Organizational synthesis in transboundary crises: Three principles for managing centralization and coordination in the corona virus crisis response

Boin (2019) argues that in transboundary crisis management it is almost impossible to achieve centralization and coordination. This article identifies three principles through which actors in a transboundary crisis can balance centralization with autonomy while shaping coordination along the way. We reanalysed three transboundary cases: the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan, the downing of MH17 and hurricane Irma striking Sint‐Maarten. The principles we found are as follows: (a) reformulating key strategic priorities, (b) flexible adaptation of crisis management protocols and (c) the emergence of multifunctional units. With these three principles, we reflect on challenges in the Dutch crisis response to the corona outbreak and propose improvements for progressing current crisis management efforts.     

The level of handshake required for managing a connection

A connection between two hosts across a wide-area network may consist of many sessions over time, each called an incarnation. A connection is synchronized using a connection establishment protocol, based on a handshake mechanism, to allow reliable exchange of data. This paper identifies the precise level of handshake needed under different assumptions on the nodes and on the network, using a formal model for connection management. In particular, the following parameters are studied: the size of the memory at the nodes, the information retained between incarnations, and the existence of time constraints on the network. Among the results we obtain are: (1) If both nodes have bounded memory, no incarnation management protocol exists. (2) If the nodes have unbounded memory, then a two-way handshake incarnation management protocol exists. (3) If the nodes have unbounded memory, and the server does not retain connection-specific information between incarnations, then a three-way handshake incarnation management protocol exists. On the other hand, a two-way handshake incarnation management protocol does not exist, even if some global information is retained. (4) If a bound on maximum packet lifetime (MPL) is known, then a two-way handshake incarnation management protocol exists, in which the server does not retain connection-specific information between incarnations. Received: July 1995 / Accepted: July 1997     

Early warning systems for sovereign debt crises: The role of heterogeneity

Sovereign default models that differ in their treatment of unobservable country, regional and time heterogeneities are systematically compared. The analysis is based on annual data over the 1983-2002 period for 96 developing economies. Inference-based criteria and parameter plausibility overwhelmingly favour more complex models that allow the link between the probability response and the fundamentals to vary over time and across countries. However, out-of-sample forecast evaluation using several loss functions and equal-predictive-ability tests suggests that simplicity beats complexity. Parsimonious pooled logit models produce the most accurate sovereign default forecasts and outperform the naive benchmarks.     

The psychophysical lifting capacities of Chinese subjects

The psychophysical lifting capacity (MAWL) of twelve subjects was determined in this study. The subjects were all young Chinese males who performed lifting tasks in three lifting ranges (floor to knuckle, floor to shoulder, and knuckle to shoulder) and four lifting frequencies (one-time maximum, 1 lift/min, 4 lifts/min, and 6 lifts/min). The oxygen uptake (1/min) and heart rate (beats/min) were recorded while subjects were lifting. Upon completion of each lifting task, the subjects were required to rate their perceived exertion levels. The statistical analyses results indicated the following. Chinese subjects have smaller body size and MAWLs compared with past studies using the US population. The MAWLs decreased with an increase in lifting frequencies. The decrements of MAWL due to lifting frequencies were in agreement with the results of past studies. However, there were larger decreases due to lifting ranges. The MAWLs of the floor to knuckle height lift were the largest, followed by the MAWLs of the floor to shoulder height lift, and the MAWLs of the knuckle to shoulder height lift. The measured physiological responses were considered similar to those obtained in past studies. Subjects' perceived stress levels increased with the lifting frequency and the upper extremities received the most stress for the total range of lifting tasks. The comparisons of the Chinese MAWLs with the NIOSH lifting guidelines for limits (AL and MPL) indicated that the vertical discounting factor in the guidelines should be modified before the NIOSH limits can be applied to non-Western populations.     

Strategies for managing requirements creep

One of the most chronic problems in software development is the fact that application requirements are almost never stable and fixed. Frequent changes in requirements are not always caused by capricious clients (although sometimes they are). The root cause of requirements volatility is that many applications are attempting to automate domains that are only partly understood. As software design and development proceeds, the process of automation begins to expose these ill-defined situations. Therefore, although creeping requirements are troublesome, they are often a technical necessity. Several threads of research and some emerging technologies are aimed at either clarifying requirements earlier in development or minimizing the disruptive effect of changing requirements later     

Support for managing design-time decisions

The desirability of maintaining multiple stakeholders' interests during the software design process argues for leaving choices undecided as long as possible. Yet, any form of underspecification, either missing information or undecided choices, must be resolved before automated analysis tools can be used. This paper demonstrates how constraint satisfaction problem solution techniques (CSTs) can be used to automatically reduce the space of choices for ambiguities by incorporating the local effects of constraints, ultimately with more global consequences. As constraints typical of those encountered during the software design process, we use UML consistency and well-formedness rules. It is somewhat surprising that CSTs are suitable for the software modeling domain since the constraints may relate many ambiguities during their evaluation, encountering a well-known problem with CSTs called the k-consistency problem. This paper demonstrates that our CST-based approach is computationally scalable and effective-as evidenced by empirical experiments based on dozens of industrial models.     

