The UN in the lab

We consider two alternatives to inaction for governments combating terrorism, which we term Defense and Prevention. Defense consists of investing in resources that reduce the impact of an attack, and generates a negative externality to other governments, making their countries a more attractive objective for terrorists. In contrast, Prevention, which consists of investing in resources that reduce the ability of the terrorist organization to mount an attack, creates a positive externality by reducing the overall threat of terrorism for all. This interaction is captured using a simple 3×3 “Nested Prisoner’s Dilemma” game, with a single Nash equilibrium where both countries choose Defense. Due to the structure of this interaction, countries can benefit from coordination of policy choices, and international institutions (such as the UN) can be utilized to facilitate coordination by implementing agreements to share the burden of Prevention. We introduce an institution that implements a burden-sharing policy for Prevention, and investigate experimentally whether subjects coordinate on a cooperative strategy more frequently under different levels of cost sharing. In all treatments, burden sharing leaves the Prisoner’s Dilemma structure and Nash equilibrium of the game unchanged. We compare three levels of burden sharing to a baseline in a between-subjects design, and find that burden sharing generates a non-linear effect on the choice of the efficient Prevention strategy and overall performance. Only an institution supporting a high level of mandatory burden sharing generates a significant improvement in the use of the Prevention strategy

Can Corruption Be Studied in the Lab? Comparing a Field and a Lab Experiment

This paper makes an attempt at testing the external validity of corruption experiments by moving from the lab in a developed country, to where it matters the most, the field in a developing country. In our experiment a candidate proposes a bribe to a grader in order to obtain a better grade. We find the direction and the magnitude of most treatment effects to be statistically indistinguishable between the lab and the field. In particular, increasing the graders’.wage reduces in both environments the probability to accept the bribe. Finally, we identify several micro-determinants of corruption (age, religiousness, ability). Le présent article essaie de tester la validité externe des expériences sur la corruption en quittant le laboratoire dans un pays développé pour le terrain dans un pays en développement, où la corruption importe encore plus. Dans notre expérience, un candidat offre un pot-de-vin à un correcteur afin d’obtenir une meilleure note. Nous trouvons que la direction et la magnitude de la plupart des effets de traitement sont statistiquement indistinctibles entre le laboratoire et le terrain. En particulier, augmenter la rémunération des correcteurs réduit la probabilité d’accepter le pot-de-vin aussi bien en laboratoire que sur le terrain. Enfin, nous identifions plusieurs micro-déterminants de la corruption (âge, religiosité, habilité).corruption, experimental economics, field experiments., corruption, économie expérimentale, expérience sur le terrain.

Particularismes de la recherche technologique au profit des personnes présentant une maladie d'Alzheimer ou un syndrome apparenté

National audienceTechnological research for those suffering Alzheimer disease or related syndromes is different both from regular technological and medical research. We are studying both the user its tool as one only topic. The cognitive disease has an impact on the structure of the study as well as on how the user will interact with the tool. i.e.: it will modify the participation of the user (consent, difficulties to adapt, tiredness...), cause the irruption of the caregivers in the user’s way of life. This com-plex environment requires a multidimensional, multidisciplinary approach framed in a common research goal. The researchers must share an embedded ethical part in their research. The iterative user-centred approach, in our lab, develops in four steps: brain-storming, focus groups, living lab and true-life lab. L’approche itérative centrée utilisateur qui va, pour notre laboratoire, comporter quatre étapes, du plus amont au plus proche de la mise en service : brain-storming, focus groups, living lab puis true-life lab (« vie vraie »).Iterations may imply a compleat step down to the previous step or apply only to a partial hypothesis we could not verify. The true-life lab is a survey of the deployment of the tool in the prospect, uncontroled, use envi-ronment (as opoosed to a controled living lab environment); it will show acceptance and use issues as well as technical robustness. The true-life has four steps: election of the ecosystem, technical deployment, scenario based tests and assessed free use. Success of the true-life lab step will allow clinical trials with the tool.La recherche technologique au profit des personnes présentant une maladie d’Alzheimer ou un syndrome apparenté présente des particularités qui la distinguent tant de la recherche technologique que de la recherche médicale classiques. Le sujet d’étude implique un couple outil, usager ; il doit donc prendre en compte les particularités de la maladie neurodégénérative qui vont avoir une influence tant sur la structuration de l’étude que sur l’interaction entre l’homme et le dispositif. Ces particularités sont les répercussions de la maladie elle-même sur la participation de l’usager (capacité à consentir, trouble de l’adaptation, fatigabilité…) mais également l’intrusion des aidants dans son mode de vie. La prise en compte de cet environnement de recherche complexe implique une approche pluridimensionnelle et multidisciplinaire dans le cadre d’un objectif de recherche. Les acteurs partagent une réflexion éthique continue intégrée au projet. L’approche itérative centrée utilisateur va, pour notre laboratoire, comporter quatre étapes, du plus amont au plus proche de la mise en service : brain-storming, focus groups, living lab puis true-life lab (« vie vraie »). Lors des itérations, un retour complet ou ponctuel aux étapes précédentes pourra être réalisé devant des hypothèses qui ne se seront pas vérifiées. Le true-life lab est le déploiement sous surveillance, dans des conditions d’usage et dans un environnement d’usage qui n’est pas contrôlé (par opposition au living lab) ; il permet de mettre en évidence des éléments d’acceptabilité et d’usage mais également des aspects techniques de robustesse. Le true-life lab se décline en quatre phases : choix de l’écosystème de déploiement, déploiement technique, usage scénarisé et enfin usage libre évalué. Le succès du true-life lab permet le passage à une évaluation clinique

