The Case of Digital Ethics in IS Research – A Literature Review

Due to the rapid development in technology and the increasing digitization of organizations and society as a whole, digital ethics is becoming an increasingly important topic for researchers and practitioners of information systems (IS). This literature review shows the state of the art of ethical views present in IS research, at first establishing the relevance of the topic and then showing recent developments. Using a holistic view on ethics, this article provides (1) an overview of the number of publications considering ethics in IS research and on the different ethical constructs and theories. Additionally, it provides an overview (2) on the different fields of application. The aforementioned concepts (3) are contrasted to identify research streams and derive research gaps. Additionally (4), we provide a categorization scheme to classify ethics research in IS into 4 different types and from there (5) derive research propositions for future projects

HERA Phase I Limits on the Cosmic 21 cm Signal: Constraints on Astrophysics and Cosmology during the Epoch of Reionization

Recently, the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) has produced the experiment's first upper limits on the power spectrum of 21 cm fluctuations at z ~ 8 and 10. Here, we use several independent theoretical models to infer constraints on the intergalactic medium (IGM) and galaxies during the epoch of reionization from these limits. We find that the IGM must have been heated above the adiabatic-cooling threshold by z ~ 8, independent of uncertainties about IGM ionization and the radio background. Combining HERA limits with complementary observations constrains the spin temperature of the z ~ 8 neutral IGM to 27 K $\langle {\overline{T}}_{S}\rangle$ 630 K (2.3 K $\langle {\overline{T}}_{S}\rangle$ 640 K) at 68% (95%) confidence. They therefore also place a lower bound on X-ray heating, a previously unconstrained aspects of early galaxies. For example, if the cosmic microwave background dominates the z ~ 8 radio background, the new HERA limits imply that the first galaxies produced X-rays more efficiently than local ones. The z ~ 10 limits require even earlier heating if dark-matter interactions cool the hydrogen gas. If an extra radio background is produced by galaxies, we rule out (at 95% confidence) the combination of high radio and low X-ray luminosities of L r,ν /SFR > 4 × 1024 W Hz-1 ${M}_{\odot }^{-1}$ yr and L X /SFR 39 erg s-1 ${M}_{\odot }^{-1}$ yr. The new HERA upper limits neither support nor disfavor a cosmological interpretation of the recent Experiment to Detect the Global EOR Signature (EDGES) measurement. The framework described here provides a foundation for the interpretation of future HERA results

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

AltitudeOmics: The Integrative Physiology of Human Acclimatization to Hypobaric Hypoxia and Its Retention upon Reascent

<div><p>An understanding of human responses to hypoxia is important for the health of millions of people worldwide who visit, live, or work in the hypoxic environment encountered at high altitudes. In spite of dozens of studies over the last 100 years, the basic mechanisms controlling acclimatization to hypoxia remain largely unknown. The AltitudeOmics project aimed to bridge this gap. Our goals were 1) to describe a phenotype for successful acclimatization and assess its retention and 2) use these findings as a foundation for companion mechanistic studies. Our approach was to characterize acclimatization by measuring changes in arterial oxygenation and hemoglobin concentration [Hb], acute mountain sickness (AMS), cognitive function, and exercise performance in 21 subjects as they acclimatized to 5260 m over 16 days. We then focused on the retention of acclimatization by having subjects reascend to 5260 m after either 7 (n = 14) or 21 (n = 7) days at 1525 m. At 16 days at 5260 m we observed: 1) increases in arterial oxygenation and [Hb] (compared to acute hypoxia: PaO₂ rose 9±4 mmHg to 45±4 while PaCO₂ dropped a further 6±3 mmHg to 21±3, and [Hb] rose 1.8±0.7 g/dL to 16±2 g/dL; 2) no AMS; 3) improved cognitive function; and 4) improved exercise performance by 8±8% (all changes p<0.01). Upon reascent, we observed retention of arterial oxygenation but not [Hb], protection from AMS, retention of exercise performance, less retention of cognitive function; and noted that some of these effects lasted for 21 days. Taken together, these findings reveal new information about retention of acclimatization, and can be used as a physiological foundation to explore the molecular mechanisms of acclimatization and its retention.</p></div

Neurocognitive Function During Acclimatization and Upon Reascent.

<p>Five tests of cognitive function revealed marked decrements in performance from SL to ALT1, and improvement back to sea level values by ALT16. Code Substitution—Simultaneous and Match to Sample retained levels found at ALT16 on POST7, while Simple Reaction Time-1, Simple Reaction Time-2, and Procedural Reaction Time essentially reflected a loss of during acclimatization upon reascent at POST7. None of the cognitive function tests showed any retention of acclimatization at POST21. (tp  =  throughput  =  mean number of correct responses made within one min). *Significantly different than SL (p<0.01); ^†significantly different vs. ALT1 (p<0.01); ^‡significantly different vs. ALT16 (p<0.01).</p

Timeline for AltitudeOmics Studies.

<p>Each subject completed this study timeline, with n = 14 staying at low altitude for POST7 and n = 7 staying at low altitude for POST21. Subjects flew from the USA to Bolivia aboard commercial aircraft with no recording of barometric pressure during the flight; the profile for travel in the figure is therefore approximate.</p

General Subject Characteristics.

<p>Height (HT); Weight (WT); Body Mass Index (BMI).</p

Arterial Blood Gases and [Hb] During Acclimatization and Upon Reascent.

<p>Resting indices of ventilatory and hematological acclimatization at SL, ALT1, ALT16, and POST7/21 demonstrating acclimatization after 16 days at a constant altitude and the degree of retention in these variables. *Significantly different vs. SL (p<0.01); ^† significantly different than ALT1 (p<0.01); ^‡significantly different than ALT16 (p<0.01).</p