An adaptive stigmergy-based system for evaluating technological indicator dynamics in the context of smart specialization

Regional innovation is more and more considered an important enabler of welfare. It is no coincidence that the European Commission has started looking at regional peculiarities and dynamics, in order to focus Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialization towards effective investment policies. In this context, this work aims to support policy makers in the analysis of innovation-relevant trends. We exploit a European database of the regional patent application to determine the dynamics of a set of technological innovation indicators. For this purpose, we design and develop a software system for assessing unfolding trends in such indicators. In contrast with conventional knowledge-based design, our approach is biologically-inspired and based on self-organization of information. This means that a functional structure, called track, appears and stays spontaneous at runtime when local dynamism in data occurs. A further prototyping of tracks allows a better distinction of the critical phenomena during unfolding events, with a better assessment of the progressing levels. The proposed mechanism works if structural parameters are correctly tuned for the given historical context. Determining such correct parameters is not a simple task since different indicators may have different dynamics. For this purpose, we adopt an adaptation mechanism based on differential evolution. The study includes the problem statement and its characterization in the literature, as well as the proposed solving approach, experimental setting and results.Comment: mail: [email protected]

Poor and Working-Class Clients' Social Class-Related Experiences in Therapy

This investigation explored how poor and working-class people experience, understand, and negotiate class issues and class differences with their therapists. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 22 self-identified poor and working-class people with experience as clients in individual counseling. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using constructivist grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006). A core narrative emerged that depicted a dynamic, interactional process of seeking mutual understanding to navigate class issues in therapy. Participants played an active role in this process by making decisions to share or withhold information or their reactions to therapy experiences. Participants' sociocultural awareness provided the context for their observations of class cues and perceptions of therapists' social class, which in turn influenced their reactions and behaviors towards their therapist. Seeking mutual understanding emerged as a process that allowed poor and working-class clients to build connections with therapists of shared and different social class backgrounds. Participants shared positive, meaningful interactions with therapists who demonstrated genuineness and attended to class issues in the therapeutic encounter. When working with therapists who engaged in these mutuality-enhancing actions, participants felt deeply understood and connected to their therapists, which contributed to growthful therapeutic outcomes. Participants also described feeling misunderstood and disconnected from therapists who appeared inauthentic and neglected to attend to class issues. These participants reported feeling "stuck" and unhelped through counseling. The findings of this study suggest that social class issues are salient for poor and working-class clients in their interactions with therapists. Further, therapists can promote positive therapeutic outcomes in work with class-oppressed clients by a) fostering authenticity and mutuality within the working alliance and b) openly addressing clients' material concerns and thoughtfully exploring class differences and other class issues present in the therapeutic relationship. Additional implications for training and practice are provided and include the need for counselors to incorporate social justice advocacy into their work. Suggestions for future research include further exploration of the ways social class and classism operate within the psychotherapeutic process, emphasizing the need for researchers to attend to intersections of identity and position poor and working-class people's voices and perspectives at the center of their inquiry

Does Geographical Proximty Matters for Innovation? The Case for European Regions

The increasing globalization, challenges for the competitiveness, and resources prioritization are among the causes forcing the European (EU) regions to rethink their overall approach to regional economic development. To deal with such a complexity, EU policy makers deployed a program called Smart Specialisation Strategies (SSS) which aims at consolidating the sources of regional competitive advantage by making effective and efficient use of public investment in R&D. By promoting SSS, national and regional governments are attempting to enhance the competitiveness of firms and clusters. Then, the study of clusters along with their evolutionary and spatial dynamics is put on top of the agenda of EU policy makers. To better understand the determinants of clusters in Europe we first, investigate the role played by technological specialization and diversification; second, find empirical evidence to whether the link between geographical proximity and regional innovation activity exists; finally, explore the co-existence of cluster dynamics and the deployment of SSS

The Light and Shade of Knowledge Recombination: A Systematic Look at the Bioinformatics Patent Scenario

