Prioritizing IT Projects: An Empirical Application of an IT Investment Model

Information Technology projects are organizational investments that anticipate positive returns. When viewed as such, the development of a diversified “portfolio” of projects helps reduce risk from a single project failure, and results in an overall positive return. Positive returns on IT projects are usually indirect, since they have value only insomuch as they enable the accomplishment of larger organizational goals. We present here a model that integrates elements of risk, cost, and internal rate of return that can be applied to individual IT projects. The model produces a numerical score that can be used to rank potential IT projects. Projects with higher scores return more value to the organization, and therefore should be given a higher priority. We apply the model using the IT project portfolio of a large state-charterd credit union. The results indicated that the credit union was prioritizing projects with more visibility but lower returns that other projects with less visibility but that offered greater returns. The implications of applying the model in other organizational settings are discussed

Interactive calculator for use with multi-dimensional netCDF files

The interactive exploration of numerical results and observations has become increasingly difficult as the size of these data sets becomes larger. The scientist needs to be able to easily extract subsets of very large data sets and use these subsets in algebraic expressions to test hypotheses about the relationships between variables. The netCDF calculator (nccalc) satisfies many of these needs by providing several built-in functions and a framework that helps the scientist manipulate four dimensional data sets written using the netCDF data format

Turbulence beneath sea ice and leads: a coupled sea ice/large-eddy simulation study

The importance of leads, sea ice motion, and frazil ice on the wintertime ocean Boundary layer was examined by using a large-eddy simulation turbulence model coupled to a thermodynamic slab ice model. Coupling was achieved through exchange coefficients that accounted for the differing diffusion rates of heat and salinity. Frazil ice concentrations were modeled by using an ice crystal parameterization with constant crystal size and shape. Stationary ice without leads produced cellular structures similar to atmospheric convection without winds. Ice motion caused this pattern to break down into a series of streaks aligned with the flow. Eddy fluxes were strongly affected by ice motion with relatively larger entrainment fluxes at the mixed layer base under moving ice, whereas stationary ice produced larger fluxes near the top of the boundary layer. Opening of leads caused significant changes in the turbulent structure of the boundary layer. Leads in stationary ice produced concentrated plumes of higher-salinity water beneath the lead. Ice motion caused the lead convection to follow preexisting convective rolls, enhancing the roll circulation salinity and vertical velocity under the lead. Comparison of model time series data with observations from the Arctic Leads Experiment showed general agreement for both pack ice and lead conditions. Simulated heat flux carried by frazil ice had a prominent role in the upper boundary layer, suggesting that frazil ice is important in the heat budget of ice-covered oceans

The Florida pancreas collaborative next-generation biobank: Infrastructure to reduce disparities and improve survival for a diverse cohort of patients with pancreatic cancer

Background: Well-annotated, high-quality biorepositories provide a valuable platform to support translational research. However, most biorepositories have poor representation of minority groups, limiting the ability to address health disparities. Methods: We describe the establishment of the Florida Pancreas Collaborative (FPC), the first state-wide prospective cohort study and biorepository designed to address the higher burden of pancreatic cancer (PaCa) in African Americans (AA) compared to Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) and Hispanic/Latinx (H/L). We provide an overview of stakeholders; study eligibility and design; recruitment strategies; standard operating procedures to collect, process, store, and transfer biospecimens, medical images, and data; our cloud-based data management platform; and progress regarding recruitment and biobanking. Results: The FPC consists of multidisciplinary teams from fifteen Florida medical institutions. From March 2019 through August 2020, 350 patients were assessed for eligibility, 323 met inclusion/exclusion criteria, and 305 (94%) enrolled, including 228 NHW, 30 AA, and 47 H/L, with 94%, 100%, and 94% participation rates, respectively. A high percentage of participants have donated blood (87%), pancreatic tumor tissue (41%), computed tomography scans (76%), and questionnaires (62%). Conclusions: This biorepository addresses a critical gap in PaCa research and has potential to advance translational studies intended to minimize disparities and reduce PaCa-related morbidity and mortality

Onset time and strength of oceanic deep convection diagnosed from an ocean large-eddy simulation model

Deep convection has an important role in the large-scale thermohaline circulation, which in turn plays a central part in determining global climate. Manabe and Stouffer`s climate simulations have shown that the thermal and dynamic structure of the oceans have pronounced changes in model climates with increased CO{sub 2}. In their simulations, the addition of low-salinity surface water at high latitudes prevents the ventilation of the deep ocean, thus reducing or in some cases nearly extinguishing the thermohaline circulation. Siegenthaler and Sarmiento remarked that whereas the ocean is the largest of the rapidly exchanging global carbon reservoirs and a major sink for anthropogenic carbon, this uptake capacity become available only when the whole ocean is chemically equilibrated with the new atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration. The dynamics of the oceanic uptake of CO{sub 2} is therefore strongly determined by the rate of downward transport of CO{sub 2}-laden water from surface to depth. The importance of deep convection in moderating the uptake of CO{sub 2} by the ocean and its role in the meridional circulation, which affects climate by transporting heat from the tropics to the polar regions, motivates this research. The experiments described here were designed to study the sensitivity of the onset time and strength of deep convection to changes in the heat flux, latent heat flux, and perturbations of the surface mixed-layer temperature and salinity

Mean Flow Generation on a Continental Margin by Periodic Wind Forcing

Ivory Coast - AbidjanColo