ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Greece

This analytical country report is one of a series of annual ERAWATCH reports produced for EU Member States and Countries Associated to the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Union (FP7). The main objective of the ERAWATCH Annual Country Reports is to characterise and assess the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. The Country Report 2012 builds on and updates the 2011 edition. The report identifies the structural challenges of the national research and innovation system and assesses the match between the national priorities and the structural challenges, highlighting the latest developments, their dynamics and impact in the overall national context. They further analyse and assess the ability of the policy mix in place to consistently and efficiently tackle these challenges. These reports were originally produced in December 2012, focusing on policy developments over the previous twelve months. The reports were produced by independent experts under direct contract with IPTS. The analytical framework and the structure of the reports have been developed by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the Joint Research Centre (JRC-IPTS) and Directorate General for Research and Innovation with contributions from external experts.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

A deep reinforcement learning based scheduling policy for reconfigurable manufacturing systems

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) is one of the trending paradigms toward a digitalised factory. With its rapid reconfiguring capability, finding a far-sighted scheduling policy is challenging. Reinforcement learning is well-equipped for finding highly efficient production plans that would bring near-optimal future rewards. For minimising reconfiguring actions, this paper uses a deep reinforcement learning agent to make autonomous decision with a built-in discrete event simulation model of a generic RMS. Aiming at the completion of the assigned order lists while minimising the reconfiguration actions, the agent outperforms the conventional first-in-first-out dispatching rule after self-learning

New Media Art/ New Funding Models

Investigates the current state of funding for new media artists, with an emphasis on the support structures for innovative creative work that utilizes advanced technologies as the main vehicle for artistic practice

Strategic approaches to science and technology in development

Watson, Crawford, and Farley examine the ways in which science and technology (S&T) support poverty alleviation and economic development and how these themes have been given emphasis or short shrift in various areas of the World Bank's work. Central to their thesis is the now well-established argument that development will increasingly depend on a country's ability to understand, interpret, select, adapt, use, transmit, diffuse, produce, and commercialize scientific and technological knowledge in ways appropriate to its culture, aspirations, and level of development. The authors go beyond this tenet, analyzing the importance of S&T for development within specific sectors. They present policy options for enhancing the effectiveness of S&T systems in developing countries, review previous experience of the World Bank and other donors in supporting S&T, and suggest changes that the World Bank and its partners can adopt to increase the impact of the work currently undertaken in S&T. The authors'main messages are: 1) S&T has always been important for development, but the unprecedented pace of advancement of scientific knowledge is rapidly creating new opportunities for and threats to development. 2) Most developing countries are largely unprepared to deal with the changes that S&T advancement will bring. 3) The World Bank's numerous actions in various domains of S&T could be more effective in producing the needed capacity improvements in client countries. 4) The World Bank could have a greater impact if it paid increased attention to S&T in education, health, rural development, private sector development, and the environment. The strategy emphasizes four S&T policy areas: education and human resources development, the private sector, the public sector, and information communications technologies.Public Health Promotion,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Decentralization,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment,Agricultural Research

Evaluating Byzantine-Based Blockchain Consensus Algorithms for Sarawak’s Digitalized Pepper Value Chain

A chosen network structure of Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), a Byzantine-based consensus algorithm, is proposed to minimize some of the identified pain points faced by the pepper stakeholders. Byzantine-based consensus algorithms are used to achieve the same agreement on a single data value, including transactions and block state, and to maintain system continuity even when several nodes have failed to respond or transmit inconsistent messages in the blockchain network

YouthBuild

YouthBuild is a comprehensive youth and community development program that simultaneously addresses several core issues facing lowincome communities: education, housing, jobs, and leadership development. It is based on the conviction that the energy and intelligence of young people need to be liberated and enlisted in solving the problems facing our society, and that low income young people are an untapped resource for solving the problems facing their own communities. YouthBuild engages disconnected young men and women who have no apparent path to a productive future by teaching them basic academic, life, leadership, and employability skills through work on community housing rehabilitation projects coupled with attendance at a Youth Build alternative high school. Emphasis is placed on belonging to a positive peer group and developing leadership attitudes and skills that will benefit the community. The opportunity to build affordable housing gives young people the chance to play a visible constructive role that wins the respect and appreciation of the community. It immediately changes their identity and begins the process of personal change