Achieving enterprise integration through software customization : part I-evidence from the field

Achieving business and IT integration is strategic goal for many organisations – it has almost become the ‘Holy Grail’ of organisational success. In this environment Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages have become the defacto option for addressing this issue. Integration has come to mean adopting ERP, through configuration and without customization, but this all or nothing approach has proved difficult for many organisations. In part 1 of a 2 part update we provide evidence from the field that suggests that whilst costly, if managed appropriately, customization can have value in aiding organisational integration efforts. In part 2, we discuss in more detail the benefits and pitfalls involved in enacting a non-standard based integration strategy.

Achieving enterprise integration through software customization : part II-enacting the strategy

In part 1 of this update, we put forward the argument that integration in ERP based environments can be achieved in ways other than adopting a software configuration only approach. We drew on evidence from two large ERP implementations to show how, despite the cost implications, some customization, if carefully managed, could prove helpful. In this, the final part of the update, we discuss the benefits, and potential pitfalls, involved in enacting a non-standard based integration strategy. This requires attention to a) broadening the integration definition; b) bringing legacy practices forward and c) developing a customization based integration strategy.

Nursing casualisation and communication : a critical ethnography

Aim The aim was to explore the relationship between nursing casualization and the culture of communication for nurses in a healthcare facility. Background Casualization, or non-standard work, is the use of temporary, contract, part-time and casual labour. An increase in casual labour has been part of a global shift in work organization aimed at creating a more flexible and cheaper workforce. It has been argued that flexibility of labour has enabled nurses to manage both non-work related needs and an increasingly complex work environment. Yet no research has explored casualization and how it impacts on the communication culture for nurses in a healthcare facility. Design Critical ethnography. Methods Methods included observation, field notes, formal interviews and focus groups. Data collection was undertaken over the 2 years 2008–2009. Results The concepts of knowing and belonging were perceived as important to nursing teamwork and yet the traditional time/task work model, designed for a full-time workforce, marginalized non-standard workers. The combination of medical dominance and traditional stereotyping of the nurse and work as full-time shaped the behaviours of nurses and situated casual workers on the periphery. The overall finding was that entrenched systemic structures and processes shaped the physical and cultural dimensions of a contemporary work environment and contributed to an ineffective communication culture. Conclusion Flexible work is an important feature of contemporary nursing. Traditional work models and nurse attitudes and practices have not progressed and are discordant with a contemporary approach to nursing labour management.

Use of contract models to improve environmental outcomes in transport infrastructure construction

The type of contract model may have a significant influence on achieving project objectives, including environmental and climate change goals. This research investigates non-standard contract models impacting greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in transport infrastructure construction in Australia. The research is based on the analysis of two case studies: an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contract and a Design and Construct (D&C) contract with GHG reduction requirements embedded in the contractor selection. Main findings support the use of ECIs for better integrating decisions made during the planning phase with the construction activities, and improve environmental outcomes while achieving financial and time savings. Key words: greenhouse gases reduction; road construction; contracting; ECI; D&C

The right to a voice and the fight to be heard: The experience of being an ESL user in Australia

This paper focuses on the fundamental right to be heard, that is, the right to have one’s voice heard and listened to – to impose reception (Bourdieu, 1977). It focuses on the ways that non-mainstream English is heard and received in Australia, where despite public policy initiatives around equal opportunity, language continues to socially disadvantage people (Burridge & Mulder, 1998). English is the language of the mainstream and most people are monolingually English (Ozolins, 1993). English has no official status yet it remains dominant and its centrality is rarely challenged (Smolicz, 1995). This paper takes the position that the lack of language engagement in mainstream Australia leads to linguistic desensitisation. Writing in the US context where English is also the unofficial norm, Lippi-Green (1997) maintains that discrimination based on speech features or accent is commonly accepted and widely perceived as appropriate. In Australia, non-standard forms of English are often disparaged or devalued because they do not conform to the ‘standard’ (Burridge & Mulder, 1998). This paper argues that talk cannot be taken for granted: ‘spoken voices’ are critical tools for representing the self and negotiating and manifesting legitimacy within social groups (Miller, 2003). In multicultural, multilingual countries like Australia, the impact of the spoken voice, its message and how it is heard are critical tools for people seeking settlement, inclusion and access to facilities and services. Too often these rights are denied because of the way a person sounds. This paper reports a study conducted with a group that has been particularly vulnerable to ongoing ‘panics’ about language – international students. International education is the third largest revenue source for Australia (AEI, 2010) but has been beset by concerns from academics (Auditor-General, 2002) and the media about student language levels and falling work standards (e.g. Livingstone, 2004). Much of the focus has been high-stakes writing but with the ascendancy of project work in university assessment and the increasing emphasis on oracy, there is a call to recognise the salience of talk, especially among students using English as a second language (ESL) (Kettle & May, 2012). The study investigated the experiences of six international students in a Master of Education course at a large metropolitan university. It utilised data from student interviews, classroom observations, course materials, university policy documents and media reports to examine the ways that speaking and being heard impacted on the students’ learning and legitimacy in the course. The analysis drew on Fairclough’s (2003) model of the dialectical-relational Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyse the linguistic, discursive and social relations between the data texts and their conditions of production and interpretation, including the wider socio-political discourses on English, language difference, and second language use. The interests of the study were if and how discourses of marginalisation and discrimination manifested and if and how students recognised and responded to them pragmatically. Also how they juxtaposed with and/or contradicted the official rhetoric about diversity and inclusion. The underpinning rationale was that international students’ experiences can provide insights into the hidden politics and practices of being heard and afforded speaking rights as a second language speaker in Australia.