The strategic value of IT-enabled self-organised collectives during crises

There is a promising body of work pertaining to the strategic value of IT-enabled self-organised collectives in times of crisis. This area is of significant theoretical and practical importance. Yet, we still have little systematic knowledge about precisely how self-organised collectives contribute during crises and how the value of their contributions might be leveraged strategically. To address this, we develop a model to demonstrate four dimensions across which self-organised collectives create strategic value: (i) information sharing value; (ii) collective resource-mobilisation value; (iii) network value; and (iv) generative value. In doing so, we reveal more about the specific capabilities of self-organised collectives, and we use these insights to develop implications for theory. We conclude by outlining an agenda to encourage and accelerate future research on the role of IT-enabled self-organised collectives during crises.     

The pitfalls of managing a superstar

The author gives advice on how to deal with superstar employees. He has never found any literature on the matter (although some may exist), and he is frustrated that more isn't written about this problem. So he has opted to take on the issue directly, present his experiences, and hopefully provide some insight to managers so they won't make the same management mistakes he has made. He entered into people management naively, having no idea whatsoever what it involved because he co-founded a company right out of grad school, and had no idea what people management was. As the company grew, this quickly changed, and when he and his partner started hiring superstars, even more changed     

The DySIIM model for managing IS integration in mergers and acquisitions

Corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are prominent means for corporate strategy. In many M&As information systems (IS), integration is critical for achieving the intended goals. By integrating previous research on M&A and IS integration, we develop a six‐dimensional theoretical framework for IS integration in corporate M&As. The framework is used to describe and explain IS integration management in four M&As. Based on the four cases, the theoretical framework and the existing literature, an initial model (Dynamic System of IS Integration in M&A, DySIIM) describing and explaining how IS integration relates to the M&A process is developed. Through the combination of the DySIIM's dimensions, the dynamics of different parts of the M&A process are captured. The model can be used in further research to build cumulative knowledge about how to manage IS integration in M&A. The model can also be used by companies in their M&A since through the combination of dimensions, it shows the IS integration issues, decisions and actions that a company has to address in the process.     

The manipulability: a new index for quantifying movement capacities of upper extremity

In this work, it is proposed to evaluate the upper-limb movements through a global index of performance borrowed from the field of robotics: the manipulability. For a given posture, this index quantifies the set of velocities that can be achieved at the wrist in all the Cartesian directions. The manipulability can be represented by an ellipsoid from which the volume and shape related parameters can be derived. During a reach to grasp movement, the ellipsoid obtained from experiment presented a flattened shape along the forearm longitudinal axis and an increased volume as the arm was extended. From this study, it is concluded that: (1) the ellipsoid volume reflects well the ability to generate speed at the wrist which is effectively maximal for an extended posture; (2) if maximal velocity is an important parameter it might be advisable to primarily move the hand perpendicularly to the forearm longitudinal axis. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: The interest of manipulability indices is that they evaluate globally a posture of the upper-limb in relation to a given task. This original parameter could help to design environments or devices in order that the adopted postures maximise one particular aspect of the performance, i.e. the velocity of the hand.     

Minimax linear smoothing for capacities: The case of correlated signals and noise

Results of an earlier paper giving minimax linear smoothers for the problem of estimating a homogeneous signal field in an additive orthogonal noise field when both have uncertain spectral properties, are extended to the case in which the signal and noise fields are arbitrarily correlated. As before, spectral uncertainty is modeled by assuming that the spectral measures of the signal and noise fields lie in classes of measures generated by two-alternating Choquet capacities. It is demonstrated that this problem admits a general solution in terms of the Huber-Strassen derivative between the capacities that generate the uncertainty sets, and that the least favorable spectra for smoothing in orthogonal noise are also the least favorable marginal spectra for smoothing in correlated noise. The resulting filter is seen to be a zonal filter that also arises as the solution to an analogous problem in (nonparametric) minimax hypothesis testing. These new results extend the applicability of minimax robust smoothing techniques to application involving signal-dependent noise phenomena, such as multipath and clutter, which are usually difficult to model precisely.     

