Determinants of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Adoption and Integration in the US and Japanese Automobile Suppliers

This paper examines determinants of EDI adoption and integration in the US and Japanese automobile suppliers. The paper constructs several hypotheses based on the transaction-cost and resource- dependence approaches, and tests these hypotheses by using data from the automobile suppliers. Our study shows: (1) the resource-dependence approach seemed more effective in explaining EDI adoption, while the transaction-cost approach seemed more effective in explaining EDI integration; (2) the transaction-cost approach seemed more suited to the US context, while the resource-dependence approach seemed more suited to the Japanese context; (3) EDI adoption and EDI integration had positive impacts on EDI performance in the US, suggesting the higher validity of our framework in the US.Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce, Automotive Industry, Automobile Suppliers, Technology Adoption

Coenzyme Models 27 Degradative Oxidation of Glyoxals to Carboxylic Acids Mediated by Flavin and Cyanide Ion

In an aerobic aqueous solution containing flavin and cyanide ion, phenylglyoxal and 4-chlorophenylglyoxal were easily oxidized to benzoic acid and 4-chlorobenzoic acid, respectively (49-61 % yield). The product analysis indicates that the initial step (ArCOCHO → ArCOCO2 H) is the "Flavin-trapping" mediated by flavin and cyanide ion and the second step (ArCOCO2 H → ArCO2H) is the oxidation by hydrogen peroxide which is yielded through the pingpong-type regeneration of flavin. Methylglyoxal was also oxidized degradatively to acetic acid. The oxidation of glyoxal was more complicated: oxalic acid was afforded in the nonmicellar system, while formic acid was the sole detectable product in the CTAB micellar system. The reactions reported here demonstrate a novel facet of flavin catalyses

Kinetics and Isotope Effects for Transhydrogenation from a NADH Model Compound to Flavins

Kinetics and isotope effects for the reaction of a Hantzsch ester and a monodeuteriated Hantzsch ester with five isoalloxazines have been studied. The kinetic deuterium isotope effect (kH/kD) for "usual" isoalloxazines is in good accord with the paritioning isotope effect (YH/YD) and the secondary isotope effect (kH/k\u27H) is almost equal to unity. On the other hand, kH/kD for electron-deficient isoalloxazines is greater than YH/Y\u27H, and kH/k\u27H significantly exceeds unity. The results suggest that one-step hydride-like transfer occurs in "usual" isoalloxazines, whereas hydrogen transfer to electron-deficient isoalloxazines may proceed according to the multi-step transfer mechnism. We thus consider that the hydrogen transfer mechanism changes depending on the electron-dificiency of inoalloxazines, although the possibility that the isotope scrambling is responsible for the discrepancy is not excluded completely

Facile Photo-Oxidation of Alcohols by a Flavin with a Metal-Chelation Site

A new flavin molecule with a metal-chelation site has been applied to photo-oxidation of alcohols: it is 2, 4, 7-trimethyl-10-benzylquino [8, 7-g] pteridine-9, 11 (7H, 10H) -dione (1) which has both an isoalloxazine structure and a phenathroline-like structure within a molecule. In contrast to conventional flavins which do not exhibit any measurable affinity toward redox-inactive transition metal ions, 1 formed stable complexes with most heavy metal ions in acetonitrile probably by means of a flavin → metal charge transfer. Photooxidation of alcohols by 1 was efficiently accelerated in the presence of Mg(II) and Zn(II), the k1 (pseudo-first-order rate constant) being greater by 5.1-7l fold than those in the absence of metal ions. Such a marked rate increase was not observed for 3-methyl-10-ethylisoalloxazine used as a reference flavin. The aerobic photo-oxidation of benzyl alcohol by the 1・Zn(II) complex served as a light-mediated recycle oxidation catalyst. These results indicate that the flavin with a metal-chelation site is not only useful synthetically as a recycle-type oxidation catalyst but also capable of mimicking the flavin-metal interactions important in metalloflavoproteins

