Accommodating User-Group Characteristics to Improve the Acceptance of Executive Information Systems— State of the Art and User-Interface Components for Up Close and Personalized Configuration

In executive information systems (EIS) design, where idiosyncratic users must often be considered, understanding users andtheir preferences is important. Since user interfaces are a highly visible EIS component, they are an important lever for theiracceptance. To accommodate executives\u27 growing range of user preferences, this article develops building blocks for theuser-interface to make up close and personalized EIS possible. As this work represents a first step in a larger researchproject, we conduct a multidisciplinary literature review on how the EIS design process can accommodate user preferences,thus improving EIS acceptance with the right user interface. Based on three findings regarding their design, we proposebuilding blocks for user-interface design covering three clusters of components: information presentation, dialog control, andpredefined functions. Finally, we incorporate their components in an EIS prototype to start evaluating our proposal\u27s utility

Managing A Paradox–Design Principles for Executives’ IT Support

How are companies managed today and what part does state-of-the-art IT play? Executive information systems (EIS) should support top managers in managing their companies. But many executives complain that EIS bear little relevance to their management task (functional requirements) and fail even more to accommodate their working style (design requirements). This article focuses on the latter and contributes to new-generation EIS by identifying twelve principles for their design. The first step in doing so is to systematically develop requirements criteria for EIS design. On this point, our research revealed a twofold gap: as the rigor of scientific models (e.g. structural models of IS user satisfaction and technology acceptance) increases, they become less relevant for direct use in practice. At the same time, practitioner journals demonstrate relevance, but do not evidence strong rigor. Linking the requirements criteria with rigor and relevance, this article applies the principle of economic efficiency. In a second step, using that schema, design principles for new-generation EIS are derived. They are based on gaps identified in an empirical study and the findings of four instantiations within the chemicals, logistics, high-tech, and automotive supplier industries

Managing the Future—State-of-the-art Environmental Scanning Systems and Initial Design Principles for a New Generation

The 2008/2009 economic crisis provided a sustainable impulse for improving environmental scanning systems (ESS).Although a rich body of knowledge exists, these concepts are not often used in practice. This article contributes a literaturereview addressing not only why this knowledge is not used, but what elements of it can be leveraged for the work on hand.The results are structured in terms of the elements of information system (IS) design theories and the research methodapplied. At the end, we derive six initial principles for reworked ESS that are more applicable than the state of the art. Theseprinciples should improve the grasp of weak signals and allow better incorporation of environmental scanning findings intothe executive decision-making process. Two instantiations helped us to highlight how current developments in IS contributeto successful design, implementation, and day-to-day operation of reworked ESS

A First Perspective on Requirements of New-Generation Managers for Collaboration Technology to be Integrated into Management Support Systems

Companies today are mostly populated by new-generation managers—consisting of digital natives and digital immi­grants. New-generation managers have expanded their role in operations and have to make decisions faster than in the past. Management support systems (MSS) serve as mana­gers’ central, hands-on, day-to-day source of information. Thus, the present situation is favorable for redesigning MSS in two respects: On the one hand, new-generation mana­gers’ faster decision making is driving a new demand for self-service MSS. Unlike earlier MSS, self-service MSS accommodate individual user preferences and increasingly enable managers to operate MSS themselves. On the other hand, as companies become larger and more dispersed, face-to-face meetings and even telephone calls become less prac­tical, but new collaboration technology is becoming in­creasingly important. Subject to these considerations, we examine collaboration technology—technology assisting people working towards the same goals—suitable to be incorporated into MSS for new-generation managers’ self service

Requirements Criteria for Applicable Environmental Scanning Systems: Model Development and First Demonstration

Especially in turbulent times, environmental scanning systems are an important instrument for supporting managerial decision making. The 2008/2009 economic crisis provided a sustainable impulse for focusing earlier on emerging threats and opportunities. Although a rich body of knowledge exists, concepts remain unused in practice. Most often they lack applicability. This article provides a list of requirements criteria specifying the applicability of environmental scanning systems. It is based on the principle of economic efficiency, uses findings from the absorptive capacity theory and can be applied to both evaluate existing environmental scanning systems and develop a new, more applicable generation than those we researched. We end with evaluating an environmental scanning system of a large, international company

