The sorption properties of organo-bentonites

Imperial Users onl

Antitrust and payment technologies

Antitrust law ; Payment systems

An Unhealthy Obsession with Theory

As the flagship journal of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), the Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS) invites the incoming president of AIS to write an editorial about issues facing AIS and its members. In this editorial, I argue that over the past 30 years, information systems research has shifted to what I see as an unhealthy obsession with one particular type of theory to the exclusion of other types. I believe this obsession is stifling new research and is preventing us, as a discipline, from leading technology innovation. The solution is simple: return to our roots and embrace other types of theory. The opinions in this editorial are solely mine, and do not reflect the official policy of AIS, or the opinions of my colleagues at AIS or those who serve at JAIS

Towards Verifiably Ethical Robot Behaviour

Ensuring that autonomous systems work ethically is both complex and difficult. However, the idea of having an additional `governor' that assesses options the system has, and prunes them to select the most ethical choices is well understood. Recent work has produced such a governor consisting of a `consequence engine' that assesses the likely future outcomes of actions then applies a Safety/Ethical logic to select actions. Although this is appealing, it is impossible to be certain that the most ethical options are actually taken. In this paper we extend and apply a well-known agent verification approach to our consequence engine, allowing us to verify the correctness of its ethical decision-making.Comment: Presented at the 1st International Workshop on AI and Ethics, Sunday 25th January 2015, Hill Country A, Hyatt Regency Austin. Will appear in the workshop proceedings published by AAA

The effect of weight, body mass index, age, sex, and race on plasma concentrations of subcutaneous sumatriptan: a pooled analysis.

Objective/backgroundFactors such as body size (weight and body mass index [BMI]), age, sex, and race might influence the clinical response to sumatriptan. We evaluated the impact of these covariates on the plasma concentration (Cp) profile of sumatriptan administered subcutaneously.MethodsWe conducted three pharmacokinetic studies of subcutaneous sumatriptan in 98 healthy adults. Sumatriptan was administered subcutaneously (236 administrations) as either DFN-11 3 mg, a novel 0.5 mL autoinjector being developed by Dr. Reddy's Laboratories; Imitrex(®) (Sumatriptan) injection 3 mg or 6 mg (6 mg/0.5 mL); or Imitrex STATdose 4 mg or 6 mg (0.5 mL). Blood was sampled for 12 hours to determine sumatriptan Cp. Maximum Cp (Cmax), area under the curve during the first 2 hours (AUC0-2), and total area under the curve (AUC0-∞) were determined using noncompartmental methods. Post hoc analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between these exposure metrics and each of body weight, BMI, age, sex, and race (categorized as white, black, or others).ResultsBoth weight and BMI correlated negatively with each exposure metric for each treatment group. Across all treatment groups, AUC0-2 for subjects with BMI less than or equal to median value was 1.03-1.12 times the value for subjects with BMI more than median value. For subjects with BMI less than or equal to median value receiving DFN-11, median AUC0-2 was slightly less than that for subjects with BMI more than median value receiving Imitrex 4 mg and larger than that for subjects with BMI more than median value receiving Imitrex 3 mg. Results were similar for the other exposure metrics and for weight. Exposure was higher in women than in men, which can be attributed in part to differences in weight. There was no relationship between exposure and age. For DFN-11, AUC0-2 and AUC0-∞ were lower in nonwhites compared with whites; the ratio of median values was 0.84 and 0.89, respectively. A similar, nonstatistically significant, trend was observed in the other products (ratio of median values ranging from 0.84 to 0.89).ConclusionWeight and BMI appear to be important covariates for sumatriptan exposure: subjects with lower values for either metric of body size have higher systemic exposure compared with subjects with higher values. Additional studies are required to determine if doses of subcutaneous sumatriptan may be adjusted based on BMI for comparable efficacy and a potentially improved tolerability profile

Relevance in Information Systems Research

Information Systems as an academic discipline makes two contributions to society. The first, knowledge exploration, is the creation of new knowledge that is not -- and should not be -- relevant to today\u27s practitioner. The goal of knowledge exploration is to change the future, not improve the present. The second, knowledge exploitation, is the dissemination of knowledge to serve current practice (and to train future practitioners, our students). While I believe we have done a good job of knowledge exploration, I believe we need develop new vehicles to promote, nurture, and validate knowledge exploitation much like our academic cousins in Medicine, Engineering, and Computer Science

ENTREPRENEURIAL SELF-EFFICACY AND THE SUCCESS OF SUBSEQUENT VENTURE STARTUP AFTER FAILURE

Everyone experiences failure at some point in their lifetime. Entrepreneurs, especially, have a high incidence of failure, with estimates that over sixty percent fail within six years. Yet, a high percentage of failed entrepreneurs recover and persevere to start another business. Sometimes, they even become "serial entrepreneurs" who start many businesses. How do entrepreneurs recover from failure and have success? This research focuses on the failed entrepreneur, and I investigate aspects of how and why some failed entrepreneurs recover and start a new business. My research focuses on characteristics of the failed entrepreneurs themselves, and how certain attributes might differentiate between failed entrepreneurs who recover successfully versus those who do not. Based upon fundamental theories of human behavior and recent inquiries that have influenced the entrepreneurship literature, I draw upon research about entrepreneurs' personal competencies that stand out as predictors of venture persistence and success, specifically, (1) domain-specific self-efficacy (2) emotion regulation, (3) practical intelligence, and (4) self-leadership, to propose a path to recovery when failure occurs. I suggest that these areas of research may enhance our knowledge of how and why failed entrepreneurs recover from failure. In addition, I investigate how characteristics of the immediate context or environment support or discourage subsequent startup. I interview and survey failed entrepreneurs, beginning with a list of firms from a Bay Area business consulting firm that helps failed companies "work out" of their business. Other contact sources include small business development centers, personal contacts, university entrepreneurship centers, and two populations of healthcare workers in the southern United States. Results of this study include entrepreneurial self-efficacy fully mediating the effects of both practical intelligence and emotion regulation on subsequent venture success, as well as partial mediation of support from social contacts on success. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Although research has been conducted on future success of successful entrepreneurs, as far as I can determine, no other academic researcher has attempted to understand and empirically demonstrate the future success of failed entrepreneurs