Fixing the Payment System at Alvalade XXI

In August 2003, while many Europeans were heading to the beaches to mitigate the effects of the worst heat wave on record, José Eduardo Sampaio, the CEO of Casa XXI, was faced with another kind of heat. Cartão 21, the innovative payment system of Casa XXI that he had personally conceived and subcontracted, had dramatically failed on August 6th during the high-visibility inauguration of Alvalade XXI, the newly built football stadium of the Sporting Club of Portugal. Casa XXI had been granted the rights to exploit all the bars and restaurants in the stadium. Based on pre-paid cards, the new payment system was supposed to make bar operations more efficient by eliminating the use of cash. In addition, the system was supposed to give Casa XXI an image of innovation and modernity enhanced also by all the free publicity it received in recent newspapers articles covering the inauguration. The failure of the system represented not only a significant financial loss for Casa XXI but also an embarrassment for the Sporting Football Club as well as a major blow to the reputation of Casa XXI and to the credibility of José Eduardo, himself a former football player. José Eduardo was quick to point the finger at Meag, the company with whom he had contracted to design and implement the system. But José Almeida, Meag’s manager, claimed that the system worked fine. In his opinion, the nature of the problem was organizational. He believed the mishap had to with the late activation and distribution of the cards, as well as the lack of training of the bar staff; and these were responsibilities of Casa XXI, not his. But it was difficult to know what went wrong and whom to blame. In reality, the system had never been fully deployed and tested before the event. The construction of the stadium had been completed just a few days before the inauguration, and neither Casa XXI nor Meag had prior access to the stadium. Thus, nobody knew whether the installed configuration actually worked. With such uncertainty and the next match just days away, José Eduardo demanded a comprehensive system test. By the end of August, Meag conducted such a test in the presence of Casa XXI’s management team. The results were discouraging: the system failed to operate properly. Casa XXI lost faith in both the system and the supplier

Evidence of coupling between the thermal and nonthermal emission in the gamma-ray binary LS I +61 303

The gamma-ray binary LS I +61 303 is composed of a Be star and a compact companion orbiting in an eccentric orbit. Variable flux modulated with the orbital period of ~26.5 d has been detected from radio to very high-energy gamma rays. In addition, the system presents a superorbital variability of the phase and amplitude of the radio outburst with a period of ~4.6 yr. We present optical photometric observations of LS I +61 303 spanning ~1.5 yr and contemporaneous Halpha equivalent width (EW Halpha) data. The optical photometry shows, for the first time, that the known orbital modulation suffers a positive orbital phase shift and an increase in flux for data obtained 1-yr apart. This behavior is similar to that already known at radio wavelengths, indicating that the optical flux follows the superorbital variability as well. The orbital modulation of the EW Halpha presents the already known superorbital flux variability but shows, also for the first time, a positive orbital phase shift. In addition, the optical photometry exhibits a lag of ~0.1-0.2 in orbital phase with respect to the EW Halpha measurements at similar superorbital phases, and presents a lag of ~0.1 and ~0.3 orbital phases with respect noncontemperaneous radio and X-ray outbursts, respectively. The phase shifts detected in the orbital modulation of thermal indicators, such as the optical flux and the EW Halpha, are in line with the observed behavior for nonthermal indicators, such as X-ray or radio emission. This shows that there is a strong coupling between the thermal and nonthermal emission processes in the gamma-ray binary LS I +61 303. The orbital phase lag between the optical flux and the EW Halpha is naturally explained considering different emitting regions in the circumstellar disk, whereas the secular evolution might be caused by the presence of a moving one-armed spiral density wave in the disk.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&A (this version matches the published version

A Strategy Development Process for Enterprise Content Management

Today, many organizations maintain a variety of systems and databases in a complex ad-hoc architecture that does not seem to fulfill the needs for company-wide unstructured information management in business processes, business functions, and the extended enterprise. We describe a framework to implement Enterprise Content Management (ECM) in order to address this problem. ECM refers to the technologies, tools, and methods used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content (e.g. documents, graphics, drawings, web pages) across an enterprise. The framework helps to select content objects that can be brought under ECM to create business value and guide the IT investments needed to realize ECM. The framework was tested in a large high tech organization

Information Technology Governance by Design: Investigating Hybrid Configurations and Integration Mechanisms

This study aims to enrich and expand the conceptualization of IT governance by identifying the diversity of hybrid configurations and integration mechanisms and exploring the IT performance effects. While literature describes the prevailing configurations for formally allocating IT decision-making authority, previous studies have not addressed the complexity of hybrid configurations, the required integration mechanisms, and the associated performance effects. Building forth on organization theory, a conceptual framework is developed for conducting multiple comparative case study research in the financial services industry. The findings indicate that as companies experience increased uncertainty and complexity, and adopt multi-focused strategies, IT governance designs are more hybrid with increased coordination needs. A federal configuration for IT governance by itself is not related to improved IT performance. IT performance effectiveness is associated with both hybrid configuration and complex integration mechanisms. The implications for research and practice are discussed

External sector and exchange political in Colombia 1999 - 2002: of the external imbalance to the precarious balance (in Spanish)

