IT Innovation within the Esprit and IST Programs. Some Evidence from the UK

The European Strategic Program for Research in Information Technologies (Esprit) was created back in 1983 as a defensive response to the US and Japanese lead in Information Technologies (IT). Esprit was driven by the belief that intra-EU collaboration is an effective means to enhance the competitiveness of the European IT industry. Esprit has undergone a number of changes to facilitate collaboration and innovation. Yet, only after eighteen years of Esprit did the European Commission appreciate the need to encourage worldwide co-operation within its Fifth Framework Information Society Technologies (IST) Program. In the emerging information society and economy it is conceded that new ideas are as likely to be found outside Europe as within. This paper aims to investigate the personal networks of UK main contractors in Esprit and IST programs with regard to national boundaries and external linkages. It argues that the world of IT innovation is borderless and that Commission policies to impose boundaries to collaboration are unlikely to contribute to successful innovation in the IT industry throughout Europe.Mapping IT innovation networks; EU R&D programs; ESPRIT; IST; UK

Exploring xenophobic and homophobic attitudes in Malta : linking the perception of social practice with textual analysis

Reporting on research undertaken under the auspices of the C.O.N.T.A.C.T. project, the present paper investigates the roots of xenophobic and homophobic attitudes in Malta and the extent to which these can be pinpointed in the lexical choices made in discriminatory comments posted online in reaction to local news stories pertaining to migrants and members of the LGBTIQ community. Adopting Fairclough’s threedimensional framework (1995), we start off by presenting the values that underlie local discriminatory attitudes as social practice, as these were identified by the participants of four focus group interviews that were conducted at the University of Malta. In this respect, while xenophobia seems to be a far more pressing issue in Malta, homophobia, which is still also present, is taken to be predominantly triggered by deep-rooted religious beliefs and allegiance to heteronormative values. Then, when it comes to xenophobia, the main relevant trigger seems to be the perceived threat that the different collective background of a particular subset of migrants in Malta poses to the local culture. In an attempt to show that these values can also be discerned by examining even the most basic textual characteristics of a dataset comprising xenophobic and homophobic talk in the local context, we turn to identify them by looking at quantitative measures pertaining to lexical choice and metaphorical extension in the relevant parts of our corpus. In this way, we provide evidence for the fundamental – for Critical Discourse Analysis – claim that the textual analysis of a relevant dataset can indeed reveal the axiological framework that underlies the negative stance that the general population may have in relation to particular minorities, showcasing the relevance of discourse analytic methods for the broader understanding of discrimination and hate speech.Rights, Equality & Citizenship Programme of the European Commission Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (JUST/2014/RRAC/AG/HATE/6706)peer-reviewe

Fiber link design considerations for cloud-Radio Access Networks

Analog radio over fiber (RoF) links may offer advantages for cloud-Radio Access Networks in terms of component cost, but the behavior of the distortion with large numbers of subcarriers needs to be understood. In this paper, this is presented in terms of the variation between subcarriers. Memory polynomial predistortion is also shown to compensate for RoF and wireless path distortion. Whether for digitized or analog links, it is shown that appropriate framing structure parameters must be used to assure performance, especially of time-division duplex systems

Motivating the procedural analysis of logical connectives

With a view to addressing the non-truth-conditional meaning of discourse connectives from a cognitive perspective, relevance theorists have for long pursued the argument that the relevant expressions do not carry conceptual (≈denotational) meaning, but rather encode procedures, i.e. instructions which guide pragmatic inference by creating cognitive ‘shortcuts’ that the hearer takes advantage of during utterance interpretation. At the same time, they assume that logical connectives are conceptual, rather than procedural encodings. In this paper, I explore the extent to which an analysis of logical connectives along procedural lines is viable, by offering a number of arguments which suggest that logical connectives can and should be studied on a par with discourse ones.peer-reviewe

On encoded lexical meaning : philosophical and psychological perspectives

The past few years have seen quite a bit of speculation over relevance theorists’ commitment to Fodorian semantics as a means to account for the notion of encoded lexical meaning that they put forth in their framework. In this paper, I take on the issue, arguing that this view of lexical semantics compromises Relevance Theory’s aim of psychological plausibility, since it effectively binds it with the ‘literal first’ hypothesis that has been deemed unrealistic from a psycholinguistic viewpoint. After discussing the incompatibility of Fodor’s philosophical account with the perspective that relevance theorists adopt, I briefly suggest ways in which further behavioural research on the semantics/pragmatics distinction could help advance more cognitively- oriented accounts of encoded lexical meaning.peer-reviewe

Systems thinking for the transition of existing technologies to blockchain technologies