Konstruktioiden dynamiikkaa

Dynamic constructions Dynamic constructions is a study of the dynamism of Finnish grammar. Dynamism as a linguistic phenomenon is studied on both the diachronic and synchronic level. The study therefore focuses not only on the temporal changes of grammar but also on the conventionality of grammatical structures and on the interplay between closely related constructions. Dynamism is also treated as a phenomenon occurring between different varieties of Finnish. All in all, dynamism is shown to be a key feature of the nature of grammar. The study is set within the framework of cognitive linguistics and construction grammar. Both theories emphasise the role of constructions pairings of form with semantic or discourse function in the composition and development of grammar. The grammar of a language is understood to be a structured inventory of such constructions. I argue that the constructions are best studied in their original contexts of use. Thus, the study is usage-based in a strict sense. The data is compiled from various corpora consisting of both written and spoken as well as standard and non-standard Finnish. The dissertation consists of an introduction and four empirical studies. The four papers examine various Finnish constructions and thereby shed light on different aspects of the dynamism of a grammar. The first paper focuses on the diachronic development of the Finnish temporal converb essa. The second paper discusses a specific construction which includes the essa converb, that is, the mikäs on ollessa construction. Some closely related constructions and their semantic interplay are also examined. The third paper extensively studies what is generally regarded as an ellipsis of the negation verb in Finnish. By using present day Finnish data, I show that the omission of the negation verb is not an instance of mere ellipsis but rather a construction. The final paper combines the themes of the second and the third paper by focusing on closely related constructions of the negative ellipsis construction.

Valuation of reduced eutrophication in the Gulf of Finland : Choice experiment with attention to heterogeneous and discontinuous preferences and respondent uncertainty

Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea is a serious problem. This thesis estimates the benefit to Finns from reduced eutrophication in the Gulf of Finland, the most eutrophied part of the Baltic Sea, by applying the choice experiment method, which belongs to the family of stated preference methods. Because stated preference methods have been subject to criticism, e.g., due to their hypothetical survey context, this thesis contributes to the discussion by studying two anomalies that may lead to biased welfare estimates: respondent uncertainty and preference discontinuity. The former refers to the difficulty of stating one s preferences for an environmental good in a hypothetical context. The latter implies a departure from the continuity assumption of conventional consumer theory, which forms the basis for the method and the analysis. In the three essays of the thesis, discrete choice data are analyzed with the multinomial logit and mixed logit models. On average, Finns are willing to contribute to the water quality improvement. The probability for willingness increases with residential or recreational contact with the gulf, higher than average income, younger than average age, and the absence of dependent children in the household. On average, for Finns the relatively most important characteristic of water quality is water clarity followed by the desire for fewer occurrences of blue-green algae. For future nutrient reduction scenarios, the annual mean household willingness to pay estimates range from 271 to 448 and the aggregate welfare estimates for Finns range from 28 billion to 54 billion euros, depending on the model and the intensity of the reduction. Out of the respondents (N=726), 72.1% state in a follow-up question that they are either Certain or Quite certain about their answer when choosing the preferred alternative in the experiment. Based on the analysis of other follow-up questions and another sample (N=307), 10.4% of the respondents are identified as potentially having discontinuous preferences. In relation to both anomalies, the respondent- and questionnaire-specific variables are found among the underlying causes and a departure from standard analysis may improve the model fit and the efficiency of estimates, depending on the chosen modeling approach. The introduction of uncertainty about the future state of the Gulf increases the acceptance of the valuation scenario which may indicate an increased credibility of a proposed scenario. In conclusion, modeling preference heterogeneity is an essential part of the analysis of discrete choice data. The results regarding uncertainty in stating one s preferences and non-standard choice behavior are promising: accounting for these anomalies in the analysis may improve the precision of the estimates of benefit from reduced eutrophication in the Gulf of Finland.

