21,110 research outputs found
Web development evolution: the business perspective on security
Protection of data, information, and knowledge is a hot topic in todayâs business environment. Societal, legislative and consumer pressures are forcing companies to examine business strategies, modify processes and acknowledge security to accept and defend accountability. Research indicates that a significant portion of the financial losses is due to straight forward software design errors. Security should be addressed throughout the application development process via an independent methodology containing customizable components. The methodology is designed to integrate with an organizationâs existing software development processes while providing structure to implement secure applications, helping companies mitigate hard and soft costs
Alternative sweetener from curculigo fruits
This study gives an overview on the advantages of Curculigo Latifolia as an alternative sweetener and a health product. The purpose of this research is to provide another option to the people who suffer from diabetes. In this research, Curculigo Latifolia was chosen, due to its unique properties and widely known species in Malaysia. In order to obtain the sweet protein from the fruit, it must go through a couple of procedures. First we harvested the fruits from the Curculigo trees that grow wildly in the garden. Next, the Curculigo fruits were dried in the oven at 50 0C for 3 days. Finally, the dried fruits were blended in order to get a fine powder. Curculin is a sweet protein with a taste-modifying activity of converting sourness to sweetness. The curculin content from the sample shown are directly proportional to the mass of the Curculigo fine powder. While the FTIR result shows that the sample spectrum at peak 1634 cmâ1 contains secondary amines. At peak 3307 cmâ1 contains alkynes
MONALISA 2.0 and the sea traffic management - a concept creating the need for new maritime information standards and software solutions
Postprint (published version
THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN PRIVACY AND FAIRNESS IN LEARNING AND DECISION MAKING PROBLEMS
The availability of large datasets and computational resources has driven significant progress in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, especially,Machine Learning (ML). These advances have rendered AI systems instrumental for many decision making and policy operations involving individuals: they include assistance in legal decisions, lending, and hiring, as well determinations of resources and benefits, all of which have profound social and economic impacts. While data-driven systems have been successful in an increasing number of tasks, the use of rich datasets, combined with the adoption of black-box algorithms, has sparked concerns about how these systems operate. How much information these systems leak about the individuals whose data is used as input and how they handle biases and fairness issues are two of these critical concerns. While some people argue that privacy and fairness are in alignment, the majority instead believe these are two contrasting metrics. This thesis firstly studies the interaction between privacy and fairness in machine learning and decision problems. It focuses on the scenario when fairness and privacy are at odds and investigates different factors that can explain for such behaviors. It then proposes effective and efficient mitigation solutions to improve fairness under privacy constraints. In the second part, it analyzes the connection between fairness and other machine learning concepts such as model compression and adversarial robustness. Finally, it introduces a novel privacy concept and an initial implementation to protect such proposed users privacy at inference time
Study on cash transfers for seed security in humanitarian settings
This study examines the barriers and opportunities for cash transfers to be used to address seed security in humanitarian situations. Cash, while not a new approach, has gained momentum in recent years, especially with the emergence of the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP) and humanitarian organizationsâ commitments through the Grand Bargain.2 Historically, direct seed distribution (DSD) has dominated agricultural responses in emergencies. While effective in many situations, other modalities of addressing farmersâ needs have also proven to be effective, including seed and voucher fairs and, increasingly, cash transfer responses. The latter response typically provides farmers greater choices to make decisions about their seed needs and preferences. However, as with direct distribution and vouchers, cash can be a viable option but may not always be appropriate in every situation.
The quality of seed is of paramount importance in choosing a response and has been an ongoing (and often contentious and political) discussion for decades. The results of this study advocate for a multi- stakeholder perspective on the quality of seed, while offering farmers the most flexible and most appropriate response possible for their given situation. In some cases, this will be cash transfers, but certainly not in all cases. A range of options offers the best chance for a successful, responsive, and appropriate program.
The evidence base on outcomes from using cash for seed in humanitarian contexts is limited, however, reviewing a series of examples shows the breadth and range of options that are being explored. The cases from an array of organizations and countries including Iraq, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Madagascar, and Guatemala, show that understanding the context is key to the response analysis and the choice of modality. Organizational approaches and previous experience also played a role in the choice of modality. The evidence to date shows that cash, in addition to complementary programming such as technical or business training, offers promise for seed security interventions. In addition, initiatives to support both the demand and supply side of the market have proven to be effective.
Key findings include:
1. Market and needs assessments must include a seed component or SSSA to ensure a response designed to address the right problem, not the assumption. For markets, both informal and formal seed markets need to be included.
2. Good needs assessments, response analysis and program design help ensure participantsâ spending cash on what implementers anticipate they will.
3. Program participantsâ preferences on modalities are not consistently included in response analysis.
4. Mixed modalities (cash and vouchers, or cash and DSD) can broaden crop choices.
5. Quality screenings for seed are taking place; the quality of seed is important to organizations and project participants.
6. Cash for seed security interventions are limited, but growing in prevalence.
7. Providing cash plus complementary support is a promising practice for fostering seed security.
8. The nexus between relief and development is criticalâdesigning projects with a longer-term development view: cash can prepare the way for farmers to continue true market engagement post-relief, spur business development in subsequent seasons, and offer opportunities for financial inclusion.
9. Supporting supply side to bring quality seed markets âcloserâ to project participants should be considered along with demand-side interventions (cash, voucher and other).
10. Investment in preparedness provides a better foundation to implement impactful cash for seed security response.
The risks, mitigating actions, opportunities and enablers for cash and seed security response are also explored. The study concludes with actionable and practical recommendations for further advancing the evidence base, as well as implementation suggestions. Continuous collaboration of key stakeholders in seed systems is essential to advance the discussions and action on the way forward with cash and seed systems
Incentive Regulation, Investments and Technological Change
Based on an idiosyncratic reading of the literature I propose intermediate (rather than tight or soft) regulation for balancing investment incentives with allocative efficiency and competition objectives. Intermediate regulation is compatible with incentive regulation and helps lengthening the regulatory commitment period necessary for incentives. However, such commitment for the whole time horizon of infrastructure or innovation investments is impossible. The compatibility of incentive regulation and efficient investment is thus in doubt. Incentive regulation for regular infrastructure investments therefore needs periodic updating based on rate-of-return regulation criteria. Innovative infrastructure investments may warrant regulatory holidays, which should be conditioned on strict criteria.
Citizen participation and awareness raising in coastal protected areas. A case study from Italy
In this chapter, part of the research carried out within the SECOA project
(www.projectsecoa.eu) is presented. Attention is devoted to methods and tools used for
supporting the participatory process in a case of environmental conflict related to the definition
of boundaries of a coastal protected area: the Costa Teatina National Park, in Abruzzo, central
Italy. The Costa Teatina National Park was established by the National Law 93/2001. Its territory
includes eight southern Abruzzo municipalities and covers a stretch of coastline of approximately
60 km. It is a coastal protected area, which incorporates land but not sea, characterized by the
presence of important cultural and natural assets. The Italian Ministry of Environment (1998)
defines the area as âwinding and varied, with the alternation of sandy and gravel beaches, cliffs,
river mouths, areas rich in indigenous vegetation and cultivated lands (mainly olives), dunes and
forest treesâ. The park boundaries were not defined by the law that set it up, and their
determination has been postponed to a later stage of territorial negotiation that has not ended yet
(Montanari and Staniscia, 2013). The definition of the park boundaries, indeed, has resulted in an
intense debate between citizens and interest groups who believe that environmental protection
does not conflict with economic growth and those who believe the opposite. That is why the
process is still in act and a solution is far from being reached. In this chapter, the methodology
and the tools used to involve the general public in active participation in decision making and to
support institutional players in conflict mitigation will be presented. Those tools have also proven
to be effective in the dissemination of information and transfer of knowledge. Results obtained
through the use of each instrument will not be presented here since this falls outside the purpose
of the present essay. The chapter is organized as follows: in the first section the importance of the
theme of citizen participation in decision making will be highlighted; the focus will be on
participation in the processes of ICZM, relevant to the management of coastal protected areas. In
the second section a review of the most commonly used methods in social research is presented;
advantages and disadvantages of each of them will be highlighted. In particular, the history and
the evolution of the Delphi method and its derivatives are discussed; focus will be on the
dissemination value of the logic underlying such iterative methods. In the third section the tools
used in the case of the Costa Teatina National Park will be presented; strengths and weaknesses
will be highlighted and proposals for their improvement will be advanced. Discussion and
conclusions follow
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