Big Data or Right Data?

Abstract Big data nowadays is a fashionable topic, independently of what people mean when they use this term. But being big is just a matter of volume, although there is no clear agreement in the size threshold. On the other hand, it is easy to capture large amounts of data using a brute force approach. So the real goal should not be big data but to ask ourselves, for a given problem, what is the right data and how much of it is needed. For some problems this would imply big data, but for the majority of the problems much less data will and is needed. In this talk we explore the trade-offs involved and the main problems that come with big data using the Web as case study: scalability, redundancy, bias, noise, spam, and privacy. Speaker Biography Ricardo Baeza-Yates Ricardo Baeza-Yates is VP of Research for Yahoo Labs leading teams in United States, Europe and Latin America since 2006 and based in Sunnyvale, California, since August 2014. During this time he has lead the labs in Barcelona and Santiago de Chile. Between 2008 and 2012 he also oversaw the Haifa lab. He is also part time Professor at the Dept. of Information and Communication Technologies of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona, Spain. During 2005 he was an ICREA research professor at the same university. Until 2004 he was Professor and before founder and Director of the Center for Web Research at the Dept. of Computing Science of the University of Chile (in leave of absence until today). He obtained a Ph.D. in CS from the University of Waterloo, Canada, in 1989. Before he obtained two masters (M.Sc. CS & M.Eng. EE) and the electronics engineer degree from the University of Chile in Santiago. He is co-author of the best-seller Modern Information Retrieval textbook, published in 1999 by Addison-Wesley with a second enlarged edition in 2011, that won the ASIST 2012 Book of the Year award. He is also co-author of the 2nd edition of the Handbook of Algorithms and Data Structures, Addison-Wesley, 1991; and co-editor of Information Retrieval: Algorithms and Data Structures, Prentice-Hall, 1992, among more than 500 other publications. From 2002 to 2004 he was elected to the board of governors of the IEEE Computer Society and in 2012 he was elected for the ACM Council. He has received the Organization of American States award for young researchers in exact sciences (1993), the Graham Medal for innovation in computing given by the University of Waterloo to distinguished ex-alumni (2007), the CLEI Latin American distinction for contributions to CS in the region (2009), and the National Award of the Chilean Association of Engineers (2010), among other distinctions. In 2003 he was the first computer scientist to be elected to the Chilean Academy of Sciences and since 2010 is a founding member of the Chilean Academy of Engineering. In 2009 he was named ACM Fellow and in 2011 IEEE Fellow.

Role of the cultural values as a key part in the implementing of healthy practices : exploratory research

El concepto de organización saludable cada vez toma más fuerza en el ámbito empresarial y académico, a razón de su enfoque integral y al impacto generado en distintos grupos de interés. Debido a su reciente consolidación como concepto, existe un limitado cuerpo de investigación en torno al tema. Para contribuir a la generación de conocimiento en este sentido, se desarrolló un estudio exploratorio el cual tenía como objetivo identificar la relación existente entre la implementación de prácticas saludables en las organizaciones y los valores culturales. En el estudio participaron 66 sujetos a quienes se les administró un cuestionario compuesto por nueve variables, cinco provenientes del modelo de Hofstede (1980) y cuatro más que evaluaban la implementación de prácticas organizacionales saludables. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que los valores culturales predicen la implementación de prácticas saludables.

Gobernabilidad de la empresa Macorac Ltda.

