Achieving Value Co-creation in IT Outsourcing

Over the past few decades, information technology outsourcing has become a widely used and researched means for enterprises to enhance their performance. As future collaboration is the most desirable outcome between enterprises and IT outsourcing vendors, the purpose of this study is to construct a new model to examine: 1) whether information technology outsourcing satisfaction impact future collaboration, 2) whether value co-creation impact outsourcing satisfaction, 3)which factors influence value co-creation, and 4) whether trust influence enterprises’ commitments. This research assumes that: 1) trust predicts enterprises’ commitments; 2) customer orientation and participation, service quality, communication culture, and enterprises’ commitment predicts value co-creation; 3) value co-creation predicts information technology outsourcing satisfaction, 4) information technology outsourcing satisfaction predicts future collaboration. This model will allow enterprises and information technology outsourcing vendors to identify factors that can increase the chances for future collaboration. To achieve this goal, this research applied structural equation modelling, using Smart Partial Least Square (SmartPLS) software, as a method to empirically validate the model through a survey analysis containing 213 CEO or senior managers’ opinions obtained through valid measurements. The actual sampling yielded 207 useful questionnaires with a valid response rate of 97%. The results of this article show that trust strongly positively influences normative commitment, continuance commitment, and affective commitment; seven factors of customer behaviours and beliefs (such as: customer orientation and participation, service quality, communication culture, normative commitment, continuance commitment, and affective commitment) positively influence value co-creation; value co-creation strongly positively influences information technology outsourcing satisfaction; and information technology outsourcing satisfaction strongly positively affects future collaboration. The implications of this study and future work are also presented

A Pilot Study of the Short Term Effectiveness and Safety of Amniotic Fluid in Severe Dry Eye Disease

The aim of this study was to evaluate if amniotic fluid (AF) mixed with artificial tears or soaked with a soft contact lens (SCL) as a treatment for severe dry eye disease (DED) would improve its signs or symptoms. In this retrospective pilot study 22 consecutive eyes of 11 patients with level 3 DED classified by DEWS 1 (Dry Eye WorkShop 1 2007), were included in the study between June 1 and September 30 in 2017. The study was conducted before DEWS II (Dry Eye WorkShop II 2017), which was published in October 2017. Therefore, DEWS II was not adopted for this study. Soft Contact Lens Acuvue Oasys of Plano with 8.8 base curve and 14 mm diameters by Johnson and Johnson were used to soak in FloGraft, which is an AF, for 30 minutes before placing in 12 eyes in Group 1. The contact lenses were placed in the left eye for 1 week. In Group 2, 10 eyes used 6 mL of artificial tears mixed with 0.25 mL of AF, which were applied to the eye four times a day for 1 week. No other eye medications were used. The eyes that were included had diffuse punctate staining and fast tear breaking times of <5 seconds with severe ocular symptoms (DEWS 1 level 3-4). Photos of fluorescein stain corneas before the treatment and 1 week after the treatment were used to compare the distribution of punctate staining as the objective outcomes for signs. Several questions adopted from the Ocular Surface disease Index (OSDI) about subjective symptoms before and after the treatment were asked, and documented on the chart. Improvement either in symptoms or signs or both of DED after 1 week at follow-up examination was recorded. Group 1, with SCL 46% had improvement after 1 week and Group 2, with artificial tears 50% had improvement after 1 week. Improvement means either symptom relief or comparatively decreased distribution of punctate staining on the cornea or both. No cases had inflammation, infection, irritation or blurred vision. We concluded that FloGraft as an AF can safely improve the symptoms or the signs of severe DED either as a mix with artificial tears or soaked with SCL by about 50% in this case series without evidence of irritation, inflammation or blurred vision in the short term

SOCIAL COGNITION AND THE EFFECT OF PRODUCT QUALITY ON ONLINE REPURCHASE INTENTION

An electronic commerce marketing channel is fully mediated by information technology, creating information asymmetry (i.e., limited information). Such asymmetry may impede consumers’ ability to effectively assess certain types of products, thus creating challenges for online sellers. Signaling theory can aid in the understanding of how extrinsic cues—signals—can be used by sellers to convey product quality information to consumers, reducing uncertainty and facilitating a purchase or exchange. This study proposes a model to investigate website quality as a potential signal of product quality and consider the moderating effects of product information asymmetries and signal credibility. The study also finds that perceived value and cognitive lock-in can predict consumer purchase intentions. Furthermore, personalized product recommendation (PPR) services offered by online retailers are found to influence consumer store loyalty. The results indicate that website quality influences consumers’ perceptions of product quality, and affects online purchase intentions. Website quality is found to have a greater influence on perceived product quality when consumers have higher information asymmetry. Signal credibility is found to strengthen the relationship between website quality and product quality perceptions for a high quality website. The implications of cognitive lock-in and product cues for increasing purchase intentions are discussed. Retailer learning reflected in higher quality PPRs is associated with both lower product screening cost and higher product evaluation cost. We also discuss which PPRs influence consumer repurchase intentions in electronic markets

