Two-phased knowledge formalisation for hydrometallurgical gold ore process recommendation and validation

This paper describes an approach to externalising and formalising expert knowledge involved in the design and evaluation of hydrometallurgical process chains for gold ore treatment. The objective was to create a case-based reasoning application for recommending and validating a treatment process of gold ores. We describe a twofold approach. Formalising human expert knowledge about gold mining situations enables the retrieval of similar mining contexts and respective process chains, based on prospection data gathered from a potential gold mining site. Secondly, empirical knowledge on hydrometallurgical treatments is formalised. This enabled us to evaluate and, where needed, redesign the process chain that was recommended by the first aspect of our approach. The main problems with formalisation of knowledge in the domain of gold ore refinement are the diversity and the amount of parameters used in literature and by experts to describe a mining context. We demonstrate how similarity knowledge was used to formalise literature knowledge. The evaluation of data gathered from experiments with an initial prototype workflow recommender, Auric Adviser, provides promising results

Knowledge modelling with the open source tool myCBR

Building knowledge intensive Case-Based Reasoning applications requires tools that support this on-going process between domain experts and knowledge engineers. In this paper we will introduce how the open source tool myCBR 3 allows for flexible knowledge elicitation and formalisation form CBR and non CBR experts. We detail on myCBR 3 's versatile approach to similarity modelling and will give an overview of the Knowledge Engineering workbench, providing the tools for the modelling process. We underline our presentation with three case studies of knowledge modelling for technical diagnosis and recommendation systems using myCBR 3

A Comparative Study of Cognitive Systems for Learning

Learning is the modification of a behavioral tendency by experience. Memory and reasoning are the most important aspects for learning in humans; information is temporarily stored in the short-term memory and processed, compared with existing memories and stored in long-term memory, and can be re-used when needed. One way to describe an organized pattern of thought or behavior and the categories of information along with their relationships is by using schemas. A cognitive script is one form of a schema that evolves over multiple exposures to the same set of stimuli and/or repeated enactment of a particular behavior. This research aims to provide a comparative study between three cognitive systems/tools designed to allow learning, by using cognitive scripts representation. Since retrieving and re-using past experiences is the core of any learning process, the focus of this thesis is to examine the current existing cognitive systems and tools to evaluate their ability to retrieve past experiences. SOAR, myCBR and Pharaoh are three systems considered for this thesis. Linear and multi-branched cognitive scripts were considered in order to measure the capacity of those systems to allow learning using cognitive scripts representation. The results of this work show that SOAR, myCBR and Pharaoh took almost the same time to retrieve a set of similar cognitive scripts to a query script. However, SOAR was able to retrieve one similar script only, while myCBR and Pharaoh were able to retrieve multiple scripts. Pharaoh tops the other two system in its ability to handle multibranched scripts of different sizes and the way it considers context

Towards an ethical jewellery business

This report presents the results of phase 1 of research which is intended to identify the main social, environmental and ethical issues in the jewellery sector and to assist industry bodies in identifying how to integrate ethical considerations into their activities. The phase one report is based on an extensive review of literature related to ethical issues in the jewellery sector, covering ethical issues throughout the jewellery supply chain, from extraction of jewellery materials by mining processes, through to the retail of finished jewellery. In addition to highlighting established existing knowledge and literature in this field, our report highlights gaps in the literature and understanding that will influence the form and focus of more applied research to be proposed for phase two of the project

The Materiality of Media: To What Extent Has the Boom in the Manufacture of Modern Technological Devices Been Implicated in Territorial Conflicts Within Democratic Republic of Congo?

Although the aesthetics of devices such as the I-phone may not encourage consideration for what lies beneath the surface, these are also products comprised of naturally occurring materials. Despite an ongoing humanitarian and ecological crisis, particularly in the east of DRC, a dearth of academic publications exist which intrinsically link the mobile technology industry to circumstances on the ground. During this period of research my aim has been to investigate the extent to which this crisis has been paralleled or perpetuated by a boom in the manufacture of mobile technological devices and the trade in ubiquitous raw materials which originate from DRC. By tracking the plight of three particular materials (coltan, cobalt and cassiterite) as geological artefacts I have researched the extent to which a geopolitical narrative has impacted lives of people in this region. The magnitude of this trade has also been expressed in the sense that; ‘just as sugar was significant to the growth of urban industrial centres in Western Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, so too has Congolese coltan been pivotal to the digital revolution within which we now find ourselves’ (Mantz, 2008: 41). In respect of the complexities of media and in contextualising their relationship with the material world, it has been noted that ‘an attention to materiality is most fruitful where it is often deemed irrelevant, in the “immaterial” domains of electronic media’ (Fuller 2005, 2). In contextualising what is meant by the term ‘materiality of media’, one can look back at the work of early media theorists such as Marshall McLuhan whose book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964 as well as the maxim ‘the medium is the message’ have become influential in the years which have followed. Jussi Parikka’s 2015 book A Geology of Media begins to look in more literal terms at circumstances around the physical materials from which modern media technologies are comprised. The origins and destinations of such materials may be determined by their metallurgical properties, such that ‘what moves to the forefront is a "territorial" organization, in the sense that all the segments, whether of lineage, land, or number, are taken up by an astronomical space or a geometrical extension that overcodes them’ (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987: 388). On a slightly different footing, Wendy Chun’s 2016 book entitled Updating to Remain the Same: Habitual New Media highlights the ways in which consumer markets in new media are manipulated to maximise profitability. Many electronics companies have maintained that their supply chains are too complex for inherent ethical issues to be addressed because of the sheer number of actors involved in moving minerals from mines in Congo all the way to the gadgets in our pockets (Prendergast and Lezhnev, 2009: 1)

