Developing Strategic Capability through Business Intelligence Applications: A case study from the German Healthcare Insurance Industry

Wynn, M. and Brinkmann, D., (2018), in Yeoh, W. and Miah, S. (eds) Business Intelligence in Organisational Settings, IGI-Global. Company performance can be measured at all levels across an organisation, and in the German healthcare industry, Business Intelligence systems play a crucial role in achieving this. For one major health insurance company (discussed here as an alias - AK Healthcare), the deployment of Business Intelligence applications has supported sustained growth in turnover and market share in the past five years. In this article, these tools are classified within an appropriate conceptual framework which encompasses the organisation’s information infrastructure and associated processes. Different components of the framework are identified and examples are given - systems infrastructure, data provision/access control, the BI tools and technologies, report generation, and information users. The use and integration of Business Intelligence tools in the strategy development process is then analyzed, and the key functions and features of these tools for strategic capability development are discussed. Research findings encompass system access, report characteristics, and end-users capabilities

Cooling of the Cassiopeia A neutron star and the effect of diffusive nuclear burning

The study of how neutron stars cool over time can provide invaluable insights into fundamental physics such as the nuclear equation of state and superconductivity and superfluidity. A critical relation in neutron star cooling is the one between observed surface temperature and interior temperature. This relation is determined by the composition of the neutron star envelope and can be influenced by the process of diffusive nuclear burning (DNB). We calculate models of envelopes that include DNB and find that DNB can lead to a rapidly changing envelope composition which can be relevant for understanding the long-term cooling behavior of neutron stars. We also report on analysis of the latest temperature measurements of the young neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. The 13 Chandra observations over 18 years show that the neutron star's temperature is decreasing at a rate of 2-3 percent per decade, and this rapid cooling can be explained by the presence of a proton superconductor and neutron superfluid in the core of the star.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures; to appear in the AIP Conference Proceedings of the Xiamen-CUSTIPEN Workshop on the EOS of Dense Neutron-Rich Matter in the Era of Gravitational Wave Astronomy (January 3-7, 2019, Xiamen, China

