This book provides a concise overview of the current context and types of public sector audit and the varied structures within which public sector audit is practised across the world. It summarises the objectives of public sector audit as well as explores the role of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions in providing guidance to these. Drawing on public and private sector audit as well as the views of academics and practitioners on public sector audit, it provides a unique research-based guide to the current issues and future challenges in the field.

The regenerative capacity of the liver has been recognized for centuries, but when it is overwhelmed by insulting stimuli or is chronically damaged, its regenerative capability is substantially reduced or lost. Researchers have been working to find solutions to cure failing human liver function. Given the ability of stem cells to self- renew and differentiate into specialized cell liver types, they represent an attractive strategy to replace lost liver function. This book begins by outlining the complex nature of human liver disease and proceeds to examine the potential that stem cell-based approaches have to offer.

This book provides a concise overview of the current context and types of public sector audit and the varied structures within which public sector audit is practised across the world. It summarises the objectives of public sector audit as well as explores the role of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions in providing guidance to these. Drawing on public and private sector audit as well as the views of academics and practitioners on public sector audit, it provides a unique research-based guide to the current issues and future challenges in the field.

In recent years, companies and government agencies have come to realize that the data they use represent a significant corporate resource, whose cost calls for management every bit as rigorous as the management of human resources, money, and capital equipment. With this realization has come recognition of the importance to integrate the data that has traditionally only been available from disparate sources.
An important component of this integration is the management of the "metadata" that describe, catalogue, and provide access to the various forms of underlying business data. The "metadata repository" is essential keeping track both of the various physical components of these systems, but also their semantics. What do we mean by "customer?" Where can we find information about our customers?
After years of building enterprise models for the oil, pharmaceutical, banking, and other industries, Dave Hay has here not only developed a conceptual model of such a metadata repository, he has in fact created a true enterprise data model of the information technology industry itself.
* A comprehensive work based on the Zachman Framework for information architecture-encompassing the Business Owner's, Architect's, and Designer's views, for all columns (data, activities, locations, people, timing, and motivation)
* Provides a step-by-step description of model and is organized so that different readers can benefit from different parts
* Provides a view of the world being addressed by all the techniques, methods and tools of the information processing industry (for example, object-oriented design, CASE, business process re-engineering, etc.)
* Presents many concepts that are notcurrently being addressed by such tools - and should be

Here you will learn how to develop an attractive, easily readable, conceptual, business-oriented entity/relationship model, using a variation on the UML Class Model notation. This book has two audiences: Data modellers (both analysts and database designers) who are convinced that UML has nothing to do with them; and UML experts who don't realise that architectural data modelling really is different from object modelling (and that the differences are important). David Hay's objective is to finally bring these two groups together in peace. Here all modellers will receive guidance on how to produce a high quality (that is, readable) entity/relationship model to describe the data architecture of an organisation. The notation involved happens to be the one for class models in the Unified Modelling Language, even though UML was originally developed to support object-oriented design. Designers have a different view of the world from those who develop business-oriented conceptual data models, which means that to use UML for architectural modelling requires some adjustments. These adjustments are described in this book. David Hay is the author of "Enterprise Model Patterns: Describing the World", a comprehensive model of a generic enterprise. The diagrams were at various levels of abstraction, and they were all rendered in the slightly modified version of UML Class Diagrams presented here. This book is a handbook to describe how to build models such as these. By way of background, an appendix provides a history of the two groups, revealing the sources of their different attitudes towards the system development process.

In 1995, David Hay published "Data Model Patterns: Conventions of Thought" - the groundbreaking book on how to use standard data models to describe the standard business situations. This book builds on the concepts presented there, adds 15 years of practical experience, and presents a more comprehensive view. You will learn how to apply both the abstract and concrete elements of your enterprise's architectural data model through four levels of abstraction: Level 0 - An abstract template that underlies the Level 1 model that follows, plus two meta models; Level 1 - An enterprise model that is generic enough to apply to any company or government agency, but concrete enough to be readily understood by all; Level 2 - A more detailed model describing specific functional areas; and, Level 3 - Examples of the details a model can have to address what is truly unique in a particular industry.