Hispanic Agricultural Workers: The Nexus of Demographics, Employment Characteristics, and Health

Agriculture, which is home to elevated occupational injury and illness rates, has a substantial demographic makeup of Hispanic workers. Hispanic farmworkers are at increased risk of poor occupational health outcomes due to the precarious nature of work and other socio-ecological influences. These adverse occupational health outcome counts are inadequate and undercounted, failing to capture the true scope of agricultural work. To gain more knowledge about agriculture, this capstone will focus on the personal and work characteristics of agricultural workers to help further understand disparities within the agricultural sector by: providing a literature review of agricultural worker health; examining missed work due to work-related illness among Hispanic agricultural workers; exploring farmworker characteristics in two agricultural subsectors; and, offering implications for public health practice and research

Characterizing Process Variables in a Study of Design Behaviors

The act of ‘design’ has been a rich and difficult subject of study in the context of information systems for many years (see, for example, [Adelson and Soloway 1985, Guindon et al 1986, Sen 1997]). A number of design studies have been conducted, relying on techniques such as verbal protocols or videotapes to gain insight into the many facets of system design. Typically, such studies (a) have been planned around a simple design task, (b) have involved a single design session, and (c) have focused the data analysis on identification of repeated design behaviors or problems

Empowering Content Providers: An Approach for Developing Large Web Sites

To reduce maintenance costs, empowering content providers fosters a new approach for the design and construction of large web sites. This paper presents an approach to empowering content providers and discusses an architecture for such web sites

SIGNALING IN CONTENT SHARING PLATFORMS

Internet-based peer-to-peer (P2P) content sharing platforms have emerged as a widespread mechanism for sharing electronic content using the Internet. A persistent problem with such platforms is the ex ante assessment of content integrity and quality. In this ongoing study, we address this understudied issue. Using a multi-method research design, we identify using a grounded theory building approach three broad classes of signaling mechanisms associated with the content, contributor, and network that users integratively use to assess the risk-benefit tradeoffs in downloading a given unit of content (e.g., a file). We propose that these signals influence users’ holistic perception of risk-benefit differential, and in turn influence the likelihood of downloading content files. We describe the status of this research-in-progress study. Our primary expected contribution is a middle-range theory of signaling that predicts how signaling mechanisms influence user behavior in such platforms

Recalibrating Demand-Supply Chains for the Digital Economy

Firms are integrating segmented supply chains to improve their dynamic resource management processes and reduce buffers, such as lead times and inventory levels. Yet, supply chain integration, if inappropriately conceptualized, can have a detrimental impact on market responsiveness and value generation capability. Innovations in Internet technologies, e-business, and process standards, such as RosettaNet, are challenging assumptions to manage resources across supply chains and to create value. As a consequence, firms need to reevaluate supply chain partners, processes, and enabling digital capabilities. Five supply chain configurations, i.e., integrated firm, fragmented chains, end-to-end integration, modular chains, and solution webs, are profiled. Assumptions for value creation and process capabilities for resource management that are associated with each configuration are discussed. Key issues in moving from one configuration to another are evaluated

Trust Building Mechanisms in Online Health Communities and Their Impact on Information Adoption and Close Relationship Formation

This study methodologically replicates Fan and Lederman’s (2018) work on trust formation mechanisms in online health communities (OHCs). Social capital theory sets the framework for the research. Contextualized in online health communities (OHCs), it is the content contributors’ task to demonstrate trustworthiness by showing the credibility of the posted content in their previous postings. In contrast, the recipients, rather than the contributors, have to initially perceive trustworthiness in the sense of traditional social capital theory. We adopted the model, hypotheses, measurement, and statistical methods from the original study conducted by Fan and Lederman in 2018. Three out of nine hypotheses in our replication are not consistent with the original study results. The inconsistencies primarily lie in the antecedents of two types of trust. We discuss possible explanations for these discrepancies and suggest additional data and statistical tests to validate our replication results

Habitual IS Use and Continuance

Information systems (IS) use literature and research has been extensive, and has been able to explain a significant amount of the variation in IS acceptance and adoption. The majority of this research has focused on technologies we intentionally use in a work type setting. This current proposed study extends this literature by focusing on automatic use that is non-work related. Understanding the factors that influence the continued use of an IS after initial adoption is important because continued use of a system is an appropriate measure for determining whether or not the IS is actually successful. Habitual IS use is presented and explored to contribute to the understanding of IS continuance. An habitual IS continuance (HIC) model is conceptually developed and proposed. The development of an HIC model allows system success to be measured in voluntary use information systems

Perceptions of Sunk Cost and Habitual IS Use

As technology use becomes more ubiquitous, systems that are able to bypass users’ intentional behaviors through the creationof automatized, or habitual behaviors, are tapping into a potentially powerful aspect of the human psyche. This studycontributes to both sunk cost theory and technology continuance research by examining the relationship between the driversof habit and habitual IS use, and how perceptions of sunk costs play a mediating role in this relationship. Through theconceptual development of an habitual IS use model, the technology-enabled features which contribute to stickiness andencourage the formation of habitual IS use behaviors are explored. This research in progress contributes to the IS usageliterature by focusing on automatic use that is non-work related

The Impact of IT Structure and Firm Interdependency on Relational Rents in Innovation Collaboration Networks

This paper examines inter-organizational innovation collaboration networks (ICNs) using a relational view of the firm perspective. This study suggests that information technology (IT) structure and firm interdependencies can be significant predictors of relational rent generation for innovation collaboration networks. Furthermore, the authors argue that the alignment of these structural properties – IT structure and firm interdependency - will influence firm performance in terms of relational rents obtained by the innovation collaboration network. The relevant literature will be discussed and hypotheses proposed to empirically examine the relationship between IT structure and firm interdependencies on relational rent generation. Potential theoretical contributions to the relational view of the firm are identified and discussed. Limitations of the proposed study and discussion of the future research opportunities will also be provided

Metal Chaperones: A Holistic Approach to the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

As evidence for the role of metal ion dysregulation in the pathogenesis of multiple CNS disorders grows, it has become important to more precisely identify and differentiate the biological effects of various pharmacological modulators of metal ion homeostasis. This is particularly evident in disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), where the use of metal chaperones (that transport metals), as opposed to chelators (which exclude metals from biological interactions), may prove to be the first truly disease modifying approach for this condition. The purpose of this mini-review is to highlight the emerging notion that metal chaperones, such as PBT2 (Prana Biotechnology), modulate a variety of critical pathways affecting key aspects of the AD cascade to provide a more “holistic” approach to the treatment of this disease