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The lean biphasic aqueous hydroformylation without chemical additives of the long chain olefin 1-octene using the simple ligand triphenyl trisulfonate sodium salt was investigated in an innovative jet loop reactor on miniplant scale. This elaborate reactor type offers a unique mixing characteristic and is optimised in terms of mechanical energy transfer into the reaction medium through a jet nozzle and organic phase volume fraction. Both variables are important factors in the emulsification of two immiscible liquids. It is subsequently compared to a standard stirred reactor which was also individually optimised. Both concepts showed individual advantages in terms of productivity and catalytic activity. While the jet loop reactor reached high turnover frequencies of 7640 h −1 the stirred tank reactor showed high space time yields of up to 12.6·10 −5 kmol m −3 s −1 . At very low amounts of dispersed aqueous catalyst phase even very high catalytic activity (TOF = 10,960 h −1 ) was observed in the jet loop reactor. High reactivity could also be preserved in a long time run leading to a total turnover number of 76,500. The jet loop reactor enabled high mass transfer rates for the substrate gases of up to 0.28 s −1 for H 2 and 0.21 s −1 for CO resulting in a mass transfer multiple times faster than the obtained reaction rates. To increase regio-selectivity the bidentate ligand sulfoxanthphos was applied which increased the regio-selectivity up to l:b = 53 but reduced catalytic activity.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to elicit tacit knowledge exhibited in expert information system (IS) professionals in a form that can be shared with others; and to develop categorical framework suggesting key content areas of tacit knowledge in the requirements analysis domain.Design/methodology/approach– Requirements analysis is selected as the main focus of this study due to the importance of this phase to the success of IS development and the nature of requirements analysis tasks requiring extensive amount of tacit knowledge. The authors used the “storytelling” approach, a semi-structured interview technique for knowledge elicitation.Findings– The study resulted in 132 knowledge items using a qualitative method and categorized them into 14 categories using cluster analysis. The study found that experienced, successful analysts see systems analysis in behavioral, managerial, and political terms and focus heavily on interpersonal, project management, and organizational issues.Research limitations/implications– The limitations in the research sample, or in the recollection capability of the research subjects could compromise the comprehensiveness of the tacit knowledge in the requirements analysis domain; however, the elicited knowledge at least represents important dimensions one might reasonably find in this domain.Originality/value– Very little research has attempted to capture this tacit dimension of system analysts’ knowledge. Thus, capturing and transferring the tacit knowledge from experts should help in the evolution of novice to expert system analysts thereby improving both their effectiveness and the quality of the information systems developed.

We propose that managing the flow of people through an organization shares many of the same characteristics and challenges as managing the flow of materials through a traditional supply chain, and that supply chain management principles and practices can be fruitfully applied to talent management. In particular, we focus on the application of value stream mapping to aid organizations in understanding their people-related processes and identifying opportunities for improvement, and on the use of simulation modeling to help organizations evaluate and make decisions about improving talent flow. We discuss the applicability of supply chain principles to human capital, and then illustrate the applicability of value stream mapping and simulation modeling using a real-world case study of a large, complex organization.

Using the theory of role dynamics, we develop a model linking nurses' perceptions of an information system's compatibility with their values to work stress and burnout. We surveyed registered nurses and tested the research hypotheses via the partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling. Our results demonstrate a linkage between nurses' perceptions of IS compatibility with values, role conflict, and burnout, thus contributing to our understanding of the ways in which IS usage has the potential to impact users, especially in mandatory usage environments. Implications and study limitations are also discussed.

The specialized knowledge that exists among information systems development (ISD) teams must be shared and integrated to successfully develop systems solutions. Unfortunately, knowledge sharing and integration continues to be problematic. In this study, we seek out those antecedent characteristics that ISD teams should possess to facilitate the collaboration and knowledge integration necessary for enhanced performance. We propose cooperative learning theory as a lens to understand knowledge integration activities in ISD projects. We suggest that knowledge integration behaviors are discretionary, and that ISD professionals must feel autonomy in deciding to engage in them. We investigate whether the effects of autonomy on cooperative learning and of cooperative learning on work outcomes vary depending on the types of autonomy present in ISD teams. A research model is proposed, and it is empirically tested through a study of 206 ISD professionals from 38 ISD teams. Our findings suggest that autonomous teams engage more frequently in cooperative learning behaviors, and consequently perform more effectively and are more satisfied. We also find that relationships exist between the type of autonomy present in teams and the resultant elements of cooperative learning and work outcomes.

RFID technology provides in-depth, real-time visibility into the status of assets throughout the supply chain. However, the deployment of RFID technology may have collateral value in the high-quality data generated by these assets. This study explores the potential value of RFID data for tactical and strategic purposes and the redesign of processes within supply chain through the deployment of simulation modeling and analysis. We present a simulation study conducted at a regional hospital for which data related to trauma patient movement was collected with an RFID-based system. We find that not only does this data serve as the basis for successful simulation modeling, but that RFID technology may address several data-related challenges previously identified in the simulation literature.

