Development of multivariate and network models for the analysis of Big Data: applications in economics, insurance, and social sciences

In questa tesi sviluppo metodi statistici multivariati e di rete per lo studio di sistemi complessi. In particolare, focalizzo la mia analisi sullo studio di reti complesse bipartite e le loro applicazioni a (i) l'economia, per capire l'effetto di contagio tra istituti finanziari e stati sovrani, (ii) la sorveglianza nelle assicurazioni, per individuare comportamenti fraudolenti, e (iii) le scienze sociali, per studiare l'effetto delle politiche del REF sulle eccellenze nella ricerca delle università in UK.In this thesis I develop multivariate statistical and network methods for the study of complex systems. In particular, I focus my analysis on the study of bipartite complex networks and their applications to (i) economics to understand the contagion effect between sovereign and financial institutions, (ii) insurance surveillance to uncover fraudsters and (iii) social science to study the effect of the politics of REF on research excellence of universities in the UK

NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Library Edition

What is on the five-year horizon for academic and research libraries? Which trends and technology developments will drive transformation? What are the critical challenges and how can we strategize solutions? These questions regarding technology adoption and educational change steered the discussions of 77 experts to produce the NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Library Edition, in partnership with the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Chur, Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), ETH Library, and the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six developments in technology profiled in this report are poised to impact library strategies, operations, and services with regards to learning, creative inquiry, research, and information management. The three sections of this report constitute a reference and technology planning guide for librarians, library leaders, library staff, policymakers, and technologists

Instructional Systems Design and the Diffusion and Adoption of Technology: (Volume 1)

Instructional designers, instructional systems designers, and other educational technologists are, by their nature, innovators. These professionals apply and extend the applied science of learning, systems, communication, and instructional design theory to help students learn. Technology in some capacity is used to make the connections between subject matter experts, teachers, instructors, and their learners. It is common for instructional designers to seek new tools, techniques, and innovations for the improvement of learning, access, quality, and student satisfaction. However, the adoption and diffusion of new educational technology and innovation is a complex process that depends on many variables. Understanding these processes and variables can help designers and technology leaders successfully implement positive change. This book serves as a brief summary of innovation diffusion models, organizational change models, and serves as an introduction to the work of a group of talented instructional designers who have explored specific aspects of educational technology adoption and diffusion. Together we hope that you find these cases, examples, and lessons learned insightful and help you plan for an innovation diffusion of your own.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/distancelearning_books/1004/thumbnail.jp

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 54 Number 2, Fall 2012

18 - WE, ROBOTS By John Deever. Adventures with the Robotics Systems Laboratory by land, sea, and sky. And in orbit. 20 - SARAH KATE WILSON VS. GODZILLA By Jeff Gire. Tackling big problems- like attracting more women to engineering and transferring mountains of data through the air. 22 - DELUGE AND DROUGHT By Erica Klarreich. Lessons in how to wedge more data into less space-and build a smarter energy grid. 24 - BUILDING BIOMEDICAL TESTS By Melissae Fellet. Where engineering meets biology, the work ranges from diagnosing voice disorders to tracking toxicity in the brain. 26 - THE LONG VIEW By Justin Gerdes. Construction and design: Make it safer, stronger, and do it all sustainably. 28 - Drago\u27s gold By Sam Scott \u2796. From an Olympic water polo medal to designing systems for the rocket that put men on the Moon. 30 - WINGs By Paul Totah \u2779. For a century, John J. Montgomery has been given short shrift when it comes to his role as an aviation pioneer. It\u27s time to set things right. 32 - CAN YOU STAND THE HEAT? By Steven Boyd Saum. To design a heat shield that could get the Curiosity rover through the atmosphere of Mars, NASA turned to a team headed by Robin Beck \u2777. 34 - THE MILLION-DOLLAR LEAVEY CHALLENGE By Jeff Gire. SCU can receive a major grant- but needs gifts from 9,000 undergraduate alumni to make it happen.https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/sc_mag/1002/thumbnail.jp

Behind the search box: the political economy of a global Internet industry

With the rapid proliferation of the Web, the search engine constituted an increasingly vital tool in everyday life, and offered technical capabilities that might have lent themselves under different circumstances to a sweeping democratization of information provision and access. Instead the search function was transformed into the most profitable large-scale global information industry. This dissertation examines the evolution of search engine technologies within the context of the commercialization and commodification of the Internet. Grounded in critical political economy, the research details how capital has progressively shifted information search activities further into the market, transforming them into sites of profit-making and poles of capitalist growth. It applies historical and political economic analysis by resorting to an extensive array of sources including trade journals, government documents, industry reports, and financial and business newspapers. The first chapter situates the development of the search engine within the wider political economy of the Internet industry. The second shows how the technology of search was reorganized to enable profitable accumulation. The third and fourth chapters focus on another primary concern of political economy: the labor structures and labor processes that typify this emergent industry. These pivot around familiar compulsions: profit-maximization and management control. The search industry is famous for the almost incredible perks it affords to a select group of highly paid, highly skilled engineers and managers. However, the same industry also relies not only a large number of low-wage workers but also an unprecedented mass of unwaged labor. Google and other search engines also have found means of re-constructing the practices of a seemingly bygone industrial era of labor control: corporate paternalism and scientific management. Today, the search engine industry sits at the “magnetic north pole” of economic growth – the Internet. This vital function of search is controlled disproportionately by US digital capital, mainly Google. US dominance in search seems to carry forward the existing, deeply unbalanced, international information order; however, this US-led industry actually faces jarring oppositions within a changing and conflicted global political economy. Chapter Five investigates two of the most important and contested zones: China, whose economic growth has been unsurpassed throughout the entire period spanned by this study of the search engine’s development, and which has nurtured a highly successful domestic Internet industry, including a search engine company, Baidu; and Europe, US’s long-time ally, where units of capital both European and non-European are struggling with one another. By situating search within these contexts, this chapter sheds light on the ongoing reconfiguration of international information services, and on the geopolitical-economic conflicts that are altering the dynamics of information-intensive transnational capitalism. There is a well-developed critical scholarship in political economy that foregrounds the role of information in contemporary capitalist development. This dissertation contributes to and expands this research by looking at search to uncover the capital logics that undergird and shape contemporary information provision

Fourth Airborne Geoscience Workshop

The focus of the workshop was on how the airborne community can assist in achieving the goals of the Global Change Research Program. The many activities that employ airborne platforms and sensors were discussed: platforms and instrument development; airborne oceanography; lidar research; SAR measurements; Doppler radar; laser measurements; cloud physics; airborne experiments; airborne microwave measurements; and airborne data collection