2,480 research outputs found

    Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Applications in Payment, Clearing, and Settlement Systems:A Study of Blockchain-Based Payment Barriers and Potential Solutions, and DLT Application in Central Bank Payment System Functions

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    Payment, clearing, and settlement systems are essential components of the financial markets and exert considerable influence on the overall economy. While there have been considerable technological advancements in payment systems, the conventional systems still depend on centralized architecture, with inherent limitations and risks. The emergence of Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is being regarded as a potential solution to transform payment and settlement processes and address certain challenges posed by the centralized architecture of traditional payment systems (Bank for International Settlements, 2017). While proof-of-concept projects have demonstrated the technical feasibility of DLT, significant barriers still hinder its adoption and implementation. The overarching objective of this thesis is to contribute to the developing area of DLT application in payment, clearing and settlement systems, which is still in its initial stages of applications development and lacks a substantial body of scholarly literature and empirical research. This is achieved by identifying the socio-technical barriers to adoption and diffusion of blockchain-based payment systems and the solutions proposed to address them. Furthermore, the thesis examines and classifies various applications of DLT in central bank payment system functions, offering valuable insights into the motivations, DLT platforms used, and consensus algorithms for applicable use cases. To achieve these objectives, the methodology employed involved a systematic literature review (SLR) of academic literature on blockchain-based payment systems. Furthermore, we utilized a thematic analysis approach to examine data collected from various sources regarding the use of DLT applications in central bank payment system functions, such as central bank white papers, industry reports, and policy documents. The study's findings on blockchain-based payment systems barriers and proposed solutions; challenge the prevailing emphasis on technological and regulatory barriers in the literature and industry discourse regarding the adoption and implementation of blockchain-based payment systems. It highlights the importance of considering the broader socio-technical context and identifying barriers across all five dimensions of the social technical framework, including technological, infrastructural, user practices/market, regulatory, and cultural dimensions. Furthermore, the research identified seven DLT applications in central bank payment system functions. These are grouped into three overarching themes: central banks' operational responsibilities in payment and settlement systems, issuance of central bank digital money, and regulatory oversight/supervisory functions, along with other ancillary functions. Each of these applications has unique motivations or value proposition, which is the underlying reason for utilizing in that particular use case

    UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024

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    The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp

    Digitalization and Development

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    This book examines the diffusion of digitalization and Industry 4.0 technologies in Malaysia by focusing on the ecosystem critical for its expansion. The chapters examine the digital proliferation in major sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, e-commerce and services, as well as the intermediary organizations essential for the orderly performance of socioeconomic agents. The book incisively reviews policy instruments critical for the effective and orderly development of the embedding organizations, and the regulatory framework needed to quicken the appropriation of socioeconomic synergies from digitalization and Industry 4.0 technologies. It highlights the importance of collaboration between government, academic and industry partners, as well as makes key recommendations on how to encourage adoption of IR4.0 technologies in the short- and long-term. This book bridges the concepts and applications of digitalization and Industry 4.0 and will be a must-read for policy makers seeking to quicken the adoption of its technologies

    LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volume

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    LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volum

    Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management

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    This book is a reprint of the Special Issue 'Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management' that was published in the journal Buildings

    Cloud computing : developing a cost estimation model for customers

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    Cloud computing is an essential part of the digital transformation journey. It offers many benefits to organisations, including the advantages of scalability and agility. Cloud customers see cloud computing as a moving train that every organisation needs to catch. This means that adoption decisions are made quickly in order to keep up with the new trend. Such quick decisions have led to many disappointments for cloud customers and have questioned the cost of the cloud. This is also because there is a lack of criteria or guidelines to help cloud customers get a complete picture of what is required of them before they go to the cloud. From another perspective, as new technologies force changes to the organizational structure and business processes, it is important to understand how cloud computing changes the IT and non-IT departments and how can this be translated into costs. Accordingly, this research uses the total cost of ownership approach and transaction cost theory to develop a customer-centric model to estimate the cost of cloud computing. The Research methodology used the Design Science Research approach. Expert interviews were used to develop the model. The model was then validated using four case studies. The model, named Sunny, identifies many costs that need to be estimated, which will help to make the cloud-based digital transformation journey less cloudy. The costs include Meta Services, Continuous Contract management, Monitoring and ITSM Adjustment. From an academic perspective, this research highlights the management efforts required for cloud computing and how misleading the rapid provision potential of the cloud resources can be. From a business perspective, proper estimation of these costs would help customers make informed decisions and vendors make realistic promises.Cloud Computing ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der Digitalisierung. Es bietet Unternehmen viele Vorteile, wie Skalierbarkeit und Agilität. Cloud-Kunden sehen Cloud Computing als einen Zug, auf den jedes Unternehmen aufspringen muss. Das bedeutet, dass Einführungsentscheidungen schnell getroffen werden, um mit dem neuen Trend Schritt zu halten. Solche Schnellschüsse haben zu vielen Enttäuschungen bei Cloud-Kunden geführt und die Kosten der Cloud in Frage gestellt. Dies ist auch darauf zurückzuführen, dass es keine Kriterien oder Leitlinien gibt, die den Cloud-Kunden helfen, sich ein vollständiges Bild davon zu machen, was von ihnen erwartet wird, bevor sie in die Cloud gehen. Aus einem anderen Blickwinkel ist es wichtig zu verstehen, wie Cloud Computing IT- und Nicht-IT-Abteilungen verändert und wie sich dies auf die Kosten auswirkt, da neue Technologien Veränderungen in der Organisationsstruktur und den Geschäftsprozessen erzwingen. Dementsprechend werden in dieser Forschungsarbeit der Total Cost of Ownership-Ansatz und die Transaktionskostentheorie verwendet, um ein kundenorientiertes Modell zur Schätzung der Kosten von Cloud Computing zu entwickeln. Die Forschungsmethodik basiert auf dem Design Science Research Ansatz. Zur Entwicklung des Modells wurden Experteninterviews durchgeführt. Anschließend wurde das Modell anhand von vier Fallstudien validiert. Das Modell mit dem Namen Sunny identifiziert viele Kosten, die geschätzt werden müssen, um die Reise zur digitalen Transformation in der Cloud weniger wolkig zu gestalten. Zu diesen Kosten gehören Meta-Services, kontinuierliches Vertragsmanagement, Überwachung und ITSM-Anpassung. Aus akademischer Sicht verdeutlicht diese Forschung, welcher Verwaltungsaufwand für Cloud Computing erforderlich ist und wie irreführend das schnelle Bereitstellungspotenzial von Cloud-Ressourcen sein kann. Aus Unternehmenssicht würde eine korrekte Einschätzung dieser Kosten den Kunden helfen, fundierte Entscheidungen zu treffen, und den Anbietern, realistische Versprechungen zu machen

