The Impact of a Computer Proficiency Exam on Business Students\u27 Admission to and Performance in a Higher-Level IT Course

Many colleges of business now assume incoming freshmen arrive on campus possessing high levels of computer skill and ability. Students are frequently offered the opportunity to take and pass a computer proficiency exam (CPE) in lieu of a freshman information technology (IT) course. While promoted as an efficient alternative, our analysis of the implementation of a CPE as a replacement for the freshman IT course at a small, Midwestern university revealed mixed results. As expected, we found those students who took and passed the CPE generally scored higher in their follow-on, sophomore IT course than those who passed the prerequisite, freshmen IT course. However, the CPE pass rate proved to be significantly lower than that of the course it replaced. This created an unexpected backlog of students unable to enroll in the sophomore IT course, delaying their program of study. Furthermore, over time the CPE highlighted patterns of weakness in students\u27 Excel skills, proving it to be a valuable diagnostic tool. Finally, while the original objective of the CPE had been to replace the freshman IT course, it instead supported the need to reinstate at least some portion of it. This suggests that a hybrid approach may be most effective in ensuring that freshman enter their sophomore year with those IT skills needed most for follow-on course success

A framework for assessing product innovation strategies in a competitive context

The development of new products capable of satisfying customer demands on a timely basis has become a priority for firms seeking to improve their competitive advantage in a global context. However, this challenge has become highly complex due to a growing diversity of both products and processes, higher costs, and unprecedented considerations for quality and service. Despite knowing a great deal about both the characteristics of successful firms and new product development processes, little is known regarding requisite guidelines for successful strategies in product development

The evolution of manufacturing planning and control systems: From reorder point to enterprise resource planning.

Manufacturing planning and control (MPC) systems have existed since the earliest days of the industrial revolution. To gain a historical perspective, it is useful to look at the evolution of these systems. Five major stages were involved: reorder point (ROP) systems, materials requirement planning (MRP) systems, manufacturing resource planning (MRP-II) systems, MRP-II with manufacturing execution systems (MES), and enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) with MES. When examined in detail, each stage represents the next logical step in manufacturing philosophy and technological innovation over the preceding stage

The Impact of a Computer Proficiency Exam on Business Students’ Admission to and Performance in a Higher-Level IT Course

Many colleges of business now assume incoming freshmen arrive on campus possessing high levels of computer skill and ability. Students are frequently offered the opportunity to take and pass a computer proficiency exam (CPE) in lieu of a freshman information technology (IT) course. While promoted as an efficient alternative, our analysis of the implementation of a CPE as a replacement for the freshman IT course at a small, Midwestern university revealed mixed results. As expected, we found those students who took and passed the CPE generally scored higher in their follow-on, sophomore IT course than those who passed the prerequisite, freshmen IT course. However, the CPE pass rate proved to be significantly lower than that of the course it replaced. This created an unexpected backlog of students unable to enroll in the sophomore IT course, delaying their program of study. Furthermore, over time the CPE highlighted patterns of weakness in students’ Excel skills, proving it to be a valuable diagnostic tool. Finally, while the original objective of the CPE had been to replace the freshman IT course, it instead supported the need to reinstate at least some portion of it. This suggests that a hybrid approach may be most effective in ensuring that freshman enter their sophomore year with those IT skills needed most for follow-on course success

Airborne forward pointing UV Rayleigh lidar for remote clear air turbulence (CAT) detection: system design and performance

A high-performance airborne UV Rayleigh lidar system was developed within the European project DELICAT. With its forward-pointing architecture it aims at demonstrating a novel detection scheme for clear air turbulence (CAT) for an aeronautics safety application. Due to its occurrence in clear and clean air at high altitudes (aviation cruise flight level), this type of turbulence evades microwave radar techniques and in most cases coherent Doppler lidar techniques. The present lidar detection technique relies on air density fluctuations measurement and is thus independent of backscatter from hydrometeors and aerosol particles. The subtle air density fluctuations caused by the turbulent air flow demand exceptionally high stability of the setup and in particular of the detection system. This paper describes an airborne test system for the purpose of demonstrating this technology and turbulence detection method: a high-power UV Rayleigh lidar system is installed on a research aircraft in a forward-looking configuration for use in cruise flight altitudes. Flight test measurements demonstrate this unique lidar system being able to resolve air density fluctuations occurring in light-to-moderate CAT at 5 km or moderate CAT at 10 km distance. A scaling of the determined stability and noise characteristics shows that such performance is adequate for an application in commercial air transport.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures. Pre-publish to Applied Optics (OSA

