University of Cyprus

About: University of Cyprus is a education organization based out in Nicosia, Cyprus. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Large Hadron Collider & Context (language use). The organization has 3624 authors who have published 15157 publications receiving 412135 citations.

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

Abstract: In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.

The Export Development Process: An Integrative Review of Empirical Models

Abstract: Despite widespread research on the export behavior of firms, no integrative review of the empirical work in relation to export development models exists in the extant literature. This article reviews the main models on the subject, identifies their structural characteristics, evaluates the methodologies used for their validation, and analyzes the key conceptual issues emerging from their assessment. While valuable inroads into the mechanics and constituent parts of the export development process have been made, this avenue of empirical inquiry has attracted criticism on structural, methodological and conceptual grounds. Future research in the field should harness the eclectic contribution afforded by existing theory and, at the same time, enhance its status with contributions from marketing, business and other disciplines.

Epistemological and methodological issues for the conceptualization, development, and assessment of ICT-TPCK: Advances in technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK)

Abstract: In this paper, several issues regarding the epistemology of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) are first raised for the purpose of clarifying the construct. Specifically, the transformative and integrative views are juxtaposed for exploring the epistemology of TPCK, and, at the end, the transformative view is adopted concluding that TPCK is a unique body of knowledge that is constructed from the interaction of its individual contributing knowledge bases. Then, ICT-TPCK is introduced as a strand of TPCK, and is described as the ways knowledge about tools and their affordances, pedagogy, content, learners, and context are synthesized into an understanding of how particular topics that are difficult to be understood by learners or difficult to be represented by teachers can be transformed and taught more effectively with technology in ways that signify its added value. One model for the development and another for the assessment of ICT-TPCK are then discussed. Technology Mapping is proposed as a situative methodology for the development of ICT-TPCK, and three forms of assessment, namely, expert assessment, peer assessment, and self-assessment are proposed for assessing teachers' competencies to teach with technology. The paper also reports on the empirical findings of a study that was undertaken to investigate the impact of the proposed models on student learning within the context of two design tasks in a pre-service primary teacher education course. Repeated measures within-subject effects were tested and the results indicated that ICT-TPCK competency significantly improved over the course of a semester. The results of this study clearly show that the theoretical models proposed herein can positively impact the development of ICT-TPCK. Lastly, these results can be used as baseline data in future studies that may be conducted to further validate or improve the proposed models in different contexts.

Hyperbolic geometry of complex networks

Abstract: We develop a geometric framework to study the structure and function of complex networks. We assume that hyperbolic geometry underlies these networks, and we show that with this assumption, heterogeneous degree distributions and strong clustering in complex networks emerge naturally as simple reflections of the negative curvature and metric property of the underlying hyperbolic geometry. Conversely, we show that if a network has some metric structure, and if the network degree distribution is heterogeneous, then the network has an effective hyperbolic geometry underneath. We then establish a mapping between our geometric framework and statistical mechanics of complex networks. This mapping interprets edges in a network as noninteracting fermions whose energies are hyperbolic distances between nodes, while the auxiliary fields coupled to edges are linear functions of these energies or distances. The geometric network ensemble subsumes the standard configuration model and classical random graphs as two limiting cases with degenerate geometric structures. Finally, we show that targeted transport processes without global topology knowledge, made possible by our geometric framework, are maximally efficient, according to all efficiency measures, in networks with strongest heterogeneity and clustering, and that this efficiency is remarkably robust with respect to even catastrophic disturbances and damages to the network structure.

Measuring System Usage: Implications for IS Theory Testing

Abstract: There is widespread agreement among researchers that system usage, defined as the utilization of information technology IT by individuals, groups, or organizations, is the primary variable through which IT affects white collar performance. Despite the number of studies targeted at explaining system usage, there are crucial differences in the way the variable has been conceptualized and operationalized. This wide variation of system usage measures hinders the efforts of MIS researchers to compare findings across studies, thus impeding the accumulation of knowledge and theory in this area. The purpose of this paper is to address conceptual as well as methodological issues related to measuring system usage. First, via LISREL measurement modeling techniques, we compare subjective and objective measures of system usage, namely, self-reported versus computer-recorded measures. Next, using a modified form of Davis' Technology Acceptance Model TAM as a nomological net, we test the nomological validity of these system usage constructs and measures. Results of the LISREL measurement and nomological net analysis suggest that system usage should be factored into self-reported system usage and computer-recorded system usage. Contrary to expectations, these constructs do not appear to be strongly related to each other. Moreover, while self-reported measures of system usage are related to self-reported measures of TAM independent variables, objective, computer-recorded measures show distinctly weaker links. In the face of such counter-evidence, it is tempting to argue that research that has relied on subjective measures of system usage for example, research confirming TAM may be artifactual. There are several alternative explanations, though, that maintain the integrity of TAM and studies that measure system usage subjectively. These alternative explanations suggest directions for further research as well as new approaches to measurement.