Beyond fractional derivatives: local approximation of other convolution integrals

Dynamic systems involving convolution integrals with decaying kernels, of which fractionally damped systems form a special case, are non-local in time and hence infinite dimensional. Straightforward numerical solution of such systems up to time t needs O(t(2)) computations owing to the repeated evaluation of integrals over intervals that grow like t. Finite-dimensional and local approximations are thus desirable. We present here an approximation method which first rewrites the evolution equation as a coupled in finite-dimensional system with no convolution, and then uses Galerkin approximation with finite elements to obtain linear, finite-dimensional, constant coefficient approximations for the convolution. This paper is a broad generalization, based on a new insight, of our prior work with fractional order derivatives (Singh & Chatterjee 2006 Nonlinear Dyn. 45, 183-206). In particular, the decaying kernels we can address are now generalized to the Laplace transforms of known functions; of these, the power law kernel of fractional order differentiation is a special case. The approximation can be refined easily. The local nature of the approximation allows numerical solution up to time t with O(t) computations. Examples with several different kernels show excellent performance. A key feature of our approach is that the dynamic system in which the convolution integral appears is itself approximated using another system, as distinct from numerically approximating just the solution for the given initial values; this allows non-standard uses of the approximation, e. g. in stability analyses.

Measurement of Zγ production in pp̅ collisions at √s=1.96 TeV

The production rate and kinematics of photons produced in association with Z bosons are studied using 2/fb of p\bar{p} collision data collected at the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The cross section for p\bar{p} -> l^+ l^- gamma + X (where the leptons l are either muons or electrons with dilepton mass M_{ll} > 40 GeV/c^2, and where the photon has transverse energy Et_{gamma} > 7 GeV and is well separated from the leptons) is 4.6 +/- 0.2 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst) +/- 0.3 (lum) pb, which is consistent with standard model expectations. We use the photon Et distribution from Z-gamma events where the Z has decayed to mu^+ mu^-, e^+ e^-, or nu\bar{nu} to set limits on anomalous (non-standard-model) trilinear couplings between photons and Z bosons.

Search for Top-Quark Production via Flavor-Changing Neutral Currents in W+1 Jet Events at CDF

We report on the first search for top-quark production via flavor-changing neutral-current (FCNC) interactions in the non-standard-model process u(c)+g -> t using ppbar collision data collected by the CDF II detector. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.2/fb. The candidate events feature the signature of semileptonic top-quark decays and are classified as signal-like or background-like by an artificial neural network trained on simulated events. The observed discriminant distribution is in good agreement with the one predicted by the standard model and provides no evidence for FCNC top-quark production, resulting in a Bayesian upper limit on the production cross section sigma (u(c)+g -> t) u+g) c+g)

Search for Anomalous Production of Events with a Photon, Jet, b-quark Jet, and Missing Transverse Energy

We present a signature-based search for anomalous production of events containing a photon, two jets, of which at least one is identified as originating from a b quark, and missing transverse energy. The search uses data corresponding to 2.0/fb of integrated luminosity from p-pbar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV, collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. From 6,697,466 events with a photon candidate with transverse energy ET> 25 GeV, we find 617 events with missing transverse energy > 25 GeV and two or more jets with ET> 15 GeV, at least one identified as originating from a b quark, versus an expectation of 607+- 113 events. Increasing the requirement on missing transverse energy to 50 GeV, we find 28 events versus an expectation of 30+-11 events. We find no indications of non-standard-model phenomena.

Search for New Physics with a Dijet Plus Missing ET Signature in pp̅ Collisions at √s=1.96 TeV

We present results of a signature-based search for new physics using a dijet plus missing transverse energy data sample collected in 2 fb-1 of p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We observe no significant event excess with respect to the standard model prediction and extract a 95% C.L. upper limit on the cross section times acceptance for a potential contribution from a non-standard model process. Based on this limit the mass of a first or second generation scalar leptoquark is constrained to be above 187 GeV/c^2.