Este trabajo de grado esta realizado en la línea de perdurabilidad y gobierno de empresa, bajo la dirección del doctor Rodrigo Vélez, el cual trata el tema de las pymes familiares en Colombia y como estas realizan un cambio generacional. El trabajo de investigación de gobernabilidad de la empresa MACORAC Ltda. esta dividido en tres partes; la primeras de ellas es la descripción de todos los procesos operacionales y gerenciales que esta embarca, como el almacenamiento, las compras. También hacemos un recuento de la historia y las etapas que ha pasado esta organización para perdurar y ser exitosa. En la segunda parte se hace un análisis del modelo matricial (DOFA) incluyendo variables como los proveedores, la tasa de cambio, la competencia, clima organizacional, el precio del producto y la atención al cliente. El resultado de aplicar el DOFA a MACORAC Ltda. Es que esta empresa tiene una ventaja competitiva por tener un solo proveedor, ya que puede ofrecer precios diferentes a los de la competencia, y que a diferencia de los que piensa su presidente lo que los hace competitivos es el pago anticipado a los proveedores y no la estrategia de servicio al cliente. Por ultimo se cita un estudio de competitividad que realizo el gobierno nacional y Agrocadenas con la ayuda de la FAO, donde se demuestra la poca competitividad del sector maderero en Colombia y deja ver que las distribuidoras son el único canal para que los productores de muebles y Carpinteros tengan acceso a estos productos de calidad. Esto con el fin de conocer el sector donde se encuentra inmersa MACORAC. De ahí se desprende un análisis donde buscamos las ventajas competitivas, las estrategias genéricas, las ventajas sostenibles, las habilidades, las capacidades distintivas y se construye de la cadena de valor de MACORAC. Por ultimo en nuestras conclusiones se dan unas recomendaciones y se destacan los aciertos de la gestión y dirección del fundador.

Definition of an it project portfolio management methodology for a pharmaceutical company

Con la creciente popularidad de las soluciones de IT como factor clave para aumentar la competitividad y la creación de valor para las empresas, la necesidad de invertir en proyectos de IT se incrementa considerablemente. La limitación de los recursos como un obstáculo para invertir ha obligado a las empresas a buscar metodologías para seleccionar y priorizar proyectos, asegurándose de que las decisiones que se toman son aquellas que van alineadas con las estrategias corporativas para asegurar la creación de valor y la maximización de los beneficios. Esta tesis proporciona los fundamentos para la implementación del Portafolio de dirección de Proyectos de IT (IT PPM) como una metodología eficaz para la gestión de proyectos basados en IT, y una herramienta para proporcionar criterios claros para los directores ejecutivos para la toma de decisiones. El documento proporciona la información acerca de cómo implementar el IT PPM en siete pasos, el análisis de los procesos y las funciones necesarias para su ejecución exitosa. Además, proporciona diferentes métodos y criterios para la selección y priorización de proyectos. Después de la parte teórica donde se describe el IT PPM, la tesis aporta un análisis del estudio de caso de una empresa farmacéutica. La empresa ya cuenta con un departamento de gestión de proyectos, pero se encontró la necesidad de implementar el IT PPM debido a su amplia cobertura de procesos End-to-End en Proyectos de IT, y la manera de asegurar la maximización de los beneficios. Con la investigación teórica y el análisis del estudio de caso, la tesis concluye con una definición práctica de un modelo aproximado IT PPM como una recomendación para su implementación en el Departamento de Gestión de Proyectos.

Elementos para la relación entre cultura organizacional y estrategia: caso Google

Desde el año 360 a.C. se comienza a hablar de la importancia de la estrategia para el éxito de las empresas, argumentando que a través de ella, se establece una visión y un método para alcanzarla. Sin embargo, desde los años ochenta el tema de cultura organizacional empieza a surgir como un elemento clave dentro de las compañías. El talento humano pasa a tener importancia dentro del panorama organizacional como un recurso valioso, cuya gestión puede resultar convirtiéndose en una ventaja competitiva para las compañías dentro de su sector de mercado. A pesar de que estos conceptos son subjetivos, al revisar las diferentes opiniones de autores representativos en cada uno de estos temas, se determina que se encuentran elementos en común entre ellos. Para el caso de cultura organizacional, son la identidad y diferenciación, los sistemas simbólicos, y los comportamientos uniformes. Para el caso de la estrategia, dichos elementos son el dinamismo, la asignación de recursos, y el patrón con propósito a largo plazo. Si tanto la estrategia como la cultura organizacional, independientemente aportan al progreso de las compañías, se buscó establecer, a partir de la fijación de los elementos mencionados, una definición de la relación entre ellos. Para lograrlo, se utilizó un ejemplo específico, el caso de la empresa Google Inc. Se discutieron tres estrategias que esta compañía ha desarrollado en materia relacionada con la construcción de su propia cultura organizacional.

The inclusive process of training in social museology: alternative museology in action in Carapateira, Portugal

Pierre Mayrand is a long-time member of ICTOP and founder of MINOM. He did graduate studies in Montreal and overseas, studying art history with a specialization in architecture and urban planning. In 1970, when the Université du Québec was founded, Pierre entered the teaching profession, participating (as director, professor, and researcher) in the setting up of programs in national heritage, museology and cultural development. He is still active in teaching and project development now as a altermuseologist.

Jorge Velasco Mackenzie: tatuaje de náufragos es la única novela en la que me he divertido escribiendo (De la Escena Contemporánea)

El autor entrevista al narrador guayaquileño Jorge Velasco Mackenzie, quien responde sobre su oficio de escritor. Velasco sostiene que sufre con sus personajes y agoniza cuando estos mueren. Mira a Tatuaje de náufragos como un homenaje a un bar generacional, a una época y una forma de ser artista que ya no existen más, sería la autopsia de una generación y de la ciudad. Velasco sostiene que el poeta Fernando Nieto no solo fue un animador de la bohemia del Montreal, el fundador de Sicoseo, sino un hombre que sabía mucho, y un hombre generoso en lo personal, admira la posición de Nieto frente al mundo, frente a la literatura. En los escritos de Velasco siempre está Guayaquil, porque es el lugar donde nació y es el único donde puede vivir. Podría decirse que escribir sobre Guayaquil es su proyecto estético. Considera al Montreal como un lugar vivo, abierto, con sus personajes y su rocola antigua, lo evocó así toda su vida y a lo largo del libro intentó devolverle ese esplendor.

Feminist geography, prehistory of

The article traces the beginnings and early history of feminist geography in the United Kingdom through the memories and personal narratives of two women who were heavily involved in this field of geographical research, in the 1970s, and were founder members of the Women and Geography Study Group of the Institute of British Geographers. The article begins by considering the context (both political and academic) within which feminist geography was born. Second-wave feminism and the rise of the women’s movement, initially in the United States, is seen as a major influence on the development of feminist geography. In the academic world, it was the dominance of quantitative geography in the 1960s, and the related opposition to this positivist paradigm by humanistic and socialist geographers, which led to calls for a recognition of the inequalities faced by women in society and an understanding of the differences in men’s and women’s lives. Through personal narratives, the authors seek to illustrate the obstacles and disagreements, as well as the encouragements and opportunities, which led to the birth of UK-feminist geography. Many individual geographers, influential to the story, are referred to, seen through the eyes of the authors at that time.

Genetic analysis of complex demographic scenarios: Spatially expanding populations of the cane toad, Bufo marinus

Inferring the spatial expansion dynamics of invading species from molecular data is notoriously difficult due to the complexity of the processes involved. For these demographic scenarios, genetic data obtained from highly variable markers may be profitably combined with specific sampling schemes and information from other sources using a Bayesian approach. The geographic range of the introduced toad Bufo marinus is still expanding in eastern and northern Australia, in each case from isolates established around 1960. A large amount of demographic and historical information is available on both expansion areas. In each area, samples were collected along a transect representing populations of different ages and genotyped at 10 microsatellite loci. Five demographic models of expansion, differing in the dispersal pattern for migrants and founders and in the number of founders, were considered. Because the demographic history is complex, we used an approximate Bayesian method, based on a rejection-regression algorithm. to formally test the relative likelihoods of the five models of expansion and to infer demographic parameters. A stepwise migration-foundation model with founder events was statistically better supported than other four models in both expansion areas. Posterior distributions supported different dynamics of expansion in the studied areas. Populations in the eastern expansion area have a lower stable effective population size and have been founded by a smaller number of individuals than those in the northern expansion area. Once demographically stabilized, populations exchange a substantial number of effective migrants per generation in both expansion areas, and such exchanges are larger in northern than in eastern Australia. The effective number of migrants appears to be considerably lower than that of founders in both expansion areas. We found our inferences to be relatively robust to various assumptions on marker. demographic, and historical features. The method presented here is the only robust, model-based method available so far, which allows inferring complex population dynamics over a short time scale. It also provides the basis for investigating the interplay between population dynamics, drift, and selection in invasive species.