The nature and effectiveness of Negro protest leadership in securing civil rights.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University Bibliography: p. 219-229. Copy 2 lacks port.A. Statement or Problem The purpose or the study was to discover and compare the nature and erfectiveness or the leadership in Negro Protest Action as represented by the National Association for the Advancement or Colored People and the Negro Protest Revolutionary Antagonism as exemplified by the leadership or Paul Robeson and W. E. B. DuBois. The Negro Protest Actionist and the Negro Protest Revolutionary Antagonist are at odds in the way in which they see and approach the problem or securing civil rights. While the revolutionist seeks to solve the Negro problem in a rundamental transrormation or the social system, the protest actionist accepts and works within the rramework or the social system. Choosing between these types or leadership has created a problem. The conflict has developed certain tensions among Negro Protest Leaders. It has developed confusion among the masses of Negroes who must choose between their leaders. The resolution of the problem requires an understanding of the nature and eff ectiveness of Negro Protest leadership which accepts the rramework of the existing order and of revolutionary movements in securing civil rights. In attempting to compare the alternative approaches to the problem, two movements were chosen as being representative of the two major schools of thought that are found in Negro leadership. B. The Methods of Procedure The study was limited to Negro Protest Action and Negro Protest Revolutionary Antagonism. It was based upon the hypothesis that Negro Protest Action had an advantage over Negro Protest Revolutionary Antagonism by virtue of the fact that it was not considered a threat to the status quo. The latter was allegedly identified with Russian Communism. The nature of each movement was compared by critically relating their natural characteristics. The comparisons were made on the basis of similarities in the natural characteristics of the movements, while at the same time discussing the dissimilarities. Criteria were set up for the comparative study of the effectiveness of each movement. These comprised seven subsidiary objectives which were sufficiently comprehensive and related to the ultimate or original objective to best approximate it when compJetely fulfilled. The ultimate or original objective of civil rights was the standard of measurement. The accomplishments of each movement were described and compared on the basis of the criteria. The period beginning in 1940, a little less than a year after the formal beginning of Negro Protest Revolutionary Antagonism, and ending in 1953 was chosen for the study, although consideration was taken for the length of the history of each movement. In the history of the effectiveness of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, no delimitations were made. For the comparison, each subsidiary objective composing the criteria was delimited to include only the period from 1940 to 1953. The more general results made it unnecessary to go into a detailed analysis of the comparative picture. The method of research was basically literary and documentary. No research had been done on the problem as defined, although research had been made on related problems. The basis of the test of the hypothesis was the comparative histories of the two movements. Since there was no objective means for determining the amount of reaction of the two movements upon each other, no attempt was made to utilize this in the comparison. C. Conclusions These movements were in nature quite similar. The similarities were not identical however. In other words, the natural characteristics of each movement which were similar varied in degree. These variations amounted to differences in the limitations on the characteristics in their function of working toward the ultimate objective. The natural characteristics were conditioned and partly determined by the methods, strategy, and procedures of each movement in endeavoring to reach its ultimate goal, civil rights. Negro Protest Action worked directly toward this goal. Feeling that civil rights could be gained within the existing social order and through its institutions, it geared its methods, strategy, and procedures to this end. Negro Protest Revolutionary Antagonism worked indirectly toward the goal. It believed that civil rights could only be realized in a socialistic system. The methods, strategy, and procedure of the movement were geared to efforts at establishing a form of socialistic state as a prerequisite to the gaining of civil rights. Comparatively, the nature of the movements were briefly as follows: Actionists (Negro Protest Actionists) were dynamic in the sense of putting forth continuous efforts to win full equality for Negroes as American citizens; Antagonists (Negro Protest Revolutionary Antagonists) were dynamic in the sense of working continuously to propagate a socialistic ideology and destroy the American system. Civil rights were concomitantly emphasized. Actionists were aggressive in the sense of organized self-assertion. They consistently asserted themselves as representatives of a well organized movement. Antagonists were aggressive in the sense of unorganized self-assertion, operating more often as individuals and rarely as representatives of one of the organized elements of their movement. Actionists agitated against anti-Negroism and for Negro rights. Antagonists agitated against America and concomitantly for Russia as well as Negro rights. Actionists were accommodative to American law and the American system. Antagonists were revolutionary to American law and the American system. Actionists sought publicity that was favorable to their or ganization, to its efforts for civil rights, and to the goal of civil rights. Antagonists sought publicity that was anti-American, pro-socialistic, and pro-Russian. Actionists worked in the political area through votes, lobbying and other forms of political activity. Antagonists were opposed to the political system and utilized only the Progressive Party. Actionists were directly racial and national in emphasis and concern. Yet, they were interested in international problems. Antagonists were directly international and indirectly racial in concern, although, in a sense, they also had a national concern. Actionists operated in accordance with American law. Antagonists respected American law only when it was expedient and necessary. The history of Negro Protest Action revealed that it had accomplished many t hings in the area of civil rights. No direct accomplishments in the area of civil rights were revealed in the history or Negro Protest Revolutionary Antagonism. The picture was as follows: In the area of lynching, Actionists have consistently and progressively formulated anti-lynching opinion. Antagonists have made no discernable contribution in this area. In the area of Constitutional rights, Actionists won the right of a hearing on filibuster in the Senate. Antagonists made no contribution. In the area o:f :franchise, Actionists won decisions against Texas White Democratic Primaries. Antagonists made no contributions in this area. In the area of education, the Actionists won equal salaries for Negro teachers, better facilities for Negro education, rights or Negroes to attend professional and graduate schools of the South. Antagonists have made no contributions in this area. In the area of economics, Actionists won a decision against segregated Boilermakers' Unions in Rhode Island. They also assisted in the establishment of the Fair Employment Practices Committee by the government. Antagonists made no contribution. In the area of public accommodations, Actionists contributed to the victory against segregation on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and thus outlawing segregation in interstate travel . Antagonists made no contribution in this area. In the area of the military (discrimination in the armed forces), Actionists caused the liquidation of the All-Negro TwentyFourth Division and segregation in the Far East Command. They also forced the defeat of the Winstead Amendment, which would have permitted inductees to serve in segregated units if they desired. Antagonists won thirty-one out of thirty-four cases carried before the United States Supreme Court in the interest of civil rights. The Antagonists carried no cases before the Supreme Court