Development of Starter Culture for the Improvement in the Quality of Ogiri, a Food Condiment

The objective of the present study was to isolate Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) from ogiri, a Nigerian fermented vegetable product, with the primary focus of selecting suitable isolates as candidates for starter cultures for use in possible improvements in the quality of the product. LAB was isolated from ogiri using phenotypic methods and then subjected to technological tests to evaluate its suitability as a starter culture. Based on their considerable technological properties, two isolates of LAB were selected as candidates for starter cultures. The starter cultures were inoculated at 103 CFU/g during the production of ogiri, while un-inoculated samples served as a control. The ogiri samples were stored for nine days, within which samples were taken for microbial and proximate analyses. Four LAB isolates were isolated and identified phenotypically from ogiri procured from a commercial market, including Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus fermentum, Enterococcus sp. and Lactobacillus plantarum. The species of Lactobacillus displayed the usual cell shapes of rods when examined under the microscope, which is typical of most members of the genus. The cells of the Enterococcus sp. were, however, cocci in shape, and this is also typical of members of the genus. The basis of the identification of the LAB isolates was their ability to utilize a wide range of carbon sources in their physiological and biochemical activities. Among the LAB isolates, L. acidophilus, L. fermentum produced less than 0.35 and 0.024 mg/l of acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, respectively, and were therefore chosen as starter cultures for the production of ogiri. Inoculated ogiri samples showed reduced counts of coliforms, yeast, and moulds in comparison with their un-inoculated counterparts during storage. Coliform counts increased beyond 105 CFU/g in the un-inoculated control samples, whereas counts were lower in samples inoculated with L. acidophilus and L. fermentum. Yeast and mould count of 8.1 106 CFU/g was recorded as the highest value in the un-inoculated control samples, but the count was generally below 106 CFU/g in the starter culture inoculated samples. Inoculation with LAB did not have significant difference (p > 0.05) in the proximate compositions of the fermented product. The LAB cultures L. acidophilus and L. fermentum demonstrated considerable control of coliforms and fungi in ogiri. Storage of the fermented product should not exceed 5 days for safety concerns, as an increase in counts of coliforms was recorded beyond this period. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was recorded in the proximate compositions of starter culture inoculated ogiriand un-inoculated samples. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2022-03-01-04 Full Text: PD

A short curriculum of the robotics and technology of computer lab

Our research Lab is directed by Prof. Anton Civit. It is an interdisciplinary group of 23 researchers that carry out their teaching and researching labor at the Escuela Politécnica Superior (Higher Polytechnic School) and the Escuela de Ingeniería Informática (Computer Engineering School). The main research fields are: a) Industrial and mobile Robotics, b) Neuro-inspired processing using electronic spikes, c) Embedded and real-time systems, d) Parallel and massive processing computer architecture, d) Information Technologies for rehabilitation, handicapped and elder people, e) Web accessibility and usability In this paper, the Lab history is presented and its main publications and research projects over the last few years are summarized.Nuestro grupo de investigación está liderado por el profesor Civit. Somos un grupo multidisciplinar de 23 investigadores que realizan su labor docente e investigadora en la Escuela Politécnica Superior y en Escuela de Ingeniería Informática. Las principales líneas de investigaciones son: a) Robótica industrial y móvil. b) Procesamiento neuro-inspirado basado en pulsos electrónicos. c) Sistemas empotrados y de tiempo real. d) Arquitecturas paralelas y de procesamiento masivo. e) Tecnología de la información aplicada a la discapacidad, rehabilitación y a las personas mayores. f) Usabilidad y accesibilidad Web. En este artículo se reseña la historia del grupo y se resumen las principales publicaciones y proyectos que ha conseguido en los últimos años

Sustainable City: architecture, art and machine.

Abstract: The use of digital technology in architecture and art is associated often with the collaboration of interdisciplinary teams in participatory and experimental spaces, especially in the Media Lab model or its variants, such as the City Lab, Living Lab, the New Media Art and even the World Wide Lab. This is a model that combines the premises of the technological and innovation hand advanced users and whose clear precedents are, on the one hand, Russian Constructivism, and decades later the MIT hand Nicholas Negroponte. In the first case, in the Constructivism, there may be mentioned emblematic examples such as the Experimental Laboratory Building Kinetics of Proletkult in Moscow, Workshops Higher Education Arts and Techniques (VKHUTEMAS) founded in 1920, or the Group of Constructivists in Action the Institute of Artistic Culture (1921). The second case, the model Media Lab, Media Laboratory English acronym, translated as "Media Lab", originated in 1985 within the "Group of Architecture and Machines". The group has its immediate precedent in the draft Computer Aided Design (1959-1967), funded to maximize military power and whose director was Douglas T. Ross; it was addressing the man-machine complementary binding and design computationally, with a direct applicability of the technology. This model will be adopted by the architects of the Institute to raise new urban proposals based on component technology and social utopias. Also within the Media Lab, emerged in the late nineties, the term Living Lab hand WJ Mitchell and referred to urban planning using digital tools and with the involvement of the people themselves, albeit with different "degrees of citizen participation". This ever-closer union between man and machine is the direct consequence of the unstoppable digital revolution that is transforming the ways of city planning. Resumen: El uso de tecnología digital en arquitectura y arte va asociado, con frecuencia, a la colaboración de equipos interdisciplinares en espacios participativos y experimentales, especialmente en el modelo Media Lab o sus variantes, como el City Lab, el Living Lab, el New Media Art e incluso el World Wide Lab. Se trata de un modelo que aúna las premisas de lo tecnológico y la innovación, de la mano de usuarios avanzados y cuyos precedentes claros son, por un lado, el Constructivismo ruso, y décadas después el MIT de la mano de Nicholas Negroponte. En el primer caso, dentro del Constructivismo, pueden citarse ejemplos emblemáticos como el Laboratorio Experimental de Construcciones Cinéticas del Proletkult en Moscú, los Talleres de Enseñanza Superior de las Artes y las Técnicas (VKHUTEMAS) fundados en 1920, o el Grupo de Constructivistas en Acción del Instituto de Cultura Artística (1921). El segundo caso, el modelo Media Lab, acrónimo del inglés Media Laboratory, traducido como “Laboratorio de medios de comunicación”, tiene su origen en 1985 en el seno del “Grupo de Arquitectura y Máquinas”. Dicho grupo tiene su precedente inmediato en el Proyecto de Diseño Asistido por Computador (1959-67), financiado para maximizar el poderío bélico y cuyo director fue Douglas T. Ross; se trataba de abordar la unión complementaria hombre-máquina y el diseño en términos computacionales, con una aplicabilidad directa de la tecnología. Este modelo será adoptado por los arquitectos del Instituto para plantear nuevas propuestas urbanas basadas en la componente tecnológica y en utopías sociales. También en el seno del Media Lab, surge, a finales de los noventa, el término Living Lab de la mano de W. J. Mitchell y referido a planificación urbana mediante herramientas digitales y con la implicación de los propios habitantes, si bien con diferentes “grados de participación ciudadana”. Esta unión cada vez más estrecha entre hombre y máquina es la consecuencia directa de la imparable revolución digital que está transformando los modos de planificación de las ciudades.Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

