(I) A Declarative Framework for ERP Systems(II) Reactors: A Data-Driven Programming Model for Distributed Applications

To those who can be swayed by argument and those who know they do not have all the answers This dissertation is a collection of six adapted research papers pertaining to two areas of research. (I) A Declarative Framework for ERP Systems: • POETS: Process-Oriented Event-driven Transaction Systems. The paper describes an ontological analysis of a small segment of the enterprise domain, namely the general ledger and accounts receivable. The result is an event-based approach to designing ERP systems and an abstract-level sketch of the architecture. • Compositional Specification of Commercial Contracts. The paper de-scribes the design, multiple semantics, and use of a domain-specific lan-guage (DSL) for modeling commercial contracts. • SMAWL: A SMAll Workflow Language Based on CCS. The paper show

An Introduction to Mechanized Reasoning

Mechanized reasoning uses computers to verify proofs and to help discover new theorems. Computer scientists have applied mechanized reasoning to economic problems but -- to date -- this work has not yet been properly presented in economics journals. We introduce mechanized reasoning to economists in three ways. First, we introduce mechanized reasoning in general, describing both the techniques and their successful applications. Second, we explain how mechanized reasoning has been applied to economic problems, concentrating on the two domains that have attracted the most attention: social choice theory and auction theory. Finally, we present a detailed example of mechanized reasoning in practice by means of a proof of Vickrey's familiar theorem on second-price auctions

Substance and semantics in the auditor\u27s standard report

The most recent effort at restating the auditor\u27s standard report, SAS 58, is the most comprehensive statement of the auditor\u27s role that has ever been adopted. It is an acknowledgment that the previous report had become an ineffective communication of the audit function and was perhaps too cautious in circumscribing the auditor\u27s public responsibilities. This paper compares and analyzes the terminology of the standard report throughout the professions\u27s history with particular emphasis on the recent years leading up to SAS 58. An exhibit compares the parallel terminology and the social, economic and political issues that resulted in each revision. Additionally, some assessment of the potential future changes to the report are presented

Equity research Mota Engil SGPS SA : economic impact of political uncertainty in LATAM

Mestrado em FinançasThe MFW submitted is an Equity Analysis of Mota-Engil. The company is part of the Portuguese main Stock Index PSI20 and mainly operates in the businesses of construction & Infrastructure and environment & services. The work done follows a structure as stipulated by the CFA Society and includes a Business Description of the Company, Industry Analysis, Corporate Governance Structure, Investment Summary, Valuation, Financial Analysis and Investment Risk as well as an additional Chapter relating to the potential risks in LATAM that may arise from political uncertainty and increased exchange rate volatility.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Social Trajectory of a Finance Professor and the Common Sense of Capital

This paper traces the career of Michael Jensen, a Chicago finance PhD turned Harvard Business School professor to reveal the intellectual and social conditions that enabled the emergence and institutionalization of what we call the “neoliberal common sense of capital,” what others have called the “shareholder value” view of the American firm. Jensen's work was embraced by a generation of corporate raiders aggressively advancing new financial practices and discourses. His contribution, commonly understood as “agency theory,” was intertwined with the transformations in corporate management and governance of the last decades of the twentieth century—from the junk bond market in the 1980s to the exponential growth of CEO pay in the 1990s to the shareholder value management strategies of the 2000s. While debates about the spread of neoliberal ideas and governance tools have largely centered on the transformations of the state and international institutions or the role of actively organized intellectual networks, this essay emphasizes the importance of identifying specific carriers of particular transformations within the space of American “business discourse.

Distributed argumentation technology: advancing risk analysis and regulatory compliance of distributed ledger technologies for transaction and management of securities

Distributed argumentation technology is a computational approach incorporating argumentation reasoning mechanisms within multi-agent systems. For the formal foundations of distributed argumentation technology, in this thesis we conduct a principle-based analysis of structured argumentation as well as abstract multi-agent and abstract bipolar argumentation. The results of the principle-based approach of these theories provide an overview and guideline for further applications of the theories. Moreover, in this thesis we explore distributed argumentation technology using distributed ledgers. We envision an Intelligent Human-input-based Blockchain Oracle (IHiBO), an artificial intelligence tool for storing argumentation reasoning. We propose a decentralized and secure architecture for conducting decision-making, addressing key concerns of trust, transparency, and immutability. We model fund management with agent argumentation in IHiBO and analyze its compliance with European fund management legal frameworks. We illustrate how bipolar argumentation balances pros and cons in legal reasoning in a legal divorce case, and how the strength of arguments in natural language can be represented in structured arguments. Finally, we discuss how distributed argumentation technology can be used to advance risk management, regulatory compliance of distributed ledgers for financial securities, and dialogue techniques

Veiling Substance in Semantics: The Knotty State of the Earmarking Doctrine

Conflicting social philosophies with their infinite variations will inevitably influence law making and law interpretation. Consciously or unconsciously, social and political attitudes affect even those concerned with such an apparently technical matter as the definition of preferential transfer in bankruptcy. As it evolved over time from its English law antecedents, the law of preferential transfers in the United States gradually shifted its concern from the culpability of commercial actors to the effect of the transfer on distributive equality goals, culminating in our current law of preferences as codified in the federal Bankruptcy Code. While crafted in a highly technical and formalistic fashion, the black-letter law is simply incapable of capturing all of the nuances of behavior in the credit marketplace. Therefore, the need has remained for the bankruptcy courts to put their gloss on the statute to ensure it serves its intended purposes in any given case and also as a system. One prominent example of this judicial explication is what\u27s known as the earmarking doctrine, a court-made equitable invention intended to assure that the transfer under scrutiny truly involves property of the debtor, as opposed to circumstances where the debtor serves merely as a conduit to move funds from one creditor to another. Although its existence has been recognized almost without exception, courts, and for that matter commentators, disagree sharply over the circumstances when it is appropriate for the doctrine to be invoked and, even when there is agreement about those circumstances, similar disagreement over the standard to apply in determining if the transfer at issue is actually protected under the earmarking exception. This Article attempts to address both of these questions by proposing a fluid approach to defining the scope of the earmarking doctrine that conforms its application to what is asserted to be the foundational purpose of the preference law; namely, ratable distribution among creditors with similar rights. The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal

Veiling Substance in Semantics: The Knotty State of the Earmarking Doctrine

Conflicting social philosophies with their infinite variations will inevitably influence law making and law interpretation. Consciously or unconsciously, social and political attitudes affect even those concerned with such an apparently technical matter as the definition of preferential transfer in bankruptcy. As it evolved over time from its English law antecedents, the law of preferential transfers in the United States gradually shifted its concern from the culpability of commercial actors to the effect of the transfer on distributive equality goals, culminating in our current law of preferences as codified in the federal Bankruptcy Code. While crafted in a highly technical and formalistic fashion, the black-letter law is simply incapable of capturing all of the nuances of behavior in the credit marketplace. Therefore, the need has remained for the bankruptcy courts to put their gloss on the statute to ensure it serves its intended purposes in any given case and also as a system. One prominent example of this judicial explication is what's known as the earmarking doctrine, a court-made equitable invention intended to assure that the transfer under scrutiny truly involves property of the debtor, as opposed to circumstances where the debtor serves merely as a conduit to move funds from one creditor to another. Although its existence has been recognized almost without exception, courts, and for that matter commentators, disagree sharply over the circumstances when it is appropriate for the doctrine to be invoked and, even when there is agreement about those circumstances, similar disagreement over the standard to apply in determining if the transfer at issue is actually protected under the earmarking exception