Distribution of Magnetic Shear Angle in an Emerging Flux Region

We study the distribution of magnetic shear in an emerging flux region using the high-resolution Hinode/SOT SP observations. The distribution of mean magnetic shear angle across the active region shows large values near region of flux emergence i.e., in the middle of existing bipolar region and decreases while approaching the periphery of the active region.Comment: 3 pages, Proceedings of IAU Symposium 273 "Physics of Sun and Starspots" Eds. D.P. Choudhary and K.G. Strassmeie

Looking through a Window on Open Source Culture: Lessons for Community Infrastructure Design

Slashdot is a major virtual meeting ground for the Open Source development community. The discourse at Slashdot is interpreted in this study, and in combination with primary interviews and secondary archival analysis, yields rich insights about the signifying practices, contradictions, norms, incentive structures and values systems that characterize the community that it supports. The characteristics of the site such as the emphasis on collaboration to manage information, its distinctive interpellation, the reputation-maintenance mechanisms, use of Open Source tools, and adoption of norms such as release early, release often reflect the broader Open Source ideals. Using an ethnomethodology perspective, this study provides clear examples to recover what reflective members \u27know\u27 from their practical mastery in everyday affairs of the community. We find that the site taps into the emergent social construction of the community and effectively mediates that construction. It is proposed that Slashdot\u27s success is derived from the skillful design that both reflects and supports Open Source practices and principles. The study offers important insights for organizations that are trying to nurture open-source communities for socially coordinated software development

Enterprise Information Systems as Objects and Carriers of Institutional Forces: The New Iron Cage?

This paper draws upon the institutional theory lens to examine enterprise information systems. We propose that these information systems engender a duality. On one hand, these systems are subject to institutional forces and institutional processes that set the rules of rationality. On the other hand, they are an important embodiment of institutional commitments and serve to preserve these rules by constraining the actions of human agents. The complexity inherent to enterprise technologies renders them an equivoque. This, when combined with the propensity toward lack of mindfulness in organizations, is likely to lead to acquiescence to institutional pressures. Enterprise information systems bind organizations to fundamental choices about how their activities should be organized; unquestioned choices that tend to appear natural. We suggest implications of this view and develop propositions examining: (1) enterprise information systems as objects of institutional forces in the chartering and project phases, (2) the resolution of institutional misalignments caused by the introduction of new systems, and (3) enterprise information systems as carriers of institutional logics in the shakeout and onward & upward phases

An Exploratory Study of Ideology and Trust in Open Source Development Groups

Open source (OS) software development has been the subject of heightened interest among organizational scholars because of the novel social coordination practices that signal a departure from traditional proprietary software development. We propose that trust among group members in open source development groups (OSDGs) plays a key role in facilitating their success. Trust is important in this context because of the risk of opportunistic behavior by other members who volunteers may not have met and may never expect to meet, as well as a lack of explicit market contracts or common organizational affiliation. The open source community is differentiated by a coherent ideology that emphasizes a distinct set of interrelated norms, beliefs, and values. These serve to create incentives for open source practices that eschew conventional transactional norms in favor of a gift culture and a focus on reputations. In this study, we primarily examine the role of the shared ideology in enabling the development of affective and cognitive trust in OSDGs. We further examine how this trust leads to desired outcomes ñ group efficacy and effectiveness. The study is based on exploratory interviews, examination of archival records and a preliminary survey to understand the specific conditions of open source efforts on which this work-in-progress report is based. This is being followed-up by empirical testing of our research model through a survey of a broad variety of OSDGs. This study would contribute to a clarification of the role of trust in enabling software groups to work effectively and help to understand the bases of trust in ideology-permeated groups

Web Technology Diffusion - Initial Adoption, Assimilation and Network Prominence

This study conceptualizes a staged model of web technology diffusion across enterprises and considers initial adoption, assimilation and the emergence of network prominence as progressive phases that build upon earlier outcomes. Based on the resource-based view of the firm and organization learning theories, we suggest that success at each innovation stage is based on overcoming the knowledge barriers that arise in the utilization of complex technologies. Factors related to the financial resource base, the prominence of the IT function, expertise in the IT domain and a visionary growth orientation are proposed to be important. We test three models corresponding to different phases of the technology diffusion process based on secondary data for a large sample of enterprises. Dedicated financial resources allocated to IT and Internet-related initiatives are found to be associated with reduced time to initial adoption. The level of IT budget as well as prominent leadership of IT function are found to be associated with website sophistication. Companies in the information technology industry and information-intensive services industry had more sophisticated websites but were not associated with higher network prominence. As expected, early initial adoption of technology led to higher network prominence judged through the number of web links from other sites. Our results suggest the need to take a multi-dimensional and staged perspective of complex technology diffusion

A multi-spacecraft view of a giant filament eruption during 26/27 September 2009

We analyze multi-spacecraft observations of a giant filament eruption that occurred during 26 and 27 September 2009. The filament eruption was associated with a relatively slow coronal mass ejection (CME). The filament consisted of a large and a small part, both parts erupted nearly simultaneously. Here we focus on the eruption associated with the larger part of the filament. The STEREO satellites were separated by about 117 degree during this event, so we additionally used SoHO/EIT and CORONAS/TESIS observations as a third eye (Earth view) to aid our measurements. We measure the plane-of-sky trajectory of the filament as seen from STEREO-A and TESIS view-points. Using a simple trigonometric relation, we then use these measurements to estimate the true direction of propagation of the filament which allows us to derive the true R=R_sun v/s time profile of the filament apex. Furthermore, we develop a new tomographic method that can potentially provide a more robust three-dimensional reconstruction by exploiting multiple simultaneous views. We apply this method also to investigate the 3D evolution of the top part of filament. We expect this method to be useful when SDO and STEREO observations are combined. We then analyze the kinematics of the eruptive filament during its rapid acceleration phase by fitting different functional forms to the height-time data derived from the two methods. We find that, for both methods, an exponential function fits the rise profile of the filament slightly better than parabolic or cubic functions. Finally, we confront these results with the predictions of theoretical eruption models.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, to appear in Astrophysical Journa