Enterprise Resource Planning Systems and Firm Value: An Event Study Analysis

There is considerable debate on the contributions of IT investments to firm value. Over a decade of research on the business value of information technology has produced mixed findings. This study focuses on the business value generated by a specific kind of IT systems, namely enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Studying the value created by ERP systems is appropriate and important for four reasons. First, ERP systems are being widely used by corporate community. Given the widespread adoption of ERP applications, it becomes essential to assess the contributions of these systems. Second, ERP systems typically encompass a wide spectrum of organizational functions. Given the wide functional coverage of ERP systems, they are likely to have a larger impact on firm performance than those information systems focusing on a specific function. Third, ERP systems require considerable investments in hardware, software, networking, and complementary organizational changes. Since ERP investments represent a critical IT expense for firms, it becomes important to assess the returns from ERP spending. Fourth, the reported failures of ERP systems by companies such as FoxMeyer Drugs, Applied Materials, Hershey, Mobil Europe, and Dow Chemicals have questioned the very viability of ERP systems. This is another compelling reason to ascertain the true contributions of ERP systems

Ngram-Derived Pattern Recognition for the Detection and Prediction of Epileptic Seizures

This work presents a new method that combines symbol dynamics methodologies with an Ngram algorithm for the detection and prediction of epileptic seizures. The presented approach specifically applies Ngram-based pattern recognition, after data pre-processing, with similarity metrics, including the Hamming distance and Needlman-Wunsch algorithm, for identifying unique patterns within epochs of time. Pattern counts within each epoch are used as measures to determine seizure detection and prediction markers. Using 623 hours of intracranial electrocorticogram recordings from 21 patients containing a total of 87 seizures, the sensitivity and false prediction/detection rates of this method are quantified. Results are quantified using individual seizures within each case for training of thresholds and prediction time windows. The statistical significance of the predictive power is further investigated. We show that the method presented herein, has significant predictive power in up to 100% of temporal lobe cases, with sensitivities of up to 70-100% and low false predictions (dependant on training procedure). The cases of highest false predictions are found in the frontal origin with 0.31-0.61 false predictions per hour and with significance in 18 out of 21 cases. On average, a prediction sensitivity of 93.81% and false prediction rate of approximately 0.06 false predictions per hour are achieved in the best case scenario. This compares to previous work utilising the same data set that has shown sensitivities of up to 40-50% for a false prediction rate of less than 0.15/hour

Polycystic Liver With Cardiac Compression Leading to Atrial Fibrillation: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Polycystic liver disease (PCLD) is a rare condition that most often occurs in patients with polycystic kidney disease and less commonly as an isolated liver disease. Complications include cyst rupture, infection, hemorrhage, and compression of surrounding organs by large cysts. We present the case of a patient with a history of PCLD who presented to our hospital with palpitations and was found to have atrial fibrillation. Imaging and echocardiograph revealed a dominant large cyst compressing the right atrium. Other etiologies including thyroid disease, ischemic heart disease, and electrolytes abnormalities were excluded. The patient refused surgical intervention and was conservatively treated with rate control and anticoagulation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of new-onset atrial fibrillation secondary to right atrial compression by a liver cyst. Compression of cardiac chambers resulting in new-onset arrhythmia should be considered when evaluating patients with PCLD

Identification of differentially expressed UniGenes in developing wheat seed using digital differential display

The wheat UniGene sets, derived from over one million Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) in the NCBI GenBank, offer a platform for identifying differentially expressed genes in wheat seeds. This report illustrates a means to efficiently utilize this public database for gene expression (transcriptome) profiling of developing wheat seed. Using a data mining tool known as Digital Differential Display (DDD), thirteen pair-wise comparisons were performed on seven seed cDNA libraries from five varieties at various seed development stages. DDD identified 46 seed-specific UniGene sets, excluding the well characterized ‘‘housekeeping’’ and seed storage protein genes. Additionally, seed- and developmentally-specific UniGenes were identified. Some of these genes encode for proteins such as purothionins, serpins, a-amylase inhibitors, lipid transfer proteins, and other unknown but novel gene sequences. Specifically, the wheat serpin and b-purothionin precursor were found to be expressed at higher levels in hard varieties than soft varieties. This study supports the starting premise that by implementing in-silico analysis of the wheat UniGene database, it is possible to rapidly create transcriptional profiles of known and novel genes in developing seeds

Quenching in Cosmic Sheets: Tracing the Impact of Large Scale Structure Collapse on the Evolution of Dwarf Galaxies

Dwarf galaxies are thought to quench primarily due to environmental processes most typically occurring in galaxy groups and clusters or around single, massive galaxies. However, at earlier epochs, ($5 < z < 2$), the collapse of large scale structure (forming Zel'dovich sheets and subsequently filaments of the cosmic web) can produce volume-filling accretion shocks which elevate large swaths of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in these structures to a hot ($T>10^6$ K) phase. We study the impact of such an event on the evolution of central dwarf galaxies ($5.5 < \log M_* < 8.5$) in the field using a spatially large, high resolution cosmological zoom simulation which covers the cosmic web environment between two protoclusters. We find that the shock-heated sheet acts as an environmental quencher much like clusters and filaments at lower redshift, creating a population of quenched, central dwarf galaxies. Even massive dwarfs which do not quench are affected by the shock, with reductions to their sSFR and gas accretion. This process can potentially explain the presence of isolated quenched dwarf galaxies, and represents an avenue of pre-processing, via which quenched satellites of bound systems quench before infall.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to MNRA

High-quality single InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot growth on a CMOS-compatible silicon substrate for quantum photonic applications

We present the direct heteroepitaxial growth of high-quality InGaAs quantum dots on silicon, enabling scalable, cost-effective quantum photonics devices compatible with CMOS technology. GaAs heterostructures are grown on silicon via a GaP buffer and defect-reducing layers. These epitaxial quantum dots exhibit optical properties akin to those on traditional GaAs substrates, promising vast potential for the heteroepitaxy approach. They demonstrate strong multi-photon suppression with $g^{(2)}(\tau)=(3.7\pm 0.2) \times 10^{-2}$ and high photon indistinguishability $V=(66\pm 19)$% under non-resonance excitation. We achieve up to ($18\pm 1$)% photon extraction efficiency with a backside distributed Bragg mirror, marking a crucial step toward silicon-based quantum nanophotonics

Experimental sugar beet cultivars evaluated for rhizomania resistance and storability in Idaho, 2014

Rhizomania caused by Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) and storage losses are serious sugar beet production problems. To identify sugar beet cultivars with resistance to BNYVV and evaluate storability, 30 experimental cultivars were screened by growing them in a sugar beet field infested with BNYVV in Kimberly, ID during the 2014 growing season in a randomized complete block design with 6 replications. At harvest on 24-25 September 2014, roots were dug and evaluated for symptoms of rhizomania and also placed in an indoor commercial sugar beet storage building. After 138 days in storage, samples were evaluated for surface rot, weight loss, and sucrose loss. Surface root rot ranged from 6 to 82%, weight loss ranged from 9.1 to 17.5%, sucrose losses ranged from 22 to 85%, and estimated recoverable sucrose ranged from 1,008 to 8,292 lb/A. Given these response ranges, selecting cultivars for rhizomania resistance and combining this resistance with storability will lead to considerable economic benefit for the sugar beet industry

Commercial sugar beet cultivars evaluated for rhizomania resistance and storability in Idaho, 2014

Rhizomania caused by Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) and storage losses are serious sugar beet production problems. To identify sugar beet cultivars with resistance to BNYVV and evaluate storability, 33 commercial cultivars were screened by growing them in a sugar beet field infested with BNYVV in Kimberly, ID during the 2014 growing season in a randomized complete block design with 6 replications. At harvest on 24-25 September 2014, roots were dug and evaluated for symptoms of rhizomania and also placed in an indoor commercial sugar beet storage building. After 138 days in storage, samples were evaluated for surface rot, weight loss, and sucrose loss. Surface root rot ranged from 7 to 82%, weight loss ranged from 9.4 to 19.1%, sucrose losses ranged from 23 to 85%, and estimated recoverable sucrose ranged from 931 to 8,798 lb/A. Given these response ranges, selecting cultivars for rhizomania resistance and combining this resistance with storability will lead to considerable economic benefit for the sugar beet industry