By taking advantage of the Internet, a new generation of Interorganizational Information Systems, i.e., Internet electronic data interchange (I-EDI) provides great efficiency for performing business-to-business transactions and is much more affordable than other network alternatives. Few empirical studies have been conducted to examine the adoption of I-EDI and little guidance has been given to the practitioners in the field. To fill this void, this research investigates the adoption of I-EDI by U.S. enterprises based on a comprehensive framework. Results from an online survey of 219 organizational respondents indicate that the proposed framework is able to help explain organizational adoption of I-EDI. This study provides insights and interesting findings toward technology adoption in Internet era. While some new factors are found to play important roles in IOS adoption, several conventional factors, such as technology compatibility and organization size, are no longer significant in explaining the adoption of I-EDI. Different effects of interorganizational factors such as power, trust, and relationship commitment on I-EDI adoption have been revealed. Implications for researchers and practitioners are provided.

To be alive as embodied human beings in the world means to be both conceptually or ratiocinatively aware, and sensibly or causally aware. However, under a still powerful influence of idealism, theology over the past two centuries has virtually abandoned the causal and sensibly-embodied attentiveness to its subject-matter (revelation) as demanded by the incarnation. It has instead often come to comport itself one-sidedly, in essentially analytical or linguistically self-guaranteeing ways, and has thereby lost its contingent and genuinely vulnerable incarnational “edge” at the center of life. This essay tries to restore a properly twofold attentiveness through a reinvigoration of the traditional view of revelation as the divinely causal reality of God in the world.

A new redesign approach has been developed considering the perspective of a designer who wants to improve product performance over the whole life-cycle while simultaneously optimising costs. Product components can be identified which incur high costs compared to their functional value. In order to identify the optimisation potential, the methods of Value Analysis, Quality Function Deployment and Life Cycle Costing have been matched to each other and integrated into a comprehensive concept. Based on a case study of vehicles, this paper explains the theoretical approach and analyses for designers to optimise costs and conduct product redesign by using Value-Oriented Life Cycle Costing.

Centering around a careful, sustained critique of John Milbank's polemic against Kant, this essay connects the growing anti-philosophical sentiments in theology to a wider anti-rational trend in the human sciences generally. What most visibly unifies these new obscurantist outlooks is their reliance on free-floating, unapologetically self-perpetuating ideological historiographies, which are advanced via a kind of “co-opt-and-plunder” approach to historical texts. However, the rejection of rational integrity also entails a rejection of the traditional intellectual virtues—attentiveness, consistency, modesty, charity etc.—virtues which any theological claim to orthodoxy cannot do without. Radical Orthodoxy therefore risks a worrying slide into new forms of esoteric gnosticism.

Within the context of knowledge management, little research has been conducted that identifies the antecedents of a knowledge-centered culture—those organizational qualities that encourage knowledge creation and dissemination. In this study, the existing literature on organizational climate, job characteristics, and organizational learning (in the form of cooperative learning theory) are linked with the current thinking and research findings related to knowledge management to develop a theoretical model explaining the relationships among organizational climate, the level of cooperative learning that takes place between knowledge workers, and the resulting level of knowledge created and disseminated as measured by team performance and individual satisfaction levels. The study goes on to empirically test the proposed research model by investigating the climate of organizations, and seeks to understand the linkage between a set of organizational and individual characteristics and knowledge-related activities found in cooperative learning groups and the resulting work outcomes. The hypothesized research model is tested using LISREL with data collected from 203 information systems (IS) professionals engaged in systems development activities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications the results have for future research and managerial practice.

Information systems (IS) strategic planners debate what is the most appropriate data warehouse (DW) topology for an organization. The primary question is whether to start DW projects with enterprise-wide data warehouses (EDWs) or with smaller-scale data marts (DMs). This article examines the relationship between modes of IT governance and DW topology to determine whether or not the implementation differences in DW topology can be described by differences in IT governance arrangements. Three primary modes of IT governance–centralized, decentralized, and hybrid – were used to arrange key IT activities. A replicated case study approach coupled with a research survey was used to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between modes of IT governance and DW topology. Utilizing information from six organizations, the empirical evidence presented indicates that the organizations with higher levels of centralized IT authority are likely to implement a more centralized data warehousing approach. Key implications for theory and practice are discussed.

This study examined the influence of cycle time and the application of strategic information technology (SIT) on the relationship between business strategies identified during the course of the research (i.e., marketing differentiation, innovation differentiation and overall low cost) and firm performance (i.e., ROA, ROS). Data from a cross-industry sample of 116 executives in manufacturing and service businesses were collected using a web-based survey, conducted in cooperation with InformationWeek, a leading information technology industry magazine. Results of a path analysis indicated a significant, positive relationship of a market differentiation strategy to SIT to cycle time to performance. Strong positive direct relationships were evident for SIT to cycle time and for cycle time to performance. No other significant relationships were observed. D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Rapid developments in the area of telecommunications and information technologies have brought about dramatic changes in the way organizations conduct business and have influenced the way organizations seek to gain competitive advantages in their industries. Among the most prominent of these developments is the World Wide Web (WWW or "web '7 and its impact on how business - in this case, electronic commerce (EC) - is conducted. One question that arises is: "Is the web S impact on electronic commerce uniform around the world?" This paper reports on a research study that sought insight into this question by comparing the web-based business practices of both Japanese and the US. The results of content analysis and statistical data analysis provide support for country differences between Japan and the U.S. on several web site characteristics

