Implementing a Decision-Aware System for Loan Contracting Decision Process

The paper introduces our work related to the design and implementation of a decision-aware system focused on the loan contracting decision process. A decision-aware system is a software that enables the user to make a decision in a simulated environment and logs all the actions of the decision maker while interacting with the software. By using a mining algorithm on the logs, it creates a model of the decision process and presents it to the user. The main design issue introduced in the paper is the possibility to log the mental actions of the user. The main implementation issues are: user activity logging programming and technologies used. The first section of the paper introduces the state-of-the-art research in process mining and the framework of our research; the second section argues the design of the system; the third section introduces the actual implementation and the fourth section shows a running example.Decision-Aware Systems, Decision Activity Logs, Decision Mining, Codeigniter, JSON

Studies in Trade and Investment: The Development Impact of Information Technology in Trade Facilitation

It is important to lay out a framework for understanding how trade facilitation (TF) affects the movement of goods, and where information (IT) fits in. This relationship, in turn, sets the stage for locating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in international transactions. There is an increasing amount of substantial literature on TF and equally wide knowledge of IT. While it is not the intent of this chapter to survey these materials, to the extent that they are relevant to the following discussion, they will be referred to appropriately. Section A of this chapter elaborates on TF and the wide range of instruments that have been used and analyzed while section B details some actual experiences in the use of IT in TF. Section C examines small and medium-sized enterprises and IT in TF. Section D summarizes this chapter and considers the implications for inclusive growth.Trade facilitation, ICT, IT, SMEs,

The Development Impact of Information Technology in Trade Facilitation

The main purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview and context of the country studies on Information Technology (IT) for Trade Facilitation (TF) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).Impact of Information Techonology, Trade Facilitation, SMEs

INFORMATION MODELING AND LANDSCAPE: INTERVENTION METHODOLOGY FOR READING COMPLEX SYSTEMS

Abstract. When we talk about landscape and in particular landscape architecture, we refer to a living structure in continuous evolution and in clear contrast to the aesthetic and geometric immobility of the single architectural building. By landscape we mean a complex set of transformations of a historical and biological nature; the times of these components are very different, but they work in a single cycle and in symbiosis between them. This set is inseparable from what happens in the present, we must always think about who lives the reality and know how to interpret the different subjective perceptions of a space. The theme of landscape representation is a subject of difficult development, not only for the multiplicity of elements involved in a single system, but for the dynamism and continuous transformation of the element that one wants to study. The intrinsic multidisciplinarity in this field imposes different visions on the methodology to be used to understand and in the end represent. We must ask ourselves which is the problem in understanding how nowadays it is possible to develop a system capable of grouping the different needs that arise from the study of the landscape and which tools must be used in surveying and representation. To date, in the Italian context, the landscape project and its graphic representation is steady to the production of static images, realized with two-dimensional or three-dimensional digital drawing software, representing only the frames of reality, within the territory survey, or of future developments regarding projects. This methodology of representation imposes strong limits in the understanding of which systems and elements come into play when one enters into relationship with a living architecture.</p

Increasing geotechnical data confidence through the Integration of laser scanner face mapping data into the Sishen iron ore mine geotechnical database

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Mining Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2018Face mapping is a simple but invaluable means of geological and geotechnical data acquisition whereby intact rock properties, rock mass properties, discontinuity properties and structural orientation can be assessed. Although traditionally done via direct contact with the mapping face through techniques such as line mapping or window mapping, remote face mapping using various digital techniques has become increasingly popular in recent years. Sishen Mine is a large open pit mining operation requiring a comprehensive geotechnical data set to evaluate pit wall design and stability with the necessary level of confidence. Geotechnical borehole data, face mapping data, geotechnical lab testing data and implicit structural models provide the main sources of this information. Although a large geotechnical borehole database has always been maintained at the mine, face mapping has in the past been restricted to sporadic and isolated stability assessments. In 2013 the mine acquired a Maptek 8810 terrestrial laser scanner with the resolution, photographic capabilities and software required to carry out geotechnical face mapping. The aims of this research project were to evaluate the capabilities of the Maptek scanner and system, set up a standard face mapping procedure, integrate face mapping data in the mine’s geotechnical database and compare face mapping acquired rock mass data with the mine’s existing borehole data set. Further potential uses for the laser scanner system and face mapping data were also explored throughout the course of the dissertation. A face mapping procedure was set up and faces were mapped from 86 individual scans, acquired between October 2015 and April 2017. The mapping data obtained from the scans was integrated into the Acquire Geological Data Management System, a purpose designed Structured Query Language (SQL) database system used for storing the mine’s geotechnical data. Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) database links with the Micromine Computer Aided Design (CAD) package allowed for spatial overlays of mapping data with other geotechnical data as well as survey and mine planning data. In terms of data analysis mapping parameters such as joint spacing, Rock Quality Designation and Rock Mass Rating could be directly compared with borehole logging values for the same rock types. The comparison indicated that in general borehole measurements tend to slightly under estimate joint spacing and rock mass rating values while face mapping assessments tend to slightly over estimate these values. This is due to various intricacies of the two data capture techniques that tend to skew the data in one way or the other. Face mapping data was compared with Sishen’s existing structural model, which is based mainly on interpretation and implicit data. Structural orientations and features correlate well between the implicit model and actual mapped values gathered during the data collection phase of this project. Within the geotechnical design process, having actual mapping data in combination with increased confidence in the structural model allows for better definition of geotechnical design sectors. Overall the face mapping and geotechnical analysis features of the Maptek 8810 terrestrial laser scanner make it an invaluable geotechnical data capture tool, providing a system is in place to store mapping data in a manner that allows for meaningful rock mass and structural information to be produced.XL201

