Procurement of IT Consulting Services and Firm-Specific Characteristics

Information technology investments and the management consulting industry witnessed unprecedented growth in the last decade. This led to regulators\u27 (SEC and Congress) allegations that consulting services that are provided by incumbent auditors may be disguised extra payments to auditors for favorable financial reporting. However, there may be alternative valid reasons for procurement of consulting. Under new legislation (proclaimed in the aftermath of spectacular failures like Enron and Worldcom), publicly traded corporations that engage professional services firms to provide both audit services and consulting services must now disclose the extent and nature of these services. Using the data made available by these new mandated disclosures and using the theoretical backdrop of the resource-based view (RBV), this paper examines whether investments by firms in consulting services follow predictable patterns driven by economic factors. Thus, rather than examine whether IT consulting has any ex-post value or whether procurement of consulting impairs auditor independence, this study focuses on whether investments, ex-ante, follow logical patterns consistent with microeconomic principles. Our analysis shows that procurement of IT and management consulting is consistent with the resource-based view -companies seek to develop organizational capabilities they lack as dictated by their strategic business need. In contrast to the narrow IT Doesn\u27t Matter view, it can be argued that even in the current environment of IT outsourcing, firms must carefully match their IT capability (in-house or outsourced) with organizational strategy and capability to develop unique and inimitable resources as put forth by RBV. We find that companies are indeed investing consistent with fundamental tenets of financial value analysis and based on market expectations of performance. More specifically, after controlling for pressure to perform and cash availability, low margin and low turnover companies spend more on consulting services. Low-margin strategy companies expend more on consulting when their asset turnover is also low, while low-turnover strategy companies expend more on consulting when their earnings margin is also low

The congruence kernel of an arithmetic lattice in a rank one algebraic group over a local field

Let k be a global field and let k_v be the completion of k with respect to v, a non-archimedean place of k. Let \mathbf{G} be a connected, simply-connected algebraic group over k, which is absolutely almost simple of k_v-rank 1. Let G=\mathbf{G}(k_v). Let \Gamma be an arithmetic lattice in G and let C=C(\Gamma) be its congruence kernel. Lubotzky has shown that C is infinite, confirming an earlier conjecture of Serre. Here we provide complete solution of the congruence subgroup problem for \Gamm$ by determining the structure of C. It is shown that C is a free profinite product, one of whose factors is \hat{F}_{\omega}, the free profinite group on countably many generators. The most surprising conclusion from our results is that the structure of C depends only on the characteristic of k. The structure of C is already known for a number of special cases. Perhaps the most important of these is the (non-uniform) example \Gamma=SL_2(\mathcal{O}(S)), where \mathcal{O}(S) is the ring of S-integers in k, with S=\{v\}, which plays a central role in the theory of Drinfeld modules. The proof makes use of a decomposition theorem of Lubotzky, arising from the action of \Gamma on the Bruhat-Tits tree associated with G.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, to appear in J. Reine Angew. Mat

Broadcasting Flu Messages – Citywide Transmission and Community Reception: An Evaluation of Ready New York’s pandemic influenza outreach campaign

Public health risk communication is a central feature of New York City’s pandemic flu preparedness plan. Particularly in the early stages of a pandemic, before effective therapeutic measures are available, non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, personal protective hygiene, and voluntary isolation are critical strategies for suppressing the spread of a novel viral strain. New York City health and emergency management officials have decided to use the city’s risk communication structure – the Office of Emergency Management’s Ready New York outreach and dissemination capacities – as one of the primary means to communicate pandemic flu health messages. In October 2008, NCDP contracted with Public Health Solutions and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to evaluate the reach and effectiveness of its planned Ready NY Pandemic Flu community outreach campaign

Planning for Long‐Term Recovery Before Disaster Strikes: Case Studies of 4 US Cities: A Final Project Report

