A Case on Measuring Enterprise Resource Planning Success

The implementation of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is considerably highly complex, and the cost is relatively expensive and risky. As such, not all enterprises have successful ERP implementation. While success or failure of an ERP implementation from project management perspective is straight forward, for example by measuring the project’s time, cost, scope or number of user requirements achieved attributes, the success of the delivered system in the post-implementation phase is more difficult to measure. We are interested in how the success (i.e. continuance use) of the system changes over time and what factors influence the ERP system success. This study uses the “IS Success Model” proposed by DeLone and McLean to measure the ERP post-implementation success (from system user’s perspective) using six fundamental items – success quality, information quality, information use, user satisfaction, individual impact and organizational impact. Adopting the case study approach, a well-known “System Integrator” from the e-industry was investigated. The case-organization implements and uses the Oracle ERP. Two round of survey using the same survey questions were carried out on the same pool of 100 respondents at two different point of time, one after six-month of using the system and the other after another extended four-month of usage. Our results show that, in overall, after an extended four months the same sample of respondents evaluates higher rank on each item on their ERP system quality, the impact of the ERP system on their organization, and information use from the ERP system. This could be due to improvement in users’ experience and familiarization with the system. However, for information quality of the ERP system the same sample of respondents gives a lower rank after an extended four months of use. As the use of the system increases, the information needs for the system also increase and new information (previously unknown or not used) may also be discovered over a longer period of use. In general, the three success dimensions (system quality, information quality and organizational impact) are on average slightly higher than “4” or neutral and we can say that the ERP system success is marginal. However, the organizational impact dimension is below “4”. With this, we argue that this dimension of benefits indeed requires a longer period of time in order to observe to its outcomes or the benefits potentially bring about by an ERP system. In analyzing the impact of each factor in predicting enterprise system (ES) success, simple regression considering a single factor at a time is run. It is found that “quality” factor alone successfully explains 62.1% of the total variance in the sample; “net benefit” explains 50.6% of the total variance; and “information use” explains 7% of the total variance. Thus, in comparison, both “quality” and “net benefit” are salient dimensions in predicting ESS but not “information use”. This pretty much confirms the study by Sedera and Gable (2004). Based on these results, we can say that among the three factors, “quality” is the best predictor of ES success in this sample

Defect detection on patterned jacquard fabric

The techniques for defect detection on plain (unpatterned) fabrics have been well developed nowadays. This paper is on developing visual inspection methods for defect detection on patterned fabrics. A review on some defect detection methods on patterned fabrics is given. Then, a new method for patterned fabric inspection called Golden Image Subtraction (GIS) is introduced. GIS is an efficient and fast method, which can segment out the defective regions on patterned fabric effectively. An improved version of the GIS method using wavelet transform is also given. This research results contribute to the development of an automated fabric inspection machine for the textile industry.published_or_final_versio

Hormonal regulation of endometrial olfactomedin expression and its suppressive effect on spheroid attachment onto endometrial epithelial cells

Background Olfactomedin (Olfm) is a member of a diverse group of extracellular matrix proteins important for neuronal growth. Recent microarray studies identified Olfm as one of the down-regulated transcripts in receptive endometrium at the time of embryo attachment and implantation. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms that govern Olfm expression and its effect on embryo attachment and implantation remain unknown. Methods The expression of Olfm in the human endometrium was investigated by real-time PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemistry on human endometrial biopsies from natural and ovarian stimulated cycles. To investigate the function of Olfm in trophoblastendometrial cell attachment, an in vitro spheroid-endometrial cell co-culture study was performed. Results Human endometrial Olfactomedin-1 and -2(Olfm-1 and -2) transcripts decreased significantly from the proliferative to the secretory phases of the menstrual cycle. Olfm protein was strongly expressed in the luminal and glandular epithelium and moderately in the stromal cells of human endometria. Ovarian stimulation significantly decreased (P < 0.05) the expression of endometrial Olfm-1 and -2 transcripts in patients receiving IVF treatment when compared with those in the natural cycle. Importantly, recombinant Olfm-1 suppressed JAr spheroid attachment onto Ishikawa cells and this was not associated with changes of β-catenin and E-cadherin expression in trophoblast and endometrial cells. Conclusions Decreased expression of Olfm during the receptive phase of the endometrium may allow successful trophoblast attachment for implantation. © 2010 The Author.postprin

Association of High Myopia with Crystallin Beta A4 (CRYBA4) Gene Polymorphisms in the Linkage-Identified MYP6 Locus

Background: Myopia is the most common ocular disorder worldwide and imposes tremendous burden on the society. It is a complex disease. The MYP6 locus at 22 q12 is of particular interest because many studies have detected linkage signals at this interval. The MYP6 locus is likely to contain susceptibility gene(s) for myopia, but none has yet been identified. Methodology/Principal Findings: Two independent subject groups of southern Chinese in Hong Kong participated in the study an initial study using a discovery sample set of 342 cases and 342 controls, and a follow-up study using a replication sample set of 316 cases and 313 controls. Cases with high myopia were defined by spherical equivalent ⠤ -8 dioptres and emmetropic controls by spherical equivalent within ±1.00 dioptre for both eyes. Manual candidate gene selection from the MYP6 locus was supported by objective in silico prioritization. DNA samples of discovery sample set were genotyped for 178 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 26 genes. For replication, 25 SNPs (tagging or located at predicted transcription factor or microRNA binding sites) from 4 genes were subsequently examined using the replication sample set. Fisher P value was calculated for all SNPs and overall association results were summarized by meta-analysis. Based on initial and replication studies, rs2009066 located in the crystallin beta A4 (CRYBA4) gene was identified to be the most significantly associated with high myopia (initial study: P = 0.02; replication study: P = 1.88e-4; meta-analysis: P = 1.54e-5) among all the SNPs tested. The association result survived correction for multiple comparisons. Under the allelic genetic model for the combined sample set, the odds ratio of the minor allele G was 1.41 (95% confidence intervals, 1.21-1.64). Conclusions/Significance: A novel susceptibility gene (CRYBA4) was discovered for high myopia. Our study also signified the potential importance of appropriate gene prioritization in candidate selection. © 2012 Ho et al.published_or_final_versio

Excessive ovarian stimulation up-regulates the Wnt-signaling molecule DKK1 in human endometrium and may affect implantation: An in vitro co-culture study

Background: High serum estradiol (E2) levels following ovarian stimulation lead to reduced implantation and pregnancy rates, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We investigated if aberrant expression of genes in the Wnt-signaling pathway may be involved. Methods: Microarray and real-time PCR analysis were performed to analyze gene expression profiles of endometrial samples taken at day hCG + 7 in stimulated cycles, and days LH + 7 and LH + 10 in natural cycles. Expression of several Wnt-signaling transcripts, including Dickkopf homolog 1 (DKK1), DKK2 and secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (sFRP4), was analyzed throughout the menstrual cycle. JAr spheroid/Ishikawa endometrial cell co-culture experiments were established to study effects of DKK1 on spheroid attachment in vitro. Results: We identified 351 differentially expressed genes. Endometrial samples taken at hCG + 7 had similar expression profiles to those at LH + 10. DKK1 transcripts were up-regulated and DKK2 and sFRP4 were down-regulated in the stimulated compared with LH + 7 group (all P < 0.05). DKK1 transcripts were low in proliferative phase (PS) and increased in late-secretory phase (LS, P < 0.05), although DKK2 peaked in mid-secretory phase (P < 0.05). sFRP4 transcripts were high in PS. Treatment of spheroid with recombinant human DKK-1 protein dose-dependently suppressed (P < 0.05 versus control) spheroids attachment onto endometrial cells (associated with decreased-catenin protein): this suppression was nullified by anti-DKK1 antibody.CONCLUSIONGene expression patterns in stimulated cycles resembled those of LS in natural cycles, when the implantation window is about to close, suggesting high serum E2 and/or progesterone concentrations may advance endometrial development, altering the implantation window and possibly decreasing pregnancy rate. Aberrant expression of DKK1 might impair embryo attachment and implantation in vivo.postprin

A practical measurement of thoracic sarcopenia: Correlation with clinical parameters and outcomes in advanced lung cancer

Thoracic sarcopenia can feasibly be measured from routine CT scans but does not correlate to patient-centred outcomes http://ow.ly/102UkQ

Identification of 2-Aminothiazole-4-Carboxylate Derivatives Active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and the β-Ketoacyl-ACP Synthase mtFabH

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease which kills two million people every year and infects approximately over one-third of the world's population. The difficulty in managing tuberculosis is the prolonged treatment duration, the emergence of drug resistance and co-infection with HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis control requires new drugs that act at novel drug targets to help combat resistant forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and reduce treatment duration. Methodology/Principal Findings Our approach was to modify the naturally occurring and synthetically challenging antibiotic thiolactomycin (TLM) to the more tractable 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxylate scaffold to generate compounds that mimic TLM's novel mode of action. We report here the identification of a series of compounds possessing excellent activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv and, dissociatively, against the β-ketoacyl synthase enzyme mtFabH which is targeted by TLM. Specifically, methyl 2-amino-5-benzylthiazole-4-carboxylate was found to inhibit M. tuberculosis H37Rv with an MIC of 0.06 µg/ml (240 nM), but showed no activity against mtFabH, whereas methyl 2-(2-bromoacetamido)-5-(3-chlorophenyl)t​hiazole-4-carboxylateinhibited mtFabH with an IC50 of 0.95±0.05 µg/ml (2.43±0.13 µM) but was not active against the whole cell organism. Conclusions/Significance These findings clearly identify the 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxylate scaffold as a promising new template towards the discovery of a new class of anti-tubercular agents

Review and comparison of shearography and active thermography for nondestructive evaluation

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Widened pulse pressure is a potential risk factor for significant cognitive impairment among community-dwelling Chinese younger old people

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