The information systems accounting – a literature review

This paper was written with the intention of reviewing literature on the subject of information systems costing revealing existing gaps. More precisely, it summarizes content found on this subject. Costing reduction has been under focus by organizations, especially after the global crisis in the last decade. To reduce costs it is crucial to perform an accurate measurement. As investment in IT has grown over the years, so have IT costs. However, literature does not seem to show these growing worries. Research on this subject shows some flaws that are discussed and exposed in this paper.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Risks of data science projects: A Delphi study

Risk is one of the most crucial components of a project. Its proper evaluation and treatment increase the chances of a project's success. This article presents the risks in Data Science projects, assessed through a study conducted with the Delphi technique, to answer the answer the question, "What are the risks of Data Science projects". The study allowed the identification of specific risks related to data science projects, however it was possible to verify that over a half of the most mentioned risks are similar to other types of IT projects. This paper describes the research from expert selection, risk identification and analysis, and the first conclusions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

PMBOK 6th meets 7th: How to link both guides in order to support project tailoring?

Project Management is evolving more rapidly than ever[1]. Driven by the progress in new technologies and the emergence of agile methodologies, organizations such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) reviewed their Project Management Standards to reflect on this phenomenon. In its latest edition, the Project Management Body Of Knowledge 7th[1] (PMBOK), gather the largest number of evolutionary [2] and a disruptive approach based on Principles and focuses on emerging trends such as tailoring, to enhance value delivery through project results[3][4][2]. Nevertheless, the PMI states that this new release does not invalidate previously published versions of PMBOK. However, the coexistence of these two perspectives may initially be an unclear subject for managers and teams, used to a process-oriented [5]. This research studied the relationship between PMBOK 6th[5] and PMBOK 7th[1] and the importance of their connection applied to project tailoring and value creation, through a model that relates concepts from PMBOK 7th[1] (Methods, Models and Artifacts and Performance Domains) and the PMBOK 6th[5] (Processes).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A systematic comparison of roundtrip software engineering approaches applied to UML class diagram

Model-based software engineering contemplates several software developments approaches in which models play an important role. One such approach is round-trip engineering. The objective of this paper is to benchmark the comparative analysis of the round-trip engineering capability of three modelling tools: Papyrus, Modelio and Visual Paradigm. The conclusions drawn throughout the paper will answer the question: How effective are current code generation tools for documenting application evolution? Throughout the discussion, we have pointed out several improvements that these UML modelling tools have recently brought to the discussion. We have also proposed some improvements that we consider desirable to improve Roundtrip Engineering approaches pointing out possible directions and solutions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of project management tools to support knowledge management

Knowledge Management is an essential element for the successful implementation of projects. Due to the temporary nature of the projects and the teams that participate in them, the transfer, integration, and management of knowledge among projects is vital to promote sharing best practices, and to avoid the repetition of previous mistakes, in order to increase the probability of success for the projects and the organization. For this reason, Project Management tools can play a significant role in supporting Knowledge Management. The goal of this paper is to analyze and evaluate the project management tools of the Gartner Leader quadrant (2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant) regarding their potential for the Capture, Storage, Sharing and Application of knowledge, according to the artifacts in the PMBOK [1], and determine which are the best options. Gartner's leader tools were compared to Confluence, referenced as a great choice for knowledge and project document management. For the development of the artifact was used the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology. The application that obtained the highest score was Targetprocess.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An analysis of how well serious games cover the PMBOK

Playing the role of project manager requires a certain level of knowledge and experience from previous projects, thus enabling better decision making. The use of serious games increasingly allows newer project managers to gain the necessary experience and knowledge in a controlled environment. Since several serious games have been developed, the need then arose to conduct a study to measure the level of coverage these simulators provide to the PMBOK. Fifteen games were included in this study and it is remarkable the effort that has been made to improve these tools, as it was found that of the 12 games, 7 covers at least 3 of the 5 process groups found in the PMBOK. It was also found that more than 80% of the serious games cover time management and that less than 20% of the games do not cover the procurement area. Our study recommends that comparative studies be done between simulators in ways to evaluate the improvements that newer simulators bring. Studies to evaluate the teaching learning method of the simulators should also be conducted so that the efficiency of this teaching learning method can be evaluated.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Acceptance of an agile methodology in the public sector

