An ROI Comparison of Initiatives Designed to Attract Diverse Students to Technology Careers

This study examines two alternative interventions designed to attract diverse students to pursue information technology or, more generally, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers from a Return on Investment (ROI) perspective. More specifically, this study examines the effectiveness and efficiency of single-day and multi-day program formats by comparing students’ propensity to pursue computer information systems and technology related careers. Using an ROI perspective of comparing relative costs to students’ perceived outcomes, our findings suggest that the single-day model is equally effective as the multi-day model at moving students’ propensity to pursue information technology careers, albeit at a lower cost. This suggests that the single day model is a better choice from an ROI perspective and offers the best investment opportunity for choosing which program format to use for future interventions. These findings, while specific to a single comparison of two alternative information technology interventions, are useful as they contribute valuable knowledge and may be applicable to the design and evaluation of other STEM-influencing programs

Identifying Employer Needs from Accounting Information Systems Programs

As the need for new hires with accounting and information technology knowledge increases, a new major in accounting information systems (AIS) has emerged. This new AIS degree is a hybrid of accounting concepts and common business subjects combined with key information technology issues. Employers were presented with 56 core content areas found in the curriculum for the AIS major and asked to rate the importance of each. We present the results of the survey along with company demographics. Conclusions are then drawn to determine if the employers are hiring new employees with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to fill these employment trends

Invited Paper: Ingredients of a High-Quality Information Systems Program in a Changing IS Landscape

This paper describes James Madison University’s undergraduate major in Computer Information Systems as an example of a high- quality Information Systems (IS) program and discusses our planned evolution in the context of the rapid changes of technological, business, and social factors. We have determined what we consider to be five essential ingredients of what makes JMU’s program a high-quality IS major. These are: (1) building an integrated, rigorous curriculum with a strong technical foundation; (2) developing a vibrant community of faculty, students, alumni, employers, and community service organizations; (3) respecting and supporting pedagogical scholarship; (4) committing to continuous improvement and assessment; and (5) accreditation. We believe these ingredients will continue to be highly relevant as the IS discipline moves forward, but also that curriculum content will need to adjust to meet changing demand. We discuss the increasing relevance of topics such as analytics, security, and the cloud to the IS curriculum and their implications for pedagogy, accreditation, and scholarship. We hope that sharing JMU’s experience, insights, and future directions will be useful to JISE’s readership

ACCEPTANCE OF BEDSIDE COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

Many new technologies are being developed to improve the efficiency and productivity of nursing staffs. A key to the success of these technologies is acceptance by the nurse. Davis\u27 Technology Assessment Model (TAM -1993) was developed to measure the likelihood that subjects will accept and use computer systems. This paper presents a discussion on nursing acceptance of computer systems, reviews the development of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and reports findings of a study that examines nursing acceptance with TAM for bedside computer systems. Results of the study showed nursing staffs, in general, are accepting of bedside-computer technology. Though, those working full-time have a better attitude and are more accepting than those working part-time

A Rubric to Evaluate and Enhance Requirements Elicitation Interviewing Skills

Eliciting effective requirements is vital for successful Information Systems development and implementation. Interviews with stakeholders and users are an important part of the requirements elicitation process. Thus, teaching students how to better perform requirements elicitation interviews is a critical task for information systems faculty. However, prior to this research, a common tool or rubric to evaluate the effectiveness of requirements elicitation interviews was not found in the literature. The purpose of this research was to develop a rubric that can be used to both evaluate (provide summative measures) and enhance (via formative training techniques) the requirements elicitation interviewing skills of information systems students. The results of this research provide both quantitative and qualitative evidence that the rubric developed and described in this paper substantially improved the ability of our students to conduct requirements elicitation interviews. Along with detailing the various methodologies we used, this paper provides practical pedagogical suggestions and lessons learned along with covering possible future avenues of research in this area

Microencapsulated Dopamine (DA)-Induced Restitution of Function in 6-OHDA-Denervated Rat Striatum in vivo: Comparison Between Two Microsphere Excipients

