The Impact of Consumer Perceptions of Information Privacy and Security Risks on the Adoption of Residual RFID Technologies

In today’s global competitive environment, organizations face a variety of challenges. Continuous improvement in organizational efficiencies and improving the entire supply chain are necessary to stay competitive. Many organizations are adopting radio frequency identification technologies (RFID) as part of their information supply chains. These technologies provide many benefits to the organizations that use them. However, how these technologies affect the consumer and their willingness to adopt the technology is often overlooked. Many of these RFID tags remain active after the consumers purchase them. These RFID tags, placed in a product for one purpose and left in the product after the tags have served their purpose, are residual RFIDs. Residual RFID technology can have many positive and negative effects on consumers’ willingness to buy and use products containing RFID, and thus, on the business’s ability to sell products containing RFID. If consumers refuse to buy products with residual RFID tags in them, the business harm is greater than the business benefit, regardless of any gain in supply chain efficiency. In this study, we outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of Residual RFID from the consumer perspective, then follow up with an in depth survey and analysis of consumer perceptions. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) we demonstrate that consumers’ perceptions of privacy risk likelihood and privacy risk harm negatively impact their intentions to use this technology. The implications of these findings need to be considered before the pending implementation of residual RFID technologies in the supply chain on a mass scale

The Graduate MIS Security Course: Objectives And Challenges

Given the magnitude of real and potential losses, both private and public employers increasingly expect graduates of management information systems (MIS) programs to understand information security concepts. The infrastructure requirements for the course includes setting up a secure laboratory environment to accommodate the development of viruses and worms. The labs and lectures are intended to instruct students in the inspection and protection of information assets, as well as detection of and reaction to threats to information assets

A comparative morphological revision of the aphid genus Myzaphis van der Goot, 1913 (Insecta: Hemiptera: Aphididae) revealed a new genus and three new species

The aphid genus Myzaphis van der Goot, 1913 from the tribe Macrosiphini is revised to include eight species. Apterous and alate viviparous females, known fundatrices and known sexual morphs (oviparous females and males) of Myzaphis bucktoni, M. juchnevitschae, M. rosarum, M. tianshanica and M. turanica are re-described and illustrated. Lectotype and paralectotypes of Myzaphis bucktoni and M. turanica are designated. The status of M. komatsubarae nomen dubium is discussed. Myzaphis avariolosa is regarded as a species belonging to the genus Ericaphis. Three new species: M. oezdemirae Kanturski & Barjadze sp. nov., M. tuatayae Kanturski & Barjadze sp. nov. from Turkey and M. rezwanii Kanturski & Barjadze sp. nov. from Iran are described and illustrated. Myzaphis bucktoni is recorded from Portugal for the first time. Diagnosis of the genus Myzaphis van der Goot, 1913 is redefined and a new genus Richardsaphis Kanturski & Barjadze gen. nov. is erected with the type species R. canadensis (Richards) comb. nov. Richardsaphis is for the first time recorded from the USA and hitherto unknown oviparous female and alate male are described and illustrated. Original keys to species of the genus Myzaphis and aphid genera of the tribe Macrosiphini with 2-2-2 first tarsal chaetotaxy are also provided

Academic Scholars, Practicing Professionals, and Engaged Scholarship: A Content Analysis of Collaborative and Informed Research in Tourism Journals

This study examines the existence of engaged scholarship through a content analysis of 442 articles published in tourism journals. The importance of the analysis is based on arguments from the literature that research quality improves when academic scholars and practicing professionals collaborate. However, confirmation that engaged scholarship is taking place is a necessary first step before one can evaluate and compare the quality of the research. The results of the analysis reveal that engaged scholarship is modestly practiced. Collaborative research represents approximately 10 percent of the total while informed research represents about 22 percent (for external funding) and 9 percent (for access to data and other support). Now that the presence of engaged scholarship has been confirmed, future investigations should examine whether or not such engagement results in higher quality research. If so, it will have potentially important implications for both scholarship and practice

Mechanosensitive channel MSL8 regulates osmotic forces during pollen hydration and germination

Pollen grains undergo dramatic changes in cellular water potential as they deliver the male germ line to female gametes, and it has been proposed that mechanosensitive ion channels may sense the resulting mechanical stress. Here, we identify and characterize MscS-like 8 (MSL8), a pollen-specific, membrane tension–gated ion channel required for pollen to survive the hypoosmotic shock of rehydration and for full male fertility. MSL8 negatively regulates pollen germination but is required for cellular integrity during germination and tube growth. MSL8 thus senses and responds to changes in membrane tension associated with pollen hydration and germination. These data further suggest that homologs of bacterial MscS have been repurposed in eukaryotes to function as mechanosensors in multiple developmental and environmental contexts

Evaluation of the MODIS LAI product using independent lidar-derived LAI: A case study in mixed conifer forest

