Excited States of Proton-bound DNA/RNA Base Homo-dimers: Pyrimidines

We are presenting the electronic photo fragment spectra of the protonated pyrimidine DNA bases homo-dimers. Only the thymine dimer exhibits a well structured vibrational progression, while protonated monomer shows broad vibrational bands. This shows that proton bonding can block some non radiative processes present in the monomer.Comment: We acknowledge the use of the computing facility cluster GMPCS of the LUMAT federation (FR LUMAT 2764

The sustainability imperative in information systems research

This paper reports on a panel discussion at the Pre-ICIS 2015 Workshop on Green Information Sys-tems on the current state and future perspectives of SIGGreen, the special interest group of the Association of Information Systems on green information systems. SIGGreen recognizes the central role of information systems (IS) in creating an ecologically sustainable society. Over the past years, IS scholars have made important contributions advancing our knowledge about how information systems can contribute to solving problems associated with the degradation of the natural envi-ronment. Still, it seems that green IS is, by and large, viewed as just another research branch in IS. We put forward the proposition that, to meet our social responsibility, green IS must not be treated as yet another IS research area. The problem addressed by green IS is simply too big. While, for instance, the awareness of the potential of information systems to increase productivity has been in our disciplines DNA for more than five decades, this is clearly not the case for the potential of information systems to achieve a sustainable world. We suggest that the IS community embraces sustainability as a research imperative and integrates sustainability related aspects in research across methods, theories, and areas

Probing the competition among different coordination motifs in metal-ciprofloxacin complexes through IRMPD spectroscopy and DFT calculations

The vibrational spectra of ciprofloxacin complexes with monovalent (Li+, Na+, K+, Ag+) and polyvalent (Mg2+, Al3+) metal ions are recorded in the range 1000-1900 cm(-1) by means of infrared multiple-photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy. The IRMPD spectra are analyzed and interpreted in the light of density functional theory (DFT)-based quantum chemical calculations in order to identify the possible structures present under our experimental conditions. For each metal-ciprofloxacin complex, four isomers are predicted, considering different chelation patterns. A good agreement is found between the measured IRMPD spectrum and the calculated absorption spectrum of the most stable isomer for each complex. Metal ion size and charge are found to drive the competition among the different coordination motifs: small size and high charge density metal ions prefer to coordinate the quinolone between the two carbonyl oxygen atoms, whereas large-size metal ions prefer the carboxylate group as a coordination site. In the latter case, an intramolecular hydrogen bond compensates the weaker interaction established by these cations. The role of the metal cation on the stabilization of ionic and nonionic structures of ciprofloxacin is also investigated. It is found that large-size metal ions preferentially stabilize charge separated motifs and that the increase of metal ion charge has a stabilizing effect on the zwitterionic form of ciprofloxacin

An IT project as a plaything of its organizational environment: long-term challenges in financial services

At the end of 2015, and after 10 years, the German financial service provider FinAdvizard finally achieved the first results from the development project of its next-generation advisory application. Although this achievement can be considered as project success, the new application includes only the core of the initially intended scope because of environmental changes. First, the project team had to continuously deal with resource scarcity, stakeholder influences, regulatory requirements, and the involvement of its sales force. The team also had to adapt different management approaches and software development methods. Furthermore, the organization’s focus and management attention repeatedly changed over time. Subsequently, this case retrospectively highlights information technology (IT) project management issues and challenges faced by large software development projects. Given the longitudinal analysis of the period of a decade, both positive and negative effects that are not visible in shorter IT projects become apparent. Additionally, the case sheds light and stimulates a discussion on, among others, collaboration between the business and IT departments, the importance of top IT management support, the challenge of bimodal or two-speed IT, and the influence of a strong sales force