IT in construction: aligning IT and business strategies

The extent to which information technology (IT) infrastructures and strategies are aligned with business processes and strategies varies widely along firms. The objective of this paper is to explain the success or failure of IT in construction firms by focusing on the alignment (or lack of it) between business strategy, IT strategy, organizational infrastructure, and IT infrastructure. It is hypothesized that the ‘fit’ among these elements, the domains of the Strategic Alignment Model, is positively related to the Business Value of IT in Construction. The IT Business Value is evaluated in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and business performance. By applying the Strategic Alignment Model to the Dutch construction industry, it is shown that the inadequate alignment between these domains is a major reason for the modest added business value from IT investments in this industry. The first lack of alignment is the technology shortfall: hence IT contributes in an inadequate way to strategic processes of construction firms. The second lack of alignment is the strategy-shortfall: hence the firm strategy impedes the implementation of IT that could generate a high business value

Data-adaptive longitudinal model selection in causal inference with collaborative targeted minimum loss-based estimation

R code disponible : https://www.mireilleschnitzer.com/collaborative-longitudinal-tmle.htmlCausal inference methods have been developed for longitudinal observationalstudy designs where confounding is thought to occur over time. In particular,one may estimate and contrast the population mean counterfactual outcomeunder specific exposure patterns. In such contexts, confounders of thelongitudinal treatment‐outcome association are generally identified usingdomain‐specific knowledge. However, this may leave an analyst with a largeset of potential confounders that may hinder estimation. Previous approaches todata‐adaptive model selection for this type of causal parameter were limited tothe single time‐point setting. We develop a longitudinal extension of acollaborative targeted minimum loss‐based estimation (C‐TMLE) algorithmthat can be applied to perform variable selection in the models for theprobability of treatment with the goal of improving the estimation of thepopulation mean counterfactual outcome under a fixed exposure pattern. Weinvestigate the properties of this method through a simulation study, comparingit to G‐Computation and inverse probability of treatment weighting. We thenapply the method in a real‐data example to evaluate the safety of trimester‐specific exposure to inhaled corticosteroids during pregnancy in women withmild asthma. The data for this study were obtained from the linkage ofelectronic health databases in the province of Quebec, Canada. The C‐TMLEcovariate selection approach allowed for a reduction of the set of potentialconfounders, which included baseline and longitudinal variables

A method for predicting launch vehicle vibration levels in the region of the spacecraft adaptor

Prediction curves for launch vehicle vibration levels in region of spacecraft adapto

The radio source B 1834+620: A double-double radio galaxy with interesting properties

We present a study of the peculiar radio galaxy B 1834+620. It is characterised by the presence of a 420-kpc large edge-brightened radio source which is situated within, and well aligned with, a larger (1.66 Mpc) radio source. Both sources apparently originate in the same host galaxy, which has a R_s-magnitude of 19.7 and a redshift of 0.5194, as determined from the strong emission-lines in the spectrum. We have determined the rotation measures towards this source, as well as the radio spectral energy distribution of its components. The radio spectrum of the large outer source is steeper than that of the smaller inner source. The radio core has a spectrum that peaks at a frequency of a few GHz. The rotation measures towards the four main components are quite similar, within $\sim\!2$ rad m$^{-2}$ of 58 rad m$^{-2}$. They are probably largely galactic in origin. We have used the presence of a bright hotspot in the northern outer lobe to constrain the advance velocity of the inner radio lobes to the range between 0.19c and 0.29c, depending on the orientation of the source. This corresponds to an age of this structure in the range between 2.6 and 5.8 Myr. We estimate a density of the ambient medium of the inner lobes of \la 1.6 \times 10^{-30} gr\,cm$^{-3}$ (particle density \la 8 \times 10^{-7} cm$^{-3}$). A low ambient density is further supported by the discrepancy between the large optical emission-line luminosity of the host galaxy and the relatively low radio power of the inner lobes.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Estimating treatment importance in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis using Targeted Learning : an observational individual patient data network meta-analysis

