Determinants of ASP choice: an integrated perspective

With the rise in the availability of scalable network technologies and resources, Application Service Providers (ASPs) have become increasingly more feasible sources for obtaining IS services. ASP research represents an opportunity to integrate previous research on outsourcing, applied in the area of ASP choice. Historically, outsourcing research has adopted many theoretical perspectives, including transaction cost, resource-based, resource-dependence, and knowledge-based. We apply these perspectives in the ASP context. When obtaining IS services through an ASP, factors other than cost and those explained by the resource-based and resource-dependent perspectives can become paramount. The knowledge-based perspective enables us to examine knowledge risk and integration requirements. Drawing upon past research and an exploratory study conducted with 35 respondents in 11 firms, an integrated, theoretical model is proposed, which combines the transaction cost, resource-based, resource dependency and knowledge-based perspectives. The model is used to explain the antecedent conditions useful for making decisions on IT sourcing through ASPs.     

Towards a distinctive body of knowledge for Information Systems experts: coding ISD process knowledge in two IS journals

Abstract.  This paper introduces the idea of coding a practically relevant body of knowledge (BoK) in Information Systems (IS) that could have major benefits for the field. In its main part, the paper focuses on the question if and how an underlying body of action-oriented knowledge for IS experts could be distilled from the IS research literature. For this purpose the paper identifies five knowledge areas as the most important parts for an IS expert's BoK. Two of these are claimed as distinct areas of competence for IS experts: IS application knowledge and IS development (ISD) process knowledge. The paper focuses particularly on ISD process knowledge because it allows the organizing of practically relevant IS knowledge in an action-oriented way. The paper presents some evidence for the claim that a considerable body of practically relevant IS process knowledge might, indeed, exist, but also notes that it is highly dispersed in the IS literature. It then argues that the IS research community should take stock of this knowledge and organize it in an action-oriented way. Based on results from prior work it proposes a four-level hierarchical coding scheme for this purpose. In order to test the idea of coding action-oriented knowledge for IS experts, the paper reports the results of a coded literature analysis of ISD research articles published from 1996 to 2000 in two leading IS journals – Information Systems Journal and MIS Quarterly. The results suggest that ISD approaches form a useful framework for organizing practically relevant IS knowledge.     

微氧EGSBBR产甲烷系统快速启动与微生物群落特性

为实现高有机废水产甲烷快速启动,本文采用微氧膨胀颗粒污泥床生物膜反应器（EGSBBR）处理2000mg/L化学需氧量（COD）有机废水,通过逐步缩短水力停留时间和增大反应区上升流速的方式,经过34天运行系统产甲烷成功启动,COD去除率从67.5%升高至94.2%,有机负荷达1.0kgCOD/(m³·d),此时系统最大甲烷产量为582mL/d。产气量与出水pH和出水VFA浓度变化具有相关性,且污泥胞外聚合物（EPS）中的多糖、蛋白质浓度显著增加。高通量测序结果证实Methanothrix为系统产甲烷主要优势菌属,表明微氧条件甲烷产生主要通过乙酸脱羧途径形成。该研究为高浓度有机废水处理实现快速产甲烷提供了一种可借鉴的新工艺。     

Psychologists and hospice: Where we are and where we can be.

Since the early days of the hospice movement, the role of psychologists in hospice care has been discussed. This study is based on questionnaire responses from hospice programs randomly drawn from those who were members of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. The results clearly demonstrate the need for psychology's role in hospice, but there is much to do to clarify and develop this role. Although psychologists have much to offer in the hospice field and end-of-life care in general, this study found that there are not many psychologists actively working in these settings. Suggestions are made for how psychologists can become more involved in the provision of hospice and other end-of-life care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A tunable microwave transistor oscillator with a resonator based on higher order bulk acoustic modes

The characteristics of a transistor oscillator of a set of frequencies stabilized with a frequency-tuned multifrequency resonator based on higher-order bulk acoustic modes are investigated. Variants of discrete electronic tuning of the oscillator frequency are presented.     

The psychobiological effects of cognitive experiential therapy, hypnosis, cognitive restructuring, and attention placebo control in the treatment of essential hypertension.

Examines the psychobiological effects of cognitive experiential therapy (CET) or what was previously referred to as rational stage directed hypnotherapy on essential hypertension. CET combines cognitive restructuring, hypnosis, and developmental staging. 39 Ss were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: CET, hypnosis only, cognitive restructuring, or an attention placebo control group. The overall multivariate model consisting of all experimental conditions over time yielded a significant interaction effect with respect to 9 psychobiological outcome measures. Discriminant analysis revealed a stronger overall effect over time for CET when compared with its major components (i.e., hypnosis, cognitive restructuring, and attention control). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Signatures of Incoherence in a Quantum Information Processor

Incoherent noise is manifest in measurements of expectation values when the underlying ensemble evolves under a classical distribution of unitary processes. While many incoherent processes appear decoherent, there are important differences. The distribution functions underlying incoherent processes are either static or slowly varying with respect to control operations and so the errors introduced by these distributions are refocusable. The observation and control of incoherence in small Hilbert spaces is well known. Here we explore incoherence during an entangling operation, such as is relevant in quantum information processing. As expected, it is more difficult to separate incoherence and decoherence over such processes. However, by studying the fidelity decay under a cyclic entangling map we are able to identify distinctive experimental signatures of incoherence. This is demonstrated both through numerical simulations and experimentally in a three qubit nuclear magnetic resonance implementation.