A Systems Analysis and Design Case: ABC Church

The information systems (IS) profession requires a diverse blend of technical and non-technical skills. To develop these skills, IS educators often use group projects in systems analysis and design courses, sometimes involving written cases. This article presents a case that can be utilized for a group project in a systems analysis and design course. The case is sufficiently detailed to stimulate students\u27 creative thinking about a systems solution. It also concerns an organization with which most students have some life experience, a church. The case emphasizes the church as an organization with information needs. This article presents background information about the case, the text of the case, and a discussion of analysis and design phase requirements. Teaching notes and possible solutions for selected project requirements are also provided. These materials are designed to be useful to systems analysis and design instructors who want to use a written case for a group project in their courses

Writing IS Teaching Cases: Guidelines for JISE Submission

Over the past year, JISE began accepting Teaching Cases for publication. Many information systems (IS) academicians and professionals have valuable experiences that are ripe for translating into cases. Students and instructors would benefit from the communication of these experiences into realistic, well-written cases to promote active learning. To encourage case submissions, the purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to provide potential authors with helpful advice and suggestions for writing case manuscripts; and (2) to communicate JISE guidelines for Teaching Case submissions. This paper is designed to serve as a resource for writers who are interested in developing Teaching Cases for publication

The Year 2000 Problem: An Ethical View

After years of avoidance, many organizations are struggling to make their computer systems year 2000 compliant. There is little question thatmeeting the year 2000 challenge is important from a business perspective since the survival of organizations may depend on it. However, a second, more neglected concern is whether system developers and their organizations have an ethical obligation to address the year 2000 problem. This paper examines three codes of ethics for information systems professionals to draw conclusions about this issue

Jay\u27s Collectibles

There is growing interest in collectibles of many types, as indicated by the popularity of television programs such as the History Channel’s Pawn Stars and American Pickers and the Public Broadcasting Service’s Antiques Road Show. The availability of online auction sites such as eBay has enabled many people to collect items of interest as a hobby and to sell parts of their collection as a business or for extra income. As a collection grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to track through manual methods, and it is often useful to develop a computer-based system for this purpose. This case raises the possibility of developing an information system to manage a collection of sports autographs. This case may be used in a systems analysis and design, database, or systems development course to address a number of important topics such as: systems scope identification, problem and opportunity analysis, requirements analysis, data modeling, and application development. The case is designed to provoke interest and raise a sufficient level of complexity to challenge students to apply a range of systems development and database concepts. While the case addresses sports collectibles, its concepts may be applicable other types of systems, especially those involving other types of collections or “one of a kind” items. Since many students are likely to have at least some experience using online auction sites, following professional sports, seeing television programs about collectibles, or attending flea markets where collectibles are sold, the case builds in some way on their life experience. This teaching case enables students to discover how systems development and database concepts are applicable to a practical problem solving scenario

Two Patients with Extremely Elevated Tumor Markers: Where Is the Malignancy?

Serum tumor markers are useful to evaluate a cancer's response to treatment, for early detection of cancer relapse, and, in some cases, to diagnose malignancy. In this paper, we present two patients with significantly elevated serum tumor markers without evidence of malignant disease. An 18-year-old patient suffering from autoimmune hepatitis had markedly increased alpha-fetoprotein (aFP) levels (2,002 μg/L; normal <10 ug/L). Extensive imaging showed no signs of hepatocellular carcinoma or other cancer, and treatment with Prednisone led to rapid normalization of both liver enzymes and aFP. The second patient, a 60-year-old female with painless jaundice due to biliary stone disease, had very high serum levels of CA19-9 (18,000 kU/L, normal <27 kU/L). Liver biochemistry and serum CA19-9 concentration decreased to almost normal values (45 kU/L) after biliary stenting. These cases demonstrate that serum tumor markers can be elevated in benign disease and are therefore not appropriate to diagnose cancer

The role of hole transport between dyes in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) photogenerated positive charges are normally considered to be carried away from the dyes by a separate phase of hole-transporting material (HTM). We show that there can also be significant transport within the dye monolayer itself before the hole reaches the HTM. We quantify the fraction of dye regeneration in solid-state DSSCs that can be attributed to this process. By using cyclic voltammetry and transient anisotropy spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the rate of interdye hole transport is prevented both on micrometer and nanometer length scales by reducing the dye loading on the TiO₂ surface. The dye regeneration yield is quantified for films with high and low dye loadings (with and without hole percolation in the dye monolayer) infiltrated with varying levels of HTM. Interdye hole transport can account for >50% of the overall dye regeneration with low HTM pore filling. This is reduced to about 5% when the infiltration of the HTM in the pores is optimized in 2 μm thick films. Finally, we use hole transport in the dye monolayer to characterize the spatial distribution of the HTM phase in the pores of the dyed mesoporous TiO₂

Solvent effects on the harvesting of stratum corneum from hairless mouse skin through adhesive tape stripping in vitro

125 [mu]l of a propylene glycol/ethanol/water vehicle were applied for various lengths of time to 1.77 cm2 area of excised hairless mouse skin sections held in in vitro diffusion cells. After removal from the cell, each skin section was stripped repeatedly with a non-hygroscopic polypropylene tape. The amount of tissue removed in each strip was determined after allowing the volatile solvents to evaporate. Weights were corrected for residual propylene glycol and water, the amounts of which were determined radioisotopically. More tissue was harvested in the first and second strips from skin conditioned with the vehicle for more than 12 h. The effect of vehicle treatment on stripping properties precludes one from determining drug and vehicle concentration gradients in the stratum corneum at different treatment times by direct comparison of corresponding strips. While it does not appear that a penetrant's deposition as a function of time can be followed easily and directly by stripping and then quantifying the drug (or solvent) in the respective layers, the stripping technique may still be useful in separating stratum corneum (or epidermis) from dermis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29469/1/0000555.pd