THE JOINT COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS AS A TOOL TO AVOID LIQUIDITIES IN THE CURRENT CRISIS CONTEXT

The main joint commercial operations are counterpart, re-export and switch operations. Regardless of the evolution of barter, these arrangements may be made at the firm level, as well as at the governmental one. Delivery in counterpart has extended relatively a lot in the contemporary international trade and it implies the elimination or the reduction of the traditional paying tools and its replacement with the exchange of goods and services normally sustained by financial deals. The counterpart operations are mainly based on the oldest form of trade – the barter (exchanging goods for goods) which precedes the use of money. The barter as an arrangement between Governments of different countries has some specific features such as: the high value level of the occasional barter exchanges, the long-term convention, an agreement regarding different safeguarding stipulations.clearing agreement; buy-back; switch; off-sets; compensation; barter

Artificial intelligence : a heuristic search for commercial and management science applications

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1984.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY.Bibliography: leaves 185-188.by Philip A. Cooper.M.S

Analysing accident reports using structured and formal methods

Formal methods are proposed as a means to improve accident reports, such as the report into the 1996 fire in the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France. The size and complexity of accident reports create difficulties for formal methods, which traditionally suffer from problems of scalability and poor readability. This thesis demonstrates that features of an engineering-style formal modelling process, particularly the structuring of activity and management of information, reduce the impact of these problems and improve the accuracy of formal models of accident reports. This thesis also contributes a detailed analysis of the methodological requirements for constructing accident report models. Structured, methodical construction and mathematical analysis of the models elicits significant problems in the content and argumentation of the reports. Once elicited, these problems can be addressed. This thesis demonstrates the benefits and limitations of taking a wider scope in the modelling process than is commonly adopted for formal accident analysis. We present a deontic action logic as a language for constructing models of accident reports. Deontic action models offer a novel view of the report, which highlights both the expected and actual behaviour in the report, and facilitates examination of the conflict between the two. This thesis contributes an objective analysis of the utility of both deontic and action logic operators to the application of modelling accident reports. A tool is also presented that executes a subset of the logic, including these deontic and action logic operators

References to graphical objects in interactive multimodel queries

This thesis describes a computational model for interpreting natural language expressions in an interactive multimodal query system integrating both natural language text and graphic displays. The primary concern of the model is to interpret expressions that might involve graphical attributes, and expressions whose referents could be objects on the screen.Graphical objects on the screen are used to visualise entities in the application domain and their attributes (in short, domain entities and domain attributes). This is why graphical objects are treated as descriptions of those domain entities/attributes in the literature. However, graphical objects and their attributes are visible during the interaction, and are thus known by the participants of the interaction. Therefore, they themselves should be part of the mutual knowledge of the interaction.This poses some interesting problems in language processing. As part of the mutual knowledge, graphical attributes could be used in expressions, and graphical objects could be referred to by expressions. In consequence, there could be ambiguities about whether an attribute in an expression belongs to a graphical object or to a domain entity. There could also be ambiguities about whether the referent of an expression is a graphical object or a domain entity.The main contributions of this thesis consist of analysing the above ambiguities, de¬ signing, implementing and testing a computational model and a demonstration system for resolving these ambiguities. Firstly, a structure and corresponding terminology are set up, so these ambiguities can be clarified as ambiguities derived from referring to different databases, the screen or the application domain (source ambiguities). Secondly, a meaning representation language is designed which explicitly represents the information about which database an attribute/entity comes from. Several linguistic regularities inside and among referring expressions are described so that they can be used as heuristics in the ambiguity resolution. Thirdly, a computational model based on constraint satisfaction is constructed to resolve simultaneously some reference ambiguities and source ambiguities. Then, a demonstration system integrating natural language text and graphics is implemented, whose core is the computational model.This thesis ends with an evaluation of the computational model. It provides some concrete evidence about the advantages and disadvantages of the above approach

Decoding Digital Culture with Science Fiction: Hyper-Modernism, Hyperreality, and Posthumanism

How do digital media technologies affect society and our lives? Through the cultural theory hypotheses of hyper-modernism, hyperreality, and posthumanism, Alan N. Shapiro investigates the social impact of Virtual/Augmented Reality, AI, social media platforms, robots, and the Brain-Computer Interface. His examination of concepts of Jean Baudrillard and Katherine Hayles, as well as films such as Blade Runner 2049, Ghost in the Shell, Ex Machina, and the TV series Black Mirror, suggests that the boundary between science fiction narratives and the »real world« has become indistinct. Science-fictional thinking should be advanced as a principal mode of knowledge for grasping the world and digitalization

Artificial intelligence technology to architecture and its leverage on the concept of design automation

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1987.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-74).The problem addressed in this research is understanding the nature evolving and new technologies into the domain of architectural design and building technology. This thesis, essentially, is an exploration of the ways that "Artificial Intelligence" techniques may support systematic and rational architectural design and, by extension, the "Building Systems" process. The motivation for working in this area of research stems from the serious need to develop a new methodological design approach for architects. Given the fact that computer science and artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, is an evolving domain for problem solving techniques, it is believed that it could be a comprehensive tool for achieving that goal. Thus, this thesis describes a generic design methodology using intelligent computers, that may eventually help generate a new approach to architectural design, and assist in the development of new building technologies. This research traces two discrete, but related, concerns: the questioning of the nature of the architectural design paradigm, and the applications of artificial intelligence technology in architecture, both discussed within the context of DESIGN AUTOMATION, where their common ground is establishing a thinking model of how to approach a problem..by Yasser M. El-Quessny.M.S

Logic Programming: Context, Character and Development

Logic programming has been attracting increasing interest in recent years. Its first realisation in the form of PROLOG demonstrated concretely that Kowalski's view of computation as controlled deduction could be implemented with tolerable efficiency, even on existing computer architectures. Since that time logic programming research has intensified. The majority of computing professionals have remained unaware of the developments, however, and for some the announcement that PROLOG had been selected as the core language for the Japanese 'Fifth Generation' project came as a total surprise. This thesis aims to describe the context, character and development of logic programming. It explains why a radical departure from existing software practices needs to be seriously discussed; it identifies the characteristic features of logic programming, and the practical realisation of these features in current logic programming systems; and it outlines the programming methodology which is proposed for logic programming. The problems and limitations of existing logic programming systems are described and some proposals for development are discussed. The thesis is in three parts. Part One traces the development of programming since the early days of computing. It shows how the problems of software complexity which were addressed by the 'structured programming' school have not been overcome: the software crisis remains severe and seems to require fundamental changes in software practice for its solution. Part Two describes the foundations of logic programming in the procedural interpretation of Horn clauses. Fundamental to logic programming is shown to be the separation of the logic of an algorithm from its control. At present, however, both the logic and the control aspects of logic programming present problems; the first in terms of the extent of the language which is used, and the second in terms of the control strategy which should be applied in order to produce solutions. These problems are described and various proposals, including some which have been incorporated into implemented systems, are described. Part Three discusses the software development methodology which is proposed for logic programming. Some of the experience of practical applications is related. Logic programming is considered in the aspects of its potential for parallel execution and in its relationship to functional programming, and some possible criticisms of the problem-solving potential of logic are described. The conclusion is that although logic programming inevitably has some problems which are yet to be solved, it seems to offer answers to several issues which are at the heart of the software crisis. The potential contribution of logic programming towards the development of software should be substantial

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