of the mammalian genome was only ...dimly perceived, when the number of protein-encoding mammalian genes was believed to be at least five times greater than the actual number, and when it was not understood that only ~10% of the genome is under selective pressure and likely to have biological function. We use more recent findings from genome biology and whole-genome methylation profiling to provide a reappraisal of the shape of genomic methylation patterns and the nature of the changes that they undergo during gametogenesis and early development. We observe that the sequences that undergo deep changes in methylation status during early development are largely sequences without regulatory function. We also discuss recent findings that begin to explain the remarkable fidelity of maintenance methylation. Rather than a general overview of DNA methylation in mammals (which has been the subject of many reviews), we present a new analysis of the distribution of methylated CpG dinucleotides across the multiple sequence compartments that make up the mammalian genome, and we offer an updated interpretation of the nature of the changes in methylation patterns that occur in germ cells and early embryos. We discuss the cues that might designate specific sequences for demethylation or de novo methylation during development, and we summarize recent findings on mechanisms that maintain methylation patterns in mammalian genomes. We also describe the several human disorders, each very different from the other, that are caused by mutations in DNA methyltransferase genes.
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