A TQM-Based Systems Development Process

Similar to manufacturing, a critical requirement to achieving high quality in the production of information systems (IS) is the ability to deploy the customers\u27 desires throughout the systems development process(SDP). The MIS literature has long recognized the importance of user involvement in the SDP (Davis, 1989; Davis, Bagozi, and Warshaw, 1989). The major objective of user involvement is to develop high quality systems with which users are comfortable and satisfied. Thespecification of requirements and the subsequent conversion of these requirements into a useful system is often a complex process. It is imperative to be able to capture user requirements accurately and in a fashion that is conducive to their transfer to a development methodology. This can result in detailed design specifications that reflect the user quality concerns and can lead to efficient and effective implementation. It is often assumed that the existing systems analysis, design, and implementation methodologies allow developers to document and keep track of the user requirements thus enabling development of an end product with which users are satisfied. Situations where users are dissatisfied with a system are nevertheless not uncommon. This dissatisfaction is the result of the users\u27 perceptions of quality not being met. Careful attention to details and user involvement in the development process increase the potential for, but do not guarantee, a high-quality system. It is important to realize thatthe traditional systems development methodologies do not explicitly document user quality attributes. They also make no provisions for ensuring that those quality characteristics are properly and systematically considered throughout the various stages of the development process. It is possible that some user requirements such as ease of use, maintenance, and security are not captured in data and process modeling. It may also be the case that quality features related to hardware or support services and other user requirements are either not explicitly considered or they vanish in the stepwise refinement process, which typically emphasizes software. This paper highlights limitations of the traditional systems analysis and design methods as they relate to user perceptions and measures of quality, and proposes a method of integrating quality function deployment into the SD

Interventions to prevent Lyme disease in humans: A systematic review

Lyme disease (LD) is an infection transferred to humans through bites from infected ticks. Surveillance indicates that the number of LD cases is increasing in the UK, therefore, improved knowledge about reducing transmission from ticks to humans is needed. Eighteen electronic databases were searched and additional web-based searching was conducted, to locate empirical research, published from 2002 onwards. Sixteen studies that evaluated five types of prevention intervention were included: personal protection (n = 4), domestic strategies (landscape modification and chemical pest control) (n = 3), education (n = 6), vaccination (n = 3), and deer-reduction programmes (n = 2). In general the quality of evidence was low. Results suggest that personal protection strategies, including the use of tick repellents and wearing of protective clothes, can prevent tick bites and reduce the incidence of LD among adults. Educational interventions were generally successful for improving adults' knowledge, behavioural beliefs (e.g., self-efficacy for performing tick checks) and preventative behaviour, but for children, the findings were mixed. For adults and children, knowledge changes did not typically translate into a lower incidence of LD. Whilst evidence on vaccination against LD is promising, too few studies were available to reach robust conclusions. There was no evidence of effectiveness for deer culling, and the evidence was inconclusive for applying acaricide (tick poison) to deer's ears and heads. Low-quality evidence suggests that personal protective strategies, that limit exposure to ticks, should continue to be recommended, as should education to encourage the adoption of personal protective strategies; further investigation of education interventions for children, vaccination and deer programmes is needed

Interventions to prevent Lyme disease in humans : A systematic review

Lyme disease (LD) is an infection transferred to humans through bites from infected ticks. Surveillance indicates that the number of LD cases is increasing in the UK, therefore, improved knowledge about reducing transmission from ticks to humans is needed. Eighteen electronic databases were searched and additional web-based searching was conducted, to locate empirical research, published from 2002 onwards. Sixteen studies that evaluated five types of prevention intervention were included: personal protection (n = 4), domestic strategies (landscape modification and chemical pest control) (n = 3), education (n = 6), vaccination (n = 3), and deer-reduction programmes (n = 2). In general the quality of evidence was low. Results suggest that personal protection strategies, including the use of tick repellents and wearing of protective clothes, can prevent tick bites and reduce the incidence of LD among adults. Educational interventions were generally successful for improving adults' knowledge, behavioural beliefs (e.g., self-efficacy for performing tick checks) and preventative behaviour, but for children, the findings were mixed. For adults and children, knowledge changes did not typically translate into a lower incidence of LD. Whilst evidence on vaccination against LD is promising, too few studies were available to reach robust conclusions. There was no evidence of effectiveness for deer culling, and the evidence was inconclusive for applying acaricide (tick poison) to deer's ears and heads. Low-quality evidence suggests that personal protective strategies, that limit exposure to ticks, should continue to be recommended, as should education to encourage the adoption of personal protective strategies; further investigation of education interventions for children, vaccination and deer programmes is needed

The role of the cancer stem cell marker CD271 in DNA damage response and drug resistance of melanoma cells

Several lines of evidence have suggested that stemness and acquired resistance to targeted inhibitors or chemotherapeutics are mechanistically linked. Here we observed high cell surface and total levels of nerve growth factor receptor/CD271, a marker of melanoma-initiating cells, in sub-populations of chemoresistant cell lines. CD271 expression was increased in drug-sensitive cells but not resistant cells in response to DNA-damaging chemotherapeutics etoposide, fotemustine and cisplatin. Comparative analysis of melanoma cells engineered to stably express CD271 or a targeting short hairpin RNA by expression profiling provided numerous genes regulated in a CD271-dependent manner. In-depth analysis of CD271-responsive genes uncovered the association of CD271 with regulation of DNA repair components. In addition, gene set enrichment analysis revealed enrichment of CD271-responsive genes in drug- resistant cells, among them DNA repair components. Moreover, our comparative screen identified the fibroblast growth factor 13 (FGF13) as a target of CD271, highly expressed in chemoresistant cells. Further we show that levels of CD271 determine drug response. Knock-down of CD271 in fotemustine-resistant cells decreased expression of FGF13 and at least partly restored sensitivity to fotemustine. Together, we demonstrate that expression of CD271 is responsible for genes associated with DNA repair and drug response. Further, we identified 110 CD271-responsive genes predominantly expressed in melanoma metastases, among them were NEK2, TOP2A and RAD51AP1 as potential drivers of melanoma metastasis. In addition, we provide mechanistic insight in the regulation of CD271 in response to drugs. We found that CD271 is potentially regulated by p53 and in turn is needed for a proper p53-dependent response to DNA-damaging drugs. In summary, we provide for the first time insight in a CD271-associated signaling network connecting CD271 with DNA repair, drug response and metastasis

