Norm-based agency for designing collaborative information systems

Abstract. Information systems are organizations in which signs are created, processed and consumed. In order to fulfil the organizational goals and objectives, its members must understand their responsibilities and authorities, and must act co-operatively. The key to this organization and co-ordination lies in norms, which define responsibilities and authorities for each human agent, and establish regularities of behaviour. In the context of co-operative work, where 'intelligent' software agents are involved, to understand the norms of behaviour of various human agents becomes critical. Software agents can perform some tasks autonomously on the user's behalf. Such delegation involves a set of complicated philosophical and legal issues. After discussion on delineation of various boundaries of responsibility and authorities, this paper addresses norms and normative behaviour of human agents within an organization. It discusses the taxonomies of norms and a method of norm specification, with examples. Finally it presents an approach of norm-based agency for designing collaborative information systems and a case study of an insurance claim for illustration.     

Forming relationship commitments to online communities: The role of social motivations

Although administrators of online communities (OCs) may focus on improving their OCs through upgrading technology and enhancing the usability of their OCs to attract additional users, the level of OC participation may be associated with social motives. The purpose of this study is to understand how social motivations (that is, network externalities and social norms) affect members committed to OCs. This study tests the hypotheses on data collected from 396 undergraduate students. Data analyses show that network externalities and social norms directly influence social interaction ties, which subsequently results in commitment toward a community. Social norms also directly influence relationship commitments to a community. The results provide insights into how social motivations lead to commitment to an OC, reminding OC administrators to encourage member commitment to the OC from the perspective of social motivations.     

拔头油热裂解制乙烯的数值模拟

乙烯裂解原料的优化,已经成为石油化工行业中非常重要的一环。我国裂解制乙烯的原料,主要以石脑油为主。石脑油的二次加工油品拔头油以其优良的裂解特性,如芳烃含量较少、结焦少、三烯产量较高等优点,越来越引起众多乙烯制造者以及研究者的注意。本文研究拔头油的组成、性质和裂解特性时,发现拔头油的馏程窄,用恩氏蒸馏数据计算其他性质,但精度较低,于是提出计算拔头油性质的“替代算法”,并利用裂解模拟软件PYRO-SimP模拟和分析生产中拔头油在毫秒炉中的裂解过程,结果表明这种算法效果很好。     

如何评估和挑选企业外部的CIO人选

企业内部缺乏CIO人选或继任者，常常促使其求助于猎头公司；当企业希望CIO能够推动领导层、战略和文化的革新与变革时，通常倾向于从外面寻找候选人；传统的职位描述通常过于战术化、太强调任务，而对于人选的个性特征和职位预期绩效的描述并不多。以上是Gartner一项调查的关键结果。挑选诸如CIO这种新任高管是一个至关重要的决定，它将对企业的战略发展、运营和财务绩效产生重要影响。     

Assessment of a mechanism for reactive inhibition of carboxypeptidase A with QM/MM methods

The mechanism for inhibition of carboxypeptidase A (CPA) by the two enantiomers of a reactive inhibitor, N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-methylphenylalanine, has been investigated using computational methods. Quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods have been employed to find likely enzyme binding conformations by comparison with the observed rates of inactivation of the enzyme. The study has shown that the enzyme active site appears to be flexible enough to allow the nucleophilic deactivation reactions of both the (R) and (S) forms of a model of the inhibitor to be catalysed by the Zn(II) cofactor of CPA.     

The role of overt attention in emotion-modulated memory.

The presence of emotional stimuli results in a central/peripheral tradeoff effect in memory: memory for central details is enhanced at the cost of peripheral items. It has been assumed that emotion-modulated differences in memory are the result of differences in attention, but this has not been tested directly. The present experiment used eye movement monitoring as an index of overt attention allocation and mediation analysis to determine whether differences in attention were related to subsequent memory. Participants viewed negative and neutral scenes surrounded by three neutral objects and were then given a recognition memory test. The results revealed evidence in support of a central/peripheral tradeoff in both attention and memory. However, contrary with previous assumptions, whereas attention partially mediated emotion-enhanced memory for central pictures, it did not explain the entire relationship. Further, although centrally presented emotional stimuli led to decreased number of eye fixations toward the periphery, these differences in viewing did not contribute to emotion-impaired memory for specific details pertaining to the periphery. These findings suggest that the differential influence of negative emotion on central versus peripheral memory may result from other cognitive influences in addition to overt visual attention or on postencoding processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Laboratory investigation of bitumen based on round robin DSC and AFM tests

In the past years a wide discussion has been held among asphalt researchers regarding the existence and interpretation of observed microstructures on bitumen surfaces. To investigate this, the RILEM technical committee on nano bituminous materials 231-NBM has conducted a round robin study combining differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). From this, methods for performing DSC and AFM tests on bitumen samples and determination of the influence of wax on the observed phases, taking into account thermal history, sample preparation and annealing procedure, are presented and critically discussed. DSC is used to measure various properties and phenomena that indicate physical changes such as glass transition temperature (T _g) and phase transition such as melting and crystallization. In the case of existence of wax, either natural or synthetic, it can further indicate the melting point of wax, that could be used to determine wax content. The results from seven laboratories show that T _g temperatures obtained from the heating scans are more repeatable and easier to obtain in comparison to the cooling scans. No significant difference was noted for T _g’s obtained from the first and second heating scans. AFM is an imaging tool used to characterize the microstructures on a bituminous surface. Using AFM three phases in the materials with wax could be distinguished. The changes in the phases observed with AFM for increases in temperature were correlated with the DSC curve, and it could be established that the so called “Bee” structure disappeared around the melting peak in the DSC curve. Thus, this research has confirmed the relation between the microstructures on a bitumen surface and the wax content.     

乙基纤维素-艾叶粉溶液微胶囊的制备及缓释性能研究

文章首次以乙摹纤维素为壁材,采用溶剂蒸发法制得艾叶粉水溶液微胶囊.正交实验得出制备微胶囊的最佳工艺条件为:乙基纤维索:芯材:乙酸乙酯:水相=1:2.5:13:130(质量比),搅拌速度:1500 r/min,乳化时间:15 mim,水油两相混合搅拌时间:10 min.通过扫描电镜表征结果显示,所得微胶囊固体颗粒呈球形,分散性好,粒径在20～200 μm范围内.实验制得微胶囊最大载药量为48.07%,具有良好的包覆效果.透析缓释实验表明,微胶囊在37.0℃恒温生理盐水浸泡60 h后,仍有艾叶药理活性成分存在,较好地延长了储藏时间和药物有效作用时限.     

The development of bilingual children's early spelling in English.

By using an extended version of R. Treiman, M. Cassar, and A. Zukowski's (1994) flaps spelling task (wa_er, is it t or d in water?), the authors investigated the metalinguistic awareness of 6-year-old bilingual children from 3 different language backgrounds (LBs): English-LB (English-L1, Mandarin-L2), Chinese-LB (Mandarin-L1, English L2), and Malay-LB (Bahasa Malaysia-L1, English-L2). Treiman et al. found that unilingual English-speaking children's performance was poorer on flapped words than on control words and better on /d/ flaps than on /t/ flaps, suggesting phonology is salient even for beginners. The data for bilinguals revealed predictable group differences in the use of orthographic and phonological awareness for early spellings, even though the children were all attending the same English-medium kindergarten. Possible educational implications for linguistic minority children are briefly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)