1,721,222 research outputs found
UBICOMM 2013 - 7th International Conference on Mobile Ubiquitous Computing, Systems, Services and Technologies
No full textThe proceedings contain 30 papers. The topics discussed include: indoor navigation by WLAN location fingerprinting - reducing training-efforts with interpolated radio map; challenges for e-learning environments in M-learning contexts: a survey about the hardware, software, and educational dimensions; towards a middleware to infer the risk level of an activity in context-aware environments using the SRK model; treating context information in a ubiquitous virtual learning environment (UVLEQoC): application of metrics for quality of context (QoC); exploring the tradeoffs of configurability and heterogeneity in multicore embedded systems; VANET route selection in urban/rural areas using metric base traffic analysis; self-organizing localization for wireless sensor networks based on neighbor topology; and WSN trends: sensor infrastructure virtualization as a driver towards the evolution of the Internet of things
Self-confirming immigration policy
No full textWe study immigration policy in a small receiving economy under self-selection of migrants. We show that a non-selective immigration policy choice affects and is affected by the migratory decisions of skilled and unskilled foreign workers. From this interaction multiple equilibria may arise, which are driven by the natives' expectations on the skill composition of migrants. In particular, pessimistic (optimistic) beliefs induce a country to impose higher (lower) barriers to immigration, which worsen (improve) the skill composition of immigrants and thus confirm initial beliefs. This mechanism induces immigration policy to be self-confirming. We discuss how the adoption of a skill-selective policy affects this result
The Immigration Policy Puzzle
Full text linkThis paper revisits the puzzle of immigration policy: standard economic theory predicts that free immigration improves natives' welfare, but (with few historical exceptions) an open door policy is never implemented in practice. What rationalizes the puzzle? We first review the model of immigration policy where the policy maker maximizes national income of natives net of the tax burden of immigration (Borjas, 1995). We show that this model fails to provide realistic policy outcomes when the receiving region's technology is described by a standard Cobb-Douglas or CES function, as the optimal policy imposes a complete ban on immigration or implies an unrealistically large number of immigrants relative to natives. Then the paper describes three extensions of this basic model that reconcile the theory with the evidence. The first introduces a cost of integration of the immigrant community in the destination country; the second takes into account the policy maker's redistributive concern across different social groups; the last extension considers positive spillover effects of (skilled) migrants on the receiving economy
Self-confirming immigration policy
Full text linkWe study immigration policy in a small receiving economy under self-selection of migrants. We show that a non-discriminatory immigration policy choice affects and is affected by the migratory decisions of skilled and unskilled foreign workers. From this interaction multiple equilibria may arise, which are driven by the natives' expectations on the welfare effects of immigration. In particular, pessimistic (optimistic) beliefs induce a country to impose higher (lower) barriers to immigration, which crowd out (crowd in) skilled migrants and thus confirm initial beliefs. This self-fulfilling mechanism sustains the endogenous formation of an anti or pro-immigration prejudice. We discuss how the adoption of a skill-selective policy affects this result
Knowledge Representation Methods for Smart Devices in Intelligent Buildings
No full textHome and building automation aims at improving features
and capabilities of household systems and appliances. Nevertheless, cur-
rent solutions poorly support dynamic scenarios and context-awareness.
The integration of knowledge representation features and reasoning tech-
niques (originally devised for the Semantic Web) into standard home
automation protocols can offer high-level services to users. A semantic-
based approach is proposed, able to interface users and devices (whose
characteristics are expressed by means of annotated profiles) within a
service-oriented home infrastructure
Non-standard inference services for mobile computing: concept abduction via m-OODBMS
No full textThough increased potentialities of handheld devices allow to apply discovery approaches designed for the Semantic Web, care has to be paid in re-designing original frameworks and algorithms. The paper presents a revision of basic inference services leveraging object-oriented Database Management System to perform semantic matchmaking and provide logical explanations. OWL-DL Knowledge Bases have been properly migrated towards an object oriented version to enable reasoning by addressing proper queries to a mobile DB. The proposed framework has been implemented and tested: preliminary results have been reporte
Concept Abduction and Contraction in Semantic-based P2P Environments
No full textReasoning engines are largely used in resource discovery and matchmaking scenarios where, given a request, they are able to provide a list of compatible items arranged in relevance order. A significant added value is the possibility to explain match outcomes in order to obtain information for modifying or refining early queries. Though the feasibility of running logic-based reasoning tasks over various knowledge bases has been widely proven on fixed servers, it is a challenging subject to execute inference processes on handheld devices. The paper presents a revised lightweight version of abduction and contraction algorithms (going back to previous works) for matchmaking in Description Logics in mobile ad-hoc contexts. Implementation and tests have been carried out in a mobile P2P case study based on a simplified Bluetooth interaction paradigm
Food prices and the multiplier effect of trade policy
Full text linkThis work studies the relationship between trade policy and food prices. We show that when individuals are loss averse, governments may use trade policy to shield the domestic economy from large food price shocks. This creates a complementarity between the price of food in international markets and trade policy. Specifically, unilateral actions give rise to a "multiplier effect": when a shock drives up the price of food, exporters respond by imposing restrictions, while importers wind down protection, thus exacerbating the initial shock and soliciting further trade policy activism. We test the key prediction of the theory with a new dataset that comprises monthly information on trade measures across 77 countries and 32 food products for the period 2008-11, finding evidence of a multiplier effect in food trade policy. These findings contribute to inform the broader debate on the proper regulation of food trade policy within the multilateral trading system
Handbook of Deep Trade Agreements
Full text linkDeep trade agreements (DTAs) cover not just trade but additional policy areas, such as the international flows of investment and labor, and the protection of intellectual property rights and the environment. Their goal is integration beyond trade, or deep integration.
DTA rules influence how countries transact, invest, work, and, ultimately, develop. The rules and commitments in DTAs should be informed by evidence and shaped by development priorities rather than international power or domestic politics. An impediment to this goal is that data and analysis on trade agreements have not captured the new dimensions of integration. Little effort has been made to identify the content and consequences of DTAs.
This Handbook takes a step towards filling this gap in our understanding of international economic law and policy. It presents detailed data and analysis on the content of the policy areas most frequently covered in DTAs, focusing on the stated objectives, substantive commitments, and other aspects such as transparency, procedures, and enforcement. Each chapter, authored by lead experts in their respective fields, explains in detail the methodology used to collect the information and provides a first look at the evidence by policy area
Building a Semantic Web of Things: Issues and Perspectives in Information Compression
No full textThe paper surveys some relevant issues related to data management in pervasive environments. Particularly, it focuses on the compression of semantic annotations for building so called Semantic Web of Things. An approach is proposed to achieve good compression ratios, to maintain compression effectiveness and finally to query compressed data without requiring expensive decompression phases. Experimental results prove the goodness of the proposed framework
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