Effects of Ox-LDL on Macrophages NAD(P)H Autofluorescence Changes by Two-photon Microscopy

Ox-LDL uptakes by macrophage play a critical role in the happening of atherosclerosis. Because of its low damage on observed cells and better signal-to- background ratio, two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy is used to observe NAD(P)H autofluorescence of macrophage under difference cultured conditions- bare cover glass, coated with fibronectin or poly-D-lysine. The results show that the optimal condition is fibronectin coated surface, on which, macrophages profile can be clearly identified on NAD(P)H autofluorescence images collected by two-photon microscopy. Moreover, different morphology and intensities of autofluorescence under different conditions were observed as well. In the future, effects of ox-LDL on macrophages will be investigated by purposed system to research etiology of atherosclerosis.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

An Exploratory Study of the Relationship among the High-level Management’s Security Awareness, Organizational Information Security Activities, and the Execution Level of Organizational Information Security

As the issue of information security becomes increasingly important, high-level management security awareness on operation of organizational information security activities is a significant factor in success. Hence, the aim of this research is to explore how the organizational information security activities are being influenced by high-level management security awareness, and to use information security standard BS7799 to evaluate the execution phase of organizational information security. Combining literature research, case study and the main security codes of BS7799, this paper proposes a conceptual model of high-level management security awareness, organizational information security activities and organizational information security standard in relation to each other. In our conclusion, we discovered that the higher the high-level management security awareness cognizance about industry risks, the implementation of security measures and the threats to organizational security not only facilitate the four information security activities of deterrence, prevention, detection and recovery, they also enhance the standard of organizational information security. In practice, the conclusion of this paper hopes to remind high-level management to be aware of the threats of human factors and also to strengthen risk evaluation and deterrence activity

A Study on Using Internet to Implement Constructivist Scaffolding Teaching for Research Method Course

“Scaffoldings” states to let teachers provide a temporary support to help the students developing their self-scaffolding, this temporary support (the scaffolds) might be a kind of teaching facility or teaching strategy, as the capability of the learner advanced, the learning responsibility will shift gradually to the student, finally the student can dominate his/her learning, and through learning he/she shall build up his/her own knowledge. In this study, Internet and the Constructivist Scaffolding Teaching Theories are applied to develop a teaching model based on the “Research Method”- a program for the first year in graduate school, so that information technologies can be applied to make up the teachers’ deficiencies in terms of energy, time and capability. On the other hand, taking the advantages of the traditional teaching model face-to-face communication, and interaction to make up the deficiencies of Internet teaching. To realize the effects of this instructional model, experimentation is adopted in this study. Differences of learning results between constructive scaffolding teaching model with Internet assistance (CSTMIA) and the traditional teaching model (TTM) are analyzed. The result of the study shows: (1) indeed the performance of the CSTMIA better improves the students’ learning achievement than that of the TTM, but it is not as good as the traditional teaching in terms of the learning performance, learning satisfaction and the growth of learning capabilities; (2) the result of the subsequent evaluation and analysis shows: based on the subjective realization from more than 60% of the students in the CSTMIA, they are positive toward the capability of such CSTMIA in the improvement of learning performance, learning achievement, learning satisfaction, interaction between teachers and the students, and the growth of learning capabilities, this proves that the CSTMIA implemented by this study helps improve the learning effect, strengthen the interaction between teachers and the students in certain extent. The contributions of this study are: (1) Based on the “Research Method” program, to develop that program’s Constructivist Scaffolding Teaching Model supplemented by Internet; (2) Based on the “Research Method” program, to see the influences of the Constructivist Scaffolding Teaching Model supplemented by Internet toward the learning performance, learning achievement, learning Satisfaction, interaction between teachers and the students, and the growth of learning capabilities

