Building an IT Taxonomy with Co-occurrence Analysis, Hierarchical Clustering, and Multidimensional Scaling

Different information technologies (ITs) are related in complex ways. How can the relationships among a large number of ITs be described and analyzed in a representative, dynamic, and scalable way? In this study, we employed co-occurrence analysis to explore the relationships among 50 information technologies discussed in six magazines over ten years (1998-2007). Using hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling, we have found that the similarities of the technologies can be depicted in hierarchies and two-dimensional plots, and that similar technologies can be classified into meaningful categories. The results imply reasonable validity of our approach for understanding technology relationships and building an IT taxonomy. The methodology that we offer not only helps IT practitioners and researchers make sense of numerous technologies in the iField but also bridges two related but thus far largely separate research streams in iSchools - information management and IT management

Evaluating Two Automatic Methods for Classifying Information Technology Concepts

How are IT concepts related to each other, what is the best way to automatically detect these relationships, and how do such automatic methods compare with traditional methods? We address each of these questions by developing and evaluating two statistical natural language processing methods: co-occurrence and Kullback-Liebler (KL) divergence when used in combination with hierarchical clustering. The results of these automatic methods were then compared to a ground truth classification scheme using statistical methods as well as a survey of IT experts. Co-occurrence outperformed KL divergence according to both the statistical and survey results. Further, co-occurrence had some benefits in comparison to the ground truth, and was preferred by some of the experts included in the survey. The main contribution of this research is the demonstration that automatic methods can be used effectively to classify IT concepts, and that success does not always depend on the complexity of the methods

Spatial and temporal variabilities of subsurface drainage in irrigated agriculture

Online access for this thesis was created in part with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) administered by the Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). To obtain a high quality image or document please contact the DeLaMare Library at https://unr.libanswers.com/ or call: 775-784-6945.In 1982, fifteen subsurface drains on 23 acres of irrigated agricultural land at Fallon, Nevada, were sampled in 27 consecutive weeks. The temporal and spatial variabilities of electrical conductivity (EC), temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and nitrate nitrogen (NO^-N) were evaluated using time series and geostatistical analyses. An autocorrelation function (ACF) was used to evaluate temporal and spatial variations of each parameter. Results indicate that the 11-week, 3-week, 8-week, 9-week, and 11-week periods are the maximum sampling temporal intervals for EC, temperature, pH, DO, and NO^-N, respectively. In addition, the sampling spatial interval of 120 feet is too wide for EC, DO, and NO^-N. A shorter distance should be considered in future studies. The maximum sampling spatial intervals for temperature and pH are 36O feet and 120 feet, respectively. Knowledge of the optimum spacing provides important information in the design of efficient sampling strategies. The semivariogram function was also used to evaluate temporal and spatial variations of each parameter. Results indicate that the 19-week, 50-week, 11-week, 17-week, and 11-week periods are the maximum sampling temporal intervals for EC, temperature, pH, DO, and NO^-N, respectively. In addition, the maximum sampling spatial intervals for EC, temperature, pH, DO, and NO^-N are 600 feet, 450 feet, 920 feet, 490 feet, and 648 feet, respectively. The Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and kriging models for temporal and spatial series were established for each parameter through the Box-Jenkins time domain modeling processes and kriging modeling processes, respectively. The precision of the forecasts were tested using after-the-fact forecast procedures. These models can he used for various purposes such as forecasting future temporal and spatial values and determining the transfer function and co-kriging models which provide a way to relate water management plans with water quality control

Acupuncture Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Six Months Follow-Up

Plantar fasciitis is a common cause of heel pain. It has been suggested that some acupoints have a specific effect on heel pain. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and specificity of acupuncture treatment for plantar fasciitis. Subjects were randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 28) or control group (n = 25). The treatment group received needling at the acupoint PC 7, which is purported to have a specific effect for heel pain. The control group received needling at the acupoint Hegu (LI 4), which has analgesic properties. Treatment was administered five times a week for 2 weeks, with an identical method of manual needling applied to the two acupoints. The primary outcome measure was morning pain on a 100-point visual analog scale (VAS) at one month post-treatment. Secondary outcome measures included a VAS for activity pain, overall pain rating as well as pressure pain threshold using algometry. Significant differences in reduction in pain scores, favoring the treatment group, were seen at one month for morning pain (22.6 ± 4.0 versus 12.0 ± 3.0, mean ± SEM), overall pain (20.3 ± 3.7 versus 9.5 ± 3.6) and pressure pain threshold (145.5 ± 32.9 versus −15.5 ± 39.4). No serious adverse event was observed in either group. The results indicate that acupuncture can provide pain relief to patient with plantar fasciitis, and that PC 7 is a relatively specific acupoint for heel pain

The ACR11 encodes a novel type of chloroplastic ACT domain repeat protein that is coordinately expressed with GLN2 in Arabidopsis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The ACT domain, named after bacterial aspartate kinase, chorismate mutase and TyrA (prephenate dehydrogenase), is a regulatory domain that serves as an amino acid-binding site in feedback-regulated amino acid metabolic enzymes. We have previously identified a novel type of ACT domain-containing protein family, the ACT domain repeat (ACR) protein family, in <it>Arabidopsis</it>. Members of the ACR family, ACR1 to ACR8, contain four copies of the ACT domain that extend throughout the entire polypeptide. Here, we describe the identification of four novel ACT domain-containing proteins, namely ACR9 to ACR12, in <it>Arabidopsis</it>. The ACR9 and ACR10 proteins contain three copies of the ACT domain, whereas the ACR11 and ACR12 proteins have a putative transit peptide followed by two copies of the ACT domain. The functions of these plant ACR proteins are largely unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The ACR11 and ACR12 proteins are predicted to target to chloroplasts. We used protoplast transient expression assay to demonstrate that the <it>Arabidopsis </it>ACR11- and ACR12-green fluorescent fusion proteins are localized to the chloroplast. Analysis of an <it>ACR11 </it>promoter-β-glucuronidase (GUS) fusion in transgenic <it>Arabidopsis </it>revealed that the GUS activity was mainly detected in mature leaves and sepals. Interestingly, coexpression analysis revealed that the <it>GLN2</it>, which encodes a chloroplastic glutamine synthetase, has the highest mutual rank in the coexpressed gene network connected to <it>ACR11</it>. We used RNA gel blot analysis to confirm that the expression pattern of <it>ACR11 </it>is similar to that of <it>GLN2 </it>in various organs from 6-week-old <it>Arabidopsis</it>. Moreover, the expression of <it>ACR11 </it>and <it>GLN2 </it>is highly co-regulated by sucrose and light/dark treatments in 2-week-old <it>Arabidopsis </it>seedlings.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study reports the identification of four novel ACT domain repeat proteins, ACR9 to ACR12, in <it>Arabidopsis</it>. The ACR11 and ACR12 proteins are localized to the chloroplast, and the expression of <it>ACR11 </it>and <it>GLN2 </it>is highly coordinated. These results suggest that the <it>ACR11 </it>and <it>GLN2 </it>genes may belong to the same functional module. The <it>Arabidopsis </it>ACR11 protein may function as a regulatory protein that is related to glutamine metabolism or signaling in the chloroplast.</p

Understanding IT Innovations Through Computational Analysis of Discourse

How do Information Technology (IT) innovation concepts emerge, coexist, evolve, and relate to each other? To address this question, we theorize that innovation concepts are interrelated in an idea network, where they can be likened to species in a competitive and symbiotic resource space. Communities of organizations and people interested in the innovations produce discourse that both reflects and enables the flows of attention among innovations. From this ecological perspective, we apply discourse analysis to innovation research and propose computational approach to scale up the analysis. Specifically, we employed Kullback-Leibler divergence to compare the linguistic patterns of 48 IT innovations reported in InformationWeek and Computerworld over a decade. Using multidimensional scaling, we found that similar innovations demonstrated similar discourses. The results demonstrate the validity, scalability, and utility of computational discourse analysis for practitioners and scholars to understand the socio-technical dynamics in the IT innovation ecosystem

West Meets East: New Concepts and Theories

Management scholarship has grown tremendously over the past 60 years. Most of our paradigms originated from North America in the 1950s to the 1980s, inspired by the empirical phenomena and cultural, philosophical, and research traditions of the time. Here following, we highlight the contextual differences between the East and the West in terms of institutions, philosophies, and cultural values and how they are manifest in contemporary management practices. Inspired by theory development in management studies over time, we offer insights into the conditions facilitating new theories, and how these might apply to emergent theories from the East. We discuss the contributions of the six papers included in this special research forum as exemplars of integrating Eastern concepts and contexts to enrich existing management theories. We highlight the difficulty with testing Eastern constructs as distinct from Western ones by discussing the properties of equivalence, salience, and infusion in constructs. We provide directions for future research and encourage an agentic view to creating new theories and paradigms