The Quest for Well-being in Growth Industries 2: The Survey

This working paper reports the ongoing research conducted in the research project, The Quest for Well-being in Growth Industries: A Collaborative Study in Finland and Scotland, under the auspices of Academy of Finland research programme, The Future of Work and Well-being. The research project examines the contradictory pressures for policies and practices towards both the inhibition and the enhancement of work-related well-being that are likely in growth industries. The overall aim is to evaluate the development, implementation and use of work-related well-being policies in four selected growth industries. These – electronics, care, finance and accounting, and tourism – have been selected on the basis of EU and national forecasts, and demographic and socio-economic trends in standard and non-standard employment. In this paper we aim to review the survey that constitutes the second main phase of this research.

Cohésion modale et subordination : Le conditionnel et le jussif finnois au miroir de la valeur sémantique et discursive du subjonctif français

Modal cohesion and subordination. The Finnish conditional and jussive moods in comparison to the French subjunctive This study examines verb moods in subordinate clauses in French and Finnish. The first part of the analysis deals with the syntax and semantics of the French subjunctive, mood occurring mostly in subordinate positions. The second part investigates Finnish verb moods. Although subordinate positions in Finnish grammar have no special finite verb form, certain uses of Finnish verb moods have been compared to those of subjunctives and conjunctives in other languages. The present study focuses on the subordinate uses of the Finnish conditional and jussive (i.e. the third person singular and plural of the imperative mood). The third part of the analysis discusses the functions of subordinate moods in contexts beyond complex sentences. The data used for the analysis include 1834 complex sentences gathered from newspapers, online discussion groups and blog texts, as well as audio-recorded interviews and conversations. The data thus consist of both written and oral texts as well as standard and non-standard variants. The analysis shows that the French subjunctive codes theoretical modality. The subjunctive does not determine the temporal and modal meaning of the event, but displays the event as virtual. In a complex sentence, the main clause determines the temporal and modal space within which the event coded by the subjunctive clause is interpreted. The subjunctive explicitly indicates that the space constructed in the main clause extends its scope over the subordinate clause. The subjunctive can therefore serve as a means for creating modal cohesion in the discourse. The Finnish conditional shares the function of making explicit the modal link between the components of a complex construction with the French subjunctive, but the two moods differ in their semantics. The conditional codes future time and can therefore occur only in non-factual or counterfactual contexts, whereas the event expressed by French subjunctive clauses can also be interpreted as realized. Such is the case when, for instance, generic and habitual meaning is involved. The Finnish jussive mood is used in a relatively limited number of subordinate clause types, but in these contexts its modal meaning is strikingly close to that of the French subjunctive. The permissive meaning, typical of the jussive in main clause positions, is modified in complex sentences so that it entails inter-clausal relation, namely concession. Like the French subjunctive, the jussive codes theoretical modal meaning with no implication of the truth value of the proposition. Finally, the analysis shows that verb moods mark modal cohesion, not only on the syntagmatic level (namely in complexe sentences), but also on the paradigmatic axis of discourse in order to create semantic links over entire segments of talk. In this study, the subjunctive thus appears, not as an empty category without function, as it is sometimes described, but as an open form that conveys the temporal and modal meanings emerging from the context.

On the characterisation of syntactic foam core sandwich composites for compressive properties

Sandwich structures, especially those with honeycomb and grid structures as the core material, are very commonly employed in aircraft structures. There is an increasing use of closed-pore rigid syntactic foams as core materials in sandwich constructions because they possess a number of favourable properties. The syntactic foams, owing to their structure and formation, behave differently under compression compared to other traditionally used core materials. In the present study, therefore, syntactic foam core sandwich constructions are evaluated for their behaviour under compression in both edgewise and flatwise orientations. Further, the work characterises the relative performance of two sets of sandwich materials, one containing glass-epoxy and the other, glass/carbon hybrid-epoxy skins. As non-standard geometry test specimens were involved, only a comparative evaluation was contemplated in this approach. The experiments indicate that the nature of the reinforcement fabric in the skin has a bearing on the test results in edgewise orientation. Thus, the tendency towards initiation of vertical crack in the central plane of the core material, which is a typical fracture event in this kind of material, was found to occur after a delay for the specimens containing the glass fabric in the skin. Attempts are made to establish the correlation between observations made on the test specimen visually during the course of testing and the post-compression microscopic examinations of the fracture features.