    2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog

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    2023-2024 undergraduate catalog for Morehead State University

    Rural implementation of connected, autonomous and electric vehicles

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    Connected, autonomous and electric vehicles (CAEV) are at the forefront of transport development. They are intended to provide efficient, safe and sustainable transport solutions to solve everyday transport problems including congestion, accidents and pollution. However, despite significant industry and government investment in the technology, little has been done in the way of exploring the implementation of CAEVs in rural scenarios. This thesis investigates the potential for rural road CAEV implementation in the UK. In this work, the rural digital and physical infrastructure requirements for CAEVs were first investigated through physical road-based experimentation of CAEV technologies. Further investigations into the challenges facing the rural implementation of CAEVs were then conducted through qualitative consultations with transport planning professionals. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of these investigations revealed a need for better rural infrastructure, and an overall lack of understanding regarding CAEVs and their rural implementation requirements amongst the transport planning industry. The need for a measurement tool for transport planners was identified, to expose the industry to, and educate them about, CAEVs and their rural potential. As a result, a CAEV Rural Transport Index (CARTI) is proposed as a simple measurement tool to assess the potential for rural CAEV implementation. The CARTI was implemented, and its effectiveness tested, through further consultation with transport planning professionals. The results indicate the potential for the CARTI to be used as a component of decision-making processes at both local authority and national levels. In conclusion, effective rural CAEV implementation relies on transport planners having a strong understanding of rural community transport needs, the solutions CAEV technologies can offer and the supporting infrastructure they require. Further, the CARTI was found to be an effective tool to support the development of this required understanding and recommendations have therefore been made for its future development

    Imagined futures of work in the making: the politics of platform workers’ contract classification in Denmark, France, Italy, and the Netherlands

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    A vibrant debate on the digitalisation of the economy has taken place over the last decade. Among the various manifestations of digitalisation, the rise of platform companies has divided scholars over whether a ‘platformised’ future of work would be desirable. The contract classification of platform workers, i.e. whether they should qualify as independent contractors or employees, has been among the top-debated issues. While some have stressed that coverage of freelancer platform workers should be strengthened regardless of their contract classification, others have highlighted how platform work has all the features of dependent work and should therefore qualify as such. Various national regulatory processes resulted in numerous statutory measures and collective agreements. Starting from these developments, and unsatisfied with existing institutionalist accounts of platform work regulation, this dissertation asks two research questions: i) How have national actors problematised and responded to the question of platform workers’ contract classification? ii) What were the drivers of such problematisation and responses? To address such queries, this thesis investigates the politics of platform workers’ contract classification by concentrating on i) the (evolution of) actors’ positions, ii) the building of actor coalitions, iii) the content of regulatory measures in cases they were adopted. It focuses on four actor types, namely governments, social partners, platforms, and independent platform worker organisations. It adopts a qualitative comparative case-study design to study the cases of Denmark, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Such countries represent different ‘varieties of liberalisation’: ‘dualisation’ countries (France – Italy), ‘embedded flexibilisation’ countries (Denmark – Netherlands). Methodologically, this work combines 68 semi-structured elite interviews with selected policy documents and quality newspaper articles. Data was analysed through a thematic analysis using MAXQDA software. Theoretically, an ‘Imaginative Institutional Work’ approach is developed. Such an approach adopts the concept of ‘institutional work’ to understand how ‘uncertain’ actors affect institutions. In this work, institutions are the rules linking contract classification and employment/social protection. To account for the drivers of such an institutional work, this work theorizes learning mechanisms of three kinds, i.e. ‘learning by puzzling’, ‘learning by experimenting’, and ‘learning by researching’. In turn, such mechanisms are conceived of as cognitively bounded by ‘imagined futures’, i.e. expectations on future states of the world. Thus, this dissertation unveils institutional work objectives and practices and associated learning mechanisms that have shaped the rules linking contract classification and employment/social protection. Further, it finds that learning mechanisms were anchored in three ‘imagined futures of work’, i.e. ‘Start-up Nation’, ‘Creative digitalisation’, and ‘Embedded digitalisation’. While the ‘start-up nation’ future was especially relevant in France and to some extent in the Netherlands, ‘creative digitalisation’, and ‘embedded digitalisation’ were prominent in the Italian, Danish and Dutch cases. This shows how processes of imaginative institutional work were often not in line with expectations deriving from the variety of liberalisation profile of selected countries. More broadly, this thesis contributes to the understanding of how the implications of technology are socially shaped by providing a fine-grained account of how future-oriented actors affect the rules governing the use of such a technology. In so doing, actors do not merely enact institutional dictates. Rather, they creatively navigate the uncharted waters of novel technologies, seeking to realize their preferred ‘imagined futures of work’
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