Visual Attention Overload: Representation Effects on Cardinality Error Identification

Attention overload occurs when people are presented with so many different stimuli that they are unable to adequately direct their cognitive processing to all of the inputs. Visual attention overload is conceptually similar and occurs when people are given visual stimuli in a format that prevents them from effectively processing all of the stimuli. The current study examines whether visual attention overload results in differential performance with conceptual model representations for a task requiring identification of errors in relationship cardinalities. This study suggests that visual attention management is an important part of cognitive fit. Specifically, a representation that inhibits processing of information because of visual attention overload is not expected to have cognitive fit with a task that requires repeated use and scanning of the same objects that were previously inhibited. This study allows us to move beyond the “spatial representations should be used for spatial tasks” approach to instead attempt to identify the types of tasks that require repeated use of the representations and therefore are likely not to have cognitive fit with a diagram representation if the diagram is sufficiently complex

Resources-Events-Agents Design Theory: A Revolutionary Approach to Enterprise System Design

Enterprise systems typically include constructs such as ledgers and journals with debit and credit entries as central pillars of the systems’ architecture due in part to accountants and auditors who demand those constructs. At best, structuring systems with such constructs as base objects results in the storing the same data at multiple levels of aggregation, which creates inefficiencies in the database. At worst, basing systems on such constructs destroys details that are unnecessary for accounting but that may facilitate decision making by other enterprise functional areas. McCarthy (1982) proposed the resources-events-agents (REA) framework as an alternative structure for a shared data environment more than thirty years ago, and scholars have further developed it such that it is now a robust design theory. Despite this legacy, the broad IS community has not widely researched REA. In this paper, we discuss REA’s genesis and primary constructs, provide a history of REA research, discuss REA’s impact on practice, and speculate as to what the future may hold for REA-based enterprise systems. We invite IS researchers to consider integrating REA constructs with other theories and various emerging technologies to help advance the future of information systems and business research

Diagrammatic Attention Management and the Effect of Conceptual Model Structure on Cardinality Validation

Diagrams are frequently used to document various components of information systems, from the procedures established for user-system interaction, to the structure of the database at the system’s core. Past research has revealed that diagrams are not always used as effectively as their creators intend. This study proposes a theory of diagrammatic attention management to contribute to the exploration of diagram effectiveness. Based upon diagrammatic attention management, this study demonstrates that the type of diagram most commonly used to represent conceptual models is less effective than three other alternatives for validating the models’ cardinalities. Most conceptual models are documented using entity-relationship diagrams that include a full transaction cycle or module on a single page, i.e., an aggregate diagrammatic format. Participants in this study using three alternative representations (disaggregate diagrammatic, aggregate sentential, and disaggregate sentential) outperformed users of the aggregate diagrammatic format for cardinality validation. Results suggest that to facilitate effective use of aggregate diagrams, users need a mechanism by which to direct their attention while using the diagrams. If such an attention direction mechanism is not inherent in a diagram, it may need to be applied as an external tool, or the diagram may need to be disaggregated to facilitate use

Neodymium-140 DOTA-LM3:Evaluation of an <i>In Vivo</i> Generator for PET with a Non-Internalizing Vector

140Nd (t1/2 = 3.4 days), owing to its short-lived positron emitting daughter 140Pr (t1/2 = 3.4 min), has promise as an in vivo generator for positron emission tomography (PET). However, the electron capture decay of 140Nd is chemically disruptive to macrocycle-based radiolabeling, meaning that an in vivo redistribution of the daughter 140Pr is expected before positron emission. The purpose of this study was to determine how the delayed positron from the de-labeled 140Pr affects preclinical imaging with 140Nd. To explore the effect, 140Nd was produced at CERN-ISOLDE, reacted with the somatostatin analogue, DOTA-LM3 (1,4,7,10- tetraazacyclododecane, 1,4,7- tri acetic acid, 10- acetamide N - p-Cl-Phecyclo(d-Cys-Tyr-d-4-amino-Phe(carbamoyl)-Lys-Thr-Cys)d-Tyr-NH2) and injected into H727 xenograft bearing mice. Comparative pre- and post-mortem PET imaging at 16 h postinjection was used to quantify the in vivo redistribution of 140Pr following 140Nd decay. The somatostatin receptor-positive pancreas exhibited the highest tissue accumulation of 140Nd-DOTA-LM3 (13% ID/g at 16 h) coupled with the largest observed redistribution rate, where 56 ± 7% (n = 4, mean ± SD) of the in situ produced 140Pr washed out of the pancreas before decay. Contrastingly, the liver, spleen, and lungs acted as strong sink organs for free 140Pr3+. Based upon these results, we conclude that 140Nd imaging with a non-internalizing vector convolutes the biodistribution of the tracer with the accumulation pattern of free 140Pr. This redistribution phenomenon may show promise as a probe of the cellular interaction with the vector, such as in determining tissue dependent internalization behavior

In Vivo Radionuclide Generators for Diagnostics and Therapy

In vivo radionuclide generators make complex combinations of physical and chemical properties available for medical diagnostics and therapy. Perhaps the best-known in vivo generator is 212Pb/212Bi, which takes advantage of the extended half-life of 212Pb to execute a targeted delivery of the therapeutic short-lived α-emitter 212Bi. Often, as in the case of 81Rb/81Kr, chemical changes resulting from the transmutation of the parent are relied upon for diagnostic value. In other instances such as with extended alpha decay chains, chemical changes may lead to unwanted consequences. This article reviews some common and not-so-common in vivo generators with the purpose of understanding their value in medicine and medical research. This is currently relevant in light of a recent push for alpha emitters in targeted therapies, which often come with extended decay chains