Reports required by government auditing standards and the uniform guidance for the year ended June 30, 2018

This is an audit of Clemson University’s compliance with the types of compliance requirements described in the OMB Compliance Supplement that could have a direct and material effect on each of the University’s major federal programs. The University’s major federal programs are identified in the summary of auditor’s results section of the accompanying schedule of findings and questioned costs

Advanced Information Systems and Technologies

This book comprises the proceedings of the VI International Scientific Conference “Advanced Information Systems and Technologies, AIST-2018”. The proceeding papers cover issues related to system analysis and modeling, project management, information system engineering, intelligent data processing, computer networking and telecomunications, modern methods and information technologies of sustainable development. They will be useful for students, graduate students, researchers who interested in computer science

Reports required by government auditing standards and the uniform guidance for the year ended June 30, 2019

This is an audit of the University of South Carolina's compliance with the types of compliance requirements described in the OMB Compliance Supplement that could have a direct and material effect on each of the University’s major federal programs. The University’s major federal programs are identified in the summary of auditor’s results section of the accompanying schedule of findings and questioned costs

Essays on Strategies for Increasing Repayment Rates of Digital Microloans

Access to credit can act as a highly effective tool for poverty reduction and economic growth. The ability to borrow increases the propensity of low-income people to start and maintain businesses, educate their children and withstand financial shocks. These factors, in turn, can help them to move out of poverty and lead to more sustainable economic development. However, traditional financial institutions have inherent limitations that have impeded their ability to serve the poor. Digital lenders are able to leverage the widespread adoption of mobile phones and mobile money to extend credit quickly and conveniently to more people, especially in developing countries. However, due to a lack of credit bureaus and available financial histories of borrowers, digital lenders frequently need to amass vast amounts of data in order to screen borrowers and experiment to find the appropriate loan amount by gradually increasing credit limits based on past repayment. This can lead to high user default rates and over-indebtedness. The lack of collateral during loan applications also means that digital lenders have limited mechanisms for enforcing repayment of loans. Both of these challenges threaten to limit further adoption of digital credit. Through three experimental studies conducted with an airtime lender, I explore theoretical and empirical mechanisms for reducing default rates of digital loans. In the first study, I demonstrate that limited mobile phone data contain enough signals for creating effective credit assessment methods that minimize privacy risks to borrowers. In the second study, I find that increasing credit limits negatively impacts repayments and future borrowing, and offer recommendations for increasing credit limits while minimizing the drawbacks. In the final study, I draw on theories from psychology and consumer behavior to develop vivid repayment reminders. This study found that vivid reminders had limited effectiveness for increasing loan repayment and reducing loan duration. Taken together, these three studies propose new avenues for digital lenders to reduce default rates. The hope of this dissertation is that these proposed methods would lead to a reduction in interest rates, that would ultimately benefit the borrowers

Development and management of collective network and cloud computing infrastructures

