1,585 research outputs found
Factors that affect the acceptance of new technologies in the workplace: a cross case analysis between two universities
The introduction of a new IT application within an organisation represents change, and the acceptance of such change starts with the individual end users since they are the ones that often resist the newly introduced IT. With the use of survey, this research identified the factors that affect the acceptance of new technologies in the workplace in order to understand better how end-users can influence the successful introduction of IT in academic institutions. We used one Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Hong Kong and one HEI in the UK in order to gather our data and cross analyse the differences between the two institutions. Our research showed that the staff at both universities have a high Behavioral Intention (BI) to use new technologies. However, there was no significant difference between the two universities, which meant these dimensions had no effect on the staff who worked at these universities
Factors That Affect The Acceptance Of New Technologies In The Workplace: A Cross Case Analysis Between UK And Hong Kong
The introduction of a new IT application within an organisation represents change, and the acceptance of such change starts with the individual end users since they are the ones that often resist the newly introduced IT. This research identifies the factor s that affect the acceptance of new technologies in the workplace in order to understand better how end- users can influence the successful introduction of IT in academic institutions. We use one Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Hong Kong and one HEI i n the UK in order to gather our data and cross analyse the differences between the two countries. Our research shows that the staff at both universities have a high Behavioral Intention (BI) to use new technologies. However, there is no significant difference between the two universities, which means that although there is a general difference in the Hofstede’s cultural dimension scores between the two populations, these dimensions have no effect on the staff who works at these universities
Swimming, Feeding and Inversion of Multicellular Choanoflagellate Sheets
The recent discovery of the striking sheet-like multicellular
choanoflagellate species that dynamically interconverts
between two hemispherical forms of opposite orientation raises fundamental
questions in cell and evolutionary biology, as choanoflagellates are the
closest living relatives of animals. It similarly motivates questions in fluid
and solid mechanics concerning the differential swimming speeds in the two
states and the mechanism of curvature inversion triggered by changes in the
geometry of microvilli emanating from each cell. Here we develop fluid
dynamical and mechanical models to address these observations and show that
they capture the main features of the swimming, feeding, and inversion of
colonies.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures + Supplementary Material (videos on request from
REG
Synchrotron Cooling in Energetic Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor
We study the time-resolved spectra of eight GRBs observed by Fermi GBM in its
first five years of mission, with 1 keV - 1 MeV fluence
erg cm and signal-to-noise level above 900 keV. We
aim to constrain in detail the spectral properties of GRB prompt emission on a
time-resolved basis and to discuss the theoretical implications of the fitting
results in the context of various prompt emission models. We perform
time-resolved spectral analysis using a variable temporal binning technique
according to optimal S/N criteria, resulting in a total of 299 time-resolved
spectra. We fit the Band function to all spectra and obtain the distributions
for the low-energy power-law index , the high-energy power-law index
, the peak energy in the observed spectrum , and
the difference between the low- and high-energy power-law indices . Using the distributions of and , the
electron population index is found to be consistent with the "moderately
fast" scenario which fast- and slow-cooling scenarios cannot be distinguished.
We also apply a physically motivated synchrotron model, which is a triple
power-law with constrained power-law indices and a blackbody component, to test
for consistency with a synchrotron origin for the prompt emission and obtain
the distributions for the two break energies and ,
the middle segment power-law index , and the Planck function temperature
. A synchrotron model is found consistent with the majority of
time-resolved spectra for these eight energetic Fermi GBM bursts with good
high-energy photon statistics, as long as both the cooling and injection break
are included and the leftmost spectral slope is lifted either by inclusion of a
thermal component or when an evolving magnetic field is accounted for.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in A&
Prospects in computational molecular medicine: a millennial mega-project on peptide folding
During the second half of the 20th century, Molecular Computations have
reached to a level that can revolutionize chemistry. The next target
will be structural biology, which will be followed soon by Molecular
Medicine. The present paper outlines where we are at, in this field, at
the end of the 20th century, and in what direction the development may
take in the new millennium. In view of the gigantic nature of the
problem, it is suggested that a suitably designed cooperative
Millennial Mega-project might accelerate our schedule. (C) 2000
Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
High shear stress enhances endothelial permeability in the presence of the risk haplotype at 9p21.3