Innovation Capabilities and Directions of Development

The central challenge in the original Sussex Manifesto centred on massively increasing the developing countries’ scientific and technological capabilities for creating new knowledge and shaping the technologies they used. It also stressed the need for radical change in the national and international contexts within which those capabilities would be accumulated and used. This paper reviews those ideas in their intellectual context of the late-1960s and early-1970s. With reference to industrial development broadly defined, it then outlines how our understanding about the accumulation of such innovation capabilities has changed since the 1960s, highlighting their role in shaping the direction of innovation and not just its rate. It notes, however, that other influential perspectives attach little importance to the role of industrial innovation capabilities in developing countries. On the one hand, they are seen as irrelevant when technologies from advanced economies can be acquired and absorbed. On the other, their most important components are often omitted from national S&T strategies that strengthen only centralised, public R&D capabilities. The paper therefore emphasises the importance of policies that seek to develop two kinds of complementarity: between widely dispersed local innovation capabilities and (a) technology imports, and (b) centralised R&D activities.ESR

TermPicks: a century of Greenland glacier terminus data for use in scientific and machine learning applications

Marine-terminating outlet glacier terminus traces, mapped from satellite and aerial imagery, have been used extensively in understanding how outlet glaciers adjust to climate change variability over a range of timescales. Numerous studies have digitized termini manually, but this process is labor intensive, and no consistent approach exists. A lack of coordination leads to duplication of efforts, particularly for Greenland, which is a major scientific research focus. At the same time, machine learning techniques are rapidly making progress in their ability to automate accurate extraction of glacier termini, with promising developments across a number of optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite sensors. These techniques rely on high-quality, manually digitized terminus traces to be used as training data for robust automatic traces. Here we present a database of manually digitized terminus traces for machine learning and scientific applications. These data have been collected, cleaned, assigned with appropriate metadata including image scenes, and compiled so they can be easily accessed by scientists. The TermPicks data set includes 39 060 individual terminus traces for 278 glaciers with a mean of 136 ± 190 and median of 93 of traces per glacier. Across all glaciers, 32 567 dates have been digitized, of which 4467 have traces from more than one author, and there is a duplication rate of 17 %. We find a median error of ∼ 100 m among manually traced termini. Most traces are obtained after 1999, when Landsat 7 was launched. We also provide an overview of an updated version of the Google Earth Engine Digitization Tool (GEEDiT), which has been developed specifically for future manual picking of the Greenland Ice Sheet

Money Laundering and Financial Means of Organized Crime: Some Preliminary Empirical Findings

After giving a short literature review, the paper tries a quantification of the volume of money laundering activities, with the help of a MIMIC estimation procedure for the years 1995 to 2006 for 20 highly developed OECD countries. The volume of laundered money was 273 billions USD in the year 1995 for these 20 OECD countries and increased to 603 billions USD in 2006. The overall turnover in organized crime had a value of 595 billion USD in 2001 and increased to 790 billion USD in 2006. These figures are very preliminary but give a clear indication how important money laundering and the turnover of organized crime is nowadays.Definition and stages of money laundering, volume of money laundering, MIMIC estimation, financial means of organized crime

The interplay between societal concerns and the regulatory frame on GM crops in the European Union

Recapitulating how genetic modification technology and its agro-food products aroused strong societal opposition in the European Union, this paper demonstrates how this opposition contributed to shape the European regulatory frame on GM crops. More specifically, it describes how this opposition contributed to a de facto moratorium on the commercialization of new GM crop events in the end of the nineties. From this period onwards, the regulatory frame has been continuously revised in order to slow down further erosion of public and market confidence. Various scientific and technical reforms were made to meet societal concerns relating to the safety of GM crops. In this context, the precautionary principle, environmental post-market monitoring and traceability were adopted as ways to cope with scientific uncertainties. Labeling, traceability, co-existence and public information were installed in an attempt to meet the general public request for more information about GM agro-food products, and the specific demand to respect the consumers' and farmers' freedom of choice. Despite these efforts, today, the explicit role of public participation and/or ethical consultation during authorization procedures is at best minimal. Moreover, no legal room was created to progress to an integral sustainability evaluation during market procedures. It remains to be seen whether the recent policy shift towards greater transparency about value judgments, plural viewpoints and scientific uncertainties will be one step forward in integrating ethical concerns more explicitly in risk analysis. As such, the regulatory frame stands open for further interpretation, reflecting in various degrees a continued interplay with societal concerns relating to GM agro-food products. In this regard, both societal concerns and diversely interpreted regulatory criteria can be inferred as signaling a request – and even a quest – to render more explicit the broader-than-scientific dimension of the actual risk analysis