This study presents an alternative assessment of the MODIS LAI product for a 58,000 ha evergreen needleleaf forest located in the western Rocky Mountain range in northern Idaho by using lidar data to model (R2=0.86, RMSE=0.76) and map LAI at higher resolution across a large number of MODIS pixels in their entirety. Moderate resolution (30 m) lidar-based LAI estimates were aggregated to the resolution of the 1-km MODIS LAI product and compared to temporally-coincident MODIS retrievals. Differences in the MODIS and lidar-derived values of LAI were grouped and analyzed by several different factors, including MODIS retrieval algorithm, sun/sensor geometry, and sub-pixel heterogeneity in both vegetation and terrain characteristics. Of particular interest is the disparity in the results when MODIS LAI was analyzed according to algorithm retrieval class. We observed relatively good agreement between lidar-derived and MODIS LAI values for pixels retrieved with the main RT algorithm without saturation for LAI LAI≤4. Moreover, for the entire range of LAI values, considerable overestimation of LAI (relative to lidar-derived LAI) occurred when either the main RT with saturation or back-up algorithm retrievals were used to populate the composite product regardless of sub-pixel vegetation structural complexity or sun/sensor geometry. These results are significant because algorithm retrievals based on the main radiative transfer algorithm with or without saturation are characterized as suitable for validation and subsequent ecosystem modeling, yet the magnitude of difference appears to be specific to retrieval quality class and vegetation structural characteristics

How does tephra deposit thickness change over time? A calibration exercise based on the 1980 Mount St Helens tephra deposit

Tephra layers are frequently used to reconstruct past volcanic activity. Inferences made from tephra layers rely on the assumption that the preserved tephra layer is representative of the initial deposit. However, a great deal can happen to tephra after it is deposited; thus, tephra layer taphonomy is a crucial but poorly understood process. The overall goal of this research was to gain greater insight into the taphonomy of terrestrial tephra layers. We approached this by a) conducting a new survey of the tephra layer from the recent, well-studied eruption of Mount St Helens on May 18th, 1980 (MSH1980); b) modelling the tephra layer thickness using an objective mathematical technique and c) comparing our results with an equivalent model based on measurements taken immediately after the eruption. In this way, we aimed to quantify any losses and transformations that have occurred. During our study, we collected measurements of tephra layer thickness from 86 locations ranging from 600 km from the vent. Geochemical analysis was used to verify the identity of tephra of uncertain origin. Our results indicated that the extant tephra layer at undisturbed sites was representative of the original deposit: overall, preservation in these locations (in terms of thickness, stratigraphy and geochemistry) had been remarkably good. However, isopach maps generated from our measurements diverged from isopachs derived from the original survey data. Furthermore, our estimate of the quantity of tephra produced during eruption greatly exceeded previous estimates of the fallout volume. In this case, inaccuracies in the modelled fallout arose from issues of sampling strategy, rather than taphonomy. Our results demonstrate the sensitivity of volcanological reconstructions to measurement location, and the great importance of reliably measured low/zero values in reconstructing tephra deposits

Isolation and characterization of centroacinar/terminal ductal progenitor cells in adult mouse pancreas

The question of whether dedicated progenitor cells exist in adult vertebrate pancreas remains controversial. Centroacinar cells and terminal duct (CA/TD) cells lie at the junction between peripheral acinar cells and the adjacent ductal epithelium, and are frequently included among cell types proposed as candidate pancreatic progenitors. However these cells have not previously been isolated in a manner that allows formal assessment of their progenitor capacities. We have found that a subset of adult CA/TD cells are characterized by high levels of ALDH1 enzymatic activity, related to high-level expression of both Aldh1a1 and Aldh1a7. This allows their isolation by FACS using a fluorogenic ALDH1 substrate. FACS-isolated CA/TD cells are relatively depleted of transcripts associated with differentiated pancreatic cell types. In contrast, they are markedly enriched for transcripts encoding Sca1, Sdf1, c-Met, Nestin, and Sox9, markers previously associated with progenitor populations in embryonic pancreas and other tissues. FACS-sorted CA/TD cells are uniquely able to form self-renewing 'pancreatospheres' in suspension culture, even when plated at clonal density. These spheres display a capacity for spontaneous endocrine and exocrine differentiation, as well as glucose-responsive insulin secretion. In addition, when injected into cultured embryonic dorsal pancreatic buds, these adult cells display a unique capacity to contribute to both the embryonic endocrine and exocrine lineages. Finally, these cells demonstrate dramatic expansion in the setting of chronic epithelial injury. These findings suggest that CA/TD cells are indeed capable of progenitor function and may contribute to the maintenance of tissue homeostasis in adult mouse pancreas

Signalling in groups: New tools for the integration of animal communication and collective movement

Investigations of collective movement and animal communication have often followed distinct, though complementary, trajectories. Both subfields are deeply concerned with how information flows between individuals and shapes subsequent behaviour. Collective movement has largely focused on the dynamics of passive, cue-mediated group coordination, while animal communication has primarily examined the content and function of active dyadic signal exchanges in sender–receiver frameworks. However, in many social groups, network-wide signalling and collective movement decisions are tightly linked. Here we discuss opportunities afforded by using multi-sensor tracking tags to simultaneously monitor the fine-scale movements and vocalisations of entire social groups. We highlight how such data can elucidate the role of vocal signals in individual and collective movement while illuminating the structures of entire vocal-interaction sequences at previously unexamined timescales and across entire communication networks. We identify practical and analytical challenges associated with these new tools and datasets, and present avenues for addressing them. We specifically address issues associated with the deployment and synchronisation of multiple tags, the processing and interpretation of resulting multidimensional datasets, and the benefits of combining tag-based data collection with experimental approaches. Finally, we argue that a comparative approach employing consistent methodologies across a range of environments, populations and systems is needed to shed light on the evolutionary ecology of communication and collective behaviour