SOA Governance – Road into Maturity

There is a general consensus that SOA benefits could be reached but it is unclear how to achieve this. Research shows that the problems with SOA governance in practice are among the major reasons of SOA failures. Based on a literature review, this study first proposes a list of SOA aspects to be considered when implementing SOA governance. By adopting an interpretive research methodology based on interviews, this research paper makes two contributions: it addresses the practical matters that are major concerns for organisations to achieve a higher maturity level with their SOA, and it reveals the importance of the key SOA aspects in building strong governance and consequently reaching a higher maturity level. The expected result should deliver a theoretical contribution to SOA maturity in relation to SOA governance; it could provide organisations with new awareness in assessing their level of maturity and provide recommendations

Advanced UAVs Nonlinear Control Systems and Applications

Recent development of different control systems for UAVs has caught the attention of academic and industry, due to the wide range of their applications such as in surveillance, delivery, work assistant, and photography. In addition, arms, grippers, or tethers could be installed to UAVs so that they can assist in constructing, transporting, and carrying payloads. In this book chapter, the control laws of the attitude and position of a quadcopter UAV have been derived basically utilizing three methods including backstepping, sliding mode control, and feedback linearization incorporated with LQI optimal controller. The main contribution of this book chapter would be concluded in the strategy of deriving the control laws of the translational positions of a quadcopter UAV. The control laws for trajectory tracking using the proposed strategies have been validated by simulation using MATLAB®/Simulink and experimental results obtained from a quadcopter test bench. Simulation results show a comparison between the performances of each of the proposed techniques depending on the nonlinear model of the quadcopter system under investigation; the trajectory tracking has been achieved properly for different types of trajectories, i.e., spiral trajectory, in the presence of unknown disturbances. Moreover, the practical results coincided with the results of the simulation results

Comparison between different surface treatment methods on shear bond strength of zirconia (in vitro study)

To compare the effect of Er:YAG Laser and Air particle abrasion (APA) surface treatments on shear bond strength of Y-TZP to composite resin cuboids in the presence and absence of primer application and salivary contamination. Seventy-two cuboidal shaped specimens 7x7x3 were prepared from Y-TZP using CADCAM, cleaned and sintered. Specimens were divided into 2 main groups (n=36) according to surface treatment method; Air particle abrasion (A) and laser (L). Each group was subdivided into 2 subgroups (N = 18) according to surface modification using primer; each subgroup was further divided into 2 subdivisions (N=9) according to the presence of salivary contamination; APC (Air particle abrasion, primer, contamination), AP (Air particle abrasion, primer), AC (Air particle abrasion, contamination), A (Air particle abrasion), LPC (Laser, primer, contamination), LP (Laser, primer), LC (Laser, contamination), L (Laser). Composite cuboids having dimensions of 6x6x3 were also fabricated using custom made plexi plates. Composite cuboids were cemented centrally to zirconia cuboids and light cured under 5 kg weight for 6 mins. Shear bond strength of specimens was measured utilizing universal testing machine at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. Failure loads were recorded in Newton. SBS was calculated according to equation: SBS (MPa) = load (N)/area(mm2). Viewing shear bond strength between studied groups, group APNC (484.02±85.02) showed higher mean value compared to ANPNC (122.09±55.80), also LNPNC (120.87±65.10) showed higher mean value in comparison to LPNC (170.78±53.22). APNC (484.02±85.02) and APC (592.22±189.65) showed higher mean values than LPNC (170.78±53.22) and LPC (3227.66±108.28) in sequence. APA showed higher SBS values than Er:YAG surface treatment. Primer showed better results than no primer coating. Artificial saliva contamination did not affect the SBS of zirconia compared with no contamination results

Genotoxic effect of irinotecanon human liver and colon tumor cells

Od ukupnog broja svih godišnje dijagnosticiranih karcinoma u svijetu, karcinomi probavnog sustava su na vodećoj poziciji. Među njima najvišu pojavnost ima kolorektalni karcinom, što ga svrstava među vodeće zdravstvene probleme kako u svijetu tako i u Hrvatskoj. Irinotekan (CPT-11) je polusintetski analog kamptotecina (CPT) koji je glavni lijek izbora u terapiji metastatskog kolorektalnog karcinoma. Cilj ovog rada je istražiti citotoksičnost, genotoksičnost i svojstvo indukcije slobodnih radikala različitih koncentracija irinotekana. Kao test sustavi korištene su humana stanična linija hepatocelularnog karcinoma jetre (HepG2) i humana stanična linija adenokarcinoma epitela debelog crijeva (Caco-2) koje su bile izložene djelovanju irinotekana tijekom 2, 4, 24 i 48 sati. Dokazano je da irinotekan djeluje toksično produljenjem vremena tretmana na obje stanične linije. Na stanicama jetre toksičnost raste u ovisnosti o koncentraciji, dok na stanicama crijeva ovisnost o kocentraciji nije dokazana. Također je uočena povezanost citotoksičnog učinka irinotekana s indukcijom slobodnih radikala. S produljenjem vremena inkubacije dolazi do genotoksičnog učinka irinotekana na obje tretirane stanične linije.Of the total number of all yearly diagnosed carcinomas in the world, cancers that affect the digestive system are in a leading position. Among them, the highest incidence is colorectal cancer, which puts it among the leading health problems in the world as well as in Croatia. Irinotecan (CPT-11) is a semi-synthetic analogue of camptothecin (CPT) which is the major drug in the choice of metastatic colorectal cancer therapy. The aim of this work is to investigate the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and induction of free radicals of different concentrations of irinotecan. As the test system the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2) and the human colon adenocarcinoma cell line (Caco-2) were exposed to irinotecan during 2, 4, 24, and 48 hours. Results have shown that irinotecan cytotoxicity is dependent on the cell line. In liver cells, toxicity is increasing depending on concentrations, while on the colon cells no dependence on the concentration has been demonstrated. Also, the association of cytotoxic effect of irinotecan with the induction of free radicals was observed. With the prolongation of incubation time, the genotoxic effect of irinotecan on both treated cell lines is reached

