Managing the Risk of IT Outsourcing

While it can bring several benefits, IT outsourcing entails some risks. As it is the case in other types of investments or business ventures, the risk associated to an IT outsourcing project must be evaluated and managed. This paper proposes a framework for the management of IT outsourcing risk, and assesses the usefulness of the framework using data gathered about two cases of system development outsourcing. After providing a conceptual definition of risk and of risk exposure, the paper presents the proposed risk management framework. The two cases are then described along with the evaluation of the level of risk exposure of each, and the risk management mechanisms that were included in the contracts. The results of the study suggest that by charting the various items that contribute to risk exposure, and by specifically applying the appropriate mechanisms that can target the elements with the higher levels of risk exposure, outsourcing risk can be adequately managed. L'impartition des services informatiques, même si elle peut entrainer de nombreux bénéfices, implique un risque. Comme tout type d'investissement, ce risque doit être évalué et géré. Cet article propose un cadre d'analyse pour le risque d'impartition des services informatiques, et évalue ce cadre à l'aide d'une étude de cas. Ce cas présente deux décisions d'impartition de services informatiques, dans le domaine de l'assurance. Le niveau de risque de chaque décision est évalué et les mécanismes permettant de gérer ce risque sont présentés. Les résultats montrent que, en détaillant les facteurs de risque et les événenents correspondants, il est possible de cibler les éléments les plus risqués et de réduire le risque à un niveau acceptable.Outsourcing of IS, IS risk management, agency theory, transaction cost economics, case study, Sous-traitance des systèmes informatiques, gestion du risque des systèmes informatiques, théorie de l'agance, économie des coûts de transaction, étude de cas

La Belle Image de Reims

Joël Aubert est libraire à Reims depuis plus de trente ans. Marie-Noëlle Viellard s’occupe du rayon des jouets et des livres pour enfants. « La Belle Image » est le rendez-vous de tous les amoureux du livre, une librairie de lecteurs, aime-t-il à préciser

Sulphonated aromatic pollutants: Limits of microbial degradability and potential of phytoremediation

Many synthetic sulphonated aromatic compounds are used as starting material to produce dyes and pigments, or are released as by-products in the effluents of the textile and dye industry. A large number of these chemicals are poorly biodegradable and cannot be eliminated by classical wastewater treatment plants. To limit the impact of these pollutants on the environment, new processes, based on the use of higher plants (constructed wetlands or hydroponic systems), are under development. Detergents and surfactants are essential for both industrial and domestic applications, the most important family being the alkylbenzene sulphonates. Originally, the alkyl side chains were branched and thus recalcitrant to biodegradation. Therefore, they have been replaced by linear alkylbenzene sulphonates. Although more acceptable, present formulations still have adverse environmental and toxic effects. In this context, phytoremediation appears to be a promising approach to remove these compounds from contaminated soils and water

Mutations in genes involved in nonsense mediated decay ameliorate the phenotype of sel-12 mutants with amber stop mutations in Caenorhabditis elegans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Presenilin proteins are part of a complex of proteins that can cleave many type I transmembrane proteins, including Notch Receptors and the Amyloid Precursor Protein, in the middle of the transmembrane domain. Dominant mutations in the human presenilin genes PS1 and PS2 lead to Familial Alzheimer's disease. Mutations in the <it>Caenorhabditis elegans sel-12 </it>presenilin gene cause a highly penetrant egg-laying defect due to reduction of signalling through the <it>lin-12</it>/Notch receptor. Mutations in six <it>spr </it>genes (for suppressor of presenilin) are known to strongly suppress <it>sel-12</it>. Mutations in most strong <it>spr </it>genes suppress <it>sel-12 </it>by de-repressing the transcription of the largely functionally equivalent <it>hop-1 </it>presenilin gene. However, how mutations in the <it>spr-2 </it>gene suppress <it>sel-12 </it>is unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We show that <it>spr-2 </it>mutations increase the levels of <it>sel-12 </it>transcripts with Premature translation Termination Codons (PTCs) in embryos and L1 larvae. mRNA transcripts from <it>sel-12 </it>alleles with PTCs undergo degradation by a process known as Nonsense Mediated Decay (NMD). However, <it>spr-2 </it>mutations do not appear to affect NMD. Mutations in the <it>smg </it>genes, which are required for NMD, can restore <it>sel-12(PTC) </it>transcript levels and ameliorate the phenotype of <it>sel-12 </it>mutants with amber PTCs. However, the phenotypic suppression of <it>sel-12 </it>by <it>smg </it>genes is nowhere near as strong as the effect of previously characterized <it>spr </it>mutations including <it>spr-2</it>. Consistent with this, we have identified only two mutations in <it>smg </it>genes among the more than 100 <it>spr </it>mutations recovered in genetic screens.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>spr-2 </it>mutations do not suppress <it>sel-12 </it>by affecting NMD of <it>sel-12(PTC) </it>transcripts and appear to have a novel mechanism of suppression. The fact that mutations in <it>smg </it>genes can ameliorate the phenotype of <it>sel-12 </it>alleles with amber PTCs suggests that some read-through of <it>sel-12(amber) </it>alleles occurs in <it>smg </it>backgrounds.</p

Involvement of separate domains of the cellulosomal protein S1 of Clostridium thermocellum in binding to cellulose and in anchoring of catalytic subunits to the cellulosome

AbstractFragments of the 25OkDa SI subunit of the Clostridium thermocellum cellulosome were obtained by protease-induced or spontaneous degradation. All detectable fragments, down to a mass of about 30 kDa, retained the ability to bind to 125I-labelled endoglucanase CelD, one of the catalytic subunits of the cellulosome. Several fragments were able to bind both to cellulose and to CElD. However, some fragments that could still bind to CelD did not have the ability to bind to cellulose. Therefore, S1, a putative scaffolding protein of the cellulosome, is likely to carry two separate types of domains, one of which binds to cellulose, while the other type binds to the various catalytic subunits of the complex

Study of the functionality of the Helicobacter pylori trans-translation components SmpB and SsrA in an heterologous system

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Trans</it>-translation is a ubiquitous bacterial quality control-mechanism for both transcription and translation. With its two major partners, SsrA a small stable RNA and the SmpB protein, it promotes the release of ribosomes stalled on defective mRNAs and directs the corresponding truncated proteins to degradation pathways. We have recently shown that <it>trans</it>-translation is an essential function in the gastric pathogen <it>Helicobacter pylori</it>. Our results suggested that some properties of the <it>H. pylori trans</it>-translation machinery distinguishes it from the well known system in <it>E. coli</it>. Therefore, we decided to test the functionality of the SmpB and SsrA molecules of <it>H. pylori </it>in the <it>E. coli </it>heterologous system using two established phenotypic tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>H. pylori </it>SmpB protein was found to successfully restore the <it>E. coli </it>Δ<it>smpB </it>mutant growth defect and its capacity to propagate λ<it>imm</it>^P22phage. We showed that in <it>E. coli</it>, <it>H. pylori </it>SsrA (Hp-SsrA) was stably expressed and maturated and that this molecule could restore wild type growth to the <it>E. coli </it>Δ<it>ssrA </it>mutant. Hp-SsrA mutants affected in the ribosome rescue function were not able to restore normal growth to <it>E. coli </it>Δ<it>ssrA </it>supporting a major role of ribosome rescue in this phenotype. Surprisingly, Hp-SsrA did not restore the phage λ<it>imm</it>^P22propagation capacity to the <it>E. coli </it>Δ<it>ssrA </it>mutant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data suggest an additional role of the tag sequence that presents specific features in Hp-SsrA. Our interpretation is that a secondary role of protein tagging in phage propagation is revealed by heterologous complementation because ribosome rescue is less efficient. In conclusion, <it>tm</it>RNAs present in all eubacteria, have coevolved with the translational machinery of their host and possess specific determinants that can be revealed by heterologous complementation studies.</p

Managing the Risk of IT Outsourcing

L'impartition des services informatiques, même si elle peut entrainer de nombreux bénéfices, implique un risque. Comme tout type d'investissement, ce risque doit être évalué et géré. Cet article propose un cadre d'analyse pour le risque d'impartition des services informatiques, et évalue ce cadre à l'aide d'une étude de cas. Ce cas présente deux décisions d'impartition de services informatiques, dans le domaine de l'assurance. Le niveau de risque de chaque décision est évalué et les mécanismes permettant de gérer ce risque sont présentés. Les résultats montrent que, en détaillant les facteurs de risque et les événenents correspondants, il est possible de cibler les éléments les plus risqués et de réduire le risque à un niveau acceptable.While it can bring several benefits, IT outsourcing entails some risks. As it is the case in other types of investments or business ventures, the risk associated to an IT outsourcing project must be evaluated and managed. This paper proposes a framework for the management of IT outsourcing risk, and assesses the usefulness of the framework using data gathered about two cases of system development outsourcing. After providing a conceptual definition of risk and of risk exposure, the paper presents the proposed risk management framework. The two cases are then described along with the evaluation of the level of risk exposure of each, and the risk management mechanisms that were included in the contracts. The results of the study suggest that by charting the various items that contribute to risk exposure, and by specifically applying the appropriate mechanisms that can target the elements with the higher levels of risk exposure, outsourcing risk can be adequately managed

Contours déformables et reconstruction tomographique en imagerie médicale

Cet article traite de la segmentation automatique des images reconstruites en tomographie par émission, afin d'améliorer l'interprétation des images pour le diagnostic des médecins. Les approches classiques des contours actifs déformables pour la segmentation ne permettent pas de bien segmenter les données reconstruites qui sont bruitées. Aussi, nous proposons de traiter simultanément la reconstruction et la segmentation en résolvant un système de deux EDP, l'une permettant la reconstruction avec régularisation prenant en compte les discontinuités, et l'autre la segmentation par l'évolution de courbes planes