Strategic IT, but not by ITself : on the relevance of the organizational context for strategic success with IT

Information technology (IT) has performed an important role in the functioning of organizations during the last decades. IT concerns the automation of the information services in and between organizations. Many authors consider the (automation of) information services as important because they regard "information" as a production factor in addition to the traditional production factors of "land, labor and capital". Information services concern the input, storage, processing and distribution of information for the execution, the planning and control, and the support of the primary processes of organizations. Via the automation of the information services, this execution, planning and control, and support of the primary processes may improve. The organization’s use of IT is found in the field of (Management) Information Systems. This field is concerned with the planning, development and use of information systems for the performance, management and support of organizational activities. Although the costs of certain components used in the automation of the information services, such as 'chips' and software, have been dropping, the total investment in IT has been rising. New technology and improvements in knowledge enable newer and more advanced applications with better opportunities than before. The exploitation of these opportunities is, however, no triviality. Therefore, the goal of the research is to gain insight into the exploitation of the IT. This study researches the ways in which organizations really improve their performance. It is aimed, in particular, at the strategic functioning of organizations; hence, we speak about the strategic usage of IT.

Tracing interactions in the indigenous Caribbean through a biographical approach: Microwear and material culture across the historical divide (AD 1200-1600)

Much attention has been paid to the exchange of objects, ideas, and people in the Caribbean. Networks of interaction connected local communities across pan-regional scales, shaping indigenous socio-political integrations and their responses in colonial situations. This work examines the poorly understood cultural trajectories and reinterpretations of celts and paraphernalia exchanged in the late pre-colonial and early colonial Dominican Republic and the Windward Islands. Reconstructing the biographies of these artefacts traces their ‘object life’ sequences from start to finish. The dissertation principally applies microscopic wear trace analysis supported by experimental archaeology to examine the manufacturing technology and use of the studied objects. Integrated with contextual analysis and provenance data, the reconstructed biographies form a window into cross-cultural patterns of artefact production, function, and circulation. These are interpreted following a relational perspective adopted from Amerindian ontologies. The exchange of ground stone celts is shown to be closely interrelated with regional network structures. Though only specific communities specialised in production activities, requisite technical knowledge was widely shared. Once acquired, even exotic rocks and tool types were polished, hafted, and used in conventional ways. Conversely, the cultural and social values of most carved shell and bone paraphernalia are foremost expressed in local technological traditions and the preservation of inherited practices. These findings produce a better understanding of indigenous material culture and its relation to social interactions in the pre- and early colonial Caribbean.  Archaeology of the America

APC1638T: a mouse model delineating critical domains of the adenomatous polyposis coli protein involved in tumorigenesis and development

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from "http://genesdev.cshlp.org".The adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene is considered as the true gatekeeper of colonic epithelial proliferation: It is mutated in the majority of colorectal tumors, and mutations occur at early stages of tumor development in mouse and man. These mutant proteins lack most of the seven 20-amino-acid repeats and all SAMP motifs that have been associated with down-regulation of intracellular β-catenin levels. In addition, they lack the carboxy-terminal domains that bind to DLG, EB1, and microtubulin. APC also appears to be essential in development because homozygosity for mouse Apcmutations invariably results in early embryonic lethality. Here, we describe the generation of a mouse model carrying a targeted mutation at codon 1638 of the mouse Apc gene, Apc1638T, resulting in a truncated Apc protein encompassing three of the seven 20 amino acid repeats and one SAMP motif, but missing all of the carboxy-terminal domains thought to be associated with tumorigenesis. Surprisingly, homozygosity for the Apc1638T mutation is compatible with postnatal life. However, homozygous mutant animals are characterized by growth retardation, a reduced postnatal viability on the B6 genetic background, the absence of preputial glands, and the formation of nipple-associated cysts. Most importantly,Apc 1638T/1638T animals that survive to adulthood are tumor free. Although the full complement of Apc1638T is sufficient for proper β-catenin signaling, dosage reductions of the truncated protein result in increasingly severe defects in β-catenin regulation. The SAMP motif retained in Apc1638T also appears to be important for this function as shown by analysis of the Apc1572T protein in which its targeted deletion results in a further reduction in the ability of properly controlling β-catenin/Tcf signaling. These results indicate that the association with DLG, EB1, and microtubulin is less critical for the maintenance of homeostasis by APC than has been suggested previously, and that proper β-catenin regulation by APC appears to be required for normal embryonic development and tumor suppression

Involvement of virus-induced interferon production in IgG autoantibody-mediated anemia

Infection with viruses, such as the lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDV), is known to trigger the onset of autoimmune anemia through the enhancement of the phagocytosis of autoantibody-opsonized erythrocytes by activated macrophages. Type I interferon receptor-deficient mice show enhanced anemia, which suggests a protective effect of these cytokines, partly through the control of type II interferon production. The development of anemia requires the expression of Fc gamma receptors (Fc gamma R) I, III, and IV. Whereas LDV infection decreases Fc gamma R III expression, it enhances Fc gamma R I and IV expression in wild-type animals. The LDV-associated increase in the expression of Fc gamma R I and IV is largely reduced in type I interferon receptor-deficient mice, through both type II interferon-dependent and -independent mechanisms. Thus, the regulation of the expression of Fc gamma R I and IV, but not III, by interferons may partly explain the exacerbating effect of LDV infection on anemia that results from the enhanced phagocytosis of IgG autoantibody-opsonized erythrocytes.Functional Genomics of Systemic Disorder

Island networks: Transformations of inter-community social relationships in the Lesser Antilles at the advent of European colonialism

The Caribbean Sea was a conduit for human mobility and the exchange of goods and ideas during the whole of its pre-colonial history. The period cal. AD 1000-1800, covering the Late Ceramic Age and early colonial era, represents an archaeologically understudied time during which the Lesser Antilles came under increasing influence from the Greater Antilles and coastal South America and participated in the last phase of indigenous resistance to colonial powers. This article summarizes the results of the Island Network project, supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in which a multi-disciplinary set of archaeological, archaeometric, geochemical, GIS, and network science methods and techniques have been employed to disentangle this turbulent era in regional and global history. These diverse approaches reveal and then explore multi-layered networks of objects and people and uncover how Lesser Antillean communities were created and transformed through teaching, trade, migration, movement, and exchange of goods and knowledge