This research focuses on a special case of General Purpose Technology: Bioinformatics. It explores whether – and to what extent – Bioinformatics inventions build upon inherently diverse knowledge sources. Precisely, the role of scientific and technological diversity (measured with Shannon-Wiener diversity index) as driver of impactful Bioinformatics inventions (measured at different standard deviations of the forward citations distribution) is investigated. To this purpose, we carried out an analysis of both Non-Patent and Patent references cited into Bioinformatics patented inventions in the period 1976-2014. Results from a series of logistic regression models indicate that different degrees of impact require different degrees of knowledge diversity; at the same time, and importantly for practitioners and scholars, recombining diverse scientific and technological knowledge bases not always lead to impactful inventions. In other terms: the interplay of science and technology is not always the best option to get impactful inventions

Möglichkeiten der Anfechtung der Schiedsgerichtsentscheidung

Upućuje se na bitne razlike arbitražnoga od državnog suđenja, na razloge derogiranja državnoga suda i povjeravanja spora iz(a)branim sucima koji uživaju povjerenje stranaka, te se izlažu razlozi za poništaj (arbitražnog) pravorijeka, ponajprije prema pozitivnom hrvatskom zakonu, ali uz osvrt na one iz UNCITRAL-ovog Modela zakona o međunarodnoj trgovačkoj arbitraži, kao i na rješenja iz nacrta prvoga hrvatskog Zakona o arbitraži (koji se, pošto ga je pripremila radna grupa, nalazi u Ministarstvu pravosuđa Republike Hrvatske radi daljnjeg postupka i iznošenja pred Hrvatski državni sabor). Izlažu se i postojeća i (moguća) buduća zakonska rješenja za priznanje i ovrhu pravorijeka (s osvrtom na odredbe međunarodnih multilateralnih konvencija o tome). Pri tome se ističe potreba podudarnosti poništajnih razloga i onih za odbijanje priznanja i ovrhe pravorijeka. Naglašavajući privatnopravni značaj pravorijeka (kao i arbitražnog suđenja), opravdava se opredjeljenje (autora) zakonskoga nacrta za izjednačavanje domaćih i stranih pravorijeka u postupku ovrhe. Posebna pozornost posvećuje se teorijskoj i praktičnoj dvojbi o ne/podvrgnutosti pravorijeka ustavnosudskoj kontroli u povodu ustavne tužbe. U tom sklopu pokušava se odgovoriti na pitanja: je li arbitražni sud “tijelo s javnim ovlastima”; ima li uopće potrebe da dva različita državna tijela, svako u okviru svoje nadležnosti, ocjenjuju ispravnost arbitražne odluke; posebno, ima li racionalnog opravdanja da pravorijek (paralelno ili u fazama) ocjenjuje državni (redovan) sud na temelju jednih kriterija (razloga za poništaj), a ustavni sud na temelju drugih (povreda ustavnih prava); je li postupak za poništaj pravorijeka pretpostavka (uvjet) za dopuštenost ustavne tužbe; bi li ustavnosudsko ukidanje pravorijeka značilo meritorno rješavanje predmeta iz državnosudske nadležnosti (tj. poništaj pravorijeka)? Analiziraju se dvije (do sada jedine) odluke (rješenja) Ustavnoga suda Republike Hrvatske donesene povodom tužbi za ukidanje dvaju pravorijeka, kao i implikacije obrazloženja tih odluka.The author deals with essential differences between arbitral and court proceedings, reasons for derogation of the court and submission of the dispute to arbitrators who enjoy confidence of parties, as well as the reasons for setting aside the (arbitral) award, primarily according to Croatian positive law, but also with regard to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, as well as the solutions of the first draft of the Croatian Arbitration Act (which is, after having been drafted by the working group, in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia for further preparation for adoption by the Croatian Parliament ). The existing and (possible) future legal solutions for recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards (with special regard to the relevant provisions of the multilateral conventions) are presented. The need for compatibility of grounds for setting aside and those for denial of recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards are pointed out. Emphasizing the private law character of the arbitral award (as well as the arbitral process), the author justifies the orientation of the drafters towards harmonization of domestic and foreign