Mutations in the voltage gated potassium channel gene KCNQ2 and the homologous gene KCNQ3 have been found to cause a rare monogenic subtype of idiopathic generalized epilepsy, the benign familial neonatal convulsions. Recently, the heteromeric KCNQ2/KCNQ3 channel was found to contribute to the native M-current, one of the most important regulators of neuronal excitability. By performing a systematic mutation scan of the coding region and an association study involving a frequent Thr752Asn substitution polymorphism, we, therefore, investigated whether allelic variation of the KCNQ2 gene confers susceptibility to common subtypes of idiopathic generalized epilepsy. Our results do not provide evidence that allelic variation of the KCNQ2 gene contributes a common and relevant effect to the pathogenesis of common subtypes of idiopathic generalized epilepsy.

In a little over two decades, the Federal Express Corporation has grown from a startup in the overnight package delivery business to a $9 billion global leader in the industry. How has FedEx achieved such success? The following case study finds that while leadership in information technology innovation has been central to FedEx's success, attention to the diversity of both organizational and global cultures as well as organizational learning have helped to provide a foundation for long-term viability in the global marketplace.

This study investigated how autonomy, interdependence, and team development, along with process and contextual support variables, were related to the effectiveness of teams of “knowledge workers.” The sample included 231 knowledge workers from 27 work teams. Team members completed surveys measuring the design, process, and contextual factors. Effectiveness measures included multiple key stakeholder evaluations of team performance and self-report measures of attitudinal outcomes. The results suggest that interactions among design, process, and contextual support factors have important implications for team effectiveness. In particular, the positive relationship between team autonomy and team job motivation was reduced as teams worked under more interdependent conditions. This interaction effect also varied across the types of autonomy (e.g., planning-related, product-related, and people-related) the team was given. Results also demonstrated that the relationship between job motivation and team process behaviors (helping, sharing, and innovating) was more positive in teams who were developmental mature. Process behaviors were positively related to effectiveness, but those relationships became more positive in the presence of certain contextual factors (high-quality goals and efficient information transmission), and less positive in the presence of others (feedback and time pressure). Future research needs and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a genetically determined common subtype of idiopathic generalized epilepsy. Linkage to the HLA complex on chromosome 6p21.3 and an allelic association with HLA-DR13 and -DQB1 alleles suggest that a susceptibility locus for JME, designated as "EJM1," is located within or near the HLA region. However, further studies revealed controversial results, and genetic heterogeneity has been suspected. The present study was designed to evaluate the validity of the association and linkage findings and to refine the map position of EJM1. Our association analysis showed no significant difference of the frequency of HLA-DR13 carriers in 62 German JME patients compared with that in 77 German controls (χ2 = 0.98, df = 1, p = 0.161, one-tailed). Multipoint linkage analysis with use of microsatellite markers from the chromosomal region 6p25-q13 in 29 German families of JME patients provided significant evidence that an epilepsy locus (EJM1) close to the HLA locus confers susceptibility to "idiopathic" generalized seizures(Zmax = 3.27 at 𝛉max = 0.033 centromeric to the HLA-DQ locus), assuming an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance with 70% penetrance. Haplotype analyses revealed key recombinations in five families, which locate EJM1 to the centromeric side of the HLA-DQ locus. This study confirms a causative role of EJM1 in the pathogenesis of idiopathic generalized seizures in the majority of German families of JME patients and refines a candidate region of 10.1 cM in the chromosomal region 6p21 between the flanking loci HLA-DQ and D6S1019. A possible explanation for the current controversial results in families of different populations might be ethnic variation of interfering polygenic effects that could be permissive for heterogenous susceptibility alleles.

Hereditary factors play a major role in the etiology of idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs). A trait locus (EBN1) for a rare subtype of IGEs, the benign neonatal familial convulsions, and a susceptibility gene (EEGV1) for the common human low-voltage electroencephalogram have been mapped close together with D20S19 to the chromosomal region 20q13.2. Both loci are potential candidates for the susceptibility to IGE spectra with age-related onset beyond the neonatal period. The present study tested the hypothesis that a putative susceptibility locus linked to D20S19 predisposes to spectra of IGEs with age-related onset from childhood to adolescence. Linkage analyses were conducted in 60 families ascertained through IGE patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, juvenile absence epilepsy or childhood absence epilepsy. Our results provide evidence against linkage of a putative susceptibility gene for four hierarchically broadened IGE spectra with D20S19 assuming tentative single-locus genetic models. The extent of an {open_quotes}exclusion region{close_quotes} (lod scores below -2) varied from 0.5 cM up to 22 cM on either side of D2OSl9 depending on the trait assumed. These results are contrary to the expectation that a susceptibility gene in vicinity to D20S19 confers a common major gene effect to the expression of IGE spectra with age-related onsetmore » from childhood to adolescence. 50 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.« less