U.S.S.R., Military Professionalism and Political Integration: A Case Study

The problem with which this investigation is concerned addresses the question of the proper role of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union in the Soviet state. The political leadership has two alternatives in seeking a remedy to this civil-military question. They may either control the military establishment by granting strict professional autonomy or by integrating the armed forces into the civil structure

An Analysis of Historical Transformation of an IT Giant Based on Sound Strategic Vision

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a dominant player in the growing information technology industry. IBM went through a rough patch in the initial part of the ‘90s when sales were declining. In a span of two year, IBM lost a staggering $16 billion. This case investigates the problems that IBM was facing during the time, and the strategic decisions it took to help it transform this position. Through the change of leadership, IBM started giving importance to customer-relationship management to better cater to the need of its clients. It also realized the need to have a strategic vision and reorganized as “One IBM”. Reengineering Global Functions and Processes across different departments improved IBM’s cost structures. The management unified strategic vision served as a platform to reignite growth and industry leadership. The case details this transformation and concludes with lessons learnt that would benefit companies in a similar dilemma in today\u27s competitive IT market

Stepwise heating of lunar anorthosites 60025, 60215, 65315 possibly reveals an indigenous noble gas component on the Moon

Despite extensive effort during the last four decades, no clear signature of a lunar indigenous noble gas component has been found. In order to further investigate the possible occurrence of indigenous volatiles in the Moon, we have re-analyzed the noble gas and nitrogen isotopic compositions in three anorthosite samples. Lunar anorthosites 60025, 60215 and 65315 have the lowest exposure duration (∼2 Ma) among Apollo samples and consequently contain only limited cosmogenic (e.g. ^(124,126)Xe) and solar wind (SW) noble gases. Furthermore, anorthosites have negligible contributions of fissiogenic Xe isotopes because of their very low Pu and U contents. As observed in previous studies (Lightner and Marti, 1974; Leich and Niemeyer, 1975), lunar anorthosite Xe presents an isotopic composition very close to that of terrestrial atmospheric Xe, previously attributed to “anomalous adsorption” of terrestrial Xe after sample return. The presumed atmospheric Xe contamination can only be removed by heating the samples at medium to high temperatures under vacuum, and is therefore different from common adsorption. To test this hypothesis, we monitored the adsorption of Xe onto lunar anorthositic powder using infrared reflectance spectroscopy. A clear shift in the anorthosite IR absorbance peaks is detected when comparing the IR absorbance spectra of the lunar anorthositic powder before and after exposure to a neutral Xe-rich atmosphere. This observation accounts for the chemical bonding (chemisorption) of Xe onto anorthosite, which is stronger than the common physical bonding (physisorption) and could account for the anomalous adsorption of Xe onto lunar samples. Our high precision Xe isotope analyses show slight mass fractionation patterns across ^(128–136)Xe isotopes with systematic deficits in the heavy Xe isotopes (mostly ^(136)Xe and marginally ^(134)Xe) that have not previously been observed. This composition could be the result of mixing between an irreversibly adsorbed terrestrial contaminant that is mostly released at high temperature and an additional signature. Solar Wind (SW) Xe contents, estimated from SW-Ne and SW-Ar concentrations and SW-Ne/Ar/Xe elemental ratios, do not support SW as the additional contribution. Using a χ^2 test, the latter is best accounted for by cometary Xe as measured in the coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Marty et al., 2017) or by the primordial U-Xe composition inferred to be the precursor of atmospheric Xe (Pepin, 1994; Avice et al., 2017). It could have been contributed to the lunar budget by volatile-rich bodies that participated to the building of the terrestrial atmosphere inventory (Marty et al., 2017)

