Business success through process based application of simulation

Progressive design practices are increasingly cognisant of the potential of building energy simulation to assist the delivery of energy efficient, sustainable buildings. However, the success of any building performance assessment hinges on the capabilities of the tool; the collective competences of the team formed to apply it; and, crucially, the existence of an in-house framework within which simulation can be applied with confidence (McElroy and Clarke 1999). There is also a need for the professions to set up mechanisms that facilitate dialogue with vendors in order to influence tool capabilities. And on the related issues of building an in-house competency and a framework for application, the two core issues facing the professions are: i) a need for the development of in-house procedures for management of simulation; and ii) quality assurance of the related models and appraisal results

Vulnerabilities and responsibilities: dealing with monsters in computer security

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze information security assessment in terms of cultural categories and virtue ethics, in order to explain the cultural origin of certain types of security vulnerabilities, as well as to enable a proactive attitude towards preventing such vulnerabilities.\ud \ud Design/methodology/approach – Vulnerabilities in information security are compared to the concept of “monster” introduced by Martijntje Smits in philosophy of technology. The applicability of different strategies for dealing with monsters to information security is discussed, and the strategies are linked to attitudes in virtue ethics.\ud \ud Findings – It is concluded that the present approach can form the basis for dealing proactively with unknown future vulnerabilities in information security.\ud \ud Research limitations/implications – The research presented here does not define a stepwise approach for implementation of the recommended strategy in practice. This is future work.\ud \ud Practical implications – The results of this paper enable computer experts to rethink their attitude towards security threats, thereby reshaping their practices.\ud \ud Originality/value – This paper provides an alternative anthropological framework for descriptive and normative analysis of information security problems, which does not rely on the objectivity of risk

A Cognitive Framework for Normative Reasoning under Uncertainty, and Reasoning about Risk, and Implications for Educational Practice

Clarifying what is normative or appropriate reasoning under various circumstances provides a valuable reference for guiding what should be taught, and, in contrast, what should not be. This paper proposes a cognitive framework for viewing normative reasoning and behavior under uncertainty, including the applying of knowledge of probability and statistics in real world situations; and identifies implications for educational practice. Factors relevant to normative reasoning under uncertainty that are addressed within the framework include: risk of misapplying statistics knowledge, involvement of mathematical and non-mathematical reasoning, knowledge of real world domains and situation/application detail, and existence of expert consensus. The cognitive framework is illustrated using examples of reasoning about risk, including industry standards for risk management. The work of Kahneman and Tversky, G. Gigerenzer, and others is related to and contrasted to the framework presented

Leadership Behaviour and Worker Performance in the Nigerian Construction Industry

Leadership is a dynamic process in which an individual influence other to contribute to the achievement of an assigned task. This paper investigates leadership behaviour and its impact on construction workers’ performance in Lagos, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select 50 site-supervisors and 250 construction-workers involved in simple construction works. An investigation was carried out using a questionnaire survey method. The leadership variables investigated were ranked, regressed and correlated to workers performance. From the primary data analysis, leadership behaviour exhibited by supervisors were found to influence the site workers commitment to achieving the goal of the construction projects. The most exhibited leadership behaviour on the studied construction site is transformational leadership behaviour with an overall mean score of 4.09. There also exists a positive linear correlation of transactional leadership behaviour with construction workers performance. Findings revealed that the adoption of laissez-faire leadership behaviour results in negative correlation with construction workers performance. The study concludes that the success of construction projects depends on the project manager and its employees, therefore leadership qualities is an important skill that everyone in the construction industry should possess as it enhances the timely delivery of construction works

The Problems and Prospects of Capital Budgeting among Nigerian Firms: Literature Analysis

Previous studies examined the concept of capital budgeting since 1960s. Such publications came up with several alternatives in the appraisal of investment by firms ranging from simple to complex approaches with corresponding strengths and weaknesses. This paper’s central focus is to identify and examine the most prevent tools of analysis in the Nigerian environment with the view to bringing to light their inherent strength and weaknesses. Unlike several studies that were examined, this paper uses local and international literature on capital budgeting application as the main source of data for analysis. The studies concluded that the Discounted Cash Flow method is widely popular but grossly misapplied even in advanced economies owing to its technicality and lack of dedicated capital budgeting personnel. The paper recommends the use of real-options along with the NPV, as well as the capital budgeting manual and post investment audit should be entrenched in improving the techniques and process of Complex investment decision. Keywords: Capital Budgeting, Problem and Prospects, Nigerian Firms, Literature Analysi