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are exceedingly common in non-coding loci, and while they are significantly associated with a myriad of diseases, their specific impact on cellular dysfunction remains unclear. Here, we show that when exposed to external stressors, the presence of risk SNPs in the 9p21.3 coronary artery disease (CAD) risk locus increases endothelial monolayer and microvessel dysfunction. Endothelial cells (ECs) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells of patients carrying the risk haplotype (R/R WT) differentiated similarly to their non-risk and isogenic knockout (R/R KO) counterparts. Monolayers exhibited greater permeability and reactive oxygen species signaling when the risk haplotype was present. Addition of the inflammatory cytokine TNF alpha further enhanced EC monolayer permeability but independent of risk haplotype; TNF alpha also did not substantially alter haplotype transcriptomes. Conversely, when wall shear stress was applied to ECs in a microfluidic vessel, R/R WT vessels were more permeable at lower shear stresses than R/R KO vessels. Transcriptomes of sheared cells clustered more by risk haplotype than by patient or clone, resulting in significant differential regulation of EC adhesion and extracellular matrix genes vs static conditions. A subset of previously identified CAD risk genes invert expression patterns in the presence of high shear concomitant with altered cell adhesion genes, vessel permeability, and endothelial erosion in the presence of the risk haplotype, suggesting that shear stress could be a regulator of non-coding loci with a key impact on CAD
An Observed Correlation Between Thermal and Non-Thermal Emission in Gamma-Ray Bursts
Recent observations by the Gamma-ray Space Telescope have confirmed
the existence of thermal and non-thermal components in the prompt photon
spectra of some Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Through an analysis of six bright
Fermi GRBs, we have discovered a correlation between the observed photospheric
and non-thermal -ray emission components of several GRBs using a
physical model that has previously been shown to be a good fit to the Fermi
data. From the spectral parameters of these fits we find that the
characteristic energies, and , of these two components are
correlated via the relation which varies from
GRB to GRB. We present an interpretation in which the value of index
indicates whether the jet is dominated by kinetic or magnetic energy. To date,
this jet composition parameter has been assumed in the modeling of GRB outflows
rather than derived from the data
Visualizing septins in early Drosophila embryos
International audienceFunctional studies in Drosophila have been key for establishing a role for the septin family of proteins in animal cell division and thus extending for the first time observations from the budding yeast to animal cells. Visualizing the distribution of specific septins in different Drosophila tissues and, in particular, in the Drosophila embryo, together with biochemical and mutant phenotype data, has contributed important advances to our understanding of animal septin biology, suggesting roles in processes other than in cytokinesis. Septin localization using immunofluorescence assays has been possible due to the generation of antibodies against different Drosophila septins. The recent availability of lines expressing fluorescent protein fusions of specific septins further promises to facilitate studies on septin dynamics. Here, we provide protocols for preparing early Drosophila embryos to visualize septins using immunofluorescence assays and live fluorescence microscopy. The genetic tractability of the Drosophila embryo together with its amenability to high-resolution fluorescence microscopy promises to provide novel insights into animal septin structure and function
A TMEFF2-regulated cell cycle derived gene signature is prognostic of recurrence risk in prostate cancer
Background: The clinical behavior of prostate cancer (PCa) is variable, and while the majority of cases remain indolent, 10% of patients progress to deadly forms of the disease. Current clinical predictors used at the time of diagnosis have limitations to accurately establish progression risk. Here we describe the development of a tumor suppressor regulated, cell-cycle gene expression based prognostic signature for PCa, and validate its independent contribution to risk stratification in several radical prostatectomy (RP) patient cohorts.
Methods: We used RNA interference experiments in PCa cell lines to identify a gene expression based gene signature associated with Tmeff2, an androgen regulated, tumor suppressor gene whose expression shows remarkable heterogeneity in PCa. Gene expression was confirmed by qRT-PCR. Correlation of the signature with disease outcome (time to recurrence) was retrospectively evaluated in four geographically different cohorts of patients that underwent RP (834 samples), using multivariate logistical regression analysis. Multivariate analyses were adjusted for standard clinicopathological variables. Performance of the signature was compared to previously described gene expression based signatures using the SigCheck software.
Results: Low levels of TMEFF2 mRNA significantly (p \u3c 0.0001) correlated with reduced disease-free survival (DFS) in patients from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) dataset. We identified a panel of 11 TMEFF2 regulated cell cycle related genes (TMCC11), with strong prognostic value. TMCC11 expression was significantly associated with time to recurrence after prostatectomy in four geographically different patient cohorts (2.9 ≤ HR ≥ 4.1; p ≤ 0.002), served as an independent indicator of poor prognosis in the four RP cohorts (1.96 ≤ HR ≥ 4.28; p ≤ 0.032) and improved the prognostic value of standard clinicopathological markers. The prognostic ability of TMCC11 panel exceeded previously published oncogenic gene signatures (p = 0.00017).
Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the TMCC11 gene signature is a robust independent prognostic marker for PCa, reveals the value of using highly heterogeneously expressed genes, like Tmeff2, as guides to discover prognostic indicators, and suggests the possibility that low Tmeff2 expression marks a distinct subclass of PCa
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