Predictors of Green IT Adoption: Implications from an Empirical Investigation

The increasing attention towards the environmental impact of IT (information technology) demands reorientation from IT departments. Research has outlined that the importance of Green IT is related to IT business alignment and environmental initiatives while uncertainty potentially derives from missing standards, measurements, or missing internal support for Green IT. We assume that importance and uncertainty are main determinants for Green IT adoption. These theoretical assumptions still lack empirical validation. As a contribution to the ongoing discussion of Green IT, we analyze data from 116 IT departments on the predictors of Green IT adoption using multinomial logistic regression. It is shown that the outlined assumptions prove to be statistical significant. These findings contribute to existing knowledge on Green IT and provide practical recommendations for CIOs, IT managers, environmental and sustainability managers as well as new opportunities for further research in this field

Sustainability in Information Systems: Assortment of Current Practices in IS Organizations

The increasing dissemination of information systems into all areas of business and personal life has drawn attention to its environmental effects. IS organizations are becoming aware that they have to take up their responsibility by thinking seriously about sustainability management for information systems. While measures for using computing resources efficiently have received considerable attention, the topic of sustainability in IS management is still lacking theoretical foundation. The purpose of this paper is to explore current environmental efforts in sustainable IS management. Based on fifteen expert interviews with CIOs, IS and environmental managers from IS organizations, the paper provides researchers and practitioners alike with an explorative study on the situation of sustainability in IS operations and, thus, makes a contribution to this emerging IS research topic

Aligning Green IT with Environmental Strategies: Development of a Conceptual Framework that Leverages Sustainability and Firm Competitiveness

Environmental technologies are becoming increasingly important for business firms to reduce environmental impacts anddifferentiate from competitors. In this paper, fundamental approaches of strategic management are presented and the strategicsignificance of sustainability initiatives and Green Information Technology (Green IT) is analyzed. Environmental strategiesare introduced and the importance of strategically aligning the business, sustainability, and IT domain is highlighted. Weargue that there is no consistent approach for aligning Green IT with sustainability goals and business objectives so far. Toclose this research gap, we integrate Green IT into the concept of IT strategy and develop the Strategic Green IT AlignmentFramework (SGITAF), which could prove meaningful for both practitioners and academics. The SGITAF differentiatesbetween an internal and an external perspective and comprises the domains Green IT and environmental sustainability. Fourdistinct Green IT alignment perspectives, which vary according to their competitive focus and their competitive advantage,are suggested

Influence of Green IT on Consumers’ Buying Behavior of Personal Computers: Implications from a Conjoint Analysis

The increasing attention towards the environmental impact of IT (Information Technology) demands reorientation from IT hardware and service organisations. Consumers are more than ever sensitive about the environmental impact of products and services they buy. Environmental attributes therefore play an important role in the buying process. While the concept of Green IT has been primarily researched from the corporate perspective, the consumer perspective has widely been neglected. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of Green IT attributes of PCs (Personal Computers) on the buying behaviour of consumers. As a contribution to the ongoing discussion of Green IT, we provide marketing data from 500 participants on the importance of Green IT using conjoint and cluster analysis. It is shown that the market share for Green IT PCs could be up to 26.6%. Especially female customers value environmentally friendly attributes. Thereafter, we draw recommendations for the marketing mix of IT hardware and service organisations. The results should provide researchers and practitioners with new insights and measures about the relevance and application of Green IT in the scope of PCs

A new scheme for the running coupling constant in gauge theories using Wilson loops

We propose a new renormalization scheme of the running coupling constant in general gauge theories using the Wilson loops. The renormalized coupling constant is obtained from the Creutz ratio in lattice simulations and the corresponding perturbative coefficient at the leading order. The latter can be calculated by adopting the zeta-function resummation techniques. We perform a benchmark test of our scheme in quenched QCD with the plaquette gauge action. The running of the coupling constant is determined by applying the step-scaling procedure. Using several methods to improve the statistical accuracy, we show that the running coupling constant can be determined in a wide range of energy scales with relatively small number of gauge configurations.Comment: 30pages, figs and comments added,reference added(v3

