CPA WebTrust practitioners\u27 guide

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Genre, Database, and the Anatomy of the Digital Archive

The purpose of this study was to define shared characteristics of literary digital archives, specifically to explore how conceptual and structural qualities of such archives express generic qualities. In order to describe digital media such as database or digital archives, scholars resort to metaphors, and this study offers the metaphor of anatomy as a generic inscription with historical and methodological implications. The definition of the anatomy genre draws from Northrop Frye\u27s in Anatomy of Criticism, in which Frye describes how anatomies are characterized by proliferating lists, the mixing of prose and non-prose forms, and self-reflexivity--under the guise of knowledge accrual, investigation, and discovery. Criticism from digital humanities, new media, historiography, literature, and archival studies informed this research, in particular critical theory on genre and epistemology, and research on physical and digital archives. Because the definitions we apply to our digital technologies are under development, this dissertation participates in the overall emergence of terms in digital humanities theory. Several case studies analyzed the interface and underlying structures of four literary digital archives to consider how they represent the material past, and how design of visual elements and functionality manifest characteristics of the anatomy genre. The case studies suggest that literary websites. exhibits, and archives participate in the anatomy genre. but that some sites are more anatomical than others, and some sites do not align with the genre at all. The ability to designate a digital project as an anatomy depends more on encyclopedism, detailism, and its continual updating, than on any other factors. In addition, my own experience constructing a literary digital archive from historical manuscripts informs this investigation of genre, in particular my role as the researcher-archivist and how identity affects my approach to the archive. Historically, metacommentary has always been part of the anatomy genre, and this study positions methodological criticism as an expression of metacommentary. The study concludes by considering the implications of literary digital archives for scholarship and research, including effects of power, institutional impact, and the profession of English itself, especially in light of the anatomy genre\u27s tendency towards proliferation and unfinishability

Constructing the Learning Environment in Classroom Convivial Computer Tools for Higher Education

New education technologies are coming on stream, enabling connectivity among teachers, facilitators and students. Students have to learn how to access Managed Learning Environments each time they move to different course websites. These barriers can hinder the real understanding of the subject matter for a course. This research calls for a rethink of pedagogical process towards blending together commonly used emerging social software and legacy educational tools rather than developing new tools for the classroom. Indeed, a learning tool should fit well to the learning model and philosophy of that course. Three case studies were conducted through different courses in the Digital Media master program and Informatik program at the University of Bremen, Germany. Students worked in small groups to design digital media and learning portal that should make learning more interesting and meaningful for them. At the end, this research proposes the concept of Constructing the Learning Environment in classroom and Convivial Computer Tools for higher education, where students and teachers, via dialogues in the class, can negotiate to deploy a set of selected tools and functions to match their learning needs. It is also to show that a tool with too many functions can cause confusion, rather than enhance effectiveness. To empower collaborative, interactive and personal learning, this work proposes the blended learning and classroom procedures for a convivial selection of educational tools. At the end, our innovative attempt is to bring constructionist learning into the higher education context

A strategic perspective on the emergence and evolution of e-Banking in Saudi Arabia

The aim of the thesis is to look at the emergence and evolution of e-banking in Saudi Arabia, with particular emphasis on the processes of how banks implement e-banking to build their capabilities and create new value strategies. The research process focuses on understanding (1) how banks implement e-banking to build their capabilities as well as to create new value strategies, (2) how e-banking capabilities have been built, and (3) the role played by e-banking in shaping the strategic direction of banks. This requires understanding of a variety of aspects (i) the value created by e-banking products and services within different banks, (ii) the process of e-banking development within the different banks, (iii) how banks approach e-banking products and services, and (iv) how the banks align the demand and supply factors surrounding e-banking products and servicesThe theoretical approach blends inputs from different disciplines relevant to understand and deal with the subject matter of this thesis, including value creation and capability-building literature, technology implementation literature, with particular emphasis on the processes of implementing network technologies and e-businesses, as well as literature on process approaches. The methodological approach makes use of the case study strategy (Yin 2003) as research strategy, a multiple-case embedded design, as research design strategy, and three sources of evidence: (1) a survey distributed to all Saudi Arabian banks, (2) semi-structured interviews, and (3) archival records of e-banking transactions. The main fieldwork is longitudinal and takes place during three rounds: SeptemberOctober 2003, December 2003-March 2004, and December 2005-January 2006.The thesis investigates the emergence and evolution of e-banking at six Saudi Arabian banks: Samba Financial Group (Samba), AlRajhi Bank (AlRajhi), Saudi Investment Bank (Saib), Saudi Hollandi Bank (Hollandi), National Commercial Bank (AlAhli), and Riyad Bank (Riyad). This is followed by an investigation of the emergence and evolution of electronic securities trading systems at the Saudi Capital Market (i. e., Tadawul), providing an external view of the emergence and evolution of ebanking in Saudi Arabia.The analysis of the empirical material implements the theoretical propositions strategy via utilisation of the "sociotechnical constituencies" approach (Molina 1990; 1993) and its associated analytical tools of the "diamond of alignment" (Molina 1995), "alignment web" (Molina 2003) and "dynamic strategy mapping" (DSM) (Molina 2005). The aim is not only to use the approach to reveal how banks build their e-banking capabilities and create new value strategies, but also to test critically the applicability of the "sociotechnical constituencies" approach and its associated analytical tools for understanding e-banking value creation and capability-building strategies.The overall result of the investigation conducted by this thesis suggests that the Saudi Arabian ebanking' constituency-building process shows distinctive processes of sociotechnical alignment by each one of the specific Saudi banks' e-banking constituencies in the study. In addition, the use of Molina's "alignment web" to assess the state of each of the specific e-banking constituency-building processes helps identify the areas of strengths and weaknesses in these processes of sociotechnical alignment. The distinctiveness of development by each sociotechnical constituency is also highlighted by the application of the Molina's "dynamic strategy mapping" (DSM), showing that each constituency has its own combination of strategic ingredients.Although this thesis demonstrates strengths in the areas of logic replication, narrative writing, and validating procedure, in future studies it would be interesting to enhance its theoretical background, chronological structure, and quantitative assessment. This thesis contributes to providing a rich insight into the emergence and evolution of e-banking in Saudi Arabia, particularly at six of eleven Saudi banks as well as the technological systems of the Saudi Capital Market. Such contribution may be used to inform the future alignment strategy pursued by each the Saudi Arabian e-banking constituencies