Cost-effectiveness of Microsoft Academic Graph with machine learning for automated study identification in a living map of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) research

BACKGROUND: Conventionally, searching for eligible articles to include in systematic reviews and maps of research has relied primarily on information specialists conducting Boolean searches of multiple databases and manually processing the results, including deduplication between these multiple sources. Searching one, comprehensive source, rather than multiple databases, could save time and resources. Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG) is potentially such a source, containing a network graph structure which provides metadata that can be exploited in machine learning processes. Research is needed to establish the relative advantage of using MAG as a single source, compared with conventional searches of multiple databases. This study sought to establish whether: (a) MAG is sufficiently comprehensive to maintain our living map of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) research; and (b) eligible records can be identified with an acceptably high level of specificity. METHODS: We conducted a pragmatic, eight-arm cost-effectiveness analysis (simulation study) to assess the costs, recall and precision of our semi-automated MAG-enabled workflow versus conventional searches of MEDLINE and Embase (with and without machine learning classifiers, active learning and/or fixed screening targets) for maintaining a living map of COVID-19 research. Resource use data (time use) were collected from information specialists and other researchers involved in map production. RESULTS: MAG-enabled workflows dominated MEDLINE-Embase workflows in both the base case and sensitivity analyses. At one month (base case analysis) our MAG-enabled workflow with machine learning, active learning and fixed screening targets identified n=469 more new, eligible articles for inclusion in our living map – and cost £3,179 GBP ($5,691 AUD) less – than conventional MEDLINE-Embase searches without any automation or fixed screening targets. CONCLUSIONS: MAG-enabled continuous surveillance workflows have potential to revolutionise study identification methods for living maps, specialised registers, databases of research studies and/or collections of systematic reviews, by increasing their recall and coverage, whilst reducing production costs

Development of natural hypocholesterolemic agents: application in cottage cheese

This work aimed at exploiting mushroom bioresidues, namely Agaricus bisporus L. to obtain mycosterols and develop hypocholesterolemic functional foods. Mycosterols enriched extracts were obtained by ultrasound assisted extraction, characterized in terms of mycosterols through HPLC-UV, evaluated for their toxicity in non-tumor cells (PLP2) and hypocholesterolemic capacity using a CaCo2 cell line. After incorporation of the active dose in cottage cheeses, and to evaluate the incorporation effects and the bioactivity maintenance, the nutritional value of the developed cheeses was evaluated, as also the physical parameters, and the microbial load over a shelf life of 9 days. The color of the cheeses incorporated with the extract was the brownest compared to the other two samples (cottage cheese with ergosterol and control cottage cheese). Palmitic was the prevalent fatty acid, followed by oleic and capric acid, being the saturated fatty acids the major ones. Lactose and glucose were the two found soluble sugars; being glucose observed only in cheese incorporated with A. bisporus. Also, the incorporations did not cause any significant alterations to the normal flora found in the cottage cheese.The cheese with pure ergosterol and the cheese incorporated with A. bisporus extract reduced cholesterol absorption by 21.1%, and 30.24%, respectively, thus validating thehypocholesterolemic potential of mycosterols while promotin sustainability through the use of food waste/by-products.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) and F.A. Fernandes PhD grant ((SFRH/BD/145467/2019). L. Barros and C. Calhelha also thank the national funding by FCT, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for their contracts and, M. Carocho and S.A. Heleno to the national funding by FCT, P.I., through the individual scientific employment program-contracts. European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project Mobilizador Norte-01-0247-FEDER-024479: ValorNatural®.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of a cost-effective optical sensor for continuous monitoring of turbidity and suspended particulate matter in marine environment

A cost-effective optical sensor for continuous in-situ monitoring of turbidity and suspended particulate matter concentration (SPM), with a production cost in raw materials less than 20 €, is presented for marine or fluvial applications. The sensor uses an infrared LED and three photodetectors with three different positions related to the light source-135º, 90º and 0º-resulting in three different types of light detection: backscattering, nephelometry and transmitted light, respectively. This design allows monitoring in any type of environment, offering a wide dynamic range and accuracy for low and high turbidity or SPM values. An ultraviolet emitter-receiver pair is also used to differentiate organic and inorganic matter through the differences in absorption at different wavelengths. The optical transducers are built in a watertight structure with a radial configuration where a printed circuit board with the electronic signal coupling is assembled. An in-lab calibration of the sensor was made to establish a relation between suspended particulate matter (SPM) or the turbidity (NTU) to the photodetectors' electrical output value in Volts. Two different sizes of seashore sand were used (180 µm and 350 µm) to evaluate the particle size susceptibility. The sensor was tested in a fluvial environment to evaluate SPM change during sediment transport caused by rain, and a real test of 22 days continuous in-situ monitoring was realized to evaluate its performance in a tidal area. The monitoring results were analysed, showing the SPM change during tidal cycles as well as the influence of the external light and biofouling problems.Funding Agency Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE2020), through Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000032 European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, based on COMPETE 2020 (Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalizacao), project ICT UID/GEO/04683/2013 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690 Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio