Implementing section 404 of the sarbanes oxley act: Recommendations for information systems organizations

Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act addresses the effectiveness of internal controls, which in most organizations are either fully or partially automated due to the pervasiveness and ubiquity of information technologies. Significant or material control deficiencies have to be reported publicly. The adverse impact on organizations declaring deficiencies can be severe, for example, damage to reputation and/or market value. While there are many practitioner-led manuals and methods for dealing with 404, there has been little published in the academic research literature investigating the role of Information Systems organizations in implementing Section 404. The paper addresses this gap in knowledge. We used institutional theory as the lens through which to examine the experiences of Section 404 implementation in three global organizations. We used the case study method and an abductive strategy to gather and analyze data respectively. Our findings are summarized in six recommendations. We found that institutional pressures play a critical role in the implementation of Section 404. In particular, organizations face coercive pressure to achieve Section 404 compliance, without which punitive sanctions can be imposed by regulators. Organizations tend to imitate one another in the methods they use so that each is perceived to be in line with their competitive environment. Organizations face normative pressures to act in ways that are socially acceptable, which is to achieve compliance. Failure to do so would be a signal to the market that the organization does not take controls seriously. We expand these findings in terms of power and influence tactics that IS organizations can use when implementing Section 404. Our findings provide directions for practice and lines of enquiry for further research

Short timescale behavior of colliding heavy nuclei at intermediate energies

An Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics model is used to explore the collision of $^{114}$Cd projectiles with $^{92}$Mo target nuclei at E/A=50 MeV over a broad range in impact parameter. The atomic number (Z), velocity, and emission pattern of the reaction products are examined as a function of the impact parameter and the cluster recognition time. The non-central collisions are found to be essentially binary in character resulting in the formation of an excited projectile-like fragment (PLF$^*$) and target-like fragment (TLF$^*$). The decay of these fragments occurs on a short timescale, 100$\le$t$\le$300 fm/c. The average excitation energy deduced for the PLF$^*$ and TLF$^*$ `saturates for mid-central collisions, 3.5$\le$b$\le$6 fm, with its magnitude depending on the cluster recognition time. For short cluster recognition times (t=150 fm/c), an average excitation energy as high as $\approx$6 MeV is predicted. Short timescale emission leads to a loss of initial correlations and results in features such as an anisotropic emission pattern of both IMFs and alpha particles emitted from the PLF$^*$ and TLF$^*$ in peripheral collisions.Comment: 19 pages, 17 figure

The Burst Mode of Accretion in Primordial Star Formation

We present simulation results for the formation and long-term evolution of a primordial protostellar disk harbored by a first star. Using a 2+1D nonaxisymmetric thin disk numerical simulation, together with a barotropic relation for the gas, we are able to probe ~20 kyr of the disk's evolution. During this time period we observe fragmentation leading to loosely bound gaseous clumps within the disk. These are then torqued inward and accreted onto the growing protostar, giving rise to a burst phenomenon. The luminous feedback produced by this mechanism may have important consequences for the subsequent growth of the protostar.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, to appear in proceedings of First Stars IV meeting (Kyoto, Japan; 2012

Complexities of large-scale technology project failure: A forensic analysis of the Seattle popular monorail authority

“Being stuck in traffic doesn’t have to be a way of life.” This beautiful prologue came from the Elevated Transportation Company (ETC) board’s letter in the ETC Seattle Popular Monorail Plan, one of the largest public works projects ever proposed in the city of Seattle. Three years after this proposal, the Seattle Monorail Project (SMP) was shut down by voters on November 8, 2005. This paper critically analyzes the SMP through the lens of stakeholder theory. This perspective provides valuable insights into the failure of the SMP. We theorize that SMP’s failure might have been avoided had its leadership recognized the many stakeholders that had power over the plan and, more importantly, the dynamic changes in relationships between the stakeholders. Failure might also have been avoided by managing conflicts in stakeholders’ expectations. Specifically, we use stakeholder theory to develop four propositions that are relevant in the context of large-scale technology projects. One, organizations are more likely to succeed when have effective mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating interactions between stakeholders and changes in their positions in relation to their strategic innovation projects. Two, organizations are more likely to succeed when they tradeoff the conflicts in expectations and interests that stakeholders hold. Three, organizations are more likely to implement complex technology projects by understanding stakeholders’ expectations and the interplay between stakeholders. Four, organizations are more likely to achieve their innovative projects when they define stakeholders in terms of their power over their strategic objectives. The paper makes a contribution both to the research and practice of major technological infrastructure projects, strategic innovations, and government technology management

