Factors impacting knowledge transfer success in information systems outsourcing

Despite increased research interest on knowledge transfer in information systems (IS) outsourcing, the field still lacks sound and holistic understanding of the key factors influencing knowledge transfer success. The present paper attempts to provide a synthesis of existing theoretical perspectives and empirical findings related to the factors that facilitate or hamper knowledge transfer success in IS outsourcing. The data collection method is discussed and the key findings are presented. Conclusion is drawn and further research is suggested

Deep Projective 3D Semantic Segmentation

Semantic segmentation of 3D point clouds is a challenging problem with numerous real-world applications. While deep learning has revolutionized the field of image semantic segmentation, its impact on point cloud data has been limited so far. Recent attempts, based on 3D deep learning approaches (3D-CNNs), have achieved below-expected results. Such methods require voxelizations of the underlying point cloud data, leading to decreased spatial resolution and increased memory consumption. Additionally, 3D-CNNs greatly suffer from the limited availability of annotated datasets. In this paper, we propose an alternative framework that avoids the limitations of 3D-CNNs. Instead of directly solving the problem in 3D, we first project the point cloud onto a set of synthetic 2D-images. These images are then used as input to a 2D-CNN, designed for semantic segmentation. Finally, the obtained prediction scores are re-projected to the point cloud to obtain the segmentation results. We further investigate the impact of multiple modalities, such as color, depth and surface normals, in a multi-stream network architecture. Experiments are performed on the recent Semantic3D dataset. Our approach sets a new state-of-the-art by achieving a relative gain of 7.9 %, compared to the previous best approach.Comment: Submitted to CAIP 201

3DFeat-Net: Weakly Supervised Local 3D Features for Point Cloud Registration

In this paper, we propose the 3DFeat-Net which learns both 3D feature detector and descriptor for point cloud matching using weak supervision. Unlike many existing works, we do not require manual annotation of matching point clusters. Instead, we leverage on alignment and attention mechanisms to learn feature correspondences from GPS/INS tagged 3D point clouds without explicitly specifying them. We create training and benchmark outdoor Lidar datasets, and experiments show that 3DFeat-Net obtains state-of-the-art performance on these gravity-aligned datasets.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures. Accepted in ECCV 201

An investigation of knowledge transfer in information systems (IS) outsourcing

Inter-organisational knowledge transfer is of central interest both as an academic topic and in business practice. However, despite the attention given to the importance of this subject from different perspectives in various contexts, little is known about how knowledge is transferred from vendors to clients in information systems (IS) outsourcing. This research attempts to address this apparent theoretical and empirical deficiency by providing a deeper understanding and more holistic analysis of the key factors which facilitate or inhibit knowledge transfer success in IS outsourcing. This study employed a qualitative, multiple case study approach in the interpretive paradigm. Data was collected mainly from the IS departments of three public sector organisations in Oman. Oman was chosen as the context for the study due to its rapid growth in recent years and the opportunity to consider the many major IS outsourcing projects which have been undertaken by its public sector. Through semi-structured interviews, this study explored the perspectives of the internal IS staff on their experience of knowledge transfer and learning from vendors through various IS outsourcing projects. Written and electronic documentations as well as non-participant observations also served as important triangulation and complementary sources in understanding the phenomenon being studied and as means of gaining additional perspectives and further insights on key issues. The empirical evidence demonstrated that there are five sets of factors which facilitate or inhibit knowledge transfer success in IS outsourcing. These are: knowledge (knowledge tacitness and knowledge complexity), client (learning intent, absorptive capacity and motivation), vendor (vendor capability, vendor credibility and vendor openness), relationship (relationship quality, relationship duration, relationship governance and organisational distance) and knowledge transfer mechanisms (formal and informal). The findings of this study contributed and extended the growing body of research on IS outsourcing by developing a novel, holistic conceptual framework which examined five sets of factors that impact knowledge transfer success. Additionally, it provided prescriptive value for practitioners seeking to realise efficient and effective knowledge transfer in IS outsourcing.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Energy and Momentum Distributions of Kantowski and Sachs Space-time

We use the Einstein, Bergmann-Thomson, Landau-Lifshitz and Papapetrou energy-momentum complexes to calculate the energy and momentum distributions of Kantowski and Sachs space-time. We show that the Einstein and Bergmann-Thomson definitions furnish a consistent result for the energy distribution, but the definition of Landau-Lifshitz do not agree with them. We show that a signature switch should affect about everything including energy distribution in the case of Einstein and Papapetrou prescriptions but not in Bergmann-Thomson and Landau-Lifshitz prescriptions.Comment: 12 page

Teleparallel Energy-Momentum Distribution of Spatially Homogeneous Rotating Spacetimes

The energy-momentum distribution of spatially homogeneous rotating spacetimes in the context of teleparallel theory of gravity is investigated. For this purpose, we use the teleparallel version of Moller prescription. It is found that the components of energy-momentum density are finite and well-defined but are different from General Relativity. However, the energy-momentum density components become the same in both theories under certain assumptions. We also analyse these quantities for some special solutions of the spatially homogeneous rotating spacetimes.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication in Int. J. Theor. Phy

Teleparallel Energy-Momentum Distribution of Static Axially Symmetric Spacetimes

This paper is devoted to discuss the energy-momentum for static axially symmetric spacetimes in the framework of teleparallel theory of gravity. For this purpose, we use the teleparallel versions of Einstein, Landau-Lifshitz, Bergmann and M$\ddot{o}$ller prescriptions. A comparison of the results shows that the energy density is different but the momentum turns out to be constant in each prescription. This is exactly similar to the results available in literature using the framework of General Relativity. It is mentioned here that M$\ddot{o}$ller energy-momentum distribution is independent of the coupling constant $\lambda$. Finally, we calculate energy-momentum distribution for the Curzon metric, a special case of the above mentioned spacetime.Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Energy and Momentum densities of cosmological models, with equation of state ρ=μ\rho=\mu, in general relativity and teleparallel gravity

We calculated the energy and momentum densities of stiff fluid solutions, using Einstein, Bergmann-Thomson and Landau-Lifshitz energy-momentum complexes, in both general relativity and teleparallel gravity. In our analysis we get different results comparing the aforementioned complexes with each other when calculated in the same gravitational theory, either this is in general relativity and teleparallel gravity. However, interestingly enough, each complex's value is the same either in general relativity or teleparallel gravity. Our results sustain that (i) general relativity or teleparallel gravity are equivalent theories (ii) different energy-momentum complexes do not provide the same energy and momentum densities neither in general relativity nor in teleparallel gravity. In the context of the theory of teleparallel gravity, the vector and axial-vector parts of the torsion are obtained. We show that the axial-vector torsion vanishes for the space-time under study.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, Minor typos corrected; version to appear in International Journal of Theoretical Physic

Stationary Cylindrical Anisotropic Fluid

We present the whole set of equations with regularity and matching conditions required for the description of physically meaningful stationary cylindrically symmmetric distributions of matter, smoothly matched to Lewis vacuum spacetime. A specific example is given. The electric and magnetic parts of the Weyl tensor are calculated, and it is shown that purely electric solutions are necessarily static. Then, it is shown that no conformally flat stationary cylindrical fluid exits, satisfying regularity and matching conditions.Comment: 17 pages Latex. To appear in Gen.Rel.Gra