Towards an automatic data value analysis method for relational databases

Data is becoming one of the world’s most valuable resources and it is suggested that those who own the data will own the future. However, despite data being an important asset, data owners struggle to assess its value. Some recent pioneer works have led to an increased awareness of the necessity for measuring data value. They have also put forward some simple but engaging survey-based methods to help with the first-level data assessment in an organisation. However, these methods are manual and they depend on the costly input of domain experts. In this paper, we propose to extend the manual survey-based approaches with additional metrics and dimensions derived from the evolving literature on data value dimensions and tailored specifically for our use case study. We also developed an automatic, metric-based data value assessment approach that (i) automatically quantifies the business value of data in Relational Databases (RDB), and (ii) provides a scoring method that facilitates the ranking and extraction of the most valuable RDB tables. We evaluate our proposed approach on a real-world RDB database from a small online retailer (MyVolts) and show in our experimental study that the data value assessments made by our automated system match those expressed by the domain expert approach

An Approach to Transform Public Administration into SOA-based Organizations

Nowadays, Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) is widely spread in private organizations. However, when transferring this knowledge to Public Administration, it is realized that it has not been transformed in terms of its legal nature into organizations capable to operate under the SOA paradigm. This fact prevents public administration bodies from offering the efficient services they have been provided by different boards of governments. A high-level framework to perform this transformation is proposed. Taking it as starting point, an instance of a SOA Target Meta-Model can be obtained by means of an iterative and incremental process based on the analysis of imperatives and focused on the particular business context of each local public administration. This paper briefly presents a practical experience consisting in applying this process to a Spanish regional public administration.Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

The market for socially responsible investing : a review of the developments

This contribution explains how socially responsible investing (SRI) has evolved in the last few decades and sheds light on its latest developments. It describes different forms of SRI in the financial markets; and deliberates on the rationale for the utilization of positive and negative screenings of listed businesses and public organizations. A comprehensive literature review suggests that the providers of financial capital are increasingly allocating funds toward positive impact and sustainable investments. Therefore, this descriptive paper provides a factual summary of the proliferation of SRI products in financial markets. Afterwards it presents the opportunities and challenges facing the stakeholders of SRI. This research presents a historic overview on the growth of SRI products in the financial services industry. It clarifies that the market for responsible investing has recently led to an increase in a number of stakeholders, including; contractors, non governmental organizations (NGOs) and research firms who are involved in the scrutinization of the businesses’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) behaviors. This discursive contribution raises awareness on the screenings of positive impact and sustainable investments. The researcher contends that today’s socially responsible investors are increasingly analyzing the businesses’ non-financial performance, including their ESG credentials. In conclusion this paper puts forward future research avenues in this promising field of study.peer-reviewe

A Framework for Integrating Transportation Into Smart Cities

In recent years, economic, environmental, and political forces have quickly given rise to “Smart Cities” -- an array of strategies that can transform transportation in cities. Using a multi-method approach to research and develop a framework for smart cities, this study provides a framework that can be employed to: Understand what a smart city is and how to replicate smart city successes; The role of pilot projects, metrics, and evaluations to test, implement, and replicate strategies; and Understand the role of shared micromobility, big data, and other key issues impacting communities. This research provides recommendations for policy and professional practice as it relates to integrating transportation into smart cities

Professional Judgment in an Era of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Though artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare and education now accomplishes diverse tasks, there are two features that tend to unite the information processing behind efforts to substitute it for professionals in these fields: reductionism and functionalism. True believers in substitutive automation tend to model work in human services by reducing the professional role to a set of behaviors initiated by some stimulus, which are intended to accomplish some predetermined goal, or maximize some measure of well-being. However, true professional judgment hinges on a way of knowing the world that is at odds with the epistemology of substitutive automation. Instead of reductionism, an encompassing holism is a hallmark of professional practice—an ability to integrate facts and values, the demands of the particular case and prerogatives of society, and the delicate balance between mission and margin. Any presently plausible vision of substituting AI for education and health-care professionals would necessitate a corrosive reductionism. The only way these sectors can progress is to maintain, at their core, autonomous professionals capable of carefully intermediating between technology and the patients it would help treat, or the students it would help learn