Text and artefacts for creating a "World of Investment Decision-Making" : an empirical study into investment procedures

The investment procedure prescribes the stages and tests through which all investment projects must pass before being accepted or not. It governs the conditions of acceptability and constitutes a powerful device of a priori control. In this paper, we intend to understand how investment procedures enable grand ideals regarding investment to be institutionalised. In particular, over and above the assumed effectiveness and rationale of these procedures, we identify the mechanisms through which these procedures construct social roles. In this respect, this research goes beyond the procedures’ technical functions and focuses on the very form of procedures. Indeed, the form of a procedure presents two features: it is written, generally consigned to a “manual”; and it relies on “cognitive artefacts” (Norman, 1991) or “technologies of the intellect” (Goody, 1977) such as lists, tables and formulae like Discounted Cash Flow. This paper shows how this specific form takes effect during the process of institutionalisation, through which grand investment ideals (e.g. competitiveness, value creation) are transformed into concrete devices and into roles (Miller, 1991). Thanks to an enquiry conducted in 2003 and 2004, investment procedures in six large companies in a French context are analysed. It is argued that (1) the formalisation of the objectives of the procedures, as well as the definitions of investment through typologies shape the actors’ boundaries of action; (2) valuation methods based on the domination of economic-mathematical formula favour short-term over long-term reflection; (3) the setting of decision-making thresholds formalise individuals’ tasks and responsibilities. Therefore, the very form of procedures shape each phase of the institutionalisation process as defined by Hasselbladh and Kallinikos (2000) and contribute to creates a singular world – that of investment decisions.procedure; investment; written text; artefacts; technologies of the intellect; institutionalisation

A microservice architecture for predictive analytics in manufacturing

Abstract This paper discusses on the design, development and deployment of a flexible and modular platform supporting smart predictive maintenance operations, enabled by microservices architecture and virtualization technologies. Virtualization allows the platform to be deployed in a multi-tenant environment, while facilitating resource isolation and independency from specific technologies or services. Moreover, the proposed platform supports scalable data storage supporting an effective and efficient management of large volume of Industry 4.0 data. Methodologies of data-driven predictive maintenance are provided to the user as-a-service, facilitating offline training and online execution of pre-trained analytics models, while the connection of the raw data to contextual information support their understanding and interpretation, while guaranteeing interoperability across heterogeneous systems. A use case related to the predictive maintenance operations of a robotic manipulator is examined to demonstrate the effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed platform

Decoding text with errors due to auto-correction

Auto-correction techniques implemented in software keyboards attempt to mitigate user errors in text entry by analyzing user input and automatically generating corrections. This approach can result in inaccurate corrections (auto-corruptions), e.g., when users enter words that are out of vocabulary, uncommon words, abbreviations, etc. When such phrases are sent, e.g., as messages, recipient users may not understand the sender’s intent or make sense of the received text. This disclosure describes techniques to decode received text that has errors produced by auto-correction. The techniques include reconstructing possible touch point sequences that led to the phrase, determining alternative phrases that correspond to the determined sequences, and presenting the alternative phrases on the recipient device. The techniques also enable the sender to quickly send post-corrections

Nonbanks and risk in retail payments

This paper documents the importance of nonbanks in retail payments in the United States and in 15 European countries and analyzes the implications of the importance and multiple roles played by nonbanks on retail payment risks. This paper also reviews the main regulatory safeguards in place, and concludes that there may be a need to reconsider some of them in view of the growing role of nonbanks and of the global reach of risks in the electronic era.

Belief Semantics of Authorization Logic

Authorization logics have been used in the theory of computer security to reason about access control decisions. In this work, a formal belief semantics for authorization logics is given. The belief semantics is proved to subsume a standard Kripke semantics. The belief semantics yields a direct representation of principals' beliefs, without resorting to the technical machinery used in Kripke semantics. A proof system is given for the logic; that system is proved sound with respect to the belief and Kripke semantics. The soundness proof for the belief semantics, and for a variant of the Kripke semantics, is mechanized in Coq

Cybersecurity of Online Proctoring Systems

The online proctored examinations are adopted exceedingly in all forms of academic education and professional training. AI with Machine Learning technology take the leading role in supporting authentication, authorization, and operational control of proctored online examination. The paper discusses how administrative, physical, and technical controls can help mitigate related cybersecurity vulnerabilities of online proctoring systems (OPS). The paper considers two classes of OPS: fully automated AI-enabled systems and hybrid systems (automated AI-enabled with an expert live proctor in control). Based on the review of 20 online proctoring systems, the paper discusses methods and techniques of multi-factor authentication and authorizations, including the use of challenge-response, biometrics (face and voice recognition), and blockchain technology. The discussion of operational controls includes the use of lockdown browsers, webcam detection of behavioral signs of fraud, endpoint security, VPN and VM, screen-sharing and keyboard listening programs, technical controls to mitigate the absence of spatial (physical area) controls, compliance with regulations (GDPR), etc. Other topics discussed include confidentiality of the exam content, logging of control data, video and sound recording for auditing, limitations of endpoint-based security protection and detection techniques of behavior-based cheating and the effect of new intrusive technology on students’ privacy. In conclusion, the paper lists advanced features of online proctoring systems

Real Time Settlement of Card Transactions to Enable Instant Payments to Merchants

The present invention provides a system and method for establishing an authorization process and real time settlement of card based payment transactions between an acquirer 113 and a seller 120 through an issuer 112 via payment networks 111. The acquirer 113 undergoes an authorization process for accepting card payments that involves sending an authorization request (114a, 114b, 114c) and receiving an authorization response (115a, 115b, 115c) for card transactions between the acquirer 113, the payment network 111, the issuer 112, and the seller 120, where the authorization response (115a, 115b, 115c) is an approval or decline of authorization for the seller 120 to perform card transactions based on confirmation on real time settlement. Once the card payment transaction is authorized by the issuer 112, the acquirer 113 involves verifying whether the seller 120 is enrolled for a real time settlement and if it is found that the seller 120 is enrolled for the real time settlement, the acquirer 113 pays the seller 120 instantly after deducting the interchange fee on real time. Thus, the required fund is transferred to the seller 120 in accordance with the real time basis. Hence, the method of establishing a low adoption rate of card based payment transactions that includes the authorization process and the real time settlement in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention are disclosed