Success and failure factors of shared services : an IS literature analysis

Organizations seeking improvements in their performance are increasingly exploring alternative models and approaches for providing support services; one such approach being Shared Services. Because of the possible consequential impact of Shared Services on organizations, and given that information systems (IS) is both an enabler of Shared Services (for other functional areas) as well as a promising area for Shared Services application, Shared Services is an important area for research in the IS field. Though Shared Services has been extensively adopted on the promise of economies of scale and scope, factors of Shared Services success (or failure) have received little research attention. This paper reports the distillation of success and failure factors of Shared Services from an IS perspective. Employing NVIVO and content analysis of 158 selected articles, 9 key success factors and 5 failure factors are identified, suggesting important implications for practice and further research.

A novel duplication polymorphism in the FANCA promoter and its association with breast and ovarian cancer

The FANCA gene is one of the genes in which mutations lead to Fanconi anaemia, a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterised by congenital abnormalities, bone marrow failure, and predisposition to malignancy. FANCA is also a potential breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene. A novel allele was identified which has a tandem duplication of a 13 base pair sequence in the promoter region. Methods: We screened germline DNA from 352 breast cancer patients, 390 ovarian cancer patients and 256 normal controls to determine if the presence of either of these two alleles was associated with an increased risk of breast or ovarian cancer. Results: The duplication allele had a frequency of 0.34 in the normal controls. There was a nonsignificant decrease in the frequency of the duplication allele in breast cancer patients. The frequency of the duplication allele was significantly decreased in ovarian cancer patients. However, when malignant and benign tumours were considered separately, the decrease was only significant in benign tumours. Conclusion: The allele with the tandem duplication does not appear to modify breast cancer risk but may act as a low penetrance protective allele for ovarian cancer.

UWB antenna array for wireless transmission along corridors

A 2-element elliptical patch antenna array with a bi-directional radiation pattern has been developed for ultra wideband indoor wireless communications. The array is constructed by means of feeding two omni-directional elliptical patch elements with a 3-section hybrid power divider. Experimental results show that the array has a stable radiation pattern and low return loss over a broad bandwidth of 64% (3.1 - 6 GHz).

How was school today?

What I want to do in this Column, is to paint a picture of the current BPM education portfolios that are offered globally by universities active in the BPM space. To do so, I will draw on work I was involved in that reviewed the BPM teaching capacities of five universities in the United States, Europe, Africa and Australia. My ambition is to complement the listings in the BPTrends Academic Program with a more comprehensive and in-depth discussion of a selected set of universities. Let us explore how BPM capability development is implemented and offered in different universities around the globe.

Sensitivity of building cooling loads to future weather predictions

The interaction and relationship between the global warming and the thermal performance buildings are dynamic in nature. In order to model and understand this behavior, different approaches, including keeping weather variable unchanged, morphing approach and diurnal modelling method, have been used to project and generate future weather data. Among these approaches, various assumptions on the change of solar radiation, air humidity and/or wind characteristics may be adopted. In this paper, an example to illustrate the generation of future weather data for the different global warming scenarios in Australia is presented. The sensitivity of building cooling loads to the possible changes of assumed values used in the future weather data generation is investigated. It is shown that with ± 10% change of the proposed future values for solar radiation, air humidity or wind characteristics, the corresponding change in the cooling load of the modeled sample office building at different Australian capital cities would not exceed 6%, 4% and 1.5% respectively. It is also found that with ±10% changes on the proposed weather variables for both the 2070-high future scenario and the current weather scenario, the corresponding change in the cooling loads at different locations may be weaker (up to 2% difference in Hobart for ±10% change in global solar radiation), similar (less than 0.6%) difference in Hobart for ±10% change in wind speed), or stronger (up to 1.6% difference in Hobart for ±10% change in relative humidity) in the 2070-high future scenario than in the current weather scenario.

