Can filesharers be triggered by economic incentives? Results of an experiment

Illegal filesharing on the internet leads to considerable financial losses for artists and copyright owners as well as producers and sellers of music. Thus far, measures to contain this phenomenon have been rather restrictive. However, there are still a considerable number of illegal systems, and users are able to decide quite freely between legal and illegal downloads because the latter are still difficult to sanction. Recent economic approaches account for the improved bargaining position of users. They are based on the idea of revenue-splitting between professional sellers and peers. In order to test such an innovative business model, the study reported in this article carried out an experiment with 100 undergraduate students, forming five small peer-to-peer networks.The networks were confronted with different economic conditions.The results indicate that even experienced filesharers hold favourable attitudes towards revenue-splitting.They seem to be willing to adjust their behaviour to different economic conditions

Forecasting with Big Data: A Review

Big Data is a revolutionary phenomenon which is one of the most frequently discussed topics in the modern age, and is expected to remain so in the foreseeable future. In this paper we present a comprehensive review on the use of Big Data for forecasting by identifying and reviewing the problems, potential, challenges and most importantly the related applications. Skills, hardware and software, algorithm architecture, statistical significance, the signal to noise ratio and the nature of Big Data itself are identified as the major challenges which are hindering the process of obtaining meaningful forecasts from Big Data. The review finds that at present, the fields of Economics, Energy and Population Dynamics have been the major exploiters of Big Data forecasting whilst Factor models, Bayesian models and Neural Networks are the most common tools adopted for forecasting with Big Data

Valorisation des productions agricoles en zone de grand défi alimentaire au Zaïre. Tome 1. : le secteur agro-alimentaire vivrier : identification de partenaires potentiels

L'objectif assigné à la mission était d'identifier des opérateurs capables de valoriser les productions agricoles par la transformation et le conditionnement des produits afin de répondre aux défis alimentaires posés par les villes et les régions à forte densité de population. Trois régions ont été choisies pour cette identification : Kinshasa et son hinterland, Sus Kivu, Kasaï oriental. Cette identification doit déboucher sur deux phases successives de micro-projets : -la première phase portera sur un choix limité d'opérateurs et devra donner lieu à la mise en place d'unités artisanales de transformation et de conditionnement très rapidement opérationnelles et l'adaptation des circuits de commercialisation correspondants. -la deuxième phase constituera une phase de diffusion des unités déjà testées dans la première phase, mais aussi une phase d'approfondissement où pourront être pris en compte des produits et des procédés novateurs ou/et qui nécessitent des études approfondies et une mise en route progressive. Après un apperçu du contexte économique global et du secteur agroalimentaire du Zaïre, le rapport présente les entreprises agroalimentaires zaïroises, les techniques et produits et les fiches signalétiques des partenaires potentiel

Valorisation des productions agricoles en zone de grand défi alimentaire. Tome II : proposition de projet

Après avoir, dans un premier tome, identifié les opérateurs capables de valoriser les productions agricoles par la transformation et le conditionnement des produits, les auteurs présente dans ce 2e volume une proposition de projet. L'objectif est d'améliorer la qualité et la productivité de la transformation agro alimentaire artisanale afin de favoriser l'approvisionnement de la population et l'écoulement des produits agricoles locaux. Ils s'intéressera aux produits de base pour lesquels existe une demande considérabl

Dynamic modelling for a twin screw food extruder: Analysis of the dynamic behaviour through process variables

International audienceFood extrusion processes are multiple input, multiple output complex systems. In this paper, the extrusion cooker is simplified into a single input, single output dynamic system, even though multi-input tests have also been performed. Its dynamic characteristics are obtained with step tests on different operating variables: feed rate, moisture content and screw speed. The response is monitored on the following outputs: melt pressure, melt temperature and specific mechanical energy.The results show the following: — the behaviour of the extruder generally verifies the conditions of the BIBO (Bounded Input, Bounded Output) stability, — the process can be considered to be stationary and non-linear. The non-linearity of the system is highlighted by: — the variability of the steady state grain as a function of step magnitude, — the lack of superimposition of the gains when performing multi-input tests.The study of the transient behaviour shows that the systems exhibit a non-separable non-linearity. The observed dynamic characteristics are rising problems that must be taken into account in designing control systems for food extrusion