Among the four phases along the hazard continuum -- preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation -- the sub‐field of long‐term recovery has long been an outlier, an "orphan" when it comes to concerted policy attention and pre‐disaster planning. It's not that community residents or municipal and state government officials are unaware of the potential long‐term residual consequences of natural disasters. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to upgrade and enhance the country's ability to detect and respond to major catastrophic events, whether man‐made or natural in origin. The country experienced catastrophic wildfires in 2003, 2007‐2008, and 2011, a regional electrical blackout affecting 9 states and part of Canada in 2003, major Midwest flooding in 2008 and again this year, Category 3 or greater hurricanes in 2004, 2005, and 2008, and significant tornado clusters in 2011 that claimed 529 lives and caused over $17 billion in damages. These hazards have struck virtually every region of the country, and the consequences are readily evident to emergency managers and local city and county. Although the ratio of uncovered to covered losses has declined over this three‐decade timeframe, from approximately 8:1 to 4:1, absolute dollar losses have escalated tremendously. This may represent gains in mitigation efforts to insure against losses in high‐risk areas, but the size and growth of uncovered losses suggest a growing recovery challenge. This difference between covered and uncovered losses reflects the absolute minimum investment required for affected areas to return to pre‐event conditions, much less build back to a better or higher standard. Furthermore, what this trend line cannot capture are those disaster consequences not so easily monetized -- diminished physical and mental health among an affected citizenry, loss of a sense of community and attachment to place, or large scale social disruptions or population displacements. Given the magnitude of the social investment needed to pursue long‐term recovery after a disaster, and the attention that other phases in the hazard continuum have experienced, why is recovery still a policy orphan, and what are the local implications for pre‐disaster planning for long‐term recovery

Quantitative proteomics reveals dynamic interaction of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) with RNA transport granule proteins splicing factor proline- and glutamine-rich (Sfpq) and non-POU domain-containing octamer-binding protein (Nono) during neuronal differentiation

The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is an important mediator of physiological and pathophysiological processes in the central nervous system. Importantly, JNK is not only involved in neuronal cell death but also plays a significant role in neuronal differentiation and regeneration. For example, nerve growth factor (NGF) induces JNK-dependent neuronal differentiation in several model systems. The mechanism how JNK mediates neuronal differentiation is not well understood. Here, we employ a proteomic strategy to better characterize the function of JNK during neuronal differentiation. We use SILAC-based quantitative proteomics to identify proteins that interact with JNK in PC12 cells in an NGF-dependent manner. Intriguingly, we find that JNK interacts with neuronal transport granule proteins such as Sfpq and Nono upon NGF treatment. We validate the specificity of these interactions by showing that they are disrupted by a specific peptide inhibitor that blocks the interaction of JNK with its substrates. Immunoprecipitation and western blotting experiments confirm the interaction of JNK1 with Sfpq/Nono and demonstrate that it is RNA dependent. Confocal microscopy and subcellular fractionation indicates that JNK1 associates with neuronal granule proteins in the cytosol of PC12 cells, primary cortical neurons and P19-neuronal cells. Finally, siRNA experiments confirm that Sfpq is necessary for neuronal outgrowth in PC12 cells and that it is most likely acting in the same pathway as JNK. In summary, our data indicate that the interaction of JNK1 with transport granule proteins in the cytosol of differentiating neurons plays an important role during neuronal development

Carbon Partitioning in Green Algae (Chlorophyta) and the Enolase Enzyme

The exact mechanisms underlying the distribution of fixed carbon within photoautotrophic cells, also referred to as carbon partitioning, and the subcellular localization of many enzymes involved in carbon metabolism are still unknown. In contrast to the majority of investigated green algae, higher plants have multiple isoforms of the glycolytic enolase enzyme, which are differentially regulated in higher plants. Here we report on the number of gene copies coding for the enolase in several genomes of species spanning the major classes of green algae. Our genomic analysis of several green algae revealed the presence of only one gene coding for a glycolytic enolase [EC 4.2.1.11]. Our predicted cytosolic localization would require export of organic carbon from the plastid to provide substrate for the enolase and subsequent re-import of organic carbon back into the plastids. Further, our comparative sequence study of the enolase and its 3D-structure prediction may suggest that the N-terminal extension found in green algal enolases could be involved in regulation of the enolase activity. In summary, we propose that the enolase represents one of the crucial regulatory bottlenecks in carbon partitioning in green algae

Impact on Children and Families of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Preliminary Findings of the Coastal Population Impact Study

Although the ruptured Deepwater Horizon oil well was capped on July 15, 2010, an estimated 3 to 5 million barrels of oil spilled in to the Gulf of Mexico over a three-month period. Several surveys prior to the capping of the well documented the concerns and immediate effects of the oil spill on coastal residents. One report by a team of LSU sociologists highlighted the anxiety caused by the oil spill - nearly 60% of the 925 coastal Louisiana residents interviewed said they were almost constantly worried by the oil spill. As the "acute phase" of the oil spill transitions to a longer-term "chronic phase," researchers at Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, in collaboration with the Children's Health Fund and The Marist Poll, interviewed over 1,200 coastal residents in Louisiana and Mississippi, with a particular focus on the short- and potential long-term impact of the disaster on children. This study was informed by work the researchers have done post-Katrina as part of the Gulf Coast Child & Family Health Study, which has documented the enduring effects on impacted populations in the two states, particularly children

Unanticipated Consequences of a Pandemic Flu in New York City: A Neighborhood Focus Group Study

