IPAD: Integrated Programs for Aerospace-vehicle Design

Early work was performed to apply data base technology in support of the management of engineering data in the design and manufacturing environments. The principal objective of the IPAD project is to develop a computer software system for use in the design of aerospace vehicles. Two prototype systems are created for this purpose. Relational Information Manager (RIM) is a successful commercial product. The IPAD Information Processor (IPIP), a much more sophisticated system, is still under development

Investments to End Poverty

If we agree on a set of global sustainable development goals as the centrepiece for a post-2015 agenda, we will surely also need to agree on how to finance them. How do we get better data to tell whether we are on track to achieve a broad range of material and non-material poverty indicators? How do we give member states the tools they need to define, own and implement the post-2015 agenda to really address the structural issues keeping their citizens in poverty and limiting sustainable development? How do we ensure they have the global knowledge and financial support that they need to address poverty on the ground? These are key questions to consider as the UN, its member states, civil society and theprivate sector build on the High Level-Panel report, A New Global Partnership, and on the Secretary-General's report, A Life of Dignity for All. In the following pages and online, Investments to End Poverty starts to provide some of the data and analysis that can inform discussions and help everyone make evidence-based choices. The report looks beyond rhetoric on whether aid works, and the right balance between promoting growth and direct assistance to the poor, and provides detailed information based on available facts and figures. In doing this, it also reveals areas where we need to know more -- echoing the High-Level Panel call for a Data Revolution

Interactive virtual environment focused on gamified tourism

Treball final de Grau en Disseny i Desenvolupament de Videojocs. Codi: VJ1241. Curs acadèmic: 2017/2018The present document constitutes the Final Degree Project’s Technical Report of the Video Games Design and Development Degree offered by the Universitat Jaume I. The work to be developed consists in creating an interactive virtual gamified environment focused on tourism, through geolocation and augmented reality tools based on smartphones. It covers aspects about the planning, decision making and conceptual design of the final product and implementation details involved in the development of the complete application during the course of a few months by Francisco Alfaro Moscardó, student of the before mentioned Degree. The aim of the project is providing both residents and visitors some knowledge about the main monuments and places of interest of the Valencia city historical centre (Spain). The application has been developed using Unity 3D game engine combined with a set of current libraries that allow to have a better performance and management of the event interaction and Augmented Reality. The geolocated system is based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) and is fully integrated with two different augmented reality mini games that are part of the whole experience and give players some added challenges before giving them the historical information about the monuments. Furthermore, the application communicates remotely with Google servers to provide services such as the modification of the database where the areas data is stored or the use of the Google user account for unlocking achievements and be part of a worldwide ranking

Analysis of existing decision support systems to provide current baseline applications, implementation methodologies, problem areas, hardware and communication complexities

Issued as Monthly report and Final report, Project no. G-36-66

E-Business Value Process Modelling

E-business development is a considerable complicated task because the underlying logics of e-business and its new processes that are originated from implementing enhanced information technologies to streamline business performance introduce many complex issues. One of the difficulties is to capture the dynamic aspects of e-business that can be used for monitoring the business performance, in a way that could be helpful for the business adaptation to meet competitive advantages. Among many dynamics of e-business, the value system is the most interested one that has recently been addressed. However a value system is at the strategic level with no formal approaches for its representation, which introduces a gap between system modelling and implementation in the e-business development. In this paper, we will investigate a so called value process that can be not only used for value system modeling, but executed for simulation of the resulted model. For the purpose of value process modelling, we will adopt the process algebra approach, which will be integrated with others such as workflow in our modelling environment

Policy directions in public agricultural research: CGIAR’s public goods mandate and plant genetic resources

The conservation and use of plant genetic resources (PGR) is subject to a range of international treaties and conventions, but these have not resolved controversies over rights of access to seeds, control over new crop varieties or biodiversity conservation. This thesis examines the role of CGIAR, a publicly-funded body that manages 11 international genebanks, within these debates. The thesis explores how the role of, and strategy for, public international agricultural research (IAR) has evolved in the light of changes in governance of the global agri-food system (1990 – 2012). The research takes CGIAR as its central case study, using archival research and key informant interviews to examine the relationship between CGIAR’s mandate to provide ‘global public goods’ (GPGs) and its policy decisions on the management of plant genetic resources (PGR) and intellectual property. It examines how different understandings of GPGs fitted with or challenged dominant discourses about future agri- food systems, and whose interests have been served by CGIAR’s changing understandings of its role. The research finds that there were multiple and vague understandings of the GPG concept across CGIAR and its donors; and that this ambiguity was critical in CGIAR’s policy choices on PGR management. The evidence shows that CGIAR’s ostensible policy goals on the management and use of PGR remained remarkably stable over time. It explains this stability by demonstrating how ambiguity over the GPG concept enabled particular narratives about how science contributes to development outcomes to remain dominant. It finds that an over-focus on the global aspect of its GPG mandate undermined opportunities within CGIAR to consider the different publics that IAR should serve, and the range of goods they might need. This framing of CGIAR’s public goods mandate resulted in a policy alignment with dominant, market-based, paradigms of agricultural development, to the neglect of opportunities for the exploration of alternative pathways to development

A Food Secure World: Is the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation in a position to provide this Global Public Good?

The challenges faced by the global food and agriculture system in the twenty-first century are unlikely to be resolved through the implementation of neoliberal policies, most notably promoting market liberalisation, privatisation and financialisation. Many of these policies have also supported industrial agriculture, which has led to the production of many global public bads, such as significant greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution. However, industrial agriculture is not the only method of food production: sustainable agriculture is better placed to provide a wide range of global public goods (GPGs), including environmental protection and rural livelihood development, in addition to sufficient nutritious food. Therefore, there should be a move towards promoting sustainable agriculture with a focus on eradicating hunger and improving food security. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) can play a crucial role in ensuring agriculture provides the GPGs required. FAO also produces a number of GPGs through its three main roles; measurement, convening and norms and standards setting. This thesis asks if FAO is in a position to provide a food secure world. It also asks if the organisation is in a stronger position to provide the GPGs required following its extensive recent reform. Finally, it asks if a shift in emphasis towards the provision of GPGs will offer an alternative to neoliberalism