Toward an Undergraduate MIS Curriculum Model for Caribbean Institutions

Colleges and universities in the United States with undergraduate programs offer undergraduate Management Information Systems programs in their business schools to complement and balance computer science and computer engineering curricula. Similar institutions in the English-speaking Caribbean, however, slant their computing studies overwhelmingly toward Computer Science , which produces technologists for the IT industry. Although the vast majority of their graduates are engaged in applying technology solutions to information problems in business organizations, these English-speaking Caribbean institutions offer limited MIS programs, which prepare graduates for such roles. This article examines undergraduate computing curricula in the Caribbean and compares them with others elsewhere in the world. It recommends that English-speaking Caribbean universities give similar prominence to MIS education in their business programs in order to equip graduates to create more effective IT-enabled business solutions

Examining SNS Adoption through Motivational Lens

The impact of social networking has become a focal point for Information Systems researchers; however, its potentialbenefits and impact have not been fully explored. Membership in social networks has been increasing steadily within the lastdecade but at the same time some members have abandon their accounts or use them minimally. To understand thedifferences in usage among members the adoption process needs to be evaluated. Existing adoption models evaluatedtechnology adoption from a utilitarian perspective and are deemed inadequate to evaluate social networking systems (SNS).This is because SNS are classified as social information systems whose adoption, based on the literature, should be evaluatedfrom a motivational perspective. The purpose of this research, therefore, is to propose a social information system researchmodel that will explain the adoption process of social networking and similar technologies

JAD Can Get Better

Interviewing and other conventional approaches failed to produce the user-developer understanding required to establish high-quality systems requirements for software development. .Joint Application Development (JAD) was introduced in the late 1970s, and has been widely used to alleviate this problem. But JAD s success has been critically dependent on the excellence of facilitation to deflect many of the relational problems that are typically experienced with the freely interacting group structure used to conduct JAD sessions. While the use of JAD is pervasive, excellent facilitators are scarce, which hampers or even precludes some JAD efforts. In this article we recommend a solution to this problem—using the nominal group technique (NGT) in JAD sessions to reduce the impact of negative group dynamics on JAD results. We provide some indications of the potential effectiveness of this proposal

Using a Design Science Approach to Create and Evaluate a Social Media Crime Reporting Tool in a Developing Country: Case Jamaica

Latin America and Caribbean countries account for a considerable percentage of the homicide rate globally. The level of crime in this region has had a negative effect on growth and development. We posit that the use of social media as a crime reporting tool could have a positive impact in these economies. Therefore the purpose of this research is to use design science to create a social media crime reporting tool to be implemented in Jamaica. Over a period of eighteen months the research and development team engaged with members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to assess design requirements for this artifact. We present the preliminary results from the first interaction of the design cycle, which suggest that privacy and security risks, protecting the identity of informants, verifying evidence submission and reconciling Jamaica’s legislation with the use of the artifact are major concerns for members of the JC

Key influencing factors of information systems quality and success in Jamaican organizations

Despite major strides in information technology, the Information Systems (IS) community generally continues to suffer fromthe delivery of low quality and failed systems. The situation in the English-speaking Caribbean and in Jamaica in particular,is even more stark because interventions such as software process improvement (SPI) processes are neither well known norused. There is therefore a glaring need to understand the fundamentals of quality determinants in this domain to be able toprovide useful insights for improvement. A recent study has indicated that Jamaican developers are unaware of SPIapproaches and consequently the potential impact and role of process and people on IS quality. We have also included theperception of quality as a probable determinant of the success of even high quality IS. In this research in progress, we havedeveloped and proposed a research model and propositions to explore the impact of process, people and perception on ISquality and success. We hope to use it in Caribbean studies to provide much needed insights

Identifying Key Software Development Practices in the English-Speaking Caribbean Using the Nominal Group Technique

This paper explains how a simplified process improvement framework was developed with practices from the capability maturity model integration (CMMI) model using the nominal group technique (NGT). The NGT was used to generate consensus on key software process improvement practices that are likely to lead to the improvement of the quality of information systems (IS) in the English-speaking Caribbean (ESC). We present the approach taken, the results derived, and the benefits of using this approach. NGT sessions, involving 30 IS professionals were conducted in four ESC territories to reduce and finalize a list of key software development practices that would be more suitable for ESC nations to focus on

Effects of Immunization With the Soil-Derived Bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae on Stress Coping Behaviors and Cognitive Performance in a "Two Hit" Stressor Model

Previous studies demonstrate that Mycobacterium vaccae NCTC 11659 (M. vaccae), a soil-derived bacterium with anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory properties, is a potentially useful countermeasure against negative outcomes to stressors. Here we used male C57BL/6NCrl mice to determine if repeated immunization with M. vaccae is an effective countermeasure in a "two hit" stress exposure model of chronic disruption of rhythms (CDR) followed by acute social defeat (SD). On day -28, mice received implants of biotelemetric recording devices to monitor 24-h rhythms of locomotor activity. Mice were subsequently treated with a heat-killed preparation of M. vaccae (0.1 mg, administered subcutaneously on days -21, -14, -7, and 27) or borate-buffered saline vehicle. Mice were then exposed to 8 consecutive weeks of either stable normal 12:12 h light:dark (LD) conditions or CDR, consisting of 12-h reversals of the LD cycle every 7 days (days 0-56). Finally, mice were exposed to either a 10-min SD or a home cage control condition on day 54. All mice were exposed to object location memory testing 24 h following SD. The gut microbiome and metabolome were assessed in fecal samples collected on days -1, 48, and 62 using 16S rRNA gene sequence and LC-MS/MS spectral data, respectively; the plasma metabolome was additionally measured on day 64. Among mice exposed to normal LD conditions, immunization with M. vaccae induced a shift toward a more proactive behavioral coping response to SD as measured by increases in scouting and avoiding an approaching male CD-1 aggressor, and decreases in submissive upright defensive postures. In the object location memory test, exposure to SD increased cognitive function in CDR mice previously immunized with M. vaccae. Immunization with M. vaccae stabilized the gut microbiome, attenuating CDR-induced reductions in alpha diversity and decreasing within-group measures of beta diversity. Immunization with M. vaccae also increased the relative abundance of 1-heptadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, a lysophospholipid, in plasma. Together, these data support the hypothesis that immunization with M. vaccae stabilizes the gut microbiome, induces a shift toward a more proactive response to stress exposure, and promotes stress resilience. &nbsp;</p

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI