Teaching A Hybrid MBA Course: A Case Study In Information Technology From The Student Perspective

There is ongoing research into online, distributed, distance learning that has transitioned from mailed video tapes to fully-implemented web-based courses.  Less research has been conducted on hybrid courses – those that combine face-to-face sessions with web-based sessions.  This paper reports on a case study of a hybrid course that teaches Information Technology in an MBA program.  Rationalization for the implementation of a hybrid course within a traditional MBA program is explained.  Cautions and expectations from the literature are explored.  Lessons learned from the student perspective are presented

IT Value Sustainability: Searching For Explanatory Causal Mechanisms

For much of the 21st century, academics, business leaders, and practitioners have defined and measured organizational payoffs resulting from investment in information technologies (IT).  This paper and presentation begin to extend the concepts of IT payoff to value sustainability.  The authors synthesize the relevant literature and integrate it with the sociology concept of causal mechanisms to open up the “black box” on sustainability.  A research plan is presented for review and comments

Integrating The Executive MBA Curriculum: Tales Of The Cat Herder

Continuous improvement has been a strategic priority for Loyola College in Maryland’s Executive MBA (EMBA) Program since the program’s inception in 1973.  In the summer of 2008, Loyola began an intensive EMBA curriculum review.  The process resulted in a recommendation to make a significant shift in the curriculum’s emphasis. This paper reports on the factors involved in that review process and the leadership lessons learned from the endeavor.  The lessons learned are reported using the metaphor of tales of the cat herder in reference to a widely-held belief among academicians that working with faculty is like herding cats

The Spiritually-Guided Enterprise: Setting A Course Of Study

This paper begins an exploration of the intersection between Christianity and business with a focus on the spiritually-guided enterprise.  It examines the impact of Christian leadership on business and seeks to explore whether Christians run their businesses differently. The purpose is to pose reflective questions that will indicate potential research studies and that will lead to a greater understanding and knowledge of this intersection

Seeking Best Practices In The Balancing Act Between Data Security And Operational Effectiveness

This paper develops an interdisciplinary model of data security and privacy effectiveness that blends the information hierarchy model with the principles of the Toyota production system.  An application of the blended model is applied in the healthcare setting to evaluate its external validity.  The usability and external validity of the model provide a preliminary set of best practices to improve organizational leverage of strategic planning and implementation of security and privacy safeguards.  Its contributions include model development with real-world application and interdisciplinary bases

Strategic Facilities Planning: A Focus On Health Care

Turbulent market conditions have forced the health care sector to re-examine its business and operational practices.  Health care has become increasingly complex as decisions and planning are reframed in light of the current lagging economy, an increased demand for services, new global competition, and impending legislation reform.  The stress is felt most keenly within the nation’s hospitals and consortia of health care facilities.  Facility planning decisions are no exception.  Hospital administrators are abandoning the once commonplace rules governing aging infrastructure renovations.  Instead, administrators are basing decisions within their respective strategic context and are attempting to align buildings, services, personnel, and technology to an overall plan that looks at markets, operations, and finances as resources for competitive advantage.  This paper reviews the strategic facilities planning literature and applies those best practices which support this organizational alignment for health care.  An application in the mid-Atlantic demonstrates that hospital facilities, by design, need to support the current and future needs of health care delivery systems, while dated structures impede industry advances.  Health care infrastructure improvements must proactively address technological, regulatory, and financial changes facing the sector

Resource Management: Guidelines For Managing In A Crisis

In times of economic adversity, organizations have multiple courses of action to consider.  This paper synthesizes the existing literature from two perspectives – cost cutting and investment for growth.  Conditions to consider for each choice are explained, overall recommendations for moving forward are provided, and potential research areas are identified

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts