My Sweet White Rose

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Considerations for an Effective Telecommunications-Use Policy

Recent changes in federal telecommunications legislation have underscored the importance of an up-to-date and effective telecommunications-use policy in business organizations. With the proliferation of the Internet, intranets, and email as commonplace business tools, the potential for misuse and subsequent liability has become an increasing concern. Even though the recent Supreme Court decision struck down the obscenity provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), it left intact legislation that effectively mandates development of a sound telecommunications-use policy. In addition to potential liability for systems misuse, organizations have also had to address issues of individual employee privacy within the new systems. This technical expansion, coupled with the information privacy issues, has created a large gray area in organizational policy-making. What exactly should an organization formalize as a standing operational policy for day-to-day use of its telecommunications systems? As is evident, without a specific policy that addresses systems use, there can be no expectation of ethical and responsible use on the part of either an organization or an individual employee

The Threat of Long-Arm Jurisdiction to Electronic Commerce

Unfortunately for those whose businesses rely on the Internet, an increasing amount of legal conflict is also arising in reaction to this new business medium. As attorneys and the courts attempt to sort out the Internet’s legal status quo, both are considering such pressing substantive issues as electronic contracts, privacy, trademark, copyright, defamation, computer crimes, censorship, and taxation. It is imperative that information system professionals become aware of how evolving Internet law will affect the medium they are charged with administrating. An informed IS community is also much more capable of mounting legal and political challenges to law that might thwart continued development of e-commerce

An examination of computer-use ethics in Hong Kong and the United States

This study examines differences in individual ethical evaluations of computer-use scenarios between subjects in Hong Kong and the United States in an effort to better understand value differences that may be associated with differences in attitudes toward computer use expectations. Analysis indicates that although Hong Kong subjects generally take a more permissive view of ethical responsibility regarding computer use, they do not necessarily condone violations of ethical behavior. Results are discussed and implications for future research are addressed

A Cross-National Examination of Expected Correlation of Computer Ethical Perceptions and User Computer Attitudes

This study examined computer ethical perceptions and computer use attitudes among three differing groups consisting of nationalities from the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong. The purpose of the study was to determine if computer attitudes have a moderating effect on the perceptions of computer ethical use across multiple cultural backgrounds. Evidence supporting this claim would add additional insight into previously discovered differences. This study found limited support for the suggested hypotheses, but confirmed fundamental cultural differences. Future research should examine other variables to determine if significant effects can be determined from unexamined variable

PROCESS-CONTROL EFFECTS FOR TEAM-BASEDCOMPUTER-MEDIATED DECISION ANALYSES

As the evolution of research in Group Support Systems (GSS) continues, focus must begin to shift away from the concentration of GSS groups versus non-GSS groups, and begin to direct scrutiny toward the examination of the group dynamics that influence the experience of the teams that use GSS. The literature has clearly established that GSS improves the quality of certain decisions. The new challenge is to discover what processes within GSS are responsible for decision improvement and how they interact with other group processes extant in work situation

Founder effects and species introductions: A host versus parasite perspective

Species colonizations (both natural and anthropogenic) can be associated with genetic founder effects, where founding populations demonstrate significant genetic bottlenecks compared to native populations. Yet, many successfully established free�living species exhibit little reduction in genetic diversity—possibly due to multiple founding events and/or high propagule pressure during introductions. Less clear, however, is whether parasites may show differential signatures to their free�living hosts. Parasites with indirect life cycles may particularly be more prone to founder effects (i.e., more genetically depauperate) because of inherently smaller founding populations and complex life cycles. We investigated this question in native (east coast) and introduced (west coast) North American populations of a host snail Tritia obsoleta (formerly Ilyanassa obsoleta, the eastern mudsnail) and four trematode parasite species that obligately infect it. We examined genetic diversity, gene flow, and population structure using two molecular markers (mitochondrial and nuclear) for the host and the parasites. In the host snail, we found little to no evidence of genetic founder effects, while the trematode parasites showed significantly lower genetic diversity in the introduced versus native ranges. Moreover, the parasite's final host influenced infection prevalence and genetic diversity: Trematode species that utilized fish as final hosts demonstrated lower parasite diversity and heightened founder effects in the introduced range than those trematodes using birds as final hosts. In addition, inter�regional gene flow was strongest for comparisons that included the putative historical source region (mid�Atlantic populations of the US east coast). Overall, our results broaden understanding of the role that colonization events (including recent anthropogenic introductions) have on genetic diversity in non�native organisms by also evaluating less studied groups like parasites

Surgical Transplantation of Mouse Neural Stem Cells into the Spinal Cords of Mice Infected with Neurotropic Mouse Hepatitis Virus

Mice infected with the neurotropic JHM strain of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) develop pathological and clinical outcomes similar to patients with the demyelinating disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS). We have shown that transplantation of NSCs into the spinal cords of sick mice results in a significant improvement in both remyelination and in clinical outcome. Cell replacement therapies for the treatment of chronic neurologic diseases are now a reality and in vivo models are vital in understanding the interactions between the engrafted cells and host tissue microenvironment. This presentation provides an adapted method for transplanting cells into the spinal cord of JHMV-infected mice. In brief, we provide a procedure for i) preparation of NSCs prior to transplant, ii) pre-operative care of mice, iii) exposure of the spinal cord via laminectomy, iv) stereotactic injection of NSCs, and iv) post-operative care