arbitral awards concerning enforcement procedure. Special attention is paid to the theoretical and practical dilemma on (non)submission of arbitral awards to the constitutional court control upon the constitutional complaint. In this connection, the author attempts to answer the following questions: is the arbitral tribunal “a body with public authority”; is there any need for two different state bodies, each within their jurisdiction, to review the correctness of the arbitral decision; particularly, is there rational justification for reviewing arbitral awards (in parallel or in phases) by the regular court on the basis of certain criteria (reasons for setting aside) and the constitutional court on the basis of other criteria (violation of constitutional rights); is the setting aside procedure a presumption for admissibility of the constitutional complaint; would the annulment of the award by the constitutional court mean the final ruling on the case from judicial jurisdiction (i.e. setting aside of the award)? The author analyses two (so far the only) decisions (rulings) of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia rendered upon the application for the annulment of two arbitral awards, as well as the implications of the argumentation of these decisions.Im vorliegenden Artikel wird auf die wesentlichen Unterschiede der Schieds- und der staatlichen Gerichtsbarkeit hingewiesen, auf die Gründe der Derogation des staatlichen Gerichts zugunsten der Beilegung der Streitigkeiten durch Schiedsrichter, die das Vertrauen der Parteien genießen, sowie auf die Gründe der Nichtigkeitserklärung der (Schiedsgerichts)Entscheidung, insbesondere nach dem positivem kroatischen Gesetz, jedoch auch unter Berücksichtigung des UNCITRAL-Modellgesetzes über die internationale Handelsschiedsgerichtsbarkeit und des Gesetzesentwurfs des ersten kroatischen Gesetzes über die Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (das sich, nachdem er von der Arbeitsgruppe erarbeitet worden ist, im Justizministerium der Republik Kroatien zwecks Weiterleitung in die Prozedur und Vorlage zur Beschlussfassung im Kroatischen Sabor befindet). Es werden sowohl die bestehenden als auch die (eventuellen) zukünftigen gesetzlichen Möglichkeiten der Anerkennung und Vollstreckung des Urteilsspruches (mit Bezug auf die diesbezüglichen internationalen Bestimmungen in den multilateralen Konventionen) erörtert. Dabei wird die Notwendigkeit der Übereinstimmung der Nichtigkeits- bzw. Abweisungsgründe und der Vollstreckung des Urteilsspruches hervorgehoben. Die Entscheidung (des Autors) des Gesetzesentwurfes, die einheimischen und ausländischen Urteilssprüche im Vollstreckungsverfahren auszugleichen, wird gerechtfertigt, indem die privatrechtliche Bedeutung des Urteilsspruches (als auch der Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit) hervorgehoben wird. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird dem theoretischen und praktischen Dilemma der Nicht/Unterwerfung des Urteilsspruches unter die verfassungsgerichtliche Kontrolle im Falle der Verfassungsklage gewidmet. Im Zusammenhang damit wird versucht, auf die Fragen zu antworten, ob es sich beim Schiedsgericht um „ ein Organ mit öffentlichen Befugnissen“ handele, ob überhaupt die Notwendigkeit bestehe, zwei verschiedene Staatsorgane im Rahmen ihrer jeweiligen Zuständigkeit die Richtigkeit der Schiedsgerichtsentscheidung überprüfen zu lassen, und insbesondere, ob eine rationelle Rechtfertigung bestehe, den Urteilsspruch (parallel oder abschnittsweise) vom (ordentlichen) staatlichen Gericht aufgrund der einen Kriterien (Nichtigkeitsgrund) bewerten zu lassen, und vom Verfassungsgericht aufgrund der anderen (Verletzung der Verfassungsrechte). Weiterhin geht es um die Fragen, ob das Verfahren zur Nichtigkeitserklärung des Urteilsspruches eine Voraussetzung (Vorbedingung) für die Zulässigkeit der Verfassungsklage darstelle und ob die verfassungsgerichtliche Aufhebung des Urteilsspruches eine maßgebende Lösung der Rechtssachen aus staatsgerichtlicher Zuständigkeit (d.h. Nichtigkeitserklärung des Urteilsspruches) darstellen würde. Es werden zwei (bisher einzige) Entscheidungen (Beschlüsse) des Verfassungsgerichts der Republik Kroatien analysiert, die im Falle zweier Klagen auf Nichtigkeitserklärung von Urteilssprüchen gefällt wurden sowie die Implikationen dieser Entscheidungen

