Task delegation from AI to humans: A principal-agent perspective

Increasingly intelligent AI artifacts in human-AI systems perform tasks more autonomously as entities that guide human actions, even changing the direction of task delegation between humans and AI. It has been shown that human-AI systems achieve better results when the AI artifact takes the leading role and delegates tasks to a human rather than the other way around. This study presents phenomena, conflicts, and challenges that arise in this process, explored through the theoretical lens of principal-agent theory (PAT). The findings are derived from a systematic literature review and an exploratory interview study and are placed in the context of existing constructs of PAT. Furthermore, this article paper identifies new causes of tensions that arise specifically in AI-to-human delegation and calls for special mechanisms beyond the classical solutions of PAT. The paper thus contributes to the understanding of autonomous AI and its implications for human-AI delegation

Identification of Sources of Finance in Growing Companies Operating in Food Industry in Tehran

This research by identifying and classifying finance sources can largely contribute in releasing companies’ finance challenges and prevent bankruptcy. The paper first identified various finance sources following reviewing the finance and investment literature; then, final classification provided in term of what sources was more used in active food industries firms. Research statistical population consisted of senior executives of growing companies operating in food industry in Tehran. Research participants included 12 senior executives selected by convenience sampling method. Research methodology initially reviewed the literature and offered an elementary framework; then, it semi structurally interviewed managers, and finally analyzed findings through using Atlas software. Research findings show that finance is a critical success factor in firms; further, debt-based finance sources, capital-based, credits-based, entrepreneurial finance sources, and private sources are the most critical finance sources in order.  Applying research findings causes forming a coherent finance thought in national food industries managers, it also paves the way for academic and scientific studies. If managers properly identify and utilize finance sources, finance source operations and fundraising may develop at national level

From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crisis

Socio-economic data mining has a great potential in terms of gaining a better understanding of problems that our economy and society are facing, such as financial instability, shortages of resources, or conflicts. Without large-scale data mining, progress in these areas seems hard or impossible. Therefore, a suitable, distributed data mining infrastructure and research centers should be built in Europe. It also appears appropriate to build a network of Crisis Observatories. They can be imagined as laboratories devoted to the gathering and processing of enormous volumes of data on both natural systems such as the Earth and its ecosystem, as well as on human techno-socio-economic systems, so as to gain early warnings of impending events. Reality mining provides the chance to adapt more quickly and more accurately to changing situations. Further opportunities arise by individually customized services, which however should be provided in a privacy-respecting way. This requires the development of novel ICT (such as a self- organizing Web), but most likely new legal regulations and suitable institutions as well. As long as such regulations are lacking on a world-wide scale, it is in the public interest that scientists explore what can be done with the huge data available. Big data do have the potential to change or even threaten democratic societies. The same applies to sudden and large-scale failures of ICT systems. Therefore, dealing with data must be done with a large degree of responsibility and care. Self-interests of individuals, companies or institutions have limits, where the public interest is affected, and public interest is not a sufficient justification to violate human rights of individuals. Privacy is a high good, as confidentiality is, and damaging it would have serious side effects for society.Comment: 65 pages, 1 figure, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

Big Data, Contabilidad y Desarrollo Internacional: Desafíos y Tendencias

[EN] This article aims to show how the Big Data techniques application in accounting to monitor international cooperation projects are a green-field in the academic world. To obtain an exhaustive vision of the state of the art in academic research in this field, a bibliometric analysis has been carried out, based on multiple Web of Science searches, with focus on international development, Big Data and accounting, adding the holistic vision of the 17 SDGs or “Sustainable Development Goals” of the UN Agenda 2030. Research on Big Data, international development and accounting is a new field that has started in 2015 although academic literature is still scarce. Publications related to SDGs also begin on that date, but with much more prolific academic literature, without explicit references to the use of Big Data in accounting. The article finds deficiencies in existing academic research compared to other enterprise fields in which Big Data techniques are much more developed, and international organization reports lead this line of research, as opposed to the scholarly world. The main practical implication derived from the paper is the need to deepen in real cases of use outside the academic sphere as a starting point to develop this line of research. The development of this research area will help NPOs and governments to have a better accounting to evaluate the impact of their initiatives and cooperation projects. In addition to the bibliometric techniques used for the analysis of main publications, authors and relevant topics focused on this area of study, the authors consider a challenge and an opportunity to take the plunge into this field from academic world, which will undoubtedly improve decision-making in international development, emphasizing the need to gain momentum given the current state of greenfield.[ES] El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar cómo las técnicas de Big Data aplicadas a la contabilidad para el seguimiento y monitorización de los resultados y avances de los proyectos de cooperación internacional son un campo novedoso e incipiente en el mundo académico. Con el fin de obtener una visión exhaustiva del estado del arte de la investigación académica en este campo, se ha realizado un análisis bibliométrico detallado, basado en múltiples búsquedas en la Web of Science, con foco en los proyectos de cooperación internacional junto con Big Data y contabilidad, añadiendo la visión holística de los 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de la Agenda 2030 de la ONU. La investigación sobre Big Data, cooperación internacional y contabilidad es un campo en desarrollo con referencias desde 2015 pero siendo la literatura académica todavía escasa. Las publicaciones relacionadas con los ODS también comienzan en esa fecha, pero con una literatura académica mucho más prolífica, sin embargo, sin referencias explícitas al uso de Big Data y contabilidad de forma conjunta. El artículo encuentra deficiencias en la investigación académica existente en comparación con otros campos donde las técnicas de Big Data están mucho más desarrolladas, siendo informes de organizaciones internacionales como la ONU los que lideran esta línea de investigación, frente al mundo académico. La principal implicación práctica que se deriva del artículo es la necesidad de profundizar en casos reales de uso fuera del ámbito académico como punto de partida para desarrollar esta línea de investigación. El desarrollo de esta línea de investigación ayudará a las ONG, gobiernos y administraciones públicas a tener una mejor contabilidad y evaluación del impacto de sus iniciativas y proyectos de cooperación. Además de las técnicas bibliométricas utilizadas para el análisis de las principales publicaciones, autores y temas relevantes enfocados a esta área de estudio, los autores consideran un reto y una oportunidad profundizar en este campo desde el mundo académico, lo que sin duda mejorará el soporte a la toma de decisiones en materia de desarrollo internacional