Misinformation about Covid-19 Vaccines on Social Media: Rapid Review

Background: The development of COVID-19 vaccines has been crucial in fighting the pandemic. However, misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines is spread on social media platforms at a rate that has made the World Health Organization coin the phrase infodemic. False claims about adverse vaccine side effects, such as vaccines being the cause of autism, were already considered a threat to global health before the outbreak of COVID-19. Objective: We aimed to synthesize the existing research on misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines spread on social media platforms and its effects. The secondary aim was to gain insight and gather knowledge about whether misinformation about autism and COVID-19 vaccines is being spread on social media platforms. Methods: We performed a literature search on September 9, 2021, and searched PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and the Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register. We included publications in peer-reviewed journals that fulfilled the following criteria: original empirical studies, studies that assessed social media and misinformation, and studies about COVID-19 vaccines. Thematic analysis was used to identify the patterns (themes) of misinformation. Narrative qualitative synthesis was undertaken with the guidance of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 Statement and the Synthesis Without Meta-analysis reporting guideline. The risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tool. Ratings of the certainty of evidence were based on recommendations from the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation Working Group. Results: The search yielded 757 records, with 45 articles selected for this review. We identified 3 main themes of misinformation: medical misinformation, vaccine development, and conspiracies. Twitter was the most studied social media platform, followed by Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. A vast majority of studies were from industrialized Western countries. We identified 19 studies in which the effect of social media misinformation on vaccine hesitancy was measured or discussed. These studies implied that the misinformation spread on social media had a negative effect on vaccine hesitancy and uptake. Only 1 study contained misinformation about autism as a side effect of COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusions: To prevent these misconceptions from taking hold, health authorities should openly address and discuss these false claims with both cultural and religious awareness in mind. Our review showed that there is a need to examine the effect of social media misinformation on vaccine hesitancy with a more robust experimental design. Furthermore, this review also demonstrated that more studies are needed from the Global South and on social media platforms other than the major platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.publishedVersio

Exploiting Business Intelligence for Strategic Knowledge Management: A German Healthcare Insurance Industry Case Study

In the German healthcare industry, Business Intelligence systems play a cru-cial role. For one major health insurance company (discussed here as an alias - AK Healthcare), the deployment of Business Intelligence applications has supported sustained growth in turnover and market share in the past five years. In this article, these tools are classified within an appropriate conceptual framework which encompasses the organisation’s information infrastructure and associated processes. Different components of the framework are identified and examples are given - systems infrastructure, data provision/access control, the BI tools and technologies themselves, report generation, and in-formation users. The use and integration of Business Intelligence tools in the strategy development process is then analyzed. Finally, the key functions and features of these tools for strategic knowledge management are discussed. Research findings encompass system access, report characteristics, and end users profiles and capabilitie