Persons with multidrug‐resistant tuberculosis (MDR‐TB) have a disease resulting from a strain of tuberculosis (TB) that does not respond to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most effective anti‐TB drugs. MDR‐TB is always treated with multiple antimicrobial agents. Our data consist of individual patient data from 31 international observational studies with varying prescription practices, access to medications, and distributions of antibiotic resistance. In this study, we develop identifiability criteria for the estimation of a global treatment importance metric in the context where not all medications are observed in all studies. With stronger causal assumptions, this treatment importance metric can be interpreted as the effect of adding a medication to the existing treatments. We then use this metric to rank 15 observed antimicrobial agents in terms of their estimated add‐on value. Using the concept of transportability, we propose an implementation of targeted maximum likelihood estimation, a doubly robust and locally efficient plug‐in estimator, to estimate the treatment importance metric. A clustered sandwich estimator is adopted to compute variance estimates and produce confidence intervals. Simulation studies are conducted to assess the performance of our estimator, verify the double robustness property, and assess the appropriateness of the variance estimation approach

Imaging and manipulation of skyrmion lattice domains in Cu2OSeO3

Nanoscale chiral skyrmions in noncentrosymmetric helimagnets are promising binary state variables in high-density, low-energy nonvolatile memory. Skyrmions are ubiquitous as an ordered, single-domain lattice phase, which makes it difficult to write information unless they are spatially broken up into smaller units, each representing a bit. Thus, the formation and manipulation of skyrmion lattice domains is a prerequisite for memory applications. Here, using an imaging technique based on resonant magnetic x-ray diffraction, we demonstrate the mapping and manipulation of skyrmion lattice domains in Cu2OSeO3. The material is particularly interesting for applications owing to its insulating nature, allowing for electric field-driven domain manipulation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

PENERAPAN METODE JUST IN TIME TERHADAP KETEPATAN PERHITUNGAN BIAYA JASA BONGKAR MUAT DENGAN TOTAL QUALITY MANAJEMEN SEBAGAI VARIABEL MODERASI (Studi Kasus Pada PT. PELINDO III KUPANG)

Tujuan Penelitian adalah Untuk menganalisis dan mengetahui pengaruh penerapan metode just in timeterhadap ketepatan perhitungan biaya jasa bongkar muat, dan pengaruh penerapan just in time terhadapketepatan perhitungan biaya jasa bongkar muat dengan total quality management sebagai variabelmoderasi. Data penelitian ini diperoleh dari kuesioner (Primer) yang dibagikan kepada karyawan PT.Pelindo III Cabang Tenau dengan metode purposive sampling. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah 54karyawan PT. Pelindo III Cabang Tenau dengan menggunakan sampel sebanyak 25 responden. Kuesionerdi uji validitas dan uji reliabilitas sebelum penelitian. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa (1)Penerapan Metode Just In Time berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap Ketepatan Biaya Jasa BongkarMuat. Hal ini dibuktikan melalui analisis regresi linier sederhana yang diperoleh nilai R Square sebesar0,257, yang dapat diartikan bahwa besarnya pengaruh Penerapan Metode Just In Time terhadap KetepatanBiaya Jasa Bongkar Muat adalah 25,7%. Hasil uji t statistik menghasilkan nilai signifikansi lebih kecil darilevel of significant yaitu 0,000 <0,05. (2) Total Quality Management dapat memoderasi pengaruhPenerapan Metode Just In Time terhadap Ketepatan Biaya Jasa Bongkar Muat. Hal tersebut dibuktikanmelalui Moderated Regression Analysis yang memberikan nilai koefisien sebesar 0,025,yang dapatdiartikan Total Quality Management dapat memoderasi pengaruh Penerapan Metode Just In Time terhadapKetepatan Biaya Jasa Bongkar Muat 25%. Hasil uji t statistik menghasilkan nilai signifikan lebih kecil darilevel of significant yaitu 0,005 < 0,05

5d-5f Electric-multipole Transitions in Uranium Dioxide Probed by Non-resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering

Non-resonant inelastic x ray scattering (NIXS) experiments have been performed to probe the 5d-5f electronic transitions at the uranium O(4,5) absorption edges in uranium dioxide. For small values of the scattering vector q, the spectra are dominated by dipole-allowed transitions encapsulated within the giant resonance, whereas for higher values of q the multipolar transitions of rank 3 and 5 give rise to strong and well-defined multiplet structure in the pre-edge region. The origin of the observed non-dipole multiplet structures is explained on the basis of many-electron atomic spectral calculations. The results obtained demonstrate the high potential of NIXS as a bulk-sensitive technique for the characterization of the electronic properties of actinide materials.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letters on 31 December 200