Search results
1 – 10 of 206Hind Hamrouni, Fabio Grandi and Zouhaier Brahmia
A temporal XML database could become an inconsistent model of the represented reality after a retroactive update. Such an inconsistency state must be repaired by performing…
Abstract
Purpose
A temporal XML database could become an inconsistent model of the represented reality after a retroactive update. Such an inconsistency state must be repaired by performing corrective actions (e.g. payment of arrears after a retroactive salary increase) either immediately (i.e. at inconsistency detection time) or in a deferred manner, at one or several chosen repair times according to application requirements. The purpose of this work is to deal with deferred and multi-step repair of detected data inconsistencies.
Design/methodology/approach
A general approach for deferred and stepwise repair of inconsistencies that result from retroactive updates of currency data (e.g. the salary of an employee) in a valid-time or bitemporal XML database is proposed. The approach separates the inconsistency repairs from the inconsistency detection phase and deals with the execution of corrective actions, which also take into account enterprise’s business rules that define some relationships between data.
Findings
Algorithms, methods and support data structures for deferred and multi-step inconsistency repair of currency data are presented. The feasibility of the approach has been shown through the development and testing of a system prototype, named Deferred-Repair Manager.
Originality/value
The proposed approach implements a new general and flexible strategy for repairing detected inconsistencies in a deferred manner and possibly in multiple steps, according to varying user’s requirements and to specifications which are customary in the real world.
Details
Keywords
Zeynep Aksehirli, Yakov Bart, Kwong Chan and Koen Pauwels
Michael Buckland and Christian Plaunt
This article examines the structure and components of information storage and retrieval systems and information filtering systems. Analysis of the tasks performed in such…
Abstract
This article examines the structure and components of information storage and retrieval systems and information filtering systems. Analysis of the tasks performed in such selection systems leads to the identification of 13 components. Eight are necessarily present in all such systems, mechanized or not; the others may, but need not be, present. The authors argue that all selection systems can be represented in terms of combinations of these components. The components are of only two types: representations of data objects and functions that operate on them. Further, the functional components, or rules, reduce to two basic types: 1) transformation, making or modifying the members of a set of representations, and 2) sorting or partitioning. The representational transformations may be in the form of copies, excerpts, descriptions, abstractions, or mere identifying references. By partitioning, we mean dividing a set of objects by using matching, sorting, ranking, selecting, and other logically equivalent operations. The typical multiplicity of knowledge sources and of system vocabularies is noted. Some of the implications for the study, use, and design of information storage and retrieval systems are discussed.
Financial assurance rules, also known as financial responsibility or bonding requirements, foster cost internalization by requiring potential polluters to demonstrate the…
Abstract
Financial assurance rules, also known as financial responsibility or bonding requirements, foster cost internalization by requiring potential polluters to demonstrate the financial resources necessary to compensate for environmental damage that may arise in the future. Accordingly, assurance is an important complement to liability rules, restoration obligations, and other regulatory compliance requirements. The paper reviews the need for assurance, given the prevalence of abandoned environmental obligations, and assesses the implementation of assurance rules in the United States. From the standpoint of both legal effectiveness and economic efficiency, assurance rules can be improved. On the whole, however, cost recovery, deterrence, and enforcement are significantly improved by the presence of existing assurance regulations.
The second edition of the Bibliographic Classification of H. E. Bliss (BC2), being prepared under the editorship of Jack Mills, Vanda Broughton and others, is a rich source of…
Abstract
The second edition of the Bibliographic Classification of H. E. Bliss (BC2), being prepared under the editorship of Jack Mills, Vanda Broughton and others, is a rich source of structure and terminology for thesauri covering different subject fields. The new edition employs facet analysis and is thesaurus‐compatible. A number of facet‐based thesauri have drawn upon Bliss for terms and relationships. In two of these thesauri the Bliss Classification was the source of both systematic and alphabetical displays. The DHSS‐DATA thesaurus, published by the United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Security, provides controlled terms and Bliss class numbers for indexing and searching the DHSS‐DATA database. The ECOT thesaurus (Educational courses and occupations thesaurus) prepared for the Department of Education and Science, uses the software designed for the British Standards Institution ROOT thesaurus to generate an alphabetical display from the systematic display derived from the Bliss schedules. Problems, benefits, and future prospects of Bliss‐based thesaurus construction are discussed.