Inventing Psychiatric Drug Maintenance

This dissertation explores a major change in the way the maintenance of recovery from mental illness was authoritatively represented between the mid 1950s and the present. A shift from individual case reports to clinical trials as medicines authoritative knowledge-framework made possible a view of mental health as something to be achieved then maintained pharmaceutically. Through a controversial experiment that both produced and studied responders to maintenance drugs, it became possible to assess maintenance drugs in terms of an idealized, optimized state, rather than in relation to a personalized baseline. This new, idealized understanding of mental health emerged in the early 1970s and operated alongside traditional concepts of psychiatric diagnosis and prognosis, where each disease category implied an expected trajectory that interventions could only temporarily alter, for example by sedating or restraining. It harmonized with a managerial style of thinking among mental hospital psychiatrists who imagined a future in which medicated inmates would flow and circulate through institutions, achieving live release, rather than sedimenting into long-term custodial care. Pharmaceutically-maintained mental health unfolded in treatment phases, in the margins of epidemiological diagrams, in the minds eye of life insurance company medical directors as financial payouts due to suicide, in the pages of medical journals devoted to narrative medicine and in the decisions of physicians considering self-reporting to medical regulators. Mental health achieved and maintained with drugs, viewed from the perspective of business or occupational risk managers was seen as inherently untrustworthy, fragile, and at risk of failing. The result was on the one hand, a medical discourse that confidently represented and even promoted the idea that mental health could be pharmacologically maintained, and on the other a discourse of corporate risk management that saw fragility and risk among anyone who used mind altering drugs. Diverging from studies that isolate specific categories of mental illness, the dissertation bridges histories of pharmacology, medical epistemology, insurance, and professionalization. It shows how a science of maintenance psychiatric drugs evolved to favor the interests of its makers, while at the same time stacking the odds against the very consumers it claimed to serve

Economic Freedom Through Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship represents a means of increasing personal freedom and designing an attendant lifestyle. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies sole proprietors used to sustain their small business operations beyond five years and attain profitability levels necessary for freedom and autonomy. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews of 10 entrepreneurs who answered open-ended interview questions, granted access to archival documents, and direct observation of their business operations. The conceptual framework was emancipation theory addressing personal freedom through business autonomy. With the modified van Kaam method, the identification of emerging themes involved identifying groupings, clusters, and unrelated antecedents all of which yielded such themes as customer service, personal control, and creativity. The customer service theme was prevalent throughout the interview. The personal control theme arose from participants\u27 perceptions of emancipation, business autonomy, and personal freedom. The creativity theme appeared through the comments of all participants; each participant alluded to the power of creativity and vision. Determination mattered to all the participants. The participants harped on the need for inward strength necessary to overcome all obstacles. Results from this study may contribute to social change assisting sole proprietors in strategies to grow their businesses to profitability, attain personal freedom, and contribute to community economic development which in turn would extend to benefits a stable economy across the community for a safe and progressive society

Proceedings of the Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC) 2011

These proceedings bring together a selection of papers from the 2011 Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference(SPARC). It includes papers from PhD students in the arts and social sciences, business, computing, science and engineering, education, environment, built environment and health sciences. Contributions from Salford researchers are published here alongside papers from students at the Universities of Anglia Ruskin, Birmingham City, Chester,De Montfort, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores and Manchester

Strategies to Minimize the Bullwhip Effect in the Electronic Component Supply Chain

Supply chain leaders in the information technology industry face challenges regarding their ability to mitigate amplified demand and supply variability in a supply chain network--the bullwhip effect--and reduce adverse implications on their component supply chain networks. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies supply chain leaders in the United States used to reduce the bullwhip effect. Bullwhip effect theory served as the conceptual framework. Participants in the study were 5 purposefully selected supply chain leaders in the state of Texas who successfully implemented strategies to reduce the bullwhip effect on their networks. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and analysis of documents from the participants\u27 websites. The data were analyzed using the 5 data analysis steps consistent with Yin\u27s approach: collection, stratification, reassembly, interpretation, and conclusion. Four themes emerged from data analysis: (a) collaboration strategy, (b) communication strategy, (c) component shortage reduction strategy, and (d) resource management strategy. Supply chain leaders might use the findings of this study to reduce the bullwhip effect within their networks and improve their profitability. The implications for positive social change include the potential for leaders to improve environmental sustainability by using effective supply chain strategies to reduce the accumulation of excess inventories, reduce transportation fuel usage, and lessen the consumption of natural resources