A case study on customs trade facilitation at Zambia's Kasumbalesa border post

The expansion of global trade, especially trade in intermediate products, compels goods to cross borders multiple times before assembly. This phenomena requires better trade facilitation mechanisms in conveyancing goods and people across borders. The World Customs Organization, among many other organizations, has been in the fore-front of promoting these trade facilitation techniques. This qualitative case study has an objective of analyzing the current trade facilitation techniques used at Kasumbalesa. It also aims at pointing out any outdated customs procedures. During the study, data was collected using questionnaires and oral interviews. Secondary data was also collected from publications of the World Customs Organization, World Bank and the World Trade Organization, among other sources. In addition, observational methods were also used to collect data. The case study focuses on Kasumbalesa as a representative entry/exit point in Zambia. Consequently, identification of challenges faced by goods and people crossing Kasumbalesa can help streamline operations at other Zambian borders

Implementation of an information system for resource and process management in an industrial facility

The increasing investment in information systems for industrial production control, combined with the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, allows to improve decision making, providing a more efficient manufacturing process. However, for small and medium-sized enterprises in this sector, the complexity of existing solutions and the need to perform, in a preliminary phase, a substantial investment makes it difficult to implement these types of systems, accentuating, in terms of competitiveness, the gap between small and large companies. The proposed system, developed within the scope of this dissertation, aims to assist this types of companies, more specifically, a local business entity in the branch of the aeronautical industry, since it allows to optimize the monitoring of industrial resources and processes at the shop floor level. To support the design and implementation of the solution, an analysis on the operation of industrial facilities and techniques adopted in the field of industrial information systems is carried out. The entire development phase encompasses software engineering processes and culminates with the delivery of a prototype of a Spring web application, deployed on the partner entity’s server and positively evaluated in the execution of development and functional tests; Sumário: Implementação de sistema de informação para gestão de recursos e processos industriais O investimento crescente em sistemas de informação para controlo de produção industrial, aliado ao advento de uma quarta revolução industrial, permite aprimorar a tomada de decisões, proporcionando um processo de manufatura mais eficiente. No entanto, para pequenas e médias empresas deste sector, a complexidade das soluções existentes e a necessidade de efetuar um investimento preliminar substancial dificulta a implementação deste tipo de sistemas, acentuando, a discrepância competitiva entre pequenas e grandes empresas. O sistema proposto, desenvolvido no âmbito do trabalho da presente dissertação, visa auxiliar esta tipologia de empresas, mais concretamente, uma entidade empresarial local no ramo da indústria aeronáutica, na medida em que permite otimizar a monitorização de recursos e processos industriais ao nível do chão de fábrica. Para suporte da conceção e implementação da solução realiza-se uma análise do funcionamento de instalações industriais e de técnicas adotadas no domínio de sistemas de informação para aplicação industrial. A totalidade da fase de desenvolvimento engloba processos de engenharia de software e culmina com a entrega de um protótipo de uma aplicação web Spring, implantada no servidor da entidade parceira e, positivamente avaliada na execução de testes de desenvolvimento e funcionais

A diagnostic expert system as a tool for technology improvement support

This dissertation focuses on design, modelling and development of a diagnostic expert system, which was implemented as a tool (named Capability Diagnostic) in FutureSME project (and web portal) as one of the tools for self-diagnostic of SMEs, where according to analysis of current state the output data were generated. These data were used for creation of an action plan, which serves as a list of improvements that need to be done to solve crucial processes of the company. After improvements in company processes were completed, a new diagnostic process was initiated and a comparison with previous results was performed. This tool was evaluated by companies partnering to the project as one of the most contributive results of the project. Design, modelling and development of the system were focused on general use of the diagnostic system for company processes and improvement support.Tato disertační práce se zabývá návrhem, modelováním, vývojem a realizací obecného diagnostického expertního systému, který byl jako nástroj (nazván jako Capability Diagnostic) nasazen v rámci projektu (a portálu) FutureSME jako jeden z nástrojů pro diagnostiku malých a středních podniků, kde na základě analýzy aktuálního stavu generoval výstupní data, která byla použita pro vytvoření akčního plánu, na základě kterého byly provedeny zásahy do chodu firmy, které měly napomoci k řešení klíčových procesů jejího fungování. Po zavedení opatření byla opakovaně provedena diagnostika a výsledek byl porovnán s původním či předchozím stavem. Tento nástroj byl partnery projektu (majiteli či řediteli firem) hodnocen jako jeden z nejpřínosnějších v tomto projektu. Návrh, model i vývoj systému byl zaměřen na obecné využití i v jiných oblastech (nejen průmyslových) pro zlepšování firemních procesů.352 - Katedra automatizační techniky a řízenívyhově

Current policy issues in the governance of the European patent system

The European Parliament has been working towards building a discussion platform and a resource for further policy actions in the field of intellectual property rights. The Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel has set the goal of further enlarging the area of investigation in light of recent policy developments at the European level. In particular, the current study covers current policy issues in the governance of the European patent system, such as the backlog issue, the enhancement of patent awareness within the European Parliament, patent enforcement, the regional dimension of intellectual property in Europe, patents and standardisation, the use of existing patents, and patents and competition. These issues were discussed in the conference with stakeholders from European to national patent offices, from private to public sector actors. As a result of the conference, it was stated the need for an IP strategy for Europ

