An Exploration of Enterprise Architecture Research

Management of the enterprise architecture has become increasingly recognized as a crucial part of both business and IT management. Still, a common understanding and methodological consistency seems far from being developed. Acknowledging the significant role of research in moving the development process along, this article employs different bibliometric methods, complemented by an extensive qualitative interpretation of the research field, to provide a unique overview of the enterprise architecture literature. After answering our research questions about the collaboration via co-authorships, the intellectual structure of the research field and its most influential works, and the principal themes of research, we propose an agenda for future research based on the findings from the above analyses and their comparison to empirical insights from the literature. In particular, our study finds a considerable degree of co-authorship clustering and a positive impact of the extent of co-authorship on the diffusion of works on enterprise architecture. In addition, this article identifies three major research streams and shows that research to date has revolved around specific themes, while some of high practical relevance receive minor attention. Hence, the contribution of our study is manifold and offers support for researchers and practitioners alike

Schema matching in a peer-to-peer database system

Includes bibliographical references (p. 112-118).Peer-to-peer or P2P systems are applications that allow a network of peers to share resources in a scalable and efficient manner. My research is concerned with the use of P2P systems for sharing databases. To allow data mediation between peers' databases, schema mappings need to exist, which are mappings between semantically equivalent attributes in different peers' schemas. Mappings can either be defined manually or found semi-automatically using a technique called schema matching. However, schema matching has not been used much in dynamic environments, such as P2P networks. Therefore, this thesis investigates how to enable effective semi-automated schema matching within a P2P network

Intelligent technologies for real-time monitoring and decision support systems

MPhilAutomation of data processing and control of operations involving intelligent technologies that is considered the next generation technology requires error-free data capture systems in both clinical research and healthcare. The presented research constitutes a step in the development of intelligent technologies in healthcare. The proposed improvement is by automation that includes the elements of intelligence and prediction. In particular automatic data acquisition systems for several devices are developed including pervasive computing technologies for mobility. The key feature of the system is the minimisation/near eradication of erroneous data input along with a number of other security measures ensuring completeness, accuracy and reliability of the patients‟ data. The development is based on utilising existing devices to keep the cost of Data Acquisition Systems down. However, with existing technology and devices one can be limited to features required to perform more refined analysis. Research of existing and development of a new device for assessment of neurological diseases, such as MS (Multiple Sclerosis) using Stroop test is performed. The software can also be customized for use in other diseases affecting Central Nervous System such as Parkinson‟s disease. The introduction of intelligent functions into the majority of operations enables quality checks and provides on-line user assistance. It could become a key tool in the first step of patient diagnosis before referring to more advanced tests for further investigation. Although the software cannot fully ensure the diagnosis of MS or PD but can make significant contribution in the process of diagnosis and monitorin

Intensive War : Not the Beginning, Not the Middle, Not the End.

With the emergence of the theories and doctrines of the mode of combat commonly referred to as network-centric warfare, it is becoming increasingly obvious that global militaries, and particularly the US military and defence establishment, have begun to perceive a shift in the emerging 'strategic' environment. The hitherto rationally predictable security calculus - like the now fading Cold War strategic paradigm - is fast becoming redundant. Among other things, this shift is being increasingly understood as a movement from nation-state threats to decentralised network threats. What is significant about this is that perhaps for the first time in the history of the modem military, the military machine - a state-owned and run apparatus - is thinking of and, in some cases, even operating outside the orbit of the State. This would suggest that either the connection between war and the political is becoming increasingly tenuous, or perhaps war, considered in its originary terms, was and is not really an instrument of any kind, least of all a political one. Thus, this thesis asks: what if war in its most extravagant, uninhibited and originary sense does not serve the State? Pursuant to this, the thesis traces the philosophical backdrop against which the more common theorizations of war and its conduct take place. Taking its investigative analysis further, it demonstrates that, when considered in philosophical terms, though the emergence of the net-centric theories and practices of war potentially carry with them the possibility to render our imagination of war into a state of 'suspended animation', they also carry with/in them a profound 'performative contradiction' that necessarily fractures the state-centric concept of war. This thesis' investigations reveal that such a fracturing far from paralyzing the project of re-problematizating war, affords us an opportunity to rethink war in inhuman, that is to say, in machinic terms

