Fit for Purpose Enterprise Architecture

Today’s enterprises are confronted with an ever-changing environment demanding continuous (digital) transformation. Currently enterprise architects tend to guide these changes with so called \u27one size fits all\u27 architectural approaches. However, tuning such approaches to a variety of change situations is difficult. There is a call for a more flexible instrument among practitioners that is designed to be tailored to the context of a specific situation. Such fit for purpose enterprise architecture approaches have the potential to play a key role in the current times of digital transformation. In this paper we present the first steps towards a situational enterprise architecture approach that is based on differentiating between subsystems within organizations, by defining which characteristics of subsystems are relevant to determining the correct enterprise architecture approach

Adaptation of enterprise architecture efforts to an agile environment

Agile ways of working have become mainstream, with many organisations practising a form of agile. Agile maturity among those organisations differs. In a research conducted by VersionOne Inc. (2016), 82% of the participating organisations stated to be at or below the level of ‘still maturing’. Existing agile and architecture methods have begun to incorporate some aspects of each other, with agile methods including architecting, such as the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), and architecture frameworks such as TOGAF (the Open Group Architecture Framework), adding agile elements (Poort, 2014). This study addresses the question how to shape the architecture function to effectively achieve compliance with architecture regulations, of solutions realised in an agile environment. To answer this question a multiple-case study was done, studying three different organisations. The findings are translated into seven propositions

Regional movements of the tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier, off northeastern Brazil: inferences regarding shark attack hazard

An abnormally high shark attack rate verified off Recife could be related to migratory behavior of tiger sharks. This situation started after the construction of the Suape port to the south of Recife. A previous study suggested that attacking sharks could be following northward currents and that they were being attracted shoreward by approaching vessels. In this scenario, such northward movement pattern could imply a higher probability of sharks accessing the littoral area of Recife after leaving Suape. Pop-up satellite archival taus were deployed on five tiger sharks caught off Recife to assess their movement patterns off northeastern Brazil. All tags transmitted from northward latitudes after 7-74 days of freedom. The shorter, soak distance between deployment and pop-up locations ranged between 33-209 km and implied minimum average speeds of 0.02-0.98 km.h(-1). Both pop-up locations and depth data suggest that tiger shark movements were conducted mostly over the continental shelf. The smaller sharks moved to deeper waters within 24 hours after releasing, but they assumed a shallower (< 50 m) vertical distribution for most of the monitoring period. While presenting the first data on tiger shark movements in the South Atlantic, this study also adds new information for the reasoning of the high shark attack rate verified in this region,State Government of Pernambuco and Petrobras (Brazil); Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (Portugal) [MCTES/FCT/SFRH/BD/37065/2007

Laryngoscopes: Evaluation Of Microbial Load Of Blades

Background: Laryngoscope blades were analyzed, and the presence of blood, bodily fluids, and microorganisms was verified, indicating their potential as a source of cross contamination during clinical usage. The way in which the blades are cleaned and disinfected in daily practice may place the patient and health care team at risk. The aim of this study was to determine the bacterial and fungal load on this equipment. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study. A total of 83 laryngoscope blades, ready for use, were analyzed for their bacterial and fungal load at 2 university hospitals. Results: The microbiologic analysis revealed the presence of microorganisms in 76.2% of cases at institution 1 and 92.7% of cases at institution 2, with microbial loads >10(1) colony forming units in 31.2% and 44.7% of cases, respectively. At both institutions, potentially pathogenic microorganisms were found, including Candida sp, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus agalactiae, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, multiresistant Acinetobacter baumannii, Pantoea sp, Enterobacter gergoviae, Escherichia coli, and Proteus mirabilis. Conclusions: These results indicate that the use of laryngoscope blades at these 2 institutions present a potential risk. Based on these findings, action needs to be taken so a higher level of safety can be offered to patients and health care professionals who have direct contact with this equipment. (C) 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.4429429

Running to Stand Still: Naive CD8(+) T Cells Actively Maintain a Program of Quiescence

CD8+ T cells play a pivotal role in clearing intracellular pathogens and combatting tumours. Upon infection, naïve CD8+ T cells differentiate into effector and memory cells, and this program is underscored by large-scale and coordinated changes in the chromatin architecture and gene expression. Importantly, recent evidence demonstrates that the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate the capacity for rapid effector function of memory T cells are shared by innate immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells. Thus, it appears that the crucial difference between innate and adaptive immunity is the presence of the naïve state. This important distinction raises an intriguing new hypothesis, that the naïve state was evolutionary installed to restrain a default program of effector and memory differentiation in response to antigen recognition. We argue that the hallmark of adaptive T immunity is therefore the naïve program, which actively maintains CD8+ T cell quiescence until receipt of appropriate activation signals. In this review, we examine the mechanistic control of naïve CD8+ T cell quiescence and summarise the multiple levels of restraint imposed in naïve cells in to limit spontaneous and inappropriate activation. This includes epigenetic mechanisms and transcription factor (TF) regulation of gene expression, in addition to novel inhibitory receptors, abundance of RNA, and protein degradation

PV Controller Modification and its Impact on Assisting PV Penetration

Large-scale penetration of grid-following inverters into the electricity network presents various technical challenges to grid reliability. It is well-known that the ability of a grid to maintain a stable frequency is inhibited by adding traditional grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) generators. In this work, a detailed model of a simplified grid is presented, and it is shown that the proportion of PV generation and instability are positively correlated. The main instability phenomenon is captured by a Hopf Bifurcation in the field dynamics of the synchronous generator. Such a Hopf bifurcation severely constricts the feasible operating domain of the grid and may hinder normal operation. Modifying traditional grid-tied PV controllers and its impact on grid stability is assessed through small-signal, bifurcation and transient numerical analysis. Traditional PV controllers that are modified to virtual synchronous machine (VSM) type controllers show improvement in system damping. Unlike traditional grid-tied inverters, VSM inverters participate in critical modes of the synchronous generator (SG) and augment the operational domain of the SG+VSM system significantly, more importantly, almost eliminating the need for renewable energy curtailment. A case-study approach is used to present some key results on improvements in damping ratio, feasibility domain and transient stability. Finally, a feasibility domain curve is introduced and discussed in an aim to generalize the overall stability of any such system