The Contention Over the Superintendencia of the Floridas

Louisiana was granted the privilege of trading with France for a period of ten years by a royal cedula of January 22, 1782. The importance of this cedula in the history of Louisiana and in the commercial history of the Spanish Empire can scarcely be overestimated. We are interested here, however, in a side issue which it provoked

Perspectives on IT Outsourcing Success: Covariance Structure Modelling of a Survey of Outsourcing in Australia

Australia has been at the forefront of the adoption of outsourcing as a means for delivering IT services, but the success of IT outsourcing in Australia has been mixed. With two hundred and forty one responses from the top 1000 IT users in the country, the survey reported in this paper is one of the largest and most representative IT outsourcing studies in the world. Covariance structure modelling and confirmatory factor analysis has shed new light on the concept of outsourcing success, highlighting its complex, multidimensional nature. It has also confirmed many insights gained to date from qualitative research. Analysis also emphasises the importance to the outsourcing relationship of the management processes adopted by the client organization. L'Australie a été un pionnier dans l'adoption de l'impartition pour les services informatiques. Toutefois, les résultats ont été mitigés. Avec plus de deux cent répondants, provenant des 1000 plus grandes entreprises australiennes, cette étude et une des plus larges et représentatives faites jusqu'à0501ntenant. Une analyse des structure de co-variance, de même qu'une anlayse factorielle confirmatoire jettent un regard neuf sur la notion de succès de l'impartition. L'étude met en lumière le caractère complexe et multi-dimensionel de ce succès.Outsourcing, Australia, survey research, success, information systems, Impartition, Australie, enquête, succès, services informatiques

The impact of ITIL (information technology infrastructure library) recommended practices on the IT outsourcing relationship

Over the last two decades, the outsourcing of IT services has become a popular topic for many IS researchers. Furthermore, managing IT services (both internally and externally provided) has become an emerging area for academic research, given the criticality of IT services in modern organizations. One of the better known IT service management frameworks is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework. While there are many claims made about the relationship between ITIL and IT outsourcing, these claims still need further empirical research. Using data gathered from a preliminary focus group, this study investigates how ITIL impacts recommended practices on the success of IT outsourcing arrangement.<br /

Incorporating Virtual Teamwork Training into MIS Curricula

Due to increasing industry demand for personnel who work effectively in virtual/distributed teams, MIS students should undergo training to improve their awareness of and competence in virtual teamwork. This paper proposes a model for virtual teamwork training and describes the implementation of the model in a class where students were located in two separate geographical locations. Both survey and qualitative data suggests that the class increased students\u27 awareness of and competence in virtual teamwork. Potential improvements to the course design are also discussed

An all-optical trap for a gram-scale mirror

We report on a stable optical trap suitable for a macroscopic mirror, wherein the dynamics of the mirror are fully dominated by radiation pressure. The technique employs two frequency-offset laser fields to simultaneously create a stiff optical restoring force and a viscous optical damping force. We show how these forces may be used to optically trap a free mass without introducing thermal noise; and we demonstrate the technique experimentally with a 1 gram mirror. The observed optical spring has an inferred Young's modulus of 1.2 TPa, 20% stiffer than diamond. The trap is intrinsically cold and reaches an effective temperature of 0.8 K, limited by technical noise in our apparatus.Comment: Major revision. Replacement is version that appears in Phy. Rev. Lett. 98, 150802 (2007

Standard Quantum Limit for Probing Mechanical Energy Quantization

We derive a standard quantum limit for probing mechanical energy quantization in a class of systems with mechanical modes parametrically coupled to external degrees of freedom. To resolve a single mechanical quantum, it requires a strong-coupling regime -- the decay rate of external degrees of freedom is smaller than the parametric coupling rate. In the case for cavity-assisted optomechanical systems, e.g. the one proposed by Thompson et al., zero-point motion of the mechanical oscillator needs to be comparable to linear dynamical range of the optical system which is characterized by the optical wavelength divided by the cavity finesse.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Achieving ground state and enhancing entanglement by recovering information

For cavity-assisted optomechanical cooling experiments, it has been shown in the literature that the cavity bandwidth needs to be smaller than the mechanical frequency in order to achieve the quantum ground state of the mechanical oscillator, which is the so-called resolved-sideband or good-cavity limit. We provide a new but physically equivalent insight into the origin of such a limit: that is information loss due to a finite cavity bandwidth. With an optimal feedback control to recover those information, we can surpass the resolved-sideband limit and achieve the quantum ground state. Interestingly, recovering those information can also significantly enhance the optomechanical entanglement. Especially when the environmental temperature is high, the entanglement will either exist or vanish critically depending on whether information is recovered or not, which is a vivid example of a quantum eraser.Comment: 9 figures, 18 page

Incorporating Distributed Teamwork and Collaborative Technology into MIS Curriculum

Faced with increased use of distributed project teams in industry, MIS students need to be trained to improve their awareness of and competence in distributed teamwork. This paper describes a curriculum initiative to incorporate distributed teamwork and collaborative technologies into software development and implementation projects for MIS students. There were two stages in the study; the first stage investigated co-located teams that engaged in project subtasks in a distributed format. The second stage investigated real distributed teams that engaged in a fully distributed project. Our study indicates that students increased their capacity to work in a distributed situation by using collaboration technologies. As instructors, we also learned ways to design and more effectively teach this type of class

Squeezing in the audio gravitational wave detection band

We demonstrate the generation of broad-band continuous-wave optical squeezing down to 200Hz using a below threshold optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The squeezed state phase was controlled using a noise locking technique. We show that low frequency noise sources, such as seed noise, pump noise and detuning fluctuations, present in optical parametric amplifiers have negligible effect on squeezing produced by a below threshold OPO. This low frequency squeezing is ideal for improving the sensitivity of audio frequency measuring devices such as gravitational wave detectors.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure