Oscillating magnetoresistance due to fragile spin structure in metallic GdPd3_3

Studies on the phenomenon of magnetoresistance (MR) have produced intriguing and application-oriented outcomes for decades--colossal MR, giant MR and recently discovered extremely large MR of millions of percents in semimetals can be taken as examples. We report here the investigation of oscillating MR in a cubic intermetallic compound GdPd$_3$, which is the only compound that exhibits MR oscillations between positive and negative values. Our study shows that a very strong correlation between magnetic, electrical and magnetotransport properties is present in this compound. The magnetic structure in GdPd$_3$ is highly fragile since applied magnetic fields of moderate strength significantly alter the spin arrangement within the system--a behavior that manifests itself in the oscillating MR. Intriguing magnetotransport characteristics of GdPd$_3$ are appealing for field-sensitive device applications, especially if the MR oscillation could materialize at higher temperature by manipulating the magnetic interaction through perturbations caused by chemical substitutions.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. A slightly modified version is published in Scientific Report

Religion, politics and the secular state in India

India has been declared to be a 'Secular State' since 1976, by an amendment to the Constitution, although its supporters claim that it has been one since 1950 when the Constitution was first adopted. From its inception the weaknesses of secularism as an operational category was apparent, but was ignored by politicians as well as by academics. 'Secularism' has since then not been defined in terms of the institutions of the state or the dominant values of the political system. It was given different interpretations by different groups. Even among the ranks of secularists there have been distinct divergences.The Constitution recognizes not only ethnic but also religious minorities and has given them special rights to maintain educational institutions. Similarly caste based privileges were provided on the plea of 'backwardness'. Moreover, India continued to be a religious society although the state claimed to be secular. Some secularists would identify it with anti-religious policies.The Hindu revivalists would identify the state with pro-minority and even anti-Hindu policies. In modern political idiom it was called 'minorityism' and 'pseudosecularism'. The Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, on the other hand, felt that such special rights are essential to maintain their identities. The rise of religions based politics in the eighties has created a major problem for the secular state.In the light of the above 'Secularism' needs to be redefined in clearer terms. Religious syncretism and political and cultural accommodation associated with South Indian tradition where some of this necessary re-definition has been achieved through the process of historical evolution needs be looked into. Similarly, the de-linking of religion from culture in Indonesia and the adoption of a national ideology which can provide some helpful insights for India is worth pursuing. ' Apparently, Malaysia has established a viable democratic state by adopting an inter-communal than an noncommunal approach to its political problems. By taking a comparative look at the problem of secularism, in the light of the experiences of other nations, perhaps, the Indian secular state could face the future with more confidence

Adoption of RFID Technology: An Exploratory Examination from Supplier\u27s Perspective

RFID technology has attracted the attention of several businesses and experts worldwide. Given the potential benefits of RFID such as efficient inventory, streamlined supply chain, reduced stock outs and cost reductions, several retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target have decided to adopt RFID technologies. They have also mandated their suppliers to adopt and use RFID technologies. However, anecdotal reports suggest several challenges that suppliers need to address in the process of RFID adoption. Drawing upon innovation diffusion and inter-organizational technology adoption literature, we seek to understand the RFID adoption process in supplier firms and identify key factors affecting RFID adoption by suppliers. We propose a two-stage research design involving exploratory interviews, followed by a survey. Preliminary results from our ongoing research project will be discussed at AMCIS

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems and Firm Value: An Event Study Analysis

There is considerable debate on the contributions of IT investments to firm value. Over a decade of research on the business value of information technology has produced mixed findings. This study focuses on the business value generated by a specific kind of IT systems, namely enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Studying the value created by ERP systems is appropriate and important for four reasons. First, ERP systems are being widely used by corporate community. Given the widespread adoption of ERP applications, it becomes essential to assess the contributions of these systems. Second, ERP systems typically encompass a wide spectrum of organizational functions. Given the wide functional coverage of ERP systems, they are likely to have a larger impact on firm performance than those information systems focusing on a specific function. Third, ERP systems require considerable investments in hardware, software, networking, and complementary organizational changes. Since ERP investments represent a critical IT expense for firms, it becomes important to assess the returns from ERP spending. Fourth, the reported failures of ERP systems by companies such as FoxMeyer Drugs, Applied Materials, Hershey, Mobil Europe, and Dow Chemicals have questioned the very viability of ERP systems. This is another compelling reason to ascertain the true contributions of ERP systems

Project Performance in Global Software Development Teams: Do Prior Work Ties and Nationality Diversity Matter?

One of the challenges that global software development teams face is the development of rich and meaningful interactions among members from different countries. Researchers and practitioners in the field are constantly looking for factors that may help organizations understand and mitigate the negative effects that nationality diversity may have on performance in global teams. This paper follows this line of research and proposes prior work ties as a moderator of the relationship between nationality diversity and team performance in global software development teams. In a field study involving 93 global software development teams with members distributed across 5 different countries (e.g., Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, France, and Denmark), nationality diversity was found to have a negative effect on team performance when team members had low prior experience working together. However, nationality diversity did not have a negative effect on performance on teams composed by members with high levels of prior work ties. Moreover, prior work ties exceeded the individual explanatory power of nationality diversity, team dispersion and current experience working together (current project duration) on team performance. This finding suggests that managers should consider how familiar team members are with each other when forming global software development team

Effective Implementation of Electronic Medical Record Systems: Insights from a Longitudinal Case Study

Academic and practitioner literature are abound with both successful and failed implementations of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems. Deployment of EMR systems is often accompanied by economic, technical, organizational and cultural challenges. Drawing upon the literature on organizational change, we argue that change readiness capacity in a health organization facilitates in mitigating the challenges arising in effective implementation of EMR. We report preliminary observations from our on-going research study based on a longitudinal case investigation of EMR implementation at NorthShore University Health System. We propose a preliminary model of change readiness, along with evidence from our case analysis

Examining the Compensation of Chief Information Officers: Do Firm Performance, Size and Industry Membership Matter?

Increased uncertainty in the economic and business environments have placed IS function and IS leadership in a quandary today. In this paper, we empirically examine the remuneration of CIOs, and examine their association with firm performance, size and industry membership. Based on compensation data of 213 CIOs in 2002, we test several hypotheses linking the total, annual cash, and long term components of the CIO compensation with firm and industry variables. Our results indicate a strong relationship between CIO compensation and performance, firm size, and industry membership. Firm performance exhibited a strong positive association with all components of CIO pay. Firm size was found to have significant positive association with the total pay and the annual cash components. We also found support for association between specific industry memberships (finance and insurance, manufacturing, and professional services) and CIO pay

Critical Capabilities for Offshore Outsourcing of Information Systems

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Assessing the Impact of Decision Process on Effectiveness of Strategic IT Decisions: A Triangulation Approach

Research on strategic information systems planning (SISP) has been characterized by a heavy emphasis on normative models for IT strategy formulation. Numerous approaches to formulating strategic plans and for designing IT planning systems have been suggested in the literature. Despite this, evidence from empirical studies indicates that IT executives have a great deal of trouble in translating plans into actions and specific decisions. Hence, our knowledge on IT planning needs to be supplemented with an understanding of strategic IT decisions and the processes underlying them