In the search and development of more participatory models for infrastructure development and management, in this dissertation, we investigate models for the financing, deployment, and operation of network and cloud computing infrastructures. Our main concern is to overcome the inherent exclusion in participation in the processes of development and management and in the right of use in the current dominant models. Our work starts by studying in detail the model of Guifi.net, a successful bottom-up initiative for building network infrastructure, generally referred to as a community networks. We pay special attention to its governance system and economic organisation because we argue that these are the key components of the success of this initiative. Then, we generalise our findings for any community network, aiming at becoming sustainable and scalable, and we explore the suitability of the Guifi.net model to the cloud computing infrastructure. As a result of both, we coin the attribute extensible to refer to infrastructure that is relatively easy to expand and maintain in contrast to those naturally limited or hard to expand, such as natural resources or highly complex or advanced artificial systems. We conclude proposing a generic model which, in our opinion, is suitable, at least, for managing extensible infrastructure. The Guifi.net model is deeply rooted in the commons; thus, the research in this field, in general, and Elinor Ostrom’s work, in particular, have left a profound imprint in our work. Our results show that the \guifinet model meets almost entirely the principles of long-enduring commons identified by E. Ostrom. This work has been developed as an industrial doctorate. As such, it combines academic research with elements of practice and pursues an effective knowledge transfer between academia and the private sector. Given that the private sector’s partner is a not-for-profit organisation, the effort to create social value has prevailed over the ambition to advance the development of a specific industrial product or particular technology.En la recerca i desenvolupament de models més participatius per al desenvolupament i gestió d'infraestructura, en aquesta tesi investiguem sobre models per al finançament, desplegament i operació d'infraestructures de xarxa i de computació al núvol. La nostra preocupació principal és fer front a l’exclusió inherent dels models dominants actualment pel que fa a la participació en els processos de desenvolupament i gestió i, també, als drets d’us. El nostre treball comença amb un estudi detallat del model de Guifi.net, un cas d'èxit d'iniciativa ciutadana en la construcció d'infraestructura de xarxa, iniciatives que es coneixen com a xarxes comunitàries. En fer-ho, parem una atenció especial al sistema de governança i a l’organització econòmica perquè pensem que són els dos elements claus de l'èxit d'aquesta iniciativa. Tot seguit passem a analitzar d'altres xarxes comunitàries per abundar en la comprensió dels factors determinants per a la seva sostenibilitat i escalabilitat. Després ampliem el nostre estudi analitzant la capacitat i el comportament del model de Guifi.net en el camp de les infraestructures de computació al núvol. A resultes d'aquests estudis, proposem l'atribut extensible per a descriure aquelles infraestructures que són relativament fàcil d'ampliar i gestionar, en contraposició a les que o bé estan limitades de forma natural o be són difícils d'ampliar, com ara els recursos naturals o els sistemes artificials avançats o complexos. Finalitzem aquest treball fent una proposta de model genèric que pensem que és d'aplicabilitat, com a mínim, a tot tipus d'infraestructura extensible. El model de Guifi.net està fortament vinculat als bens comuns. És per això que la recerca en aquest àmbit, en general, i els treballs de Elinor Ostrom en particular, han deixat una forta empremta en el nostre treball. Els resultats que hem obtingut mostren que el model Guifi.net s'ajusta molt bé als principis que segons Ostrom han de complir els béns comuns per ser sostenibles. Aquest treball s'ha desenvolupat com a doctorat industrial. Com a tal, combina la investigació acadèmica amb elements de practica i persegueix una transferència efectiva de coneixement entre l'àmbit acadèmic i el sector privat. Ates que el soci del sector privat és una organització sense ànim de lucre, l’esforç per crear valor social ha prevalgut en l’ambició d’avançar en el desenvolupament d'un producte industrial específic o d'una tecnologia particula

Development and management of collective network and cloud computing infrastructures

