Proposal for Components of Method Design Theories - Increasing the Utility of Method Design Artefacts

Gregor and Jones have proposed components for design theories, building on theory concepts from behavioural sciences and prior publications. Their design theory structure addresses IT artefacts in general, not specific to any type, such as constructs, models, methods or instantiations. Their work is an important contribution to the academic discussion of design theories. The authors are building on this and believe that specialised design theory structures for different types of artefacts further increases utility, usability and acceptance of the components for both academia and practise. They have analysed each of the components published by Gregor and Jones and proposed refinements specific to method design artefacts wherever applicable. For each component, they derive evaluation criteria and present examples of method publications fulfilling the criteria. They argue that by presenting method design theories according to this structure the contribution of method design artefacts to the body of knowledge will increase

No evidence for an association of plasma homocysteine levels and refractive error - Results from the population-based Gutenberg Health Study (GHS)

Purpose There is a strong association between severe hyperhomocysteinemia and myopia. Thus we studied the hypothesis that even moderately increased levels of homocysteine (Hcy) might be a potentially treatable risk factor for myopia. Methods The Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) is a population-based, prospective, observational cohort study in Germany, including 15,010 participants aged between 35 and 74 at recruitment. The baseline examination was conducted from 2007-2012. Refraction was measured using autorefraction (HARK 599, Carl Zeiss AG, Jena, Germany). Hcy was measured by an immunoassay. We included only phakic participants without a history of corneal surgery or corneal laser treatment. We used linear regression models to evaluate the potential association between Hcy and refraction at baseline, and between Hcy and change in refraction between baseline and 5-year-follow-up examination. We used generalized estimating equation models to account for the correlation between fellow eyes. Results We included 13,749 participants, categorized as having no myopia (spherical equivalent > -0.75 D, 65.2%), low myopia (-0.75 D-2.75 D, 21.5%), moderate myopia (-3.00 D- 5.75 D, 9.8%) and high myopia (≤ -6

An analysis of the control hierarchy modeling of the CMS detector control system

The supervisory level of the Detector Control System (DCS) of the CMS experiment is implemented using Finite State Machines (FSM), which model the behaviours and control the operations of all the sub-detectors and support services. The FSM tree of the whole CMS experiment consists of more than 30.000 nodes. An analysis of a system of such size is a complex task but is a crucial step towards the improvement of the overall performance of the FSM system. This paper presents the analysis of the CMS FSM system using the micro Common Representation Language 2 (mcrl2) methodology. Individual mCRL2 models are obtained for the FSM systems of the CMS sub-detectors using the ASF+SDF automated translation tool. Different mCRL2 operations are applied to the mCRL2 models. A mCRL2 simulation tool is used to closer examine the system. Visualization of a system based on the exploration of its state space is enabled with a mCRL2 tool. Requirements such as command and state propagation are expressed using modal mu-calculus and checked using a model checking algorithm. For checking local requirements such as endless loop freedom, the Bounded Model Checking technique is applied. This paper discusses these analysis techniques and presents the results of their application on the CMS FSM system

Parallel Evolution of a Type IV Secretion System in Radiating Lineages of the Host-Restricted Bacterial Pathogen Bartonella

Adaptive radiation is the rapid origination of multiple species from a single ancestor as the result of concurrent adaptation to disparate environments. This fundamental evolutionary process is considered to be responsible for the genesis of a great portion of the diversity of life. Bacteria have evolved enormous biological diversity by exploiting an exceptional range of environments, yet diversification of bacteria via adaptive radiation has been documented in a few cases only and the underlying molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. Here we show a compelling example of adaptive radiation in pathogenic bacteria and reveal their genetic basis. Our evolutionary genomic analyses of the α-proteobacterial genus Bartonella uncover two parallel adaptive radiations within these host-restricted mammalian pathogens. We identify a horizontally-acquired protein secretion system, which has evolved to target specific bacterial effector proteins into host cells as the evolutionary key innovation triggering these parallel adaptive radiations. We show that the functional versatility and adaptive potential of the VirB type IV secretion system (T4SS), and thereby translocated Bartonella effector proteins (Beps), evolved in parallel in the two lineages prior to their radiations. Independent chromosomal fixation of the virB operon and consecutive rounds of lineage-specific bep gene duplications followed by their functional diversification characterize these parallel evolutionary trajectories. Whereas most Beps maintained their ancestral domain constitution, strikingly, a novel type of effector protein emerged convergently in both lineages. This resulted in similar arrays of host cell-targeted effector proteins in the two lineages of Bartonella as the basis of their independent radiation. The parallel molecular evolution of the VirB/Bep system displays a striking example of a key innovation involved in independent adaptive processes and the emergence of bacterial pathogens. Furthermore, our study highlights the remarkable evolvability of T4SSs and their effector proteins, explaining their broad application in bacterial interactions with the environment

A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment

A Wicked Company tells the remarkable story of Baron Thierry Holbach\u27s Parisian salon, an epicenter of freethinking that brought together the greatest minds of the 18th century. Over wine-soaked dinner parties, the finest intellectuals of the Western world—figures such as Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, Horace Walpole, and Benjamin Franklin—matched wits and scandalized one another with their own ever-more-provocative ideas. Writers of genius all, full of wit and courage (but also personal contradictions, doubts, conflicts of conscience, and their fair share of open arguments and love affairs), this group of friends embodied an astonishing radicalism in European thought, so uncompromising and bold that its bracing, liberating, humanist vision has still not been fully realized. As acclaimed historian Philipp Blom shows, these thinkers\u27 analysis of our culture remains as valid as it was then, and has lost little of its potential to shock—or to force us to confront with new eyes debates about our society and its future.https://scholar.dominican.edu/cynthia-stokes-brown-books-personal-research/1186/thumbnail.jp

Strategies for Creating, Generalising and Transferring Design Science Knowledge – A Methodological Discussion and Case Analysis

Design Science Research has been well accepted as part ofInformation Systems Research. The discussion about the researchprocess and the structure of design theories has been going on forsome time. While research has been done on the relation betweendesign theories and other types of theories, not much has beensaid about how design knowledge can be re-used. Otherdisciplines refer to such re-use as “generalisation” and “transfer”.We define a three-level separation of design abstraction (short-,mid-, and long-range) and show how knowledge re-use strategiesoperate between and within them, as well as how they relate togeneralisation and transfer. Each strategy is supported by a casefrom an existing publication, showing that the types of designtheories and the research strategies can be found in practice. Weargue that these research strategies can provide guidelines toresearchers and reviewers for planning, performing and evaluationDesign Science Research