Process verification is a key step in business process management. In this paper, we propose process logic as a new logical formalism and mathematical method to enable advanced process verification. We formally define the syntax and semantics of process logic, establish a formal relationship between process logic and graphical representation of process models, and transform the problem of verifying the correctness of process models into a problem of determining the validity of logic argument forms.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has become an expanding global public health problem. Although the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is an important regulator of glucose metabolism, the relationship between circulating glucocorticoids (GCs) and the features of T2DM remains controversial. Here, we show that 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), an intermediate steroid in the biosynthetic pathway that converts cholesterol to cortisol, binds to and stimulates the transcriptional activity of GR. Hepatic 17-OHP concentrations are increased in diabetic mice and patients due to aberrantly increased expression of Cyp17A1. Systemic administration of 17-OHP or overexpression of Cyp17A1 in the livers of lean mice promoted the pathogenesis of hyperglycemia and insulin resistance, whereas knockdown of Cyp17A1 abrogated metabolic disorders in obese mice. Therefore, our results identify a Cyp17A1/17-OHP/GR–dependent pathway in the liver that mediates obesity-induced hyperglycemia, suggesting that selectively targeting hepatic Cyp17A1 may provide a therapeutic avenue for treating T2DM.
Abstract An increase in hepatic triglyceride (TG) contents usually results in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and related metabolic diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying perturbations of hepatic TG homeostasis remain largely unknown. Here, we showed that MicroRNA-124 was up-regulated in the livers of C57BL/6 mice fed a short-term high-fat-diet (HFD). Adenoviral overexpression of miR-124 in C57BL/6 mice led to accumulation of excessive triglycerides and up-regulation of lipogenic genes in the liver. We further identified tribbles homolog 3 ( TRB3 ) as a direct target of miR-124. AKT signaling, which is negatively regulated by TRB3, was enhanced by miR-124 overexpression. Moreover, restoration of TRB3 expression markedly abolished the effect of miR-124 on hepatic TG metabolism. Therefore, our findings revealed that miR-124 played a role in mediating high-fat-diet induced TG accumulation in the liver.
The use of social media in the workplace is controversial. In order to develop a good understanding of social media use at work, this study examines the effects of social media use from both positive and negative sides. Based on two-factor theory, this study proposes that social media use at work engenders distraction and perceived relatedness, which in turn influence job performance. This study further draws on resource matching theory to posit that the perceptual load of the job moderates the effects of social media use at work on distraction and perceived relatedness. A survey will be conducted to collect data and test the research hypotheses. In theoretical terms, this study is expected to contribute to information systems research by investigating both positive and negative outcomes of social media usage. In practical terms, this study sheds light on the usage and management of social media in the workplace.
This study seeks to address the mixed findings of prior studies regarding the effect of online brand community on customer value. Based on the regulatory focus theory, we hypothesize that participation in a brand community tend to increase both visit and purchase frequencies of customers with promotion-focus; on the contrary, the same would typically decrease visit and purchase frequencies of customers with preventionfocus. By analyzing data from an online brand community using a “propensity-score matching” technique, we found a partial validation that attendance of the community led to increases in customer visit frequency for customers with both promotion-focus and prevention-focus. Further, our results show that customers with promotion-focus tend to purchase more; while customers with prevention-focus slightly decreased their purchase volume. Both theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed in the paper.
With widespread use of collaboration technology and increasing dispersion of teams due to globalization of companies, more and more collaboration activities are being conducted virtually. However, virtual collaboration seems to work well for some cases, but not for others. This phenomenon motivates research questions: What factors determine the suitability of collaboration virtualization, and how do those factors affect the design of effective collaboration systems? Our literature study yielded little theoretical work in this regard. As such, we believe that research on collaboration virtualization theory (CVT) is critically needed. To this end, we present our preliminary findings on the purpose and composition of collaboration virtualization theory based on the literature. Essentially, our CVT contains three categories of constructs: task, team, and technology characteristics. Our main objective in this short paper is to initiate a new theoretical perspective for research in the field of collaboration technology and management.
Abstract Entrepreneurs are showing an increasing focus on understanding and managing their social media strategies to optimize the success of their crowdfunding campaigns. While much of the current crowdfunding literature focuses on the roles of social media engagement in the funding performance of crowdfunded projects, in this study, drawing on social media engagement theory, we examine how product and entrepreneur characteristics moderate the influence of social media engagement on funding performance in the reward‐based crowdfunding. Using a dataset of technology crowdfunded projects, we investigated whether Facebook and Twitter engagements affect funding outcomes and if so, how the two interact with each other and their influences vary by project type (hardware and software) and entrepreneur characteristics (gender, experience, and social capital). We found that both Facebook and Twitter engagements positively affect funding, but the two weaken each other's impact, particularly for hardware products. Additionally, Facebook engagements had a larger effect on funding outcomes in the early days of a campaign driven by its prelaunch efforts, whereas Twitter engagements had a larger impact in later days. Furthermore, our findings indicated that Facebook engagement is more influential for hardware products. An entrepreneur's internal social capital built inside the crowdfunding platform also weakened the effects of Facebook engagements generated outside the platform, whereas Twitter engagements on subsequent funding had less influence on experienced entrepreneurs. Our findings suggest that Facebook mainly serves as a channel to show the significant commitment of entrepreneurs to their projects and increase persuasiveness, while Twitter helps to raise awareness by broadcasting crowdfunding campaigns among potential investors.
The regulation of food intake and body weight has been hotly investigated. In the present study, we show that stanniocalcin2 (STC2), a cytokine ubiquitously expressed and especially upregulated in many types of human cancers, has a regulatory role in food intake and weight loss. Systemic treatment of C57BL/6 mice with recombinant STC2 protein resulted in decreased food intake and body weight, whereas energy expenditure was not affected. Similarly, STC2 treatment also induced anorexia in hyperphagic leptin-deficient mice, leading to a significant reduction in body weight and improvement of blood glucose levels. Furthermore, intracerebroventricular administration of STC2 to mice led to an acute decrease in food intake, which was mediated, at least in part, by activation of STAT3 pathway. Taken together, our results revealed the importance of STC2 in the regulation of feeding behavior as well as body weight.
Social learning enables learners to interact with one another, which is a critical way to foster creativity. Although online social networking technologies have been widely adopted, few empirical studies have been conducted to illustrate the effect of online social interactions on creativity in the context of learning. In this research-in-progress, we attempt to fill this gap by investigating how feedback from others in an online social learning context affects learners' creativity. Different from previous studies on the direct effect of feedback on creative performance, we go a step further to explore the underlying mechanism in an online social learning context and propose that feedback sign affects creative performance through the learners' perception of feedback accuracy and intrinsic motivation. Moreover, we examine the characteristics of feedback providers and recipients that influence learners' mental reactions to feedback sign. Our study is based on the stimulus-organism-response model and the feedback process model. A lab experiment will be used based on an online social learning platform. Undergraduate students will be recruited as participants.
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