Biodegradable controlled-release microsphere systems made with the biocompatible biodegradable polyester excipient poly [DL lactide-co-glycolide] constitute an exciting new technology for drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS). The present study describes functional observations indicating that implantation of dopamine (DA) microspheres encapsulated within two different polymer excipients into denervated- striatal tissue assures a prolonged release of the transmitter in vivo. Moreover, in this regard, the results show that there were clear cut temporal differences in the effect of the two DA microsphere formulations compared in this study, probably reflecting variations in the actual composition (i.e., lactide to glycolide ratio) of the two copolymer excipients examined. This technology has considerable potential for basic research with possible clinical application

Developing Measurable Cross-Departmental Learning Objectives for Requirements Elicitation in an Information Systems Curriculum

The ability to elicit information systems requirements is a necessary learning objective for students in a contemporary information systems curriculum, and is a skill vital to their careers. Common challenges in teaching this skill include both the lack of structure and guidance in information systems textbooks as well as the view that a student’s education consists of a disparate set of unrelated courses. These challenges are exacerbated by faculty who focus only on their taught courses and by textbooks that often promote an isolated, passing glance at both the importance of and the idea behind requirements elicitation. In this paper, we describe a multi-year, faculty-led effort to create and refine learning activities that are aligned to requirements elicitation learning objectives both within and scaffolded across courses in a modern information systems curriculum. To achieve success in developing this marketable skill within information systems students, learning activities were integrated across the entire information systems major in a process we call Bloomification, where learning objectives, aligned learning activities, and courses are related and connected across the curriculum. This cross-departmental process is presented and lessons learned by the faculty are discussed

Evolution of the Insertion-Deletion Mutation Rate Across the Tree of Life

Citation: Sung, W., Ackerman, M. S., Dillon, M. M., Platt, T. G., Fuqua, C., Cooper, V. S., & Lynch, M. (2016). Evolution of the Insertion-Deletion Mutation Rate Across the Tree of Life. G3-Genes Genomes Genetics, 6(8), 2583-2591. doi:10.1534/g3.116.030890/-/DC1Mutations are the ultimate source of variation used for evolutionary adaptation, while also being predominantly deleterious and a source of genetic disorders. Understanding the rate of insertion-deletion mutations (indels) is essential to understanding evolutionary processes, especially in coding regions, where such mutations can disrupt production of essential proteins. Using direct estimates of indel rates from 14 phylogenetically diverse eukaryotic and bacterial species, along with measures of standing variation in such species, we obtain results that imply an inverse relationship of mutation rate and effective population size. These results, which corroborate earlier observations on the base-substitution mutation rate, appear most compatible with the hypothesis that natural selection reduces mutation rates per effective genome to the point at which the power of random genetic drift (approximated by the inverse of effective population size) becomes overwhelming. Given the substantial differences in DNA metabolism pathways that give rise to these two types of mutations, this consistency of results raises the possibility that refinement of other molecular and cellular traits may be inversely related to species-specific levels of random genetic drift

The Dominant Global Modes of Recent Internal Sea Level Variability

The advances in the modern sea level observing system have allowed for a new level of knowledge of regional and global sea level in recent years. The combination of data from satellite altimeters, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, and Argo profiling floats has provided a clearer picture of the different contributors to sea level change, leading to an improved understanding of how sea level has changed in the present and, by extension, may change in the future. As the overlap between these records has recently extended past a decade in length, it is worth examining the extent to which internal variability on timescales from intraseasonal to decadal can be separated from long‐term trends that may be expected to continue into the future. To do so, a combined modal decomposition based on cyclostationary empirical orthogonal functions is performed simultaneously on the three data sets, and the dominant shared modes of variability are analyzed. Modes associated with the trend, seasonal signal, El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and Pacific decadal oscillation are extracted and discussed, and the relationship between regional patterns of sea level change and their associated global signature is highlighted