An Empirical Assessment of the Business Value Derived from Implementing Mobile Technology: A Case Study of Two Organizations

Mobile technologies are argued to offer unprecedented opportunities for organizations and individuals. In order for organizations to be persuaded that investment in mobile technologies is not only worthwhile, but also important to the achievement of corporate goals and objectives, then it is important to evaluate the potential of mobile technology so that the derivation of business value and the related risks involved in implementing mobile devices and services in an organization can be understood. This paper aims at understanding the organizational value that could be derived from investments in mobile technology. We present two in-depth case studies of mobile technology implementation in health care organizations. These studies show that deriving business value from the adoption and implementation of mobile devices does not seem at all certain, but is contingent upon clear business objectives and a willingness to make business changes to embrace the transformation to core business processes which are driven by the mobile technologies

Schematic outline of the multi-pathway analysis using 112 extracts of crude drugs/herbs.

<p>A549 cells were co-transfected with the reporter plasmids containing the transcription factor-binding site upstream of the luciferase gene with the <i>Renilla</i> luciferase gene. After the addition of the extract of crude drugs/herbs at 100 μg/ml, the cell lysates were subjected to dual-luciferase assay. The luciferase activity of each crude drug/herb was normalized to that of the vehicle control. The result of CREB reporter was shown as an example. Data are mean of two independent experiments. The hierarchical clustering and heatmap were performed using the R statistical package.</p

The different effects on each pathway by experiment-based classification.

<p>(A) Relative luciferase activity by each crude drug/herb was normalized to that of the vehicle control. The averages of relative luciferase activity of two major groupings containing exterior-resolving herbs (n = 50, filled bars) and others (n = 62, open bars) are shown. Data are the means ± S.D. of each grouping. *<i>p</i> <0.01 by two-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni <i>post-hoc</i> test compared with exterior-resolving medicines and others. (B) The averages of relative luciferase activity of each major groupings containing the acrid and warm exterior-resolving herbs (n = 24, filled bars) and the acrid and cool exterior-resolving herbs (n = 26, shadow bars) are shown. *<i>p</i> <0.01 by two-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni <i>post-hoc</i> test compared with warm and cool exterior-resolving medicines. Other conditions are similar to Fig 3A. (C) A549 cells were treated with vehicle (open bars), Perilla Herb (filled bars) or Bupleurum Root (shadow bars) for 48 h. NR4A1 (left panel) or HSP90B1 (right panel) was quantified by real-time RT-PCR. Relative mRNA expression was normalized to the value of each mRNA in vehicle-treated cells. Data are shown as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments.</p

Panel of multi-pathway analysis of 112 crude drugs/herbs.

<p>Heatmap of activity levels of 112 crude drugs/herbs across 10 reporters. Activity levels were indicated by Z-scores calculated from the relative transcriptional activities of individual crude drugs/herbs across different reporters, and by colors presented at the top of the figure. The crude drugs/herbs belonging to three traditional conceptions (heat-clearing and dampness-drying herbs, the acrid and warm exterior-resolving herbs, and the acrid and cool exterior-resolving herbs) are shown in green, red, and blue, respectively. Five major groupings are shown as the lines on the tree of crude drugs/herbs, and the enriched major groupings of three traditional conceptions are shown in green, red, and blue, respectively. **<i>P</i> <0.01 and *<i>P <0</i>.<i>05</i> by chi-square test.</p

Identification of Ligand Analogues that Control c-di-GMP Riboswitches

Riboswitches for the bacterial second messenger c-di-GMP control the expression of genes involved in numerous cellular processes such as virulence, competence, biofilm formation, and flagella synthesis. Therefore, the two known c-di-GMP riboswitch classes represent promising targets for developing novel modulators of bacterial physiology. Here, we examine the binding characteristics of circular and linear c-di-GMP analogues for representatives of both class I and II c-di-GMP riboswitches derived from the pathogenic bacterium <i>Vibrio choleae</i> (class I) and <i>Clostridium difficile</i> (class II). Some compounds exhibit values for apparent dissociation constant (<i>K</i>_D) below 1 μM and associate with riboswitch RNAs during transcription with a speed that is sufficient to influence riboswitch function. These findings are consistent with the published structural models for these riboswitches and suggest that large modifications at various positions on the ligand can be made to create novel compounds that target c-di-GMP riboswitches. Moreover, we demonstrate the potential of an engineered allosteric ribozyme for the rapid screening of chemical libraries for compounds that bind c-di-GMP riboswitches