The first year of Antarctic VLBI observations

We are undertaking a series of geodetic VLBI observations between the Syowa Station 11-m antenna in Antarctica, and the 26-m antennas in Hobart Tasmania and Hartebeesthoek South Africa. These observations are the beginning of our campaign to monitor the motion and stability of the Antarctic plate. We describe here the results of the first year\u27s observations made during the southern summer and winter of 1998. Two mutually incompatible recording systems, K4 and S2, are used. The Mitaka FX Correlator was used to correlate these data. By using software called CALC3/MSOLV, the mean position of the antenna\u27s geodetic reference point was found to be X=1766194.152±0.006m, Y=1460410.923±0.005m and Z=- 5932273.329±0.015m at the epoch of 1998.9 in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2000 (ITRF2000) system. From a comparison with measurements made with other space geodetic techniques we estimate that our results have typical uncertainties of no more than 2 to 3cm in each coordinate

Absolute Proper Motions of H2O Masers Away from the Galactic Plane Measured with VERA in the "Superbubble" Region NGC 281

We report on absolute proper-motion measurements of an H2O maser source in the NGC 281 West molecular cloud, which is located ~320 pc above the Galactic plane and is associated with an HI loop extending from the Galactic plane. We have conducted multi-epoch phase-referencing observations of the maser source with VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry) over a monitoring period of 6 months since May 2006. We find that the H2O maser features in NGC 281 West are systematically moving toward the southwest and further away from the Galactic plane with a vertical velocity of ~20-30 km/s at its estimated distance of 2.2-3.5 kpc. Our new results provide the most direct evidence that the gas in the NGC 281 region on the HI loop was blown out from the Galactic plane, most likely in a superbubble driven by multiple or sequential supernova explosions in the Galactic plane.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, PASJ in press (Vol. 59, No. 4; August 25, 2007 issue

Distance to Orion KL Measured with VERA

We present the initial results of multi-epoch VLBI observations of the 22 GHz H2O masers in the Orion KL region with VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry). With the VERA dual-beam receiving system, we have carried out phase-referencing VLBI astrometry and successfully detected an annual parallax of Orion KL to be 2.29+/-0.10 mas, corresponding to the distance of 437+/-19 pc from the Sun. The distance to Orion KL is determined for the first time with the annual parallax method in these observations. Although this value is consistent with that of the previously reported, 480+/-80 pc, which is estimated from the statistical parallax method using proper motions and radial velocities of the H2O maser features, our new results provide the much more accurate value with an uncertainty of only 4%. In addition to the annual parallax, we have detected an absolute proper motion of the maser feature, suggesting an outflow motion powered by the radio source I along with the systematic motion of source I itself.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. PASJ, in press (Vol. 59, No. 5, October 25, 2007 issue

VLBI Astrometry of AGB Variables with VERA -- A Semiregular Variable S Crateris --

We present a distance measurement for the semiregular variable S Crateris (S Crt) based on its annual parallax. With the unique dual beam system of the VLBI Exploration for Radio Astrometry (VERA) telescopes, we measured the absolute proper motion of a water maser spot associated with S Crt, referred to the quasar J1147-0724 located at an angular separation of 1.23$^{\circ}$. In observations spanning nearly two years, we have detected the maser spot at the LSR velocity of 34.7 km s$^{-1}$, for which we measured the annual parallax of 2.33$\pm$0.13 mas corresponding to a distance of 430$^{+25}_{-23}$ pc. This measurement has an accuracy one order of magnitude better than the parallax measurements of HIPPARCOS. The angular distribution and three-dimensional velocity field of maser spots indicate a bipolar outflow with the flow axis along northeast-southwest direction. Using the distance and photospheric temperature, we estimate the stellar radius of S Crt and compare it with those of Mira variables.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Vol.60, No.5, October 25, VERA special issue