The 4th Industrial evolution has brought along a lot of technological achievements which can change the form of humanity. Peer-to-peer networks (Distributed networks), network of sensors (Internet of Things), algorithms capable to take decisions (Artificial Intelligence), computers with the ability of self-learning (Machine Learning), more complex queries for analyzing the data, that we are collecting since the birth of internet (Data Science) and new electronic money(cryptocurrencies) are some of the characteristics of those new technologies. But the adoption of those achievements (known as Digital Transformation or Digitization) demands Managers open-minded, well-educated on those technologies and ready to trace the new possible Risks. They must also be capable to use the Systems Thinking, as the Blockchain Technologies have created an Ecosystem (Sociotechnical Systems); the combination of Social Systems (Organizations - Companies), whose behavior is not predictable, and Mechanical Systems (technical equipment) with a predefined way of function. So, this kind of Systems (Sociotechnical) need a more delicate approach using a combination of, not only Systemic methodologies and technics, but also other theories and proper tools. We are going to publish a series of articles in which we are going to specify the proper theories and methodologies in each phase of the digital transformation. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explain to the new generation of Managers how the Systems Thinking, DCSYM Methodology and VSM Model, are applied on those Ecosystems

Viable system dynamics intelligent framework for assessing and optimizing systemic reengineering for e-governance environments: A case study in corfu sunspots tourist agency

Dealing with problems in complex environments that impede organizational cohesion, information dissemination and coordination is extremely difficult nowadays. Usage of technology without sophisticated information sharing planning and solid processes that serve with a bottom-up approach the needs of each individual within an organization, undermines time, cost and quality of deliverables. The eG4M (e-Government for Mediterranean Countries)project basically concentrates on extending, completing and improving the e-Model through the achievement of new research results and its application by participating with the support of the Mediterranean Countries (MCs) – in establishing and consolidating their e-Government systems. This paper focuses on the development of a generic system dynamics model that illustrates the behavior of e-governance systems based on the VSM (Viable Systems Model) as well as the development of a web, collaborative intelligent framework that is built upon the system dynamics model. The framework is meant to have the form of a web-based simulation that is able to identify critical issues related to product, customer, information sharing and service quality using visualizations, automated analytics and impact analysis delivered with natural language format to support the systemic reengineering process, mitigate risk, predict issues during the planning phase and help the user understand complexity and inform his decisions with predictive insights. Modeling the behavior of an e-governance system and being able to automatically process complex relationships, data and issues upon this system mitigates uncertainty at all levels, increases awareness and understanding of the real world and delivers sustainability and viability, increases growth and sets the basis for process autonomy and better coordination, controls and quality of deliverables

Redefining logical constants as inference markers

There is currently no universally accepted general de nition of logical constanthood. With a view to addressing this issue, we follow a pragmatist ratio- nale, according to which, some notion can be identi ed as a logical constant by considering the way in which it is used in our everyday reasoning practices, and argue that a logical constant has to be seen as encoding some kind of dynamic meaning, which marks the presence of an inferential transition among proposi- tional contents. We then put forth a characterisation of logical constants that takes into account their syntactic, semantic and pragmatic roles. What follows from our proposal is that logical constanthood can be best understood as a func- tional property that is satis ed only by certain uses of the relevant notions.peer-reviewe

Xenophobic and homophobic attitudes in online news portal comments in Malta

In this paper, we present part of the research carried out at the Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology of the University of Malta under the auspices of the EU-funded C.O.N.T.A.C.T. project. The present study, which followed the common methodology of the C.O.N.T.A.C.T. consortium, focuses on the verbal expression of discrimination in Malta. Employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, we seek to identify the extent to which comments posted online in reaction to news reports in local portals can be found to encompass discriminatory attitudes towards two target minorities: migrants and members of the LGBTIQ community. The obtained results indicate that, while both xenophobia and homophobia can be detected in some of the comments, the former is a much more prevalent than the latter. In an attempt to further probe into the reasons for the emergence of such discriminatory discourse online, we additionally administered an online questionnaire and conducted focus group interviews, which provided us with some insight as to why discriminatory attitudes appear to have recently been on the rise in relation to migrants, while, at the same time, have correspondingly been contained in the case of the LGBTIQ minority group.peer-reviewe

Domain-Driven Design and Soft Systems Methodology as a Framework to Avoid Software Crises

Crisis is considered to be an issue concerning complex systems like societies, organizations or even families. It can be defined as the situation in which the system functions poorly, the causes of the dysfunction are not immediately identified and immediate decisions need to be made. The type and the duration of a crisis may require different kinds of decision making. In a long-term crisis, when system changes may be required, the active participation of the affected people may be more important than the power and dynamics of the leadership. Software crises, in their their contemporary form as oganizational maffunctions, can still affect the viability of any organization. In this contribution we highlight the systemic aspects of a crisis, the complexity behind that and the role of systemic methodologies to explore its root causes and to design effective interventions. Our focus is on modeling as a means to simplify the complexity of the regarded phenomena and to build a knowledge consensus among stakeholders. Domain-Driven Design comes from software as an approach to deal with complex projects. It is based on models exploration in a creative collaboration between domain practitioners and solution providers. SSM is an established methodology for dealing with wicked situations. It incorporates the use of models and, along with Domain-Driven Design and other systemic methodologies can be employed to develop a common perception of the situation and a common language between interested parties in a crisis situation