Phenotypic comparison of Δ mutation or overexpression of diguanylate cyclase on pellicle production and mRNA levels

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "A cyclic-di-GMP receptor required for bacterial exopolysaccharide production"</p><p></p><p>Molecular Microbiology 2007;65(6):1474-1484.</p><p>Published online Jan 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2170427.</p><p>© 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd</p> A and B. Pellicle formation in static culture as revealed by crystal violet staining for (A) PA14, PA14Δ, PA14Δ and PA14Δ harbouring vector control or induced for expression of diguanylate cyclases , or ; (B) PA14Δ, PA14ΔΔ, PA14ΔΔ and PA14ΔΔ. C. Expression of was determined by measuring β-galactosidase levels using a reporter construct in strains PA14, PA14Δ, PA14Δ and PA14Δ harbouring vector control or induced for expression of diguanylate cyclases , or . D. Quantification of PEL polysaccharide by binding to Congo red was normalized to total protein for strains PA14 pMMB-, PA14Δ pMMB-, PA14Δ and PA14ΔΔ

Residues required for c-di-GMP binding are required for PEL polysaccharide synthesis

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "A cyclic-di-GMP receptor required for bacterial exopolysaccharide production"</p><p></p><p>Molecular Microbiology 2007;65(6):1474-1484.</p><p>Published online Jan 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2170427.</p><p>© 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd</p> Complementation of the Δ mutation in PA14Δ pDN19- with pMMB containing full-length and indicated point mutations. Quantification of PEL polysaccharide binding to Congo red was normalized to total protein for each strain. Pellicle formation for each stain was tested in static culture and revealed by crystal violet staining. PelD and mutant derivatives were fused at their C-termini to HA tags. Total-cell extracts were prepared, loaded equally and separated on SDS-PAGE, transferred to PVDF and PelD-HA was detected with anti-HA antibody and chemiluminescence

Combining Molecular Dynamics and Machine Learning to Analyze Shear Thinning for Alkane and Globular Lubricants in the Low Shear Regime

Lubricants with desirable frictional properties are important in achieving an energy-saving society. Lubricants at the interfaces of mechanical components are confined under high shear rates and pressures and behave quite differently from the bulk material. Computational approaches such as nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations have been performed to probe the molecular behavior of lubricants. However, the low-shear-velocity regions of the materials have rarely been simulated owing to the expensive calculations necessary to do so, and the molecular dynamics under shear velocities comparable with that in the experiments are not clearly understood. In this study, we performed NEMD simulations of extremely confined lubricants, i.e., two molecular layers for four types of lubricants confined in mica walls, under shear velocities from 0.001 to 1 m/s. While we confirmed shear thinning, the velocity profiles could not show the flow behavior when the shear velocity was much slower than thermal fluctuations. Therefore, we used an unsupervised machine learning approach to detect molecular movements that contribute to shear thinning. First, we extracted the simple features of molecular movements from large amounts of MD data, which were found to correlate with the effective viscosity. Subsequently, the extracted features were interpreted by examining the trajectories contributing to these features. The magnitude of diffusion corresponded to the viscosity, and the location of slips that varied depending on the spherical and chain lubricants was irrelevant. Finally, we attempted to apply a modified Stokes–Einstein relation at equilibrium to the nonequilibrium and confined systems. While systems with low shear rates obeyed the relation sufficiently, large deviations were observed under large shear rates

Infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages in c-di-GMP treated animals.

<p>(A) Photomicrograph of lung biopsies taken from a control mouse at 24 hr post treatment with c-GMP, obtained with a 10 X objective plus digital zoom. (B-D) Photomicrographs of lung biopsies taken from three different mice at 24 h post treatment with c-di-GMP (10 X objective plus digital zoom).</p

Cytokine (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-12p70, IL-6, IL-4 and IL-17) and chemokine (MCP-1) concentrations in whole lung homogenates following c-di-GMP treatment and intranasal challenge infection with <i>B. pertussis</i>.

<p>Mice were treated with c-di-GMP (black bars) or control c-GMP (white bars) at 24 hr prior to challenge infection. Whole lungs were removed and cytokine concentrations determined in lung homogenate supernatants at 24 hr post treatment (24PT) and days two, four and six post challenge (Day 2–6). The results shown are as the means ± SD of cytokine and chemokine concentrations detected by ELISA from 3 separate experiments and nine to twelve animals per group.</p