Avatars des déchets nucléaires japonais

La catastrophe du tsunami qui a frappé le Japon en 2011 a occasionné un vaste champ d’expérimentation – non désiré – dans le domaine de la gestion des déchets. Le phénomène sismique et l’accident nucléaire de Fukushima Daiichi qu’il a entraîné ont créé une rupture hélas imprévue en matière de politique nucléaire, rupture qui a révélé la gestion laxiste et problématique des déchets nucléaires du pays, ainsi que des anomalies apparaissant dès le début. Cet article s’intéresse à l’ensemble des déchets nucléaires dans le Japon post-tsunami, des barres de combustible irradié à l’enceinte de confinement déformée du réacteur, et à la manière dont ces déchets nucléaires reflètent ou se distinguent des pratiques en matière de déchets du quotidien au sein de la culture japonaise. Le site de Fukushima Daiichi et ses alentours jadis banals ont eux-mêmes été considérablement transformés en des espèces d’énormes déchets nucléaires. Les défis titanesques auxquels est confronté le site de Fukushima Daiichi ont favorisé l’émergence d’une série d’innovations impromptues qui offrent un regard sur les pratiques en matière de déchets nucléaires plus courants dans cette industrie.Tandis que les HAVL (déchets de haute activité et à vie longue) peuvent être retraités pour un usage limité dans les réacteurs actuels, on ne peut pas ignorer qu’une grande partie des déchets nucléaires japonais est simplement convertie en d’autres types de déchets. Dans une société qui a longtemps mis un point d’honneur à tenir la saleté à l’écart, à maintenir une pureté (fantasmée) et à gérer la proximité des sources de pollution, le spectre des déchets nucléaires plane sur le Japon contemporain et ses débats en cours sur les ressources, les risques et l’identité même du nucléaire japonais.Japan’s cataclysmic 2011 tsunami has become a vast, unwanted experiment in waste management. The the seismic event and ‪resulting Fukushima Daiichi radiation crisis created an awkwardly fortuitous rupture in Japanese nuclear practice that exposed the lax and problematic management of nuclear waste in this country to broader scrutiny, as well as distortions in its very conception. This article looks at the full spectrum of nuclear waste in post-tsunami Japan, from spent fuel rods to contorted reactor containment, and the ways that nuclear waste mirrors or diverges from more quotidian waste practices in Japanese culture. Significantly, the Fukushima Daiichi plant itself and its erstwhile banal surroundings have themselves transmuted into an unwieldy form of nuclear waste. The immense challenges of the Fukushima Daiichi site have stimulated a series of on-the-fly innovations that furnish perspective on more everyday nuclear waste practices in the industry.‬‬While some HLW can be reprocessed for limited use in today’s reactors, it cannot be ignored that much of Japan’s nuclear waste is simply converted into other forms of waste. In a society that has long been fixated on segregating filth, maintaining (imagined) purity, and managing proximity to pollution, the specter of nuclear waste looms over contemporary Japan and its ongoing debates over resources, risk, and Japanese nuclear identity itself

Alemtuzumab improves neurological functional systems in treatment-naive relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients.

BACKGROUND: Individual functional system scores (FSS) of the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) play a central role in determining the overall EDSS score in patients with early-stage multiple sclerosis (MS). Alemtuzumab treatment improves preexisting disability for many patients; however, it is unknown whether improvement is specific to certain functional systems. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the effect of alemtuzumab on individual FSS of the EDSS. METHODS: CAMMS223 was a 36-month, rater-blinded, phase 2 trial; treatment-naive patients with active relapsing-remitting MS, EDSS ≤3, and symptom onset within 3 years were randomized to annual courses of alemtuzumab or subcutaneous interferon beta-1a (SC IFNB-1a) 44 μg three times weekly. RESULTS: Alemtuzumab-treated patients had improved outcomes versus SC IFNB-1a patients on most FSS at Month 36; the greatest effect occurred for sensory, pyramidal, and cerebellar FSS. Among patients who experienced 6-month sustained accumulation of disability, clinical worsening occurred most frequently in the brainstem and sensory systems. For patients with 6-month sustained reduction in preexisting disability, pyramidal and sensory systems contributed most frequently to clinical improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Alemtuzumab demonstrated a broad treatment effect in improving preexisting disability. These findings may influence treatment decisions in patients with early, active relapsing-remitting MS displaying neurological deficits. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00050778.Funding was provided by Sanofi Genzyme and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals. The authors would like to thank Marco Rizzo and Isabel Firmino for reviewing and providing input on the manuscript; Isabel Firmino is an employee of Sanofi Genzyme; Marco Rizzo was an employee of Sanofi Genzyme at the time the work was conducted. Data analysis was carried out by Linda Kasten, PROMETRIKA, LLC, Cambridge, MA, USA, which was supported by Sanofi Genzyme. Editorial support for this manuscript was provided by Fiona Nitsche, PhD, and Susan M Kaup, PhD, which was funded by Sanofi Genzyme. Fiona Nitsche is an employee of Evidence Scientific Solutions; Susan M Kaup was an employee of Evidence Scientific Solutions at the time the work was conducted.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jns.2016.02.02

Revisiting an Old Riddle: What Determines Genetic Diversity Levels within Species?

Understanding why some species have more genetic diversity than others is central to the study of ecology and evolution, and carries potentially important implications for conservation biology. Yet not only does this question remain unresolved, it has largely fallen into disregard. With the rapid decrease in sequencing costs, we argue that it is time to revive it.</p