Big Data Initiatives: Minimizing Risk and Maximizing Value with Governance

Abstract

Big Data Analytics can be a fantastic business opportunity for many organizations. Already organizations are using advanced analytics to streamline production processes, optimize back office activities, market more effectively, and better satisfy customer demand. That said, it goes without saying (as recent headlines can attest) that sometimes enhanced analytics capabilities can introduce risks such as erosion of privacy, overly-intrusive knowledge about customers, etc.

Given this dichotomy, making the decision about when, whether, how much, and how to invest in big data analytics initiatives can be a challenge. Invest too soon and you may obviate existing investments or disrupt business activities; invest too late and you may find that competitors gain advantages that make the market landscape asymmetric.

This article outlines how and why applying “tried and true” governance principles can help make this decision easier. For those that have formalized governance structures in place, how they might inform the decision an organization makes in this regard – and for those that don’t have a formalized governance program – how they might co-opt some of those principles to help make this decision more approachable.     

A Clustering Approach to Explore Grain-Sizes in the Definition of Processing Elements in Dataflow Architectures

We explore the area efficiency of a class of stream-based dataflow architectures as a function of the grain-size, for a given set of applications. We believe the grain-size is a key parameter in balancing flexibility and efficiency of this class of architectures. We apply a clustering approach on a well-defined set of applications to derive a set of processing elements of varying grain-sizes. The resulting architectures are compared with respect to their silicon area. For a set of twenty-one industrially relevant video algorithms, we determined architectures with various grain-sizes. The results of this exercise indicate an improvement factor of two for the silicon area, while changing the grain-size from fine-grain to coarser-grain.     

直击劲爆演出现场

相信很多人都为摇滚现场演出的效果所震撼,何不拿起你的相机,把这激动人心的时刻定格下来,作为永久的纪念呢?我们英国的编辑Ed Godden前往摇滚圣地——普利茅斯展馆剧场,拍下了"休克摇滚"之父AliceCooper的狂野演出。     

Enzymic Hydrolysis Of Lignin—Carbohydrate Complexes Isolated From Kraft Pulp

Four carbohydrate samples extracted from kraft pulps are used as model substrates for studying the mechanism by which xylanase enhances subsequent bleaching of kraft pulp. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirms that small amounts of aromatic molecules, probably lignin, remain associated with these carbohydrate samples. When the extracts are hydrolyzed with xylanase or acid, size exclusion chromatography shows a decrease in the molecular mass of their UV-absorbing constituents, as well as their carbohydrate constituents as determined by pulsed amperometric detection. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that xylanase prebleaching hydrolyzes the xylan portion of lignin-carbohydrate complexes to leave smaller lignin-containing macromolecules in pulp fiber, thus facilitating the removal of lignin components by bleaching chemicals.     

Contaminant blubber burdens in Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from two southeastern US estuarine areas: Concentrations and patterns of PCBs, pesticides, PBDEs, PFCs, and PAHs

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides (i.e., dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites, chlordanes (CHLs), dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and mirex), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in blubber biopsy samples collected from 139 wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) during 2003-2005 in Charleston (CHS), SC and the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), FL. Dolphins accumulated a similar suite of contaminants with ∑ PCB dominating (CHS 64%, IRL 72%), followed by ∑ DDT (CHS 20%, IRL 17%), ∑ CHLs (CHS 7%; IRL 7%), ∑ PBDE (CHS 4%, IRL 2%), PAH at 2%, and dieldrin, PFCs and mirex each 1% or less. Together ∑ PCB and ∑ DDT concentrations contributed ∼ 87% of the total POCs measured in blubber of adult males. ∑ PCBs in adult male dolphins exceed the established PCB threshold of 17 mg/kg by a 5-fold order of magnitude with a 15-fold increase for many animals; 88% of the dolphins exceed this threshold. For male dolphins, CHS (93,980 ng/g lipid) had a higher ∑ PCBs geomean compared to the IRL (79,752 ng/g lipid) although not statistically different. In adult males, the PBDE geometric mean concentration was significantly higher in CHS (5920 ng/g lipid) than the IRL (1487 ng/g). Blubber ∑ PFCs concentrations were significantly higher in CHS dolphins. In addition to differences in concentration of PCB congeners, ∑ PBDE, TEQ, ∑ CHLs, mirex, dieldrin, and the ratios ∑ DDE/∑DDT and trans-nonachlor/cis-nonachlor were the most informative for discriminating contaminant loads in these two dolphin populations. Collectively, the current ∑ PCB, ∑ DDT, and ∑ PBDEs blubber concentrations found in CHS dolphins are among the highest reported values in marine mammals. Both dolphin populations, particularly those in CHS, carry a suite of organic chemicals at or above the level where adverse effects have been reported in wildlife, humans, and laboratory animals warranting further examination of the potential adverse effects of these exposures.