Banking and Financial Regulation

This chapter provides a basic overview of banking and financial regulation for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Law and Economics (Francesco Paris, ed.). Among other things, the chapter compares traditional and shadow banking and their regulation, differentiating “micro prudential” regulation (which focuses on protecting individual components of the financial system, such as banks) and “macro prudential” regulation (which focuses on protecting against systemic risk). The chapter also examines how regulation can help to correct market failures that undermine financial efficiency. In that context, it discusses, among other things, capital requirements, ring-fencing, and stress testing. Finally, the chapter examines how regulation can help to protect against systemic risk, including by addressing potential triggers of systemic risk (such as maturity transformation—the asset-liability mismatch that results from the short-term funding of long-term projects—and limited liability)

Multi Agent Systems in Logistics: A Literature and State-of-the-art Review

Based on a literature survey, we aim to answer our main question: “How should we plan and execute logistics in supply chains that aim to meet today’s requirements, and how can we support such planning and execution using IT?†Today’s requirements in supply chains include inter-organizational collaboration and more responsive and tailored supply to meet specific demand. Enterprise systems fall short in meeting these requirements The focus of planning and execution systems should move towards an inter-enterprise and event-driven mode. Inter-organizational systems may support planning going from supporting information exchange and henceforth enable synchronized planning within the organizations towards the capability to do network planning based on available information throughout the network. We provide a framework for planning systems, constituting a rich landscape of possible configurations, where the centralized and fully decentralized approaches are two extremes. We define and discuss agent based systems and in particular multi agent systems (MAS). We emphasize the issue of the role of MAS coordination architectures, and then explain that transportation is, next to production, an important domain in which MAS can and actually are applied. However, implementation is not widespread and some implementation issues are explored. In this manner, we conclude that planning problems in transportation have characteristics that comply with the specific capabilities of agent systems. In particular, these systems are capable to deal with inter-organizational and event-driven planning settings, hence meeting today’s requirements in supply chain planning and execution.supply chain;MAS;multi agent systems

Avoiding disclosure of individually identifiable health information: a literature review

Achieving data and information dissemination without arming anyone is a central task of any entity in charge of collecting data. In this article, the authors examine the literature on data and statistical confidentiality. Rather than comparing the theoretical properties of specific methods, they emphasize the main themes that emerge from the ongoing discussion among scientists regarding how best to achieve the appropriate balance between data protection, data utility, and data dissemination. They cover the literature on de-identification and reidentification methods with emphasis on health care data. The authors also discuss the benefits and limitations for the most common access methods. Although there is abundant theoretical and empirical research, their review reveals lack of consensus on fundamental questions for empirical practice: How to assess disclosure risk, how to choose among disclosure methods, how to assess reidentification risk, and how to measure utility loss.public use files, disclosure avoidance, reidentification, de-identification, data utility

Zur Notwendigkeit des Corporate Portfolio Management: Eine Würdigung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung der letzten vier Jahrzehnte

Obwohl wenige große Unternehmen Ein-Produkt Organisationen sind, widmet die wissenschaftliche Forschung dem Management von Mehr-Produkt Portfolien erstaunlich wenig Aufmerksamkeit. Trotz einer Vielzahl von Arbeiten im Umfeld der Diversifikations- und M&A-Forschung wird dem Corporate Portfolio Management (CPM) und CPM Instrumenten seit den 1980er Jahren kaum Beachtung geschenkt, wie unsere kritische Bestandsaufnahme der einschlägigen Veröffentlichungen im strategischen Management und verwandten Disziplinen offenbart. Es stellt sich die Frage: Warum ist das so? Wir untersuchen zwei Gründe für eine solche Geringschätzung - der begründete Verdacht einer ökonomischen Unterlegenheit der Unternehmensdiversifikation sowie die mögliche Unangemessenheit von CPM Instrumenten - und skizzieren eine Reihe von Anregungen im Hinblick auf praktische Implikationen und zukünftige Forschungsaktivitäten. -- Few major corporations are single business entities. Yet, academia pays surprisingly little attention to the management of multi-business portfolios. Although there is lots of work on diversification and mergers and acquisitions, corporate portfolio management (CPM) and CPM tools receive considerably less regard since the 1980s, as our review of the literature in strategic management and related disciplines discloses. This begs the question, why?. We investigate two reasons for such contempt - the reasonable suspicion of economic inferiority of firm diversification and the possible inappropriateness of CPM tools - and outline a variety of suggestions for practical implications and future research.Unternehmensstrategie,Diversifikation,Planung,Portfolio,Überblick,corporate strategy,diversification,planning,portfolio,review