Using tactical and operational factors to assess strategic alignment: an SME study

The strategic use of Information Technology (IT), better known as strategic alignment, has significantly increased, as a result of the strong dependence of organisational activity on Information Systems (IS) and their related technologies. Strategic alignment is considered as a key element to improve performance on organisations, enhance efficiency and allow organisations to be more competitive in their respective industry. One of the first steps towards achieving strategic alignment is to have adequate means to measure it. Current assessment approaches, though, are mainly focused at the strategic level but provide little insight at tactical and operational levels, which are recognized as important areas for achieving strategic alignment. Furthermore, most of the existing approaches are tested in large organisations and there is little research on assessing the effectiveness of these approaches for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This paper proposes an alternative instrument that rather than focusing only at the strategic level it aims to have a better understanding by measuring alignment at tactical and operational levels. Finally this paper presents the findings of applying this instrument on an SME

Charm semileptonic decays at the B factories

A review of charm semileptonic decays results obtained at B factories is presented. It focuses on form factors measurements in $D^0\to K^- \ell^+ \nu$, $D^0\to \pi^- \ell^+ \nu$, $D_s^+ \to K^+K^- e^+\nu_e$, and $D^+ \to K^-\pi^+ e^+\nu_e$. For the last two decay channels, the contribution and characteristics of other components in the final state, in addition to the main vector contribution, is also studied

Academic libraries and learning support in the electronic environment

Learning and teaching techniques are changing in the new electronic environment. Students are asked to gather information from different sources, most of them in electronic formats. Libraries have to adapt their buildings and services to meet their users needs continuously. Amongst the means librarians have included to support learning are electronic based information and learning resources, a better provision of IT technologies, working environments for different types of learning, digital reference services, information literacy skills and the possibility of accessing all these facilities, resources and services at any time. The conclusion indicates that librarians should continuously improve electronic information and learning resources, as well as discovering new ways to approach students

A reescrita de Lady Macbeth por Leskov e os processos de adaptação e de apropriação

This article tries to provide a thorough analysis of Nikolai Leskov’s rewriting of Lady Macbeth, the Shakespearean character, in the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, from the perspective of Translation and Adaptation Studies. The focus will be placed on the ideology of the author who, with full knowledge, rewrites a previous work to adapt it to a specific context. Apart from Leskov’s work, attention will be also paid to two of its subsequent adaptations: Dmitri Shostakovich’s homonymous opera and William Oldroyd’s filmic version, Lady Macbeth. Finally, the importance of these processes for the development of target literary systems will be discussed and emphasized.Este artículo trata de ofrecer un exhaustivo análisis desde la perspectiva de los Estudios de Traducción y Adaptación sobre el proceso de reescritura de Lady Macbeth, el personaje shakesperiano, en la novela corta Lady Macbeth del Distrito de Mtsensk del escritor Nikolai Leskov. Para ello, se prestará especial atención a la ideología del autor, quien, de manera plenamente consciente, reescribe una obra anterior con el propósito de adaptarla a un contexto concreto. Aparte de la novela corta de Leskov, también analizaremos dos de sus adaptaciones posteriores: la ópera homónima de Dmitri Shostakovich y la versión cinematográfica de William Oldroyd, Lady Macbeth. Por último, destacaremos la importancia de estos procesos para el desarrollo literario de la cultura de llegada.Este artigo propõe uma análise exaustiva de Lady Macbeth, a personagem shakespeariana, na novela Lady Macbeth do Distrito de Mtsensk, na perspetiva dos Estudos de Tradução e de Adaptação. Será prestada especial atenção à ideologia do autor, que, de maneira plenamente consciente, reescreve uma obra anterior com o propósito de a adaptar a um contexto concreto. Para além da obra de Leskov, serão analisadas ainda duas adaptações posteriores da sua novela: a ópera homónima de Dmitri Shostakovich e a versão cinematográfica de William Oldroyd, Lady Macbeth. Finalmente, será discutida e enfatizada a importância destes processos para o desenvolvimento de sistemas literários de chegada

On Watson's Non-Forcing Contracts and Renegotiation

Watson (2002) proposes non-forcing contracts as a way to show the limitations of the mechanism design program with ex-post renegotiation (Maskin and Moore (1999)). If one takes a partial implementation approach, as Watson does, we show that non-forcing contracts do not constitute an intermediate paradigm between implementation with no renegotiation and with ex-post renegotiation. Moreover, taking a full implementation approach, non-forcing contracts fail if and only if one goes outside of the constraints identified by Maskin and Moore, because of the appearance of undesirable equilibria.Contracts, Renegotiation, Mechanism Design

Simulation for business processes and information systems design

Business Process (BP) literature promotes the value of business processes as essential gearwheels that help organizations to reach their goals. Similarly, many process design approaches claim that Information Technology (IT) is a major enabler of business process, a view also shared by the Information Systems (IS) community. Despite this, BP and IS approaches do not provide clear guidance on how to assess the benefits that a given IS design may bring to the BP prior the IS implementation. Nor is clear indication of which modeling techniques could be used to assess such relationship. This paper uses the insights gained during a UK funded research project, namely ASSESS-IT, that aimed to depict the dynamic relationships between BP and IT to propose an alternative framework to develop BP simulation models that depict the dynamic behavior of the relationships between BP and IS

Constraint Handling Rules with Binders, Patterns and Generic Quantification

Constraint Handling Rules provide descriptions for constraint solvers. However, they fall short when those constraints specify some binding structure, like higher-rank types in a constraint-based type inference algorithm. In this paper, the term syntax of constraints is replaced by $\lambda$-tree syntax, in which binding is explicit; and a new $\nabla$ generic quantifier is introduced, which is used to create new fresh constants.Comment: Paper presented at the 33nd International Conference on Logic Programming (ICLP 2017), Melbourne, Australia, August 28 to September 1, 2017 16 pages, LaTeX, no PDF figure