Innovation spaces: transforming humanitarian practice in the United Nations

Presents new research on the objectives, motivations, and challenges of ‘innovation spaces’ in humanitarian and development work. Introduction The use of the term ‘lab’, more commonly seen in the physical and natural sciences, conjures a sense of a safe haven for experimentation, focused problem solving and solution creation. As laboratories for innovation have become part and parcel of innovation in the UN system, there is a pressing need to understand more about what these labs can truly offer and whether they should be isolated, instead of mainstreaming innovation into an agency. This research seeks to understand the way in which innovation labs across several UN agencies are being used to foster new ways of operating within the UN’s bureaucratic structures. Asks three key questions to help unpack how innovation labs are taking shape and to inform lessons for future labs about what works and what does not, in trying to achieve a culture of innovation and improved humanitarian solutions. These questions are: • What form do innovation labs in UN agencies take? • What motivated their initiation? What are their aims and objectives? • What impact have they had and how is the impact being measured? &nbsp

An educational virtual lab to study a mixed gearing of wheels

An educational Virtual Lab dealing with a mixed gearing of wheels has been created. Gears of wheels are common in Mechanical Engineering applications, like industrial machinery. This Virtual Lab is ideal when teaching and/or learning the relationship between geared wheels having three types of contact: tangent, coaxial, and by a belt. The virtual lab performs simulation based on the mathematical modeling of the gearing and allows the user to visualize the behavior of a mixed gearing of wheels and to get acquainted with the rotation speeds, number of turns and other parameters that appear when a set of wheels are gearedSe ha creado un Laboratorio Virtual educacional para estudiar un engranaje mixto de ruedas. Los engranajes de ruedas son comunes en aplicaciones de Ingeniería Mecánica, tal como la maquinaria industrial. Este software es ideal para la enseñanza y para el aprendizaje de las relaciones entre las ruedas de un engranaje, con tres tipos de contacto: tangencial, coaxial, y mediante una faja. El laboratorio virtual realiza simulación basada en el modelado matemático de un engranaje y permite al usuario visualizar el comportamiento de ruedas con engranajes mixtos y familiarizarse con las velocidades de rotación, numero de vueltas y otros parámetros que aparecen cuando un conjunto de ruedas constituye un mecanismo

Hacia un nuevo modelo de retail. El diseño integral como articulador

El present article està basat en el projecte The Future of Retail, realitzat per un equip d'alumnes del Màster de Retail Design de l'ELISAVA, dirigit per Carmen Malvar, i Ubiquitous Computing Applications Lab, grup d'investigació de la UPF coordinat per Rafael Pous Andrés, i en investigacions independents posteriors de Mercè Esteve, Natalia Alonso i Rut Martín. En ell s'identifiquen tendències i models de canvi del sector retail com a conseqüència de la integració de la tecnologia a les nostres vides i dels canvis de valors de les noves generacions, en els àmbits social, econòmic i medioambiental.The present article is based on the project "The Future of Retail" developed by a group of students of the Retail Design Masters course at Elisava, directed by Carmen Malvar, and Ubiquitous Computing Applications Lab (UbiCA Lab) research group at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, coordinated by Rafael pous Andrés, and a subsequent independent research carried out by Mercè Esteve, Natalia Alonso and Rut Martín. It reveals new retail business models and trends produced by the integration of technology in our lives and by the changes in values of new generations in the social, economic and environmental fields.El presente artículo se basa en el proyecto The Future of Retail, realizado por un equipo de alumnos del Máster de Retail Design de ELISAVA, dirigido por Carmen Malvar, y Ubquitous Computing Applications Lab (UbiCA Lab), grupo de investigación de la UPC coordinado por Rafael Pous Andrés, y en posteriores investigaciones independientes de Mercè Esteve, Natalia Alonso i Rut Martín. En él se identifican tendencias y modelos de cambio del sector retail como consecuencia de la integración de la tecnología en nuestras vidas y de los cambios de valores de las nuevas generaciones, en los ámbitos social, económico y medioambiental