DNA variation in a 13-Mb region including the F9 gene: inferring the genealogical history and causal role of a hemophilia B mutation (IVS 5+13 A -> G)

About 5.5% of all UK hemophilia B patients have the base substitution IVS 5+13 A-->G as the only change in their factor (F)IX gene (F9). This generates a novel donor splice site which fits the consensus better than the normal intron 5 donor splice. Use of the novel splice site should result in a missense mutation followed by the abnormal addition of four amino acids to the patients' FIX. In order to explain the prevalence of this mutation, its genealogical history is examined. Analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism in the 21 reference UK individuals (from different families) with the above mutation showed identical haplotypes in 19 while two differed from the rest and from each other. In order to investigate the history of the mutation and to verify that it had occurred independently more than once, the sequence variation in 1.5-kb segments scattered over a 13-Mb region including F9 was examined in 18 patients and 15 controls. This variation was then analyzed with a recently developed Bayesian approach that reconstructs the genealogy of the gene investigated while providing evidence of independent mutations that contribute disconnected branches to the genealogical tree. The method also provides minimum estimates of the age of the mutation inherited by the members of coherent trees. This revealed that 17 or 18 mutant genes descend from a founder who probably lived 450 years ago, while one patient carries an independent mutation. The independent recurrence of the IVS5+13 A-->G mutation strongly supports the conclusion that it is the cause of these patients' mild hemophilia.

Svetlana

Svetlana is a series of photographs documenting rehearsals for an opera that was never performed. Written by Waw Pierogi, founder of the 1980s group Xex, little is known of the opera, only that it was inspired by Svetlana, a character from one of their songs and the daughter of Stalin, who defected from the Soviet Union twice. A fictional Svetlana and a bogus Leon Theremin - inventor of the eponymous hands-free electronic musical instrument who was later kidnapped by the KGB - inhabit an archive of photographs from a session of stage rehearsals and location shots. Combining Svetlana’s narrative with a conspiracy to create sound weapons, this documentation of theatre workshops, styled after Bauhaus drama class exercises, produces an entirely spurious story of espionage, sonic weaponry and the clash between love and ideology. The performers sport geometric military costumes, brandishing sculptural forms fashioned after the acoustic locators that preceded radar technology. These redundant locators were still kept in use as props, concealing the introduction of radar from the Germans. They perfectly capture the theatricality of military might and suggest the rhetorical force of sound or even the political power of art. Svetlana was originally produced as part of a residency at S1 Artspace, Sheffield, and was later shown at Tatty Devine, alongside a special capsule collection of jewellery made by Tatty Devine.

Long-distance dispersal and its influence on adaptation to host resistance in a heterogeneous landscape