Uso de blockchain em sistemas de eleição

Com a adoção de sistemas de votação eletrônica, a segurança e transparência que envolvem eleições se tornou motivo para diversos questionamentos. O blockchain surge para resolver estes problemas, porém com foco no setor financeiro. Este artigo faz um estudo sobre o uso de blockchain para desenvolvimento de um sistema de eleições, buscando avaliar a viabilidade do uso da tecnologia para este fim. A busca pelo objetivo se dá a partir de analises dos casos de uso, levantando as vantagens e dificuldades que envolvem o uso do blockchain para eleições, comparação das ferramentas mais populares existentes no mercado e desenvolvimento de uma aplicação simples, tendo como base o uso do framework Hyperledger Fabric e abordando as características levantadas com a analise dos casos de uso.With the adoption of electronic voting systems, the security and transparency surrounding elections has become the subject of many questions. The blockchain comes up to solve these problems, but with a focus on the financial sector. This article makes a study about the use of blockchain to develop an election system, seeking to evaluate the feasibility of using the technology for this purpose. The search for the objective is based on analysis of the use cases, raising the advantages and difficulties that involve the use of blockchain for elections, comparing the most popular tools on the market and developing a simple application, based on the use of the Hyperledger Fabric framework and addressing the characteristics raised with the analysis of use cases

A judicialização da política em Dworkin

This article has been written during the activities in PhD. Program of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, 2002, under Prof. Doutor José Alcebíades de Oliveira Júnior supervision. “Law Empire” was the nuclear point of this research, because Ronald Dworkin has been considered one of the most important law writters of XXth century and also because this north-american author looks at modern judicial activitie trying to discover its real nature. In nowadays grows up the importance of the studies about judicial activities because many of the political issues has been transfered to the law scene. Which are the real arguments to declare the legality and constitucionality of this judgments about the main issues in one Nation? Who has the last word about several matters which are considered moral issues? Dworkin’s arguments about the judicial activities in United States can be considered also in Brazil, where the judges are’nt elected, because the main thing in this kind of discussion is which way garantee the principles of democracy. Dworkin thinks that it’s possible to keep the freedom in a legal sistem which the judges have the last word since they consider the Moral principles and the respect for the individuality.Este artigo foi escrito durante as atividades do Programa de Doutorado em Direito da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, ano de 2002, sob a supervisão do Prof. Doutor José Alcebíades de Oliveira Júnior. O livro “O império do direito” foi o ponto nuclear da pesquisa, porque Ronald Dworkin foi considerado um dos principais escritores na área do Direito do século XX e também porque o autor norte-americano tem uma visão sobre a atividade dos juízes hoje, tentando descobrir sua verdadeira natureza. Em nossos dias cresce a importância acerca da atividade judicial na medida em que muitas das questões políticas foram transferidas à seara jurídica. Quais são os reais argumentos para declarar a legalidade e constitucionalidade desses julgamentos envolvendo as questões centrais de uma Nação? Quem tem a última palavra sobre uma série de questões que são consideradas de índole moral? Os argumentos de Dworkin sobre a atividade judicial também podem ser considerados no Brasil, onde os juízes não são eleitos, porque a questão central do debate é qual meio garante os princípios da democracia. Dworkin entende que é possível manter a liberdade num sistema legal onde os juízes têm a última palavra, desde que considerem os aspectos morais e o respeito pela individualidade