Process-aware approach for managing organisational knowledge

Knowledge is currently considered an asset for organisations. In this new paradigm, Knowledge Management (KM) is emerging as an unavoidable activity for organisations. Information and communications technologies, together with business policies, become a tool par excellence for supporting the creation of KM platforms that provide access to organisation knowledge resources such as workers, technical reports, software applications, and business documents. In spite of the benefits provided by current KM platforms, most of them were designed to manage a single type of knowledge (tacit or explicit) without considering either the form in which organisational areas need knowledge to be provided (reactive or proactive) or the integration with business processes. This work presents a process-aware approach to develop KM platforms linked to business processes with semantic capability to manage knowledge objects with natural language content as well as to support social interactions and ad hoc working groups. To this aim, a comprehensive analysis of influencing-KM factors to be addressed by technological solutions is considered by a set of technological requirements. Based on these requirements, a model that provides the main components to be addressed by KM approaches is specified and implemented by a technological platform. This platform goes after a balance between technological and social aspects that support and promote collaboration and communication among organisation members.     

Event-based traceability for managing evolutionary change

Although the benefits of requirements traceability are widely recognized, the actual practice of maintaining a traceability scheme is not always entirely successful. The traceability infrastructure underlying a software system tends to erode over its lifetime, as time-pressured practitioners fail to consistently maintain links and update impacted artifacts each time a change occurs, even with the support of automated systems. This paper proposes a new method of traceability based upon event-notification and is applicable even in a heterogeneous and globally distributed development environment. Traceable artifacts are no longer tightly coupled but are linked through an event service, which creates an environment in which change is handled more efficiently, and artifacts and their related links are maintained in a restorable state. The method also supports enhanced project management for the process of updating and maintaining the system artifacts.     

Optimistic voting for managing replicated data

An epidemic model gives and efficient approach for transaction processing of replication systems in weakly connected environments.The approach has the advantages of high adaptation,support for low-handwidth network,and committing updates in an entirely decentralized control fachion.But the previous impolementing protocols,like ROWA protocol,quorum protocol,and voting protocol,have a common shortcoming that they are pessimistic in conflict reconciliation,therefore bring high transaction abort rate and reduce system performance dramatically when the workload scales up.In this paper,an optimistic voting protocol,which introduces condition vote and order vote in the voting process of transactions,is proposed.The condition vote and order vote postpone the final decision on conflicting transactions and avoid transaction aborts that are incurred by read-wr5ite and write-write conflicts.Experimental results indicate that the optimistic voting protocol decreases abort rate and improves average response time of transactions markedly when compared to other protocols.     

Procedures for managing extendible array files

Varieties of files are reviewed and the notion of a file space is discussed. A number of properties which characterize file spaces are listed. This modest theoretical framework has a clarifying influence on the subject of files. Certain file-system primitives are introduced which are similar to those in most commonly-known operating systems, and then these primitives are used in constructing a collection of routines for reading and writing extedible arrays. Extendible arrays are based on fixed page size randomly-accessible files and they are a useful universal input/output (I/O) structure for many different storage and retrieval schemes. The routines for managing such files are similar to the mechanisms used in handling a paged address space in a virtual memory system. The contribution of this paper lies in the detailed implementation which is presented; these routines are well understood in principle, but tricky to construct in practice. Finally, these routines are used in a practical example which provides for managing a variable blocksize free space list within a extendible array.     

Strategies for managing user developed systems

The arrival of microcomputers, user-friendly languages, and improved telecommunications have made information more directly accessible to end-users. This increased accessibility has caused an evolution from traditional systems development done solely by MIS professionals to a growing amount of development by end-users. User system development presents new management challenges for both MIS and user departments. These challenges are not different in kind from problems encountered by MIS in the past, but they are different in magnitude. Unless companies educate users and manage user development, they will endure the same slow evolution. Only this time the problems will be multiplied manyfold by the sheer number of users, and will be further exaggerated by users' lack of technical expertise. This paper examines the conflicts created by the emergence of user development. It focuses on the symptoms of mismanagement and suggests key areas to be addressed by an effective management strategy. The evolution of user computing is described in terms of Nolan's stage theory. These issues are illustrated through a case study of policies, practices, and attitudes toward user system development at a steel company.     

空间数据库性能对比实验分析

空间数据库是管理空间数据的重要方式,亦是GIS的重要组成部分。介绍了空间数据库的概念和发展历程,分析了影响空间数据库性能的因素,进而探讨了图层加载、要素插入和空间计算等应用性能,设计了三组空间数据库的操作实验,对目前常用的几种空间数据库管理空间数据的性能进行了对比分析。