The role of inhibitory feedback for information processing in thalamocortical circuits

The information transfer in the thalamus is blocked dynamically during sleep, in conjunction with the occurence of spindle waves. As the theoretical understanding of the mechanism remains incomplete, we analyze two modeling approaches for a recent experiment by Le Masson {\sl et al}. on the thalamocortical loop. In a first step, we use a conductance-based neuron model to reproduce the experiment computationally. In a second step, we model the same system by using an extended Hindmarsh-Rose model, and compare the results with the conductance-based model. In the framework of both models, we investigate the influence of inhibitory feedback on the information transfer in a typical thalamocortical oscillator. We find that our extended Hindmarsh-Rose neuron model, which is computationally less costly and thus siutable for large-scale simulations, reproduces the experiment better than the conductance-based model. Further, in agreement with the experiment of Le Masson {\sl et al}., inhibitory feedback leads to stable self-sustained oscillations which mask the incoming input, and thereby reduce the information transfer significantly.Comment: 16 pages, 15eps figures included. To appear in Physical Review

Spin qubits with electrically gated polyoxometalate molecules

Spin qubits offer one of the most promising routes to the implementation of quantum computers. Very recent results in semiconductor quantum dots show that electrically-controlled gating schemes are particularly well-suited for the realization of a universal set of quantum logical gates. Scalability to a larger number of qubits, however, remains an issue for such semiconductor quantum dots. In contrast, a chemical bottom-up approach allows one to produce identical units in which localized spins represent the qubits. Molecular magnetism has produced a wide range of systems with tailored properties, but molecules permitting electrical gating have been lacking. Here we propose to use the polyoxometalate [PMo12O40(VO)2]q-, where two localized spins-1/2 can be coupled through the electrons of the central core. Via electrical manipulation of the molecular redox potential, the charge of the core can be changed. With this setup, two-qubit gates and qubit readout can be implemented.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Nature Nanotechnolog

A diVIsive Shuffling Approach (VIStA) for gene expression analysis to identify subtypes in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Background: An important step toward understanding the biological mechanisms underlying a complex disease is a refined understanding of its clinical heterogeneity. Relating clinical and molecular differences may allow us to define more specific subtypes of patients that respond differently to therapeutic interventions. Results: We developed a novel unbiased method called diVIsive Shuffling Approach (VIStA) that identifies subgroups of patients by maximizing the difference in their gene expression patterns. We tested our algorithm on 140 subjects with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and found four distinct, biologically and clinically meaningful combinations of clinical characteristics that are associated with large gene expression differences. The dominant characteristic in these combinations was the severity of airflow limitation. Other frequently identified measures included emphysema, fibrinogen levels, phlegm, BMI and age. A pathway analysis of the differentially expressed genes in the identified subtypes suggests that VIStA is capable of capturing specific molecular signatures within in each group. Conclusions: The introduced methodology allowed us to identify combinations of clinical characteristics that correspond to clear gene expression differences. The resulting subtypes for COPD contribute to a better understanding of its heterogeneity

Geospatial Information Research: State of the Art, Case Studies and Future Perspectives

Geospatial information science (GI science) is concerned with the development and application of geodetic and information science methods for modeling, acquiring, sharing, managing, exploring, analyzing, synthesizing, visualizing, and evaluating data on spatio-temporal phenomena related to the Earth. As an interdisciplinary scientific discipline, it focuses on developing and adapting information technologies to understand processes on the Earth and human-place interactions, to detect and predict trends and patterns in the observed data, and to support decision making. The authors – members of DGK, the Geoinformatics division, as part of the Committee on Geodesy of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, representing geodetic research and university teaching in Germany – have prepared this paper as a means to point out future research questions and directions in geospatial information science. For the different facets of geospatial information science, the state of art is presented and underlined with mostly own case studies. The paper thus illustrates which contributions the German GI community makes and which research perspectives arise in geospatial information science. The paper further demonstrates that GI science, with its expertise in data acquisition and interpretation, information modeling and management, integration, decision support, visualization, and dissemination, can help solve many of the grand challenges facing society today and in the future