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The authors developed and evaluated an expert system-based training system using Information Systems Design Theory (ISDT). First, an Expert System for Training (EST) was designed and implemented, and then a version of EST without expertise features, called IST, was also created. In order to evaluate which training system (if any) delivers better training, a three-group quasi-experiment was used. Each group was trained to use Statistical Process Control (SPC). One group was trained using the EST; outcomes for this group were significantly the highest among the three. A second group was trained using the IST; outcomes were not as high as the first group but significantly higher compared with the control group. The control group was trained with traditional means. Results show that the ISDT led to a useful purposely- developed application for enhancing the training of workers who have limited education but need to know about a very specific and complex field where the availability of trainers is limited. The authors call for further research that uses this ISDT to build purposely-developed software to support training of complex tasks. Keywords: Expert Systems, Information Systems Design Theory (ISDT), Information Systems Development, Statistical Process Control (SPC), Training, INTRODUCTION This paper reports the development of an information systems design theory (ISDT) for an expert system to support worker training. It describes design research that produced a system to [...]

Author(s): Anna Tafuri [1, 2, 3]; Arda Shahinian [1, 2, 3]; Friedhelm Bladt [1, 4]; Steve K. Yoshinaga [5]; Manel Jordana [6]; Andrew Wakeham [2, 3]; Louis-Martin Boucher [2, 3]; [...]

It has been possible to establish the human protein ICOS and the ligand B7-related protein-1 (B7RP-1) as a receptor-ligand pair able to undertake extensive co-stimulatory activity in vitro and in vivo. This pair has structural links with CD28-B7 and participates in the adaptive immune response. It was found that the interaction between ICOS and B7RP-1 is specific and separate from that taking place between CD28 and B7.

Structural changes in G-CSF and its receptor in the complex were determined through the use of modified C/N isotope labeled amide C=O groups. Results have shown that the AB loop region involving the helix segment of G-CSF undergoes a conformational change to a regular alpha-helix upon binding to the receptor. The formation of the ligand/receptor complex results in conformational change in the receptor as well as in the ligand.

The domain of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor receptors (G-CSFR) that extends from the plasma membrane is characterized by dimeric associations. These (G-CSFR) dimer also occur even when the receptor has been purified in conditioned media and separated in affinity columns. However, the presence of GCSF is a stronger inducer of the receptors to form dimers. GCSF-receptor binding is a high-affinity process that is mediated by conformational changes in the receptors.