Emerging IT risks: insights from German banking

How do German banks manage the emerging risks stemming from IT innovations such as cyber risk? With a focus on process, roles and responsibilities, field data from ten banks participating in the 2014 ECB stress test were collected by interviewing IT managers, risk managers and external experts. Current procedures for handling emerging risks in German banks were identified from the interviews and analysed, guided by the extant literature. A clear gap was found between enterprise risk management (ERM) as a general approach to risks threatening firms’ objectives and ERM’s neglect of emerging risks, such as those associated with IT innovations. The findings suggest that ERM should be extended towards the collection and sharing of knowledge to allow for an initial understanding and description of emerging risks, as opposed to the traditional ERM approach involving estimates of impact and probability. For example, as cyber risks emerge from an IT innovation, the focus may need to switch towards reducing uncertainty through knowledge acquisition. Since individual managers seldom possess all relevant knowledge of an IT innovation, various stakeholders may need to be involved to exploit their expertise

DEFECT PROPERTIES FROM X-RAY SCATTERING EXPERIMENTS

La déformation du réseau cristallin due aux défauts peut être étudiée le plus directement par des expériences de diffusion de rayons X ou par la diffusion des neutrons. Il est possible de déterminer la dimension des défauts par le déplacement des reflets de Bragg. L'intensité de la diffusion tout près et entre les reflets de Bragg, due aux défauts, donne des informations sur la symétrie et sur l'intensité des champs de déformations. Elle indique aussi la structure atomique des défauts ponctuels (interstices atomiques, lacunes réticulaires, petits agrégats). La diffusion près des reflets de Bragg est une méthode très sensible pour déterminer si les défauts ont un caractère ponctuel isolé ou s'ils sont formés d'agrégats. On a utilisé la diffusion des rayons X pour l'étude des défauts produits dans une variété des cristaux ioniques par irradiation avec rayons γ et avec des neutrons. Ayant donné une introduction aux principes de la méthode, les résultats des expériences sont résumés et discutés en détail.Lattice distortions due to defects in crystals can be studied most directly by elastic X-ray or neutron scattering experiments. The size of the defects can be determined from the shift of the Bragg reflections. Defect induced diffuse scattering intensity close to and between Bragg reflections gives information on the strength and symmetry of the distortion fields and yields the atomic structure of point defects (interstitials, vacancies, small aggregates). Diffuse scattering is a very sensitive method to decide whether defects are present as isolated point defects or have formed aggregates. X-ray scattering has been used to study defects produced in various ionic crystals by γ- and neutron irradiation. After an introduction to the principles of the method the experimental results will be reviewed and discussed in some detail

SURFACE ORDER-DISORDER TRANSITION IN THE SOLID SOLUTION Cu3 Au

La criticalité superficielle d'un système semi-infini qui subit une transformation des phases de première espèce est considérée. Nous présentons la diffusion des rayons X-Synchrotron sur la surface (100) de la superstructure d'alliage Cu3Au ordonné, la sensitivité superficielle étant accomplie par la réflexion totale. La dépendance de l'intensité (001) évanescente en fonction de la température et de la profondeur de diffusion est analysée quantitativement et on montre que le paramètre d'ordre superficiel disparaît continûment et qu'une couche de mouillage désordonnée existe près de la température de transition T0. Les observations sont en accord avec la supposition d'une croissance logarithmique de cette région désordonnée de surface en approchant T0.Surface criticality of semi-infinite systems which undergo first order phase transitions is considered. We present Synchrotron-X superlattice scattering intensities from the Cu3Au(100) surface, where the surface sensitivity is achieved by the scheme of total external reflection. The quantitative analysis of the temperature- and scattering depth-dependence of the evanescent (001) superlattice peak proofs the continous behaviour of the surface order parameter and the existence of a disordered "wetting layer" below the transition temperature T0. The observations are consistent with the assumption of a logarithmic growth of this surface-induced disordered region when T0 is approached

Shift of the Bragg position in grazing-incidence diffraction

The intensity distribution in grazing-incidence diffraction along the grazing exit angle, a f, has been generally studied assuming the fulfilment of the Bragg condition, both experimentally and theoretically. We consider deviations of the incidence angle and detector position (θ) from the exact Bragg angle, θB, as well as variation of the incidence angle with respect to the surface, αi, and lattice mismatching of layered structures. The so-called surface peak is caused by refraction and appears at the fixed angular position of the critical angle of the total external reflection, αc. Beside it an additional peak occurs, that is explained by fulfilling the Bragg condition of the lateral wave vector components of incident and diffracted beams. This corresponds to the intersection of the truncation rod and the Ewald sphere. Therefore its angular position in the diffracted scattering fan depends on both αi and θ − θB. This additional peak is only visible if αi is below αC or θ > θB. These considerations have been verified experimentally on an InP layer