Small propagules like pollen or fungal spores may be dispersed by the wind over distances of hundreds or thousands of kilometres,even though the median dispersal may be only a few metres. Such long-distance dispersal is a stochastic event which may be exceptionally important in shaping a population. It has been found repeatedly in field studies that subpopulations of wind-dispersed fungal pathogens virulent on cultivars with newly introduced, effective resistance genes are dominated by one or very few genotypes. The role of propagule dispersal distributions with distinct behaviour at long distances in generating this characteristic population structure was studied by computer simulation of dispersal of clonal organisms in a heterogeneous environment with fields of unselective and selective hosts. Power-law distributions generated founder events in which new, virulent genotypes rapidly colonized fields of resistant crop varieties and subsequently dominated the pathogen population on both selective and unselective varieties, in agreement with data on rust and powdery mildew fungi. An exponential dispersal function, with extremely rare dispersal over long distances, resulted in slower colonization of resistant varieties by virulent pathogens or even no colonization if the distance between susceptible source and resistant target fields was sufficiently large. The founder events resulting from long-distance dispersal were highly stochastic and exact quantitative prediction of genotype frequencies will therefore always be difficult.

Winckelmann and the invention of antiquity: history and aesthetics in the age of Altertumswissenschaft

This volume provides a new perspective on the emergence of the modern study of antiquity, Altertumswissenschaft, in eighteenth-century Germany through an exploration of debates that arose over the work of the art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann between his death in 1768 and the end of the century. This period has long been recognised as particularly formative for the development of modern classical studies, and over the past few decades has received increased attention from historians of scholarship and of ideas. Winckelmann's eloquent articulation of the cultural and aesthetic value of studying the ancient Greeks, his adumbration of a new method for studying ancient artworks, and his provision of a model of cultural-historical development in terms of a succession of period styles, influenced both the public and intra-disciplinary self-image of classics long into the twentieth century. Yet this area of Winckelmann's Nachleben has received relatively little attention compared with the proliferation of studies concerning his importance for late eighteenth-century German art and literature, for historians of sexuality, and his traditional status as a 'founder figure' within the academic disciplines of classical archaeology and the history of art. Harloe restores the figure of Winckelmann to classicists' understanding of the history of their own discipline and uses debates between important figures, such as Christian Gottlob Heyne, Friedrich August Wolf, and Johann Gottfried Herder, to cast fresh light upon the emergence of the modern paradigm of classics as Altertumswissenschaft: the multi-disciplinary, comprehensive, and historicizing study of the ancient world.

The President above parties: a founding illusion of the Fifth Republic

De Gaulle, founder of the Fifth French Republic, cherished the notion that the president of the Republic could somehow stand above party politics. In many ways this belief shaped the early institutional configuration of the new Republic. Party politics, however, rapidly reached the presidency, especially with the move, under the constitutional reform of 1962, to direct election of the president. This article charts the development of France's 'political constitution' and the relationship between president and parties over the first decade of the Fifth Republic. It finds that although the presidency became the prime goal of party political competition, the (often dysfunctional) illusion of a head of state above politics continues to shape the behaviour and perceptions of French presidents.

Genetic structure and linkage disequilibrium in landrace populations of barley in Sardinia

Multilocus digenic linkage disequilibria (LD) and their population structure were investigated in eleven landrace populations of barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare L.) in Sardinia, using 134 dominant simple-sequence amplified polymorphism markers. The analysis of molecular variance for these markers indicated that the populations were partially differentiated (F ST = 0.18), and clustered into three geographic areas. Consistent with this population pattern, STRUCTURE analysis allocated individuals from a bulk of all populations into four genetic groups, and these groups also showed geographic patterns. In agreement with other molecular studies in barley, the general level of LD was low (13 % of locus pairs, with P < 0.01) in the bulk of 337 lines, and decayed steeply with map distance between markers. The partitioning of multilocus associations into various components indicated that genetic drift and founder effects played a major role in determining the overall genetic makeup of the diversity in these landrace populations, but that epistatic homogenising or diversifying selection was also present. Notably, the variance of the disequilibrium component was relatively high, which implies caution in the pooling of barley lines for association studies. Finally, we compared the analyses of multilocus structure in barley landrace populations with parallel analyses in both composite crosses of barley on the one hand and in natural populations of wild barley on the other. Neither of these serves as suitable mimics of landraces in barley, which require their own study. Overall, the results suggest that these populations can be exploited for LD mapping if population structure is controlled.