Examining potential benefits and challenges associated with the Internet of Things integration in supply chains

Purpose The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to have a huge impact on businesses and, especially, the way we think about supply chain management. However, there is still a paucity of studies on the impact of IoT adoption on supply chains and on different aspects of the business in general. The research aims to examine the perception of the academic community of the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) adoption in organizational supply chains with a view to verify potential key benefits and challenges existent in the literature. The research presents the impact on an organization along with the impact across its entire supply chain. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected through the use of an online survey and 87 participants completed the survey. Participants were mainly from the academic community and were university scholars based in different countries located in six continents. Participants were authors, or co-authors, of academic papers published in the Decision Science Institute 2015 and 2016 annual conference proceedings, the 21st International Symposium of Sustainable Transport and Supply Chain Innovations, the Supply Chain Management : An International Journal 2016 issues, and the Operations and Supply Chain Management : an International Journal 2016 issues. Findings We were able to confirm the significance of some of the examined potential benefits to individual organizations and their entire supply chains. However, the study identified other potential benefits that were not seen as a direct impact of IoT adoption. Most of the examined potential benefits were found to contribute to a number of critical success factors for implementing successful supply chain management. We were also able to confirm that some of the examined potential challenges were still perceived as key hinders to IoT adoption but examined potential challenges were not seen as hurdles to IoT adoption. Originality/value To our best knowledge, this is the first study of its kind. Although some literature attempted to provide an overview about the IoT management, no study has specifically explored potential benefits and challenges related to the adoption of IoT in supply chains and ranked them based on their significance. The results can be beneficial to; academic scholars interested in the researched topic, business professionals, organizations within different sectors, and any other party interested in understanding more about the impact of adopting IoT on supply chain management

A formação do conceito científico mediado pela produção escrita de gênero escolar-científico no currículo de química

Este artigo propõe uma discussão sobre fundamentos da teoria da cognição na formação do conceito científico proposta por Vigotski e sua relação com aspectos da metalingüística proposta por Bakhtin, quando discute as esferas da atividade humana,as noções de enunciado e seus aspectos intimamente ligados, o conteúdo temático, o estilo e a construção composicional, conformando os gêneros do discurso. As tipologias propostas por Schneuwly & Dolz adquirem importância relevante na construção dialógica dos gêneros do discurso escrita por estudantes e mediada por modelos padrão para introdução e aplicação no currículo formal de química no ensino médio

Deep convective clouds at the tropopause

Data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the EOS Aqua spacecraft each day show tens of thousands of Cold Clouds (CC) in the tropical oceans with 10 μm window channel brightness temperatures colder than 225 K. These clouds represent a mix of cold anvil clouds and Deep Convective Clouds (DCC). This mix can be separated by computing the difference between two channels, a window channel and a channel with strong CO<sub>2</sub> absorption: for some cold clouds this difference is negative, i.e. the spectra for some cold clouds are inverted. We refer to cold clouds with spectra which are more than 2 K inverted as DCCi2. Associated with DCCi2 is a very high rain rate and a local upward displacement of the tropopause, a cold "bulge", which can be seen directly in the brightness temperatures of AIRS and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) temperature sounding channels in the lower stratosphere. The very high rain rate and the local distortion of the tropopause indicate that DCCi2 objects are associated with severe storms. Significant long-term trends in the statistical properties of DCCi2 could be interesting indicators of climate change. While the analysis of the nature and physical conditions related to DCCi2 requires hyperspectral infrared and microwave data, the identification of DCCi2 requires only one good window channel and one strong CO<sub>2</sub> sounding channel. This suggests that improved identification of severe storms with future advanced geostationary satellites could be accomplished with the addition of one or two narrow band channels