Integrating SDLC and ITSM to \u27Servitize\u27 Systems Development

IT Service Management (ITSM) is generating much interest in industry as the quality and reliability of IT services are increasingly recognized as a critical factor for business success. Academic researchers have been slower to respond to industry demand for IT service management research and coursework. This paper argues that academia has an important role to play in integrating ITSM concepts and skills into traditional information systems coursework, specifically system development. The core systems analysis and design course is used to illustrate how IT service management concepts and models can be introduced into existing coursework to support the focus on IT services required by industry today, eventually reducing the growing percentage of IT budgets currently attributed to the operation and maintenance stages of ‘nonservitized’ systems development projects

Self-organization of actin filament orientation in the dendritic-nucleation/array-treadmilling model

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences of the USA for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (2007): 7086-7091, doi:10.1073/pnas.0701943104.The dendritic-nucleation/array-treadmilling model provides a conceptual framework for the generation of the actin network driving motile cells. We have incorporated it into a 2-D, stochastic computer model to study lamellipodia via the self-organization of filament orientation patterns. Essential dendritic-nucleation sub-models were incorporated, including discretized actin monomer diffusion, Monte-Carlo filament kinetics, and flexible filament and plasma membrane mechanics. Model parameters were estimated from the literature and simulation, providing values for the extent of the leading edge branching/capping-protective zone (5.4 nm) and the auto-catalytic branch rate (0.43 /s). For a given set of parameters the system evolved to a steady state filament count and velocity, at which total branching and capping rates were equal only for specific orientations; net capping eliminated others. The standard parameter set evoked a sharp preference for the ±35 deg. filaments seen in lamellipodial electron micrographs, requiring ~ 12 generations of successive branching to adapt to a 15 deg. change in protrusion direction. This pattern was robust with respect to membrane surface and bending energies and to actin concentrations, but required protection from capping at the leading edge and branching angles greater than 60 deg. A +70/0/-70 deg. pattern was formed with flexible filaments ~ 100 nm or longer and with velocities less than ~ 20% of free polymerization rates

Panel: Exploring Approaches to IT Project Management Pedagogy

Universities with information technology (IT) programs often include capstone project management courses in their curricula (1) to insure that students graduate with necessary IT knowledge, skills, and professional attitudes, (2) to demonstrate that students can apply the knowledge and skills learned from earlier courses to simulated projects or real projects in organizations, and (3) to prepare students for careers in the application of information systems and technology. A group of IT project management professors has been meeting over the past six months to collaborate on several proposed student IT project management events. As a result of these meetings, we became aware of the very different but innovative approaches we use to support student learning in IT project management courses. These approaches include variations of team-based project simulations, case studies, and collaborative real-life client projects. The purpose of this panel is to explore the different and innovative approaches used in our project management courses and share their advantages, disadvantages, and lessons learned. The panel format also allows the audience to ask questions, raise potential issues, and to share their own student project management experiences

MHz Unidirectional Rotation of Molecular Rotary Motors

A combination of cryogenic UV-vis and CD spectroscopy and transient absorption spectroscopy at ambient temperature is used to study a new class of unidirectional rotary molecular motors. Stabilization of unstable intermediates is achieved below 95 K in propane solution for the structure with the fastest rotation rate, and below this temperature measurements on the rate limiting step in the rotation cycle can be performed to obtain activation parameters. The results are compared to measurements at ambient temperature using transient absorption spectroscopy, which show that behavior of these motors is similar over the full temperature range investigated, thereby allowing a maximum rotation rate of 3 MHz at room temperature under suitable irradiation conditions

V605 Aql: The Older Twin of Sakurai's Object

New optical spectra have been obtained with VLT/FORS2 of the final helium shell flash (FF) star, V605 Aql, which peaked in brightness in 1919. New models suggest that this star is experiencing a very late thermal pulse. The evolution to a cool luminous giant and then back to a compact hot star takes place in only a few years. V605 Aql, the central star of the Planetary Nebula (PN), A58, has evolved from T$_{eff}\sim$5000 K in 1921 to $\sim$95,000 K today. There are indications that the new FF star, Sakurai's Object (V4334 Sgr), which appeared in 1996, is evolving along a similar path. The abundances of Sakurai's Object today and V605 Aql 80 years ago mimic the hydrogen deficient R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars with 98% He and 1% C. The new spectra show that V605 Aql has stellar abundances similar to those seen in Wolf-Rayet [WC] central stars of PNe with ~55% He, and ~40% C. The stellar spectrum of V605 Aql can be seen even though the star is not directly detected. Therefore, we may be seeing the spectrum in light scattered around the edge of a thick torus of dust seen edge-on. In the present state of evolution of V605 Aql, we may be seeing the not too distant future of Sakurai's Object.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, ApJ Letters in pres

Thrust Stand Characterization of the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT)

Direct thrust measurements have been made on the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion engine using a standard pendulum style thrust stand constructed specifically for this application. Values have been obtained for the full 40-level throttle table, as well as for a few off-nominal operating conditions. Measurements differ from the nominal NASA throttle table 10 (TT10) values by 3.1 percent at most, while at 30 throttle levels (TLs) the difference is less than 2.0 percent. When measurements are compared to TT10 values that have been corrected using ion beam current density and charge state data obtained at The Aerospace Corporation, they differ by 1.2 percent at most, and by 1.0 percent or less at 37 TLs. Thrust correction factors calculated from direct thrust measurements and from The Aerospace Corporation s plume data agree to within measurement error for all but one TL. Thrust due to cold flow and "discharge only" operation has been measured, and analytical expressions are presented which accurately predict thrust based on thermal thrust generation mechanisms