Questões de Concursos Inglês

    Recent corporate s, such as EBS International and Société Générale, have brought about renewed scrutiny into corporate governance mechanisms. Given the pervasiveness of Information Technology (IT) in many organizations, the examination of corporate governance mechanisms also includes IT governance mechanisms. IT governance is defined as “a structure of relationships and processes to direct and control the enterprise in order to achieve the enterprise’s goals by adding value while balancing risk versus return over IT and its processes”.
    In light of increased public awareness, professional bodies such as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) have undertaken a number of steps to provide guidance in the implementation of effective IT governance. The approach taken by ISACA appears to be largely based upon two concepts. The first concept relates to increasing the awareness of issues and concepts relating to IT governance in the public domain. The second concept involves the provision of guidelines and the identification of best-practice IT governance mechanisms. Interestingly, the effectiveness of these best-practice mechanisms in improving IT governance is largely based upon conceptual arguments. As such, it becomes important to ascertain if these best-practice mechanisms do impact upon the level of IT governance.
    As IT escalates in terms of importance and pervasiveness in the operations of firms, it is inexorably tied to specific mechanisms that are prescribed for good corporate governance, most notably, a sound system of internal controls. Accordingly, effective IT governance is a critical underpinning for a system of good corporate governance that minimizes agency losses for a firm.

Internet: < http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com > (adapted).

Based on the text above, judge the following item. 

How to dig out from the information avalanche
Majority of workers feel overwhelmed by deluge of data, survey finds
By Eve Tahmincioglu updated 8:18 p.m. ET March 16, 2008

Don"t expect Shaun Osher, the CEO of Core Group Marketing in New York, to answer your e-mail right away. He has stopped responding to e-mails every minute and only checks his e-mail account twice a day. He also started turning off his BlackBerry during meetings. This tactic has made him so much more productive that earlier this year he held a meeting with his staff of 50 and "strongly suggested" that they stop relying so heavily on e-mail and actually start calling clients on the phone. And, he requested his employees put cell phones and PDAs on silent mode during meetings, as well as curtail the common practice of cc-ing everybody when sending out an e-mail. "There was so much redundancy, so much unnecessary work," he explains. "One person could handle an issue that should take two minutes, but when an email goes out and five people get cc-ed, then everybody responds to it and there"s a snowball effect." It"s not that Osher has anything against technology. In fact, he loves it. The problem is, last year he realized he was inundated with so many e-mails and so much information in general that he began to experience data overload. "In the beginning, e-mail and all this data was a great phenomenon, revolutionizing what we do. But the pendulum has swung way too much to the other side," he maintains. "We"re less productive." Osher isn"t the only one out there under a data avalanche. Thanks to technological innovations, you can be talking to a customer on your cell phone, answering a LinkedIn invitation on your laptop, and responding to email on your PDA all at the same time. Besides, during tough economic times, who will want to miss any information when your job could be on the line if you indulge in the luxury of being offline? Turns out, seven out of 10 office workers in the United States feel overwhelmed by information in the workplace, and more than two in five say they are headed for a data "breaking point," according to a recently released Workplace Productivity Survey. Mike Walsh, CEO of LexisNexis U.S. Legal Markets, says there are a host of reasons we"re all on the information brink: "exponential growth of the size of the information "haystack," the immensity and immediacy of digital communications, and the fact that professionals are not being provided with sufficient tools and training to help them keep pace with the growing information burden." Ellen Kossek, a professor from Michigan State, believes we are less productive in this age of 24-7 technology, and our multitasking mentality has spawned a "not-mentallypresent" society. "We"re becoming an attention-deficit disorder society switching back and forth like crazy," Kossek says. "We"re connected all the time. We"re working on planes, in coffee shops, working on the weekends. Work is very seductive, but yet we"re actually less effective." The key to getting your head above the data flood, according to workplace experts, is managing and reducing the information you"re bombarded with.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive - (slightly adapted) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23636252/