Third party registrars of environmental management systems

During the last decade environmental management has moved from reaction-based management to regulatory requirements to a more progressive approach that incorporates regulatory requirements and voluntary programs, such as the ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS), to successfully administer their environmental programs. Organizations that transitioned from reaction-based to progressive management through certification to the ISO 14001 standard have witnessed improved profitability through more efficiently run operations, a decrease in natural resource and raw material costs, a decrease in waste management costs, increased employee buy-in to the environmental policy and programs, a positive public image, and an improved competitive advantage. Organizations with legitimate environmental management systems have had their systems certified and registered by a registrar accredited by the national accrediting body for the country in which their organization is domiciled. In the United States (U.S .), the accrediting organization is the American National Accreditation Board (ANAB). The purpose of this study was to determine what third party certification groups exist in the United States and how they obtain their accreditation for certifying environmental management systems. The study also sought to identify what means third party certification groups use to validate and register environmental management systems. A list of U.S. accredited registrars was obtained from the American National Accreditation Board's website. Registrars of ISO 14001 were contacted via email and their company websites were perused to obtain information on what they do to certify organizations to ISO 14001 and on how they determine conformance to the ISO Standard. The ISO Standards, 14001 (evironmental management systems) and 19011 (auditing) were obtained and examined to determine conformance requirements to the ISO environmental management system and to ascertain what ISO requires of the auditing registrar. Organizations that are seeking to certify their environmental management systems to ISO 14001 have multiple registrars to select from but may not find it easy to begin the process due to a lack of available information to make an educated choice for their organization. Five company's websites stood out for providing substantial information on the certification process in a downloadable document. These documents provided in depth information on the expectations of the registrar and client, the steps of audit process, certification maintenance and use of certification mark, and the complaints and appeal process for the client against the registrar. These documents provide a good foundation for understanding the certification process and for understanding the registrar's methods. The actual auditing techniques of a registrar are, however, considered proprietary and will not be found in public information sources

A formalised ontology for network attack classification

One of the most popular attack vectors against computers are their network connections. Attacks on computers through their networks are commonplace and have various levels of complexity. This research formally describes network-based computer attacks in the form of a story, formally and within an ontology. The ontology categorises network attacks where attack scenarios are the focal class. This class consists of: Denial-of- Service, Industrial Espionage, Web Defacement, Unauthorised Data Access, Financial Theft, Industrial Sabotage, Cyber-Warfare, Resource Theft, System Compromise, and Runaway Malware. This ontology was developed by building a taxonomy and a temporal network attack model. Network attack instances (also know as individuals) are classified according to their respective attack scenarios, with the use of an automated reasoner within the ontology. The automated reasoner deductions are verified formally; and via the automated reasoner, a relaxed set of scenarios is determined, which is relevant in a near real-time environment. A prototype system (called Aeneas) was developed to classify network-based attacks. Aeneas integrates the sensors into a detection system that can classify network attacks in a near real-time environment. To verify the ontology and the prototype Aeneas, a virtual test bed was developed in which network-based attacks were generated to verify the detection system. Aeneas was able to detect incoming attacks and classify them according to their scenario. The novel part of this research is the attack scenarios that are described in the form of a story, as well as formally and in an ontology. The ontology is used in a novel way to determine to which class attack instances belong and how the network attack ontology is affected in a near real-time environment

E-Governance: Strategy for Mitigating Non-Inclusion of Citizens in Policy Making in Nigeria

The Nigerian federation that currently has 36 states structure adopted the Weberian Public Administrative system before now as an ideal way of running government, which was characterized with the traditional way of doing things without recourse to the deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Today e-governance is seen as a paradigm shift from the previous way of governance. Research has shown that, the adoption and implementation of e-governance is more likely to bring about effective service delivery, mitigate corruption and ultimately enhance citizens’ participation in governmental affairs. However, it has been argued that infrastructure such as regular electricity power and access to the Internet, in addition to a society with high rate of literacy level are required to effectively implement and realize the potentials of e-governance for improved delivery of services. Due to the difficulties currently experienced, developing nations need to adequately prepare for the implementation of e-governance on the platform of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Hence, this study seeks to examine whether the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the context of Nigeria would mitigate the hitherto non-inclusion of citizens in the formulation and implementation of government policies aimed at enhanced development. To achieve the objective of the study, data were sourced and analyzed majorly by examining government websites of 20 states in the Nigerian federation to ascertain if there are venues for citizens to interact with government in the area of policy making and feedback on government actions, as a way of promoting participatory governance. The study revealed that the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the country is yet to fully take place. This is due to lack of infrastructure, low level of literacy rate and government inability to provide the necessary infrastructure for e-governance to materialize. The paper therefore, recommends among others the need for the Federal Government to involve a sound and clear policy on how to go about the adoption and implementation of egovernance through deliberate effort at increasing budgetary allocation towards infrastructural development and mass education of citizens