A MapReduce architecture for web site user behaviour monitoring in real time

Monitoring the behaviour of large numbers of web site users in real time poses significant performance challenges, due to the decentralised location and volume of generated data. This paper proposes a MapReduce-style architecture where the processing of event series from the Web users is performed by a number of cascading mappers, reducers and rereducers, local to the event origin. With the use of static analysis and a prototype implementation, we show how this architecture is capable to carry out time series analysis in real time for very large web data sets, based on the actual events, instead of resorting to sampling or other extrapolation techniques

Legality and venture governance around the world

We analyze governance with a dataset on investments of venture capitalists in 3848 portfolio firms in 39 countries from North and South America, Europe and Asia spanning 1971-2003. We find that cross-country differences in Legality have a significant impact on the governance structure of investments in the VC industry: better laws facilitate faster deal screening and deal origination, a higher probability of syndication and a lower probability of potentially harmful co-investment, and facilitate board representation of the investor. We also show better laws reduce the probability that the investor requires periodic cash flows prior to exit, which is in conjunction with an increased probability of investment in high-tech companies. Klassifikation: G24, G31, G32

Fuzzy model of the computer integrated decision support and management system in mineral processing

During the research on the subject of computer integrated systems for decision making and management support in mineral processing based on fuzzy logic, realized at the Department of Applied Computing and System Engineering of the Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, for the needs of doctoral thesis of the first author, and wider demands of the mineral industry, the incompleteness of the developed and contemporary computer integrated systems fuzzy models was noticed. The paper presents an original model with the seven staged hierarchical monitoring-management structure, in which the shortcomings of the models utilized today were eliminated

Legality and Venture Governance Around the World

We analyze governance with a dataset on investments of venture capitalists in 3848 portfolio firms in 39 countries from North and South America, Europe and Asia spanning 1971-2003. We find that cross-country differences in Legality have a significant impact on the governance structure of investments in the VC industry: better laws facilitate faster deal screening and deal origination, a higher probability of syndication and a lower probability of potentially harmful co-investment, and facilitate board representation of the investor. We also show better laws reduce the probability that the investor requires periodic cash flows prior to exit, which is in conjunction with an increased probability of investment in high-tech companies.Venture Capital, Corporate Governance, Syndication, Entrepreneurial Finance

From BPMN process models to DMN decision models

The interplay between process and decision models plays a crucial role in business process management, as decisions may be based on running processes and affect process outcomes. Often process models include decisions that are encoded through process control flow structures and data flow elements, thus reducing process model maintainability. The Decision Model and Notation (DMN) was proposed to achieve separation of concerns and to possibly complement the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) for designing decisions related to process models. Nevertheless, deriving decision models from process models remains challenging, especially when the same data underlie both process and decision models. In this paper, we explore how and to which extent the data modeled in BPMN processes and used for decision-making may be represented in the corresponding DMN decision models. To this end, we identify a set of patterns that capture possible representations of data in BPMN processes and that can be used to guide the derivation of decision models related to existing process models. Throughout the paper we refer to real-world healthcare processes to show the applicability of the proposed approach

Application of the Real Options in Engineering Design and Decision Making: Focus on Mine Design and Planning at Operational Level

Flexibility and adaptability are essential for long-term corporate success, and real options (RO) is the preferred tool for analysis. This research argues that uncertainty is a source of value as the opportunities that it presents can be leveraged by having a flexible system. As a contribution to knowledge, a relationship between the beta and flexibility index was derived, RO identification framework for mine operational decision-making was proposed and predictive data analytics was utilised to create managerial flexibility

CIO Performance Measurement

Over the last decades, the academy and the community of practice have described the differences in CIO profiles recognizing that the challenges posed by the technological development and the evolution of business models require a wide array of abilities and skills that not always match companies and individuals. If the classic idea of ‘what you measure is what you get’ is also true in IT, then a possible explanation of the misalignments of IS/IT units may lie in the wrong measurement of the expected performances and results of CIOs. This conceptual article explores and describes the effects of performance management and analyzes how it could affect the performance of the CIO

Quantifying the impact of services liberalization in a developing country

The authors consider how service liberalization differs from goods liberalization in terms of welfare, the level and composition of output, and factor prices within a developing economy, in this case Tunisia. Despite recent movements toward liberalization, Tunisian service sectors remain largely closed to foreign participation and are provided at high cost relative to many developing nations. The authors develop a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Tunisian economy with multiple products and services and three trading partners. They model goods liberalization as the unilateral removal of product tariffs. Restraints on services trade involve both restrictions on cross-border supply (mode 1 in the GATS) and on foreign ownership through foreign direct investment (mode 3 in the GATS). The former are modeled as tariff-equivalent price wedges while the latter are comprised of both monopoly-rent distortions (arising from imperfect competition among domestic producers) andinefficiency costs (arising from a failure of domestic service providers to adopt least-cost practices). They find that goods-trade liberalization yields a gain in aggregate welfare and reorients production toward sectors of benchmark comparative advantage. However, a reduction of services barriers in a way that permits greater competition through foreign direct investment generates larger welfare gains. Service liberalization also requires lower adjustment costs, measured in terms of sectoral movement of workers, than does goods-trade liberalization. And it tends to increase economic activity in all sectors and raise the real returns to both capital and labor. The overall welfare gains of comprehensive service liberalization amount to more than 5 percent of initial consumption. The bulk of these gains come from opening markets for finance, business services, and telecommunications. Because these are key inputs into all sectors of the economy, their liberalization cuts costs and drives larger efficiency gains overall. The results point to the potential importance of deregulating services provision for economic development.Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Environmental Economics&Policies,Decentralization,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Health Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform

eEnabled internet distribution for small and medium sized hotels: the case of hospitality SMEs in Athens

Advances in information and communications technologies (ICTs) have strategic implications for a wide range of industries. Tourism and hospitality have dramatically changed by the ICTs and the Internet and gradually emerge as the leading industry on online expenditure. The Internet revolutionised traditional distribution models, enabled new entries propelled both disintermediation and reintermediation and altered the sources of competitive advantage. This paper explores the strategic implications of ICTs and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of Internet distribution for small and medium-sized hospitality enterprises (SMEs). Primary research in Athens hotels demonstrates the effects of the Internet and ICTs for secondary markets, where there is lower penetration and ICT adoption. Interviews and questionnaires identified a number of strategies in order to optimise distribution. The analysis illustrates the strategic role of ICTs and the Internet for hospitality organisations and Small and Medium-sized organisations in general. Most hotels employ a distribution mix that determines the level and employment of the Internet. The paper demonstrates that only organisations that use ICTs strategically will be able to develop their electronic distribution and achieve competitive advantages in the future