Individual Readiness for Change in the Context of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Implementation

The present study takes a bottom-up approach and investigates the organizational implications of ERP systems implementation in organizations. We adopt a likely point of view of employees and study the ERP integration process along 3 dimensions: people, processes, and information. In this manner we discover the ERP-specific sources of resistance that could affect negatively the deployment of the software. Then, we argue that a general set of beliefs shapes employees readiness to change to ERP use and provides the foundation for resistance or for adoptive behavior. We define the concept of readiness for change in the context of ERP and introduce a readiness for change assessment approach. Then, we test empirically the study hypotheses upon which the research model was build. The results obtained offer insights into factors that can improve the effectiveness of ERP implementation strategies and underline the importance of change management for the success of such projects

Vascular dysfunction in aged mice contributes to persistent lung fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease thought to result from impaired lung repair following injury and is strongly associated with aging. While vascular alterations have been associated with IPF previously, the contribution of lung vasculature during injury resolution and fibrosis is not well understood. To compare the role of endothelial cells (ECs) in resolving and non‐resolving models of lung fibrosis, we applied bleomycin intratracheally to young and aged mice. We found that injury in aged mice elicited capillary rarefaction, while injury in young mice resulted in increased capillary density. ECs from the lungs of injured aged mice relative to young mice demonstrated elevated pro‐fibrotic and reduced vascular homeostasis gene expression. Among the latter, Nos3 (encoding the enzyme endothelial nitric oxide synthase, eNOS) was transiently upregulated in lung ECs from young but not aged mice following injury. Young mice deficient in eNOS recapitulated the non‐resolving lung fibrosis observed in aged animals following injury, suggesting that eNOS directly participates in lung fibrosis resolution. Activation of the NO receptor soluble guanylate cyclase in human lung fibroblasts reduced TGFβ‐induced pro‐fibrotic gene and protein expression. Additionally, loss of eNOS in human lung ECs reduced the suppression of TGFβ‐induced lung fibroblast activation in 2D and 3D co‐cultures. Altogether, our results demonstrate that persistent lung fibrosis in aged mice is accompanied by capillary rarefaction, loss of EC identity, and impaired eNOS expression. Targeting vascular function may thus be critical to promote lung repair and fibrosis resolution in aging and IPF.Bleomycin‐induced lung injury promotes transient fibrosis accompanied by increased capillary density in young mice. In contrast, persistent fibrosis, capillary rarefaction, loss of endothelial cell identity, and reduction of Nos3 are observed in aged mice. eNOS/NO signal is an important driver of fibroblast quiescence and fibrosis resolution, that is lost with aging. Lung vascular bed plays a critical role during lung repair and fibrosis resolution.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156458/2/acel13196_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156458/1/acel13196.pd

Wet-dry-wet drug screen leads to the synthesis of TS1, a novel compound reversing lung fibrosis through inhibition of myofibroblast differentiation

Therapies halting the progression of fibrosis are ineffective and limited. Activated myofibroblasts are emerging as important targets in the progression of fibrotic diseases. Previously, we performed a high-throughput screen on lung fibroblasts and subsequently demonstrated that the inhibition of myofibroblast activation is able to prevent lung fibrosis in bleomycin-treated mice. High-throughput screens are an ideal method of repurposing drugs, yet they contain an intrinsic limitation, which is the size of the library itself. Here, we exploited the data from our “wet” screen and used “dry” machine learning analysis to virtually screen millions of compounds, identifying novel anti-fibrotic hits which target myofibroblast differentiation, many of which were structurally related to dopamine. We synthesized and validated several compounds ex vivo (“wet”) and confirmed that both dopamine and its derivative TS1 are powerful inhibitors of myofibroblast activation. We further used RNAi-mediated knock-down and demonstrated that both molecules act through the dopamine receptor 3 and exert their anti-fibrotic effect by inhibiting the canonical transforming growth factor β pathway. Furthermore, molecular modelling confirmed the capability of TS1 to bind both human and mouse dopamine receptor 3. The anti-fibrotic effect on human cells was confirmed using primary fibroblasts from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients. Finally, TS1 prevented and reversed disease progression in a murine model of lung fibrosis. Both our interdisciplinary approach and our novel compound TS1 are promising tools for understanding and combating lung fibrosis

ENPP1 Affects Insulin Action and Secretion: Evidences from In Vitro Studies

The aim of this study was to deeper investigate the mechanisms through which ENPP1, a negative modulator of insulin receptor (IR) activation, plays a role on insulin signaling, insulin secretion and eventually glucose metabolism. ENPP1 cDNA (carrying either K121 or Q121 variant) was transfected in HepG2 liver-, L6 skeletal muscle- and INS1E beta-cells. Insulin-induced IR-autophosphorylation (HepG2, L6, INS1E), Akt-Ser473, ERK1/2-Thr202/Tyr204 and GSK3-beta Ser9 phosphorylation (HepG2, L6), PEPCK mRNA levels (HepG2) and 2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake (L6) was studied. GLUT 4 mRNA (L6), insulin secretion and caspase-3 activation (INS1E) were also investigated. Insulin-induced IR-autophosphorylation was decreased in HepG2-K, L6-K, INS1E-K (20%, 52% and 11% reduction vs. untransfected cells) and twice as much in HepG2-Q, L6-Q, INS1E-Q (44%, 92% and 30%). Similar data were obtained with Akt-Ser473, ERK1/2-Thr202/Tyr204 and GSK3-beta Ser9 in HepG2 and L6. Insulin-induced reduction of PEPCK mRNA was progressively lower in untransfected, HepG2-K and HepG2-Q cells (65%, 54%, 23%). Insulin-induced glucose uptake in untransfected L6 (60% increase over basal), was totally abolished in L6-K and L6-Q cells. GLUT 4 mRNA was slightly reduced in L6-K and twice as much in L6-Q (13% and 25% reduction vs. untransfected cells). Glucose-induced insulin secretion was 60% reduced in INS1E-K and almost abolished in INS1E-Q. Serum deficiency activated caspase-3 by two, three and four folds in untransfected INS1E, INS1E-K and INS1E-Q. Glyburide-induced insulin secretion was reduced by 50% in isolated human islets from homozygous QQ donors as compared to those from KK and KQ individuals. Our data clearly indicate that ENPP1, especially when the Q121 variant is operating, affects insulin signaling and glucose metabolism in skeletal muscle- and liver-cells and both function and survival of insulin secreting beta-cells, thus representing a strong pathogenic factor predisposing to insulin resistance, defective insulin secretion and glucose metabolism abnormalities