Promoting Digital Innovation for Sustainability in the Public Sector

Digital technologies and their uptake in society have advanced more rapidly than any innovation in history. However, research into how the public sector uses digital innovation has been slow to develop. Government has an essential role to play in sustainability by setting and enforcing policies around subjects such as pollution and carbon taxes, making digital innovation in government critical for digital sustainability. Further, the public sector’s values and priorities differ from those of the private sector, which confounds simple comparisons in areas such as digital ways of working and efficiency drivers. This paper draws on the public management literature and uses an exploratory and interpretive field study of a leading digital government. The research identifies six barriers to digital innovation within the New South Wales government, a world-leader in digital integration. The barriers are: varying digital maturity, non-digital mindset, slow mobilization, service-based silos, premature solutioning, and failure to align investment in digital innovation with broader government priorities. The paper identifies initiatives enabling world-class digital innovation and driving effective change. These enablers are structural service integration, ecosystem engagement, technology modernization, customer-centric strategies and processes, and agility in management. This paper finds that digital capability gaps and core rigidities interact requiring a comprehensive approach to realize the significant benefits offered to citizens and the environment

Digital Capabilities: Getting Ahead of the Curve

The covid-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for digital transformation, causing organisations to go through complex systemic organisational change. The literature shows that pressure from the public is driving digital transformation, which is causing governments and the private sector to uplift their capabilities. Practitioners and researchers are calling for investments in digital capability. This exploratory field study found fifty-one digital capability initiatives in two governments, which are partitioned into four themes: Ways of Thinking, Ways of Learning, Ways of Doing and Ways of Enabling. The study applies organisational learning theory to show how immediate needs for user-centric and agile capabilities led to second-loop investments in achieving a shift in managers’ mindsets through action learning. Respondents reported that third-loop investments were necessary to enlist previously siloed services through reorganisation and changes to funding controls. By achieving all three loops of learning through investing in the four ‘Ways of’, organisations may get ahead of the digital transformation curve

Seismic Assessment, Repair and Retrofit of Existing Corroded Structures Using UHPC Jacketing

The bulk of our developed environment was constructed in the mid to late 20th century, when design codes did not address the importance of ductility and confinement, placing most of today’s concrete infrastructure in danger in case of a seismic event. Current assessment guidelines such as Eurocode 8-III or ASCE 41-17 take the lack of detailing into consideration in the assessment procedure however, they do not address a major concern, reinforcement corrosion. In this dissertation, modifications to current assessment guidelines were proposed and validated in order to take corrosion damage into consideration. Expressions for residual material properties as well as residual mechanical properties of columns were proposed with reinforcement mass loss being the only variable. The viability of using UHPC as both a strengthening and protective material against corrosion was studied in this dissertation. It was found that UHPC fully mitigates corrosion in case no service cracks were present and significantly reduces the corrosion rate in case of cracks between 0.5mm and 2mm were present. The final portion of the dissertation deals with repair and strengthening of corroded lap-spliced columns. Six lap-spliced columns designed based on pre-1970s design standards were constructed and subjected to artificial corrosion. Some of the specimens were tested without any prior strengthening intervention to simulate an earthquake damaging an existing column. They were then repaired using UHPC jacketing and re-tested under cyclic displacement reversals while other columns were strengthened after corrosion and then tested. This was done in order to study the increase in strength and ductility in case the strengthening was done prior to or after seismic activity. The results show a significant increase in strength and ductility of the columns, imparted by thin UHPC jackets replacing the conventional concrete cover

Influence of resin cement shade on the color and translucency of zirconia crowns

Zirconia crowns are highly attractive for clinicians, although have poor translucency when used as single restorations, in addition to unknown effect of resin cement shade on final cemented crown shade. This study aimed to assess effect of resin cement opacity on color replication potential of different zirconia frameworks with target tooth color, in addition to different zirconia crowns translucency evaluation. Twenty-four zirconia crown restorations were fabricated to restore single central maxillary incisor for 8 patients, divided into 3 groups according to color and type of zirconia used (white Zr core, colored Zr core and monolithic HT Zrcowns). Each group was further subdivided into 2 subgroups according to resin cement shade. Using Easyshade spectrophotometer, Delta E color difference was calculated between each crown parameters using 2 different resin luting cement shades and adjacent target tooth. Translucency parameters (TP) were tested for finished crowns. ?Es obtained were assessed based on ?Eof 1.6 which represented color difference that could not be detected by human eye and considered clinically acceptable. No statistically significant values were found between subgroups related to different resin cement shade. Translucency parameters showed statistically significant different values. Monolithic crowns showed highest translucency parameters followed by Zr crowns on white cores then Zr crowns on colored cores. Resin cement shade didn?t affect final color perception. Monolithic high translucency crowns usage gained advantages of high translucency and delamination prevention. Zirconia crowns could be cemented by opaque or transparent cement without affecting final color