Population Genomics of a Baboon Hybrid Zone in Zambia

Hybridization is increasingly recognized as a common, important process shaping the evolution of organisms including humans. Across hybrid zones, the genomes of incipient species are mixed and recombined through hybridization and backcrossing, creating conditions ideal for evaluating the actions of natural selection on gene variants in novel genomic contexts. This dissertation aims to increase our understanding of hybridization using a Zambian baboon study system in which two species, Kinda baboons (Papio kindae) and grayfoot baboons (Papio griseipes), hybridize despite exhibiting pronounced differences in body size and behavior. Using genome-wide genotypic data prepared using double-digest RADseq, I scan for genomic regions under selection in these species and in their hybrids.Because a large section of the hybrid zone contains groups unhabituated to human presence, I develop a new method for noninvasive genomic-scale genotyping from feces. I demonstrate that an enrichment procedure using methyl-CpG-binding-domain proteins to preferentially capture densely CpG-methylated mammalian DNA effectively partitions baboon host DNA from contaminating bacterial DNA, yielding efficient sequencing of target genomic DNA. Comparisons of same-animal double-digest RADseq libraries demonstrate high concordance between feces-derived and blood-derived genotypes.By scanning genome-wide data for regions with significant levels of differentiation between Kinda and grayfoot baboon populations, I identify candidate genes under selection in the two species. I find evidence for selection on genes and biological pathways that underlie differences in body size between the parental species. One pathway exhibiting significantly elevated differentiation was the JAK/STAT signaling pathway, which notably serves an important role in mediating the effects of cytokine signals on processes including epiphyseal chondrocyte proliferation essential for bone growth.Analysis of hybrids reveals that Kinda and grayfoot baboons form a relatively wide cline in the Kafue river valley in central Zambia. Comparison of autosomal ancestry patterns to mitochondrial-DNA and Y-chromosome ancestry patterns reveals that the Kinda baboon Y chromosome has introgressed extensively across the species barrier relative to both the mitochondrial genome and the remainder of the nuclear genome. The JAK/STAT signaling pathway exhibits restricted introgression, suggesting a role in barriers to reproduction possibly due to the unusually high or low body size sexual dimorphism between male grayfoot x female Kinda and male Kinda x female grayfoot baboon mating partners. The toll-like receptor pathway exhibits enhanced introgression, suggesting adaptive introgression of pathogen defenses. Finally, the sperm tail gene ODF2 exhibits enhanced introgression and an advantage of the grayfoot baboon variant. I suggest based on a house mouse analogy that male hybrids may be subjected to reduced sperm quality but that this effect may be mitigated or overcome by the presence of an invading Y chromosome. This effect potentially explains the extreme introgression of the Kinda baboon Y chromosome

Secure portable execution and storage environments: A capability to improve security for remote working

Remote working is a practice that provides economic benefits to both the employing organisation and the individual. However, evidence suggests that organisations implementing remote working have limited appreciation of the security risks, particularly those impacting upon the confidentiality and integrity of information and also on the integrity and availability of the remote worker’s computing environment. Other research suggests that an organisation that does appreciate these risks may veto remote working, resulting in a loss of economic benefits. With the implementation of high speed broadband, remote working is forecast to grow and therefore it is appropriate that improved approaches to managing security risks are researched. This research explores the use of secure portable execution and storage environments (secure PESEs) to improve information security for the remote work categories of telework, and mobile and deployed working. This thesis with publication makes an original contribution to improving remote work information security through the development of a body of knowledge (consisting of design models and design instantiations) and the assertion of a nascent design theory. The research was conducted using design science research (DSR), a paradigm where the research philosophies are grounded in design and construction. Following an assessment of both the remote work information security issues and threats, and preparation of a set of functional requirements, a secure PESE concept was defined. The concept is represented by a set of attributes that encompass the security properties of preserving the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the computing environment and data. A computing environment that conforms to the concept is considered to be a secure PESE, the implementation of which consists of a highly portable device utilising secure storage and an up-loadable (on to a PC) secure execution environment. The secure storage and execution environment combine to address the information security risks in the remote work location. A research gap was identified as no existing ‘secure PESE like’ device fully conformed to the concept, enabling a research problem and objectives to be defined. Novel secure storage and execution environments were developed and used to construct a secure PESE suitable for commercial remote work and a high assurance secure PESE suitable for security critical remote work. The commercial secure PESE was trialled with an existing telework team looking to improve security and the high assurance secure PESE was trialled within an organisation that had previously vetoed remote working due to the sensitivity of the data it processed. An evaluation of the research findings found that the objectives had been satisfied. Using DSR evaluation frameworks it was determined that the body of knowledge had improved an area of study with sufficient evidence generated to assert a nascent design theory for secure PESEs. The thesis highlights the limitations of the research while opportunities for future work are also identified. This thesis presents ten published papers coupled with additional doctoral research (that was not published) which postulates the research argument that ‘secure PESEs can be used to manage information security risks within the remote work environment’

Operationalising Uncertainty : The US Military and the New Spatiality of New Security.

This thesis intersects the literatures of critical security studies and material semiotics to explore the operation of the US military, and through it, the operation of contemporary security agendas. Based around fieldwork conducted with 1st Cavalry (US Army) after its deployment in Operation Iraqi Freedom Phase II, this thesis argues for the exploration of security studies through the spatial operation of violence. Emphasising spatiality, it is argued, allows for an openness - and uncertainty - in accounts of security that can otherwise see violence as overdetermined. This thesis demonstrates this uncertainty - this experimentalism -in two respects, exploring both 1st Cavalry's embrace of ontological multiplicity as part of its operation in Iraq, as well as the continuing interference of multiple modes of absence and presence in enacting military units in the battlespace. The thesis concludes by arguing for more detailed attention to be paid to violence that emphasises its obstinate, reversible, and ultimately experimental nature

Dealing with Expectations and Traditions in Research

"When considering societal expectations and traditions in research, assumptions are often an integral aspect – particularly in the disciplines pertaining to organization studies. The objective of this anthology is to analyze, clarify and demystify assumptions about research and the way that organizations work. The book is interdisciplinary in its form and content. The chapters are in part theoretical and analytical, yet draw on various empirical illustrations. In doing so, the book touches on the research process, basic assumptions in research, possibilities as well as pitfalls that both novice researchers as well as more experienced ones ought to keep in mind. The individual chapters address research and publication through a range of areas and topics including: accounting and management control, examination of the term ‘organization’ itself, and exploration of behavioral and social processes that lead to change in organizations and society as a whole. All of the chapters illuminate different roles in the research process in organization studies. Dealing with Expectations and Traditions in Research will be of interest to researchers on all levels, including PhD students and master’s students writing term papers and their theses, as well as in methodological courses and discussions.

Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2008, nr 2

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