The precarious political economy of cobalt: balancing prosperity, poverty, and brutality in artisanal and industrial mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

This study examines the political economy of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, a veritable mining boom for cobalt is underway, driven by rising global demand needed for batteries and other modern digital devices. Based on extensive and original field research—including expert interviews, community interviews with miners and traders, and naturalistic observation at 21 mines and 9 affiliated mining sites—this study asks: How is cobalt currently extracted? What benefits has cobalt mining brought communities? What risks has it created? And, critically, what policies need implemented to make mining there more equitable and sustainable? It documents six interrelated benefits to cobalt mining, including poverty reduction, community development, and regional stability, alongside six serious challenges, including accidents and occupational hazards, environmental pollution and degraded community health, and violent conflict and death. It then proposes seven policy recommendations for different stakeholder groups such as local and national government, industrial (and often foreign) mining companies, miners and their communities, and the manufacturers of electronic products using cobalt. The study primarily seeks to humanize the process of Congolese cobalt mining, and to reveal the tensions and tradeoffs associated with the recent mining boom

« Qui ne risque rien, n’a rien »:Conflict, distributional outcomes, and property rights in the copper- and cobalt-mining sector of the DRC

De Democratische Republiek Congo is rijk aan koper en kobalt, grondstoffen die zeer gewild zijn op de wereldmarkt. In Zuidoost-Congo heeft large-scale mining (LSM), oftewel grootschalig mijnwerk, een lange geschiedenis, met een opleving na het eind van de burgeroorlog in 2003. Deze opleving van LSM-investeringen heeft erin geresulteerd dat artisanaal of kleinschalig mijnwerk is vervangen door grote bedrijven. In de academische literatuur en beleidsvorming wordt deze dynamiek soms geconceptualiseerd als voortdurend zorgend voor conflict tussen LSM-bedrijven en artisanale mijnwerkers. Er is echter variatie in de conflicten. Ik relateer deze variatie aan de interactie tussen drie sleutelfactoren van het eigendomsrechtenregime in en om LSM-locaties. Ik noem deze corporate enforcement, authorised clandestine extraction en unauthorised clandestine extraction. Clandestien mijnwerk blijft voortbestaan, terwijl externe partijen zich in LSM-concessies worstelen. De veiligheidstroepen gebruiken dwangmaatregelen om de LSM-locaties te ‘sluiten’ voor onbetaalde toegang door artisanale mijnwerkers. Conflicten ontstaan wanneer de kosten van het verstrekken van eigendomsrechten en het handhaven van informele overeenkomsten te hoog worden voor de beveiligers, waarvan het werk in gevaar is, en voor bedrijven met zorgen over hun reputatie. De interactie van de verschillende facetten heeft ook consequenties voor de distributie van middelen onder verschillende groepen waaronder vrouwen, verschillende soorten handelaren en etnische gemeenschappen. Daarom worden [corporate] eigendomsrechten onderhandeld en betwist: de veiligheidstroepen en overheidsactoren definiëren en handhaven andere eigendomsrechten in de context van ‘illegaliteit’. Deze bevindingen helpen verklaren waarom artisanale mijnwerkers regelmatig vreedzaam werken op LSM-locaties. Mijn bevindingen zijn relevant voor andere Afrikaanse landen waar artisanale mijnwerkers ‘illegaal’ werken

EDB Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2009

The EDB Eurasian Integration Yearbook publishes papers, reports, and information materials addressing wide spectrum of pertinent issues of regional integration, in particular its economic and institutional aspects, the theories of regional integration, and relevant integrational experience.economic integration, regional integration, post-Soviet space, CIS, Central Asia

EDB Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2009

The EDB Eurasian Integration Yearbook publishes papers, reports, and information materials addressing wide spectrum of pertinent issues of regional integration, in particular its economic and institutional aspects, the theories of regional integration, and relevant integrational experience