Blaming It on Computers: Working Harder and Getting Paid Less?

Computers are often blamed for widening the economic disparities in the U.S. Many IS researchers and practitioners claim that information technologies are value-neutral. Indeed, computers have benefited everyone by enabling business firms to improve their efficiency and produce better products and services. However, critics suggest that computers have improved efficiency at the expense of widening the gap between rich and poor.Do computers really favor the affluent at the expense of others? I explore this question in this paper and present what IS professionals could say about computers and the income inequality. In particular, I describe how computers that are used to improve the efficiency end up unintentionally widening the inequality. In addition, I also describe why it has been so difficult to empower the economically disadvantaged workers using computers

To Automate or Not to Automate, That Is the Question: A Research Framework for the Integration of Computer-Based Training in IS Curricula

Due to highly publicized school rankings, an increased number of corporate universities, and the proliferation of distance learning options, IS educators are under considerable pressure to improve their levels of efficiency. Automated learning systems such as Computer-Based Training (CBT) and interactive videos could significantly enhance the efficiency of IS education. However, many researchers and educators are skeptical of the pedagogical effectiveness of automated instruction, claiming that computers are no substitute for human instructors. Because of this skepticism, the use of automated learning systems in IS education still remains controversial. To promote systematic research on the effectiveness of automated learning systems, I address in this paper this skepticism about automated instruction. In particular, I present a contingency framework for investigating the effectiveness of automated learning systems. The basic premise is that automated learning systems do not need to be effective in all situations to be deemed useful. If these systems are used for those situations in which they are most effective, the gains in efficiencies, especially in terms of instructors’ time, could be redirected to other teaching and research activities. Hence, I argue that systematic research should be conducted to identify the contingencies for which automated learning systems could be effectively used in IS curricula

Americans on the Internet: Utilitarian and Social Participation Perspectives

The Internet is a versatile technology that can be interpreted and used in many different ways. IS researchers and practitioners in both the private and public sectors need clearly to grasp the perspectives from which people make sense of the Internet. In this study, we present two contrasting perspectives in which people see and use the Internet—the utilitarian and social participation perspectives. In the utilitarian perspective, people see the Internet primarily as an efficient marketplace and as a convenient source of information. In the social participation perspective, the Internet is seen primarily as a conduit of communication that facilitates social interaction. We argue that these two perspectives represent two distinct modes of thinking that influence people’s decision to use the Internet and the purposes for which they use it. We examine the pervasiveness of these two perspectives in a survey study of a demographically representative sample of approximately 20,000 U.S households. Findings suggest that both the utilitarian and the social participation perspectives play important roles in acceptance and use of the Internet. In particular, we found that income levels affect the perspective in which people make sense of their on-line activities. People of high income tend to take the utilitarian perspective on Internet use, while others are more likely to use the Internet in the social participation perspective. For example, high-income users focus on taking advantage of the Internet’s diverse information sources. On the other hand, low-income persons tend to use the Internet to participate in on-line social contexts and to make new friends. In this paper, we discuss research and practical significance of these findings

Dimensionality Reduction of Dynamics on Lie Manifolds via Structure-Aware Canonical Correlation Analysis

Incorporating prior knowledge into a data-driven modeling problem can drastically improve performance, reliability, and generalization outside of the training sample. The stronger the structural properties, the more effective these improvements become. Manifolds are a powerful nonlinear generalization of Euclidean space for modeling finite dimensions. Structural impositions in constrained systems increase when applying group structure, converting them into Lie manifolds. The range of their applications is very wide and includes the important case of robotic tasks. Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) can construct a hierarchical sequence of maximal correlations of up to two paired data sets in these Euclidean spaces. We present a method to generalize this concept to Lie Manifolds and demonstrate its efficacy through the substantial improvements it achieves in making structure-consistent predictions about changes in the state of a robotic hand

SERPINB3 in the Chicken Model of Ovarian Cancer: A Prognostic Factor for Platinum Resistance and Survival in Patients with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Serine protease inhibitors (SERPINs) appear to be ubiquitously expressed in a variety of species and play important roles in pivotal physiological processes such as angiogenesis, immune responses, blood coagulation and fibronolysis. Of these, squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1 (SCCA1), also known as a SERPINB3, was first identified in squamous cell carcinoma tissue from the cervix of women. However, there is little known about the SERPINB3 expression in human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the functional role of SERPINB3 gene in human EOC using chickens, the most relevant animal model. In 136 chickens, EOC was found in 10 (7.4%). SERPINB3 mRNA was induced in cancerous, but not normal ovaries of chickens (P<0.01), and it was abundant only in the glandular epithelium of cancerous ovaries of chickens. Further, several microRNAs, specifically miR-101, miR-1668 and miR-1681 were discovered to influence SERPINB3 expression via its 3'-UTR which suggests that post-transcriptional regulation influences SERPINB3 expression in chickens. SERPINB3 protein was localized predominantly to the glandular epithelium in cancerous ovaries of chickens, and it was abundant in the nucleus of both chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines. In 109 human patients with EOC, 15 (13.8%), 66 (60.6%) and 28 (25.7%) patients showed weak, moderate and strong expression of SERPINB3 protein, respectively. Strong expression of SERPINB3 protein was a prognostic factor for platinum resistance (adjusted OR; odds ratio, 5.94; 95% Confidence Limits, 1.21-29.15), and for poor progression-free survival (PFS; adjusted HR; hazard ratio, 2.07; 95% CI; confidence interval, 1.03-4.41). Therefore, SERPINB3 may play an important role in ovarian carcinogenesis and be a novel biomarker for predicting platinum resistance and a poor prognosis for survival in patients with EOC

Radiographic differences in the concomitant deformities in two types of medial ankle osteoarthritis.

ObjectivesMotion preserving surgeries could be unsuccessful because of underestimation of deformities of the foot and knee in ankle osteoarthritis. This study aimed to investigate the concomitant deformities in medial ankle osteoarthritis and the difference between the two types, varus angulation and medial translation.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted using medical records and radiographic data. Patients with medial ankle osteoarthritis that underwent weight-bearing X ray imaging and radiographic measurements including tibial plafond inclination (TPI), tibiotalar tilt angle (TT), lateral talo-first metatarsal angle, naviculo-cuboid overlap, and mechanical tibiofemoral angle (mTFA) were studied. The patients were categorized into two groups, the varus angulation group (TT ≥4°) and medial translation group (TT ResultsA total of 102 patients (male = 44; female = 58) were included; the mean age was 64.9 years (SD 8.3 years). The varus rotation group (N = 66) showed a significantly smaller lateral talo-first metatarsal angle (pConclusionsVarus angulation of the ankle was correlated with knee alignment and foot deformity. Radiographic indices were different between the varus angulation and medial translation groups. The role of concomitant deformities needs to be further investigated in terms of a causal relationship. Surgeons need to pay attention to concomitant deformities in the treatment of medial ankle osteoarthritis