Impact of first-line protease inhibitors on predicted resistance to tipranavir in HIV-1-infected patients with virological failure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tipranavir (TPV) is a recently approved nonpeptidic protease inhibitor (PI) of HIV-1 and has been indicated for those infected with PIs-resistant HIV-1. However, in clinical practice, whether the HIV-1 from the patients with virological failure to the regimens containing first-line PIs remains susceptible to TPV/r may be questionable.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To assess the resistance levels to TPV of HIV-1 from patients with treatment failure to first-line PIs, patients who experienced virological failure were tested for genotypic resistance of HIV-1 since August 2006 in National Taiwan University Hospital. Patients were enrolled for this analysis if their failed regimens contained > 12 weeks of atazanavir or lopinavir/ritonavir (defined as ATV group and LPV/r group, respectively), but were excluded if they experienced both or other PIs. The levels of genotypic resistance to TPV/r were determined by TPV mutation score.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Till May 2008, 21 subjects in ATV group and 20 subjects in LPV/r group were enrolled. The TPV mutation scores in subjects in LPV/r group were significantly higher than these in ATV group (median, 3 vs 1, P = 0.007). 95.2% subjects in ATV group and only 45% subjects in LPV/r group had an estimated maximal virological response to TPV/r (P < 0.001). The resistance levels to TPV/r correlated with the duration of exposure to first-line PIs, whether in ATV or LPV/r group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Cross-resistance from first-line PIs may impede the effectiveness of TPV/r-containing salvage therapy. TPV/r should be used cautiously for patients with virological failure to LPV/r especially long duration of exposure.</p

The Waveform Fluctuation and the Clinical Factors of the Initial and Sustained Erythropoietic Response to Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator in Hemodialysis Patients

Objectives. Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) are the main treatment for anemia in hemodialysis (HD) patients. We evaluated factors determining the response after treatment of a new ESA (continuous erythropoietin erythropoietin receptor activator (CERA)). Methods. 61 HD patients were classified by their response at two different timings. First, patients whose hematocrit (Hct) increased 1.5% in the first week were defined as initial responders (IR, n = 16). We compared several parameters between IR and the rest of the study subjects (non-IR, n = 45). Second, patients whose Hct increased 2% in the 4th week were defined as sustained responders (SR, n = 12), and we did a similar comparison. Results. The Hct showed a waveform fluctuation. Compared with the rest, IR had significantly lower platelet counts and higher levels of ferritin, total protein, total bilirubin, and serum sodium, while SR had significantly lower levels of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein (All P < 0.05). In comparison with the rest, higher Hct persisted for 10 weeks in SR but only for two separate weeks (the 1st and 7th week) in IR. Conclusions. The initial and sustained erythropoietic responses are independent from each other and are associated with different factors. Treatment focusing on these factors may improve the response

Human parvovirus B19 nonstructural protein NS1 enhanced the expression of cleavage of 70 kDa U1-snRNP autoantigen

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human parvovirus B19 (B19) is known to induce apoptosis that has been associated with a variety of autoimmune disorders. Although we have previously reported that B19 non-structural protein (NS1) induces mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis in COS-7 cells, the precise mechanism of B19-NS1 in developing autoimmunity is still obscure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To further examine the effect of B19-NS1 in presence of autoantigens, COS-7 cells were transfected with pEGFP, pEGFP-B19-NS1 and pEGFP-NS1K334E, a mutant form of B19-NS1, and detected the expressions of autoantigens by various autoantibodies against Sm, U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (U1-snRNP), SSA/Ro, SSB/La, Scl-70, Jo-1, Ku, and centromere protein (CENP) A/B by using Immunoblotting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significantly increased apoptosis was detected in COS-7 cells transfected with pEGFP-B19-NS1 compared to those transfected with pEGFP. Meanwhile, the apoptotic 70 kDa U1-snRNP protein in COS-7 cells transfected with pEGFP-B19-NS1 is cleaved by caspase-3 and converted into a specific 40 kDa product, which were recognized by anti-U1-snRNP autoantibody. In contrast, significantly decreased apoptosis and cleaved 40 kDa product were observed in COS-7 cells transfected with pEGFP-NS1K334E compared to those transfected with pEGFP-B19-NS1.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings suggested crucial association of B19-NS1 in development of autoimmunity by inducing apoptosis and specific cleavage of 70 kDa U1-snRNP.</p