ADOPTION OF GRID COMPUTING: AN EMPIRICAL VERIFICATION OF AN INTER- AND INTRA-ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACH

Grid computing is a technology that offers the opportunity to share IT-resources between departments in organizations as well as between different organizations. Thereby adopters may obtain significant advantages like cost reduction and efficient IT-resource load balancing. Nevertheless this technology is not established in the industry by now. We developed an adoption model to measure the major factors which are influencing adoption of Grid computing in an organizational environment. As Grid computing is an inter-organizational system providing both inter- and intra-organizational linkages our adoption model accounts for both areas of influence factors. The inter-organizational influence factors were based on a model proposed by Teo et al. (2003) who reverted to the institutional theory. Mimetic-, coercive- and normative pressures exerted by surrounding organizations like suppliers, customers and competitors are representing the inter-organizational influence factors in our adoption model. Following the organizational capability-based theory we included intra-organizational influence factors which consist of IT-related factors, the innovativeness of an organization and the attitude towards outsourcing of IT-resources. Using structural equation modeling our adoption model identified mimetic pressures (emerging from competitors), the innovativeness and the attitude towards outsourcing of IT-resources as factors with significant positive influence on the adoption of Grid computing

The Effects of Outcome Expectations on Monetary- and Non-Monetary Rewarded Product Recommendations in Open- and Invitation-only Social Networking Sites: An Empirical Comparison of Facebook and ASmallWorld

Social networking sites experience huge growth in their number of members. For marketing purposes they are very beneficial to spread Word-of-Mouth in terms of product recommendations. A closer view detects that social networking sites can be divided in open- (OSNs) and invitation-only social networking sites (ISNs). Their members may behave different in contributing knowledge in terms of product recommendation depending in which social networking site they are currently remaining. We therefore first analyze if the members are willing to recommend products for either monetary or non-monetary rewards in their preferred social networking site as well as if they consider these recommendations in their purchasing decision and connect this to a member’s personal- and community-related outcome expectations. Second we compare the results between ISN- and OSN-members to conclude in which type of social networking site a product recommendation should be monetary rewarded or not

Acceptance of a Web OS as a Commercial Consumer Service Bundle

The web is fundamentally changing. The many facets of this change are usually abstracted as Web 2.0. The core of Web 2.0 consists of the evolutionary step that interoperation and content-creating applications are provided via the web in addition to traditional static documents. Ahead of this evolution are web operating systems (WebOS) like g.ho.st that enable the consumer to migrate their complete operating system desktop to the web – a revolutionary step of personal computing. The required computational and storage resources may be procured on demand e.g. from cloud computing services by the WebOS service provider. This research-in-progress-article introduces an adoption model (TAM) for a WebOS as a consumer service. The subject of our survey will be a service bundle comparable to a mobile phone plan. The aim of the adoption model is to measure the acceptance of this service bundle and to identify the major determinants which influence the consumer’s adoption intention in order to specify which consumers may be future customers and to learn how to attract them from a marketing perspective. At the current early stage of adoption we intend to contribute insights that can be directly transformed into advice how this new technology can be successfully established

The Utility of TAM-Perceptions: Integration of Technology Perceptions into Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis

Recent papers claim the technology acceptance model [TAM] is exhaustively examined by researchers and, thus, additional studies of traditional style may only provide a marginal contribution. Instead of adding new constructs to the TAM to describe its dependent or independent variables better, we develop an approach to combine the well-established constructs of TAM, which measure perceptions of a new technology, and the choice-based conjoint analysis [CBC], which measures the monetary value of product attributes from a marketing perspective. In combining both methods we are able to compare the overall technology perceptions with particular attributes of product realisations with respect to their importance. We measure how TAM constructs influence the baseline utility of a new technology. We empirically apply and discuss our approach and show how the TAM can make a distinctive contribution to Information Systems and Marketing Research

Radiation enhancement and "temperature" in the collapse regime of gravitational scattering