Pla de Doctorat industrial de la Generalitat de CatalunyaIn the search and development of more participatory models for infrastructure development and management, in this dissertation, we investigate models for the financing, deployment, and operation of network and cloud computing infrastructures. Our main concern is to overcome the inherent exclusion in participation in the processes of development and management and in the right of use in the current dominant models. Our work starts by studying in detail the model of Guifi.net, a successful bottom-up initiative for building network infrastructure, generally referred to as a community networks. We pay special attention to its governance system and economic organisation because we argue that these are the key components of the success of this initiative. Then, we generalise our findings for any community network, aiming at becoming sustainable and scalable, and we explore the suitability of the Guifi.net model to the cloud computing infrastructure. As a result of both, we coin the attribute extensible to refer to infrastructure that is relatively easy to expand and maintain in contrast to those naturally limited or hard to expand, such as natural resources or highly complex or advanced artificial systems. We conclude proposing a generic model which, in our opinion, is suitable, at least, for managing extensible infrastructure. The Guifi.net model is deeply rooted in the commons; thus, the research in this field, in general, and Elinor Ostrom’s work, in particular, have left a profound imprint in our work. Our results show that the \guifinet model meets almost entirely the principles of long-enduring commons identified by E. Ostrom. This work has been developed as an industrial doctorate. As such, it combines academic research with elements of practice and pursues an effective knowledge transfer between academia and the private sector. Given that the private sector’s partner is a not-for-profit organisation, the effort to create social value has prevailed over the ambition to advance the development of a specific industrial product or particular technology.En la recerca i desenvolupament de models més participatius per al desenvolupament i gestió d'infraestructura, en aquesta tesi investiguem sobre models per al finançament, desplegament i operació d'infraestructures de xarxa i de computació al núvol. La nostra preocupació principal és fer front a l’exclusió inherent dels models dominants actualment pel que fa a la participació en els processos de desenvolupament i gestió i, també, als drets d’us. El nostre treball comença amb un estudi detallat del model de Guifi.net, un cas d'èxit d'iniciativa ciutadana en la construcció d'infraestructura de xarxa, iniciatives que es coneixen com a xarxes comunitàries. En fer-ho, parem una atenció especial al sistema de governança i a l’organització econòmica perquè pensem que són els dos elements claus de l'èxit d'aquesta iniciativa. Tot seguit passem a analitzar d'altres xarxes comunitàries per abundar en la comprensió dels factors determinants per a la seva sostenibilitat i escalabilitat. Després ampliem el nostre estudi analitzant la capacitat i el comportament del model de Guifi.net en el camp de les infraestructures de computació al núvol. A resultes d'aquests estudis, proposem l'atribut extensible per a descriure aquelles infraestructures que són relativament fàcil d'ampliar i gestionar, en contraposició a les que o bé estan limitades de forma natural o be són difícils d'ampliar, com ara els recursos naturals o els sistemes artificials avançats o complexos. Finalitzem aquest treball fent una proposta de model genèric que pensem que és d'aplicabilitat, com a mínim, a tot tipus d'infraestructura extensible. El model de Guifi.net està fortament vinculat als bens comuns. És per això que la recerca en aquest àmbit, en general, i els treballs de Elinor Ostrom en particular, han deixat una forta empremta en el nostre treball. Els resultats que hem obtingut mostren que el model Guifi.net s'ajusta molt bé als principis que segons Ostrom han de complir els béns comuns per ser sostenibles. Aquest treball s'ha desenvolupat com a doctorat industrial. Com a tal, combina la investigació acadèmica amb elements de practica i persegueix una transferència efectiva de coneixement entre l'àmbit acadèmic i el sector privat. Ates que el soci del sector privat és una organització sense ànim de lucre, l’esforç per crear valor social ha prevalgut en l’ambició d’avançar en el desenvolupament d'un producte industrial específic o d'una tecnologia particularPostprint (published version

Current landscape and influence of big data on finance

Big data is one of the most recent business and technical issues in the age of technology. Hundreds of millions of events occur every day. The financial field is deeply involved in the calculation of big data events. As a result, hundreds of millions of financial transactions occur in the financial world each day. Therefore, financial practitioners and analysts consider it an emerging issue of the data management and analytics of different financial products and services. Also, big data has significant impacts on financial products and services. Therefore, identifying the financial issues where big data has a significant influence is also an important issue to explore with the influences. Based on these concepts, the objective of this paper was to show the current landscape of finance dealing with big data, and also to show how big data influences different financial sectors, more specifically, its impact on financial markets, financial institutions, and the relationship with internet finance, financial management, internet credit service companies, fraud detection, risk analysis, financial application management, and so on. The connection between big data and financial-related components will be revealed in an exploratory literature review of secondary data sources. Since big data in the financial field is an extremely new concept, future research directions will be pointed out at the end of this study

Graduate Catalog - The School Year 2008-2010

https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pv-graduate-catalog/1019/thumbnail.jp

A Roadmap for Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment

This document summarizes findings of 18 research studies commissioned across 4 categories (entrepreneurship, farming, wage employment, young women's employment) to find out what works to empower women, for whom (categories of women), and where (country scenarios). The Roadmap is designed to guide investments from private sector and public-private partnerships, and highlights 9 proven, 9 promising, and 6 high-potential interventions to increase women's productivity and earnings in developing countries

Can Urban Solar become a Disruptive Technology: The Case for Solar Utilities

At the rate things are going, the sun is going to become a red giant and engulf the inner planets before we ever get our solar panels. It took us months to navigate the government and utility bureaucracies, we\u27re now waiting for the installers to work through their backlog and we\u27re worried about the installation glitches that other solar bloggers have reported. What I wouldn\u27t have given for a power purchase agreement (PPA), whereby an outside company navigates the bureaucracy and installs the panels for you, in return for collecting a share of the public subsidies.(FN1) Reprinted by permission of the publisher