The effect of lumbar support on the trunk muscle activity and pelvic tilt in a passenger vehicle car seat

In order to gain a competitive edge in the market, automotive manufacturers and automotive seat suppliers have identified seat ergonomics for further development to improve overall vehicle comfort. Adjustable lumbar support devices have been offered since long as comfort systems in either a 2-way or 4-way adjustable configuration, although their effect on lumbar strain is not well documented. The effect of a lumbar support on posture and muscular strain, and therefore the relationship between discomfort and comfort device parameter settings, requires clarification. The aim of this paper is to study the effect of a 4-way lumbar support on lower trunk and pelvis muscle activity, pelvic tilt and spine curvature during a car seating activity. 10 healthy subjects (5 m/f; age 19-39) performed a seating activity in a passenger vehicle with seven different static lumbar support positions. The lumbar support was tested in 3 different height positions in relation to the seatback surface centreline (high, centre, low), each having 2 depths positions (lumbar prominence). An extra depth position was added for the centre position. Posture data were collected using a VICON MX motion capture system and NORAXON DTS goniometers and inclinometer. A rigid-body model of an adjustable car seat with four-way adjustable lumbar support was constructed in UGS Siemens NX and connected to a musculoskeletal model of a seated-human, modelled in AnyBody. Wireless electromyography (EMG) was used to calibrate the musculoskeletal model and assess the relationship between (a) muscular strain and lumbar prominence (normal to seatback surface) respective to the lumbar height (alongside seatback surface), (b) hip joint moment and lumbar prominence (normal to seatback surface) respective to lumbar height (alongside seatback surface) and (c) pelvic tilt and lumbar prominence (normal to seatback surface) respective to the lumbar height (alongside seatback surface). This study was based on the assumption that the musculoskeletal human model was seated at the correct R-Point (SgRP), determined via the occupant packaging toolkit in the JACK digital human model. The effect of the interaction between the driver/car-seat has been investigated for factors resulting from the presence and adjustment of a 4-way lumbar support. The results obtained show that various seat adjustments, and driver’s lumbar supports can have complex influence on the muscle activation, joint forces and moments, all of which can affect the comfort perception of the driver. This study enables the automotive industry to optimise passenger vehicle seat development and design. It further more supports the evaluation of static postural and dynamic seat comfort in normal everyday driving tasks and can be applied for future car design to reduce investment and improve comfort.

Global Warming : Impact on Building Design and Performance

Global warming is entailing new climatic conditions for the built environment. Such a warming climate will affect both the performance of existing building stock and the design of new buildings. In this article, the knowledge of global warming and climate change is first introduced. The cycling interaction between global warming and buildings is then presented. The impact of global warming on building energy use and thermal performance is also assessed. Finally, the potential mitigation and adaptation strategies to the global warming are discussed.

Probabilistic matching of image sets for video-based face recognition

We address the problem of face recognition on video by employing the recently proposed probabilistic linear discrimi-nant analysis (PLDA). The PLDA has been shown to be robust against pose and expression in image-based face recognition. In this research, the method is extended and applied to video where image set to image set matching is performed. We investigate two approaches of computing similarities between image sets using the PLDA: the closest pair approach and the holistic sets approach. To better model face appearances in video, we also propose the heteroscedastic version of the PLDA which learns the within-class covariance of each individual separately. Our experi-ments on the VidTIMIT and Honda datasets show that the combination of the heteroscedastic PLDA and the closest pair approach achieves the best performance.