Renal replacement therapies in the aftermath of the catastrophic Marmara earthquake

Renal replacement therapies in the aftermath of the catastrophic Marmara earthquake.BackgroundRenal replacement therapy is of vital importance in the treatment of crush syndrome victims, who are frequently encountered after catastrophic earthquakes. The Marmara earthquake, which struck Northwestern Turkey in August 1999, was characterized by 477 victims who needed dialysis.MethodWithin the first week of the disaster, questionnaires containing 63 clinical and laboratory variables were sent to 35 reference hospitals that treated the victims. Information considering the features of dialyses obtained through these questionnaires was submitted to analysis.ResultsOverall, 639 casualties with renal complications were registered, 477 of whom (mean age 32.3 ± 13.7 years, 269 male) needed dialysis. Among these, 452 were treated by a single dialysis modality (437 intermittent hemodialysis, 11 continuous renal replacement therapy and 4 peritoneal dialysis), while 25 victims needed more than one type of dialysis. In total, 5137 hemodialysis sessions were performed (mean 11.1 ± 8.0 sessions per patient) and mean duration of hemodialysis support was 13.4 ± 9.0 days; this duration was shorter in the non-survivors (7.0 ± 8.7 vs. 10.0 ± 9.8 days, P = 0.005). Thirty-four victims who underwent continuous renal replacement therapy had higher mortality rates (41.2 vs. 13.7%, P < 0.0001). Only eight victims were treated by peritoneal dialysis, four of whom also required hemodialysis or continuous renal replacement therapy. The mortality rate in the dialyzed victims was 17.2%, a significantly higher figure compared to the mortality rate of the non-dialyzed patients with renal problems (9.3%; P = 0.015).ConclusionSubstantial amounts of dialysis support may be necessary for treating the victims of mass disasters complicated with crush syndrome. Dialyzed patients are characterized by higher rates of morbidity and mortality

A novel lineage of the Capra genus discovered in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey using ancient genomics

Direkli Cave, located in the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey, was occupied by Late Epipaleolithic hunters-gatherers for the seasonal hunting and processing of game including large numbers of wild goats. We report genomic data from new and published Capra specimens from Direkli Cave and, supplemented with historic genomes from multiple Capra species, find a novel lineage best represented by a ~14,000 year old 2.59 X genome sequenced from specimen Direkli4. This newly discovered Capra lineage is a sister clade to the Caucasian tur species (Capra cylindricornis and Capra caucasica), both now limited to the Caucasus region. We identify genomic regions introgressed in domestic goats with high affinity to Direkli4, and find that West Eurasian domestic goats in the past, but not those today, appear enriched for Direkli4-specific alleles at a genome-wide level. This forgotten 'Taurasian tur' likely survived Late Pleistocene climatic change in a Taurus Mountain refuge and its genomic fate is unknown

Contegra conduit for reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract: a review of published early and mid-time results

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>The valved conduit Contegra (bovine jugular vein) has being implanted for more than 7 years in the right ventricular outflow tract and it is noted that the available reports have been mixed. The aim of this study is to review the reported evidence in the literature.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Search of the relevant literature for the primary endpoints of operative mortality and morbidity and secondary endpoints of follow-up haemodynamic performance including severe stenosis, regurgitation and need for reintervention are presented.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We selected and analysed 17 series including 767 patients. Commonest indication was Fallot's tetralogy. Operative mortality was 2.6%. Operative morbidity was 13.9%. In follow-up, the incidence of intraconduit stenosis was 10.9% (incidence of stenosis for the 12 millimetre conduit was 83.3% in one series) and that of at least moderate regurgitation was 6.3%.</p> <p>The aspirin users had a stenosis incidence of 10.5% compared to the non-users had a stenosis incidence of 9.6%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A dissent on the performance of the Contegra is discussed, while results are satisfactory in the majority of studies apart for the smallest conduits (12 and 14 millimetre), suggesting an association to compromised run-off. The role of aspirin as antithrombotic modulator remains controversial.</p