This article analyzes the conditions allowing the external equilibrium in Colombia during the period 1999 - 2002 associated with the performance of the external sector and the exchange rate policies. The main hypothesis in that the equilibrium achieved is precarious due to the poor level of economic growth, the substantial reduction of imports and the drop of saving rate. Following this, the analysis of the exchange policy allows arguing that the adjustment implemented in the last year of the exchange rate band regime, ended up lowering the external activities. Additionally, the adoption of a free market regime has achieve a greater level of autonomy of the monetary policy as well as a short term break between the exchange rate and international reserves. En este articulo se analizan las condiciones que permitieron alcanzar el equilibrio externo en Colombia en el periodo 1999 - 2002, asociadas con el desempeño del sector externo y con la evolución de la politica cambiaria. La hipotesis principal señala que el equilibrio logrado fue precario, debido al escaso nivel de crecimiento economico, la reduccion sustancial de las importaciones y las bajas tasas de ahorro. Seguidamente un analisis de la evolución de la politica cambiaria en el cuatrienio permite argumentar, en primera instancia, como la politica de ajuste implementada en el ultimo año del regimen de banda termino por acelerar aun mas el deterioro de la actividad. En segunda instancia, la adopcion del esquema de libre mercado ha permitido logar hasta el momento un mayor grado de autonomia de la politica monetaria y una disociacion de corto plazo entre el tipo de cambio y las reservas internacionalesEquilibrio externo; Deficit en cuenta corriente; Politica de ajuste; Politica cambiaria; Regimen de tipo de cambio flexible

Raman microprobe characterization of electrodeposited S-rich CuIn(S,Se)2 for photovoltaic applications: Microstructural analysis

This article reports a detailed Raman scattering and microstructural characterization of S-rich CuIn(S,Se)2 absorbers produced by electrodeposition of nanocrystalline CuInSe2 precursors and subsequent reactive annealing under sulfurizing conditions. Surface and in-depth resolved Raman microprobe measurements have been correlated with the analysis of the layers by optical and scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and in-depth Auger electron spectroscopy. This has allowed corroboration of the high crystalline quality of the sulfurized layers. The sulfurizing conditions used also lead to the formation of a relatively thick MoS2 intermediate layer between the absorber and the Mo back contact. The analysis of the absorbers has also allowed identification of the presence of In-rich secondary phases, which are likely related to the coexistence in the electrodeposited precursors of ordered vacancy compound domains with the main chalcopyrite phase, in spite of the Cu-rich conditions used in the growth. This points out the higher complexity of the electrodeposition and sulfurization processes in relation to those based in vacuum deposition techniques

Immune-mediated bone marrow failure syndromes of progenitor and stem cells: molecular analysis of cytotoxic T cell clones.

The unique structure of the T cell receptor (TCR) enables molecular identification of individual T cell clones and provides an unique opportunity for the design of molecular diagnostic tests based on the structure of the rearranged TCR chain e.g., using the TCR CDR3 region. Initially, clonal T cell malignancies, including T cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia (T-LGL), mucosis fungoides and peripheral T cell lymphoma were targets for the TCR-based analytic assays such as detection of clonality by T-gamma rearrangement using y-chain-specific PCR or Southern Blotting. Study of these disorders facilitated further analytic concepts and application of rational methods of TCR analysis to investigations of polyclonal T cell-mediated diseases. In hematology, such conditions include graft versus host disease (GvHD) and immune-mediated bone marrow failure syndromes. In aplastic anemia (AA), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), cytotoxic T cell responses may be directed against certain antigens located on stem or more lineage-restricted progenitor cells in single lineage cytopenias. The nature of the antigenic targets driving polyclonal CTL responses remains unclear. Novel methods of TCR repertoire analysis, include VB flow cytometry, peptide-specific tetramer staining, in vitro stimulation assays and TCR CDR3-specific PCR. Such PCR assay can be either VB family-specific or multiplexed for all VB families. Amplified products can be characterized and quantitated to facilitate detection of the most immunodominant clonotypes. Such clonotypes may serve as markers for the global polyclonal T cell response. Identification of these clonotypes can be performed in blood and tissue biopsy material by various methods. Once immunodominant clonotypes corresponding to pathogenic CTL clones are identified they can serve as surrogate markers for the activity of the pathophysiologic process or even indicate the presence of specific antigens. The relevance of the individual clonotypes can be ascertained from clinical correlations with the activity of the disease. Quantitative clonotypic assays such as sequencing of multiple CDR3 clones or clonotypic Taqman PCR can be applied for the monitoring of the immunosuppressive therapy and prediction of relapse. Future technologies may allow for the design of clonotypic microarrays or other more clinically applicable methods of clonotypic diagnostics. Similarly, identification of immunodominant clonotypes may facilitate targeting of autoimmune or malignant clones with vaccination and induction of anti-idiotypic responses

Biomarkers of human cardiopulmonary response after short-term exposures to medical laser generated particulate matter from simulated procedures: a pilot study

Objective We conducted an exposure chamber study in humans using a simulated clinical procedure lasing porcine tissue to demonstrate evidence of effects of exposure to laser generated particulate matter (LGPM). Methods We measured pre- and post-exposure changes in exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), spirometry, heart rate variability (HRV), and blood markers of inflammation in five volunteers. Results Change in pre- and post-exposure measurements of eNO and spirometry were unremarkable. Neutrophil and lymphocyte counts increased and fibrinogen levels decreased in four of the five subjects. Measures of HRV showed decreases in the standard deviation of normal between beat intervals and sequential five-minute intervals. Conclusion These data represent the first evidence of human physiologic response to LGPM exposure. Further exploration of coagulation effects and HRV are warranted