There is fairly consistent evidence that ethnic and minority communities have historically been more vulnerable to disasters, less trusting of public authority, and often so socially marginalized that it placed them in harm’s way. In an effort to explore some of these issues we conducted a series of community-based focus groups among selected ethnic communities in order to understand how perceptions of neighborhood life during a pandemic -- and community adaptation -- might vary across the city. We conducted the focus groups in six distinct New York City neighborhoods, each meant to represent a particular ethnic sub-group: Jamaican- Americans in Wakefield, Bronx; Chinese-Americans in Chinatown; African-Americans in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; Dominican-Americans in Washington Heights; Greek-Americans in Astoria, Queens; and South Indian-Americans in Flushing, Queens. Four of the focus groups were conducted in English, one was in Spanish, and one was in Mandarin, Chinese

Second Wind: The Impact of Hurricane Gustav on Children and Families Who Survived Katrina

The category 2 Hurricane Gustav made landfall on the Louisiana Coast on Sept. 1, 2008, nearly three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina, resulting in an evacuation of approximately 2 million people and considerable property damage. Although it did not match the intensity or consequence of Hurricane Katrina, the experience of anticipating and responding to Hurricane Gustav had the potential to trigger emotional and physical consequences among a population previously traumatized or displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Gustav also had the potential to exert a considerable impact upon the overall economic, social, and emotional recovery of these populations. The Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study (G-CAFH), a randomly-sampled post-Katrina longitudinal cohort study of 1,079 displaced and impacted households in Louisiana and Mississippi, was uniquely positioned to examine the evolving impact of Gustav upon a previously traumatized population. G-CAFH researchers were in the final stages of the third round of interviews with the study group when Hurricane Gustav struck, thus allowing for comparable pre- and post-event data for approximately 700 respondent households. Further information on the study, including previous reports and peer-reviewed research articles, may be found at www.gcafh.org. In particular, the research team was interested in the following issues: Evacuation: People's response to the event itself -- did they evacuate, and if so, where and how did they evacuate? How did people decide whether to evacuate or not? For those who did, what was the economic impact of the evacuation? Recovery Impact: What was the impact on post-Katrina recovery amongst this group, particularly since Hurricane Gustav may have set some people even further back in their efforts to recover their homes and their lives? Psychological Impact: What was the emotional impact on adults and children: among adults, did Hurricane Gustav trigger Katrina-related post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms? Among children, did Hurricane Gustav lead to newly experienced behavioral or emotional problems? Health Effects: What were the health consequences of Hurricane Gustav on children, particularly those who needed access to medications and medical care? Within three weeks of Hurricane Gustav, the G-CAFH field team had reassembled after their own evacuation and begun re-contacting the 718 respondents whom they had recently interviewed as part of the third round of the study. Of these 718 respondents, 528 were located and interviewed (a 73.5% retention rate). Respondents received a $20 gift card for participating in this study supplement, which had received approval by the Columbia University Medical Center Institutional Review Board

Children’s Health after the Oil Spill: A Four-State Study Findings from the Gulf Coast Population Impact (GCPI) Project

In 2012, with funding from the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia University, in partnership with the Children’s Health Fund, launched a four-state study in order (1) to identify communities of children in the coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida who were adversely impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, (2) to explore the prevalence of physical and mental health effects among these children, and (3) to conduct a preliminary assessment of the health services available to these children and the potential for targeted interventions or health system enhancements. We identified fifteen communities with higher numbers of BP compensation claims submitted by individuals and by businesses, and which also had higher rates of oil washing up on their shores based upon monitoring data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Over a span of four and a half months, a field team of six interviewers and two field coordinators completed 1,437 face-to-face household surveys. The parents whom we interviewed reported considerable exposure to the oil spill as well as a number of physical and mental health problems among their children. Over half of the parents interviewed in these highly-impacted communities reported that their children had some type of oil spill-related exposure, whether it was through physical, environmental, or economic factors. One in every five parents said their children had direct contact with the oil; one in four reported smelling strong oil-related odors; and two of every five said their household had lost income or a job since the oil spill. A little over 40% of parents in these high-impact communities reported some type of health effect experienced by their children since the oil spill. 18.1% of the parents said their children had experienced breathing problems after the oil spill, 14.8% noted skin problems, 16.0% reported visual problems and 21.6% mentioned emotional or behavioral problems since the oil spill. In October 2012 our research team traveled to four communities to interview local officials and leaders and conduct in-depth parent focus groups. We selected the four communities based on the household data, where parents had reported significant health effects. Across the four communities, the team heard of significant issues related to children’s health and well-being