NASA Researchers Studying Advanced Nuclear Rocket Technologies

January 9, 2013

By using an innovative test facility at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., researchers are able to use non-nuclear materials to simulate nuclear thermal rocket fuels - ones capable of propelling bold new exploration missions to the Red Planet and beyond. The Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage team is tackling a three-year project to demonstrate the viability of nuclear propulsion system technologies. A nuclear rocket engine uses a nuclear reactor to heat hydrogen to very high temperatures, which expands through a nozzle to generate thrust. Nuclear rocket engines generate higher thrust and are more than twice as efficient as conventional chemical rocket engines.

The team recently used Marshall’s Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator, or NTREES, to perform realistic, non-nuclear testing of various materials for nuclear thermal rocket fuel elements. In an actual reactor, the fuel elements would contain uranium, but no radioactive materials are used during the NTREES tests. Among the fuel options are a graphite composite and a “cermet” composite - a blend of ceramics and metals. Both materials were investigated in previous NASA and U.S. Department of Energy research efforts.

Nuclear-powered rocket concepts are not new; the United States conducted studies and significant ground testing from 1955 to 1973 to determine the viability of nuclear propulsion systems, but ceased testing when plans for a crewed Mars mission were deferred.

The NTREES facility is designed to test fuel elements and materials in hot flowing hydrogen, reaching pressures up to 1,000 pounds per square inch and temperatures of nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit - conditions that simulate space-based nuclear propulsion systems to provide baseline data critical to the research team.

“This is vital testing, helping us reduce risks and costs associated with advanced propulsion technologies and ensuring excellent performance and results as we progress toward further system development and testing,” said Mike Houts, project manager for nuclear systems at Marshall.

A first-generation nuclear cryogenic propulsion system could propel human explorers to Mars more efficiently than conventional spacecraft, reducing crews’ exposure to harmful space radiation and other effects of long-term space missions. It could also transport heavy cargo and science payloads. Further development and use of a first-generation nuclear system could also provide the foundation for developing extremely advanced propulsion technologies and systems in the future - ones that could take human crews even farther into the solar system.

Building on previous, successful research and using the NTREES facility, NASA can safely and thoroughly test simulated nuclear fuel elements of various sizes, providing important test data to support the design of a future Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. A nuclear cryogenic upper stage - its liquid- hydrogen propellant chilled to super-cold temperatures for launch - would be designed to be safe during all mission phases and would not be started until the spacecraft had reached a safe orbit and was ready to begin its journey to a distant destination. Prior to startup in a safe orbit, the nuclear system would be cold, with no fission products generated from nuclear operations, and with radiation below significant levels.

“The information we gain using this test facility will permit engineers to design rugged, efficient fuel elements and nuclear propulsion systems,” said NASA researcher Bill Emrich, who manages the NTREES facility at Marshall. “It’s our hope that it will enable us to develop a reliable, cost-effective nuclear rocket engine in the not-too-distant future."

The Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage project is part of the Advanced Exploration Systems program, which is managed by NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and includes participation by the U.S. Department of Energy. The program, which focuses on crew safety and mission operations in deep space, seeks to pioneer new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating key capabilities and validating operational concepts for future vehicle development and human missions beyond Earth orbit.

Marshall researchers are partnering on the project with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio; NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston; Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls; Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M.; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The Marshall Center leads development of the Space Launch System for NASA. The Science & Technology Office at Marshall strives to apply advanced concepts and capabilities to the research, development and management of a broad spectrum of NASA programs, projects and activities that fall at the very intersection of science and exploration, where every discovery and achievement furthers scientific knowledge and understanding, and supports the agency’s ambitious mission to expand humanity’s reach across the solar system. The NTREES test facility is just one of numerous cutting-edge space propulsion and science research facilities housed in the state-of- the-art Propulsion Research & Development Laboratory at Marshall, contributing to development of the Space Launch System and a variety of other NASA programs and missions.

Available in: http://www.nasa.gov