The Roles of Information Technology in Organizational Capability Building: An IT Capability Perspective

The objective of this study is to examine why and under what situations certain information technology resources can generate positive organizational outcomes. To achieve this, we adopt the organizational capability perspective. Based on this perspective, IT can be viewed as a functional capability that forms high- level dynamic capability in the copresence of other functional capabilities and resources. A process-oriented view is used to examine how this capability-formation process happens inside organizations. For the high-level dynamic capability, we focus on organizational agility by considering the contemporary business environment. We propose a conceptual framework regarding the roles of IT capabilities in organizational agility building. In our framework, IT capabilities can create organizational agility through two paths: (1) capability building through process improvement or innovation and (2) capability creation through innovative adoption of new IT capabilities. As part of the framework development, we suggest a method to define organizational IT capabilities in multiple levels of analysis, which allows us to evaluate IT capabilities at the information systems strategy level as well as the functional technology level. The proposed conceptual framework serves as a theoretical foundation of further empirical studies

Estimation of Health Risks Caused by Metals Contained in E-Cigarette Aerosol through Passive Vaping

It is expected that secondary exposure to e-cigarette aerosol (passive vaping) will soon become an issue of public health. Passive vaping inhales e-cigarette aerosol containing similar harmful substances as active vaping. However, parallel studies on passive vaping are minimal. Therefore, there is a need for passive vaping-related health risk studies to assess the impact of vaping on public health. This research conducted a series of experiments in a room using a puffing machine and the Mobile Aerosol Lung Deposition Apparatus (MALDA) to study e-cigarette aerosol respiratory deposition through passive vaping. The experimental data acquired were applied to estimate the deposited mass and health risks caused by toxic metals contained in e-cigarette aerosol. Five popular e-cigarette products were used in this study to generate e-cigarette aerosol for deposition experiments. In addition, size-segregated e-cigarette aerosol samples were collected, and metal compositions in the e-cigarette aerosol were analyzed. Results obtained showed that estimated non-cancer risks were all acceptable, with hazard quotient and hazard index all less than 1.0. The calculated cancer risks were also found acceptable, with lifetime excess cancer risk generally less than 1E-6. Therefore, the e-cigarettes tested and the passive vaping exposure scenarios studied do not seem to induce any potential for metal-related respiratory health effects

IT-Enabled Dynamic Capability Creation: A Perspective on Exploitative vs. Explorative IT Utilization

By focusing on today’s highly competitive and rapidly changing business environment, this study theorizes how organizations can create their dynamic capability from the utilization of information technology (IT) resources. The organizational exploitation and exploration perspective is adopted as the central theoretical basis of this study. A reflection on the exploitation and exploration of organizational IT management provides the possibility for theorizing multiple paths for IT-enabled dynamic capability creation. Under our theoretical development, the multiple paths involve different types of IT utilization capabilities that, in conjunction with organizational IT resources and other non-IT factors, lead to organizational dynamic capability. This study provides a theoretical basis for the role of IT in creating organizational dynamic capability. Specifically, it reveals the multiple types of interrelations between organizational IT resources and their utilization capabilities. This study serves as a basis for further empirical studies

Experimental and Theoretical Studies on Formability of 22MnB5 at Elevated Temperatures by Gleeble Simulator

AbstractThis paper, which includes an experimental analysis and theoretical predictions, presents a method to investigate the formability of high strength steel sheet 22MnB5 at elevated temperatures. In this method, two designs for tensile test specimens with laser engraving grids are developed and used to obtain the strain paths of a uniaxial tensile state and the plane strain occurring at elevated temperatures using a Gleeble simulator. On the other hand, a modified Cockcroft criterion that takes strain path into consideration is employed to predict the entire forming limit diagram. A forming limit diagram could be established as a result of using the modified Cockcroft criterion together with the limit strains obtained from the tensile tests based on two novel specimen designs. In this paper, forming limit diagrams at three strain rates and forming limit diagrams at temperatures ranging from 650 oC to 850 oC were established

The North System for Formosa Speech Recognition Challenge 2023

This report provides a concise overview of the proposed North system, which aims to achieve automatic word/syllable recognition for Taiwanese Hakka (Sixian). The report outlines three key components of the system: the acquisition, composition, and utilization of the training data; the architecture of the model; and the hardware specifications and operational statistics. The demonstration of the system has been made public at https://asrvm.iis.sinica.edu.tw/hakka_sixian