We generalize the semiclassical treatment of graviton radiation to gravitational scattering at very large energies $\sqrt{s}\gg m_P$ and finite scattering angles $\Theta_s$, so as to approach the collapse regime of impact parameters $b \simeq b_c \sim R\equiv 2G\sqrt{s}$. Our basic tool is the extension of the recently proposed, unified form of radiation to the ACV reduced-action model and to its resummed-eikonal exchange. By superimposing that radiation all-over eikonal scattering, we are able to derive the corresponding (unitary) coherent-state operator. The resulting graviton spectrum, tuned on the gravitational radius $R$, fully agrees with previous calculations for small angles $\Theta_s\ll 1$ but, for sizeable angles $\Theta_s(b)\leq \Theta_c = O(1)$ acquires an exponential cutoff of the large $\omega R$ region, due to energy conservation, so as to emit a finite fraction of the total energy. In the approach-to-collapse regime of $b\to b_c^+$ we find a radiation enhancement due to large tidal forces, so that the whole energy is radiated off, with a large multiplicity $\langle N \rangle\sim Gs \gg 1$ and a well-defined frequency cutoff of order $R^{-1}$. The latter corresponds to the Hawking temperature for a black hole of mass notably smaller than $\sqrt{s}$.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, talk presented at the European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics, 5-12 July, Venice, Ital

Tuberculosis in Pediatric Antiretroviral Therapy Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Diagnosis and Screening Practices

Background The global burden of childhood tuberculosis (TB) is estimated to be 0.5 million new cases per year. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children are at high risk for TB. Diagnosis of TB in HIV-infected children remains a major challenge. Methods We describe TB diagnosis and screening practices of pediatric antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. We used web-based questionnaires to collect data on ART programs and patients seen from March to July 2012. Forty-three ART programs treating children in 23 countries participated in the study. Results Sputum microscopy and chest Radiograph were available at all programs, mycobacterial culture in 40 (93%) sites, gastric aspiration in 27 (63%), induced sputum in 23 (54%), and Xpert MTB/RIF in 16 (37%) sites. Screening practices to exclude active TB before starting ART included contact history in 41 sites (84%), symptom screening in 38 (88%), and chest Radiograph in 34 sites (79%). The use of diagnostic tools was examined among 146 children diagnosed with TB during the study period. Chest Radiograph was used in 125 (86%) children, sputum microscopy in 76 (52%), induced sputum microscopy in 38 (26%), gastric aspirate microscopy in 35 (24%), culture in 25 (17%), and Xpert MTB/RIF in 11 (8%) children. Conclusions Induced sputum and Xpert MTB/RIF were infrequently available to diagnose childhood TB, and screening was largely based on symptom identification. There is an urgent need to improve the capacity of ART programs in low- and middle-income countries to exclude and diagnose TB in HIV-infected childre

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

GABAergic regulation of cerebellar NG2 cell development is altered in perinatal white matter injury.

Diffuse white matter injury (DWMI), a leading cause of neurodevelopmental disabilities in preterm infants, is characterized by reduced oligodendrocyte formation. NG2-expressing oligodendrocyte precursor cells (NG2 cells) are exposed to various extrinsic regulatory signals, including the neurotransmitter GABA. We investigated GABAergic signaling to cerebellar white matter NG2 cells in a mouse model of DWMI (chronic neonatal hypoxia). We found that hypoxia caused a loss of GABAA receptor-mediated synaptic input to NG2 cells, extensive proliferation of these cells and delayed oligodendrocyte maturation, leading to dysmyelination. Treatment of control mice with a GABAA receptor antagonist or deletion of the chloride-accumulating transporter NKCC1 mimicked the effects of hypoxia. Conversely, blockade of GABA catabolism or GABA uptake reduced NG2 cell numbers and increased the formation of mature oligodendrocytes both in control and hypoxic mice. Our results indicate that GABAergic signaling regulates NG2 cell differentiation and proliferation in vivo, and suggest that its perturbation is a key factor in DWMI

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world

The adoption of inter-organizational systems in financial services

NEW TECHNOLOGIES LIKE GRID COMPUTING WHICH CAN CONNECT RESOURCES AT DIVERSE LOCATIONS ARE MORE AND MORE ADOPTED FROM ORGANIZATIONS. SUCH TECHNOLOGIES CAN BOTH TRIGGER LINKAGES BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS AND DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS IN ONE SINGLE ORGANIZATION. WE DEVELOP A MODEL WHICH ACCOUNTS BOTH FOR INTER- AND INTRA-ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCE FACTORS ON THE ADOPTION PROCESS AND EMPIRICALLY IDENTIFIES THE MOST SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE FACTORS