The proliferation of sanctions programmes over time, each with its own set of regulations and its own peculiar blacklist, makes it more difficult for OFAC to administer the…
Abstract
The proliferation of sanctions programmes over time, each with its own set of regulations and its own peculiar blacklist, makes it more difficult for OFAC to administer the controls in a smooth, consistent and efficient manner. Additionally, unlike other agencies involved in international trade — such as the Commerce Department's BXA, or the State Department's DTC — OFAC has been slow to develop a cooperative relationship with those who must comply with its regulations. While OFAC's singular focus on economic and financial sanctions has enabled it to avoid some of the problems the Commerce Department sometimes experiences as a result of its dual missions of both promoting and controlling trade, it has also fostered a more adversarial relationship with the trading community. As OFAC has focused on each sanctions programme individually, rather than as part of a comprehensive system of controls, it has tended to be insensitive to the needs of those who must integrate its diverse regulatory requirements into an overall business compliance process.
Part V analyzes the details of how to assess materiality. It first tackles qualitative versus quantitative criteria and the role of professional judgment. It then analyzes the…
Abstract
Part V analyzes the details of how to assess materiality. It first tackles qualitative versus quantitative criteria and the role of professional judgment. It then analyzes the selection of quantitative threshold, to expand to the choice of benchmarks. It contrasts the whole financial statements with subaggregates, line items, and components.
Specific sections contrast IASB, FASB, SEC, and other guidance on materiality applied to comparative information, interim reporting, and segment reporting.
The section on estimates mingles complex guidance coming from accounting, auditing, and internal control over financial reporting to explain how the management can improve its assessment of materiality concerning estimates.
After explaining the techniques to move from individual to cumulative misstatements, the part tackles verification ex post, and finally summarizes the intricacies of whether immaterial misstatements are permissible and their consequences.
Details
Keywords
Reports on a job evaluation service provided for a national firm ofwholesalers. Discusses how consultants were retained to establish anobjective grading structure; devise an…
Abstract
Reports on a job evaluation service provided for a national firm of wholesalers. Discusses how consultants were retained to establish an objective grading structure; devise an appropriate salary scale; introduce a means of rewarding merit; calculate the costs of the change‐over; and finally recommend a programme of implementation.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to present a concept of the protocol for public registries based on blockchain. New database protocol aims to use the benefits of blockchain…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a concept of the protocol for public registries based on blockchain. New database protocol aims to use the benefits of blockchain technologies and ensure their interoperability.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is framed with design science research (DSR). The primary method is exaptation, i.e. adoption of solutions from other fields. The research is looking into existing technologies which are applied here as elements of the protocol: Name-Value Storage (NVS), Berkley DB, RAID protocol, among others. The choice of NVS as a reference technology for creating a database over blockchain is based on the analysis and comparison with two other similar technologies Bigchain and Amazon QLDB.
Findings
The proposed mechanism allows creating a standard database over a bundle of distributed ledgers. It ensures a blockchain agnostic approach and uses the benefits of various blockchain technologies in one ecosystem. In this scheme, blockchains play the role of journal storages (immutable log), whereas the overlaid database is the indexed storage. The distinctive feature of such a system is that in blockchain, users can perform peer-to-peer transactions directly in the ledger using blockchain native mechanism of user access management with public-key cryptography (blockchain does not require to administrate its database).
Originality/value
This paper presents a new method of creating a public peer-to-peer database across a bundle of distributed ledgers.
Details
Keywords
Daniele Binci, Corrado Cerruti, Giorgia Masili and Cristina Paternoster
The purpose of this study is to explore the agile project management (APM) approach through the contextual ambidextrous lens by overcoming the traditional perspective that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the agile project management (APM) approach through the contextual ambidextrous lens by overcoming the traditional perspective that separates projects within the opposite planned-exploitation- and emergent-exploration-oriented forms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a grounded approach to five different agile-oriented companies for discovering how agile adoption shows both emergent (exploration-oriented) and planned (exploitation-oriented) tensions in a perspective that connects, rather than separates, them.
Findings
This study discovers five main categories, namely, approach, objectives, boundaries, leadership and feedback, that capture the tensions between planned and emergent issues of agile projects. The identified variables interact with different intervening conditions of the APM attributes (i.e. road map, product backlog, team backlog and solution delivery), activating different response actions (“exploitation embedded in exploration” and vice-versa), requiring, as a consequence, the need for contextual ambidexterity.
Research limitations/implications
This study identifies different implications based on real project contexts, as the importance of a more complete picture of the APM approach, which also considers the combination of planned and emergent aspects of projects and, as consequence, the needs for dual capacities (T-shaped skills) both at project management and team levels.
Practical implications
This study identifies, in real project contexts, the relevance of integration between the corporate level and the agile project team. This implies the search for constant dialogue, with feedback exchange spread across all levels, also enabled by an integrated leadership approach.
Originality/value
This study highlights agile tensions in a real-world project context by describing how APM connects both explorative and exploitative aspects of change within the same APM initiative, in order to manage such tensions, which differs from previous studies that consider APM in alternation with a linear project management approach as stage-gate.
Details