Beyond Alignment: A Coevolutionary View of the Information Systems Strategy Process

How do organizations achieve and sustain the process of continuous adaptation and change that is necessary to realize strategic information systems alignment? While research has focused on developing deterministic alignment models and on identifying the factors that contribute to alignment, there is little understanding of the process as it evolves over time. In this paper, we propose that coevolution theory offers the opportunity to explore coevolving interactions, interrelationships, and effects as both IS and business strategies evolve. An initial model of this coevolution is presented that applies the key attributes and concepts of coevolution theory to strategic IS alignment. Future directions for advancing our work are highlighted

The Impact of Mobile and Wireless Technology on Knowledge Workers: An Exploratory Study

Organisations continue to be disappointed at the difference that ICT has made to knowledge worker productivity. This paper reports an exploratory study of the extent to which emerging mobile and wireless ICT can support the mobile nature of the knowledge worker’s job, including the impact that these technologies can have on working practices, collaboration processes, knowledge worker performance, and productivity. We investigated these objectives by the example of geographically distributed IT consultants who had voluntarily adopted a mobile working solution which combined wireless General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) phones, Tablet Personal Computers (PCs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) in the organisation’s office buildings, and wireless broadband in the consultants’ homes. Personal productivity gains resulted from consultants’ ability to make use of previously unproductive time, access corporate information as needed, and communicate via multiple channels regardless of location. The new functionality, particularly of the Table PC, afforded the evolution of new working practices by supporting richer social connectivity, more engaging face-toface interaction, with the technology becoming more a social medium rather than barrier. Although based on an early adopter sample of IT professionals experienced with adopting new technology, we conclude from the study that emerging mobile and wireless ICT may have a greater impact on productivity due to its ability to support the mobile and collaborative nature of today’s knowledge workers’ job

A human antibody against pathologic IAPP aggregates protects beta cells in type 2 diabetes models

In patients with type 2 diabetes, pancreatic beta cells progressively degenerate and gradually lose their ability to produce insulin and regulate blood glucose. Beta cell dysfunction and loss is associated with an accumulation of aggregated forms of islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) consisting of soluble prefibrillar IAPP oligomers as well as insoluble IAPP fibrils in pancreatic islets. Here, we describe a human monoclonal antibody selectively targeting IAPP oligomers and neutralizing IAPP aggregate toxicity by preventing membrane disruption and apoptosis in vitro. Antibody treatment in male rats and mice transgenic for human IAPP, and human islet-engrafted mouse models of type 2 diabetes triggers clearance of IAPP oligomers resulting in beta cell protection and improved glucose control. These results provide new evidence for the pathological role of IAPP oligomers and suggest that antibody-mediated removal of IAPP oligomers could be a pharmaceutical strategy to support beta cell function in type 2 diabetes

The Participatory Paradigm for Applied Information Systems Research

Information systems research continues to be criticised for the fundamental gap between theory and practice. Critics argue that this is largely the result of the methodological inadequacy of the dominant positivist paradigm to the ontological nature of the subject. Studies which recognise the applied nature of the information systems discipline and thus are committed to the production of practically relevant knowledge have adopted action and intervention forms of research. Despite their strength in producing practically relevant knowledge, such studies are scarce because they are rejected for their lack of scientific credence. This paper introduces the participatory worldview as a research paradigm that provides the philosophical legitmisation for action research approaches. The authors present their experiences with participatory information systems inquiry and illustrate the application of participatory research principles in practice

Developing a high-performance workforce Practical strategies for exploiting knowledge in the intelligent enterprise

Includes bibliographical referencesAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:m03/32209 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Do aqueous suspensions of smectite clays form a smectic liquid-crystalline phase?

International audienceBottom-up strategies for the production of well-defined nanostructures often rely on the self-assembly of anisotropic colloidal particles (nanowires and nanosheets). These building blocks can be obtained by delamination in a solvent of low-dimensionality crystallites. To optimize particle availability, determination of the delamination mechanism and the different organization stages of anisotropic particles in dispersion is essential. We address this fundamental issue by exploiting a recently developed system of fluorohectorite smectite clay mineral that delaminates in water, leading to colloidal dispersions of single-layer, very large (≈20 μm) clay sheets at high dilution. We show that when the clay crystallites are dispersed in water, they swell to form periodic one-dimensional stacks of fluorohectorite sheets with very low volume fraction (<1%) and therefore huge (≈100 nm) periods. Using optical microscopy and synchrotron X-ray scattering, we establish that these colloidal stacks bear strong similarities, yet subtle differences, with a smectic liquid-crystalline phase. Despite the high dilution, the colloidal stacks of sheets, called colloidal accordions, are extremely robust mechanically and can persist for years. Moreover, when subjected to AC electric fields, they rotate as solid bodies, which demonstrates their outstanding internal cohesion. Furthermore, our theoretical model captures the dependence of the stacking period on the dispersion concentration and ionic strength and explains, invoking the Donnan effect, why the colloidal accordions are kinetically stable over years and impervious to shear and Brownian motion. Because our model is not system specific, we expect that similar colloidal accordions frequently appear as an intermediate state during the delamination process of two-dimensional crystals in polar solvents