IT governance definitions and frameworks: a literature review

Organizations seek to mirror their corporate governance arrangements in the activities of their key subunits – as IT function – in order to lower their organizational coordination costs. Some researches evidence that the mode of corporate governance significantly influences the mode of IT governance: organizations that have centralized their corporate governance also tend to centralize their IT governance, whereas organizations that have decentralized their corporate governance tend to decentralize their IT governance. Consequently, the organizational need of formal IT governance emerges. There are several studies and researches discussing about the importance of governance. Some of them have origin from other disciplines, like finance, and were rethought on IT issues. The scope of this paper is to make a first literature analysis for the most accepted definitions and reference models for IT governance

La gestione del patrimonio hardware e software

Nel contesto in cui oggigiorno si trovano ad operare – caratterizzato, ad esempio, dall’internazionalizzazione, dalla collaborazione con imprese appartenenti a settori diversi – le imprese devono affrontare numerose questioni, tra le quali: - l’integrazione di fonti dati, applicazioni, piattaforme e di imprese tra loro, - la flessibilità, tecnologica ed organizzativa, necessaria per poter rispondere con efficienza ai cambiamenti del mercato, - la realizzazione di sistemi affidabili, robusti e flessibili, in grado di far fronte ai cambiamenti delle esigenze degli utenti, - la qualità dei prodotti e servizi offerti. Alla luce di queste considerazioni, obiettivo dell’impresa nella gestione delle risorse tecnologiche è riuscire ad individuare, scegliere e valutare – e, ove necessario, rivedere le scelte iniziali – un insieme equilibrato e coerente di prodotti e servizi IT rivolti sia agli utenti interni (risorse umane, proprietà) sia a quelli esterni (clienti, fornitori, partner, comunità di riferimento)

La governance dei sistemi ERP

I sistemi informativi integrati sono in grado di fornire vantaggi a diversi livelli: operativo, manageriale, organizzativo. Il successo dell’adozione di un sistema ERP dipende da variabili più di natura manageriale ed organizzativa che di natura tecnica. I sistemi informativi integrati abilitano e facilitano la redazione di piani di progetto, l’attività di monitoraggio delle attività operative, l’integrazione e la documentazione di processi aziendali, la produzione di reportistica ad-hoc e così via. Da queste considerazioni emerge come l’adozione di un sistema ERP debba essere non solo gestita ma anche opportunamente governata. Il sistema di governance per i progetti ERP può articolarsi in tre dimensioni: Corporate governance, ICT governance, Project governance

La gestione delle tecnologie per il web

L’impatto della tecnologia nella realtà quotidiana è sempre più forte, è veramente difficile oggi fare un elenco di tutte le attività, lavorative e non, che coinvolgono tecnologie, apparati e processi relativi all'ICT : nel mondo lavorativo, ad esempio, si va dalla videoscrittura all'archiviazione di dati, dai sistemi di supporto alle decisioni ai robot delle linee di produzione, dai sistemi esperti in campo medico al reperimento di informazioni e ai nuovi servizi di comunicazione avanzati basati su Internet. La diffusione pressoché universale dei computer e di molti prodotti e servizi ad essi correlati ha reso evidente alla comunità scientifica, agli operatori aziendali, ai policy makers e alla gente comune quanto il cambiamento tecnologico sia importante per l'economia e il suo sviluppo. Gestire la tecnologia vuol dire riuscire a trovare una dimensione ottimale di investimento evitando situazioni di obsolescenza e facendo attenzione al livello massimo effettivamente necessario per la propria realtà. Un eccessivo investimento in tecnologia può essere elemento destabilizzante tanto quanto una situazione di non allineamento

I tablet a lezione: vantaggi reali o ancora potenziali?

No abstract availabl

Evoluzione, caratteristiche e framework per l’adozione dei sistemi ERP

La tecnologia rappresenta un importante strumento a supporto dei processi di gestione dell’incertezza e del rischio. I sistemi ERP, apparsi agli inizi degli anni ’90, rappresentano delle soluzioni applicative standard – parametrizzabili, personalizzabili e basate su una solida infrastruttura tecnologica – in grado di mettere in relazione i processi aziendali con i dati e, quindi, di integrare le diverse funzioni o unità organizzative. Numerosi sono i fattori esogeni ed endogeni che influenzano la decisione di adottare di un sistema ERP. Una volta presa la decisione di adottare un sistema ERP, si avvia il progetto di adozione. E’ stato proposto un framework che prevede cinque principali fasi: preparazione del progetto, implementazione e cambiamento, accettazione, uso normale e uso avanzato