The Challenge of Implementing an ERP System in a Small and Medium Enterprise – A Teaching Case of ERP Project Management

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation projects are notoriously risky. While large-scale ERP cases continue to be developed, relatively few new ERP cases have been published that further ERP implementation education in small to medium size firms. This case details the implementation of a new ERP system in a medium sized manufacturing firm. As students explore the case, they will be required to address the many ERP-related project management, procurement, human resource, and management involvement issues raised by it. This case highlights the ERP implementation problems experienced by case company in one of their two divisions. The firm is considering whether or not to implement this same ERP system in its other division. Before proceeding, the firm\u27s board of directors has concluded that a review of the first division ERP implementation is needed. They believe that such an assessment could provide valuable insight and lessons learned, giving rise to improvement of the second division‟s ERP implementation outcome

The information systems environment of time-based competitors

Time-based competitors create product development and manufacturing practices that reduce response-time and enhance customization capabilities. These practices require an information-rich, internal environment capable of flexible resource deployment and direct and continuous feedback. These firms should have enhanced information systems planning capabilities, cross-functional involvement in information systems related activities, responsiveness to organizational computing demands, high levels of end-user development, and high levels of information systems performance. Data were collected from 265 manufacturers to develop measures for these information systems variables and to determine if there are relationships between the use of time-based practices and the levels of these variables. Results indicate that firms with high levels of time-based product development practices and time-based manufacturing practices have significantly higher scores across these information systems variables than firms with low levels of these time-based practices

Event review: Introduction to Paleoamerican Lithic Technology at the University of Oregon Archaeological Field School, Rimrock Draw Rockshelter, Oregon, U.S.A.

Introduction to Paleoamerican Lithic Technology at the University of Oregon Archaeological Field School

BMJ Open

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of air pollution, from oocyte retrieval to embryo transfer, on the results of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in terms of clinical pregnancy rates, at two fertility centres, from 2013 to 2019. DESIGN: Exploratory retrospective cohort study. SETTING: This retrospective cohort study was performed in the Reproductive Biology Department of Bordeaux University Hospital localised in Bordeaux, France and the Jean Villar Fertility Center localised in Bruges, France. PARTICIPANTS: This study included 10 763 IVF attempts occurring between January 2013 and December 2019, 2194 of which resulted in a clinical pregnancy. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The outcome of the IVF attempt was recorded as the presence or absence of a clinical pregnancy; exposure to air pollution was assessed by calculating the cumulative exposure of suspended particulate matter, fine particulate matter, black carbon, nitrogen dioxide and ozone (O(3)), over the period from oocyte retrieval to embryo transfer, together with secondary exposure due to the presence of the biomass boiler room, which was installed in 2016, close to the Bordeaux University Hospital laboratory. The association between air pollution and IVF outcome was evaluated by a random-effects logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: We found negative associations between cumulative O(3) exposure and clinical pregnancy rate (OR=0.92, 95% CI = (0.86 to 0.98)), and between biomass boiler room exposure and clinical pregnancy rate (OR=0.75, 95% CI = (0.61 to 0.91)), after adjustment for potential confounders. CONCLUSION: Air pollution could have a negative effect on assisted reproductive technology results and therefore precautions should be taken to minimise the impact of outdoor air on embryo culture

The rise and fall of the ancient northern pike master sex determining gene

The understanding of the evolution of variable sex determination mechanisms across taxa requires comparative studies among closely related species. Following the fate of a known master sex-determining gene, we traced the evolution of sex determination in an entire teleost order (Esociformes). We discovered that the northern pike (Esox lucius) master sex-determining gene originated from a 65 to 90 million-year-old gene duplication event and that it remained sex-linked on undifferentiated sex chromosomes for at least 56 million years in multiple species. We identified several independent species- or population-specific sex determination transitions, including a recent loss of a Y-chromosome. These findings highlight the diversity of evolutionary fates of master sex-determining genes and the importance of population demographic history in sex determination studies. We hypothesize that occasional sex reversals and genetic bottlenecks provide a non-adaptive explanation for sex determination transitions