Inter-Enterprise architecture and Internet of the future

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37291-9_3This paper proposes the concept of Inter-Enterprise Architecture (IEA), which seeks the application of tools and methodologies developed in the Enterprise Architecture (EA) field for the individual firm, adapting to an environment of collaboration between several companies that make networks or supply chains, in order to facilitate the integration and interoperability of their collaborative processes in line with its IS/IT (Information Systems/ Information Technology) to harmonize the joint processes, reduce risk and duplication, increase service and customer responsiveness, reduce technology costs and align the joint business to IS/IT.Vargas, A.; Boza García, A.; Cuenca, L.; Sacala, I. (2013). Inter-Enterprise architecture and Internet of the future. En Technological Innovation for the Internet of Things: 4th IFIP WG 5.5/SOCOLNET Doctoral Conference on Computing, Electrical and Industrial Systems, DoCEIS 2013, Costa de Caparica, Portugal, April 15-17, 2013. Proceedings. Springer. 25-32. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-37291-9_3S2532Information Society and Media European Commission: FInES Cluster Position Paper. Future Internet Enterprise Systems (FInES) Cluster (September 2009)Vargas, A., Boza, A., Cuenca, L.: Lograr la alineación estratégica de negocio y las tecnologías de la información a través de Arquitecturas Empresariales: Revisión de la Literatura. In: Cartagena, XV Congreso de Ingeniería de Organización, pp. 1061–1070 (2011a)Vargas, A., Boza, A., Cuenca, L.: Towards Interoperability through Inter-enterprise Collaboration Architectures. In: Meersman, R., Dillon, T., Herrero, P. (eds.) OTM 2011 Workshops. LNCS, vol. 7046, pp. 102–111. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)Vargas, A., Boza, A., Cuenca, L., Ortiz, A.: The importance of strategic alignment in enterprise collaboration. In: 6th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management, Vigo (2012)Henderson, J., Venkatraman, N.: Strategic alignment: Leveraging information technology for transforming organizations. IBM Systems Journal 32(1), 472–484 (1993)Luftman, J.: Assessing Business-IT alignment maturity. Communications of the Association for Information Systems 4 (2000)Cuenca, L., Boza, A., Ortiz, A.: An enterprise engineering approach for the alignment of business and information technology strategy. International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing 24(11) (2011)Kilger, C., Reuter, B., Stadtler, H.: Collaborative Planning. In: Stadtler, H., Kilger, C. (eds.) Supply Chain Management and Advanced Planning-—Concepts, Models Software and Case Studies, pp. 263–284. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)Audy, J., Lehoux, N., D’Amours, S.: A framework for an efficient implementation of logistics collaborations. International Transactions in Operational Research, 1–25 (2010)Stadtler, H.: A framework for collaborative planning and state-of-the-art. OR Spectrum 31, 5–30 (2010)CIMOSA Association: CIMOSA Primer on key concepts, purpose and business value, http://cimosa.cnt.pl/Chen, D., Vallespir, B., Doumeingts, G.: GRAI integrated methodology and its mapping onto generic enterprise reference architecture and methodology. Computers in Industry 33, 387–394 (1997)Williams, T., Li, H.: PERA and GERAM enterprise reference architectures in enterprise integration. Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing, 1–27 (1998)Ortiz, A.: Propuesta para el Desarrollo de Programas de Integración Empresarial en Empresas Industriales. Aplicación a una Empresa del Sector Cerámico. Ph.D Dissertation. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (1998)The Open Group, https://www.opengroup.org/index.htmChalmeta, R., Grangel, R.: ARDIN extension for virtual enterprise integration. The Journal of Systems and Software 67 (2003)Scheer, A., Schneider, K.: ARIS – Architecture of Integrated Information. In: Handbook on Architectures of Information Systems. International Handbooks on Information Systems, s.l., vol. 3, pp. 605–623 (2006)Bernard, S.: An introduction to enterprise architecture. Author House, Bloomington (2005)Cuenca, L., Ortiz, A., Boza, A.: Arquitectura de Empresa. Visión General. In: IX Congreso de Ingeniería de Organización, Gijón, pp. 1–8 (2005)Burlacu, G., Stanescu, A., Sacala, I., Cojocaru, L.: Development of a Modeling Framework for Future Internet Enterprise Systems. In: IEEE 16th International Conference on System Theory, Control and Computing, Sinaia, October 12-14 (2012

Predictors of Negative Outcomes and Causes of Loss to Follow Up Among Breast Cancer Patients in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Objective: To determine predictors of negative outcomes and causes of loss to follow-up (LTFU) in patients with breast cancer in Haiti. Design and Methods: Patients seen by Innovating Health International’s (IHI) cancer program were designated as LTFU after at least six months of non-contact (n=606). A cohort of LTFU breast cancer patients (n=101) was compared to the larger population of breast cancer patients (n=939), and a regression model constructed in order to identify risks for death and LTFU. Multiple calls were made to contact LTFU patients, and reasons for LTFU were recorded. Results: Death and LTFU status were associated with advanced stage (p\u3c0.0005), higher ECOG (p=0.011), and longer care (p\u3c0.0005; p=.03); LTFU status was lower with positive family history (p=0.022). 42.7% of LFTU patients were successfully contacted and 37.9% of these were reported deceased. The most common reasons for LTFU to clinic were obtaining care elsewhere and difficulty accessing care (due to distance, unrest, and money). Conclusions: Understanding causes of LTFU can suggest measures to reduce risk. LTFU was driven by the same factors as mortality, suggesting many “lost” patients may be deceased; this conclusion is furthermore supported by the low rate of successful recontact and high rate of death in the LTFU population. These conclusions support the need for improved palliative care outreach. Furthermore, LTFU status in Haiti is in part due to difficulties accessing care due to issues of politics, infrastructure, and economics

Photochemistry of 2-butenedial and 4-oxo-2-pentenal under atmospheric boundary layer conditions

Unsaturated 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds, such as 2-butenedial and 4-oxo-2-pentenal are produced in the atmospheric boundary layer from the oxidation of aromatic compounds and furans. These species are expected to undergo rapid photochemical processing, affecting atmospheric composition. In this study, the photochemistry of (E)-2-butenedial and both E and Z isomers of 4-oxo-2- pentenal was investigated under natural sunlight conditions at the large outdoor atmospheric simulation chamber EUPHORE. Photochemical loss rates, relative to j(NO2), are determined to be j((E)-2-butenedial)/j(NO2) = 0.14 (0.02), j((E)-4-oxo-2-pentenal)/j(NO2) = 0.18 (0.01), and j((Z)-4-oxo-2-pentenal)/j(NO2) = 0.20 (0.03). The major products detected for both species are a furanone (30 – 42%) and, for (E)-2-butenedial, maleic anhydride (2,5-furandione) (12 – 14%). The mechanism appears to proceed predominantly via photoisomerization to a ketene- enol species following -H abstraction. The lifetimes of the ketene-enol species in the dark from 2-butenedial and 4-oxo-2-pentenal are determined to be 465 s and 235 s, respectively. The ketene-enol can undergo ring closure to yield the corresponding furanone, or further unimolecular rearrangement which can subsequently form maleic anhydride. A minor channel (10 – 15%) also appears to form CO directly. This is presumed to be via a molecular elimination route of an initial biradical intermediate formed in photolysis, with an unsaturated carbonyl (detected here but not quantified) as co-product. -dicarbonyl and radical yields are very low, which has implications for ozone production from the photo-oxidation of unsaturated 1,4-dicarbonyls in the boundary layer. Photochemical removal is determined to be the major loss process for these species in the boundary layer with lifetimes of the order of 10 – 15 minutes, compared to > 3 hours for reaction with OH