Software development methodologies have been growing up and suffering a maturation during the past years. The older methods, called traditional methods, are gradually being substitute by the new agile practices. Despite that, in the public sector, that evolution is not as clear as in the private sector. The lack of information regarding the usage of these new methods in the public sector take us to the following question: In what conditions, agile methods, are the best solution to software development in the public sector? These types of organizations have a culture and a modus operandi very different from the private sector, that can make the implementation of these methodologies a challenge. The goal here is to present the process of implementation of a specific agile methodology based in Scrum, in a particular Portuguese public company and test its acceptance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A role for the small GTPases RAC1 and RAC1b in the modulation of NIS expression: potentiation of therapy with radioactive iodine in differentiated thyroid carcinoma

Introduction or Background: The Sodium Iodide Symporter (NIS) is responsible for active transport of iodide into thyroid follicular cells. The retention of its functional expression in most of the well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas (DTCs) enables the use of radioactive iodine (RAI) for treatment of metastatic disease. Still, about 30% of patients with advanced forms of DTC became refractory to RAI which makes their management very challenging. The main reason for impaired iodide uptake in refractory-DTC is the defective functional expression of NIS. Several molecular players have been described as critical for TSH-induced NIS expression, an example being the p38 mitogenic kinase. In breast cancer cells, the small GTPase RAC1 was shown to mediate the positive impact of p38 kinase activity on NIS expression. We, on the other hand, have previously shown that overexpression of RAC1b, a tumor-related splicing variant of RAC1, is associated with worse outcomes in DTC and correlates with the MAPK-activating BRAFV600E mutation, which has been related to the loss of NIS. Since RAC1 and RAC1b may act in an antagonistic fashion to regulate specific cellular responses, we asked if RAC1b would be implicated in NIS downregulation observed in DTCs. Methods Section: NIS expression levels were analyzed by RT-qPCR in a RAC1/RAC1b expression model system developed in non-transformed thyroid cell lines. A non-radioactive iodide influx assay was used to confirm the impact of RAC1-signaling on the efficacy of iodide uptake. Results Section: We demonstrate that ectopic overexpression of RAC1b is sufficient to decrease TSH-induced NIS expression, antagonizing the positive effect of RAC1 GTPase. Moreover, we clearly document, for the first time in thyroid cells, that both NIS expression and iodide uptake are downregulated upon RAC1 inhibition, supporting the role of canonical RAC1 signaling in promoting TSH-induced NIS expression. Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence that RAC1 and RAC1b signaling are implicated in the regulation of NIS expression in thyroid cells and suggest that RAC1b overexpression may be one of the mechanisms contributing to the low levels of NIS observed in some subgroups of DTCs, antagonizing RAC1 stimulatory effect on the TSH/cAMP-mediated induction of NIS expression.FCT - PTDC/BIAMOL/31787/2017N/

A strategy to gradual implementation of data interoperability

Data interoperability is a major concern on e-government, both from the point of view of service offering and from the point of view of public administration efficiency. This paper purposes an incremental, pragmatic approach to data interoperability. It is argued that integration with minor required initial efforts from institutions is feasible, may provide useful solutions and is a solid ground basis for subsequent evolution. This paper presents general guidelines and model solutions to support this approach. Also, presents a demo implementation that proves feasibility of the purposed models and delivers useful solutions on a specific business e-government scenario. Although still limited in range and demonstrated on a quite specific business environment, it is expected that the analysis and the proposed strategies, solutions and models be of interest on a larger spectrum of data interoperability problems.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Educating Urban African American Children Placed At Risk: A Comparison of Two Types of Catholic Middle Schools

Although the number of urban Catholic schools has declined in recent years, Nativity model middle schools, first developed by the Jesuits over 35 years ago, have appeared throughout the nation to address the need for effective alternative education for urban children placed at risk. The present study compares the effectiveness of two types of high-poverty Catholic schools for 322 African American middle school students. Result show that Nativity schools are more successful than traditional Catholic schools in effecting student gains in standardized test score performance. Results also suggest that features such as small school and class size, small student-teacher ratios, and an extended academic day contribute to these gains. The quality of the school and classroom environment, as perceived by students, that contributed to the amount of engaged learning time also may have contributed to their stronger academic performance. Implications for urban schooling for African American middle school children placed at risk are discussed