Sporadic childhood Burkitt lymphoma incidence in the United States during 1992-2005

Background The risk factors and co-factors for sporadic childhood BL are unknown. We investigated demographic and age-specific characteristics of childhood BL (0–14 years) in the U.S. Procedure BL age-standardized incidence rates (2000 U.S. standard population), were calculated using data obtained from 12 registries in the NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program for cases diagnosed from 1992 through 2005. Incidence rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated by gender, age-group, race, ethnicity, calendar-year period, and registry. Results Of 296 cases identified, 56% were diagnosed in lymph nodes, 21% in abdominal organs, not including retroperitoneal lymph nodes, 14% were Burkitt cell leukemia, and 9% on face/head structures. The male-to-female case ratio was highest for facial/head tumors (25:1) and lowest for Burkitt cell leukemia (1.6:1). BL incidence rate was 2.5 (95% CI 2.3–2.8) cases per million person-years and was higher among boys than girls (3.9 vs. 1.1, p<0.001) and higher among Whites and Asians/Pacific Islanders than among Blacks (2.8 and 2.9 vs.1.2, respectively, p<0.001). By ethnicity, BL incidence was higher among non-Hispanic Whites than Hispanic Whites (3.2 vs. 2.0, p=0.002). Age-specific incidence rate for BL peaked by age 3–5 years (3.4 cases per million), then stabilized or declined with increasing age, but it did not vary with calendar-year or registry area. Conclusions Our results indicate that early childhood exposures, male-sex, and White race may be risk factors for sporadic childhood BL in the United States. Keywords: epidemiology, pediatric cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, HIV/AIDS

Risk of Human Papillomavirus-Associated Cancers Among Persons With AIDS

Background Although risk of human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated cancers of the anus, cervix, oropharynx, penis, vagina, and vulva is increased among persons with AIDS, the etiologic role of immunosuppression is unclear and incidence trends for these cancers over time, particularly after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy in 1996, are not well described. Methods Data on 499 230 individuals diagnosed with AIDS from January 1, 1980, through December 31, 2004, were linked with cancer registries in 15 US regions. Risk of in situ and invasive HPV-associated cancers, compared with that in the general population, was measured by use of standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We evaluated the relationship of immunosuppression with incidence during the period of 4–60 months after AIDS onset by use of CD4 T-cell counts measured at AIDS onset. Incidence during the 4–60 months after AIDS onset was compared across three periods (1980–1989, 1990–1995, and 1996–2004). All statistical tests were two-sided. Results Among persons with AIDS, we observed statistically significantly elevated risk of all HPV-associated in situ (SIRs ranged from 8.9, 95% CI = 8.0 to 9.9, for cervical cancer to 68.6, 95% CI = 59.7 to 78.4, for anal cancer among men) and invasive (SIRs ranged from 1.6, 95% CI = 1.2 to 2.1, for oropharyngeal cancer to 34.6, 95% CI = 30.8 to 38.8, for anal cancer among men) cancers. During 1996–2004, low CD4 T-cell count was associated with statistically significantly increased risk of invasive anal cancer among men (relative risk [RR] per decline of 100 CD4 T cells per cubic millimeter = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.08 to 1.66, P = .006) and non–statistically significantly increased risk of in situ vagina or vulva cancer (RR = 1.52, 95% CI = 0.99 to 2.35, P = .055) and of invasive cervical cancer (RR = 1.32, 95% CI = 0.96 to 1.80, P = .077). Among men, incidence (per 100 000 person-years) of in situ and invasive anal cancer was statistically significantly higher during 1996–2004 than during 1990–1995 (61% increase for in situ cancers, 18.3 cases vs 29.5 cases, respectively; RR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.24 to 2.35, P < .001; and 104% increase for invasive cancers, 20.7 cases vs 42.3 cases, respectively; RR = 2.03, 95% CI = 1.54 to 2.68, P < .001). Incidence of other cancers was stable over time. Conclusions Risk of HPV-associated cancers was elevated among persons with AIDS and increased with increasing immunosuppression. The increasing incidence for anal cancer during 1996–2004 indicates that prolonged survival may be associated with increased risk of certain HPV-associated cancers.

Educating for change : a case for a pedagogy of desire in design eduation

Despite major inroads in demystifying creativity for the non-design disciplines, there has been very little movement in the design disciplines themselves beyond traditional paradigms. As argued in this paper, this is particularly noticeable in design education where traditional pedagogical approaches persist despite the emergence of new experimental pedagogies and the possibilities and opportunities they offer. In response, this paper describes what is revealed when a ‘pedagogy of desire’ is used as a critical lens to reflect on an experience of developing and implementing a first year interior design program involving first and second year undergraduate interior design and architecture students. Implications drawn from the review are presented and a case made for continuing experimentation and development of a pedagogy of desire for design learning and teaching.

Same old 'other' mother: Neil Gaiman's Coraline

Central to Coraline’s experiences in the fantasy world beyond the walls of her flat is the ‘other’ mother, who is initially constructed as an idealised image of maternal care whose only concern is for the welfare and comfort of her child. But as the story unfolds, this belle dame rapidly transforms into the ‘beldam sans merci’, an old crone, a she-devil whose real interest lies in the power she can draw from possessing the souls of children such as Coraline. This paper explores the Gaiman’s use of archetypes and cultural stereotypes of the mother figure that feminisms have been intent on expunging, interrogating, or appropriating in positive ways.

A preliminary study into the environmental and economic consequences of a sugar factory depithing operation

Bagasse stockpile operations have the potential to lead to adverse environmental and social impacts. Dust releases can cause occupational health and safety concerns for factory workers and dust emissions impact on the surrounding community. Preliminary modelling showed that bagasse depithing would likely reduce the environmental risks, particularly dust emissions, associated with large scale bagasse stockpiling operations. Dust emission properties were measured and used for dispersion modelling with favourable outcomes. Modelling showed a 70% reduction in peak ground level concentrations of PM10 dust (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 µm) from operations on depithed bagasse stockpiles compared to similar operations on stockpiles of whole bagasse. However, the costs of a depithing operation at a sugar factory were estimated to be approximately $2.1 million in capital expenditure to process 100,000 t/y of bagasse and operating costs were approximately $200,000 p.a. The total capital cost for a 10,000 t/y operation was approximately $1.6 million. The cost of depithing based on a discounted cash flow analysis was $5.50 per tonne of bagasse for the 100,000 t/y scenario. This may make depithing prohibitively expensive in many situations if installed exclusively as a dust control measure.

A research framework for assessing the effects of heat stress on construction workers

Hong Kong in summer (June - October) is hot and humid. Construction workers have to undertake physically demanding activities and often in confined spaces. They are vulnerable to heat stress in summer hence health and safety measures associated to heat stress measured by scientific and clinical parameters are urgently needed. This paper provides an initial report of a research project funded by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the HKSAR. The aim of this study is to develop a set of indices measured by clinical and scientific methods to detect impending attacks of heat stress. These indices would be of tremendous value in better safeguarding workers’ health and safety by reducing the occurrences of heat stress on site. This paper firstly reports on the statistics of construction incidents arising from heat stress. Qualitative and quantitative research methods applied in conducting the research are discussed. It is believed that the construction industry and the government would benefit a lot as a result of this study.

Empirical analysis on relationship between traffic conditions and crash occurrences

This paper investigates relationship between traffic conditions and the crash occurrence likelihood (COL) using the I-880 data. To remedy the data limitations and the methodological shortcomings suffered by previous studies, a multiresolution data processing method is proposed and implemented, upon which binary logistic models were developed. The major findings of this paper are: 1) traffic conditions have significant impacts on COL at the study site; Specifically, COL in a congested (transitioning) traffic flow is about 6 (1.6) times of that in a free flow condition; 2)Speed variance alone is not sufficient to capture traffic dynamics’ impact on COL; a traffic chaos indicator that integrates speed, speed variance, and flow is proposed and shows a promising performance; 3) Models based on aggregated data shall be interpreted with caution. Generally, conclusions obtained from such models shall not be generalized to individual vehicles (drivers) without further evidences using high-resolution data and it is dubious to either claim or disclaim speed kills based on aggregated data.