Signification framework of a business intelligence tool for SME business decision-making

Abstract : Business Intelligence (BI) tools are being adopted more frequently, especially in large organisations that have the resources to deploy it. BI tools are allowing businesses to optimise their decision-making process and sustain competitive advantage. There is, however, limited published research into how BI tools are being used by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as limited research in terms of the affordable features from IBM Cognos that support SMEs’ decision-making needs. Application of the key features of BI tools are helping organisations to take decisions to ensure their sustainable growth and competitive advantage. BI is also vast and complex hence it requires skilled human resources, and it makes the development and maintenance of BI highly expensive for SMEs. The main motivation of the research has been associated with the fact that finding a BI tool that is cost efficient for SMEs can be important for the success of the business and to cater effectively to their decision-making needs. Objective The study’s purpose was to determine which of the fundamental features of IBM Cognos are affordable features for addressing the business needs of SMEs. The objective was to analyse the significance of BI tools in the SMEs by identifying affordable and suitable features from IBM Cognos based on SMEs’ needs and business functions using a signification framework. Method A quantitative research method has been used in which primary method of data collection has been adopted. With respect to this, data collection instrument chosen for the research is in the form of a questionnaire online survey which was sent to the respondents through survey monkey. The sample size for this research was 200 research participants, and amongst these total 200 research participants, 80 participants were BI Consultants from consultancy firms and with the composition of their own consultancy firm’s clients, the other participants were 60 iv SME BI developers and 60 SME managers. For the purpose of data analysis, this research has used SPSS software and Microsoft Excel and analysed the results by using demographic and frequency analysis. Results The findings of this research have revealed that BI is a broad field and can be used as a tool for solving various issues faced by the SMEs. BI tool is able to solve issues through their features. All the questions asked from the respondents were associated with the features of BI and how they are effective for decisionmaking in SMEs. The features of IBM Cognos are cost effective but not necessarily affordable in the context of SME business needs. Affordability was identified as the mediating variable in this study. Conclusion The research has concluded that the SMEs established in South Africa should adopt the IBM Cognos tool for supporting their decision-making process and needs. The implementation of low cost and affordable features is important for SMEs but it requires a specialised IT employee for managing and running the tool. This tool would help the SMEs in articulating solutions based on the issues as well as making operational decisions that would improve the growth and profitability of the business. Overall, it has been indicated from the study that IBM is an important tool for the SMEs in that, it aids in gathering relevant data and further interpreting the data for making effective decisions.M.Com. (Business Management

Using Knowledge Analytics to Search and Characterize Mass Properties Aerospace Data

There is growing capability in the field of Big Data and Data Analytics which Mass Properties Engineers might like to take advantage of. This paper utilizes an implementation of the IBM Knowledge Analytics and Watson search capabilities to explore a corpus of material developed primarily with the interests of Mass Properties Engineers and vehicle concept developers at its forefront. The full collection of SAWE (Society of Allied Weight Engineers, Inc.) Technical Papers from 1939 through 2015 is a major portion of the knowledge content. Additional aerospace vehicle design information includes metadata from AIAA (American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics), and INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) as well as author-provided personal search material. This data is processed with respect to certain expected content, data taxonomies and key words to become the core data in NASA Langley Research Centers Vehicle Analysis Analytics, IBM Watson Content. Processed data becomes the corpus of information which is interrogated to provide examples of finding data for mass regression analysis, technology impacts on MPE (Mass Properties Engineering), mass properties control, standards, and other aspects of interest

Towards Data Sharing across Decentralized and Federated IoT Data Analytics Platforms

In the past decade the Internet-of-Things concept has overwhelmingly entered all of the fields where data are produced and processed, thus, resulting in a plethora of IoT platforms, typically cloud-based, that centralize data and services management. In this scenario, the development of IoT services in domains such as smart cities, smart industry, e-health, automotive, are possible only for the owner of the IoT deployments or for ad-hoc business one-to-one collaboration agreements. The realization of "smarter" IoT services or even services that are not viable today envisions a complete data sharing with the usage of multiple data sources from multiple parties and the interconnection with other IoT services. In this context, this work studies several aspects of data sharing focusing on Internet-of-Things. We work towards the hyperconnection of IoT services to analyze data that goes beyond the boundaries of a single IoT system. This thesis presents a data analytics platform that: i) treats data analytics processes as services and decouples their management from the data analytics development; ii) decentralizes the data management and the execution of data analytics services between fog, edge and cloud; iii) federates peers of data analytics platforms managed by multiple parties allowing the design to scale into federation of federations; iv) encompasses intelligent handling of security and data usage control across the federation of decentralized platforms instances to reduce data and service management complexity. The proposed solution is experimentally evaluated in terms of performances and validated against use cases. Further, this work adopts and extends available standards and open sources, after an analysis of their capabilities, fostering an easier acceptance of the proposed framework. We also report efforts to initiate an IoT services ecosystem among 27 cities in Europe and Korea based on a novel methodology. We believe that this thesis open a viable path towards a hyperconnection of IoT data and services, minimizing the human effort to manage it, but leaving the full control of the data and service management to the users' will

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes